Chapter 17
The Wu Dan family are no good.
Even now, they can’t keep quiet.
They walked off, still cursing as they went.
“Did you keep your distance from Wu Yuting when you left? Our family’s already had a girl, we can’t let anyone bring even more of that bad luck on us. Wife, your next child must be a boy.”
Their figures receded into the distance.
Wu Xiaojiu was still shaking with anger, unable to collect himself for a moment.
Wu Ma let out a long, sorrowful sigh. With her swollen red eyes, she got up from the chair.
She looked at her youngest son, who was flushed with anger and drained of strength, and gently smoothed his bristling hair.
“There, there, don’t be afraid.”
“It’s all right. Your father is still conscious and has pulled through the worst. Now he just needs to rest. As for the betting agreement we signed with them, our family will definitely see it through.”
Wu Xiaojiu sighed, the weight in his chest easing a little.
He looked up at his mother, unable to say a word for a while.
She had once been a refined lady, but this sudden trouble had already streaked her temples with gray, and fine lines appeared at the corners of her eyes.
Wu Xiaojiu wanted to say something to comfort her.
Suddenly, a weak voice came from the hospital bed.
“They really aren’t human! The Village Chief’s son in Wu Family Village has been crazy since he was a child-violent and brutal. Three child brides have died at his hands, drowned at the riverbank.”
“They want Wu Yuting to marry into that family and suffer? That’s basically sending Wu Yuting to her death!”
Wu Yuting’s eyes flashed, then dimmed.
She hurried to the bedside and grasped the speaker’s hand.
“Dad, our family urgently needs money. If there’s no other way… I’m willing to go through with it.”
“Don’t say that. We’ve already cleared our outside debts, the company’s funds are moving again, and thanks to the betting agreement we’ve got some capital. There’s no need for you to sacrifice yourself for that twenty thousand yuan!”
The person in the bed reached out and held Wu Yuting’s hand tightly.
Wu Xiaojiu’s anxious heart finally settled a little.
Long Aotian’s goodwill had indeed played a part.
It seemed that from now on, he would need to work even harder to please Bo Suihan.
He absolutely could not let anything happen to his sister because of him.
Wu Xiaojiu swore to himself.
He would win over Bo Suihan.
He would change the fate of the Wu Family!
The four people in the hospital room each harbored their own worries, and for a moment, there was silence.
Eventually, it got late.
Wu Xiaojiu and Wu Yuting were settled in another ward to rest.
Only Wu Ma stayed to care for Wu Ba.
Coming out of that ward,
Wu Xiaojiu and Wu Yuting both looked utterly exhausted.
There was no need for many words between brother and sister; each knew what the other was thinking.
So they said nothing, and each lay on their own bed.
After such a long, tiring day,
Wu Xiaojiu had barely lain down before he fell fast asleep.
But whether it was the hospital bed being too hard or the night air too cold, despite his exhaustion, he suddenly jolted awake around one or two in the morning.
As soon as he opened his eyes,
Wu Xiaojiu felt sore all over, his mind muddled, eyelids heavy-tired and drowsy.
But oddly, once awake, he couldn’t get back to sleep no matter how he turned or twisted.
Though he was dead tired and dizzy with sleepiness,
He just couldn’t fall back into a dream.
Growing anxious, Wu Xiaojiu felt as if ants were crawling all over him-completely restless.
Suddenly, from inside the ward,
There was a creaking sound.
It was as if a door had been pushed open from the outside.
A chill swept through Wu Xiaojiu; his drowsiness vanished instantly.
His mind flashed back to the figure he had seen that day in the Su Family’s study.
Wu Xiaojiu’s whole body broke out in goosebumps.
He turned his head stiffly.
Squinting his eyes.
He looked toward the doorway.
The hospital was completely dark at this hour.
Only the green emergency exit light was still on.
A pair of small feet stood quietly at the door. As if noticing his gaze, they tentatively took two steps forward.
Then, suddenly, they broke into a run, heading straight for Wu Xiaojiu.
Wu Xiaojiu’s forehead went cold; he was so terrified he couldn’t move a muscle.
He could only lie in bed.
Watching those feet running closer and closer to him.
His throat felt as if it was being strangled. Wu Xiaojiu used all his strength, trying to scream.
At that moment-
The feet suddenly stopped abruptly.
“Xiaojiu, are you asleep?”
A familiar voice sounded above his head.
Wu Xiaojiu’s eyes widened slightly. This voice was all too familiar.
It was no one else.
It was his own sister-Wu Yuting!
Getting no response,
She asked again.
Only a fool would answer in this situation.
Wu Xiaojiu kept his mouth tightly shut.
Any trace of sleepiness was gone. He couldn’t help but wonder in his mind-
Could his sister be sleepwalking?
But Wu Yuting always slept well. Not only did she never sleepwalk, she rarely even turned over in bed.
Could it be that too much stress had made her lose her mind?
Wu Xiaojiu hadn’t figured it out yet,
When he saw Wu Yuting, with her back to him, suddenly walk over to the hospital cabinet.
She squatted down.
Facing the cabinet door, which was slightly ajar,
She pinched her voice,
And called out in a sharp, thin tone,
“Come out, come out.”
What was she doing now?
Wu Xiaojiu felt as if all the blood in his body was freezing.
Watching his own sister’s curled-up figure in the darkness,
There was no way he wasn’t scared.
But then he thought, people who sleepwalk can’t control their actions.
Maybe his sister was having some kind of dream, which made her act like this.
That’s what Wu Xiaojiu thought.
But to avoid being scared any further, he turned over,
Planning to ignore it and not let it bother him.
Just as he turned over, he heard a loud “thud,” followed by the sound of something scraping across the floor.
The sound came closer and closer.
Wu Xiaojiu couldn’t contain his curiosity and squinted his eyes open a little.
He wanted to see what his sister was up to now.
And as soon as he opened his eyes-
A familiar face was right in front of him. Wu Yuting’s originally beautiful face was now all scrunched up, her mouth stretched in an impossible arc all the way to behind her ears.
Her eyes were closed, but Wu Xiaojiu felt as if they were open,
And staring straight at him.
“I knew you weren’t asleep.”
He was scared out of his wits and let out a scream on the spot.
That scream startled Mother Wu, who had been unable to sleep in another ward. She immediately became alert,
Hurried over, pushed open the door, and turned on the light.
She saw Wu Xiaojiu sitting up straight in bed, still screaming and pointing at Wu Yuting.
“What’s going on?”
Mother Wu rushed over, hugging Wu Xiaojiu tightly with one arm and pulling Wu Yuting up with the other.
She called out “my good child, my darling” several times,
Trying to calm the two of them down.
When Wu Yuting was pulled, she seemed to wake up from a dream, opened her eyes,
Rubbed the corner of her eye, and looked around the ward in confusion.
“Mom, why are you here? And what’s going on?”
Wu Yuting leaned over, puzzled, to look at Wu Xiaojiu in her mother’s arms.
But as soon as he saw her looking at him, he screamed again, pushing and shoving, refusing to let her get close.