Chapter 54 Ivy Leaves
After the date for sending Qi Zhengguo to the sanatorium was finalized, Qi Liang was busy packing.
Although I don't have anything, the pile of trivial things can still give me a headache.
The house must be vacated and personal belongings in the house must be packed up. After going to the sanatorium, Qi Liang will also leave for the city where University C is located. He will definitely not be able to visit him every day, so clothes and daily necessities must be prepared.
Qi Zhengguo watched his son busying around the bed, raised his head a little higher, and tried to look out the window: "Is spring coming soon?"
Qi Liang hummed, "When I came here, I saw the magnolia blossoms."
"Oh," Qi Zhengguo glanced out the window, "Those magnolias by the lake? I remember they were so beautiful when they were in full bloom."
After a long silence, Qi Liang said, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you saying this suddenly?"
Qi Liang turned around and faced his father: "This spring... I can't push you to see the flowers."
Qi Zhengguo sighed: "If my father and I want to apologize, there will be no end to it."
He looked at his son, who seemed to have lost some weight. However, because of him, the child has never been able to gain weight.
"I have always wanted too much," Qi Zhengguo said, "I want you to be good-looking, tall, smart, kind-hearted, and preferably strong. God has treated me so badly, I think it must compensate for my son and make him a well-rounded person." He smiled, "In the end, you really have everything, but... no luck. I have used up all your luck."
Qi Liang took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, walked to the bedside, and held his father's hand. "You always remember what happened after you lay down in bed," he said. "When I was a kid, you drew lines in the yard, played soccer with me, and made a bamboo dragonfly for me. I remember everything."
Qi Zhengguo smiled, as if recalling those long-lost memories. In this brief moment, the cramped house and moldy pool disappeared, and they returned to the once brilliant spring of twenty years ago.
Qi Liang looked at his father's face which was tortured by illness. It was rare for them to have such a heartwarming conversation over the years. Unfortunately, I may never meet him again.
The phone rang. It was the driver and the caregiver who were picking someone up for the nursing home. Qi Liang opened the door, welcomed them in, and carried the luggage downstairs himself.
When he came up again, he stopped at the door of the room.
He didn't expect Meng Jining to come too.
As if he was being pulled by a thread, he slowly approached, his eyes fixed on Meng Jining's face: "Are you okay?"
Meng Jining smiled and said, "I should be the one saying this."
Qi Liang lowered his head and stood up the other box. Sometimes, he couldn't get enough of looking at Meng Jining, and sometimes, he was a little afraid to look at him. "Why are you here?"
"Uncle thought I was your lover. Shouldn't I see him off to a nursing home?"
This was a joke, Qi Liang knew it. He pressed his pocket with his hand. He had been carrying the fake marriage certificate with him all the time.
They helped the people at the nursing home to place Qi Zhengguo in the new wheelchair. The wheelchair has a fixed frame so Qi Zhengguo can sit on it safely.
The patient and his luggage went downstairs, and the room suddenly became quiet.
Meng Jining looked around slowly; the closet and drawers were empty. There was nothing left in the house except the landlord's original furniture.
"Are you ready for a new life?" Meng Jining asked.
Qi Liang smiled, but the smile seemed forced.
"I know that it's hard not to be afraid when your life suddenly changes," Meng Jining said. "Although you haven't studied for many years, you still remember those English words, right? You'll definitely get better if you work so hard."
Qi Liang looked at him. If for no other reason than it sounded like a farewell.
He didn't say how to contact me next time or how often we could meet. It seemed that after watching him embark on a new journey, he would turn around and leave.
A trace of doubt came to his mind, but he didn't think about it seriously. After all, everything would be over soon. "Thank you," he said, "you too."
He has never been good at speaking, and at a moment like this where he should have been making a long speech, all he could say was boring echoes. He lowered his head and racked his brains to think of something to say, but he didn't know where to start.
Meng Jining observed his expression, frowned, and suddenly realized something.
There is nothing of Qi Liang in this room.
Normally, he should have packed his things and put them in the suitcase, but the room was clean and empty.
He got rid of everything.
Meng Jining's mind went blank for a moment. He rushed to Qi Liang. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "What do you want to do?"
Qi Liang slowly raised his head with a calm expression. "Tell Mr. Fu," he said, "thank you for taking care of my father. I will help him deal with the murderer who killed his brother."
