Chapter 89 Chapter 89 "Damn! This thief has no weapons...

Xiao An hurried to the airport, and when he arrived at Chuanhe Hospital, it was already sunset.

It's rare for Song You to stay in the hospital with Xiao Ruo, so it seems the situation is really not serious.

Xiao An walked over and asked, "Everything was fine yesterday, why did it happen so suddenly?"

Xiao Ruo didn't really know. Her eyes were red and swollen as she spoke, "I've been at the hospital since this morning. Mom's condition is fine, just like usual. When I went to the cafeteria to buy lunch at noon, Mom was already rushed to the emergency room. The doctor said her condition had suddenly worsened."

Xiao Ruo handed him the wrinkled critical illness notice in his hand. Xiao An opened it and saw several key words: "multiple organ failure", "septic shock", "the condition is worsening and may be life-threatening at any time".

Even though they had prepared themselves mentally, it was still hard to accept when the day finally came.

Xiao Ruo thought blankly, this day happened to be his brother's birthday. If his mother could not be rescued, Xiao An would not be able to celebrate his birthday for many years to come.

The sky gradually darkened until night fell completely. Just when their hearts were at their lowest point, the door to the emergency room finally opened. The doctor took off his mask and said, "The patient's condition has stabilized for now. We will continue to observe him for the next few days. Please be prepared, family members."

Not long after, Xiao's mother was pushed back to the ward. She seemed to have just fallen asleep and her condition was not as bad as imagined.

Xiao Ruo stayed until ten o'clock in the evening, but her mother didn't wake up. Song You was getting impatient and just wanted to take her away. Being in such a hopeless place was really tormenting. He took out his cigarette case and motioned to Xiao Ruo, saying, "I'm going to go outside to smoke a cigarette. In five minutes, shall we go home together?"

Xiao Ruo finally nodded in compromise.

After Song You left, she said to her brother, "If anything happens tonight, remember to call me."

Xiao An nodded: "Sister, please do me another favor."

"What?"

"Help me find out how Xia Xia got together with Shen Xingchuan."

Xiao Ruo actually vaguely knew some of the inside story. After all, Song You didn't know about their relationship as a younger brother before, and he never avoided her in many things.

But Xiao Ruo knew her brother too well. He would do anything for Yao Yingxia, so she only mentioned something unimportant: "Her mother followed Shen Xingchuan's eldest brother, so the two knew each other a long time ago."

Xiao Ruo was sincerely thinking about his brother: "If it's for Xia Xia's own good, don't provoke her again. You can't afford to offend Shen Xingchuan. If he finds out one day, he won't show mercy to you. I know you don't like to hear these words, but you are twenty-three years old today. You can't just ignore her like before."

Xiao Ruo's words were very harsh, but there was no impatience on his face. He just lowered his eyes and said, "Sister, I know everything."

If humans could control their emotions as precisely as they control machines, the world would have fewer regrets. The difficulty lies in the fact that everyone is unable to control their bodies and minds.

He became more and more greedy, and the desire to get closer to his sister had taken over.

Perhaps only by getting rid of Shen Xingchuan can he stand by his sister's side openly again.

Three days later, Mother Xiao passed this critical period. The torture brought to her by the illness did not seem to be as severe as she had imagined. The biggest impact was her poor spirits and increased drowsiness time. This was actually good news for a patient with advanced cancer.

Being able to fall asleep at least means that the body is not in too much pain. Only when you are tortured to the point of being unable to sleep, that is truly a life worse than death.

On Friday of this week, Yao Yingxia saw that the kiss mark left by Xiao An on the back of her neck had not disappeared, so she found an excuse not to fly back to City A.

But on this seemingly ordinary weekend, two major events happened one after another.

On Saturday evening, Xiao An returned home from the hospital and found that the door, which he had locked when he left, had been pried open and was now ajar, leaving a gap.

Xiao An instantly realized that his house had been robbed. Seeing that the house was pitch black, he couldn't confirm whether the thief had left, so he simply called a familiar neighbor, then returned home and turned on the lights.

The rental house seemed to have been ransacked very thoroughly. The floor was a mess and the wardrobe was turned upside down. Fortunately, there were no valuables here, so the thief would most likely return empty-handed.

The neighbor stared in amazement at the living room, a mess so chaotic it was practically impossible to walk in. He couldn't believe this was the one-bedroom apartment he'd visited a few times before and always remembered as spotless. He exclaimed indignantly, "Damn it! This thief has absolutely no moral integrity! You need to call the police immediately, check the security cameras at the property management, and I'll also go to the homeowners' group to alert everyone."

Xiao An was originally in a relatively calm mood, thinking that his important things were worthless to the thief and perhaps he could escape harm.

Until he walked into the bedroom and saw the flattened empty box beside the bed.

The contents had been dumped all over the floor, and almost everything had been trampled beyond recognition.

The watch his sister gave him had a cracked watch glass.

The cap of the pen his sister gave him was missing.

The sneakers his sister gave him were also stained with large stains and looked difficult to clean.

Even the greeting card his sister gave him was covered with footprints.

One of the photo albums containing the two people's photos was also damaged and scattered all over the floor.

He wanted to tear the damn thief into pieces, but for now he could only hold back his anger and clean up the house first. With the help of the neighbors, the two of them cleaned up for four hours and barely restored the house to its original state.

When Xiao An was finally sorting out the photo album, he found that two photos were missing.

One is a frontal photo of his sister standing in a field of forsythia. She looks lively, innocent and cute. It was taken on the same day as his phone wallpaper.

One was a photo of him and his sister sitting in front of a cake on her seventh birthday. The two of them were holding hands, shoulder to shoulder, smiling brightly.

Xiao An searched every corner of the house desperately, but still couldn't find it.

