Chapter 67: Imprisonment

Rong Xiu was always the most potent poison to stimulate Wen Lan Sheng. He could instantly drive Wen Lan Sheng mad. Through the phone came Wen Lan Sheng’s heartbroken cries: “Xia Xia! Fan Xia! Give the phone to Fan Xia. It wasn’t me, let me go! Why does everyone want to ruin me? Why!”

But his desperate screams were nothing but the cheapest noise in Rong Xiu’s eyes, like the shrill struggling cries of a pig being slaughtered – jarring and useless. The only effect, perhaps, was to alleviate Rong Xiu’s jealousy from the past few days.

Nothing satisfies the vanity and self-esteem of the current partner more than seeing the ex-lover in a miserable and hysterical state. Rong Xiu’s thin lips curved into a slight smile. He said nothing, only burying his head deeper, more forcefully. The air was filled with sticky, slurping sounds.

The sound was very small and faint, but it was like a bucket of ice water poured on Wen Lan Sheng’s anger.

Wen Lan Sheng’s eyes widened, listening in disbelief to the intimate sounds coming through the phone. His heart was repeatedly scorched, shedding tears of regret.

Early this morning, Wen Ming Yue had brought Xie Cen and Wen Jing to his house, pounding on the door incessantly, causing the neighbors to complain. The next-door neighbor even threatened to call Fan Xia.

He didn’t dare let Fan Xia know about this, fearing she might misunderstand that he was still in contact with his family. He naively thought that if he just hid the ring, they would leave when they couldn’t find it.

Who knew that as soon as they entered the house, Wen Ming Yue would fall to her knees before him, kowtowing until her face was covered in blood, begging him for money. Only then did he realize that Wen Ming Yue had been bold enough to embezzle public funds. Now only Fan Xia could save her, or else she would go to prison.

Wen Lan Sheng was shocked, knowing that at Wen Ming Yue’s age, she might not survive if she went to prison.

But thinking of Fan Xia’s determination and Rong Xiu’s watchful eyes, he could barely protect himself now, let alone Wen Ming Yue. Moreover, this was all her own doing. No one had forced her to embezzle public funds.

Why should Fan Xia repay the money she borrowed?

Wen Lan Sheng looked at Wen Ming Yue’s blood-covered face and the kneeling Xie Cen and Wen Jing. He gritted his teeth and hardened his heart, saying, “It’s no use coming to me about this. I don’t have that much money. I can’t help you.”

“You don’t have money, but Fan Xia does! Just give Fan Xia a call. She won’t stand by and watch us die, right?” Wen Ming Yue’s two old, murky eyes were like two rotten, moldy fruits, bulging enormously as if they were about to swallow him whole.

Wen Lan Sheng took a step back: “Xia Xia said she won’t deal with you anymore. You can’t call her.”

If he made this call, it would be the end of his relationship with Fan Xia, benefiting that despicable Rong Xiu. He couldn’t accept that.

“Wen Lan Sheng, do you really want to watch your mother being tortured to death in prison? She’s about to retire. Instead of letting her enjoy her golden years, you’re letting her go to jail!” Xie Cen stopped kneeling and rushed forward, slapping Wen Lan Sheng’s face. He turned to Wen Ming Yue and said, “I told you long ago, this ungrateful wolf’s heart is sharper than a knife. There’s no use appealing to his emotions.”

Wen Lan Sheng staggered, holding onto the table for support. Before he could steady himself, Xie Cen snarled at Wen Jing, “Jing Jing, go grab his phone. If he won’t make the call, we’ll do it ourselves.”

Wen Jing immediately stepped forward. After a brief struggle, Wen Lan Sheng was no match for a woman and was quickly overpowered.

“Dad, catch.” Wen Jing threw the phone to Xie Cen, forcefully pressing Wen Lan Sheng’s face to the ground and giving him two kicks in the stomach for good measure, venting her pent-up anger.

Wen Lan Sheng watched helplessly as his phone was taken away, tears falling from his eyes.

He knew at that moment, it was completely over between him and Fan Xia.

He had spent more than a decade slowly getting close to Fan Xia, painstakingly nurturing their relationship. And now, the ones destroying this relationship were his own family members and that homewrecker Rong Xiu. Hatred began to grow in his heart. Looking at the greedy, disgusting faces of the Wen family members, for the first time, he felt such intense hatred. Those who ruined his happiness deserved to die.

Taking advantage of Wen Jing’s inattention, he suddenly sprang up from the ground, snatched Xie Cen’s phone, and hung up the call.

“You—” Xie Cen shouted, “Quick, grab the phone back! We haven’t gotten the money yet!”

Wen Lan Sheng ran to the kitchen with the phone. Wen Jing quickly chased after him, but Wen Lan Sheng was faster. He reached the stove, grabbed the hanging knife, and swung it around. Wen Jing was startled and instinctively raised her hand to block.

“Ahhhhh!” A piercing scream from Xie Cen cut through the air.

Wen Lan Sheng’s chest heaved violently. The blood-stained knife slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a bone-chilling clang.

Wen Jing stared blankly at her blood-covered hand for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground, letting out cries of pain.

“Quick, to the hospital! Call 120!” Xie Cen cried, hugging Wen Jing and hastily wrapping her wrist with clothing. But the surging blood quickly soaked through the cloth.

