i meant to do a double post on Saturday but I got distracted by another melodramatic novel. By now , you know I like twisted relationships and angst.,this one has it in loads.
Back to the current novel and finally, finally, some insight into what JYN is thinking…
Chapter 74
The surgery went on for more than ten hours.By the time Jiang Yu Nan was moved out of the operating theatre, it was afternoon on the next day.
The surgeon had been invited from abroad by the attending physician. When he saw the secretary run up anxiously asking about the situation, he was too tired to talk and only nodded gently indicating a positive result.
Jiang Yu Nan was wheeled into the intensive care unit. Secretary Lee looked in from outside, a thousand thoughts going through his head when the attending physician also walked in the ICU.
To see this figure in coma surrounded by myriad medical equipments, he couldn’t help but sigh.” It’s really tragic. He has no family to support him and sign documents when he is so critically ill.”
“Mr Jiang anticipated that unexpected situations may arise. He had authorised me in advance to sign surgery related documents in case he was unconscious or in a coma.”
“ He has survived an operation and two more surgeries to go. God will bless him.”
The success rate of each operation was only 10 % . The conditional probability of surviving all of these operations , multiplied three times by itself …Secretary Lee shook his head, he couldn’t bear to calculate.
The attending physician quickly left. Intending to go home to rest, Secretary Lee left the hospital and drove Jiang Yu Nan’s car back to Li. As he took the elevator from the parking lot , he bumped into Jiang Shi Jun and his assistant on the first floor.
Secretary Lee was taken aback for a moment. He instinctively bowed to avoid Jiang Shi Jun’s eyes .” Mr Jiang, good afternoon.”
Jiang Shi Jun looked around but couldn’t see any sign of Jiang Yu Nan and asked ,” Where is Jiang Yu Nan?”
“ He went to visit the new site and I came back to get some documents.” His answer seamless, Jiang Shi Jun nodded in satisfaction.
The elevator soon arrived at the 61st floor. Secretary lee finally left and bid farewell to Jiang Shi Jun respectfully. Then he walked all the way from the elevator to the presidents office, got in and locked the door.
Jiang Yu Nan had mentioned a safe behind the painting. The secretary used the password to retrieve the CD from the safe.
Just as he put the CD into the computer, his phone rang.
This was an overseas call from the other side of the Atlantic.
At this time, the disc had started playing. It seemed to be footage from a close circuit camera of the roof of some building.
The footage had no sound and Lee watched it as he answered the phone.
It was a woman’s voice. As soon as the call was connected, she said, “ Has she figured out everything ?”
“ You mean Yan Liang?” Secretary Lee’s tone was derisive, “No!”
“ That’s impossible!” She said. “ I told you earlier. In my stepdaughter’s party she asked me a bunch of puzzling questions. She was certainly trying to trace back the connection with Liang Ruiqiang , and she clearly realised you were involved. She should be eager to confirm this , how is it possible that she hasn’t acted on it yet ?”
Secretary Lee continued staring at the computer, but unfortunately, till now, all it was showing was an empty roof. Even the camera had not moved
“I promised Jiang that I would not tell Yan Liang the truth, which I must do, but I never promised that I will not give her some clues. So when you told me about this situation, I did not tell Jiang. I am beginning to doubt the real relationship between her and Jiang. She had a good start, I have been waiting for her to come here , but all she seems to care about is the new company. She simply decided not to continue to investigate this trail.”
“ She must be a terrible woman. What is she worried about ? Knowing that Jiang has always been behind her to pave the way for her ? Because this will upset all her earlier misconceptions ?”
In this regard, Secretary Lee remained non committal. On the one side, there was a patient fighting for life, and the other side there was her, smiling in front of the media while cutting a ribbon, the epitome of a strong woman. The two pictures juxtaposed themselves in his mind, the contrast was ironic. He sighed helplessly,” I’ll speak to you later on this matter. Now the top priority is to manage Jiang Yu Nan’s condition, so as to avoid..”
He suddenly stopped what he was saying.
Two figures appeared one after another on the computer screen, it was no longer solitary on the roof. The two people seemed to be talking, but their backs were to the camera so the faces were not visible.
Secretary Lee’s sudden silence puzzled the woman on the other side of the phone, “ Why aren’t you talking ?”
“ Nothing..”, the video was silent so Lee had no idea what they were talking about. He pulled his attention towards the conversation on phone, “ Just need to deal with Jiang’s condition….”
Suddenly the two people started physically fighting.
Secretary lee was stunned. He saw one of them lose balance and fall off the rooftop, his whole body hanging mid air.
The man desperately grasped the railing. Seeing he was about to fall, the other man standing on the rooftop reached out to help him finally. Secretary lee was in a cold sweat. He breathed out in relief and was about to sit back when there was a sudden action. “ No!” He shouted and stood up. On the screen, the man who was about to be rescued had fallen off the rooftop to the ground floor.
