Chapter 205: Stop Acting Innocent

Chapter 205: Chapter 205: Stop Acting Innocent

"They..."

"AHH!"

Another shriek, short and piercing, its end trembling in the air.

"My stomach is splitting open!"

He Wei and her mother were so frightened they both jumped back half a step in unison.

Her mother, Wu Xin, immediately waved her hands and shouted.

"Don’t you dare frame us!"

"We didn’t even touch the hem of her clothes!"

She shrank back as she spoke.

Shen Rongdan’s eyes were bloodshot. His voice sliced through the air.

"Do you think I’m deaf or blind?"

"When I was coming upstairs, you were right here blocking her way and yelling at her. I heard it! Every last word!"

"Stop playing the innocent!"

That scream had just about scared the soul out of him.

He thought something had happened to the baby in Song Yao’s belly. His heart had nearly stopped beating and was now pounding furiously.

Shen Rongdan’s car was parked under the old plane tree by the entrance.

The tree’s shadow slanted across half the car. He scooped Song Yao into his arms and took a few quick steps to get into the driver’s seat.

He slammed on the gas and sped off toward the hospital on the next street.

Once it was just the two of them in the car, Shen Rongdan glanced over while keeping a hand on the wheel. "I’ll get a trusted doctor to take a look at you," he said. "Don’t worry. I guarantee they won’t find anything wrong."

Song Yao shifted, settling deeper into her seat and waving her hand dismissively.

"There’s really no need, Second Brother! I was just startled. My heart’s fluttering and my limbs feel weak—it’s a purely psychological stress response. I’m not physically hurt at all."

Shen Rongdan frowned.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive!"

Song Yao smiled and made an OK sign with her hand, flicking her fingers lightly.

Shen Rongdan broke into a grin. "Alright!"

But his face fell again almost immediately, and he sighed.

"This isn’t the first time they’ve walked all over you like this, is it? How come you never said a word to the family?"

"It’s my fault, too. I don’t visit you enough. Otherwise, I would’ve noticed something was wrong sooner."

Song Yao quickly shook her head.

"That’s not it! Today was the first time I’d ever seen that old woman. Her daughter, He Wei, has made some snide remarks to me a few times before, but it was all just talk. She never got physical."

She sighed and spread her hands.

"She’s after our apartment; she wants me to give it up. I thought she might see reason, but it turns out she’s completely irrational. She must have water on the brain, and it’s frozen solid."

"Why should you give it up? Does she think she can just open her mouth and swallow an elephant?" ⅇℓ.

Shen Rongdan’s voice rose half an octave.

The two of them complained back and forth the whole way, and soon the car pulled up outside the hospital’s emergency building.

The moment the car stopped, Shen Rongdan pushed his door open, jumped out, and hurried around to the passenger side to help Song Yao out.

Song Yao turned and winked at Shen Rongdan.

"Second Brother, I’ll have to trouble you to carry me again. We have to commit to the act so we don’t blow our cover."

Without a word, Shen Rongdan scooped her up securely in his arms and dashed inside.

"Doctor! Help, over here!"

Li Hanchen had been summoned by a phone call from his superior, Cheng Yu.

Cheng Yu had been in a meeting at the regiment headquarters at the time.

After receiving the news, he ended the meeting immediately, grabbed his jacket, and headed out.

Director Cheng had also heard the rumors.

The family housing complex was in an uproar—the wife of the Third Regiment’s director was in trouble and had been rushed to the hospital!

He buttoned his jacket as he questioned the person on the other end of the line.

"Where is she now? Who took her? Is there a preliminary diagnosis?"

Upon hearing the answer, a cold sweat broke out on the back of Director Cheng’s neck.

"Are they insane? Have their brains been pickling in a soy sauce vat for too long?!"

He snatched the military cap from his desk, slapped it on his head, and rushed out of his office, striding quickly down the stairs.

By the time he arrived at the hospital in a frantic hurry, Shen Rongdan had already carried Song Yao into an examination room.

