Life and Death Insurance – CH 061

Chapter 61

As the thick smoke spread, the entire bedroom was gradually enveloped in heat and smoke. Ling Zhengzhong wrapped Xiang Tian in his arms, lowering their bodies as much as possible, and tightly covered Xiang Tian’s mouth and nose with a wet towel.

A faint, urgent siren blared outside. Ling Zhengzhong exclaimed joyfully, “It’s a fire truck!”

Xiang Tian nodded. Although his mind was still somewhat muddled, his body was no longer as weak and sore as before. This gave them another way to escape. He was about to speak when Ling Zhengzhong added, “I told you we’d be alright.”

Just as he finished speaking, a pane of glass in the window, unable to withstand the intense heat of the flames, suddenly shattered into several pieces. Flames and thick smoke billowing from the broken panes surged into the room. Ling Zhengzhong cried out in alarm, immediately covering Xiang Tian’s head with a blanket and pulling him close. However, the clothes rack by the bedside was caught in the firestorm and, with a jolt, tilted towards them. Caught off guard, Ling Zhengzhong felt a sharp pain in his head, followed by darkness.

“Zhengzhong, Zhengzhong…”

Ling Zhengzhong collapsed limply beside Xiang Tian, ​​without even a groan. Receiving no response, Xiang Tian reached out and touched a thick liquid on his forehead.

Ling Zhengzhong’s sudden fainting robbed Xiang Tian of his usual composure. In the thick smoke, he had no idea of the extent of the other’s injuries, and with the gas potentially exploding at any moment, he had no time to wait for the firefighters; he had to escape on his own!

Xiang Tian laid Ling Zhengzhong flat on the ground. He reached for a long-necked vase that had rolled over, then crouched and crawled to the window. Using a towel to shield his face, he used the vase to smash the half-broken windowpane, revealing a large opening. The heat and flames outside immediately roared in. Weakened, Xiang Tian moved slowly, and the hair at his temples instantly hissed and burned.

Xiang Tian bent down, grabbed the bed sheet, tied it into a bundle, secured one end to the narrowest part of a clothes hanger, and then dragged the soft bedding to the window. He pushed it all out the window as a cushion for his landing; the floor wasn’t high, and as long as he landed accurately, he shouldn’t be injured.

What would normally take Xiang Tian a few seconds took him nearly five minutes. By the time he managed to help Ling Zhengzhong to the window and then use the belt from Ling Zhengzhong’s pajamas to tie them together, his hands were trembling uncontrollably. This made Xiang Tian hesitate slightly. His strength was halved, and with the added weight of another person, he had no confidence that he could hold onto the rope made of the bed sheet when jumping…

Xiang Tian gently kissed his lover’s temple.

“Zhengzhong, believe me, you’ll be alright. At least, I can guarantee you won’t get hurt!”

The fire truck had arrived at the scene. The firefighters had just gotten out when they saw someone jump from a second-floor window, engulfed in flames. They rushed over to begin the rescue.

Because of the intense fire and thick smoke, visibility was extremely poor below. Xiang Tian jumped based on instinct. The legs of a clothes rack happened to wedge under the wall in front of the window, slowing their fall. The blankets draped over them protected them from the flames as they jumped. However, due to insufficient strength, the knot of the bed sheet wrapped around Xiang Tian’s wrist immediately came undone. Although the momentary cushioning was enough to get them close to the ground, the two still crashed heavily onto the blankets Xiang Tian had thrown out the window. Ling Zhengzhong was held protectively in Xiang Tian’s arms, and his temporarily unconscious body pressed down on Xiang Tian, ​​causing him to groan.

“Zhengzhong, you need to lose weight…”

The two injured men were quickly taken to a nearby hospital. The examination revealed that Ling Zhengzhong was only temporarily unconscious due to a blow to the head, and although there was bleeding, the injury wasn’t serious. His unconsciousness was mostly due to tension and smoke inhalation. Xiang Tian, ​​on the other hand, had a cut on his right arm from a broken glass shard. He was so worried about Ling Zhengzhong that he only noticed the injury when the medical staff pointed it out. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t deep, and the nurse quickly cleaned and bandaged it. After all this, Xiang Tian’s strength, which had been numbed by the medication, had completely recovered.

“Xiang Tian, ​​how are you? You look terrible. Where did you get hurt? God, Auntie will kill me…”

When Chu Feng arrived at the hospital, it was already past midnight. Xiang Tian was dozing in Ling Zhengzhong’s hospital room. Hearing his cousin’s string of words, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He’d been drugged, burned by smoke, and injured all night; no wonder he looked pale.

“No wonder no one answered my calls. I was wondering why. Turns out you were trapped in the fire. Luckily, you’re both alright.”

Oh, so his cousin had called him, but the reason he didn’t answer probably wasn’t because of the fire.

Xiang Tian, ​​of course, wouldn’t bother explaining the details; he went straight to the point.

“Cousin, did you find out something?”

“Actually, it’s nothing important. My colleague went to Yu Xiaowan’s hometown to investigate and found out that her father is actually her stepfather, and her younger brother is her half-brother. That’s why the family members aren’t close, which is why Yu Xiaowan never mentions it to her colleagues.”

This result coincided with his initial guess. Xiang Tian hurriedly asked, “Where is Yu Xiaowan’s hometown?”

“Xianghua Town, a small town very close to Shanghai.”

Xianghua Town? That name seemed familiar…

Xiang Tian shook his still somewhat confused head, unable to recall for a moment, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

“Cousin, I need to go to Shanghai. Give me the name of the hospital where Yu Xiaowan had her accident and her home address.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Feng’s eyes widened immediately.

“Are you running a fever? You still want to run around like this? Auntie…”

“It’s okay; it’s less than two hours by plane from here to Shanghai. I’ll be back quickly. Take good care of Zhengzhong for me, don’t let anyone get close to him, and protect him!”

“Don’t worry about that; I’ll handle it. But my colleagues in Shanghai are helping with the inquiries. I can look up anything you want for you anytime; why bother…”

“Lend me your phone. Contact me as soon as Zhengzhong wakes up!”

Xiang Tian completely ignored Chu Feng’s nagging, took the address he wrote down, snatched his phone, and ran out, causing Chu Feng to shout after him in a panic.

“Hey, you’re still in your pajamas. You should change if you’re going. I’ll have Chang Qing take you to the airport…”

“Hurry up; I’ll wait for Chang Qing at the entrance.”

Hearing Xiang Tian’s words, Chu Feng couldn’t help but sigh, muttering, “That idiot, how can he be so stubborn? He likes someone to this extent…”