“Take off your pants.”
In the late afternoon, sunlight streamed into the consultation room. Wearing a medical mask, Cen Xi revealed only a pair of bright, clear eyes as she looked calmly and indifferently at the last patient she was seeing that day.
The man had just come from the scene of a car accident. Quite a bit of blood stained his meticulously pressed white dress shirt. Most alarming, however, was the wound on his left thigh. The fine fabric of his suit pants had been torn open, exposing a gruesome, bloody injury.
It needed to be disinfected immediately.
“President Shang, I’ll be waiting outside. Call me if you need anything.”
The assistant was perceptive enough to excuse himself at once.
Blood flowed openly from the wound, yet Shang Hanzhou’s cold, handsome face showed little emotion. Even his brows remained unmoved, as though the injury wasn’t on his own body.
The consultation room door closed.
Cen Xi frowned slightly. Finding his movements too slow, she simply said, “Sit down.”
She casually picked up a pair of scissors and cut along the fabric covering the wound on the inside of his thigh. Some of the cloth had already adhered to the injury. As she gently pulled it away, Shang Hanzhou’s expressionless face finally showed the slightest change.
Cen Xi soaked the stuck fabric with saline solution and softened her tone.
“Bear with it.”
“Mm.”
Shang Hanzhou responded and slowly closed his eyes.
Cen Xi worked quickly. In less than ten minutes, she had already finished bandaging the wound with sterile gauze.
After washing her hands, she returned the ointment to the tray and gently instructed him, “Avoid getting it wet for the next twenty-four hours. Stay away from spicy food. If the wound becomes red, swollen, or starts producing pus, you’ll need to come back to the hospital.”
Shang Hanzhou stood up.
The assistant waiting outside had already thoughtfully delivered a fresh set of clothes. Cen Xi glanced at them.
They were all loose-fitting garments that wouldn’t rub against the wound.
Good.
She said nothing further.
There was a small changing area separated by curtains inside the consultation room. Shang Hanzhou walked directly inside. Three minutes later, he emerged wearing the loose casual clothes instead of the bloodstained outfit. The sharp, intimidating aura around him seemed considerably softer than before.
The assistant hurriedly asked, “President Shang, are we returning to the group headquarters?”
According to their original schedule, they should have arrived at the company by now.
But Shang Hanzhou was injured and should have rested first.
His expression remained unchanged.
“As planned.”
In other words, he was returning to the group.
The assistant looked as though he wanted to say something. Although the car accident had not been serious and the matter had already been suppressed, Grandpa Shang had learned about it and was urging him to return immediately.
Shang Hanzhou was always decisive. Once he made a decision, not a second would be wasted.
After his wound had been treated, he strode out of the room. Before leaving, he merely gave Cen Xi a polite nod in acknowledgment of her treatment.
Cen Xi lightly nodded back.
The assistant following behind couldn’t help but glance at her several more times.
She looked strangely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
Once they left—
Cen Xi removed her mask.
Beneath those beautiful, expressive eyes was a fair and delicate face, rosy lips, and an elegant nose.
She let out a slow breath, picked up the insulated tumbler from her desk, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip.
Only then did her noisy, racing heart finally settle.
Buzz—
The phone beside her vibrated.
It was a call from Grandpa Shang.
“Grandfather.”
She answered in a gentle voice.
On the other end, Grandpa Shang said, “Hanzhou returned from Germany today. He’ll be coming home for dinner tonight. Once you’re off work, come over early as well.”
Grandpa Shang truly worried himself sick.
What kind of newlyweds got married and then lived in different countries for two entire years?
“Oh, right, Little Xi. Did that rascal Hanzhou contact you today?”
If he hadn’t, Grandpa Shang intended to give him a proper scolding tonight.
He asked one more question.
Cen Xi’s gaze paused on the illuminated computer screen on her desk.
The patient’s information remained displayed there.
The name “Shang Hanzhou” was still visible.
She swallowed.
Shang Hanzhou had come to her for treatment. That counted as contact, didn’t it?
“Yes,” she answered softly.
Hearing that, Grandpa Shang finally sounded somewhat relieved.
“At least he still remembers he has a wife. Little Xi, head back to the old residence first.”
“Okay, Grandfather. I understand.”
After hanging up, Cen Xi’s gaze unconsciously drifted toward the seat where Shang Hanzhou had been sitting earlier. Her lips felt slightly dry.
One thing was certain.
From the moment he first saw her, Shang Hanzhou had not recognized her at all.
After two years of marriage, he no longer remembered her.
…
A sleek black Maybach stopped outside the hospital.
The Bentley from the accident scene had already been impounded, and its driver had been taken to the hospital.
The moment Shang Hanzhou got into the car, Grandpa Shang called.
“Get back here immediately! Put the group’s affairs aside for now. Yasen Group won’t collapse just because you’re absent for a little while.”
Who worked as obsessively as he did?
Shang Hanzhou frowned slightly. Before he could reply, Grandpa Shang continued aggressively,
“Little Xi will be coming back later too. You’d better arrive at the old residence before she does!”
Having issued his command, Grandpa Shang didn’t care whether he had been heard or not. He hung up immediately.
Little Xi.
Cen Xi.
Only then did Shang Hanzhou remember the name of his marriage-alliance wife.
Two years ago, they had obtained their marriage certificate on the very day they first met. Shortly afterward, he had left for Europe to develop the international new-energy market.
From then on, they had never contacted each other again.
He remembered that Cen Xi had still been a student at the time.
“Assistant Fang, check Madam’s school.”
If it happened to be on the way, he wouldn’t mind picking her up and returning to the old residence together.
Fang Nian immediately got to work.
A few minutes later, he reported, “President Shang, Madam graduated from her master’s program two years ago. She’s already working at a hospital now.”
Shang Hanzhou raised an eyebrow. His tone remained indifferent.
“Workplace.”
At the very least, he wanted a basic understanding so that their meeting later wouldn’t be completely awkward.
“Huaxie Hospital.”
The very same hospital they had just left.
Fang Nian enlarged the photo on his screen and handed it over.
The girl’s picture was crystal clear.
Without a mask, her features appeared soft and clean.
Shang Hanzhou recognized her instantly.
His deep black eyes froze in rare surprise.
The female doctor who had just treated the wound on his thigh.
She was actually his marriage-alliance wife.
Fang Nian suddenly came to the same realization.
“No wonder that doctor looked so familiar!”
Shang Hanzhou shot him an indifferent glance.
Fang Nian immediately fell silent.
Ahem.
Saying that now seemed a little late.
Still, if President Shang hadn’t recognized Madam, then what about Madam?
Had she also failed to recognize President Shang?
Just as he was thinking that, Fang Nian looked out the window.
“President Shang, that’s Madam.”
At the hospital’s main entrance, Cen Xi walked out wearing a light pink ankle-length dress. Her long black hair rested behind her ears.
She looked completely different from the white-coated, masked doctor she had been earlier.
Shang Hanzhou narrowed his dark eyes and slowly turned his gaze toward her.