CH 11

In the blink of an eye, it had been a few days since Shen Xi returned to China.

As Shen Xi’s father was still hospitalised, Shen Xi had to go there every day to play the role of a filial son.

As expected, Shen Dehan was not happy about his arrival, but the family was in a critical situation and he had to accept Shen Xi’s presence in the hospital.

Shen Xi did not care about his father’s attitude and was happily active around Shen Dehan every day. Seeing Shen Dehan being clearly disgusted by his presence but having to endure it in front of the doctors and nurses gave Shen Xi an indescribable pleasure.

That day, Shen Xi arrived at the hospital as usual. As the elevator doors opened, Shen Xi was about to enter, but unexpectedly a young man suddenly rushed out from inside and collided with Shen Xi.

Due to the height difference, Shen Xi’s chin hurt a little bit, but the other party hit his nose hard.

Looking at the other man who lowered his head, clutching his face for a long time silently, Shen Xi had to ask, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.” The other man was obviously in great pain and his voice sounded slightly tearful.

Shen Xi said, “Do you want me to take you to a doctor?”

“No, no, I’ll be fine soon.” The other man said while trying to raise his head to look at Shen Xi. The moment their eyes met, both of them froze.

Shen Xi was very surprised, “Li Mingfei?”

The young man whom Shen Xi called Li Mingfei looked at Shen Xi blankly, and only after a second did he speak dumbly, “Hello, cousin Shen Xi.”

Shen Xi could not help but chuckle.

Li Mingfei was Li Mingxuan’s younger brother, but his personality was completely different from Li Mingxuan’s. Since he was a child, he was timid and shy and would hide behind adults in fear at the slightest movement. In his previous life, Li Mingfei liked to follow Shen Xi very much, but Shen Xi did not like his character and bullied him every time he saw him. Surprisingly, despite Shen Xi’s bullying, he still followed Shen Xi again and again, until one time Shen Xi bullied him and was seen by his aunt. Li Mingfei had never come to see Shen Xi since then and the Li family intentionally or unintentionally kept the two of them apart.

Seeing Li Mingfei again after so many years, Shen Xi had long forgotten his history of bullying and instead missed the little tail that followed his ass.

“You’re here to see father.” Shen Xi used an affirmative tone.

Li Mingfei probably didn’t expect to meet Shen Xi here. He was in a daze for a long time. After hearing Shen Xi speak, he nodded blankly.

“Alone?” Shen Xi asked while pulling him to the side of the elevator.

Only then did Li Mingfei react, withdrawing his hand and shaking his head, “Mother and big brother are up there.” Li Mingfei looked a little embarrassed as he said, “I forgot the gift I brought to Uncle in the car and big brother asked me to come down and get it.”

Shen Xi looked at Li Mingfei’s blushing face when he said that, and raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect that Li Mingfei’s personality hadn’t changed over the years and he was still getting shy so easily.

Since they met, Shen Xi said casually, “I’ll go with you to get it.”

Li Mingfei gave Shen Xi a surprised look and a cautious smile appeared on his face.

It only took a few minutes to get from the hospital lobby to the parking lot and back, and Shen Xi was slightly curious as he surveyed a small sculpture in Li Mingfei’s hand, a naive puppy.

Li Mingfei surreptitiously observed Shen Xi’s expression, nervously holding the puppy in his hand, “Do you like them, cousin?”

“Like what?” Shen Xi was taken aback.

Li Mingfei lowered his head, “Puppies.”

Shen Xi casually responded, “I like them.”

“Really?” Li Mingfei looked at Shen Xi in surprise and got excited, “When I knew about your return, cousin, I specially made one for you too.”

Shen Xi did not expect Li Mingfei to remember him. Looking at Li Mingfei’s serious expression, Shen Xi smiled slightly, “Thank you.”

With just two words, Li Mingfei was instantly embarrassed. Shen Xi’s mood relaxed, and the weirdness and estrangement between the two when they first met gradually disappeared.

Along the way, the two talked about their respective lives. It was only then that Shen Xi remembered that the information Lao K had collected mentioned that Li Mingfei had entered the sculpture department of the Zhongjing Academy of Fine Arts two years ago, but because Shen Xi paid little attention to Li Mingfei, he had skimmed over it.

As they returned to the ward, Li Mingfei was about to reach out and push the door open, but stopped when he heard the conversation from inside the room.

