Chapter 89: A New Chapter

The amount of information he had taken in tonight was overwhelming; Qi Yan’s mind was muddled, like paste, and he could not digest it all at once.

But worse still was what awaited him next.

Hadn’t his phone been ruined in Linshui and reimbursed? When Qi Yan borrowed a phone to call his father...

the one who answered was someone from the hospital.

Afterward, father and son split up and ran in different directions. Then Qi Yan disappeared for a time. Back then, Qi Guoheng was already suffering from a heart attack, and in that panic and fury... he was sent straight to the hospital for emergency treatment.

And not even to the hospital where he himself was staying, but to the provincial medical center.

Qi Yan was so shocked that he sprang upright in bed at once, yet he himself was still hooked to an IV drip. How could he force himself to endure with his whole body already weak and powerless?

According to the hospital staff, his father had undergone emergency heart surgery only two hours earlier and still had not awakened. As for his exact condition, even the doctors did not dare make a judgment yet.

In that instant, what filled Qi Yan was not sorrow, but anxiety and a grief so heavy it felt like a bolt from the blue. What on earth was happening... Why had matters come to this?

Ever since he had acquired that sinister charm, disasters had struck one after another. Could he really have fallen under some sort of curse?

If Yan Bo and the others, together with the hospital attendants, had not held him back, he would have already rushed out without caring about anything else.

He could not calm down, and there was no way to calm down.

In the end, with no other choice, and since father and son were in different hospitals and he could not go see for himself, Qi Yan hurriedly called Dong Ye for help and asked him to go check on the situation for him.

It was early morning. Dong Ye naturally did not refuse, told him not to worry, and immediately headed to the provincial hospital.

After half a day of agonizing waiting on the bed, at last there was word. Dong Ye said that his father had indeed suffered a heart attack and undergone surgery, but he had not yet regained consciousness. Still, Dong Ye would remain there and watch over him, and Qi Yan should not worry too much and should first take care of his own body.

Even though Dong Ye did not know what had happened to them, the situation was urgent, and this was not the time to ask questions.

In just this one short week, how many people had been hospitalized because of injuries and pain? These unending blows would be more than anyone could bear.

It was not until afternoon that Yan Bo and the others left first, leaving Qi Yan to collect his thoughts in peace. Fortunately, Li Ruoke was also here. She shuttled between the two wards, going over to check on Li Lan for a while before coming back to see Qi Yan.

That day, Qi Yan was almost entirely lost in a daze on the hospital bed, his eyes red-rimmed. Even though he was already very sleepy, he did not fall asleep, and no one knew what he was thinking; in any case, dark clouds seemed to hang over his face.

By dinnertime, Li Ruoke came carrying a lunch box to bring him food, only to find Qi Yan on the phone, still discussing his father’s condition with Dong Ye.

“How is it? Any new news about your father at the provincial hospital?” Li Ruoke asked with concern.

After hanging up, Qi Yan remained silent for a long while, then stared ahead without the slightest expression and said, “No... For now I only know he’s just had heart surgery. Nothing else is clear... But at least there’s a good friend over there taking care of him, so I can feel a little more at ease...”

Li Ruoke let out a long breath.

“Why don’t you eat something first? Your body is already very weak as it is. If you keep worrying yourself sick, I’m afraid it’ll be even harder to recover. I know it’s impossible for you to calm down completely, and if you really feel restless, then why not sleep for a while? I’ll wake you up the moment your phone rings.” As she spoke, she handed the lunch box over.

Qi Yan took it, but only took it in his hands; he did not move. He turned his head slightly and looked at Li Ruoke.

Being fixed with that complex gaze, Li Ruoke became a little flustered again.

“I... I’m sorry. Your mind is in a mess right now, and you’re probably blaming me too, aren’t you? For not telling you the whole truth from the very beginning...” Even though she had only learned the full situation later herself, she had still hidden it from Qi Yan for a while, and so guilt remained in her heart.

If everything had been laid bare back in Bangkok, then at the very least Qi Yan would have been on guard against those people, and perhaps things would not have turned out so badly.

“You don’t need to apologize... Honestly, if I could, I’d really rather know nothing at all,” Qi Yan said, his tone remarkably calm. Though his heart was in turmoil, his outward appearance was the very opposite.

