Su Jin took slow, deliberate steps forward, and her smile calm—cruel in its serenity. She stopped at the foot of the hospital bed and looked down at the bandaged woman.
"Mom," she said gently, "why are you so afraid? I'm your daughter. And why would I ever think you're ugly?"
"Ugly?" Gu Xiangyun froze, the word hitting her like a slap. Her hand shot up to touch her face—what little she could feel beneath the layers of gauze. "Mirror! Give me a mirror!" she cried out, panic tightening her voice.
Su Jin slowly pulled a compact mirror from her pocket and held it out. "I wouldn't, if I were you," she said softly. "But if you insist… just know you might lose your appetite."
Gu Xiangyun snatched the mirror with shaking hands. One glance—and a piercing scream tore from her throat.
The mirror slipped through her fingers, crashing to the floor. "No! That's not me! That's not me!"
Her fingers clawed at the blankets as she buried her face in them, sobbing and gasping. "It's not me!"
Su Jin's gaze was sharp as glass. "Oh, but it is you," she said. "The price of fire, Mom. The fire you rushed into with such courage. To save your beloved daughter."
She gave a cold, mocking chuckle. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get the best treatment. We can't have you scaring the nurses."
Gu Xiangyun whimpered, "No, no, no…" rocking under the covers as the weight of her reflection sank in.
Her face—her pride, her obsession—was gone.
Su Jin looked down at the trembling figure with a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
"This is just the beginning, Mom," she whispered. "You haven't even begun to pay yet."
When the doctor rushed in and saw Gu Xiangyun's crazed appearance, he quickly called in two nurses. They held her down while he prepared a sedative.
"She's hysterical. Hold her steady!" he ordered.
Gu Xiangyun screamed and struggled, "It's not me! This face isn't mine! I'm not a monster! Let me go!"
The moment the tranquillizer entered her bloodstream, her body began to quiet. Her limbs twitched weakly, and her cries softened into whimpers. Finally, her eyelids drooped, and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
Su Jin stood at the foot of the bed, watching it all unfold with an indifferent gaze. There was no satisfaction in her face—just cold calm, like a page turned in a long, dark book.
She stepped quietly out of the ward, the door clicking shut behind her.
In the corridor, Su Mingyuan stood with one hand against the wall, a cigarette trembling between his fingers. His shirt was wrinkled, and his eyes hollow, as if the events of the day had aged him ten years.
Su Jin walked over, her voice soft but flat.
"Dad."
Su Mingyuan didn't look at her at first. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a long plume of smoke before turning his head slowly. His voice was hoarse.
"Xiaojin… don't tell your grandmother what happened today. She's old. She won't be able to take it."
Su Jin raised a brow, feigning innocence.
"You think this will stay quiet? Even if I don't say a word, the reporters outside already smell blood."
Su Mingyuan's hand trembled again, ash dropping to the floor. He looked desperate.
"I know. But if the old lady finds out what I did… if she knows about Qin Man, about Xiangyun… she'll never let me take over Su Corporation."
He turned fully toward her, gripping her shoulders tightly.
"Xiaojin, listen to me. You have to help me this time. Please. Tell the old lady Qin Man tricked me. Say she was blackmailing me. Say she attacked Xiangyun out of jealousy. You have to help me protect this family."
Su Jin stared at him for a long moment.
Then she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Protect this family?" she repeated slowly. "You mean the family that used me like a blood bag, treated me like trash, and threw me away when I wasn't useful?"
Su Mingyuan stiffened.
"That's not fair. I was under pressure. I had no choice."
Su Jin leaned in slightly, her voice a quiet, chilling whisper.
"You had a choice every time you ignored me, every time you turned a blind eye, every time you sided with your precious wife and daughter."
She pulled away, brushing his hand off her shoulder.
"I'm not your shield anymore, Su Mingyuan. Save yourself."
And with that, she walked down the corridor, her back straight, the weight of years of pain finally beginning to lift from her shoulders.
Su Mingyuan was left standing there, watching her leave—alone, exposed, and without the daughter he never truly protected.
"Is Su nuo's family here?" The lights above the operating room went dark, and the door swung open. A doctor stepped out, his surgical gown damp with sweat, eyes scanning the hallway.
Su Mingyuan snapped out of his daze, suddenly remembering the reason they were all here.
He rushed forward. "Doctor, how is she? Did the surgery go well?"
The doctor gave a weary nod. "It went smoothly overall. Now, we wait and observe for signs of rejection. If her body accepts the heart, she should recover well. But the next 48 hours are critical."
After a few more reminders and notes for post-operative care, the doctor walked away, his shoulders heavy with exhaustion.
The operation… succeeded?
Su Jin stood motionless for a moment, genuinely stunned. With everything that had happened—the fire, the chaos, the screaming—she hadn't expected Su Nuo to survive. She had thought fate might finally turn its hand.
"Truly the kind of person who could survive a thousand-year disaster," Su Jin muttered under her breath, her expression unreadable.
Su Mingyuan emerged shortly after, pushing Su Nuo's bed out of the operating room with the help of nurses. He spotted Su Jin and immediately barked, "What are you standing there for? Come help me push!"
