Chapter 385: My name is Xiang Ning
Of all those present, there were four who had seen Little Xiang Ning before.
Of all of them, Li Linlin was the only one who was in the know. When she had seen Xiang Ning walking over from the distance in her hospital gown, she had actually already understood what Xu Tingsheng's self-sacrificial act had been all about.
If she had learnt about this and come over earlier, if she had only just seen Mr Xiang who had come a few times and been sent away, actually, she would have realised everything long ago.
The problem was that she did not know what she was supposed to do now. She was determined to help Xu Tingsheng to keep his secret, but for her to stop Xiang Ning?
This would be wholly unreasonable from both a rational and emotional standpoint.
After hesitating for quite a bit, Li Linlin was still unable to decide on a course of action. Actually, this was itself a course of action too. She chose to let things play out naturally. Not wishing for Xiang Ning to see her and complicate matters even more or reveal that the two of them were related, she even secretly went and hid behind the back of Old Wai.
On hearing Huang Yaming shoo Little Xiang Ning away, even as Li Linlin did feel sorry for her, she was also secretly heaving a sigh of relief inwardly.
She did not know that just Xiang Ning's name alone already meant so much to quite a number of those here. In other words, she did not know that Fu Cheng, Huang Yaming, Fang Yuqing, Tan Yao, Apple, Song Ni and even Mr and Mrs Xu could actually easily recognise her name.
As long as this name was spoken out loud, even a mere mention would already be enough.
Fang Yuqing was another of those who had seen Little Xiang Ning before. When he had pulled Xu Tingsheng off to the side to speak with him during the previous incident at the park, he had actually seen Xiang Ning then. It was just that he had thought at the time that besides being a student at Xu Tingsheng's training institute, she might just be slightly related to Xiang Ning as well at most.
"Could it be that this is why Xu Tingsheng risked his life to save her? Going this far, though…is she really only a student of that Xiang Ning's? Maybe they're slightly related by blood too? She wouldn't be her little sister or something? If that really is the case, going by her appearance, the older sister should probably be quite pretty too."
What everyone else did not know was that Mr and Mrs Xu had actually seen Xiang Ning before, back in Xu Tingsheng's office in the past.
While Mr Xu might have forgotten about this, Mrs Xu had never forgotten Xiang Ning. Those ultra rare Fuxi bones had been spotted and identified by her on the spot as she had waxed lyrical for a long time over that pretty little girl with the first grade facial structure under the heavens.
Mrs Xu looked at Little Xiang Ning.
Little Xiang Ning was feeling incomparably frantic as well as helpless and despondent due to Huang Yaming having refused to let her see Xu Tingsheng. Now, she spotted Mrs Xu as well.
"Auntie, do you still remember me? I want to see Xu Tingsheng," In her panic, Little Xiang Ning completely forget to call him Mr Xu.
"Yes, I remember you. You're…" What Mrs Xu really wanted to say was: You're the student that I saw in my son's office before, right?
Yet, she got interrupted as seeing that she still remembered her, believing this meant that she should be able to see Xu Tingsheng, Little Xiang Ning nodded frantically, exclaiming, "Right, Auntie! My name is Xiang Ning."
If there was music, this would be the equivalent of a sudden, abrupt halt, the straw that broke the camel's back with a dramatic flourish after a tumultuous running of notes.
If there was thunder, a boom should resound as the most powerful bolt of lightning struck the ground directly before their eyes.
The absence of sound was pretty good as well. Utter silence reigned.
"You said…your name is?"
"Auntie, my name is Xiang Ning. I want to see Xu Tingsheng."
After obtaining confirmation, Mrs Xu looked at Mr Xu, who looked back at her too.
Apple and Song Ni exchanged glances.
Fang Yuqing, Huang Yaming, Fu Cheng and Tan Yao gazed back and forth at one another.
Even the others who were not in the know knew now that things were definitely not that simple.
For example, Lu Zhixin and Wu Yuewei who were relatively smarter could basically already guess what was currently the matter. After all, they had basically heard before that there was already someone in Xu Tingsheng's heart. Everyone's reactions right now reminded them that this was her.
Yet…
Old Wai shot an enquiring gaze at Li Linlin who was clearly in the know as she currently looked extremely worried.
