Aunt Tuanzi explained the cause of the car accident, and Xu Gui finally realized that her accident was because of Wu's mother, Wu Tingting and Wu Hao's mother.
"...Wasn't it said that she had health problems and was hospitalized, unable to even cooperate with the police investigation?" Xu Gui couldn't help but ask, "Is she better?"
Aunt Tuanzi said helplessly, "Who knows?"
In any case, Aunt Tuanzi "coincidentally" ran into Wu Xueya on her way home from school.
After school?
Xu Gui thought about the time, which happened to be the time she returned from the Zheng family. She suddenly remembered the sudden twitching of her right eye at that time.
At that time, she felt that something was happening in the dark, but because she was also entangled in it, she couldn't figure it out and didn't know what it was.
Now it seems that it was when Aunt Tuanzi had her accident that she had a feeling.
"She came to see me specifically, hoping that I would drop the charges and let Wu Hao and his sister go..." Aunt Tuanzi said, her tone quite sarcastic.
She found it quite ridiculous. It was clearly Wu's mother who needed her help, yet while she verbally said "I need you," her attitude remained condescending, spouting the same old twisted logic.
Ultimately, she was telling her not to push things too far, out of consideration for her long-standing marriage with Wu Hao, or for the years Wu Tingting had raised Xueya.
"As the saying goes, leave a way out for yourself, so you can meet again in the future!" Wu's mother said, her tone somewhat contemptuous. "Bowen has called Tingting 'Mom' for so many years; there's a bond between them. If you're so heartless, aren't you afraid Bowen will resent you later?"
Aunt Tuanzi retorted, "What bond do I have with them?"
A family so shameless and unscrupulous, and now they were talking about bonds… Aunt Tuanzi felt no sympathy, only utter amusement.
"From the moment they secretly took Xueya away from me, I have only hatred for the Wu family!" Aunt Tuanzi said. "Therefore, I will absolutely not withdraw the lawsuit. Their whole family should be punished by law!"
At that time, Aunt Tuanzi also angrily expressed her attitude to Wu's mother: she would absolutely not withdraw the lawsuit.
Perhaps sensing Aunt Tuanzi's determination, and realizing that she really wouldn't withdraw the lawsuit, Wu's mother became enraged. On the main road, she reached out and pushed Aunt Tuanzi into the middle of the road.
Just then, a large truck came along, and Aunt Tuanzi was directly run over under the truck's tires. The scene was so shocking that many people at the scene heard explosions.
Wu Xueya was completely stunned. He stood there dumbfounded, and even after Aunt Tuanzi was rescued, he didn't come back to his senses, seemingly paralyzed with fear.
As Aunt Tuanzi recounted this, she couldn't help but affectionately pat Wu Xueya's head beside her. Wu Xueya looked rather listless, probably genuinely shaken.
"At the time, I really thought I was going to die," Aunt Tuanzi told Xu Gui. "But surprisingly, even after being pulled under the truck, I only suffered minor injuries to my leg..."
When she was rescued by the onlookers, everyone was incredulous at the slight abrasions on her leg. Aunt Tuanzi added,
"I didn't think I was seriously injured, but everyone was worried, afraid there might be some hidden problems, and insisted I come to the hospital for a checkup." Fortunately,
after a thorough examination, she indeed didn't have any major issues, not even a concussion. She only had some abrasions on her leg and needed to rest for a while. However, just to be on the safe side, the hospital recommended that she stay for observation for a day or two to ensure there were no further issues before being discharged.
"Your luck is absolutely incredible!" the truck driver couldn't help but exclaim. "The truck ran you over and you're still okay, you're really lucky."
When he realized he'd hit someone, he was already wondering how much his insurance would pay out, but to his surprise, as soon as he got out of the truck, he saw someone crawl out from under it, completely unharmed.
Aunt Tuanzi wasn't scared to death, but he was almost.
Aunt Tuanzi smiled sheepishly, then suddenly glanced at Xu Gui and whispered, "It's not that I'm lucky, it's that someone has been concerned about me..."
The driver: ???
The driver didn't quite understand Aunt Tuanzi's words. Aunt Tuanzi just smiled, without elaborating—she always remembered what Xu Gui had told her back at the orphanage.
