Chapter 4: How Did He Hit You?

Lin Wanbai stared blankly at the dishes on the table. Aunt Rong approached with a warm smile and asked, “What’s wrong? Not hungry?”

Snapping back to herself, Lin Wanbai looked up, her smile sweet. “Aunt Rong, did you just get here?”

“Yes, I did. Young Master called this morning and asked me to bring some things over. I’ve been tidying up all morning.”

She nodded, her gaze sweeping over the spotlessly clean living room. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I have. I’ll go get your room ready now.”

Picking up her chopsticks, Lin Wanbai said, “My room doesn’t need cleaning. Just do the one next door. Did you bring any sheets? I don’t have any new ones here.”

“Still upset, are we?”

“Of course not. Why would I be angry?” Her smile never faltered, perfectly masking her feelings.

“Then why the separate rooms?” The question was casual, a gentle probe.

Lin Wanbai didn’t answer. She poked at her rice a couple of times and changed the subject, “By the way, can you make some chicken soup for me later? I’m going to visit a friend at the hospital this afternoon.”

“All right.”

Aunt Rong’s smile never wavered. She had been with the Fu family for years, adept at reading the room, with emotional intelligence to spare. She knew exactly which questions to ask and which to let lie.

…

That afternoon, Lin Wanbai carried the chicken soup to the hospital.

Ye Run was alone in his room. When she entered, his face was twisted with fear—so different from his earlier obsequiousness it was almost like he was a different person. “I told you everything already. Why did you come back?”

His face was truly a mess now. Of course, even before the injuries, his looks couldn’t compare to even a fraction of Fu Juxing’s.

Lin Wanbai set the chicken soup on the bedside table. “I made you some chicken soup.”

“Madam Fu, please spare me, I beg you. I can’t handle your kind of affection.”

He frowned, eager to distance himself from her—after all, her husband was terrifying.

Lin Wanbai burst out laughing, rolling her eyes at him. “I came today to ask you—was it Fu Juxing who beat you up himself yesterday, or did someone else do it?”

“Most of the time it was other people. He just threw the last punch,” Ye Run replied honestly.

Last night was a nightmare he’d rather not revisit—he’d thought he might actually die.

“How did it happen? Can you describe it more specifically? For example, what was his expression when he hit you, and did he say anything?”

“How would I know? I almost died, you know, Miss Lin!”

“You answered without even thinking. Are you brushing me off? Should I find someone to give you another beating?”

What a brutal couple, he thought. But no matter what kind of couple they were, they were people he couldn’t afford to offend.

“All right, all right. Let me think, let me really think.” Ye Run tried hard to recall.

That night, after taking his limited-edition Lamborghini for a spin, he was about to head home. On the Sixth Ring Road, he was boxed in by several cars and forced to a stop. They dragged him out without a word and started beating him, every punch meant to kill. Someone as delicate as him couldn’t possibly withstand it.

He truly hadn’t had a chance to see Fu Juxing clearly. In the end, when he was barely clinging to life, that man finally appeared, like a demon. He grabbed Ye Run by the collar, looked him up and down, then smashed his fist into the face Ye Run had tried so desperately to protect.

That punch knocked out a front tooth—he felt like his whole face had been fractured, as if an iron plate had slammed into him.

Then, in a cold, emotionless tone, Fu Juxing said, “Stay away from her.”

Hearing about such merciless brutality, Lin Wanbai actually laughed.

Ye Run, still harboring resentment, could only smile ingratiatingly. “I’ve told you everything. Will you leave me alone now? And about the car—do I really not have to return it?”

Unexpectedly delighted, Lin Wanbai personally adjusted his bed so he could sit up and prepared to feed him the chicken soup. “Don’t worry. You took a beating for my sake—I’ll look out for you. You don’t have to return the car. Once I give something away, I never ask for it back.”

That put his mind at ease.

Ye Run had wanted to refuse her feeding him, but thought better of it. What if she changed her mind and took the car back?

As she was feeding him chicken soup, the door to the hospital room opened.

Someone stood at the entrance, not coming in, but respectfully announcing, “Miss Lin, Mr. Lin has requested you return home for dinner.”

It was Lin Zhaowei’s assistant.