Shen Dehan’s voice came out, “Let Shen Xi stay in a hotel if he wants to, just so he doesn’t go back to the Shen family’s house to be an eyesore.”

Li Mingfei looked awkwardly at Shen Xi, who stepped forward as if nothing happened and pushed open the door. The sound inside the ward came to an abrupt halt and everyone’s gazes converged on the door.

A hint of mockery flashed across Shen Xi’s face as he looked at the people in the room calmly.

Shen Xi’s aunt, a well-maintained middle-aged beautiful woman, was the first to speak, “Xiao Xi you’re back? Have you met your cousins Mingxuan and Mingfei?”

Shen Xi nodded and was about to say something when Shen Dehan said, “It’s too stuffy in the room, Bixue, accompany me for a walk outside.”

Bixue was the name of Shen Xi’s aunt.

Shen Bixue smiled decently at Shen Xi, “You brothers have a good time together, I will accompany your father for a walk, it is not good for his health to stay in the ward too much.”

With the departure of Shen Dehan and Shen Bixue, only Shen Xi, Li Mingxuan and Li Mingfei were left in the room.

Li Mingfei gave Shen Xi a careful look. Clearly eager to say something but not knowing how to do so, he looked at Li Mingxuan imploringly.

Li Mingxuan stepped forward. Shen Xi took a step back and lowered his eyes, ” Make yourselves comfortable and I’ll be out for a while.”

After leaving the room, Shen Xi discovered that Shen Dehan had taken all the bodyguards in the corridor with him, apparently guarding against reporters. Shen Xi smiled coldly. He was already used to the way his father treated him. No matter what Shen Dehan said, he couldn’t hurt him anymore. But he couldn’t stand the pity in Li Mingfei’s eyes and he didn’t want to have anything to do with Li Mingxuan. 

Shen Xi left the ward and walked to the end of the corridor, only to find that it was actually facing the garden. As he looked down inadvertently, an unexpected face appeared in his sight. Chu Qianqian.

Unlike the last time when she wore heavy makeup and was dressed seductively, the current Chu Qianqian looked simple and clean in her hospital nurse attire, indescribably fresh and pretty. She was standing on the garden path looking somewhere to the left. Shen Xi followed her line of sight and Shen Dehan’s figure appeared in front of his eyes.

Shen Xi raised his eyebrows. He just mentioned that Shen Dehan was currently in hospital and Chu Qianqian was so quick to think of a way to get close to him. She was really unexpectedly dedicated.

Not long after, Chu Qianqian called out to a little boy passing by, lowered her head and said something to him. Soon Shen Xi saw the little boy running in the direction of Shen Dehan, and Chu Qianqian chased after him with an anxious look until she was unexpectedly stopped by a bodyguard.

Chu Qianqian smiled at the bodyguard embarrassedly and looked innocently in the direction of Shen Dehan. They were too far away, and Shen Xi could not see his father’s expression, but from his movements he could imagine how shocked Shen Dehan was at the moment.

As he watched his father rush to Chu Qianqian despite his aunt’s obstruction, Shen Xi’s eyes darkened and he turned to leave without looking any further.

This day Shen Xi left the hospital early without saying goodbye to anyone. He did not go back to the hotel but went to the cemetery.

Standing in front of his mother’s grave again after five years, Shen Xi did not say anything but looked at her picture in silence.

On the tombstone, his mother’s smile was bright and happy. Shen Xi slowly stretched out his hand to block her smiling face, and a wave of sadness welled up in his heart.

Although the appearance of Chu Qianqian was arranged by him, looking at his father’s extreme reaction, Shen Xi still couldn’t help feeling bitter. Shen Dehan was not worthy of his mother.

Shen Xi wondered what made his mother fall in love with his father.

In her best years, she had given up her single life and the countless outstanding peers around her and insisted on marrying a man fifteen years older than her. Their married life was devoid of happiness, and even when his mother was pregnant, his father never gave her an ounce of warmth. Instead, he tried to convince her to give up her child on the grounds of her poor health, but in reality fearing that the birth of Shen Xi would affect the inheritance rights of Shen Ji and Shen Cheng. Not to mention the fact that his father had another woman and another child on the way at the same time.

How could such a cold and selfish father gain his mother’s deep love!

Shen Xi laughed out in a low voice, a quiet, sad sound that echoed through the cemetery for a long time.