Chapter Forty-Five: Cry Louder

“Auntie, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. We’ll just wait at the door, so we won’t trouble you by coming in,” Hua Li said with a pleasant smile, politely waving away Lü Hongmei’s invitation from the doorway.

Auntie? Lü Hongmei felt a sudden pang of discomfort. You’re almost as old as I am, and you’re calling me auntie? Is this person daft?

“Mom, we can’t take this money. We don’t even know what’s really going on yet—how can we just accept someone’s money like that?” Chen Muxue hurriedly snatched back the bank card and handed it to Hua Li.

“You’d better take your money back for now. When Su Zheng wakes up, you can talk to him directly about whatever it is,” she said.

“Sister-in-law, please, it’s just a small token from me, I—”

“Don’t call me sister-in-law!” Chen Muxue’s face flushed red. She simply couldn’t stand the way Hua Li addressed her and snapped coldly. If it weren’t for Wei’s presence, she would have shut the door right then and there.

“Muxue, let me handle this. Go have something to eat.” Su Zheng emerged from his room and gestured for Muxue to go have breakfast, then cast a calm glance toward the three people at the door.

“Doctor Su, I was wrong, truly wrong! I beg you—”

“Keep your voice down! Don’t disturb the neighbors. Come on, let’s go downstairs,” Su Zheng said impatiently in a low voice, heading down ahead of them. It was still early morning, and voices would carry far. He had no wish to disrupt his neighbors’ rest.

Hua Li immediately fell silent and dutifully followed behind Su Zheng, the others trailing as well.

“Muxue, what’s going on? Who are these people really? And why are they apologizing to that loser? They’re not all crazy, are they?” Lü Hongmei asked suspiciously.

“I don’t know. But they probably aren’t crazy. I’ll go down and see in a bit. And Mom, don’t just accept money from anyone in the future. What if they’re swindlers? That would be a real mess,” Chen Muxue said helplessly.

Lü Hongmei felt a bit shamed by her daughter’s words, grumbled to herself, and turned to go wake Chen Jianguo.

“Old man, get up! Look what time it is. Who told you to go drinking with your old boss last night? If he wanted to help you, he’d have done it already. If he doesn’t want to, you could drink yourself to death and it wouldn’t matter. Now get up!”

Clearly, Lü Hongmei was venting her frustrations on her husband.

Downstairs, Su Zheng looked serenely at the three who trailed after him.

“Doctor Su, I really did wrong. You kindly gave me advice, but I was blinded by greed and listened to that bastard Nie Feng instead. I deserve what’s happened!”

Hua Li’s face was full of regret, and he rubbed his reddened eyes, looking exhausted. In fact, it wasn’t just him—Wei and A Biao were in the same state, eyes bloodshot, faces drawn with fatigue. They’d barely slept all night. After receiving Su Zheng’s message telling them to come back the next day, the three had returned to Hua Li’s house, bringing along the little wooden figurine, hoping Su Zheng could break whatever strange curse it represented. They’d then rushed overnight to the Li Yuan complex where Su Zheng lived and waited downstairs until dawn, only then creeping up to his door.

“So, you’ve found the real cause of your illness?” Su Zheng gave him a sidelong glance, his tone detached.

“Yes, we have, just as you predicted! Someone tampered with my house—they hid something on top of a wardrobe in a corner. How do we break the curse?”

Hua Li’s expression showed lingering fear as he signaled A Biao to show Su Zheng the little figurine.

“I never agreed to help you. There’s no need to show me anything,” Su Zheng said, waving a hand and frowning slightly.

“Uh…” Hua Li’s face froze. After a moment’s stunned silence, he was overwhelmed by despair and panic. “Doctor Su, please don’t be like this. I beg you to save me! Whatever your terms, I’ll agree! Please, I beg you!”

As he spoke, something occurred to him. He quickly instructed Wei, “Hurry, transfer ten million to Doctor Su right now—consider it my advance consultation fee. If it’s not enough, I’ll add more. Quick!”

Wei didn’t dare delay and immediately transferred ten million to Su Zheng via his phone; the funds arrived instantly.

“Doctor Su, please save me. Whatever you require, name it—I’ll agree to anything!” Hua Li pleaded again.

“Do you remember what I told you last time? I don’t want to see you smile. If you want my help, then cry—cry out loud!” Su Zheng replied coldly.

He’d told them before: the next time Hua Li came to beg him, he wanted to see him cry. Previously, Hua Li and the others had laughed far too arrogantly.

“This…” Hua Li never expected Su Zheng to set such a bizarre condition. He’d thought the fee would be raised, but now he was being told to cry. He hadn’t cried in years, and for a grown man to burst into tears in broad daylight—wouldn’t people think he was insane?

“What? Is it so hard? Then forget it. I’ll refund your money—just go,” Su Zheng said, glancing at him again and pretending to process a refund on his phone.

“No, no, Doctor Su, please, I’ll cry—I’ll cry right now!” Hua Li panicked. Compared to his life, dignity seemed far less important.

“Good. And you and that blond one over there will do. Wei doesn’t need to,” Su Zheng instructed indifferently.

Wei felt as though he’d dodged a bullet, his heart surging with gratitude toward Su Zheng. They were all people of status—if word got out that he’d cried in public, how could he continue to command the respect of his company? His authority would be destroyed.

“Boss, what if I can’t cry?” A Biao’s haggard face was full of torment; he wasn’t an actor—he really couldn’t do it.

Smack!

Hua Li gritted his teeth and landed a heavy slap on A Biao’s face. “Does it hurt? If it does, then cry! Cry out loud!”

Stars danced before A Biao’s eyes from the pain, but he dared not retaliate. Gradually, the pain morphed into a wave of sorrow, and real tears began to fall.

Seeing it worked, Hua Li gritted his teeth and punched himself in the nose—a sharp, stinging pain shot to his brow, and his own tears began to fall.

“That doesn’t count. I said I wanted to see you truly cry. You laughed so loudly before—now cry just as loudly. Otherwise, you can wait for death,” Su Zheng said calmly.

“Ah… Waaaah!” Hua Li truly broke down, this time from terror rather than pretense.

A Biao, afraid his boss would hit him again, immediately joined in, wailing at the top of his lungs.

“Su Zheng, what on earth are you doing? Why are they crying?” At that moment, Chen Muxue came downstairs and saw Hua Li and A Biao bawling in the open, with a crowd of residents staring.

“All right, that’s enough. Stop,” Su Zheng said, waving his hand, uninterested in having them “perform” any longer now that Muxue had appeared.

“Muxue, why did you come down?”

“I’m heading to the shop to pick up a few things for Mom, and thought I’d see what business they had with you,” Chen Muxue replied, eyeing the two men—now suddenly quiet—with a look of utter bewilderment.