The plane landed.
Although Su Ning hadn't returned yet, the connections between Southeast Asia and the mainland were close enough that news came back one after another. The people on the mainland were shocked each time, and by the end, they had become numb to it.
Even so.
When they saw the private jet, the crowd waiting to greet her couldn't help but gasp.
"Heavens, I thought the rumors were fake. It really is a private plane... Isn't that a bit too extravagant?"
"That's just what you think. To Miss Su, it's probably no different from buying a rickshaw. The Su family's ancestral graves must have been smoking green for ages to produce such a worthy descendant."
"I think too much good fortune isn't a good thing. Even if it doesn't harm you, it tends to bring trouble to those around you. And now... it's come true."
"I heard... he can't be saved."
Chen Huaiqian's heart sank.
Instinctively, he looked toward Half-Immortal Su and Su Zhenzhu at the front of the crowd. His head throbbed. Though he had managed to calm them down for now, paper could not wrap fire. They would still have to tell Su Ning.
But they had to do it slowly.
He thought of many things, of how to persuade her—how the situation was delicate and unspeakably tense.
The Nanking faction had been eyeing her with hostility, and she had angered quite a few people over the oil matter. Acting rashly could easily lead to irreparable chaos, giving the schemers an opening.
Also, the actual perpetrator had already been caught.
She could torture him however she pleased.
As for the special culprit with a high-status background, it wasn't really intentional.
If it had been anyone else, Chen Huaiqian was confident he could talk them around. But this was Su Ning... Would she listen?
Footsteps interrupted his thoughts.
He looked up.
The figure surrounded by the crowd seemed unchanged from before she left the country. Her eyes swept coldly over the group, predictably landing on the Su family.
"Uncle, Zhenzhu."
Su Ning smiled. "You could have just waited at home. There's so much sand in the air—why go through the trouble of coming all the way to pick me up?"
The dust storms in modern times were already fierce.
Compared to those in the Republican era, they were mere child's play.
One step out of the door, and you'd be eating dirt.
Before they could respond, Su Ning seemed to notice something and asked, "By the way, where's Su Chen? Why isn't he here?"
A silence fell around them.
Chen Huaiqian closed his eyes—
It's over.
—
Half-Immortal Su's heart ached.
He opened his mouth, trying to think of a temporary excuse, when his daughter's voice, calm yet trembling slightly, rang out beside him:
"Brother wanted to come too, but he was too badly injured and couldn't get out of his hospital bed. So he couldn't make it."
In that instant.
The silence was so profound that one could hear a pin drop.
Everyone stared at Su Zhenzhu in disbelief.
The girl remained unmoved.
She had heard those words over and over in the past two days and had tried hard to convince herself not to cause trouble for her cousin. But the moment she saw her cousin, she threw away every decision she had made.
Yes, how could she have forgotten?
Her cousin had long told them not to make decisions on her behalf under the guise of "for her own good."
"Injured?"
Su Ning's smile vanished. Her expression turned fierce as she looked at the expressions of those around her. She knew immediately that Su Chen's injury was no simple matter.
"Explain clearly what happened."
"It's Nanking. They sent people to Beiping to arrest some Communist spies, stirring up a huge commotion. It had nothing to do with us, but the day before yesterday, they suddenly came and took away some of Brother's men, claiming they Communists were among them. Brother went to negotiate, and shortly after, news came that he was injured. By the time we got to the hospital, he was already there."
Beside them, Jian Ren hurriedly said in a low voice, "The one who struck him has been caught. He's locked up in prison, barely holding on to life..."
"Did I ask you to speak?"
A cold female voice cut through.
Jian Ren froze.
"To the hospital."
At those three words, the henchmen silently parted the crowd, escorting Su Ning and the Su family out. Those left behind exchanged glances.
Someone who didn't know what had happened asked urgently, "What's going on? How did Su Chen get hurt? Who would dare pull the tiger's whiskers in Beiping? Don't they know Miss Su would kill them?"
"Didn't you hear just now? That's the whole story. The new official is burning his three fires of office. The Su family's famous wealth made them the perfect target to make an example. They grabbed the men, asked Su Chen to bring money to take them back—gain face and cash, then have a drink and a meal with Su Chen privately to build a connection. Win-win. Then something went wrong. Some greenhorn stabbed Su Chen."