These happen to be Xiao An’s two favorite photos.

He sat on the sofa for a while with a sullen look on his face, then put on his coat and walked out. He first bought a small safe, then a high-definition camera, and finally had someone replace the lock on the front door to ensure that such a passive situation would not happen again.

Xiao An was not the only one who had bad luck over the weekend. Shen Xingchuan also encountered an accident that night.

Since Yao Yingxia did not return to City A, he worked overtime at the company until late at night. When he entered the underground garage, there was only one car parked near the dedicated parking space.

Shen Xingchuan didn't notice anything unusual until he opened the car door and felt a sudden chill on the back of his neck. His extraordinary sensitivity made him subconsciously tilt his head, and the knife stabbed into nothingness.

Shen Xingchuan kicked the man back, forcing him to take a few steps back. The two quickly put themselves at a safe distance. He then looked back. The man was wearing a mask and very loose clothing that didn't reveal much of his figure. Shen Xingchuan could only tell that he was tall and not thin.

After a brief period of calm, the two men attacked almost at the same time, and even though the other party was carrying a weapon, they could not gain any advantage.

Shen Xingchuan had many years of experience in free fighting, and each of his moves was fierce. The opponent lost the initiative and took a few moves in a somewhat embarrassed manner. He soon realized that the gap in strength between them was too big.

If this continues, defeat seems inevitable.

While the attacker dodged in panic, he didn't give up looking for a chance to escape. He saw opportunities everywhere he looked and began to lure the attacker towards the trap.

Shen Xingchuan was not interested in fighting. Seeing that his opponent seemed exhausted and had no strength to fight back, he threw a fierce punch straight to the face, ready to end the fight.

Unexpectedly, the other party still had the strength to dodge. Shen Xingchuan had no time to retract his strength and smashed the glass of the fire extinguisher box. The stinging pain spread from his palm to his forearm, leaving several bloody marks.

Blood dripped down like raindrops, but he didn't seem to feel any pain. He just turned around calmly and looked in the direction where the other person disappeared. Then he took out his phone and called the police.

The report of Shen Xingchuan being attacked was on the news that night.

A little after eleven o'clock, Yao Yingxia was just feeling relieved that he hadn't called her on time that night when she saw her roommate on the bunk opposite her sit up, holding up her phone and saying to her, "Xia Xia! It's bad! The gorilla is injured!"

She hadn't heard anyone mention this nickname for a while. It took her a moment to realize that the other person was talking about Shen Xingchuan.

My roommate read the press release aloud: "Around 10 PM on December 22nd, the Chairman and CEO of Chuanhe Group was attacked by unidentified individuals in the underground garage of their company headquarters. He has been taken to the hospital for treatment. Local police quickly established a special task force to investigate, and the details of the case are still being verified."

The news report included a close-up of a hand injury, which was horrific with blood dripping from it. It was said that more than fifty stitches were needed in total.

Although Yao Yingxia didn't feel distressed, she still took the initiative to make a phone call out of "wifely consciousness."

At first, the call didn't go through. Twenty minutes later, Shen Xingchuan called back and asked in a normal tone, "Xia Xia, are you still awake?"

Shen Xingchuan was too calm, as if he was no different from before. Yao Yingxia even suspected that she had just read fake news. After all, there were only close-ups of his hands and no full-body photos.

She asked hesitantly, "Where are you now?"

The man on the other end paused, then finally told the truth: "The hospital just finished taking the statement. Xia Xia, did you see the news report?"

I don't know if she was really nervous or just pretending, but the girl's voice suddenly became anxious: "I saw it. Are you seriously injured?"

Shen Xingchuan glanced at his tightly wrapped right hand and lowered his voice, "It's indeed quite serious." The injury to his dominant hand would affect his speed in unbuttoning with his left hand. However, given Yao Yingxia's current level of obedience, it wasn't impossible for her to do it herself.

Yao Yingxia didn't know he was still imagining things at a time like this, so she pressed on, "Who did this? Do you have any ideas?"

Out of Shen Xingchuan's sight, Yao Yingxia's expression had become extremely serious. Two hours ago, she had called Xiao An but couldn't get through. Even now, the other party hadn't called back.

Suddenly, my mind flashed with my brother's murderous look not long ago.

Even for just a moment, he had thought about killing Shen Xingchuan, right?

It didn't matter who it was, as long as it wasn't Xiao An, she prayed desperately.

In stark contrast to her current anxiety, the man on the other end of the phone smiled cheerfully, "It's rare for Xia Xia to care about me like this. I'm really touched. As for who did it—" He paused for a long time, perhaps lost in thought. "There are simply too many people with whom I have a conflict of interest. I don't have a clue at the moment."

After all, he had committed so many evil things that he must have dozens, if not hundreds, of enemies.

Yao Yingxia did not feel relieved by this answer, but became even more anxious. Now she had to find a way to contact Xiao An and ask him whether what happened tonight had anything to do with him.

She said casually, "Then you should rest early. I will go back to see you next week."

Shen Xingchuan's voice suddenly became serious, and he warned her, "Xia Xia, you have to be careful recently. Since they dared to attack me, they will inevitably find someone weak to pick on. I will send someone to pick you up from school in advance next week. You must pay attention to your safety during this period, and it's best not to leave school yet."

Yao Yingxia had never thought about it in this direction, but after hearing him say this, she took it to heart.

After hanging up the phone, it was already lights-out time. In order not to disturb her roommates, Yao Yingxia didn't call Xiao An again. Fortunately, before midnight, he finally replied: "Sister, I ran into some trouble today. I haven't dealt with it yet. I'll contact you tomorrow."

Yao Yingxia stared at the somewhat vague text message over and over again, and her heart finally sank.