Chapter 12: Rescue among the chaos (pt. 2)

Chapter 12: Rescue among the chaos (pt. 2)

Xia Mu hails a taxi cab, stuffing Shu Yawang inside before sitting himself down and closing the door. After he reports their destination, he turns his head and gives a scornful look to the people inside the ambulance. During the ride, Yawang looks at the gun Xia Mu is holding onto and asks him worridely,

“Xia Mu, where did you get this gun from?”

The gun before belongs to Xia Mu’s father. After his mother committed suicide, the gun is in Xia Mu’s possession. He didn’t tell anyone, and hides the gun. Later, Yawang keeps on thinking about it. When Xia Mu was young, he often carried the gun with him, is it because the gun gave him a sense of security?

“Xia Mu, give me the gun, okay? I feel scared when I see you holding the gun.” She licks her lips nervously. Xia Mu turns his head and looks at her, shaking the gun in his hand.

“You’re talking about this one?” She nods her head, holding both of her arms out. Xia Mu bites his lips, looking like he’s trying to hold himself. After a while, he can’t hold it anymore and flashes a proud smile.

“Huh?” She looks at him with widen eyes. He smiled? He really smiled? Even though it’s short, Xia Mu smiled. So beautiful…The teenager’s smile brings pride and assertiveness, not like before when it brings indifference. Xia Mu displays a mischievous smile like how a child smiles when he succeeds in his pranks.

“It’s fake.”

“Huh!”

“If it was real, I would have been brought to the police already. I didn’t steal either my grandpa’s or Uncle Cheng’s, so I took one of the toy model ones in the cabinet. I didn’t think…” The corners of his lips lift up.

“They’re so easy to fool!”

“Is it really fake?” She asks with doubt. When they were little, he told her the gun he was holding was fake, but it turned out to be real.

“Don’t believe me?” He asks, frowning. Then, he points the gun to Yawang’s head and shoots from it. Yawang shuts her eyes in fright, and feels a string of water hitting her hair. She opens her eyes and glares at him angrily. He turns his head away, biting his lips hard to hold himself back.

“Huh!” She angrily takes the water gun from him and shoots it back to Xia Mu. Xia Mu uses his hands to pull her arms down and looks at her with his beautiful eyes.

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“Yawang, let’s go abort the baby.” He tells her in a serious tone. She is shocked from his words, looking at him like a fool. At this time, the taxi cab drives by a military jeep. For this, a chance to miss this opportunity, will it be for life? Or for a moment?

“Abort?” Her eyes shaking from fear. If I abort the baby, what will happen to Xia Mu? After the previous event, the Qu family will definitely hate Xia Mu so much that they want to kill him. If she tries to abort the baby again, there will be a possibility that Xia Mu will be imprisoned for life. She purses her lips and dips her head down, shaking her head lightly.

“I can’t.” Xia Mu looks back at her.

“Is it because of me?” Yawang opens her mouth, trying to speak, but Xia Mu interjects.

“There’s no need to.”

“Xia Mu?” She narrows her eyebrows.

“Maybe you guys think this is for my good, but it’s not.” He glance down and continues to speak.

“If you really are going to give birth to this baby, then I’m in prison for life.” He turns his head and looks at her.

“I will be the prisoner of my heart for the rest of my life, never be at ease.” Yawang feels her nose prickling and looks back at him.

“Xia Mu, I made this decision not because of you…”

“Don’t say anymore.” He interrupts, grasping onto her hand tightly.

“Yawang, listen to me. I’ve been listening to you this whole time, just this one time, listen to me.”

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The taxi cab slowly comes to a stop and Xia Mu pays the fare before opening the door and pulling Shu Yawang out. She lifts up her head and sees they’re standing in front of S City’s most well-known obstetrics and gynecology hospital. Yawang steps back in fear, but Xia Mu pulls her back.

“Xia Mu…”

“Let’s go.” He grips onto her hand even tighter, keep on tugging onto her as she refuses to move forward. Shu Yawang walks hesitantly, she does not want to birth this child. The thought of the evidence to her humiliation calling her mother frightens her. She don’t want to face this child, don’t want to face Qu Wei Ran, she don’t want to give birth…

Maybe it’s because selfishness is human nature. When Yawang stayed in the hospital, even though it’s hopeless, she still holds the belief that maybe she don’t need to give birth. Maybe there will be a turn of events, maybe someone will save her. But, it’s Xia Mu who arrive. He shows up and tells her to abort, he’s the one who tells her to listen to him, so can she really not give birth? God, why is she so selfish? Shu Yawang bites onto her lips and stops walking, flinging Xia Mu’s hand away from her.

“Enough!” She shouts, glaring at Xia Mu with reddened eyes.

