Chapter 78
For seven days, Feng Xu lay motionless in the hospital bed, seemingly thoroughly suffocated by the smell of disinfectant.
Madam Feng looked haggard and remained motionless by the bedside. She held her son's hand, sensing from the still-warm touch that her son was still alive.
The evening sun still had one foot in the ward, resting on the foot of the bed and the floor, while the other foot was already preparing to step into the next dawn. It was just that it was moving very slowly, just like the 168 hours, or 10,080 minutes, that Mrs. Feng had been waiting for her son to wake up.
“Boom boom boom!”
They knocked on the door, but Madam Feng did not respond.
"Mom, you should go back and rest. I'll stay with my brother." Tong Yue's clear and childlike voice rang out.
Madam Feng turned her head and looked at the increasingly tall and handsome boy in front of her. He was carrying a schoolbag, and his clean school uniform was wrinkled from running, with strands of hair sticking up on his forehead.
"You came directly from the school?"
"Ah, yes."
When Madam Feng first looked at this illegitimate son, there was no longer any distance in her eyes, only the relaxation and reliance she felt when she saw a loved one after she was exhausted.
"I heard you had your exams this week. Have you finished them?"
Tong Yue was somewhat surprised. Madam Feng always maintained a facade of peace at home and would show concern in front of her father, but he could see clearly that she didn't care about her three illegitimate children at all. But now it was different; there were no outsiders in the house.
"The exam is over...it's over."
"With Ah-Xu like this, your father is busy managing the company and doesn't have time to spare. He can't take care of you. How did you do on your exam?"
"The individual projects are perfect, but the team results are not yet available."
"Put your schoolbag down and sit down." With that, Madam Feng released Feng Xu's hand and tucked him into the quilt.
As Tong Yue put down his schoolbag, he peeked at his brother. His brother's injuries looked better, but he had lost weight and his features were becoming more defined. Tong Yue subconsciously frowned.
Madam Feng saw it all. During the seven days that Feng Xu was hospitalized, his other two illegitimate sons only came to see him perfunctorily on the first day, but Tong Yue came every day.
She stood up. "Ah Yue, tomorrow is the weekend, so I'll leave your brother to you for now. I'm really feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I'll go back and rest for a while."
"Don't worry, Mom, I will take good care of my brother."
Madam Feng walked to the door, turned the knob, and then paused. "I want your father to transfer your household registration to the Feng family, and you can change your name to Feng Yue from now on, is that alright?"
Tong Yue opened her round eyes wide, "I..."
Madam Feng smiled at him, "You've called me 'Mom' for one year and three months. From now on, you and A-Xu are both my sons, Yin Xue's sons."
Tong Yue remained in a daze for a long time after the door closed. He stared blankly at the empty doorway until the door was knocked on again.
Upon seeing the person who arrived, Tong Yue stood up with a smile, "Teacher."
Chi Xia also came from school and bought a bouquet of black bucks at the flower shop by the side gate, placing it on the bedside table. "I just spoke with the attending physician, and your brother's surgery was very successful. There is no possibility of any aftereffects, and he should wake up by tonight at the latest."
Tong Yue: "My mom just left, have you seen her?"
Chi Xia looked at Feng Xu and said, "I see. Madam Feng looks much more haggard."
"Teacher, my mom wants to change my name. I'll take my brother's surname from now on."
Chi Xia looked up and saw the boy's undisguised joy. She smiled faintly and sat down in the chair where Madam Feng had just been sitting. "Why don't you say you want to take your father's surname?"
Tong Yue looked at Feng Xu on the hospital bed and said, "In my heart, the fatherly love I lacked was given to me by my brother. From now on, I have a father, a mother, and a brother. I am a family with them."
Chi Xia: "Congratulations."
Tong Yue then looked at Chi Xia, "Will you agree to my brother's request? Please agree to my brother's request, let's be a family."
Chi Xia smiled faintly, "Tong Yue, you have a very sharp eye. I don't believe you can't see that I'm not someone who can satisfy other people's desire for a happy and stable life. Your brother is lying here, and I have an inescapable responsibility. I know that the Feng family has had many bad experiences and is a large family that has been painstakingly pieced together, but I can't add to this family's burdens. I will only plunge this family into despair again."
Tong Yue opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.
Chi Xia: "Could you please order a special care ward package for me as well?"
Tong Yue stood up. "Okay, teacher."
After Tong Yue left, Chi Xia looked down at Feng Xu without blinking. He didn't have to lie there for so long. He had taken a bullet for her in the chaos after they left the escape route, and the bullet had passed through his spine.
"You've firmly established your image as a devoted and domineering CEO, but what am I supposed to do? No one has ever taken a bullet for me."
"In exchange, I'll tell you my secret. I'm not a life born from human marriage and love; I'm a living being derived from technology, or simply a new type of human. I've never had a family, parents, or relatives. Even though I try to empathize, I can't understand the intricate web of human emotions. When I was very young, like many domesticated animals, I lived in a new type of human apartment, each in my own pen. Teachers taught us knowledge, and community volunteers accompanied us and brought us warmth."
“But here,” Chi Xia touched her chest, “it’s empty. My first friend was a teenager who had organ failure due to cancer and received a prosthetic organ. He said he understood us very well. As his organs changed, he felt his blood lose its warmth. He couldn’t feel warmth or the comfort of breathing smoothly when his heart was beating. On the 67th day after we met, he jumped off the roof of our apartment building and ended his life. At that time, I was thinking, what exactly does living feel like?”
