The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 153

“I’m not feeling well. I’m heading home.” Zhai Ning kept her head low as she grabbed her bag, preparing to leave.

Her mind was a chaotic tangle, incapable of sorting itself out. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that Jiang Xunwei would be the one to rip open this wound.

Jiang Xunwei took two steps toward her, pressing harder: “Director Zhai, running away won’t solve anything. The truth can’t be hidden forever. One day, it will come to light, whether you want it to or not. We all must show reverence for the truth.”

Zhai Ning took a deep breath, her nails digging into her sleeve. She stopped in her tracks, turned back, and replied with as much composure as she could muster:

“Chief Jiang, your suspicions are interesting, but since you’ve retired, it’s better to learn to enjoy life. Overthinking isn’t good for anyone.”

She wasn’t trying to threaten Jiang Xunwei; she genuinely wanted fewer people entangled in this mess.

The matter was enormous, like an uncontrollable ship barreling toward an unknown destination. Those aboard had no way off; they could only await their fate. Whether they would reach safe shores or sink into the depths, only destiny could decide.

Jiang Xunwei was a stubborn old man. At this point, Zhai Ning’s evasiveness only made him angrier. Heat rushed to his head as he retorted bluntly: “Suspicions? Was allowing children with preexisting conditions to pass review just a suspicion? Were unsanitary internal contamination levels just suspicions? Were representatives from Suhe Biotech freely entering Zhou Hong’s office just suspicions? Or is your relationship with Zhou Hong and Sui Wanjun just a suspicion?”

Zhai Ning’s eyes widened in shock. Hearing Sui Wanjun’s name, she could no longer pretend to be oblivious and leave. Jiang Xunwei knew far more than she had imagined!

In the adjacent room, Sui Wanjun was already in tears.

Just hearing Zhai Ning’s voice was enough for her to understand. There was indeed a hidden story behind all this, and Zhai Ning could not stand firm under Jiang Xunwei’s questioning.

But Sui Wanjun had no idea how to support this truth. The matter had been buried for two years, with errors compounding over that time. The situation was beyond repair. Even if she gave her life, it wouldn’t bring back Li Qingli, Gu Nong, or the children who had died.

Hong Ru clutched Sui Wanjun’s arm nervously: “Director, what’s wrong? You were kept in the dark too. This isn’t your fault.”

Sui Wanjun shook her head painfully: “It’s my fault, my fault, all my fault. I’m the one who harmed those children!”

Hong Ru stammered, trying to console her: “M-Maybe there’s more to this? Director Zhai isn’t that kind of person. She would never harm innocent children. She must have been manipulated too! Besides, who says a director or chief must know everything happening in the hospital? Couldn’t subordinates do something behind their backs? There’s no evidence proving Li Qingli’s innocence. Even the Hongsuo Research Institute hasn’t issued a statement. I trust the official reports!”

She remembered how, two years ago, she had enthusiastically analyzed the dark side of the research field while gossiping with relatives, embellishing stories about Li Qingli’s supposed moral failings to win their approval and sympathy.

How had the situation turned out so differently two years later?

Recalling her confident assertions, she now felt like a clown. But she was a well-educated and perceptive person—how could she possibly be a clown?

Was Jiang Xunwei wrong? Were these college students wrong too?

If Li Qingli and Gu Nong were truly innocent, how had everyone in the world misunderstood them? Why hadn’t they protested or sought justice back then? Why hadn’t anyone investigated?

One person might wrong them, but the entire world couldn’t have done so. They must have had flaws!

As for Zhai Ning—she had done so much good over the years and appeared on so many inspirational stories in the media. Didn’t that prove she was an unblemished, virtuous person?

When she’d first seen the news, she hadn’t heard of any good deeds from Li Qingli and Gu Nong!

Jian Fu nearly laughed in exasperation. He slammed his cup on the table. “What the h*ll are you talking about?”

If he’d overheard such nonsense on the street, he’d simply spit on the ground and moved on. But Hong Ru was a vice director who had personally tended to the deceased children. She should have been the one most attuned to the victims’ pain, yet here she was, excusing Zhai Ning in front of Li Rong, the biggest victim of all.

This rhetoric was nothing short of absurd.

