Returning - Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Falling

The moment the sound of the door opening rang out, the people waiting in the emergency rescue area swarmed forward again, anxiously surrounding the doctor emerging from inside.

Having repeated this who knows how many times, Ji Sui finally began to feel numb. His entire body felt heavy, sinking downward. His head throbbed painfully. He didn't even have the strength to lift his gaze to look at the doctor.

There were too many patients inside the resuscitation room. Zhao Yu had only just been taken in. Unless it was a case beyond saving, it shouldn't be this quick.

In this moment, he didn't even know whether he wanted the doctors performing emergency treatment on Zhao Yu to come out quickly, or whether he hoped they would come out later.

Same hospital, same emergency area. In just a few short days, the person lying inside had changed from him to Zhao Yu. And up until now, the wound on her shoulder hadn't even fully healed yet.

The sound of hurried footsteps approached. A deep, low voice simultaneously rang out in the silent waiting area: "How could you protect—"

All the anger with nowhere to vent came to an abrupt halt the moment the man on the floor lifted his head.

Xue Zhan closed his eyes briefly, struggling to calm his ragged breathing. Trying his utmost to remain composed, he asked hoarsely, "What's the situation?"

Xue Zi'ang stared at him blankly, trembling all over, unable to make a single sound. Only the blood mixed with tears on his face dripped down, drop by drop.

Xue Zhan had never seen Xue Zi'ang so despairing and helpless. Not even that time they rushed Zhao Yu to the hospital, not even though, like now, he had been covered in blood back then. But that time, none of them had felt despair, because they knew Zhao Yu wouldn't let herself die so easily.

But this time, she truly didn't want to live anymore.

The tightly shut doors were pulled open with a creak again. Xue Zhan rushed forward immediately, only to find the doctor heading toward another group of waiting family members.

Cheers, words of gratitude, sobs... the sounds of other people's joy only made their own helplessness and hopelessness stand out more starkly.

The phone in his pocket vibrated incessantly. Xue Zhan reached in, and pressed the power button to shut it off.

He knew how much chaos his sudden departure from the critical impromptu meeting at noon would cause, but right now, he couldn't focus on anything else.

With Xue Zi'ang's phone going unanswered, Xue Zhan's phone eventually being turned off, and countless calls to Zhuang Ye's number still yielding no reply, Xu Chengyan could only command the driver beside him in a deep voice: "Faster."

But this was already the fastest speed possible. Even if they drove like maniacs, running lights and speeding all the way, the distance from Wucheng to Donghai was far too great to cover in an instant.

His whole body soaked in cold sweat, Xu Chengyan leaned back against the seat in a daze for a long time, then picked up his phone again, preparing to call and ask for the other men's numbers.

Just then, his phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he quickly answered: "You're not at the hospital yet?"

"I'm here, President Xu. I saw the two President Xues from Huacan in the emergency area. The person should still be inside being resuscitated. Hold on, let me ask."

After the background noise subsided, Xu Chengyan didn't hear the inquiry, but he did hear another man's voice coming through the phone: "What's the situation?"

It sounded like Shang Lu.

Shang Lu had rushed over from the construction site after receiving a call from the bodyguard. He wore a neat suit, but a dust-covered safety helmet still sat on his head. His new leather shoes were caked in mud. His exhausted face was covered in sweat. His entire appearance was unspeakably disheveled.

Xue Zhan stood woodenly at the entrance to the resuscitation room, not saying a word. Ji Sui, his face ashen, leaned back in his seat in silence. Xue Zi'ang sat on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees, motionless. In the end, it was Zhuang Ye, also sitting against the wall on the floor, who spoke: "Four bottles of pills. And the artery... it was severed too..."

These words were less an answer to Shang Lu and more a murmured monologue at the brink of collapse.

His right hand, covered in blood, trembled uncontrollably. His gaze slowly shifted backward, staring quietly at his own wrist.

The artery there was hidden so deep. How ruthless must she have been, how hard must she have cut, to cause such a massive wound?

When he took her from Xue Zi'ang's arms, her hastily bandaged wrist was still bleeding profusely. Her body temperature was so low. Had it not been for feeling the warmth of her blood, he would have thought he was already holding a cold corpse.

He had thought that was the limit of what she could do. But then he heard Xue Zi'ang say she had also taken pills. Later, when the doctor asked, Xue Zi'ang recalled in fragmented bursts, saying he seemed to have seen four pill bottles.

A full four bottles of pills, and she had so resolutely cut her artery. He could imagine how much pain she was in. But it was precisely because the pain in her heart far surpassed this that she didn't care at all about such physical agony.

"Not four bottles... it was... five bottles..." Xue Zi'ang seemed to suddenly remember something. His curled-up body began trembling violently again. "Five bottles... it was five bottles... and so much blood, it just wouldn't stop..."

Shang Lu slumped dejectedly against the wall, closed his eyes, and lowered his head, his hands clasped tightly together.

Xue Zhan crouched down beside Xue Zi'ang, reaching out to clasp his blood-soaked hand. But his nephew only trembled even more fiercely: "She lied to me... she always lies..."

She had clearly said she was going to take an afternoon nap, but when he pushed the door open, all he could see was a blinding, piercing red.

He and Ling Jianwei had been taking turns watching her twenty-four hours a day because they were worried she might do something desperate. Especially after hearing Ji Sui ask if her mental state had shown any abnormalities that day, he hadn't dared to let his guard down for even a moment. He had even stood guard beside her while she slept at night.

He had only stepped out to brew a cup of coffee to stay alert while she was sleeping. She had been sleeping so soundly, no different from her usual afternoon nap. She had even made plans with him to eat hotpot that evening, and to go see the lawyer together the next day.

To this day, he still had no idea where she had hidden those pills and that knife.

Xue Zhan gripped his shoulder tightly: "It's not your fault."

They had all been too careless. They had already guessed she might not want to live, yet they had genuinely believed she was impatiently awaiting the verdict for Zhuang Yiqing.

They had all assumed she would definitely wait until that day. Wasn't that day the very thing she had painstakingly schemed toward for so many years?

They had even already discussed how to carefully watch over her after that day passed, to prevent her from doing anything foolish. But they never imagined she wouldn't even be willing to wait until that day.

Was she truly too tired, in too much pain, unable to wait any longer? Or was it because she knew they would watch her like hawks when the time came, so she sought an opportunity to end it all in advance?

After all they had said to her before, all they had done for her, she still didn't want to live?

The hand holding the phone dropped weakly. Xu Chengyan stared blankly at the trees whipping past the car window, the voices of Zhuang Ye and Xue Zi'ang echoing ceaselessly in his mind.

Artery severed... five bottles of pills...

What kind of horrific sight was that? What kind of agony and torment?

To her, was living even more painful than this?

No one knew how long they waited. The doors to the resuscitation room opened once more. This time, not only did the doctor come out, but Zhao Yu on the hospital bed was also wheeled out.

Shang Lu and Xue Zhan rushed forward instantly. Zhuang Ye and Xue Zi'ang also bolted up from the floor. Only Ji Sui, still in his seat, struggled several times before he managed to force himself up and stand at a distance.

"The patient's radial artery was severed. Transfer to the orthopedic operating room for debridement and suturing."

The several men all followed closely behind. Shang Lu asked, "Is she out of danger?"

"Vital signs are temporarily stable."

Hearing those eight words, Ling Jianwei in the corridor finally let out a soft sigh of relief. Immediately afterward, his body went limp, and he collapsed sideways against the nearby wall.

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