The Art of Teasing - Chapter 151

Chapter 151

After Wen Zhengyu fell asleep, Ye Ling and the others gathered around the hospital bed moved with the doctors to the outer room.

At this moment, Wen Shili could not afford to dwell solely on grieving for her father; the living demanded her more urgent attention.

She worked in the medical industry and had personally arranged for the brain specialists attending to Wen Zhengyu. Naturally, everyone wanted the doctors to examine her. The immediate priority was to arrange a joint consultation between domestic and international physicians. Wen Shili and Cui Dong, not being medical professionals themselves, refrained from intruding upon the specialists' discussion. They instead turned to Ye Ling and the members of the Lian family, who had been keeping constant vigil, to understand Wen Zhengyu's condition.

Ye Ling explained to the mother and son that when Wen Zhengyu was first hospitalized, a CT scan had revealed a shadow on her frontal lobe, diagnosed as a subdural hematoma. The doctors had ordered her admission. She had been in the hospital for a week when she developed a delayed intracranial hemorrhage, causing her intracranial pressure to spike. She lost consciousness, fell into a coma, and was transferred to the ICU. On her eleventh day in intensive care, her body exhibited a severe stress response, triggering a high fever, and her condition had been critical at one point. Her condition had only stabilized the day before, allowing her transfer back to a regular ward.

After listening, Wen Shili was silent for a long moment before asking, "Was it when Zhengyu was in critical condition that my father..."

Ye Ling nodded and lowered her voice. "That night, Grandfather stayed vigil until dark before going home. As he was leaving the inpatient building, there are a few steps leading from the main entrance down to the roadside where his driver was parked. It had snowed that day, the ground was slippery, and he fell."

"He must have suffered the stroke right then, but both he and the driver thought he had just slipped. Grandfather assumed he was fine and, not wanting to add to everyone's burden at such a critical juncture, brushed the snow and mud from his clothes and went home. After returning, he told no one what happened, nor did he allow the driver to speak of it. He changed his clothes, ate a few simple bites, and retired early."

"When Second Aunt got home, the housekeeper mentioned that Grandfather's clothes were soiled, as if he had taken a fall. She knocked on his door but received no response, so they rushed him to the hospital immediately. That's when they discovered it was a cerebral hemorrhage. Grandfather remained unconscious. After several days, he developed a complication from an infection and passed away in less than a week. He left us just after four in the morning. At that time, Zhengyu still had a slight fever and had been calling out for her grandfather ceaselessly..."

Ye Ling paused, then added, "I believe Zhengyu sensed, on some level, that something had happened to her grandfather..."

Wen Shili was silent for a very long time. Finally, she spoke in a grave tone: "Regarding Third Brother, I have some evidence in my possession. I will hand it over to you shortly. Let's ensure he... never comes out again."

Ye Ling nodded.

Wen Shili continued, "Concerning the Wang Zidao matter, I have gathered certain... materials. I will hand those over to you as well. I am not intimately familiar with the domestic situation, and Second Sister... she is in no state to handle this, nor does she have the capability. So, rather than troubling multiple parties, I entrust it all to you. I still have some people at my disposal. I have already instructed them to cooperate with your operations as much as possible. If you need anything further, contact me at any time. Previously, I only knew of a Mr. Ma Lu having contact with Xiao Yu. Carson, for now, is only in contact with Mr. Ma Lu."

Ye Ling replied, "Understood. If necessary, I will arrange for Ma Lu to contact Carson."

Wen Shili nodded, a hint of apology in her expression. "I am very sorry, but I must take my leave. There are still my father's funeral affairs to attend to. I will return once the doctors have formulated a treatment plan. This is my son, Cui Dong. I shall leave him here. If there is anything at all that needs doing, please do not hesitate to task him with it."

Ye Ling nodded in agreement. "Eldest Aunt, please accept my deepest condolences."

Wen Shili sighed softly, nodded, and then said a few words to Old Madam Zhang and Old Master Lian, urging them both to take care of their own health. After bidding them farewell, she departed.

