Chapter 124: Unwavering
Liang Jinshang paused, just as she had a question to ask.
“Miss Liang, do you remember me?” The female officer’s first words upon approaching startled Liang Jinshang.
Fortunately, her memory was good; with the prompt, she immediately recalled.
It was the same officer who had registered her and Chao Xinghe the last time they were detained.
Her face was round and familiar.
Liang Jinshang quickly replied, “Hello, yes, I remember you.”
“No need for formalities. I’m mainly here to confirm something—does Nan Yi have any underlying health issues?”
Underlying health issues?
Liang Jinshang thought for a moment. Nan Yi had recently undergone a medical check during her onboarding at Nantian; it was unlikely she had any major problems.
“That’s strange then,” said the round-faced officer with some concern. “Yesterday, I noticed she seemed to have heart trouble. For a while, her face turned pale and cyanotic. When I asked, she said she had numbness in her limbs and difficulty breathing.”
A sharp pang crossed Liang Jinshang’s face.
She realized Nan Yi’s condition wasn’t heart-related.
She was having an episode.
Since Nan Yi had confessed to her about her mental illness, Liang Jinshang had privately researched extensively.
She had come across information that anxiety sufferers, when faced with sudden upheavals, are prone to panic attacks, exhibiting symptoms just as the officer described—palpitations, sweating, trembling, a feeling of impending death.
Liang Jinshang dared not dwell on it further, only feeling she couldn’t allow Nan Yi to remain in such an environment for another moment.
Seeing Liang Jinshang’s grave expression, the officer offered a few casual words of comfort.
But they had no effect.
Liang Jinshang suddenly remembered, “Officer, may I ask, has anyone visited Nan Yi before me?”
“Yes,” the officer replied but didn’t reveal who the visitor was.
Recalling the red sports car she had seen that morning, Liang Jinshang lowered her voice, “Surname Gong?”
“We have regulations…” The officer hesitated but subtly nodded.
Gong Xueyuan had indeed visited!
Why then had Nan Yi lied to her?
Liang Jinshang thought of the bruises on Nan Yi’s arms.
Would Gong Xueyuan personally do such things?
But visits were always supervised; how could that be?
The officer didn’t linger and soon left.
Watching her retreating figure, Liang Jinshang guessed this person wouldn’t come to help her without reason.
Could it be Chao Jingyu?
…
Liang Jinshang left the detention center and went straight to Gong Nian’s hospital room.
Sure enough, Gong Xueyuan was there.
An elderly caretaker was helping Gong Nian bathe; since she couldn’t move alone, she asked Gong Xueyuan for assistance.
Gong Xueyuan was applying nail polish on herself and snapped impatiently, “I pay you to work; can’t you handle such a simple task?”
The caretaker silently endured.
It wasn’t that she was incapable; Gong Nian had a concussion and shouldn’t have been moved this soon, lest it trigger dizziness.
But these two delicate sisters refused to listen.
As Liang Jinshang approached, Gong Nian suddenly turned over and, feeling nauseous and dizzy, vomited all over the bed.
Gong Xueyuan immediately jumped up, “How are you taking care of my sister? It’s filthy! Clean it up quickly!”
The caretaker hurriedly tidied the sheets and blankets.
Gong Nian, stained with her own vomit, cried and kept saying she felt sick.
The caretaker was overwhelmed, while Gong Xueyuan, full of disdain, moved to the window.
Liang Jinshang sighed.
She stepped forward, first helping Gong Nian change out of the soiled clothes, then using a curtain for privacy to clean and dress her in fresh garments.
Gong Nian couldn’t move but could mumble refusals.
Liang Jinshang paid no mind.
An outsider had compassion, but Gong Xueyuan maliciously said, “Why are you pretending to be so sincere in front of my sister? Do you think that will make us drop the lawsuit?”
Following her tone, Liang Jinshang asked, “So, what would make you drop it?”
“Leave Shangyu City!”
The answer was completely expected.
Liang Jinshang didn’t respond for a moment.
Gong Xueyuan sneered, “I thought you had deep sisterly feelings! Turns out you’re a selfish, unchanging self-centered witch!”
Liang Jinshang retorted, “If I break up with Shangyu City, will you let Nan Yi go?”
“Yes! Will you break up?”
During her brief silence, Liang Jinshang had already made up her mind.
In fact, coming to see Gong Xueyuan today meant she had already decided.
Or rather, she had decided even earlier, when Shangyu City violently abused Nan Yi and injected sedatives into Liang Xizhou’s body.
“I can break up,” she said calmly, “but whether Shangyu City agrees is beyond my control.”
Gong Xueyuan shouted, “Who do you think you are? Yu City can have any woman he wants. He’s just playing with you—a wild hen thinking she’s a phoenix!”
Liang Jinshang stood silently, refusing to argue.
Her delicate, fair features, long hair over her shoulders, white shirt paired with a pale green knit sweater, a refined and transparent aura—she was uniquely pure.
Gong Xueyuan gritted her teeth. No, she had to raise the stakes!
“You’re right. Just breaking up isn’t enough. What if Yu City isn’t tired of you yet?” Gong Xueyuan shamelessly said, “When you break up, say you’ve fallen in love with someone else to make him stop bothering you.”
Liang Jinshang twisted her lips slightly.
In some ways, Gong Xueyuan knew Shangyu City well.
If she really told him that, given his pride, he definitely wouldn’t cling to her anymore, but would harshly reprimand her for being fickle and ungrateful.
She leisurely asked, “Who do you think I could say I love that he’d believe?”
Without hesitation, Gong Xueyuan answered, “Chao Jingyu!”
“You truly have no heart,” Liang Jinshang said, as expected.
Liang Jinshang had envied Chao Jingyu’s tender care for Gong Xueyuan when she first met him.
Yet this woman destroyed him without hesitation.
But such a person as Gong Xueyuan only proved the saying that no one is perfect—even someone as flawless as Chao Jingyu has his blind spots.
Liang Jinshang pondered, “Chao Jingyu won’t do.”
Before this fool could ask why, she went on, “Yu City won’t believe it. More importantly, I don’t want to drag him into this.”
Gong Xueyuan sensed the disdain in her tone and snapped, “I think you’re trying to mess with me! If you don’t want to break up, fine. It’s not like I’m the one locked up for ten years or more!”
“Break up? Why not?” Liang Jinshang stood on the high ground of intellect, looking down on her, “I’m here to teach you what it means to hit the snake’s vital spot.”
Her red lips parted softly, “You release Nan Yi. I’ll break up with Shangyu City. The day after tomorrow, he returns to Jincheng, and I happen to be on a business trip to Xingcheng—you go and tell him He Xiaoqi is in Xingcheng.”
Gong Xueyuan parted her lips slightly, unwilling to admit she was persuaded.
Liang Jinshang mocked, “Then you can embellish and exaggerate my relationship with He Xiaoqi to him.”
Given Gong Xueyuan’s hatred for both her and He Xiaoqi, what she told Shangyu City would surely be a tale of a passionate, undying “love” beyond the heavens.