Chapter Thirty-Three: A Thin Line Between Life and Death

  After a loud rumble, the entire house collapsed, and dust filled the sky, with debris flying everywhere.

  The deafening roar of the demolition machine stopped, but Ye Piaoxue's eyes were also frozen.

  The scene suddenly became very quiet. Everyone was staring at the ruins in silence. Several men who had rushed into the house saw Liu Fei enter, but never came out again. They were all frightened to death at this moment.

  "Wow!" One of the kids was scared out of their wits by what they saw and burst into loud, wailing sobs.

  Ye Fengxue woke up, and after being stunned for a few seconds, she suddenly let out a shrill scream, "Xiang Xiang, Xiang Xiang is buried inside!" At this moment, Ye Fengxue suddenly broke free from the restraint of the two men, with tears streaming down her face, and rushed into the ruins that were still filled with smoke and dust. The sound of crashing and crumbling continued unabated, as bricks and wooden beams fell irregularly from many places, even though the house had collapsed. But Ye Fengxue couldn't care about all this anymore, for in her heart, she was only thinking of Xiang Xiang, that lovely little girl whom she had raised with spoonfuls of milk powder since childhood, that clever and agile little girl.

  The night wind blew, blowing her long black hair, she bent down and stretched out her snow-white, slender, smooth jade hand to pick up the broken stones and bricks, throwing them aside. Then, bending down again, she picked up more and threw them to one side, while continuously shouting loudly in a mournful voice: "Xiang Xiang, where are you? Don't be afraid, sister is here to save you, sister is here to save you!"

  A long nail suddenly pierced Ye Piaoxue's palm, and fresh blood gushed out instantly, staining her originally snow-white jade hand red in an instant. However, she didn't notice at all and continued to move the bricks: "Xiang Xiang, Xiang Xiang, sister is here to save you!"

  Suddenly, one of the demolition workers shouted: "What are you all stunned for? Hurry up and rescue people! If someone dies, none of us can bear the responsibility!"

  A large group of originally apathetic and arrogant thugs also joined the battle team.

  Brick by brick was removed, beam by beam and pillar were moved aside.

  In the pitch-black night, a dozen or so children aged 3 to 8 stood alone in the yard, wailing out mournful cries under the intimidation of the night wind.

  A man with a scar on his neck picked up the phone next to him and dialed Peng Yu's cell phone: "Boss Peng, we've run into trouble. It's like this..."

  Peng Yu listened to the story, remained silent for a while, and suddenly said: "You all don't need to care about it anymore, hurry up and withdraw, you guys come to my place later to get the money, after getting the money, quickly go to another province to hide!"

  The man with a scar on his neck shouted loudly: "Don't bother, go back!" After finishing speaking, he strode away. The men who were helping to move things and rescue people heard the leader's words, so they put down the stones and wooden boards in their hands, turned around and ran out. In the darkness of night, the rumbling sound of the demolition machine and bulldozer gradually faded away, until it disappeared without a trace.

  In the ruins, Ye Xue's small white hands were already bloody and bruised, but she continued to move block after block of rubble, her voice shouting loudly: "Xiang Xiang, Xiang Xiang, where are you? Speak up quickly!"

  However, no one answered her, only the night wind whistled by, bringing waves of foul air.

  Strangers all left, the children's crying sounds also gradually subsided, they all surrounded Ye Piaoxue's back, some were sobbing, but none of them cried out loud, because they heard Ye Piaoxue was crying.

  They could all feel the sorrow and despair contained in Ye Fengxue's voice, they could all feel Ye Fengxue's mournful and haunting cry that lingered on, her voice carrying far, far away into the silent summer night.

  It wasn't long before the lights in the nearby residents' homes gradually lit up, and one by one, the neighbors rushed over. Seeing the scene of a dozen or so tearful children standing naked in the night wind, and looking at the girl who seemed to have already fallen into a state of madness, the neighbors' heartstrings were suddenly plucked. No one said a word, but silently joined the army of people moving things. One, two, five, ten, more and more people came, and the stones were gradually moved away. The scene slowly became clear.

  People finally found the most shocking scene under Ye Piaoxue's broken and fragmented small bed!

  People saw Liu Fei hunching over, tightly shielding Xiang Xiang under his body. On his back, a wooden board was pressed against him; on his thighs, a large piece of concrete mixed with bricks was weighing down on him. His face, neck, and hands were all covered in wounds, and fresh blood had stained his white casual clothes red.

  Liu Fei had already fainted, but his arms and knees were still bent, tightly protecting Xiao Xiang under him. Underneath him, Xiao Xiang was sleeping soundly with tears in her eyes.

