The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 146

The variety show recording was scheduled for Friday, but participants were required to travel to Linshi the day before. On Wednesday, Li Rong and Cen Xiao set off for Hongning Mountain.

Joining them were Jian Fu and Jiang Xunwei.

Jiang Xunwei frowned as he glanced at his watch.

It was seven in the morning. The deeper they drove into the mountains, the heavier the mist grew. A damp haze hung in the air, obscuring even the sun. Mountain winds whistled past the car windows, while unkempt willow trees along the roadside stretched their branches with wild abandon.

Jiang Xunwei took a deep breath. “I’ve postponed three surgeries for this trip. I hope it’s worth it.”

When Cen Xiao had called him, Jiang Xunwei had been silent for a long time before giving a solemn agreement.

The events of the past had been a thorn in his side. Although he hadn’t been directly involved, he had witnessed everything. He was acutely aware of the strange happenings surrounding it all.

He had also seen clearly what Li Qingli and Gu Nong had endured afterward.

Although the Li family’s plight had nothing to do with him, Jiang Xunwei’s innate sense of justice wouldn’t let him turn a blind eye. He knew that if he stayed silent about this matter, he would never find peace.

Cen Xiao spoke nonchalantly. “I skipped Han Jiang’s weekly meeting too.”

He had followed the formal process to request leave, but Han Jiang refused to approve it—even insisting that Du Mingli, who was away on business, join the meeting remotely.

So Cen Xiao simply bailed. To avoid Han Jiang’s barrage of texts, he had even turned off his phone.

The reason Jiang Xunwei was called in was that the child who died despite Jiang Xunwei’s resuscitation efforts came from Xiaochengxiang Orphanage.

At the time, the orphanage’s representative who negotiated the matter had left a strong impression on Jiang Xunwei, making him the most suitable person to gather information if needed.

When Jiang Xunwei heard Han Jiang’s name, his eyelid twitched slightly, but he calmly put down his watch and said nothing.

Hearing this, Li Rong tugged at the corner of his lips. Looking out the window at the tree trunks rapidly flashing by, he sighed softly, “I skipped Jiang Weide’s class today too. Song He told me Jiang Weide even brought me breakfast made by his wife.”

He didn’t know how to describe his feelings at that moment.

In Jiang Weide’s eyes, his wife’s cooking was the healthiest and most nutritious—something he cherished immensely. 

And it was true. Mrs. Jiang was a renowned nutritionist in the country, someone most people couldn’t even dream of hiring.

Jian Fu clutched his notebook, his gaze sweeping between the others, before swallowing hard and saying solemnly, “My dad just sent me a message.”

The situation was urgent. Jian Fu had spent a long time trying to investigate the relationship between Xiaochengxiang Orphanage, Jiajia Central Hospital, and Suhe Biotech. On the surface, they appeared to be entirely unrelated entities that had somehow been connected by the first round of trials for Luyinxu.

But Jian Fu knew the truth couldn’t be that simple. If he couldn’t spot the issues, it meant his investigation hadn’t gone deep enough.

Given his own abilities, conducting a more thorough investigation would require significantly more time. Even then, there was no guarantee he’d uncover anything. After all, he was working alone.

So Jian Fu resorted to pestering Jian Changli, throwing tantrums to get his father to dig deeper into the matter personally.

He knew that with his father’s connections and capabilities, uncovering the truth would take only a fraction of the time it would take him.

At first, Jian Changli refused. While he usually turned a blind eye to Jian Fu’s antics, getting involved himself would change the stakes.

Since the dissolution of District Six, all of Blue Pivot had been struggling. Businesses involved suspected that other districts might also have been complicit in covering for Meijiang Pharmaceuticals, leading to a steep decline in trust in the United Commerce Association. Jian Changli was already overwhelmed with work.

When Jian Changli wouldn’t budge, Jian Fu turned to pestering his mother. She was soft-hearted and couldn’t handle his persistence, so she started lobbying Jian Changli on his behalf.

Jian Changli had initially insisted that Jian Fu should resolve the mess he had created on his own. However, he also knew that arguing with his wife over parenting would inevitably lead to a full-scale marital battle.

Jian Fu’s current personality and underwhelming college entrance exam performance were largely the result of the couple’s conflicting educational philosophies.

Eventually, Jian Changli had relented to keep the peace, reluctantly agreeing to investigate Xiao Chengxiang Orphanage.

Mountain roads had poor reception, and it had taken ages for the files to download. Jian Fu had only just received them.

The findings were nothing short of shocking.

Jian Fu summarized: “Zhou Hong is Sui Wanjun’s biological son. However, she and Zhou Qinglei divorced when Zhou Hong was just two years old, and Zhou Qinglei took him away. Zhou Qinglei quickly remarried and moved to Tangshi, which is far south. Considering the transportation and Sui Wanjun’s financial situation back then, she likely had little chance to see Zhou Hong after that.”

