Early the next morning, they flew back to C City.
Since the company and Jiang Yunxing’s home were in opposite directions, Lu Heng called a car to send him home while he headed to the company.
Being the weekend, the company was nearly empty. Only Secretary Fang Zaiqi was waiting on the top floor. When Lu Heng arrived, he gave the customary respectful nod, but his expression was less than pleasant.
It was understandable. After all, being called in to work overtime on a weekend wouldn’t put anyone in a good mood.
But Lu Heng felt no guilt. The company was just starting up, and he had only recently taken over. There were countless matters that needed his attention. Besides, since he had to attend school normally, Fang Zaiqi could slack off during most work hours.
On the contrary, Lu Heng was quite dissatisfied with Fang Zaiqi’s work attitude.
“How’s the preparation for this afternoon’s online meeting going?” Lu Heng asked as he walked into his office.
“It’s almost ready,” Fang Zaiqi replied.
“Almost?” Lu Heng frowned, settling into his office chair. “Let me see it.”
Fang Zaiqi moved sluggishly. Lu Heng didn’t rush him, opening his computer and clicking through three files. He had only read a few lines when Fang Zaiqi finally handed over the meeting materials.
Lu Heng took the documents and quickly scanned through them page by page, his expression growing increasingly stern.
After finishing, he tossed the materials back at Fang Zaiqi. “This won’t do at all. Rewrite it. You still have a few hours.”
Fang Zaiqi didn’t say anything, but his expression grew uglier. But rather than showing remorse for his poor work, his face revealed resentment towards Lu Heng.
“Still wasting time?” Lu Heng gave him a cold look, ignoring the resentful expression. “I’m curious why you can’t even handle such a simple task.”
Fang Zaiqi pressed his lips and said, “The meeting was originally scheduled for next Friday, but you suddenly changed the time, so…”
“I changed the schedule on my first day at the company. How is that sudden?” Lu Heng interrupted him and continued slowly, “I’ve already explained the meeting content to you and sent you the documents early. Since my father thought highly of you, such a small task shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
“…” Fang Zaiqi gritted his teeth and said with difficulty, “I’ve been working with Mr. Lu all this time and haven’t adapted to your pace yet. I’m sorry.”
“Your position is secretary to the branch manager, not Lu Shenghua’s personal assistant,” Lu Heng paused. “Unless something unexpected happens, you’ll be working with me for a long time. If you can’t adapt, I’ll have to consider finding someone else.”
Hearing this, Fang Zaiqi finally stopped arguing and said dejectedly, “…I’m sorry, I’ll adapt quickly.”
“Finish the draft first,” Lu Heng said. “Submit it to me within two hours. You have other tasks to do.”
“Yes,” Fang Zaiqi replied.
As soon as Fang Zaiqi left the office with the rejected documents, his expression twisted in anger. Once out of sight of the office, he cursed under his breath, “What bad luck… Why do I have to be secretary to an Omega!”
After reviewing three files on his computer, Lu Heng closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
His hangover finally caught up with him. Lu Heng felt light-headed and lit up a cigarette.
He turned down the air conditioning and leaned back in his chair, mentally organizing next week’s tasks.
Zhang Pu’s matter was the top priority, and several other projects needed to be wrapped up.
Then there was school.
If he remembered correctly, there would be a pre-term assessment test next Wednesday. Although school wasn’t his main focus, Lu Shenghua might be keeping an eye on it, so he couldn’t perform too poorly.
Having been away from school for so many years and never attended high school in China, getting good grades seemed even harder than completing the Zhang Pu task.
Besides handling work, he also had to catch up on his high school textbooks.
After finishing a cigarette, Lu Heng felt much relieved from the stress.
His head was still a bit dizzy, so he lay down to rest for a while when his phone rang.
Lu Heng glanced at the screen and saw it was Jiang Yunxing calling.
“Ge, I…” Jiang Yunxing’s breathing was rapid, his tone urgent, “I just got back, my mom’s lying on the floor, her neck, there’s blood everywhere…”
Lu Heng frowned and sat up.
Jiang Yunxing spoke incoherently, “The wound is big, my dad, he’s not here, and there’s a knife…”
Lu Heng stood up and headed for the door, “Don’t panic, call 120 first, I’ll…”
“Yunxing? Why didn’t you close the door?”