As a director or chief, how could they claim ignorance of tampered drugs and blame everything on their subordinates?

But Hong Ru seemed utterly convinced of her reasoning, showing no embarrassment. She had fully convinced herself.

Li Rong chuckled softly, shaking his head as he calmly sipped his water.

“Sometimes I wonder, when the truth is finally revealed, how will people face me? Now I understand—they won’t need to face me. They only need to face their own bare selves.”

Sui Wanjun raised her tear-streaked face, her voice trembling and hoarse as she asked, “You are…?”

Li Rong set down the teacup, his gaze sharp as a spear, distant and cold as he replied, “My name is Li Rong. Li Qingli and Gu Nong were my parents.”

Hong Ru froze for a moment, her face instantly flushing red.

She had just spoken ill of someone’s deceased parents right in front of their child.

Sui Wanjun sighed deeply, clasping her hands together as she bowed her head against the edge of the table, her frail, bony frame hunching forward. “I’m not so muddled that I can’t tell right from wrong. I will get to the bottom of this for you.”

With that, Sui Wanjun shakily supported herself on her cane and began to walk resolutely toward the door, her determination and grief palpable.

Hong Ru sat in stunned silence, forgetting even to help her.

Li Rong wiped away his cold smile, his eyelashes fluttering slightly. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to end the phone call.

Since Sui Wanjun had already decided to take action, there was no longer any need for them to hide in the shadows.

He had orchestrated this scene, knowing full well the weight of Sui Wanjun’s conscience.

A person who would give up a comfortable family life to secure a path of survival for orphans at Hongning Mountain would not allow their sense of justice to be so thoroughly sullied.

Such a person would rather die than falsely accuse or harm others.

In the end, it’s always good people tormenting good people, while the truly malicious feel no guilt for their actions.

Li Rong closed his eyes gently, but in the next moment, Cen Xiao took his wrist, pulling him away from his resentment.

Cen Xiao said softly, “Emerson once said that the two things he most despised were learned men without faith and the devoutly ignorant. Good intentions gone wrong have been a timeless tragedy.”

Li Rong curved his eyes in a faint smile.

Cen Xiao always seemed to grasp his thoughts immediately, offering the most precise words to comfort him.

Yes, it was ignorance.

Sui Wanjun, who grew up in the mountains and devoted her life there, was a kind-hearted person, but she was still ignorant.

Her refusal to let the orphanage adopt systematic management was ignorance; her emotional and moral coercion of Zhai Ning to ensure mutual support with Zhou Hong was ignorance; her encouragement for Zhai Ning to involve children from Xiaochengxiang as initial test subjects was even greater ignorance.

In the end, her ignorance had also harmed the very children she so deeply loved and protected.

Zhai Ning pressed her hands against her head, wishing desperately for a painkiller.

Clenching her teeth, she tried to ease the stabbing pain. “Chief Jiang, I don’t know what rumors you’ve been listening to, but there’s no need for you to get involved. This matter has nothing to do with you!”

Jiang Xunwei retorted angrily, “You’re wrong! This matter has everything to do with me, with everyone in the medical system, with everyone in this world who holds onto a sense of justice and conscience!”

“Chief Jiang!” Zhai Ning’s bloodshot eyes glared at him, her hair disheveled from her own grasping.

For the first time, she lost control in front of others, overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the issue. Once it spread, it would be completely uncontrollable.

She had no idea what Suhe Biotech would do once they discovered Jiang Xunwei investigating this matter. She truly didn’t want a peacefully retired Jiang Xunwei to get involved.

But things rarely went as one wished, and Jiang Xunwei was a stubborn man.

He shook his head in disappointment. “Director Zhai, have you thought about what will happen to Sui Wanjun when she learns the truth? Do you really think you can deceive her forever and spare her from bearing the guilt of indirectly causing these children’s deaths?”

Zhai Ning’s eyes burned red as she enunciated each word, “She will never know.”

With that, Zhai Ning stopped listening to Jiang Xunwei, turned on her heel, and forcefully opened the door to the private room.

In an instant, all the noise came to an abrupt halt.

This small space seemed to be wrapped in a vacuum, isolated from the bustling world outside.

Amidst the shifting light and shadow, she heard the howling winds from the mountains and the faint cries of children.

