Chapter 677 Apologize?

As soon as Wa Wa Lian spoke, Wu Sheng’s expression turned ice-cold. He answered without a hint of hesitation.

"I won’t see him. Not now, not ever."

’What could Li Xian possibly be doing here now?’

’To apologize? Or to plead for his wife, Ye Xilan?’

’Hmph. I don’t need any of that.’

Wu Sheng watched Wa Wa Lian leave and the door close behind him. A vein throbbed on his forehead.

Su Li saw it all clearly, and her heart ached for Wu Sheng.

"Wu Sheng, don’t be upset."

Su Li took his hand, trying to comfort him.

Wu Sheng managed a smile that looked worse than a grimace. "Look at you, trying to comfort me."

He couldn’t help but recall the image of Li Xian chasing after him, having run right out of his shoes. He remembered how Li Xian had stood barefoot on the cold ground in thin clothes. The more he thought about it, the more painful it was to look at Su Li.

"I told him a long time ago to get his wife under control, but he never could. Believe me, he’s definitely here to apologize..."

Wu Sheng took a deep breath.

"And besides apologizing, he’ll probably ask us not to press charges. He might even try to blame me..."

Su Li squeezed his hand, cutting him off. "Don’t say that. He wouldn’t."

Su Li wasn’t sure if Li Xian would do that, but she hoped he wouldn’t. "He probably just feels terrible."

Wu Sheng looked at Su Li and fell silent.

"Don’t dwell on it. If you don’t want to see him now, then don’t. You can see him later if you change your mind."

Wu Sheng nodded and stroked Su Li’s head. "Alright, I get it. You should stop talking. Your voice is still so hoarse, you’ll strain it if you talk too much."

Su Li nodded and glanced at the water glass beside the bed.

She must have been traumatized by thirst, because she felt a constant need to drink water.

Wu Sheng gently carried the sleeping Tang Mo over to a nearby folding bed and tucked him in.

Tang Mo woke groggily for a moment. He saw Wu Sheng and relaxed, then glanced at Su Li in her bed before drifting back to sleep.

Wu Sheng adjusted the blanket, a faint smile on his lips as he noticed the dark circles under Tang Mo’s eyes.

"He refused to sleep when I told him to. I’ll wake him up later to eat something before he goes back to sleep."

Wu Sheng walked back to Su Li, propped up her pillows, and sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her. He picked up the glass of warm water and helped her drink.

"Sip by sip. Don’t drink too quickly."

Su Li nodded obediently. After she finished one glass, Wu Sheng didn’t let her have any more.

Gently touching her stomach, Wu Sheng’s brows furrowed. "Is your stomach hurting a lot?"

Su Li paused. "It’s manageable."

She hadn’t eaten in so long that her stomach had started to burn with pain, feeling as if it were twisting into a knot. Even now, a dull ache remained.

Su Li was most worried about her stomach, especially since she’d had stomach cancer before. Although she said it was manageable, she couldn’t help but ask Wu Sheng.

"Did the doctor say anything about my stomach? Is it okay? Will there be any long-term effects?"

"He did. He said there will be some effects, but don’t be scared. We can nurse you back to health." Wu Sheng gently brushed the hair from her forehead, reassuring her.

Su Li leaned against Wu Sheng’s chest, her arms wrapping lightly around him. Listening to the sound of his heartbeat, she sighed softly. "This is so nice."

’It’s so good to be alive.’

Wu Sheng held Su Li, whom he had almost lost, as if she were the most precious treasure in the world. "I failed to protect you. I swear I’ll do better from now on."

He had always wanted to give her a sense of security, but in the end, he had failed.

When it came down to it, this was all because of him.

’How panicked and terrified Su Li must have been when she heard he was injured.’

As Wu Sheng held Su Li, filled with self-reproach, Su Li was blaming herself as well.

"I made you all worry. I promise it won’t happen again." ’When I disappeared,’ she thought, ’I wasn’t the only one who suffered. Wu Sheng and Tang Mo did, too.’

Su Li and Wu Sheng held each other, unwilling to let go.

"We’re getting married the day after tomorrow... what if I look terrible?" After a moment, Su Li started worrying about the wedding.

