CH 34

The style of the ring Xia Xingchi held in his hand was quite familiar, as if it was a pair with the one on Li Chengyuan’s finger.

These days, people had searched half the entertainment industry to find that engagement ring, but he had continued to wear it close to his neck.

When that voice fell, it was as if the atmosphere froze in an instant.

Not only was the frenzied melee in the barrage immediately silenced for half a second as if the microphones were collectively shut off, even everyone present who had guessed the truth were stunned.

After all, it was one thing to make a guess, but it was another thing for a poor low-tier artist with no background to come forward and lay down the truth.

A moment ago, Xia Yu had deceptively obfuscated the truth and vaguely claimed to be engaged to Li Chengyuan.

Before everyone could confirm his identity, Xia Xingchi had smashed down the hammer of truth, and everyone who was hit by it couldn’t recover for a long moment.

The evidence and doubts these past few days over both parties, which had been increasing openly and in the dark, had been placed on the bright side, turning it into a confrontation between lies and truth on the spot in front of countless people.

The ring in Xia Xingchi’s hand was enough to prove his identity. Li Chengyuan had always been wearing his ring as if making a declaration to the world. Everyone was already quite familiar with the ring that was under the spotlight.

“This……” The doctor had never witnessed such a confusing battle before. He was stunned for half a second, and then swiftly turned to Xia Xingchi. “Family member! Hurry up and follow, let’s go!”

Half of Xia Yu’s face was swollen and hot from the beating, and his nosebleed had splattered all over his face and body. He looked like quite the mess sitting on the ground.

He had always cared about his reputation, but now he couldn’t bother with his image anymore. Only the thought of “Li Chengyuan must die!” was left in his mind, and he immediately got up from the ground: 

“Wait! This won’t work, I —”

Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud “bang” as Xia Xingchi slammed him over his shoulder hard in front of everyone, smashing Xia Yu to the ground!

The lies and sophistry that hadn’t had time to leave his lips were immediately taken care of in the most brutal and swift manner.

Xia Xingchi gritted his teeth and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up to roar angrily: “Xia Yu, if anything happens to Li Chengyuan, I’ll fucking kill you!”

With that said, he ignored any further tricks that the green tea spirit had up his sleeve to delay the time, turning around and striding away with the doctor.

[WTF That was so awesome! I thought he really wanted to kill Xia Yu, that dead green tea. His skills are so cool!]

[My whole family is shocked, what was Xia Yu doing just now? He pretended to be Mr. Li’s lover in front of our idol?]

[This is the strongest epic slap in the face, the slap is so bad, nosebleeds are coming hahahaha]

[Wait……I still haven’t come to terms with how many earth-shattering things have happened in less than an hour]

[So Yuanchi CP is real! Oh my god! This is almost as happy as New Year’s Eve!]

[Upstairs, you can stop having fun, I’m fucking crying, what if Mr. Li is dead, ah? I watched Xingchi cry and got worried]

[I didn’t understand the sentence just now, why would Xia Xingchi hunt Xia Yu down if Li Chengyuan had an accident?]

[I don’t think it’s that simple between them, blindly guessing that one has a conspiracy]

. . . . . .

Seeing Xia Xingchi striding away, Xia Yu was still frozen in place, as motionless as if he had been scared stiff.

This time, he wasn’t acting. He actually felt incomparable fear, along with the guilt and panic that his heinous crime seemed to have been exposed.

— Obviously, everything looked like an ordinary heart attack, how could Xia Xingchi guess that it was human-caused and related to him?

How did he find out, and how much did he know?

– – –

Xia Xingchi rushed out at almost the speed of a 100-meter sprint. When he boarded the helicopter, the doctor was urgently saying to a nurse:

“Use a vasopressor agent! The patient’s blood pressure is undetectably low!”

The pulse disappeared, the pupils dilated…..

Xia Xingchi watched them take out a small machine and paste it on Li Chengyuan’s chest with glue. It seemed that the situation was not optimistic. They wanted to give electric shocks right away?!

The joy and hope brought by the successful CPR just now were replaced by panic in an instant –

Li Chengyuan was still going to die.

The helicopter took off vertically, and Xia Xingchi sat there like a frightened bird, staring at Li Chengyuan’s lifeless face. Any exchange between the doctor and nurses was enough to throw him into panic.