Wen Ming Yue anxiously made the call, then picked up a nearby chair and smashed it against Wen Lan Sheng: “You beast! You want to send me to prison to die, and now you want to kill your sister too. Wen Lan Sheng, even if I go to prison, I won’t let you off!”

The chair leg struck Wen Lan Sheng’s body. He sat on the ground helplessly, crying and watching Wen Jing’s blood-covered hand. He muttered, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want this. You forced me. You’re the ones who ruined me.”

The ambulance arrived quickly.

They rushed Wen Jing to the hospital, with Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen dragging the almost dazed Wen Lan Sheng to the emergency room. The glaring white lights flashed before him again, waves of white light seeming to pull him back to his second year of high school. After his abortion surgery, with unbearable pain in his lower abdomen, he had walked out of the ward. Fan Xia, who had just finished her exams, was waiting for him at the end of the hospital corridor, under the same cold light.

He stared blankly at the people coming and going around him, hoping to see Fan Xia again in the crowd, at the end of the cold light.

But beside him were only the grotesque faces of Wen Ming Yue and Xie Cen, grabbing him, beating and scolding him.

“If anything happens to Jing Jing, Wen Lan Sheng, I won’t let you off even as a ghost!”

“Jing Jing is such a good child, how could you be so heartless as to try to kill her? What grudge do you have against her? If you want to kill someone, come at me! Why hurt Jing Jing?”

“Who are the patient’s family members?” A doctor hurried over.

“We are.” Xie Cen stopped the beating and scolding, quickly asking, “Doctor, is our Jing Jing alright?”

“The patient’s wrist is cut, one nerve is severed, two tendons are cut, and two blood vessels are ruptured,” the doctor said.

Xie Cen gasped in shock, then turned to Wen Lan Sheng and unleashed another round of vicious beating: “It’s all your fault, you’ve hurt our Jing Jing so badly!”

“Family members, please calm down. Although the patient’s injury is severe, you brought her to the hospital in time. With proper surgery and post-operative rehabilitation therapy, the patient’s injury can heal. However, for a long period, she won’t be able to move her hand as freely as normal people, but basic daily activities should still be manageable,” the doctor explained.

“Thank heavens. Doctor, please perform the surgery on our child quickly,” Xie Cen said.

The doctor nodded, “Certainly, please go to the first floor to pay the surgery fee first.”

“Surgery fee?” Xie Cen paused, then asked, “How much is the surgery fee?”

The doctor replied, “About fifty to seventy thousand, including nearly a year of rehabilitation costs afterwards. You should prepare 150,000 yuan.”

“150,000!” Xie Cen’s voice suddenly rose. He turned to Wen Lan Sheng and scolded, “It’s all your fault for hurting your sister like this. Hurry up and pay!”

“I don’t have money,” Wen Lan Sheng stepped back, his mind filled with Fan Xia’s words. His voice was broken, “I won’t give you another cent. Otherwise, Xia Xia will be angry. It’s all because of you. You ruined me. I could have lived very happily.”

With that, Wen Lan Sheng ran out of the hospital, abandoning Wen Jing who urgently needed surgery. Wen Ming Yue hurried to chase after him but couldn’t catch up.

Xie Cen was both pained and resentful, but he humbly said, “Doctor, we can recover at home. Can the surgery fee be reduced a bit? It’s not easy for us old couple to raise a child.”

Wen Ming Yue had embezzled public funds and was about to go to jail. They were scraping by, trying to borrow money everywhere but couldn’t. Now even eating had become a problem, and they couldn’t afford rent. How could they come up with 70,000 for medical expenses?

The doctor said helplessly, “Then there’s nothing we can do. This is the hospital’s policy, and I have no say in it. If you’re having difficulties, I can help you transfer to a public hospital now. The surgery fee there might only be around 20,000, and if your child has social insurance, it can be partially reimbursed.”

Hearing the doctor’s words, Xie Cen had no choice but to nod, albeit reluctantly.

He didn’t want to transfer to a public hospital either. Not only was the environment inferior to private hospitals, but the corridors and lobbies were also crowded with hospital beds. The quality of doctors was also not comparable to private hospitals. If it weren’t for financial constraints, he wouldn’t risk Wen Jing’s health.

On the way to transfer hospitals, Xie Cen broke down in tears: “We’ve struggled all our lives, why do we end up like this in our old age? We can’t even come up with the money to save Jing Jing’s life.”

The environment of the public hospital was completely incomparable to the private hospital. The entire corridor and lobby were filled with simple mattresses, not even a bed frame. Countless patients were crowded together. In such an environment with so many patients, doctors had even less energy to carefully consider each patient’s condition. They hastily performed surgery on Wen Jing and didn’t even come to check on the patient’s condition. Because they owed the surgery fee, they were forcibly discharged after just a few days of rest.

Without professional nurses to change dressings and provide rehabilitation, even though Wen Jing had surgery, her hand developed hematoma and infection. But because they had no money and couldn’t even afford the public hospital, her hand was left to waste away.

When Wen Jing learned that her hand had become disabled and she couldn’t even play games anymore, she completely gave up on herself, yelling that she would find Wen Lan Sheng and fight him to the death.

Wen Ming Yue was even more desperate. Wen Lan Sheng had disappeared, and she had become a rat in the street that everyone shouted to beat. No one was willing to lend her money. When the police came knocking, her heart turned to ashes.

The Wen family’s world had completely collapsed!