Official statement: Tongwei is dead! You chose Ruijin, didn't you?

"Sister Huifen, I can't sit still."

Liang Lu's voice trembled, "I...I want to see Secretary Yu Liang."

She didn't dare to yell or shout; this was the supervisory team's territory, and there were armed police officers standing outside the door.

She is no longer the young lady of the Liang family who could roam freely in Handong; all she has left is the despair and obsession of a family member who fell into the water.

Wu Huifen frowned slightly, just about to say something.

Just then, the door to the emergency exit next to them was pushed open, and Kobayashi strolled out with a bottle of chilled mineral water in his hand, as if he were just taking a walk because he had nothing better to do.

"Comrade Liang Lu, what brings you to see Secretary Gao?"

Xiao Lin unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip, and said, "Secretary Gao is either on a cast or getting IV drips every day, and he sleeps like a log. But your two older brothers stayed up all night last night in the interview room."

Liang Lu flinched.

Two weeks ago, if any junior staff member had dared to speak to her in such a sarcastic manner, she would have slapped them across the face or sent them to Yantai Township for poverty alleviation work the very next day.

But now, she doesn't even dare to breathe loudly.

"You're the one from the phone call just now..." Liang Lu bit her lip, her eyes filled with wariness.

"Yes, Kobayashi."

Xiaolin shook the mineral water bottle in her hand, smiling and revealing a set of white teeth.

"Team Leader Zhou said that if you want to see Secretary Gao, that's fine. But let's be clear from the start, the whole thing will be recorded, so you need to control your emotions."

Liang Lu was stunned.

She had imagined countless scenarios of being obstructed or dealt with perfunctorily, but she never expected that the supervisory team would take the initiative to give her the green light.

......

Ten minutes later, Liang Lu, "accompanied" by Xiao Lin, entered the ward that had attracted the attention of the entire Wuhan East City.

She stopped in her tracks as soon as she entered the room.

Gao Yuliang had a cast on his body, and a bunch of monitoring instruments were hanging at the head of his bed. Although the tubes had been removed, the sight of him being strapped to the bed in a brace was still very striking.

To outsiders, it was truly a tragic sight.

The moment Liang Lu saw this tragic scene, all her emotions were overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of absurdity.

How could a dignified deputy secretary of the provincial party committee fall into such a terrible state just to bring down Sha Ruijin?

This person is crazy.

"Secretary Yuliang..."

Liang Lu's voice was dry, and she even unconsciously used the respectful term she used before, "You're really lucky to be alive."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yuliang not only wasn't angry, but grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "Thanks to Secretary Sha's car roof. The steel plates on that Hongqi car are really of excellent quality. I suggest all provincial-level officials replace them with these; they could save your life in a critical moment."

"puff--"

Xiao Lin, who was on guard duty at the entrance, almost spat out the mineral water he had just drunk.

Liang Lu was also stunned. She didn't expect Gao Yuliang to joke about such a thing, and for a moment she didn't know how to respond.

She slowly walked to a chair two meters away and sat down. Wu Huifen stood behind her, her hand gently resting on the back of the chair, as if offering her silent support.

"Qi Tongwei,"

Liang Lu lowered her head, her hands tightly clasped together. After a long while, she asked in an almost inaudible voice:

"Did he...did he say anything when he died?"

The ward fell silent instantly, with only the monotonous beeping of the monitor remaining.

Gao Yuliang did not answer immediately.

He remembered the wind on Lone Eagle Ridge, the resolute gunshot, and Qi Tongwei's final, heart-wrenching, earth-shattering roar.

After a while, he slowly spoke, enunciating each word clearly: "He cursed God."

He said,

Gao Yuliang's gaze seemed to pierce through the ceiling, seeing the final, tragic moment of that anti-drug hero. "To hell with God!"

boom!

The moment Liang Lu heard those words, her tears completely burst forth.

She covered her face, her shoulders trembling violently. The grievances, resentment, and regret that she had suppressed for half a lifetime turned into silent sobs at this moment.

She spent her whole life competing with Qi Tongwei, trying to make him bow down and accept his fate.

But Qi Tongwei would rather swallow a gun or curse the heavens than look back at her again.

Wu Huifen wanted to reach out and pat her back, but hesitated for a moment and finally put her hand down.

Some debts you have to bear alone; some hurdles you have to overcome alone.

After crying for several minutes, Liang Lu slowly raised her head, her red eyes filled with broken confusion.

"I used to think that he owed me something. He didn't love me, but he married me anyway. He used the Liang family to climb the social ladder, and he looked down on the Liang family from the bottom of his heart. I felt like the most wronged woman in the world."

Gao Yuliang listened quietly without interrupting her.

"But I only realized it today,"

Liang Lu's voice was hoarse, filled with deep exhaustion. "I owe him too. I owe him an apology. But... he's dead. Who can I say apology to?"

