Chapter 21

“Wake up!”

Xu Wangzhi’s mind, filled with rage just moments ago, cleared a little, and his whole body nearly gave out from fright.

Realizing what a stupid thing he had just done, he wished he could slap himself.

Wen Jianxin was shaken awake by him, her body too weak even to open her eyes.

The first thing she felt was pain, the second was hate.

To do such a beastly thing to a sick person—he deserved to die!

But she didn’t have the strength to push him away. Her voice came out weak and frail.

“Let go of me…”

“You’re awake?”

Xu Wangzhi exclaimed in delight, quickly grabbing her clothes and helping her put them on.

“I’ll take you to the hospital.”

The breath caught in Wen Jianxin’s chest, almost suffocating her.

Go humiliate herself at the hospital again?

She might not care about her own dignity, but he should at least care about his.

Her anger peaked, and her trembling voice spilled out.

“Shameless.”

But what came out was barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz.

Xu Wangzhi didn’t hear. Thinking she was unwell, he quickly leaned closer, ear near her lips, anxiously asking:

“Where does it hurt? Tell me, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Wen Jianxin no longer wanted to open her eyes. With the last of her strength, she turned her head away.

“Hypocrite.”

She really couldn’t understand this man anymore.

The one who kept hurting her was him, yet the one now acting anxious and tender was also him.

If he was sick, he should just get treated early instead of tormenting others.

Her body trembled from the pain, her mind once again drifting into a haze.

Xu Wangzhi’s eyes turned red with panic. Without wasting another word, he hastily dressed and carried her out.

At the door, they ran into Li Kuihua, who was holding a tray of food.

“Oh my, what’s this? Look at her face so pale—Chief, you abusing her or what?”

The thoughtless words slipped straight out. Realizing what she had just said, she quickly covered her mouth, spat twice, and forced an awkward laugh.

“Listen to my rotten mouth, always spouting nonsense. What’s wrong with sister-in-law? Why’s her face so pale? Must be sick. You better hurry to the infirmary, and if that’s not enough, head straight to the hospital.”

Xu Wangzhi had no time for her chatter. He just nodded and kept walking.

Wen Jianxin’s mind cleared slightly again. Her fingers dug into her palm, and through gritted teeth she forced out a few words.

“Not… going… to… hospital.”

She had just left the hospital. To go back again, and for this reason—she couldn’t bear the shame.

Before Xu Wangzhi could respond, Li Kuihua jumped in impatiently.

“Sister-in-law, you can’t just ignore your illness. Your face is so pale—if people didn’t know better, they’d think you had some terrible disease. If you don’t go to the hospital, how could our Chief rest easy?”

Her words were full of implication—what did she mean by “some terrible disease”?

But her expression was nothing but concern, her eyes earnest, her tone hurried, as if she might just snatch Wen Jianxin up and carry her to the hospital herself.

Wen Jianxin forced her eyes open, speaking weakly.

“Thank you, this is just an old problem of mine. A little rest and I’ll be fine.”

Somehow, she found the strength to pull away from Xu Wangzhi’s arms, staggering to her feet.

A wave of dizziness hit her, pain stabbing through every limb. She barely kept herself upright, forcing a pale, stiff smile.

“See? I’m perfectly fine.”

Li Kuihua found her smile unnerving, her suspicious gaze sweeping up and down Wen Jianxin.

“Sister-in-law, are you sure? Maybe you’d better still go to the hospital.”

She glanced down at the food in her hands, belatedly offering it.

“I thought since you just moved in, you probably hadn’t prepared much. So I cooked some ribs for you. Who knew…”

Her smile turned awkward, unsure whether to hand the food over or not.

Wen Jianxin barely had the strength to stand, let alone take anything. Suppressing her disgust, she said to Xu Wangzhi:

“Auntie means well. Just take it. Another day we’ll invite her over for dinner.”

Xu Wangzhi accepted it, his eyes fixed on Wen Jianxin with concern.

“Why won’t you go to the hospital?”

Wen Jianxin swallowed down the urge to curse him, telling herself not to argue with a madman. She turned her back on him, voice as calm as she could manage.

“Go start the car. Take me back to the Wen house.”

She couldn’t stay here another minute.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Li Kuihua wanted to leave, but it didn’t seem right.

If something happened and no one was around to help, her husband would scold her when he came back. She swallowed her urge to walk away, cautiously asking:

“Um, sister-in-law, you just moved into the family quarters—why leave already?”

The Chief’s face looked so frighteningly dark.

How had she never realized before that he had such a nasty temper?

Just married, not even through the wedding night, and already he was scowling at his wife—what was that supposed to be?

No wonder he didn’t marry until thirty-three.

