Today, the hospital was especially astir. Reporters swarmed the entrance. Outside the VIP suite, yet another crowd had gathered. Within the VIP suite, however, all was quiet. The afternoon sunlight shone onto the ocean blue wall, forming a blurry ring of light on its surface. Ying Qingcang lay on the bed. Despite not having any rest for days, he dared not close his eyes. His hand clamped down on Xin Qing"s hand like a vice. He stared at the face that had been the source of his agony for seven days and nights.
When he broke down the metal door and saw Xin Qing on the ground, he felt as if his entire world had stopped. That dirty woman sprawled on the ground, could it be that she would never be able to stand up again? Could it be that she would no longer be around to p.i.s.s him off, too stare at him with tender eyes and call out his name?
Le Le had been the first to react. It had rushed towards Xin Qing and began sniffing. After that, it turned to him and went into a barking frenzy, which prompted Ying Qingcang to slowly regain his senses. Step by step, he had walked towards her before pulling her into his arms. Half of her face had been swollen and every part of her lips torn. Her hands were filled with cuts and lesions. Her eyes had shrunk into her sockets. Ying Qingcang could barely believe that the woman in his arms back then, whose face was pale and greyish, was actually his woman.
When he had felt a coldness on his cheeks, he realized that he had been crying. His entire body had trembled as he pressed his face against Xin Qing"s face. When he felt the weak caress of her breath against his cheek, Ying Qingcang smiled. He had pulled out his phone quickly and called Young Master Shen.
Now, as he watched Xin Qing resting quietly on the bed with tubes running into her body everywhere, the coldness in Ying Qingcang"s eyes grew deeper and deeper. "Who? Who the f*ck did this?" he thought. This incident had begun with Lu Manman. But something had obviously gone wrong in the process. Who was the man who had called him? No. That man"s target had not been Xin Qing at all. It was Ying Qingcang himself.
Young Master Shen entered the room with a few doctors. The looks on their faces were not rea.s.suring.
"What"s wrong?" Ying Qingcang sat up with a frown. "What"s wrong with her?"
Young Master Shen glanced at the doctors. A few of them stepped back. "Are you kidding me?" Young Master Shen thought. "They don"t even have the guts to break the news!"
"Um. There"s something that you need to be mentally prepared for," Young Master Shen said.
Ying Qingcang looked at Young Master Shen"s expression. He felt a shudder in his chest. "Tell me."
"Xiao Qingqing was pregnant. Close to 50 days. But because she hasn"t been eating, and added with all the stress she"s been feeling, the doctors were worried that it would cause the baby to experience stunted development, or stop developing altogether..."
Ying Qingcang panicked at the word "pregnant". "What? How could she be pregnant? She has an implant."
"Ahem. President Ying, we"ve conducted a check-up on Miss Xin"s body. We think it"s because she had consumed a lot of antibiotics recently. That might have neutralized the effects of the contraceptive. Furthermore, contraceptive implants aren"t 100 percent effective. There"s always a small chance of pregnancy."
Frowning, Ying Qingcang stared at Xin Qing. For a long while, he appeared to be lost in thought. "What are you trying to say?" he asked.
"We"re saying it"s best if we terminate the pregnancy now," said one of doctors. "In other words, abortion."
Seeing the rapid change on Ying Qingcang"s face, the doctor quickly mollified. "This is also for the sake of you and Miss Xin. It"s very likely that the baby would stop developing on its own. By that time, Miss Xin would"ve already formed an emotional bond with the baby. She"ll be even more devastated. What"s worse is that the child might also be born with disabilities."
"Can she even undergo surgery in her current state?" Ying Qingcang thought that in her weakened state, Xin Qing might not even be able to go through with the abortion.
"We"ve looked into that and decided to keep her under observation for a few days. We"ll see how things go from there. Once Miss Xin had recovered enough, we"ll move on with the surgery. "Right now, we just need a decision from you." All of the doctors were looking at Ying Qingcang, awaiting his decision.
