8 – Flaws That Can Cost You Your Life
“Sir, are you injured? Should we get you to a hospital?” Luo Xingchen noticed the strange looks from the people around them and quickly asked with feigned concern.
“Then I’ll trouble you!” Fu Jingxiao said, his voice pained.
Hearing this, Luo Xingchen had no choice but to tell the coach to handle the subdued foreign spectator, then supported Fu Jingxiao as they walked out.
The moment they stepped out of the Olympic Sports Center, Luo Xingchen let go of his arm.
“You can drive yourself to the hospital, Mr. Fu. I’ll cover the medical bills!” Luo Xingchen looked at him and said in a tone devoid of emotion.
“You got scalded with boiling-hot coffee, and you’re telling me to drive myself to the hospital? Do you have any conscience at all?” Fu Jingxiao said as he took off his white tracksuit and pulled open the shirt underneath, revealing a patch of reddened, scalded skin on his neck.
Seeing the blisters the coffee had raised on his neck, Luo Xingchen suddenly felt a pang of guilt for her earlier attitude.
She had assumed the coffee thrown by the spectator wasn’t that hot—she never expected it could raise blisters.
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” Luo Xingchen said, her tone softening.
Once in the car, Fu Jingxiao said to her as she started the engine, “A few days ago, I intercepted a shipment Zhan the Madman wanted, and I got injured. I can’t go to a hospital to treat this burn. If he finds out I’m wounded, he’ll latch onto me. Just take me home so I can apply some burn ointment.”
Zhan Yi was the most powerful of Fu Jingxiao’s rivals. About the same age as Fu Jingxiao, Zhan Yi was determined to replace him as the king of the business world, and over the past few years he had repeatedly stolen Fu Jingxiao’s projects.
Every time Zhan Yi snatched a project away, Fu Corporation’s employees would curse him for days.
“We have nothing to do with each other anymore. Telling me all this—aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you out for money?” Luo Xingchen shot Fu Jingxiao a cold, mocking glance.
Before the divorce, she’d felt Fu Jingxiao was a rather meticulous man. After the divorce, why did he suddenly seem to be lacking in the brains department?
Irritable, trusting of others, slow-witted—all flaws that could easily cost him his life.
Hearing Luo Xingchen say they had nothing to do with each other anymore, Fu Jingxiao felt an inexplicable discomfort.
“Who says divorce means no connection at all? Who says divorced people can’t get along like friends?”
Luo Xingchen glanced out of the corner of her eye at his displeased face and said in a distant voice, “I don’t know about other people, but I can’t be friends with you. In my view, anyone who stays friends with an ex is just keeping them as a backup option.
After seeing different scenery, they decide the old scenery was better after all, and come back to reconcile. I have no intention of ever reconciling with you, so naturally I have no intention of being your friend either.”
Though Luo Xingchen’s words stung, Fu Jingxiao had to admit she had a point.
But thinking of how she had pretended in front of him for the past two years, he didn’t feel like being reasonable.
“You’re clearly so athletically capable, yet you pretended to be a frail woman who couldn’t even change a water cooler jug in front of me. Two whole years of pretending—what were you after?” Fu Jingxiao demanded, his gaze icy as he stared at Luo Xingchen.
“What purpose could I have? Of course, it’s for Fu’s money. It’s just a pity I was too cautious and conservative. If I’d known Fu was so generous as to prepare ten billion for me, I would have asked him for twenty billion. Then he’d haggle, and I probably could have gotten twelve billion out of him. What a shame.” Luo Xingchen looked utterly regretful.
In truth, even knowing the divorce settlement Fu Jingxiao had given her, she would never have asked for that much.
Three billion was the figure she had calculated based on her own abilities.
She would take exactly what she deserved.
“You already have so much money—why did you think of entering a competition?” Fu Jingxiao asked curiously.
“So I don’t end up eating through my savings. You saw for yourself how stunning my performance was today. While everyone’s still dazzled by me, I’ll strike while the iron is hot and enter the entertainment industry.
With the divorce money you gave me, I’ll make bold investments to rake in cash, take on endorsements and acting roles, and surpass the legendary goddess of a generation, Lu Wan’er!”
