Chapter 98
After it came to light that Wang Manyu’s heart attack had been deliberately induced, the Wen family and the Wang family were finished for good.
This time, Jin Zijin was no longer the Wang family’s savior, but the god of death come to collect their lives.
Under Jin Zijin’s capital encirclement, the already tottering Wang Group looked utterly helpless; even its final struggle had become a pale joke.
The stock market opened at limit-down. Ten straight days of circuit breakers drove the Wang family, unsurprisingly, into a full-blown apocalypse.
Under pressure from both inside and out, Old Master Wang could only sign his trembling name on the delisting notice.
The once-glorious Wang family was now a complete mess.
Wang Jinyu was formally arrested and held in detention on suspicion of traffic negligence and attempted murder by association.
The Wang family heir, who had once been so arrogant and overbearing, now wore an orange vest and huddled behind iron bars, all his former spoiled-heir swagger gone.
Word was that on his first day inside, he had been beaten up by the others in the cell; he had curled up in a corner with a swollen, bruised face, crying his eyes out without daring to make a sound.
Things were no better on Wang Yuchen’s side. Her fiancé, Zhong Peng’an, submitted a breakup agreement the moment the family collapsed.
The wording was polite, neatly severing every last thread between them; at the end, it even included a line wishing her “bright prospects in the future.” He withdrew cleanly and decisively, with no regard whatsoever for old feelings.
What a complete betrayal.
And beneath all that noise, Jin Zijin and Ye Jianlan’s siege of the Lu family had also reached a fever pitch.
Every route the Lu family had used to move assets was blocked one by one; overseas accounts were frozen, and the private jet they had prepared to use to leave the country was stuck on the tarmac.
Though the open gunfire had been drawn toward the Wang family, the battle in the shadows had already reached a point of naked tension.
For Wen Yan’s safety, Jin Zijin directly doubled the original security detail.
Eight female bodyguards, all retired special forces, worked in rotating pairs around the clock, following three steps behind Wen Yan and protecting her so tightly she could not have gotten through even if she were made of iron.
On the routes between hospital, home, and lab, a black business car was always with her.
At first, Wen Yan found it hard to get used to; she would take a few steps and then look back.
Jin Zijin comforted her. “Just think of them as a few extra shadows. You’ll get used to it.”
Wen Yan looked into her eyes and nodded.
In the middle of this ominously tense time, at last there was good news: Wang Manyu had woken up.
When Wen Yan received Wen Chen’s call, she was doing rounds in the orthopedic ward.
Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her white coat. She glanced at the caller ID, gestured for the resident behind her to wait, and walked to the window to answer.
“Yan Yan,” Wen Chen’s voice on the other end carried a fatigue impossible to hide, along with a faint, trembling joy. “Mom... she’s awake.”
Wen Yan immediately said in a low voice, “I’m coming right away.”
After hanging up, she gave the resident a few instructions, then strode quickly out.
She briefly asked a colleague for help, changed into her own clothes, and hurried out of the inpatient building.
The bodyguard at the entrance had already started the car. Seeing her come out, she immediately opened the door.
They sped all the way to First People’s Hospital, where Wang Manyu was staying.
——————
ICU visiting hours were limited.
When Wen Yan reached the ward door, she happened to see a nurse opening it. Through that half-open doorway, she saw Wen Chen sitting by the bed, holding Wang Manyu’s hand.
Wang Manyu’s sobbing voice, thick with illness, drifted out in broken pieces: “Chenchen, my Chenchen...”
The elderly woman lay on the bed, her face still as pale as paper, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.
She gripped Wen Chen’s hand so tightly, as if clutching the last straw that could save her; no matter what, she refused to let go. “You finally came back... Mom knew you wouldn’t abandon me.”
She coughed twice. Her breath was weak, but every word was a knife.
“Then even if Mom dies now, there’ll still be someone to send me off..."
“My whole life, I never asked for anything else. I only ever wanted to die by my son’s side, so when I go underground, I’ll have the face to meet your grandfather.”
Her voice paused; her gaze drifted toward the window, as if she were looking at something far away.
“Daughters... in the end, they’re water spilled once they’re married out. They can’t be relied on..."
Wen Yan could no longer make out the words after that.
She stood at the end of the corridor, unable to take another step, as if her feet had been filled with lead.