He wanted to ask “how is he?” but seeing the serious and tense people busily working, he couldn’t say a word with his stiff tongue, and didn’t dare to disturb them.

Was it hopeless?

Did Li Chengyuan’s heartbeat still stop?

A nurse noticed that Xia Xingchi was too rigid, and explained in a low voice: “Don’t be afraid, it’s a defibrillator. The patient still has a heartbeat, but the rhythm is irregular and needs to be defibrillated.”

Xia Xingchi’s stalled brain could no longer comprehend anything. As if he had forgotten how to speak, he asked after a long time: 

“Will he die?”

“What should I do?”

Faced with this problem, the nurse couldn’t make a definite judgment, and couldn’t bear to explain Li Chengyuan’s dangerous situation and hurt Xia Xingchi further, so she could only take out a tissue and hand it to him.

Only then did Xia Xingchi realize that his tears had been flowing down without him knowing. He raised his hand to wipe them away, but more warm liquid rolled down again.

– – –

He sat alone at the door of the emergency room and stared at the glowing red sign. He didn’t know how long he looked at it. Ten minutes or even a few hours could have passed.

Then a nurse opened the door and walked out to break the dead silence: “Are you the patient’s family?”

Seeing Xia Xingchi nod, she continued: “The critical illness notice has been signed. The patient’s condition is not very good, and family members should be mentally prepared.”

Xia Xingchi’s rusty, stalled brain finally turned on with a loud “boom!”

His tear-reddened eyes immediately widened, and he said incoherently: “No, he can’t die……as long as Li Chengyuan lives, I’ll do whatever you want……please save him.”

The nurse had witnessed too many family members lose control. In the face of life and death, no matter their identity or status, they were all equally pale and powerless.

She patted Xia Xingchi on the shoulder, poured a glass of warm water, and handed it to him: “We will work hard, and we all very much hope that the patient survives.”

After a pause, she continued to comfort him: “You’ve done a good job. If there was no timely and professional CPR, there would not be so much time and hope for the patient.”

Xia Xingchi just shook his head numbly. If Li Chengyuan didn’t survive, “timely” would be nothing but a greater regret.

“The patient suffers from severe arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation, cardiac arrest, and acute hypotension. Fortunately, you didn’t give him nitroglycerin, otherwise it would make things worse, and it might be completely irreparable.”

These words finally caused the bewildered Xia Xingchi to regain some sanity:

“Why is this happening to him all of a sudden? He’s obviously been fine…..his heart disease is not serious, could it have been artificially caused?”

The nurse shook her head and said she was unclear: “There are many causes for sudden severe arrhythmia, especially if the patient has a history of heart disease. No human factors can be seen for the time being.”

Soon Xia Xingchi was left alone in front of the surgery room. He was still convinced that this was a conspiracy arranged by Li Shengrui and Xia Yu rather than Li Chengyuan’s fated ending.

But what went wrong?

Xia Xingchi frowned in thought. The only thing Li Chengyuan ate today was simple porridge and side dishes, all of which were fried and cooked by himself and served directly to the table.

Everyone else was out filming the show, and there was not a single person who passed by during the whole process, just the two of them.

The same dishes were cooked for everyone, and after the bowl of corn porridge was served to Li Chengyuan, everyone drank the rest without any symptoms.

Xia Xingchi took a deep breath, looked down at the crescent-shaped scar on his wrist, and took out his phone to play back Xia Yu’s live broadcast in the kitchen that morning.

On the screen, Xia Yu walked into the kitchen with a package in his arms, greeting the camera while forthrightly opening it.

Perhaps in order to show his earnestness, focus, and proficiency, there were various ingredients and bottles inside.

The process of cooking the porridge was indeed complicated enough. Xia Yu actually stayed in the kitchen for nearly two hours, during which he continued to talk about Li Chengyuan’s childhood.

For example, back then, he had a cold and indifferent personality and rarely talked to others. He once left home for no reason, and it took him a long time for someone to finally find him. At that time, he was already seriously ill and almost died.

Li Chengyuan’s private past was spoken out loud in the informed tone of a childhood sweetheart, with sincere tea art “concern,” regardless of whether the person in question wanted him to speak it.

