CH 13

Waking up from a hangover, Shen Xi felt nothing but a splitting headache.

Struggling to get up from the bed, Shen Xi looked at the familiar surroundings and his crumpled shirt, and for a moment was in a daze.

He remembered that he had been drinking at the bar last night because he was in a bad mood, and he seemed to have gotten drunk. What had happened? How did he get back?

Shen Xi rubbed his temples as he tried to remember his experience last night. It seemed that someone had asked him where he lived and he seemed to have said something. Was it the waiter from the bar? Could it be that he called a taxi for him?

Shen Xi fumbled for the glass of water beside the bed. He didn’t care how long ago the water was poured into it, picked up the glass and eagerly raised it to his mouth. However, as soon as he swallowed a mouthful of cool water, Shen Xi noticed that something was wrong. The glass was filled with honey water.

Shen Xi looked at the half-emptied glass of water suspiciously. Where did the honey water come from? Could it be the hotel staff who made it?

Shen Xi’s mind was in a state of confusion; he could not think of anyone other than the hotel staff who could have made it for him, so he put the matter aside and did not take it to heart.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Shen Xi felt refreshed. When he took his mobile phone, there were two missed calls, both from Lao K. Shen Xi dialled back without hesitation.

“Hello.”

“One good news and one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?” Without wasting any time Lao K simply got to the point.

Shen Xi leaned back on the sofa relaxed and spoke lazily, “The good one first.”

“Shen Dehan commissioned an investigation into Chu Qianqian’s background yesterday afternoon.”

Shen Xi raised his eyebrows, “So soon?”

Lao K smiled, “Guess Chu Qianqian must have left a deep enough impression on him yesterday.”

“What about the bad one?”

“There was another client this morning who asked to investigate the background of Chu Qianqian.”

“Shen Ji?” He was the first Shen Xi thought about.

“No, it’s Shen Bixue.”

Shen Xi was surprised, “Aunt?” Then he smiled lightly, “This is actually considered good news, right? After all, my aunt’s reaction also confirms that Chu Qianqian really left a deep impression on father.”

Lao K smiled, “Do you need me to do anything?”

Shen Xi mused, “No need, just follow the normal procedure.”

Hanging up the phone, Shen Xi sat on the sofa and pondered. Yesterday, when Chu Qianqian appeared, his father and aunt were together. His aunt must have learned Zhou Mingmei’s lesson and it was reasonable for her to be suspicious. The key point now lay with Chu Qianqian. He just hoped she would start off brilliantly and nothing unexpected would happen in the middle.

While Shen Xi was still asleep, Li Mingfei ran to the hospital early because of a conversation he overheard yesterday. Only after searching around and not finding Shen Xi did Li Mingfei realise his behaviour was too impulsive. He didn’t know why he was so eager to see Shen Xi after hearing his mother’s words yesterday. There was nothing he could do; neither could he make his uncle treat Shen Xi better, nor did he understand anything. So, probably the only thing he could do was to drink with Shen Xi to save him from getting drunk alone.

Despite feeling very incompetent, Li Mingfei still wanted to see Shen Xi. But to his disappointment, he had been in his uncle’s ward for an hour, and Shen Xi, who was usually supposed to be here, was still nowhere to be seen.

After holding back for a long time, Li Mingfei finally asked his uncle carefully, “Uncle, is cousin Shen Xi coming today?” He knew that his uncle didn’t like Shen Xi, but he was still Shen Xi’s father, so he should have known something about him, Li Mingfei reassured himself.

It seemed that Shen Dehan had not heard his question and was staring out of the window with a distracted look on his face.

“Uncle?” Li Mingfei repeated in confusion; he noticed that today his uncle was somehow distracted all the time.

Li Mingfei’s calling him uncle made Shen Dehan regain his wits. He looked at Li Mingfei and smiled strangely, “What did Mingfei just say?”

Li Mingfei repeated the previous question in a small voice, and as he spoke, the smile on Shen Dehan’s face immediately disappeared.

Shen Dehan looked down, “I can live a few more days without him coming.”

Li Mingfei got up in embarrassment. As far as he could remember, his uncle had never spoken to him like this before. He didn’t know how to take his uncle’s words for a moment. The atmosphere in the ward became colder and Li Mingfei was tempted to leave, but he felt that it was inappropriate for him to walk away after making his uncle angry, so he was in a bit of a quandary.

Fortunately, at the most awkward moment, there was a gentle knock on the door of the ward and a doctor came in for a routine check-up.

Li Mingfei was surprised to find that his uncle’s expression was momentarily excited when he saw a nurse following the doctor. Shen Dehan soon regained his composure, but disappointment flashed in his eyes. Li Mingfei couldn’t understand his uncle’s psychology. What was there to be excited about seeing a nurse? As the doctor examined Shen Dehan methodically, Li Mingfei hurriedly took the opportunity to say goodbye, “Uncle, I’ll leave first, I’ll see you again sometime.”

Shen Dehan nodded and instructed Li Mingfei to be safe on his way. Li Mingfei obediently said that he would. It was not until he walked out of the hospital that he showed his disappointment. Shen Xi did not come to the hospital, where should he go to find him?

