Chapter 2: Settlement Begins with Sadness 06
I ignored Ning Qiyuan. I didn't want to see his face anymore.
My dad was admitted to the ward after leaving the emergency room. Although he was safe, he was still in a coma and had not woken up. During this time, I also received many people who came to visit him, most of whom were colleagues from the police station. Jiang Sijin came with her father, Chief Jiang, after she found out.
Only Ning Qiyuan had never come. After staying in the hospital for a few days, he was taken away by the police as a routine matter.
After staying in the hospital for more than ten days, my father woke up from his coma and the first thing he asked was Ning Qiyuan.
I responded angrily, “I don’t know where he went.”
"You...you help me find him!" My father, lying on the hospital bed, was so anxious that he wanted to sit up, but his body was weak, and he fell heavily down again as soon as he stood up slightly.
"Don't move! You just woke up, what are you doing?" I was furious. While ringing the bell to call the doctor, I said angrily, "Dad, he hurt you on purpose. Why did you ask about his condition as soon as you woke up?"
The nurses and doctors came very quickly. My dad didn't have time to answer my questions as he was being examined. Only after they were finished did he give me an order: "Go find Ning Qiyuan and bring him to see me."
I was so angry that I cried again, but I was afraid that my dad's anger would affect my recovery, so I agreed reluctantly.
After much trouble, I found Ning Qiyuan in an Internet cafe not far from my home. When I saw him, he was playing games. At first, he was unwilling to come to see my father. After I pestered him for a long time, he impatiently agreed.
After Ning Qiyuan entered the hospital, he stood arrogantly in front of my father's bed, without any guilt or uneasiness in his eyes, which made me want to kick him out immediately.
"Are you okay? Where have you been these days and how have you been?" my dad asked him, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Don't be so hypocritical." Ning Qiyuan replied coldly, "You know I am trying to hurt you on purpose, so who are you trying to show off to by being so nice to me?"
"Ning Qiyuan! My dad cares about you!" I shouted angrily. I have tolerated him for a long time.
Ning Qiyuan glanced at me, snorted, and said nothing.
"Shuchen, get out if you talk again." My father shouted at me with a very stern attitude.
I felt extremely aggrieved, but didn't want to leave, so I shut my mouth and turned my back to them in anger.
"Qi Yuan, do you really know the truth?" My father sighed and asked weakly, "How much do you know about what happened back then?"
"I don't need to know so many things. I only know that it was you who harmed my father. It was you who caused my family to be broken up and I to lose everything." Ning Qiyuan said coldly.
I turned around suddenly, and I froze, staring at them blankly. How could his father be killed by my father? My father is such a good person, if he really killed him, why would he still support Ning Qiyuan? Treat him better than his own daughter?
I listened in disbelief, not daring to say a word. I was also afraid that things were really like what Ning Qiyuan said, and that my father adopted Ning Qiyuan because he killed his father.
My dad didn't deny or admit it, he just asked Ning Qiyuan: "When did you know? Who told you?"
"Officer Wei said that at the police station three years ago." Ning Qiyuan did not hide it and blurted it out.
As far as I can remember, Ning Qiyuan only went to the police station once three years ago, on my 15th birthday, and Officer Wei was my dad's colleague, also a member of the serious crime team, but in a different group. Although I haven't been to the police station very often, I know that he has been jealous of my dad for doing better than him for many years, and I don't know how many tricks he has done secretly. How can I believe what such a person says?
Is Ning Qiyuan a pig?
It’s bad enough that you’re not good at studying, but you can’t even tell the difference between good people and bad people?
Hearing this answer, my dad laughed, and his voice suddenly became heavier: "What did he tell you?"
Ning Qiyuan looked straight at him, snorted coldly, and said: "He told me that although my father committed a crime, it was not punishable by death. Moreover, my father called to surrender himself before he was rounded up and became your informant. You promised to keep him safe, but what was the result? You launched the roundup before he ran out. If it wasn't you who murdered him, who did?" After saying that, he pointed at my father, his eyes slightly red, which was scary.
