Chapter 270: Surgery Cancelled

For three consecutive days, Pei Ling had almost no rest.

Before the surgery, he had to arrange some matters regarding the Pei Family.

Previously, in order to deal with Pei Shaoshen, he had gathered incriminating evidence against the Pei Family; the two had fought in the shadows, and the thrilling showdown after the cards were laid on the table had left behind many hidden dangers, all of which he had to resolve before he could go into surgery with peace of mind.

Otherwise, Zhu Yuan would not be safe.

As for the rest of his energy, he spent it all on the security around Zhu Yuan, secretly arranging for more personnel to be sent over so that, whether inside the small courtyard or all around it, Zhu Yuan could be well protected.

He had a very serious stomach ailment; when he was young, that person would not give him food, and he suffered from long-term starvation, plus later that person found some strange things to feed him, causing him pain and misery, making life worse than death, and forcing him to swear allegiance to the Pei Family.

His stomach had been ruined since he was a child.

The severe ulcer had already become cancerous, and surgery was required as soon as possible.

After scheduling the surgery for that day, he gave Zhu Yuan a call.

At that time, Zhu Yuan had just finished lunch and was preparing to return to her room for a nap.

Her voice carried a lazy tone.

Through the screen, Pei Ling could imagine exactly what her vivid and spirited face looked like in its charming state.

"Yuanyuan," Pei Ling called out to her.

There was no answer from the other end of the line; he waited in silence for a few seconds, "No reply?"

"I'm sleepy, I was just yawning."

She had indeed yawned, but she had also heard Pei Ling call her Yuanyuan.

Pei Ling did not force her to respond to his nickname for her, "I will come to see you in a week."

For some reason, a sense of unease stirred in Zhu Yuan's heart, making her feel restless, "Why such a specific time?"

Pei Ling spoke in a slow, indifferent tone, "I can't be sure, I just said it casually."

He buttoned his hospital gown with one hand, "If I don't come to find you in a week, you must take good care of the grapes I planted."

"I won't," Zhu Yuan vaguely felt that Pei Ling was implying something, yet she had no proof, "I've never grown grapes; you should take care of them yourself."

A lingering, low chuckle came from the other end of the phone.

"Silly."

"You said you would take care of them yourself," Zhu Yuan said stubbornly.

Pei Ling was silent for two seconds.

The worry in Zhu Yuan's heart grew more intense; she did not know what Pei Ling was going to do, but her intuition told her that something was wrong, very wrong.

Just as she was anxious to ask him again, Pei Ling on the other end of the line heard the sound of her rapid breathing; he could not imagine her looking worried, but he already felt reluctant to let go.

"So you do worry about me."

Pei Ling leaned against the wall with his phone, his voice sounding as if he had succeeded in something, his mood seemingly excellent.

As soon as Zhu Yuan heard this, she was furious, "You did that on purpose."

Did he not know that she already considered him a friend?

Although she could not reciprocate his feelings, she would worry about a friend; how could he dare to speak so carelessly!

For a moment, she thought he was giving final instructions.

Hearing her return to normal and imagining her pouting, Pei Ling's lips curved, "Alright, I won't tease you, I'm sorry. I will take care of the grapes myself."

"And take care of you myself."

Yuanyuan.

In the afternoon, the pre-operative preparations were complete.

Before entering the operating room, Pei Ling paused and turned back to say to the solemn-faced Pei Li behind him, "If something happens to me, Yuanyuan will be your new master."

"Second Master!" The eyes of the solemn-faced Pei Li turned slightly red, "Nothing will happen to you."

"No need for nonsense, I'm just saying 'if'," Pei Ling could not be bothered to bicker with them.

Surgery is such a thing; who can say for sure.

And it was a surgery with a low success rate.

Today was destined to be his battle with the Grim Reaper.

When he was young, he was not starved to death, nor was he poisoned to death by that man.

Today, he would not die either.

He promised her he would return to take care of the grapes.

He also promised himself he would return to take care of her.

