Her unfocused gaze drifted to the wall, where their closely intertwined shadows were projected, creating an intimate, evocative silhouette.
In the middle of her daze, a sudden, sharp pain flared through her. She cried out, twisting her body to pull away, but he pinned her firmly in his arms, refusing to let her escape.
“Be good,” he rasped, his voice heavy with a dark, sensual gravity.
Time lost all meaning. It was only when the air in the private room felt completely exhausted that Shen Sichen finally brought himself to a stop, his expression still brushed with the residual haze of indulgence. Breathless, he gathered her close. Hearing the faint, piteous sobs against his ear, an unprecedented wave of satisfaction filled his chest.
He lowered his head, gently kissing away the tear tracks staining her face.
Wen Yirong was flushed with an unnatural warmth, teetering on the edge of sleep in his embrace. Likely due to the intense exertion, a dull ache throbbed through her chest and back. She found herself struggling for air, a suffocating sense of impending death creeping over her.
As they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, nearly oblivious to the passing time, Wen Yirong suddenly snapped her eyes open. Though she clung to the fleeting warmth of his chest, she forced herself to lift her head.
“Can I leave now?”
Hearing her ask to go, Shen Sichen looked down. The scant trace of tenderness in his eyes was instantly swallowed by a dark, sinister chill. He had gone through so much to find her again; there was no way he would let her walk away so easily.
“Where do you think you’re going? Are you really so eager to have the police take you away?”
Wen Yirong went completely rigid. She hadn’t expected that even after all of this, he still wouldn’t let her off the hook. “Didn’t I… just redeem myself?”
“Redeem yourself? Is that supposed to be enough?” Shen Sichen sneered.
“…” She froze, at a total loss for words.
“Wen Yirong, do you really think sleeping with me once is enough to erase the damage your family inflicted on the Shens? Do you honestly think you’re worth that much?”
A loud ringing filled her head, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably. It felt as though a blade were driving deep into her heart, inflicting a pain so agonizing it left her gasping.
“I…”
As she tried to speak, the excruciating pain in her chest intensified, as if her heart could no longer bear another second of stress.
Clutching her chest, she tried with all her might to draw in air, but the space around her seemed completely drained of oxygen, leaving her gasping weakly.
It was a cardiac episode.
“Brother, I…”
Her once-flush lips rapidly turned a deep, alarming purple. Her slender frame curled tightly in his arms like a shrimp.
“My… heart…”
Shen Sichen’s brows knit tightly as he watched her sudden, desperate struggle.
Something clicked, striking a jolt through his chest. He swiftly scooped her into his arms and bolted out the door.
His assistant, Gao Bai, was waiting outside the suite. Seeing Shen Sichen emerge with a grim expression and a woman in his arms, he immediately stepped forward. “President Shen.”
“To the hospital. Fast!”
At the entrance of Southwest Hospital, Shen Sichen rushed into the main hall carrying the unconscious Wen Yirong.
“Doctor! Doctor!”
A figure in a white lab coat quickly leaped onto the transport gurney to perform continuous chest compressions on her.
“She was my patient before; I know her case best. Push her into the trauma room immediately!”
“Got it,” a nurse nodded, frantically wheeling the gurney toward the resuscitation room without missing a beat.
Shen Sichen stood outside, staring quietly at the sealed automatic doors. His mind was flooded with images of Wen Yirong’s deathly pale face, feeling as though life were rapidly slipping from her body.
He sat down on a nearby bench, the slight tremor in his eyelids betraying his inner panic.
Gao Bai approached, holding a phone that was ringing nonstop. “President Shen, this is Miss Wen’s phone.”
Shen Sichen opened his eyes and took the device. Seeing the name displayed on the screen instantly restored his composure.
“Yirong, did you get paid yet? Do you have any money on you? Could you lend me some?”
A familiar voice filtered through the speaker it was Ding Yun, Wen Yirong’s mother.
The corners of his mouth pulled down into a dark scowl. He listened in silence, the aura around him turning icy cold.
“I know things are tough for you right now, but if you really don’t have any money, you can ask your primary physician, Fan Shengyu, for a loan. Doesn’t he like you? He’ll definitely give it to you.”
“Are you still mad at your father and me?”
“Wen Yirong, we’re family. Family is supposed to help each other…”
Shen Sichen cut off the call, shutting out the voice that filled him with disgust. He handed the phone back to Gao Bai. “Thoroughly investigate every single contact in this phonebook.”
“Understood, President Shen.”
An hour and a half later, the resuscitation room doors swung open, and a doctor walked out.
Shen Sichen stepped forward, his voice low and raspy. “How is she?”
“She’s out of immediate danger for now.” Fan Shengyu pulled off his surgical mask, eyeing the refined man before him. “What is your relationship to the patient?”
After a brief pause, he answered, “Family.”
“The cardiac valve implanted during her childhood has reached the end of its lifespan. If she doesn’t undergo a replacement surgery soon, the consequences will be critical.”
Shen Sichen’s brow furrowed deeper as he listened.
Fan Shengyu looked at him, hesitating for a moment before continuing, “She actually scheduled the procedure at our hospital half a month ago. But on the morning of the surgery, her parents came and caused a scene, taking all her medical funds with them.”
Shen Sichen looked down, a dark, ruthless gleam flashing beneath his eyelashes. “I see.”
Without another word, Fan Shengyu offered a brief, lingering look before turning to leave.
By the following afternoon, Wen Yirong slowly drifted back to consciousness.
Shen Sichen was sitting on the couch beside her bed, flipping through a thick stack of medical files her case history, by the look of it. Sitting there, he appeared far gentler than he had before she passed out.
The scene carried an odd sense of familiarity, pulling her thoughts back to the past.
When she was eight years old, she was rescued by the Shen family. The very first sight that greeted her upon waking was Shen Sichen, who seemed like an angel back then.
In those days, he was fair-skinned and delicate, sitting quietly by her bedside reading a book. Hearing her move, he had looked up, offering her a bright, warm smile.
In her mind, that remembered smile overlapped with the profile of the man turning his head toward her now—only the warmth was gone, replaced by a biting coldness.
She blinked softly. “Brother.”
Shen Sichen set the documents down and cast a indifferent glance at her. He stood up and pressed the call button next to her pillow.
The air in the hospital room felt suffocating. Driven by fear of him and reminded of what had transpired back in the private suite, a faint, embarrassed flush crept onto her cheeks. Pulling the blanket over herself, she shrank back silently.
She really had slept with Shen Sichen.
“Do you regret it?” His cold voice sounded from above.
“What?” She froze slightly.
Shen Sichen looked down at her with a chilling glare. “You couldn’t even put together your own surgery fees. Have you really never regretted it? If it weren’t for that night, you would still be the cherished young lady of the Shen family to this day.”
Wen Yirong bit her lip, her small hands clutching the bedsheets tightly under the covers. On that fateful night, she had never even been given a chance to regret it—and by the time it was over, regret was entirely useless.
A knock at the door broke the tense silence between them.
Fan Shengyu walked over to the bed with a gentle smile. “You’re awake? How are you feeling right now?”