Director Cheng only managed to grab a few onlooking military family members and ask what had happened, getting a rough idea of the situation.

"We heard it from downstairs. Director Yang’s mother-in-law started cursing the moment she opened her mouth... Did she hit her? We were too far away, we really couldn’t see."

"How is Director Li’s wife?"

"Oh my, her face was as white as a sheet, and sweat was just pouring down... Sigh, what a mess!"

Everyone chimed in, their voices filled with anxiety.

He Wei and her mother had long since slipped back home to hide, playing dumb as if nothing had happened.

Wu Xin sat on the sofa, restless, wringing her hands.

She kept glancing at the door before quickly looking down again and muttering to her daughter.

"Maybe I should leave first? When they come looking, just say I just left. Let them come after me to settle the score."

He Wei bit her lip, pacing back and forth in the room.

She stopped by the window and whispered, "Do you think... she could be faking it?"

Wu Xin didn’t say anything.

When it came to pregnant women, who could say for sure?

"If I had known she was so easily frightened, I... I wouldn’t have said those extra few things."

"Enough talk. I’m leaving."

Wu Xin shot to her feet, the leg of the chair scraping against the floor.

Seeing that the situation had blown up, Director Cheng immediately had someone summon Li Hanchen and Yang Lei back.

The moment Li Hanchen stepped through the gate of the family courtyard, the military families gathered downstairs swarmed him.

After hearing what they had to say, Li Hanchen’s face tightened. He cut straight to the chase.

"Where is she?"

A few of the onlooking women were taken aback.

"Huh? Who?"

Before she finished speaking, someone else added in a low voice.

"I think... Mr. Shen."

"Shen Songyao! My wife!"

His voice cracked, coming out hoarse and trembling.

Director Cheng quickly stepped forward, wanting to steady him.

"Director Li, calm down first..."

Before the words left his mouth, Li Hanchen cut him off.

"Where is Song Yao?"

"She was taken to the hospital! Battalion Commander Shen carried her there!"

"Which hospital? The nearest one?"

he asked through clenched teeth, his knuckles white from gripping his fists.

"It should be... the county hospital."

"’Should be’?"

Li Hanchen’s eyes shot up.

But he didn’t pause for a second longer, spinning around and bolting away.

Director Cheng opened his mouth, then shut it again firmly.

He turned his head and stared at Yang Lei.

"What did I say in the meeting the other day?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crooked button on Yang Lei’s collar, and his voice grew deeper.

"The housing allocation was set in stone! What were you all trying to pull?"

"Letting your family cause a scene and assault people in the courtyard?"

"Yang Lei, your career ends here."

With that, he didn’t linger either.

’If something truly happened to Song Yao, not only would Yang Lei be removed from his post, but I’d have to step down as well. Getting tangled up in this mess is a dereliction of duty.’

Li Hanchen floored the accelerator. The car shot forward, tires screeching against the pavement.

He stared dead ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel as the speedometer needle climbed relentlessly.

Li Hanchen ran panting into the hospital entrance.

He arrived less than three minutes after Shen Rongdan.

"Quick! A pregnant woman! She’s about to give birth! There was an accident! Where is she being treated?"

The nurse, startled by his intensity, took an instinctive step back, nearly dropping the chart in her hands.

"You mean... which one?"

"The one... who’s about to go into labor, who suddenly fell, is bleeding, and screaming about stomach pain!"

His forehead was covered in sweat, and his words were a jumbled mess.

The nurse could see he was truly about to panic himself to death.

"She’s not in the ER! Come on, to Obstetrics and Gynecology! I’ll take you up!"

Pushing the door open, Li Hanchen’s eyes immediately fell on Song Yao leaning against Shen Rongdan’s shoulder.

"Song Yao..."

Song Yao heard him and turned her head, her gaze meeting Li Hanchen’s.

A single drop of moisture slid from the corner of his eye. It was hard to tell if it was sweat from his frantic run or an actual tear.

"Honey... I..."

Her heart skipped a beat.

’Oh no!’