breaking Dawn
"It's so late, aren't you going to sleep yet?" Meng Xin, wrapped in a shawl, stood at the door of the study.
Wen Tao looked up from a pile of documents at his wife and forced a smile: "There's a big meeting early tomorrow morning, and I haven't finished sorting out the materials yet. You can go back to sleep."
“I lay in bed for an hour or two, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. I felt anxious, so I got up to look for you. I don’t know how Chu Chu is. Yun Sheng only said that she went into the operating room. He also asked if you were home.”
Wen Tao glanced at the phone that was upside down. Meng Xin didn't use her phone much to browse the internet and read news, so it seemed she didn't know about Tao Guohua's video report against her.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and stood up. "You've been so busy taking care of Yunsheng lately, it's been exhausting and bad for your health. Go get some sleep."
“First Yunsheng was injured, and now Chuchu is in trouble. They… they won’t do this to you…” She gripped the doorknob, her eyes filled with unease.
Seeing that she looked unwell, Wen Tao smiled and comforted her, "Yunsheng was implicated. At this critical juncture, Li Pengcheng doesn't have that kind of guts."
"But..." Before she could finish speaking, she heard the doorbell ring downstairs.
Meng Xin was startled and silently looked at her husband.
Wen Tao walked over and put his arm around her shoulder: "It's Wen Lei. I agreed to let him come over to discuss things. You go to sleep first."
The aunt came upstairs and saw Wen Tao quietly closing the bedroom door. She asked in a low voice, "Boss, is Secretary Wen here? Should we open the door?"
Wen Tao nodded: "Let him come up. Wait for me in the tea room."
He returned to his study, and before he could even tidy up the documents on his desk, Wen Lei suddenly pushed the door open and entered: "Boss..."
"Go wait in the tea room," Wen Tao interrupted him, ordering him to leave.
"I'm sorry, it's really too urgent, and Yunsheng has been trying to contact me. Would you like to call him back?"
He noticed that Wen Lei spoke very quickly, but his eyes never left the documents in his hands.
"I understand." After saying that, Wen Tao stopped what he was doing and waited for him to leave.
Contrary to his usual cautious and perceptive attitude, Ke Wenlei took a few more steps forward: "What are you looking for? I'll help you."
The study door seemed to have been closed unintentionally, and only the desk lamp on Wen Tao's desk was lit in the large room.
The shadows of the trees outside the window swayed and fell on Wen Tao.
He slowly stood up, staring at Wen Lei who was approaching.
In the bedroom, Meng Xin curled up in the quilt, clutching the USB drive tightly in her hand, her eyes tightly closed, tears streaming down her pillow.
Separated by several walls, she had no idea what was happening in the study at the end of the corridor, nor did she dare to see what message Wen Tao had just sent to his son using his phone.
Just lying there, her heart was already beating wearily and heavily.
She pressed the hand holding the USB drive under her body, and stretched out her other hand to rub the blanket over her shoulder.
Before Wen Tao left, he stroked her shoulder and gently kissed her temple, telling her "don't be afraid."
She prayed silently, praying that the night would pass quickly so that when she opened her eyes again, her husband and son would be safe.
Wen Yunsheng couldn't get anything out of Shen Yingchang, but fortunately, he received news from his mother not long after.
"Your dad is home and everything's fine. You can stay at the hospital and take care of Tao Chu. Remember to let me know you're safe after the surgery."
He was relieved at first glance, but after putting down his phone, he felt something was off.
He opened the chat interface again and scrolled up.
After comparing them, he intuitively felt that this was not sent by his mother—there were no interjections, the sentences were short, and it called "Tao Chu" instead of "Chu Chu".
It sounds more like...the tone of a father.
He dialed back, but no one answered. He also couldn't reach his father or Wen Lei by phone.
He longed to fly home immediately, but glancing back at the "Operation in Progress" light, he hesitated to leave.
Shen Yingchang may not be reliable—Wen Yunsheng had also heard about Cen Le's cause of death.
He sat stiffly in his wheelchair, as if he were being fried in oil.
Shen Yingchang noticed that something was wrong with his expression and actually came over to ask, "What happened?"
Wen Yunsheng shook his head and remained silent, but Shen Yingchang was not about to let it go easily: "Is it in your house?"
Wen Yunsheng's doubts resurfaced. Shen Yingchang seemed to be overly eager when it came to matters concerning his family.
He deliberately said, "So what if it is? Chu Chu is still in surgery inside. No matter how anxious I am, there's nothing I can do but stay here."
He noticed that Shen Yingchang subconsciously glanced to the side—the direction of the entrance and exit.
Shen Yingchang wants to leave!
He even wanted to let go of Tao Chu!
Wen Yunsheng thought to himself that he couldn't even walk now, so someone had to guard Tao Chu's place.