At the center of her chest, it felt as if a cold hand had closed around her heart and slowly tightened, bringing a dull pain with it.
Pain.
It really hurt; the ache spread from her chest all the way to her fingertips, making even breathing difficult.
Even though it wasn’t the first time she had heard it, she still felt hurt by it.
It was like that intermittent spring rain that came down every year, twice or so, cold enough to poison someone.
It was always the same; in her mother’s heart, there had never been anyone but her son. Her worry, her attachment, her dependence, had never had anything to do with Wen Yan.
Wen Yan stood there and looked for a few seconds.
After a moment, she withdrew her gaze, turned without a sound, and left the corridor.
Since she wasn’t needed here, why should she keep forcing herself in to take a share of the humiliation?
——————
Because she had taken leave, the afternoon was free.
Wen Yan wandered around outside for a while. When she came back, it was still early, so she stopped by the supermarket downstairs and bought some ingredients.
After returning home, she went straight to the kitchen and started working.
Half a fresh village chicken was rubbed with salt-baked chicken powder, then stuffed with five-fingered peach root and a spoonful of Moutai before being sealed into the pressure cooker to stew.
While the chicken simmered, she sliced the New Year beef and marinated it, then took out a fruit knife and cut cucumber into thin shreds.
Slice by slice, within the mechanical rhythm, her scattered thoughts gradually settled down as well.
The cucumber was soon done. She poured the sliced beef into boiling water to blanch it, fished it out, and laid it over the emerald-green cucumber shreds before drizzling on a bowl of seasoning that had been splashed with hot oil.
In an instant, it sizzled and popped, fragrant and spicy.
Wen Yan tasted a bite. Mm... very fragrant. It was the flavor Jin Zijin liked.
Next came the shrimp stir-fry.
She first stir-fried peas and corn kernels in a frying pan until cooked, then poured in the shrimp and tossed everything together. The colors were bright and lively.
Wen Yan gave the pan a shake; flames leaped up and fell back down, the shrimp tumbling in the wok as she poured in the mixed starch slurry.
High heat, reduce the sauce; done.
The last dish was a simple cabbage and tofu soup.
By the time the soup was simmering, the pressure cooker had been steaming for a long while, and the aroma of salt-baked chicken was already seeping out in little hisses.
Wen Yan turned off the heat. When the soup was ready, she opened the pressure cooker. The chicken skin inside was golden, shining with an appetizing gloss.
She poked it with chopsticks; the meat was already tender and falling apart, cooked just right.
Three dishes and one soup; done.
By her estimate, Jin Zijin should be back soon, so it was time to bring the dishes to the table.
Wen Yan started clearing the bowls and chopsticks, setting the finished food out. Just as she put the last dish down, the electronic chime of the front door opening sounded from the entryway.
Wen Yan looked up; sure enough, it was Jin Zijin.
The woman entered the foyer in a black suit, carrying the cold and dust of the outside world with her.
Wen Yan lifted her eyes and curved her lips. “You’re back?”
Jin Zijin met her gaze, and her brows and eyes softened. “It smells amazing.”
She changed her shoes, followed the fragrance into the living room, and looked at the neatly arranged dishes on the table, a clear flash of surprise crossing her eyes. “Why did you suddenly decide to cook today?”
Wen Yan was already ladling soup for her, the smile on her face never fading. “It’s been too long since I cooked for you. I had free time today, so I thought I’d make something homely.”
“Go wash your hands. It’s just finished; eat while it’s hot.”
Jin Zijin obeyed, washed her hands, and took her seat at the table. Then she picked up her chopsticks and first took a piece of salt-baked chicken.
Salty and fragrant on the tongue, with firm meat; it was the flavor she knew well.
“So good,” she praised without reservation. After tasting the cold beef, her eyes lit up. “How do you make this? It’s even more to my taste than what the hotel chefs do.”
Wen Yan sat across from her, smiling as she watched. “If it’s good, eat more. I spent forty minutes on it, so try everything.”
“Okay!”
Jin Zijin had always been generous with praise, and without another word she dug in.
At first, Wen Yan would still put a couple of bites onto Jin Zijin’s plate. After a while, seeing that Jin Zijin was perfectly capable of serving herself, she stopped.
She set down her chopsticks, rested her chin in her hand, and quietly watched Jin Zijin eat.
