Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 110
Hundreds of kilometers away from the town where the medical aid project was located, in the provincial capital of Yunnan, Xin Ying finally returned to her villa in the resort before the time she had agreed to video chat with Lin Leyao every day after spending a day outside.
Xin Ying opened her phone, typed a message and sent it to Lin Leyao, but after more than ten minutes, Lin Leyao still hadn't replied.
Before Xin Ying sent this message, there were several other messages she had sent to Lin Leyao during the day, all of which went unanswered.
More than ten hours have passed since daytime, and Lin Leyao has neither contacted him nor replied to his messages.
Under normal circumstances, Xin Ying could assume that Lin Leyao's phone was out of battery or that she had lost it and couldn't contact her. However, Xin Ying never dared to take Lin Leyao's situation lightly, and with a heavy heart, she immediately dialed Xin Wenwen's number.
Xin Ying knew that Xin Wenwen was going to participate in this medical aid project. The reason she approved Xin Wenwen's leave to go was that she wanted to have someone of her own by Lin Leyao's side. After all, it was going to such a far-off town for medical aid, and if anything happened to Lin Leyao, having someone of her own by her side would at least help her deal with it immediately.
The call was answered within seconds of being dialed. Before Xin Ying could even speak, Xin Wenwen immediately said, "Auntie, I've been trying to contact you, but I couldn't because my phone had no signal. Last night, the rain and thunder damaged the nearby cell tower, and it was just repaired. The situation is even worse up in the mountains; there's no signal and no electricity either."
Xin Ying listened to her explanation and hummed in agreement, then asked, "Is Le Yao back?"
"She is still on the mountain."
Xin Ying was very surprised: "She hasn't come down the mountain yet?"
“Yes,” Xin Wenwen said, “I just met some TV crew members coming down the mountain. They said that Le Yao injured her ankle on the mountain path. The wound was cut by a rusty sickle and was covered in mud. They were afraid that if they didn’t clean it in time, it would worsen the wound, so Le Yao didn’t come down the mountain but went back up to treat the wound. Xiao Yan and Iris are also on the mountain with her. We will arrange for staff to come up the mountain to pick her up tomorrow when the weather clears up.”
After Xin Wenwen finished speaking, Xin Ying did not respond, and the phone suddenly fell silent.
Xin Wenwen had no idea what Xin Ying was thinking. As time passed, Xin Wenwen felt the atmosphere becoming more and more oppressive. Xin Ying didn't speak, and she didn't dare to hang up the phone. She just stood there motionless at the hotel entrance with her phone in her hand.
After a long silence, Xin Ying finally asked, "Is her wound serious?"
Xin Wenwen breathed a sigh of relief and immediately replied, "It shouldn't be serious, otherwise the TV station staff would definitely have taken her down the mountain for treatment."
Xin Ying didn't say anything more and hung up the phone.
No longer completely unaware, Xin Ying now knows that Lin Leyao couldn't contact her because her phone had no signal, not because she was in any danger. Xin Ying's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, should be able to relax a little now, but she has become even more nervous.
At this time of day, she would usually be video chatting with Lin Leyao, listening to Lin Leyao talk about her daily life. She would know what happy things Lin Leyao had experienced that day, as well as what unhappy things she had experienced.
But now she is in this empty room, and Lin Leyao, who usually talks to her on the phone, is injured and in such a harsh environment on the mountain.
I wonder if there's electricity on the mountain now? If she could contact me, Le Yao would probably call me immediately.
Xin Ying's mind was racing as she leaned back on the sofa, clutching her phone tightly in her palm.
Although Lin Leyao's medical aid location and Xin Ying's city are both in Yunnan Province, the weather in the two places is vastly different.
These past few days, the small county town there has been torrential rain, while the capital of Yunnan Province, hundreds of kilometers away, is bathed in sunshine under a clear blue sky.
Xin Ying couldn't know the exact situation of the rain on Lin Leyao's side based solely on Lin Leyao's description during their video call, and now, even through Xin Wenwen's account, she still couldn't figure out the extent of Lin Leyao's injury.
It's said to be not serious, but what kind of wound is considered not serious?
