Lu Family Residence.
Lu Mingzhe sensed the tense atmosphere the moment he stepped inside.
His parents had returned early from their trip, their expressions unusually stern, while Lu Yan wore a look of concern.
Thinking of the recent online controversies, Lu Mingzhe understood the situation. His tone remained calm as he asked, “Mom, Dad, you’re back early?”
“If we hadn’t returned, you would have turned the world upside down,” Lu’s father glared at him. “Your sister finally moved past the shadow of the Lin Family, and now you’re determined to bring it all up again!”
“Dad, I’m fine. I’m just worried about brother getting hurt…”
Lu Yan spoke softly, her eyes slightly red.
Lu’s mother added, “Mingzhe, what were you thinking? Why dig up matters related to that family again?”
After a long silence, Lu Mingzhe responded, “Lin Zhen switched the children and mistreated Yan Yan for over a decade. After Xixi went to the Lin Family, she didn’t have many good days either. Mom, Dad, he got what he deserved. He should have paid the price long ago.”
His words caused the Lu parents’ expressions to shift, their eyes filled with reproach.
“Mingzhe, I was just about to ask you – what exactly is going on between you and Lin Shi Xi? Is she pestering you? Making you fight her battles?”
“Lu Mingzhe, I’ve heard about those messy online rumors. I thought you could handle it properly, but you’re becoming more and more confused!”
They both shook their heads in disappointment.
Lu Yan’s face instantly paled. “I was the one who asked Mom and Dad not to hold the Lin Family accountable. Is brother blaming me? He treated me poorly, but I thought since he’s Lin Shi Xi’s biological father after all… So I asked Mom and Dad to spare him… Brother, did I do wrong? Did I make Lin Shi Xi suffer…”Lu’s mother gently grasped her hand, comforting her: “Yan Yan, you did nothing wrong.” That’s not what your brother meant…”
She turned to her son and scolded: “That family exists solely to bring trouble to the Lu Family. I forbid you from getting involved in their affairs anymore.”
Lu’s father commanded: “Lu Mingzhe, apologize to your sister.”
Lu Mingzhe opened his mouth, feeling overwhelmed by helplessness, momentarily at a loss for words.
Ever since reuniting with Xixi, Lu Mingzhe had been constantly reminiscing about the past.
His parents used to dote on Xixi excessively – holding her in case she might fall, keeping her in their mouths in case she might melt.
When he secretly took her out to play and she got an extra mosquito bite, they would give him a knuckle rap.
But just like him, ever since Yan Yan returned to the Lu Family, they had completely erased Xixi from their sight – abandoning her thoroughly.
Fifteen years of familial affection seemed to have been formatted with the press of a button.
Lu Mingzhe found this household increasingly suffocating.
His gaze swept over his sister’s tearful face, surprised to find his emotions unexpectedly unaffected by her.
He hadn’t spent much time with Yan Yan.
She cared deeply about appearances, spending these years constantly improving herself to become the socialite everyone in their circle praised.
Mostly, he had followed their parents’ arrangements – tutoring her, helping her expand her social connections, supporting her life and work, providing sufficient emotional value.
Looking back now, he seemed more like a tool serving Yan Yan.
“Yan Yan, I’m not blaming you.” Lu Mingzhe turned to his parents, finally unable to hold back the words buried in his heart. “We all knew back then what Xixi would face returning to that family. If Lin Zhen had been imprisoned, she might have had an easier life. But we still chose to forgive—”
“Lu Mingzhe! Shut your mouth!” Lu’s father’s sharp shout cut him off.
He had kept Lin Zhen around for selfish reasons, which had just been blatantly exposed by his son.
Lu’s mother’s face shifted between pale and flushed, but she remained silent.
She was furious, yet also somewhat bewildered, as if a fixed train of thought had been shattered.
Xixi, Xixi…
She had once loved Xixi the most—how could she have been willing to let Xixi suffer such pain back then?
No, she loved Yan Yan the most…
Xixi was just someone insignificant.
Lu’s mother trembled slightly, only feeling her heart settle when she tightly grasped Lu Yan’s hand.
Lu Mingzhe didn’t look at his parents again and said quietly, “I watched Xixi grow up. Her life shouldn’t have been like that. I just feel I should do something.”
Clearly, Lin Zhen was the one to blame.
Xixi and Yan Yan were both just victims.
After speaking, Lu Mingzhe turned and walked out, temporarily leaving this suffocating place.
Lu Yan’s eyes were tearful as she glanced at her silent parents, her heart feeling as heavy as if crushed by a boulder.
Lu Mingzhe had become a stranger, and she feared her parents would be taken by Lin Shi Xi too.
Lu Mingzhe’s words had just struck the dark corners of her heart.
