“Spread your legs!”
“Why are you keeping them pressed together?”
“You’re not a virgin anymore! Why are you embarrassed about an examination?”
Head Nurse Li said impatiently.
The woman lying on the bed was the wife of Shen Yanqing, Beicheng’s richest man. Head Nurse Li would never have dared to be so rude to her under ordinary circumstances.
But everyone at the hospital knew that although she had the title of Mrs. Shen, she wasn’t loved by the Shen family.
And now Old Madam Shen had sent her in for another examination.
Zheng Wanning took a deep breath and bit down on her lower lip. She didn’t realize she’d bitten it hard enough to taste blood until the metallic tang filled her mouth.
Under the nurse’s disgusted gaze, she slowly spread her legs again, forming an M.
Even though she knew it was only a routine examination, she couldn’t help feeling humiliated.
The private hospital was probably owned by the Shen family, and all the medical staff had been specifically appointed by Huang Yumei.
Head Nurse Li’s lips curled in mockery as she inserted the cold instrument into Zheng Wanning.
Zheng Wanning’s brows pinched together in discomfort, and she bit her lower lip hard.
It didn’t hurt much.
It was the humiliating position, coupled with the nurse’s scornful, disdainful gaze.
The whole experience was degrading.
After a series of examinations, Zheng Wanning waited for the results in the lounge.
Suddenly, hushed voices came from outside the door.
“That woman’s here for another examination. Young Master Shen is back from America, so Old Madam Shen hurried her in to get checked.”
“I heard they’ve been married for years and still don’t have a child. At this rate, she’s bound to be thrown out.”
“Tell me about it. Being a rich man’s wife isn’t easy. She only married into the family because she got pregnant in the first place, and then…”
Their voices gradually faded away.
Zheng Wanning’s face turned deathly pale. Her hands, resting at her sides, clenched tightly together.
A while later, Hospital Director Zhang came in with the report and announced the results with a cold, expressionless face.
“Mrs. Shen, you had an abortion three years ago. The results still show that your uterus is weak, and you may have difficulty conceiving again.”
Zheng Wanning pressed her lips together and murmured, “Mm.”
Her voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.
The casual mention of the word “abortion” was like a sharp knife tearing open a healed wound, leaving it raw and bloodied all over again.
When she stepped out of the hospital, the sunlight was so glaring that her eyes began to sting.
She raised a hand to rub them. Then she saw the stack of reports in her other hand and threw it into a trash can.
The results would probably reach Huang Yumei’s ears soon…
She’d spent the whole morning undergoing examinations, so she’d turned off her phone.
When she switched it back on, she found more than sixty missed calls and messages from Chen Feng.
Zheng Wanning thought for a moment, hesitated, then hailed a taxi to Zhonghe Road.
Zhonghe Road was her mother’s home—or, more accurately, the house the Shen family had given her mother after Zheng Wanning married Shen Yanqing.
As soon as she stepped inside, Chen Feng hurried over, shouting, “Zheng Wanning, I called you dozens of times! Why didn’t you answer?”
Zheng Wanning tossed her bag onto the table, poured herself a glass of water, and drank it to catch her breath. Only then did she look at Chen Feng.
“I was busy. What do you want?”
Seeing how unhurried she was, Chen Feng grew frantic.
She pulled out a newspaper with an entertainment headline and flung it at Zheng Wanning’s head.
“Your husband’s about to be stolen away, and you’re still taking your sweet time!”
The paper slid off Zheng Wanning’s forehead and landed on the floor. She glanced down at it.
On a golf course, a tall man in a custom-made Italian sports outfit was holding hands with a beautiful woman.
The photo only showed the man from the side and behind. His understated luxury and every measured gesture exuded quiet nobility.
The woman looked beautiful in a sky-blue dress. She gazed at him with eyes so luminous they seemed to ripple even through the screen.
The headline read: “Beicheng CEO Spotted Playing Golf with a Beautiful Woman.”
Her thick eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Chen Feng’s brows twisted into a knot. She yelled furiously, “They didn’t get a clear shot of his face, but everyone knows that one-of-a-kind custom watch. It’s Shen Yanqing. Why is he holding hands with some woman whose background no one knows? What exactly is going on between you two?”
“Has Shen Yanqing even come home once since he returned to the country six months ago? What kind of wife are you?”
A cold smile touched Zheng Wanning’s lips as she looked at Chen Feng through the glass of her water cup.
Over the past few years, Chen Feng had become more and more like a rich man’s wife. She wore two pieces of vivid green jade jewelry on her hands and a pearl necklace, and she even had several maids taking turns serving her.
“How do you want things to be between us?”
“If Shen Yanqing won’t come home, am I supposed to drag him back?”
Chen Feng was furious that Zheng Wanning wasn’t living up to her expectations.
When she learned Zheng Wanning was pregnant, she’d stormed over to the Shen family and resorted to all kinds of tactics to force them to agree to let Zheng Wanning marry in.
And now Zheng Wanning was being so useless!
Not long after the wedding, Shen Yanqing went abroad. At last, he’d come back—and now there were rumors he had another woman.
Chen Feng’s expression darkened. “I paved the way for you, so how come you can’t keep hold of him? How did I end up with such a stupid daughter?”
Zheng Wanning set down her glass. Even the faint, fake smile on her face vanished.
“Ms. Chen, you never taught me a thing while I was growing up. Don’t forget, all you ever did was ask me for money.”
“The jewelry you wear, the house you live in, the maids, your monthly living expenses—which of those didn’t come from me, Mrs. Shen?”
At that, Chen Feng flew into a rage. “I’m your mother! It’s only right that you give me money!”
“If it weren’t for me, you’d never have married into the Shen family!”
Zheng Wanning scoffed. “That’s right. Since you’re my mother, you should be grateful I’m still here today, listening to you spout this nonsense!”
“What kind of way is that to talk to me? I’m trying to teach you!”
Chen Feng snapped, “You’d better hurry up and have a child, then use it to keep him. Otherwise, someone else will soon take your place as Mrs. Shen.”
At the mention of a child yet again, Zheng Wanning couldn’t help changing expression. Did not having a child mean she was nothing more than a lowly Mrs. Shen in name only?
“Are you afraid Shen Yanqing will leave me and you’ll lose your comfortable life?”
At her blunt, unapologetic words, Chen Feng’s temper reached its breaking point.
Unable to hold back any longer, she raised her hand to slap Zheng Wanning and make her shut up.
Zheng Wanning remained calm.
She’d lost count of how many times Chen Feng had slapped her growing up. Once, she’d even been beaten badly enough to suffer a concussion and spend a whole week in the hospital.
But this time was different. Zheng Wanning thrust her face toward Chen Feng.
“Go on, hit me! You wouldn’t dare!”
“You won’t have to wait until I’m no longer Mrs. Shen. Your life could change beyond recognition in the very next second!”
Chen Feng’s face turned alternately pale and livid with rage.
Her hand froze in midair. Faced with the warning, she didn’t dare bring it down.
Zheng Wanning shoved her mother’s rough hand away, went to the sofa to get her bag, and headed for the door.
At the doorway, she tossed one last sentence over her shoulder.
“Heh. You think I’m still the little girl I was back then—the Zheng Wanning who wouldn’t hit back or talk back, and who obediently let you throw her into prostitution?”