Chapter 395: Childhood Friendships Must Be Cultivated Early (Extra 4)

Even Jiang Chen couldn’t bear to watch any longer, a trace of grief appearing in his eyes as he supported Xiao Xueqing beside him and said, “Ziyu, Luoluo is gone.”

The moment those words fell, An Ziyu paused, tilting his head slightly.

“Gone?”

Jiang Chen averted his gaze and repeated, “She’s dead.”

An Ziyu slowly smiled, a gentle smile.

“Uncle, I once said something to Luoluo.”

He glanced at the girl lying there with her eyes closed, his gaze full of tenderness and love.

“I told her I would always stay with her.”

Jiang Chen and Xiao Xueqing felt their hearts tighten in that moment.

But what they feared didn’t happen.

Instead, they noticed that An Ziyu gradually began to forget things about their daughter.

For the two of them, this was a relief, though they knew it was a cruel reality for him.

What they didn’t expect, however, was that they too would begin to forget.

“Luoluo.”

Xiao Xueqing unconsciously called out the name as she entered the living room, then froze.

Jiang Chen came in from the kitchen.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

Puzzled, Xiao Xueqing asked, “What did I just say?”

Jiang Chen chuckled.

“Did you forget? Chenchen has already gone to bed.”

Xiao Xueqing felt an odd sense of unease for a brief moment, but quickly dismissed it, smiling.

“Ziyu’s college entrance exams are coming up, right? I’ll make some soup for him later.”

Jiang Chen nodded.

“Yes, the boy needs to be nourished. He’s gotten so skinny lately.”

When An Ziyu’s college applications came in, no one expected that he would choose to become a doctor.

Xiao Xueqing felt uneasy about it, knowing how tough a doctor’s life could be—long hours, surgeries that lasted for over ten hours straight.

She tried to talk him out of it, but in the end, there wasn’t much more she could do.

After graduating from college, An Ziyu joined the city’s central hospital, steadily climbing the ranks with his abilities and eventually becoming an excellent surgeon.

Xiao Xueqing and Jiang Chen began worrying about his personal life.

Every time they asked him about a girlfriend, An Ziyu would smile and say, “No rush.”

They could only let the matter go, though they occasionally brought it up again.

During New Year’s dinner, the family gathered together.

Jiang Chen was now in middle school.

He was growing into a handsome boy, and his delicate features seemed to carry a faint resemblance to someone else.

An Ziyu didn’t quite understand why he was so attentive to Jiang Chen, but whenever the boy smiled, An Ziyu couldn’t help but feel a bit disoriented.

Xiao Xueqing placed a piece of chicken on his plate.

“Ziyu, eat something. You’ve gotten so thin. Is the food at the hospital not good?”

An Ziyu smiled.

“It’s fine.”

Xiao Xueqing couldn’t help but ask, “At the hospital… are there any female colleagues you get along with?”

An Ziyu knew what she was implying and smiled gently.

“No, just normal relationships.”

Xiao Xueqing sighed.

Jiang Chen chimed in, “Mom, stop worrying. Maybe brother Ziyu has a girl he likes but hasn’t told us yet.”

He looked up with a grin.

“Brother Ziyu, am I right?”

A sharp pain flashed through An Ziyu’s head as he stared blankly at the face in front of him.

After a long pause, he slowly smiled.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen said, “Brother Ziyu, did I guess right?”

An Ziyu’s eyes softened, and in a voice filled with tenderness, he replied, “I just remembered someone I haven’t been able to recall for a long time.”

“I need to find her.”