An Ruo sat on pins and needles, terrified she might press down on the man's leg. The chances of his leg recovering were already slim—if she damaged it further, who would be held responsible? Deliberately avoiding his words, she put on a cheerful smile and said, "You haven't eaten yet, right? Dinner's ready downstairs. Let me push you there!"
She jumped out of his arms and, without waiting for him to refuse, quickly wheeled him toward the stairs. The table was laden with exquisite dishes, making An Ruo's mouth water. She piled food into his bowl while stuffing her own mouth greedily.
Shen Xiaoxing's eyes darkened, his gaze burning as it fixed on the girl's neck. A thin layer of gauze was wrapped there—he'd noticed it the moment she walked in, and his eyes kept uncontrollably drifting toward it. He tried to probe, "How's your friend? Is her condition serious?"
"Not serious. A couple of days in the hospital to rest, and she should be fine." An Ruo peeled a shrimp and fed it to his lips. "Don't worry."
He couldn't care less about Song Weiwei's health. What bothered him was what happened to her neck—who had hurt her? Playing blind, he couldn't ask directly, so he decided to question Han Chong later.
After dinner, An Ruo returned to her room to rest, while the man went into the study with Han Chong. Han Chong recounted everything about the attack on An Ruo, and the man's face darkened, his black eyes frosting over with a cold, harsh chill.
"The young mistress was afraid you'd worry, so she bought the gauze to cover it up. She told me not to tell you."
An Ruo's skin was as smooth as cream, so fair that even a light pinch would leave redness for a long time. The red mark on her neck was too conspicuous—she feared the servants might see it and it would reach his ears, not wanting him to fret over it.
Shen Xiaoxing slammed his fist on the desk—not hard, but his whole body bristled with rage, his eyes sinister and terrifying as he coldly glanced at Han Chong. "I want Pan Zhiyao ruined, reputation and all! Including the umbrella behind her—make it clean!"
Han Chong froze, not expecting the young mistress to hold such weight in the young master's heart. Before, he'd said they shouldn't touch Pan Zhiyao unless necessary, sticking to legal procedures to slowly expose her backers. Now, hearing the young mistress had been wronged, he was so furious he threw caution to the wind, going straight for the kill, abandoning all pretense of rules and regulations.
The man returned to the room and saw the girl sitting on the bed, staring at her phone with a furrowed brow and a grave expression. He wheeled himself inside. An Ruo heard the sound, looked up, and saw he'd already reached the bedside, but his direction was off—his knee bumped into the decorative cabinet beside it. She rushed over: "Did that hurt?"
Her small hand gently rubbed his knee, and she even blew on it like soothing a child.
Shen Xiaoxing's brows relaxed, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth. "It doesn't hurt."
After all, he'd done it on purpose...
An Ruo crouched by his leg, looking up at him. "Let me take a look."
Just as she was about to lift his pant leg, her hand was suddenly caught by his.
"What are you touching?" A mischievous grin played on his lips. "If you start a fire, will you help put it out?"
"..."
Oh my god!
He was making a dirty joke, and she actually understood it?!
An Ruo's cheeks flushed slightly. She quickly pulled her hand back from his grip. "It's, it's fine if it doesn't hurt."
Though his legs were disabled and his eyes blind, he was still fully capable in other areas—aside from those, he remained an extremely dangerous man!
Knowing the girl was conservative at heart, Shen Xiaoxing stopped teasing her. "You've seemed down these past two days. Can you tell me why?"
Thinking back on everything that happened today, An Ruo let out a deep sigh. She really did want someone to talk to.
"The talent show competition I'm in charge of had someone accidentally injured. It could have ended perfectly, but now she's lying in the hospital."
The man's eyes deepened. "That friend you mentioned—she's the victim, isn't she?"
An Ruo nodded. "I just got to know her recently, and I really like her. But with this happening, I can't stop feeling guilty..."
"And because of this, I got fired."
Shen Xiaoxing raised an eyebrow slightly. Gu Chao actually dared to fire his woman!?
"The CEO is a really good person. Even with such a mistake, he didn't blame me—he comforted me instead. He's always been so caring and considerate toward me. I've let down his guidance."
Shen Xiaoxing's whole body soured with jealousy. As the girl wallowed in self-pity, he pouted and mentally cursed Gu Chao from head to toe! He'd told him to look after his little sister-in-law, not to be so dutiful that she ended up singing his praises!
"He directly dismissed you?"
An Ruo paused, then shook her head. "No. But he told me to go home and rest for a few days, not to come to the office for now. I thought... isn't that the same as being fired?"
Shen Xiaoxing breathed a slight sigh of relief. So she'd misunderstood Gu Chao's intention. He softened his voice to comfort her: "Why not think of it the other way? What if he saw you've been running around so much lately and, with the competition paused, wanted you to take a break at home?"
An Ruo was slow to catch on, her mind still full of Song Weiwei's injury. She hadn't realized that was what Gu Chao meant at the time... But then again, she couldn't be blamed for overthinking—what company, after an accident in an employee's area of responsibility, would calmly tell that employee to go home and rest, as if giving them a vacation?