“Xia Mu, it’s enough. Don’t be like this, I don’t deserve you treating me so nice. In my mind, I have already hoped countless times to abort the dirty thing in my stomach. I have thought of leaving the hospital countless times, I even thought of not caring about you. I’m not as great as you think, I’m very bad, very selfish, and a coward. I hate myself, really hate this!” She tears up as she continues to speak,

“I feel very despicable, not only my body is dirty, but also my soul.”

“Despicable or selfish, isn’t everyone like that?” Xia Mu asks.

“I’m also like this, I don’t want to see Yawang give birth to another man’s child, whether it’s Qu Wei Ran or Tang Xiao Tian, I don’t want to see it happening.” Xia Mu walks forward and lays a hand on her shoulder, bending his waist slightly so he can meet her gaze. His gaze remains calm, not like how a seventeen year old normally looks.

“So now, let’s abort the baby. This unwanted child don’t need to be in this world.” Shu Yawang closes her eyes, then nods her head.

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In the hospital, there’s a middle-aged woman who is seeing patients. She glances at the two in front of her.

“It’s only been a month and a half, do you want to take the abortion pill or go through an in-clinic abortion?” Yawang lowers her head and licks her dry lips.

“Um…the pill.” The doctor glances at Yawang.

“In-clinic is more safe, and it’s painless.” Of course Yawang knows the in-clinic procedure is better, but she can’t bear to lie her body down on the operating table and have the cold machines…She bites her lips and grips onto Xia Mu’s hand. Xia Mu returns the grip and Yawang lifts up her gaze.

“The pill.” She said with certainty.

“Okay, but I need to warn you. If the pill isn’t done well, we might need to go through a surgical procedure to scrape the walls of your uterus to make sure everything is completely removed.” After she sees Yawang nodding her head, she writes down the prescription and hands it over to her.

“Go to the pharmacy to get the prescription.” Both Yawang and Xia Mu stands up, but Xia Mu is faster in grabbing the prescription, naturally pulling Yawang away. She glance back to the doctor and the doctor looks back at them lovingly. Yawang pulls her hand away in bewilderment and Xia Mu turns his head back to look at her, she lowers her head to avoid his gaze. He purses his lips and remain silent, reaching out for her hand again and continues to walk forward.

After the two obtain the prescription, the doctor instructs Yawang to take the pills for three days. On the third day, she must go to the hospital to take it. After she’s done explaining, she turns her head to face Xia Mu and tells him to take good care of her, have her rest more, and buy some tonics for her. Yawang opens her mouth awkwardly to explain their relationship, but Xia Mu interrupts her by nodding his head and said,

“I understand.” Shu Yawang raises her hand and scratches her face awkwardly. After the two leave the hospital, they didn’t go home, they go to a motel under Xia Mu’s suggestion.

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That night, Yawang takes the first pill in front of Xia Mu. As she swallows the pill, she don’t know how she feels, it’s complicated.

Around dawn, the pill starts to take its effects. She feels a faint abdominal pain, it feels like a pair of hands pinching onto her uterus. Then she starts to bleed, curling herself on the bed in agony as cold sweat starts to form on her forehead. She wraps herself with her arms and turns her body left and right, unable to sleep.

“Is it really painful?” Xia Mu asks, getting off from his bed and climbing on top of hers. Yawang turns her head to look at him and shakes her head, giving him a faint smile.

“It’s not painful, it’s just like having diarrhea.”

Of course, the first two days aren’t as painful. As Shu Yawang takes the pill on the third day, she experiences the very definition of pain! It’s so painful that Yawang nearly faints, the hand that’s been holding onto Xia Mu’s tightly cramps up. As a large amount of blood is being removed from her body, she feels like she’s about to collapse. When the doctor examines the blood that is collected into the spittoon and tells them that Yawang don’t need to go through the surgical procedure, Yawang exhales out a sigh of relief.

She looks at Xia Mu with an exhausted expression and he walks forward to help her walk a few steps before having her sit onto a chair. He crouches down and turns his back to her, lifting her up and carrying her on his back. Yawang leans onto his body and closes her eyes, her hands wrapped tightly against him. Then, she suddenly lowers her head and buries her face on his shoulders.

“Xia Mu…”

“Huh?” He replies back softly.

“What’s going to happen to you? Xia Mu, what’s going to happen to you?” She cries, her voice carrying guilt and sadness. He didn’t answer her and keeps walking. After awhile, he speaks up and said,

“It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright.” But when Xia Mu said it’ll be alright, will it really be alright?

