Chapter 42: Say Yes to Him
Shen Yuxi remained silent for a long while. He couldn’t lie, nor was he skilled at public confessions, so silence was his only choice.
“Go on, no need to be shy,” Su Nian said with a faint smile, her lips gently pressed together.
She cast a subtle glance at Shen Yuhuan, vaguely sensing that Shen Yuxi’s sudden proposal might be connected to him.
Shen Yuxi’s expression turned solemn, his voice growing more urgent. “Miss Su, I would never harm you. Please agree!”
Su Nian paused, her confusion deepening. “Why? Your request is too sudden; I’m not prepared.”
“Do you have some hidden difficulty? We can speak in private,” she hinted meaningfully.
Shen Yuhuan let out a sudden, light laugh, rising to his full height. “Xi, let’s step outside and talk.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked out the door first.
“Miss Su, please give my proposal some serious thought,” Shen Yuxi said softly, his expression slightly grave as he hurried after Shen Yuhuan.
Leaving Su Nian and Tang Shi staring at each other in bewilderment.
The evening glow has faded, darkness staining the clouds, while a few scattered stars dot the night sky. On the hospital rooftop, a gentle breeze blows, causing white sheets to flutter.
“How did you manage to make Su Nian your girlfriend?” Shen Yuhuan leaned against the railing, his eyes sparkling as if filled with starlight, bright and vivid. “I’ve already told you, now that I have her, I’m willing to share her with you.”
In contrast to his carefree demeanor, Shen Yuxi wore a grave expression. He spoke heavily, “But I cannot share her. If Miss Su is my girlfriend, then she belongs solely to me. I can share anything else with you, but not her.”
Shen Yuhuan withdrew his gaze and quietly met his brother’s eyes.
“So,” he remarked, as if in reflection, “you used yourself to stand in front of Su Nian, blocking me… from getting close to her?”
Shen Yuxi was slightly moved. After a moment of silence, he said, “Miss Su is a person, not your possession. You treat her as your compensation, but she is unwilling.”
“Your identity has always been a ticking time bomb; one day, it will explode.” He paused. “You are dragging her down to hell with you.”
Shen Yuhuan raised an eyebrow, a wild smile playing on his lips. “So what?”
“It was she who said she’d take me to live in a castle, she who promised me rides on the carousel, she who vowed we’d be together forever, she who offered herself to me…” He lowered his eyes, a tinge of melancholy coloring his smile. “Since she reneged on her promise, I have no choice but to take what’s mine myself.”
Even descending into hell together means being together for eternity.
Shen Yuxi gave up arguing.
He had encountered far too many obstinate people; a few words would never sway them. Moreover, Shen Yuhuan was a renowned psychologist—who could possibly unravel the complexities of his psyche?
“You agreed to share Miss Su with me, but I cannot share her with you. A proper view of love never involves three people walking together.” Shen Yuxi suppressed his reluctance, his expression cold and stern. “If she agrees to be my girlfriend, then you must stay away from her and never harass her again. Otherwise…”
He paused briefly before adding, “Otherwise, I will never forgive you!”
Since persuasion had failed, threats were all that remained.
Just as Shen Yuhuan had said, he was using himself as a shield.
“Are you serious?” Shen Yuhuan tilted his head slightly, his face devoid of expression, like a cold sculpture.
Shen Yuxi replied heavily, “You know I never lie. As your family, I would never deceive you!”
The air seemed to freeze, the atmosphere pressed down to its breaking point.
“I understand,” Shen Yuhuan said calmly after a long silence, gazing at the vast expanse of clouds and sky, a faint smile touching his lips. “Once she agrees to be your girlfriend, I will not disturb her, nor will I say or do anything to offend her.”
Shen Yuxi’s gaze trembled slightly. “Huan—”
But after calling out that name, he could say nothing else; by now, there was no turning back.
Those people would not come back to life, and those murders remained undeniable facts.
He was a police officer, and Shen Yuhuan was a criminal—a truth that no one could change.
“It’s too late!” Shen Yuxi closed his eyes and whispered softly.
Shen Yuhuan nodded with a smile. “Yes, it’s beyond redemption.”
*
“Where did everyone run off to?” Su Nian complained.
She was curious, wanting to know what Shen Yuxi and the other person were discussing, so she quietly followed them. But amidst the bustling crowd, she carelessly lost track of them.
Su Nian searched around and returned to Su Xingye’s ward, where Tang Shi was sitting properly, with Shen Yuxi and the other person also present.
“I went to consult the doctor,” she lied off the top of her head.
