Xiao Anjing carried Lan Yu, who had fallen unconscious, out of the hotel. He could no longer return to the charity auction venue. After placing her in the back seat of the car, he called one of the bodyguards responsible for Susu's safety, asking him to inform Susu about his situation.
As soon as he hung up the phone and was about to drive to the hospital, he felt a hard blow to the back of his head, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
He clutched the back of his head and turned to look. Who else could it be but Lan Yu who had hit him?
This ungrateful woman had managed to regain consciousness again, tightly gripping a small ashtray she had somehow taken from the hotel.
"Let me out of the car!" Her eyes were filled with tears, and she glared at him with accusation.
Xiao Anjing wished he could strangle her to death. He turned off the engine he had started, impatiently pushed open the car door, rushed to the back seat, and yanked Lan Yu, intending to throw her directly out of the car, regardless of whether she bled or lived or died.
Lan Yu clutched his collar with one hand, her voice filled with terror, "What, what are you doing?"
Xiao Anjing snatched the ashtray from her other hand and threw it out of the car. He laughed in extreme anger and said, "What am I doing? I'm throwing you out! Didn't you want to get out of the car? Then get lost!"
Lan Yu finally couldn't hold on any longer. She tightened her grip on his fingers, crying uncontrollably. After only a few sobs, she fainted again.
Xiao Anjing didn't want to care if she was pitiable or not. He forcefully tried to pull her out of his car, but felt her become completely still. He patted her face with his large hand, "Hey, wake up, stop pretending to be asleep!"
Her eyes were tightly closed, showing no signs of waking, but her fingers still clutched him tightly, and she mumbled, "No, don't touch me..."
Even if she was faking it, Xiao Anjing had to admit that she was truly pitiful.
He stopped pulling her, laid her flat on the back seat, and checked thoroughly. After confirming there were no more items in the back seat that she could use to harm him, he returned to the driver's seat and drove to the hospital.
...
Susu learned that Xiao Anjing could no longer return to the charity auction venue, so she stayed alone until the charity gala ended.
She did not bid on any of the auction items, but instead quietly donated a sum of money to the charity organization.
Returning home late at night, she felt fetal movement as soon as she lay down on the bed. She was only four weeks away from her due date, and the movements of the two babies in her womb were becoming more frequent.
The doctor had said that twins usually arrived earlier than the due date, advising her to be careful as labor could start at any time from now on.
She was filled with anticipation for the two little lives about to be born. However, with the babies so close to arriving, the missing Tianyi still had not been found.
Unable to sleep, she couldn't help but take out the ring from the bedside table. It was a platinum men's ring inlaid with small diamonds, which was later found by someone on the bank of the river where Tianyi had disappeared.
Looking at this ring, she still believed that Tianyi had not drowned in the river. He was definitely still alive, and he would return!
She held Tianyi's ring in her palm, closed her eyes, and unknowingly fell asleep.
...
Qin Tianyi stood expressionlessly outside the main gate of the Lu family's ancestral home. After returning from the charity auction, it was his turn to be on duty tonight.
Four months had passed since he left Lancheng. He never expected that upon returning to Lancheng, he would encounter Susu, who almost fell, while following Lu Yuanhong as a bodyguard.
She hadn't changed at all, still so careless when she walked. If he hadn't reacted quickly, she would have fallen and gone into premature labor.
During their brief eye contact, she was startled by his current appearance and dared not look at him further.
It was better this way. He also wanted to see her, yet feared seeing her.
The moment he held her at such close proximity, he longed to embrace her, but his reason forced him to release her emotionlessly once she regained her balance.
She had gained weight all over. He remembered she should be close to her due date.
He had originally wanted to accompany her from the beginning of her pregnancy and witness the birth of their children. But fate was unpredictable, and he hadn't been able to stay by her side at all times.
After going to Southeast Asia, he underwent more than a month of treatment at a hospital there. He covered the intact side of his face with a silicone mask and deliberately disfigured the injured side through plastic surgery to make it even more hideous and frightening.
The local police helped him forge a background as someone from a slum who had been disfigured since childhood and couldn't even afford to eat. To survive, he made a living fighting in underground casinos.
Fortunately, he had prior experience being forced to fight in matches by Yang Sijie. While fighting in an underground casino, he was noticed by a leader of a drug trafficking group who enjoyed watching boxing matches. He was then taken to work by his side.
Over the past few months, he had gained the trust of a leader in Southeast Asia and had learned about the organization's structure.
Recently, he was sent by this leader to be a bodyguard for Lu Yuanhong.
He had a vague feeling that he was sent here because Lu Yuanhong's side was short of manpower and needed him to conduct some of their hidden illegal transactions.
However, he had only been back in Lancheng for two days, and Lu Yuanhong was still evaluating him. For now, he was only treated as a personal bodyguard and had not been exposed to the matters behind the scenes.
He had to gain Lu Yuanhong's trust as quickly as possible to obtain evidence of his crimes.
He hadn't seen Xiao Anjing throughout the entire charity auction and gala. Hadn't he instructed Xiao Anjing to take good care of Susu? Where had Xiao Anjing gone tonight?
...
Xiao Anjing brought Lan Yu to the hospital. As soon as the emergency doctor saw the unconscious Lan Yu and the injuries on her wrist, he looked at him with a strange expression.
He hurriedly explained, "Doctor, the injury on her wrist has nothing to do with me. This is how I found her."
The doctor stared at him vigilantly and asked, "Then what relation are you to her?"
"I, I'm her friend, an ordinary friend." Xiao Anjing realized that he had saved a big trouble. Wouldn't this doctor think he was some kind of pervert?
The doctor flipped open Lan Yu's eyelids and then used his stethoscope to listen to her chest and lungs, asking, "Do you know if she ingested anything unsavory?"
Xiao Anjing immediately replied, "No." He indeed didn't know what Mr. Zhao had given her.
"She needs to have her stomach pumped. I'll write you a prescription, and you can go pay the bill." The emergency doctor typed out the payment slip on the computer and handed it to him, saying, "After paying, don't leave. I'll have our hospital security follow you."
"The injury on her wrist, and the reason she fainted after ingesting something unsavory, truly have nothing to do with me. I was kindly helping her and brought her to the hospital!" No matter how he explained, he could see that the emergency doctor didn't believe him at all.
The doctor saw the clear finger marks from a woman on his face and rolled his eyes at him, saying, "You don't need to explain to me anymore. Go pay the bill with the security guard. Everything will become clear once she wakes up."
At some point, a security guard had already arrived in the emergency room and stood beside Xiao Anjing, as if afraid he would run away.
For the first time, Xiao Anjing understood what it meant to be unable to explain oneself. He figured the doctor had signaled a nurse to find a security guard, and further explanations were redundant.
He could only hope that this woman would wake up quickly after her stomach was pumped so she could clarify things. Otherwise, he suspected the doctor would call the police to arrest him.