She remained expressionless and did not respond to her aunt’s words of comfort. She was in no mood to hear any consolation and her mind was entirely blank at the moment.
When Mu Yazhe returned after settling the medical fees, he found his wife sitting on the long bench, her expression dim and dark. His brother-in-law, meanwhile, was seated next to her, with one hand clutching hers tightly while his other arm was slung across her shoulders.
He walked toward them and sat down beside her.
Upon his arrival, Gong Jie said, “Bro-in-law, you stay behind and accompany my sister; I’ll bring the kids home and watch over them there.”
“Okay.”
The younger twin suddenly chimed in. “I want to stay here with mommy and wait for grandpa to come out of the operating room.”
His brother, too, shared the same thoughts. “I, too! I, too! I don’t want to go home! I want to accompany mommy!”
Little Yichen basically did not have much of an emotional attachment toward that grandpa of his, but upon seeing how sad and agonized his mother looked, he felt some heartache for her and could not bear to leave her side.
Their father conceded to their request. “You two’d better behave yourselves, then.”
“Okay.”
As time slowly ticked by, Yun Shishi experienced what seemed to be the most grueling and agonizing wait of her life. Every hour that her father remained in the operating room felt like a century to her.
Then, in the wee hours of the morning, the operating room’s doors finally opened.
The woman jumped out of her seat at once upon hearing the noise and dashed forward frantically. “How’s my father, doctor?! Is he okay?”
The doctor removed his mask and let out a heavy sigh. “While the patient isn’t in a life-threatening situation at the moment, he isn’t fully out of the woods yet and may fall into critical danger anytime. He needs to be transferred to the intensive care unit immediately for further observation.”
“H-He…” Her mouth dropped in shock as she drew in a sharp breath. She then asked dumbly, “He’s in such a serious condition?”
“This is the most optimistic diagnosis I’ve got!” The doctor shook his head. “The patient was severely burned! Due to having concentrated sulfuric acid splashed on him, his eyelids and nose have melted off and his features are seriously deformed. Not only his face was burned beyond recognition, his internal organs received quite some serious damage as well. We’ve already done our best to save him!”
She stood frozen in place for a long time; when she finally snapped back to her senses, she bit her lower lip and weakly mumbled a ‘thank you’ to the doctor while she tried her best to keep her emotions in check.
The operating room’s doors opened once more, and out came a group of doctors and nurses pushing a sickbed toward the elevator as they headed for the intensive care unit.
The actress and the rest of the group followed them at once. Alas, they could only stand outside the ward and look through the window as they watched the hospital staff get busy.
Yun Shishi finally caught a glimpse of her adoptive father’s condition. Her eyes widened in shock and her breathing sped up at the sight of him lying on the sickbed with a ventilator attached to him. His face was charred, and there was no sign of life in him.
He had tubes running all over his body and his exposed skin was smeared with a thick layer of white medicated cream. One could guess just how horrible a sight his skin looked without the applied cream. The actress dared not imagine the bloody and mangled state her father was in.
When Xiang Yu came pushing Yun Yehou over, the elderly man could not stop his tears from flowing at the sight of his brother looking unrecognizable as he lay on the sickbed in the intensive care unit.
“God bless! He’s still alive! God bless!”
His wife comforted, “Don’t worry, Yehou. The heavens will surely save your brother! He will be fine!”
Although her consolation sounded slightly pretentious, she finally said something humane!
He merely quietly spared her a glance.
Gong Jie then said, “You should go back and take a rest, sis. I’ll stay behind to look after your dad.”
His sister stubbornly shook her head in refusal. “No. I want to stay by his side.”
“Your emotions must be all over the place right now. You won’t be of much help here.”
