Chapter 58 Past Events "Come here and control this mad dog!"
When Qiao Yunzheng sent the message about her discovery to Wen Hong, he wasn't too surprised. He simply replied, "Be careful in everything you do, and stay safe."
He looked well taken care of; his hair was cut into a neat short style, and the messy beard on his cheeks was gone, revealing his true face—a somewhat thin man with wheat-colored skin.
He sat on the bench, looking at the clouds in the sky, his expression calm and his gaze distant, showing no sign of anything unusual.
"Is he really crazy?" Qiao Yunzheng stared at the retreating figure, somewhat incredulous.
Jiang Qi thought for a moment and said, "From my observation, most of the time she's fine, it's just that her mental state is somewhat fragmented. The literal diagnosis is delusional disorder, but I can't really say what the actual situation is..."
Qiao Yunzheng nodded and was about to walk over when Jiang Qi stopped her.
“Just so you know, just in case, you shouldn’t get too close to him,” he said, glancing around. “For security reasons, there are no cameras around here, and no doctors or nurses will be passing by. If he really goes berserk, I can’t guarantee I can protect you.”
Qiao Yunzheng smiled and comforted him, "It's alright!"
Is it delusional disorder?
She recalled the way he stared at her when she met him at the Qiao Group building. Now that she knew his identity, she understood that he probably knew her. Perhaps he was looking for her to tell her something.
Qiao Yunzheng took a deep breath and walked over.
She stopped beside him, and, not wanting to disturb him, softly called out, "Engineer Yuan."
As soon as the name was uttered, Qiao Yunzheng could clearly feel Yuan Ming's back stiffen for a moment before he mechanically turned his head.
The calm expression on his face cracked the moment he saw her clearly, quickly replaced by a fierce and panicked emotion. He lurched backward and landed hard on his backside in the bushes.
His chapped lips moved violently. He didn't care about anything else, hurriedly got up, and turned to run away.
"Yuan Ming!" Qiao Yunzheng called out to him, "Don't you want to talk to me? I saw you in the parking lot that day!"
She only met him once, and never saw him again. She was betting that he could understand her.
Yuan Ming stopped in his tracks, his shoulders trembling as he struggled.
Seeing this, Qiao Yunzheng quickly walked over and blocked his way.
Yuan Ming avoided her gaze, helplessly clutching his hair, slowly squatting down, muttering something to himself.
Qiao Yunzheng also squatted down and listened closely to him for a long time before she could understand his indistinct words, which seemed to be saying: Don't disturb her.
She was a little confused and asked him, "You mean, don't bother me?"
Yuan Ming timidly looked up, stared at her face, and kept shrinking back.
Qiao Yunzheng remained crouched, smiling at him and trying to ease his wariness and fear with a gentle tone: "Can you tell me who told you not to bother me?"
Yuan Ming didn't speak, and remained silent for a long time without any reaction.
Just when Qiao Yunzheng thought he hadn't understood or wouldn't answer, he sat down on the ground, and then, extremely slowly and solemnly, took out a piece of paper from the inside pocket of his clothes, and presented it to her with trembling hands.
She glanced down and saw a phone number; the familiar, vigorous handwriting clearly belonged to Wen Hong.
Qiao Yunzheng's mind went blank for a moment. She remembered the rich man Jiang Qi had mentioned who brought the homeless man here, and then belatedly realized that it was Wen Hong.
It turned out that he had already discovered the homeless man's identity.
A mix of emotions churning within her, she smiled at Yuan Ming and patiently coaxed him like a child: "What did he say to you?"
She could tell that even though Yuan Ming was somewhat mentally unstable, he was still afraid of Wen Hong when she mentioned her.
After hesitating for a long time, Yuan Ming finally spoke cautiously: "For her own good, don't look for her..."
Qiao Yunzheng spent two days at the sanatorium and also spent two days with Yuan Ming.
She discovered that he was not the kind of mentally deranged or even delirious mental patient that people stereotyped him to be. On the contrary, apart from his speech being a little unclear and his reactions to external stimuli being somewhat extreme, his memory and even his mind were not seriously affected.
She picked out some trivial matters from the company a few years ago to talk to him about, and he was able to respond accurately.
When she felt the time was right and mentioned the North City Project Department to him, his emotions, which had been quiet for two days, stirred again. The anxiety and urgency in his eyes were exactly the same as when he first met her.
He pounded his chest frantically, crying, "Qiao Zhende...it's my fault..."
Upon hearing her father's name, Qiao Yunzheng froze.
She forced herself to calm down and tried to understand his words: "You mean, my father's death is your fault?"
Her face was pale, and she stared intently at the man's face.
He let out a very low and long sob, and large tears fell from the eyes of this man who was on the verge of death.
Back at the hotel where she was staying, Qiao Yunzheng looked ashen-faced, like a puppet whose soul had been taken away, and remained silent.
Jiang Qi was worried and insisted on taking her out, using the excuse of demanding a reward to get Qiao Yunzheng to treat her to a meal, which she naturally couldn't refuse.
She sat by the window in the restaurant, resting her chin on her hand and gazing out the window, suddenly feeling that the world was unreal and surreal.
The words I had heard intermittently over the past two days kept echoing in my ears, and I could easily piece them together into a complete story.
