THIP Chapter 54 V2

She pressed her hand to her chest. “You’re here, Changran.”

Gu Changran looked at her in shock.

“Why do you think I never brought Bai Qi back to the country? Why do you think I never once mentioned the surgery? Why did I take you to the amusement park?” Mu Liuyin’s tone softened. “Do you think I forgot what happened that night?”

Tears welled up in Gu Changran’s eyes. She threw herself into Mu Liuyin’s arms. “I thought you didn’t care anymore… Big sister…”

Mu Liuyin’s heart ached. She gently stroked the girl’s hair. “But I can’t promise you anything, Changran. Our family has a genetic condition. No one in the Gu family has lived past thirty-five. You… shouldn’t love me.”

Gu Changran looked up, a tear falling down her cheek.

“So when you got sick… it wasn’t just exhaustion,” she said hoarsely.

Mu Liuyin silently nodded.

“So please,” she said gently, “live on in my place. Live a full, beautiful life in this world.”

The words shattered Gu Changran’s composure. She burst into tears.

“Can you do that for me?” Mu Liuyin asked again, softly but firmly.

In the end, Gu Changran didn’t go through with the surgery. By some twist of fate, the next day Yu Chen found another donor with an 89% match.

Bai Qi underwent surgery and recovered.

On the third day after the operation, Gu Changxi—the chairman of Gu Corporation—passed away due to illness.

In his will, he left all his shares in the company to Gu Changran.

She became the new chairwoman of Gu Corporation. No matter how shocked or unwilling Bai Qi was, she had no way to challenge it.

In the system space, the water mirror displayed the final scene: Gu Changran placed a bouquet of pink roses at Gu Changxi’s grave and smiled softly. “I love you, brother.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Mu Liuyin watched in silence for a long time before drinking a vial of emotional cleansing serum.

Some feelings were never meant to remain.

It felt like there was a kiss on her skin, but in her dazed state, Mu Liuyin couldn’t quite make sense of what was happening.

“Mmm…”
Only when a sharp pain pierced through her did she finally let out a stifled groan, her face turning pale.

“Brother… since you want my heart so badly,” she vaguely heard Gu Changran say before she lost consciousness, “then take mine in exchange.”

And yet she still had the nerve to ask afterward how the “deal” sounded! When Mu Liuyin woke up, she was so furious that her face turned green.

What was wrong with these mission targets in every world?

Mu Liuyin had already mentally cursed Gu Changran countless times. Wasn’t she supposed to be a soft, obedient little thing?

Wait—
She suddenly remembered Gu Changran’s last words. Could it be that the girl had found out what the original host did and believed Mu Liuyin wanted to take her heart and transplant it into Bai Qi?

Thinking about how she had raised this child, and now this misunderstanding led to such a dramatic fallout, Mu Liuyin was fuming. Did Gu Changran even have a brain?! If Mu Liuyin truly wanted Bai Qi to get a heart transplant, would she have sent Bai Qi overseas for treatment and only visited once or twice a year?

Seething, Mu Liuyin looked around—but the little troublemaker was nowhere to be found after she woke up.

She forced herself to get dressed, but her breath quickened, and a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Gritting her teeth, her trembling hand reached for her phone. She called Yu Chen.

Yu Chen’s face turned serious the moment he received a call from Gu Changran. He rushed over immediately and brought Mu Liuyin back to the Gu residence.

She didn’t wake up for another two hours, finally regaining consciousness in the family’s medical room.

Yu Chen sat beside her, looking worn out.

Seeing her awake, he gave her a strange look and joked bitterly, “Gu Dashao, was this your last wish—to find someone to spend the night with before dying?”

Only then did Mu Liuyin realize the faint marks still lingering on her skin from earlier. Although she was dressed, the faint bruise on her neck was visible.

But Yu Chen had misunderstood—it wasn’t her spending the night with someone. It was Gu Changran who had forced her into a difficult situation.

She avoided the topic entirely and asked, “How much time do I have left?”

“This is your seventh episode this month.” Yu Chen’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion.

“Maybe ten days,” he finally said, his voice hoarse and shaking. “Gu Changxi… I can’t save you.”

No one in this era of medicine could.

Instead of despair, Mu Liuyin gave a faint, serene smile. “What, starting to feel sorry I’m dying? Didn’t you always say I was cold-blooded?”

In truth, after the paternity test confirmed Gu Changran was truly adopted by the Gu family, Yu Chen had believed Mu Liuyin wouldn’t go so far as to take her heart.

He glanced at her, about to say something more, when the door opened.

Gu Changran entered, and Mu Liuyin’s expression instantly darkened.

The butler followed behind her, announcing, “Miss came to see the young master.”

Mu Liuyin: “…”

Gu Changran, worry fading from her face, quickly approached her. Lips pressed together, she said softly, “Brother…”

Mu Liuyin didn’t respond.

Sensing the strange tension in the room, Yu Chen quickly excused himself and left.

“Brother,” Gu Changran asked gently, “Are you alright?”

She had gone out to buy breakfast, but when she returned, he was gone. She had called dozens of times, all going straight to voicemail. So she came to the Gu residence.

