CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 70: DOUBTS IN THE HEART

"Qingqiu!"

Li Chunhua ran over like a madwoman from outside and SMACK—she collapsed to the ground.

Everyone around winced at the sight, but Li Chunhua felt nothing.

She trembled all over, her eyes wide as she stared at Xu Qingqiu on the ground, wanting to reach out but fearing the worst possible outcome.

Chu Tian had never seen this strong woman, always a pillar of strength, in such a state before.

"Sister Hua, she’s temporarily okay. The most important thing right now is to wait for the ambulance to come and rush her to the hospital."

"Yes, yes! To the hospital! It’ll be alright once we get to the hospital!"

Sister Hua probably didn’t even know what she was saying. Chu Tian’s words were like a lifeline, and she subconsciously latched onto them.

"The ambulance is here!"

Someone shouted, and all the onlookers immediately tensed, looking outside. They soon saw several medical personnel rushing in with a stretcher.

"Yiyi, stop crying. You take Sister Hua and hurry to the hospital by taxi. I’ll go with Qingqiu in the ambulance. Let’s stay in touch!"

After the medical personnel finished their preliminary examination and carried Xu Qingqiu onto the stretcher, Chu Tian quickly instructed Yiyi and ran out after them without waiting for her reply.

The large, stunned crowd parted, watching them leave, still reeling from the shock of what had just happened.

Chu Tian followed the ambulance to the hospital at breakneck speed. After a whirlwind of paperwork, payments, and various examinations, the initial results were thankfully not too bad.

"Are you family?"

"I’m her assistant, but I can also act as her family representative!"

"What do you mean, ’can act as family representative’? Hasn’t her family arrived?"

"No, they haven’t. Just tell me whatever it is. I’ll take responsibility if anything happens!"

The anxious Chu Tian struggled to suppress his emotions, trying not to shout, but he couldn’t help but feel agitated.

Why are they still asking for family at a time like this? Seeing the doctor insist, Chu Tian felt his heart pound.

It couldn’t possibly turn into one of those cliché TV drama plots where she becomes a vegetable, right? That would be too damn awful!

Just how serious is it that they *need* a family member?

Seeing his expression, the doctor was also taken aback and quickly tried to reassure him, "Uh, please don’t worry. I was just asking as a matter of routine. A friend or assistant is fine. The main thing is to inform you about her condition. Rest assured, it’s nothing too serious."

Good heavens, why draw it out like that? He could have just said it wasn’t serious from the start.

"Then what exactly is her condition, Doctor?"

Hearing that it wasn’t anything critical, Chu Tian’s emotions also eased somewhat.

"We just finished the CT scan. Her bones are fine, and her wounds have been treated. There are no major issues. However, the patient is still unconscious. This could be due to the impact or excessive blood loss. We’ll need to keep her hospitalized for observation."

"So, you’re saying there are basically no major problems, right?"

"Well... how should I put this? If she wakes up within 24 hours, then there’s no problem; she’ll just need to rest and recover well. If she doesn’t wake up, we’ll need to perform an MRI to check for any intracranial bleeding or other issues."

"Okay, thank you, Doctor."

After discussing her condition, Chu Tian, holding a pile of forms, arrived at the ward. He saw Yiyi supporting Li Chunhua, who was seated on a chair outside the door, with an unfamiliar woman beside them.

"How is it, Chu Tian?"

Seeing their anxious faces, Chu Tian managed a smile and said, "The doctor said it’s nothing critical, but she needs to be hospitalized for observation for a couple of days. If nothing unexpected occurs, there shouldn’t be any major problems."

Hearing his words, Li Chunhua finally breathed a sigh of relief, then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

"Sister Hua! Sister Hua?"

Damn it, how did another one collapse? Is this ever going to end?

The three of them frantically helped her up to find a doctor.

Fortunately, it wasn’t anything serious; she had just been overly anxious and, unable to process everything at once, had fainted from the shock.

At this moment, the woman who had been with them all along awkwardly approached Chu Tian, smiled, and said, "I’m Lin Fengxia, the producer of the show. Don’t worry, our production team will take full responsibility. Whatever expenses are incurred, you can come directly to me. We will cover everything."

Hearing she was from the production team, Chu Tian glanced at her, not bothering to engage. "Don’t tell me. I’m just a lowly assistant. Wait for Sister Hua to wake up and talk to her then."

Leaving those words behind, he walked away.

What kind of nonsense is this? Such a major incident, and they think sending just a producer is enough? And they’ll cover all expenses—do we look like we need their money? Aren’t they going to say anything about the cause and effect of this incident?

Completely unprofessional, utterly irresponsible. He couldn’t even be bothered to argue. Given Sister Hua’s state today, she definitely wouldn’t let them off the hook easily!

By evening, Xu Qingqiu’s condition had finally stabilized, and they were allowed to go in and see her.

Upon entering, Chu Tian looked at the pale-faced Xu Qingqiu on the hospital bed and sighed.

How on earth did something like this happen when everything was going fine?

Sister Hua, after fainting and waking up, had been put on a glucose drip and had fallen asleep again. Yiyi was in another room accompanying her. Currently, only he and Xu Qingqiu were in this hospital room.

Only now did Chu Tian have time to review the day’s events.

Qin Xiao had gone onstage first without issue; Zhu Yan had followed and was also fine.

He had checked the lifting platform at the time; there was no visible damage. This indicated it hadn’t tilted or fallen sideways; it was more like it had plummeted straight down.

The lifting platform, over four meters high, had suddenly malfunctioned as Xu Qingqiu was rapidly descending. He calculated she had likely fallen from a height of over three meters.

From the looks of it, she had landed on the back of her head, hence the wound there. The injury on her leg was probably a scrape from a nearby rack.

The primary cause was the lifting platform. So, was it operator error, mechanical failure... or perhaps intentional sabotage?

He recalled the scene with Qin Xiao he’d witnessed earlier. Logically, if nothing unexpected had happened, she was the one most likely to be eliminated today.

So why did she suddenly flash that mocking smile at Xu Qingqiu’s departing figure? Shouldn’t it have been jealousy or unwillingness to accept defeat?

Chu Tian couldn’t help but suspect Qin Xiao’s involvement. If she had orchestrated it, faking an accident or operational error would be easy, and investigating it would be very difficult.

This line of reasoning was plausible, but it required evidence.

Unfortunately, he had been preoccupied with rescuing her at the time. Moreover, within the entire production team, they had no connections or means to investigate.

Ultimately, it was highly probable that this would be classified as an accidental mechanical failure to minimize the fallout.

"Sigh!"

"Chu Tian?"

"Qing... Xu Qingqiu? Are you okay?"

Sometime while he was lost in thought, Xu Qingqiu had awakened. Lying on the hospital bed, pale and weary, she looked at him, a desolate smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Ha, did you just want to call me Qingqiu?"

"..."

Lines of exasperation appeared on Chu Tian’s forehead. Seriously? At a time like this, that’s what you’re concerned about?

"Come on, call me Qingqiu. I want to hear it!"

"Alright, Qingqiu. Happy now? How do you feel?"

"Hehehe, I feel so tired. I have no strength in my body, and even speaking is an effort... just like you."

What does she mean, ’just like me’?

Chu Tian rolled his eyes, wanting to argue, but seeing her in such a state, he couldn’t bring himself to.

"It’s normal to be tired; you lost a lot of blood. Just rest for a bit, and you’ll be fine."

"Really? But why does my head feel so dizzy, and my leg hurts so much?"