novelcrest Chapter 994 - 223: Epilogue 17
Chapter 994 - 223: Epilogue 17
The day after Yuan Xihuo’s birthday, a certain media outlet in Z City suddenly dropped a bombshell that shocked the entire nation!
The famous domestic violinist Tang Ruan had been having an affair for years with the renowned pianist Song Yiweng, and the two of them had even conspired to force his wife to miscarry a fetus less than three months old. What’s more, during the marriage, Tang Ruan repeatedly humiliated his wife to the point that she developed severe depression.
After being forced by Song Yiweng and Tang Ruan to sign the divorce papers, her depression worsened and she attempted suicide several times.
Once this news broke online, it went viral at the speed of light, sparked heated discussion, and in less than half an hour the topic on Weibo had surpassed a billion views.
Soon after, various well-known public accounts and bloggers started exposing and reposting photos of Song Yiweng and Tang Ruan appearing together in different places, behaving intimately.
Some "almighty" members of the public even posted their hotel check-in records from various hotels in various cities.
For an entire morning, almost the entire Weibo feed was filled with news about Song Yiweng’s af.fair and his mistress Tang Ruan.
It proved once again: the consequences of pissing off the masses are very serious!
So before noon even arrived—
A certain Weibo account, a blogger claiming to be a hacker, suddenly released obscene videos of Tang Ruan and Song Yiweng fooling around, which spread at the same speed of light, and in a very short time the downloads exceeded a hundred million!
At this point, the topic about Tang Ruan and Song Yiweng on Weibo was completely exploding!
Five in the afternoon.
The long-silent official Weibo of Shengge Law Firm posted that they had accepted, a month earlier, the commission from Song Yiweng’s wife to sue Song Yiweng and Tang Ruan for forcing her to compromise on divorce, even at the cost of killing her less-than-three-month-old unborn child. They had already formally filed a lawsuit, and the trial would be held soon.
At the end, they specifically emphasized that, out of humanitarian concerns, Shengge Law Firm would not charge any fees for this commission!
And they guaranteed they would definitely get justice for the victim!
So then—
With that one post, the official Weibo of Shengge Law Firm pushed online pub.lic opinion to a whole new cl.max.
Those netizens who had still been on the fence saw that even Shengge Law Firm had taken on the case for Song Yiweng’s wife and promised to fight this lawsuit for free and without conditions; whatever doubts they had left vanished.
By nighttime, the internet was overwhelmingly on the side of Song Yiweng’s wife, flooding to the Weibo accounts of Tang Ruan and Song Yiweng to denounce them in the name of justice.
Reportedly, netizens, channeling their inner "Sherlock Holmes," had dug out the addresses of Tang Ruan and Song Yiweng and were already organizing to go block them at home.
In short, from now on, there was no way Tang Ruan and Song Yiweng were going to have any good days.
Even if they hid in the countryside, chances are someone would still recognize them!
...
Hospital.
Si Nan quietly logged out of Weibo, slipped his phone into his pocket, looked at Tang Yige, who was sitting by Rong Rui’s side gently holding his small hand, and said softly, "It’s almost ten. Get some rest. I’ll stay with Little Rui."
"I’m not sleepy yet." Tang Yige’s eyes never left Little Rui.
"..."
Si Nan looked at Tang Yige. After a brief silence, he said, "I’ll go buy you some late-night snacks, okay?"
Tang Yige glanced at him. "No need, I’m not hungry."
Si Nan didn’t say anything more, but his eyes stayed fixed on her.
Ever since she woke up that day, her attitude toward him had been like this.
When he spoke, she wouldn’t pretend she didn’t hear; she would respond to every sentence.
Occasionally she would even smile at him, but that smile was just like the one she showed the nurses or doctors in the hospital—polite, and full of distance.
The familiar silence dragged on for nearly ten minutes.
Suddenly, Tang Yige lifted her head and looked at him.
Si Nan’s pupils contracted, his breathing unexpectedly tightened, his hands unconsciously clenched as he looked at Tang Yige.
Seeing his reaction, something flashed quickly through her beautiful eyes. In her usual tone, she said, "You’ve been staying at the hospital for five or six days straight. Go back and get some rest."
Si Nan stared at Tang Yige without blinking. "It’s just a place to sleep. It doesn’t matter where it is."
As long as she and Little Rui were there, that was enough!
Hearing this, Tang Yige’s gaze seemed to sweep unintentionally over the dark circles under his eyes. She lowered her gaze and said nothing more.
