Chapter 107: Kiss Me Once
Chapter 107: Kiss Me Once
Shen Wei seemed like she had truly recovered. After she cleaned herself up, she was once again the intelligent and capable eldest daughter of the Shen family.
The only signs of her previous condition was her still-hoarse voice and puffy eyes. Thus, she temporarily didn’t want to see anyone.
Cheng Xi went out and relayed Shen Wei’s desire. Shen Wei’s father and the others didn’t mind, as Cheng Xi’s professionalism had already convinced them that she would be able to appease Shen Wei.
He only asked, “Does this mean that Shen Wei’s recovered?”
“I still have to observe her for a bit more.”
The Shen family became anxious at her uncertainty, and Shen Wei’s mother eyed her nervously. “What happened to her?”
Cheng Xi’s voice was calm as she reassuringly replied, “It hasn’t been long since the onset of her mental condition, and given how rapidly it developed, it’s very likely that it’s an acute but brief issue. As for the specifics, we have to watch over her. The best thing to do would be to get her a checkup at the hospital.”
This time, Shen Wei’s father didn’t object. “When?”
They didn’t want something like this to ever happen again; it felt like they had lost ten years of their life in just a couple days.
“I’ll convince her to go with me. But afterwards, Mr. and Mrs. Shen, you might have to keep an eye on her and have regular talks with her to stabilize her mentality.”
This sort of rapid-onset mental illness was usually rooted in external causes. And although the mental condition would develop rapidly, if it was handled well, then the patient would recover just as quickly. However, the most important to be aware of were the aftereffects. Cheng Xi was worried that even if Shen Wei recovered, she would wind up doing something extreme.
But she couldn’t mention this sort of worry at the moment, as all she could do was help her family steer her towards the light.
After grappling with the mad Shen Wei for so long, Shen Wei’s parents had become exhausted. But they still had to go back and discuss what to do about Shen Wei and Fu Mingyi’s marriage—even though the two had married out of love, they had only been in a relationship for a few years, and the two families had already received quite a few benefits from each other. Thus, it wouldn’t be easy for the two to get a divorce, especially considering the fact that Shen Wei was now pregnant.
But Cheng Xi ignored all of this. After sending Shen Wei’s family away, she reentered the room. Shen Wei was currently sitting by the head of the bed, with her gaze directed away as she thought about something that Cheng Xi couldn’t discern.
Upon seeing Cheng Xi enter, she softly asked, “Rapid-onset mental condition?”
Cheng Xi hadn’t deliberately lowered her voice when she was speaking to Shen Wei’s family outside, and Shen Wei had easily heard her words by leaning against the door.
Cheng Xi didn’t try to hide it from Shen Wei and nodded affirmatively. Then, she sat down in front of her and casually said, “When regular people are overwhelmingly stimulated by their surroundings, they often experience this sort of thing, though in varying levels of severity. In a xianxia novel, they would call it something like falling into an illusion, oh rather, more like fighting against your inner demons. There’s nothing to be upset about—you just have to slowly and steadily walk out of it.”
Shen Wei looked at Cheng Xi, her expression looking like she was about to laugh and cry at the same time. Only after a while did she cover up her face and finally say, “Heh, illusion… that does seem to be the case.” She put down her hands again. The corners of her eyes were still wet, but she was smiling now. “I didn’t expect that Dr. Cheng would be familiar with the world of xianxia novels.”
“Yup, I know a little about it.”
Shen Wei laughed again.
Cheng Xi didn’t laugh. Instead, she clutched Sheng Wei’s hands and lightly squeezed her fingers. Shen Wei gradually relaxed and unclechened her hands, letting Cheng Xi knead and pinch them.
The house was incomparably quiet. After a while, Shen Wei said, “You and Lin Fan…… Honestly, I feel like the two of you were incompatible from the very beginning.”
Cheng Xi’s heart warmed up slightly. “Yes.”
“He’s too weak and unable to protect you.”
Cheng Xi smiled radiantly. “I don’t need his protection…… But you’re right. The two of us really aren’t compatible.”
“Forget about him.” Shen Wei stretched her body, ending the conversation. Then, she sat up.
“Let’s go to the hospital.” Looking back into Cheng Xi’s curious gaze, she explained her actions. “Even though I feel like I’m perfectly alright right now, I think that I should listen to you and get a mental checkup at the hospital. An illusion or whatever it was, experiencing it once is enough for me.”
Being able to think like this meant that Shen Wei really was free from the worst of the problems. But just in case, Cheng Xi brought her to the hospital the next day as requested.
After a whole bevy of tests, Cheng Xi could finally confirm that Shen Wei had indeed been suffering from an acute but temporary mental condition. She then prescribed Shen Wei a couple common pills. “If you feel like you have difficulty breathing or an extremely fast pulse, you can eat some of this. Normally, if you feel your emotions fluctuate wildly, you can also take some, but otherwise, don’t take it…… Also, because I’ve owed someone money recently, I’ve been quite poor for awhile. Do you want to move in with me for now? I’ll cover food, and rent will be very cheap.”
