DLRAS Chapter 103

Chapter 103: I’ve seen you in all sorts of conditions.

The moment Huo Niansheng saw the screen, his eyelid twitched uncontrollably. Zheng Baoqiu accounted for half of the missed calls, but when he tried calling her back, it just rang without answer.

At the same time, his assistant Amanda knocked on the door to say that Boss Yu had arrived.

That day, Yu Shanding had been discussing business with a client and treated them to a meal at the Crown Hotel restaurant.

While dining, they heard that the hotel was hosting the Zheng and He families’ engagement banquet that same day. It was decorated with lanterns and festoons, and they had joked about going over to crash the party for a drink. Halfway through their meal, someone outside said something had happened. Yu Shanding hurriedly arranged for a driver to take his client away, then doubled back to join the fray.

At first, he heard it was terrorists, then that it was just some petty troublemaker. Later, he found a waiter he knew who gave him a more accurate account: it seemed that because of a previous accident involving a Zheng family cargo ship, a family member of one of the deceased crew members was harboring a grudge and had come to the scene for intentional revenge. It was a man in his fifties who had been shouting that his son had fallen into the sea, with no body ever recovered. His whole family had suffered for months until they were driven to ruin, yet the Zheng family’s eldest son was still having a grand engagement party. The man had disguised himself as a hotel guest to sneak in, doused himself in gasoline, and intended to die with the Zheng family—taking as many people down with him as he could.

By the time Yu Shanding managed to squeeze in through the chaos, there was nothing left but a pool of blood on the floor.

The engagement party was ruined, and most of the guests had been evacuated, but there were video records filmed by staff members.

The camera shook violently; the surrounding environment was in total disarray. Finally, it focused on a gray-haired man with a hunched back and a crazed expression, holding a young child who was wailing. Opposite him stood Chen Wengang. The man shouted at him: “I recognize you! You were at the scene when the accident happened! Go call Zheng Bingyi out and make him pay for the crew members’ lives!”

In the shaking footage, Chen Wengang tried to persuade him to stay calm: “Could you put her down first? Let’s talk alone, alright?”

The man waved a lighter threateningly: “Talk about what! Someone’s life must be repaid for my son today!”

The crowd around them whispered in urgent, hushed tones—

“Don’t go over there, he’s doused himself in gasoline, he’s going to immolate himself…”

“Stop him, stop him! Don’t let him light it!”

“Where is the police? Why haven’t they arrived yet? Where are the hotel security guards?”

The camera swiveled rapidly to the left. The security personnel were also trying to find a way, but were hesitant to act for fear of hurting the hostages. Two of them, holding fire extinguishers and using the crowd as cover, approached the attacker from the rear. The crowd gradually held their breath, tacitly keeping silent.

The camera turned back to focus on the man again; he hadn’t yet realized what was happening behind him.

While there was still some distance, a female voice screamed abruptly: “Watch out!”

It wasn’t a warning, it was an alert—the man was immediately spooked.

He turned his head, his emotions even more agitated. Waving his arms, his thumb flicked the flint wheel, ready to light himself on fire!

There was no time for the security guards to get closer, but fortunately, one of them reacted quickly, pressing down on the handle. A jet of dry powder and foam blasted toward the man. Fortunately, the range was sufficient; after grazing a few people in the middle, the lighter’s flame was smothered before it could even rise. The man’s eyes were blinded, and in pain, he bent over and dropped the child. Chen Wengang, who was closest, lunged forward without hesitation.

Both of them fell to the ground, the footage of them struggling blocked by the crowd. The man, accustomed to years of physical labor, still possessed raw strength. Two security guards and more colleagues joined the fray. Everything happened in the blink of an eye; the man was subdued, his arms twisted behind his back.

The footage ended there.

Yu Shanding pressed play on another video.

Chen Wengang’s head had struck the sharp corner of a table. He lay on the ground, and as someone reached out to help him up, their hand came away covered in blood. Then came a voice shouting, “Someone is injured!” The out-of-focus camera zoomed in, blurred, and showed a patch of dark red on the ground.

With such explosive material falling from the sky and so many media personnel present, it was impossible for them not to release it.

That was why Yu Shanding had come in such a hurry to ask Huo Niansheng what he wanted to do.

He was naturally worried about Chen Wengang, but this was the first time Yu Shanding had seen Huo Niansheng looking so horrific.

This man, who in his memory would smile even if the sky were falling, lost his composure for the first time. He exploded in a fit of rage, stood up, and with a thud, flipped the coffee table onto the floor!

There was a thunderous crash, leaving a mess everywhere, scaring Amanda so much she wanted to peek inside to check on them.

Huo Niansheng looked like he was about to go out and devour someone. He closed his eyes, regained a shred of calmness, and told Amanda to have the driver prepare the car.

Yu Shanding hurried to follow, but Huo Niansheng suddenly sneered at him: “You, go tell He Wanxin. Tell her exactly this, word for word—don’t dilute it. Since Miss He insists on making things difficult for my person, then it’s a fight to the death. No one gets to live comfortably!”

Yu Shanding nodded timidly. Huo Niansheng added coldly: “Tell the reporters not to write nonsense.”

“Not to write nonsense” meant controlling the narrative so the event wouldn’t become mere sensationalist gossip. Yu Shanding had to go deal with the media first and had no time to visit the hospital with him. He only heard the office door slam shut with a thunderous bang as Huo Niansheng left.

Chen Wengang had been sent to a private hospital.

