Watching the people from the Revolutionary Committee surround the courtyard, Liu Weihong belatedly realized that she was about to get the short end of the stick once again.
This Qiao Lanshu was truly too sinister. She had long known that Qiao Lanshu was difficult to deal with and had many scheming tricks up her sleeve. She had never been a match for Qiao Lanshu before, and even her younger brother had suffered at Qiao Lanshu's hands.
And now, as luck would have it, she had run into Qiao Lanshu again.
Liu Weihong tried to force herself to calm down, but it was impossible right now. Her head was incredibly dizzy and aching. The wound on her forehead throbbed with pain, and warm blood was still slowly trickling down. The cut was definitely not shallow; she needed to see a doctor immediately.
Sitting on the ground, her head spinning, she hadn't even opened her mouth to defend herself.
Then she heard Director Guan of the Revolutionary Committee ask her in a mixture of panic and anger, Was it you? Did you beat Comrade Xiao Qiao to death with a carrying pole?
Liu Weihong: ...
Liu Weihong was so angry she almost passed out. She said resentfully, I already told you I didn't! No, I didn't, I didn't!
On the verge of a breakdown and incredibly dizzy, Liu Weihong quickly steadied herself and said to Guan Wenjun, Director Guan, do you know whose house this is? This is Zheng Weigong's house! I am his family. A group of you just barge in here like this and slander me. I am not talking to you right now. I will wait until my Zheng Weigong comes back before saying anything.
Liu Weihong had also learned to be smart, knowing that trouble comes from the mouth.
Just paying lip service, not only could she not out-talk them, but she also really didn't have the energy for it right now.
Guan Wenjun, of course, knew this was Zheng Weigong's house. He said coldly, A life for a life! Even if Zheng Weigong were here, he would still have to come with me!
Liu Weihong: ...
At this time, Qiao Lanshu, lying in Zhong Mei's arms and listening to them talk, suddenly became a bit anxious.
She was faking it, and she couldn't let this drag on any longer.
Delaying would be disadvantageous for them. She needed to get to the hospital immediately; once in the hospital, everything would be easier to handle.
Since that Zheng Weigong could become the section chief of the supply department, he must be very smart.
Someone had definitely gone to find Zheng Weigong by now, and he would probably be back very soon.
Feeling anxious, Qiao Lanshu tugged at Zhong Mei's clothes. Zhong Mei immediately lowered her head and held Qiao Lanshu's head tightly.
Qiao Lanshu whispered something in her ear, and Zhong Mei quickly called out to Guan Wenjun, no longer afraid that he might recognize her.
Zhong Mei: Director Guan! Xiao Qiao was just knocked unconscious by her. We need to hurry and send her to the hospital right now. We can't delay any longer! And Niuwa, this child was forcibly taken by this woman and is terrified now. Look at him, he has cried his voice hoarse. We can't let him stay here either.
Hearing this, Guan Wenjun hurriedly said, I know, I know. I've already sent someone to call a doctor... No, that's too slow. I will personally drive you to the hospital.
Saying that, he arranged for two other people and said, You two take her to the hospital and keep a close eye on her! After she gets out of the hospital, bring her to the Revolutionary Committee for questioning. Even if Zheng Weigong comes demanding her release, ignore him! If he dares to make a scene, tell him to go ask Qin Yuanzheng for her!
The people from the Revolutionary Committee immediately nodded in agreement and went to take Liu Weihong to see a doctor.
Guan Wenjun came over, picked up Qiao Lanshu, and hurriedly ran out the door.
Zhong Mei picked up Niuwa, who had stopped crying, and ran out right behind Guan Wenjun.
Niuwa had probably seen Qiao Lanshu faint and understood the severity of the situation. After crying alone in the corner, he surprisingly hadn't run away.
Qiao Lanshu had told him not to move around, and he indeed hadn't moved.
After getting into the car, Zhong Mei held Niuwa in her arms, pinched his cheek, and whispered, You little kid, you've finally been obedient and well-behaved for once. Good thing you didn't run around this time, otherwise I really wouldn't have had the time to chase after you.
Niuwa looked at Qiao Lanshu beside him, whose eyes were closed as if she were deeply unconscious, and whispered, Is the pretty sister dead?
He surprisingly wasn't calling her Auntie anymore, but changed it to pretty sister.
Zhong Mei found this amusing.
She glanced at Qiao Lanshu, knowing she was faking it, but she couldn't explain it to Niuwa.
Because Guan Wenjun was still driving in the front, and she absolutely couldn't let him know about this.
So she lowered her voice and whispered in Niuwa's ear, Don't worry, the pretty sister is fine. She's just too tired and fell asleep. She'll be fine once she wakes up.
Niuwa understood. The little child actually let out a very mature sigh of relief: Not dead? That's wonderful.
Zhong Mei looked at him, wondering in her heart why a child as young as Niuwa would constantly talk about death.
Did he even know what death meant?
