Chapter 488: Sudden Change
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Ling still did not believe that her child was already dead. She shook her head and murmured, “This is not true…”
Nanny Zhou also accompanied her as she wiped her tears. “Madam, you have to face reality. Mister is also in pain, and he has lost a lot of weight in these days.”
Xia Ling’s voice was very hoarse. “I want to see him.”
Nanny Zhou asked, “Are you talking about Mr. Pei, he is now…”
“I want to see my child!” Xia Ling angrily interrupted her and cried out. “Take me to see him!”
“That child’s corpse… is too frightening.” Nanny Zhou said with great difficulty. “Mister instructed someone to take a photo and sent him to be cremated. I will give you his ashes and relics.”
Nanny Zhou turned around and went out. After a while, she came back with a few things.
Sure enough, they were the baby’s relics in a small wooden box. Inside, there were his ashes, a piece of his torn clothing that he wore on the 100-day banquet and a photo that was a bit blurry.
Nanny Zhou explained. “It was at night, so the lighting was not good.”
Xia Ling’s hand shook more violently as she held the photo, tears blurring her vision. After a long time, she finally saw what was shown in the photo. It was a small baby, and its body was smashed by garbage. His legs were broken, and even its bones were poking out of his flesh. There was blood everywhere. There were many mice surrounding and biting him, his face bitten till it was deformed. She could only see a few familiar contours.
Although Xia Ling was mentally prepared, she did not expect such a gruesome sight. How could her baby die so horribly by being crushed into a pile of flesh and blood? How frightened and in how much pain must he have endured!
She could not speak. Her tears continued to fall down, and she cried until she passed out.
“Madam! Madam!” Vaguely, she heard Nanny Zhou’s anxious shouts.
Nanny Zhou was regretful. She should not have shown madam such a bloody photo. However, Mister said this was already the mildest photo of the baby being crushed, and it was necessary for her to let madam know how he looked like in the end for her to give up the illusion that he was still alive.
Thinking about it, Nanny Zhou realized that many women went crazy because they refused to believe that their child was already dead. She did not want madam to become like that.
In fact, even Nanny Zhou did not know that the photo was fake.
The baby did not die at all. Pei Ziheng only did this to make Xia Ling give up hope completely.
Nanny Zhou stayed beside Xia Ling’s bed for a long time until Xia Ling woke up again.
This time, Xia Ling was quieter than before, but her face was pale. She hugged the baby’s relics and refused to let go. Her eyes were empty, and it caused Nanny Zhou to become worried.
Nanny Zhou wanted to give her advice, but she did not know where to start.
She personally saw with her own eyes how much suffering madam had endured taking care of this child. At the very beginning, she carefully concealed the birth month of the child from Mister. Later, she even knelt and pleaded Mister to let him off. When she was giving birth, she was in a dire situation, and the child was small and thin when he was born. She could not eat, sleep, nor live well…
It was difficult. And when Mister finally acknowledged the child, something unexpected happened.
Xia Ling could not eat, drink or sleep. Every day, she was in a trance as she hugged the child’s relics and stared into the distance. Nanny Zhou advised her, but after seeing that she was not listening, she could not help but worry and reported it to Pei Ziheng.
Recently, Pei Ziheng was very busy.
Something had happened in Imperial Entertainment.
Since that night of the garbage dump after Xia Moyan carried the child and left, the next day, Skyart Entertainment launched another crazy attack on Imperial Entertainment. This time, it was ferocious, far exceeding the last attack. The strength of Skyart Entertainment seemed to have increased a lot overnight. It fatally hit Imperial Entertainment’s Achilles’ heel.
Pei Ziheng was so busy dealing with the plunge of the stock price and the sudden emergence of numerous flaws in the business that he simply could not care about anything else and did not even have time to take care of Xia Ling. After hearing Nanny Zhou’s report that Xia Ling was ok, he was relieved.
Until Nanny Zhou told him that madam had not eaten or drunk anything for two days.
Pei Ziheng was utterly overwhelmed, but he still put down the emergency business he had to settle and went to the hospital to visit Xia Ling.
“The child is already dead. What do you want?” This was the first thing Pei Ziheng told Xia Ling after seeing her. He was impolite. He took the ashes, photos, and relics out of Xia Ling’s arms and looked at her coldly. “Xia Ling, you better eat, or else I will throw away these broken toys!”
“These aren’t broken toys.” She spoke without any strength. Her voice was in a terrible state. She looked at him with a pair of dull and heavy eyes. “Give me the baby.”
Pei Ziheng lowered his head to look at the pile of things in his hands. Those were not the baby’s ashes in the box. It was planted ash that he had ordered someone to put in the box, and the photo was doctored. The only real thing was that dirty and broken piece of cloth. He resisted his irritation and softened his voice. “The relic is already dirty. I will ask someone to wash it before giving it to you. The ashes should also be buried. This photo is too gory. It’s not good if you keep staring at it. If the baby knew that you are watching his last ugly state from heaven, he will definitely be upset.”
“He’s not ugly.” Her voice was as thin as a kitten’s meow as she cried out.
Pei Ziheng’s heart hurt immensely. He knew that this woman was upset over another man’s child, but he could not stand looking at how sad she was.
He walked over and took her into his arms.
As Xia Ling’s cheeks stuck to his chest, she smelled a faint tobacco smell, and she could feel his strong and powerful heartbeat. At the start, she resisted the urge to cry, but gradually, she cried louder and louder, until finally, she started screaming and bawling.
Pei Ziheng comforted her for a long time.
She was tired after crying and fell asleep.
Pei Ziheng called the doctor over to give her a nutrition shot, and then gave some instructions and hurriedly rushed back to Imperial Entertainment to handle official business. Seeing Mister in a rush, Nanny Zhou’s eyes were bloodshot, and she was distressed. She quickly took a few steps forward and offered him some chicken soup.
“Mister, take this to the office to drink.” Nanny Zhou said, “It was originally for Madam, but seeing that she won’t wake up soon, and you’ve been working so hard recently, you can’t let your health be affected.”
Pei Ziheng originally wanted to ask her to put it back in the ward in case Xia Ling wakes up later.
However, when he thought about how he had been sleeping not more than three hours a day because he had to deal with affairs and meetings, he accepted the soup. Recently, Skyart Entertainment was being extremely vicious and would not rest until Imperial Entertainment was utterly destroyed. As Imperial Entertainment’s shares dropped rapidly, Imperial Entertainment started to lose ground.
There was a faint ominous premonition in Pei Ziheng’s heart. If he did not handle this well, perhaps the entire empire that he built through Imperial Entertainment would vanish.