Si Nan also looked at her and didn’t speak again.
In this heavy silence—
Deep down, they both knew that something had changed.
But neither of them had the power to change it back!
Right now, Tang Yige couldn’t.
And Si Nan couldn’t either!
Maybe the only thing that could change anything was for Rong Rui to wake up safe and healthy!
...
A week later, the case of Song Yiweng’s wife suing Song Yiweng and Tang Ruan for conspiring to kill her unborn child went to trial.
With Shengge Law Firm backing her, plus the conclusive evidence, the court directly found Song Yiweng guilty.
But Song Yiweng insisted that forcing his wife to abort the fetus had been his idea from start to finish, that he alone had pushed it through and that it had nothing to do with Tang Ruan.
He also consistently denied that Tang Ruan was a mistress, claiming that he had been the one pursuing her from the beginning, that she had refused him many times, and only in the end had she been moved by his sincerity and agreed to be with him.
He kept stressing that Tang Ruan had been passive the whole time, that she was also a victim, and he appealed to netizens not to attack her personally or be too harsh on her, because she was innocent!
Because Song Yiweng denied Tang Ruan’s involvement in plotting to harm his wife’s fetus, the court had no choice but to declare Tang Ruan not guilty and release her.
But that final round of excuses he made for her completely infuriated our righteous fellow netizens.
After the trial—
Tang Ruan repeatedly received threatening packages mailed by netizens.
Every day, she could smell incense and burnt joss paper wafting in from outside her door.
Almost every day she could hear people standing outside her door cursing her, going on for a full hour each time.
Sometimes people even took turns cursing at her door for a whole day and night.
She didn’t dare go out, didn’t dare turn on her phone, didn’t dare use the computer, didn’t even dare open the windows.
She had dragged all the furniture she could move to the door to barricade it, terrified that someone would break in.
And that wasn’t all.
Sometimes the lights in the apartment would start flickering for no reason, and when she took a shower, the water would cut in and out!
Tang Ruan felt that she wasn’t living in the human world at all, but in hell.
A terrifying hell!
And it was very possible that she would have to live in this kind of hell for the rest of her life!
Unable to live, and... unwilling to die!
...
Rong Rui had been unconscious for nearly half a month now, with no sign of waking up.
Even Zhang Lan, whose tendons and bones had been injured, could already get out of bed and walk.
Every day, Tang Yige stayed by Rong Rui’s side, her mind blank, unable to think of anything.
At first, she would give herself pep talks every day.
She was a mother; she was Little Rui’s support.
She couldn’t collapse, absolutely couldn’t! She couldn’t lose heart!
But as the half month dragged on—
The courage she’d managed to build up was worn away bit by bit.
Her heart was hanging, suspended, twisted in knots every single day.
She was terrified!
As Tang Yige stared blankly at Rong Rui more and more often, and for longer and longer each time, her daily food intake plummeted.
Si Nan was really worried that if this went on, Rong Rui wouldn’t have woken up yet and Tang Yige would collapse again.
So—
When Tang Yige once again sat there staring dazedly at Rong Rui, Si Nan couldn’t hold back anymore. He strode forward and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her horizontally.
He turned and headed for the ward door in big strides.
When he lifted her, Tang Yige was still in a stunned daze, her eyes blank as she stared at Si Nan’s slightly tense handsome face.
Standing on one side of the ward, Zhang Lan was startled when she saw this.
But she immediately understood why Si Nan was doing it.
After all, if Tang Yige went on like this, her body really would be completely drained!
"Aunt Zhang, I’ll have to trouble you to stay with Little Rui for now. We’ll be back soon!"
Si Nan’s voice came from the doorway.
"Sir, don’t worry."
Afraid he might not hear her, Zhang Lan raised her voice.
When she finished—
Zhang Lan perked up her ears, listening to the sounds at the door until she could no longer hear their receding footsteps.
Only then did she sigh, go sit by Rong Rui’s bed, gently hold one of his small hands, and, her reddened eyes lowered on him, rasp in a murmur, "Little Rui, hurry up and wake up. If you don’t wake up..."
She didn’t finish that "if you don’t wake up," only looked at him with pity and kept sighing in her heart.
...
Carried by Si Nan into the elevator, Tang Yige watched the elevator doors close in front of her and only when there was a soft "ding" did she suddenly suck in a breath and snap back to herself.