Meng Jining stared at him, feeling a chill down his spine: "You...are you crazy?!"
"I am very sober."
"You are crazy!" Meng Jining grabbed him and said, "You want to kill someone!"
Qi Liang glanced at the hand on his arm and broke free without hesitation. He was not hysterical, but Meng Jining felt terrified.
"My father said I was busy with my studies and didn't have time to come back. He'll keep it a secret for as long as possible," he continued to walk out. "Don't worry, I will make plans and preparations. I won't take action if I'm not sure I can kill him."
Meng Jining shuddered for a moment, ran to the door quickly, slammed it shut, and leaned his back against the door panel.
Qi Liang stopped, seemingly surprised that he would do such a childish thing. Does he think this will stop him?
Meng Jining stared at him, took a few quick breaths, and said, "I don't really like you."
There was no emotion on Qi Liang's face. Such dissuasion is old-fashioned.
"I may have a little affection for you, but I approach you not because I like you, or want to repay you, or because of pity," Meng Jining pulled the corner of his mouth, "You don't understand me. I have always been a selfish person."
He shifted his gaze to the mold spots beside him, as if he didn't dare to look directly into Qi Liang's eyes.
"I approached you because I knew the first time I met you that you were not someone who would take a loyalty card," he said, "just like I was back then."
The points card is only for those who have tomorrow in mind.
They are also willing to plan for the future and believe that one day they may need it.
Qi Liang wouldn't take it, not because he couldn't afford it or didn't want to be driven to consume by it, but because he didn't consider tomorrow at all.
Or, it would be better if he didn't come tomorrow.
“We don’t die on our own initiative,” he said, “but we are all waiting to die.”
Yes, life has no meaning anymore, but death is too much of a burden.
There are relatives around me and debts to repay.
So I can only live, one day at a time, but every moment, I am actually expecting something, if a car suddenly rushes out from the roadside, if a flower pot suddenly falls from the balcony, if my heart suddenly can't bear the burden...
That would be great.
This is what happens to people who are desperate to a certain extent but cannot make up their minds to die.
They have been dragged by fate throughout their lives and have lost their ability to be independent for too long. In the end, even their death has to be left to fate.
"When I first escaped, I did this every day, wandering the streets, waiting for an opportunity to die," Meng Jining said. "But I am a very contradictory person. Deep down, I am actually very afraid of death."
After a pause, he continued: "It was at this time that I met you."
A person who has no light, a person who has struggled in hell for many years and only has his soul wandering in the world.
"You were much more miserable than me, so miserable that I was stunned at the time. You have to know that in my heart at that time, there was no one in the world more unlucky than me," Meng Jining said, "so I came to see you every day."
Let’s see how you struggle in this quagmire and how you manage to stay alive day by day.
"Every time I see you, I have an inexplicable confidence. I think, if even you can survive, then so can I," Meng Jining said. "To me, you are the last ivy leaf."
After a pause, he turned his head, took a deep breath, and looked at Qi Liang. "That's why I rushed to your house on your birthday, and that's why I made that fake marriage certificate," he said, "I was afraid you would die, and my last bit of courage would break."
Before their eyes met, he was a little nervous. He didn't dare to predict the other person's reaction after hearing these words. He had never said such sincere words in his life, and the first time he said them, he was hurting this already bruised and battered man.
However, Qi Liang's eyes were calm.
He cut himself open for him, and he acted as if he had only talked about the weather.
"Who said I did this for you?" Qi Liang said.
Meng Jining's heart trembled.
"He might make things difficult for me and my father," Qi Liang said. "My father was the only witness back then and he is in a very dangerous situation. Don't be so self-indulgent."
Meng Jining was almost in despair; things were heading towards a point of no return.
Qi Liang lowered his head, and his tall and straight back seemed to be broken. He pulled Meng Jining away from the door, but Meng Jining held him tightly.
"No... No!" Meng Jining said, "I can't let you ruin your future. You'll obviously have a future soon, and you'll be able to use the points card soon!"
Qi Liang remained unmoved. Meng Jining held him tightly and tremblingly took out his cell phone and dialed his brother's number: "Brother, tell those people in the nursing home to stop!"
Qi Liang and the person on the other end of the phone said in astonishment, "What are you doing?"
