Haishi First People’s Hospital, top-floor VIP special care ward.
When Chu Anhe pushed the door open, her mother Lin Suyun was leaning against the headboard while the caregiver Aunt Sun carefully peeled an apple beside the bed.
Seeing her daughter, a bit of color returned to Lin Suyun’s originally pale face.
“Anhe, why are you here?”
“I just finished class and came to see you.” Chu Anhe walked over and looked at her mother’s obviously improved complexion. The heavy stone weighing on her heart finally settled.
Even though she had been reluctant in every possible way, if it had not been for the surgery fee and the top medical team arranged by Xie Jingran, her mother probably would have…
Lin Suyun pulled her daughter’s hand and looked at her with concern.
“Anhe, this VIP ward is too expensive, and this caregiver as well. How could we possibly have so much money? Tell Mom the truth. Where did the money come from?”
Chu Anhe’s heart tightened. She quickly used the excuse she had prepared long ago.
“Mom, don’t overthink it. Our school has a ‘Serious Illness Aid Fund for Underprivileged Students.’ Plus the money I saved from tutoring and my scholarships. It’s enough.”
Lin Suyun sighed. Although she half believed it and half doubted it, she knew her daughter had always hidden bad news and only shared good things.
Suddenly she remembered something and her expression turned serious.
“Oh right. Two days ago your grandmother secretly borrowed a neighbor’s phone and called me.”
At the mention of her grandmother, Chu Anhe’s eyes lit up.
“Is Grandma doing well?”
In this world, aside from her mother, her grandmother loved her the most.
“Not very well.” Lin Suyun frowned. “You know what your eldest uncle and his wife are like. They take your grandmother’s pension every month, saying they’ll keep it for her. In reality they spend it all on your cousin Chu Anning. The old lady even has to look at their faces if she wants to eat a piece of meat.”
Chu Anhe clenched her fists instantly.
“How can they do that? That’s Grandma’s retirement money!”
“Sigh. Your father passed away early. We’re just a widow and child in the Chu family with no voice.” Lin Suyun patted her daughter’s hand and lowered her voice. “Your grandmother specifically told me that your grandfather once saved the life of the old master of the Xie family in Haishi. At the time the two families arranged a childhood engagement between the grandchildren.”
Chu Anhe’s heart skipped a beat.
“Your aunt has been forcing your grandmother to hand over some kind of token. It seems she wants Chu Anning to climb into that marriage.” Lin Suyun tightened her grip on Chu Anhe’s hand and looked at her seriously. “Anhe, Mom needs to tell you something. This marriage agreement was originally meant for you.”
“For me?” Chu Anhe froze. She had always thought her marriage to Xie Jingran was purely an accidental transaction.
“That’s what your grandfather told your grandmother before he died.” Lin Suyun then changed her tone. “But the Xie family is one of Haishi’s top elite families. Their status is far too high. If someone from an ordinary family like ours marries in, I’m afraid you’ll be bullied. If your grandmother ever asks you to meet someone from the Xie family, you must refuse, understand? Mom hopes you’ll find an ordinary man who loves you and live a peaceful life.”
Chu Anhe looked at the worry in her mother’s eyes and felt conflicted.
Mom… you said it too late.
I’m already married into that family.
And… although that Xie family member has a strange temper, aside from his sharp tongue he doesn’t seem to have any other flaws.
“I understand, Mom. Don’t worry.” Chu Anhe nodded obediently and swallowed the secret back down.
By the time she left the hospital it was already evening.
The moment Chu Anhe turned on her phone she was bombarded with messages until it almost froze.
Group chats, class chats, even the large school groups were all tagging her frantically.
Shocking, Pure campus beauty image collapses? The secret story between a professor and a student in the office!
Audio proof included! Who picked the untouchable Professor Xie from his pedestal?
A poor student with the surname Chu rises to the top: shameless but loves money!
Chu Anhe opened the pinned post on the forum.
Inside was an edited audio clip. Although the background was noisy, the voices were extremely clear.
“…Don’t do this…”
“…Endure it for a moment. It’ll be over soon…”
“…It hurts…”
“…Don’t move… I’ll move…”
The clip lasted barely more than ten seconds but it sounded extremely suggestive and left plenty of room for imagination.
The comment section had already become unbearable.
“Holy crap! They actually did it in the office?”
“Chu Anhe always pretends to be so pure like a white lotus. Who knew she plays so wild in private? And she even said it hurt. Disgusting.”
“Has Professor Xie also fallen from the altar? Chu Anhe must have seduced my male god!”
“I heard Chu Anhe slept with him for a scholarship. She’d do anything for money.”
