"Who is that person over there?"
Outside the hospital room, a bodyguard in casual clothes pushed a wheelchair out.
The man in the wheelchair had skin so fair it seemed to glow. His platinum-dyed hair had not been styled during his long stay in the hospital and fell loosely around his shoulders, yet without looking messy or slovenly. Paired with his striking, gorgeous face, it gave him a somewhat wild, untamed beauty.
"Young President Tang, that's Xie Xiangwen, the only heir of the Xie family," replied Fang Yu, who served as both bodyguard and chief assistant.
"I didn't ask about the Xie heir. I'm asking about the malnourished woman who looks like she's about to die." Displeased, Tang Zhiwei frowned, raised his head, and glared at Fang Yu.
Fang Yu was furious at being snapped at.
Normally his boss's temper was as unpredictable as the weather, but ever since Young President Tang had been run over by that woman from the Song family who was always trying to climb into his bed, his temper had become even harder to handle.
Fang Yu felt like quitting.
Yet the moment he looked up at Tang Zhiwei’s pretty face, his anger vanished.
Oh well, it wasn't every day you got a boss who was this easy on the eyes.
"I don't know," Fang Yu said. He had never seen her before.
"I don't want to hear you say you don't know! I didn't hire you to tell me you don't know—if you don't know, go find out!"
Fang Yu clenched his fists and pulled out his phone.
He quickly looked up the information.
Seeing what was on the screen, Fang Yu paused mid-movement.
"I found it, Young President Tang."
"Her name is Song Qingyi. She's the biological daughter the Song family lost out in the world for eighteen years. Her mother is Lin Yunshu, the daughter of Lin Yousheng, the governor of Walondo State in Country M..."
Before Fang Yu could finish reading, the phone was snatched away by a pair of well-articulated fingers.
"So slow. I'll read it myself."
Suppressing his irritation, Fang Yu stared at the crown of Tang Zhiwei's head.
*Ahhhhh!*
*Please! Just let his boss's legs heal already!*
*He couldn't take it anymore!*
*And as for that Song Yueyue person, he should take the money he'd saved up for a wife and hire someone to take care of her permanently, just so she'd stop harassing his boss and making him take the brunt of the fallout.*
Fang Yu's face turned red from holding it all in, until Tang Zhiwei clicked his tongue, breaking his resolve and letting all the steam out of him.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Who would've thought? The Song family actually has such a ruthless character. Killing people at such a young age."
Fang Yu couldn't tell whether Tang Zhiwei's words were praise or criticism.
"Xiao Fang, do you think if I told Lin Yousheng about her existence, they'd help us take down the Song family?" Tang Zhiwei handed the phone back to Fang Yu, looking up at him with shimmering eyes and a faint smile curving his lips.
Fang Yu was temporarily blinded by that smile, and his mood improved instantly.
"Lin Yunshu eloped with Song Yecheng and cut ties with Lin Yousheng long ago. The Lin family probably won't get involved..." Fang Yu thought it over.
"Young President Tang, aren't we supposed to be suing Song Yueyue? Why are we trying to bring down the Song family now?"
Fang Yu didn't understand.
Even though Young President Tang's company was also in the new energy sector and clashed with the Song family's current business interests, it wasn't enough to warrant completely destroying them.
Tang Zhiwei let out a cold snort. "Hmph. What kind of good things could ever come from a family that made its fortune by murdering wives and stealing wealth? A bunch of rotten trash." He was simply ridding society of a pest.
"Oh." Fang Yu nodded, half-understanding. "Did Song Yecheng really murder his wife? Wasn't that just a rumor?"
In response, Fang Yu received a thorough eye-roll.
***
After Xie Xiangwen left, a nurse discovered Song Qingyi with a severe nosebleed.
She took Song Qingyi to get her nose treated and, while applying medicine, noticed her slightly deformed finger bones.
"Young lady, you're much too thin. You need to eat more."
After treating Song Qingyi's injuries, the nurse stood up, pushed her cart, and prepared to leave. "If you need anything else, you can come find me at the nurse's station."
"Thank you," Song Qingyi stood up and said gratefully.
Leaving the empty ward, Song Qingyi made her way to the room where her grandmother was staying.
She stood outside the doorway, hesitating over whether she should go inside.
Three years ago, when she was sent to prison, she hadn't managed to tell the old woman.
She had no idea if the old woman had found out about her imprisonment over the years.
Three years ago, when Song Julan came to find her, the old woman had told her not to go back with him.