"Damn, that's just bad luck."
"No kidding. I heard the blade was dirty. He's running a high fever and might not..."
"Miss Su cares so much about her family. This time, who knows how many people will get caught in the net? I'd better keep my head down so I don't get swept up."
"Don't worry too much. At most, it'll affect the people around the one who did it. I bet even that special envoy will be fine. He's already fled back to Nanking. With his identity and status, all he has to do is apologize and pay compensation, and it'll be over."
"Will Miss Su just let it go?"
"What else can she do? After all, behind him is the Nanking Central Government. They've pretty much unified the country now. I'm not trying to undermine anyone, but for all Miss Su's power, she's still just a merchant. When it's time to bow her head, she has to."
"What a shame about Su Chen. I was hoping to introduce my daughter to him."
"Ah, that's just his luck running thin. He wasn't meant to enjoy such blessings."
—
"That morning, I felt something was off. My heart was pounding too fast. I told him not to go, to let me read the omens first. But they were pressing him too hard, insisting he go in person, or they'd suspect the Su family of colluding with the Communists. We hadn't even heard of any Communists. He didn't want any more trouble, so he went. I should have stopped him..."
Half-Immortal Su's body trembled as tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
He wiped them away carelessly with his sleeve.
His beard and eyebrows were smeared and clumped together, making him look ugly and disheveled.
He didn't care. He muttered under his breath, "I'm supposed to be a fortune-teller. Heaven warned me, but I didn't believe it. Why didn't I stop him with my life? I deserve to die... I deserve to die..."
The man who had always been lively and jokey suddenly stopped smiling.
The impact was immense.
Su Zhenzhu lowered her head, unable to stop her own tears from streaming down. She bit her lip hard, trying to force herself to hate, to blame, to think of ways to make the one who struck the blow suffer a thousand deaths—him, his family, his lover—all to be utterly destroyed.
But she couldn't.
She couldn't.
In that moment, all Su Zhenzhu could remember was the time as a child when she fought someone else, came back battered and bruised with a handful of wild fruit, and reluctantly split a small portion with her.
Those fruits were so, so sour.
But eating them filled her stomach, eased the hunger a little.
Life had been so hard back then, between famines and wars. They hadn't starved or frozen to death. They had grown up somehow. Now times were better. Everything was fine. She thanked heaven every day, thanking Heaven for being kind to them.
But now, her brother was dying.
Why? Why? Why?
She might have been trembling, or maybe she wasn't. Maybe it was just the car shaking.
The next moment.
Someone pinched her chin. "Let go." Su Zhenzhu obeyed blankly, only to find her mouth filled with the taste of rust, and then she felt a sharp pain in her lips.
"Keep biting, and you'll end up looking like a rabbit."
The flesh had split open.
It was clear how hard Su Zhenzhu had bitten. Su Ning cracked a joke, but his heart was heavy.
After all, humans are not made of wood or stone—who can truly be without emotion?
Judging by the Su family’s expressions, Su Chen’s situation might really be dire.
The motorcade rushed recklessly through the streets.
They arrived at the hospital quickly.
At the door of the ward, Su Ning stopped, not entering immediately, but asking the doctor:
"Do we need to change clothes and disinfect?"
The tense doctor exhaled in relief and nodded hurriedly. The patient inside had a persistent high fever caused by a bacterial infection.
"All of you wait outside," Su Ning ordered.
Then he instructed Lin Sen, "Find doctors—Chinese medicine, Western medicine, domestic, and international. Bring them all to me, no matter the cost!"
"Yes."
Upon hearing this, Half-Immortal Su and Su Zhenzhu felt a flicker of hope rise again.
But they didn’t notice the doctor’s hesitant expression, as if he wanted to speak but held back.
In truth, this place had already gathered the best medical resources in Beiping. Who didn’t know how great the reward would be for curing Su Chen? Yet, in private conversations, they all shook their heads.
It was too severe.
Only four words applied—beyond the power of medicine to save.
Watching Su Ning and the others enter, the doctor shook his head. No matter how wealthy one was, there were always things in life beyond control—such as birth, aging, sickness, and death.
The moment Su Ning saw the person, his heart sank as well.