"Say it to the living," Gao Yuliang replied calmly.

Liang Lu looked at him, her eyes filled with questions.

"Say this to yourself."

Gao Yuliang met her gaze. "This is also for those who still dream of using their privileges to manipulate other people's lives."

Liang Lu gave a bitter smile: "Would my dad even listen?"

Gao Yuliang did not answer.

Even Liang Qunfeng himself couldn't answer this question.

If he had listened to reason, he wouldn't have been scheming to write a letter to the authorities to plead his case after Sha Ruijin was imprisoned.

Liang Lu wiped away her tears, as if she had exhausted all her strength, and turned to look at Xiao Lin beside her: "What will happen to my two older brothers?"

Kobayashi, who had been silent until now, spoke up, using standard official jargon: "We're currently in the organizational review stage. The specifics will depend on the strength of the evidence and their attitude in explaining the situation."

Liang Lu frowned. She was used to these kinds of polite words and knew that behind them often lay a bottomless abyss.

Speak like a human.

Kobayashi almost couldn't hold back, paused, and then continued:

"To put it simply, if the evidence is strong, being stubborn won't help; if the evidence is even stronger, being soft-hearted can still get you leniency and avoid a lot of setbacks. If your two brothers are still hoping that Old Master Liang can pull some strings outside, they'll probably be spending the rest of their lives in jail."

Liang Lu understood.

She turned to look at Gao Yuliang again: "You knew all along that my family would be finished?"

"It's not that I know it, it's a pattern."

Gao Yuliang said calmly, "Your family's ledger is too thick. Just flipping to any page will lead to a whole series of other accounts."

Your father thought that as long as his connections remained and his power base stood, no one would dare to touch the Liang family. But he forgot that times have changed.

Liang Lu said in a low voice, "My dad is not convinced."

"Of course he disagrees."

Gao Yuliang chuckled lightly, "For someone who is used to having others bow and scrape, the sudden turn of events when they have to bow down is worse than death."

These words, like a cold needle, pierced Liang Lu's heart.

She suddenly wanted to see her father.

But I'm also afraid.

I'm afraid to see Liang Qunfeng, who is always so assertive and always giving orders, lying on a hospital bed like a withered tree, his body covered in tubes.

She was afraid that the first thing he would do when he woke up was to call her a "jinx," and she was even more afraid that... he would never wake up again.

She stood up abruptly, her voice weak: "I'll go check out the emergency room."

Wu Huifen also stood up: "I'll stay with you."

Liang Lu shook her head: "No need, I want to walk around by myself."

She walked to the door, and Gao Yuliang's voice came from behind her.

"Teacher Liang, please listen to me."

Liang Lu stopped walking, but did not turn around.

Don't stay alone.

Gao Yuliang's voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly: "Especially, don't go to high places."

Liang Lu froze, turned around abruptly, and a hint of fear flashed in her eyes: "What do you mean?"

"It means that you are in a state of confusion right now, your mind is blank, and you are most likely to get stuck on trivial matters."

Gao Yuliang looked directly into her eyes. "When people get stuck in a rut, they do stupid things. You are not Qi Tongwei, and you are not me. You don't need to use performance art like jumping off a building to add fuel to the fire of your father's 'injustice'."

Liang Lu's face turned deathly pale instantly. She instinctively retorted, but her voice lacked confidence:

"You think I'd jump off a building?!"

I hope you won't.

Gao Yuliang leaned against the headboard. "That's why I'm making this clear beforehand. I jumped to live. If you jump too, it's just suicide, a pointless death, and you'll be laughed at for committing suicide out of guilt. Do you want the Liang family to lose even their last shred of dignity?"

Liang Lu was so shocked by these words that she couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

She wanted to get angry, but found that every word Gao Yuliang said was like a cold iron clamp, tightly choking off all her possible rebuttals.

Gao Yuliang ruthlessly exposed her subconscious desire to commit suicide, leaving it to bask in the open.

She gave a cold laugh, her voice trembling with tears: "Secretary Gao, do you think you're incredibly shrewd now? You think you can even tell whether I want to die or not?"

"It's not that I can calculate, it's that I've been to the corner of the wall."

Gao Yuliang composed himself, his tone becoming serious. "That corner is windy and cold. It's not a good place to stay for too long."

Liang Lu didn't say anything more.

She seemed to have all her strength drained away, even her back became hunched, and she opened the door, walking out dejectedly.

After the door closed, Wu Huifen looked at Gao Yuliang with a complicated expression: "Do you really think something will happen to her?"

Gao Yuliang's smile vanished, his face darkening. "The supervisory team will send people to follow her. Hopefully, she won't go to those 'hotspots' for people with emotional breakdowns. The Liang family is already in enough chaos; let's not add another death to the family."