Chi Mi had no idea what was going on, so she kept her mouth shut whenever possible.
Feng Chengjun stood before the mother and daughter, stopping a few steps away.
He said, “You seem a bit off today.”
Chi Mi let out an awkward laugh and replied, “Me? I’m fine…”
Feng Chengjun studied her, frowned, and asked, “Did you really go to the hospital?”
She could only respond with a polite yet awkward smile. “Uh… yeah…”
Feng Chengjun looked a bit puzzled. “Are you feeling unwell?”
Chi Mi quickly shook her head and said, “No, I’m perfectly fine.”
She couldn’t exactly go around telling everyone she’d been poisoned and lost her memory.
Having everyone know about it probably wouldn’t do her any good right now.
Feng Chengjun looked troubled, his gaze still filled with concern.
“Is it Uncle…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a cold male voice came from behind him.
It cut him off directly.
“Feng Chengjun, are you that free?”
Feng Yixun had appeared at some point, without making a sound.
The moment he showed up, Chi Mi felt the atmosphere around them grow heavy.
Feng Chengjun took two steps back. Though reluctant, he still addressed him with considerable respect. “Uncle.”
But Feng Yixun didn’t even look at him. Instead, he shifted his tone and spoke to the little girl nestled in her mother’s arms. “Linlin, Grandpa is looking for you.”
Linlin acknowledged with a soft sound, reluctantly letting go of her mother.
Then she trotted off toward the front courtyard.
Chi Mi’s arms felt empty, and her unease grew even stronger.
With her daughter gone, she suddenly felt so insecure.
But following her principle of staying silent when she didn’t understand the situation, she remained seated on the grass without moving.
Once Linlin was out of earshot, Feng Yixun turned his gaze back to Feng Chengjun.
His expression was cold and hard, laced with a hint of sarcasm. “You seem very concerned about someone else’s wife?”
Feng Chengjun seemed afraid to meet his eyes, his gaze wavering. He lowered his voice and replied, “Uncle, we’re all family. It’s only natural to look out for each other…”
Before the last syllable faded, Feng Yixun reached out and grabbed his jaw.
In an instant, the medical student’s face turned pale, and he couldn’t speak.
“Stay away from her—”
Feng Yixun cut off his words, coldly tossing out those few syllables before releasing him.
Brief and to the point, yet dripping with menace.
Feng Chengjun stumbled back half a step, barely steadying himself.
He didn’t respond, only furrowed his brow, shot a glance at Chi Mi, and hurried away.
Chi Mi stared in shock, her heart skipping a beat.
Under these circumstances, as the third person present, she probably should have said something to stop it.
But she said nothing and did nothing.
One, because she was scared. Two, because she didn’t feel it had anything to do with her.
This husband of hers looked like he wasn’t someone to be trifled with.
She had no idea whether he’d ever been violent with her.
A seventeen-year-old Chi Mi definitely couldn’t handle that kind of treatment.
Feng Yixun came up to Chi Mi and said, “Same goes for you. Stay away from him.”
Chi Mi nodded vigorously, practically drilling her head into the ground.
“Everything my husband says is right. I’ll definitely remember.”
His expression visibly stiffened for a brief moment.
After that fleeting rigidity, he returned to normal. “Don’t spread word about your situation for now. I’ve already sent someone to sort through yesterday’s surveillance footage. The security cameras at the Feng estate are all on the outer grounds, so there may not be any useful results.”
Chi Mi continued nodding earnestly, like a well-behaved student listening to her teacher. “I know.”
She actually knew nothing at all.
Feng Yixun furrowed his brow slightly, looking at her with a hint of suspicion.
It felt as though she was toying with him, being passive-aggressive.
Chi Mi couldn’t figure out what this man was thinking, so she simply stood up.
But the moment she rose, she was hit with dizziness and her legs went numb.
Caught off guard, she stumbled toward him.
He sidestepped to dodge, but Chi Mi was quick enough to grab his arm.
Using his strength, she finally steadied herself.
She grumbled inwardly—this man was truly petty. He’d tried to avoid her just now, nearly causing her to fall.
Just as she was silently complaining, he suddenly seized her wrist and roughly pulled her into his embrace.
Chi Mi froze, and a mocking voice sounded by her ear.
“So you really do enjoy throwing yourself into my arms?”
His tone carried a hint of contempt and disdain.
He pressed her firmly against his chest, and her heartbeat went haywire.
He let out a soft laugh, looking down at her. “That desperate, are you?”
Chi Mi was both embarrassed and furious. “You—”
Her restrained left hand clenched into a fist, then quickly relaxed.
She was livid, but she knew it wasn’t worth fighting him head-on, so she pulled out her trump card again.
That was—letting it all go to hell.
She simply hugged him fully, clinging to him like she had no bones, and said pitifully, “You—you’re so unreasonable! Aren’t you my husband? And you’re so handsome—is it wrong for me to like you? It’s only right that you let me hug you, isn’t it?”
A bout of coquettish whining silenced him completely.
Chi Mi pretended to be pitiful, imagining herself as a wronged little wife.
She gave him a few light taps with her small fist, face buried, and said, “A Xun, you say such harsh things. I’m so hurt…”
Feng Yixun’s face darkened as he pushed her away.
