Chapter 58: Backing You Up
“Old Ding, what’s up?” Hurrying back to his office, Huo Xiao leaned casually against the desk, unbuttoned his collar, and returned the call.
Ding Strong was his comrade-in-arms. He was the director of the police station near the post office. Before leaving, Huo Xiao had asked Ding Qiang to keep a discreet eye on Lin Wan for him.
“Old Huo, I took on a case today. Your wife was beaten by a colleague at her unit and got a concussion.”
Hearing this, Huo Xiao’s casually detached eyes instantly turned sharp as flint. The hand gripping the receiver tightened abruptly, blue veins bulging fiercely beneath his starkly pale skin. “How is she?”
He stood up straight. A wave of harsh, chilling aura surged wildly within the depths of his frost-laden eyes.
Ding Qiang replied, “She’s already been admitted to the hospital. The doctor said they need to keep her under observation. Her complexion didn’t look too good when I saw her.”
Huo Xiao asked, “Who beat her?”
“The person who hit her is Xu Hui, Xu Huaiming’s younger sister. Their family has pulled a lot of connections, and they even went to your mother-in-law’s unit to pressure her. They’ve also found out about you, so I expect Xu Huaiming will be looking for you very soon! Based on our neighborhood inquiries and investigation, this is already the third time this Xu Hui has made things difficult for your wife. Is there some kind of grudge between them?”
Huo Xiao recalled what Lin Wan had told him before. She said she found out about his situation from Xu Hui, and that Xu Hui had told some local thugs that she liked him. But before Lin Wan started working at the post office, she had never had any intersection with Xu Hui. As for him and Xu Hui… they had only met once.
Xu Huaiming was originally a pilot under his command, but due to a flight accident, he was left with psychological trauma and could no longer fly. Thus, he was reassigned to a ground position. It was precisely because Xu Huaiming was injured during that mission that Huo Xiao had agreed to help out by bringing some things to his family when he went on a business trip to Huacheng. It was during that single instance that he met Xu Hui.
He had only cast a glance at her. He retained no further memory of her.
Huo Xiao said, “They had absolutely no intersection before they started working at the same unit. Furthermore, after entering the post office, Comrade Lin Wan actually saved her life. I was an eyewitness to Lin Wan saving her.”
Huo Xiao briefly related to Ding Qiang how Luo Yong had attempted to assault Xu Hui, and how Lin Wan, who happened to be passing by, injured Luo Yong and rescued her. Because Xu Hui wanted to protect her reputation, she hadn’t reported it to the police.
Hearing this, Ding Qiang’s impression of Xu Hui turned even worse.
“Old Ding, give me the phone number for the hospital.” Ding Qiang provided the hospital’s number and Lin Wan’s bed assignment to Huo Xiao.
“Old Ding, do me one more favor. Go to the hospital and have my wife transferred to a cadres’ ward.” Given his military rank, his spouse was entitled to enjoy certain welfare benefits, and a cadres’ ward was one of them. The hospital would only need to place a call to the military base to verify it.
“Alright, I’ll head over right away to handle that for you.” Hanging up the phone, Ding Qiang immediately rode his bicycle toward the hospital.
This Old Huo, he thought. He’s remarkably good-looking and holds a high rank, yet he doesn’t allow a single female mosquito near him. The star performer of the military cultural troupe was exceptionally beautiful and had once stopped him to show her affection, asking if he was free to watch a movie together. Do you know what his response was? He told her: “Not free! Not watching! Please don’t block my path!” He made the poor girl burst into tears and run away on the spot.
Then there was a hospital nurse who accidentally tripped in front of him and lunged toward his arms. He simply sidestepped to let her pass, causing the girl to suffer a spectacular faceplant. He didn’t even spare her a second glance as he strode right past. The most outrageous incident involved Commander Yun’s daughter, who patted his shoulder from behind, only for him to grab her wrist and execute a flawless shoulder throw. The poor girl ended up confined to a hospital bed for an entire week…
Over time, everyone assumed this fellow was bound to remain a bachelor for the rest of his life. Who could have guessed that a single trip to Huacheng would result in him getting married? He honestly hadn’t seen anything particularly different about that Comrade Lin Wan. Granted, she was beautiful, but was the star performer of the cultural troupe not beautiful? Among the female comrades who had tried to throw themselves at Old Huo in the past, not a single one was plain! The plain ones felt thoroughly eclipsed in his presence, so how could they ever muster the courage to approach him?