Cui Dong escorted Wen Shili to the door before she signaled for him to remain.

Ye Ling observed Cui Dong and, thinking of Wen Zhengyu's other cousin, Kang Bai, sighed inwardly.

In all the time she had been with Wen Zhengyu, Zhengyu had rarely mentioned either Kang Bai or Cui Dong. Cui Dong lived far away, and Zhengyu had little contact with him; by all accounts, their only prior interaction had been at the funeral for Zhengyu's paternal grandmother. From what Ye Ling had observed of Zhengyu's interactions with Kang Bai, it was merely an ordinary familial relationship.

During this hospitalization, Kang Bai had only visited once on his own, and even then, it was to gauge the situation. Later, on weekends, he brought his wife and child to Wen Shishu's home. Wen Shishu had only sent him twice to pick up Old Master Wen and bring him to the hospital.

The Lian and Wen families had severed all contact. Their presence together now was solely for Wen Zhengyu's sake.

Cui Dong had grown up in a single-parent household with a mother perpetually consumed by work. He was fiercely independent and possessed a naturally easygoing, affable personality. Seeing that everyone's spirits were extremely low, and noticing that the sofa and the bed in the outer room appeared to have been slept in, he quietly stowed his meager overnight bag in a corner, contemplating that he might need to sleep on the floor tonight.

Lian Xin, to some degree, looked unfavorably upon anyone with the surname Wen. He had a particular aversion to Kang Bai and held no fondness for this newly arrived Cui Dong either. In his view, the Lian family members did not need a Wen family cousin to look after them, especially one who had traveled thousands of miles, effectively abandoning attendance at the funeral rites in his haste. Naturally, his personal dislike was one thing. The man had rushed over to offer his wholehearted help, so much so that he was neglecting the funeral. Lian Xin could hardly make things difficult for him. Thus, he urged Cui Dong to first attend to Old Master Wen's funeral affairs. Once the results of the doctors' consultation here were known, they could return together.

Cui Dong, naturally, was unwilling to leave.

Lian Xin said, "If anything happens, we will call you immediately. Yu'er needs quiet here. Too many people staying will only disturb her."

Cui Dong replied, "I know a great deal has happened, and you are incredibly busy. Second Aunt mentioned that you often stay in the outer room, keeping vigil through the night for Xiao Yu. When you are occupied, let me take over watching her. I am her brother too. This is only my second time in China. The last time I returned, my mother pointed to Yu'er and told me, 'This is your one and only cousin sister.' She is a wonderful, very beautiful, exceptionally talented girl, and she is my little sister. I care for her deeply and wish to stay and look after her."

Lian Xin patted Cui Dong on the shoulder. "First, go back and offer incense to your family's Old Master. Burn a stick for Yu'er as well, and ask him to watch over her. You can return tonight. Tonight, you take the watch."

Only then did Cui Dong agree. He left his bag in the spot he had staked out for sleeping on the floor, even telling Lian Xin, "I'm sleeping right here. It's settled."

Lian Xin said, "You'll sleep on the sofa. That spot was originally used by one of Yu'er's personal bodyguards. She's injured, so it's temporarily unoccupied."

After Cui Dong left, Lian Xin instructed the bodyguards to protect Wen Zhengyu well before accompanying Old Madam Zhang and Old Master Lian out with his people.

The situation had now escalated beyond anyone's expectations and beyond the scope of what he, Ye Ling, and the Cen family could handle.

It was only now that Lian Xin and Ye Ling deeply understood the lesson Old Madam Zhang had once taught them when they had beaten Zhao Si but failed to finish him off completely. What she had meant by reprimanding them so harshly.

If they had finished Zhao Si off with that one decisive blow, the incident would have begun and ended with him. Wen Zhengyu would not have suffered this ordeal, and Wen Ru would not have suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage as a consequence. They and Cen Lin could have sat down at the negotiation table to discuss an amicable and peaceful resolution that pleased everyone.