  Everyone was shocked at once!

  Ye Piao Xue saw Xiang Xiang safe and sound, and suddenly burst into tears of joy. At this moment, there was no one else in her eyes, including Liu Fei. She tightly hugged little Xiang Xiang, who had been lifted from Liu Fei's arms, and didn't want to let go again.

  At this time, Xiang Xiang woke up and burst into loud crying: "Sister Ye, I'm so scared! It's so dark inside the room! I'm so scared! Sister Ye, don't leave me!"

  Ye Piaoxue also cried! Many onlookers also cried!

  Most of them were moved to tears by Liu Fei's fearless protection of Xiaoxiang!

  It's unclear who called the 120 emergency number, but they quickly arrived at the scene. The doctors first gave Liu Fei some simple treatment for his wounds and then carefully lifted him onto the ambulance.

  The ambulance carrying Liu Fei, Ye Piaoxue and a dozen or so children sped towards the hospital with its siren blaring.

  Arrived at the hospital, Liu Fei was lifted onto a stretcher and rushed into the operating room.

  Outside the operating room, Ye Piaoxue held Xiangxiang in her arms and gazed at the status light outside the operating room with a complex expression. Her mood was equally complicated. She knew that she might have wronged the man inside the operating room, he wasn't helping her because of her beauty, but because he genuinely wanted to help, and now she had finally figured it out. But it was already too late.

  There was always a question in her mind, why did this man not sleep at night and come to help her instead? She couldn't figure it out, she tried hard not to think about it, but the question lingered in her mind like a ghost, making it impossible for her to let go.

  The operation had lasted for more than 5 hours and daylight was already breaking through.

  Ye Piao Xue was a bit tired, so she hugged Xiang Xiang and leaned against the chair, soon dozing off.

  Suddenly, a pleasant mobile phone ringtone startled her awake. She opened her blurry eyes and searched around for a while before realizing that it was Liu Fei's phone ringing next to her. The phone had been left outside by the doctor before Liu Fei went into the operating room, temporarily in her care.

  Ye Piaoxue didn't want to answer it at first, but the ringing of her mobile phone wouldn't stop, so she had no choice but to pick up.

  "Hey, Liu Fei, you're sleeping in on a big weekend like this? The sun is already shining brightly!" A bright and cheerful girl's voice came from the phone.

  Ye Piaoxue was taken aback and asked: "Who are you?"

  On the other end of the phone, there was a moment of silence. The breathing seemed to become slightly urgent: "I am Xu Jiao Jiao, who are you? Where is Liu Fei?"

  "Liu Fei? I don't know him!" Ye Piaoxue said.

  On the other end of the phone, Xu Jiaojiao furrowed her brow, her heart beating normally as she thought to herself, "This girl can't be Liu Fei's girlfriend, right?" As soon as this thought occurred to her, her mood became extremely tense again. Feeling that the other person might be intentionally deceiving her, she said, "Liu Fei is the owner of this phone, where is he? Let him answer the phone."

  Ye Piaoxue also reacted at this time and said with a somewhat painful mood: "He hasn't come out of the operating room yet!"

  Xu Jiaojiao was stunned at once, and her mood became tense again. She asked hurriedly: "How could he be in the operating room? Is he ill?"

  Ye Piaoxue took a deep breath and said: "Things can't be explained in just one or two sentences, anyway he's seriously injured right now!"

  "Which hospital is he in now?"

  "Nanping City First Hospital!" Before Ye Piaoxue could finish speaking, the lights in the operating room suddenly came on, and she immediately sat up, looking towards the door. She saw a doctor wearing a white mask walking out, removing his mask and saying to Ye Piaoxue, "Are you a family member of the patient?"

  Ye Piao Xue shook her head and said: "No!"

  "What about the patient's family? Hurry up and call them over, the patient still needs a major surgery and we need to pay 200,000 yuan in medical expenses first! The sooner you pay, the higher the chances of the patient recovering!" The doctor said somewhat impatiently.

  Ye Piao Xue bitterly said: "I am a friend of the patient, but I have no money!"

  "If there's no money, the patient might become a vegetable later on!" The doctor said, and then turned around to leave.

  Ye Piaoxue burst into tears, hoping that Liu Fei would recover soon. Although she didn't know Liu Fei, how could she forget the two times he had saved her? Moreover, she had already realized that she had misunderstood Liu Fei earlier, so now she was really worried about his safety. She grabbed the doctor's clothes and said: "Doctor, please, I beg of you, save him first, I'll think of a way to pay for it!"

  "Don't even think about us saving him if you don't pay up, the hospital has rules!" The doctor said with a cold expression.