Fuming silently, she dared not show it on her face.

Before Xu Wangzhi could speak, another voice piped up.

“This is sister-in-law, right? I thought it’d be a while before we met her, didn’t expect it so soon. Sister-in-law, hello, I’m the wife of Commander Chen under the Chief. My name’s Wang Chunlan—you can just call me Chunlan.”

Her features were plain, her body tall and thin, but her bright black eyes lent her a surprising beauty.

As she stepped closer and got a good look at the young woman in the red dress, her eyes widened in shock.

She had heard long ago that the Chief’s wife was young and beautiful, promised to him since childhood. But she hadn’t expected the real person to surpass even the rumors—she was almost unreal.

She couldn’t stop herself from staring, left and right, utterly fascinated.

But soon, she noticed something else.

The beautiful woman’s face was ghostly pale, her body swaying unsteadily as if she might faint at any moment. Wang Chunlan cried out in alarm:

“Sister-in-law, what’s wrong?”

More and more people were gathering, the whole family compound coming out to see.

Overwhelmed, Wen Jianxin’s mind grew hazier. Finally, she couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed.

Before losing consciousness, she heard someone call out sharply. Then, nothing.

Xu Wangzhi hadn’t expected that just the moment he left to get the car, Wen Jianxin would faint.

His heart filled with regret again over his earlier recklessness. He pushed through the crowd, scooping her into his arms and rushing to the car.

He drove at breakneck speed, not stopping once.

Meanwhile, the compound buzzed with rumors:

The Chief’s new wife had fainted just after moving in.

She had admitted herself that her health was poor, fainting was normal for her.

The Chief had finally married, only to have a sickly wife—everyone pitied him.

Su Hong, seeing Wen Jianxin brought back yet again, nearly turned green.

In all her years as a doctor, she had never seen such a misfortunate patient.

And that man—pretending to care, yet acting recklessly, cold-blooded, utterly selfish. A beast in human skin. This woman marrying him was truly her misfortune.

Having learned her lesson before, Su Hong dared not say much. She pushed down her anger and carefully treated the poor woman.

But the more she examined, the more shocked she became.

This was clearly…

She looked up in horror, eyes fixed on the emergency room doors, as though she could see the beastly man standing outside.

Meanwhile, Wen Zhouyi, ready to board his train tonight, received a call from home.

The very first sentence made him frown.

The rest made him so furious he hurled the pocket watch in his hand to the ground.

The valuable watch shattered into pieces, but no one cared.

His voice was laced with venom.

“How dare he! How dare he!”

With a loud crack, he slammed the phone to the floor.

Wen Yuli set down his newspaper, puzzled.

“What’s happened? Why are you so angry?”

Expressionless, Wen Zhouyi let out a cold smile.

“Xu Wangzhi deserves to die!”

He truly wanted to kill, to see the entire Xu family erased.

The next second, the coldness vanished, replaced by his usual graceful composure.

Bending down, he picked up the phone he had thrown.

His long, slender fingers slid over it as he dialed a number.

When it connected, his voice was low and steady.

“I’ll be back in a few days. Handle everything there for now. Unless it’s urgent, don’t contact me. Mm, that’s all.”

“Big Brother, what happened?”

For something to stir such fury in his usually calm, gentle, polite elder brother—what had that damned Xu Wangzhi done?

Wen Zhouyi drew out a handkerchief, meticulously wiping his hands.

“This isn’t for you to worry about. There are still many matters in the south that need your attention. Go back. I’ll handle this.”

Wen Yuli stood, face solemn.

“Big Brother, this concerns our sister. I have the right to know. Please tell me.”

Wen Zhouyi’s expression turned cold.

“And what good would it do if I told you? You’re indecisive, cowardly. Not only would you fail to solve anything, you’d burden our sister further, even make her comfort you instead. Tell me, why should I tell you? If you care so much, go settle the problems in the south cleanly. Don’t leave loose ends that I’ll have to clean up for you.”

Wen Yuli was struck speechless, his fists clenching tight.

He had always known—he was indecisive, hesitant, nowhere near as strong and decisive as his brother, nor as protective of their sister.

He had tried to change, but found he couldn’t.

Family honor was etched into his very bones—something no willpower could erase.

Though he had silenced his foolish brother, Wen Zhouyi’s mood hardly improved.

Just thinking of his sister lying unconscious again made him want to skin Xu Wangzhi alive.

And the rest of the Xu family, those useless fools who always smoothed things over.

Suppressing the fire in his chest, he let out a slow breath. Once his face had smoothed back into composure, he picked up the car keys and walked out.

Wen Yuli hurried after him.

“Big Brother, I’m coming with you.”