I felt like all the strength in my body seemed to be drained at this moment. I thought my father brought him back out of sympathy for him, but I didn't expect that his father turned himself in and became an informant, and my father ordered the round-up without guaranteeing the informant's safety. These things... My eyes suddenly became blurry, and I covered my chest with my hands to make my heart less painful.
So that's it, now everything can be explained.
It was from that day on that Ning Qiyuan's attitude towards me became truly bad.
But is this really the case?
"If you didn't feel guilty, would you have treated me better than Tong Shuchen in the past five years?" Ning Qiyuan sneered again, his eyes getting redder and redder.
The ward suddenly became quiet, and I didn't hard. After a long while, I heard my father say, "Qi Yuan, you are right, I do feel guilty. But it was not me who harmed your father."
Ning Qiyuan sneered and said firmly: "You are quibbling, do you think I will believe it?"
My dad ignored him and said slowly, "There is one thing that no one knows except me and a few superiors." He paused, took a deep breath, and his eyes turned red. "Your dad is not a bad guy, but an undercover arranged by the superiors to solve the case."
"Nine years ago, in order to catch that group of people, the superiors decided to plant two undercover agents, and I was one of them. Your father and I graduated from the same class, and being an undercover agent was very dangerous. He saw that I was alone with Shuchen, and Shuchen had lost her mother since she was a child. If something happened to me, she would be left alone. So your father replaced me and another colleague to be an undercover agent."
"Your father worked undercover for three years and did a great job. He was not discovered and fooled everyone. However, when we started to round up the suspects, he was discovered for some reason and died. We also investigated the matter afterwards, but found nothing."
"Your father gave you to me before he died. I am grateful for your father's kindness, so I treat you better than Shuchen. I treat you like my own son and want to make up for all that I owe you."
"Qi Yuan, I don't blame you, you just don't know. In the final analysis, it's my fault."
Hearing this, I couldn't stop crying. I squatted down and hugged my knees, biting my lips tightly to stop myself from crying out loud. I didn't know whether I was crying because of my dad or because of Ning Qiyuan.
How could this be possible?
What should I do, Ning Qiyuan?
what do I do?
This is not my father's fault, it's my fault. It's because of me that his father went undercover, and it's because of me that his father died.
How should I repay such a debt of favor? What should I use to repay it?
How will I face him in the future?
"I don't believe it!" Ning Qiyuan yelled at my dad, and I heard the barely audible tremor in his words.
"If you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you." After saying that, my dad asked me to get his cell phone.
I came to my senses, wiped my tears, took out my father's cell phone, and called Jiang Sijin's father, Director Jiang, as he instructed. I turned on the speaker and the call was connected quickly.
"Lao Tong, are you feeling better?" As soon as the call was connected, Director Jiang asked about my father's condition.
"Much better." My father didn't say much, and directly asked Director Jiang if he still remembered Ning Qiyuan's father. Director Jiang pondered for a moment, sighed, and then slowly talked about what happened that year.
What he said was exactly the same as what my dad said.
I was confused as to what was being said, but I did not forget to look at Ning Qiyuan's reaction. From beginning to end, he had no expression on his face, except that his eyes were red and the veins on the back of his clenched fists were bulging, as if he was trying his best to endure it. After the call was hung up, he turned around and ran out of the ward without saying a word.
"Qiyuan!" My father was shocked and told me to chase him.
I came to my senses, put down my phone, and chased after him.
Ning Qiyuan ran very fast and I couldn't catch up with him at all. I could only call his name while running, but he acted as if he didn't hear me and didn't stop at all, leaving me far behind.
By the time I ran out of the inpatient building, Ning Qiyuan had already crossed the street. He almost didn't even look at the traffic lights and just ran straight through. I was so scared that my heart almost stopped and I just stared at his back and cried.
The night is hazy.
Although there were lights on, his figure gradually merged into the world he was in and could no longer be seen, like an invisible speck of dust on the ground.
Later, I thought about that night more than once, and I always regretted that if I had chased after him at that time, would the ending be different? Would Ning Qiyuan not have left and disappeared from my life?
