Chapter 226 - Answer to her questions
That same night, Xiu Mei and Lu Chen rushed to the military hospital where her first brother is being confined. She first saw her father standing in front of the gla.s.s window.
She felt her knees slowly weakening as she got closer to her brother"s room. And then she stopped.
On the other side of the gla.s.s window lay her other brother, breathing through the oxygen mask with bandages wrapped around his shoulder.
She felt dizzy and almost fell to the floor if it weren"t for Lu Chen who quickly caught her and supported her body.
She couldn"t look away from the person lying on the bed. If it weren"t for the electrocardiogram showing that he was still breathing, she would have thought that his brother had died.
"Why are you—" Xiu Mei"s father reacted as soon as he saw the two of them. He looked at his son-in-law who looked very apologetic to him while shaking his head. Then he glanced at his pale daughter.
He walked over to where she was and stroked her hair.
"Princess, your brother will be fine." He consoled. Xiu Mei grabbed her father"s sleeves.
"It"s going to be fine. Your brother is very strong. He will wake up when he"s got enough rest, okay?"
Xiu Mei watched and listened to his father"s comforting words. She felt lost, glancing at her brother and her father.
I-Is this how her family felt before when she became like this? Unable to wake up for days and when she cooped herself up inside the room alone before committing suicide.
That fear of having your loved one in this room, his life on the verge of death anytime.
The moment she saw her brother, it was as if the oxygen was knocked out of her lungs, and she felt her body losing strength. Only fear and worry filled her mind, scared that her first brother would suddenly leave them.
She couldn"t imagine it. No. She didn"t dare to imagine it.
She knew very well the pain of losing someone close to you and she knew she lost a part of her with that person gone. If her first brother died… then…
"Mei"er!" She returned to her senses as soon as she heard her father"s raised voice. Then her father made her look at him before continuing, "Listen to me. You have to believe that your brother will wake up, okay? So don"t think about those terrible thoughts anymore and have faith in your brother."
Her father made the two of them sit in a separate room for now so Xiu Mei could calm down and collect her thoughts. Thankfully, Xiu Mei didn"t have an episode after seeing her first brother.
"Are you feeling okay now, Mei?" Lu Chen asked worriedly as he kept her in his embrace to comfort her.
"Mhm. A bit." She murmured, her face buried on his shoulders, clinging to him like a kid.
The two of them fell silent again with only the sounds of their breathing could be heard in the room.
"Chen," She called, breaking the deafening silence.
"Hm?"
"Is mother okay right now?"
He said that his mother returned to the army to investigate for her in place of her first brother. Then surely, her husband is working with her mother if she"s going to that place.
"She is. She"s fine and well. I have my men to come with her so she won"t be harmed in that place even when I"m not there." Lu Chen explained as he brushed her hair.
"Mhm." She replied. "Thank you."
Her hug to him tightened. "Thank you, because you"re always there."
Lu Chen felt as if someone tickled his heart. He smiled at his wife, "I will always be here with you, Xiu Mei. No matter what happens, I"ll find you and return to your side." Then he pressed a kiss on her hair.
The two of them stayed in that position for quite a while before she decided to return and see her first brother again. Then her father briefly explained to her about her first brother"s current status so she understood why he became like that.
After staying there for almost three hours, her father convinced her to go home and rest. Considering that she is also still not well, she was left with no choice but to listen obediently to return home.
"Sleep first, then tomorrow I"ll answer more of your questions. For now, you"re exhausted. Let"s go to sleep." Lu Chen said when they got home. Xiu Mei wanted to retort but the exhaustion for the day eventually dawned on her. She gave up and listened to his advice. After drinking the warm milk her husband gave her, she squeezed in his arms as the two of them slept properly for the first time in a while.
Lu Chen patiently waited for his wife to fall asleep first, thinking that she would surely have a difficult time falling asleep because she was surely thinking about a lot of things. After sensing her stable breathing, he pressed a kiss on her forehead again before falling asleep after her.
The next day, Lu Chen threw his son Lu Qiang into the care of the two animals so the husband and wife could have some privacy. Of course, the son was powerless against his father"s orders so he marched towards the garden in low spirits.
"Yu Ming Xi really killed Pe Ji Huang?"
"No, he didn"t. But your second brother discovered that he was somehow involved with his murder."
"So who killed him?"
"Ying Wan Wan hired someone to kill him."
Xiu Mei got confused learning that Ying Wan Wan was also involved in the crime. "But why would she suddenly want to kill him? Did they have some kind of involvement with each other or did she have a grudge on him?"
"That"s what we thought at first. But we investigated Ying Wan Wan"s past and her life abroad was fabricated so we couldn"t confirm whether the two of them are really involved with each other. But we"re leaning to the idea that Ying Wan Wan is moving in someone"s orders." Lu Chen continued his explanations.
"There has been a series of movements in the government that your second brother is investigating. Ying Wan Wan is indirectly involved in it, almost half of the people who had strange promotions is somehow connected to the Ying family."
Her forehead creased as she thought of them, "But they"re not a political family. And I doubt they have connections that many to have so many of their people get into the government at such a short time."
"It"s not exactly the members of the Ying family. Some of them previously worked for them, while some are just relatives of the employees there, a couple of people from their distant branches. All of which within the timespan when Ying Wan Wan got adopted into the family."
"But she had to be so young back then. You mean she started working on this that early?"
"I believe so. That"s why we are also digging into the Ying family, if someone was helping them in the shadows, or are they paying someone to do stuff. Anyhow, Ying Wan Wan is definitely the trigger for this."
The voice of the innocent and young Wan Wan calling for Ying Yue"s name and hers echoed inside her mind. The memories from the orphanage flashed before her eyes and a painful expression appeared on her face as she was reminded of the old times.
To think that an innocent kid would grow up like this, Xiu Mei couldn"t help but feel pity for Wan Wan thinking that she was influenced by terrible people at such a young age.
"Then what about Xiu Su Yi? He said he"s just a p.a.w.n. Did you find out who he"s been involved with for the past few years?"
"Yes," Lu Chen paused momentarily when he remembered something. "He"s been in contact with some organization in the underworld, and that same organization worked with Ying Wan Wan when she...she took you."
Xiu Mei nodded hesitantly as she remembered the man with the scar that she met in City S. She couldn"t help but wonder. Why is he targeting her? Even back in the funeral, why did he keep trying to push her to h.e.l.l?
Back then, she was still young. She couldn"t have possibly offended him so seriously even though she couldn"t remember any memories with him. Then, is he targeting her because she is from the Xiu family?
But of all people, why her? Xiu Mei thought, maybe she was the easiest to be fooled and she look like a pushover so he chose her? She felt depressed at the thought.
"And there"s also another thing that I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Remember the watch that you said you lost? We found it. And it"s in the hands of that organization as well."