Ghost Bride 2

Chapter 44

"The doctor said it was infectious polyneuritis caused by a severe cold. Her nerves were damaged beyond repair, and the medication wouldn't last long. She could die from shock at any time due to respiratory obstruction."

“No,” I said with difficulty, “Xiao Yuan isn’t sick… she’s not…” Tears streamed down my face until I couldn’t speak anymore.

"What's wrong?" Mingyang patted my back, telling me not to get agitated.

"Not sick? What do you know?" Ouyang rushed over and grabbed my shoulders. "What do you know? Tell me now!"

“All I know,” I said, emphasizing each word, “is that she was poisoned.”

Section 115: Intrigue and Betrayal (1)

Intrigue and Betrayal

The corridor was completely silent.

Ouyang was stunned, and so was Mingyang.

Just then, a nurse ran over, passed by us, and then turned back to look: "Hey? What are you all doing standing here?"

“Let’s come see Xiao Yuan.” Mingyang was the first to come to his senses.

"Oh, she just went into the emergency room. She suddenly went into shock, but the head doctor has already resuscitated her. Why aren't you going to check on her? You're just waiting here like idiots..." The nurse ran off in a flash.

Ouyang's expression changed drastically: "You...who exactly are you people? Why are you using this despicable mentality of satisfying your curiosity on a piece of rotten wood like me? I've already lived a miserable life enough, what more do you want from me?" His furious expression made him look like he wanted to devour someone.

Mingyang grabbed me and we ran.

What more do you want from me?

The roaring behind us was still howling, so we quickly ran to the parking lot.

"Let's go!" Mingyang started the car. "Let's put this on hold for now! I need to figure out what you mean by poisoning first."

“It’s poisoning,” I said to Mingyang with certainty. And the first person I suspected was the daughter of the school party secretary, whom Ouyang had mentioned.

When I returned to the city hospital to visit Apple, she was lying on her back, wrapping something around her.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

Apple took out a small box containing broken Buddhist prayer beads. "String them together."

I smiled at her and said, "You can do needlework too?"

"Go ahead and study." Her expression at that moment was truly virtuous.

"Mm," I replied. Actually, my greater concern was that even if her physical injuries healed, the resentment in her heart wouldn't disappear. Buddhist prayer is about calming the mind; if this string of prayer beads can truly help her turn misfortune into good fortune, then it's a case of a destined object returning to a destined person. An object only has value when it finds its proper place.

That evening, Mingyang emailed Da Senlin, mentioning his belief that Xiaoyuan had been poisoned.

The answer was pretty much what I expected; she had indeed been secretly poisoned. The poison was called thallium. Its chemical symbol comes from the pale green of its spectral lines, originally meaning "tender branch." Thallium is colorless and odorless, and it hydrolyzes. The poisoner can make it invisible and formless, acting slowly and killing silently. Thallium is often found in large fireworks displays during festivals because it emits a dazzling green flame when burning—a perfect blend of beauty and deadly poison, like a venomous snake flicking its green tongue.

Xiao Yuan's symptoms perfectly matched those of thallium poisoning. However... thallium's abundance in the Earth's crust is approximately 3 parts per 100,000, distributed in low concentrations in feldspar, mica, and iron and copper sulfide minerals; independent thallium deposits are rare. This highly toxic substance, second only to cyanide, is rare and precious, and not easily accessible to just anyone. How did the person who poisoned her acquire it?

Section 116: Intrigue and Betrayal (2)

That school party secretary's daughter is quite a figure!

The most urgent task is to save lives.

Mingyang told the doctor who was taking bribes that Xiaoyuan had been poisoned with thallium and asked him to change the treatment plan to save her life.

However, the attending physician refused without hesitation, believing that Mingyang was putting pressure on the hospital's treatment and causing unnecessary interference.

"What a bunch of corrupt bastards," Mingyang angrily contacted Ouyang.

Even I was surprised: "How did you get his contact information?"

Mingyang winked at me.

You can't deny that sometimes money really can buy anything. He doesn't need to do anything himself; he just needs to direct others to do it.

"Then why did you accompany me to the mental hospital?" I asked, puzzled. "You could have just paid someone else to go with me."

“That’s different.” He chuckled. “I can’t ask them to take care of my wife. It’s a glorious mission entrusted to me by the people of the motherland.”

I patted his head and saw Ouyang rushing towards us in a panic.

"You? You were the ones who played tricks on me at the mental health center that day..." He was furious and turned to leave, but Mingyang stopped him: "Do you want to save Xiaoyuan?"

He turned around and stared at us in disbelief: "What did you say?"

"What you need to do now is find something."

"What?"

"Prussian blue".

"What is that?"

"Antidote."

"You're talking nonsense again!" he said angrily as he turned around.

“I’m not kidding you! This time it’s for real. If you don’t get Prussian blue to cure her, she really will die.”

He turned around and stared at us blankly.

"A young girl's life will drift away like a withered leaf, trampled and crushed by people...?" Mingyang said, making a helpless gesture with his hand.