She had asked her parents to spare Lin Zhen precisely because she wanted Lin Shi Xi to experience what she had gone through.
Lin Zhen loved gambling, and whether he won or lost, he would drink and then beat people—Chen Xi and their daughter.
The more they resisted, the worse the beatings became. Calling the police was useless.
Chen Xi earned money by sleeping with men, putting on a brave face but being as fragile as paper, easily manipulated. Sometimes, to avoid being beaten, she would push her daughter forward.
For a period, Lu Yan would disguise herself and go to that shabby building, listening to Lin Zhen’s violence, Chen Xi’s screams, and Lin Shi Xi’s suppressed sobs.
Lu Yan felt avenged. Over the years, she gradually let go of her resentment. Her love life and career flourished smoothly, as if she were living a protagonist’s script.
Then Lin Shi Xi appeared.
Someone so ugly and weak, yet she brought an unprecedented sense of crisis.
In fact, her premonition was correct.
She had already lost her brother.
Huaying Hospital, Inpatient Department.
This was a private hospital funded by the Chi family.
Shi Xi had been forcibly sent here by Chi Xuan.
He said the orthopedic doctors here were excellent too.
The ward was quiet and elegant, a significant upgrade in environment, but Shi Xi’s examination results were still disappointing.
Chi Xuan grilled several doctors with questions, even skipping social drinking engagements.
Shi Xi, having reviewed the medical records and various reports brought by the nurse, was much calmer than Chi Xuan, as if the prospect of being permanently disabled wasn’t about her.
After analysis, the System said, “Fake.”
Shi Xi thought to herself: How absurd. Is Chi Yuan the one trying to mess with me?
Aside from the last payment, she hadn’t had any contact with this world’s male lead.
But Lu Yan hated her. Could Chi Yuan be helping Lu Yan teach her a lesson?
Shi Xi asked the System, “Last time, you said Lu Yan had a car accident and Chi Yuan took care of her, which deepened their feelings. But she seems to have avoided the accident. Can their relationship still be that strong?”
System: “Unimportant.”
Shi Xi snorted. She wasn’t much of a talker herself, but this System disliked small talk even more. Sometimes, she felt truly lonely.
When Chi Xuan pushed the door open and entered, he saw Shi Xi holding a laptop, lost in thought.
He approached with light steps, his gaze somewhat evasive, and simply said, “You can be discharged from the hospital. I’ll throw a party to celebrate—stop clinging to that broken computer of yours.”
Shi Xi closed her laptop and informed Chi Xuan in advance, “I want to report this to the police.”
“Oh, missing your Captain Huo?”
Chi Xuan thought she was joking and, seeing it as a chance to distract her, responded with that remark.
To his surprise, she actually pulled out her phone and called Huo Yao.
Chi Xuan’s lips twitched, his handsome face darkening. “You’re really calling him?”
He reached out to snatch the phone, but Shi Xi dodged sideways.
She had assumed Huo Yao likely wouldn’t answer, yet the next moment, his deep voice came through. “What is it?”
The tone carried a heavy sense of distance.
She politely asked, “Captain Huo, may I consult you about something?”
Two seconds later, Huo Yao replied, “Go ahead.”
“I’m in serious trouble. I suspect someone is targeting me, swapping my medical reports, but I don’t have solid evidence. Can I report this to the police?”
There was silence on the other end of the line, and Chi Xuan looked equally baffled.
After a long pause, Huo Yao said gravely, “Investigations are the police’s responsibility. If you’re truly facing difficulties, you can report it to the police anytime.”
“Okay!” Shi Xi pressed further, “If I report it, will you be the one to come?”
On the other end, Huo Yao, hearing her rather naive question, unconsciously curved his lips. “No, it won’t be me. I handle criminal cases—this isn’t under my jurisdiction.”
“Alright.”
Shi Xi naturally knew this; she just wanted to chat with him a bit more to appropriately strengthen their connection.
Before Chi Xuan could even clarify the situation, Shi Xi dialed 110.
Two officers from the nearby police station arrived.
Shi Xi shared her suspicions with the police. Chi Xuan watched with a complex expression, a trace of unconscious pity flickering in his eyes.
This was a hospital invested in by his family. With him personally involved, how could any medical staff deliberately trouble her, let alone provide false reports?
Moreover, at the municipal hospital yesterday, Doctor Xu had given the same diagnosis.
Still, Chi Xuan understood Shi Xi’s actions.
No one could accept the possibility of being permanently disabled.
The two police officers were quite young and listened attentively to Shi Xi’s account.
They then summoned her attending physician and the staff who had handled her medical reports.
Chi Xuan had initially stayed by her side, indulging her whims, until a meticulous officer reviewed the surveillance footage and identified a flustered nurse. At that point, he was completely stunned.
Chi’s Group.
