Chapter 55 Chapter 55 "Black-hearted enterprise! Return my family's lives! ...

On Saturday morning, sunlight streamed through the bright glass windows, illuminating the spacious living room of the Yu Mansion with warmth.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of lemon detergent, mixed with the sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies.

A family cleanup is in full swing.

Yu Sixie rolled up his shirt sleeves, stood on the ladder, and carefully wiped the glass lampshade high up in the air with steady and decisive movements.

Xi Tong was responsible for organizing the bookshelf and sorting the books into categories. From time to time, she would pick up an old photo album and share it with Yu Ping next to her with a smile.

Xizhi was not idle either. He took his small rag and wiped the corners of the TV cabinet and coffee table with a serious look on his face, and there was a little dust on the tip of his nose.

Although they are rich, the Yu family always arranges some time to clean the house themselves, which is considered a family bonding activity.

Mother Yu came over with some freshly baked cookies and smiled as she asked everyone to take a break.

"Our Xiaozhi is really a hardworking little expert today!"

Mother Yu handed the largest cookie to Xizhi and lovingly wiped the dust off his nose. "Are you tired?"

Xizhi shook his head, took a bite of the cookie, and his cheeks bulged.

Yu Ping looked at his grandson, whose face and arms were covered in bruises, and suddenly smiled and said, "I heard that our little talent broke up with a little girl at school?"

Xizhi stopped chewing, the tips of his ears turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and he lowered his head in embarrassment.

Mother Yu immediately chimed in, her tone filled with loving teasing, "Oh, which little girl is so capable that she could make our little Zhi so angry? She even ended up breaking off our friendship?"

Yu Sixie came down from the ladder, picked up the water cup and took a sip. Upon hearing this, he just raised the corners of his mouth slightly and did not intervene in the "interrogation" of his elders.

Xitong came over with a smile, sat next to Yu's mother, and said, "Dad, Mom, these little conflicts between children are over now."

"We can't just keep doing what we did in the past," Yu's mother said with a deliberately stern face. "We need to learn from our experience. Xiaozhi, boys should be more generous and give in to girls. It's normal for little girls to have a little temper and act a little bit capricious sometimes. You have to learn to understand and tolerate it, right?"

Yu Ping also nodded in agreement: "Yes, let's not bother with the little girl..."

At this moment, Xi Tong flipped through a thick old photo album and pointed at a black and white photo, raising an eyebrow: "Yu Sixie, is this you when you were a child?"

He rarely shared his childhood experiences with her.

The little boy in the photo is about seven or eight years old. He is wearing a white shirt and has a short flat head. He stands under a tree with a serious expression. His eyes are clear but filled with stubborn seriousness.

Mother Yu came over to take a look and immediately laughed: "That's right! He looks exactly like Xiaozhi! Especially that stubborn little expression, it's exactly the same!"

She seemed to have recalled something very funny, and she clapped her legs and laughed, "You don't know, when Sixie was little, he had the same personality as Xiaozhi. He was so straightforward!"

"Back then, back in W City, a little neighbor girl came crying and wanted to play with his new toy train. He took her bow apart, saying he wanted to figure out how to tie it. After he finished, he earnestly told her, 'You're tying it wrong. There's not enough friction, so it keeps coming loose.' He practically pissed the girl off and made her cry. He was completely bewildered, not knowing where he'd gone wrong!"

Everyone was amused, even Xizhi looked up curiously.

Xi Tong smiled and leaned on Yu Sixie's shoulder: "Really? What happened next?"

"What happened next? The girl ignored him for several days!"

Mother Yu smiled and shook her head, then looked at her son again, her eyes filled with tenderness and a hint of disbelief. "Isn't it strange? He was such a straightforward child when he was young, how come he became such a taciturn person when he grew up? He's so thoughtful, sometimes even I can't guess what he's thinking."

Yu Sixie felt somewhat helpless after hearing what his mother said. He touched the tip of his nose and whispered in defense, "Mom, that was a long time ago."

"No matter what time, the foundation is still there!"

Mother Yu concluded, looking at her grandson lovingly again.

"So, Xiaozhi, if you like playing with a kid, you should get along well with them. It's okay to have some minor frictions, just try to put yourself in their shoes. Maybe that little girl didn't mean it? Just like your dad, he made a little girl cry when he was little, but he's doing fine now, isn't he?"

Xizhi listened to the adults' words, looked at his father's slightly embarrassed but gentle profile, then looked at the little boy in the photo who looked extremely similar to himself, and nodded.

Sunlight fills the room, and the air is filled with the sweet aroma of snacks and the warmth of home.

Xitong looked at the scene in front of her—her heart softened.

Perhaps this is a family worthy of her choice, a place full of understanding, support and love, enough to withstand all the hardships in the world.

…

The night is as dark as ink, so thick that it cannot be dissolved and it makes people breathless.

Outside the temporary office of the project department of Huashan Hospital's newly built international medical center, the originally well-planned venue was now in complete chaos, like cold water being thrown into boiling oil.