Chu Anhe’s face turned pale. Standing in the cold wind outside the hospital she felt chilled to the bone.
How could this happen?
Everything was twisted and reversed to push her to ruin.
Just then the familiar black Volkswagen Phaeton silently stopped in front of her.
The car window lowered, revealing Xie Jingran’s cold profile that seemed carved from ice.
“Get in.”
Chu Anhe opened the door and got inside. Her eyes instantly turned red.
“Professor Xie, I’m sorry. I—”
“Be quiet.”
Xie Jingran interrupted her. He held a tablet and his fingers moved rapidly across the screen.
“At a time like this, apologizing is the most useless thing.”
He pressed the enter key and sneered.
“Since that idiot from the Lin family wants to play a public opinion war, I’ll show her what the power of real capital looks like.”
Five minutes later.
The Haishi University forum suddenly crashed.
All the students who had been gossiping and insulting discovered the page could no longer refresh.
When the forum finally recovered, every pinned and trending post had disappeared.
In their place was a single document filling the entire screen.
A lawyer’s letter.
The signature at the bottom read: Shengshi Group Legal Department.
That was not all.
Below the letter was a high-definition surveillance video.
In the video it was clearly shown:
Lin You sneakily pressing herself against the office door while eavesdropping with a malicious expression.
Then the scene switched to inside the office where Xie Jingran and Chu Anhe were talking normally.
Because the moment they had embraced was in a blind spot of the camera, when they appeared again under surveillance Chu Anhe was simply trying to untangle her hair caught in Xie Jingran’s button while Xie Jingran kept a gentleman’s distance.
The lines about “hurting” and “endure it” were from when they were dealing with the tangled hair.
The truth was revealed.
But it did not stop there.
Inside a luxury villa in Haishi.
Lin You had been gleefully watching the heated arguments on the forum when she suddenly received a call from her father.
“Lin You! What stupid thing did you do at school?!”
Her father’s furious roar blasted through the phone.
“Dad, what happened?” Lin You was stunned.
“What happened? Just now, the Shengshi Group suddenly announced the termination of the major project they were about to sign with us. They also declared an industry-wide boycott against Lin Real Estate!”
“And that’s not all! In just the last ten minutes someone maliciously shorted our stock. Lin Group’s share price has already hit the limit! Three hundred million in market value has evaporated! Three hundred million!”
Lin You’s phone slipped from her hand and hit the ground.
Her whole body felt like it had fallen into an icy abyss.
Shengshi Group?
Wasn’t that the commercial overlord of Haishi? Why would they target the Lin family?
On the phone her father was still hysterical.
“The special assistant from Shengshi just called. They told you to immediately go to the school forum and post an apology video! Otherwise tomorrow the Lin family can prepare for bankruptcy liquidation!”
Lin You collapsed onto the floor, trembling.
It was over.
This time she had really kicked an iron plate.
Inside the car.
Chu Anhe saw that Lin You’s tearful apology video had already been pinned to the top of the forum.
In the video the arrogant young lady who usually acted so domineering had cried until her makeup was ruined. She bowed repeatedly toward the camera.
“I’m sorry… I took things out of context… Professor Xie and Chu Anhe are innocent… I shouldn’t have spread rumors…”
The comments immediately reversed direction.
“So it was Lin You all along? That’s disgusting.”
“I knew someone as cold as Professor Xie wouldn’t have a hidden rule relationship with a student. Turns out he was helping when she got hurt.”
“Chu Anhe is really pitiful. She got slandered like this.”
“Lin You has always been a spoiled bully anyway. I’ve disliked her for ages.”
As Chu Anhe read the comments she suddenly burst out laughing.
But as she laughed, tears uncontrollably streamed down her face.
This was the first time that when she was bullied she did not have to endure everything alone.
Someone had blocked all the malice for her.
“Why are you crying?”
A tissue was handed to her.
Xie Jingran looked straight ahead. His tone sounded impatient but his movements were gentle.
“As Mrs. Xie, having such poor psychological resilience won’t do.”
He suddenly leaned closer and helped fasten her seatbelt. His warm breath brushed against her ear.
“Remember this. You are my legally wedded wife. Bullying you means bullying me. No matter who it is, I’ll make them repay it a hundredfold.”
“Now I’m taking you somewhere. To celebrate winning this battle, we need to… celebrate deeply.”
Seeing the familiar “green glow” in Xie Jingran’s eyes, Chu Anhe immediately burst into laughter again through her tears, both embarrassed and annoyed.
What kind of deep celebration?
Wasn’t it just another excuse for hugging and sticking close?
Professor Xie… is there something wrong with you?