Chapter 459 - Fallen (II)
Xiong Wuyue's knees weakened.
She held onto the chair to keep herself from falling.
There seemed to be an echo inside her mind, continuously reverberating until she felt that her head was too full to the point of exploding.
"Why… why are you… like this?"
Her voice was trembling.
The person in front of her truly looked like a tramp.
His sunken eyes and his hollow cheeks were signs of malnourishment. His yellowed skin made the bruises on his body appear even more hideous. It was as if someone picked him up from a dirty corner of the street and thrashed him.
Xiong Wuyue could not really relate this ghastly man to his elegant father who always wore a smile in an expensive suit. Her father would not even allow a single speck of dust to cling on his ironed suit or his sparkling shoes.
Why… why did he turn into this in just a few months?
Xiong De saw her beloved daughter's pale and crestfallen face.
He felt bitter. He could not blame her for seeing him like a beggar, because he did live like one behind the bars. It hurt his heart and pride to be seen like this by his daughter.
However, he threw aside his pride to cling to the only hope he knew of.
He had to escape the current hellhole he was in. Inside this prison, he did not live like a human. He lived even worse than an animal. Every day was miserable and depressing. He did not know until when his sanity could hold on. He could not bear to think that he would stay this way, like a living dead, for the rest of his life.
"Wuyue'er," his voice broke into a sob. "My daughter, my good daughter... Get me out of here..."
Xiong De, whose sanity was on the point of breaking, cried.
He was once a son of heaven, living above everyone else.
This past couple of months, he experienced what hell was like. He had been starved, beaten, and abandoned in the most disgusting room. He was tormented by nightmares in his sleep and by the torture of the gloomy life during the day.
There would be times that when he spoke wrongly, then he would be dragged into the bloody room and get beaten up.
These experiences broke Xiong De's once tall confidence, hope, ambition, and pride. He turned into a frightened man who shook at the slightest glance of the guards.
Whenever the officers did a routine check on the prisoners, Xiong De no longer dared to open his mouth to not be pointed out and get blamed. This was the worst prison, and it lived up to its name.
Now seeing the pillar of his life, Xiong De recalled all his sufferings in this place and finally crumbled.
He cried. "Wuyue'er… Save me. Save your Daddy, I don't want to live here, for the rest of my life..." Just thinking that he had to suffer hell every day made Xiong De wanted to just choose death.
However, he did not have the courage to choose death.
As Xiong De cried sorrowfully with tears and snot all over his grim face, Xiong Wuyue just blankly watched.
Her majestic father who had stood among the national powerhouses, her father whose words were law and could control the life and death of others...
He was now living a life worse than a beggar.
Her father who could shield her from anything and could get her anything she wanted was now begging and crying for her to save him.
Time ticked by as she sat in place unmoving for a very long time.
All sounds she was hearing suddenly felt distant.
Xiong De's emotional breakdown greatly impacted Xiong Wuyue.
She could not speak. She simply stared blankly at her father whose voice had gone very hoarse and eyes swollen red while begging her and telling her how much he had suffered inside the prison.
The silence extended for a long time with only the man's cries, until the spots in Xiong Wuyue's vision receded and her hearing slowly returned to normal.
Her entire back was wet with cold sweat, but she did not notice that she was trembling in chill.
Xiong Wuyue shook her head numbly.
She denied what she was seeing.
Her father… her father should not have turned into something like this!
He was supposed to lie low while discreetly gathering allies and resources to cast their most-awaited vengeance on the main Xiong family.
They were supposed to be on their way to greatness!
What happened?!
"No… No... This isn't true," she blankly muttered.
"Wuyue'er… Help father leave this place, alright? I thought of it, there is still a way. You go to your second grandpa, tell them that you are willing to exchange your shares, as long as he can get me out of here. He doesn't need to shorten my sentence or help me clear my name, he just need to transfer me to another prison, alright? For this tiny thing, in exchange of such good benefits, he will definitely agree. You are still a Xiong, after all. For sure, there will be people willing to help us... You have a good life outside... Help this father, alright? I really can't live like this, Wuyue'er..."
Xiong De choked out in a low but urgent tone in between sobs.
The young woman on the other side of the wall turned even stiffer after hearing what her father said.
