Chapter 14: There is no man in this world as humble as him

"Are you really not going to report them?"

On the way back to the city, Jiang Jingtao asked this no less than three times.

Leng Hui suddenly stopped in her tracks. Jiang Jingtao almost bumped into her, but fortunately, he managed to brake in time.

"You, walk properly. Why stop so suddenly?"

Leng Hui narrowed her eyes slightly, staring at him dangerously. "You're so eager to report them? Do you want Leng Mei to implicate me? Don't forget, the Leng family hasn't split up yet. Since the coal she brought back was taken without others' knowledge, I count as a beneficiary too."

When Jiang Jingtao thought about the punishment Leng Hui would face if she were implicated, he couldn't help but shiver. He hurriedly waved his hands. "I didn't mean to report them, and I certainly didn't mean to implicate you. It's just..."

"Enough with the 'justs.' You'd better bury this in your stomach and never mention it to anyone," Leng Hui warned him.

She would let this matter take its course. Even if someone else reported it, it couldn't be her, Leng Hui, doing the reporting.

Leng Mei had brought some coal home, and she was technically an indirect beneficiary. She couldn't bring herself to act like someone who would eat from a bowl and then flip it over to deny everything once finished.

If you walk by the river often, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

If they kept walking down this dark path, something would eventually happen to Leng Mei and the others.

Thinking of this, Leng Hui recalled the contents of that novel. The protagonist never ran into trouble in the early stages—could it be that such things also had a "protagonist halo"?

"Hey, Leng Hui, where are you going? The way home is this way."

"You go back yourself. I'm going to the hospital to take care of my mom." Leng Hui walked away quickly without looking back.

Returning to the hospital ward, Leng Hui found the bed empty. Just as she was about to ask the person in the next bed, she saw Tang Lin slowly entering from the doorway, carrying a drainage bag.

She hurried forward to support her. "Where did you go?"

"To relieve myself." Tang Lin endured the pain, leaning her weight onto Leng Hui. "Remembered to come back after running wild outside?"

Leng Hui didn't answer her question, but noticing she was only carrying one bag, she asked, "Did they pull out the catheter?"

Tang Lin rolled her eyes at her, her pale face devoid of color. After finally managing to move to the bed and lie down, she let out a long sigh. "I've wanted to pull that tube out for a long time, but pulling it out is also a life-risking task. Going to the bathroom just now took half my life."

"I'm sorry. I thought they wouldn't pull your catheter today. If I had known, I wouldn't have left."

Tang Lin had undergone major surgery, and her physical trauma wouldn't recover that quickly. She had spent the day following Leng Mei, which ended up delaying her care for her mother.

Rarely seeing her show a guilty side, Tang Lin smiled. "It's fine, consider it exercise. Where did you go this morning?"

Leng Hui recounted the morning's events. "You've read this novel too. Did the book mention the female lead stealing coal from trains in the early stages?"

"I don't remember anything like that. Reality should differ from the world in the book. After all, in the real world, every character is a living person; it's more realistic than the book."

"If only we knew we were coming here, I would have just thrown the book into my space after reading it, so I could flip through the later chapters when I had nothing to do."

For the next few days, Leng Hui didn't dare to run around outside. She honestly took care of Tang Lin every day. As time passed, Tang Lin's condition slowly improved.

Especially after the drainage tube was removed, Tang Lin no longer frowned with every step she took.

One day, Leng Hui accompanied Tang Lin for a walk in the small garden downstairs. From afar, she saw Leng Yongkang hurrying toward the inpatient department.

Seeing Tang Lin and Leng Hui downstairs, he paused slightly, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How is your recovery? What did the doctor say?"

Seeing that he still knew how to care about her, Tang Lin's expression softened slightly. "The doctor said the recovery is going okay."

Leng Hui secretly observed him without a trace. He was still wearing his work uniform. She couldn't help but interject, "You're in such a rush to get to the hospital; you must have come straight from the factory. Did something urgent happen?"

After wiping the sweat off his face and putting the handkerchief back in his pocket, Leng Yongkang let out a breath and replied, "I received a call from your aunt. She said that child, Xiao Mei, somehow broke her leg..."

Facing the murderous glares from the mother and daughter, the rest of his words got stuck in his throat, leaving him speechless.

The mother and daughter suddenly smiled in unison, signaling for him to continue. "Keep talking, we're listening. How is she?"

"...She... she... she is also hospitalized here." Leng Yongkang's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, and he braced himself to continue. "Mom, Mom asked me to come, um, to check on your recovery. If the situation allows, you should be discharged and go home to recuperate. Staying in the hospital is a waste of money."

Leng Hui's smile was cold, and she bared her teeth as she asked, "Is medical resource currently very scarce?"

Leng Yongkang didn't understand the intent behind Leng Hui's question, but he nodded honestly. "Yes, resources are limited, so to avoid wasting the country's medical resources, we should go home to recuperate if we can."

"Heh!" Leng Hui sneered. "With resources being so scarce, even the doctors haven't suggested letting my mom go home to recuperate. You and your mother dare to suggest it? I think you're just hoping my mom dies sooner, aren't you?"

Leng Yongkang's expression changed. "You dead child, what kind of talk is that? Your mother is my wife; how could I hope she dies sooner?"

"How am I talking nonsense? We already learned about your wolfish ambitions a while ago.

Otherwise, how could you, a brother-in-law, lead your younger brother's wife to scheme against your own wife's job position?"

Leng Yongkang: "..." Can we not bring that up again?

Tang Lin stood to the side, her face as cold as frost, staring unblinkingly at Leng Yongkang, as if trying to see through his skin to see what kind of humanity lay beneath.

Leng Hui continued unceremoniously, "My mom is hospitalized with such a serious injury, how many times have you visited? I'm her own daughter, taking care of her alone in the hospital, how many times have you shown concern? What, a niece from the second branch gets injured and hospitalized, and you rush to the hospital in a panic, afraid that if you're a step too slow, others will say you, the eldest brother, are cold-hearted?"

Leng Yongkang, having his true intentions exposed, became angry from embarrassment. "Can you talk properly, you dead child? You're being sarcastic the moment you open your mouth. It's infuriating!"

Standing was tiring, so Tang Lin sat on a nearby chair. Her tone was calm, but her words carried immense weight. "Is the child wrong? You being so unable to keep your composure just proves you have a guilty conscience. I didn't see you show your face while I was hospitalized; someone who didn't know better would think I was a widow!"

The word 'widow' was a trigger!

Leng Yongkang's head buzzed. "I'm not dead yet!"

"There's not much difference!" Tang Lin was telling the truth.

Leng Yongkang's spirit weakened. "Xiao Lin, can we talk properly? You mother and daughter are poking at me with every word until I'm having a heart attack. Mom asked me to discuss this. I'll go ask the doctor later to see what they say. If the doctor agrees, we'll go home to recuperate, okay?"

As he spoke, Leng Yongkang felt aggrieved. Which man in the world was like him, acting so subservient in front of his wife and child?

Tang Lin looked away. A man in his forties pulling this act was an eyesore.

The new book is in its growth phase, everyone is welcome to reward it with a recommendation ticket~

(End of chapter)