Chapter 154: That Knot, Unsolvable
Mother Liang could not understand and could not continue, so she grabbed Liang Chaosu’s hand.
“But now she is gone, and if you and your father are like sharp points against each other, not yielding an inch, the result will only be that outsiders will take advantage of the Liang family.”
“This family business accumulated over three generations, plus the ties of marriage binding several generations, the Liang family bears too much. You enjoy its glory and wealth, and you have the responsibility and obligation to promote and protect it, rather than destroying everyone’s efforts for a secret affair that cannot see the light of day, let alone be seen by people.”
Liang Chaosu closed the computer. The infusion needle was still in his hand; it was a hard needle attached to the infusion set, not a soft indwelling needle, and it could dislodge with the slightest carelessness.
Mother Liang’s heart felt as if it had been pricked all over.
Liang Chaosu called Xiao Da in, put away the computer and small table, sat up in bed, and pulled out his hand, “If I can’t protect my wife and child, and the family is gone, where will the business come from?”
Mother Liang’s back stiffened, and she almost rebuked him, but her heart full of heartache choked her again, “What wife and child? You kept yourself pure and never got engaged.”
Liang Chaosu stared at her, his deep, dark eyes cold and silent, sending a chill through Mother Liang’s heart that made her panic uncontrollably. She wanted to grab his hand again, but this time Liang Chaosu waved her away.
In the past, he was indifferent to outsiders, disliked being too close, and even more so disliked physical contact, invisibly creating a profound chasm that could not be crossed or breached.
Now, this chasm seemed to be spanning between them, and Mother Liang felt it and could not accept it.
“You hate us?” Mother Liang couldn’t help but tremble slightly, her voice also shaking, “Just for an accident? Your father and I didn’t want that taboo child to be born. Who would have thought she—”
There was no change in Liang Chaosu’s expression, but his eyes revealed danger inch by inch. The coldness in his indifferent gaze sent a chill down Mother Liang’s spine, making her hate Lian Cheng, the culprit, even more.
She held back after all, hiding between the lines, “She had bad luck. Medical care abroad is not like domestic. Doctors are polarized in surgery; either they are extremely skilled, or they are not as good as a small resident training in China…”
Xiao Da made a gesture by the window.
Liang Chaosu cut off Mother Liang, “You’ve made excuses all around, doesn’t it count yourself?”
In an instant.
Mother Liang felt as if she had been choked, waves of cold air rushing back into her throat. She tried to remain calm, but her expression still changed slightly, “What do you mean by that?”
“I know, and you know even better.” Liang Chaosu’s entire face was covered in a layer of sinister ice, his stern features with lines like sharpened ice blades.
“You and Father rely on filial piety, and you think that with decades of experience, men will ultimately be good assets, fighting for power. Moreover, with the passage of time, enough to smooth over resentment. Right?”
Mother Liang’s body trembled.
He stated it plainly, “Then I will tell you, it cannot be smoothed over.”
Mother Liang’s heart was torn to shreds. It was his sentence, “cannot be smoothed over,” and also that he actually knew the cause of Lian Cheng’s death.
She was escorted out of the hospital room by bodyguards, terrified.
Xiao Da saw her to the elevator entrance and watched the numbers on the display screen go down to the first floor before returning to the ward.
“Director Liang is suspicious and has sent people to reconfirm Miss Lian Cheng’s death. Additionally, Su Chenghuai discovered that Zhou Dazhi was intentionally spreading the news of Miss Lian Cheng’s unfortunate demise. Su Chenghuai suspects it is aimed at the Bai family.”
The infusion bottle was empty. Xiao Da reached for the call button.
Liang Chaosu raised his hand to stop him, then pulled out the needle himself. Xiao Da frantically rummaged through a drawer and found a sterile cotton swab to stop the bleeding.
His spitting blood earlier was fake; his hospitalization was real. A slight cold during their separation had worsened into pneumonia upon landing. After hospitalization, the symptoms did not decrease and continued to deteriorate.
Western medicine only diagnosed the condition and did not consider constitutional differentiation, thinking the medication was not effective. They kept taking X-rays, holding meetings to discuss plans, and even wanted to take a lung sample for a biopsy to see if it was infected with a new virus.
