CH 21

Shen Xi did not have much memory of what had happened before, and Li Mingxuan did not want to talk about it, so he just told the story in a few words.

Shen Xi listened quietly, his eyes involuntarily sweeping over Li Mingxuan’s clothes wrinkled in his sleep, and his brow furrowed invisibly when he thought of the warm embrace in his dream. The guess really made Shen Xi unhappy, but it was also a fact that Li Mingxuan had taken care of him, so Shen Xi could only suppress the discomfort and smile at Li Mingxuan, “Thank you, cousin.”

When Shen Xi smiled at him, and with the way he was lying there now, Li Mingxuan’s eyes couldn’t help but start to move downwards.

Realising what he wanted to see, Li Mingxuan immediately stiffened, and then he pretended to relax, pulling up the quilt over Shen Xi to cover him tightly, leaving only his head outside.

Noticing Shen Xi’s strange gaze, Li Mingxuan said in a natural tone, “The doctor ordered you to stay covered to sweat out faster.”

There was nothing wrong with this statement, and Shen Xi could only show a grateful smile to Li Mingxuan once again.

Li Mingxuan averted his eyes slightly sheepishly; the doorbell rang at the right moment, “Hello, room service.”

With a long sigh of relief in his heart, Li Mingxuan rushed to the door almost impatiently. In addition to Li Mingxuan’s long-awaited breakfast, there was also a doctor with a medical kit outside the door.

After a detailed examination, the doctor said that Shen Xi’s fever had almost gone down and that he only needed to recuperate for another day and should be fine after that. As Shen Xi was young and healthy, his illness came and went quickly, of course, thanks to the care and attention he had received.

When talking about care and attention, the doctor deliberately looked at Li Mingxuan, and Shen Xi could only follow the doctor’s line of sight and once again raise the corner of his mouth at Li Mingxuan.

Since Shen Xi was still a bit feverish, the doctor left Shen Xi a day’s supply of medicine and specifically instructed Shen Xi to eat something to cushion his stomach before taking the medicine, preferably some porridge.

As soon as the doctor left, Li Mingxuan brought over the congee that he had ordered for Shen Xi, and Shen Xi was stunned to realise that Li Mingxuan had prepared it for him. When he looked at Li Mingxuan again, there was a bit more sincere gratitude on his face.

After eating the porridge and taking the medicine, Shen Xi lay down on the bed, not going to sleep anymore. Seeing that Li Mingxuan had no intention of leaving,  Shen Xi wondered, “Don’t you have to go to the office, cousin?”

Li Mingxuan smiled, “Father knows about Xiao Xi’s illness, so he gave me a day off to stay here and take care of you.”

The father Li Mingxuan spoke of was none other than Shen Xi’s aunt’s husband, a very serious man in Shen Xi’s eyes. The only impression Shen Xi had of him in his previous life was that he and his aunt had a very good relationship, and the two were regarded as a rare loving couple in the circle. In his new life, Shen Xi asked Lao K to help him investigate everyone related to the Shen family, and his uncle, who was close to the Shen family in both public and private life, was naturally the focus of the investigation. It was only after this investigation that Shen Xi realised the power of this man. Thinking of the intricate business interests of the Shen and the Li families, Shen Xi lowered his eyes and did not look at Li Mingxuan again.

Perhaps because of the medicine, one moment Shen Xi felt he was not sleepy at all, and the next moment he was drowsy and fell asleep.

Li Mingxuan quietly looked at Shen Xi’s sleeping face and turned away with a bitter smile.

Should he be glad that Shen Xi, being sick, hadn’t noticed his abnormality?

Even though he had tried to forget the previous scenes from the morning until now, his body’s reaction could not fool anyone.

He really didn’t want to admit that he had reacted to his cousin who was related to him by blood in a way that completely exceeded his expectations.

Even if he liked men, he could never fall in love with one of his relatives.

Maybe he just couldn’t suppress his body’s urges because he had been single for too long? Or maybe it was just a natural instinct of a man and didn’t mean anything?

Li Mingxuan’s thoughts nagged him, the words taboo, incest and immorality haunting his mind. Perhaps he really needed to find a companion soon.

The sleeping Shen Xi was unaware of Li Mingxuan’s messy thoughts, but he had a vague feeling that someone was watching him, and moved uneasily. Only when he heard Li Mingxuan’s voice in his haze did Shen Xi settle down and roll over to go back to sleep. The last thought as he fell asleep seemed to be: who did Li Mingxuan get into an argument with?

“You’re crazy!” Li Mingxuan glanced at Shen Xi carefully, lowered his voice and walked to the living room.

“I’m not crazy!” The sound of Shen Ji gritting his teeth was very clear.

Li Mingxuan sighed, “I can understand that you don’t want that nurse to appear in front of Uncle, but you can’t find someone to detain her privately. Let’s not talk about whether this matter is illegal or not, what will you do in case Uncle finds out about it or it gets exposed by reporters?”