Guan Wenjun drove very fast. In less than ten minutes, he arrived at the military region hospital, then hurriedly had someone bring out a stretcher to carry Qiao Lanshu inside.
Zhong Mei also carried Niuwa and followed them in.
Guan Wenjun anxiously asked the subordinate behind him, Did you send someone to the mining area troops to call for him? Is Qin Yuanzheng here yet?
The subordinate quickly replied, We sent someone a long time ago. Looking at the time, he should be arriving right about now.
Sure enough, just as they finished speaking, they saw several soldiers in military uniforms walking through the main entrance of the hospital.
The man leading the group was tall and had a cold, deep expression; it was none other than Qin Yuanzheng. Behind him followed four or five others also in uniform, including his adjutant, his orderly, and his chief of staff.
It wasn't clear what the group had been doing just now, but upon hearing the news, they had rushed over in a hurry.
They looked so aggressive that Guan Wenjun even shrank his neck under Qin Yuanzheng's glare.
Qin Yuanzheng walked over and asked, Where is my wife?
Guan Wenjun pointed to the inside of the ward: She was just sent in for an examination. We don't know the situation yet.
Qin Yuanzheng's face was dark. Outwardly, he remained calm as he asked again, Your people just came to pass a message, saying Xiao Qiao was beaten to death? Is that true?
Guan Wenjun had also initially thought Qiao Lanshu was beaten to death, but when he carried her into the car, he realized she wasn't dead. Her pulse was perfectly fine.
Qiao Lanshu had simply passed out.
At this moment, he quickly explained, No, she's not dead. They were talking nonsense. Xiao Qiao just fainted.
Qin Yuanzheng's gloomy and tense expression relaxed a little.
He turned his head to look at Zhong Mei. Zhong Mei was still holding Niuwa in her arms. Niuwa's eyes were swollen from crying. When he looked at Qin Yuanzheng, he also shrank his neck, lowered his head with a guilty conscience, and twiddled his thumbs, not daring to make a sound.
Qin Yuanzheng then asked Zhong Mei, What exactly is going on here? Tell me.
Zhong Mei was intimidated by the imposing aura of Qin Yuanzheng and his group of soldiers, thinking to herself that military officers really were majestic.
Just look at their physiques, look at their presence!
Guan Wenjun glanced at Zhong Mei a couple of times and called out to her, a bit frustrated, Hey, are you struck dumb? Brigade Commander Qin is asking you a question.
Zhong Mei shot Guan Wenjun a look, then, with her back to him, explained to Qin Yuanzheng what had happened.
The more Qin Yuanzheng listened, the worse his expression became. "Zheng Weigong's family member running into my house to snatch a child. What a fine thing to do."
Guan Wenjun glanced at the back of Zhong Mei's head. He silently walked over to Qin Yuanzheng's side, facing Zhong Mei directly, and then said, "Why would Zheng Weigong's family member want to snatch this child? Could it be that this child is actually Zheng Weigong's illegitimate son?"
Qin Yuanzheng said bluntly, "Impossible!"
There was no way this child was Zheng Weigong's illegitimate son.
Qin Yuanzheng sneered. "They ran to my house, snatched a child from my home, and injured my wife. I will not let this matter go easily; I will personally investigate this case."
As it happened, he was also planning to investigate Zheng Weigong to find out exactly why he wanted to snatch this child.
Guan Wenjun said, "His family member is also injured and is getting bandaged up in the hospital right now. After she's done, I'll send her to the police station. Then you and Li Jianlin can handle this matter together. I'm staying out of it."
Guan Wenjun was busy finalizing his own work arrangements and truly didn't want to meddle in these affairs anymore.
Before long, the doctor emerged from Qiao Lanshu's ward.
Qin Yuanzheng and the others immediately went forward to meet him.
Although Qin Yuanzheng's face was calm, his eyes still revealed his worry. He asked nervously, "Doctor, how is my wife?"
The doctor remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "She should be fine. The blood on her face belongs to someone else. I just examined her, and she has no obvious external injuries, let alone any bleeding."
Qin Yuanzheng's face darkened, and his voice grew a bit colder. "Then why did my wife faint? Could it be internal injuries?"
Frightened by Qin Yuanzheng's imposing aura, the doctor fell silent for another few seconds. In truth, he felt that the patient didn't look like she had fainted; instead, it seemed more like she had fallen asleep...
But he didn't dare to say that. Besides, when it came to head injuries, it was hard to say for sure.
He chose his words carefully, "This is still uncertain at the moment. We have to wait until the patient wakes up and ask her. Please don't worry. The patient is not in danger. Why don't we wait for her to wake up first?"
Qin Yuanzheng naturally listened to the doctor, so he nodded.
After the doctor left, Qin Yuanzheng asked his subordinates to go back first. He wanted to stay behind at the hospital.
Immediately after, he asked Zhong Mei in a cold, deep voice, "You said that when you rushed over, Zheng Weigong's family member was grabbing Xiao Qiao by the hair and hitting her?"
