The observing teachers below pulled out tissues one after another, quietly wiping the corners of their eyes.

During the final ten minutes, Vivian struggled to sit upright.

The nurse immediately stepped forward to help her back down, but Vivian gently pushed her hand away, "Let me say a few final words to the children."

Though her voice was weak, it carried a powerful force:

"What your teacher wants to impart today is not a core exam concept, but the concept of 'life.' I fell ill, but fortunately, it was discovered early and cured."

"Therefore, I want to tell everyone to cherish your health, cherish every single day you can still meet with your family, and cherish those who love you with true sincerity."

"Do not live like your teacher used to, hiding every single word in your heart and enduring every single ounce of heartbreak all on your own."

She looked toward Sylvester beyond the camera, her smile radiating warmth, "And furthermore, cherish those who are willing to change for your sake."

Sylvester stood below the podium, staring at her on the screen as his eyes flushed completely red, his tears finally falling unstoppably.

The dismissal bell rang, and the number of online viewers inside the stream had already surpassed five thousand.

Right at that moment, organized, booming shouts suddenly echoed from outside the recovery room:

"Mrs. Hurst—we have arrived—!!"

Sylvester turned his head in shock to see Caleb Moore leading the entire class, each holding up a slip of paper covered in text, standing right outside the room.

"Wishing Mrs. Hurst a speedy recovery! We are waiting for you to come back!"

The students shouted in unison, and then slowly raised their slips of paper, piecing them together to form a single sentence:

"Your classroom knows no dismissal bell. — Senior Class One"

Watching those familiar, smiling faces outside her window, Vivian’s tears spilled over instantly.

Separated by the glass pane, she waved her hand to her students with all her strength.

Sylvester stepped forward, gently wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he bowed deeply toward the students, "Thank you, everyone."

Just then, his phone vibrated with a text from Sienna:

"Sylvester Hurst, you broke the partnership for the sake of that invalid, and the Hurst Group's stock dropped by five percent today."

"The shareholders are furious. It's still not too late to turn back, I can help you stabilize the situation."

Sylvester screenshotted the message directly and forwarded it into the board of directors group chat, attaching a line of text:

"This is my wife, Vivian Hurst. She just finished a tumor resection surgery today, and she is currently delivering a class to her students from her hospital bed."

"If stock prices drop, they can always rise again. But once a person is gone, everything ceases to exist. Those who support me, stay; those who are dissatisfied, I will repurchase your shares at market value."

Ten minutes later, messages from the board members poured in one after another:

"Mr. Hurst, family comes first. We will work together to pull the stock prices back up!"

"Full support to Mr. Hurst!"

"Wishing Mrs. Hurst a speedy recovery!"

Unanimous support.

Sienna's absolute last shred of hope was shattered completely.

Chapter 16

Late at night in the ward, Harvey had already fallen asleep on the cot, his breathing even.

Vivian leaned against the headboard, feeling much better. As the anesthesia wore off, her wound began to ache, but she endured it in silence.

Sylvester sat by the bedside, peeling an apple for her.

The apple peel formed a single, long ribbon that never broke—the result of his practicing all afternoon.

"Sylvester," Vivian said, looking at his focused profile, her voice soft, "the open class today... how would you grade yourself?"

"A sixty."

He smiled, cutting the apple into small pieces and feeding one to her, "But... I will spend the rest of my life bringing that grade up to a hundred."

Vivian chewed the apple slowly, her gaze resting on his face.

Over the past month, Sylvester’s transformation had been too thorough, too sudden.

He remembered every single detail of her teaching, even knowing which student was falling behind or which one came from a struggling family.

He knew everything about her abnormal checkup from five years ago; when he brought up the CA199 marker, the remorse in his eyes was impossible to fake.

His break with the Vance family had been swift and absolute, as though he had known of Sienna's schemes all along.

And his doting affection for Harvey made him seem like a completely different person from the cold, absent father of the past.

Outside the window, the moonlight was bright and pure, pouring through the glass and casting a silver frost across the ward floor.

Staring at the light, Vivian suddenly spoke, "Sylvester, let's talk."

Sylvester’s movements paused briefly before he nodded, "Alright."

"Your change over the past month has been too sudden." She looked directly into his eyes, "Tell me, why?"

Sylvester remained silent for a long time.

He stood up, pulled a thick folder from his bag, placed it on the nightstand, and slid it slowly toward Vivian.

"Inside this, you will find the answers you want."

Vivian looked down.

She reached out and opened it, finding several sheets of paper and a voice recorder inside.

The first item was a copy of a death certificate bearing the name "Vivian Hurst," with the date of death marked as May 20, 2033.

Their silver wedding anniversary. The cause of death: drowning.

The second was a transcript of a recording in Sylvester's own handwriting. It was a final message signed by "Vivian Hurst":

"Sylvester, by the time you hear this recording, I suppose I will already be dead. I want to clear up three things before I go: first, I never ran away with anyone; second, I am sick; third, please water the pothos for me."

The third was an investigative report on Sienna's forged evidence, detailing exactly how Sienna had photoshopped the pictures, bribed the hotel staff, and hacked into her cloud account.

The fourth was a photograph of the last page of her lesson plans—the final arrangements she had written "in case the surgery fails."

The fifth was a letter written by their son, Harvey, when he was small, his childish script reading: "If Mommy is no longer here, you and Daddy must take good care of yourselves."

Vivian’s hands began to shake.

She picked up the copy of the death certificate, her voice trembling slightly, "What is this?"

"This is the truth of a past life."

Sylvester’s voice was low and raspy, "Vivian, I didn't change out of nowhere. I... was reborn."

Chapter 17

Vivian snapped her head up, her eyes wide with shock.

"Let me tell you a few details that only the two of us could possibly know," Sylvester continued, each word carrying a heavy weight.

"Your mother's keepsakes are hidden inside the third cedar chest in the attic of your old family home, wrapped in a blue cloth. Inside is a pair of silver bracelets—your grandmother's dowry."

Vivian’s body gave a slight shudder.

She had never told a single soul about this, not even her younger brother, Victor.

"Now, let me tell you the complete timeline," Sylvester spoke, taking a deep breath to recount everything from his past life.

"Today is May 20, 2018, our fifth wedding anniversary."

"According to the timeline of my past life, you would go to your checkup alone at 4:00 PM today, discovering an anomaly in your CA199 marker for the first time. Terrified of affecting my contract signing, you didn't tell me."

"Five years later, in 2023, you were diagnosed with early-stage pancreatic cancer; ten years later, in 2028, the illness reached the late stage; twenty-five years later, in 2038, on our silver anniversary, you threw yourself into the ocean."

He pulled out the voice recorder and pressed play.

His own voice echoed through the room, filled with boundless remorse and agony:

"Vivian, this is Sylvester. If you can hear this... I am sorry, I was blind for thirty years."

"I saw your diagnosis, I heard your recording, and I know Sienna lied to me... but you are never coming back."

The recording cut off.

The ward fell into a deathly silence.

Vivian trembled all over, tears spilling from her eyes like broken beads.

"So in my past life... did I suffer when I died?" she choked out, her voice so faint it was barely audible.

Sylvester’s face was awash with tears as he shook his head, "I don't know. I only know you left with absolute finality."

"The ocean had distorted your features, and you specifically requested in your letter not to let Harvey see you, and not to let me see you clearly either."

"What about Harvey?"

"He hated me for three years," Sylvester’s voice cracked with guilt, "It wasn't until he was organizing your belongings and found the hundred letters you wrote—the eighty-seventh one saying, 'I don't regret marrying him, because I have Harvey'—that he slowly forgave me."