At the hospital.
After the doctor was done with his examination, he turned to look at Ye Moxuan and said, “I believe that she might be frightened.”
Frightened? Ye Moxuan narrowed his eyes. How could she be frightened when she was staying inside the room for the entire day? Could it be…
Ye Moxuan recalled the scene whereby the mansion was shrouded in darkness.
Could it be that she was afraid of the dark?
“I believe that the patient might have been terribly frightened. Hence, she is currently caught up in her own world now. So…”
Xiao Su looked at Shen Qi, who was lying on the bed, in a puzzled manner. Then, he asked doubtfully, “It is normal for an ordinary person to be afraid of the dark, but even then, it wouldn’t be up to this extent, right? Doctor, are you sure she didn’t suffer any other injuries on her or any other things that would suggest otherwise?”
“I examined her thoroughly. Other than low blood pressure and poor physical fitness, there is nothing abnormal about her. However, I believe that she is pregnant, right? In the future, you mustn’t allow her to experience this kind of fright often. She is showing some signs of getting a miscarriage, and if this kind of situation frequently occurs in the future, it’ll cause her to miscarry her child.”
“But, doctor, why did she end up like that?”
Xiao Su told the doctor the things that transpired just now, thereafter the doctor thought about it and answered, “I think she was traumatized by her environment in the past. Hence, the psychological trauma that she would suffer would be ten times greater than that of a normal person.”
“Psychological trauma?” Xiao Su glanced at Ye Moxuan subconsciously.
He pressed his thin lips together as his gaze fell upon Shen Qi’s face, all the while remaining silent.
“Doctor, when will she wake up?”
“Let’s just wait for awhile. We have to allow her mind to rest. Once she has adjusted herself, she would be able to wake up.”
Xiao Su was worried sick; he almost asked the doctor what if she wasn’t able to do so otherwise.
After the doctor left, only the three of them were left in the room.
“Young Master Ye, I think… that Assistant Shen might not be able to wake up tonight.” As soon as he said that, Xiao Su could feel his surrounding temperature dropped a few degrees, and he quickly took two steps back. “I’ll go and see whether Madam Chen is here yet.”
With that, Xiao Su left the room in a hurry. Silence then returned to the room, and Ye Moxuan continued to stare at Shen Qi’s pale face.
What exactly happened?
Why was she traumatized by the darkness?
…
Shen Qi had a long dream.
In her dreams, her figure had become smaller as she turned into a four to five-year-old child. She was locked in a small, dark room. Moreover, there were no lights, water, or food inside that room.
There was only a small bed and a thin sheet of blanket.
She hugged herself as she crouched in the corner. At that moment, her entire figure was curled up into a small cocoon. She was acutely aware of her surroundings as the occasional noise outside frightened her so much that she started to tremble.
She had been starved for a total of three days. Her small figure was as thin as a stick, and her eyes looked sunken. At that moment, she didn’t resemble a human at all.
Creak!
The doors were pushed open, thereafter a figure came over and slapped her.
Shen Qi, who was young at that time, couldn’t endure the pain and let out a shrill cry.
“How dare you scream?! You wasteful thing! How dare you scream when you are wasting our money?!”
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
“You are going to get it from me today! How dare you disobey me?! How dare you?!”
“Don’t! It hurts… Please don’t hit me!”
In the silent ward, Shen Qi, who had been lying quietly on the hospital bed, suddenly yelled out. As such, Ye Moxuan’s gaze was instantly drawn toward her.
“Stop hitting me! It hurts… Mom…”
Ye Moxuan pushed his wheelchair toward her, then leaned his towering figure against her. When he heard the words that were coming out of her mouth, he frowned slightly.
Stop hitting me?
It hurts?
Ye Moxuan seemed to have gotten some critical information from these two sentences alone. On the other hand, Shen Qi seemed to be lost in her own world as she didn’t wake up from her dream. These words were spoken subconsciously and in incomplete sentences.
Ye Moxuan frowned, then involuntarily reached out his hand to stroke her head. His fingertips fell upon the corners of her eyes as he wiped away her tears.
Her well-defined features were contorted in pain.
She seemed to be… suffering.
“Wake up!” Ye Moxuan’s tone suddenly became stern.
“It hurts… it hurts…” Shen Qi tossed and turned while repeating the same words. Ye Moxuan noticed that she had a pained expression on her face. Immediately, he reached out his huge hand to grab her slender, fair wrist. Then, he tightened his grip and shouted, “Wake up! Don’t stay in that dream!”
Perhaps he had used too much force in his grip, as it caused Shen Qi to frown even more. She continued to scream in pain as her eyes flew open suddenly.
Without warning, her eyes met Ye Moxuan’s gaze. At the same time, Ye Moxuan subconsciously released his grip, thereafter a bruise appeared on her snow-white wrist.
However, before Ye Moxuan could say anything to her, Shen Qi closed her eyes again and fainted.
Ye Moxuan was silent for a moment.
This time, it was different because when Shen Qi closed her eyes, she didn’t scream in pain anymore. Moreover, her expression had returned to normal, unlike just now.
What did she look like just now?
Although Ye Moxuan had never seen a dead person before, Shen Qi’s expression just now gave off the vibe that she was already dead. She lay there quietly without moving at all. Furthermore, there wasn’t a single trace of life in her.
Everything was different now. Even if she was lying there with her eyes shut, there was a trace of liveliness on her face.
Ye Moxuan heaved a sigh of relief as his gaze fell upon her wrist. He then reached out his hand once again and used his fingertips to massage the bruises on her wrist gently. His actions were so gentle that he didn’t even notice it himself.
Approximately 15 minutes later, Xiao Su brought Madam Chen over, and the latter couldn’t help but feel sorry for Shen Qi when she saw her lying on the sick bed again.
“How did the Second Young Lady end up in such a weak state? She was admitted the last time, and now the same thing has happened to her again.”
“Take good care of her.” After Ye Moxuan finished reminding Madam Chen, he rolled his wheelchair outside with Xiao Su following behind.
“Young Master Ye?”
“I want you to run a detailed background check on Shen Qi, including her past. I want you to leave no stone unturned!”
When he heard this, Xiao Su stopped in his tracks, looking surprised. “Young Master Ye, why do you want to run a background check on Assistant Shen out of the blue? Isn’t she…” Wasn’t she a replacement? Since they were going to get a divorce in six months, why did he have to run a background check on her?
“I want it by tomorrow morning.”
Following that, Ye Moxuan’s words managed to cause a change in Xiao Su’s expression. “What? You want it by tomorrow morning? Doesn’t that mean that I have to pull an all-nighter?”
“Is there a problem?” His penetrating gaze swept toward him.
Xiao Su straightened his back and said, “No problem! There is absolutely no problem with it! I’ll deliver the information to you by tomorrow morning!”
Although he put it that way, it was impossible to run a detailed background check on a person in the middle of the night.
Especially after the earlier commotion, it was way past 10 in the evening at the moment. He was feeling really worn out, and now he had to go and investigate her?!
…
Early the next morning, Ye Moxuan got up and cleaned himself. After he was done, Xiao Su delivered the information to him at the agreed time.
“Young Master Ye, this is the information that I pulled an all-nighter to investigate for you. I think I know why Assistant Shen ended up like that. Here, take a look.”
With that, Xiao Su handed him some documents.
Ye Moxuan frowned and asked, “Why?”