The equipment in the old tank area in the north of the city is seriously aging. Several key technical personnel, represented by Yuan Ming, have been pushing hard for the renovation project with production safety as the benchmark. However, the proposal was submitted to the headquarters several times and was rejected several times. The reason given was that the equipment is indeed aging, but it has not yet reached the point of threatening production safety.
After being rejected time and time again, many people's enthusiasm was dampened, and they gave up.
Yuan Ming, single-mindedly insistent on reporting the issue to headquarters, even making several trips to the headquarters building. However, his voice carried little weight, and he only managed to meet with a few department heads before being dismissed without a second thought.
Back home, Yuan Ming was filled with resentment and complained to Shen Xingduo, then director of the Mechanical Department, about the inaction of the group's management. Yuan Ming had always had a good impression of Shen Xingduo; he was conscientious and hardworking, and one of the few people who stood by his side and supported the old tank area renovation proposal.
At this moment, Shen Xingduo suddenly reminded him: "Old Yuan, I heard that you worked for the chairman before the Qiao family became big. You must have some influence, right?"
Yuan Ming did know Qiao Zhende, but he disliked socializing and didn't want others to think he was opportunistic or currying favor with the powerful. Over the years, he never mentioned this relationship, stayed focused on the project, and never tried to contact Qiao Zhende.
He nodded, rarely admitting, "We do know each other, but we've barely spoken a few words."
“It’s easy to handle if you know him!” Shen Xingduo was very excited. “I heard from the project manager that the chairman will be there in person for the groundbreaking ceremony at Mingyi Lake tomorrow. Since we can’t see the chairman at the company, you can go to him privately tomorrow. You know him, so he will believe you. As long as the chairman knows about this, we’ll have a chance! I don’t believe the chairman can be as indifferent as they are.”
Yuan Ming heeded Shen Xingduo's advice and indeed went to see Qiao Zhende the next day.
As Shen Xingduo said, Qiao Zhende was furious when he found out. He immediately convened an emergency meeting with relevant personnel and even climbed up to the top of the tank to check.
No one expected that the accident would happen like that.
After Qiao Zhende's unexpected death, Yuan Ming was filled with remorse. Even though he didn't think he had done anything wrong, he still blamed himself for Qiao Zhende's death.
After all parties concluded the matter as an accidental safety incident, Yuan Ming remained silent, but privately began investigating the whole story. It was through this investigation that he accidentally discovered Shen Xingduo's secret and the relationship between Shen Xingduo and Qiao Zhenhuai.
Being betrayed by his most trusted friend, the upright Yuan Ming was furious and immediately went to confront Shen Xingduo.
Unexpectedly, after that incident, he was never able to tell anyone the secret he knew.
On his way home from a night shift, he was knocked unconscious and taken away by a group of people who suddenly rushed out. When he regained consciousness, he was lying in an isolation ward of a mental hospital.
Even Jiang Qi, who was used to the secrets of the wealthy, couldn't help but feel indignant after learning about this series of events: "These scumbags who drive a normal person crazy will stop at nothing to devour people!"
Qiao Yunzheng, however, did not think so. She did not believe that Yuan Ming was crazy. She thought that Wen Hong probably thought so too, which was why she took him away from Kuncheng and settled him in a sanatorium in Shencheng after discovering him.
Jiang Qi seemed to remember something, hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help asking, "That Wen Hong, you two are..."
Qiao Yunzheng understood what he was wondering about and frankly admitted, "He is my lover."
Jiang Qi said, "I was wondering why you didn't know anything about the person when he had them in his hands, and why you asked me to search for them like looking for a needle in a haystack..." He paused, then explained, "Yun Zheng, don't misunderstand, I didn't mean to sow discord. I just think that he probably loves you terribly."
Qiao Yunzheng stared blankly: "What do you mean?"
“It’s obvious!” Jiang Qi shrugged. “Knowing the whole truth but being unable to do anything will only increase your sorrow. It’s better to tell you after everything has settled down. After all, it’s very difficult to use the words and actions of a mentally ill person as evidence.”
As he spoke, he couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "This mastermind is really ruthless. With this series of actions, even if he's not sick, he must be."
What was said unintentionally was taken to heart by Qiao Yunzheng, and something in her heart suddenly stirred.
After a quick meal, Qiao Yunzheng returned to the hotel. Without even changing her shoes, she sat in the corridor and dialed Wen Hong's video call. No one answered.
I called his cell phone, but there was no response until the mechanical voice finished broadcasting.
She felt inexplicably flustered, and her hand holding the phone trembled uncontrollably.
After making countless calls, the call was finally answered.
The moment the call connected, she seemed to regain her heartbeat, but only for a moment, before her heart sank back to the bottom of a bottomless lake.
The background noise on the other end of the phone was very loud, and she wasn't sure if she had misheard, but it sounded like an alarm.
"Wen Hong, where are you?" Her voice trembled violently.
After a long silence, a man's voice finally came from the other end.
It's not Wen Hong's.
“Qiao Yunzheng, I am Song Nanchen. I think you need to come to the western suburbs. I will send you the location later.”
Something seemed to explode in her mind, her thoughts shattering into a jumbled mess of fragments, leaving her mentally blank: "What...what do you mean? Why is his phone with you? Where is he?"
Song Nanchen took a deep breath, as if he had reached his limit. Despite his usual composure, he suddenly burst into a tirade into the phone: "He's not dead yet! Damn it! You better come over here and deal with this mad dog!"
Author's Note: Thank you "Sunshine" for the nutrient solution! Love you! [heart emoji]
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