Chapter 2 The Morning After
The next day, early morning.
The little girl woke up smoothly, while Zhang Jing, who had barely slept all night, with dark circles under her eyes, reached an agreement with the little girl to keep this secret buried forever. Afterwards, she and Ren Yuanhao hurried downstairs.
"It's the weekend, why do you look so anxious?"
Ren Yuanhao was puzzled, and Zhang Jing quickly told him the truth.
"My brother is waiting for me at the Golden Emperor Building and said he has something very important to discuss with me."
Ren Yuanhao's heart skipped a beat. He thought, finally, there was news of Zhang Liang's whereabouts. When the opportunity arose, he would definitely settle the score with him.
The two parted ways downstairs, and the phone confiscated from Yin Shili returned to his hand. Just then, the phone rang at an inopportune moment.
The call was from an unknown number, but the number was very memorable, a string of flight numbers.
"Hello, who is this?"
"I'm Wang Yifu, and I have an unconscionable request."
Ren Yuanhao vaguely smelled something ominous.
"Go ahead," Ren Yuanhao feigned composure, though he was already panicking.
"My daughter's condition has worsened. In her delirium, she kept calling your name. I hope you can come and see her."
Wang Yifu's tone was no longer as forceful as yesterday, perhaps proving the saying that a man's tenderness is only shown to two people: one is his wife, and the other is his daughter.
"What?" Ren Yuanhao's mind buzzed, and everything around him seemed to dim instantly.
"As soon as possible. Academician Gao has confirmed with top international physicians. My daughter only has two to three days left to live. Therefore, I hope you will come, no matter what. I don't want her to have any regrets when she leaves."
...
Ren Yuanhao got into a taxi, speeding through the city of Aishen.
The city after the rain felt sticky, as if a layer of glue had been mixed into the air.
Unchanging were the people hurrying along with their heads down. Sometimes, Ren Yuanhao had an illusion that these people, in all their variety, were merely repeating yesterday's days, living like walking dead.
Even worse than walking dead sometimes, for walking dead are driven only by bloodthirsty desires, and their sole motivation is to fill their stomachs, to satisfy an insatiable hunger. Humans, however, are different. Human desires are much greater. While pursuing money, they wish to seize power as well. Greed, and the pursuit of goals, allows all means to be labeled as righteous.
Letting his thoughts wander, about ten minutes later, he finally arrived at the high-end sanatorium owned by the Wang Group.
Under the gloomy sky, the white sanatorium resembled a fortress from the last century. He quickly climbed the stairs and headed straight for the top-floor ward where Wang Xin was located.
Outside the ward, about a dozen young men and women were standing, holding flowers and waiting anxiously.
"Hey, hey, hey, who are you? Don't you know about coming first, serving first?"
The young man who spoke blocked Ren Yuanhao.
"I'm here to see Wang Xin," Ren Yuanhao explained.
"What a coincidence, so are we. Get to the back of the line, who do you think you are? Wang Xin's boyfriend? That's hilarious!"
Just as the young man finished speaking, he heard the screech of the heavy hydraulic door of the ward opening.
"It's our turn now!"
"Don't push, you guys."
These people, under the guise of visiting Wang Xin, Wang Yifu knew very well that these little brats were just using the excuse of visiting Wang Xin to curry favor with him.
When the door opened, everyone fell silent upon seeing the person who appeared, behaving as meekly as dogs tied up in the backyard waiting for food, or women in the inner palace awaiting the emperor's favor.
This person was none other than the boss of the Wang Group, Wang Yifu.
His gaze swept through the crowd and immediately spotted Ren Yuanhao, who was squeezed to the edge by everyone. He then called out, "Ren Yuanhao, come over here quickly. Could you all please make way?"
Upon hearing Wang Yifu directly calling out the person who was about to cut in line, everyone's faces turned ashen. The young man who had blocked him looked even more dejected, like a frosted eggplant.
Under the envious gazes of the crowd, Ren Yuanhao entered the ward. He saw that Wang Xin, lying on the sickbed, looked even worse than yesterday.
"Xin'er has been waking up and then fainting repeatedly. Her consciousness is not very clear anymore. The people she can remember, besides me, are probably only you."
Wang Yifu patted Ren Yuanhao's shoulder and walked towards the sickbed alongside him.
Wang Xin's eyelashes fluttered slightly. It was clear that even in her unconscious state, she was enduring pain beyond ordinary people's tolerance. The ventilator was continuously supplying her with oxygen, and her heart rate had dropped below average, no longer fluctuating.
"Ren Yuanhao, yesterday you confidently said you had a way to save her. Is that true, or were you just fooling me?"
Wang Yifu's eyes were sharp as knives. Ren Yuanhao, unsure how to answer, showed a look of anxiety. This expression was caught by Academician Gao.
"Even my mentor is helpless, what method can you, a young boy who understands nothing, possibly have? I'm afraid you're just spewing empty words."
Ren Yuanhao did not want to argue with Academician Gao in this situation, but this guy had been opposing him since yesterday and kept using his mentor to suppress him. Thinking of this, Ren Yuanhao frowned, his eyes stern. After muttering to himself for a while, under Academician Gao's aggressive gaze, he stated confidently, "Only a quack doctor would say there's no hope. I do have a way to save her, but I can't raise 30 million yuan in just one day."
Upon hearing the mention of money, Academician Gao couldn't help but let out a cold laugh. "Hmph, you little brat, so you're here to scam us for money. Impressive, very impressive! Do you think our president is a fool?"
"Academician Gao, you can't say that. Since you and your mentor have already said there's no cure, why not listen to this brother's method."
This statement was like a slap in the face for Academician Gao.
Ren Yuanhao had planned to tell Wang Yifu earlier, but he knew what the situation was like yesterday. Even if he had said it, Wang Yifu would probably have dismissed it as nonsense. Moreover, he hadn't been sure yesterday if he could borrow money from the four women. Therefore, he had made two plans.
The first was to save money himself, then exchange it for medicine, and have Wang Yifu reimburse him. The second was the current situation: Wang Xin was critically ill and her life was hanging by a thread. To put it bluntly, in such a situation, Wang Yifu might throw caution to the wind and take a gamble on him.
"I've already raised 25 million yuan. If Uncle Wang doesn't trust me, I'll have to find another way to make up the remaining 5 million."
"There's no time. Any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem. Tell me your bank account number quickly, and I'll transfer it to you immediately!"