Chapter 17 Living

Xiao Yu was just sighing about how life seemed so uneventful when Meng Lang's phone rang. He looked at it and, sure enough, it was Uncle Zhang.

He sighed helplessly and chose to answer.

"I've heard everything from Ma Qiao. Don't tell me you actually went insane and used 500,000 to gamble on stocks? Tell me this money isn't from your dad, where did you get so much money? You didn't take out a high-interest loan, did you?"

"Uh… Uncle Zhang, calm down."

"Calm down my ass! Confess everything to me right now, and get that money out, gambling on stocks, can't believe you thought of that! Return the money where it came from! Right now! Immediately!"

"But didn't you just tell me to go hit the South Wall?"

"I told you to go, but I didn't ask you to use your water-filled brain to do it!"

Meng Lang was extremely troubled by this situation. If this got out at home, it would probably cause a huge commotion. His dad might even chase him down here with the family heirloom Longquan Sword.

At this point, he could only choose to feign ignorance.

"You've misunderstood, Uncle Zhang. I was just helping a friend trade. You know I can barely pay my rent, how could I possibly have money for investment?"

"You're not fooling me, are you? Which friend? Why would they need your help to trade?" Elder Zhang really wasn't easy to fool.

"A second-generation rich kid from my college dormitory. He works at the Securities Regulatory Commission and the national regulations prevent him from trading on his own account."

"Really?"

"Do you think I would take out a high-interest loan for stock trading? Is that something a sane person would do?"

"Right, you might be a bit irresponsible at times, but doing something that stupid shouldn't be within your reach."

"Uh… only you understand me, Uncle."

"Alright, then I'll trust you this time. But if you've foolishly invested that money, exit the market immediately. Did you hear me?"

"Don't worry!"

After hanging up the phone, he breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have bluffed his way through.

He quickly left the securities company, mumbling quietly as he went.

"Exit the market? With over ten million..."

...

March 22, 2018, noon.

"Late Justice" was updated as scheduled...

On its cover were the large characters — "Living"

[My First Half of Life was mundane.

Going to school, graduating, working—experiencing the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, feeling the grief and happiness of their separations and reunions.

Until that rainy night in March 2018, when fate clamped down on my spine...

At 10:15 p.m., after I had turned down an opportunity to fall into depravity and rushed back to my rental in the complex rain.

The devil began to move!

Everything went as I had planned, only at the last moment something went wrong, and the opponent, unable to cope, actually pulled out a handgun!

This was beyond my expectation.

In the critical moment, as if possessed by a ghost, I shielded Yan Weiwei.

Then a gunshot… and I was paralyzed.

The bullet was lodged in the 4–5 vertebra of my spine, compressing nerve roots and causing spinal damage, leaving my lower body completely numb.

The culprit was legally punished, but I had to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair...

...

With irrefutable evidence before him, Yuan Li openly admitted his crimes but insisted that no one else was involved, motivated purely by a desire for revenge against Lin Haitang.

Only later did we learn that although Yuan Li had divorced his previous wife, he still had an illegitimate child, Yuan Shu, studying in the US, sponsored by the Xu Group.

Attempted murder, causing disability, illegal possession of a firearm, and intent to frame, combined with a previous criminal record, ultimately led to Yuan Li being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

The Xu Group continued to act only in its own interests.

Later, from Haitang, it was learned that the "Xu Gao Divorce Case" eventually ended with a complete victory for Xu Jingsong.

The reason was that a colleague named Han Li leaked her litigation documents, and suddenly, evidence of the woman's infidelity during the marriage was presented by the opposition.

All this was a contingency plan devised by Xu Jingsong, but by the time it was discovered, it was too late, leaving only a sigh at his higher cunning.

However, for me, these were now just topics of conversation beside my sickbed...

The outside world... seemed to be getting farther and farther away from me...

Being paralyzed in bed was extremely tough, a thousand times tougher than an ordinary person could imagine; you can't imagine the embarrassment and despair of needing help even to go to the toilet.

Living, requires more courage than anything else.

Surviving, is just others' evaluation.

...

Aside from my parents, Duan Xian often visited me. I think everyone should have at least one such close friend, having shared many mundane but memorable moments, regardless of how clouds scud across the sky or how situations change abruptly.

In the tedious times of lying flat, I developed a fondness for buying lottery tickets.

Perhaps it was the minuscule "miracle probability" in the lottery that I liked, or maybe it was a reminder to myself not to give up that glimmer of hope?

I even noted down the winning numbers from the "Night of Destiny."

03, 11, 14, 27, 32, 05, 07.

I treated this sequence of numbers as my lucky numbers, hoping they would bring me good fortune.

And in this nadir of my life, what might be most praiseworthy was perhaps my romantic luck...

For three women appeared simultaneously, saying they would take responsibility for me.

One was Xiao Yu, who said she would handle my daily care and look after me till the end...

Every time I recalled her earnest little face saying "I'll take care of you," I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Another was Lin Haitang, who explained to me from a very professional viewpoint what socialist humanitarian care meant, continually stressing that it was merely to repay Xiao Yu for saving her life.

The last one was Yan Weiwei.

In the moment when I took a bullet, all I thought was to prevent an innocent person from being unwittingly dragged into misfortune by me.

To save one life at the expense of another's, hasn't everything just come full circle?

The stab-resistant vest on me lent me a bit of confidence, though it proved utterly useless against bullets in the end...

But unexpectedly, this seemingly carefree woman turned out to be stubbornly principled, and as a token of gratitude for saving her life, she even offered me the chance to be included in the Yan family's genealogy.

Once, I had a chance to marry into a wealthy family... but in the end, I never agreed.

The three women kept their promise, taking turns meticulously caring for me in the wheelchair, never uttering a complaint.

But others' guilt is not a reason for me to comfortably indulge in everything at others' expense.

So, after three months of enjoying it, I left behind a letter thanking everyone and hoping for world peace, and then swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills...

Meng Lang: "..."

He glanced at the ending of the story and then at the photo provided as usual with the book.

In the photo, he sat in a wheelchair, with the intellectually beautiful Lin Haitang on the left, the striking Yan Weiwei on the right, and Xiao Yu affectionately wrapping her arms around his neck from behind.

Everyone's smiles were warm and serene, like a happy family portrait.

Yes, I was paralyzed, but what exactly is this sensation of being a winner in life?

...

And just as Meng Lang was critiquing this "update," across the ocean, a storm that would engulf the globe was quietly brewing...