Chapter 32 Visiting the Sick

When the footsteps of midsummer gradually faded away and the autumn wind blew down the first leaf of sycamore, Yuichi Atobe finally breathed his last in the white ward. The white sheets covered his cold body, and his face was pale but peaceful.

His condition had deteriorated rapidly over the past month. The cardiac surgeons could only use various drugs to keep him alive as long as possible, and the patient himself did not seem to have much desire to live. It was as if he had let go of all his worries and quietly waited for the arrival of the god of death. Finally, one morning in early autumn, he obeyed the call of God and went to the distant heaven.

The funeral seemed a little low-key and cold because of the dishonorable things that happened during his lifetime, but the Atobe family did not lose their etiquette because of this. They were busy for a long time

before the dust settled. Among the crowd who came to pay their respects, Yuki did not see Hasegawa Shu. Only Sugita Akira, the executive director of Hasegawa Company, came to express his condolences on behalf of the Hasegawa family and greeted his "cousin" of the Hasegawa family.

"Our company has decided to hold a board meeting at the beginning of next month. Miss Ji will be present."

The middle-aged man, who looked smart and capable, lowered his eyelids and glanced at her before leaving, with an inexplicable meaning.

So she could only sneer, and was too lazy to deal with the guests who came to pay their respects. She told the housekeeper that she was not feeling well and turned to go upstairs. When she opened her door, the sunlight came in through the white gauze curtain from the window opposite, lonely as snow.

She casually threw the board meeting notice she had just received in front of the dressing table, sat on the edge of the bed and pondered for a moment, took her handbag and was about to put it in, but she was slightly startled when she saw a corner of the photo exposed in her wallet, so she simply took it out and looked at it carefully.

The sunlight in the photo was as bright as snow, and the teenage boy was wearing a white hospital gown, his face was pale, and the faint ripples at the corners of his mouth were clear and transparent.

It seemed to have been taken a long time ago. I don't know when I put it in my wallet and never took it out. Time flies, and the boy in the mirror has gone to heaven.

A sense of emptiness and desolation suddenly came over her. She raised her head and saw the face of the woman in the dressing mirror was pale and desolate.

"Your brother?"

A low voice suddenly sounded, and she woke up suddenly and put the photo back into her bag.

Atobe Keigo watched her panic movements coldly, without saying anything, just curling the corners of his mouth lightly: "It seems that you are not very satisfied this time."

"Of course I'm not satisfied." She said decisively, looking straight into his eyes, "My brother died on the operating table without any delay and became a tool of their fight, while he can die peacefully. How can he be satisfied? How can it be fair?"

Atobe did not get angry. His dark gray eyes just looked at her lightly for a long time. He sighed and stretched out his hand to hold her in his arms

. "These words can only be said in front of me."

He leaned on her neck and said softly, breathing delicately, neither hurried nor slow, his arms slightly tightened, and his body temperature gradually transmitted through her white kimono, unexpectedly giving her a warm and firm feeling.

For a moment she was a little dazed: "Atobe..."

"You know, it won't end like this." He hugged her, lowered his eyelids to hide his usually sharp eyes, and stroked the woman's thin shoulders with his palms, as if he was just whispering to comfort a crying child, "Oshitari told me that Hasegawa Shu went to his ward late at night."

The woman's slightly closed eyelids raised slightly, then drooped again: "He should be worrying about how to win back the board of directors now?"

Atobe raised his eyelids, glanced at the envelope on the dressing table, and raised the corners of his mouth: "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I'll tell you when I think about it." She answered lightly, as if she had calmed down, slowly broke free from his arms, and tidied her slightly messy hair, "Sorry, I was excited just now."

Atobe did not speak, just quietly looked at the woman in front of him. Because of the funeral, she was wearing a plain kimono, and she looked equally lonely and thin under the thin sunlight.

He turned his back and pulled open the white curtains. Outside the transparent French window, the leaves of the trees rustled.