While Li Linlin did not understand the specifics of this, on seeing everyone's reactions right now, she knew that the cat was already out of the bag. She could only heave a sigh for Xu Tingsheng while also beginning to feel worried for Little Xiang Ning. She did not know what turn this matter might take and what events might hence unfold, being especially uncertain of how Mr and Mrs Xu would view and deal with this matter.
Also, there were three other girls who liked Xu Tingsheng standing right there, and all of them were so outstanding too.
"It couldn't be someone with the same name, right?" Fu Cheng muttered aloud disbelievingly.
"What do you think?" Huang Yaming retorted with a forced smile on his face.
That was clearly impossible! Putting his very life on the line to save her and suffering grave injuries of this degree-and you say that it's just a coincidence?
It was obvious now why they had gone to Xinyan Junior High on such a great scale to celebrate someone's birthday yet failed to find a teacher who was named Xiang Ning afterwards no matter how they tried. What the hell…so she was actually a student!
Why had Xu Tingsheng hidden his ideal partner so secretively, adamantly refusing to let his bros see her? It was obvious now. He himself knew that he was too much of a beast…the lot of them had even speculated before that the rumoured Xiang Ning might be a married woman, feeling that to already be too much…they had not considered that he could be even more of a beast than that.
It was no wonder that when he had first mentioned her and they had said that they wished to meet her, he had replied: Next time…no, in a few years…yeah, it'd have to be a few years later.
It was no wonder that even with such results in the university entrance examinations, he had still applied for Yanzhou University. It was all in order to be close to her…
It seemed like the lofty Boss Xu had even personally gone off to be a home tutor at one point in time. She must have been the student then.
More than two years had passed, several beauties appearing one after another. Yet, he had been so abnormal in not wanting anyone, not touching any single woman. They had nearly almost come to question his sexual preferences, yet it turned out that this was actually all because of a little girl.
And then there was also Zhicheng's Ning Garden…
……
To sum it up, how was 2012 the end of the world? It should be 2005 when Earth exploded into smithereens right there and then…
"We've seen her before, during that time at the park when Xu Tingsheng asked me to call for people," Fang Yuqing said softly to Tan Yao.
Tan Yao, "…"
Fang Yuqing mused aloud, "What a fool I've been. We've even seen her already, getting a firsthand opportunity, but we only believed that she was a student or relative of that Xiang Ning's…whereas she was actually that living, one and only Xiang Ning in the first place…"
Perhaps Xu Tingsheng should rejoice at the fact that he was currently in a comatose state.
Now was a good time to be unconscious. Otherwise, his 'beastly' ways would be looked down on as he would be interrogated to death.
As for Little Xiang Ning, she was actually still doing fine. She was indeed a bit bemused by the strange reactions of everyone else. Still, greatly worried about Xu Tingsheng as she was, such considerations never entered her mind at all.
"Auntie, can I go in to see Xu Tingsheng?" Little Xiang Ning asked again with tears in her eyes.
Despite having lived for over forty years, Mrs Xu had never been posed with a question tougher than this before. She glanced at Mr Xu, who seemed at a loss too…he was never at a loss even when managing his supermarket franchise which was worth over a hundred million, yet was left feeling conflicted and bamboozled right now.
"Let her go in for now," He finally said after a long time.
"Well, go on in then," Mrs Xu said.
"Thank you."
Little Xiang Ning entered the sick ward.
The floodgates immediately opened as her repressed sobs resounded.
"Xu Tingsheng…sob…"
On seeing Xu Tingsheng's unconscious state and those wounds on his back, Little Xiang Ning lost all strength in her legs as she just collapsed limply to the ground. Gazing at him, she dared not cry loudly as she repressed her sobs as much as possible, sniffing loudly.
She reached out and gently stroked his face.
She rested her face by the edge of the bed, placing his hand lightly on it.
"Sob…"
"It must really hurt, right? Sorry, it's all my fault for being disobedient."
"Are you angry? Will you still want me, Xu Tingsheng?"
Tears unceasingly trickled down her face, descending.
"We were nearly about to start a relationship."
"You yourself said that you want to marry me."
"Xu Tingsheng, do you want to touch my waist…just wake up, you can if you wake up…"
"What am I supposed to do in the future…"