Chapter 173 - "You Two are the Culprits on This." (1)

Li ShiZe, too, had found out what had happened to his father while Li WangJin was staying at the hospital.

He hadn't expected what Jiang YaGe's mother had done such a thing in the past and dragged Jiang YaGe in as collateral damage. Nevertheless, she had already passed away and Jiang YaGe had been crying nonstop, he didn't want to speak poorly of his late mother-in-law.

After Jiang YaGe was done crying and wiped away her tears, her eyes, being cleansed by her tiers, were particularly limpid and the corners of her eyes had a hint of red, giving her a seductive feel amidst her innocence.

"I know Dad doesn't want to see me right now but I still would like to see him. At least let me explain about what my mother had done." Even though Li WangJin had not been treating her as nice as he once had and even somewhat resentful toward her, Jiang YaGe was still confident that as long as she still resembled her mother's look, it was just a matter of time before Li WangJin's attitude toward her would soften.

She hadn't expected that something that had happened so many years ago would see the light of day. Would she still be able to be with ShiZe if Li WangJin objected to the two of them adamantly? The thought of that made her very nervous. Her reputation was at its worst right now. In fact, so bad that she had to drop out of school temporarily. If Li ShiZe turned his back on her now, she had no idea what she would do.

What Li ShiZe liked the best about Jiang YaGe was her strength amidst her tenderness. He couldn't bear it any more and said to her, "You and your mother are two different persons. My father is a reasonable man. He won't blame you for it."

He made it sound like Li WangJin would be a very unreasonable person if he was to hold Jiang YaGe accountable for what her mother had done.

Neither one of the two of them felt that there was anything wrong with thinking that way.

Li ShiZe comforted his girlfriend before he brought her with him to visit Li WangJin at the hospital. The prospect on his software was looking up and up. There were a few companies who had backed out a while back but there were still a few who stayed to work with him. His situation had become much better and he had regained some of his confidence. In addition, Li WangJin had given him 10 million yuan a while back and he didn't need to go around looking for investors for the time being. As such, he had gotten back with Jiang YaGe.

When the two of them arrived at the hospital, they ran into Li XinYun.

The awkward look on Li ShiZe was obvious when he ran into Li XinYun. In his eyes, his sister was a spoiled brat who knew nothing other than spending money. She was arguably useless. Nevertheless, that did not stop his mother for favoring her over him. Especially after the divorce, his mother had acted like that all she wanted was her daughter.

With this bizarre competition, he felt more hostile toward Li XinYun.

Running into the two of them, Li XinYun mocked, "Do you not know the reason that Dad is hospitalized?

"Are you trying to kill him by bringing Jiang YaGe with you?"

Jiang YaGe's eyes reddened immediately. "I am here today to explain everything to uncle."

Li ShiZe retorted immediately. "Just because you are petty you assume dad is like you. Yage is such a nice girl. There is no way that dad would blame her for any of those. You are just gauging how dad would react basing on how you think you would react.

"All you care about in mom anyway. Don't pretend that you care about dad."

Having said that, he walked inside of the patient's room while holding Jiang YaGe's hand.

Even though Li WangJin had lost a lot of his money, he still had no problem affording his own private room at the hospital.

Li WangJin was awake when Li ShiZe walked inside of the room. He was reading the newspaper and, hearing the sound of the door, assumed that his daughter had returned.

"XinYun," said Li WangJin as he looked up.

The smile froze on Li WangJin's face when he saw Jiang YaGe, who was hiding behind Li ShiZe.

Chapter 174 - "You Two are the Culprits on This." (2)

His eyes widened and almost popped out of his sockets. His breathing became labored. "Why did you bring Jiang YaGe with you? Are you trying to kill me?"

Jiang YaGe looked a lot like her mother when her mother was young. And she was almost at the exact age when Wang SiEr had cheated Li WangJin. Looking at Jiang YaGe was like bringing him back to those days and the new and old hatred all came rushing to him.

Li ShiZe looked over at his caregiver sitting next to Li WangJin's bed and said to her, "This is private. Why don't you step outside for now?"

The caregiver looked over at Li WangJin and, seeing that he had nodded his acknowledgement, walked outside of the patient's room.

Seeing that the person had left, Li WangJin turned back to his father. "Dad, Wang SiEr is Wang SiEr and Yage is Yage. They are two different people," said Li ShiZe with a frown. "Don't you know that Yage is not like her mother?"

All of Li WangJin's goodwill toward Jiang YaGe was gone and, looking at her right now, all he could think of was her mother.

Clutching his own chest, he said angrily, "She is exactly like her mother, phony, ungrateful, and deceitful!"

Jiang YaGe had difficulty standing straight up.

Li ShiZe wrapped his arm around her waist and his attitude firm. "Yage is kind and gentle. She is not how you said she is."

Seeing that his son was still being an idiot, Li WangJin was about to explode from anger. As much as he wanted to listen to his doctors' advices and not get angry, but since when was getting angry something that was controllable by one's will?

He snickered. "Oh really? Would a truly kind person when on a show to smear your mother, trying to make audiences in the entire country think poorly of her? Would a truly kind person feel that it was okay to have Deng Lan bought her all those things?

