Chapter 18: What's wrong with my baby?

Shang Youqing had been resting with her eyes closed.

Her porcelain-white cheek rested on her forearm, her other hand draped idly over the edge of the bed, a gesture of indulgence.

The hand He Cong had been holding all night suddenly pulled away, and her fingers, their knuckles pinched red, curled up. She moved lazily, lifting her head from her forearm.

Then, her eyes wearily opened, meeting He Cong's gaze as he sat in bed, glaring coldly at her.

"Miss Shang, don't you have anything to say?"

Shang Youqing, looking annoyed as if she'd just been woken, pressed her fingertips between her brows and said, "Yes."

He Cong's words of questioning were on the tip of his tongue, but he glanced at her slightly reddened fingers resting against her forehead. Recalling how he had clasped those fingers firmly and firmly under his metacarpal bones when she had just woken, it was easy to guess that he was the culprit who had pinched them so red.

After a moment's silence, He Cong slowly spoke, "What is it?"

"Promise me you'll go see a doctor when you get home, okay?"

Shang Youqing said, ignoring him and standing up to walk out.

The air in the valley after the rain was crisp, accompanied by bursts of melodious bird song, making for a refreshing experience.

Shang Youqing looked up and, as expected, saw two helicopters slowly descending toward the mountainside. Soon, they hovered over a clearing behind the courtyard. Yu

Zhu, accompanied by his bodyguards and family doctor, arrived at the gate and knocked.

The old woman, who had been up early and busy in the kitchen, was surprised to see such a large gathering. "Xiao Shang, are Mr. He's family members here?"

"...It looks like they are."

The old woman hurried over to open the gate. Yu Zhu spotted Shang Youqing standing under the eaves and gave her a slight nod. He then learned from the old woman that He Cong was inside the cabin, and he led his group inside.

After about ten minutes, the people in the house came out.

He Cong was dressed in a neat and elegant suit and tie again, with his short black hair meticulously groomed. Apart from the paleness of his face that was a bit of illness, his whole body seemed to be wrapped in a cold chill.

He walked out of the house, listening to his subordinates beside him reporting to him about yesterday's relevant movements.

Suddenly, he paused, looked around the courtyard, and turned to the Jin Po Po standing at the door. He asked in a slow tone: "Grandma, where is Shang Youqing?"

The grandma pointed to the hillside with some concern, "Xiao Shang, she just left."

Yu Zhu followed behind He Cong and was stunned when he heard the words, "The mountain road is blocked. How can Miss Shang go down the mountain alone?"

Grandma: "That's what I said, but Xiao Shang insisted on leaving. I couldn't stop her..."

He Cong glanced to his side with displeasure: "She shouldn't have gone far. Take people to look for her."

Yu Zhu responded and hurriedly took the bodyguards to chase in the direction pointed by Jin Po Po.

The old woman, still gazing anxiously in the direction Shang Youqing had just left, recounted the events of the previous night to He Cong. "It rained so hard last night! If Xiao Shang hadn't helped me, the kitchen would have flooded by now."

She continued, "In the middle of the night, I heard some noise in the yard and snuck up to see Xiao Shang still brewing medicine for Mr. He. He'd been up so late, he must have gotten no sleep. And now he's saying he's leaving the mountain so early! How reassuring..."

Meanwhile, Shang Youqing had just climbed over the small hillside and was about to use her spiritual power to propel herself down.

The vast forest surrounded her, and the only path down was blocked by a landslide. A real escape would take at least two or three days, so she certainly wasn't foolish enough to hike down.

Furthermore, she had come in such a hurry that she'd even forgotten her phone in her baby's schoolbag. If she didn't return soon, her baby would be worried about her.

Before she could unleash her spiritual power, Yu Cong called out from behind, "Miss Shang?"

Shang Youqing took a deep breath, heartbroken, and turned to see Yu Cong frantically waving away the branches blocking his path and calling out, "Miss Shang!"