Ouyang rushed off.

I asked Mingyang, "What did he go to do?"

Mingyang said that he must be frantically searching for Prussian blue everywhere.

I asked him, "How did you know?"

The answer was simple: he didn't want Xiao Yuan to die. She was his first love.

The two of us stood arguing in front of Apple's hospital room. Apple yelled, "Ruoxi, bring me some tea!"

Oh! I rushed in, carrying a water bottle that was already empty: "Go! Go to the tea room to get some water!" I ordered Mingyang around too. Then I sat down by the bed and peeled fruit for her.

"Ruoxi, I really envy you." She tilted her head to watch me work.

"What?"

"You are luckier than me, both then and now."

There was a deep sorrow in her words; I knew the wound in her heart hadn't healed. External wounds are easy to treat, but internal wounds are hard to heal.

"Apple, if you and the Jeep are truly not meant to be, perhaps it's fate giving you a second chance. Love can transform a person, and maybe you'll meet someone who is truly your soulmate in the future."

"Ah!" She stretched out a big yawn, seemingly grinning. "Love is terrible. I was once foolishly arrogant enough to think I understood love, that I could control it, and that I could recklessly squander my youth, as long as I was happy and sweet. But in the blink of an eye, everything came to an end. Love is a sugar-coated pill; when you greedily savor the last bit of sweetness, you end up chewing out all the bitterness."

"Why are you so negative?" I looked at her. This once arrogant and cheerful girl was now battered and bruised by love.

"Oh Lord! Not every woman is a silent lamb. To hell with love! To hell with men!" she suddenly declared, making faces at me as if she were truly enlightened.

Is that really true? Have you really thought it through? When you were completely drunk at the South Gate Night Market, you worried me to death!

I pinched Apple's arm, pinched it hard! I really wanted to make her wake up from the pain.

"Oh my god! Murder! What are you doing? The knife wound I got to my stomach wasn't as bad as what you did!" After saying that, she giggled, grabbed the pear I had peeled, and took a big bite.

Sigh! I really hope you're doing well; safety is the most important thing.

But Apple stubbornly shook her head, saying no, a good heart is what matters. If the body is healthy but the mind is terminally ill, then no amount of medicine will help.

A heavy stone seemed to fall into my heart.

She still hasn't gotten over it...

Mingyang came in from outside and had just put down his water bottle when his phone rang. He pressed the answer button, and a loud voice came from the other end: "I can't find Prussian Blue, what should I do?" It was Ouyang; he was panting heavily, apparently having been running.

"How could you not find it?" Mingyang asked.

“I went to all the hospital warehouses and clinics, I searched everywhere I could, but I couldn’t find it. They told me that this kind of thing has been sold out for a long time.”

Section 117: Intrigue and Betrayal (3)

Mingyang frowned, and his expression turned serious after hanging up the phone.

I heard his voice on the phone and asked, "Mingyang, can't you ask many people to help find the medicine? Why do you insist that Ouyang go to find it?"

“I’m giving him a chance to atone,” he said to me as he took his coat off the hanger. “I’ll go take care of it. You stay with Apple and wait for me to come back.”

I watched his retreating figure, that imposing silhouette seemed so familiar, so much like the vast forest! Now, he has become capable and mature.

"What's wrong?" Apple looked at me with a puzzled expression and flicked the pear core in her hand far away.

"Why are you littering like a child?" I picked it up and threw it in the trash can, then used a piece of paper to wipe the stains off the floor.

She stretched and exclaimed dramatically, "Now I'm under special care! If I don't act recklessly now, when will I?"

In Thailand, there's a method for seeing ghosts: looking at things upside down, supposedly allowing you to see spirits from other dimensions. But as I finished picking up the pear core and wiping the floor and was about to stand up, my head happened to tilt downwards, and suddenly I saw something.

Apple's face looked like half of its skin had been torn off, leaving it a bloody mess.

ah--

I covered my mouth and sat down on the ground, frozen in place.

Does this foreshadow something?

I was terrified.

Apple! You absolutely cannot have anything happen to you!!

It started raining again outside the window, a light drizzle. The sky was overcast, the heavens a pale gray, and the raindrops pattered against the windowpane, splashing up layers of water droplets.

The phone rang loudly; it was the cell phone Mingyang had left behind before he left.

"Hey! Where are you?" I shouted, afraid he wouldn't hear me.

The rain was torrential and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"I'm outside the People's Hospital warehouse."

"What were you doing there? Did you find the medicine?"

“They’re lying! There are clearly forty-five syringes of Prussian blue in the warehouse, but they refuse to hand them over to Ouyang.”

"Why?"

"You forgot what I said: money makes the world go round."

My heart skipped a beat: that woman hiding in the shadows had been monitoring Ouyang all along, and Mingyang wasn't the only one who could bribe a doctor! Just then, I heard an unclear clattering sound from the other end of the phone, as if someone was fighting over something.