“I only want to ask you this... How did you get through it back then? I mean... after those unbearable things happened, how could you, as a girl, still hold on?” Li Ruoke had not expected him to ask about her own past at such a moment. It took her a long while to gather her thoughts and answer.

“Because I had to. If I had been on my own, I probably would have collapsed long ago. During those unimaginably dark days, the only reason I managed to stay strong was Lan...”

“Sometimes I envy people my age too. We’re all so young, so why is it that only we had to go through such painful things? But... aside from blaming it all on fate, I can’t think of any other explanation.”

“Right now I completely understand how you feel—that emptiness, that helplessness... even breathing feels excruciating. But sometimes fate is just this cruel. We’ve all suffered terribly, yet we don’t even have the right to fall down, because none of this is anywhere near over yet.”

Qi Yan seemed to nod in agreement, then changed the subject and asked again, “I never imagined you used to be a rich girl too? Your late parents were big business owners, weren’t they?”

Li Ruoke gave a self-mocking laugh.

“It doesn’t matter. Honestly, I do think... if my parents had only been ordinary wage earners, if their business had never done so well in the first place, they wouldn’t have suffered such a calamity.”

“Stop. How can you say that?” Qi Yan could not help interrupting her.

“As if it were your fault?”

Li Ruoke also knew her words were not quite appropriate, but sometimes she could not help thinking that way.

“Yes... I can never truly let go of the blood debt of Dingtai. It’s an unsolved case that can’t be investigated through proper channels, and that is what I find hardest to accept. Of course I hate them. All these years I’ve hated them while still having to hide everything from my younger brother... I could only speak to you about it.”

His gaze went distant, and the two of them fell silent together once more.

After a full ten minutes, Qi Yan finally spoke.

“I want to know what Yan Bo and the others are thinking. What are we supposed to do now? Our enemies are so powerful... how are we meant to resist?” Li Ruoke explained.

“Qianqian and I... Since those people are doing everything they can to gather the yin tokens from the Nether Palace, all we can do now is... race them for time.”

“Because it’s not just you. There are other holders of the yin tokens chosen by that black temple. There are seven tokens in all, and three still remain unaccounted for. But you heard it before: these seven people, you included, will undoubtedly become their targets. That much is absolutely certain.”

“Xiao Yihong wants to kill all the yin token holders, and we have to find them first—just as we’re protecting you now—and shield them before they can be harmed. No matter what, we absolutely cannot let them run rampant like this any longer.”

Qi Yan’s voice was cold. “If they manage to get hold of the other six yin tokens, then they probably still won’t let me go in the end, will they?” The food in his hands had already gone cold. Only then did Qi Yan part the disposable chopsticks and pick up a clump of rice, sending it into his mouth.

Chewing slowly, he said in a low voice, “Call Yan Bo. Whatever you all want to do from here on out, count me in...”

“Qi Yan?” Li Ruoke stared at him in surprise.

“You heard me. I’m willing to join you... but not just as someone who waits to be protected. I want to take part in every action against them. Whether you go after the remaining yin tokens or confront them head-on, I’m in.”

“Our enemies are formidable. In every respect they’re stronger than we are, and we’ve been taking blow after blow. But we still can’t compromise. Compromise means waiting to die. If life is in danger no matter what, then we might as well fight with everything we have. I can’t do it alone, and you can’t do it alone either, but at least it looks like we’re no longer fighting completely on our own. Whatever happens... I will never hand over my life or my yin token!”

Mid-Autumn had arrived, and the night rain fell in a continuous veil, filling the city with a damp, cold gloom.

Everyone had hardships and suffering they had to face. Whether fate could be changed... no one could give a definite answer.

Disaster does not stop arriving simply because one is afraid. It seemed that many people had already given up imagining what a better life might look like... yet this was still far from true despair, because there remained so many things worth protecting: sincere friendship, unexpected bonds, family ties forged by blood, faith once abandoned but now taken up again, and... love that would never yield to human will.

If these things can remind us that what we treasure must be defended with effort, perhaps we may then throw ourselves into it without regard for our own lives... If we can do that, then half the battle is already won.

Everything has only just begun... even if it can never be seen, if one believes in it with unwavering certainty... that is what faith means!

End of Volume Two.