Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Madam Lin rolled her eyes at him. “You, how could you just cut her off like that?”
She hurriedly went to the phone. “I’ll return her call.”
“Stop there.” The Chief-of-Staff stopped her. “I think you’re too deep into it. You believe her words too easily.”
Madam Lin had reached out to the phone, but she could only return to the sofa in the end.
After a moment of silence between the couple, the Chief-of-Staff got up and said, “I’m going out for a while.”
A sudden scream pierced through their ears. Madam Lin turned around and realized it was Lin Shishi screaming. The couple instantly ran upstairs to check.
As the door was locked from the inside, the Chief-of-Staff had to run back down to take the spare keys.
Madam Lin continued to knock on her door frantically. “Shishi, Shishi?”
“Mother…”
“Shishi, what’s wrong?” No matter how Madam Lin called out to her, no reply came after that. Madam Lin was trembling all over and tears streamed down her face in panic.
The moment the Chief-of-Staff used the spare keys to open the door, the couple were stunned beyond words.
The place where the fish tank had been placed was now empty and the whole floor was full of water and fishes jumping around.
Lin Shishi was sprawled out on the floor, and because a glass fragment had cut her artery on her wrist, blood continued to spurt out from her wound non-stop.
Madam Lin was completely horrified as she stood there blankly. When she finally came to, she could only scream out in a heart-wrenching manner, “Oh my, Shishi!”
The Chief-of-Staff, on the other hand, quickly carried Lin Shishi, who laid amongst the glass fragments, and ran downstairs with his eyes reddened.
Madam Lin followed closely behind and was about to faint anytime.
Lin Shishi was sent to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment, and the corridor outside her treatment room was soon full of people who arrived.
They were all the Lin family members.
Madam Lin was breathless from crying and did not stop berating her husband.
The Chief-of-Staff listened on silently and did not rebut her at all.
“If you hadn’t tried every means and ways to stop me, Shishi could probably have avoided this!!!”
“Mother, what exactly is wrong?” Lin Shishi’s brother Lin Junnan probed frantically.
Madam Lin explained the whole matter to her son, then started choking on tears thereafter. “Before this happened to Shishi, Ms. An called to find me, but your father put down her call. She might have called to remind me, but your father was bent on convincing me and Shishi not to believe her words. Now, it seems it was his words we shouldn’t have believed.”
Everyone who was present were in shock.
If Lin Junnan had not heard this from his mother, he would probably have believed the same as his father. It was truly incredible. Other than being in disbelief, he was also full of admiration.
“Junnan, quickly call home. Get someone to bring my phone from home. I want to give Ms. An a call.”
“Yes.” Lin Junnan immediately instructed someone to send Madam Lin’s phone here.
Even when her phone had been brought to her, there was still no sign from the operating theater.
Madam Lin was sobbing as she called An Xiaoning. She told her how badly she regretted not listening to her and pleaded for her to come to the hospital.
An Xiaoning agreed.
After ending the call, Madam Lin was still shaking all over in fear.
The Chief-of-Staff sat on the bench along the corridor, burying his head deeply between his legs.
He deeply regretted as well, to the extent that he wanted to slap himself a few times.
Less than ten minutes later, the lights of the operating theater went off.
Very soon, the doctor emerged from the operating theater.
“Chief-of-Staff, Madam, we have tried our best.”
Madam Lin wailed uncontrollably in grief. “What do you mean you’ve tried your best? Our Shishi is only 19 this year!!! My poor daughter, Mother has let you down. No, this isn’t real. All of you haven’t tried your best. If you did, then you would have saved our Shishi!”
Lin Junnan watched his mother who was about to collapse and quickly helped her, tears streaming down his face as well. “Mother, don’t be like this.”
“Junnan, your sister is only 19 this year, 19! She hasn’t even married or had a boyfriend. How can the Heavens do this to her?!”
“Madam Lin!” The doctor raised his voice slightly to get her attention. “Your daughter is still breathing, but we can’t save her anymore. So, all of you should go and see her for the last time.”
Hearing this, all the family members went into the operating theater.
Because only Lin Shishi was inside the operating theater, and also due to the Lin family’s status, the doctor did not dare to say anything even when so many people entered the operating theatre.
The Chief-of-Staff, his wife, and Lin Junnan all leaned before the operating table, looking as a lifeless Lin Shishi lay there. They all burst into loud uncontrollable sobs at this scene.
Madam Lin lightly caressed her daughter’s face. Her nose and eyes were both watering profusely.
During that moment, an atmosphere of grief overwhelmed the whole operating theater.
When An Xiaoning rushed over, it was two minutes later.
Seeing that she had arrived, the family members made way for her automatically.
An Xiaoning walked towards the head of the operating table, but her eyes landed on Lin Junnan. “You get up first.”
Lin Junnan did not know why he had to give way for her, but still did so.
Her gaze shifted towards the empty space Lin Junnan had made and she asked, “Do you still want to live?”
The others could not see that at that empty side, Lin Shishi’s soul stood.
She nodded.
“I don’t want just a determination to live from you, but an eager desperation to live. You have to possess that kind of will now.” An Xiaoning retracted her gaze and took out ten pieces of talisman from her bag, pasting them on Lin Shishi’s body. As she pasted them, she told the Lin family, “I’m not completely confident as well, but I’ll try my best.”
After all, to her, if she could save Lin Shishi, then she would gain the Chief-of-Staff’s backing.
She desperately needed this backing. Desperately…
It was an urgent desperation.
Thus, she would do anything to gain this.
Even if it left her half-dead, she was fine with it as well.
“The three of you stay here, the rest get out first.” She looked at the other people besides the Chief-of-Staff, Madam Lin, and their son.
Seeing their hesitation, the Chief-of-Staff snarled, “What are all of you waiting for? Get out now!”
The other family members went out at once.
An Xiaoning took out a joss stick and lit it with a lighter, then held it with both hands as she first bowed to the Southwest direction, then went down on her knees and continued to kowtow. At the same time, she was chanting something the Lin family could not comprehend.
This went on, and even when An Xiaoning’s knees were tired from kneeling, she still did not stop.
All in all, she kowtowed and bowed 66 times each.
At last, she placed what was left of the joss stick on the ground and kneeled down again, her hands adjacent to the ground first then at the sides of her body. After kowtowing three times, she got up finally.
It was apparent that An Xiaoning was much weaker than she was before, and her face was as pale as a sheet.
She could not even stand properly.
She grabbed onto Lin Shishi’s hand and called out to her, “Your parents and brother are waiting for you to come back. Don’t stay there anymore. Come back, come back quickly.”
After her calls to her and with the three family members deeply expectant, Lin Shishi eventually opened her eyes.
A smile appeared on An Xiaoning’s face as she witnessed this. Next, she collapsed to the ground.
“Ms. An!” the three exclaimed in shock.
“Junnan, quick. Carry Ms. An into the hospital ward. Quick!” Madam Lin pressed him urgently.
“Okay.” Lin Junnan bent down and carried An Xiaoning, rushing out of the operating theater instantly.
