NOVPUB
Chapter 654: Chapter 654: I’ll go find Tong Yao!
Zheng’s sister had friends who were helping out, which relieved Wen Yun of a lot of worry. She had been quite busy these past few days and hadn’t had the time to deal with these things.
Deng Wenwen and Guo Miaomiao were both tired and hungry after a long day. They finished the pot of noodles that Zheng’s sister had cooked. As it was almost getting dark, Wen Yun suggested Wenwen stay over and leave in the morning with Miaomiao.
Wenwen was more than willing to spend more time talking to Tong Yao and readily agreed.
As for Yu Shiya, when she got off the train, the child was crying. Finding the noise annoying, she left the railway station. After waiting for a while and not seeing Cheng Yun, she decided to go back and look for her. To her surprise, she saw several police officers leading Cheng Yun away.
Remembering what Wei Hualan had said, Cheng Yun guessed that it was probably related to Wei Hualan’s child theft. Not wanting to implicate herself, she didn’t go out.
After the police had taken Cheng Yun away, Shiya looked for a phone booth and made a call but there was no answer. She then went to the police station to inquire and learned that her mother was indeed taken away by the police due to involvement in child theft. She then called Yu Zhengxiong’s office at the hospital.
It took two calls before Yu Zhengxiong answered. As soon as he heard Shiya’s voice, Yu Zhengxiong, who had been restraining his anger, erupted, "Shiya, what on earth is going on? Why did you and Wei Hualan steal Tong Yao’s child? How could you do such an illegal thing? Where is your mother? Get her to answer the phone and return the child immediately."
Tong Yao’s child?
When Shiya heard these words, she was stunned.
She stared in disbelief, "Dad, what are you talking about? How could this child be Tong Yao’s? Isn’t she in Kyoto?" 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
Moreover, she didn’t hear anything about Tong Yao being pregnant. How could she suddenly have a child?
Yu Zhengxiong had no time to explain all these. He said angrily, "Is this the time to dispute whose child it is? Why did you steal a child? Stealing a child is a crime. I don’t understand why I need to explain this simple fact to you. How did I raise you?"
Without waiting for Shiya to respond, he continued, "I have told you before, medical technology is improving and your issues could potentially be solved in a few years. You are still young and there’s no rush to have a child. But you went behind my back to do such a thing and even involved your mother. Shiya, you have disappointed me greatly."
Shiya snapped out of her shock, frowned and explained, "Why am I being blamed for this? I had no idea that my mom would steal the child with Wei Hualan. I only found out this morning. Wei Hualan told us that the child was stillborn and could not be returned to its parents. To avoid burdening you, she suggested that Mom and I take the child. I didn’t want to agree, but what could I do since my mother decided to take the child?"
No wonder the child looked so much like Tong Yao. So, it was Tong Yao’s daughter! Was Wei Hualan holding a grudge against Tong Yao’s family? Why else would she steal Tong Yao’s daughter and give it to her, knowing full well that she despised Tong Yao?
The girl resembled Tong Yao so much that she would probably grow to look even more like Tong Yao as she got older. Wasn’t this intentionally causing trouble for her?
Yu Zhengxiong’s anger did not subside even after hearing that his daughter was not directly involved. He said, "Go buy a train ticket now and accompany your mother to return the child. Then apologise to Tong Yao and try to persuade her to not make the situation worse."
Now that things had come to this point, Yu Zhengxiong knew that blaming wouldn’t get them anywhere. The only option was to try and minimize the impact. His dreams of a glorious retirement were clearly impossible now.
Under the circumstances, he could only consider an early retirement.
Hearing the mention of apologising to Tong Yao, Shiya’s face was filled with anger. She refused to beg Tong Yao.
Taking a deep breath, Shiya had calmed down. She said, "I called you to talk about this. As soon as Mom got off the train, she was taken away by the police, and they took the child as well."
Yu Zhengxiong hadn’t expected the police to apprehend Cheng Yun so quickly, and he was momentarily taken aback. He said, "Wei Hualan has also been arrested."
Shiya realised the situation was serious, "What should we do now?"
She seemed to be trying to shift the blame, "It’s all Wei Hualan’s doing. Neither I nor Mom had any idea that she would steal Tong Yao’s child. We were both surprised when she showed up with the child this morning. If Wei Hualan takes all the responsibility, or if we insist that we didn’t know the child was stolen, can we clear our names?"
The child had been found, and they weren’t human traffickers. Shiya felt that the consequences shouldn’t be too severe.
Yu Zhengxiong was furious, but he knew that getting angry now was futile. The best course of action was to try to minimize the repercussions as much as possible. "If it’s possible to keep one less person involved, then that’s what we do. You stay in Kyoto for now and pretend that you know nothing about this. Leave the rest to me."
Despite his anger, he couldn’t deny his paternal instincts. His first thought was to protect his daughter no matter what may come.
Hearing his words, Shiya felt a pang of guilt, "Dad, this isn’t such a big deal. How about you talk to Wei Hualan and get her to take all the blame? You’re close to retirement, you can’t tarnish your reputation now."
Yu Zhengxiong said solemnly, "You don’t need to worry about this. Hoping to retire normally is out of the question. As long as you’re not implicated, it doesn’t matter to your mother and me. We’re old, we don’t care."
His words made Shiya feel even worse, "Dad, don’t talk like that, I’ll go find Tong Yao!"
Initially, Shiya had no intentions of finding Tong Yao. But after hearing what her father said, she felt so guilty she couldn’t stand it. Although this incident wasn’t her doing, she couldn’t just stand back and let her parents suffer the consequences.
However, Yu Zhengxiong changed his tone, "There’s no need to find her now. The police have taken the child, and the matter can’t be hushed up anymore. I was rash to suggest apologizing to Tong Yao earlier. Knowing her character, she won’t soften just because we say a few pleasant words. I know your personality too, don’t make things hard for yourself."
Before Shiya could respond, Yu Zhengxiong’s tone softened. He said in a heartfelt way, "Your mother and I are old. Our ability to shield you from life’s difficulties is weakening. After this incident, you need to grow up."
Yu Zhengxiong only had one daughter in his life, Shiya. Even though Shiya could be a bit arrogant, he felt proud of how he brought her up.
It was just a shame that she didn’t follow his footsteps and pursue medicine. However, that wasn’t a big deal. Medicine was a tough field, and changing careers was a fine option. She could venture into business in the future.
His career was coming to an end. He was old and didn’t care much about it. He had had his time of glory. But his daughter was still young, and he couldn’t let her future be ruined because of this.