Xiao Da, however, knew that he was burdened with difficult matters outside and was suffocated with emotional pain. Coupled with four years of continuous work, his body, which had always appeared healthy, had its breaking point with this minor illness, triggering all his accumulated fatigue.
Liang Chaosu said, “The Bai family doesn’t need to be managed. You investigate Bai Ying. You’ve already alerted Bai Yixian. That old fox is perceptive and will deal with it himself.”
“As for him, his people have been chased out of Iceland. For a while, people with eyes won’t take his business, and those without eyes won’t be able to figure out anything. However, you should still tell the gang to be careful. Lian Cheng cannot be stimulated now, and under no circumstances should she be alarmed.”
Who “he” referred to was self-evident.
Xiao Da sighed in his heart. He didn’t even call his father by name in private anymore. “I’ll inform the gang immediately—”
He hesitated, observing Liang Chaosu’s expression.
The man threw away the cotton swab and said plainly, “What do you want to say?”
As an assistant, Xiao Da was also involved in the Iceland matter. He usually didn’t talk unnecessarily, but at this moment he couldn’t help himself, “Mr. Liang, I shouldn’t presume to comment on your personal feelings, but Miss Lian Cheng misunderstands you deeply. If you keep her in the dark, when the truth is revealed later, she might misunderstand you even more.”
Liang Chaosu’s gaze shifted from the blood-stained cotton swab in the trash can to him.
Countless indistinct emotions surged in his eyes, and with a breath, they all disappeared again, “This is the last time. You may leave.”
Xiao Da knew it would be like this. He admitted his mistake and turned to leave.
The door closed. Liang Chaosu got out of bed and walked to the window. The tips of the evergreen pines were level with the windowsill. The scent was faint and pure.
Further away, the courtyard wall blocked his view, revealing a row of bare spring cherry branches.
Bo Yizhang estimated that it would take at least three months for her infertility treatment to take effect. He had planted pine moon all over the city. When the city was covered in mist and blossoms, and the situation with the Liang family was settled, and he had complete confidence to confront them, she would get pregnant, and then he would reveal everything.
Perhaps she would find it difficult to accept at first, but with a child connected by blood as a buffer, they would stay away from the Liang family, and their small family could slowly become harmonious.
But after graduation, she did not stay in the North for graduate studies and returned to the Liang family by every means possible.
She was very eager for Mother Liang, and also for Shen Lichuan.
After Father Shen was saved by the Liang family years ago, he had been urging Shen Lichuan to get married. Shen Lichuan kept making excuses. He had not touched Liang Wenfei in recent years. Lian Cheng did not choose to pursue graduate studies and struggled to return to the Liang family. It was hard for him not to think too much.
During those months, his anger was at its peak, and precisely when the child was impatiently arriving early, he was the cruelest to her when she should have been cherished the most.
As a result, when she discovered she was pregnant, she was too afraid to tell him.
Liang Chaosu’s chest felt a sharp tugging. His flesh and blood, his veins and tendons felt as if they were being dug out bit by bit, leaving only an empty shell. The tearing could not be quelled; instead, it stimulated the itch in his throat, and he coughed again.
He bent over, leaning on the windowsill, trying his best to suppress it. In his mind, it repeatedly emerged: her being torn and pulled by Liang Wenfei at Bai Family Hospital, the large lock of hair pulled out, that patch of red and swollen scalp.
It was her losing a lot of weight in a week during her medical examination, looking thin and frail in a black coat in the morning mist, pale and delicate.
It was her leaving in a panic twice with the child, and by the time it was revealed, the Liang family wanted her to die along with the child.
She had finally abandoned the Liang family, but the process was so painful and unbearable that by the time he revealed everything, he had already become the source of her sin.
It was like the tight knot she had tied in Jade Mansion.
At that time, he thought it was inseparable; now, it was unsolvable.
So unsolvable that it echoed her excuse in the car about not going to the hospital for a check-up. If he forced her again, she would snap, go mad, and be damned for eternity.
Moreover, she was carrying a child.
Three years of despair, a long four years, over two thousand days and nights had been endured. It was just to let her feel relieved, give birth to the child, and the rest of her life was still long.
