As Lin Chu drove, she thought about the possibility of what might have happened.
Xu Jiaojiao was sent into surgery upon arriving at the hospital. The nurse had removed all of Xu Jiaojiao"s belongings and pa.s.sed them to Lin Chu.
Lin Chu took out Xu Jiaojiao"s phone. It was switched off, so she turned it back on.
Lucky for her, Xu Jiaojiao"s phone was not the latest model which required fingerprint identification, otherwise Lin Chu would not have been able to turn it on. Xu Jiaojiao did not set any pa.s.sword for her phone either. When the phone was turned on, Lin Chu immediately saw 23 missed calls on it. They were all from Dai Huimin.
Lin Chu returned the call. It was evident that Dai Huimin was anxious as she picked up the call at the first ring.
Before Lin Chu said a word, Dai Huimin immediately asked accusingly, "Where have you been?!"
"It"s me, Lin Chu," Lin Chu replied.
Dai Huimin asked in surprise, "Why is it you? Is Jiaojiao with you? Did she go looking for you to hara.s.s you again?"
"Something happened to her. She"s in the hospital. Don"t worry, she"s not in danger. I"ll explain once you are here," said Lin Chu.
Lin Chu told Dai Huimin the name of the hospital and hung up. Yan Zhiqing was sitting on a chair outside the surgery room. Her face was pale, but she was no longer crying. The tear streaks on her face had not dried and her eyes were still red.
Lin Chu sighed. Yan Zhiqing was a but a young girl who had just started her first year in university. She walked over to her and said gently, "Thank you for today, you really helped a lot."
Yan Zhiqing was momentarily stunned. She looked up at Lin Chu and pouted, "There"s no need for your thanks. I may not be a brave person, but I won"t allow someone to get hurt in front of me."
Lin Chu nodded. She pondered and said, "I"ll get someone to help clean your car. Let me know where you need to go, I"ll get a driver to take you there. You won"t be able to drive under this condition anyway."
Yan Zhiqing wanted to try to be brave but when she stood up, she found that her knees were buckling, so she could only nod and agree with Lin Chu.
Lin Chu gave Yan Beicheng a call and get him to send two drivers over. One of them would take Yan Zhiqing"s car to clean, the other would give Yan Zhiqing a ride.
She could not avoid explaining the situation to Yan Beicheng.
"Since I"ve gotten into this mess, I"d have to take care of it. Don"t you worry," said Lin Chu.
"Do you need her to be transferred to Chu Tian Hospital?" Yan Beicheng asked.
Lin Chu had not planned on troubling anyone on this. She did not spend much time with Dai Huimin"s family, but from the way Dai Huimin and her husband took care of things, they seemed like reasonable people. There was no reason to push them away completely.
She tried to help where she was able to.
So, she replied, "I don"t think so. There"s no need for her to stay in the hospital for long. She would be discharged once she wakes up."
Yan Beicheng nodded. He did not concern himself too much with Dai Huimin"s family, but anything that involved Lin Chu also involved him. It was not a burden to him as long as it involved Lin Chu.
As long as he had the means, it was not inconvenient for him to help.
"Call me if you need any help. Don"t you dare stand on ceremony with me," Yan Beicheng instructed.
Even if Dai Huimin"s family was nice, Lin Chu still did not want them to get too close to Yan Beicheng. At the very least, she should spend more time getting to know them first.
As for herself, she was willing to help wherever she could. There was no reason to bring Yan Beicheng into it.
"Don"t worry, I will. What"s there to stand on ceremony with you?" Lin Chu replied.
Yan Beicheng hung up, satisfied with her answer. He got Shao Huai to bring another driver from the company with him to the hospital.
Yan Zhiqing saw Lin Chu ended the call. It was an awkward situation for her to deal with. She did not want to get closer to Lin Chu and was unwilling for the conditions of their relations.h.i.+p to change.
So, she started spouting terrible statements again. "It"s your sister in there. Just look at her. She does not take good care of herself, does she? The apple doesn"t fall far from the tree. When you have bad genes running in a family like yours, it"s hard for people to respect you, do you know that?"
Lin Chu had finally accepted the fact that stupidity was not a big enough word to describe Yan Zhiqing. She could no longer get angered by Yan Zhiqing, she was truly nothing but a moronic young girl. There will always be a phase in one"s life when one was not at their smartest, it was just that Yan Zhiqing"s situation was slightly more serious than the average person.
So, Lin Chu just nodded to acknowledge that she heard her. Her reaction gave Yan Zhiqing the feeling of punching hard on soft cotton, the punch had no effect at all.