Wu Sheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "You won’t. You’ll be the most beautiful bride in the world."

Su Li couldn’t help but smile. "And you’ll be the most handsome groom in the world."

Wu Sheng quickly added, "The most handsome and the happiest, because I get to marry you."

Su Li smiled again. "Me too, because I get to marry you."

Hearing this, Wu Sheng couldn’t resist planting a loud SMOOCH on her cheek.

After all the trials and tribulations, they had finally rediscovered the sweetness they shared before the wedding.

Forged in hardship, it felt all the more precious.

Around nine o’clock that night, Wu Qihua came by. She brought some highly nutritious congee that their aunt had made. She woke up Tang Mo, and the family of four had some together.

"Su Li can only have congee, and the rest of us haven’t been eating properly either. This will be good for all our stomachs."

Wu Sheng and Tang Mo kept watch over her that night. In the middle of the night, Su Li’s fever spiked again, but thankfully, it broke after she took some medicine.

After a full day and night of rest, Su Li woke up feeling as if she had been brought back to life, her spirits much improved.

Seeing this, Wu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.

But the moment he relaxed, Su Li announced she wanted to leave the hospital.

"There’s so much to do for the wedding. Why don’t I get discharged? I can recover just as well at home, and I can help with the preparations."

Wu Sheng... Wu Sheng, of course, would not allow it.

"We don’t need to worry about the wedding at all. Mom and the others are handling everything."

"But I can’t stay here until tomorrow. Leaving the hospital on our wedding day... that’s bad luck."

Su Li insisted it was bad luck. After a great deal of convincing, and after consulting the doctor, they finally agreed she could be discharged that evening.

Shortly after they decided, Captain Zhang arrived. He came to check on her and to discuss the case.

Ye Xilan and Mrs. Tang had both been brought to the hospital unconscious the day before, and their injuries had been treated.

Their bones had been set, but their torment was only just beginning.

A broken bone doesn’t just hurt when it snaps. The pain lingers, throbbing continuously for a very long time.

For Mrs. Tang and Ye Xilan, having their bones broken in yesterday’s freezing weather and then being left in the cold meant that even after they healed, they would never escape the pain. The slightest breeze or the onset of winter would be absolute agony for them.

Neither Ye Xilan nor Mrs. Tang were young. Ye Xilan was slightly better off; her physical condition was decent, so even if recovery was slow and agonizing, she would eventually heal.

Mrs. Tang, however, was in a much worse state. With her old bones, a proper recovery was highly unlikely.

With both her arms and legs broken, Ye Xilan was effectively quadriplegic.

Mrs. Tang, on the other hand, was now completely paralyzed.

Before, she had only been hemiplegic. One side of her body could still move, allowing her to cause trouble. But after fainting yesterday, her stroke had worsened, leaving her fully paralyzed.

From now on, she wouldn’t even be able to sit up straight in a wheelchair; she could only lie stiffly in bed.

After being revived, the only thing Mrs. Tang could move was her mouth. Her entire body wracked with pain, she lay there drooling, her face a mess of tears and snot, wanting only to see Tang Yuanxiao.

But Tang Yuanxiao was not someone she could see just by asking. Although Ye Xilan and Mrs. Tang were receiving treatment at the hospital, they were under constant guard.

Mrs. Tang couldn’t see Tang Yuanxiao, and while Ye Xilan didn’t want to see Li Xian, she was forced to.

Just as Su Li and Wu Sheng had predicted, when Li Xian found out what Ye Xilan had done, the anger and shock almost made him pass out. He managed to steel himself and remain conscious, but after slumping into a chair, he almost couldn’t get back up.

When he finally did manage to stand, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Li Xian was utterly devastated. He was so consumed by guilt that he couldn’t face anyone, wishing he could atone for it with his own life, but he knew he couldn’t.

Li Xian, a man who had been strong his entire life, looked at Ye Xilan with a mixture of regret and hatred, tears of old age streaming down his face. Afterwards, he went to find Wu Sheng and Su Li, hoping to see them, but was, as expected, turned away.

Overnight, the amount of white hair on Li Xian’s head seemed to have doubled.