Since Shen Yingchang was able to rescue Tao Chu from the Li family and bring her to the hospital, he decided to take a gamble—
“Shen Yingchang, I'll stay with Chuchu. You need to go there right now. My home address is…”
Shen Yingchang interrupted him: "I know."
Hearing him say those words with such seriousness, Wen Yunsheng couldn't tell whether he felt more nervous or more relaxed.
Shen Yingchang glanced quickly at the operating room and said, "Let me know when the surgery is over."
After saying that, he ran away without looking back.
Wen Yunsheng turned to his assistant and said, "Follow him, see where he goes, and report back immediately."
An hour later, Wen Yunsheng received a message from his assistant: Shen Yingchang had arrived downstairs at the Wen family's building. Ten minutes earlier, Mayor Wen and Wen Lei had gotten into a car and left for their workplace, with Shen Yingchang following behind in his car.
Wen Yunsheng learned that his father was safe for the time being, and it seemed that the message he received last night was just him overthinking things.
He instructed his assistant to keep a close eye on Shen Yingchang, and as soon as the message was sent, the "in surgery" light went out.
Tao Chu was wheeled out, and he quickly maneuvered his wheelchair to meet her. He breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that she was not in any danger.
Thankfully, she's safe and sound.
He sent a message to Shen Yingchang, and then followed Tao Chu to the ward. The nurse said that she would probably not wake up for another one or two hours.
Wen Yunsheng originally wanted to move her to a single room, but after thinking about it, he realized that it would be safer to have more people around.
It was already daylight, and some people in the ward were starting to wash up; the rustling sounds were reassuring.
He dampened a tissue and leaned over to wipe away the bloodstains and dirt left from the previous night, carefully avoiding the oxygen tube on her face.
His thin, cold face and messy, short hair seemed completely unfamiliar to him.
In the months since they reunited, he had longed to erase the eight years that had stood between them and start over with her.
But only today did he have to force himself to see clearly what those eight years really meant and how they had turned each of them into what they were.
They were like two people walking one after the other on the edge of a cliff in the dark, not knowing which step they would take and be shattered to pieces.
How can we walk side by side on such a narrow road?
He threw the used tissue into the trash can, leaned back in his wheelchair, rubbed his aching back, and endured the sleepless night, feeling utterly exhausted.
But he dared not slack off now. He took out his phone to see how public opinion had changed after a night of fermentation, but saw his mother calling on the screen.
"mom--"
Are you with Chuchu? In which ward?
"6th floor, 612—why are you here so early?"
"I've come to find you."
Meng Xin hadn't expected that room 612 was a multi-person ward. She dodged aside the family members of patients who were carrying washbasins and walked towards her, and tightened her grip on her small shoulder bag.
When she reached Tao Chu's bedside, she was taken aback and asked her son softly, "Why did this child cut his hair so short?"
Wen Yunsheng didn't reply, but looked up at her haggard face: "Did you not sleep well last night because you were worried? Is Dad alright?"
"I think you're the one who hasn't slept all night, right? Mom will stay here and watch over you. Go back to your own room and get some sleep."
"I'll lie down next to her bed for a while."
When Tao Chu woke up, the sunlight was just right, and a fluffy head was lying next to her hand.
She tried hard to recall what happened before she lost consciousness, but then she heard someone whisper in her ear, "Chuchu, you're awake?"
She turned her head slightly and saw Aunt Meng Xin smiling—she was still as gentle as ever, but had aged considerably and didn't look like a government official's wife in her fifties.
Hearing the noise, Wen Yunsheng also suddenly raised his head, his eyes still blurry, but he had already stretched his lips into a smile at her.
Tao Chu felt as if she had returned to a childhood afternoon, taking a nap at Wen Yunsheng's house.
Aunt Mengxin called her to get up and drink white fungus and red date soup. Wen Yunsheng, who didn't dare to squeeze onto the sofa with her, sat cross-legged on the carpet and only put her head in the corner of the sofa.
But the next second, memories flooded her mind like icy waves crashing against her—how did those two people get here? Where was Shen Yingchang? Where was Wen Tao?
Seeing that her lips moved slightly but no sound came out, Meng Xin quickly picked up the cup next to her and fed her, "I don't know if I can drink water after the surgery, so take a small sip to moisten your lips first, but don't swallow it."
Tao Chu shook her head to avoid the question, then looked at Wen Yunsheng: "Your father..."
Wen Yunsheng smiled and looked at her: "My mom just came back from home, and my dad is fine, so don't worry."
Tao Chu breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't notice that Meng Xin had turned her head away and her face had turned ugly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Yunsheng noticed his assistant calling.
"What's wrong?"
"Mr. Wen, the boss has been in a car accident."
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