Shen Ji’s voice sounded irrational, “Then what do you think I can do? Father wants to take her home! Zhou Mingmei has worked so hard for so many years and played so many tricks but she has not entered our house yet. This one has only appeared for a few days and father is so enchanted that he actually wants to take her home.”

Shen Ji repeated these words over and over again, obviously furious.

Li Mingxuan was also stunned by the news, “Uncle is going to do it?”

Although Li Mingxuan did not want to maliciously guess the thoughts of his elders, wasn’t Shen Dehan’s behaviour really?… Li Mingxuan couldn’t help but wonder whether he would have a new young aunt soon.

Shen Ji guessed Li Mingxuan’s thoughts and said with hatred, “Father has not gone over the edge yet, he’s just bringing home a private caretaker.”

Li Mingxuan fell silent; no matter what his uncle called it, as long as that nurse stepped into the Shen family’s house, it was an insult to Shen Ji’s mother.

Perhaps if a young girl heard about Shen Dehan’s behaviour, she would find it deeply romantic, but in Li Mingxuan’s eyes such actions by Shen Dehan were truly absurd. Maybe Shen Dehan felt that he was doing this exactly because he loved Fang Yun, but he didn’t know that his repeated search for a substitute in itself was a betrayal of Fang Yun.

Li Mingxuan felt powerless about his uncle’s behaviour, but did his best to dissuade Shen Ji. He could detain that nurse for a while, but not for the whole life. Instead of laying hands on that nurse, it would be better to take Shen Cheng and show their father their filial piety, then maybe they could persuade Shen Dehan to change his mind.

Shen Ji sneered, “Do you really think this will work?”

Li Mingxuan paused and said, “In Uncle’s heart you and Xiao Cheng are always the most important.”

Shen Ji was silent and then laughed bitterly, “I used to firmly believe that Xiao Cheng and I were the most important in father’s heart, so important that he could even give up Shen Xi and refuse to recognize Shen Rong for us. But now I suddenly don’t dare to think so.”

There was one last sentence in Shen Ji’s mind that he had not spoken; that perhaps his father himself was the most important in his father’s heart.

Li Mingxuan once again sighed silently.

In the end, Shen Ji was persuaded by Li Mingxuan and intended to take Shen Cheng to try once more.

Unlike Shen Xi, Shen Ji and Shen Cheng grew up under the doting care of their father, and Shen Ji had too many fond memories of Shen Dehan. The father who loved him, the father who took care of him, the father who listened to him, the father who accompanied him to play, so many images of his father overlapped with each other. Shen Ji really did not want to believe that between them and that woman his father would choose that woman. Not to mention the fact that that woman was nothing more than a substitute for his mother.

Li Mingxuan didn’t know what Shen Ji would do. After hanging up the phone, Li Mingxuan called his mother, hoping that his mother could persuade his uncle.

Li Mingxuan’s words made Shen Bixue worried. The thing she feared most had happened. Thinking of the last time when she said that Shen Dehan and the young nurse were so different in age that Shen Dehan should not have any ideas, Shen Bixue smiled bitterly. Shen Dehan’s plans needed to be nipped in the bud. If left unattended, it would definitely become the biggest scandal in Zhongjing!

Hanging up the phone again, Li Mingxuan quietly walked back to the bedroom.

Shen Xi was still asleep, crumpling the quilt into a ball, unaware of what was happening outside.

Li Mingxuan couldn’t help but think that the most indifferent person in the whole Shen family right now would be Shen Xi. Whether it was Shen Ji, Shen Cheng or Shen Rong, who everyone refused to acknowledge, they were all hostile to the appearance of that nurse, except for Shen Xi who was probably more than happy to see it happen.

When Li Mingxuan thought of it, an idea flashed suddenly in his mind and he looked at Shen Xi suspiciously.

Half a second later, Li Mingxuan shook his head and discarded that absurd thought, the previous expression returning to his face.

It was impossible for Shen Xi to do this. The manpower and financial resources required to find such a similar person were not within Shen Xi’s reach. Shen Xi had been abroad all these years, and his former friends had not contacted him again, so who else would help him? What’s more, Shen Ji had been paying attention to Shen Xi during his years abroad. Perhaps Shen Xi’s temperament had improved a lot as he grew older, but his habit of spending money lavishly had not changed and even intensified because he was banished abroad.

Although the Shen family would give Shen Xi a large sum of money every month, according to Shen Xi’s spending, he would definitely not be able to save much.

Thinking about it this way, Li Mingxuan instead felt a twinge of guilt towards Shen Xi.

Everyone knew what kind of a person Shen Xi had been raised to be, and these years Shen Xi had not caused much trouble abroad. Even though Shen Xi’s temperament had become restrained and seemed much calmer, the irritability in his bones was still vaguely visible. This was also the reason why Uncle had been so relieved that he was abroad.

According to Shen Xi’s character, he would never think or do anything to set up his uncle through a woman. It was really wrong of Li Mingxuan to suspect Shen Xi in such a malicious manner.

Li Mingxuan gave Shen Xi a guilty look, carefully covered him with the balled up quilt and stayed quietly by the bed.