Yan Zhiqing was relentless as she clenched her teeth and continued, "Didn"t you hear what I just said?"
"I did. I just nodded at you," Lin Chu replied casually.
"Don"t you have anything to say? Having a family like yours is such a disgrace to the Yan family, do you know that? My grandpa and grandma hate women who don"t know how to love and care for themselves! And yet, this is exactly what Xu Jiaojiao is," Yan Zhiqing said sarcastically.
"I know. I can tell just from looking at how much grandpa and grandma hates Lu Weining," Lin Chu smiled as she said.
Yan Zhiqing, "…"
How did Lin Chu always managed to turn the tables onto Lu Weining?!
This was the first time she realized that Lu Weining had so many negative attributes.
Next thing she knew, Lin Chu gave her a sweet smile as she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you concerned for me?"
Yan Zhiqing, "…"
If it was not for the fact that the chair was screwed tight to the ground, she would have picked it up and smashed it on the floor right now!
Was she worried about Lin Chu? That was not what she meant at all!
Lin Chu did not care what it meant. Stunning Yan Zhiqing into silence, the world seemed to be much more peaceful. She was happy about it.
Yan Zhiqing looked at Lin Chu moodily. She did not dare say anymore. She was hurt by Lin Chu"s thick-skinned answers. If she continued speaking, she was not sure what other shameless thing Lin Chu would reply her with.
Speaking to Lin Chu was like getting their wires crossed.
For a short time, the corridor outside the surgery room was exceptionally quiet. They were not looking or talking to each other.
After an uneasy wait, Shao Huai finally arrived with the other driver. Shao Huai arranged for that driver to give Yan Zhiqing a lift. He would not want to drive this young lady.
Lin Chu watched from the side as she raised an eyebrow teasingly at Shao Huai.
This person was being wily!
"…" Shao Huai smiled in embarra.s.sment. He took Yan Zhiqing"s keys and slipped away quickly.
He left the clueless driver who innocently waited for Yan Zhiqing.
When Dai Huimin arrived, Xu Jiaojiao had just completed and was transferred into a ward. She had not woken up yet.
Dai Huimin made a few calls to Xu Jiaojiao"s phone when she arrived. She did not have Lin Chu"s number.
Lin Chu informed her the ward number and Dai Huimin arrived quickly not long after.
She walked out of the elevator and came in breathless, her eyes were red.
It was difficult to explain in detail on what happened to Xu Jiaojiao over the phone, and Lin Chu was concerned that Dai Huimin would be anxious and hence decided to explain to her when she arrived.
When Dai Huimin walked into the ward, she saw Xu Jiaojiao on the bed with her eyes closed, unconscious.
"Jiaojiao! What… What exactly happened?!" Dai Huimin called out in shock as she rushed to the side of her bed. She raised her head to look at Lin Chu with tears in her eyes.
"Don"t be anxious. She miscarriaged," said Lin Chu.
Dai Humin"s mouth was agape with shock. She did not know how to react.
"Mis… Miscarriage? That means… She… She and Cheng Ziming…" Dai Huimin could only stammered. She felt breathless and could not breathe freely. It took her a lot of effort to finish her words.
Lin Chu nodded and continued, "Even though there"s no way of proving it, but I"m sure this child must have belonged to Cheng Ziming. Lin Yuwen is unable to have children and Cheng Ziming did not really planned to divorce Lin Yuwen. Getting a divorce is messy work and it would take a lot of money and energy. Lin Mao might not even give him a single cent. That was why he came looking for Xu Jiaojiao and gave her empty promises that he was preparing for divorce to marry her. After convincing Xu Jiaojiao to get pregnant with his child, he would plan to continue coaxing her into having the baby and bring it home to the Cheng family to be brought up. After that, he would ditch Xu Jiaojiao. If it was a boy, it would have worked out for him. If it was a girl, he would search for the next Xu Jiaojiao."
With a character such as Cheng Ziming, Lin Chu had no doubt that this was his plan all along.
Dai Huimin wailed in pain as she looked at the unconscious Xu Jiaojiao in bed, "This child… Why is she so stupid?! Why is she so silly?! How could she believe Cheng Ziming"s empty promises?!"
Dai Huimin covered her face as she cried. Lin Chu did not stop her and allowed her to cry for a while. All she did was pa.s.s her some tissues and let her cried her heart out.
"How did.. How did she miscarry?" Dai Huimin wiped her nose and suddenly thought about it.
"She came looking for me at the office this afternoon. She was blaming me for telling you about her relations.h.i.+p with Cheng Ziming and wanted me to tell you that I was jealous that Cheng Ziming was being good to her now and was willing to take responsibility for her. She wanted me to tell you that I was purposely maligning Cheng Ziming and hoped that I could convince you and your husband to agree to her relations.h.i.+p with Cheng Ziming," Lin Chu explained lightly.