Can outsiders empathize with Lin Leyao as much as she does?
These past few days, Xin Ying has been staying on the sidelines handling matters. Although she had already reviewed the plan and design renderings, many details still need to be addressed to ensure that the entire plan is successfully implemented according to her vision.
During this period, she stayed up late with the designer she had hired, checking on the progress during the day and handling company work in her room at night. She hadn't had a proper rest during this time.
Xin Ying leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought, and fell asleep without realizing it, but her sleep was very restless.
After many sunny days, the provincial capital was suddenly hit by a strong wind tonight, with howling winds whipping up trees and vendors' carts on the streets.
Thin people on the street couldn't withstand the wind and quickly took shelter in a convenience store. Children playing in the park screamed in fright, and adults hurriedly carried their children home.
With a deafening roar, the torrential rain poured down, crashing onto the entire earth.
The rain was heavy and torrential, and lightning flashed through the clouds, burning and cracking passionately in the thick sky.
The rain came so fast that many people didn't have time to take shelter or prepare for the rain.
On the road, there were many men and women riding electric bikes on their way home. At a traffic light intersection, two electric bikes collided head-on with a loud bang, and the people on the bikes fell off and into the rain.
Some people drove past them, while others hurriedly stopped their cars and ran towards them.
"Boom—"
The layers of dark clouds in the sky resembled a giant drum placed above people's heads, its huge and deep sound resounding again and again above their heads and in their ears.
Xin Ying, who had fallen asleep on the sofa at some point, was trembling slightly, as if she were having a nightmare. She curled up into a ball.
Fourteen years ago in Guangdong, the climate was just like it is now. Xin Ying was taken to a hospital in Guangdong as soon as her father found her.
Xin Ying regained consciousness the next day, but she had no strength left.
During the months she disappeared, she experienced a lot. The once lively and cheerful youngest daughter of the Xin family underwent a drastic personality change. Every day when she woke up, she would not make a sound, just lie coldly in bed, neither speaking nor calling out to anyone.
The nurse came over to change her dressing, and when she turned her head, she met a pair of dark eyes. She screamed in fright, startling several medical staff members in the process. After that, the doctors and nurses in the hospital all knew that the girl staying in this VIP ward was very strange.
Xin Ying knew that many doctors and nurses in the hospital were secretly talking about her. They thought she was strange, scary, and eerie. Xin Ying didn't care about these comments. After all, who could be kidnapped and drugged by their own brother, paralyzed in bed like a vegetable for months, and still live like a normal person?
Besides, she was going to die anyway, and even if her father kept it from her, she knew she had cancer.
It's said that when one is about to die, one should enjoy life to the fullest, so that one can leave behind some beautiful memories before death. But Xin Ying wouldn't do that. She remained as always, lost in thought, silent, living like a wooden doll.
Even knowing that her second brother had terminal liver cancer and that her third brother had been expelled from the country, she showed no reaction whatsoever.
Until one day, her grandfather told her that a little girl had come to play with her.
Xin Ying saw a fair-skinned and adorable little girl wearing a white dress and a bun hairstyle walk into the ward.
The little girl was very young. She only learned that the girl's name was Lin Leyao and that she had just turned eleven, after being introduced by her father.
The little girl always had a smile on her face, always smiling. She was sweet-talking and had a lovely personality. Even the very stern Xin Guangjin couldn't help but soften his tone when speaking to her.
This little girl appeared at the hospital for three days, sitting by the bedside and talking to her each time. She wasn't angry even when Xin Ying ignored her. Seeing that Xin Ying wasn't interested in her topic, she picked at her hands for a while and then changed the subject to other things.
The little girl who had been chattering by her bedside for three days was finally gone, and Xin Ying's world finally returned to peace. She should have been happy, but with her departure, she felt that something was missing, as if this talkative little girl should have been standing by her side all along.
Days passed by like flowing water until one day Xin Ying overheard a conversation between the doctor and her father outside. They said that the little girl was a match for her bone marrow and could donate bone marrow to her.
Xin Guangjin was very happy. After entering the ward, he hugged her with red eyes and said many things like, "I'm sorry, Dad will definitely protect you from now on."
