Huo Jinyao didn’t see it with his own eyes. He did know that during the accident, Xiang Caiping was flung outwards and then crashed onto the ground. She might’ve sustained some internal injuries.
However, it was still unknown what the injuries were. He wasn’t very well-read in this field, so he had no way of knowing what the consequences might be.
“T-Then—”
Su Qingsang was a doctor. In the usual circumstances, she was the one who would help the patient’s family to remain calm. However, now that this happened to her, she could not calm herself down at all.
“Try to relax. Take a nap when you’re on the flight. I’ll send somebody to pick you up. Don’t panic. I believe that our mom will be alright.”
“Huo Jinyao, I-I—” She was unable to calm down, and she simply couldn’t believe him at all.
She just acknowledged her mother — she had just established a mother-daughter relationship with Xiang Caiping. She thought she would be compensated for the twenty or more years’ worth of maternal love she missed until now.
Now, she feared that she might lose this newly discovered love again.
Huo Jinyao’s heart ached when he heard Su Qingsang’s frightened voice.
He could empathize with Su Qingsang. She was like a drowning person who caught hold of a piece of flotsam. When people regain the love they lost, they won’t ever want to lose it again.
If anything really happened to Xiang Caiping, that would be a hard, terrible blow to Su Qingsang. Suddenly, he was unable to comfort her.
He heard some fumbling. Su Qingsang seemed to have put the phone down.
Huo Jinyao took a deep breath. While he was trying to figure out how to console her, he heard a male voice coming from the other end of the line.
“Junior, don’t be like that. I believe that she’ll be fine.”
Huo Jinyao gripped the phone in his palm and froze in place. Zuo Hongchen?
That’s was definitely his voice. Why is he in Rong City too?
Su Qingsang didn’t speak. She only shook her head.
“Junior, come on, now. Chin up. She’s waiting for you to take care of her.”
Su Qingsang glanced at him and thought about what he said, then finally nodded.
“That’s right.”
Zuo Hongchen had to participate in a surgery with the people from Rong City Central Hospital today. The moment he finished the operation, he saw Su Qingsang scrambling desperately to apply for leave with the head of management, asking to return to Lin City.
That was the first time he ever saw such an expression on Su Qingsang’s face.
It was only after he asked that he found out something had happened to Su Qingsang’s mother. Then, he got a little confused. He knew that Su Qingsang was an illegitimate child — he always thought that she was out of touch with her mother.
He only found out now that it wasn’t like he had thought.
He removed his surgery scrubs and drove her to the airport. At first, he even thought of accompanying her back home.
However, he was one of the key personnel at this time. With Su Qingsang gone, he couldn’t just do however he pleased.
“Senior, I’m fine. Thanks for sending me here. I’ll get on the plane on my own later.”
“Take care, then.” Zuo Hongchen was actually still worried about her. However, looking at the state Su Qingsang was in, he realized quite clearly she wanted to be alone.
“You can go back now. I’m going in.”
Su Qingsang took her luggage from Zuo Hongchen. As she was planning to enter the departure zone, she discovered that she had not hung up the phone.
She paused, then decided that she couldn’t care less about it.
“Huo Jinyao?”
“I’m here.”
Huo Jinyao didn’t hang up the phone all this while, so naturally, he could hear the conversation between Su Qingsang and Zuo Hongchen.
He might be jealous, but she was feeling uncomfortable. Zuo Hongchen’s intentions were too obvious — anybody could tell.
“Get on your flight first and take a good nap. If there’s anything else, we’ll talk about it when you’re back.”
Su Qingsang did not say anything. Truthfully, in a situation like this, it was truly hard to stay calm.
“Qingsang, listen to me.” Huo Jinyao’s voice was still very composed. “Our mom is still waiting for you to care for her. If you worry yourself sick, you’ll not be able to take good care of her even when you’re back.”
Amazingly, Zuo Hongchen said the exact same thing just now, but his words were not as effective as Huo Jinyao’s in calming her down.
She nodded her head gently and suppressed the wetness in her eyes. “I know. Thank you, Huo Jinyao.”
Watching the queuing crowd in front of her, she stored away her phone and stepped into the departure lounge.
During Huo Jinyao’s phone call, Su Chenghui was around. Madam Song had already left. Madam Luo had passed out and had been carried off to see a doctor.
Su Peizhen desperately wanted to leave, but she couldn’t. Su Chenghui ordered her to sit still, so she could do nothing but idle there, sitting on the end of the bench motionlessly.
Su Chenghui overheard Huo Jinyao’s conversation. The gaze reflected in his eyes was a very complicated one.
Su Qingsang wanted to return to look after Xiang Caiping? The person who should be taking care of Xiang Caiping now was supposed to be Su Peizhen.
He glanced at Su Peizhen with disappointment reflected in his eyes. He had been trying — trying to provide the best for Su Peizhen.
He kept educating Su Peizhen. Since the start of high school, he had always brought her to the office to let her dabble in some work-related matters.
He had placed a lot of effort in nurturing Su Peizhen. Since young, she was taught to dance, play the piano, practice calligraphy and chess.
Su Peizhen was intelligent and hardworking. Yet, even after all these accomplishments, he had neglected to give her a good character.
He has always thought that as long as he was around, he would be able to protect Su Peizhen. So what if a girl is a little pampered, right?
Can’t the daughter of Su Chenghui be a little spoiled? However, he never expected that things would eventually play out in this manner.
Now, Su Peizhen had an altercation with Xiang Caiping. That might be nothing, but Xiang Caiping was hurt in the process.
Su Chenghui really couldn’t explain the feeling in his heart. If it was possible, he really wanted to teach Su Peizhen a lesson.
Yet he was afraid that Xiang Caiping would be hurt when she knew. As he battled with himself, Su Chenghui’s expression was not a pretty-looking one.
Huo Jinyao wasn’t aware that Su Chenghui’s ugly expression was due to the conflict in his heart. He thought that he simply still had it within him — that he is still worried for Xiang Caiping. He stopped bothering Su Chenghui for a bit after that.
He planned to finish sorting out the work matters and then spend his time accompanying Su Qingsang when she was back.
Two hours later, Xiang Caiping finally came out from the surgery. At the same moment, Su Qingsang’s flight had touched down in Lin City.
Huo Jinyao had already arranged for somebody to pick her up. For now, he was more concerned over Xiang Caiping.
“Doctor, how’s my mother doing?”
“Her punctured spleen was the cause of severe bleeding. There’s also a fracture to the lumbar spine. She hit her head too, so she’s suffering from a slight concussion. Oh, one more thing — has the patient suffered from a spinal injury before this?”
“Yes.” Huo Jinyao recalled the fall in Rong City. He used to think that it was a feigned act to extort money as compensation — he did not expect that it was a real fall.
“Then she’ll need to be more careful next time. We’ve already aligned her bones properly through the operation, but after this, it’s best if the patient doesn’t move around for a while. She’ll need to lie in bed to rest and slowly undergo rehabilitation.”
“Alright, I understand.” Huo Jinyao nodded his head, but he was still quite worried deep down.
They said it takes a hundred days to heal bones and muscles. Moreover, Xiang Caiping wasn’t young anymore. After the last fall, he did not pay much attention to it and had never asked about it.
Now that her lumbar spine was injured, Huo Jinyao suddenly asked, worried, “Doctor, if her spine has been continuously injured for so many times, will she be paralyzed?”