To prevent him from falling down the rugged slope above, Shang Youqing paused for a moment, then leaped up the side. Looking up, she asked, "What's wrong?"

Yu Cong, stunned by her agility, said, "Mr. He is worried about you going down the mountain alone, so he asked me to bring someone to retrieve Miss Shang."

Shang Youqing glanced behind him and realized he was followed by several bodyguards.

She knew Yu Cong's words were merely polite; now sober, He Cong had become quite evasive towards her.

Even if He Cong had truly told her to go back, it wasn't out of concern for her. At most, he needed her cooperation in investigating the vehicles that had blocked his path on the mountain road the previous day in an attempt to assassinate him.

Knowing that Yu Zhu and the others had only come to find her under He Cong's orders, Shang Youqing didn't make things difficult for them. She had to give up the idea of going down the mountain alone and went back with

Yu Zhu. When she returned to the halfway point of the mountain, He Cong had obviously sent people to properly arrange for Grandma Jin's damaged yard. Shang Youqing went over to say goodbye to Grandma Jin again, and then went up the helicopter ramp with Yu Zhu and the others.

He Cong sat in the spacious cockpit on the right side of the back row. The medical staff next to him had just re-treated his back injury. When Shang Youqing came up, He Cong raised his fingers to re-button his shirt collar, staring at her with cold and sharp eyes.

"Ms. Shang, please sit down."

Shang Youqing glanced at him, sat down in the cockpit on the right side that he had arranged, and fastened her seat belt.

Soon, the helicopter slowly took off, and from the window, it could be seen that it was slowly moving away from the mountainous area.

After a while, Yu Zhu came over to ask her about what happened on the mountain road yesterday at He Cong's signal. Shang Youqing didn't waste time talking to him, "Do you have a pen and paper?"

Yu Zhu hurriedly took out a notebook and pen from his backpack and handed them to her.

Shang Youqing took it and put it on her lap, and wrote down all the details of the vehicle and personnel according to what the little thrush had told her yesterday.

"That's about it, I don't know anything else. Please take me back to the bus station in the city." Yu

Zhu took the notebook that Shang Youqing had written, and was about to show it to their boss He, when He Cong suddenly spoke.

"I sleepwalked last night, didn't I?" Yu

Zhu coughed and consciously retreated to the last cabin.

He Cong glanced at Shang Youqing's fingers holding the pen, and then added calmly, "When I woke up, your right hand was squeezed very tightly by me. I observed the degree of redness of your finger joints, and I inferred that I had been holding your hand for at least three hours."

After a pause, He Cong raised his eyes again and fell on her face: "I know very well that this is not my intention, but Miss Shang should have been able to see that I was sleepwalking. Why didn't you break free from me?"

Shang Youqing: "...broke free."

"Then how could it be--"

Shang Youqing finished speaking in a lukewarm tone, "After breaking free, Mr. He ran into the mountains and got caught in the rain."

"..."

He Cong was blocked from speaking, turned his head away indifferently, his thin lips tightened, staring out the porthole in silence. After a long time, he said coldly: "Don't think too much."

"Oh, I know, Mr. He just mistakenly recognized the wrong person while sleepwalking."

He Cong's eyebrows jumped, and he was about to say something else, but turned around and saw Shang Youqing leaning over and waving to Yu Zhu behind him, "Yu Zhu, can I borrow your phone to make a call?" "

Yes, I can."

Facing the inexplicable low and cold air pressure near the cockpit, Yu Zhu handed the phone over tremblingly.

Shang Youqing was still unaware, and he took the phone and dialed his own number. The call was quickly connected. Shang Youqing

held the phone, and the corners of his lips curved up unconsciously, "Baby?" He

Cong, who was sitting on the left and flipping through the evidence documents, heard the two soft words at the end, and his slender fingers on the edge of the document paused, and easily broke off the corner.

However, the next second, Shang Youqing's originally relaxed expression suddenly changed. She asked to the other end of the phone, "Speak slowly, what happened to my baby?"