Just as Pei Ling stepped into the operating room, Pei Li's phone rang.

Even though Pei Li lowered his voice, Pei Ling still heard "Miss Zhu".

The man's footsteps halted, and he pressed against the heavy door of the operating room that was about to close.

"What happened to Yuanyuan?"

Pei Li did not expect Pei Ling to return, so he gripped his phone tightly, steeled his heart, and prepared to lie.

But the next second, Pei Ling snatched the phone away, and the person on the other end said, "It's too slow to wait for the ambulance, we are already on the way to the hospital."

"What ambulance?" Pei Ling's expression was deathly cold.

Pei Li frowned tightly.

The person on the other end of the phone was stunned upon hearing Pei Ling's voice, "Second Master?"

"I asked you what happened to her!" Pei Ling shouted in anger.

"Miss Zhu had returned to her room for a nap, but suddenly we heard her scream; when we rushed into the room, Miss Zhu was curled up on the bed, crying out that her stomach hurt."

A series of rumbling thunderclaps echoed across the horizon.

The summer rainstorm arrived right on schedule.

By the time an off-road vehicle sped into the territory of Licheng, the sky had already darkened.

The car stopped at the hospital; Pei Ling, wearing a patient gown, pushed open the car door and charged directly into the rainstorm. The ground was covered in standing water, and he strode into the emergency center.

By the time Pei Li caught up to him, he was drenched from head to toe. His wet, short hair was black and glistening, and his deep amber eyes, set in a slightly pale face, were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the door in front of him.

Before they arrived, several Bodyguards were guarding the entrance; seeing Pei Ling, they all lowered their heads in self-reproach.

It is unknown how much time passed before the emergency room door opened.

Pei Ling walked forward, his soaked shoe soles leaving a trail of water.

"How is she?" the man's voice was low, hoarse, and hurried.

The doctor was startled by his intense gaze and blurted out, "She is already fine."

Why was this man wearing a patient gown?

As soon as the doctor finished speaking, Pei Ling lunged inside.

"Hey, you can't!" the doctor and nurses were unable to stop him in time.

When Pei Ling burst in, Zhu Yuan was still unconscious.

When the medical staff had examined her earlier, they had lifted her dress up to her chest.

Pei Ling walked in, his eyes not wandering, and pulled a cloth over Zhu Yuan to cover her.

A rough hand reached out to touch Zhu Yuan's face.

"Yuanyuan."

In her unconscious state, Zhu Yuan's brows were tightly furrowed; she curled her body, her palms pressed against her lower abdomen, and let out a whimper.

"Why is she still in pain?" Pei Ling grabbed her other hand, his heart aching, and turned to question the doctor.

Seeing the situation, the doctor assumed Pei Ling was Zhu Yuan's husband and hurriedly explained, "Your wife ate something bad, which caused the abdominal pain. We just gave her Medicine, and it will take a few minutes to take effect."

Ate something bad.

Pei Ling stared at Zhu Yuan's face—this foodie!

Was it because he wasn't around that she had gotten herself into some kind of mess?

Pei Ling watched her curled up in discomfort and was about to pick her up when he looked down and saw his own clothes, soaked by the rain.

"Get me some clothes."

After saying this to Pei Li, he steadied himself against the hospital bed and followed the nurses as they moved Zhu Yuan to a ward.

Once Pei Li brought him a clean, new set of clothes, he ripped off his soaked patient gown and pulled on a black T-shirt.

He sat by the bedside and pulled the sleeping Zhu Yuan into his arms.

After a long while, he lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair.

"Yuanyuan."

A wave of lingering fear surged into his heart.

Pei Ling held Zhu Yuan, gently wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead.

The soft light fell upon the two of them.

Pei Li stood guard quietly at the door, only hearing the man say in a low voice, "Cancel the surgery."

If only he had known he couldn't let go.

Hearing that she had an accident and seeing her endure the pain alone, he finally realized how unable he was to let go.

He could not gamble on that "what if."