Chapter 17: The one who looked after the fish bath was Fu Shiyong...
“No, Brother Yang, I can’t give up. I absolutely cannot.”
“It’s been three years. I no longer love Fu Shiyong. I don’t love him, not even a bit...”
Before being fully ushered into the emergency room, Yu Zao had a fleeting moment of clarity.
In those hollow eyes stained with blood, there was the courage to sever all ties and love completely.
But Yang Chen knew her too well.
He knew that her reluctance and lingering attachment to Fu Shiyong weighed on her soul like a towering boulder, crushing her completely—
Dooming her forever without any chance of peace!
The emergency room doors shut.
The red waiting light flickered on.
Since Yang Chen was still on leave, he had to entrust Yu Zao to one of his students.
Just as the man turned to handle the admission procedures,
A fierce, chilling anger, wrapped in a sharp minty scent, shot straight at his vital spot.
Bang! A punch.
Half his face swelled dramatically.
A similar scene had played out not long ago in the dilapidated stairwell of that old neighborhood.
“Yang Chen, tell me, what is Yu Zao hiding from me?”
“Why did she leave me?”
“Answer me!”
Fu Shiyong grabbed Yang Chen by the collar, slamming him hard against the cold, unyielding wall.
That jealousy, that desperation, the impulse to drop everything and reconcile with Yu Zao right then and there.
As the sole outsider,
Yang Chen saw everything vividly.
A brief silence.
Then he smirked, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and burst into loud laughter.
With each laugh, he slapped Fu Shiyong’s face sharply, the sound echoing in the tense air.
“Fu Shiyong, I gave you the chance to know the truth.”
“But don’t forget, you chose to walk away, choosing to protect Yu Yue instead.”
“Also, don’t forget how Yu Zao’s mother died!”
“How a dignified young lady like her became an orphan!”
Fu Shiyong was painfully aware of all these facts.
Yet...
“Yu Yue was just a child then; she was also a victim.”
Every word he spoke was weighed with guilt.
Yang Chen laughed even louder.
He shoved Fu Shiyong away, calmly straightening his wrinkled collar.
“Mr. Fu, if you love someone too much, be careful not to lose everything!”
A doctor emerged from the emergency room.
Yu Zao’s condition had stabilized, but she was severely traumatized and needed to be monitored in the hospital for several days.
Fu Shiyong frowned, puzzled. “Yu Zao took Yu Yue to such a place, so why is she...”
“Fu Shiyong, you’re a complete bastard!”
All the calm and gentlemanly composure Yang Chen had cultivated over forty years shattered effortlessly for Yu Zao’s sake.
He cursed loudly, fists swinging wildly as if ready to strike.
Almost at the same moment,
Yu Zao, wrapped in medical gauze from head to toe, lying weakly on a stretcher, was pushed out of the emergency room.
She heard Yang Chen’s fiery voice, “Seeing is believing! Fu Shiyong, if you’re not blind, look closely—who is the real victim here, Yu Zao or Yu Yue?”
“Yu Yue is my fiancée, of course I trust her unconditionally; she would never lie to me,”
Fu Shiyong declared resolutely, always sharp and savvy, never losing out.
Suddenly,
A nurse gasped, “Miss Yu, you’re... you’re coughing up blood?”
That single sentence struck her like a thousand meteorites crashing down, shattering her utterly.
Her body was battered beyond repair.
Yang Chen’s voice calling her name was faint and distant.
The scene descended into chaos.
Yet through the crowd’s gaps, she caught sight of Fu Shiyong taking a hurried call before abruptly leaving.
She stared at him—unblinking—until that proud, aloof figure disappeared completely from view.
Beside her, the young boy smiled mischievously as he blew softly into her ear.
He said, “Yu Zao, can you have some self-awareness? You’re the only wife Fu Shiyong has ever truly loved. Even if you claimed to be the reincarnation of Zhu Bajie, he’d believe it.”
But alas.
Fu Shiyong, was my plan a success?
You don’t love me, you hate me, yet you gave Yu Yue the trust and affection that once belonged to me—without a single mistake...
“Warning! The patient is experiencing sinus arrhythmia! Quick! Back to the emergency room, hurry!”
The next time she awoke was a week later.
The LCD television mounted on the wall was airing local entertainment news.
The window was slightly ajar; the humidifier still emitted that familiar, deeply ingrained scent of gardenia.
“This morning at ten, the Fu Group officially announced the wedding date of Mr. Fu Shiyong.”
“To give his beloved a perfect, once-in-a-century wedding, he even purchased a small island in New Zealand called ‘Joy of the Fish.’”
According to insiders, Mr. Fu Shiyong also extended his affection to those around him, renaming the Luosen Art Museum on Beijing’s Third Ring Road to the Yueyao Art Museum.”
“Because Miss Yu Yue’s mother is named Zhao Yueyao—a grand gesture to win favor with his future mother-in-law.”
The entertainment news continued.
Yu Zao, however, was painfully peeling the medical gauze wrapped around her fingers.
Without the protection of her nails, she pressed hard, and blood spurted out like a fountain.
Yang Chen, clad in his white coat, came in to check on her.
The moment he saw this, his heart nearly stopped.
He lunged forward, growling, “Xiao Yu, what are you doing? Self-harm?”
“Brother Yang, my mother’s name is Liu Luosen.”
“What?”
One moment her eyes were red, on the verge of tears.
The next, her stunningly beautiful face blossomed with a smile like a poppy in full bloom.
“Hahaha, Brother Yang, you must think Fu Shiyong hates me terribly now, right?”
“Even Yi Yi calls me a prostitute.”
“That’s fine, really fine. At least when I’m gone, neither father nor son will shed a single tear for a filthy, despicable woman like me.”
She laughed as she spoke.
Tears the size of pearls slipped down from the corners of her mouth, which she struggled to hold up.
Yang Chen’s mouth tasted bitter.
He moved his thin lips with difficulty. “Xiao Yu, choose—cry or laugh.”
Before he finished speaking,
With a sudden wail,
Yu Zao, her body ravaged by illness, seemed to search for her last support and collapsed into Yang Chen’s arms.
She sobbed heart-wrenchingly, “Brother Yang, I’m really terrible, really unreasonable.”
“For three years, I waited for Fu Shiyong to hate me, dislike me, stay away from me.”
“But when he finally gave up on me and loved another woman—”
“Why? Why does my heart still hurt this much?”
Her crying rose and fell.
Outside the ward, a nurse saw Fu Shiyong arriving, carrying many bags, and immediately approached.
“Sir, you’re here again? Miss Yu Zao has been unconscious for a week, and you’ve been so attentive, personally taking care of everything.”
“You even adjusted the water temperature little by little to wash her feet.”
“And the room humidity—if it was even slightly off, you’d readjust it.”
“This level of dedication is enough to make us single folks green with envy!”