Chi Yuan picked up his phone, frowned upon hearing the report from the other end, and said coldly, “Handle it yourself. Don’t let it affect the group.”
After speaking, he hung up directly.
In just over half an hour, the office door was violently kicked open.
Chi Xuan strode in, exuding a fierce, cold aura.
“Chi Yuan!”
Chi Yuan glanced at the flustered secretary at the door and motioned for her to leave.
The secretary nodded and closed the door.
Chi Yuan turned his head toward Chi Xuan. “What do you want to say?”
“You don’t know? By now, you should have received the news, right? After all, the police are already at Huaying Hospital!”
“I have received the news. So what? You don’t handle group affairs—why come to me now?”
“Do you hate her that much? How vicious to want her to become crippled?”
Chi Yuan’s face instantly turned cold. “Watch your words.”
Chi Xuan leaned down, glaring fiercely at him. “Stop pretending with me. I know it’s you. What? Now that you’re in this position, you think you’re a god? You want to control other people’s lives? I never told you, did I? She has a police friend. Try laying a hand on her again.”
After Chi Xuan left, Chi Yuan stared at the ugly face on the screen, the chill in his eyes growing increasingly intense.
He rarely recalled the fragments of their youth when they first met, barely even remembering what she originally looked like.
Perhaps those weren’t details worth remembering anyway.
Lin Shi Xi.
Wouldn’t it be better to remain a cripple and bow out of their world with dignity?
His phone rang again, Lu Yan’s anxious voice coming through.
“Chi Yuan, I heard something happened at Huaying Hospital?”
Chi Yuan closed his eyes, pressing his throbbing temples. “A minor matter.”
“Is it because of Lin Shi Xi?”
“Yes.”
He had nothing more to say.
Lu Yan also knew this wasn’t something to discuss openly over the phone, so she didn’t press further.
Chi Yuan set his phone aside, that urgent desire to dispose of Lin Shi Xi beating like increasingly dense drumbeats in his mind.
As if her insignificant existence could overturn his entire world.
“The male and female leads are hostile toward me. Have I alerted the world’s consciousness?”
Shi Xi stood at the entrance of the police station, asking with some concern.
System: “This world’s setting contains numerous inconsistencies. As characters awaken, the world’s consciousness will inevitably be disturbed, subtly driving the protagonists to forcibly correct the altered plot. But these… are nothing to fear.”
To Shi Xi, this sounded like “go ahead and cause chaos.”
The Scumbag System is really something.
Just as Shi Xi reached the roadside, a Land Rover pulled up beside her.
The unfamiliar vehicle made her cautiously step back, only looking over when she noticed the window rolling down.
Sharp, defined features, half his profile cast in sunset light, with piercing intensity in his eyes. Masculine hormones and an oppressive aura washed over her simultaneously.
“Huo Yao!”
She smiled and stepped forward, all traces of her previous caution gone.
Perhaps too surprised, she even called him by his full name.
“Yeah.”
Huo Yao responded casually.
Meeting those smiling eyes, he felt faint electric currents transmitting through the air.
He lowered his gaze and got out, opening the car door for her. “I’ll take you back,” he said succinctly.
“Great, Captain Huo. I have so much to tell you.”
She climbed into the passenger seat, a constant smile on her face as if today’s events hadn’t frightened her at all.
Moreover, she seemed bursting to talk, definitely more chatty than before.
Shi Xi had just finished giving her statement and accepted partial mediation.
The nurse from Huaxi Hospital said she disliked Shi Xi after seeing the trending topics online and therefore switched the examination reports.
The municipal hospital had already confirmed the scans were fake, but surveillance review showed nothing unusual.
Money can make ghosts turn millstones—there was no way to uncover the person behind this.
Shi Xi demanded both hospitals issue public online apologies to her.
As for the Huaxi Hospital nurse, she would likely face administrative penalties.
Huo Yao had already learned some details from his junior at the police station.
Hearing it from her lips now felt different somehow.
After Shi Xi finished sharing, Huo Yao finally asked, “Someone’s targeting you.”
But his tone carried absolute certainty.
“Yeah…”
Shi Xi nodded, suddenly falling quiet.
When the light turned red, Huo Yao’s gaze drifted toward her.
She also looked up at him. “Huo Yao, what should I do?”
The fragmented light in her eyes flickered, as if about to vanish the next second.
Huo Yao’s glance touched briefly before pulling away. Pressing the accelerator, he said in his most ordinary tone, “Call me if you need anything.”
“Will you always be there?” she asked.
Instead of following her lead, Huo Yao simply replied, “I’ll answer when I hear it.”
Though spoken in a deliberately calm tone, each word carried unusual weight.
Like a promise.
At this moment, Shi Xi clearly felt the distance he had unilaterally created between them dissolve completely.