Zhong Lu said intermittently, "Old Wang... Old Wang came back early... and told me that Zhuzhu told him not to wait, saying she would stay at the Huangfu residence..."
"Enough! Stop crying, and quickly call your good best friend. She's the only one who knows exactly what happened last night!" Sheng Haoguang roared.
Zhong Lu came to her senses and stopped crying. She took out her phone and said busily, "Yes, yes, I'll call her right away!"
After she spoke with Wu Xiufang, she slumped into a chair by the hospital bed and said, "She said Zhuzhu left the Huangfu residence last night and went to find Shaohua..."
"What about Huangfu Shaohua? If Zhuzhu was with him, why didn't he protect her?" Sheng Haoguang asked.
"Xiufang doesn't know about that either. She's trying to contact Shaohua and is on her way to the hospital now." Zhong Lu calmed down, her heart twisting with pain as she thought that Zhuzhu's reputation might be ruined forever.
She regretted her single-minded focus on having Zhuzhu marry into the Huangfu family.
Although their Sheng family was a prominent wealthy merchant family in Lancheng, she could sense that Huangfu Shaohua didn't think much of Zhuzhu. However, Xiufang liked Zhuzhu.
She had always thought that as long as Xiufang was willing to have Zhuzhu as her daughter-in-law, there was still hope.
Now, with Zhuzhu's reputation completely ruined, the Huangfu family would surely look down on her, and she wouldn't be able to find a good family anymore.
She looked at her husband in annoyance. Sheng Haoguang was thinking the same thing, and he said resolutely, "The Huangfu family must take responsibility for this! Our daughter is like this, they have to give us an explanation! Especially Huangfu Shaohua, he absolutely cannot shirk his responsibility easily!"
Zhong Lu gritted her teeth and nodded.
...
Huangfu Shaohua also did not expect that something like this would happen to Sheng Zhuzhu. He put on his clothes and said to Daisy, "I need to go to the hospital."
Daisy, who was nearby and had overheard his conversation with Wu Xiufang, helped him with his jacket. "Go quickly. Contact me anytime when you get to the hospital."
"Okay." Huangfu Shaohua didn't have time to say much to her. He hugged her, kissed her on the forehead, and hurried out.
Daisy was left alone in the house, feeling uneasy.
Sheng Zhuzhu was fine last night. If she hadn't come looking for Shaohua, Shaohua wouldn't have sobered up.
Shaohua wouldn't have driven Sheng Zhuzhu away, and this wouldn't have happened.
She regretted not having Shaohua see Sheng Zhuzhu off at the time, being too preoccupied with her jealousy and anger.
As a woman, she knew that no matter what woman this happened to, it would be unbearable.
She felt guilty towards Sheng Zhuzhu, whom she had met for the first time last night. If she had been more rational and considered the danger of a woman walking alone at night, this wouldn't have happened.
It wasn't just her who felt guilty. On the way to the hospital, Huangfu Shaohua was also blaming himself.
No matter how spoiled and willful Zhuzhu was, they had grown up together after all, and as a man, how could he not have thought to send her back before explaining to Daisy?
He wished he could slap himself hard, but it was all in vain.
...
Wu Xiufang arrived at the hospital first. Upon seeing Zhuzhu on the hospital bed, her face disfigured from the brutal assault, her heart ached.
She had watched this child grow up and had always been very fond of her.
She first hugged Zhong Lu, feeling the same heartache, everything unspoken.
Then she walked to the bedside, took Zhuzhu's hand, and said, "Child, how could this have happened?"
As soon as Zhuzhu saw her, she smiled as if she were mentally unstable and said, "Auntie, Shaohua Ge and I are together, he was so gentle with me..."
Wu Xiufang froze for a second and then quickly and awkwardly comforted her, "It's okay, it's okay."
At this moment, a police officer walked in and said to them, "Are you all victims' family members?"
Zhong Lu, her husband, and Wu Xiufang all nodded: "Yes."
The police officer, afraid of disturbing Zhuzhu, said to them in a low voice, "Please come out. We've investigated the surveillance footage from last night and want to understand the situation when she left home."
Zhong Lu asked Zhuzhu to lie down and rest, and then followed the police officer to the hospital corridor.
The police officer showed them the video on his phone of Sheng Zhuzhu suddenly encountering two drunkards and being dragged into an alley.
After they finished watching, the police officer said, "This is the only segment of surveillance footage. There is no surveillance in that alley, so we cannot know what happened afterward. However, based on the victim's examination results, she was likely assaulted by these two drunkards."
After watching the video, Zhong Lu started crying again, thinking how scared and helpless Zhuzhu must have been at that time, with no one to help her.
Sheng Haoguang was not overly emotional and asked, "Can those two people in the video be caught? You must catch them and punish them severely!"
"We will track their movements and review previous surveillance footage. Catching these two guys is just a matter of time." The police officer took out his notepad and said, "There are a few more questions I hope your family can cooperate with."
Wu Xiufang comforted Zhong Lu, while Sheng Haoguang responded to the police, "Ask away, we will definitely cooperate."
Just then, Huangfu Shaohua also arrived. Seeing them all standing outside the ward talking to the police officer, he asked, "Mom, Uncle Sheng, Aunt Zhong, how is Zhuzhu now? Is she okay?"
Although Wu Xiufang was angry with him, she feared that this incident might implicate him. In front of the police officer, she said calmly, "Not very well. You should go in and see her."
Sheng Haoguang and his wife stared at him, knowing that he had been with Zhuzhu before the incident.
Sheng Haoguang grabbed him and said, "Shaohua, you've come at the right time. Tell the police what exactly happened to Zhuzhu."
Wu Xiufang knew he couldn't avoid it any longer and blamed Huangfu Shaohua, "How did you take care of Zhuzhu last night? Why couldn't you walk her a few more steps, or at least escort her to the car!"
"I..." Huangfu Shaohua couldn't reveal his mother's absurd behavior in front of everyone.
He could only apologize to Sheng Haoguang and his wife, "Uncle Sheng, Aunt Zhong, when Zhuzhu left my place, a friend happened to be visiting, so I didn't escort her. It was my carelessness, I'm sorry."
Sheng Haoguang couldn't accept such an apology and snorted, "What friend? Is a friend more important than Zhuzhu's safety?"
"I thought her car was parked outside, it was just a few steps away, I really didn't expect..."
"Don't think I don't know you've fallen out with your family recently and are living in some messy place, yet you still asked my daughter to find you. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have suffered such a humiliating incident!" Sheng Haoguang reprimanded.
Huangfu Shaohua couldn't argue further and could only say sorry again.
Wu Xiufang knew her son was covering for her and felt a myriad of emotions. She stepped forward to persuade them, "Haoguang, Zhong Lu, this was an accident, no one could have predicted it. Don't worry, we will be responsible for all of Zhuzhu's treatment."
Zhong Lu felt very uncomfortable and, disregarding their years of friendship, questioned her, "Zhuzhu was invited out by you yesterday, why did she end up at Shaohua's place?"