"This guy wants to use the medical expenses as payment for you to hire a killer!" Meng Jining said, "Until he thinks it through, you can't pay a penny!"
When Meng Chu heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and immediately emphasized: "Nonsense! Stop him quickly! We have found some clues."
Meng Jining was stunned for a moment and looked at Qi Liang: "Really?"
"It's just that the evidence is hard to find," Meng Chu said, "but we know a place that may be able to provide us with some help."
Fu Guanshan didn't expect that he would visit this living room twice in such a short time.
The house was still as deserted as before, and my father was still sitting on the sofa, as if he had entered a certain cycle.
The only thing that changed was the signs of decay on the other person's face.
As Fu Guanshan spoke, the vitality was drained away from the other person bit by bit. This kind of aging that is visible to the naked eye is almost scary.
Fu Guanshan narrated the events of that year in a concise and succinct manner. Zhong Yuan lowered his head and looked at the testimony and the photo of the watch on the table.
Fu Guanshan couldn't see his expression clearly, but he could tell from the trembling of his neck and fingers that he was filled with turbulent emotions.
The sunlight shone in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, but it seemed not to shine on the two people. Their souls and memories had long gone to another place, a distant, dark riverside.
After a long while, Zhong Yuan said, "These...cannot prove anything."
Fu Guanshan almost went berserk for a moment, but quickly calmed down because this reaction was so reasonable.
In this dead silence, he felt something.
fear. He looked at his father. Deep fear.
How can I not be afraid?
He was the one who caused all this. He raised a murderer, he gave him a reason to kill, and he even sided with the murderer when his youngest son's soul was still alive.
He also made the murderer his heir, giving away his life's work.
"You guessed what happened," Fu Guanshan stared at him, as if he was going to drive a wooden wedge into his heart bit by bit, "You guessed it when I said Zhong Wenchu was at the scene."
He and Zhong Wenchu have lived together for so many years, so he should have some idea of what kind of person Zhong Wenchu is from some vague clues.
He knew Zhong Wenchu could do it.
Zhong Yuan clenched his cane tightly. Even with the support of the sofa, his weak body was still shaking.
"Why did you tell me?" His voice was filled with hatred, but the target of this hatred was unclear. "Why did you let me know?"
Fu Guanshan looked at him and said, "I want something."
The old man did not respond.
"He has a company called Boulder in the Cayman Islands that does IPO consulting business," he said, pulling out a stack of documents. "Do you know anything about these projects?"
Zhong Yuan was still frozen like a sculpture, only his eyes slowly moving towards the document. The fact that he did not deny it outright speaks volumes.
Fu Guanshan put the document down. He was surprised that he could still remain calm.
He stared at his father for a while, and the other party still showed no intention of answering, so he turned on his cell phone and dialed a number.
This rash action made Zhong Yuan raise his head.
"No," Fu Guanshan said to the other end of the phone, "It's not me who's calling this time."
He turned on the hands-free mode, and Zhong Wenchu's voice came out clearly: "What do you want to do now?"
Zhong Yuan frowned and looked at Fu Guanshan, his eyes clearly filled with the same doubt.
"I'm with my father." This address was very solemn, but it added a hint of irony. Fu Guanshan turned to Zhong Yuan and put the phone in front of him. "Father knows everything about what happened eighteen years ago. He wants to say a few words to you."
The other side fell silent for a moment. In those few seconds of vacuum, the room was so quiet that you could hear your heartbeat.
Then, the three people on both ends of the phone moved almost synchronously. Zhong Yuan shouted angrily, "Who allowed you to do this..." Zhong Wenchu began to explain, "Dad, don't listen to his nonsense...", and Fu Guanshan took back the phone and pressed the hang-up button.
Zhong Yuan's chest heaved, and he glared at him: "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Fu Guanshan said, "It's just that he knows you know it now."
Zhong Yuan stared at his eldest son and suddenly felt that he was extremely unfamiliar.
"If you know him, you'll know he's a very suspicious person," Fu Guanshan said. "Even if you don't want to destroy him, as long as he thinks you hate him and feels threatened, he will definitely take action in advance."
In fact, Zhong Wenchu was very suspicious, and so was his father.
He met the other person's gaze and patted the documents on the table: "So, what do you know about these projects?"
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