Chapter 77 Chapter 77: The Beginning Of Reliance
Chapter 77: The Beginning Of Reliance
The surrounding clamor buzzed in her ears, yet Su Tao merely held Chi Xiaocheng, her face somewhat blank.
Chi Song had arrived, and fighting had resumed.
What he said afterward was somewhat indistinct.
She vaguely remembered getting into the car together, her eyes fixed solely on the weak, pale little face.
The car wound its way to Dongfang Yang's private hospital. He had clearly just arrived as well, and after instructing the doctors to place Chi Xiaocheng on a stretcher, he frowned and looked towards Su Tao.
“What happened now? Did she hurt herself again?”
“It was that Ye Liang!” Chi Song stood beside Su Tao, the anger in his eyes undiminished.
Just now, he and his subordinates had engaged in a fierce battle with the bodyguards Ye Liang had brought.
Every one of his ten guys had been with him for the past two years, fighting their way through countless skirmishes. Even though Ye Liang's bodyguards were standardly trained, those men were clearly formally recruited.
They utterly lacked that ruthless edge.
In less than ten minutes, every one of them was lying prostrate on the ground.
Wails of pain filled the air.
As for Ye Liang, he had been beaten half to death by an enraged Chi Song, his body covered in bruises. Even so, his CEO's pride kept him from falling or begging for mercy.
If Liang Hei hadn't held him back, telling him that the aftermath of anything happening to Ye Liang would only be worse.
Chi Song would have at least crippled him.
Under the immense pressure from Chi Xiaocheng's situation, Su Tao's mind had briefly crashed, losing all reason.
Chi Song and his group of subordinates were blunt, rough-and-tumble men.
They hadn't considered the consequences of beating Ye Liang like that. Only afterward, fearing that Chi Xiaocheng was fading fast, did they hastily bring her to the hospital.
Chi Song glanced at Su Tao, who was still somewhat dazed, and sighed, “Xiao Tao must have been hit pretty hard too.”
He placed a large hand on her back and patted it gently.
Only then did Su Tao abruptly come back to her senses.
Her haggard face tried to muster a smile, but finding it unbearably bitter, she lowered her head again.
The specks of fine snow clinging to her beautiful hair on her shoulders remained unbrushed.
“Sorry, I zoned out.”
Su Tao turned her head again, watching the doctors and nurses go inside, her mood growing heavier and more complex.
Dongfang Yang looked at Su Tao, finding her expression strangely familiar.
On the night they came down from the rooftop, Su Tao had worn the same expression for a long time.
Like self-isolation, yet more severe than that.
Lost, pained, conflicted, like someone drowning, struggling desperately.
Her incredibly gaunt face was heartbreaking to see.
Her tender pink lips were chapped from the cold, but she didn't even notice.
After a helpless sigh, Dongfang Yang looked towards Chi Song, his gaze momentarily flicking to the latter's bandaged arm, and asked, “Brother, could you tell me exactly what happened?”
As he spoke, Dongfang Yang extended a hand. “My name is Dongfang Yang. I'm a friend of Chi Xiaocheng and Su Tao.”
Chi Song paused for a moment.
After wiping his hand several times on his clothes, he shook Dongfang Yang's hand, smiling straightforwardly. “I'm Chi Song, Xiaocheng's brother.”
“I've heard of you,” Dongfang Yang said, glancing at Su Tao before leading Chi Song aside. “Su Tao told me that even though she's an orphan, there's someone who looked after her like a real brother.”
Chi Song gave a shy smile. “Xiao Tao mentioned you too.”
Dongfang Yang raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What did Su Tao say about me?”
“She said you're a kind-hearted tsundere, a good person.”
Instantly, Dongfang Yang's face froze.
“Come on, buddy, praise is fine, but don't go giving me the 'good guy' card.”
“When have I ever been a tsundere!”
He clicked his tongue and decisively changed the subject. “Brother Chi, what do you mean when you say Ye Liang did it?”
Chi Song sighed and recounted what had happened there.