Zhong Mei nodded, adding embellishments to the story. "Yes! You know it too, Lanshu just has too soft of a personality. She never fights. Being dragged by the hair by that woman, she couldn't run away, and she couldn't fight back either. That woman was so ruthless, scratching and hitting Lanshu's face and head. Niuwa was terrified and cried until his voice went hoarse."
The more Qin Yuanzheng listened, the uglier his expression became.
Standing to the side, Guan Wenjun heard this and frowned as well, saying, "Poor Comrade Xiao Qiao. She probably hasn't been beaten like this since she was a child. Lao Qin, you absolutely cannot settle this matter! Unless you let Xiao Qiao grab the other party's hair and hit her back!"
Qin Yuanzheng was furious, and at the same time, his heart ached.
His little wife was young and had a soft temperament. She normally wouldn't even argue with anyone, and she never even raised her voice when speaking to others.
How could such a gentle girl know how to fight?
Encountering such a fierce shrew this time, Xiao Qiao must have suffered a lot.
With a chest full of fierce hostility and nowhere to vent it, Qin Yuanzheng just stood there with a dark expression, not saying a word.
However, the aura he exuded frightened Zhong Mei into silently taking two steps back.
Niuwa was excessively quiet as well; looking at Qin Yuanzheng's face, he didn't even dare to whimper.
Guan Wenjun looked at Zhong Mei and suddenly asked, "What about you? Are you injured?"
Zhong Mei looked at him with a strange expression, seemingly a little surprised. "You're asking me?"
Guan Wenjun nodded, his expression a bit unnatural. "Didn't you also go fight? Are you hurt? Do you want to see a doctor and get a checkup?"
Zhong Mei immediately shook her head. "No need, I'm fine."
When it came to fighting, ordinary people were no match for her.
It was just Qiao Lanshu who had suffered a loss. Although she had pretended to faint, in the beginning, she had indeed been grabbed by the hair and beaten by Liu Weihong.
At this moment, the nurse came out and said they could go in to accompany the patient.
Qin Yuanzheng took large strides into the ward.
At first, Qiao Lanshu was pretending to have fainted, but later she actually fell asleep.
After all, she had been running and chasing for a good part of the day, and then being chased and hit for another half a day; it was quite tiring. However, she only slept for a short while.
By now, she was already awake.
After the nurse went out, she opened her eyes and saw Qin Yuanzheng.
She smiled. "Brother Zheng, you're here?"
Qin Yuanzheng's expression was very ugly and cold. He walked over quickly without saying a word, first cupping Qiao Lanshu's face to look left and right.
Then, he went to look at Qiao Lanshu's hands. He reached his fingers into Qiao Lanshu's hair, pressing around everywhere, and asked in a low voice, "Does it hurt anywhere?"
Qiao Lanshu shook her head. "No, it doesn't hurt. Brother Zheng, I'm fine."
Qin Yuanzheng withdrew his hands and looked at the side of Qiao Lanshu's face and neck again.
At this time, he saw several scratched nail marks on Qiao Lanshu's neck.
As well as red slap marks.
Qiao Lanshu's skin was naturally fair and tender. Normally, if Qin Yuanzheng used just a little bit of force, it would leave marks.
He cherished Qiao Lanshu dearly and wanted to pamper her well.
Pampering her delicate white skin and flesh, he couldn't bear to let her get hurt. Even if she just got a mosquito bite normally, Qin Yuanzheng would feel uncomfortable for a long time.
Now look at this, someone had scratched several nail marks into his wife's neck.
A few of the nail marks had even broken the skin, leaving bloody streaks across her fair skin, which was extremely glaring to the eyes.
The hostility in Qin Yuanzheng's eyes instantly became uncontainable.
His voice turned gloomy, yet he still kept it very low, afraid of frightening Qiao Lanshu. He asked softly, "Does it hurt?"
Qiao Lanshu nodded. "It hurts."
Actually, when Qiao Lanshu was being grabbed and beaten by Liu Weihong, she was indeed quite panicked.
Normally, if she had been alone, avoiding this kind of thing would have been a breeze.
But at that time, because she had to look after Niuwa, she couldn't run away by herself and could only fight with Liu Weihong.
However, she really wasn't good at fighting, and that Liu Weihong was taller and bigger than her, so she truly didn't have the upper hand.
Qiao Lanshu reflected on it for a moment and said to Qin Yuanzheng, "Next time I encounter this kind of thing, I will grab a stick first. I absolutely cannot chase after them empty-handed like this again. It's too much of a disadvantage."
Those nail marks on her neck were considered superficial injuries, and the nurse had already disinfected them and applied medicine just now.
The nurse didn't take it seriously, thinking it was a minor matter.
But Qin Yuanzheng's heart ached terribly.
He said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. I will definitely get justice for you in this matter."
He would not let Zheng Weigong off easily. Compensation was secondary; he wanted to send Liu Weihong to a labor camp.
If he couldn't even seek justice for his own wife, then what kind of man was he?
