CHAPTER 552: CHAPTER 514: SURVIVAL IS PARAMOUNT

In the study, Tang Mei sat upright on the sofa,

the two boxes of wild ginseng that Li Zishen had sent were placed not far from the tea set by her hand.

Thud, thud, thud, three knocks on the door.

"Madam, Mr. Li is here."

Uncle Quan’s deep voice reported from outside the door.

"Come in."

After receiving permission, Uncle Quan gently opened the door to the study, respectfully signaling Li Zishen could enter, then stayed outside.

"Grandma, I am interrupting."

"Sit."

After Li Zishen sat down, Tang Mei first took a sip of tea, then looked at the wild ginseng.

"Mr. Li has gone to great expense."

Such large wild ginseng was already very rare, yet Li Zishen had sent two at once.

"It’s nothing, just a token of my heart."

More than a month had passed since his last visit to the hospital to see Tang Mei, and upon seeing her again this time, Li Zishen was still full of doubts.

His profound gaze and laughter always gave him a feeling of oppressive control over everything.

He didn’t seem like a university professor at all.

"Mr. Li’s visit this time... is it about the market share being snatched, or simply..." Tang Mei stopped mid-sentence, gently placing the teacup in her hand down.

Actually, she didn’t need to ask.

The news of Leng Lingxiao’s sudden visit to Nanfeng Mansion was something she had Uncle Quan release.

"Grandma, Xiao Wan has a fever."

"I know."

"Just letting it burn like this, shouldn’t we... Even if Xiao Wan doesn’t like Western medicine, we could still use physical methods to cool it down."

"It’s fine, it will pass after the fever breaks."

Tang Mei’s tone was indifferent, her gaze icy, as though the person with a fever had nothing to do with her, making Li Zishen even more worried.

"Continuing like this will ruin someone!"

"I know you’ve always been very concerned about Tangtang. I asked you here to tell you something, hoping you’ll stop bothering her in the future, just let her live out the rest of her days quietly."

Li Zishen’s heart jolted.

"The rest of her days?"

"Tangtang might not live past thirty."

"Why?"

"There is a very special substance remaining in her body, which has extremely high mutagenicity."

"Is it because of the injury at Mei Garden?"

"No, it happened when she was... very young. Tangtang was born with a severe congenital disease, and the situation was urgent at the time, so we used an experimental drug that was not yet fully developed on her. The drug saved her life, but it left complications."

"In mid-August, I had people give Xiao Wan two physical examinations, but didn’t find anything unusual!"

"Here is the analysis of Tangtang’s blood over the past few years, you can have a look." Tang Mei took out a leather document bag from under the tea table and handed it to Li Zishen.

The document bag obviously had some age to it.

As he read, Li Zishen felt as if countless sharp blades were stabbing into his heart at the same time, the pain making it impossible for him to breathe, his eyes quickly moistening.

"So the examinations I gave her were all in vain, how could this be?"

"You can’t blame yourself, the situation is special."

"No, there must be a way."

"Even Leng Lingxiao doesn’t know about this; I hope you can keep it a secret, in the future..."

"Grandma, there must be a way."

"Over the past twenty years, I’ve tried many methods, for which I’ve traveled to numerous countries. There has been some delay, but to this date, the problem cannot be completely eliminated."

"How much does Xiao Wan know about this?"

"She only remembers that she was frail as a child, needing regular medication, and that her stomach would feel uncomfortable, but eating radishes would make her feel much better."

"No wonder she wanted to eat radishes every day while recuperating in Li Garden, especially loving those from Qingcheng."

"Yes, she’s grown accustomed to it."

The air suddenly fell silent; outside the window, the wind rustled the tree branches. Li Zishen carefully repackaged the blood analysis into the document bag.

Fear of taking medicine came from having been afraid too many times.

Xiao Wan, I’m sorry!

I didn’t know you’ve been through so much!

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li?"

Li Zishen fought back his tears and said with determination, "Rest assured, I will keep it a secret."

"Good, that’s good."

"Grandma, can you tell me..."

Li Zishen asked about everything related to Tang Xiaowan’s birth and the subsequent treatments, fearful he might have missed something.

As for why Tang Mei knew so much about Tang Xiaowan’s birth, Li Zishen didn’t ask.

Right now, he was only concerned about how to make amends.

...

At six o’clock in the evening, Jinyuan River.

The rain pattered down on the deck.

Lai Jingshan awoke to the stab of a blade, only to see Yuan Min, who was also tied up, lying beside him. She wasn’t injured, but she looked very haggard.

"Xiao Min, Xiao Min, wake up!"

Hearing her name called in a familiar voice, Yuan Min’s eyes snapped open. She thought she had been rescued, but all she saw was disappointment.

"Jingshan, why are you..."

"What a headache, who to throw overboard," a masked man snorted coldly, pressing a knife against Yuan Min’s neck, "What a pathetic pair of lovebirds. Decide between yourselves, who’s going to feed the fish?"

After leaving those words, the man went to a wooden box a few meters away, starting to banter with his companion.

The lighting here was poor, flickering between brightness and darkness.

Observing the surroundings, Yuan Min suspected they were in the storage room of a cargo ship. She just hadn’t expected that Lai Jingshan would also be kidnapped.

Could it be that the second brother already knows about me and Jingshan and intends to use this to threaten the one who survives?

Shares? He wants to have sole control!

In the past few days... during the meetings, he was all smiles and reasonableness, turns out it was all premeditated.

"Xiao Min, are you okay?"

Yuan Min shook her head, signaling for him to keep his voice down.

"Jingshan, I know you love me, right? I can’t swim, I, I don’t want to die."

Hearing this, Lai Jingshan’s heart shuddered.

"You mean... to throw me overboard?"

He couldn’t believe what he had just heard and sought to confirm it once more.

"Jingshan, think of Zihan, he surely wants me to live and return, right? I can’t die, I don’t want to be thrown into the river to be eaten by fish."

"Have you forgotten what I told you, Wang Junchen wouldn’t do that, at least not at this crucial juncture. He’s trying to scare us. If he wanted to act, he would have done so long ago, he wouldn’t have brought us all this way..."

"It’s not Wang Junchen, it’s the second brother. It’s so much easier to throw us in the river, the water washes everything away."

"The second brother? It can’t be him."

"Back in the tunnel... anyway, it’s him, remember? He has always wanted to get rid of me and the kids. I don’t want to be devoured by fish and shrimps, Jingshan."

"So, you’ve decided?"

"I don’t want to die, Jingshan, I’m scared!"

"All this time, I thought you felt the same as I did, it seems I was mistaken," Lai Jingshan averted his gaze and smiled, "Whatever Zihan decides to do from now on... let him be, don’t pressure him anymore."

"Okay, I promise you, I promise you."

Then, Yuan Min yelled at the top of her lungs, "We’ve decided, throw him over, he’s willing to be thrown over, just throw him and let me go!"

No sooner had these words fallen than two masked men walked straight over, carrying black cloth and duct tape in their hands.

"Jingshan, Jingshan!"

"Oh, Madam Lai is having second thoughts now?" one of the men mocked Yuan Min with a chilly look in his eyes.

"No no no, it’s not like that, no."

Lai Jingshan offered no resistance, letting them blindfold him and stuff him into the wooden box.

Despite his resignation to a certain death, hearing those words from Yuan Min first, the context changed.

The person he had loved for so long, at this desperate moment, resolutely abandoned him.