Chapter 598

"May I ask if you are Zhao Desan?" A woman asked him.

This sweet and moving voice made him feel a bit happy invisibly. He thought to himself, could it be that I've had a stroke of luck with women? Could it be that another beauty is going to take the initiative to deliver herself to my door? While fantasizing, he said excitedly, "Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"I am from the Yuyang City Suburban Prison. Your father, Liu Wangcai, is critically ill. Please come to the Suburban Prison Hospital immediately."

The voice on the phone was still sweet, but it was very mechanical. The sentence she said made him shocked all of a sudden. His hand holding the suitcase handle loosened, and the suitcase fell to the ground with a thud. Before he could ask clearly, the other party hung up the phone.

He couldn't believe his ears. He stood on the spot, stunned for a moment, before reacting quickly. He didn't have time to care about the suitcase left on the ground and ran toward the outside of the residential area.

He ran out of the residential area, anxiously hailed a taxi, and rushed to the Suburban Prison Hospital in a hurry.

In the car heading to the prison hospital, he tried hard to force himself to calm down, comforting himself over and over again. His father's health had always been very good. He had visited the prison before the New Year, and the old man was still happy for his achievements in his career, telling him to walk further on the political path in the future and never be greedy for wealth and go into business. He also listened to his teachings and made rapid progress in his official career. Perhaps there was no big problem, just a false alarm. He tried his best to force himself to calm his emotions, not to let his imagination run wild, and looked at the billboards on the side of the road while riding in the car to the prison hospital.

More than half an hour later, the car stopped at the gate of the desolate prison hospital. Because he was in a hurry to get in, he threw a hundred-yuan bill to the driver and got out of the car to rush into the hospital without waiting for the change. In the heavily guarded hospital, he searched around like a headless fly before seeing Liu Wangcai, who was lying on the bed and dying, in the emergency ward on the third floor. The two prison guards on the side asked him to show his identification. After confirming that he was Liu Wangcai's family member, they automatically withdrew from the ward and guarded the door.

"Dad, what's wrong with you?" As soon as the prison guards left, he stepped forward anxiously, lay on the hospital bed, and grabbed Liu Wangcai's hand.

Liu Wangcai, with a sallow complexion, heard his son's voice and struggled to open his turbid eyes. A gratified smile squeezed out from his pale corners of his mouth. He made a very small sound with difficulty, "Desan, you... you finally... finally came..."

"Dad, what's wrong with you? What's going on?" He asked anxiously. How could the old man have become so ill in just half a year?

"I... I might not make it... Desan, let me tell you a secret... you are... you were adopted by your mother and me... and also... also I... I was reported by someone before I... went to jail..." Liu Wangcai struggled to say the secret he had hidden from Zhao Desan for many years, and also told him the reason why his coal mine was sealed and why he went to jail.

His words struck like a bolt from the blue, making Zhao Desan unable to believe it for a moment, and he was dumbfounded. Just as he was in a daze, Liu Wangcai's eyes closed, and the hand that was tightly holding his also loosened powerlessly. The wavy line on the instrument became a straight line, and the instrument began to beep.

Zhao Desan was disrupted by this harsh sound. He quickly regained his senses and found that his father on the hospital bed had already breathed his last. His eyes were closed, his body was motionless, and he had no breath. He quickly lay on him, shook his arms, and shouted in a panic.

Hearing the movement in the ward, the prison guards guarding outside the door rushed in. They took a look at the straight line displayed on the life monitor, looked at each other, and one of them walked out of the ward quickly. Not long after, the hospital doctor rushed over, stepped forward to test his breathing with his hand, pulled open his eyes to shine a flashlight he carried with him, shook his head numbly, and said, "The patient is dead."

Ever since his father used his connections in the prison to spend money to send him into the Yuyang City Coal Bureau, his life had changed. Coupled with his own cleverness and his ability to suck up to leaders, his life had always been smooth sailing. It was just that because he offended the leaders in the bureau over the coal reform, his life had not been smooth recently. Who would have expected that such a thing would happen when he was about to set off for the province to start a new journey in his life? It was truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly, which made his mind blank for a moment. Although Zhao Desan's father had been busy with the coal business since he was a child, and he had never lacked money to spend, he didn't have a deep emotional bond with his father. But after all, he was still his father. He hadn't seen him for half a year, and he didn't expect that this hurried meeting would be a deathbed farewell. He couldn't help but feel quite sad, his mind was in a mess, and he had no time to think about the secret Liu Wangcai told him before he died.

