Chapter 122 I'll Take Responsibility for Your Past
The doctors and nurses were frozen in place by Lu Jingyan's shout, unable to move forward or backward, their faces filled with panic.
Blood vessels spread rapidly across Lu Jingyan's eyes like a spider web.
He ignored everything around him and just held the woman in his arms tightly, who was crying and convulsing.
Her tears flowed like a burst dam, scalding and surging, soaking through his military uniform and searing his heart.
He could feel that the string of "strength" within her had completely snapped.
We can't stay here any longer.
This thought, like a military order, exploded in his mind.
Lu Jingyan no longer hesitated.
He tightened his arms and used his waist and abdomen to execute a standard tactical move with an irresistible gentleness.
He lifted her up from the ground in a princess carry; her body was so light that it made his heart race.
“Comrade, she needs to calm down…” a bold doctor said instinctively.
Lu Jingyan did not pause in his steps, but simply turned his head and coldly swept his icy eyes over them.
The doctor's words stuck in his throat.
Lu Jingyan held her in his arms and strode through the corridor and the hall, ignoring all the shocked, curious, and inquisitive glances directed at him.
In his world, there was only her in his arms.
Qin Zheng had already driven the car to the hospital entrance. Upon seeing this scene, his pupils contracted, and he opened the car door without saying a word.
The car drove smoothly toward the Peace Hotel.
Looking at the scene in the back seat through the rearview mirror, the veins on his hands gripping the steering wheel bulged.
Su Wantang remained buried in Lu Jingyan's arms, his sobs gradually turning into soft, suppressed whimpers, until finally he fell silent completely.
She slumped softly into his arms and fell into a deep sleep.
Lu Jingyan remained silent, holding her firmly in his arms with one hand, while his other hand rhythmically stroked her back.
Presidential Suite.
With a "bang," Lu Jingyan kicked the door shut with his heel, cutting off the entire world.
Lu Jingyan carried her step by step to the bedroom, bent down, and carefully placed her on the bed.
He did not leave.
His tall figure knelt on one knee by the bed, silently gazing at her.
Tears crisscrossed her small face, which usually carried a hint of cunning and arrogance, but now only showed childlike fragility and paleness.
Tears still clung to her long eyelashes, trembling slightly with her unsteady breathing.
Lu Jingyan got up and went into the bathroom. When he came out, he had a towel soaked in hot water in his hand.
He knelt down again, wrung out the towel, and, little by little, clumsily yet with utmost focus, wiped away the tears from her face.
His fingers were rough, with thick calluses on his fingertips from holding a gun for years, but at this moment, his movements were extremely gentle, as if afraid of hurting her.
He remained silent throughout the entire process.
Sometimes, companionship doesn't need words.
Su Wantang was completely plunged into an endless nightmare.
She dreamed of the white cage where she had lived for ten years, of the cold syringes, the pungent smell of medicine, and of the reports that sentenced her to death.
“…chemotherapy…”
"...The report...cannot be viewed..."
"...Please...don't pull the tube..."
She frowned deeply, uttering a few broken words intermittently.
Chemotherapy? Removal of the tube?
What do these unfamiliar words mean?
The ten years mentioned earlier—her life was only twenty years long. What kind of ten years could have tormented her like this?
Lu Jingyan slowly straightened up and strode into the living room.
Qin Zheng had been waiting outside the door. Upon hearing the noise, he immediately pushed the door open and came in.
"Go to the sanatorium in the western suburbs of Shanghai." Lu Jingyan's voice was low, but it carried an unquestionable command.
"Bring Wang Ma over secretly, without alerting anyone."
"Yes!" Qin Zheng replied succinctly and forcefully.
Wang Ma was Su Wantang's mother's former servant, and one of the few people in the world who could offer her the warmth of an elder. At this moment, she needed Wang Ma.
He then walked to the telephone, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number to Beijing.
The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.
"Hello? Who is it? Calling me in the middle of the night, are you trying to kill me?" Gao Jianjun's voice, still heavy with sleep, came through the phone.
"It's me."
"Damn it, Lao Lu?" Gao Jianjun jolted awake.
"Weren't you on a case in Shanghai? What happened?"
"Go and do something personally." Lu Jingyan didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.
“Use all available connections to investigate the special case files of all top-tier hospitals in Shanghai over the past ten years.”
"Special cases? What scope?"
“Terminal illness, especially cancer.” Every word Lu Jingyan uttered seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"There are also cases of young women who require more than ten years of long-term treatment and ultimately... die from their illness."
On the other end of the phone, Gao Jianjun remained silent.
He could sense that Lu Jingyan's emotions were off.
This doesn't feel like investigating a case; it feels more like... digging into someone's past.
"Old Lu, you..."
"Once you find it, encrypt all the information at the highest level and send it directly to me," Lu Jingyan interrupted him.
"This matter is known only to Heaven, Earth, you, and me."
"...Okay, I'll take care of it right away."
The third call was to the hotel manager, Du Kangnian, on his internal line.
“Mr. Lu.” Du Kangnian’s respectful voice came from behind.
"Clear out this floor." Lu Jingyan's voice was icy cold.
"From now on, seal off the entire floor. Apart from Qin Zheng and Wang Ma, I don't want any unauthorized personnel near it. Not even a fly."
Du Kangnian was stunned for a moment, and then he heard the overwhelming anger that was about to burst out of Lu Jingyan's voice on the phone, as well as... a trace of fear that even he himself did not realize.
"Yes! I'll arrange it immediately!"
After doing all this, Lu Jingyan felt the suffocating feeling in his chest ease slightly.
He returned to the bedside, took off his military jacket, casually draped it over the back of a chair, and sat on the carpet beside her bed, wearing only a white shirt, watching over her.
Time passed, second by second.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Wantang's eyelashes finally trembled again.
She slowly opened her eyes.
The field of vision went from blurry to clear.
The first thing that catches the eye is a familiar, magnificent ceiling.
Then, she felt the steady breathing beside her.
She turned her head away.
Lu Jingyan sat next to her, leaning against the sofa, arms crossed, eyes closed, seemingly asleep.
Yet he sat upright, exhausted but with a guarding air about him.
The sky outside the window was already beginning to brighten.
A ray of morning light shone through the gap in the heavy curtains, illuminating his sharply defined profile and giving his hard features a soft golden edge.
The dark circles and bloodshot veins under his eyes were clearly visible.
Su Wantang just watched him quietly. The hardest iceberg in her heart, built up over two lifetimes, cracked open with a "crack" at this moment.
All the scheming, all the pretense, all the strength from past and present lives were washed away in last night's collapse.
This is the real her now.
An ordinary soul who is afraid of pain, afraid of death, and longs to be loved and protected.
So this is what it feels like to be protected.
It turns out there is someone who will feel your pain and will stand up for you.
Perhaps because her gaze was too focused, Lu Jingyan's eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.
Their eyes met.
In his dark eyes, there was no inquiry, no questioning, only an unyielding, deep heartache.
"Awake?" His voice was terribly hoarse from not having slept all night.
Su Wantang looked at him, her lips moved, and a hoarse sound came from her dry throat.
She asked a question that shocked even herself.
One sentence was enough to overturn everything between them.
“Lu Jingyan,” she said softly, each word crystal clear.
"If I said I'm not 'Su Wantang,' would you believe me?"
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