Xia Xingchi was already in a low mood, but at the thought of that bastard Li Shengrui telling him all this, he felt extremely disgusted and simply turned off the sound, continuing to watch at double speed.

Of course, nothing was found. The camera had a blind spot and couldn’t fully show the entire kitchen. Since Xia Yu dared to do all this in front of the camera, he would not be so stupid as to expose his crime live.

Xia Xingchi finally paused the playback. The screen was frozen on the scene of Xia Yu washing the dishes and chopsticks after cooking, tidying up the kitchen diligently and virtuously.

— Could it be a problem with the dishes? Was there something on it?

Xia Xingchi thought about it carefully, but still felt that it was wrong.

Li Chengyuan had always been obsessed with cleanliness. Before eating at home, the servants had to wash the clean dishes and chopsticks again.

What’s more, the conditions here were harsh, and even if there were no small animals scurrying around, there would inevitably be dust. Therefore, Xia Xingchi always washed the dishes with his own hands.

So, what other means could be used to target Li Chengyuan alone without touching others, so as to fake a heart attack?

A call suddenly came in, and the name “Lin Meng” flashed on the screen.

Xia Xingchi wiped away his tears. Although he tried his best to control it, he still had a faint sob in his throat: “Hello? Sister Mengmeng.”

On the other side of the line, Lin Meng immediately said: “Don’t cry, don’t cry, how is President Li doing?”

Xia Xingchi raised his head to look at the red light of the emergency room. Catching a glimpse of the electronic clock out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly realized that a full four hours had passed.

But there was no news other than the critical illness notice.

“I don’t know…..” He couldn’t help but choke up when he said this. “He’s still being rescued. Why is it taking so long, is there really hope?”

He had heard before that the more times a person’s heart stopped, the longer it took to save them. The persistence in trying was for the purpose of not giving up the last glimmer of hope, and to give comfort to the family members of the patient.

If he had been saved, he would have left the emergency room long ago.

“It’s okay, Mr. Li is definitely okay. He couldn’t bear to leave you behind,” Lin Meng comforted. “I’ve already gotten off the plane, which hospital are you at? Send me the location and I’ll wait with you.”

Xia Xingchi was stunned. He didn’t expect her to come directly. His originally directionless and helpless heart was filled with a little warmth at having the support of a friend.

Then he heard Lin Meng say: “Have you eaten yet? Don’t look at your phone, go get something to eat first and wait. Mr. Li couldn’t bear for you to go hungry.”

He said “En,” hung up the phone, and lowered his head to send her the location. Then he swiped his hand to bring up Weibo.

He saw his name taking up half the screen.

No wonder Lin Meng told him not to look at his phone. At this time, there was an unprecedented bloody storm on the internet.

And he was dragged into the center of the vortex to face the overwhelming criticism —

#Xia Xingchi premeditated death#

#Xia Xingchi suspected of murder#

#Xia Xingchi obstructs treatment and beats people in public#

– – –

The video during the live broadcast was once again maliciously edited with the beginning and ending removed.

On the screen, Xia Yu was earnestly begging: “Xingchi-ge, please don’t be angry, please don’t treat Mr. Li like this…..”

“Can you give him the medicine? If you do this, he will die, please…..”

Faced with his tearful pleading, Xia Xingchi on screen only looked at him with a cold face and eyes that seemed to want to kill someone.

Not only was he completely unmoved, but when Xia Yu stepped forward to grab the medicine bottle, he directly pushed him down.

As for the part about the beating, it didn’t mention that time was running out and Xia Yu was deliberately obstructing and delaying the treatment, but only captured the scene of Xia Xingchi hitting him so hard that his nose bled.

[Oh, shit! He’s so fucking provocative, isn’t he? This is too vicious, it’s just blatant murder ah!]

[Does this illiterate man from the countryside think that Li Chengyuan will die of a heart attack? Isn’t he committing a crime?]

[Look up “criminal omission,” this idiot’s judgment day has really come, he’ll really be punished, ah]

[It’s not like that! Xingchi performed CPR after Mr. Li’s cardiac arrest, otherwise Mr. Li would have passed away long ago. You guys didn’t even watch the whole thing!]

