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Chapter 103: I’ve seen you in all sorts of conditions.
At the moment he saw the screen, Huo Niansheng’s eyelids jumped. Half of the missed calls were from Zheng Baoqiu. When he tried to call her back, nobody answered.
Meanwhile, assistant Amanda knocked on the door to inform him that Boss Yu had arrived.
That day, Yu Shanding was negotiating business with clients, and after finalizing the deal, they went to dine at the Crown Hotel restaurant.
In the restaurant, they heard that the hotel was also hosting an engagement banquet for the Zheng and He families that day, with decorations and festivities.
They joked about crashing the parties for some drinks. But halfway through their meal, they heard something was happening outside. Yu Shanding quickly arranged for the clients to leave with the driver and then went back to see what was going on.
At one point, he heard it was terrorists, and then he heard it was just a minor disturbance. Later, he found a familiar supervisor who told him a more accurate version.
It seemed that it was because of an incident involving a ship owned by the Zheng family, where some crew members died, and their relatives harbored resentment. So, they came to the scene seeking revenge.
There was this old man in his fifties who shouted about his son falling into the sea, with no body found. Their family suffered for months, leading to the breakup of his marriage, while the eldest son of the Zheng family could still have a grand engagement. He disguised himself as a guest staying at the hotel, poured gasoline on himself, and intended to die with the Zheng family, with a few others backing him up.
When Yu Shanding rushed in, there was only a puddle of blood on the ground.
The engagement banquet was disrupted, and most of the guests had evacuated, but some staff members recorded videos.
The camera shook violently, the surroundings were chaotic, and it finally focused on a man with gray hair, hunched over, in a frenzied state, holding a crying child. Opposite him was Chen Wengang. The man shouted to him: “I still remember you! You were at the scene when the accident happened! Go get Zheng Bingyi out here and make him pay for the lives of the crew members!”
Chen Wengang, on the trembling screen, tried to calm him down: “Can you please put her down, and we can talk privately?”
The man threatened, waving a lighter in his hand: “What’s there to talk about! Someone has to pay for my son’s life today!”
The air was filled with hushed conversations:
“Don’t go near, he poured gasoline, he wants to set himself on fire…”
“Stop him, don’t let him light the fire!”
“Where are the police? Why haven’t they come yet? Where are the hotel security guards?”
The camera quickly shifted left, and security personnel were also trying to figure out a solution, but they hesitated, with two of them holding fire extinguishers, sneaking up on the attacker from behind under the cover of the crowd. The crowd gradually fell silent, instinctively not daring to make a sound.
Even the camera turned back, focusing again on the man, who had not yet realized the situation behind him.
In the meantime, at a distance, a woman’s voice suddenly exclaimed, “Watch out!”
Her intention was not to warn but to startle the attacker.
He turned around, even more agitated, waving his arms, his thumb already turning the wheel of the lighter, about to ignite himself!
The security personnel were too late to approach further, but one of them reacted swiftly, pressing down the handle, and the dry powder and foam sprayed fiercely toward him. Fortunately, the range was enough. After affecting a few people in the middle, the flame of the lighter was extinguished before it could rise. The man was momentarily blinded. He bent over in pain, dropped the child, and Chen Wengang, who was closest, rushed forward without hesitation.
Both men fell to the ground, and the struggle was blocked from view by the crowd. The man, accustomed to physical labor, had a strong force, and two security guards and more colleagues joined the fray. Everything happened swiftly, and the man was subdued, his arms twisted behind his back.
The footage ended there.
Yu Shanding pressed another video.
Chen Wengang hit the back of his head on the corner of a table or chair. He lay on the ground, and someone tried to help him up, but his hand was covered in blood. Then someone shouted, “Someone is injured,” and the unfocused camera moved closer, but the scene blurred, and the ground was a murky dark red.
With such explosive material, there were so many media present that it was impossible not to release it.
So Yu Shanding hurriedly came to ask Huo Niansheng’s opinion.
Of course, he was worried about Chen Wengang too, but it was the first time Yu Shanding had seen Huo Niansheng look so grim.
This man, who usually laughed off even the most dire situations, lost his composure for the first time, his expression changed drastically, and he stood up, angrily pushing the coffee table to the ground!
There was a loud crash, and the room was a mess, even scaring Amanda, who wanted to peek in to check.
Huo Niansheng looked like he was about to go out and devour someone. He closed his eyes, regained some composure, and told Amanda to call the driver.
Yu Shanding hurried to catch up, and Huo Niansheng suddenly sneered at him: “You go, tell He Wanxin, in the exact words, don’t discount it—since Miss He insists on having issues with my people, then let’s fight to the death, and nobody should be spared!”
Yu Shanding nodded, and Huo Niansheng added indifferently, “Tell the reporters not to make up nonsense.”
Not making up nonsense meant controlling the narrative, not making the whole thing seem like sensational gossip. Yu Shanding had to go deal with the media first, so he had no time to go with him. He only heard the office door slam loudly, shaking the room, as Huo Niansheng left.
***
Chen Wengang was taken to a private hospital.
Zheng Bingyi didn’t come along. He had to return to the company to oversee the overall situation. Whether it’s the public relations work facing the society or explaining to the He family, it needs someone with a strong leadership presence. Huo Meijie, on the other hand, supported her stomach and went home directly to rest and calm down.
