Chapter 144: Situation
After steadying his mind, Yan Bei remounted his bicycle and headed toward the Mechanical Factory.
He already had some guesses in his heart about the handling result from above; the best outcome would merely be suspension from duty to accept being sent down for reform.
Even if his master stepped in, it wouldn’t change much and he might even get implicated.
Since Grandfather and Grandmother had been sent here…
Going along with them could keep him company, and there was nothing wrong with that.
……
Shanghai City, J District Courtyard.
After drinking the milk laced with medicine and sleeping dreamlessly until the next day, Ma Xiuzhen subconsciously reached out to touch the other pillow.
When the cold touch came, she fully awoke and opened her eyes, seeing no trace at all on the other side of the bed that anyone had slept there.
Her husband surprisingly hadn’t come back all night?
She quickly scrambled out of bed and searched the house, still not seeing his figure anywhere, and Ma Xiuzhen’s heart sank heavily.
Having been married to her husband Fu Rong for so many years, no one understood what kind of person old Fu was better than she did.
Rough in appearance, yet extremely delicate in thought, his kindness toward her remained as steadfast as ever.
If nothing had happened, if he could come back, he would never rest assured leaving her alone at home all night without returning.
Thinking that there was no news of her eldest son and daughter, and now her husband had also vanished without a trace, Ma Xiuzhen only felt dizzy and lightheaded with weak legs… her vertigo was acting up again.
She staggered back a few steps until her back was against the cabinet, borrowing its support to keep from falling.
After a long time, that dizzying, nauseating feeling finally faded, and the pale-faced Ma Xiuzhen stumbled upstairs toward the study room.
She rarely entered Fu Rong’s study room except for cleaning.
The study room was just as it had been when she left the night before; thinking of how Fu Rong, upon learning that Dan’er and Qianqian were in danger—especially after receiving those two packages—had locked himself inside for a full day and night.
That rage, that agony…
Though she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Ma Xiuzhen, who had stayed with him outside the room, could fully empathize.
She hurried to the desk, took a deep breath, and tremblingly pulled open the drawer quickly.
Just one glance at the thing inside made her heart feel like it was being gripped and squeezed bare-handed, hurting so much she could barely breathe.
Children are all pieces of their mother’s flesh.
Even though the blood had long since coagulated black, making the bloody mess even more horrific, she could still tell… which parts of the two children these were.
Tears burst from her eyes, her heartache beyond measure; she couldn’t and didn’t dare imagine it.
Dan’er and Qianqian, and old Fu, how were they now…
“Ring ring ring~ Ring ring~”
Hearing the telephone ring, Ma Xiuzhen released her hands from her face. Though tears still streamed down it, her eyes were like those of a lioness enraged at having her reverse scale touched, filled inside with chilling coldness and bloodthirsty madness.
Tong Family, Tong Family!
In the last few seconds before the ringing stopped, she picked up the telephone.
“Hello, this is Ma Xiuzhen.”
She squeezed the words out through clenched teeth, her hand gripping the earpiece trembling slightly at the fingertips from intense emotional fluctuation.
This woman, usually as gentle as water, struggled to suppress the surging emotions in her heart, trying to emulate old Fu’s tone and show that tough, unyielding side as much as possible.
But with the words coming from the other end of the line, her forced pretense was instantly torn apart.
……
Shanghai City, Second Hospital.
“Wei Jin?”
“It’s me, Jia Dan, how are you feeling?”
How was he feeling?
It hurt; every part of his body hurt.
For the first time, Fu Jiatan regretted his choice back then; if he had listened to his father and joined the military, in a dangerous situation he should at least have had the ability to protect himself and his younger sister.
Not to the point of… being like meat on a chopping block, at others’ mercy.
He wanted to clench his fist, but his fingers twitched without being able to; Fu Jiatan gave a miserable smile, almost forgetting that the tendons of his hands and feet had been cruelly severed.
The self-mockery at his lips paused, and only then did he recall last night’s events, instantly ignoring his own situation and anxiously looking toward the person leaning over the bedside.
“Wei Jin, what about my dad and Qianqian?”
He remembered those beasts using him as a threat—or more like toying with them, since the leader stabbed deep with a single word, not giving his dad any chance to react or even respond.
Having fallen unconscious first, he had no idea what happened afterward.
