Chapter 4 What's wrong with you?
My chest felt tight and I could hardly breathe; my fingers were trembling more and more violently.
Lu Zhenyu knew she needed to calm herself down.
She swallowed the tremor in her throat and looked away from Shen Jingsi's gaze. "It's fine."
I imagined she would say "good," "bad," or "very good."
The only thing that bothered Shen Jingsi was this sentence, "It's pretty good."
That still wasn't perfect, but even so, she was willing to follow him.
A bitter taste rose in his throat, and Shen Jingsi released her hand.
He lowered his head, took two steps back, and raised his hand to pinch his throbbing temples.
After a moment of silence, he uttered "Let's go," and walked out of the building without looking back.
The heavy iron gate slowly slid back, drawing the light that had been streaming in.
Darkness once again engulfed Lu Zhenyu.
The person was gone, and she no longer needed to hold back. In the empty corridor, heavy, rapid breathing rose in response.
An intense sense of oppression overwhelmed her in an instant, throwing her back to the corner as if she had fallen into an endless abyss.
In the blink of an eye, the door was pulled open again.
Just as Shen Jingsi was about to yell at someone, he looked at the figure huddled in the corner—the girl was supporting herself with one hand on the ground, her head buried between her legs, her frail body trembling violently, and she was twisting her thigh with the other hand, using the pain to force herself to control her breathing.
"Lu Zhenyu!" His pupils constricted sharply as he rushed over, sliding down to her side. "What's wrong?"
The person didn't speak, but the way they were breathing heavily made it seem like they were about to die at any moment.
Shen Jingsi's expression changed drastically, and without asking any more questions, he went to hug the person.
With a foothold to lean on, Lu Zhenyu, who could barely hold on any longer, didn't wait for him to hug her. She ran her hands over her narrow waist under her silk dress and fell into his arms.
“Chen… Jing, Si.” The voice sounded as if it might stop breathing at any moment.
Shen Jingsi pulled the person into a tighter embrace, asking, "What's wrong with you?"
Lu Zhenyu asked, "Did you bring any cigarettes?"
Having been a smoker for years, he naturally always carried cigarettes with him, but he didn't understand why she would ask this at a time like this.
"I brought it."
The emotional fluctuations caused breathing difficulties, and Lu Zhenyu felt a strong sense of suffocation with every word she spoke.
"Can I have one here?"
Shen Jingsi had doubts, but did as instructed without wasting a second.
He grabbed the man by the waist with his right hand to steady him, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it with one hand.
Afraid of choking people, I turned my head away, took a deep breath, inhaled it into my lungs, and then exhaled it through my lips.
Lu Zhenyu was relieved that this man hadn't changed his cigarettes in over a decade. As the familiar scent filled the air, she inhaled it, and her unusual breathing gradually subsided.
They were holding each other so tightly that Shen Jingsi could naturally sense her change, but it sent a chill down his spine.
If he hadn't been smoking the cigarette himself, one would have thought it was some new type of drug.
What kind of illness can be cured simply by smelling cigarette smoke?
"Lu Zhenyu?"
"Mmm." A weak, slow voice came from the person in her arms.
Lu Zhenyu wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, her damp palms pressed against his warm back.
The long-lost sense of peace made her reluctant to let go.
Hug me.
There's no one here.
She would hug him for a while.
Shen Jingsi's tone had softened considerably. He didn't dare to move, letting her lean against him, and looked down at her, "What's wrong with you?"
The fox-like eyes resting against her chest slowly opened, and this sensitive question instantly pulled Lu Zhenyu back to reality.
Her small, cool hands supported her hard, burning chest as she emerged from Shen Jingsi's body. "Nothing's wrong."
Seeing her trying to walk away with her weak legs, Shen Jingsi pulled her back, pressed his hands on her shoulders, and leaned his upper body against hers.
"Tell me the truth! After sleeping with that beast for years, you've learned to lie all over your head?"
Lu Zhenyu met his eyes, which were filled with complex emotions—anger and worry.
But how was she supposed to answer him?
Is it the traumatic stress from being bullied by Zheng Yaozong, leading to uncontrollable somatization, or the severe depression that has plagued her for five years?
Saying these things at this time is tantamount to feeding everyone a mouthful of shit.
Whether it was for Shen Jingsi's sake or to repay the Shen family's kindness in raising her, her choice to marry Zheng Yaozong back then was entirely her own.
