Chapter 43: Unexpected Accident

Su Yiren saw Lu Yunting go to the side to answer the phone and turned to leave the venue.

Even if she stayed here and waited for him, they would only continue to argue. Why bother getting upset?

She remembered that there was a park outside the venue, so she decided to go downstairs to get some fresh air.

As she was waiting for the elevator, she heard her phone ring. The caller was Si Hong.

These past few days since she returned to Jiangcheng, Si Hong had been taking care of the company. Usually, he would communicate with her through WeChat unless there was something urgent.

Su Yiren immediately went into the stairwell.

As soon as she answered the phone, Si Hong’s gentle voice came through the receiver, soothing her troubled mind.

“Are you busy?” Si Hong asked with a smile.

Su Yiren’s voice relaxed noticeably.

“Not really. The auction just ended, and the organizers are hosting a dinner party. I’m just here for the food and drinks.”

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” Si Hong chuckled.

“Did you buy anything good?”

Mentioning the auction made Su Yiren feel uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to worry Si Hong, so she brushed it off.

“Mostly ordinary things, nothing special. Oh, right, there’s something I need to tell you!”

Su Yiren closed the stairwell door, and her voice echoed.

“One of the auction items was a ‘Hundred-Year-Old Longevity Chart’ written by my mother.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, as the other party was clearly surprised.

After a few seconds, Si Hong asked:

“Is it the one your mother gave to your grandfather for his 60th birthday?”

“Yes, that’s the one.” Su Yiren pursed her lips, recalling the situation.

She had lived with her parents abroad since she was a child and only returned to visit her grandfather during the holidays.

Once, her mother was writing in her study, and Su Yiren was lying on the table watching. She asked:

“Why are these characters so strange?”

Her mother laughed and replied: “This is the character longevity written in different styles.”

“Why write this?”

“Your grandfather’s birthday is coming up soon, and I want to give him this as a gift.”

“I know what it means!” Su Yiren suddenly perked up.

“May your happiness be as vast as the ocean, and your life as long as the Southern Mountain!”

“Yes, my darling is so smart!”

Her mother’s face and voice instantly appeared in her mind, and Su Yiren felt her eyes welling up.

She sniffed and told Si Hong everything she had learned from the auction organizer.

“So I want you to investigate who sent that painting.”

“Okay,” Si Hong’s voice was reassuring.

“If there’s a trace, we’ll definitely be able to find out.”

“Hmm,” Su Yiren paced around the stairwell, then remembered to ask:

“By the way, is there anything going on at the company?”

“The company is running smoothly. I called to tell you that Wang Meng was sentenced to two years.”

“Two years?” Su Yiren stopped in her tracks, surprised.

“Didn’t they say he could only be punished administratively? At most, he’d just have to pay a fine.”

Si Hong: “The court ultimately sentenced him for ‘intentional injury’. The victim’s injuries were serious, so he received the maximum sentence.”

“Why?” Su Yiren became even more suspicious.

Si Hong hesitated for a moment before answering:

“I heard that Lu Yunting directly contacted the Rongcheng court and submitted a light injury assessment, demanding that Wang Meng pay a huge amount of compensation for lost wages. Besides the sentence, Wang Meng’s little nest egg is gone too.”

Now Su Yiren couldn’t figure out Lu Yunting’s thoughts.

He had clearly rejected her so bluntly before, so why did he suddenly change his mind?

Also, he wanted a huge amount of compensation for lost wages?

What work had he lost?

He had been working while sick all these days, and she thought he looked fine!

Forget it, whatever his reasons, as long as Wang Meng was severely punished, it would at least severely dampen her uncle’s arrogance.

After discussing the important matters, Si Hong changed the subject and asked with a smile:

“By the way, when will I pick you up?”

“I have to attend Muyang’s art exhibition tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow…” Su Yiren hesitated for a moment, then said in a flat tone:

“I should be going to handle some procedures.”

Si Hong paused and asked tentatively:

“Then I’ll pick you up the day after tomorrow?”

Su Yiren took a deep breath.

“Okay.”

After ending the call, she stood in the stairwell for a moment, thinking that she should talk to Lu Yunting about this, to ask him why he suddenly changed his mind.

Just then, the lights in the stairwell suddenly went out.

Except for a sliver of light from the doorway, the entire space became pitch black, and she could only vaguely see the outlines of objects.

Su Yiren frowned and was about to return to the stairwell when she suddenly felt a figure appear behind her. Immediately, a strong force pushed her from behind.

She was wearing high heels to match her dress, and when she was pushed, she couldn’t stand steady and rolled down the stairs!

As she tumbled, she caught a glimpse of a figure standing against the light, unable to make out their features.

But she could tell that it was a tall man.

After making sure she had rolled down, the person immediately ran up the stairs, followed by the creaking of the fire door opening.

It wasn’t until her back hit the wall that Su Yiren stopped, her body feeling like it had fallen apart, and her ankle was excruciatingly painful.

She tried to push herself up, but after two attempts, she couldn’t get up.

Her palms seemed to have been scraped, and the wounds burned with pain.

At that moment, the lights in the stairwell suddenly came back on.

Su Yiren squinted her eyes, blinded by the light. When her vision recovered, she found her fallen phone and saw that the screen was cracked.

She pressed the lock screen button, and it still worked!

She swiped through her contacts, pausing slightly on “Lu Yunting” before moving on and dialing a different number.

It was the number of the venue organizer she had added while asking about the “Hundred-Year-Old Longevity Chart.” When the organizer heard that she was injured in the stairwell, he immediately sent people to help.

The commotion was so loud that people at the venue naturally heard it.

Sheng Jia’er quickly asked her brother to go help, while she went to find Lu Yunting.

That’s how the subsequent events unfolded.

In the stairwell, Manager Chen, the venue organizer, was scared pale and immediately instructed his subordinates to call an ambulance.

The people attending the banquet were all prominent figures in Jiangcheng, especially Lu Yunting. If his wife had an accident here, he would not only lose his job, but he would probably spend the rest of his life atoning for it.

“Mrs. Lu! How are you? Are you dizzy? Where does it hurt?” Manager Chen squatted in front of Su Yiren, afraid to move her, afraid that she had suffered a concussion or something.

Su Yiren hadn’t mentioned being pushed down on the phone, only that she had accidentally fallen down the stairs and injured her foot.

Hearing this, she shook her head.

“I’m fine elsewhere, just my foot hurts badly, I can’t stand up.”

Manager Chen was slightly relieved and quickly stretched out his arm.

“Then lean on me and see if you can stand up? I’ve already sent someone to get a wheelchair.”

Just as Su Yiren was about to reach out, she heard a man’s voice from outside the crowd, gentle and calm:

“I’ll carry her.”