Chapter 439: Please Don’t Involve the Child
The wooden door of the tea room blocked out the cold wind, but it couldn't block the murderous intent boiling in Jiang Shutong's chest.
She stared at the black recorder on the table as if she was staring at a poisonous snake that might bite back at any moment.
The snow particles outside the window hit the glass, making a tiny crackling sound, which sounded like some kind of countdown rhythm.
“…deal with it cleanly.”
She spoke slowly into the receiver, her nails digging deep into the carvings on the mahogany tabletop.
"Last time I made a mistake and she stayed for five years. Don't let me miss it again this time."
A hoarse male voice came from the other end of the phone, with a bit of flattering hesitation: "Madam, I'm afraid the young master is..."
"Him?" Jiang Shutong sneered, her fingertips stroking the cold purple clay teacup.
"He only has eyes for that woman now. When it's over, he'll understand who I'm doing this for."
The moment she hung up the phone, she suddenly started coughing violently, and a glaring red spot quickly spread across her handkerchief.
She stared at the red, but her eyes did not waver at all.
Back then, for the inheritance rights of the Xuanyuan family, she could even attack herself. Now, in order to protect her son, what does it matter if she destroys Han Lingcui?
…
When the cold wind blew in through the car window, Han Lingcui subconsciously shrank his shoulders.
Xuanyuan Ge turned up the heating a little more and his eyes fell on her hands resting on her knees.
Those hands once drew stunning arcs on the stage, and now there are still thin calluses on the knuckles from years of rehabilitation.
"Your legs hurt again?" he suddenly asked, his voice low.
Han Lingcui was startled and realized that he was rubbing his knees unconsciously.
The steel plate had been removed five years ago, but every time it rained, the piercing pain in her bones would always remind her of the deliberate murder.
She pulled the corner of her mouth: "It's an old problem."
In fact, she wanted to say that time flies so fast. She only remembered that at this time last year, she was probably still welcoming Shen Hanxing to join the Qi Group.
Now a year has passed, it is even the end of autumn, and the cold winter is about to come.
The car fell into silence, with only the regular swaying of the wipers as the sound came.
Xuanyuan Ge's eyes swept across the unmelted snow in her hair, and he suddenly turned the steering wheel and turned the car into a secluded side road.
The street lights were blurred into orange in the snow and fog. He stopped the car and took out a medicine box from the back seat.
"Let me rub it for you."
He half-knelt on the mat and placed his warm palms on her knees.
The force of the fingertips pressing was just right, avoiding the pain points of the old injury.
Han Lingcui's whole body stiffened, and she tried to pull her legs back as if she had been scalded, but he held her down firmly.
"Don't move," he looked up at her, his eyelashes stained with snow foam drifting in from the window. "The doctor said that pressing this acupoint during rehabilitation can provide some relief."
Han Lingcui looked at him seriously and piously.
Feel the heat coming from your knees.
Suddenly she asked the question that had puzzled her for a long time.
“Since you knew there was something wrong with the car accident, why didn’t you deal with it?”
She knew that this question might not have an answer.
After all, Jiang Shutong is his biological mother.
Even if they have done many heinous things, blood is thicker than water.
It's normal that Lord Xuanyuan can't do it.
Yet, he answered.
"On the third day after the accident report came out, I found an anonymous transfer into the truck driver's account."
His voice was hoarse. "But my mother...she had just been diagnosed with heart problems, so I didn't dare to press her."
"Oh, so, you can make me disappear?"
Han Lingcui pulled back his leg suddenly, and his knee hit the dashboard with a dull sound.
The frost in her eyes exploded instantly, "Xuanyuange, you must feel very wronged now that you are pretending like this?"
Xuanyuan Ge reached out to touch her face, but she turned her head away.
"sorry."
He said, the exhaustion in his voice almost overflowing.
"I've been investigating for years. The driver disappeared after being released from prison six months ago, and the bodyguard who handled him back then also..."
"So this is all you've found so far?"
Han Lingcui laughed, a sliver of ice in her voice. "How about I give you the recorder so you can see how your mother tells people to 'be clean'?"
She pushed open the car door and tried to get out, but Xuanyuan Ge grabbed her wrist.
His strength was so great that it almost crushed her bones.
"Lingcui, give me a little more time."
His eyes were bloodshot, like a beast trapped in a cage. "Xunxun is still with Shen Hanxing. I can't let him get implicated."
When Han Lingcui mentioned his son, he stopped moving.
Xunxun has been her only light in the past five years, but also her softest spot.
She looked at the snow falling outside the car window and suddenly remembered the time in the training room.
Xuanyuan Ge also held her wrist like this and taught her to dance a tango. At that time, he said, "Lingcui, your eyes can speak."
But now, there was only wind and snow in her eyes.
…
When Jiang Shutong called Shen Hanxing, the latter was telling Xunxun a bedtime story.
Under the warm light in the children's room, the little boy's eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows on his cheeks, making him look very much like Han Lingcui.
"Ms. Shen," Jiang Shutong's voice came through the receiver, with a deliberately slow and gentle tone, "I want to talk to you about Xunxun."
Shen Hanxing walked to the balcony holding her phone, the cold wind made her wrap herself tightly in her pajamas.
"Ms. Jiang, if you have anything to say, please convey it through Xuanyuan Pavilion tomorrow."
She was always wary of this woman, especially after Han Lingcui made an appointment with her today.
"There are some things I can only tell you."
Jiang Shutong chuckled softly, and the sound of shuffling papers could be heard faintly in the background. "For example, the question of whether Xunxun's biological mother can enter my Xuanyuan family."
The balcony railing was covered in a thin layer of ice, and Shen Hanxing's fingers were frozen. She looked towards the children's room. Xunxun had fallen asleep, with half a biscuit still clutched in her little hand.
"Ms. Jiang," she took a deep breath, her voice surprisingly steady, "Whatever you want to do, don't involve the child."
"I just want you to face reality."
Jiang Shutong's tone suddenly turned harsh.
“Chen Hanxing, you are a second-married woman, do you really think you can educate the heir of the Xuanyuan family well?”
"Be smart. Take Han Lingcui away with you. I can give you enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life."
Shen Hanxing hung up the phone directly and blacklisted Jiang Shutong's number.
The cold wind blew snow foam into her face, and she suddenly remembered how Han Lingcui looked when he came to pick up Xunxun yesterday.
He was wearing an old down jacket that had been washed so much that it looked bleached, but he didn't even blink when he bought imported chocolate for Xunxun.
There are so many stories hidden in that woman's eyes, like a frozen lake with boiling magma surging underneath.
She turned and walked into the room, gently tucking in the corner of Xunxun's quilt.
The phone screen lit up again. It was a multimedia message from an unfamiliar number. I clicked it open, revealing a blurry medical record.
The patient's name was written as "Han Lingcui", and the diagnosis column was circled in red: severe depression with suicidal tendencies.
Chen Hanxing stared at the photo for a long time, then suddenly picked up her coat. She had to go find Han Lingcui. There were some things she had to ask him in person.
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