Even if Shen's mother didn't make a request, Lu Zhenyu wouldn't publicize her 'selfless dedication'; it's better for one person to eat shit than for a group of people to be unable to eat.
This is all there is to her life, but this man has a bright future ahead of him.
She couldn't say anything, so all she could say was, "You made me angry."
Shen Jingsi was speechless for a moment, then burst into laughter in anger. The tobacco-scented breath escaping from his lips was so captivating.
He lifted the person up slightly, a helpless smile playing on his lips, and tilted his head to look at him. "Zhan Baolai?"
Lu Zhenyu looked away from that smiling face. "It wasn't you who said it. I'm being dramatic."
Her memory has been deteriorating over the past few years; she can forget what she was supposed to do as soon as she gets up.
During those few hours of reunion, she remembered every word the man said clearly.
His coldness and harshness, though she was already numb to it all, still shattered her heart with each cold knife he threw at her.
"I……"
The knife he threw out himself turned into a boomerang that stabbed him back half an hour later, leaving Shen Jingsi choked again.
Looking at the girl's pale face in the dim light, one could clearly distinguish between what was important and what was not.
"Alright, let's take you for a full checkup. Don't go back to China and end up in trouble with the Shen family again, or you'll get bitten by those dogs from the Zheng family."
Lu Zhenyu was too tired to argue with him, and dodged the outstretched hand. "No need to check, I want to go home."
Shen Jingsi paused in his movement to pull the person away, "Which home?"
Feeling drowsy, Lu Zhenyu really didn't want to argue with him, so she frowned and said, "Let's go back to your house, okay?"
He raised an eyebrow and pressed down on the corners of his upturned lips.
Naïve, a 30-year-old naïve fool.
Lu Zhenyu mentally complained, but had no choice but to succumb to reality, clenching her stubborn wrist bones.
"Could you...carry me this way?"
"Why?"
"I have no strength left."
"I only hug my own wife, I don't touch other men's women."
I won't touch her; I just hugged her so tightly she was practically inside me.
Lu Zhenyu closed her eyes, which were almost closed, and exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling tired and helpless. "Then move aside."
She could walk out even with the support of the wall, it would just be a bit slower. But she's already five years behind, a little longer won't make a difference.
Shen Jingsi didn't move, his thoughts unknown, his eyes lowered as he stared intently at the person.
The ringtone came at an inopportune moment. He took out his phone to glance at the contact name, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly in front of the screen's light.
He answered the phone and stepped back from in front of the girl.
The warmth vanished in an instant, and Lu Zhenyu opened her eyes to look at the figure that had walked two meters away.
It was Duan Xi'er on the other end of the phone who asked about her health, and Shen Jingsi casually replied, "I won't die."
Lu Zhenyu slowly lowered her eyes, looking at her hands that had fallen back into the ice cave, and could still feel her fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
She heard some more soft moaning on the other end, and Shen Jingsi replied, "If I remember correctly, your birthday is the month after next."
"That's why you need to start preparing now, book an exclusive appointment with a designer, there are many steps involved."
Girls' things are too troublesome. Shen Jingsi rubbed his temples with a headache, but reluctantly agreed, "Then send me the templates one by one, and I'll look at them when I have time."
Are you very busy right now?
"Pick your dress."
The phone call was hung up on so decisively that Shen Jingsi muttered "troublesome" and turned around, only to find the person who had been there had vanished.
"Lu Zhenyu?"
They ran off again without a second thought.
What comes to mind is that night when the woman abandoned him, who was fast asleep afterward, and turned around to marry Zheng Yaozong in a wedding dress.
The wildfire on Shen Jingsi's chest flared up incredibly fast, and he rushed out of the stairwell in a few steps!
Not far away, Lu Zhenyu leaned against the wall, taking two steps as if she were a patient who had just undergone surgery—weak and slow.
If you look closely, you can see that breathing is still difficult; you have to stop every now and then to take a few deep breaths to catch your breath before continuing.
His hunched back revealed an unyielding stubbornness, a trait that has remained unchanged to this day.
Shen Jingsi's pent-up anger was extinguished at this moment. He shook his head helplessly, took a few big steps over, walked around her, squatted down, and said, "Get on, I'll carry you."
When squatting, the right leg, which is bent, gathers strength, and there is no visible problem.
