Chapter 83: Don’t Tell Anyone

Could it really be that the benefactor who anonymously sponsored her education all those years ago, completely altering the course of her life, was in fact Fu Yancheng?

"Impossible..." Qiao Xi murmured, utterly stunned.

Why had he kept it from her?

How much more did he know about her past?

A tidal wave of shock and an indescribable surge of emotion flooded her in an instant.

Her nose tingled, and her eyes brimmed with heat she could not suppress; she was moved and filled with guilt, desperately close to tears.

She slowly lowered her head, her other hand unconsciously resting on her still-flat belly.

There, Fu Yancheng’s child was quietly growing.

What she had always believed to be the favor of fate was, perhaps, his carefully orchestrated reunion all along?

He had stood silently behind her, watching her stumble through life, watching her thank others from her heart—what must he have felt?

"…Ranran."

After a long while, Qiao Xi finally found her voice, though it was hoarse and trembling. "Don’t… don’t look into it anymore."

She took a deep breath, struggling to sound calm. "Let me… let me handle this myself."

Almost without hesitation, Qiao Xi rose to her feet, determined to seek out Fu Yancheng. She needed to ask him herself.

She had to hear it from his own lips.

She rushed to the foyer, her fingers trembling as she pressed the unlock button on her car key. The lights of a brand-new red sports car flashed in the garage.

She pulled open the door and was about to climb in—

But at that moment, her phone rang. It was a call from her mother’s caregiver at the hospital.

Qiao Xi’s heart plummeted, an ominous premonition surging through her.

She drew a deep breath, forced herself to remain calm, and answered.

“Miss Qiao, something’s wrong!”

“Your mother suddenly lost consciousness and began convulsing. It’s very serious! The doctors can’t find the cause—her heart rate and blood pressure are both dropping abnormally!”

The caregiver’s voice was thick with panic.

“What?!” Qiao Xi’s face went deathly pale.

She hung up, slammed her foot on the accelerator, and sped toward the hospital.

Her mind was a tangle of chaos as she drove.

All her emotions collided, nearly suffocating her.

Her eyes were red, but she bit her lip hard, refusing to let the tears fall.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

Zou Xin’s face twisted with vicious glee, the satisfaction of revenge distorting her features as she stared fixedly at the hospital surveillance feed displaying Qiao Xi’s mother’s ward on her tablet.

In her hand, she gripped a small black electronic device.

Complex data flickered across its screen, along with a constantly flashing red "Activate" signal.

This was the final gift Lu Yanzhi had secretly given her before the police took him away.

A transmitter capable of remotely activating a tiny capsule implanted in Qiao Xi’s mother, triggering specific physiological disorders.

“Qiao Xi…”

Zou Xin sneered coldly, “You ruined me, left me disgraced, thrown out by the Fu family like garbage… and you think it’s over?”

She laughed madly. “You stole my Yancheng, took everything from me. Now, I’ll let you taste the agony of losing your dearest kin!”

“Watching your mother suffer for no reason, while you’re powerless to help… Ha! This is only the beginning!”

The red glow from the screen illuminated her deranged, contorted face.

She pressed another button.

…

First City Hospital.

In the corridor outside the emergency room.

When Qiao Xi arrived, she saw doctors once again at a loss, brows furrowed in helplessness.

On the gurney,

Her mother lay pale and gray, eyes closed, an oxygen mask over her face, surrounded by grave-faced nurses.

Test after test had been done, but the cause remained elusive, and her mother’s vital signs were continuing to decline.

Qiao Xi slumped weakly against the wall, her shoulders trembling as she watched the medical staff rush in and out, overwhelmed by an unprecedented despair and terror.

A fierce intuition told her this was far from a simple relapse.

At the same moment, in the CEO’s office atop Fu Corporation.

Fu Yancheng had just finished an international video conference when Zhou Ze knocked and entered.

“President Fu, there’s an urgent message from the hospital. Ms. Qiao’s condition is critical again, and it’s not looking good. Also… they can’t find the cause.”

His expression was grave. “Madam has already gone over.”

Fu Yancheng’s face changed instantly.

He shot to his feet, grabbing his suit jacket. “Postpone all meetings! Ready the car, we’re going to the hospital—now!”

He issued orders as he strode out, his tone icy.

“Notify Director Li—start an emergency top-level specialist consultation. Use whatever means necessary, but find the cause!”

“And assign more security to the ward. If any suspicious person approaches, detain them immediately!”

Seated in the car, Fu Yancheng stared out at the rapidly receding cityscape, his brow tightly furrowed.

Once could be a coincidence—but twice? Never.

An intense unease and cold fury surged within him.

No matter who was behind this, he would never allow anyone to harm those most precious to him again.

…

At the hospital, Qiao Xi was as pale as death.

Her eyes were glued to the tightly closed ER doors; every time a nurse or doctor hurried in or out, her heart nearly stopped.

At that moment, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She pulled it out mechanically. On the screen was a message from an unknown number—the contents instantly froze her blood.

[Want to know why the doctors can’t find the cause of your mother’s illness? Want her to survive? Come alone, right now, to the pavilion in the old city park south of the hospital.

Tell no one, especially Fu Yancheng. Otherwise, next time, I’ll show you what it truly means to wish for death.]

Attached was a real-time photo.

A shot of the corner of her mother’s hospital bed, and a surveillance image of her current hallway.

Qiao Xi’s breath caught; her hands trembled so badly she nearly dropped her phone.

Boundless fear and helplessness swept over her.

The person not only knew her mother’s condition, but was tracking her every move!

This was no mere threat—it was open provocation and control.

She jerked her head up, scanning her surroundings.

She could not risk her mother’s life—not for an instant.

Biting her lower lip, Qiao Xi seized a moment when no one was looking and hurried toward the stairwell.

She didn’t dare take the elevator.

Stumbling down the stairs, she burst out the hospital’s side door.

And as she left the hospital, Fu Yancheng’s motorcade arrived in a flurry.

He strode toward the emergency room, but found only an empty corridor and bewildered bodyguards.

“Where is Madam?” he demanded sharply, a terrible premonition rising in his heart.

The bodyguard stammered, “She was just here… I think she got a call, then rushed off toward the stairs…”

Fu Yancheng’s expression turned black as thunder.

He immediately pulled out his phone to track Qiao Xi’s location.

Her signal paused at the long-abandoned park near the hospital.

“Zhou Ze! Take your men and surround the old city park—now!” he barked into the phone, fear and fury raw in his voice.

He shot toward the parking lot like an arrow loosed from a bow…