“Can you, for once, stop with all these ridiculous tricks?”
Chi Mi gave him a dry smile. As long as she wasn’t embarrassed, it would be him who felt awkward.
She took a couple of steps, but her legs still felt weak.
In the end, she reluctantly explained.
“I—my legs are numb…”
He talked about ridiculous tricks, but she didn’t even remember what she’d done.
He could at least give her a few examples to go by.
…
Dinner left Chi Mi feeling uneasy.
Everyone at the table seemed to have their own hidden agenda.
Feng Xianglu’s Xiangyue Group had a project that needed Kic to make introductions.
She brought it up to Feng Zhenhong during the meal.
But before Feng Zhenhong could speak, Feng Yixun rejected Feng Xianglu’s request outright.
He didn’t think much of Feng Xianglu’s plans, and he was the one currently at the helm of Kic.
Though Feng Zhenhong looked somewhat displeased, he made it clear that he had already retired.
Using her clever little mind, Chi Mi quickly analyzed the situation in the Feng family.
Feng Zhenhong was advanced in years and needed a successor. Clearly, the only one capable of taking on that role was Feng Yixun.
And Feng Yixun didn’t care how the family viewed him. The fact that he was willing to sit here and play the part of a happy, harmonious family was already more than enough.
As for Feng Xiangqi’s family, they had no ambitions regarding the group’s affairs.
But they had a son, Feng Chengjun.
By all rights, Feng Chengjun should have been the true heir of the Feng family, but the old man, at forty years old, still went and produced a younger son, turning the entire Feng household upside down—a tremendous loss to their branch of the family, always.
Compared to Feng Yixun, Chi Mi’s family situation was far simpler.
Her mother was a formidable woman, but had doted on her since childhood. Her father was a musician of little renown, handsome and gentle, who had always devoted himself to caring for her—though as it now seemed, what she remembered of him was merely the illusion of a naive girl, hers alone.
Thinking of this, she suddenly found she had little room to laugh at him.
…
After dinner, they had to take Linlin back into the city.
In the car, Linlin sat between the two of them, but leaned a little closer to her father.
Feng Yixun seemed to reserve his gentle demeanor only for her.
He smoothed the girl’s rumpled little tutu and spoke about taking her to school on Monday.
Chi Mi’s position was somewhat awkward. It suddenly occurred to her that she and Feng Yixun were separated.
So she quickly grew tense and turned to ask him, “Do I live alone?”
He answered promptly, “Yes.”
Chi Mi’s expression soured, and she hastily added, “So… I don’t go home with you?”
He looked at her coldly and replied tersely, “Evidently, no.”
She shook her head rapidly, speaking with finality, “That won’t do. I’m scared to live alone.”
Most importantly, the poisoning matter hadn’t been resolved yet.
What if she really had some enemy lurking in the shadows?
She remembered nothing, and living alone would be dangerous.
Chi Mi thought on her feet, reached out to take Linlin’s little hand, and gave an awkward smile, saying, “What I mean is, as her mother, I need to be with Linlin every day…”
Feng Yixun: “…”
She looked pitiful, spouting more nonsense.
“Honey, we’re not divorced yet, are we? You can’t just kick me out of the house, right?”
Hearing this, Linlin glanced at her strange-acting mother, then at her father.
She ultimately decided to pull out her tablet and watch her favorite Tom and Jerry.
Their disagreements seemed to be a common occurrence, harmless enough.
Feng Yixun couldn’t help but say, with a hint of reproach, “Don’t try to turn the tables here. You’re the one who left.”
Chi Mi at this point had no leisure to ponder why exactly they had separated. What she cared about was her own skin. For the sake of her hard-won life, she shamelessly pressed on, “Uh, is that so… but that’s all in the past. Even if I did something wrong, you should give me a chance to turn over a new leaf—for Linlin’s sake…”
He said, “Live wherever you like.”
Chi Mi found those words remarkably moving and wore a touched expression.
It really was thanks to having a daughter that he seemed to always be especially lenient with her.
Linlin set down her tablet and tilted her head to look at her father.
“Daddy, are you and Mommy sleeping together tonight?”
Before Feng Yixun could answer, Chi Mi put on a gentle expression and said to her, “No, Mommy is sleeping with Linlin tonight.”
The little girl immediately shook her head. “Linlin doesn’t want that—”
Chi Mi was speechless. Was she really that disliked?
She asked, “Why?”
Linlin said, “When Mommy sleeps, a demon appears. Linlin can’t beat the demon.”
Chi Mi couldn’t understand what she was talking about. “What devil?”
Linlin had already tugged at the man’s sleeve. “Daddy, do you and Mommy sleep together?”
Feng Yixun looked at his daughter with a hint of helplessness.
“Linlin, didn’t we agree not to meddle in Daddy and Mommy’s business?”
The little girl looked up at him with big, watery eyes, her small hand pulling at his sleeve and giving it a gentle shake. “Daddy, Mommy knows she was wrong. Please forgive her!”
Feng Yixun said nothing.
Chi Mi couldn’t hold back anymore. “Hey—”
What was going on? Was she really that terrible?
Everyone was talking as if she were the villain!