"You mom saw through her from the very beginning. That was why she never liked her."

He was an idiot. Because of Wang SiEr, he had always been looking at Jiang YaGe in a better light and ended up hurting his own daughter.

Li ShiZe's face dropped. "That's enough, Dad. I won't stand by and watch you insult Yage."

Jiang YaGe's eyes were teary. "I know that there are a lot of misunderstandings between Uncle and I. It's alright. But my mother really wasn't who you think she was.

"When she went to college, she worked very hard to pay for her own tuition and living expenses. She took the money for my aunt. She didn't want to see my aunt drop out of school because she couldn't afford tuition.

"She regretted about it all these years. Which was why she told me to treat you like my own father. She asked me to be familial to you and make up to you.

"You can shout at me or hit me. As long as it will make you feel better, I will accept all of them willingly."

Li ShiZe looked touched.

Li WangJin was not touched at all. In fact, he was even angrier than he was before. "You mean to tell me that you knew about your mother stealing money from me?"

The mother and daughter must have laughed at how much of a fool he was behind his back all the time.

"Make up to me? Oh? And just how are you going to do that? You tell me how much of my money have you spent since I have taken you in. You had caused my divorce with JunRong and drove a wedge between XinYun and I. Are you sure you are here to make up to me and not to revenge me?"

The more he talked, the angrier he became. He even forgotten the doctor's words. "You get the heck out of here! I never want to see this tramp again in my life!"

Jiang YaGe turned pale and tears streamed down her eyes.

Chapter 175 - "You Two are the Culprits on This." (3)

"Dad, how can you be so unreasonable?"

Li ShiZe, too, was upset. "Yage came to visit you and all you did was to hurt her. You are no longer that heroic father of mine anymore."

He could feel how hard his Jiang YaGe was clutching onto his sleeve and felt that he must protect his fragile girlfriend.

"I am going to have to leave with Yage and disappear in front of you if that is how you are going to behave."

He doubted XinYun would take care of their father. He was all Li WangJin had left now. Li ShiZe doubted that his father would risk losing him and continue to antagonize Yage.

When all was said and done, how could his own son disobey him such and even threaten him over such an evil woman?

This must be karma. All these years, he had always pretended that he was in love with Fang JunRong. And now even his most beloved son was leaving him for the daughter of his enemy.

Li WangJin felt that an invisible hammer was pounding on his skull. One blow after another and, with a sharp pain to his head, his vision turned blurry all of a sudden. Guttural noises came from him and his look twitched, as though he was struggling. The very next second, he fell backward and lost consciousness.

Li ShiZe turned pale and dashed up reflexively but it was too late already.

"Dad!" There was fear in his voice.

***

"Oh, Mom."

Fang JunRong was working on future planning of the Hair Growing Cream. First, she would need to establish a production line. Then, she would need to bring on more employees. She would be busy for a while there.

She looked up when she heard her daughter's voice. "What's the matter, XinYun? Can't sleep?"

She was surprised that her daughter, who had already changed into her pajamas, had changed back into her outdoor clothes.

"You are going somewhere?" It was already 11 o'clock at night. Her daughter might like to have some fun from time to time but rarely would she leave home so late at night.

Li XinYun sniffed and said, "Dad has been taken to ICU. It doesn't look good."

Fang JunRong thought she had heard wrong. "Didn't you just see him earlier today and he was doing fine?"

"I ran into Li ShiZe going to visit him with Jiang YaGe in tow. They must have said something to him. The hospital just called and, judging from the surveillance footage, they got into some sort of a feud. Then Dad passed out.

"The doctors are working on saving him right now."

She looked both worried and at loss. She didn't have much feelings left for her father but she had no ill will for him either. Her nose felt sore and tears almost streamed down her cheeks. She turned away and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Fang JunRong had a complicated look on her. That was very unexpected. The three of them got along so well in her previous life but they were enemies in this lifetime. Li WangJin was even sent to the ICU by Li ShiZe.

Pushing aside her work, she said to her, "Here, I'll go with you."

She had an inkling that this might be the last time she'd see Li WangJin. It'd be nice to have closure.

As it turned out, Fang JunRong couldn't have been more right.

By the time the two of them arrived at the hospital, Li WangJin's surgery was already over. With an apologetic look, the doctor announced to his family that the surgery had failed to save Li WangJin.

Li ShiZe, who was in a trance, ran up and grabbed the doctor by the collar after he heard the news, his eyes reddened. "It is your job to save him! What do you mean it failed?!

"You must not have tried hard enough!

"Give me back my father!"

All of his elegance in the past was gone. His look was vicious. Jiang YaGe, standing not too far away, could barely stand up straight. She had to lean against the wall to stop herself from falling onto the floor. Her look was blank and she could no longer maintain her fragile front.

Fang JunRong was thoroughly disgusted by Li ShiZe. Walking up to him, she slapped him across his cheek. She struck him so hard that half of his face swelled up immediately.

"Stop that already. You and Jiang YaGe were the culprit that had brought about your father's death. As the actual killers here, you can stop trying to maintain your innocence."