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The Qu family explodes when Xia Mu takes Shu Yawang away from them. Qu Wei Ran’s father announce that even if he needs to use up his entire fortune, he will get his revenge! The Qu family once again brings their lawsuit against Xia Mu to court and adds in an attempted murder charge, asking the court to sentence Xia Mu, a violent juvenile, to life sentence! They also go and get the media’s attention by adding spice to the news reports. The netizens once again are in an outrage, posting many comments that criticizes the children of officials. Among the group of netizens, a large portion of them are being paid by the Qu family.

Within an hour, the Xia family makes a counterattack, deleting all the posts online. Now, all the IP addresses in the province will not be able to search up anything under the keywords, “military official”, “homicide”, “Xia Mu”, and “officials’ children”. The Qu family is silent for a day, but then strikes back as a group of university students who they paid for, marches in protest out in the streets at eight in the morning!

The ministry of public security quickly asks for police enforcement to disperse the crowd, however, someone initiates violence and both sides are in physical conflict, nearing causing a casualty! This matter surprises the higher officials in the central government, and they order the S Municipal Court to start the trial immediately, and to handle the case with fairness, justice, and principles of justice. The court denies Xia Mu’s bail and immediately goes to have an arrest warrant to arrest him. If the Xia family doesn’t hand Xia Mu over to the officials, the Qu family will provoke them, saying that they are intentionally holding onto Xia Mu and that they are defying China’s laws.

After the mast pressure the ministry of public security have from the group of university students, they develop a resentment towards the Xia family. They report this matter to the central military commission and request for assistance to investigate this case. Originally this situation is not in calm waters, and now it turns into a stormy sea once again!

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Qu Wei Ran, who is lying on the bed, smiles as he hear about the development of the case.

“Well done, even if the Xia family has a lot of power, in this day and age, once we have the public’s opinion, it’s useless. Because since the ancient times, the Chinese people value one thing, reputation.”

“Young master is right.” The assistant who reports the current situation to him, reply back.

“What happened to the group of students that got arrested from the protest?” Qu Wei Ran’s father, who is sitting at the side, asks.

“Don’t worry, Chief Qu.” The assistant answers back, nodding his head. “I already paid them off, they wouldn’t report us.”

“They were only arrested for fifteen days, it’s a thousand dollars a day, such a bargain. I think they wouldn’t mind staying for a few more days.” Qu Wei Ran laughs.

“Now, once Xia Mu shows up, it’s game over. He’ll be serving for at least ten years!” His father said with an evil grin.

“Only ten years?” Qu Wei Ran asks with a frown, then he turns his head to face Lawyer Cheng.

“Can’t we ask for more?” The lawyer nods his head.

“Ten years is the minimum, maximum is life sentence. Since he’s not an adult yet, we can’t ask for death penalty.”

“But, since…uh, what if the Xia family said that it’s because Wei Ran raped Yawang so that’s why Xia Mu uses a gun for murder, will that lessen his sentence?” The lawyer shakes his head.

“No, that’s two different cases. If Mr. Qu raped Miss Shu, she can file a civil lawsuit. If there’s concrete evidence, the court may take action to Mr. Qu. However, since Mr. Qu is paralyzed, you may apply for remission of sentence, pardon, or removal of criminal penalties for medical treatment. In most cases, you just need to pay the penalty fee.”

“So in this case, even if Shu Yawang wins the lawsuit, I don’t need to go to jail. She basically just told the whole world that she’s one of the woman I toyed with.” The lawyer nods his head.

“You can say it like that, and since it’s Xia Mu who attempts to murder you with a gun, it’s a problem between you and him, it have nothing to do with Shu Yawang. Even if it does, that’s just the cause of it. Most homicide cases don’t ask for the cause, they only ask about the aftermath. No matter what, murder is murder, the law will not take it lightly. The only reason he can lessen his sentence is because he’s still a minor.” Qu Wei Ran’s father sighs in relief.

“After hearing what Lawyer Cheng have mentioned, I feel at ease.”

“The Shu family must have know about this too, that’s why Shu Yawang didn’t sue me. If that’s the case, then I will want her to sue me. Then, I can tell the whole world that I toyed with a virgin! A lot of men must be jealous of me.” Qu Wei Ran tells his father.

“Jealous my ass!” His father shouts, banging his fist onto the table. “You could have touched anyone, but you touched the one that has a wild dog by her side! Look at how he bitten you! Now, now you’re in this state, don’t you know how hurt I am?”

“I know my own body, it will get better.” Qu Wei Ran replies back nonchalantly. His father sighs.

“After this, I’m sending you to America. I hear that they have treatments that can cure you.” Qu Wei Ran understands what his father means of curing him. Honestly, after what happened to him, he regretted raping Shu Yawang. But when he thought of that night, her smooth skin, her suppressed whimpers, her teary eyes, his thrusting pelvis against her, all of that got him excited. Even if time goes back, he will still do it, but he will be smarter. After doing it, he will hide her away, not letting the wild dog be able to find her. Even as he thinks about this disgusting thing, Qu Wei Ran still have a gentle smile plastered onto his face.

