Chapter 413: Chill
Translator: End less Fantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was as if thunder had exploded in her ears. Sang Qianqian suddenly froze, and her blood seemed to stop circulating at this moment.
She didn’t say anything for a long time. Ruan Xiaoshuang felt that something was wrong., so she asked, “Qianqian, what’s the matter?”
Sang Qianqian barely regained her senses. “No, it’s nothing.”
She tried her best to pretend to be nonchalant. “Did Xiaodie like drawing in the past? I’ve been treating her for so long, but 1 don’t think I’ve ever seen her draw anything.”
“She lived with my aunt since she was young. Perhaps she was greatly affected by my aunt’s death, so she’s no longer willing to hold a paintbrush.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang sighed softly. “However, she really liked drawing in the past. My aunt even hired a teacher for her. Her earliest drawings were like children’s doodles, but later on, they became more realistic. When 1 went overseas to visit her, she would draw a picture for me whenever she was in a good mood. However, her condition was unstable at that time, so those kinds of situations were rare.”
She thought for a moment. “In total, the number of paintings 1 received in those years did not exceed ten.”
“Those paintings,” Sang Qianqian tried to ask, “Sister Xiaoshuang, do you still have them?”
“Yes, I kept them. They’re all in the Ruan family’s old mansion.”
At the mention of the old house, Ruan Xiaoshuang’s eyes flashed with sadness. “However, 1 don’t know if it’s still there.”
After Ruan Cheng’s death, the police went to the mansion to search for evidence of his crimes. They practically turned the place upside down.
Even Ruan Xiaoshuang’s room was not spared.
Sang Qianqian lowered her voice. “Sister Xiaoshuang, can you look for those drawings? I want to see Xiaodie’s current state.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang thought that Sang Qianqian needed them for the treatment. She thought about it and said, “Then I’ll go back and get them tomorrow.”
Perhaps because her mentality had changed, she wasn’t so resistant to the past. When she first returned to the Xie family’s residence a few days ago, accompanied by Xie Shi’an, she took Ruan Xiaodie to sweep the tomb of her brother, Ruan Cheng.
She had always wanted to return to the Ruan family’s old mansion one day.
“Sister Xiaoshuang, do you have time later? If you do, I’ll go with you.” Sang Qianqian desperately wanted to see those paintings.
Ruan Xiaoshuang nodded. “Yes, but don’t you have to go to the Zhen family later?”
“There’s still time. Let’s talk about it later.”
The sound of footsteps came from outside the door, and Sang Qianqian immediately fell silent.
Ruan Xiaodie had returned with the butler.
“Sister, what do you think this is?”
She was holding a green cicada in her hand, which was chirping.
Ruan Xiaoshuang heard the voice and immediately laughed. “You asked Uncle Butler to catch cicadas for you again?”
“No, I caught it myself.”
Ruan Xiaodie showed a little pride. “Sister, you don’t know how skilled I am now at catching them. This cicada is green and very beautiful.”
“This summer, Xiaodie has almost become an expert at catching cicadas.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang smiled and said, “The cicada population in the garden is decreasing.”
The old butler asked someone to bring a sarong over and nagged, “Third Miss, it wasn’t easy to catch this cicada. This time, you have to take good care of it. You can’t let the cat tear it apart again, and you can’t throw the cicada into the fish tank…”
Ruan Xiaodie pouted. “But I want to know if it will cry in water.”
“It won’t cry in water because it can’t swim.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang explained with a smile, “It only cries when it’s on a tree.”
Sang Qianqian looked at Ruan Xiaodie, who was putting the green cicada into the small sarong carefully and attentively.
Sensing Sang Qianqian’s gaze, she looked up and smiled. “Sister Qianqian, do you like this cicada too?”
She was clearly pretty and had an innocent smile, but Sang Qianqian only felt a chill in her heart.
She shook her head gently.
Ruan Xiaoshuang asked, “Qianqian, do we still need to give Xiaodie acupuncture today?”
Sang Qianqian was not in a good condition to hold a needle. She was afraid that her hand would shake during the process.
“We can stop for a day.”
She said vaguely, “We’ll talk about it after Director Miao and 1 have confirmed the next stage of treatment plan tomorrow. Xiaodie is in good condition now, so there should be a big adjustment to the plan.”
Hearing this, Ruan Xiaoshuang was very happy. “Okay, then we’ll wait patiently.”
Sang Qianqian took out Ruan Xiaoshuang’s last eye examination results from her bag. “Also, the last examination results are out. The data is normal. Sister Xiaoshuang, you can start preparing for the surgery. 1’11 talk to the Opthalmology Department head. The surgery will be scheduled for three days later.”
“Three days later?”
Ruan Xiaoshuang didn’t expect the date to come so fast. “Then what do 1 need to prepare?”
“You don’t need anything. Just rest well, recuperate, and keep your emotions stable.”
Sang Qianqian asked, “Has Shi’an not returned yet?”
Xie Shi’an hadn’t been in Beijing much these days. It seemed that there was a project going on overseas and he was on a business trip for that.
“Not yet.” Ruan Xiaoshuang shook her head.
Sang Qianqian said casually, “He seems to have been away for a week, right? I remember that he said that he would be back in two or three days at most.”
On the second day of his business trip, the incident with Song Guanhua happened. He had called Sang Qianqian to ask about the situation, so he knew about it.
“Originally, he had already finished his work, but something came up at the last minute and he had to go to Europe.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang said worriedly, “I’m not sure when he will return.”
“It’s fine even if he doesn’t come back. It’ll be just fine if 1 accompany you instead during the surgery.”
Sang Qianqian comforted Ruan Xiaoshuang and asked, “What’s the matter with Shi’an? Did something happen?”
“It’s fine. It’s just that he’s really taking his time.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang didn’t treat Sang Qianqian as an outsider, so she didn’t hide it from her. “My aunt’s house abroad, I think… It was robbed.”
Sang Qianqian’s heart skipped a beat, but she acted as if nothing had happened. “A thief?”
“Yes, in the middle of the night, the butler found that there seemed to be light in Xiaodie’s room and there were people.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang felt a little strange when she mentioned this. “When the butler went over, he found that there was no movement inside, and nothing disappeared. However, the surveillance cameras in the house seemed to have skipped over twenty minutes.”
The butler called the police, but the police did not find any suspicious signs. In the end, they attributed the pause of the surveillance cameras to a system malfunction and determined that the light and figure that the butler saw were just his hallucinations.
However, the butler was very convinced that he did see light in Ruan Xiaodie’s room. He also vaguely saw a woman’s figure flashing by with the light.
The butler suspected that the manor was haunted.
That day, Xie Shi’an went to deal with the funeral affairs of Xiaodie’s aunt and brought Xiaodie back to the capital. Before he left, he entrusted the butler to take care of the house. After what happened, the butler called Xie Shi’an and said that he wanted to leave. He refused to stay in the house.
Xie Shi’an had no choice but to rush over to deal with this matter.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the current situation.”
Ruan Xiaoshuang was a little helpless. “Shi’an said that he checked carefully and indeed nothing was missing. There was nothing valuable in Xiaodie’s room, just some toys and other things…”
She thought of something and turned to Ruan Xiaodie, saying gently, “Your Brother Shi’an said that he accidentally found a few of your old picture alb.u.ms when he went through the things in the house. He will bring those picture alb.u.ms back for you.. Do you still remember the paintings you drew in the