Couple of Mirrors – Chapter 51: Striking Back
(cn: blood, death, guns, gunshots)
Yan Wei fends off Zhou Heng’s bodyguard. Youyi’s in danger, she thinks. I can’t get tied up here.
She whips out a blade. You’re forcing me to do this.
She throws the knife at the bodyguard. It strikes him right in the throat, presumably in an artery. Blood spurts everywhere as he crumples to the ground.
Yan Wei clutches at her wound. It’s bleeding again.
Yan Wei rushes into the station in time to see Zhou Heng pointing a gun at Xu Youyi. ‘I’ll see you again in the next life, Xu Youyi,’ he says.
Yan Wei runs up to them—
Zhou Heng begins to pull the trigger—
—then there’s a ‘bang!’, and Zhou Heng is lying dead on the ground, a bullet through the middle of his forehead and a knife through his right wrist.
Xu Youyi and Yan Wei stare at him in shock.
Also in shock is his remaining bodyguard. ‘Young Master?’ the bodyguard calls. ‘Young Master!’ He steps forward…
…and stops suddenly as Jiang Bin appears and puts a gun to his head. ‘Don’t move!’ says Jiang Bin.
Xu Youyi rushes forward and retrieves the baby from the startled bodyguard.
She turns to Yan Wei with a smile. ‘Weiwei…’
Yan Wei smiles back at Xu Youyi…
…then a wave of dizziness sweeps over her…
…and she collapses onto the ground.
Xu Youyi cries out in alarm. ‘Weiwei!’
Yan Wei is brought to Maria Hospital. Xu Youyi sits at her bedside. The baby has been placed next to her.
‘Weiwei, I’m sorry,’ she tells Yan Wei’s unconscious form. ‘I was so worried about the baby, I didn’t even notice that you’d been shot.’
She takes Yan Wei’s hand and presses it to her cheek. ‘We’re both women,’ she says. ‘But you’ve always protected me without a thought for your own safety. In future…’
A doctor comes into the room. ‘Xu Youyi,’ he says. ‘She’s still unconscious post-surgery. There’s no point in your staying here. You should take care of yourself first. You’ve just given birth. You need fluids, otherwise…’
Xu Youyi interrupts him. ‘Let me stay here, doctor. If I need to be put on a drip, just do it here.’
‘Oh, all right,’ says the doctor. ‘I’ll fetch the equipment.’
Xu Youyi watches as he leaves the room. Then she turns back to Yan Wei. ‘Did you hear that, Weiwei?’ she asks. ‘I’m very weak, too. If you don’t wake up, who’s going to look after me?’
And then Yan Wei speaks. ‘Nothing… ‘fraid of…’ she whispers, weakly.
‘Weiwei…’ Xu Youyi exclaims softly. She leans closer to Yan Wei. ‘What did you say? I didn’t hear it very well.’
‘I’m… here…’ Yan Wei whispers. ‘There’s… nothing you… need to be… afraid of.’
Xu Youyi claps a hand over her mouth, moved.
‘I’m not afraid,’ she says, placing a hand against Yan Wei’s cheek.
As long as you recover soon, she adds, there’s nothing I’m afraid of.
Later that night, Xu Youyi, who’s been put on an IV drip, falls asleep at Yan Wei’s bedside.
Yan Wei opens her eyes, and looks over at Xu Youyi.
She sits up, then reaches out and strokes Xu Youyi’s hair.
Then she yanks her own IV needle from the back of her hand. Forgive me, she thinks.
She gets out of bed and walks decisively towards the door. I have a loose end to tie up.
At the Zhou mansion, Zhou Heng’s father seems to be on the verge of losing his mind. ‘Kill those two women!’ he shouts, flinging books and papers everywhere. ‘Now! At once!’
His luckless subordinate tries to placate him. ‘Director, please restrain yourself! They aren’t the ones who killed the young master. The police are still running ballistics tests on the bullet—’
‘Shut up! Shut up!’ shouts Mr Zhou, jabbing a finger at him. ‘I don’t care whether they did it! I want them to pay with their lives! They must die! Die!’
He reaches for the telephone on his desk and dials a number. ‘Connect me to your president,’ he says to whoever is on the other end. ‘Tell him my name is Zhou1’
Just then, a bullet whooshes through the air and strikes the telephone squarely.
Mr Zhou and his subordinate both stare at the bullet hole in the window in shock.
Yan Wei is perching on a neighbouring rooftop, watching them through the scope of her rifle.
Slowly, she lowers her rifle. I hope you take the hint, she thinks grimly. Or I’ll have to put a bullet through your heads next.
***
Please view the original manhua here.
douqi 随笔 