The news spread like a poisonous vine - a critically ill patient who participated in a clinical trial of a new drug suddenly deteriorated in the evening, and rescue efforts failed, and he was pronounced dead.

Despair and anger instantly ignited the gathered patients' families.

They smashed the glass sign at the entrance of the project department and pushed down the flower stand with green plants, and dirt and broken porcelain pieces were splashed all over the ground.

The temporary cordon was useless and was easily broken through by the angry crowd.

"Black-hearted company! Return my family's lives!"

"You are committing murder! You are experimenting on our lives!"

"Call the person in charge out! Come out and explain yourself!"

Xitong was protected by several colleagues and tried to walk towards the temporary podium in front.

Her face was pale, but her eyes were still trying to remain calm. She was holding the documents regarding patient informed consent and ethical review tightly in her hands, and her knuckles turned white from the force.

"Dear family members, please calm down! I am Xi Tong, the project leader. Please listen to my explanation regarding the patient's condition..."

Her voice was clear, but like a feather thrown into a storm, it was instantly torn apart by the even more violent waves.

"What's the use of explanation? You guys are the ones who killed him!"

A burly man with red eyes rushed forward, almost shoving his face in front of Xitong, spitting on her face: "You capitalists dressed like men! All you care about is money! Our lives are just guinea pigs in your eyes! Isn't that right?!"

"No, sir, all clinical trial procedures are in compliance with regulations. We have strict..."

Xitong tried to retreat, but was blocked by the crowded crowd behind him.

"Regulate your mother!"

Another sharp female voice interrupted her crying and cursing. It was the deceased's niece.

She waved her arms, her makeup ruined by her tears. "My uncle believed your lies! What about a new hope? You tricked him into doing an experiment! Now he's dead! How are you going to compensate him? Can you afford it?!"

"Bitch! You're dressed so well, but you paid for it with the lives of our family members, right?!"

An old lady pointed at her tremblingly, her words as vicious as a poisoned needle, "How can you sleep at night?! People like you deserve to go to hell! You will not die a good death!"

"Maybe she pushed this medicine just to boost her sales!"

"You have a vicious heart! Your whole family will suffer for making such shady money!"

"Giving birth to a child is useless!"

Dirty words were like cold sewage, pouring down on Xitong. Every word was filled with deep hatred and curses, trying to drown her completely.

Her body trembled slightly, not because of fear, but because of a huge sense of powerlessness and misinterpreted sadness.

In the chaos, no one knew who had started the fight first. A plastic bottle came flying over, brushing past Xitong's ear.

Immediately afterwards, a heavy, cold metal object - which seemed to be an old-fashioned stainless steel thermos - suddenly flew out from the gap in the crowd, carrying all the hatred and despair of the thrower, cutting through the noisy air, and hitting Xitong's left forehead with incredible precision and force!

"Bang!" A muffled sound.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The moment the forehead was hit hard, the world seemed to have pressed the mute button, and was suddenly filled with torrential noise.

The excruciating pain did not spread gradually, but was like a cold chisel, wedging fiercely into her skull and exploding a suffocating void.

Warm, sticky liquid gushed out, blurring Xitong's left eye, and half of his vision was instantly covered by a glaring scarlet.

The huge impact made her stumble backwards. The angry roars and cries around her became distant and unreal. The only sound was the thumping of her heart pounding against her chest and the extremely sharp tinnitus in her head, which was so clear and terrifying.

The cold ground seemed to be pulling her limp body upwards.

No... I can't fall here...

In the darkness that was spinning and gradually swallowing her consciousness, her instinct for survival made her use up her last bit of strength. Her trembling, blood-stained fingers struggled to reach into her pocket and groped for the cold metal cube.

The phone screen was stained with the blood from her face and was so slippery that it was almost impossible to hold.

Her vision was blurry and shaking, and Xitong relied on muscle memory to press the emergency quick dial button on the side - the number that Yu Sixie had set as the only contact when she was in trouble at Qingshan Peak.

"beep--"

A long, mechanical waiting tone came from the receiver, and each tone was like a hammer hitting Xitong's increasingly frayed nerves.

Please...answer the phone...Yu Sixie...

She screamed silently in her heart. The cold fear and longing for his voice made her tremble more than the wound on her forehead.

"beep--"

The second sound. The chaos around her seemed to be receding from her, and darkness surged like a tide, trying to drag her completely into the abyss.

The monotonous sound of waiting became the only fragile thread connecting her to the real world.

"Beep—Sorry, the user you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

A cold and standard female voice announced the final result without any emotion.

It was like a string stretched to the extreme suddenly breaking.

The last bit of strength that held her back was completely drained away. The chill brought by the extinguishing of hope was more penetrating than any physical injury.

As her fingertips loosened, the blood-stained phone slipped from Xitong's weak hands, fell on the cold ground with a "pa" sound, and the screen shattered.

"Yu Sixie?..."

A figure running towards her at high speed appeared in the blur before her eyes.

But the unuttered name had become the last faint spark in Xitong's consciousness, and was then completely swallowed up by endless darkness and despair.

Who was that person running towards her?

Xitong's head tilted weakly to one side, and she completely lost all consciousness.