Because I Cannot Hurt You

The long night finally passed, and the sun lit the sky the next morning. Xinyi hadn't slept a wink. She felt something warm near her cheek, and she raised her head.

Liao Yuan stood beside her with a gentle smile on his lips. "Can I sit beside you?"

She just lowered her gaze and said nothing.

He sighed. He sat beside her keeping a small distance between them. "I heard from the doctors. I am sorry for what happened. I thought since Huang Rong is in custody, things will calm down but…Anyway. I trust Yunru would find something about it soon enough. And you. You are worrying unnecessarily. Zhiyuan will be fine."

She slightly shivered. 

"Zhiyuan won't like it if you stay like this. Once he wakes up and sees you so thin and weak like this, it will just give him more stress. Do you want that to happen?"

He stiffened seeing tears stream down her cheeks. 

"H-Hey, I wasn't scolding you! Don't cry," he got anxious and cursed himself. "Xinyi, please don't cry…"

"I…" she gasped, "Why is this happening? Why does Zhiyuan have to suffer this? Everything... Everything was fine until last night. Why would somebody want to kill him? We have found our happiness after so long. Why does somebody want to destroy it?"

The more she spoke, the more she cried. "Zh-Zhiyuan has never thought of or did any harm to others! Not in business. Not in his personal life. He has never done anything that would make someone target him like this…"

Liao Yuan reached out his hand but stopped midway. His fingers tightened into a fist. 

"Xinyi…"

His heart ached seeing her in pain.

Xinyi's gaze flickered with coldness. "I won't let this go. No matter what, I will find the person responsible behind everything."

He kept quiet.

Despite his hesitation, Liao Yuan reached out to hold his shoulder when a hand grabbed him. He saw Han Huizhong, staring at him with a narrowed gaze. "Yuan. What are you doing? How dare you think of taking Xinyi's advantage at a time like this?"

He widened his eyes. "Of course not Grandpa! I would never have such intentions. I was just-"

"Yeah, whatever. Keep distance from my granddaughter-in-law."

His brow twitched.

Han Huizhong snorted and looked at Xinyi. "And you. Is this sorry face you are going to show your son? Siying is missing you. Go back home."

Xinyi disagreed. "I will stay at the hospital until Zhiyuan wakes up."

"And kill me through your son until then? Siying is being a headache! As a mother, it's your responsibility to handle him. So go and console him."

"Grandpa-"

"Are you going or should I drag you? And don't go looking like this, or we will have another patient in this hospital. What if he faints seeing his mother look like a zombie? You will scar his poor heart forever. Is this the extent you care about him? No, right? So don't forget to eat and look more like a human. Now, get going! The driver is waiting for you outside."

Xinyi pursed her lips and reluctantly got up. It was like she was dragging her feet to which Han Huizhong only sneered.

Liao Yuan got up too, but stopped his way. "What? You want to follow her, you stalker?"

He was speechless. "Grandpa, please. Even if I once had feelings for Xinyi, it has no connection to the present."

Han Huizhong smiled. "You can never say. If love was something so hard to let go of, then my children and grandchildren wouldn't have suffered so much. You must know about Zongying's infatuation for Guoting."

Liao Yuan said nothing.

"Heh. Then look at my son and ex-daughter-in-law, for instance. They have been divorced for years, but does that mean their love has faded away? Nope. Those idiots don't know anything. Shall I share a secret with you? The assistant that works with Liqin is actually hired by Tian so that she could 'especially' make sure to take care of her cold feet problem."

He coughed.

"Then the assistant that works with Tian is secretly hired by guess who?"

"...Aunt Liqin."

"Bingo. She did that so that his assistant could 'especially' nag him for his posture and prevent his back pain. And they don't even know that their so-called assistants are paid by their exes actually. Two idiots, right? That's how much they STILL love and care for each other that even if they have been apart for years, they haven't forgotten to worry about their ex's problems."

He patted his shoulders hard. "So, don't give me such big words of the past and the present and all. Bah! This old man has seen too many things not to believe that crap anymore. Moral of this long ass conversation? Stay away from Xinyi."

Liao Yuan helplessly said, "Can I not be there for her as a friend?"

"If that can happen, then I should be able to defy gravity and fly in the sky."

His brow twitched.

Han Huizhong smirked and left. Reaching a corner of the floor, he called his assistant.

"What did you find out?"

"Sir, you guessed right. An Yueqin never died."

He narrowed his eyes.

"What about the accident that had injured her?"

"That part was harder to find because it seems that somebody has covered his tracks very well. I still don't know much about her accident, but I found something about her past."

He raised his brow. "Go on."

"An Yueqin is actually not An Yueqin at all."

"Are you playing riddles with me? She is Guoting's wife. Do you think he would mistake her?"

"I didn't mean it that way. Yueqin isn't her real name. She changed her name after marrying An Guoting."

"If she is not Yueqin, then who is she?"

"Her real name is Shufen. And it's quite a popular name in the Underworld."

Han Huizhong tilted his head. "Underworld…"

"Yes. An Yueqin or Shufen worked in the Underworld before she met An Guoting and married him.. Coincidentally, after they met, the name Shufen was never heard in the Underworld again."