She also did not have anything now. She was not a Xiong anymore. Her rights and shares in the second branch was taken away. She did not even have a job! She was not even the rising Queen of Entertainment anymore!
She did not think of the properties and the savings her father had left him, because in her eyes, those were just meager change.
"Wuyue'er, dear, don't worry about the shares, as long as you offer it to my father, he will definitely—"
"No! No! No! This isn't happening!" Xiong Wuyue suddenly bowed down, clutched her head, and started screaming.
It was too loud that it leaked from the clear glass booth to the outside.
Xiong De's words suddenly stopped.
The escorts not far away also straightened up and looked their way.
For a moment, only the echoes of her voice remained in the silence.
Xiong Wuyue did not care. Her head was buzzing. She could not think and breathe properly.
She came here with the hope that she could have her father get back what that bitch stole from her.
She traveled all the way here and endured many sufferings, hoping to find her majestic father who could turn the tables around! Not some tramp who only knew how to cry!
Her mind refused to recognize the truth.
"You...You are not my father!"
"You are not my father! You are a liar!"
"My father isn't like this… He is powerful! Dad never needed help!"
Her loud screams disturbed the surroundings.
A few officers stretched out their heads to look inside the hall in consternation.
The escorts also frowned and walked closer, ready to intervene just in case the pair inside the booth caused trouble.
Xiong Wuyue did not pay them any attention. She had already closed herself in.
This was a nightmare. She was currently inside a nightmare! There's no way this was all true!
Xiong De stood up from his chair, his gaunt figure at loss of what to do.
He put his hands on the glass wall in fl.u.s.ter and leaned forward. This created a smudge on the glass and the foul smell got stronger.
"No… No, it's me. It's me, Wuyue'er, you're not wrong… I'm not lying, I really am your father."
Seeing that her daughter had already entered her manic state and rejected everything else, Xiong De felt bitter and breathless.
"Listen to me, Wuyue'er… I just look like this because I suffered a lot crimes in this place. It will get better once I leave from here… Wuyue'er, look at me please, take a deep breath and look at me… Wuyue'er, please, I can't go back inside... Listen to me, help me get me out of here," he cried out.
He was afraid that his beloved daughter would really find him disgusting and leave him here. He did not want that. He could not go back to that disgusting hellish life.
But his daughter could not listen to him.
"No! No! Daddy! Daddy! Where are you?! You are not my daddy! Bring my father out!"
Xiong Wuyue started crying as well.
She refused to believe it.
Her daddy was not someone who could be treated like this. Although a tiny part of her mind knew just who exactly was in front of her, the rest of her mind rejected it strongly.
Her father was her only hope! What about her? What about her then? Who would help her?!
"Wuyue'er…" Xiong De could not help but cry in sobs again, the feeling of helplessness and bitterness welling up in him. "Wu…Wuyue'er, it's me, I'm your dad... My daughter, please wake up and look at your poor dad... You have to save your dad..."
The father and daughter pair cried while yelling at each other.
One was denying the reality while the other was begging his daughter to help him.
Due to Xiong Wuyue's manic, the visiting time given to her was only fifteen minutes.
The officer went to Xiong De's side to take him away. Xiong De panicked and struggled in fear. He had not gotten her promise yet!
"NO! Wuyue'er! Get me out of here! Use everything in your power to get me out of this place! Even if it's another prison, just not this place, please! I can't live here!"
His shouts slowly faded while his gaunt figure was dragged away by the escorts inside.
Xiong Wuyue's manic had stopped when she saw her father being dragged away, yes, she naturally knew he was her father, but… she… she just could not accept it.
Seeing his figure dragged away pathetically, her eyes were frozen in disbelief and fear.
She stood in silence.
"Your visiting time is over. If you don't walk by yourself, we will help you," the escorts impatiently said.
Xiong Wuyue had lost all energy.
Her face was blank and her eyes dead as she bowed and clutched her head.
"No... no..." she repeatedly muttered in a daze while she was being pulled away like a lifeless doll.
If she could not get help from her father...
Then… what about her?
What would happen to her?
She truly lost everything now.
****
A/n: The standard visiting time in prison was at least one hour every month. However, with Old Xiong's pulling the strings with the higher-ups, Xiong De could only get a visiting time of fifteen minutes.
In order words, he could only get fresh air for fifteen minutes every month. And that was if he had a visitor.
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