Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 78 (Part 1)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 78.1 Shen Tiantian: My heart is filled with bitterness.
Elder Qi's fainting was no small matter. The ambulance and convalescent team rushed to the compound not long after. The grandiose fleet of vehicles drove away without stopping for a moment and within a few hours, this matter was known to everyone in the compound.
Grandma Xiao stood at the door of her house, listening to the commotion in the distance, and let out a long sigh while holding her buddhist beads.
The Shi Family was so frightened that they rushed out from their hotel to the hospital. At the sight of the two younger generations squatting in front of the operating room, all the questions began to pour out, "What's going on? He was fine last night. There’s nothing wrong with his health, right? Why was he suddenly sent to the hospital?"
Qi Kai was pulled back and forth, but he just remained silent and sat back down on the ground with his back against the wall, his face covered by his hands.
"Stop being so annoying! All you are doing is asking these stupid questions, if you want to know the answers, why don’t you go ask the doctor?! I don't know sh*t!" Shi Nanxing's face was gloomy. The onslaught of questions left him unable to comprehend and answer. Soon he hit his breaking point and he simply lost his temper.
Grandma Shi's face turned pale from his spew, but seeing her grandson's anxious expression, she also vaguely sensed that something was amiss. Without much of an option, she worriedly discussed with her daughter-in-law, "It's over, it's over, what if our in-law... What will Xingxing do? He promised us..."
Xingxing…
Xingxing…
The Shi Family’s pessimism and greed ignited Qi Kai’s fury. "Scram!!!"
His grandfather was in a critical state, but all they cared about was the problem they entrusted to him? F*cking ingrates!
As the only grandson of the Qi Family, no matter how unpleasant his words were, the Shi family could only move away reluctantly. Even when the doctor came out, everyone was too nervous to approach. Qi Kai barely stood up while putting hald his weight on the wall, his vitality seemed almost drained as he asked tremblingly, "How is he?"
"Fortunately, there is no serious trauma. The only injury he sustained was the head trauma after falling. However, the patient is old and has high blood pressure, the stimulation this time has a great impact on his health. Although he has been rescued, as family members, you still need to take more care of him, a situation like today cannot happen again."
Qi Kai breathed a sigh of relief, his weak knees could no longer support themselves as he fell back onto the ground.
After the death of his parents, he has always been dependent on his grandfather. If the old man really died because of him, then he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.
Shouts of rejoicing resounded from all around, and the Shi Family who had given Qi Kai space earlier gathered around the operation room again. The hospital bed was slowly pushed out of the room, the Shi Family were a step faster than Qi Kai. One by one, they rushed forward, faces filled with tears and concern, and tightly surrounded the perimeter of the bed.
The elder was already awake, his pair of lifeless eyes was staring blankly with the hanging IV.
In the midst of his grandma's crying, Shi Nanxing held his weathered hand, and said with concern, "Thank the heavens you're fine, you really scared me to death..."
Elder Qi wasn’t responding at first, but when he heard Shi Nanxing’s voice, his whole body twitched as if struck by lightning. He suddenly sobered up and looked at Shi Nanxing as if looking at a stranger, as if he had never really known him before.
"Are you okay? Is there any discomfort?" Shi Nanxing started to panic under his stare, but forced himself to pretend as if nothing had happened.
Elder Qi's daze-like gaze increasingly came to focus. His wrinkled face started to twitch slightly, and the next second he threw off Shi Nanxing’s hand, and shouted tremblingly, "...Scram!"
Shi Nanxing was thrown aside in a daze.
He stared blankly at Qi Kai, who was called by the old man, as he pushed away his family members, who were panic-stricken by the elderly’s unexpected attitude. And soon after, the two members of the Qi Family left them behind in the corridors.
All the Shi Family were frightened, too stunned to chase after their only child’s remaining hope. Although Elder Qi was known for his strict personality, he had always loved and doted on the two juniors at home. During Shi Nanxing’s childhood, his presence in the Qi Family was a common sight. Moreover, before he was eight years old, Elder Qi had never called him by his given name, it was always ‘my baby’ this or ‘my precious ’ that. Although they were not related by blood, the elder had always treated him as if he was his real grandson.
This was the first time any of Shi Nanxing’s relatives had seen him being treated like this. And in that moment, even the calmest Father Shi couldn't even remain composed, he immediately stepped forward to ask his son, "What's going on? What did you do to make the old man so angry?!"
Shi Nanxing dumbly stood in place, it was then he felt an unprecedented panic and terror. Even though he had guessed that after knowing the truth, his family members would be very unhappy, but what he hadn’t expected was that this elder, who always doted on him, would be so decisive. This was a completely unexpected development.
As smart as he was, to find a suitable response in a limited span of time was near impossible. However, his reality was crystal clear, he was in a troubling predicament where he was unable to break free himself. This wasn’t the time he could afford losing the Qi Family's amenity.
Shi Nanxing regretted it, everything started from that car accident, otherwise he would have crossed the Pacific Ocean by now.
He shouldn't have quarreled with Qi Kai directly at their house. Who would have thought that the old man, who only just left a short moment before, would come back quietly in such a short time.
But there was no medicine for regret in this world, and the only thing he could do was to remedy it. Therefore, amidst his father's questioning and the crying of his grandmother and mother, Shi Nanxing came to himself, and desperately chased in the direction where the hospital bed was pushed off to.