Lu Zhenyu gazed at it, her eyes inexplicably burning, and she truly couldn't hold on any longer, so she leaned over and lay down.
"Thank you."
Her light, airy body was suddenly pulled back by Shen Jingsi, who was about to get up.
She was dressed warmly in the afternoon, so it wasn't noticeable until now.
How did you lose so much weight?
And so, a surge of anger welled up inside her: "Is Zheng Yaozong so poor that he can't even afford to feed you?"
Lu Zhenyu pursed her lips. "I'm on a diet."
"..."
Shen Jingsi paused, his face turning even uglier. "Then you'd better eat more these next few days, or you'll starve to death in our house. My mother won't be able to explain herself to the Zheng family if she's in the wrong."
Lu Zhenyu's dark blue lips curved slightly, but she wasn't angry. "No."
She hadn't planned to stay at the Shen family's house for long after returning; she had her own family.
When she married into the Zheng family, she was Shen Beizhen.
Once she divorces Zheng Yaozong, she will simply be Lu Zhenyu, and naturally, she will return to the Lu family.
Shen Jingsi was sharp-tongued, but behind Lu Zhenyu's back, he walked very steadily.
She's a girl who's carried things since she was little, and even after five years without carrying them, she still does it with ease.
As he walked, he caught a glimpse of two hands resting on his chest out of the corner of his eye.
Her hands were already slender and delicate, but after losing weight, her joints became prominent and fine lines covered her palms.
His gaze sharpened as he examined the tiny scar on his palm. "What happened to the scar on your palm?"
His hand clenched unconsciously, and his eyelids, pressed against his back, twitched, but he didn't open them.
Lu Zhenyu: "I hurt myself while sharpening a paintbrush."
Shen Jingsi frowned, because something like this had happened before.
Later, he simply forbade her from touching the knife anymore, and he personally sharpened each paintbrush for her and put it in the pencil case before she went to sleep the night before.
"What's a husband for? Can't you let that bastard do the peeling for you?"
A soft voice came from behind, "He didn't cut it well."
Shen Jingsi pursed his lips, a hint of smugness showing. "He can't even sharpen a pen properly. He's a complete waste. I don't understand what you were thinking when you were so determined to marry this good-for-nothing."
He turned his head slightly, his words sharp, "Regret it, Lu Zhenyu?"
If Lu Zhenyu were to utter a single word of regret at this moment, Shen Jingsi would not hesitate to snatch her back from Zheng Yaozong.
But Lu Zhenyu did not.
With her cheek pressed against his broad, sturdy back, the girl couldn't help but rub her face against his warm body and the wool coat.
She said, "I don't regret it."
Sensing the man's steps falter, she added, "Once you've made a choice, you can't regret it."
The voice was so soft it was barely audible that Shen Jingsi didn't hear it clearly. He frowned and turned his head away, asking, "What did you say?"
His tone wasn't pleasant; he was still annoyed by what she had said earlier.
There was nothing to say. Lu Zhenyu turned her face away and pressed it against her back, speaking weakly:
"I asked you to carry me because I'm so sleepy right now, probably because of the allergy medication. If I fall asleep in a bit, please wake me up. If you can't wake me up, you can pinch me."
"If they're asleep, they're asleep. Why wake them up?"
Shen Jingsi was about to say, "How come you have another allergy problem now?"
Before going abroad, the girl was pampered and became plump and curvy. At that time, his favorite thing to do was to pinch her chubby oval face.
It feels good to the touch; when you knead it, its lips are plump, like a little baby, making you want to love it.
Unlike now, he never smiles, he's skin and bones, looking like a little bitter gourd.
"Didn't he swear he loved you to death before you got married? And after you took her abroad, he turned out like this?"
"You reject the one who's good to you and go after a beast. How come I never noticed before? You're a masochist, Lu Zhenyu. How pathetic are you?"
On the way out of the hospital, Shen Jingsi's venomous mouth never stopped.
He was no longer the formidable and authoritative new head of the Shen family in business and political circles; he was now a vengeful ghost who would seize any opportunity to humiliate someone.
But it was only because Lu Zhenyu was asleep that he forgot the girl's instructions before she fell into a deep sleep.
If you're going to sleep, just sleep. Why do you have to wake me up?
He resented her quite a bit, but not to the point of not wanting anyone to be happy for him.
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