Zheng Bingyi hadn’t come along; he had to return to the company to take charge. Whether it was public relations work directed at society or the explanation and account to the He family, a leader needed to be present. Huo Meijie, supporting her pregnant belly, had gone straight home to rest and recover from the shock.

However, instructions had been given to the hospital. Zheng Baoqiu came out of the dean’s office, her eyes red, and as she went downstairs, she heard some muffled arguing.

“How can this be blamed on me?” The first voice was He Wanxin’s. “Get it straight, that lunatic broke in because your company messed up in the past. Even if he hurt someone, it’s because of your grievances, not mine! Do you understand right from wrong?”

“One thing at a time. Don’t try to change the subject, and don’t think you can cover up what you did!”

“Tell me, what did I do?”

“The security guards had almost controlled the situation, but you just had to let out that scream?” Zheng Yucheng accused her. “If you hadn’t alerted him, if you hadn’t provoked that man, why would he have suddenly tried to light the fire!”

“But I didn’t mean to!” she said, aggrieved. “The situation was so tense, I was just too scared, I couldn’t help but speak out. That’s just worry making me lose my head. In that situation, who can control what they say? Why do you always like to pick on me?”

“He Wanxin! Stop lying to me!” Zheng Yucheng roared, lowering his voice. “And don’t treat everyone else like a fool!”

The sudden outburst startled both He Wanxin and Zheng Baoqiu, who was standing behind them.

His expression was almost ferocious: “I think you simply didn’t want to miss this opportunity—you just couldn’t wait for him to get hurt!” Zheng Yucheng was deeply disappointed. “Just to harm him, you didn’t even care about the life of a child. How can you be so vicious?”

He Wanxin’s expression became indifferent: “Talk requires evidence.”

Zheng Yucheng stared at her, his eyes burning with red bloodshot veins.

She sneered: “Zheng Yucheng, you don’t really think you’re some great saint, do you? Do you really care about that child’s life? Do you even know her surname or her name? You’re yelling at me? When it comes down to it, you’re just still clinging to your old lover!”

Zheng Baoqiu glared at them from afar, turned away, and went downstairs, preferring to take the elevator from the other side to reach the ward.

Zheng Maoxun was sitting in the suite outside the ward. She asked: “How is he?”

The Second Young Master Zheng was not the type to care for people: “Uh, I think… he should be fine.”

Zheng Baoqiu sat down, and only then did she notice the message Huo Niansheng had returned.

Before she could call him back, the door to the ward was gently pushed open.

Chen Wengang’s eyes were closed; he felt drowsy, his consciousness drifting in and out, like floating in water or riding in a carriage.

When he fell to the ground, he had still been thinking about how to maintain his balance, then he felt a “buzz” in the back of his head, and his whole brain felt shattered. He couldn’t muster any strength in his limbs; he couldn’t even crawl, and the back of his head felt wet.

It wasn’t until others shouted that he realized it was his own blood.

A warm, radiant heat gathered in his chest. The brainstem was a precise and fragile place. Chen Wengang thought vaguely, Is this the precursor to death? At that moment, he actually felt an indescribable panic. He was even afraid—would the destiny of this lifetime end here?

When he opened his eyes again, rather than recognizing the ward, he saw Huo Niansheng first.

Chen Wengang’s eyelids fluttered open slightly. For a few brief seconds, he didn’t actually recognize whose face was before him.

That fleeting look of unfamiliarity broke Huo Niansheng’s heart. He smiled with exceptional gentleness: “Don’t move.”

After a pause, focus gathered in Chen Wengang’s eyes: “Oh, I hit my head… am I okay?”

“Don’t be afraid. It’s a mild concussion; the bleeding was mainly an external wound. Do you want to throw up?”

“A little. Forget it, I won’t. My head feels dizzy just from sitting up.”

Huo Niansheng placed his own hand under the one Chen Wengang was using for his IV, feeling that his fingertips were ice-cold. The scene was inexplicably familiar.

Zheng Baoqiu pushed the door open to ask if there was anything needed, only to hear her cousin jokingly chiding him in a nonchalant voice:

“I need to get a ledger to keep track of this—to see who is so capable that they manage to get themselves into the hospital every few days.”

“I didn’t want to, either.” Chen Wengang exposed a self-deprecating smile at him. His voice was weak; he lacked the strength to raise his volume. “But after this time, I realized that I don’t know when I became so afraid of death. I wasn’t like this before.”

“Then what more do you want? You are a married man; think about your family before you do things in the future.”

“Alright.” Chen Wengang rolled his eyes, which landed on his face: “I will be responsible to you.”

Huo Niansheng gripped his hand, laughed, and drawled: “If you aren’t responsible for me, how could I go on living?”

Zheng Baoqiu felt she was in the way, forgetting for a moment why she had come in: “I just came to… see if the IV drip was finished. Oh, there’s a call button; you can call the nurse.” She smiled and closed the door: “Oh my, you two go ahead.”

Chen Wengang held back, not daring to laugh.

There was no bleeding inside his brain, but he had suffered a significant external injury. To treat the wound, the medical staff had shaved off a patch of his hair. He realized it belatedly and felt embarrassed about his disheveled appearance, subconsciously trying to avoid Huo Niansheng: “Alright, you should go out.”

Huo Niansheng rested his elbows on the head of the bed and leaned over, his eyes filled with a smile: “What are you afraid of? There’s no version of you I haven’t seen.”

Chen Wengang smiled gently, thinking he was just flirting. He couldn’t even say a few words before he was exhausted again, his eyelids growing heavy.

After he closed his eyes, Huo Niansheng sat by the bed with his eyes lowered, though his mind was filled with the image of his half-face, battered and bruised.

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