"First, you were accusing my son and now you are me too? There should be a limit to your shamelessness, Mrs. Yang?"
"Well, I agree I can be pretty shameless," she shrugged, "but not more than some parents who can abandon their own son and go as far as push him off stairs."
"That is a misunderstanding! It was an accident."
She chuckled. "And is sending the woman your son loves to another house to warm another man’s bed was also an accident?"
Zihan froze.
"W-What nonsense are you spouting!?"
"This is too much," Mr. Zhuo chimed in too, albeit still struggling from the pain left behind Yang Bingqing’s deadly grip.
"I mean, just think about it," Yang Bingqing raised her brow. "It makes perfect sense if I imagine the sequence of events - you gave Nuwa a check but she refused. You hadn’t expected that reaction so what more could you do to throw her out of your son’s life?"
The couple shook with hatred.
She smiled. "You had the answer right in front of you. Hou Jielun. He is sick and do you know what he is sick with?"
She let that dramatic silence hang on.
"Erectile dysfunction. He has a serious sex-related disorder. I think you already know that. That condition is messing up with his mind, which is why my dearest husband left his treatment despite him being very sincere and diligent in his work. He never abandons a patient."
Zihan trembled, recalling the day he had begged Yang Cheng to save his brother. Though Zhuo Syaoran was safe, he later came to know about Yang Bingqing and Yang Cheng’s daughter’s still birth.
Since that day, it was a guilt he always lived with. Yang Cheng should have been with his family, saving his wife and daughter. Yet his sense of responsibility made him willingly choose Zhuo Syaoran and never once blame him for anything. It was why Zihan deeply respected the Yang family. She treated him like her own son despite losing her own daughter.
Jia’s lips parted, stunned. "You...Do you..."
She smiled. "Know why he left? Not at first. But I realized soon enough that something was very wrong. Cheng is a very patient man. Not many things in this world can rile him up to that extent.
So when he suddenly stopped going there and kind of dodged my questions about the reason, I knew something terrible had happened. So I just dug around a bit and got to know how Hou Jielun passed some very disgusting remarks about me. And then it clicked me as to ’Oh so that’s why...’"
Ugh and here Uncle thinks that she doesn’t know...
She sighed. "He didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable so he never told me, but I have seen far worse things in my life. A couple of crass remarks don’t even faze me. But my husband is so cute and innocent. I fell in love with him all over again~"
"..."
Yang Bingqing looked back at the couple again.
"But it seems that Hou Jielun wasn’t the kind of person to just stop at passing vulgar remarks. He wanted vulgar action as well which is why you might have thought why not just hand over Nuwa to him? If your son comes to know this, he will be so heartbroken. He would think that she willingly took another client while in reality, it was all set up by his own parents."
Her eyes narrowed. "And I firmly believe that that’s where she disappeared from. I don’t think she knew she was called at the Hou villa to serve the youngest son. But before your plan could come to action, she probably realized it soon enough and wanted to leave. But perhaps, the Hou family didn’t let her. I think you made sure of that."
—
Jia kept frequently glancing at Yang Bingqing with many thoughts swirling in her mind.
"Are you impressed with my deduction skills dear~?" She blushed. "Do you like me more now?" Her eyes shone.
Her stupor broke and she chuckled. "I always liked you the most, Aunt."
"Aish, such a sweet talker you are~"
"Aunt!" Zihan came rushing from the back and stopped before them slightly breathlessly.
"I’m sorry...Mom and Dad behaved with you like that..."
Jia could clearly see how he valued Yang Bingqing more than his own parents. And she didn’t blame him.
Yang Bingqing waved her hand in dismissal. "Bugs like them don’t offend me, hehe~"
"Do you..." he shook lightly, "really think Mom and Dad...did that?"
Her gaze softened and she placed her palm on his head. "It’s just a conjecture and yes I don’t have proof so I spoke a lot out of line. I just think many things fall in place with this. That’s why I sincerely want you to prove me wrong."
He only clenched his fists in silence, a hint of storm forming in his eyes. "...Yes."
She thought for a moment and then asked, "By the way..."
"Yes, Aunt."
"Do you know who Hou Jielun’s doctor is now?"
"Doctor..." he gave it a thought, "I don’t think I have ever seen him. I don’t know who took after Uncle Cheng. But I can find that for you."
Her eyes twinkled as she placed a finger over her lips. "In secret~"
—
Meanwhile, at Mingshen’s lab.
The lab was cast in a dim blue light with the soft buzz of machines as the only sound in the room. Monitors blinked and beeped steadily, capturing every slight change in vitals, breath and shift of heart rhythm.
In the center of the room, the woman lay still.
She had been nameless for almost three years now, discovered unconscious with a bullet wound that was meant to kill Mingshen. She had no identity or relatives - at least it wasn’t found yet. For years now, she had been nothing more than a mystery preserved in time.
Until today.
The monitor beside her bed gave a slight beep, louder than before.
Then another.
A flicker crossed the low, steady line of her EEG. A twitch.
Her fingers stirred under the blanket once, then again. The woman’s eyes fluttered. Slowly. Drowsily. Then they opened - Clouded. Lost. But very much alive.
The machine beeped louder, now in irregular intervals. The woman blinked rapidly, her gaze darting around. She traced an outline of a figure that seemed hazy at first. The face of that man then slowly grew clearer as her vision did so too. Her breaths hitched. Her heart rate accelerated. Her eyes slightly stretched wide.
"Le...Leader..." Thɪs chapter is updated by Nove1Fire.net
Shilin, with his hands in his pockets, smiled pleasantly at her.
"Long time no see. Yuming."