The on-duty nurse gasped when she saw Yu Yi bring in several blood-covered children. She quickly ran from behind the desk, guiding Yu Yi to the emergency room as she carefully carried the children.
After examining the children’s injuries, Dr. Zheng was furious. He asked Yu Yi, “Who was so cruel as to harm them? I’m calling the police!”
Yu Yi frowned and shook her head: “Dr. Zheng, the people who harmed them have deep influence here. Calling the police would be useless and might endanger these children. Please treat them. I only have this much money now, please take it. I’ll bring full payment in a few days.”
Dr. Zheng, seeing Yu Yi’s maid outfit and a handful of copper coins, raised his hand to refuse: “Miss, don’t worry about the medical fees.”
Our hospital is subsidized by the church. The children’s medical expenses can be covered by the church.”
Yu Yi nodded: “Dr. Zheng, can they be healed?”
Dr. Zheng said heavily: “Only two can be completely healed, but they’ll have scars on their face and body. The severely injured child has a serious infection – it’s uncertain if he’ll survive. As for the older one, while his wounds can heal, but…”
He looked at the one-eyed child sitting far away, sighed, and gently shook his head. Then he looked at Yu Yi: “Do you know where their family is, who their parents are?”
“Dr. Zheng, do you know of a place called Wang Village?”
On the way, Yu Yi had asked the children their names, parents’ names, and where they were from. The one-eyed child said his name was Qiang, that he had been underground for a long time, only remembering he was kidnapped when he was seven and had been kept there since. He didn’t know his parents’ names, only calling them Mom and Dad. He couldn’t recall where his home was, only remembering the village was called Wang Village.
Dr. Zheng thought for a moment: “I don’t recall, but it’s at least a lead.”
Yu Yi said: “I need to go back to work.”
Yu Yi left the hospital and hurried back. The house was quiet. She slipped back in through the back door to her room, changed and hid her dirty clothes, quickly washed, changed into clean clothes, and had just lain down for a moment when she heard a car approaching the driveway.
Opening and closing car doors, in the quiet night, these sounds were light yet incredibly clear. Yu Yi still couldn’t believe that this military warlord, who appeared ordinary on the surface but slightly fierce and domineering, actually had such a cruel and bloodthirsty side deep down! She couldn’t help but shiver. Did Ding Jingman know about this side of him? After a long while with no sound, Yu Yi thought that Tu Feibai probably wouldn’t go to the study so late, so he would likely not discover anything unusual until early tomorrow morning. She had been in an extremely tense mental state for most of the night, both physically and mentally exhausted, and fell asleep as soon as she relaxed.
The door was opened, and Yu Yi instantly woke up, looking towards the doorway. A black figure stood at the door, backlit by the dim hallway light, making his features indistinguishable, but from the crisp military uniform outline, Yu Yi could roughly guess who it was.
“Me,” he replied.
Yu Yi quickly grabbed and put on the outer clothing by her bed. “Is Madam sick again? A Ju is sleeping too deeply and didn’t hear Madam calling…”
Tu Feibai said nothing, just reached out and turned on the room’s light. Yu Yi squinted uncomfortably, simultaneously raising her arm to shield her eyes. Tu Feibai walked slowly to the bedside.
Yu Yi buttoned her clothes, got out of bed, put on her shoes, and looked at Tu Feibai in a fluster: “Commander, so late…”
Tu Feibai saw she indeed looked like she had just woken up, her hair disheveled, but among the people around him, only A Ju had recently appeared. If anyone seemed suspicious, it was her.
He spoke coldly: “Did you go to the study?”
Yu Yi shook her head repeatedly: “No!”
Tu Feibai narrowed his eyes: “Why are you panicking?”
Yu Yi clasped her hands in front of her chest, timidly saying: “It’s so late, Commander suddenly bursting in…”
Tu Feibai raised an eyebrow, seemingly accepting her explanation, but still not letting her off.
He stared at her intently and slowly said: “Someone secretly entered my study tonight and stole something…”
Yu Yi looked as if she suddenly understood, hurriedly shaking her head: “It wasn’t A Ju! Commander, you must believe A Ju. A Ju wants to work hard. If Madam doesn’t mind, A Ju wants to continue working here. A Ju won’t steal. My parents taught me from childhood that stealing is wrong…”
“Really not you?”
“Really not! A Ju has never been inside the study, only went to the door once when Madam brought soup. And, and…”
“And what?”
“Another time when Madam was napping, A Ju wanted to clean downstairs and passed by the study door. But A Ju didn’t go in because Gong Battalion Commander was coming out of the study.”
Tu Feibai was unexpectedly surprised: “Gong Battalion Commander? Which day? Was I in the study?”
“It was just after A Ju arrived. That day, Gong Battalion Commander even said he would take A Ju to a nightclub, but then the Commander came in from outside.”
“The day I took you in the car?”
Yu Yi nodded.
Tu Feibai’s brow furrowed deeply. Gong Shi had been with him all night, so he supposedly had no opportunity to let those children escape. He pondered, looking at Yu Yi with half-belief and half-doubt.
Yu Yi, seeing she had successfully shifted suspicion to Gong Shi, added fuel to the fire: “Yesterday afternoon, A Ju also saw Gong Battalion Commander coming out of the study, seeming to be hiding something in his arms…”
Tu Feibai shouted: “Why didn’t you say so yesterday?!”
Yu Yi shrank back, stepping half a pace backward: “A Ju didn’t know then, just thought the Commander asked him to get something. How could A Ju dare suspect Gong Battalion Commander?”
Tu Feibai coldly looked at her for a moment, then suddenly reached out and grabbed her upper arm: “Come, let’s go find Gong Shi.”
After separating from Tu Feibai, Gong Shi returned to his residence and began packing his luggage, preparing to flee overnight, when suddenly he heard loud knocking at the door.
He lazily asked, “Who is it?” while quickly standing up and looking down from the window. At the door stood Tu Feibai, holding A Ju, with four or five soldiers behind him.
Gong Shi couldn’t help but feel alarmed. He hadn’t yet had a chance to send out the telegram and letters stolen from Tu Feibai. Could Tu Feibai have already discovered this and come to arrest him? But his bringing A Ju didn’t seem quite like that.
However, such a lineup appearing at his door in the middle of the night couldn’t possibly be with good intentions.
Gong Shi looked down at himself, then at the room. It was messy, with luggage half-packed. Pretending to have just woken up would look suspicious. He might as well run immediately – he was going to leave anyway, and delivering these items would be a great achievement, with promotion and wealth waiting for him! There was no need to take risks by staying.
He spoke in a voice as if just awakened, lazily asking, “Who is it? Knocking at the door in the middle of the night?” Meanwhile, he quickly took out a small package from his luggage and reached into the hidden compartment under the tea table, retrieving a document bag and putting it in his pocket. Then he hurriedly went downstairs, climbed out the back window, and easily scaled the wall.
However, upon landing, he found several gun barrels pointed directly at him.
Gong Shi sighed. The telegram and letters were already archived by Tu Feibai in the safe in his secret room. How did things get exposed?