“When you told me about Wang Yijia, I was actually touched. I can imagine that she once pursued you passionately, loved you so much that you were all she could think about, and was even willing to give her life for you. That is probably the most sincere and beautiful emotion of a young girl. You have experienced it. Now, you are giving me this sincere human emotion. Thank you, I feel it.”
Chi Xia stopped there, not continuing. After a pause, she said, "If you have any questions, come and ask me yourself when you wake up."
There was no sound of footsteps at the door. The person left when Chi Xia said her last words. When Tong Yue returned after ordering, the place was empty.
But in the next instant, the news that Chi Xia was a new type of human spread like wildfire throughout the entire music organization.
Chi Xia and Tong Yue enjoyed a sumptuous special care ward meal in Feng Xu's private VIP ward. Since that home visit, the two had developed a comfortable bond of mutual trust.
After finishing her meal, Chi Xia sat with Tong Yue for a while longer. Seeing that Feng Xu still showed no signs of waking up, she got up to say goodbye.
When Tong Yue returned after seeing the person off, Feng Xu opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling without saying a word.
Tong Yue excitedly called out to him, but he just glanced at Tong Yue and gave a faint smile. He had already woken up when Chi Xia arrived.
Tong Yue had the doctor do a full examination. Feng Xu did not have any aftereffects. He was just weak after waking up and fell into a deep sleep again after a short while.
In his dream, Chi Xia carried him out of the escape route, tens of thousands of gun barrels were pointed at them, the biochemical toxins were more concentrated than smoke bombs, neither of them had gas masks, and there was no time to snatch them from the enemy's face, Chi Xia bit open his wrist and poured warm blood into his eyes, ears, nose and mouth, the toxins that were originally going to harm him suddenly had no way to break through.
He knew then that she was indeed different; her blood even carried a power that biochemical toxins feared.
He tasted her blood; it was sweet.
Perhaps Chi Xia had already accepted him in her heart, but she was unable to respond in her current situation. Thinking this, Feng Xu's breathing gradually became smoother.
Chi Xia drove back to Xin Ran's villa. The villa was bustling with activity, with Xun Jiang, Anna, Lin Xiang, Lin Keli, and Ye Feng all there.
Chi Xia walked into the lobby, and a group of people turned to look at her. Chi Xia put down her keys, changed into slippers, and said, "Good evening?"
After Anna and Lin Xiang cleared up their misunderstanding and went through life and death together, their feelings for each other intensified rapidly. The two sat close together, holding hands tightly. Anna looked at Chi Xia and smiled, "Baby, I thought you would stay at the hospital to keep President Feng company. What a pitiful, devoted CEO, taking a bullet for love and falling into a coma."
Lin Keli yawned twice. The academy's assessment had just ended, and she had a lot of things to do. She had stayed up for three consecutive nights and was now barely holding on. "Stop joking around and get down to business."
Xun Jiang nodded and smiled at Chi Xia, then stood up. "I'll go prepare some drinks for you."
Xin Ran brought up the hologram on her bracelet and tapped the marker. "It's said that the Demon Fishing Academy has three informants. Zhang Peng and Zhao Nan are dead, and there's still one left. According to the clues Zhang Peng gave, that person holds a high position but doesn't have a strong presence. What are your thoughts?"
Ye Feng looked at Lin Keli and said, "I have a question that I need Teacher Lin to answer first."
Lin Keli covered her mouth, suppressing a yawn, "Go ahead and ask."
Ye Feng: "You are not your 'mother's' daughter. Does your mother know that?"
Lin Keli: "Her story is true. Her husband came out as gay to his business partner, and was eventually killed by the assassin hired by that partner. I was that assassin. At that time, I had just started taking on a job. That unfaithful and abusive man was my first job as an assassin. She didn't have a daughter. The story about her daughter was added by me. I have been taking care of her all these years, so she is no different from my mother."
This overturned Ye Feng's understanding: "Teacher Lin is actually a killer with feelings and loyalty?"
Lin Keli slumped onto the sofa, resting her head on Chi Xia's arm. "Baby, I'm sorry, I lied to you before, but I didn't mean to mislead you. I guess you're smart enough to understand my code, right?"
Chi Xia smiled and nodded.
Lin Keli forced a smile and buried her face in Chi Xia's arms. "It'll be late later, so you'll let me sleep with you, right?"
“No problem.” After Chi Xia finished speaking, she looked at Xin Ran and said, “Show them the part where Director Ma took my coffee from his office.”
Xin Ran pulled up the video and recounted how Director Ma deliberately erased the details, as well as Zhang Peng's various actions interspersed throughout.
Anna's eyes widened. "However, if Director Ma is that informant, why would he send us fingerprint lock cups to warn us to be on guard? Isn't that a contradiction?"
Lin Xiang: "Baby, how can you be so sure that person is Director Ma?"
Anna: "I felt that Director Ma was suspicious a long time ago. Think back, how much time did he spend in the office? He appears and disappears mysteriously, and he always does things in a way that is hard to understand. I have a feeling that this person is very secretive."
Lin Keli's eyes were already closed. Hearing this, she said, "It wasn't him."
Everyone looked at Lin Keli, who forced herself to sit up. "Anyone could be a spy planted by Yuequ at the Magic Fishery Academy, but it can't be Director Ma, because he's the boss."
Everyone: “…”
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