Everything had happened too fast, Secretary Lee had missed the most important scene. He rewound the disc.
This time he finally saw how the dangling man grabbed the other man’s hand, and how the so called rescuer used his other hand to pry apart his fingers one by one..
The murderer wiped the railing with his sleeve and turned his face away from the camera. But this time,Secretary Lee did not miss it.For a split second , he clearly saw the face…Jiang Shi Jun.
*** ***
In the huge office of the president, secretary lee stayed staring at the computer screen for more than an hour.
The face reflected on the window clearly showed that he was shell shocked.
Opposite the Li Bo building, a car had been quietly parked for more than an hour.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Yan Liang looked at the building through the window . She had seen Jiang Yu Nan’s car parked in the underground car parking not far from the entrance .
On the 61st floor was the president’s office. Yan Yan was now looking at the window, imagining him in his office, frowning. But she had not courage to even take half a step forward , whether to step into the Li Bo building or whether to step into… the man’s heart.
She anxiously drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Time was passing very slowly. Many times she started the car to drive away, but every time she turned it off again and continued her meaningless wait.
Soon it was evening. When she saw Jiang Yu Nan’s car come out of the parking lot, she immediately thought, should she follow him? Follow him and say something ? If he is really connected to Liang Ruiqiang, what did that mean ? Was it another trap for her, a bigger one ?
( Miumiu : my heart breaks for them.even at this point she can’t trust him completely..)
She had already tasted the bitter pill of betrayal. How hopeless, how bitter it was… she , more than anyone else was aware of that.
She could see the car hidden in the traffic. After a moment of thought, she instinctively started the car and accelerated to catch up with his car.
The rush hour had just started, the congestion was serious, Jiang Yu Nan’s car seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere. It kept honking to clear the way whenever it’s way was obstructed.
Yan Liang trailed behind. She tightly held the steering wheel,as if this would allow her to drain the tension she was feeling. Finally she followed the car…to the hospital.
Jiang Yu Nan’s car stopped at the gate. Ten meters away, Yan Liang also braked suddenly. She frowned as she looked through the window, her eyes catching the signs of the hospital. She shook her head, it was too late to think now, so she speeded in through the entrance .
She had not yet entered the parking lot when Jiang Yu Nan’s car parked suddenly. What was this huge rush to the hospital about? Was someone sick ?
Yan Liang was causally guessing when she was astonished to see Secretary Lee get off the car and disappear from her field of vision. Even if Yan Liang now got off the car, she would not be able to find him.
The hospital was huge, sick patients and their companions were coming and going. Yan Liang looked around and could not figure out which way to go.
At that moment, a terrible idea flashed in her mind.
Her mind flashed back to the ribbon cutting ceremony the day before. When the flash lights had stopped and her vision was cleared, she suddenly recalled that when she saw Jiang Yu Nan hiding in the crowd, his face looked weak and pale..
She shook her head hard, as if to dislodge this terrible idea from her brain. Rationality back in place, she arrived at the reception area and went straight to the nurses on duty. She asked, “ Is there anyone called Jiang Yu Nan as a patient here ?”
The answer felt so unreasonable to her, “ Sorry, we can’t disclose patient information “
With no evident clue, she would just have to search ward by ward.
In the next two hours , she visited numerous wards and read the patient’s name on every single door. In her heart, her inner voice was praying, “ Please let me not see Jiang Yu Nan’s name, please…”
And when her prayers were answered in all the general wards, when she didn’t see ‘ Jiang Yu nan’, these three words on any card, her heart felt some relief. But in the next moment , she tensed again..if not the general ward, then the ICU..
Her head blank, she almost rushed to the ICU. The moment she pushed the door, she lost all her courage. She knew more than anyone else what this meant.
Her hands stiff as she stood outside for a long time , she ultimately didn’t have the courage to open the door. She only gazed inside through the door.
She could see Secretary Li anxiously pacing up and down, and from time to time looking solemnly inside the room.
Panicked, she looked down at the floor.
In her heart, a voice screamed in protest, forbidding her to look up again. But Yan Liang raised her head again, and held her breath as she looked into the ICU.
Just one look and she anxiously stepped backwards, bumping into a cart being pushed by a nurse.
With a ‘crack’ , the things on the cart fell to the floor. Scared, Yan Liang looked back. Her eyes were soulless as she stared at the broken glass scattered on the floor…
*** ***
Jiang Yu Nan took a full three days to wake up from his coma.
Secretary Li had been keeping vigilance at the hospital. Looking at the exhausted man, Jiang Yu Nan guessed, “ Have you seen the contents of the disc?”
Secretary Lee nodded.
In the silence, the medical equipment issued a monotonous sound. “ Drip- drip- drip.” Like a man’s life gradually passing away..
“You..when did you learn that your father did not commit suicide due to depression but rather…” secretary lee found it difficult to say.