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At this time, the door suddenly opens and Lu Pei Gang walk towards Qu Wei Ran.

“Mr. Qu, there’s a Mr. Tang who likes to see you.” Qu Wei Ran squints his eyes gleefully and lifts the corners of his lips to a playful smile.

“He finally came back.” He gives in some thought before answering him back.

“Have him come in.”

“Wei Ran?” His father looks at him worriedly, he knows about this Tang Xiao Tian. He went military training with his son and is also Yawang’s boyfriend. If he sees his son and gets angry…

Tang Xiao Tian enters the room with an exhausted face, but his gaze remains strong as he looks at Qu Wei Ran in the eye. Qu Wei Ran turns his head to look at his father and Lawyer Cheng.

“You guys leave the room, I want to have a nice talk with my old comrade.”

“No.” His father replies back with a worried expression.

“Dad, don’t worry. I know him too well, he wouldn’t dare to hit a person who can’t even lift their arms. Am I right, Xiao Tian?”

“I’m not so sure about that.” He answers back, each of his word striking them like a coin hitting the floor. Qu Wei Ran laughs and then gives a cold face.

“You guys leave.” His father can’t win over him, so he brings the lawyer out to the door. He orders Lu Pei Gang to eavesdrop on them, and if anything happens, rush inside. Lu Pei Gang stands outside of the door, sticking his ear against the door, eavesdropping the conversation happening inside.

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“Still haven’t seen Yawang yet?” Qu Wei Ran talks in a friendly tone. “Judging from how you look, you definitely haven’t seen her yet.”

“I forbid you to say her name!” He yells, exploding with anger.

“Forbid me?” He asks with a provocative tone. “Why are you forbidding me, I was the man she was closest with.” After a series of clashing noise, Qu Wei Ran displays a pleased smile.

“What did I say, you, are the not the type of person who will hit a person who can’t even lift their arms.”

“Why did you do this? Why?!” Tang Xiao Tian sounds like he’s going to break down.

“You promised me you wouldn’t touch her, why did you do this?!”

“Because of you! It’s all your fault!” Qu Wei Ran shouts back.

“That’s right, it’s because of you. Xiao Tian, you have this person by your side. It’s like eating melon seeds, some people like to take out the ‘meaty part’ and gather them up before eating. At this time, don’t you have the urge to eat all of the ‘meat’ that they have collected? Or like the ones who, when they eat strawberry cakes, eats the cake first before touching the strawberry. Don’t you have the urge to steal the strawberry and have it for yourself?” Qu Wei Ran gives a cruel smile.

“In my eyes, Shu Yawang is the ‘meat’ of the melon seeds, the strawberry of the strawberry cake, the one who I’ve been spying on for a long time, and now I finally eaten her!”

“Qu Wei Ran, you bastard!”

“That’s right, I’m a bastard, but you’re the one who invited me to this! All of the misfortunes that happened to Yawang was because of you. You’re the one who invited the wolf in, how can you blame the wolf from eating Little Red Riding Hood?”

“I’m going to kill you!” Xiao Tian shouts. Lu Pei Gang hears him and quickly calls for people to burst open the door. In the room, Tang Xiao Tian is choking Qu Wei Ran with his hands around his neck. Lu Pei Gang rushes forward to pull Xiao Tian’s arm away. Xiao Tian looks at Qu Wei Ran with an explosive gaze, ready to kill him. His grip is too strong, Lu Pei Gang is unable to pull his arms away. Two more bodyguards rush into the room and tries to pull Xiao Tian’s arms away. One of the bodyguards see Qu Wei Ran’s face turning purple, so he takes out his taser and tased Xiao Tian’s waist. Tang Xiao Tian’s body turns limp from the shock and Lu Pei Gang quickly pushes him away from Qu Wei Ran, making sure the electricity didn’t hit him. The two bodyguards hold him down and Xiao Tian can’t fight back after his body turns numb from the electrocution.

“I’m going to kill you.” Tang Xiao Tian repeats out loud. Qu Wei Ran rubs his neck and coughs out loud before looking back at Xiao Tian.

“I don’t care if it’s you or Xia Mu, I wouldn’t let anyone have the chance!” As the two bodyguards drag Tang Xiao Tian out of the door, he glares at Qu Wei Ran.

“I can’t believe I treated a person like you as a brother! I must have been blind!” Qu Wei Ran rubs his neck and stays silent. When he don’t hear Tang Xiao Tian’s voice, he suddenly lowers his head and whispers to himself.

“From the day I met her, I don’t think of you as my brother.”