"Xiao Qingqing hasn"t always been in the best of health. Considering the circ.u.mstances, even if the child is successfully born, what if it isn"t healthy?" Young Master Shen persuaded. "You guys are still young. There will be more opportunities in the future. Plus, haven"t you always disliked kids?"
Ying Qingcang glared at Young Master Shen. "This child belongs to me and Xin Qing. How"s that the same?" he thought.
Young Master Shen was silenced immediately. "Fine. Think over it yourself!"
"I"ll wait," Ying Qingcang said after some thought. "Wait till Xin Qing wakes up and let her decide. This isn"t my call."
Young Master Shen looked at him in surprise. "Since when have you acquired such moral standards?"
"If you still have the energy, then use it to help me find out the person behind all this." Ying Qingcang shot Young Master Shen a dark look.
Young Master Shen waved before he left. As for the doctors, they felt that they had said what they had come here to say, so they left quickly too. Ying Qingcang held Xin Qing"s palm anxiously. Xin Qing really liked kids. That much was obvious from her att.i.tude towards Ah Sha. Would she be able to accept the fact that she had to abort her child?
Shi Qianqian and Zhang Mi arrived at night. When they saw the state that Xin Qing was in, they hugged each other and cried. It took Ding Lei a long time to calm them down.
When Ding Lei was about to leave, he told Ying Qingcang, "There"s a strange person looking to team up with me recently."
Ying Qingcang raised his brows. "To target Ying Enterprises?"
"Yeah. I did some digging. Most of his fundings come from abroad." Ding Lei"s expression had a look of regret. "I had intended to use his plans against him. At least we can find out his ident.i.ty that way. But a few days ago, the guy vanished without a single trace. His trails have been wiped clean, like he has never appeared before." Ding Lei looked at Ying Qingcang. "It"s obvious that he"s coming for you. Be careful."
After Ding Lei left, Ying Qingcang put in a call to England.
"She"s fine. Right now, she"s still unconscious."
"Did that woman make any moves recently?"
"No. Someone is obviously targeting Ying Enterprises."
"Understood. You"ll just have to keep watching her." After hanging up, Ying Qingcang went back to stare at Xin Qing. After a while, he lay down and closed his eyes. Eight days of exhaustion had finally caught up to him. Before he even knew it, he was asleep.
The following morning, Ah Che brought Uncle Fu and Aunt Tian to the hospital. Upon seeing Xin Qing, Aunt Tian"s reaction was the same as those of Zhang Mi and Shi Qianqian.
"How did she become so thin...? She doesn"t even look human..." Aunt Tian wiped her tears. "Never ate anything. Never drank anything. How did she even survive?" Uncle Fu decided to cut her off. "Come now, stop crying," Uncle Fu said before looking at Ying Qingcang. Aunt Tian saw that the look on Ying Qingcang"s face had once again turned dark, causing her to quickly dry her tears. She left two thermoses behind before heading back with Uncle Fu.
The doctor came in for another round of inspection. After that, Ying Qingcang was told that Xin Qing would be waking up soon. As if a sudden thought had come to mind, Ying Qingcang rushed into the bathroom, where he tried to make himself presentable. After he was done, he sat beside Xin Qing"s bed and waited for her to wake up.
Xin Qing had no idea whether she was dead or alive. She felt so light and comfortable, as if she could float away. Then she saw Ying Qingcang kneeling on the ground, crying. He was also hugging the disheveled form of a woman. When she saw the face of that woman, she jumped in fright. "Isn"t that me?" she thought. Even though she had turned so ugly, she could still recognize her own face. "If that"s the case... then who am I right now?" Xin Qing wondered. She held out her hand and stared. She was transparent. Then, it hit her that she really had died.
She could not believe that Ying Qingcang was actually crying. After a while, Xin Qing"s attention was drawn to Ying Qingcang"s guttural roar. The man"s face was filled with stubble. He looked very unhealthy, no better than her own dirty face. Xin Qing was just about to lean in to comfort him when a sudden ray of blinding white light shot into her. She closed her eyes instinctively and lost consciousness once again.
