bodyguard against fate

Chapter 43 Crocodile Tears

Old Zheng revisited the place, overwhelmed with emotion. When he first stepped into the mental hospital, all he wanted was to escape; he didn't want to stay there for even a second longer. He never imagined he'd end up staying for twenty years. And even more unexpectedly, one day, after being released, he would voluntarily return!

However, this time he wasn't brought here by someone else. He called Dean Gao, told him that the gold had been found, and wanted to donate some money to the mental hospital. Dean Gao warmly received him!

It's unbelievable that a mental hospital can give back to its patients! Mental patients are donating to the mental hospital. We should find a reporter to report on this and increase our hospital's visibility!

However, Lao Zheng told him to keep a low profile and not to notify anyone, including the vice president. Dean Gao understood perfectly; he was afraid the vice president would steal the credit!

After bringing him to his office, Dean Gao brewed Old Zheng a cup of his own finest tea, which he himself rarely drank, and asked Old Zheng how much he planned to donate.

Old Zheng carefully examined the office environment. It was nice, but it didn't quite look like a mental hospital. How much he would donate depended on how much he could earn from this live stream.

"What live stream?" Dean Gao was bewildered.

"Live streaming from a mental hospital! Nobody else has done that before, right?" Old Zheng had been racking his brains at home for two days before coming up with this brilliant idea.

"Are you kidding? How could a mental hospital broadcast this live?" Dean Gao instantly calmed down. "If anything goes wrong, we'll have to take responsibility!"

"You don't need to take responsibility, I will!" Old Zheng said.

"You?" Dean Gao thought he had misheard. "What responsibility are you taking? I'm the dean!"

You are no longer that.

Old Zheng pulled a rusty axe from his pocket and placed it on the table.

What Dean Gao didn't know was that from the moment Lao Zheng walked in, he had already been replaced.

Feng Weida probably never imagined that his casual remark, "If you follow the dean, you'll be the dean," would become even more valuable!

He Yong suddenly received a call from Dean Gao, who said that a sum of money he had recently donated had not yet arrived in his account and asked him to come and check it out.

"That's strange. There have never been any problems before. It shows that the money has been deposited into my account." He Yong checked his mobile banking app.

"Dad, you're still donating money to mental hospitals?"

These past few days, He Xiuli has been staying at the country villa. It's not that she's afraid of Wu Renxing; firstly, the sight of him makes her nauseous. The thought of him cheating on her for years without her knowledge feels like eating a piece of fatty meat—unable to swallow it or spit it out, leaving her feeling disgusted. Secondly, she's already frozen Wu Renxing's cards, prevented him from accessing the company's accounts, and even the clients know he's no longer the vice president. If they meet, Wu Renxing will definitely bring it up, and He Xiuli is too lazy to deal with it. Thirdly, she knows Wu Renxing's usual behavior well, and she's afraid that if he says something nice, she'll soften her heart and forgive him, making all her hard-won determination to divorce him go to waste.

He Yong knew that He Xiuli was feeling down and wanted to talk to his daughter. Since He Xiuli hadn't been out much, she invited He Yong to have lunch outside. After lunch, they would take a walk by the river to clear their heads.

"It's all because of Lao Zheng..." He Yong said, "This factory originally belonged to him, and the thought of him suffering inside makes me..."

"Dad, I've thought about it. At least half of this factory belongs to Lao Zheng. After I get divorced, we'll give half of the money we've earned over the years to Uncle Zheng as compensation," He Xiuli said earnestly.

"That's several million, are you willing to part with it?" He Yong had thought about this before, but it would hurt anyone to spit out something they had already swallowed, and most people couldn't do it.

"A month ago, I might not have been able to do this," He Xiuli said. "But since discovering Renxing's infidelity, I suddenly realized that making more money doesn't seem that important. What's the point of having a lot of money if you can't even protect your family?"

"Xiuli, it's good that you see things this way... You're better than your dad. At least I couldn't do that at your age," He Yong said. "Oh, right, there's something I forgot to tell you."

"What?"

"Didn't I say that Lao Zheng had accomplices? I asked Dean Gao, and he said that the person who was released before Lao Zheng was—"

Just as He Yong was about to say the name, He Xiuli's phone suddenly rang. It was Wu Renxing. He Xiuli looked at the name on the caller ID and rejected the call.

"Are you really sure about getting a divorce?" He Yong asked.

"There's nothing wrong with it," He Xiuli said. "He should have thought about the consequences the moment he cheated. My mistake was being too confident in my marriage."

For so many years, He Yong had been advising He Xiuli to get a divorce. Now that they were suddenly going to divorce, He Yong couldn't help but sigh, "Who hasn't made a few mistakes in their life? The key is to know when to cut your losses. Rotten fruit should be in the trash heap, and rotten flesh should be cut off, no matter how painful it is!"

He Xiuli looked at her father: "Have you ever regretted sending Uncle Zheng to a mental hospital? If he had entered the real estate industry back then, he might be a big boss now."

"Dad did go a bit too far in this matter, but Xiuli, remember this: 'A kind heart cannot command an army, righteousness cannot accumulate wealth, benevolence cannot make one an official, and sentimentality cannot establish anything,'" He Yong said. "Even if I were to go back twenty years and choose again, I would still send him to the hospital, but that doesn't stop me from donating money to mental hospitals."

"Are you paying money to buy peace of mind?" He Xiuli was somewhat puzzled; perhaps this was crocodile tears.

"These are two different things. A hero cutting off his own arm is for the public good, and even death is not a pity. But if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold, which is for personal reasons. Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings? The most terrible thing in life is not being able to distinguish between public and private interests. For so many years, I have insisted on going to see Lao Zheng, just to constantly remind myself not to act impulsively like him."

"Okay," He Xiuli said, not understanding but respectful. Suddenly, she remembered something, "You were injured at the mental hospital last time. Will you be alright going alone this time?"

"The one who pushed me last time was Old Zheng. He's already out of the mental hospital, so don't worry, I'm fine!"

After being threatened by Lao Zheng to call He Yong, Dean Gao was bound hand and foot and locked in his office. The best live-streaming room Lao Zheng could think of was the control room, from which he could see footage from every corner of the mental hospital. Of course, this was on the condition that Dean Gao called the security guard in the control room and told him he had been fired. The guard was so angry that he wanted to complain to Dean Gao's wife, since he was her nephew. Helpless, Lao Zheng had to change his strategy and have Dean Gao tell him a joke: that a pig would be slaughtered that night for a whole pig feast, and the guard could help in the kitchen to hold down the pig, so he wouldn't have to work all afternoon. The guard was happy to go and eat and play.

"Is everything in China this chaotic now? Even mental hospitals are doing live streams?"

The top-ranked guy, who was enjoying a cocktail and sunbathing on the beach in Thailand, suddenly came across Lao Zheng's video.

"What's so strange about that? I've even seen people livestreaming ghost-catching on graves," Liu Yan said dismissively.

"Did you catch them?"

"Are you stupid? Do you think you can catch that thing?"

"But there really are mentally ill people in those mental hospitals!"

"Why would you look at a mentally ill person instead of a beautiful woman? I really don't know what you men are thinking," Liu Yan said, pursing her lips.