Assistant Qin burst through the hospital doors, the scent of antiseptic clashing jarringly with the lingering ozone of the storm. The lobby was eerily deserted, the usual late-night bustle replaced by an ominous silence. He sprinted toward the elevator, stabbing the button repeatedly, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
Upstairs, chaos reigned. Nurses ran in panicked circles, their faces etched with fear and confusion. Alarms blared, a discordant symphony of impending disaster. Qin elbowed his way through the throng, his eyes scanning for Xia's mother's room number. The air hung thick with a sense of dread, the scent of jasmine he had come to associate with a desperate hope now replaced by something akin to metallic tang.
He found the room guarded by only a single, terrified nurse, who stammered, "Code Blue, sir! We can't...we can't stabilize her!" Qin shoved past her, the scene inside a horrifying tableau of flickering monitors and frantic attempts at resuscitation. But even a layman knows when life has left the body. Xia’s mother was dead.
The machines blared, creating a terrible cacophany. And the alarms did nothing, as there was nothing to revive. The nurse who had been in the room turned, face stricken with horror and fear, and began stammering about the equipment failing. Qin turned on his heel and left, with the nurse trailing closely behind.
Qin pulled out his phone and with shaking fingers, tried desperately to contact Lu Zhenting. He needed to inform his boss, to warn him that something was terribly wrong. His calls went straight to voicemail, a hollow echo of his mounting terror. The gala… Zhenting is at the gala. Qin knew he needed to reach him, but every second felt like an eternity.
Meanwhile, at the Azure Grand, the engagement party was in full swing, a glittering facade of champagne bubbles and forced smiles. The air buzzed with gossip and speculation, the scent of expensive perfume mingling with the tantalizing aroma of jasmine – an ironic detail Xia had personally arranged, each bloom a painful reminder of what she could never have.
Lu Zhenting stood on the stage, a figure of icy composure amidst the swirling revelry. He raised his glass, the crystal catching the light as he prepared to deliver the expected toast. But instead of empty platitudes, a steely resolve hardened his gaze. The legal documents to end the engagement, drawn and ready for his reviewal, sat on a drive tucked safely in his wallet.