Lu Heng’s voice stopped, and so did his steps.
Jiang Yunxing’s voice came through the phone again, “Lin Yao? Why are you here…”
“I looked for you yesterday but couldn’t find you, so I thought I’d try my luck today.” Lin Yao’s voice grew closer, as if walking up to Jiang Yunxing. His tone suddenly turned serious, “Auntie’s badly hurt, you need to call 120 right away.”
“I’ll call now.” Jiang Yunxing said, then told Lu Heng, “Ge, I need to hang up to call 120.”
Lu Heng responded with a flat “Mm,” and said, “Text me the hospital name when you get there.”
He hung up before Jiang Yunxing did, stared at his phone for a moment, then realized he was standing in the middle of his office.
Recalling his not-so-composed behavior just now, Lu Heng frowned slightly and walked back to his seat.
After finishing the remaining documents, Lu Heng glanced at his phone and saw Jiang Yunxing had sent the hospital address.
There was another message saying his mother had received stitches and was stable but still unconscious.
Lu Heng stared at the messages for a while, then checked the time in the upper left corner.
The hospital wasn’t far from the company, and there was still plenty of time before the afternoon meeting.
Lu Heng stood up, left a message for Fang Zaiqi to notify him when the draft was done, then left the company.
At the hospital, Lu Heng called Jiang Yunxing to ask which ward they were in.
There was only one patient in the ward. When Lu Heng reached the doorway, he saw Jiang Yunxing sitting by his mother’s side with his back to the door, with someone else beside him.
Lin Yao was still there, which didn’t surprise Lu Heng. He knocked on the door, and both turned to look at him.
“Ge.” Jiang Yunxing started to stand up but suddenly remembered Lin Yao’s presence and abruptly stopped his movement.
Lu Heng nodded and looked at Lin Yao, who was indeed scanning Jiang Yunxing’s face with scrutiny.
The reason Jiang Yunxing called him ‘Ge’ was because Lu Heng was older in real life, but they were the same age in the book.
Lu Heng walked to their side and glanced at the still unconscious Mrs. Jiang before asking, “What happened?”
“When I got home, I found the living room in a mess. A vase fell to the ground and shattered. When I went further in, I found my mom collapsed by the coffee table,” Jiang Yunxing said. “She lost a lot of blood. There was a knife nearby. The doctor said the wound was caused by a knife. It wasn’t deep, but because it cut her gland, she lost a lot of blood.”
“The police came earlier, but since my mom wasn’t awake, they only got a brief understanding of the situation,” Jiang Yunxing paused. “They said the wound couldn’t have been self-inflicted. Someone else did it.”
With the scene in such chaos, there had clearly been a struggle. It couldn’t have been self-harm.
“Actually, I might know who did it,” Lin Yao suddenly spoke up. He glanced at the bed to make sure Mrs. Jiang was still asleep before turning to Jiang Yunxing. “Remember what I said? I came looking for you yesterday, but you weren’t home. Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang were both there, and the atmosphere between them wasn’t good.”
“It was quite late then, and they probably wouldn’t have gone out again. But early this morning, this happened, and Uncle Jiang wasn’t at the scene…” Lin Yao trailed off.
Even without Lin Yao saying it, Lu Heng could guess the situation.
Jiang Yunxing’s face changed as he pressed his lips together. “How could he… do such a thing…”
“They’re always fighting because their relationship is bad. Domestic violence escalating to this level isn’t surprising,” Lu Heng said.
Jiang Yunxing’s face grew paler. He lowered his head, gently biting his lip. His hands unconsciously clenched into fists with his thumb pressing hard against his index finger.
Lu Heng noticed his unusual behavior and was about to ask when there was movement from the bed.
Mrs. Jiang woke up.
Jiang Yunxing looked up. “Mom, you’re awake.”
Mrs. Jiang looked dazed, staring at them for a while before gradually coming to her senses. “Where am I?”
“The hospital, Mom. Your neck was cut, and they’ve stitched it up,” Jiang Yunxing said, then carefully asked, “Mom, what happened? Who did this to you?”
Mrs. Jiang lowered her head and after a long pause said, “I wasn’t careful while walking. I cut myself.”
“……”
No one would believe such a nonsensical explanation.