[Where did the water army come from upstairs? This whitewashing, ah. The medicine wasn’t given, and after the person died, he did CPR? Hahaha]

[What’s even more outrageous is that he’s actually Li Chengyuan’s fiance? This is what “the person he cares most about” does, it’s too cruel]

[Was Mr. Li in despair when his loved one stabbed him in the back? Xia Xingchi, this b*tch! Slut! You should fucking die! Can you afford to pay with your cheap life?!]

[Thinking about it, maybe Li Chengyuan didn’t know he’d been stabbed in the back. People who are dead don’t know shit]

[Fuck your uncle! If you don’t know how to speak, then shut up! President Li will be fine!!]

. . . . . .

There was obviously some manipulative marketing behind the overwhelming maliciousness, but the result was clearly to make countless passers-by believe it was true.

Xia Xingchi knew that after the official announcement, he would inevitably be attacked by some extreme fans. At this time, the effects were magnified, and Li Chengyuan’s crazy girlfriend fans jumped up and down crazily, wishing they could cut Xia Xingchi into pieces.

Xia Xingchi looked down at his private mailbox filled with innumerable insults, photoshopped pictures flying all over the place, and his eyes were suddenly sore and wet.

The warm liquid flowed down his cheeks and landed on the screen drop by drop.

Rather than crying because of the malice, it was more accurate to say it was because this was the first time he had faced such malice alone.

Only then did he realize that Li Chengyuan had been standing behind him, silently protecting him from beginning to end.

In the face of explosive public opinion and insults, all of them constantly reminded Xia Xingchi – the person who once silently guarded him was not by his side.

Xia Xingchi gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, trying to calm down and not think about it.

At this time, there was a sudden commotion from the other end of the long, originally quiet corridor.

He swiftly raised his head, only to see paparazzi rushing forward with cameras. They had actually broken into the hospital?!

There were only six or seven people in the small group. He didn’t know what method they used to sneak in. Perhaps there were people in every hospital in this small city who were casting a wide net to find them.

Xia Xingchi frowned. He didn’t expect to be instantly surrounded when he stood up.

The cameras filmed as sharp, harsh questions echoed outside the quiet emergency room:

“Did you really kill him on purpose? You are already engaged, was it because of emotional discord or because of property?”

“What is the relationship between you and Xia Yu? Why did you hit him?”

“Is the cause of Mr. Li’s death really a heart attack? Could it have been done artificially?”

When the last sharp question rang out, Xia Xingchi’s brief daze instantly turned to fury:

“Shut your mouths! He’s not dead yet! He won’t die, either!”

In the end, he immediately pushed and shoved this group of greedy paparazzi that were like dogs smelling meat, but heard them continue to distort the facts as they asked:

“Why are you so angry? Are you mad that Mr. Li didn’t die?”

“Fuck all of you! Get out of here!”

Xia Xingchi grabbed a piece of equipment and smashed it to the ground. In the chaos, he couldn’t figure out how everything had turned out like this.

The original malicious interview turned into a brawl, and Xia Xingchi fought alone against the group of paparazzi who had come prepared.

The only thing left in his mind was the need to keep them away from the emergency room and not to let them hinder the doctor’s operation.

It was as if his whole world had been turned upside down, leaving nothing but the chaos and hopelessness of his isolation, breaking down mentally as he was nearly driven mad.

Fortunately, the security guards arrived swiftly and rushed up to press all the troublemakers to the ground, dragging them away from the emergency room.

Xia Xingchi’s clothes and hair were disheveled.

This farce had squeezed out almost all his strength, and he was so tired that he didn’t even want to move back to the chair, falling directly onto the cold floor.

Perhaps being carefully planted and protected by Li Chengyuan in his greenhouse these days had been too good. When returning to a life full of malice, he couldn’t accept it right away.

He didn’t know how long he sat there in silence, until there was another rush of footsteps in the corridor.

Xia Xingchi subconsciously shuddered, but when he looked up, he saw Lin Meng galloping forward.

She stepped over and hugged Xia Xingchi into her arms, and couldn’t help sobbing like a real sister: “It’s okay, Xingchi, it’s okay…..President Li will be fine, don’t cry, don’t be afraid.”