The next time she came to, she felt pain all over her body. Her skull felt as if it had been split open. No sound would come whenever she opened her mouth to speak. Ying Qingcang"s voice rang beside her ear.
"Qingqing! Qingqing!"
Xin Qing could feel Ying Qingcang"s touch on her face. He was pulling her hand. But she just could not open her eyes no matter how hard she tried. Ying Qingcang had noticed the erratic movements of Xin Qing"s eyeb.a.l.l.s. Her eyes refused to open. At the same time, he did not dare to touch her. He scrambled for the call b.u.t.ton and alerted the doctors.
Xin Qing heard an endless series of muttered voices beside her ear. She could not make out the words at all. Was she still trapped in that factory? Had Ying Qingcang not found her yet?
"Qingqing, can you hear my voice? If you can, then please just open your eyes." This time, Xin Qing could make out Ying Qingcang"s voice. She tried everything in her might to get her own words out. "I heard you! I heard you! I heard you!" Then, she felt a sudden surge in strength. A blinding white light blasted her vision.
"She"s awake!" a doctor yelled.
"Quick! Cover her eyes," said one of the doctors. Ying Qingcang sprang into action and placed a palm over Xin Qing"s eyes. "Qingqing, open your eyes slowly."
Xin Qing regained full consciousness. She moved her head slightly and then slowly opened her eyes. The blinding lights told her that she was no longer in that factory. She had been saved.
"I..."
"Don"t talk. Your throat is unwell," Ying Qingcang said in an emotional voice. The doctors heaved a collective sigh of relief. "The rich and wealthy are so hard to serve," they thought.
"Mr. Ying, Miss Xin is alright now. You can start feeding her some congee after a while. Just make sure not to give her anything oily." The doctors left after giving their instructions. Ying Qingcang raised the bed angle to 60 degrees before him helping Xin Qing into her new position. He then took the spoon from the cup and fed her more water.
"The reason you can"t talk now is that you"ve been inhaling the fumes in the factory for too long. Those dyes are all poisonous and they have affected your throat." Ying Qingcang noticed the fear on her face as she stared back at him. He immediately patted her head and said, "Don"t worry. It isn"t a major concern. You"ll be fine after two days."
After drinking some water, Xin Qing tried to speak again. But her throat felt as if it were on fire. Seeing her like this made Ying Qingcang feel even worse. He blew on the congee before bringing it to her mouth. "Let"s not talk for now, okay? Come, eat something. Let"s wait until your throat recovers, and then we"ll talk. For now, just keep blinking your eyes."
Xin Qing opened her mouth and blinked. Her tears began to fall. Panicking, Ying Qingcang tried to wipe her tears away. At the same time, he was so frightened that he would be too forceful and ended up hurting her. Seeing his behavior, Xin Qing felt like laughing. Then, she vaguely remembered the sight of him crying with her in his arms. Her tears fell even more rapidly at that memory. Ying Qingcang thought she was in pain, so he stood up to reach for the call b.u.t.ton. Xin Qing"s hand shot out as she shook her head.
For a moment, Ying Qingcang"s mind went blank. He recovered quickly and pulled her into his arms.
"I"m sorry it took me so long to find you." His voice was low and deep. In the silent hospital room, it sounded like Bach"s Cello Suite in G Major.
When he felt the swaying of the head of the person in his arms, Ying Qingcang tightened his embrace. He lowered Xin Qing"s forehead. "It"s all in the past now. From now on, I"ll follow you wherever you go. I won"t ever let you face danger and hopelessness alone."
Ying Qingcang could imagine the trauma done to her mind and body while she was trapped in that place. Before, the doctors had already suggested to have her to go through psychological evaluation after she had sufficiently recovered.
Ying Qingcang thought about the child in Xin Qing"s body. After some thought, he decided to come clean with her.
"Qingqing... you"re pregnant."