Her gaze was very gentle, like a pool of spring water, lingering on Jin Zijin with slow, tender persistence. The light fell into the depths of her eyes, reflecting tiny fragments of brightness, as if they hid traces of tears not yet dried.
Jin Zijin noticed her stare soon enough and asked, a little puzzled, “What is it?”
Wen Yan smiled, soft and warm. “Nothing. I’m just looking at you.”
Jin Zijin felt that her mood wasn’t quite right, but couldn’t quite tell where it was off. She tilted her head and asked curiously, “What’s so interesting about me?”
“Aren’t you looking at me every day already?”
“Even if I look every day, sometimes it still feels new.” Wen Yan’s voice was very soft, her eyes gentle.
Jin Zijin understood. “Oh. You miss me.”
Wen Yan nodded, openly and honestly. “Mm. I missed you.”
“I didn’t see you all day; I really missed you.”
“So eat faster and come play with me, okay?”
Jin Zijin looked at her serious expression, gave a huff, and said, “Fine, then I’ll keep you company.”
She winked at Wen Yan, her expression sly. “After I finish eating, I can stay with you for as long as you want!”
Wen Yan curved her lips and answered, “Okay.”
——————
Wang Manyu stayed under observation in ICU for a few more days. Once her vital signs were stable, she was transferred to a regular ward.
During that time, Wen Yan visited her twice.
The first time, she sat by the bed and silently peeled an apple. The fruit knife turned between her fingers; the peel fell in one continuous spiral, even in thickness from start to finish, never breaking once.
She cut it into small pieces, arranged them neatly on a plate, and placed it on the bedside table.
Through the whole process, she barely spoke.
Wang Manyu looked at her, as if she wanted to say something. Her lips moved, but in the end, she only stayed silent.
The second time, it was still only ten minutes.
Wen Yan asked about her condition; what her blood pressure was, whether her heart rate was stable, whether she had been taking her medicine on time.
Wang Manyu answered perfunctorily, yes and no, but her eyes kept drifting toward the doorway as if she were waiting for someone.
Wen Yan could see it clearly.
She followed her mother’s gaze. Outside the door, there was nothing; only the bodyguard stood straight and still.
She withdrew her gaze, lowered her eyes, and said nothing more.
After sitting for a while, she stood up, said she still had to go to work, and left.
Wen Chen, Wen Xinjian, and the bodyguards arranged by Jin Zijin all tacitly hid the current state of the Wang family from Wang Manyu.
They thought it would be better to let her rest quietly for a while; once her body had recovered, they could slowly tell her those awful things, rather than upsetting her now.
But paper could not wrap fire forever.
That afternoon, Wen Yan was sitting in the stone workshop making a stone knife.
Jin Zijin was too busy to spend much time with her, so she could only sort through her emotions by other means.
Halfway through making the knife, the phone she had set aside suddenly rang.
She glanced at the screen. It was an unfamiliar number.
Her instincts told Wen Yan this was probably Wang Manyu calling. She took off her goggles and answered.
“Wen Yan!”
On the other end, Wang Manyu’s voice was full of tears and a trace of desperate hysteria, striking Wen Yan’s eardrum at once.
“Mom has never begged you for anything in my whole life!”
“Please, save your grandfather and save your uncle! They’re about to collapse!”
Wen Yan immediately tightened her grip on the phone. She quickly composed herself and deliberately sounded confused. “Mom, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
“Stop pretending!”
Wang Manyu suddenly barked harshly, her voice shrill and grating, like nails scraping across glass.
“I know what happened to your grandfather! The company has delisted, your uncle’s being beaten inside, and your grandfather is going everywhere begging for help; he can’t even get through the door!”
“It’s all because of you!”
Her voice was full of accusation; every word was a poisoned needle stabbing toward Wen Yan. “If you weren’t so useless, if you had gotten Jin Zijin to help, how could the Wang family have ended up like this?”
“I gave birth to you, raised you with one hand in shit and one hand in piss, and never once demanded anything from you!”
“Now it’s time for you to repay me! Wen Yan, go beg Jin Zijin and tell her to help the Wang family again, to save your uncle and grandfather!”
Wen Yan closed her eyes; when she opened them again, her gaze was already cold and calm.