Xia Xingchi shook his head, and forced a smile after a long while: “It’s all right, I know he’ll be fine.”

Lin Meng then helped him sit back on the chair, and tidied up his messy clothes.

After everything, he had already cultivated a very tenacious psychological quality throughout his difficult life. Xia Xingchi knew that he would not collapse, and quickly adjusted after wiping away his tears.

Lin Meng said: “Those were not ordinary paparazzi, they seem to be aimed at you.”

Xia Xingchi nodded. Although he didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, he did know that paparazzi wouldn’t be so deranged.

If they hadn’t been stopped just now, they seemed to have wanted to rush into the emergency room to “film and interview,” but in fact would have deliberately interfered during a tense operation where life was hanging by a thread.

This was Xia Yu’s classic method once again.

Lin Meng peeled a piece of candy and handed it over: “Can I buy you some food? You can’t stay here the whole time.”

Xia Xingchi shook his head. He didn’t want to eat anything right now, he just wanted to see Li Chengyuan, the living villain who continued to scare him.

His gaze fell aimlessly on the piece of candy and suddenly froze. Then a revelation flashed through his mind like divine enlightenment!

“I know!” Xia Xingchi said suddenly.

He finally understood how Xia Yu had poisoned him.

The only thing Li Chengyuan ate more than everyone else today was the box of ordinary white sugar in the kitchen!

They had eaten and lived together for three consecutive days, and it wasn’t the first time they drank the corn porridge. Xia Yu must have observed that none of them had the habit of adding sugar to their porridge.

And his so-called “tea language” kept reminding Li Chengyuan that he would suffer from hypoglycemia. In fact, he was not trying to hype up the CP fervor, but wanted to prevent Xia Xingchi from forgetting to put sugar in the porridge, so he kept giving psychological hints.

Xia Xingchi stood up and said: “Li Chengyuan didn’t have a heart attack, he was poisoned!”

After speaking, he quickly took out his cell phone and dialed the police. Presumably everyone was back at the film location at this time, and the cameras were not turned off. Xia Yu had no chance to clear up the criminal evidence for the time being.

It was easy to add something to the sugar using small movements and the camera’s blind spots, but it would be difficult to pour out the sugar, wash away the toxic substances, and then replace it with new sugar.

After clearly explaining what had happened to the police, Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief and received a promise that they would immediately dispatch officers to protect the possible evidence.

Just as he put down the phone, the lights in the emergency room finally went out after being on for more than five hours.

His heart relaxed for a moment, then tensed again as he stared wide-eyed at the doctor who had just come out.

The doctor took off his mask and said with a gentle smile:

“Family, right? Don’t be nervous, the patient has been successfully rescued and will be transferred to the intensive care unit for observation. Once the vital signs are stable, he can be transferred to the general ward.”

This sentence was like a needle poking a balloon, instantly puncturing the small balloon that was struggling to inflate itself.

Xia Xingchi was so happy that he nearly lost his mind. Never had he been more ecstatic than upon hearing these words!

Even if there was a lottery ticket worth 100 million in front of the little money-grubber, he would not feel such happiness as he did now. It was as if he could fly into the sky, zooming around like a leaking balloon.

Behind the doctor, a stretcher bed was being pushed out. The short separation of five hours seemed as long as five centuries. The moment Xia Xingchi saw Li Chengyuan, he couldn’t help but start crying again.

More tears were shed in one day than in almost the entire twenty-odd years of his previous life.

He immediately rushed forward with great joy, no matter that there were outsiders present, and kissed Li Chengyuan’s forehead fiercely.

If it wasn’t for the obstruction of the oxygen mask, this kiss would have certainly fallen on his lips.

Although Xia Xingchi himself didn’t know why he always wanted to kiss him when he couldn’t help himself, anyway, the big villain was unconscious and didn’t know anything about it.

Xia Xingchi was busy kissing excitedly, and Lin Meng couldn’t help but laugh. She asked the doctor on his behalf: “Doctor, do you think Mr. Li had a normal heart attack? We think there is a problem, his heart isn’t in such a bad state. This is more like poisoning.”

