Rong Yuchuan froze, stunned.
Shen Chuhe seemed to have been terribly frightened and wronged, and her body kept shrinking backward.
She raised her hand to shield herself, her face covered in tears. She slowly shook her head as tears slid down her cheeks and reached the corner of her lips, leaving a faintly bitter taste. Her lips trembled as she screamed in fear, “Go away! All of you, go away! I beg you, stay away from me!”
She looked at him with a sorrowful, despairing gaze, like a pool of stagnant water that had long since lost all hope.
Every movement she made was filled with unmistakable rejection and disgust, as though he were some terrifying beast.
Her hand was trembling.
For some reason, a strange feeling stirred in Rong Yuchuan’s heart.
Shen Chuhe seemed to have become subtly different ever since she woke up in the hospital last time…
His eyes narrowed slightly as he suppressed that strange feeling.
Meanwhile, in Shen Chuhe’s heart, Rong Yuchuan’s face at that moment had already completely overlapped with the Rong Yuchuan she knew three years later.
Just now, the patch of white that had appeared before her blurred eyes, along with the pungent smell of disinfectant, had dragged her straight back into the moment when she had undergone the fetal removal in her previous life.
It hurt.
It really hurt.
She could never forget that kind of pain…
But she was clearly already trying to stay away from them!
Why was it always like this? Why couldn’t she escape no matter how hard she tried? Why did she always have to run into him?
Shen Chuhe closed her eyes and collapsed onto the bed, her entire body filled with exhaustion.
After a long while, time seemed to stretch endlessly, as though an entire century had passed.
Only then did Shen Chuhe regain her composure. Her expression gradually turned indifferent. She opened her eyes but did not look at Rong Yuchuan, speaking in a detached tone, “Sorry, I just had a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?” Rong Yuchuan stepped forward. “Who were the people you were talking about when you said ‘all of you’ in your nightmare?”
“It has nothing to do with you.” She did not want to say anything more.
“Ah…”
Shen Chuhe moved slightly, only to tug at the wound on her shoulder, which had just been treated after the bullet was removed. Pain twisted her expression.
Rong Yuchuan also returned to his usual cold and stern demeanor. He scoffed, “Stop pretending!”
Her acting was ten times better than that newly crowned actress’s.
So just now… was this another new act she had put on?
Hah!
“I heard from that man surnamed Jiang that you two are going to volunteer as teachers?”
Shen Chuhe stiffened and looked straight at him. “So what if we are?”
“For two years? Did I agree to that?”
Rong Yuchuan’s gaze was cold and distant. He bent down and looked down at her from above, yet his hand landed on the freshly bandaged wound where the bullet had been removed.
“One of you serves tea and waits on the old master, while the other uses charity as an excuse to win his favor. You father and daughter really know how to cater to people’s preferences!”
The old master was deeply devoted to charity. He had established rural primary schools and had even organized volunteer teaching teams.
Rong Yuchuan assumed that she was doing all this to please the old master.
Shen Chuhe stared at him for a long while before turning her head away and spitting out two words, “You’re crazy!”
She and he would never be able to make themselves understood to each other!
No matter what she did or said, he always judged her according to his own preconceived ideas, stubbornly believing that he was the one who was right!
She no longer had the desire to explain herself.
“Who gave you the nerve to speak to me like that?”
Rong Yuchuan’s expression hardened. The hand pressing against her wound became heavier until Shen Chuhe frowned, and only then did he loosen his grip.
“Shen Chuhe, don’t forget your place!”
“What place am I supposed to remember? I already told you, Rong Yuchuan, Uncle, we’re done with each other!”
She had finally said those words.
Shen Chuhe felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
“Done with each other? Shen Chuhe, you really think highly of yourself!”
Rong Yuchuan grabbed her chin. He leaned closer, holding her firmly for a moment before releasing her at once. “What do you take me, Rong Yuchuan, for? Let me tell you, I…”
He was just about to continue when he seemed to suddenly realize something. His eyes narrowed slightly and his expression changed abruptly.
“Shen Chuhe, so this is your real purpose! You deliberately said all those things to provoke me so you could play hard to get! I really underestimated you!”
That was quite a remarkable trick.
“In your eyes, everything I do is calculated! Everything is some kind of scheme to you?”
Shen Chuhe could not hold back any longer and questioned him furiously.
“Someone who knew how to climb into a man’s bed to exchange herself for benefits as soon as she became an adult, what kind of good person could you possibly be?”
In an instant, Shen Chuhe’s face turned deathly pale. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
The moment the words left his mouth, Rong Yuchuan frowned, seemingly regretting what he had said. However, when he saw Shen Chuhe’s face, that regret disappeared, leaving nothing but contempt.
“Since you said we’re done, fine! Have it your way! I want to see how you’re going to keep playing these tricks when there’s no one left to play with you!”
After saying that, the man turned around and walked away. When he reached the door, he spoke again.
“Next time you want to lure a man in, remember to ask your dear father, Shen Yi, for some advice!”
Then he left without looking back.
Shen Chuhe suppressed the humiliation burning in her heart and hurriedly jumped out of bed to look toward the doorway.
He was really gone!
She opened her mouth and let out a long breath, immediately feeling much more relaxed.
It did not matter whether Rong Yuchuan thought she was playing tricks or believed something else. As long as she achieved her goal, that was all that mattered!
With the pride buried deep in Rong Yuchuan’s bones, once he had said those words, he absolutely would not come back to pester her again.
This was good.
This was exactly what she wanted.
Shen Chuhe finally felt at ease.
“Rong Ye, I think I just saw Miss Shen Chuhe chasing after you…”
At the corner of the hospital, Li Qin had sharp eyes and spotted Shen Chuhe.
Rong Yuchuan’s expression turned cold. “Don’t worry about her! She needs to learn what happens when she takes things too far!”
Downstairs, Li Qin went to bring the car around first.
Rong Yuchuan got into the car.
There was a brand new phone on the passenger seat.
“Rong Ye, this is the phone we bought for Miss Shen. Should I still give it to her?”
“No. Go to the Qiao family.”
Qiao Wan had woken up the previous night and he had sent her back to the Qiao family. There was a small gathering at the Qiao family’s home tonight, with several prominent families from Beicheng invited.
Half an hour later, Rong Yuchuan suddenly spoke.
“Was what I said just now too harsh?”
Li Qin had been waiting outside the hospital room the entire time. His hands paused slightly on the steering wheel before he immediately replied, “How could it be? Besides, Miss Shen wouldn’t really be angry with you, Rong Ye.”
What kind of status did Rong Yuchuan have? He was practically a heaven favored man. Even if he went too far, it would still be someone else’s fault.
“That’s true.”
Rong Yuchuan closed his eyes and said nothing more.
“I thought Miss Shen was deeply devoted to Rong Ye, but I didn’t expect her to actually learn to…”
“Li Qin, you’re talking too much.”
Rong Yuchuan’s voice turned cold, and there was a clear hint of anger in it.
Li Qin’s hands trembled on the steering wheel. “Yes! Yes, I was talking too much!”
Rong Yuchuan casually rested his hand on his leg, tapping his fingers lightly as his expression gradually calmed.
Actually…
How could he not know that Shen Chuhe was scheming and had plenty of tricks up her sleeve?
At the beginning, Shen Chuhe had climbed into his bed for the sake of benefits, but later…
He had also seen just how much this woman loved him.
Starting at eighteen, she had cooked for him and taken care of every little thing herself whenever she could.
When he was nineteen, an accident occurred at the club he frequented.
She secretly slipped inside, and in order to save him, she broke one of her ribs.