Xin Ying didn't react at all. While others were excited and joyful, Xin Ying was thinking about how to get such a small child to donate bone marrow. Her little hands were so delicate, could they withstand the strain?
Xin Ying thought she would meet the little girl again, but she didn't get to see her until the day of the bone marrow transplant.
After the surgery, once Xin Ying's condition stabilized, she was sent abroad, where she stayed for many years until she returned to China to serve as the president of Huanning Group.
Past memories resurfaced in her mind, and the memories in her dreams were even clearer and more vivid. Xin Ying, who was sleeping on the sofa, seemed to be affected by the dream and kept tossing and turning.
In her dream, her memories began to change, and the scene shifted to a foreign country.
Xin Ying's post-operative rejection reaction was mild, and everything seemed to be progressing well. Xin Ying specifically asked someone to look up the young girl who donated bone marrow to her, and after learning that she was the granddaughter of the chairman of Huanling Group, she felt relieved.
Xin Ying began receiving psychotherapy. She studied and learned here, and her mental condition improved day by day, just like her physical condition.
One evening when she returned home, she found a little girl in a white dress standing downstairs at her apartment building. The little girl had her back to her, so she couldn't see her face clearly. Xin Ying didn't pay any attention and continued walking into the apartment.
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, turned around abruptly, and found the little girl who had been facing away from her standing behind her, looking at her with a big smile.
Seeing the familiar little girl, Xin Ying walked over to her, squatted down, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
The little girl suddenly threw herself into Xin Ying's arms and asked with a smile, "Sister, how can you see me?"
Xin Ying was stunned: "Can't others see you?"
The little girl tilted her head and replied earnestly, "Yes!"
Xin Ying asked in confusion, "Why?"
"Sister," the little girl called out sweetly, "because I'm already dead, no one else can see me. Why can you see me, sister? Sister, you can see me, does that mean you're also—dead—?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the little girl, who had been wearing a sweet smile, turned pale and bloody tears streamed down her face, leaving her face covered in bright red bloodstains.
The little girl seemed unaware that she had changed her appearance, and asked in her innocent tone, "Sister, why can you see me?"
Xin Ying looked at the little girl in front of her who had changed her appearance. She held the little girl's hand tightly without loosening her grip, and slowly tightened her grip on the girl's hand, saying, "Are you really dead?"
Xin Ying looked at the girl in front of her with red eyes.
The little girl suddenly stopped moving, and in an instant, she regained her original fair and lovely appearance. She looked at Xin Ying, who was staring at her, and suddenly pulled her hand away from Xin Ying's palm.
The little girl took a step back. Xin Ying realized something was wrong and immediately reached out to grab her, but the little girl's body instantly floated away.
Xin Ying immediately shouted, "Le Yao!"
The little girl standing in the distance watched her quietly. Xin Ying noticed that the distance between the little girl and herself had increased again. For some reason, she suddenly panicked and hurriedly chased after the girl.
Xin Ying stared at her with red eyes, when suddenly the little girl's figure vanished before her eyes. Xin Ying frantically looked around, only to find complete darkness and nothing there. She collapsed to the ground, screaming in anguish, "Lin Leyao!"
"Rumble rumble rumble—"
A loud clap of thunder startled Xin Ying, who was sleeping on the sofa, awake.
Before she could react, she grabbed her phone and was about to rush out of the villa when the shrill ringtone of her phone rang inside.
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Author's Note:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 17:56:38 on May 23, 2022 and 18:41:45 on May 24, 2022!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: CM靇, 55157345 (1 each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 111
"Auntie, there's been a mudslide on the mountain!"
Xin Wenwen's tone on the phone was very urgent; you could tell that she had just received the news and immediately frantically called Xin Ying.
Before Xin Wenwen could utter another word, Xin Ying abruptly ended the call and grabbed her car keys to head out.
Just then, Xin Ying's phone rang again.
Kong Anqing had just arrived at this resort from S City. She called to report, but before she could even speak, Xin Ying interrupted her.
"Put on shoes that allow you to drive and come to me right now."