The doctor was stunned for a moment. He had originally only regarded this as a serious heart disease, but after hearing this, he had some doubts:

“We don’t have the patient’s previous medical history and physical condition, but it’s really strange if his previous condition was not so serious.”

After defibrillating six times in a row, his repeating ventricular fibrillation finally stopped. His heart rate would become even more chaotic, slow down for a while, and then suddenly accelerate…..

If there was no serious heart problem, it was definitely poison.

It was only that the operation was rushed just now, and there was no time to check for it carefully.

Xia Xingchi reluctantly let go of the big kitty cat that he had almost lost, and asked the nurse to push him to the intensive care unit for observation.

“What did the patient eat before?”

This question was asked before the operation, but it was obvious that the porridge and side dishes alone were not poisoned.

After thinking for a moment, the doctor asked: “Or, did the patient ever consume coffee, medicinal wine, unknown vegetables, or fungi beforehand?”

Xia Xingchi shook his head. He paid the utmost attention to Li Chengyuan’s diet, so he was sure that he had been poisoned rather than eating something bad.

“It’s like some kind of alkaloid poisoning. We will send his blood samples and stomach contents for testing. If we suspect poisoning, it will need to be reported to the police.”

– – –

The beautiful and remote small city was not as crowded as Beijing, and there were more than enough beds here.

It was rare for a little money-grubber to make an exception due to excitement, and spend extravagantly in celebration. He opened the most expensive VIP ward to temporarily use as a hotel, and tried the bed for Li Chengyuan in advance to see if it was comfortable.

It was a pity that he couldn’t sleep half the night due to nerves.

In the dead of night, after the excitement had faded, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but worry again. The more he cared, the more doubtful and pessimistic he became, constantly afraid that fate had not spared his big villain.

After all, Li Chengyuan was not completely out of danger.

Tossing and turning until the early morning, he finally fell asleep for a while until someone knocked on the door of the ward.

Xia Xingchi woke up abruptly, leaping up to open the door, but heard the nurse outside the ward jokingly drawl: “Mr. Xia, you have a delivery! Your freshly baked fiance has arrived —”

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but laugh.

A group of well-meaning nurses obviously recognized who he was, and he was completely different from the demonizing rumors on the internet. Those words were simply nonsense.

So they were all very nice to him when they saw how nervous he was, teasing him into relaxing.

Li Chengyuan had recovered faster than expected. He only stayed in the intensive care unit for one night, and his vital signs had completely stabilized.

Xia Xingchi watched them transfer Li Chengyuan onto the huge, spacious bed he had just jumped out of, and they connected all kinds of reassuring monitoring instruments.

“Why is he still not awake? Is that really okay?”

The ever-optimistic little hedgehog had become worried and pessimistic so many times, greatly confirming that “caring leads to chaos.”

“Don’t worry, he woke up once last night, which means that there are no major issues. Maybe he can wake up today.”

Xia Xingchi was relieved now, and when everyone left the ward, he lay down beside Li Chengyuan on the bed and stared at him.

In the past, he only noticed that he was a walking cash cow, but he had recently found more and more that he was really good-looking.

The more he looked at him, the more he wanted to kiss him. Just like looking at his own beautiful cat, he couldn’t help wanting to stroke it, kiss it, and stick to it.

It was probably like wanting to bury his face in Summer’s fur and kiss it, but there seemed to be something different about this feeling.

The oxygen mask had already been removed. Xia Xingchi saw that there was no one around, so he decided to follow his own temperament and kiss as much as he wanted, since the villain was unconscious anyway.

He would just think of it as free wool. If you don’t squeeze it, you don’t get any, and if you don’t kiss the big cat, you don’t get kisses.

A kiss landed on Li Chengyuan’s forehead, and a moment later, another kiss landed on his right cheek, then another symmetrically on his left cheek.

Xia Xingchi’s heart beat wildly after doing this, and he tried to retreat quickly as if out of guilt.

Unexpectedly, just before he could get up and run away, a low and slightly hoarse voice was suddenly heard:

“Xia Xingchi, do you not dare to kiss my lips again?”

Xia Xingchi was shocked, like a little hedgehog caught in the act. He never expected that the person in the “coma” would suddenly speak up.

He immediately stared at Li Chengyuan and saw that his eyes were still closed, but there was a slight smile on his lips.