Tsk tsk~ Judging by his reaction today, it seemed a case of an old house catching fire. Ding Qiang grew even more curious about Lin Wan.
Meanwhile, after hanging up the phone, Huo Xiao immediately dialed the hospital line. “Hello, I am the husband of Comrade Lin Wan in Bed 36. May I ask how her current condition is? Is she able to take a call? If she cannot take the call, please have the relative accompanying her pick up the phone instead.”
The staff at the nurses’ station had all received items from Lin Wan and already held a highly favorable impression of her. Hearing that it was her husband calling, the nurse readily agreed with absolute warmth.
“Comrade Lin Wan isn’t vomiting as severely as she was when she first arrived. She should be able to answer the phone herself. Comrade, please call back in two or three minutes, and I’ll go call her over.”
Lin Wan had just finished a bowl of rice porridge. There was no helping it—she was faking an illness. She couldn’t very well go feasting on big fish and meat! Huang Guixiang delivered a ferocious glare to her every now and then. Lin Wan put on a pitiful display.
The nurse arrived. “Comrade Lin Wan, your partner is on the line looking for you.”
Lin Wan: “!!!!!”
Partner? Huo Xiao? How on earth does he know I’m in the hospital?
Lin Wan wasn’t afraid of anyone, but she held a unique dread for Huo Xiao! She always felt that in front of him, all her schemes and deceptions had absolutely nowhere to hide. His eyes, aside from making a person helplessly fall into them, could pierce through everything. She felt deeply guilty!
“Oh my, my head is dizzy… Mom, you go answer it!”
Huang Guixiang delivered a sharp slap to her arm. “Answer it yourself! This mom will support you as you go! Just treat it as going to the latrine to relieve yourself!”
Lin Wan: “…”
Under the strict warning of Comrade Huang Guixiang’s gaze, Lin Wan whined and groaned as she climbed out of bed, dragging her feet as she followed the nurse to the office. Huang Guixiang supported her the entire way.
Just as they reached the office, the phone rang. The nurse picked it up, then gave a smiling gesture for Lin Wan to take the receiver. She even considerately stepped outside, leaving the space to Lin Wan and Huang Guixiang.
“Hello…” Lin Wan felt genuinely guilty. “Why did you call? How… how did you know I… I was in the hospital?”
From the other end of the line came the man’s deep, cool, and crisp voice: “Does it still hurt? Are you uncomfortable?”
Lin Wan touched her cheek. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, and it’s not very uncomfortable either. Don’t worry, I’ll recover very soon.”
Suddenly, she recalled that the book mentioned a connection between Xu Hui and him. The reason Xu Hui liked him and knew him was because her older brother was Huo Xiao’s comrade-in-arms. If that was the case, did Huo Xiao find out about her hospitalization because Xu Hui’s brother approached him? Did he want her to drop the matter?
An inexplicable wave of misery washed over Lin Wan’s heart. Even though her rationality told her there was absolutely nothing wrong with Huo Xiao doing so—theirs was a shotgun marriage devoid of romantic affection, whereas the camaraderie between Huo Xiao and Xu Hui’s brother was rock-solid. In this matter, it would make perfect sense from his perspective if he chose to help Xu Hui.
Only, she had deliberately set up this elaborate trap by playing the victim; was she truly supposed to abandon it all over a single sentence from Huo Xiao? If she refused to back down, what would Huo Xiao do? In front of Huo Xiao, did she even possess the right to refuse?
Lin Wan felt miserable on one hand while weighing the pros and cons on the other.
“Regarding this matter, handle it exactly how you want to handle it. You don’t need to fear anyone. I am behind everything. I will back you up!”
Lin Wan: “Ah?”
Huo Xiao said he would back her up? Disregarding his comrade-in-arms entirely? She could barely believe her own ears.