Therefore, she knew that her safety this time was all thanks to Xu Gui, although she didn't know how he had managed to do it.
However, Xu Gui breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming that Aunt Tuanzi was alright. Although she felt that she had shared some of her luck with Aunt Tuanzi, so Aunt Tuanzi should be fine, she still needed to see it with her own eyes to feel at ease.
Aunt Tuanzi glanced at Wu Xueya, who was still following her closely, and suddenly asked Xu Gui, "Little Turtle, I'm a little hungry. Could you take Xueya to the hospital cafeteria to get me some food?"
Xu Gui glanced at Wu Xueya, who was pursing his lips, understood what was going on, and nodded, "Okay, I'm hungry too."
Wu Xueya seemed a little reluctant, holding onto Aunt Tuanzi's hand tightly. Aunt Tuanzi looked at him encouragingly, and he slowly stood up, dejectedly following Xu Gui to the hospital cafeteria.
On the way, Xu Gui glanced down at him and asked, "Are you scared?"
Wu Xueya was fine at first, but upon hearing her words, his eyes suddenly reddened. He nodded vigorously and said, "I thought she was going to die..."
This "she" was naturally Aunt Tuanzi.
"I didn't expect Grandma to suddenly push her. I watched her roll under the car..." As he recounted this, his eyes were filled with terror; clearly, that scene had truly terrified him.
Tears streamed down his face as he spoke.
However, seeing him cry relieved, because it meant he was alright. If he had kept his emotions bottled up, that would have been a real problem—Aunt Tuanzi had just asked her to have a good talk with Wu Xueya.
She hadn't expected him to burst into tears as soon as she asked.
Xu Gui simply took him to the hospital cafeteria, found a corner seat, and let him cry it out.
Wu Xueya sniffed and said, "Grandma wasn't like this before. She was so good to me. But why is she so mean to my aunt? She told my aunt to let my uncle and... and my aunt go, and even told me to plead with my aunt."
He still remembered what his grandmother had said. Her expression was ferocious as she shouted, "Have you forgotten how good your mother was to you? You should plead with your aunt to let your mother go... and your uncle, he's your biological father. Without him, where would you be? Do you want to see them arrested and imprisoned?"
While he was at a loss, not knowing what to do, his grandmother thought he was unwilling to plead and started cursing at him again, calling him an ungrateful wretch.
"If I had known you were this kind of ungrateful wretch, I should have strangled you when I took you away, and let your mother adopt someone else..."
Wu Xueya felt confused and terrified.
For a fourteen-year-old, recent events had exceeded his comprehension. First, his parents weren't his parents, but his aunt and uncle, while his uncle and former aunt were his biological parents.
Now, he had to face his once close and kind "grandmother," who had become the executioner who wanted to kill his own mother.
"I don't know what to do," he said. "I feel like whatever I choose is wrong..."
Xu Gui looked at his distressed and confused expression, thought for a moment, and asked, "Why don't you come and stay at our orphanage for a while?"
Huh?
Wu Xueya looked up at her in surprise.
Xu Gui said, "There are several children your age at our orphanage. If you go, they will definitely be very happy."
Wu Xueya: "...Then, what about my aunt? Does she also live in the orphanage?"—He still called Tuanzi Auntie "aunt," and hadn't changed his address.
Xu Gui said, "Aunt Tuanzi, of course you should stay at your own home. I just think you're in a bad mood right now, maybe a change of scenery will make you feel better... As for the adults' affairs, don't think about them, and don't interfere."
"Remember what I told you before? You're a child, so you have the right to be willful... You don't have to make any choices at all. This is the mess the adults made, so of course it's up to them to decide."
Xu Gui suggested to him, "So, just don't worry about anything. Wait until everything settles down, and then choose who you want to live with."
Wu Xueya asked, "Can I?"
"Why not?" Xu Gui countered, repeating the same point: "You're a child. As long as you don't break the law, you can do whatever you want."
Wu Xueya frowned, looking like he was seriously thinking.
So when the two returned, Aunt Tuanzi noticed that Wu Xueya had a frown on his face, seemingly lost in thought. She gave Xu Gui a questioning look.