Watching Luo Xingchen’s eyes light up as she talked on and on, Fu Jingxiao’s face grew darker and darker.
Just as Qin Mingyue had said, she really intended to follow Lu Wan’er’s path to success.
Lu Wan’er, a former elite athlete, had transitioned into the entertainment industry after retiring, and having excelled at acting, she became a boss herself. Now she was a titan of the entertainment world, with a company worth tens of billions, and she herself was a powerhouse worth ten billion.
“Lu Wan’er’s path to success isn’t something anyone can replicate exactly and achieve the same results. My advice is, with three billion in hand, you should live a stable life, lest you overexert yourself and lose everything down to your last pair of socks.” Fu Jingxiao mocked her aloud, but inwardly he felt far from confident.
The old Luo Xingchen had been dutiful and well-behaved, never seeming particularly ambitious.
But ever since her divorce from him, her face-changing speed was so rapid he couldn’t process it.
It wasn’t impossible that she could become a legendary woman like Lu Wan’er.
Figure skating had always been Xia Nation’s weak sport, yet she had won two gold medals for it in one go, becoming the only dual-champion female skater in Xia Nation’s figure skating history.
“Rest assured, Fu. Even if I lose everything down to my last pair of socks, I will never borrow a single cent from you. And you needn’t worry that I’ll use my status as your ex-wife, Fu Jingxiao, to drum up popularity in the entertainment industry. Ours was a secret marriage—I won’t let anyone know about our relationship.”
Seeing how carefully Luo Xingchen distanced herself from him, Fu Jingxiao felt as if he were being roasted over a blazing fire, and an indescribable fury burned in his heart.
With nowhere to vent his anger, Fu Jingxiao simply closed his eyes and stopped paying attention to Luo Xingchen.
Half an hour later, Luo Xingchen drove the car to their home at Ziting Yipin—the marital home they had lived in for two years.
“Fu Jingxiao, we’re home. Get out of the car!” Luo Xingchen called as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
However, Fu Jingxiao, leaning against the seat with his eyes tightly shut, did not respond.
“Fu Jingxiao, we’re home. Wake up!”
Fu Jingxiao still didn’t move, showing no reaction.
Luo Xingchen sensed something was wrong and leaned in for a closer look. Under the dim yellow light, Fu Jingxiao’s face, with his eyes closed, was flushed a clearly abnormal red.
Luo Xingchen reached out to touch his face.
Burning hot! He had a high fever!
Luo Xingchen hurriedly got out of the car and pushed Fu Jingxiao hard several times, shaking the groggy man awake.
“Fu Jingxiao, you have a fever. Can’t you feel it?” Luo Xingchen said crossly.
Injured and running a fever, yet he still went to watch a competition and played the hero trying to save someone?
Wasn’t he afraid of risking his own life?
Fu Jingxiao had known he had a fever when he got up in the morning. But he didn’t take such a trivial matter seriously at all, and despite feeling unwell, he still went to watch Luo Xingchen’s competition.
Sitting in the audience, Fu Jingxiao felt that something was wrong with his body. While watching others compete, he swayed unsteadily several times.
Later, when he saw Luo Xingchen performing flawlessly in perfect sync with her male partner, the burning admiration and amazement in his heart made him feel a little better.
Then, when he saw an audience member throw coffee at Luo Xingchen, his fever-addled brain failed to make the most correct response, and his body instinctively rushed over to shield her from the coffee with his own body.
Normally, that cup of coffee would never have gotten anywhere near him.
“I’m fine!” Fu Jingxiao said as he got out of the car.
But the moment he stepped out of the car, his body went weak and he pitched forward.
Seeing this, Luo Xingchen hurriedly caught him, and with great effort helped the tall, big-framed man into the room.
After helping Fu Jingxiao onto the bed in the bedroom, Luo Xingchen went to look for fever medicine. When she walked back into the bedroom with the medicine and water, she saw Fu Jingxiao lying face down on the bed, bare-chested.
“Ah… why aren’t you wearing any clothes?” Luo Xingchen shrieked and quickly turned around, her exquisite little face flushing crimson.