Zhai Ning’s fingers trembled, and her scented sachet fell to the ground. Her lips quivered as she murmured, “Mom?”

Sui Wanjun stood before her, tears streaming down her face, silent and unmoving.

At that moment, Zhai Ning felt as though her mother’s tears had transformed into the sharpest blades of mountain grass, slashing her skin and leaving her bloodied.

No one could make the detached Zhai Ning speak, except the one person she still cared about in this world—Sui Wanjun.

Sui Wanjun shakily raised her hands, gently wiping away the tears from Zhai Ning’s eyes and massaging the tense veins on her forehead.

Under her mother’s soothing touch, Zhai Ning gradually calmed down, leaning into her like a wronged child, her sobs choking her words.

Sui Wanjun softly patted her back, speaking as she had countless times to the children of Xiaochengxiang: “We cannot fear making mistakes. If we make them, we must correct them. Whether others forgive us or not is their choice; whether we correct ourselves is ours. A person must live in a way they can face themselves.”

Children are forgetful, and loving mothers will remind them time and again, no matter how old or accomplished they become.

“The truth…” Zhai Ning murmured as she sat beside Sui Wanjun, her guard completely down.

For two years, every time she passed by the pediatric ward, she thought of this matter. It weighed on her heart like a stone, heavy and inescapable.

She could never truly become a thorough villain, harming others without remorse. She had to endure the torment of her conscience, the interrogation of her soul, and the doubts she held about the world.

Yes, even those who commit wrongs will question the world that allowed such wrongs to be so easily committed.

Zhai Ning rubbed her swollen eyes forcefully, tucking stray hair behind her ears. She spoke with as much calm as she could muster: “I’m not trying to make excuses for myself. Before the trial began, I repeatedly asked Professor Li whether it was safe to use Luyinxu on children with preexisting conditions. Professor Li assured me it was, and he had confidence. He said that after the first phase was successful, a second phase would begin immediately, focusing on children with preexisting conditions. If the second phase succeeded, early approval for market release would be sought. My trust in Professor Li’s scientific abilities was as deep as a patient’s trust in my medical skills.”

Sui Wanjun sighed, “Ah Ning saw how exhausted I was. There are so many sick children in Xiaochengxiang, and watching them suffer pains me deeply. I’ve mentioned this to her countless times, and she acted boldly for my sake, allowing these children to pass the review. I wasn’t aware that Professor Li required children without pre-existing conditions. It’s my fault.”

Li Rong said calmly, “I trust my father’s word—Luyinxu can treat children with pre-existing conditions. That’s not the crux of the issue.”

Zhai Ning pressed her dry lips together, her head bowed, unable to meet Li Rong’s gaze.

In truth, she had already recognized Li Rong as the person she had met at the dinner gathering in the Seven Star Hotel. This indicated that their investigation into Suhe Biotech and Jiajia Central Hospital had started long ago.

Her eyes were unfocused, and she shook her head slowly. “This is critical. After I made the decision privately, I didn’t inform Professor Li or Zhou Hong. Although Zhou Hong and I are nominally like siblings, I don’t truly understand him. My care for him was for my mother’s sake, but Zhou Hong resents my mother and Xiaochengxiang. He likely only sees me as a resource to exploit. That’s why he didn’t tell me about his dealings with Suhe Biotech, where he secretly replaced Luyinxu with inferior Jiaketing.”

Sui Wanjun’s heart ached terribly.

Her earlier abandonment had turned her biological son into such a demon—using substandard drugs on innocent children, an utterly depraved act.

Zhai Ning let out a bitter laugh. “I’m not excusing Zhou Hong. Though he hates Xiaochengxiang, he didn’t intend to kill anyone. The trials used inferior Jiaketing, which at most rendered the treatment ineffective but wouldn’t be fatal. He had no idea that some of the children had severe immune deficiencies. And Suhe Biotech? They didn’t intend to kill, either. Before this, they had even tried to bribe Professors Li and Gu with large sums but failed. Out of jealousy and spite, they resorted to this, hoping to ruin the reputations of Li Qingli and Gu Nong and give them a lesson. So you see, everyone made a small mistake, and it ended up creating a disaster.”