“Mom, don’t rush,” Wen Yan said, steadying her voice to comfort her. “Let’s talk about this face to face. I’ll come see you right away.”
With that, she immediately hung up, set down the stone knife, grabbed her car keys, and headed out.
She drove straight to the hospital.
As soon as Wen Yan reached the door of Wang Manyu’s ward, she heard a thunderous argument coming from inside.
“You and Wen Yan are both ingrates! Both of you are heartless things!”
Wang Manyu’s voice was shrill and piercing, cutting through the door to reach Wen Yan’s ears clearly.
She stood outside the door and paused.
“You’re all just standing there watching my father and my little brother die; are your hearts made of stone?!”
“And you, Wen Xinjian!”
Along with the words came the sharp crash of something breaking.
“If it weren’t for my father’s investment back then, you’d still just be some poor minor clerk! Would you have what you have today? Would you be sitting in that position?”
“Now you turn on us and refuse to recognize anyone; do you think you’ve done right by me? By the Wang family?”
Wen Yan drew a deep breath and pushed the door open. The ward was in complete disarray.
Wang Manyu sat on the hospital bed, pointing at Wen Xinjian’s nose and cursing him at the top of her lungs.
Her hospital gown was wrinkled and crumpled, her hair a mess, her face frighteningly pale, but a mad fire burned in her eyes, making her look almost deranged.
Wen Xinjian stood to the side, his face ashen. His lips trembled violently. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he never got a single word out.
Wen Chen stood in front of the bed, his fists clenched so tightly they crackled. The anger in his eyes was practically overflowing.
“That’s enough!”
At last he could not take it anymore. He lunged a step forward and roared at Wang Manyu with twenty-odd years of pent-up rage: “Yes, we have no conscience!”
“All of us in the Wen family have no conscience!”
“We’ve had our conscience eaten by dogs!”
His shout left Wang Manyu, who was sitting on the bed, completely stunned.
Wen Chen sneered at the sight. “In your eyes, only your father and your brother matter; your whole Wang family has the most conscience!”
“Oh, no—” Wen Chen corrected himself, laughing coldly. “It should be your father and your older brother!”
“One of them caused a death with his car and forced you to take his place and pay with your life! The other’s in prison, having someone poison you, trying to take your life!”
“They’re the most conscientious people in the world, the best family imaginable!”
Wen Chen stepped closer and closer to the bed, continuing in the same merciless tone. “When you were little, even though you were born after your younger brother, your grandfather said you were the older sister and had to yield to him! Even though the family had enough money to support two college students, they made you drop out after high school to work, so you could support your brother’s studies abroad!”
“All the risky contracts in the family were signed by you! All the money the Wen family earned went to patch up the Wang family! There was a time when the family was so poor we couldn’t even afford lunch at school for Yan Yan, but your precious niece could take the money you gave her and travel around Europe!”
“What kind of family is that? That’s clearly your slave owners!”
“Even slaves are more useful than you are, my dear mother!”
Wang Manyu’s eyes widened. She stared at him in shock, as if seeing him for the first time, or as if he were some kind of evil ghost, her expression full of terror.
Wen Chen was furious to the point of madness and gave Wang Manyu no face at all; his mocking words poured out like a bursting flood. “Wake up! There are no slaves in New China anymore, my mother!”
“Your father never treated you like a daughter; he only saw you as a stepping stone for his son. Your good brother only treated you like a bottomless blood bag!”
“In their eyes, you aren’t even a person! They don’t love you at all!”
At this point, Wen Chen raised his voice and pointed to himself, each word striking like a fatal blow. “The only people who love you are me and Wen Yan!”
“Only me and Wen Yan!”
“Even after you’ve hurt us again and again, even after we’ve been disappointed in you again and again, we’re still by your side; we still want to save you!”
The ward fell into dead silence.
Wang Manyu’s face cycled through green and white. She looked at her emotionally agitated son, her lips trembling violently.
In her eyes there was anger, panic, and a trace of fear from being exposed.
Wen Yan stood at the doorway, silently watching it all.
In a surge of fury, Wang Manyu raised her arm and slapped Wen Chen hard across the face with nearly all her strength.
Smack!
The sharp crack of the slap exploded in the quiet ward.
Wen Chen’s head was knocked to the side. Half his face swelled red at once, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at Wang Manyu with a mocking expression. “You can’t handle the truth?”