"Xueya said he plans to pack his things and stay at our orphanage for a while," Xu Gui said directly.
Wu Xueya, still deep in thought, suddenly looked up, staring at her in shock: he hadn't made up his mind yet.
Xu Gui also looked at him, smiling as she asked, "Right, Xueya?"
Aunt Tuanzi looked at him, Wu Xueya, his mind blank, stammering, "R-right?" His tone was uncertain even to himself.
Aunt Tuanzi paused for a moment, then said, "It wouldn't be bad for him to stay at the orphanage for a while."
She seriously considered the feasibility of this.
Knowing that her situation with the Wu family would likely drag on for quite some time, and that the Wu family might come knocking on her door again, Wu Xueya would only be caught in the middle, making things awkward. Therefore, having him stay at the orphanage for a while might be a good option.
Aunt Tuanzi thought about it more and more and felt that this was a reliable idea, so she immediately said, "I'll have the director pack your things. You can stay at the orphanage for a while."
Wu Xueya looked at her, and Aunt Tuanzi patted his head and said softly, "Don't worry, Mom will come to see you when she has time... I'll pick you up after everything is settled, okay?"
Wu Xueya nodded.
If she could, Aunt Tuanzi would like to pack Wu Xueya's things herself, but she has to stay in the hospital for observation for a week and can't be discharged yet, so she can only ask the director for help. The director didn't have much to do recently, so she readily agreed.
"Then I'll take Xueya to pack his things first..." the director said, and left with the somewhat hesitant Wu Xueya. The others also left one after another, leaving only Xu Gui and Aunt Tuanzi in the ward.
Xu Gui sat by the hospital bed, slowly peeling an apple from the bedside table, and asked Aunt Tuanzi, "That person, after pushing you, was she arrested?"
Aunt Tuanzi took a few seconds to realize who Xu Gui was referring to, and shook her head, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Xu Gui looked up at her.
Aunt Tuanzi said helplessly, "The scene was too chaotic. By the time I came to my senses, she was gone. But the police have already taken her statement, and they should catch her soon."
At this point, a hint of sarcasm appeared on Aunt Tuanzi's face. "Originally, she was only charged with attempted murder, but now that she's run, she's charged with escape, which is considered a particularly egregious offense."
And once the word "egregious" is added, the subsequent punishment or sentencing will be more severe… It can only be said that Wu's mother was incredibly stupid.
Xu Gui listened, her brows relaxing—yes, she was happy.
People who do wrong should be punished.
Around eight o'clock that evening, the police arrived and told them that Wu's mother had been caught.
Driven by a sudden impulse, Wu's mother pushed Aunt Tuanzi into the road.
However, upon seeing Aunt Tuanzi's body trapped under the truck's wheels, she suddenly calmed down and belatedly realized her mistake.
Her first instinct was to run. By the time she realized what she had done, she was already on a train, hiding in her hometown hundreds of miles away.
Wu's mother's thinking was simple: seeing Aunt Tuanzi trapped under the truck's wheels, she assumed she was dead and fled without a second thought.
What to do afterward? She didn't even consider it.
With the internet so readily available and surveillance cameras everywhere, she fled at noon, and unsurprisingly, was apprehended by the police that afternoon.
According to the police, when Wu's mother was apprehended, she refused to cooperate, resolutely resisting arrest and shouting, "It has nothing to do with me! I didn't push her; she rolled into the middle of the road on her own!"
Hearing this, Xu Gui and Aunt Tuanzi were speechless.
They could only say that the other party was truly "brave," not only resisting arrest but also confessing without being asked.
Now, Wu's mother has been brought back, and she will face legal judgment. As for the other members of the Wu family, they will naturally not escape responsibility and will also receive corresponding punishment.
*
After confirming that Aunt Tuanzi didn't need anyone to stay with her at the hospital, Xu Gui went back, as she had filming tomorrow.
She was no longer unemployed but a properly employed turtle—and the turtle was very proud.
Xu Gui took a taxi home. The taxi was originally going to the hotel, but as she got in, a thought struck her, and she suddenly asked the driver to change the destination.