“ Soon after the funeral of Xu JinFu.”
Secretary Lee stared at him. Now wonder he had started implementing his plan…
In contrast to the shocked expression of the secretary, Jiang Yu Nan only frowned slightly, “ My father’s grave was the first place I went. I wanted to tell him, Xu is finished, but I couldn’t because of my personal feelings. It’s ironic , I didn’t get any joy, but got this disk instead.”
His laugh was so bitter.
Fate was using the most devious ways to tease him, and the most brutal ways to end him.
Secretary lee could not bear to look at him directly. He bowed his head and said, “ Mr Jiang , you rest well. Don’t talk too much..”
But Jiang Yu Nan was recalling the past. He tore apart the bandages on those old wounds, as if to remind himself he was still alive, “ When I saw the reports first, they told me I would live till next year at least . But now..I had calculated that I had enough time before my death to implement every step. But I didn’t realise that after every step was implemented, I would not be alive to see the day when Jiang Shi Jun becomes bankrupt and goes to jail.”
Secretary lee gritted his teeth and finally blurted out, “ Mr Jiang, I …”
Did Jiang Yu Nan guess what he was going to say ?
Otherwise why would he quietly interrupt him and say, “ My only wish now is that before I die, I am able to give her everything back but still have her hate me. That is the only way she can live happily even after I die.”
He really had guessed Secretary lee’s intentions, else why would he warn him so coldly, “ If you tell her what she shouldn’t know, that would be the most cruel thing you could do to me.”
*******
Miumiu : And Now.. I just felt like sharing a scene from the novel I am reading now ..The male lead is Qin Shao and the female lead is Lu Xin ran. Her family was bankrupted 7 years ago and she had learned QS is responsible for it..
Qin Shao was silent and didn’t speak. After a long time, his mouth issued one syllable. Over the sound of the steam coming through the vents, I heard him faintly and doubted my ears, “ What did you say ?”
Qin Shao looked at my eyes and said, “I’m sorry.” ”
Since I had learned that Qin Shao hated my family, I had sealed up my heart in transparent vacuum bags. No matter what he said, I was going to be unmoved and carry out my plans. But these three words were like bayonets piercing into the sealed bags. His word let the air whistling in , and I lost my sanity.
I took the coffee mug on the table and threw it at the glass wall. The glass immediately shattered, the mug fell on the outside steps, shuddered and then fell apart. I told the shattered glass, “I’m sorry.”
Next to us, the shop assistant looked in horror. Someone even suggested calling the police.
I looked at Qin Shao, “Did you see?I said ‘ I’m sorry’. You tell me, how are the glass pieces not taking the initiative to obediently get back together, in their respective places, and then happily tell me that it doesn’t matter? Qin Shao, when you say you’re sorry, that’s what you mean. You want me to thank you for Xie Longen, thank you for your generosity. Incredibly you still have the evil spirit to put up an apologetic posture and say sorry? I’m not so magnanimous . I’m sorry . I can’t live with you. ”
Qin Shao Looked at me, his eyes full of sympathy and affection. I couldn’t stand his stare, especially that look. He made me unable to discern, whether this was his true personality or merely a pretence to bully me
But under his gaze, I felt words bubbling out. I could participate in the National speech contest, I picked up a broken piece of glass and slit my left wrist with it. Blood immediately welled up then dropped on to the white tiled floor. I stretched out my left hand for him to see, “ Qin Shao,were you waiting for me for a long time?
That day when you put me in with the wolves, I still slept. Were you uncomfortable ? I am telling you, I am not afraid of anything, not even of death. I have begged you to kill me before, so you think that now that Wen Xiotian is back, you can use him to make me do what you want ? I am telling you – no way!”
Qin Shao pressed down on my wrist desperately and pulled me to go out. He looked at me with my bloody hands, my face pale, and he was really scared.
I stood where I was , insisting on facing him : “Are reluctant to let me die?How can you allow me to die so easily? You asked me why you should promise me, this is my answer. ”
Qin Shao’s face was suddenly stiff. He slapped me hard: “Are you crazy? You dare to throw a tantrum and trifle with me because of Wen Xiotian ?”
I stayed calm as he slapped me. I said: “Not just Wen Xiaotian, there is Zheng Yanqi, and 30,000 bucks for December .”
I did not hear Qin Shao’s answer. He held my wound and lifted me up, and the blood slowly dripped on the white shirt he wore. A drop spread out like a flower on the spring mountains or the open azaleas in the plain.
.
He did not take the coat on his seat and rushed out. The teller chased behind him. He ignored him , and just took big steps forward. The teller ran over, pointing at the windows, probably wanting to ask for compensation. Qin Shao looked sideways and said: “There is a wallet in the jacket with my business card. You first take care of it, I will then ask someone to contact you.”
Miumiu : dramatic much ??????