Tang Shi secretly signaled with her eyes, but Su Nian didn’t understand, so she decided to stay extra cautious. “Yuxi, I’ve thought it over carefully. Regarding your request to start a relationship…”
She deliberately paused for a few seconds, closely observing their reactions.
“I can’t agree to that just yet.” Su Nian tested the waters again, and seeing Shen Yuxi frown with apparent anxiety, she could only offer an apologetic, “I’m sorry.”
She could roughly guess that Shen Yuxi was trying to protect her, but she had too many troubles of her own and couldn’t drag him down into the mire.
If they truly loved each other, she wouldn’t mind starting a relationship, allowing him into her world to weather the storms together.
But clearly, that wasn’t the case.
“Xi, did you hear? She disagreed.” Shen Yuhuan propped his forehead with one hand, smiling lazily. “My perspective remains unchanged; you can still share with me.”
Shen Yuxi, however, remained silent.
Su Nian’s heart skipped a beat as her mind raced, quickly piecing together Shen Yuxi’s motives.
He was indeed protecting her, shielding her from Shen Yuhuan.
“Yuxi, I agree to be your girlfriend, but our relationship will remain private, and we won’t interfere in each other’s lives,” Su Nian said carefully. “I’m afraid that if Gu Yichen finds out, he might cause you trouble. He hasn’t given up on me.”
That despicable man, devoid of honor or morality, might resort to underhanded tactics. If Shen Yuxi lost his job as a police officer because of this, how could she ever make it up to him?
Truly, the situation had taken an unexpected turn.
Shen Yuxi paused briefly in thought. “Miss Su, you need to think this through carefully. We are not fabricating a relationship; we would be a genuine couple.”
“As for Mr. Gu and all the troubles surrounding you, I will naturally take them all on. Please trust in my abilities,” he added.
Listening to him, Su Nian couldn’t help but laugh.
Shen Yuxi’s words and demeanor were as if he were negotiating a business deal, treating them merely as partners. He was indeed an unyieldingly straight-laced man, utterly unfamiliar with romance or tenderness.
“Alright, alright, Officer Shen,” Su Nian replied with a playful glint in her eyes. “I’ve warned you. If you’re determined to wade into these muddy waters, then I can only welcome you.”
“Congratulations. From today onward, you are officially my boyfriend,” she said, her smile soft and radiant.
Strictly speaking, Shen Yuxi was her first boyfriend. In the past, she and Gu Yichen had never truly dated; they had rushed straight into marriage.
Just as Su Nian’s thoughts turned to Gu Yichen, the hospital room door swung open. There he stood, his expression unreadable, radiating an icy chill as he fixed her with a cold, unwavering gaze.
Did you hear that?” she greeted with a smile. “Hello, ex-husband.
“Su Nian…” Gu Yichen murmured her name, his voice deep and restrained, like the roar of a wounded beast.
Suddenly, he laughed, his eyes filled with bone-chilling coldness. “You’re something else!”
He had been unable to rest easy, so he arranged for someone to find Su Xingye’s hospital records and rushed over himself, only to arrive just in time to hear Su Nian’s words.
“Everywhere I go without you, I am better off,” Su Nian replied provocatively.
She stepped forward willingly, looping her arm through Shen Yuxi’s and leaning against him affectionately. “Allow me to introduce my first boyfriend, Shen Yuxi.”
Gu Yichen stared fixedly, the room filling with his surging hostility. He forced his eyes shut for a long moment; when he opened them again, only calmness remained.
“I will not give up,” he declared firmly. “Any grievance you once suffered, I am willing to endure myself.”
Su Nian’s expression was peculiar.
She increasingly wondered if Gu Yichen had been possessed; someone with such an arrogant and cold nature should not have been able to endure so much humiliation.
Gu Yichen stepped out of the hospital room, his face icy, causing those around him to instinctively give way. Only when he reached the corner did he clench his fist and strike the wall, producing a deep, muffled thud.
“Have you found them?” he asked coldly over the phone.
“Sir, I’m sorry,” A Fei complained bitterly. Foreign mercenaries aren’t that easy to locate; in just one short hour, he hadn’t even decided which agency to approach.
“As soon as possible.” Gu Yichen’s gaze was icy cold. He glanced back at the ward, recalling the scene he had just witnessed, and let out a frigid snort.
Groveling to win someone back was never his style; he had only forced himself to do it because a sliver of hope still lingered in his heart.
But now, he was beginning to want to end this game of reconciliation and switch to “hunting” instead.
The night grew deep and silent, and the hospital halls became increasingly empty.
Under the moonlight, amidst the blossoms, Su Nian kicked a small pebble at her feet and glanced sideways at the flustered Shen Yuxi, unable to resist teasing him. “Lovers kiss and embrace. Are you ready?”
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