“Mom, what really happened?” Jiang Yunxing pressed. “The police came and said this must have been done by someone else. Who hurt you?”
At the mention of police, Mrs. Jiang’s expression tensed, and she suddenly looked up, her previous weakness disappeared.
“I told you clearly, I cut myself by accident!” Mrs. Jiang shouted, then added accusingly, “Where did you learn to call the police? Calling them over such a small matter!”
Jiang Yunxing was stunned by the outburst, unable to speak.
“Aunt Jiang, I was the one who called the police, don’t blame Yunxing,” Lin Yao suddenly spoke up in a gentle tone. “Your wound is quite serious. Please don’t get agitated, or you might pull your stitches.”
Mrs. Jiang seemed to notice Lin Yao’s presence for the first time. She glanced at him and managed to calm down, but her expression remained unpleasant.
Lin Yao sat down by the bed and continued, “Auntie Jiang, thanks to Yunxing getting you to the hospital in time, nothing serious happened. But we can’t guarantee about next time. The police have left, and since you don’t want to press charges, they won’t pursue this matter further. At least tell us what happened so we can figure out how to help.”
Lin Yao’s voice had a calming effect, and since Mrs. Jiang already had a good impression of him, she finally compromised.
She sighed, “It’s nothing really. Just had a fight with Lao Jiang about removing the mark. He said he’d help me, and then…”
The three fell into silence again. Mrs. Jiang waved her hand dismissively, “Never mind, it’s over now. I’m also at fault. Whenever divorce comes up, we end up talking about removing the mark. I threw a vase at him too, didn’t I? He wasn’t really trying to hurt me, just made a small cut.”
Mrs. Jiang spoke as if this was just an ordinary domestic squabble, but even Lin Yao’s expression grew serious.
Lu Heng, who had been listening quietly, spoke up, “So you want a divorce, and that requires removing the mark?”
Mrs. Jiang started, just noticing him. She frowned, “And you are…?”
“He’s my classmate, Lu Heng,” Jiang Yunxing quickly said.
Lu Heng nodded slightly and continued his question, “Is removing a mark very difficult?”
He directed the question at Mrs. Jiang, but she remained silent, clearly unwilling to acknowledge him.
Lin Yao spoke slowly, “I heard removing an Omega’s mark is quite painful, and expensive too. The surgery alone costs about ten thousand.”
Lu Heng frowned, looking at Mrs. Jiang. She was small in stature, with bandages around her neck, and her complexion was poor, probably from blood loss.
But for a capable adult in their forties, was ten thousand really impossible to save up?
“All of you are just kids,” Mrs. Jiang suddenly burst out reproachfully. “You haven’t even finished school and you’re trying to meddle in adult matters.” She turned to Jiang Yunxing, “This is between your father and me. It has nothing to do with you. In fact, this morning’s fight started because of you. Where did you disappear to? You did not come home all night. Where did you stay?”
“…” Jiang Yunxing said nothing and secretly glanced at Lu Heng.
Jiang Yunxing went out at six o’clock yesterday morning, and his parents only noticed his absence this morning.
Lu Heng felt both exasperated and amused. Ignoring Mrs. Jiang’s attempt to change the subject, he asked, “Auntie Jiang, you want to divorce Uncle Jiang, right?”
Bringing this up again made Mrs. Jiang’s expression darken further. She glared at Lu Heng, her tone hostile, “Don’t you have any manners, kid? Why are you interfering in other people’s family matters? Jiang Yunxing, how do you choose your friends? This is the kind of person you befriend?!”
Jiang Yunxing kept his head down, letting his mother scold him, and clenched his fists in silence.
Lu Heng glanced at the back of Jiang Yunxing’s head, a trace of displeasure in his brow, his voice growing colder, “Auntie, I can help you.”
Mrs. Jiang’s voice halted, looking at Lu Heng in disbelief.
She wasn’t the only one; Lin Yao and Jiang Yunxing also turned to look at him.
Lu Heng calmly met their gazes, “If you want a divorce, I can pay for your mark removal.”
Seeing Mrs. Jiang’s shocked expression, he continued, “I can also cover the follow-up care…”
“Who said I want a divorce?” Mrs. Jiang cut him off, her face reddening with anger, “Who told you I want a divorce?!”
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