"She… She…" Dai Huimin was so angry that her hands trembled and pointed at Xu Jiaojiao. "When she wakes up, I"m going to give her two big slaps! How could I have brought her up to be so shameless, to be unable to tell right from wrong! It"s… It"s all my fault for having created so many wrongs when I was young. I didn"t know how to love myself and abandoned you. Now the retribution has come back to her. I was so naïve when I was young, and she inherited that trait from me!"
Lin Chu did not admire Dai Huimin"s crying and nagging personality, but she held it in.
When Dai Huimin stopped talking, Lin Chu continued, "I"ve already warned her about Cheng Ziming, but she didn"t believe me and there was nothing much I could say. I could not do what she wanted me to, so she left angrily. When she walked towards the road in front of the office, someone knocked into her and she fell, in the end…"
Dai Huimin understood what had happened before Lin Chu finished.
"I really don"t know what else to say, my feelings right now are really… Even if this didn"t happen to her, we won"t let her keep the baby if we knew she was pregnant. We can"t avoid creating a scene if that happened, but now… I think it"s just as well that everything has been cut clean between them. She won"t have the opportunity to create any trouble or think too much," Dai Huimin wiped away her tears and shook her head as she said this.
"I just spoke to the doctor. She"s only been pregnant for slightly more than a month, so it won"t affect her health much. She"ll recover after resting well and taking good care of her body. She"ll need to stay a night in the hospital, but she can be discharged tomorrow," said Lin Chu.
Dai Huimin nodded and quickly gave a call to Xu Dongguo to tell him about what happened. She got him to boil some pigeon soup in the restaurant to bring over to the hospital later that night.
Xu Jiaojiao woke up not long after she hung up.
The anesthesia was still in effect, so she was not yet feeling the pain from the miscarriage, though she did feel uncomfortable with the numbness.
She was not completely sober. Her eyes watched the ceiling blankly and only turned towards Dai Huimin when she heard her talking.
She realized that Dai Huimin and Lin Chu were there, and it took her a while to remember what had happened.
She was startled and her hands immediately covered her stomach. Although it was still as flat as before, she had an ominous feeling.
Lin Chu watched her reaction as she said coldly, "You knew you were pregnant?"
Xu Jiaojiao glared at Lin Chu, "Where"s my child?"
What was there not to understand from those words?
Dai Huimin did not even care that Xu Jiaojiao had just woke up and slapped her. "How could you be so shameless?! It"s good that you lost the child by accident. Your father and I would never allow you to keep it! How could you choose to have a relations.h.i.+p with a married man and getting pregnant over leading an honest life? You"re so capable, aren"t you?! Was this what you meant by leading a good life? Doing something so shameless in exchange for a good life? Xu Jiaojiao, let me tell you right now, this is the kind of good life that your dad and I do not care about!"
Xu Jiaojiao tried to sit up in agitation but failed. Lying down on the bed in this situation made her look weak.
She continued to speak in a s.h.i.+rlly, "What do you know? When I have the child, that would be my advantage! Cheng Ziming would definitely divorce and marry me! By then, I would be the legitimate Mrs. Cheng, not some mistress of his!"
"You are still dreaming! You… You…" Dai Huimin was so angry that she did not know what else to say to Xu Jiaojiao. She just would not listen to reason!
Xu Jiaojiao pointed in agitation at Lin Chu, and continued, "You think she"s all great? She also lived with a man before they got married! So, she"s taken good care of herself? You"re not saying anything because she found a capable man!"
"Both of them were not married to anyone else, what"s wrong with living together while they were in a relations.h.i.+p? No one would comment about their relations.h.i.+p! I may not be a cultured person, but I know that this is a different era. It"s normal for a man and woman to live together when they are in a stable relations.h.i.+p! You"re comparing with Lin Chu? If you found someone single and not married to live together, I would not interfere! If you got pregnant because of it, we would support you to marry him. If that man did not want to take responsibility and you wanted to keep the child, we"ll take care of it for you. But not in your current condition! You"re a third party in all this. This is immoral, do you know that?" Dai Huimin was so angry she raised her hand to give her another slap.
But her hand stopped mid-air as she watched Xu Jiaojiao"s pale face. She clenched her teeth as she put her hand away. She watched the red imprint of the slap she gave Xu Jiaojiao earlier. It looked especially bright red on her pale face.
Dai Huimin"s tears fell continuously as she hit Xu Jiaojiao on the arm again and again.