At the time, Song Qingyi had thought it was simply because the old woman couldn't bear to part with her.
Yet as time went on and everything unfolded, Song Qingyi gradually began to understand.
Perhaps, even back then, her grandmother already knew the Song family would never treat her well.
"Qingyi."
A hand tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
Song Qingyi turned around.
"Qingyi, what happened to your nose?" Xia Beiji asked, freezing when he saw her face.
Song Qingyi's body instinctively stiffened.
Clearly, they had cut all ties between them, so why did he keep haunting her like a ghost?
"I saw Xie Xiangwen downstairs just now... Did the two of you run into each other? Did he do this?" Putting the pieces together, Xia Beiji suddenly realized what had happened.
"Qingyi, are you alright? I'll take you to see a doctor..."
Flustered, Xia Beiji reached out to take Song Qingyi's hand and drag her to a doctor, only to have her violently jerk her wrist away.
"Xia Beiji, can you stop coming after me?"
Clutching her aching wrist, Song Qingyi stared at him with cold eyes.
"Qingyi, I—I know you're angry with me, but you can't just neglect your own body..."
Xia Beiji looked somewhat lost, his words of concern cut short as Song Qingyi interrupted him.
"Xia Beiji, don't you find yourself disgusting?"
"Three years ago, you helped Song Yueyue cement the false charge that I was a murderer. Three years later, you come running back to show fake concern. Do you think that after three years, I should remember none of it, be endlessly grateful to you, and go right back to being your kept mistress? Or do you think Song Yueyue is magnanimous enough to tolerate you keeping ties with your ex-girlfriend?"
Song Qingyi said it all in one breath, her whole body trembling.
She was truly sick of this kind of life.
Day and night, she had to navigate around this pack of man-eating demons, knowing that a single misstep would shatter her to pieces.
In the past, Song Qingyi had wanted to get into a good university, find a good job, cure her grandmother's illness, and bring her to live out her twilight years in peace in the big city.
Yet after experiencing so much, her only remaining wish was to show filial piety to her grandmother, let her soul return to her hometown after death, and spend her final years in peace.
That was all she craved.
She no longer wanted to clear her name, nor did she wish to remain entangled with these people. She just wanted to return to the small town with her grandmother and quietly live out the rest of her days.
"Qingyi, I'm sorry..." Looking at the tears falling from the corners of Song Qingyi's eyes, Xia Beiji felt his heart tighten involuntarily.
"Qingyi, I never meant to hurt you. I can explain what happened before, I had no choice, I..."
Song Qingyi took a deep breath and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Just leave. I don't want to hear your explanations. All I know is that everything I've suffered over the past three years was brought on by you."
An explanation could not erase the trauma she had endured.
An apology could not bring back the three years of youth and life she had lost.
Xia Beiji opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say more, but ultimately lowered his head and walked away.
It seemed he and Qingyi truly had nothing left to do with each other anymore...
Song Qingyi stood outside the ward to calm herself. Once she had steadied her emotions, she knocked on the door and pushed it open, stepping inside.
The hallway returned to silence.
"Is that Beiji?"
As Song Qingyi reached the bedside, the old woman slowly drifted back to consciousness.
She was even thinner and more withered than she had been three years ago, her appearance thoroughly ravaged by the torment of illness.
"Grandma, it's me." Song Qingyi stepped forward to take the old woman's hand, fighting back the tears threatening to fall.
"A-Yi? A-Yi... is it really you? You're back?"
"Mm, Grandma, I'm back. I'm sorry..." Song Qingyi buried her face in her grandmother's palm, tears spilling over her eyelids before she knew it.
"A-Yi, my good A-Yi, you've suffered..."
The old woman stroked Song Qingyi's face, murmuring weakly, "A-Yi, leave. Grandma left some money at the tofu shop in Furong Town. Take that money and get out of here... Don't ever come back..."
As if remembering something, her milky-white pupils shifted blankly.
"The Song family is a den of man-eating demons..."
Hearing her grandmother's words, Song Qingyi jerked her head up to look at her.
Yet the old woman's mind had begun to wander again.
"The Song family is a den of man-eating demons..."
She repeated the phrase over and over, showing no reaction whatsoever to anything Song Qingyi said.
***
As she was leaving the hospital, Song Qingyi received a message from Zhao Suihua.
*[Qingyi, tomorrow is yours and Yueyue's birthday. Auntie is planning a birthday banquet for the two of you. When are you coming home?]*