Shen Xi did not know that Li Mingfei had gone to the hospital to look for him this morning. Because he got up late after being drunk, Shen Xi arrived at the hospital relatively late that day, just in time to miss Li Mingfei.

Waiting for the elevator, Shen Xi took a casual glance around. As his gaze swept across the corner, Shen Xi frowned, thought for a while, turned and strode there.

In the corner of an empty corridor in front of him, Chu Qianqian was talking to a young doctor, winking at him coquettishly. Looking at Chu Qianqian’s body leaning towards the doctor, Shen Xi snorted coldly and walked up closer.

Chu Qianqian suddenly shivered and quickly moved away from the doctor. Shen Xi didn’t know what Chu Qianqian said to the doctor, but very soon Chu Qianqian hurriedly came up to him.

Chu Qianqian greeted Shen Xi with a smile, “Mr. Shen.”

Shen Xi sneered, “Have you forgotten the purpose of coming here?”

Chu Qianqian looked at Shen Xi awkwardly, “I was just looking for him to inquire about Shen Dehan’s situation, nothing else.”

Shen Xi had a mocking look on his face, “Did you inquire about it?”

Chu Qianqian was even more embarrassed, “He is in charge of the paediatrics department, he doesn’t know what I wanted to inquire about.”

Shen Xi looked at Chu Qianqian and laughed gently. After laughing, he suddenly said in a cold voice, “Do you know what the first thing my father did after your encounter with him yesterday?”

“What?” Chu Qianqian was confused.

Shen Xi leaned over and whispered, “Found a private detective to investigate you.”

“What!” Chu Qianqian was stunned.

Shen Xi looked at Chu Qianqian mockingly, “Do you think you did a successful job yesterday, so you can be a bit complacent today? You think you can climb onto my father just because you’re a woman? I remember telling you that if it wasn’t for this face of yours, he wouldn’t even look at you if you stripped naked.”

Chu Qianqian gritted her teeth and didn’t say anything. Shen Xi coldly snorted, “It seems like you should remember that you are now not some lady of the night but a newly graduated student from the nursing school. Pretend to be pure, I don’t need to teach you this.”

Chu Qianqian nodded fiercely. Shen Xi added, “Don’t let me see you hooking up with a male doctor again, you should know that 10 million is not that easy to earn.”

Looking at Chu Qianqian’s back as she walked away, Shen Xi frowned. It seemed that he still needed to talk to Lao K.

Because of Chu Qianqian’s incident, Shen Xi appeared in the ward much later than expected. Speaking of it, due to the unpleasantness of their first meeting, the three Shen brothers had been tacitly adjusting the time they appeared at the hospital to avoid running into each other as much as possible.

Shen Xi glanced at his watch. If nothing was wrong, it was Shen Ji’s time to appear in the ward. After thinking about it, Shen Xi decided not to avoid him. Anyway, he just needed to show his face in front of Shen Dehan.

Shen Xi walked out of the elevator with this thought in mind, but stopped curiously when he saw the two people confronting each other in the corridor.

From Shen Xi’s point of view, he could only see Shen Ji’s back, while opposite Shen Ji was Shen Rong whose face Shen Xi would never forget.

The two did not notice Shen Xi’s arrival, arguing fiercely in low heated voices, or rather the one arguing was Shen Rong.

“Big brother, I know you hate me, but no matter how much you hate me you can’t erase the fact that both you and I are our father’s sons.”

Shen Ji did not say anything. Shen Rong spoke again, “Big brother, father’s health is not good. He doesn’t say it but in his heart he must want to see us brothers in harmony. Can you bear to let father down?

“Big brother, I don’t want the Shen family’s money, I don’t want anything from the Shen family, I just want to call my father ‘father’ in front of everyone openly and honestly. This is my only wish.”

Shen Xi couldn’t help but snort when he heard this. His laughter quickly alerted the two people in front of him.

Shen Ji coldly turned his head and glanced at Shen Xi, but Shen Rong took advantage of Shen Ji’s inattentiveness and a hint of jealousy flashed in his eyes.

Shen Xi walked over, mockingly looking at Shen Rong, “What did I just hear? You don’t want anything from the Shen family? You seem to have forgotten that the Shen family’s will does not have your name in it in the first place. As for any brotherly harmony, sorry, I don’t have a younger brother who likes to make sex videos.”

“You!” Shen Rong’s expression twisted up; Shen Xi’s words had poked at his scars. The video from five years ago was a lifelong shame for him. Even though the news was quickly suppressed with the help of both the Shen and the Tian families, all the news on the internet was deleted cleanly and even the circulating articles were secretly withdrawn by Shen Dehan, but what happened was what happened, and when Shen Rong thought that many people had seen that video, he felt extremely humiliated.

Shen Xi raised his eyebrows, “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Shen Rong gave Shen Xi a fierce look, nodded at Shen Ji and turned away to leave.

Shen Xi moved his gaze back to Shen Ji. Shen Ji’s face was cold, “I don’t have such a younger brother either. ”

Shen Xi looked at Shen Ji and smiled slightly.