CH 247

The night scene outside the window was pitch black. Xing Conglian and Su Fengzi stood at the window on the second floor of the police station. Xing Conglian lit a cigarette and asked, “Why did you come here?”

Su Fengzi casually inserted one hand into his pocket and rested the other on the windowsill, casually gazing at the night scene. “Your opening remark is quite polite. At least you should address me as Shixiong along with Lin Chen.”

The person beside him still hadn’t responded. Su Fengzi turned his head to look. Xing Conglian remained silent; his face dark, clearly in a bad mood.

He could only helplessly continue, “Mrs. Su feels guilty and worried, thinking she did something wrong. She asked me to come and see if I could help in any way.”

“How is his teacher?”

“Tsk, calling him teacher so smoothly,” Su Fengzi half-jokingly said, then continued, “I don’t know. The old man is at such an age, life and death are predetermined.”

Xing Conglian frowned, and the atmosphere became awkward and silent once again.

Su Fengzi wanted to say something, but Xing Conglian’s sharp and slightly self-mocking gaze swept over. “He knew you would come to clean up the mess for him, so he was at ease and made a bet with Shen Lian.”

Clever people were so troublesome since they couldn’t be deceived with random excuses. But considering Xing Conglian’s mood, Su Fengzi decided to keep quiet. He loosened his tie a bit, saying, “Alright, I want the negotiation video between Lin Chen and Shen Lian.”

“I thought you knew everything,” Xing Conglian said.

“You can’t possibly have control over everything, so how could I know everything?” Su Fengzi retorted to Xing Conglian with a smile.

Xing Conglian’s face darkened once again, and he remained silent. Instead, he took out a pair of headphones and placed his phone on the windowsill, stepping back two steps and leaning against the back wall.

Xing Conglian trusted him so much, probably to give Lin Chen face. Su Fengzi directly put on the headphones, opened the video, and lowered his head to press the play button.

The air was filled with the smell of smoke, and after watching for a while, Su Fengzi couldn’t help but turn around and ask Xing Conglian for a cigarette and a lighter. He anxiously held the cigarette in his hand, lit it, and took a deep drag.

Then he turned to Xing Conglian and said, “Promise me, when he regains consciousness, be gentle with him.”

“Are you certain he will regain consciousness?” Xing Conglian seized the most critical point.

“He won’t do something purely reckless. Shen Lian knows very well that she can only continue playing when Lin Chen is alive and regains consciousness. So, you see, your Consultant Lin has tightly connected their fates using a small technique.” Su Fengzi turned around and looked at the screen, speaking admiringly.

Xing Conglian had finished his cigarette and was now looking at him with an extremely cold gaze. Feeling the gaze behind him, Su Fengzi helplessly turned back and patiently explained to this man who had just been abandoned by his lover and was extremely unhappy. “I’m not just making excuses for Lin Chen. Making a bet with Shen Lian is a classic negotiation technique. If the other party agrees to one small thing, it’s easier for her to agree to the subsequent requests. He did it for the sake of the next arrangement.”

“Do you think I care about all this?” Xing Conglian interrupted him decisively and retorted, “Why he did it, how clever and correct he was, how much he suffered and had no other choice—do you think I care?”

Xing Conglian’s voice was very calm, with a hint of hoarseness as if he had just finished smoking, making it extremely suppressed. The corridor was dimly lit, and Su Fengzi didn’t know how to respond.

“What do you care about then?” Su Fengzi asked involuntarily.

Xing Conglian lowered his head slightly, and his eyelids lifted. His gaze was dark and deep as he looked at him. Just when Su Fengzi thought Xing Conglian wouldn’t answer, he heard him say, “I care about him.”

The complete meaning of this sentence was that even if Lin Chen didn’t care about him, he still cared about him.

Su Fengzi’s breath hitched; he didn’t expect Xing Conglian to be so straightforward and direct. Thinking about how difficult it must have been for Xing Conglian to restrain himself throughout the negotiation process, he could only take another deep drag of his cigarette and say, “There are too many difficulties in this world, and unfortunately, he encountered some particularly tough ones.”

As if confirming something, just as he finished speaking, Xing Conglian’s phone rang.

Su Fengzi looked at the screen with the words “Dr. Wang from Tzu Chi Hospital” and instantly understood what was happening.

But Xing Conglian reacted even faster.

The police captain stepped forward and quickly answered the phone, even forgetting about the fact that it was connected to his headphones.

On the other end of the line was a police officer or a doctor arranged by Xing Conglian at the hospital, anxiously informing him that Lin Chen’s condition had deteriorated after falling ill, and the first treatment plan had failed, among other things.

Xing Conglian just listened quietly, and for a moment, he seemed helpless and desperate.

Su Fengzi silently took off his headphones, and Xing Conglian also hung up the phone.

They stood facing each other, and Xing Conglian spoke first. “I’m going to the hospital.”

“Then I’ll go to Zhourui Pharmaceuticals.” Su Fengzi turned around and waved his hand at Xing Conglian.

“Zhourui?”

“You didn’t really think I came to help because of Mrs. Su, did you?” Su Fengzi turned back and smiled.

