Chapter 158 (Part 1): The Culinary Tycoon

Shi Sheng’s Fate

Splash!

Chang Le plunged into the river.

Chang Le’s sudden action caught everyone by surprise, including Yu Qingze and Shi Sheng. Even Lin Liang, who had just arrived, was stunned.

“Brother Le!” Yu Qingze shouted, chasing after Chang Le to rescue him from the river.

“Stop right there! If you dare to rescue him, I’ll kill your son immediately!” Shi Sheng watched as Yu Qingze took a step towards the river, intending to save Chang Le. He immediately threatened, pressing the scissors in his hand, barely an inch away from the baby’s face.

Yu Qingze paused, looking at the ripples in the splashing water, but there was no sign of Chang Le’s figure.

Although he knew that Chang Le could swim, it was the cold season, and the river water was freezing. Chang Le’s postpartum body hadn’t fully recovered to its previous level, and immersing himself in the icy water would undoubtedly cause him to catch a cold and be exposed to the chilly wind. Moreover, Chang Le was still wearing a thin, water-absorbing cotton coat, which would make his body heavier and hinder his swimming ability.

Yu Qingze felt anxious. There was something else he was even more afraid of—he was afraid that Chang Le would be stubborn, afraid that Shi Sheng would harm the baby and he would jump into the water without even considering swimming to save himself.

He turned his head and glared at Shi Sheng, his eyes sharp as arrows, as if he wanted to poke holes in the person standing before him!

“If anything happens to Brother Le, I will tear you into a thousand pieces!”

Yu Qingze’s expression turned dark and cold, as if an impending storm was about to descend.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Shi Sheng felt a bit unsettled under Yu Qingze’s piercing gaze. He knew that he had succeeded in provoking Yu Qingze, but making their lives difficult was exactly what he wanted!

“Hahaha…” Shi Sheng couldn’t help but sneer in disdain. He continued, “Oh, tearing me into a thousand pieces? How terrifying! Come on, come on! I’d love to see whether you can tear me apart faster or if the scissors in my hand will be quicker!”

Yu Qingze narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scissors in Shi Sheng’s hand.

“Big brother!” “Boss Yu!” Not far away, Jiabao and his companions arrived.

Upon hearing the voices, Shi Sheng instinctively glanced in their direction.

Seizing this moment, Yu Qingze quickly rushed forward, grabbing Shi Sheng’s wrist holding the scissors and lifting it high, away from the baby. With his other hand, he attempted to snatch the baby away.

Shi Sheng snapped out of his daze and immediately struggled. He stabbed Yu Qingze’s arm with the scissors in a frenzied manner, repeatedly piercing his wrist several times.

Yu Qingze felt pain in his wrist, seeing the bloodstains, but he didn’t let go. He swiftly kicked his left leg onto the shinbone of Shi Sheng’s right leg. Taking advantage of Shi Sheng’s momentary stumble, he exerted force with his right hand and snatched the baby from his embrace.

Having lost his hostage, Shi Sheng went insane. Ignoring the pain in his right leg, he immediately grabbed the scissors from his right hand with his left hand and tried to stab the baby in Yu Qingze’s arms.

Yu Qingze had initially held Shi Sheng’s right hand, which held the scissors, with his left hand, while his right hand cradled the baby. Now that he saw Shi Sheng switch the scissors to his other hand, he released his left hand and swiftly kicked Shi Sheng, causing him to fall to the ground.

At this moment, Jiabao and his companions had arrived.

“Capture him! And him too!” Yu Qingze pointed at the fallen Shi Sheng and the stunned Lin Liang, shouting at his companions. Then, he handed the baby to Jiabao and urgently said, “Jiabao, the baby has been crying for too long and is having trouble breathing. Take him to see a doctor! Your brother-in-law jumped into the river, and I’m going to find him!”

While giving instructions, he quickly took off his clothes and shoes, leaving only his underpants, and jumped into the river.

“Big brother!” Jiabao could only shout about the injury on Yu Qingze’s hand. With the baby in his arms, his face turned red, and he couldn’t catch his breath from crying. He hurriedly said, “You guys capture them, I’ll take the baby to see a doctor!”

Saying that, Jiabao ran back while anxiously comforting the baby, “Baby, baby, don’t cry, it’s okay, don’t be scared, it’s Uncle, it’s Uncle, be a good baby, don’t cry…”

A few dozen steps away, Jiabao suddenly noticed that the baby had stopped crying. He lowered his head to check, but the baby wasn’t calm—it was because he had cried for too long and couldn’t catch his breath. His face had turned bluish.

Jiabao panicked. He ran forward without caring for his own safety. After running for several dozen steps, he saw Brother Chang and Xue Baizhu, accompanied by a group of soldiers, running towards them. He quickly shouted, “Dr. Xue, Dr. Xue, please quickly check the baby. He has been crying for too long and can’t catch his breath!”

Xue Baizhu came over and saw the baby’s bluish face. He promptly said, “Give him to me!”

He took the baby and immediately laid him flat on the ground. Then he untied the baby’s swaddling clothes and unfastened the buttons on the baby’s collar. He started pinching the baby’s acupoint between the eyebrows and the acupoint on the forehead. He said to Brother Chang and Jiabao, “Brother Chang, pat the soles of the baby’s feet gently. Jiabao, press the baby’s tiger’s mouth. Quickly.”

