Chapter 3: Unexpected

  Lu Yan was a bit dazed, staring blankly at the woman who got out of Zhang Guo Jing's car. It was a face he knew all too well, with delicate features, understated makeup, and light brown hair with waves... paired with a light green suit dress, elegant and noble in demeanor, every inch the image of a career woman. Who else could it be but his mother Xia Qiu?

  "Mom!" Lu Yan was still ten or so meters away from the Desert King, and had unknowingly stopped in his tracks, shouting out loud.

  Xia Qiu suddenly stopped when she heard her son's voice, and looked in the direction of the sound. That was when she saw Lu Yan standing not far away from her with tears streaming down his face.

  "What's wrong, Yan? How did you end up like this?" Xia Qiu was startled to see Lu Yan in such a state and quickly walked over to him on her high heels, touching his face with a hint of urgency.

  "Mom, I'm fine, why are you just coming now?" Lu Yan asked back.

  "You said you were going to the hospital to see an acquaintance, so I came along with you." Xia Qiu's expression seemed a bit unnatural when her son asked this.

  "Quickly, you've arrived quickly!" At this time, Zhang Guojing had also walked to the side of the mother and son, and patted Lian Yan's shoulder with his hand.

  "Hello, Uncle Zhang." Lu Yan greeted Zhang Guojing politely and turned to ask: "Mom, when I called you earlier, it was always off, I didn't expect you to come with Uncle Zhang together."

  "Oh, that's right, Yan Yan, I was originally with Zhang Bo Bo together, he received a phone call and told me to follow him to the hospital to see an acquaintance, so I came along." Xia Qiu had indeed been having dinner with Zhang Guo Jing earlier, when Zhang Guo Jing received a phone call telling her that an acquaintance had been hospitalized and asked her to come take a look. She hadn't thought much of it and agreed, but hadn't expected to run into her own son in this place. She felt that Lu Yan's tone was strange today, and for a moment she didn't know how to respond to him."

  Lu Yan was also stunned by Xia Qiu's answer, looking at Xia Qiu's calm and unhurried appearance, it seemed that she still didn't know that the "acquaintance" in the hospital was her own husband Lu Xiao Dong. Suddenly, Lu Yan felt displeased in his heart.

  "Zhang Bobo, didn't you tell my mom who she was coming to the hospital to see?" Lu Yan said to Zhang Guojing.

  "It's all so sudden, I'm afraid your mom won't be able to take it, so I didn't tell her yet," said Zhang Guo Jing.

  Xia Qiu was confused for a moment by Lu Yan and Zhang Guo Jing's conversation, and for a while, she couldn't tell what was going on.

  "Alright, mom, do you know who the familiar face is that came to visit at the hospital?" Lu Yan was clearly upset with Zhang Guo Jing in his heart. In his mind, Lu Xiao Dong and Xia Qiu's relationship was very good, while Zhang Guo Jing had always been like a close brother to Lu Xiao Dong. Now that something big had happened to Lu Xiao Dong, with his life hanging in the balance, Zhang Guo Jing wasn't worried at all, and hadn't even told Xia Qiu the truth.

  "I didn't know, Old Zhang said he was an acquaintance, and I didn't have time to ask in detail," Xia Qiu said.

  "It's my dad! My dad was in a car accident and is being rescued inside!" At this time, Lu Yan could no longer control his emotions and almost shouted out with a sob.

  Xia Qiu's mind went "boom" and her face suddenly turned pale. As for Xia Qiu at this time, the news that her son had just spoken out was also beyond her tolerance, and she couldn't care about anything like dignity or demeanor anymore. She turned around and spoke to Zhang Guo Jing in a low, stern voice: "Xiao Dong is in trouble, tell me what's going on?"

  Zhang Guojing obviously did not expect things to develop like this, but as the municipal party secretary, he had long been trained in a set of skills for dealing with unexpected situations through his many years of experience in officialdom. Seeing Xia Qiu like this, he slowly said: "I also only found out about Secretary Xiao Dong's incident from the report by the General Office, and at the first instance, I have arranged for the Municipal Public Security Bureau to seal off the scene and collect evidence, and the specific reason is still under investigation."

  "Hmm—" Xia Qiu was not satisfied with Zhang Guo Jing's "official" answer, and had already vaguely guessed a lot of things in her heart. However, it wasn't convenient to say anything in front of her son, so she just let out a cold hum.

  "Let's go take a look at your dad." Xia Qiu seemed very calm, didn't even glance at Zhang Guo Jing, and pulled her son's hand to walk towards the hospital building.

  Zhang Guojing looked at the back of Xia Qiu and Lu Yan, his heart filled with anger: This stinky woman was too much, questioning him in front of so many subordinates, a dignified municipal party secretary. She really thought that just because she was favored, she could do whatever she wanted. However, in front of everyone, he couldn't express this idea, or else it would only make his subordinates laugh at him even more.

  "Secretary Zhang, do you think we should go up now?" The speaker was Chen Weidong, Secretary of Zhang Guojing, who had opened the car door for Zhang Guojing earlier. He looked at Zhang Guojing's prolonged silence and tried to break it. Chen Weidong was Zhang Guojing's nephew-in-law, and after Zhang Guojing became the mayor of Wuzhou City, he arranged for Chen Weidong to take over as his secretary. In the entire municipal party committee, only Lu Xiaodong knew about Chen Weidong's relationship with Zhang Guojing.

  "Hey Weidong, I was just thinking that Xiaodong's wife had a good reason to be angry today. As the head of the municipal party committee, my work hasn't been done well and I haven't taken care of the team members enough. If it wasn't for this, I think Xiaodong wouldn't have ended up like this today." Zhang Guojing didn't respond to Chen Weidong, but instead seemed to be lightly reflecting on his own mistakes, however, in the ears of Chen Weidong and Huang Haichang, it had a different effect. Huang Haichang couldn't help but secretly admire Zhang Guojing's cleverness: this speech not only skillfully covered up the awkwardness of Xia Qiu's questioning earlier, but also subtly bought people's hearts.

  "Why don't we go up? Comrade Xiaodong is a standing committee member and secretary-general of the municipal party committee, and he has worked with me for over ten years. Now that something has happened to him, I, as his old leader and older brother, should come visit him." Zhang Guojing's tone had returned to its usual sternness.

  "Wei Dong, come with me. Huang, notify the Standing Committee members at home immediately and hold a meeting here in half an hour. Also, inform the People's Congress and the Political Consultative Conference, and ask Director Sun and Chairman Tian to attend as well." Zhang Guojing said, without hesitation, lifted his foot and walked towards the hospital building, Chen Weidong quickly grabbed the briefcase and followed closely behind him.