C10 He Was Right

However, Ho Li didn't give Tang Xin a chance to speak before he stormed out, slamming the door behind him. She found herself locked in the ward, surrounded by nurses bustling about. Some attended to her wounds while others helped her pack her belongings. The intensive care ward buzzed with activity, more so than a marketplace.

Without Ho Li's consent, the hospital wouldn't dare discharge Tang Xin, and they even replaced her personal attendant with a professional round-the-clock nurse. Tang Xin realized that escaping Ho Li's watchful eye was futile, so she resigned herself to staying in the hospital. She did, however, request that the doctor hand over her card to Ho Li. In return, Ho Li sent her a message: she would inevitably come begging him for money.

Tang Xin dismissed Ho Li's words as delusional. She was poor, but not so destitute that she needed to rely on others for charity. What she didn't realize was that Ho Li's net was already closing in around her.

After recuperating in the hospital for two weeks, Tang Xin was finally cleared by the doctor to be discharged. Ho Li had taken care of all her medical bills, even settling the nursing fees upfront. Tang Xin didn't utter a word of thanks; after all, she was injured while saving him, so it was only right that he covered her medical costs.

Upon leaving the hospital, she returned home. The clothes she now wore had been purchased by the nurse, courtesy of Ho Li's money. Despite her reluctance to be further entangled with Ho Li, wearing new clothes was certainly less embarrassing than the alternative.

Her apartment wall was splattered with red paint, a sight that was quite alarming. Such incidents were common in low-rent housing, so Tang Xin didn't dwell on it and entered her home. The silence inside led her to believe Ling Yue wasn't there, but she soon sensed something amiss when she heard his groans.

Guided by the sounds, she made her way to Ling Yue's bedroom. Pushing open the door, she was startled by what she saw.

Ling Yue's face was grotesquely swollen, his bloodstained features now dry and caked with grime. He had sustained serious injuries, and his labored breathing suggested he might have a fever.

"Ling Yue, are you okay?" Tang Xin wondered how long he had been in this condition. Had he been enduring this pain the entire time she was in the hospital, without even tending to his wounds?

"Don't hit me, please stop, I... I really don't have any money..." Ling Yue was delirious, barely registering Tang Xin's presence, let alone recognizing her.

"It's me, Ling Yue," Tang Xin said, gently touching his feverish forehead. "What happened to you?"

Only then did Ling Yue's eyes flutter open, and he looked at Tang Xin with a bewildered gaze. Recognizing her, he blurted out in a panic, "Please, help me. I owe a huge sum of money, and if I can't pay it back, they'll kill me."

Ling Yue hadn't always been kind to Tang Xin, but she owed him for his help in the past—a debt that meant she couldn't just stand by and watch him get beaten to death.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely help you," she assured him.

With that, Ling Yue allowed himself to close his eyes, finally at ease. Tang Xin, unable to move him by herself, enlisted the help of neighbors to get Ling Yue into a taxi and off to the hospital.

Together, they had just enough money to cover a single day's medical expenses. Desperate and out of options, Tang Xin realized there was only one person left who could offer her a lifeline—Ho Li.

In the midst of this crisis, her phone rang. It was someone from Ho's Human Resources Department. "Miss Tang, do you intend to return to your position at Ho's?" they inquired.

Taking a deep breath, Tang Xin responded, "Yes."

The voice on the line replied sweetly, "Then we hope you'll return from your leave as soon as possible."

"Understood," Tang Xin said.

She looked over at Ling Yue, lying in the hospital bed, and it hit her—Ho Li's words had been prophetic. Eventually, she would find herself pleading before him.