For the next two weeks, the patient lied in the hospital unidentified without relatives claiming or asking for him. It was only after a few days past the one-month mark did the Chen family hear the news that indeed the patient in the public hospital – the survivor – was Cehn Linyun.

Upon hearing the news, Xue Jinxu together with Mo Wenbin and the Chen elders flew to Shanghai using the private jet that the Xue family offered and wasted no time to cross the bay towards the hospital where Chen Linyun was admitted.

Allegedly so, a young man of around his mid-twenties, who looked strong and well-built, and who had a prominent scar across his nose bridge was the one who surrendered the weak survivor from his unfortunate fate. 

Some hearsay surrounded the hospital that this mysterious man who was not identified at all was, in fact, a pirate – a fierce and vile at that – no matter how genteel his façade might appear. No one wanted to strike a conversation with him due to his foreboding presence, yet when he's not around, he's the main topic for gossip. He's both frightfully intimidating and placidly refined even without interaction with fellow humans. However so, in the two weeks that Chen Linyun lied there on the hospital bed alone, the mysterious man who found him stayed behind and kept him company albeit keeping such a safe physical distance from him. There was quite a knot on his forehead, but no one would ever know if it was due to some unspoken worry for the patient he surrendered or due to the burdensome nature of his ch.o.r.e.

As soon as the family of the patient arrived, the mysterious man went silently away as if he had not been there at all. No one would deem it too important to mention, and no one asked about him, except, of course, Chen Linyun's family who would be interested in everything that was related to him. 

Nonetheless, no one could provide the patient's family the identification nor the whereabouts of this 'pirate' who might have saved Chen Linyun or must have released him from any sort of undeserved suffering. Perhaps this 'pirate' was responsible for everything that had happened. If that's the case, he should answer to a greater law. After all, no one would ever be above the law.

Xue Jinxu was busy peeling off the skin of tangerines one afternoon inside a private room in a hospital in the Southern suburbs.

After a bout of a hunger strike when Chen Linyun was gone missing, here she was now on the other extreme end of the spectrum. She found comfort in munching parcels of nosh, and at this particular afternoon, her target was fresh tangerines. 

With a stoic face, she absent-mindedly continued peeling the orange fruit one after the other. She sat beside the patient, her dear husband, Chen Linyun, who by the looks of it was far from opening his eyes. The wife was too nerved about this detail that she resorted into stress-eating. She never left her husband's side after they've discovered his whereabouts, even though it meant that she would have to work remotely for Chen Holdings and its subsidiaries, of which, the newest addition was Xue s.h.i.+pping.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

She could not have cared less than she had been about everything that had been happening around her. She did what she could to fulfill her obligations career-wise, but at the end of each day, she was simply drained. And, at an unG.o.dly hour, she would break down in front of his sleeping husband.

The lady's tears would fall on his cheeks like waterfalls while pleading him to wake up.

"Come back to me."

"Please."

"You promised me."

"I'm just here."

"Hu. Uhu. Hu. Hu. Hu."

*sobs*

The type of crying that she did would crunch the heart of anyone who would hear her. At times, she observed that Chen Linyun responded to her pleas equally with tears escaping from his closed eyes, which flowed along both temples and drenched his pillowcase, or sometimes the involuntary twitching of one of his fingers.

The wait was killing her, but with these little responses, her thinning patience had been augmented by leaps and bounds.

The doctors said that him not waking up could be a defense mechanism – a response of his body to the stimuli that he had been under. They said that he had gone under considerable trauma, and in the instance that he would regain consciousness, they would have to perform a series of stress debriefing and post-traumatic therapy.

At that, the wife nodded amenably. 'As long as he regains his consciousness, I'm okay with anything. As long as we can go back to normal. I can still endure.'

Most of the times when she was not as occupied, she would talk to him amicably, sweetly even, just like the old times. 

This afternoon was no different, except that Mo Wenbin was in the room, too.

"Honey, I'm eating fresh tangerines. These are healthy, right? I've gone into liking them excessively. Do you want some? Wake up first and I'll give you some." She giggled. It was like role-playing alone.

Mo Wenbin kept his silence as he watched the wife console herself.

"Don't worry about me. I'm strong, am I not? Everything's under control." She said with proactive joviality.

Mo Wenbin gazed at the floor and ma.s.saged his clean-shaven chin in silent disagreement. 'That's a lie.' 

The truth was, some people had been bullying Xue Jinxu in the absence of the husband who rightfully owns Chen Holdings. Some people were claiming rights of owners.h.i.+p on the company, and those were not even the Chens. Mo Wenbin and the other family members tried their best to protect Xue Jinxu, but then, of course, only Chen Linyun himself could settle the matter.

Mo Wenbin silently prayed his intent for his cousin to wake up soon, together with the prayers of all the other people who genuinely cared for him.