"Oh." Su Jin blinked, quickly masking the emotions in her eyes. She stepped forward calmly and helped him guide the bed down the corridor.
Su Nuo lay pale and unconscious, her chest rising and falling steadily. Tubes and machines surrounded her, monitoring every breath.
As Su Jin walked beside the bed, a flicker of cold detachment danced in her eyes.
Live well, Su Nuo. She thought. Live long enough to watch everything you hold dear fall apart.
The old lady called early the next morning and ordered Su Mingyuan to return home immediately.
She wouldn't risk going to the hospital herself—not with reporters swarming around after the fire incident. One photo of her entering or leaving the hospital would be enough to spark a scandal and deal a fatal blow to the already wavering reputation of the Su family.
Su Mingyuan, pale and weary, didn't dare to defy her.
He brought Su Jin along and stepped cautiously into the ancestral home.
The moment they entered, the atmosphere dropped.
"Kneel down, you unfilial wretch!" The old lady's trembling voice echoed through the room.
Her face was ashen, her cane quivering in her grip. She raised it instinctively to strike, but her frail body held her back. The anger in her eyes was like a storm barely held at bay.
Without hesitation, Su Mingyuan dropped to his knees and bowed his head deeply.
"Mother, I know I was wrong. I know I've shamed you… but please… you have to help me this time."
His voice cracked with desperation, a far cry from the domineering patriarch he had always pretended to be.
The old lady stared at him, her heart a tangled mess of fury and disappointment.
"If you had known this day would come, why didn't you think earlier?" she snapped. "You were given everything—status, respect, control of the company—and look how you've repaid it. Mistresses? Scandals? Fires at the hospital?"
She turned away slightly, her hand gripping the back of a chair to steady herself. Her voice softened, but the pain in it deepened.
"I was widowed young. I poured everything into this family. I refused to remarry, refused to give up, all for you and your future."
Su Jin stood silently at the side, her eyes calm, observing it all.
The old lady looked up again, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"And yet, I raised a fool. I should have seen it earlier. Doting too much on a child is no different from slowly killing him."
Her words landed like stones in Su Mingyuan's chest. He trembled but didn't dare raise his head.
The old lady looked at Su Jin, her expression softening only slightly. "Xiao Jin, what happened last night, You handled it with more sense than your father ever could. I'm proud of you."
"Mom, your son really knows he's wrong…"
Su Mingyuan knelt on the ground, banging his head in repentance. Tears streamed down his face as he choked out the words:
"As long as you can help your son through this difficulty, your son promises—he will change. I'll be a new man. I'll never fool around again, Mom."
His voice was hoarse with desperation, his forehead reddened from kneeling too long.
The old lady's heart ached. No matter how disappointing he was, he was still her son—the flesh of her flesh.
But she had been strong her entire life. She had raised the Su family from nothing after becoming a widow, all for this? To watch her son destroy everything with his own hands?
She closed her eyes for a long moment, then opened them, voice cold and steady:
"You want me to save you?"
"Fine. But I have one condition."
Su Mingyuan immediately looked up, hope sparking in his eyes.
"Mom, don't say one condition—even ten, I'll agree!"
The old lady didn't hesitate:
"Hand over your shares. And Gu Xiangyun's too."
The hopeful light in Su Mingyuan's eyes instantly dimmed. He stared at his mother in disbelief, as if she'd just driven a knife into his chest.
"Mom? You—how could you?"
"I'm your only heir. If you take away my shares, isn't that the same as cutting off my life?"
The old lady's cane slammed hard against the floor.
"Shut up, you bastard!" she snapped. "How have you managed the company these years? You think I don't know?"
She glared at him, fury blazing in her eyes.
"The company started running in the red the year before last. Loans piled up. Creditors circled like vultures. And you kept it from me—all for that woman!"
Su Mingyuan's lips trembled. His head dropped, and he muttered weakly:
"It was… it was because of Qin Man. She got me into gambling. She used my name—used company money—"
"Enough!" the old lady interrupted. Her voice, trembling with anger, echoed in the room.
"You call yourself a man? You were willing to risk the Su family name for a woman who burned down a hospital? You almost killed your own daughter—did you even rememberd Su Nuo lying in the operating room?" Instead of taking that woman away, you watched her trying to burn the hospital!
Su Mingyuan's face paled completely.
The old lady's gaze grew cold and distant.
"You don't deserve those shares. You don't deserve to carry the Su name in business."
"Sign them over. Or leave this house with nothing."
Mom, am I not your only child
"Shut up!" she snapped"!
Su Mingyuan flinched, his shoulders hunching inward like a scolded child.
"You let a mistress interfere with the company's finances? Took out loans in Su Corporation's name just to please her? You've nearly gambled away three generations of hard-earned reputation, and you dare speak of being the Su family's heir?"
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
Su Jin stood at the side, expression unreadable, but inwardly, her heart clenched with quiet vindication. This was the moment she had waited for—when the mighty Su Mingyuan was brought to his knees not by her hand, but by his own foolishness.