“When I arrived, I saw that Ye Liang had stabbed my sister and was trying to attack Xiao Tao too. I respected him as the young master of the Ye family, and even though I knew he'd been targeting my sister these past few days, I didn't go looking for trouble with him.”
“Who would have thought this guy would go crazy and attack two defenceless young girls!”
These two young girls, with their delicate skin, looked utterly fragile, probably wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken.
And Ye Liang still dared to lay his hands on them!
He's truly inhumane!
After hearing Chi Song's description, Dongfang Yang couldn't help but gasp.
He had only known that Ye Liang and Chi Xiaocheng had a small disagreement.
He never expected it to escalate so much!
However, to find out exactly what happened, he would have to ask Su Tao.
Returning to the hospital entrance, Dongfang Yang saw Su Tao still sitting blankly on the chair. He couldn't help but sigh, putting aside his intention to ask questions.
Looking at her with concern, he said, “If you're tired, go back and rest, or you can sleep here in the hospital. There are plenty of empty rooms.”
Su Tao parted her dry lips. “Is Xiaocheng... alright?”
At that moment, a female doctor walked over. “She's fine. The knife didn't hit any vital organs, and it wasn't very deep. Her cells are more active than an average person's, so there's no need to worry.”
Hearing the doctor's words, both Su Tao and Dongfang Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Tao closed her eyes, her voice full of confusion. “Dongfang Yang, what do you think I should do?”
Dongfang Yang said softly, “Don't overthink it. Although I don't know what happened, you should go get some sleep first. Your complexion is terrible.”
To describe Su Tao's appearance as merely 'terrible' was an understatement.
Her hair was disheveled, her face deathly pale, and fine lines had etched themselves at the corners of her eyes from prolonged frowning in pain. Her once beautiful eyes held pitifully little color.
She looked as though she had been broken, her entire being radiating an aura of desperate melancholy.
Su Tao opened her mouth, looking pleadingly at the handsome man before her. “Dongfang Yang, could you talk with me for a while?”
Dongfang Yang's heart softened, but he still shook his head. “I'm sorry, Su Tao. You've caused such a big commotion. Setting aside Ye Liang himself, the people around him will also investigate and target you and Chi Xiaocheng.”
“Before things escalate further, I need to go deal with it, otherwise it will affect your lives going forward.”
With that, Dongfang Yang looked at Chi Song. “Brother Chi, you were too impulsive earlier. Come with me for a bit. At the very least, you need to apologize. With me there, they won't dare to make things difficult for you, and there's a chance this matter can be put behind us.”
Watching Dongfang Yang and Chi Song say their goodbyes and leave, Su Tao steadied herself against the wall, slowly rose, and lifelessly walked out of the hospital.
She called Si Chen on her phone.
The call didn't connect.
She sent a message to Doctor Cheng Yi.
Doctor Cheng Yi hadn't read it, busy.
Chen Qian and her roommate were nowhere to be found, unreachable.
It seemed everyone connected to Chi Xiaocheng, those she could confide in and who could be her pillar of support, had all vanished.
Of course, she had other friends, but...
Could she tell them about this? If Chi Xiaocheng's situation with Ye Liang was already like this, would involving more people harm them?
Keeping it bottled up made the matter feel increasingly heavy.
She simply walked aimlessly, and without realizing it, Su Tao found herself at the entrance of Chi Xiaocheng's house.
This gate brought back scene after scene from the dark room a week ago.
Breathing... was so painful.
Thinking... was so difficult.
She wanted to give up thinking, give up on reality, give up on everything.
But what was the difference between collapsing here and abandoning Xiaocheng?
Yet if she didn't give up on her, was the current Xiaocheng still Xiaocheng?
Fear, dread.
Conflict, struggle.
Su Tao desperately wanted to find something that could be her fulcrum, something to relieve her pressure.
No matter what it was, no matter if it caused discomfort, as long as it could make her forget everything that had happened today!
She slowly walked into the living room, then abruptly looked at the refrigerator, her Adam's apple bobbing.
She... kind of wanted to drink orange juice.
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