It's a pity that a family's tolerance, something seemingly so magnanimous, hid a bottom line under its warm appearance.
Loud sounds of wailing and pleas for appeal of his once most close in-laws drowned Elder Qi’s intensive care room, but the old man's only response was looking away. "I don't care about him anymore, you can pray on your own."
"You're our dear in-law! You can't do this! Xingxing is just young and ignorant. Whatever he has done to anger you like this, we all apologize to you on his behalf, you don’t have to lower yourself to his level..."
"Young and ignorant? He is cruel and unscrupulous! He has bitten the hand that feeds him!" Elder Qi felt a sharp pain in his head when he heard their words, and the anger made him feel dizzy as he hit the bed board while he cursed feebly.
His bottom line was his only biological grandson, the last blood-related relative he had in this world. The importance of all other in-laws and friends were only second after him, this was an insurmountable fact. Shi Nanxing could do whatever he wanted, and Elder Qi ensured his safety as much as he possibly could; anything goes unless he endangered Qi Kai's best interests! And Shi Nanxing actually involved Qi Kai with raw opium! What kind of business was this? Once written on the record it won’t be erased or forgotten! Not to mention that if Qi Kai was to get addicted, the future hope of their Qi Family would henceforth be…
Elder Qi was in tears, just the thought of that possibility rendered him strengthless and saddened. In his life, he had seen countless types of people, experienced various events, and fallen an endless amount of times, but there had never been a time like today which made him feel how meaningless life was!
He regretted it. When Shi Nanxing took Qi Kai to engage in the smuggling business in Qunnan, how could he thought that this kid was an unconventional gambit and full of stratagems? He was clearly a reckless, ignorant, avaricious, and insatiable idiot!
For this dunce, Elder Qi abandoned his old face to plead others for help and be ridiculed by his old friends, just to end up like this?! Now that he rescued Shi Nanxing and helped him clear all his hindrance, he’s going to allow Qi Kai to fall to his own demise?
The moment Shi Nanxing came into contact with the hatred-filled light in those old cloudy eyes, he realized that Elder Qi had completely given up on him.
Being the person who usually did the abandoning, this was the first time Shi Nanxing had experienced such a strange feeling. It felt as if all his strength seeped out of his bones and his heart had been clenched in someone’s hand; it was extremely uncomfortable. Amidst the women's cries and his father's silence, he thought of a future that was more terrifying than this melancholy– the Shi Family’s roots were in the southwest of City, now that Elder Qi severed their connection, he was a nobody in Yan City.
Shi Nanxing cast his eyes on Qi Kai, signaling for his help. Qi Kai held his grandfather's bony hand and remained silent. He had been completely heartbroken after he found out his uncle, who had always been close to him, had tried to forsaken him without hesitation.
"Go away." The old man said, and then coughed twice tiredly.
The nurses came in soon after to drive away the group of obviously unwelcome guests.
"Don't touch me." Seeing that they were pushed away as if there were a pack of wild dogs, Shi Nanxing frowned and waved away the hands near him. After he readjusted himself, he willfully looked at the pair of grandfather and grandchild who were acting as if they were mutually dependent for life.
Elder Qi grabbed the enamel cup next to the bed and threw it at him viciously, "Get out!"
"Haha, what's the point of putting up this act? In the face of a great catastrophe everyone has to go their separate ways?" Under the bewildered eyes of the Shi family, Shi Nanxing suddenly smiled, his eyes darkened visibly, "Qi Kai, talk already. You still want to put on airs?"
Qi Kai looked up at him.
Fuming with rage between gritted teeth, Shi Nanxing dropped his good-natured and earnest appearance and said, "You think you’ll be able to live together in harmony once you get rid of me? Ask yourself honestly, did I force you when I took on this business? No, right? You f*cking jumped, on, board, yourself!"
"Grandpa, let me advise you." He then coldly smiled, raised his hand to straighten the wrinkles on his shirt from the previous chaos, and sneered, "Since you’ve already gone down this path, then walk to the end, that doesn’t mean to burn the bridge after crossing it. There are ships in which debarcation is no longer an option after boarding; your precious grandson’s information is also in their hands.”
Taking into consideration the hospital employees, his words were clearly stated, but this level was enough to cause the expressions of the two related parties to change. Shi Nanxing turned around and cast a sideways glance at the nurse who had pushed him the hardest before and said, "Don't worry, I'll ‘go away’ myself."
He spent so many days like a muddle headed beast, but although he finally was able to vent his unpleasantness, Shi Nanxing didn't feel happy at all. He felt strangely empty, as if his once complete world had now been cut into pieces.
The Shi Family, unaware of the ins and outs, looked left and right, but in the end they had no choice but to chase after their only descendant.
Elder Qi had been infuriated by his words that his vision started to flash in and out. As if his mouth and nose were covered, he couldn't breathe while tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes. He looked at his grandson kneeling beside the bed with a blank face, raised his powerless hand in despair, and slapped Qi Kai on the back of the head. Like a weak ghost under the sun, he murmured, "How could you be so brainless..."
Qi Kai’s main was completely blank, as blank as a person who would choose to drive on a mountain road on a foggy day.
The world that he used to know had suddenly turned upside down. His originally kindhearted close relative had turned into an ugly evil ghost, lying on his body and trying to tear him into pieces, eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
T/N: The whole Shi Family should rot in hell…. Tho this is definitely a wake up call for Qi Kai, albeit a little late