"Father seems very sad. Uncle fought with him all his life. He might be one of his strongest opponents. Now that he is dead, father must feel lonely." The young master of the Atobe chaebol stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back. His back was as straight as a knife. His voice was low but resounding. "But my battle is not over yet."

You Jiyou was slightly stunned and walked forward slowly. The corner of his eyes vaguely saw his clear profile. In the thin and transparent white sunlight of autumn, five points of sharpness, three points of killing, and two points of the vastness and sadness of the years could not be concealed.

Atobe did not look back, but tentatively stretched out his hand, touched her cold fingertips, and then slowly clenched his hands, intertwining his fingers.

She was slightly startled, but did not break free. She just let him hold her silently and watched the increasingly deep autumn colors side by side.

Suddenly, she had this illusion. Perhaps many years later, when the beauty has aged and the prosperity has faded, will they still stand side by side like this moment, watching the withered vines grow branches, letting time pass by their shoulders?

She was surprised by this thought, but she didn't say anything after all. She raised her delicate eyebrows and saw a phoenix tree suddenly falling from the window.

In the next few days, Yuki had to set aside time to think about the board meeting of Hasegawa Company in addition to dealing with the unfinished lawsuits in the office.

During the two months when Atobe Keigo was committed to completely cleaning up the power left by Atobe Yuichi, she only focused on several recent lawsuits in the office. She knew a little about the recent fluctuations in the Japanese financial industry, but she was not enthusiastic. The only thing she was interested in was the impact of the upcoming board meeting on the internal affairs of Hasegawa Company. 

However, the development of the matter was somewhat unexpected. It was said that the chairman, Kenshin Hasegawa, who was far away in Kyoto, was horrified when he heard about the crisis within the company. He hurried to Tokyo to clean up the mess, but he fell ill as soon as he arrived in Tokyo due to his impatience. The originally scheduled board meeting was postponed indefinitely. 

"What are you doing here?" 

Youji was led by the elderly Filipino maid. Before she stepped onto the stairs, she heard a woman's shrill voice above her head. When she looked up, as expected, she saw Hasegawa Yumi's sharp eyes looking down at her from above, bossing her around. 

For a moment, she was a little dazed. 

She hadn't walked into this house for more than ten years. When she vaguely remembered it, the scene seemed familiar. 

It seemed like that night many years ago again, the shrill quarrels of women intertwined, and the elegant woman rolled down the long steps, bleeding all over the floor. 

She frowned, waved away the bad memory, and just raised her eyelids to look at the arrogant woman in front of her who had a similar expression to her mother: "I'm here to see my uncle." 

"Don't be so hypocritical. If you hadn't done bad things in secret, how could Brother Shu have lost this lawsuit for nothing?" Hasegawa Yumi put her hands on her hips and glared at her, "If you hadn't instigated Atobe, how could he withdraw the funds for the cooperation, and how could Dad fall ill because of this..." 

"Yumi!" The woman was about to continue speaking, but was interrupted by someone. Shu stood at the corner of the stairs and looked at her quietly, "Father asked me to call you up." 

So the woman in a thin black windbreaker at the stairs smiled, as indifferent as the wind, brushed past Hasegawa Yumi's shoulder, and followed him upstairs.

Hasegawa Kenshin was ill, half lying on the bed, looking like he had just finished taking medicine. He looked a little weak, but in good spirits. When he saw her come in, he nodded and smiled slightly: "Thank you for coming to see me, Yuki."

He glanced at her, and Hasegawa Takako beside him was a little reluctant, and looked at the woman who had just come in unfriendly, and left with Shu. Only the

uncle and nephew who had not seen each other for a long time were left in the room.

The morning sun was bright, shining through the thin curtains, and faintly visible light golden dust dancing.

"I almost thought that you would not be willing to step into this house again."

The old man on the hospital bed stared at her for a long time, and smiled self-deprecatingly as if he was full of emotion. You Ji understood what he meant, but just smiled faintly: "I came to see you because I heard that you were sick, but you look in good spirits."

"It's just that my old illness has relapsed, and the things in the company now are really troublesome." Hasegawa Kenshin shook his head with a wry smile, "I thought I could rest assured about Shu, but..."