But since he had woken up in the hospital, did that mean he and his sister had been successfully rescued by their father, and they were all safe now?
“Jia Dan…”
Seeing the complex emotions in his eyes, Fu Jiatan’s heart jolted, and he struggled to sit up and get out of bed, the gauze wrapped around his wounds instantly soaking red.
“Don’t get excited, be careful of the wound; that life-saving medicine is all used up, and if you do this again, it really will be fatal!”
Wei Jin ignored his struggles and pressed him down, “Think of Aunt Ma, think of Uncle Fu, think of Jiaming; calm down, Fu Jiatan!”
As the eldest son of the Fu Family, though he hadn’t followed in his father’s footsteps, he had always strived to shoulder the Fu Family in another way, and the ever-serious Fu Jiatan, who demanded much of himself, worked hard to calm his emotions.
Only when he quieted down and regained his usual steadiness did Wei Jin release his grip on his shoulder.
“Uncle Fu has severe head injuries and is still in the intensive care unit; Aunt Ma isn’t well, but we just got word she’s probably on her way here.”
“Jiaming is still far away in Xiangnan; even rushing back desperately, it’ll take three to five days. Jia Dan, for their sake, you need to stay strong now and recover quickly.”
“I… know.”
His voice was a bit hoarse; Fu Jiatan’s lips trembled, the heat in his eyes refusing to fade, “Qianqian, she…”
Wei Jin had mentioned everyone else but instinctively skipped over his sister; even with a premonition in his heart, seeing him nod with slight heaviness, that overwhelming pain nearly made him pass out.
The rusty iron taste in his mouth surged endlessly, and he swallowed it all down, choking him to tears.
“My condolences, Jia Dan.”
“The Yan Family just had their incident; if Uncle Fu doesn’t wake up, there might be another big shakeup from above. To avoid the worst, you need to prepare.”
Qianqian was gone; with the situation unclear, he naturally had to pull himself together and plan for the family members still alive.
Though the Wei Family wasn’t as prominent as the Yan or Fu Families, they were at least at a level to make contact; they wouldn’t dare do anything overt in the eye of the storm, but passing important news privately was possible.
Wei Jin looked at him apologetically; with just him alone, there was nothing more he could do for his two good brothers’ families.
“Yan Family, what happened?”
In just three days, so many things had happened!
After hearing everything and quickly sorting out the sequence, Fu Jiatan truly wished he could grab a gun and blast the culprits’ whole family without a care!
Because of the Tong Family’s threat, his father had been forced to make the most painful choice, destroying the Yan Family with his own hands.
And because of the Tong Family’s ruthlessness, his father had fallen, he was crippled, his sister was dead, and the Fu Family was finished.
“Bang——”
The hospital room door was forcefully pushed open, and disheveled Ma Xiuzhen rushed to his bedside at the fastest speed.
Her outstretched hand hesitated to land, because his body was almost entirely wrapped in thick gauze still soaked with red blood.
“Dan’er… don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, Mom’s here, Mommy’s here.”
Fu Jiatan, who had been trying so hard to hold it together, completely broke down at his mother’s tone as if coaxing a child, tears surging instantly.
The heart she thought had gone numb from pain revived with dense aches upon seeing her usually resolute and bold eldest son show such vulnerability and agony, enveloping her entirely.
No one knew how heartbrokenly she had cried upon seeing her daughter’s battered body in the morgue, or how her world had shattered upon seeing her husband unconscious with multiple head wounds.
But at this moment, she straightened her back with effort, because her heart as a mother and wife told her: she absolutely could not… could not collapse at this time.
She had to hold up the family for her husband, her son, and her deceased daughter!
……
Train K1863.
Zhao Panpan rested her husband’s head on her lap, touched his still feverishly hot forehead, and felt exceptionally anxious inside.
Only when the only one willing to help, old Yang, successfully got hot water did Zhao Panpan thank him profusely with gratitude.
The taciturn old Yang waved it off and returned to his seat.
“Old man, wake up first, don’t sleep; drink some hot water.”
With water, the fever-reducing pill would go down easier and replenish fluids to avoid dehydration from the high fever.
“Cough cough, have we arrived?”
“Not yet; drink some hot water first and take one of those pills.”
“Okay, cough cough cough, don’t worry, I’m tough; nothing will happen to me.”
