Chapter 95 - Recollections of the Past (2)

Song Ren asked Su Feng to go with her on the mission to find the boy, asking the doctors to take over.

She followed the direction of the address Xun Xiaoli provided her. They arrived in an abandoned area with empty warehouses. It was dark, and she shivered against the chill.

"What if this is a trap?" Su Feng asked her.

"Why would anyone want to hurt us? We've done nothing wrong," Song Ren replied.

"We've been circling the area for thirty minutes, and we can't find this boy you speak of. Plus, why would a child be here?"

Song Ren recalled the despair in the woman's eyes; there was no hint of dishonesty in her voice or body language. "Let's keep looking," she responded.

After ten minutes of walking, she paused, straining her ears. She moved forward, hearing the faint sound of crying. She bolted towards a delivery truck. A chain locked the entrance. Song Ren pulled on it desperately, but it didn't budge. "Fuck!" she yelled, frustrated.

She heard glass shatter. She glanced over at Su Feng, who broke the window of a car nearby, taking out a large bolt cutter. He came over quickly, cutting the chains from the truck. They both opened the doors, finding a child wrapped in a single blanket, cold and dirty, barely responsive.

Song Ren hopped into the back, sweeping the boy in her arms. She cradled him, trying to warm up his body. He was feverish.

She passed the boy to Su Feng, who carried him to the car, and she jumped off the truck, running into the vehicle.

"We have to take him to our home," she told him.

"Why?" replied Su Feng, "his mother is at the hospital."

"It's dangerous if we bring him there," Song Ren responded. She recalled the words Xun Xiaoli told her before giving Song Ren the address. 'Take him, but don't bring him to me. Take him somewhere far, somewhere safe. This isn't a life for him…and tell him I love him.'

Song Ren wasn't sure why Xun Xiaoli spoke to her as if it would be the last time she saw her son. She was only going to take care of him until she can return him to her.

At home, Song Ren placed the young child in her bed. She then tended to him with the supplies she kept at home. The boy was feverish through the night, but she looked after him.

In the morning, her phone buzzed. She stirred out of bed, glancing at the child she took care of. "Doctor Ren, can you return to the hospital?" asked one of her colleagues.

"Right now?"

"Yes. It's urgent," the doctor responded.

"All right. I will be there right away," Song Ren replied. She left the child to be looked after by her husband. She then went to the hospital right away.

"What seems to be the problem?" Song Ren asked.

"Security was breached last night," said her colleague, gravely.

"What?"

"Some of our own staff were killed," responded the doctor.

Song Ren stumbled back, nearly staggering. "How could this be…?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"Some members of the Flock organization broke into the hospital. They found Xun Xiaoli, but not until after killing some of the guards and staff. They kept some more as hostages, but that woman stood up and confronted them. They killed her on-sight."

Song Ren sat down; her legs wobbled. Not only was that mother killed, but some of her hospital staff. Song Ren's eyes brimmed with tears. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"The police want to speak with you since you own the hospital," the doctor said. Song Ren released a breath. "All right," she responded.

After speaking with the police, answering all the questions they asked, obliging to every request, Song Ren went to visit the morgue. She stared at the body of Xun Xiaoli, who was on a metal table next to her boyfriend, Lu Zihuan.

Song Ren stared at the couple, trying to register everything. Only 24 hours before, her life seemed to be normal, but now, she was crying over a couple of strangers she didn't know—she was mourning on behalf of that boy. But, mostly, she was thinking of her sister-in-law. This happened to her, too. "Fuck," she whispered.

She recollected herself, placing white sheets over their faces. But she caught a glimpse of a Phoenix on the woman's chest. She then gathered herself, calling it a day and heading home. But her heart was heavy.

She went home, heading to her bedroom. She found her husband using a cloth to pat down the boy's head.

She went over on the edge of the bed, looking over him. He was breathing shallow. She leaned over, caressing his ink-dark hair. The boy then finally opened his eyes, striking her with pale-green. He appeared to be confused, but mostly fever-stricken. He didn't say a word.

And he didn't say a word for the weeks that followed.

"I think we should adopt him," Song Ren suggested to her husband one day.

"How could we? People will question how he ended up in our family registry," Su Feng responded.

"I can claim we took him from overseas. I can claim he's my own," she responded.

"We'll have to take some legal advice from your sister-in-law," responded Su Feng.

"Does that mean, yes?" Song Ren questioned.

Her husband glanced at her, his lips curved. "You haven't been yourself ever since what happened. How could I shut you down?" he responded.

Song Ren began to cry, and happy tears, for once in a long time.

…

Xun Zichen didn't know that learning his past, one that he had long forgotten, or one he didn't know that well, would sway him. He felt every word of Song Ren's recollections of the past. His eyes welled.

"Your father," Song Ren continued. "He was an ordinary man. Your mother fell in love with him, but since he came from nothing, they named you with her surname."

Xun Zichen figured that out.

"Why were they killed?" he asked her straightforwardly, not meeting her eyes.

Song Ren loosened a breath. "When it comes to these organizations. Leaders are hereditary, regardless of gender, but they keep their positions through skills. Your mother was challenged to fight to the death with your uncle, Xun Yaozu. She won, but she left your uncle alive because she didn't believe in killing her family. He betrayed her years after. But instead of fighting her again directly, he provoked another organization and blamed the Flock. So, those two organizations fought each other due to his schemes."

"How do you know?" Xun Zichen asked.

"I asked Long Huojin for his Dragon organization connections," Song Ren responded.

Xun Zichen absorbed all the information. He released a breath, tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't know his biological parents at all, but he wished he did.

"Your parents loved you," Song Ren told him.

Xun Zichen wiped the tears from his face. He approached her, hugging her tightly. "Thank you," he told her.

Song Ren smiled against his shoulder. "I love you," she said to him.

"I love you, too," he responded. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

Song Ren squeezed him tighter. "I approve of you being with Xiang. It's not my place to interfere. I see no wrong in your relationship. If it weren't for the fact that your parents died, you two would have lived very different and separate lives. Maybe you would have met later in life by coincidence. Who knows? But you have my word."

Xun Zichen embraced her again before he went to look for Su Xiang. He found her anxiously waiting, staring out a window ledge, not noticing he had returned. Her long wavy honey-blonde hair cascaded below her waist. She stood up immediately when she saw his presence. She took a step forward carefully. "How did it go?" she asked him.

Xun Zichen moved quickly towards her, collecting her in his arms. She hugged him back, nestling onto his chest. "I now know everything I need to know," he told her.