But the hospital still made some calls. Zheng Baoqiu came out of the director’s office, eyes red, and heard some fragments of argument downstairs.
“How can you blame me for this?” The voice of He Wanxin came first. “You need to understand, that lunatic barged in because your company messed up before. Even if he hurt someone, it’s your fault, not mine! Do you understand right from wrong?”
“Call a spade a spade. Don’t try to shift the blame. Don’t think you can cover up your actions!”
“What did I do?”
“The security almost had the situation under control, but you had to shout so loudly!” Zheng Yucheng accused. “If it weren’t for you reminding him, if it weren’t for you provoking him, why would he suddenly try to light the fire?”
“But I didn’t mean to.” She sounded aggrieved. “The situation was so tense at the time, I was just too scared, I couldn’t help but speak up. It was out of concern. Who would care about what they say in that situation? Why do you always pick on me?”
“He Wanxin! Stop lying to me!” Zheng Yucheng roared suddenly, his voice low. “And don’t think everyone is a fool!”
The sudden outburst startled both He Wanxin and Zheng Baoqiu, who was behind her.
His expression even bordered on ferociousness. “I see you don’t want to miss this opportunity at all. You’re practically hoping for him to have an accident!” Zheng Yucheng was extremely disappointed. “You’re so malicious, you don’t even care about the lives of children. How could you be so wicked?”
He Wanxin’s expression became indifferent. “Words require evidence.”
Zheng Yucheng stared at her fiercely, his eyes burning with bloodshot veins.
She sneered, “Zheng Yucheng, you don’t really think you’re some kind of saint, do you? Do you really care about the life of that child? Just because of her last name, you’re yelling at me? After all is said and done, you still can’t forget about your old lover!”
Zheng Baoqiu glanced at them from afar, then turned and went downstairs, choosing to take another elevator to the hospital room.
Zheng Maoxun was sitting in the suite outside the hospital room. She asked, “How is it going?”
Zheng Baoqiu, who wasn’t good at taking care of people, replied, “Uh, I think… it should be fine.”
Zheng Baoqiu also sat down and then noticed a message from Huo Niansheng on his phone.
Before she could dial back, the door to the hospital room was gently pushed open.
Chen Wengang had his eyes closed, drifting in and out of consciousness, like floating in water or riding in a carriage.
When he fell to the ground, he was still thinking about how to maintain his balance. Then suddenly, there was a buzzing sensation at the back of his head, and his entire mind felt scattered, with no ability to think. His limbs couldn’t exert any strength, and he couldn’t even crawl up. The back of his head felt damp.
When others called out, he realized it was his own blood.
A warm sensation gathered in his chest, and the brainstem, a delicate and vulnerable area, was fuzzy. Chen Wengang thought, could this be a sign of death? At that moment, he actually felt an indescribable panic. He was even afraid that perhaps this was the end of his life’s fate.
When he opened his eyes again, before recognizing the hospital room, he first saw Huo Niansheng.
Chen Wengang slowly opened his eyelids, and for a brief few seconds, he didn’t actually recognize the face in front of him.
At that moment, Huo Niansheng’s heart broke at the sight of his unfamiliar gaze. He smiled gently and said, “Don’t move.”
After a while, light returned to Chen Wengang’s eyes. “Oh, I hit my head… Am I okay?”
“Don’t worry, you have a mild concussion, and the bleeding is mainly from external wounds. Do you feel like vomiting?”
“A little. Forget it, I won’t vomit. Sitting up, my head feels dizzy.”
Huo Niansheng placed his hand under his IV drip, feeling Chen Wengang’s fingertips were cold; this scene was inexplicably familiar.
Zheng Baoqiu pushed the door open and asked if there was anything needed. He heard his cousin jokingly tease:
“I should keep a ledger to see who’s so capable of landing themselves in the hospital every few days.”
“I don’t want to, either.” Chen Wengang self-deprecatingly smiled at him, his voice weak, and he lacked the strength to raise his volume. “But after this, I realized I’ve become afraid of death at some point. I wasn’t like this before.”
“What else do you want? You’re a married man now. Think about your family before doing anything else.”
“Alright.” Chen Wengang shifted his gaze to his face. “I’ll hold myself accountable to you.”
Huo Niansheng held his hand, smiling wryly. “If you’re not accountable to me, how can I go on living?”
Zheng Baoqiu felt redundant for a moment, forgetting why she came in. “I just came to… check if the IV drip is done. Oh, there’s a call button, you can call the nurse.” She smiled, closed the door. “Well, you guys carry on.”
Chen Wengang restrained himself from laughing.
There was no bleeding in his brain, but he suffered a serious external injury. The medical staff had to shave off a piece of his hair to treat the wound. He realized belatedly how disheveled he looked and subconsciously tried to avoid Huo Niansheng. “Alright, you can leave now.”
Huo Niansheng propped his elbow on the bedside and leaned over, eyes smiling. “What are you afraid of? I’ve seen you in all sorts of conditions.”
Chen Wengang smiled gently, thinking he was just flirting. He couldn’t say much before feeling tired again, his eyelids gradually drooping.
After he closed his eyes, Huo Niansheng sat by the bedside. His eyes were lowered, but in his mind was the image of half of his face with no intact flesh.
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