Jiang Xunwei perked up his ears, his sensitivity to the name Zhou Hong unmistakable.

“No one at our hospital has ever heard Zhou Hong mention Sui Wanjun. Zhou Hong’s parents used to visit him often. They were a highly cultured couple, clearly well-off, elegant, and gentle. Zhou Hong had a good relationship with them, arranging accommodations for them at the best nearby hotel and even taking them sightseeing in City A. Sui Wanjun never seemed to have appeared. Whenever Zhou Hong spoke of his hometown, he mentioned Tangshi, and when he referred to his mother, he always meant his stepmother.”

Jiang Xunwei’s words were tactful but left no ambiguity.

Zhou Hong didn’t appear to have any emotional connection to Sui Wanjun. After all, he was taken away as a child too young to understand, and Sui Wanjun never came to their hospital.

Cen Xiao murmured under his breath, “So, it’s Zhou Hong.”

To think Zhou Hong was connected to Xiaochengxiang Orphanage.

Jian Fu chuckled smugly, “Not just that—Zhai Ning was the first child adopted by the Xiaochengxiang Orphanage and the first child raised by Sui Wanjun. Sui Wanjun raised her until she was sixteen when her biological father finally reclaimed her. Her father had been a quarry worker in Hongning Mountain, but he abandoned her after she was born because he already had a wife and kids. Later, he went into construction, built a contracting team, and made some money. Only after his son died in a car accident and his wife couldn’t have more children did he remember he had another child. After much searching, he brought Zhai Ning back. Following her biological father allowed her to attend the best high school in the city and later study abroad to earn an advanced medical degree. That’s why I couldn’t find anything about her—these two have extraordinarily coincidental backgrounds.”

Zhou Hong, Zhai Ning, Hongning Mountain.

The names Sui Wanjun chose clearly carried meaning, binding them together despite the lack of blood ties.

Jiang Xunwei squinted, lost in thought. “We’ve all met Zhou Hong’s parents, but we’ve never seen Director Zhai’s. She seems very independent and self-reliant. Everyone knows she comes from a good family, but she never talks about her parents. Even when the topic comes up, there’s no sense of closeness.”

Li Rong took Jian Fu’s laptop, studying the materials sent by Jian Changli.

Jian Changli was genuinely impressive—he’d even dug up decades-old, blurry, black-and-white photos.

The photo showed a young Zhai Ning, her features delicate and recognizable. 

She stood on a dirt mound, hands clasped in front of her, with Sui Wanjun’s arm around her shoulders.

Facing the camera, Zhai Ning looked nervous and unpolished, leaning closely on Sui Wanjun for support. 

Sui Wanjun, appearing to be around forty, looked sad. From the curve of her fingers, she seemed to hold Zhai Ning tightly.

Li Rong took a deep breath and enlarged the photo. “This seems to be from when Zhai Ning was sixteen, likely just before her biological father took her back. Given Sui Wanjun’s poverty at the time, she wouldn’t have casually taken Zhai Ning for a photo. This moment must have been significant.”

Jian Fu wrinkled his nose. “Sixteen already. I feel like…”

He hesitated, wary of his conjecture being wrong, but Cen Xiao finished the thought for him.

“Zhai Ning must have been deeply attached to Sui Wanjun. After all, Sui Wanjun raised her and gave her the chance to live, whereas her biological father had already abandoned her once and only sought her out because his son had died. Growing up in such an environment, while also helping Sui Wanjun care for younger orphans, likely forced Zhai Ning to mature very early. Returning to her father was a strategic decision—she knew that to repay Sui Wanjun, she needed to become capable, and her biological father could provide her with that opportunity.”

Jiang Xunwei suddenly recalled something. “Does Director Zhai’s father also live in A City?”

Li Rong shook his head. “He lived in Xuyangshi, about four hours away by train. Back then, it would’ve taken at least eight hours. Her father passed away a few years ago from lung cancer, but he wasn’t treated at Jiajia Central Hospital—he stayed in Xuyang’s local central hospital.”

Jiang Xunwei added, “Director Zhai always stayed on duty at the hospital during Lunar New Year, saying she wanted to set an example for children who couldn’t go home. Many colleagues offered to cover for her, but she never accepted.”

Li Rong softly remarked, “Linshi is close. It would’ve been easy to bring Sui Wanjun to A City for the holidays.”

Jian Fu sighed. “So this means the reason the Little Star show chose Xiaochengxiang Orphanage is because of Zhai Ning?”

“Zheng Zhupan has been trying to curry favor with Zhai Ning, but in doing so, they left us a clue.”

Li Rong stared at the laptop screen for a while, feeling a bit carsick. He handed the computer to Cen Xiao and cracked open the window.

The damp mountain wind rushed in, ruffling his hair and carrying the scents of decaying roots and budding leaves.

Suppressing his nausea, Li Rong raised his hand to let the breeze cool his palm, muttering, “The truth will come out soon.”