She wasn’t kidding; Lu Chenzhou had helped her weasel information out of Chen Jiaman’s teacher and made him tell the truth, but he had spent quite a lot to do so. Cheng Xi had established a payment plan to fully repay him in installments over a period of twenty years, but each payment was still quite significant.
In addition, Cheng Xi regularly helped her parents with their living expenses, so when she said that she was poor, she really meant it.
Shen Wei laughed lightly. “Are you afraid that I’ll relapse?”
“No. This is preferential treatment I’m giving to an old classmate of mine.”
“Alright then,” Shen Wei responded indifferently.
And so, Shen Wei ended up living with Cheng Xi. The next day, when Lu Chenzhou invited her out on a date, Cheng Xi had a brand-new excuse. “I have to take care of a friend, so I can’t go out.” She was very sincere in her reply. “It’s also almost time for Lunar New Year. Why don’t you work on your things first, and then we’ll go on a date afterwards?”
Lu Chenzhou didn’t respond to Cheng Xi at that time, but after she got home and started making dinner with Shen Wei, he suddenly showed up.
He brought flowers, a bottle of wine, and a whole pile of snacks with him. Also, behind him was an unfamiliar young man. According to Lu Chenzhou, it was someone from a big family. Shen Wei knew of him, but Cheng Xi hadn’t even heard his name before.
After all, she wasn’t well connected with high society.
Nevertheless, Cheng Xi was still relatively surprised that Lu Chenzhou had brought anyone over at all. She even thought that this was a possible sign that he was recovering from his mental disorder and had made a new friend. But unexpectedly, after Lu Chenzhou introduced his companion, he looked directly at Shen Wei and said, “I’m introducing him specifically to you. His background, character, education, and intellect are all superior to Fu Mingyi’s.”
Upon hearing Lu Chenzhou’s distasteful words, Cheng Xi barely stopped herself from chasing him out the house with the gifts that he’d brought.
He even went on to calmly turn his head around and say to that man, “Isn’t she pretty?” And then he pointed at Cheng Xi. “At least, much better looking than her.”
Cheng Xi was speechless at Lu Chenzhou’s brazen behavior.
Shen Wei was initially a bit disgruntled, but she found Lu Chenzhou’s last statement so funny that she couldn’t help herself from letting out a hearty laugh.
All right, Mr. Lu indeed had some talent to be able to make her laugh like that. Exasperated, Cheng Xi welcomed the two of them inside. The friend whom Lu Chenzhou had brought along didn’t show even the slightest hint of embarrassment after Lu Chenzhou’s mortifying introduction. Later, behind Lu Chenzhou’s back, he explained his situation to Cheng Xi and Shen Wei. “Actually, I’m here on a mission. My grandmother—oh, Lu Chenzhou’s grandmother is my mother’s godmother, so I also call her my grandmother—she’s always wanted my brother to invite you to their house, but my brother was never able to do so. And she was apprehensive of randomly showing up in person to invite you over, so she had me come over with my brother.” He then paused and scratched his head awkwardly as he said, “As for a blind date or whatnot, that was just an excuse to come over.” He looked at Shen Wei. “Of course, Ms. Shen is truly outstanding.”
Shen Wei naturally knew that he was just being polite, and she coolly smiled back at him and thanked him. “His family seems to truly care for you quite a bit. I feel like Director Lu isn’t a bad choice at all.”
Cheng Xi was unable to explain her relationship with Lu Chenzhou, so she simply smiled, turned around, and went back to cooking. She silently added two more cups of rice to the rice cooker and prepared two additional portions of the other dishes.
The four subsequently ate dinner, and, afterwards, with nothing to do and no desire to go out, Lu Chenzhou’s godbrother suggested, “How about we play some cards?” He ran downstairs to buy a deck, and the four of them started playing Hearts.
Cheng Xi and Shen Wei were partners, sitting opposite each other, and Lu Chenzhou and his godbrother sat to Cheng Xi’s left and right, respectively. Cheng Xi was very lucky at mahjong and very talented at studying, but at Hearts, she was a total mess.
Shen Wei was dragged down by Cheng Xi’s lack of skill, and the duo were unable to win even a single game. Ashamed by their string of losses, Cheng Xi began to count cards. At the very end of the next round, Cheng Xi and Shen Wei finally saw a shot at victory. Before playing their remaining two cards, Cheng Xi flipped through everyone else’s discarded card piles seriously.
When she went to inspect Lu Chenzhou’s stack of cards, he suddenly grabbed her hand midway.
Cheng Xi was shocked, and Shen Wei opened her eyes wide to look at the two of them. Lu Chenzhou’s godbrother stilled for a moment before happily saying, “Good block! We can’t let her check the cards. If we win this round, then we’ll have the overall victory too.”
Lu Chenzhou ignored him as his gaze was focused solely on Cheng Xi. “Kiss me.”
The three, in unison, went, “Huh?”
“I’ll tell you my cards if you do it.”
Lu Chenzhou’s godbrother took a moment to process those words before an expletive ran through his mind.