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Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Hospitalized after a Beating
Speaking of this matter, Tong Yao found it strange. "No one answered when I called home yesterday. I’ll call again tomorrow to ask about it."
Si Chen nodded. "Usually, pay more attention to the situation on mom and dad’s side, so we can step in and help if needed."
Tong Yao bit her chopsticks, her brows furrowed with worry. "I think my Uncle and Aunt will definitely not easily give up the house. Things aren’t easy now, we probably won’t even have a good New Year."
With the rapidly rising housing prices in Kyoto, while grandpa’s house isn’t as valuable as the one left by her maternal grandfather, it’s still within the fourth ring road. Later, selling it for tens of millions wouldn’t be a problem. They currently aren’t short of money, so it would be preferable to hold onto the house and let it appreciate.
However, if they truly hold onto it, in another ten years or so, they likely wouldn’t have their share. It would be better to sell it while the housing prices are still affordable and buy a new house.
Si Chen also understood how difficult this situation is. He said calmly, "Let’s ask about the situation first. If it doesn’t work, we’ll follow the legal process. As long as we have grandpa’s will, we’re not afraid of them shirking."
"My parents’ mindset is to avoid legal proceedings as much as possible. After all, they are my Uncle and Aunt. But if we have no choice, we have no choice." Whenever these troublesome matters came up, Tong Yao lost her appetite. After absent-mindedly eating a few bites of food, she could no longer continue eating.
Si Chen was worried about her health. He took her wrist to feel her pulse to ensure nothing was wrong before he relaxed. Still, he reminded her, "Tomorrow, call mom and dad and ask when they’re free. Then, come with them for a full check-up."
Being a doctor, Si Chen understood the importance of yearly check-ups. As people age, all kinds of health problems might appear. Many conditions might not show significant symptoms until it’s usually past the optimal treatment time. If it’s possible to avoid such regrets, then it should be avoided. Any discovered conditions should be treated as early as possible.
Tong Yao nodded in agreement. She was puzzled though, seeing how considerate Si Chen is to his in-laws. He didn’t seem like a disrespectful person, so why does he treat Lin Fengying so coldly?
Apart from Si Boyi, Lin Fengying might be a bit selfish, but she isn’t the kind to make baseless trouble. Could it be because Lin Fengying always favored her younger son, and Si Chen bore a grudge because of it?
These doubts swirled in Tong Yao’s mind, but she didn’t voice them out. If it was true that Lin Fengying was biased, raking it up would be akin to rubbing salt into wounds.
Meanwhile, she didn’t know what happened at her parents’ place. They didn’t pick up or return her calls.
Tong Yao didn’t sleep well that night, thinking about her parents’ situation. The next morning, she went straight to the store without eating breakfast. Not even a call to her home was answered. Worried something happened to her elderly parents, she simply delegated store tasks, then put aside her work to return to her parents’ house.
After knocking for a while with no response, Tong Yao found it strange. She took out the key, opened the door, and took a look around. No one was home. The leftover food on the dining table hadn’t been cleared away. Looking at the stale leftovers, they’d been left for at least two or three days.
Wen Yun was fastidious about cleanliness, and would never leave dishes lying around. They must have left in a hurry for such a situation to occur.
What on earth happened at home? Where could mom and dad have gone?
Fortunately, their neighbor from next door came out. Seeing the open door of the Tong family home, she peered in to find Tong Yao, and asked with concern, "Yaoyao, you’re back? Is your dad doing better?"
Tong Yao was wondering what had happened when she heard the neighbor’s words. She hurriedly asked, "Auntie Li, what happened to my dad?"
"You don’t know?" Auntie Li was surprised. "Your dad and your uncle and auntie got into a fight. Now he’s in Renhe Hospital. If you ask me, your uncle and auntie are not good people. Your mom prepared a meal for them, and they ate and drank all they wanted, then they got drunk and started fighting."
Two against one wasn’t a fight, it was bullying.
Tong Yao had no mind to say anymore. "Auntie Li, thank you, but I’m going to go see my dad at the hospital."
Auntie Li saw the urgency in Tong Yao’s demeanor and didn’t want to be too long-winded. "You better go! Be careful on the way."
Renhe Hospital was close to her home and was only a ten-to-fifteen-minute walk. Tong Yao closed the door and rushed to the Inpatient Department. After asking around, she found her hospitalized father, Tong Yaohui, in the ward on the second floor. He was leaning on his bed drinking porridge, while Wen Yun was sitting in front of the bed, chatting with relatives of the patients in the neighboring beds.
In the original host’s memories, Tong Yaohui had always been a strong and resolute figure like a mountain. He was the pillar of this family and had never looked so frail lying in this hospital bed.
Tong Yao’s eyes uncontrollably turned red. She suppressed her emotions and called out, "Mom, Dad."
"Yaoyao."
Seeing their daughter suddenly appearing at the door of the ward, Tong Yaohui and Wen Yun were both surprised.
Tong Yaohui had thought it was his wife who had called their daughter. He casually put the porridge on the nightstand and blamed her. "I said it already, it’s not a big deal. I can be discharged tomorrow, no need to call Yaoyao, but you just won’t listen."
Wen Yun was puzzled. "I didn’t make the call."
Tong Yao walked into the ward. She picked up the porridge and gave it back to Tong Yaohui, explaining, "It wasn’t mom who called. I called you, but no one answered. So, I came over to check on you. I happened to run into Auntie Li, and she told me about it."
With that said, she angrily accused, "You’re hospitalized and you didn’t let mom call me. Have you ever thought of me as your daughter? I’m living in Kyoto, not Li City."
"It’s not such a big deal, no need to make you worry." Getting beaten up with the combined efforts of his brother and brother-in-law wasn’t something to be proud of. Tong Yaohui felt somewhat embarrassed, which is why he didn’t want his daughter and son-in-law to know.
Now that his daughter was questioning him, he acted as if his wife and daughter were making a mountain out of a molehill.
"Yaoyao, you don’t need to worry. Your dad isn’t severely injured. He only twisted his back after falling down. He can be discharged tomorrow. We have already reported it to the police." Recalling the incident that day, Wen Yun felt extremely distressed. Her husband had always been proud throughout his life. When had he ever been bullied like this?
If not for seeing they were her brother and brother-in-law, she would have burst into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and fought them.
Tong Yaohui was already in his fifties or sixties, and he wasn’t strong enough to withstand such a beating. They made a police report and now that the two of them were scared and wanted to reconcile, it was too late. There was no way they were going to reconcile now.
Knowing that Wen Yun was downplaying the issue because she didn’t want her to worry, she asked again, "Mom, what exactly happened that day? Weren’t they just discussing grandpa’s house? How did it result in a fight?"
Wen Yun, usually gentle in nature, lost her temper when mentioning this matter, "Your uncle and aunt don’t want to divide the house up with us. They think that because you’re a girl, we shouldn’t get any of the Tong family’s wealth, otherwise, it would fall into the hands of outsiders. Your dad couldn’t tolerate them talking about you like this, so they argued. But they were drunk and started to become violent."