Mu Liuyin glared at her coldly. “Do you think I’m okay?!”

Thinking of how badly things had gone last night, guilt flashed across Gu Changran’s face.

“I’m sorry, Brother,” she said. “If it’ll help, you can take my heart. I’ll let you decide what to do with it.”

But her voice carried no real regret. Mu Liuyin’s temper flared even more. Her eyes sharpened coldly.

“Gu Changran, are you even thinking?! If I wanted Bai Qi to have your heart, would I have sent her overseas for treatment for all these years? Would I have pampered and protected you? Let you return to the Luo family?”

“Why do you think I brought you to that banquet? Do you think… if you weren’t my adopted sister, Gu Changran, I’d have cared about you all these years?!”

Gu Changran was dumbfounded by the sudden scolding. What shocked her most was hearing Mu Liuyin raise her voice. It was… surreal.

After venting, Mu Liuyin let out a breath and resumed her usual calm. “We already found a suitable heart donor for Bai Qi a few days ago. No one needs yours.”

But Gu Changran’s eyes lit up with joy instead. “So… you don’t love Bai Qi. You love me?”

Mu Liuyin: “…”

She looked at the overjoyed girl in front of her and resisted the urge to ask how she even arrived at that conclusion.

“But,” Gu Changran blinked, her eyes suspiciously glossy, “that compatibility chart…”

So she had seen it that night she was drunk. Mu Liuyin tried to remain composed. “Yu Chen sent it in secretly. I didn’t approve it.”

She had no qualms blaming him. If Yu Chen hadn’t tucked that chart into the folder, none of this would have happened.

Gu Changran leaned in and placed a light kiss on Mu Liuyin’s forehead before she could object. “Brother, I’m really happy.”

Mu Liuyin lowered her eyes, voice weary. “Go back to the Luo family. I need to rest.”

“Brother…” Gu Changran hesitated, wanting to stay with her.

But Mu Liuyin’s tired voice cut in again. “Changran, I won’t hold what happened last night against you. But… there won’t be a next time.”

The joy in Gu Changran’s expression faded. Her face paled as she clenched and then slowly released her fists.

“…I understand,” she whispered.

Whatever Gu Changran was truly feeling, Mu Liuyin didn’t know.

And honestly, she didn’t want to.

The donor had arrived in the country. Bai Qi’s surgery was scheduled for five days later. Mu Liuyin stayed outside the operating room the entire time. When the doctor finally came out and confirmed the operation was a success, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She glanced in at Bai Qi.

But just as Bai Qi was waking up, Mu Liuyin’s phone rang—Gu Changran wanted to meet.

She hesitated, told Bai Qi she had something to take care of, and left her in the care of the nurse before heading to the address.

It was a new house that Gu Changran had bought.

The moment she stepped inside, Mu Liuyin had a bad feeling. But it was too late.

Before she could react, everything went black.

When she came to, her body was still aching with lingering discomfort.

She could barely move. On top of that, her hereditary condition had started to act up again.

The pain was unbearable, and tears silently fell from her tightly shut eyes.

The faint sound of her crying drew Gu Changran out of the kitchen. She rushed to the bedroom to find Mu Liuyin curled up in pain, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

Panicked, Gu Changran wrapped her arms around her and pulled out her phone to call emergency services.

Mu Liuyin weakly held her hand, eyes still shut, and whispered, “Call… Yu Chen…”

Gu Changran immediately dialed using Mu Liuyin’s phone, panic overtaking her.

Yu Chen swore the moment he picked up, then rushed over and gave her emergency medication before carrying her to the Gu family hospital.

Gu Changran was so worried she could barely stop crying.

After stabilizing her condition, Yu Chen turned to her and said, “She has about two days left. Stay with her while you still can.”

“What did you say?!” Gu Changran’s eyes widened, her voice full of shock and disbelief.

Yu Chen frowned. “Didn’t she tell you? No one in the Gu family with that genetic condition lives past thirty-five.”

Gu Changran went completely pale.

She stayed at Mu Liuyin’s side, empty and numb. When Mu Liuyin woke up, tears started falling from Gu Changran’s eyes the moment she saw her.

“You know now?” Mu Liuyin’s voice was hoarse.

“Brother… Gu Changxi…” Gu Changran sobbed.

In her mind, the system had already begun its final countdown. Mu Liuyin gave a small smile. “I’ll donate the Gu family’s estate to the nation under your name. In return, help take care of Bai Qi for me, okay? She was entrusted to me.”

“I don’t care about your deal!” Gu Changran shouted, tears falling freely.

Mu Liuyin’s eyes slowly closed.

“Gu Changxi!” she cried in despair.

One week later, Gu Changran held a funeral for Gu Changxi. But no one knew the truth—his body had not been cremated.

She returned to her new home and opened a locked door at the end of the hallway.

Inside a crystal coffin lay Gu Changxi’s perfectly preserved body.

The delicate, quiet girl slowly opened the lid and gently pressed a kiss to his brow, as if kissing someone only peacefully asleep.