Two weeks later, He Fei returned to Guangzhou.
Besides delivering a letter to Qi Zhenheng in Jiangzhou, he also returned to Yongzhou.
"All the servants in Lord Qi's residence have been replaced. They won't let me in, nor will they help me announce my arrival. I waited outside for two days, and finally I caught the servant who used to guard the gate. I gave him some silver, and he agreed to deliver the letter to Lord Qi."
Shen Qing listened, half-reclining on the recliner, and asked, "Is Brother Qi still under house arrest?"
He Fei nodded: "I guess so, otherwise they wouldn't have even changed the gatekeeper. This is a sign that they're not letting him out."
Shen Qing sighed: "So, he can't actually help me with the military supplies and rations case."
He Fei said angrily, "Does this Lord Qi not know martial arts? Why doesn't he just barge out?"
Jiang Shen said calmly, "Lord Qi is skilled in martial arts, so escaping would not be difficult for him. It must be that the Qi family has taken away the people and things he values most, holding him by the throat, so that he can escape but dares not."
Shen Qing didn't say anything, but he understood perfectly well what was going on.
He was placed under house arrest because he went home and made a scene demanding to marry her. Now, the Qi family must know of her existence and that she is not dead, so they must be holding her life in their hands.
If Qi Zhenheng dares to escape or help her, the Qi family will harm her, and may even kill her. That's why Qi Zhenheng is willing to be placed under house arrest.
We need to think of another way.
"I also... I also went back to the Cheng family..."
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze and stared blankly at He Fei: "The Cheng family?"
Before her appeared a small courtyard with artificial hills, pavilions, and shady trees.
It's only been less than two months since I left, but it feels like it was a lifetime ago.
Shen Qing murmured, "Has Mr. Cheng gone back?"
He Fei shook his head: "No."
How are his family members doing?
"The master and mistress have aged considerably. Of their two sons, one is dead and the other is missing."
Shen Qing's eyes reddened, but she didn't cry.
She still had one hope in her heart.
A quarter of the two months Dr. Sun Wen mentioned has passed; in another month and a half, she will know news of Cheng Zhiwen.
My right hand unconsciously stroked my lower abdomen, warming it with the heat of my palm.
"Oh, right!" He Fei said happily, "We left in a hurry last time by water and left Old Xu at the Cheng family's house. I brought him along this time!"
Shen Qing was also quite happy.
Everyone's here except for Cheng Zhiwen.
The days of waiting always seem to pass exceptionally slowly, and finally the time to meet Dr. Sun Wen arrived.
At this time, Shen Qing was more than three months pregnant. She finally stopped vomiting so badly and felt much better.
She got up before dawn, dressed herself, and quietly went to the back door while He Fei was dozing off.
The carriage was already waiting there. She got in and asked Old Xu to take her to the hospital.
Seeing that she was alone, Old Xu asked in surprise, "What are Jiang Shen and He Fei doing? Why are they letting you go to the hospital alone?"
These two men have been protecting her closely for many years, and this is the first time Old Xu has seen them not with her.
Shen Qing sat down by the car door, lifted the curtain, and looked at the hazy sky that was just before dawn. He said, "I used to think they were working for Zhiwen and I trusted them in everything. Now that I know they have to listen to others besides Cheng Zhiwen, I naturally don't dare to completely trust them."
Old Xu sighed, "If Mr. Cheng finds out that they let you go out alone, he'll beat them to death!"
These words brought tears to Shen Qing's eyes again.
She drew the curtain and sat down in her usual spot.
Looking at the seat where Cheng Zhiwen often sat across from her, through her teary eyes, she seemed to see him sitting there, smiling at her.
...
They rode at breakneck speed and arrived at the hospital just after 7 a.m.
Shen Qing rushed into the hospital and found the consultation room where Dr. Sun Wen had been that day, but he didn't see anyone there.
She inquired around and learned that Sun Wen had surgery this morning and hadn't come off the operating table yet, so she had to sit outside the consultation room to wait for him.
Emotions are like a tightly stretched musical string, ready to snap at any moment.
My heart was pounding so fast that my chest ached slightly.
After waiting patiently until the afternoon, Sun Wen finally arrived.
Sun Wen, dressed in a white surgical gown splattered with a few drops of blood, hadn't even had time to change before hurriedly inviting Shen Qing inside.
As soon as the consultation room door closed, Shen Qing asked, "Dr. Sun, is there any news about Zhiwen?"
Sun Wen took off his mask and shook his head.
Shen Qing assumed that he hadn't found out about Cheng Zhiwen either, and said with a wry smile, "It's okay, it's normal that we can't find out. If those people wanted to take him away, why would they let us know about him?"
Sun Wen looked at her with sorrowful eyes, and after a moment, said, "Madam, Brother Zhiwen..."
Shen Qing, with tears in her eyes, asked, "Hmm?"
"Three months ago, a cruise ship traveling from Shanghai to Japan sank in the Tsushima Strait. There were no survivors..."
Shen Qing listened attentively, a smile on her face: "Hmm? And then?"
Sun Wen's eyes also reddened as he continued, "After calculation, the ship departed from Shanghai the day after Brother Zhiwen disappeared. To rule out the possibility that Brother Zhiwen was on that ship, I wrote to Cai Chongsheng, requesting a meeting with Brother Zhiwen to discuss the future of democracy. Cai Chongsheng replied to me saying—"
He opened the drawer of his desk, took out a letter, and handed it to Shen Qing.
Shen Qing took the letter with trembling hands, suppressing her breakdown, and unfolded it.
It was a letter written in cursive Chinese, containing only a few simple sentences—
Comrade Zhiwen died in an accident on his way from Shanghai to Japan. Comrade Li Chong will be in charge of Comrade Zhiwen's affairs from now on. I have asked Comrade Li Chong to go to Guangzhou to meet with you, Mr. Sun.
Signed Cai Chongsheng.
Suppressing her grief, Shen Qing closed the letter and handed it back to Sun Wen: "Could it be a misunderstanding? Is it possible that Zhiwen was rescued, or that her body drifted to Tsushima Island with the sea? Have they searched the surrounding area?"
"When the cruise ship sank, it was a cold winter month, and the water temperature in the Tsushima Strait was as low as tens of degrees below zero. In that kind of environment, a person would die within minutes, and even if they drifted to a nearby island, the chance of survival would be almost zero."
In that instant, Shen Qing finally believed that Cheng Zhiwen was truly gone.
For the past three months, she had been living in a daze, sometimes believing that Cheng Zhiwen was definitely still alive, just hidden somewhere; other times, she had a vague feeling that Cheng Zhiwen might already be gone...
Today, Sun Wen told her this cruel truth, pulling her out of her self-deceptive comfort.
She was forced to accept the fact that Cheng Zhiwen had left this world.
Her heart felt like it had been split in two; the pain was so intense that she could no longer feel alive...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com