……

Xing Conglian didn’t care about what Su Fengzi was going to do. He quickly drove to Tzu Chi Hospital.

Located in the southeast corner of Hongjing, the hospital primarily dealt with mental illnesses and psychological problems, and it was the treatment location that Lin Chen himself had chosen while still maintaining his sanity.

Late at night, some patients fell into a deep sleep after taking medication, while others refused to take their medication and fought a grueling battle against the mental torment that normal people couldn’t experience, such as hallucinations and anxiety.

But Lin Chen chose to suffer the pain of the latter.

In the ward, two doctors were securing the struggling patient to the bed with restraints.

Xing Conglian stood by the window, and the soundproofing effect of the hospital was so good that he felt like he was watching a silent film, quiet and illusory.

The diagnosis room was partially covered by medical curtains, creating a dim and gloomy atmosphere. Lin Chen’s upper body was completely obscured by a light blue medical curtain. He saw some hazy lights and shadows. Lin Chen arched his neck in pain, and his shoulders were forced down as a three-finger-wide restraint tightly pressed against his shoulder, securing him firmly to the bed.

Next came his arms. The restraints were ruthlessly fastened around Lin Chen’s elbows, followed by his wrists. The doctor’s movements were skilled and unrelenting.

Lin Chen’s hand was exposed outside the gaps of the medical curtain. Through those openings, he could catch a glimpse of his own hand—the hand he was so intimately familiar with. However, at that moment, Lin Chen’s fingers contorted into twisted shapes, completely beyond his control, as if reflecting his current state of anguish and torment.

Xing Conglian marveled at the fact that he could even stand there. It truly felt like a miracle.

The doctor produced a new dosage of medication, preparing to administer it to Lin Chen via injection.

Perhaps due to the unnerving silence surrounding them, there were moments when he felt as if his soul was splitting into two or even multiple entities.

One part of him barged into the ward, frantically driving everyone else out, gripping Lin Chen tightly and pulling him close, just like the desperate and passionate men portrayed in television dramas. Meanwhile, another part of him existed in a different space, where he suddenly realized that he had experienced a similar scene before.

It was as if they were in a rainforest filled with the acrid smell of decay, obscured by the dense smoke of battle. Lin Chen stood on the brink of death, and Xing Conglian exerted all his strength to pull him back.

He held Lin Chen in his arms, making it clear that he wouldn’t hesitate to threaten him. If Lin Chen ever prioritized the safety of others over his own again, Xing Conglian vowed to use a chain to bind him, preventing Lin Chen from taking a single step outside ever again.

He vaguely remembered Lin Chen expressing how much he missed him at that time, or something along those lines. It evoked both sweetness and heartache within him.

However, he soon realized that his supposed threats held no power over Lin Chen when similar situations arose. Lin Chen would always act magnanimously, stepping forward with great valor, while subjecting him to the same pain and sense of helplessness in an extraordinarily cruel manner.

Such moments had occurred before, and undoubtedly, they would happen again.

In a fleeting moment, Xing Conglian felt as if someone was speaking to him, suggesting that breaking up with Lin Chen might be for the best. After all, Lin Chen was strong and didn’t need his protection. His mere presence seemed to burden him.

That voice must have belonged to the most agonizing part of his own psyche. Alternatively, it could have been a result of auditory hallucinations triggered by the opening and closing of the ward door as the doctor went in and out.

In any case, within this brief span of time, right at the entrance of the ward, everything he experienced felt completely unreal.

He could still hear Lin Chen’s voice—a voice he never knew Lin Chen possessed.

That high-pitched, ear-piercing scream seemed to transcend human capabilities, as if his vocal cords had been forcibly torn apart and haphazardly reassembled, rendering the words indistinct. Nonetheless, he could still barely decipher that Lin Chen was shouting phrases like “get away” with an extreme sense of anguish.

Lin Chen’s hand flailed desperately, as if trying to break free from the bed. However, the doctor’s hand held the syringe firmly and relentlessly pierced Lin Chen’s arm. The needle penetrated deep, and the liquid was injected, gradually calming the struggling figure on the bed.

The doctor emerged from the door, as if intending to say something to him. However, he could only barely see the movement of their lips without hearing any sound.

Only then did he recall why he was standing there.

A few hours earlier, when they had come out of the Zhourui Building, the crimson glow had faded, leaving only a faint line of light on the horizon.

Lin Chen lay in the ambulance, requesting to be alone with him for a while.

His subordinates had thought that Lin Chen probably wanted to report some confidential information or make final arrangements to him. But only he knew that it was a moment of Lin Chen’s remorse and desire to make amends.

Sitting in the vehicle, Lin Chen held his hand and spoke to him with a gentle and affectionate tone, saying, “I’m really sorry. Regardless of the circumstances, you have to walk through this with me. I also need to receive treatment like an ordinary patient, to see if conventional psychiatric medications can effectively address the mental disturbance caused by this drug. You need to focus on your work and handle things well, but also remember to come and visit me.”

There was nothing wrong with that statement—logical and clear.

If it weren’t for the lack of reflective film on the ambulance window, he believed that at that moment, Lin Chen would have kissed him.

And he just watched Lin Chen, feeling that something was off, but unable to articulate why.