Brother Chang immediately took off the baby’s socks and lightly patted the soles of his feet. Jiabao followed the instructions and gently pressed the baby’s tiger’s mouth.

Behind them were the county magistrate and around ten bailiffs. Seeing that they were saving the baby, they continued on their way.

After pressing the baby’s forehead, Xue Baizhu gently pressed his chest to help him recover his breathing as quickly as possible.

After a while of pressing, the baby suddenly gasped for air. His whole body twitched for a moment, and then he started crying, “Waaaah!”

“Alright, put the baby’s socks back on and make sure he doesn’t catch a cold. Quickly calm him down, we can’t let him continue crying like this, or it might happen again,” said Xue Baizhu.

Brother Chang immediately put the baby’s socks back on and tried to fasten the buttons on his collar, but Xue Baizhu stopped him.

“Leave the collar as it is. If it’s too tight, he won’t be able to breathe properly.”

Brother Chang wrapped the baby back up and held him, gently patting his back and soothing him.

“Dr. Xue, my eldest brother got injured just now. He said my brother-in-law jumped into the river. Could you please come with me to the front?” Jiabao said anxiously.

“What?! Why did Brother Le jump into the river?!” Brother Chang asked urgently.

Jiabao shook his head and replied, “I don’t know either. When we arrived, there was only my eldest brother and the thief. There was also another man. My eldest brother asked me to take the baby and find the doctor, while he told our men to capture those two. Then he jumped into the river to find my brother-in-law.”

“Let’s go, hurry!” Xue Baizhu immediately said.

The three of them quickly ran towards the spot where the incident occurred by the river.

On the other side, after jumping into the river, Yu Qingze plunged into the water and searched around but couldn’t find anyone. When he resurfaced, he didn’t see any trace of Chang Le on the riverbank. His heart sank, and he shouted, “Chang Le! Chang Le!”

After shouting, he immediately swam downstream, determined to find Chang Le.

In his heart, he kept praying, “Please, Brother Le, don’t do anything foolish. You must wait for me to find you…”

“Boss Yu! Over here!”

Just then, a voice reached his ears. Yu Qingze recognized it as Da Song’s voice. He immediately looked around, shouting loudly, “Where? Da Song, where are you? Where’s Brother Le?”

“Upstream! We’re upstream! Brother Le is fine! Can you see me?” Da Song shouted.

Da Song emerged from the water a bit and raised his hand to show Yu Qingze.

“Boss Yu, they’re here, they’re here!” Xiao Cong had been keeping an eye on Yu Qingze’s situation. When he heard Da Song’s voice, he immediately ran upstream, spotted Da Song, and waved to signal Yu Qingze.

Yu Qingze turned his head, saw Da Song, and noticed Xiao Cong’s position on the shore. He immediately swam upstream towards them.

When he finally reached the spot where Chang Le was floating with the help of a bush, he excitedly embraced Chang Le and shouted, “Brother Le, you scared me to death! Why did you jump, why?! I would have found a way, I promise! You scared me…”

As he shouted, tears started streaming down his face.

He was truly frightened. Seeing Chang Le jump like that, he felt like his heart stopped!

Chang Le held onto the bush with one hand and tightly embraced Yu Qingze’s back with the other. “Bao–“

“I had Baobao taken back by Jiabao to find the doctor. He’ll be fine,” Yu Qingze replied.

Upon hearing this, Chang Le breathed a sigh of relief, tears welling up in his eyes. He felt extremely guilty towards Yu Qingze.

He knew he had scared his husband again. But when he heard Shi Sheng say that Baobao’s face had turned purple, he was filled with anxiety. Shi Sheng wanted Yu Qingze to push him into the river, and he knew that Shi Sheng was aiming to take his life. He knew, and he also knew that Yu Qingze would never agree. For the sake of Baobao, he had to jump himself.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

He knew how to swim, so jumping into the river was not a big deal. However, after jumping, his cotton coat absorbed a lot of water, making his body very heavy. He couldn’t immediately resurface, as that would let Shi Sheng see that he was unharmed, and then Baobao would be in danger. So he held his breath and swam upstream, planning to find a place to climb ashore and launch a surprise attack on Shi Sheng from behind.

With the weight dragging him down, he swam very slowly. When he was almost out of breath, he reached the edge and emerged, hiding himself among the bushes where he couldn’t be seen from above. It was at that moment he saw Da Song swimming towards him.

As it turned out, after they had regrouped with Da Song earlier, they had asked him to take a different route. They had planned to flank the thieves from behind.

Da Song had taken the path along the river. He was planning to go a bit further and circle around to attack from the rear. From a distance, he saw someone carrying Baobao and running towards the river, with two people chasing after them. He knew it must be the thieves.

He immediately ran forward for a while and then took cover behind a large tree by the river, using the concealment of some bushes to observe the situation. He planned to cooperate with Yu Qingze and the others to rescue Baobao. But he didn’t expect to see Chang Le jump into the river, so he quickly took off his outer garment and swam over to save Chang Le.

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