"It's just that the funds are not turning around for the time being. Uncle doesn't have to worry too much."

"Do you really think so?" Hasegawa Kenshin asked back, with a hint of amusement on his weak face, "We have been involved in a labor dispute lawsuit and lost a large amount of investment loans. Recently, the Totobe Zaibatsu has suspended its cooperation with Hasegawa Logistics. You Ji, are you trying to comfort me by saying this?"

The woman was stunned for a moment, then suddenly raised the corner of her mouth without speaking.

The old man suddenly said, "I heard that your father has returned?"

Youji was not too surprised: "Yes, do you want to meet?"

"It will not be a pleasant meeting." Hasegawa Kenshin did not comment, but just stated the fact.

"I heard that uncle did not hesitate to use all his power to ban him in the Japanese industry. Is that true?" Youji put his hand in the pocket of his windbreaker, lowered his head, and suddenly spoke.

The other party looked at her in surprise, and after a moment said, "You asked so directly, Youji."

"Can't you tell me?"

"You can say that, Youji, you know, I actually don't like your father." After a long silence, Hasegawa Kenshin spoke slowly, "At that time, your mother abandoned the already arranged political marriage and secretly married your father, which caused great damage to the reputation and interests of the Hasegawa family, and also angered the entire family. She was originally the jewel in the crown of the Hasegawa family and a strong woman who was vigorous and decisive in the business world, but she fell to such a point. She suffers from the daily necessities of life, maintains an unhappy marriage but stubbornly refuses to bow to the family and refuses to come back..."

"Unhappy marriage, why do you say that?"

Hasegawa Kenshin paused, as if avoiding something: "You may not remember much about what happened at that time."

"In my memory, they rarely quarreled."

"But they were not close, right?" The old man smiled, covering up the bitter arc at the corner of his mouth.

Yuki was stunned. She tried to search carefully for the memories of the first ten years of her life, but she had to give up because they were so poor. In her memories, her parents were rarely intimate. Both of them were busy making a living. When they occasionally got together, they seemed polite and distant. But occasionally, when her uncle Hasegawa Kenshin brought his young son to visit her sister, the smile on her mother's face would be much warmer, and at this time, the young Hasegawa Shu would run over and pull her away, letting the adults chat there.

"Uncle..."

"At that time, I was also full of vigor and vitality, and naively thought that this was all caused by this marriage. She is my sister, how can I not hate the man who ruined her happiness for a lifetime! When you were six years old, my father, your grandfather, expelled her from the family in a rage and became seriously ill. Your mother was not even allowed to attend her father's funeral. After I took over the family business, I didn't want this situation to continue. Since your mother herself didn't want to come back, I forced her to come back. I used all kinds of power to hint that the industry should not hire your father. His talents could not be fully utilized and he had to look for opportunities overseas. Not long after he left, your mother found out that she already had your younger brother to take care of, so I had an excuse to bring her home. Although I couldn't restore her clan membership for a while and my family didn't welcome her, I thought that as long as people come back, they are blood relatives, and nothing can't be made up for..."

Hasegawa Kenshin leaned against the head of the bed, his eyes flowing as smoothly as water, a beam of sunlight cast on his pale face, as if filtering out the dust accumulated for decades.

Youji didn't speak for a long time. She leaned her waist against the windowsill and looked down at the old man with her eyelids drooping. It was hard to tell whether she was sad or happy.

"I remember that when I moved in with my mother, many people in the family liked us, but only you and Shu were good to us." As if she remembered something from many years ago, she turned around to admire the rustling fallen leaves outside the window, but suddenly changed the subject, "But uncle, if we hadn't moved in at that time, would such a thing have not happened?"

"Youji..."

Hasegawa Kenshin shrugged his shoulders violently, as if he had just woken up from a dream. He raised his head, and the expression on his face twitched, as if a great sadness had suddenly come over him.

The woman slightly side-glanced at him and said slowly, "Can you tell me, uncle, how did mother die?"