Xu Jiaojiao was so weak that she did not have the strength to avoid her. She could only take in the hits. No one was sure if it really hurt or was it just exaggeration, her cries and wails were especially loud.
It was lucky that Lin Chu got them a private ward, but the walls were not soundproof and could not compare to the high-end facilities in Chu Tian Hospital.
Even with the door closed, Xu Jiaojiao"s cries could still be heard. Those who were curious pretended to walk by and craned their necks trying to peek through the small window on the door.
"Why don"t you take better care of yourself?! Why can"t you just love yourself a little more?!" Dai Huimin cried as she hit and scolded her.
Lin Chu finally stood up to stop Dai Huimin after this went on for a while.
She did not put a stop to this earlier because she felt Xu Jiaojiao deserved it, but she did not seem to learn her lesson from just this one beating.
Dai Huimin sat on the chair by the bed, exhausted. She covered her face as she sobbed quietly. "This is all my fault for allowing this to happen. How nice would it be if you were just more of a good girl?! Even if you had done something wrong, all you needed to do was listen to us and change for the better and I won"t be so angry. But no matter how much I said to you, you just wouldn"t listen and insisted you are in the right with all your obstinately skewered reasoning! You… You"ll be the death of me! Lin Chu had already warned you clearly about what kind of person Cheng Ziming was. Just look at his past deeds. Where did you even have the courage to trust a man like that?! Even rus.h.i.+ng into his arms! How stupid can you be?"
Xu Jiaojiao did not relent and turned her head away from Dai Huimin.
Dai Huimin did not care that she would not look at her, as long as she could hear her. She had to make things clear with Xu Jiaojiao.
"You are a good girl from a good family. Please don"t go learn these dirty tricks from some women with sketchy characteristics. These women are looking to get rich quick. Becoming mistresses of these men and getting cars, houses, and expensive handbags from them. They would have treated it as making a profit even when they"ve broken up. But you"re different. You graduated from university legitimately, got yourself a job honestly. You should have found yourself a good, honest man to marry and have children with. That would be a good life. Any good woman would know not to find someone like Cheng Ziming. Those with half a brain would know that Cheng Ziming is unreliable, but you just had to believe him! I may not be smart and gotten myself cheated by a man. But after I got cheated, my eyes were bigger and brighter. Haven"t my experience taught you enough to see people clearly?" Dai Huimin sobbed as she said.
"I know you want to marry into a good family. You want to marry a rich, tall, good-looking man. Putting aside the fact if that man would actually pick you, even if you had thought so, you should find one who is reliable! Even if you can"t find someone like that, why can"t you find an ordinary man?"
Xu Jiaojiao pursed up her lips. She was very clear that someone reliable with good criteria would not pick someone like her!
Not everyone was as lucky as Lin Chu. She had also thought of Cheng Ziming belonging to a lower cla.s.s of those tall, rich and good-looking, which was why she felt that both of them could match.
No matter what, she was never married and had never had relations with another man. It was actually her first experience with Cheng Ziming. She was pretty and came from a good family. She was also young and nubile, which she thought she was able to match up to Cheng Ziming.
"Does Cheng Ziming know that you"re pregnant?" Lin Chu asked calmly.
It was because her att.i.tude and voice had sounded calm, it was like a breath of fresh air for Dai Huimin and helped her calm down.
Xu Jiaojiao pursed her lips in silence. Lin Chu continued patiently, "Say something. We can only help you if you are honest with us."
Xu Jiaojiao finally turned towards Lin Chu and smiled sardonically. "Help? You"re going to help me?"
"I brought you into the hospital today. Even though we don"t really have a relations.h.i.+p with each other, but I won"t allow you to be hurt in front of me. Since I"ve helped admitted you into the hospital today, then I"ll help you solve this issue between you and Cheng Ziming. No matter what, I"ve been cheated by Cheng Ziming before. Since I know what kind of person he is, I won"t allow anything to happen to you," Lin Chu said calmly.
"That was you. I was not cheated!" Xu Jiaojiao replied stubbornly.
Lin Chu nodded patronizingly. "Fine, you weren"t cheated. Since Cheng Ziming is sincere towards you, then let"s get him to take responsibility. You need your parents to see that he is sincere. Even if he wasn"t divorced, at least they will agree to your relations.h.i.+p. When he gets divorced, then your parents would have something to look forward to."
Dai Huimin did not agree to this at all. Even if Cheng Ziming divorced, Dai Huimin would still object to it.
He could get himself a mistress behind his wife"s back now. Even if he did get a divorce and married Xu Jiaojiao, he could still get another mistress behind Xu Jiaojiao"s back in the future.