The hospital brought something for him to sign. He didn't even look at it and directly grabbed a pen to scribble his name on it. After signing, the hospital transferred his father's remains to the morgue and told him to choose a time to transport the remains for cremation as soon as possible.

Since the prisoner died of illness, there wasn't much for the prison to do. They just issued a death certificate to him, handed over some of Liu Wangcai's simple belongings in the prison to Zhao Desan, and the prison's procedures were considered finished.

Because the emotional bond wasn't very deep, and he was a very strong-willed person, although he said he was sad, he wasn't too heartbroken. He just felt that he was suddenly the only one left in the family, and there were no more relatives to worry about, which made him feel a bit empty. After coming out of the hospital, he was busy looking for a funeral home and contacting the crematorium.

In the morning, he had told Su Qing that he would arrive in Xijing City at three or four in the afternoon. Su Qing, who had been waiting for him in the province, hadn't received his message or call even after five o'clock. She felt a bit suspicious, so she called him. At this time, Zhao Desan was busy handling his father's funeral. After all, he had never encountered such a thing, so he could only find a funeral home and entrust them to help handle it. He was also busy and exhausted. When his phone rang in his pocket, he had no time to care about it. He didn't even look at it and directly reached into his pants pocket to press reject. Su Qing called several times in a row, and in the end, Zhao Desan simply turned off his phone, finding it annoying.

After all, Su Qing was the dignified Minister of the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee, and she had never heard of anyone hanging up on her call. This directly made Su Qing very angry. She threw her phone onto the desk and thought angrily, "This guy actually dares not to answer my call, and even turned off his phone!" Just as she was angry because Zhao Desan inexplicably didn't answer her call, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. She thought it was that guy calling, so she quickly reached out to pick up the phone and took a look. The screen showed "Construction Committee Ma Debang." She couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed and suspicious. Why did this Ma Debang call at this time? Could it be that he had something to ask of her because of the change of the Construction Committee at the end of the year? Su Qing, who held the power of appointing leaders for the entire Hexi Province, guessed the purpose of Ma Debang's call while pressing the answer button and placing the phone to her ear. She smiled faintly and said in a light tone, "Deputy Director Ma, do you have anything to do by calling me?"

On the phone, Ma Debang asked her with a smile first, "Minister Su, my call didn't disturb your work, did it?"

"Nothing much right now. What's the matter, Deputy Director Ma?" Su Qing asked him with a smile that was neither salty nor light. Because she held the power of appointing leaders for the entire Hexi Province, she often received calls asking her to do things. So as long as it wasn't a call from a leader higher than her in the Provincial Party Committee, she was always a bit impatient. But for the sake of face and others' opinions, she had to pretend to be approachable. Having been in the political circles of Hexi Province for many years, she also knew that her reputation was not good. In the early days, because her promotion was too fast, the name publicly announced by the provincial organization for every jump was "exceptional promotion." But privately, other "insiders" all understood what was going on. Some even joked privately that she came up by riding an "elevator," and not only were there people above, but there were also people "below." So as her position got higher and higher, she paid more and more attention to her image and reputation in others' hearts. For some officials who wanted to go far on the political path and asked her to do things, as long as their ambition wasn't too big and their requests weren't too excessive, she would try her best. Moreover, in order for Zhao Desan to pass the Construction Committee interview smoothly, she had also introduced him to Ma Debang, which could be considered as entrusting him with a matter. If Ma Debang had something to ask of her, she couldn't refuse.

From Su Qing's tone, Ma Debang felt that she seemed very reluctant to answer this call, so he smiled and said in a roundabout way, "Minister Su, are you feeling a bit uncomfortable? Your voice sounds a bit off."

"This old Ma must have heard that I didn't want to answer his call." She thought to herself, squeezed a light smile on the corner of her mouth, and said, "Nothing much, just finished a lot of things, a bit tired."

"Oh, then Minister Su must pay attention to your health. It's too hot recently, don't overwork yourself." Ma Debang pretended to be concerned and flattered her.