He warned her. He warned her to abort the mission, but she thought herself smart?
He was the one that made her. Now that she had grown wings, he was determined to show her that he could break her as easily as squashing an ant to death.
Quickly, he took out the spare phone, put in his sim card and began dialing Li Chuanmo's number. When it rang out for the fifth time without a response, he was sorely tempted to smash the new phone too.
At the last minute, his rationality took over and he flung his shoes against the wall instead.
He had to go. Immediately.
Tong Zhian who was just outside was startled by the loud consecutive sounds.
The crash sounds from his boss's office was too loud to ignore. Judging from the sounds, his boss's latest phone and shoes were gone again.
It was a good thing he bought spares for him the last time.
At the rate his boss was going, he felt it would be smart of him to invest in a phone company. That way, he would earn lots of money by buying that brand of phone for Gao Tinghua everytime he broke his phone.
Or would shoe companies be a better investment? he mused. No. His boss usually wore limited edition shoes, which were awfully expensive, so he concluded that phones were still the better choice.
His fanciful thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the office door opening. Gao Tinghua swept out of the office like a hurricane, looking very dangerous.
Tong Zhian sighed. He was right after all. His boss was probably on his way to bring someone bad luck. Someone was obviously in trouble again.
On his way to the airport all the way till checking in, Gao Tinghua kept dialing Li Chuanmo's number without response.
He didn't blame the man. If the situation was reversed, he would not have picked his call either. But this was urgent.
He just needed to know that his sister was fine.
*****
Looking at Pei Yueran's face that had started to regain its color, Li Chuanmo became calmer. Unfortunately the calmer he became, the more ruthless the air around him got.
The nurse that came to check on Pei Yueran was almost having trouble breathing. She quickly did her job and fled, colliding with Gong Anwei in the process.
"Sir, Young Miss's phone has been ringing continuously. It's still Mr Gao Tinghua, and he said he has something important to tell you." Gong Anwei had collected the phone from Fang Bo before letting him leave.
This pest would not rest right? Fine, he needed someone to vent at anyway.
Li Chuanmo stretched his hand to receive the phone.
"Spill quickly, I'm not in the best of moods." His icy voice left Gao Tinghua no doubt as to how true those words were, but he refused to be deterred.
"I need to see Pei Yueran."
"Is that the important thing?" With the way Li Chuanmo's voice went down another notch, Gao Tinghua knew that the wrong answer would put an end to the call.
"Bei Fengxue is not who you think she is."
Li Chuanmo narrowed his eyes.
"Come to the hospital," were the words he threw out before cutting the call. He didn't bother mentioning the name of the place. If he couldn't even find this simple thing, it was better he didn't come.
He gave the phone back to Gong Anwei, who received it and bowed respectfully. "Tell the men at the door to let him in when he arrives," Li Chuanmo ordered, to which he nodded before going out of the ward.
Few minutes later, the door opened again to admit the doctor. Li Chuanmo stood up to give him better access to her.
After his examination, he turned to speak to him. "The results of the test are out. She was drugged with Rohypnol, a popular date r*pe drug, but it's a good thing that she was rescued in time."
Li Chuanmo's hands clenched as his hazel eyes narrowed in anger. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened.
"She would most likely not remember what happened after she got drugged, but she should wake up soon. The treatment she was given would make sure of that. She would just need some rest going forward."
He nodded. "I'll take care of it. Thank you for your hard work."
The doctor nodded before excusing himself.
Silence returned once more to the VIP ward. For long moments, Li Chuanmo fixed his eyes on the figure lying on the bed, as if doing so could imprint her image onto his mind.
He then buried his head in his hands. Guilt ate at him like a cancer. She had been hospitalized twice in less than a year, and both times were somehow connected to him.
When Gao Tinghua entered the ward, he met him in that posture. But his eyes went straight to Pei Yueran. He had never seen her look so... powerless.
She was almost always in a heightened state, ready to go head to head with him. Seeing her look so weak especially with what he knew, made him feel horrible.
"Say what you came to say quickly and leave," came Li Chuanmo's cold voice. Gao Tinghua finally tore his gaze away from her with difficulty, turning to face him.
When their eyes met, even the air slowed down forcefully, as if frozen.
Li Chuanmo was still seated, but he held Gao Tinghua's gaze staunchly, making him feel like the one at a disadvantage.
After a long moment, he coughed lightly, ending the impromptu staring contest.
Looking around for a chair, he finally sat down facing him. He began to speak. "Let me begin with this: I recently found something out about Yueran — I mean, Ms. Pei."
"I haven't even settled that score with you yet. You dared to molest her?" Remembering it almost made Li Chuanmo's eyes bloodshot. It was another reminder of his failure to protect her.
"Molest is a strong word. I only did that to check something out. Besides, wasn't that why Gaoyi Group lost an important contract?" Gao Tinghua countered.
It was after the company lost a contract with one of their important foreign partners that Gao Tinghua began to have an inkling of how deep Li Chuanmo's roots were. His influence in the world of business was really not small.
But he would die first before admitting that there was a spark of admiration he had began to feel towards the man.