When his maternal grandmother obtained the account ledger, she stayed up all night reading it, so engrossed she could not spare attention even for Wen Zhengyu's critical condition.

After the old lady finished reading it, she summoned him back and gave him another severe scolding, berating him for always dragging his feet, for lacking ruthlessness when severity was required, and lacking decisiveness when resolution was needed.

She then summoned his youngest uncle and Ye Ling, insisting they meticulously review the accounts from beginning to end.

Ma Lu was now one of Wen Zhengyu's people. With Zhengyu incapacitated, she had instructed before hospitalization that matters concerning the Fourth Branch were to be decided by Ye Ling. Furthermore, Ma Lu had been dispatched by Ye Ling, so she naturally needed to know about the accounts; it would give her some mental preparation.

What Ma Lu brought back was a digital ledger. The sheer volume of data was immense; physical books would have been extraordinarily inconvenient to store and transport.

Whether a digital file had been copied could be determined through technical means. Because the ledger still needed to be handed over—and they needed to extract the Lian and Ye families' involvement as cleanly as possible, leaving no loose ends—no additional copies were made. Therefore, they were looking at the original.

This ledger documented all financial transactions handled by Wang Zidao over many years, including client information records for those who had transferred money through the underground bank, and the subsequent flow of funds after they left the country. The implications were enormous. Ye Ling could not handle it, nor could he. Possessing it was a disaster for either of them.

After discussion, they decided the ledger should go to his youngest uncle, Lian Huaixin.

Once his youngest uncle handed the ledger over, and someone else took over the subsequent affairs, it would no longer be something ordinary civilians like them could interfere with.

His youngest uncle worked in intelligence, dealt with highly classified information regularly, and operated under stringent security protocols. For him to submit the ledger not only took this hot potato off their hands but might also yield something of value within it, potentially earning him some merit. Furthermore, the succession of conflicts had already blown the matter wide open. With Wen Zhengyu injured this severely, the Wen family could be described as shattered—home destroyed, lives lost. Even if they wanted to destroy the ledger, pretend the whole affair had never happened, and wash their hands of it, no one else would believe them. It was better to let those qualified to handle it take over.

Lian Huaixin secretly took the ledger away.

Not long after he left, on their way to the hospital to visit Wen Zhengyu, Old Madam Zhang and Old Master Lian were attacked by criminal elements.

Wen Jing had been stationed at the hospital guarding Wen Zhengyu for half a month without a proper bath; her hair was plastered into greasy strands. Ye Ling had given her one night off. The next morning, she was returning to the hospital with Old Master Lian and Old Madam Zhang, seated in the front passenger seat.

While protecting them, Wen Jing was stabbed in the spleen. The bodyguards accompanying them also sustained injuries to varying degrees. Fortunately, their combat skills were all exceptional, and the covert protection detail that Lian Huaixin had arranged arrived just in time, preventing Old Madam Zhang and Old Master Lian from coming to harm.

Even though Lian Huaixin had now assigned people to protect them, and the Lian family also had their own bodyguards, it was difficult to say whether further attacks would occur. Before Wang Zidao was killed, had he disclosed the ledger's existence? Who else knew about the accounts? Would others, driven to desperate measures, try to seize family members as hostages to force them to hand over the ledger? It was all too uncertain.

The Wen family had just lost their Old Master. Lian Xin had absolutely no desire for anything to happen to his own Old Master and Old Madam.

Setting aside the profound weight of their presence, they were the grandparents who had raised him and his brothers as children, their own flesh and blood. Lian Xin would rather take several knife wounds himself than have his grandparents suffer because his own affairs had not been concluded cleanly enough. He could not bear for anything more to happen to them.

This time, the Old Madam had taught him eight words: "Immovable as a mountain, strike to kill with a single blow."

It was a lesson bought with blood.

Ye Ling, meanwhile, went nowhere. She remained steadfastly at Wen Zhengyu's side.

Her greatest fear now was Wen Zhengyu learning about Old Master Wen's passing.

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