Chapter 61: Resolving the Knot

Hospitalized?

When Huo Beihan heard these two words, his face darkened, and the veins at his temples throbbed violently.

Shen Tingzhou rubbed his brow, knowing that Huo Beihan was genuinely enraged this time.

Huo Beihan abruptly stood up. Shen Tingzhou’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly pulled Wen Kejing behind him to shield her, silently praying that Huo Beihan would not vent his anger on Wen Kejing, let alone resort to hitting a woman.

Yet Wen Kejing refused to drop the matter, continuing to relentlessly condemn Huo Beihan, "Mianmian must have had the worst kind of luck to meet unreliable wretches like you in this lifetime. If it weren't for you people, she wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state."

Shen Tingzhou sighed, "My dear ancestor, will you please just shut your mouth!"

If she kept going, the two of them were bound to be doomed.

Huo Beihan walked up to Wen Kejing, his expression grave as he asked, "Which hospital is Mianmian in right now? What is the room number?"

Wen Kejing was taken aback, as if her previous tirade had just landed against a ball of cotton—it had no effect on him whatsoever. Completely baffled by what Huo Beihan was getting at, she instinctively blurted out the name of the hospital and the room number.

By the time she snapped back to her senses and wanted to say something more, Huo Beihan had already strode out.

Clueless about his intentions and fearing he might do something detrimental to Su Mian, Wen Kejing rushed forward to stop him, only to be held back by Shen Tingzhou from behind.

"Wife, can you just take a break for a moment, please?"

If this kept up, he feared his heart wouldn't be able to take it much longer.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Wen Kejing shot him an indignant glare.

Shen Tingzhou offered an awkward smile. He used to be on Huo Beihan's side, but would he dare stand in anyone else's camp right now?

"Of course I'm on your side. Look at Huo Beihan's reaction—your words must have really triggered him. He definitely couldn't let go of Su Mian, which is why he's going to check on her. He won't hurt Su Mian, so you can rest easy. Don't you think we need to give them some space to talk things out?"

After pondering this for a moment, Wen Kejing decided he made sense. No matter how much she stood up for Su Mian, she couldn't solve Su Mian's problems for her; the two of them still needed to communicate clearly.

Since Huo Beihan had been drinking and couldn't drive, he contacted his driver while heading downstairs.

A dozen minutes later, the driver arrived and drove Huo Beihan to the municipal hospital.

As soon as Huo Beihan reached the doorway of the hospital room, he heard a fit of hurried coughing coming from inside.

He strode into the room and pressed his hand against Su Mian’s forehead.

Su Mian was burning up to the point of delirium; even after two IV drips, her temperature remained stubbornly high. At that moment, aside from coughing incessantly, she occasionally let out broken murmurs, "Dad... don't go, don't leave me... why... why does everyone abandon me..."

Hearing these soft murmurs left a bitter taste in Huo Beihan’s heart. From his perspective, Su Mian had suffered the loss of her father and the remarriage of her mother at the tender age of fifteen, followed by being sent away to live as a dependent with the Qin family. Even though the Qin parents treated her well, it was ultimately no longer her original home.

As an outsider, just hearing about such an ordeal felt heartbreaking enough, let alone for Su Mian, who was living through it.

She had already shown incredible strength to make it this far step by step.

He took Su Mian’s hand, rubbing and soothing it gently, "Mianmian, it's okay now. All of this is just a nightmare. Once you wake up, everything will be fine."

In the dead of night, another patient was wheeled into Su Mian's room. The bustling noise made it impossible for her to sleep soundly.

Huo Beihan directly had her transferred to a VIP room.

The environment here was quiet and serene, devoid of any pungent disinfectant odors, allowing Su Mian to sleep much more peacefully.

At a little past two in the morning, Su Mian woke up feeling thirsty.

Catching the moonlight filtering through the window, she saw that the person keeping vigil by her bed was Huo Beihan, so she simply closed her eyes and pretended to stay asleep.

Huo Beihan had only been resting his eyes. Sensing that she had woken up, he quickly poured her a cup of warm water, "Stop pretending, I saw you."

A bit embarrassed, she opened her eyes, sat up, and took the cup, "Thank you, Elder Brother. Why did you suddenly come here?"

Huo Beihan originally wanted to tell the truth, but fearing he might startle her, he changed the subject, "Hurry up and drink some water. Your throat is hoarse from all that coughing."

Su Mian took a sip of water and asked him where Wen Kejing had gone.

Could that wild girl have ignored all advice and gone to cause trouble for Huo Beihan, only to get arrested by the police?

Huo Beihan refilled Su Mian's cup, "She was taken back home by her husband. What on earth happened to you? Knowing you weren't feeling well, why did you still go to work?"

She let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she hadn't acted impulsively.

Seeing that she didn't answer, Huo Beihan didn't grow angry either. Instead, he gently touched her forehead, "Good thing the fever has broken. Is there anywhere else you feel uncomfortable?"

Su Mian shook her head, "It's just my throat—it feels uncomfortable, and I keep wanting to cough."

Huo Beihan glanced at the IV drip, then fetched a doctor and nurse to add some cough medicine to Su Mian's treatment.

Once the doctor and nurse left, Huo Beihan offered words of comfort, "Actually, you don't need to take the old master's words to heart. As long as I'm around, he won't be able to do anything to you."

His relationship with the old master was essentially one of mutual check and balance; unless pushed to the absolute limit, the old master wouldn't touch his reverse scale.

Su Mian froze, "How can that be? He is the most influential patriarch of the Huo family. If I've offended him, what will happen to my mother and my younger brother?"

He understood Su Mian's concerns, but she was still too young to comprehend certain matters.

"Rest assured, the old master values family ties. No matter what, Beinian still carries the blood of the Huo family in his veins; nothing drastic will happen to them. You just need to focus on taking care of yourself."

Listening to Huo Beihan's words, she felt all the more that his life was bound by chains at every turn.

If she had been the one immersed in such an environment all along, she probably would have broken down long ago.

Looking at him with a trace of heartache, Su Mian said, "Elder Brother, you have it so hard."

"Everyone who is alive has a hard life; it just depends on the way one chooses to live it."

Su Mian nodded and drank another cup of water.

Huo Beihan stroked her head and tested her temperature again. "Actually, sometimes I quite envy you."

She had grown up entirely on her own. Although she lacked the care of parents and family, she was at least free, without so many shackles weighing her down.

Especially her interactions with Lin Xiu—even though they mostly consisted of bickering, it only made him envy her more, seeing as he didn't even have a single person he could argue with.

Su Mian coughed twice, finally catching her breath, "What is there to envy about me? You actually don't know, I have plenty of helpless moments of my own."

If she had parents to guide her when she was young, her life certainly wouldn't have turned out this way.

To have squandered three whole years of her life over a man—just thinking about it felt like a waste.

Huo Beihan viewed her as a ray of light in his own life, someone capable of piercing through the darkness under any circumstances to welcome her own brightness.

"If you ever run into troubles you can't handle in the future, you can talk to me. After all, I am your nominal elder brother, and no one can ever change that fact."

That was true. As long as her mother remained in the Huo family, that layer of connection between them would always exist.

Coming to terms with this, Su Mian felt a profound sense of relief, "All right then, as long as Elder Brother doesn't find me annoying."

What she didn't know was that, given the choice, Huo Beihan would have loved nothing more than for Su Mian to annoy him for the rest of his life.

Huo Beihan nodded solemnly, reassuring her, "It's still early, you should get some more sleep, otherwise you won't have any energy tomorrow."

Su Mian nodded, drank one last cup of water, and then closed her eyes to fall peacefully asleep.