“And if I use all the things you used to say to Wen Yan on you, are you going to die or something..."
Before the word “Mom” could even leave his mouth, Wang Manyu shouted him down. “Shut up!”
Wang Manyu shrieked in hysteria, her voice so sharp it nearly pierced the eardrums. “Shut your mouth!”
“Be quiet!”
She pointed at Wen Chen, her eyes bloodshot, looking mad with rage. “I gave birth to you!”
She roared, every word squeezed out from between her teeth. “What right do you have to scold me!”
“I gave birth to you! Your life is mine! Mine!”
“You do whatever I tell you to do!”
She shouted those two lines with all her strength, as if she were not speaking to Wen Chen, but to herself.
As if she were offering the final defense for the obsession she had held for more than twenty years.
As if she were trying to find a halfway decent excuse for her absurd life.
Wen Chen held his face and stared at her blankly.
Wang Manyu’s fingers trembled as she pointed at him, then at Wen Yan, who had just entered. Her lips quivered as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
“You... you...”
Before she could finish, her vision went black and her body suddenly pitched to one side.
“Mom!”
“Mom!”
Wen Yan and Wen Chen cried out at the same time and lunged forward, catching her limp body together.
——————
The red light outside the emergency room lit up again.
The blinding red glow hung at the end of the corridor like a silent verdict; it flashed on and off, washing over everyone’s faces and turning them paper-white.
Wen Chen and Wen Yan stood shoulder to shoulder outside the emergency room, leaning against the cold wall.
The chill of the wall seeped through their clothes into their skin, mixing with the cold in their hearts until it was impossible to tell which was colder.
After a long while, Wen Chen lifted a hand and covered the swollen side of his face. He clicked his tongue. “That hurts.”
Wen Yan looked at the clear handprint on his face and let out a cold laugh. “Serves you right.”
“Who told you to say those things?”
Wen Chen turned his head to look at her and let out a long sigh. “I just wanted to shake her awake, to stop her from being so stubbornly muddle-headed.”
Wen Yan lowered her eyes, looking at her clasped hands, and said nothing.
She was silent for a very long time.
So long that Wen Chen thought she would never speak again.
Then, all at once, she lifted her head and looked at him.
Wen Yan’s eyes were calm to the point of cruelty, yet they carried a deep, piercing understanding. “If she could really be scolded awake, she wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
She paused, letting her gaze drift toward the emergency room doors, a touch of pity in her eyes. “She’s lived sixty years already; her worldview is long since set. In her fixed understanding, doing everything she can to repay the Wang family is the right thing, the meaning of her life.”
“Maybe she’s thought about whether that meaning is right.”
“But Grandfather has been too cruel to her. Once she really examines it, everything she’s given in the past will become a joke.”
“The beliefs she’s relied on to survive will turn into a meat grinder, crushing her soul and her dignity into pieces.”
“Her world would collapse completely.”
As she said this, Wen Yan drew her gaze back and looked up at the ceiling.
The corridor lights were painfully bright, making her eyes sting.
She forced down the ache in her throat and spoke through a tight, choking voice. “Rather than that, it’s better to let her live like this, numb.”
At the very least, that version of her still has one reason to keep living.
Even if that reason is a shackle that locks her away for life.
Wen Chen listened to her, slowly lowering the hand that covered his face.
He looked at the tightly shut emergency room door; the anger in his eyes gradually faded, leaving only deep fatigue and helplessness.
The siblings stood side by side, neither of them saying anything else.
The corridor was so quiet they could only hear their own heartbeats, along with the faint sounds coming from the nurses’ station in the distance.
After a long while, Wen Chen turned to Wen Yan. “So that’s the reason you never argue with her anymore after growing up?”
Wen Yan did not answer. Wen Chen let out a wail, ran a hand through his hair until it was a mess, and said a little frantically, “Ah... should I not have said all that to her?”
“What if I angered her to death?”
TL Note:
“water spilled once they’re married out” (女儿终究是泼出去的水) means married daughters are treated as having left the family and not being dependable.
“paper could not wrap fire forever” (纸终究包不住火) means a secret can’t stay hidden forever.
“one hand in shit and one hand in piss” (一把屎一把尿) means she raised you through extreme hardship and sacrifice.