Chapter 188: You Lied to Her for Four Years

The Young Master of the Xie Family, warm and soft as jade in his arms, suddenly received a call from the hospital at midnight saying Shen Xun was in the hospital, suffering a stomach spasm.

He knows how severe Xun's stomach illness is; back then gastric perforation and bleeding were common. Jiang Lai, to take good care of Xun's stomach, personally prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner, arranging everything perfectly. Wasn't his stomach already healed? How can it still have a spasm!

Where's Jiang Lai?

Usually such a call is first made to Jiang Lai, then to the Shen Family, and only then to a friend like him.

Calling him here feels a bit off.

Xie Yongsi pushed the woman from his arms, rushed to the hospital; Shen Xun lay on the bed, his face pallid, unconscious.

He stayed in the hospital all night, fetching reports, getting medicine, watching the liquid in the vial, and only when dawn approached did he prop his head on a chair and drift off half‑asleep.

He felt he hadn't slept long before a phone jolted him awake.

Xie Yongsi felt the ringing phone; it wasn't his own, and he looked at the suit on the nightstand—it was Shen Xun's phone.

He walked over and saw the incoming call display the characters "Shutong".

Xie Yongsi tapped to answer.

"Hello, Shutong."

"Yongsi? Are you with Ah Xun? Is he hospitalized?"

Xie Yongsi looked at the still‑sleeping Shen Xun, pinched his own bridge of the nose, yawned widely and said, "Yes, stomach spasm; he hasn't woken since last night."

"Which hospital? I'm coming right away."

"Hexin Yiyuan, send me a message when you arrive, I'll come down to meet you." Hexin Yiyuan is a private hospital with many rules.

Just as Xie Yongsi put down the phone, Shen Xun woke up, forcing his ailing body to speak, and called out to him.

"Brother Xun, you finally woke up! What's going on? Did you drink?"

Shen Xun opened his lips: "First, give me some water, thank you."

Xie Yongsi immediately fetched it, waiting for him to finish so he could explain what had happened—how could the stomach problem flare up again after so long?

"Thanks for your trouble last night," Shen Xun thanked him, "It's late, I shouldn't disturb the family."

"I know, it's all minor," Xie Yongsi, his brother of nearly ten years, wouldn't mind such trifles, "Your stomach is the big issue—what's really happening? Did you go to a banquet last night?"

"No," Shen Xun lowered his eyes, silent for a while, then said, "I met Jiang Lai; Jiang Lai and I are divorced."

Xie Yongsi was momentarily stunned.

To be honest, Jiang Lai's divorce request was within his expectations; after all, Ke Zhongyu had personally produced evidence of Xun's ambiguous relationship with Shutong. Even if it wasn't ambiguous, Xun spent so much on Shutong that any considerate wife would feel chilled.

"You got a stomach spasm because your sister‑in‑law filed for divorce?" Xie Yongsi pursed his lips, "That seems extreme, Xun. Filing for divorce isn't the same as divorcing; you could just refuse to sign."

Shen Xun replied irritably, "We are already divorced."

Xie Yongsi: "Huh?"

He was puzzled: "When did you sign? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Jiang Lai tricked me into signing," Shen Xun thought of Jiang Lai's painstaking deception for over a month, and his heart and stomach ached again.

He reached out to cover his mouth; Xie Yongsi instinctively reached for the call button to summon a nurse.

Shen Xun shook his head: "No need."

He knew the real pain wasn't his stomach.

"Jiang Lai not only tricked me into signing the divorce agreement, but also colluded with my father to process the divorce certificate; the system already shows us as divorced."

"This..." Xie Yongsi was speechless; on reflection, it fit Jiang Lai's character.

All these years Jiang Lai silently served as wife and daughter‑in‑law in the Shen family, suffered injuries, and likewise left without a word.

Shen Xun's face was filled with grief, his eyes reddening again; he looked at Xie Yongsi and said, "Since I signed, Jiang Lai has been deceiving me. She doesn't return home, claiming she's at Cui Zhai, but actually lives in Nanshan Villa. The parenting class I enrolled her in she never attended; she handed it off to someone else. That's how she fooled me for over a month."

Xie Yongsi stared at his painful, hard‑to‑accept expression; as a brother he should comfort him, but his tongue slipped and he couldn't help saying, "But Xun, you deceived her for four years."

The words hung in the air.

The ward fell silent.

"Brother Xun, I'm not speaking for Jiang Lai, I..." Xie Yongsi's voice faltered, as if he couldn't explain, and finally, earnestly, he said, "I never expected you to like Jiang Lai so much that even a divorce could cause a stomach spasm."

That day at the bar, Xun said he liked Jiang Lai, thinking it was just ordinary affection.

For a man, falling for a woman he sees day after day is normal; previously he pretended it was just a sense of duty, which was abnormal.

But given the situation, Xun's claim of liking Jiang Lai wasn't a slight feeling.

Xie Yongsi didn't want to hurt him further, so he shut his mouth and changed the subject.

"I'll order you a bowl of congee."

Shen Xun softly said he had no appetite, his lips pale, eyes vacant.

Xie Yongsi sighed silently, got up and walked out, still deciding to order congee; after ordering, he went downstairs to meet Lin Shutong.

When Lin Shutong saw him, she anxiously asked, "Why the stomach spasm? Didn't his stomach condition improve long ago? What caused this?"

Xie Yongsi sighed, "Over‑heartbroken."

Lin Shutong halted, frowning, "Over‑heartbroken? Because what?"

"Jiang Lai and he are divorced," Xie Yongsi glanced at her belly, "You and Xun can be together now, but..."

Probably they'll become another mismatched pair.

Lin Shutong slowly widened her eyes, suspiciously asking, "Divorce? Did Ah Xun agree to divorce Jiang Lai?"

He didn't agree.

Xie Yongsi also feared hurting Lin Shutong, so he didn't say that, instead stating, "Jiang Lai and he are divorced."

Lin Shutong still remained doubtful: "Jiang Lai willing? If she leaves Shen Xun, which man will want…"

Her voice suddenly stopped.

She recalled Gu Yinxue's words: Jiang Lai is Ke Zhongyu's girlfriend and even brought her back to the Ke family.

Lin Shutong frowned, "Where did her lucky break come from? How could the Ke family and the Nian family take a parentless orphan with no family background?"

Impossible.

It was Gu Yinxue worrying too much.

Ke Zhongyu was just playing around.

Lin Shutong snapped back to attention and asked Xie Yongsi as she walked, "Did A-Xun sign?"

If he had signed, the child in her belly could definitely be saved.

Xie Yongsi nodded: "He was forced to sign, so he was angry enough to get stomach spasms."

"Forced?" A flash of shock crossed Lin Shutong's face. "What could Jiang Lai use to threaten A-Xun? Or was it President Ke of the Ke Group throwing his weight around?"

To be honest, she was happier than anyone when Jiang Lai and Shen Xun divorced, but Jiang Lai being together with the heir of the Ke Group didn't make her happy at all.

In the Self-developed Chip Project Jiang Lai had already been lording it over her, and being with Ke Zhongyu put her status and position yet another notch above hers.

A woman with no background and no family to lift her up—what right did she have to lord it over her again and again?

Xie Yongsi saw that she wasn't happy and asked, "Haven't you always been hoping Brother Xun would divorce and marry you? Brother Xun got divorced, so why do you still look unhappy?"

Lin Shutong rolled her eyes at him in her heart. She did indeed hope Shen Xun would divorce and marry her, but having it pointed out to her face like that was truly lacking in emotional intelligence.

"A-Xun is sick—what do I have to be happy about?"