Aside from the Lan family, Feng Suyin wondered who else the Feng family offended.
Someone as ambitious as Feng Xian didn't climb without leaving bodies behind. He was shrewd. Cutthroat. He'd step on anyone who got in his way. Deals. Lies. A social ladder greased with other people's ruin.
She'd watched it her whole life. The way he smiled while someone lost everything. The way he shook hands with men he'd destroy tomorrow.
Growing up, she barely saw him at home.
But she heard him. Fighting with Li Xinlian. Their voices bounced off the walls late at night, sharp and mean. Two ambitious strangers using each other. No warmth. No love. A cold, distant partnership that never pretended to be anything else.
Sometimes Feng Suyin wondered if her father could feel love at all.
Then Yilan was born.
And suddenly he had a gentle side. He treated that little girl like a pearl in his palm. Everything he'd never given his wife—never given her—he poured into Yilan. Gifts. Attention. Softness. The kind of softness Feng Suyin had never seen on his face.
She watched from the doorway those first few years. Ate the bitterness. Swallowed it down until it sat in her chest like a stone.
She knew Feng Xian only tolerated her because Li Xinlian wanted a child. He never missed a chance to remind Feng Suyin she didn't deserve his name. You're lucky we took you in. The words lived in her head. The jealousy lived in her bones.
As she got older, she learned to read him better. The charming smile he gave business partners. The cold ambition behind his eyes. A darkness underneath the smooth surface. She saw it. Felt it crawl down her spine.
Now he was mayor of Longyu City. He'd attend more events. Show more power. Feng Yilan's reputation would rise with his.
Feng Suyin needed to move fast. Before Yilan got the upper hand. Before her father's influence crushed whatever ground she'd managed to claim.
She was still turning options over in her head when she nearly walked past Lan Ruoxing and his cousin. Distracted. Stupid.
The hospital hallway stretched long and white around her. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. A gurney squeaked somewhere in the distance. She kept walking, made herself focus on the nurse station twenty feet ahead. Charts. She needed to check her assigned patients. Busy work. Something to do with her hands.
"Dr. Feng."
She stopped.
Lan Ruoxing stood ten feet to her left, near the water fountain. His cousin—taller, harder eyes, a jaw set like concrete—stood beside him watching her like she might bite.
Feng Suyin turned. Raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to 'Miss Feng' last night?"
Behind Lan Ruoxing, the cousin's expression shifted. Curious. Suspicious. His weight shifted to his back foot. Feng Suyin caught all of it but didn't react. Let him wonder.
Lan Ruoxing smiled. Sheepish. Scratched the back of his head. "Ah, I just remembered I should use your proper title. We're in the hospital, after all."
"Little Ruo, you two know each other?" The cousin's voice had an edge. His arms crossed over his chest.
Feng Suyin wasn't offended. Of course a Lan family member would look at her sideways. She was the Feng family's adopted daughter. That put her on the wrong side of their history. The wrong side of the hallway. The wrong side of everything.
"Recently acquainted." Lan Ruoxing shrugged like it was nothing. "She helped me deal with a problem."
That boyish grin again. It didn't match the tension in his shoulders.
"Didn't know you worked here, Dr. Feng. What department?"
"Surgery."
Her voice came out cool. Deliberate. She kept her chart in her hand, a shield.
Lan Ruoxing's smile widened but didn't reach his eyes. "Well, fate brought us together again. Maybe I'll see you more now." He paused. Looked at the floor, then back at her. "I'm sure you already know—my mom's confined here."
Feng Suyin nodded. Said nothing.
The Lan and Feng families had a history soaked in contempt. Disdain. Lawsuits. Public fights. Private betrayals. And yet here he was, acting friendly like the past meant nothing. Her pulse ticked up. She didn't trust it. Didn't trust him.
But she also didn't feel the usual coldness in her chest when she looked at him.
That bothered her more.
"I hope your mother's condition is stable." Civil. Careful. Her fingers tightened on the chart.
Lan Ruoxing's smile flickered. For a second, something real showed through—exhaustion, maybe. Fear. Then he smoothed it over. "I hope so too." Quieter now. Almost a whisper. "She's been sick for as long as I remember. Constant worry for our family."
Feng Suyin saw it. The crack underneath the charm. The weight he carried in his ribcage.
She shouldn't care. She really shouldn't.
"If there's anything I can do to assist with your mother's care, feel free to reach out."
The words left her mouth before she thought about them.
Lan Ruoxing's eyes widened. Even the cousin looked surprised—his arms uncrossed.
Then suspicion snapped back. Lan Fengjin narrowed his eyes. Took half a step forward. "Why would someone from the Feng family help my aunt? Isn't it enough that your mother hurt her?"
"Fengjin." Lan Ruoxing's voice was low. A warning. He was younger than his cousin but steadier. Mature. He put a hand on Lan Fengjin's arm.
Feng Suyin raised her own hand. Stopped whatever else Lan Fengjin was about to say.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Not fear. Something colder. Sharper. She looked straight at him, held his gaze.
"I understand there's animosity between our families. But as a doctor, my duty is to provide care regardless of personal history." She paused. Let the words land. "Your aunt deserves proper medical attention. I'm more than capable of offering my assistance."
The words hung in the fluorescent light. A nurse walked past, didn't look at them. The gurney squeaked again, farther now.
Lan Ruoxing's gaze softened. Real gratitude this time. He nodded slowly. "Thank you, Dr. Feng. I'll remember your kindness."
He shot his cousin a warning glance. Lan Fengjin huffed. Looked away. His jaw worked side to side. But he knew she was right. She could see it in the way his shoulders dropped.
Feng Suyin stood still. Cold on the outside. Burning inside.
The hospital hallway felt longer now. Emptier. She could hear her own breath.
She knew a simple apology from her mother wouldn't fix the rift between their families. One gesture of goodwill wouldn't undo decades of damage. Li Xinlian had hurt Lan Qinglan. That wound didn't heal because a surgeon offered to check a chart.
But Lan Fengjin was wrong if he thought she was doing this for the Feng family.
She didn't owe them loyalty. She didn't owe them anything.
Because if there was anything she wanted?
It was the ruination of the people who killed her in her past life.
She turned back toward the nurse station. Didn't look at either of them again.
Her hands didn't shake. But they wanted to.