Chapter 272: Habitual Rhetorical Questions Are Also a Form of Bullying

"Your so-called taking medicine last night wasn't at all because of a miscarriage — it's because you caught a sexually transmitted disease, isn't it?" Shen Xun looked at her wretched state; the white moonlight of yesteryear had ultimately become a smear of mosquito blood in his palm.

He looked at her with pain and resentment: "Lin Shutong, you truly make me sick, and I'm just as disgusting for having once staked my entire fortune on you."

Shen Xun spared Lin Shutong no mercy with his words, nor did he spare himself.

His body, having steadily wasted away in recent days, was on the verge of collapse.

He didn't look at Lin Shutong again.

"Three thousand a month, four years — take it if you want, don't and there's nothing."

Shen Xun turned to look at the doctor, striving to maintain the courtesy and composure he bore as President Shen, sat back down before the doctor, and said: "Please arrange a procedure for me and put together a follow-up treatment plan."

The doctor: "In the early stage, no surgery is needed — injections and medication with regular follow-ups will do. Are you allergic to penicillin?"

Shen Xun shook his head, then grew worried about the people around him: "Please also give me a set of precautions for daily life. I don't want to put anyone around me in danger."

He exchanged contact information with the doctor and asked the doctor to send it to him online; he needed to go get his medication and injections now, and head back once done.

The important thing was that he didn't want to see Lin Shutong — being in the same place made it hard even to breathe.

Lin Shutong shakily got up to chase after him, still repeating that Shen Xun couldn't just abandon her, but received no answer at all, and could only watch the car speed away in a cloud of dust.

Shen Xun sat in the car, his expression complicated. He didn't know what reasonable excuse to use to get his parents and sister to undergo physical examinations — after all, the whole family lived together day and night, ate together, and sometimes shared the bathroom. He wouldn't be at ease unless they were checked.

Arriving at Hexin Yiyuan, faced with his parents' concern and his sister's call of "Brother," Shen Xun felt a jumble of emotions. After a moment's thought, he said: "New Year's Day is almost here, the year is nearly over, and we happen to be at the hospital — let's all get physical exams. From now on, everyone in our family should get one every year. If Mom's brain tumor had been discovered earlier, she wouldn't have had to suffer so much."

The whole family thought it made sense.

Mother Shen was the most in favor of physical exams — the brain tumor hadn't killed her, but the devastating news of having one had nearly scared her to death.

In the physical exam packages, Shen Xun not only added infectious disease screening but also cancer screening.

He personally oversaw it, and when the results came out he was the first to rush over to look. Only after seeing that every family member's infectious disease screening report came back normal did he let out a heavy breath of relief.

Shen Xun sat drained in a chair, holding the report, his eyes red.

Father Shen and Shen Xi exchanged a glance. The blow Lin Shutong's affair had dealt Shen Xun was truly enormous — the trial had been over for several days now, and he still hadn't recovered.

Father Shen reached out to pat his son's shoulder and comfort him, but Shen Xun, as if startled, immediately turned his body away, not letting his father touch him.

An overreaction, one might say.

But Shen Xun's life, body, and spirit had recently collapsed across the board — the man was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow.

The family's test results were in — nothing wrong.

There was still one person who hadn't been checked.

Jiang Lai.

Even though he had never been intimate with Jiang Lai, and even though Jiang Lai hadn't come back often during that period, he worried about the what-ifs.

He had already ruined four years of Jiang Lai's life — he couldn't ruin her entire lifetime too.

After staying with his mother at the hospital, Shen Xun dragged his exhausted, heavy body back to Nanshan Villa that evening.

Jiang Lai was busy with work during the day and only had time at night. Shen Xun estimated the timing, arrived at the entrance of Nanshan Shu Jiuhao, and the two dogs immediately barked fiercely at him.

Dogs — he was no longer afraid of them.

Shen Xun didn't shout or yell. He stood rigid as a post at the entrance of Building Nine, letting the cold wind slash across his face and ears.

He said to the bodyguards: "Jiang Lai's off work and back, right? Please go tell her I need to see her about something — something very important, concerning her health."

The bodyguards had been about to brush him off with a retort, but hearing that last line, they didn't take it lightly. One of the bodyguards turned and went inside.

Before long, Jiang Lai and Mo Yi came out together.

This time it was only the two of them.

Shen Xun glanced inside again — Ke Zhongyu was actually not there.

"Jiang Lai…"

"What important thing? Concerning my health." Jiang Lai had a faint answer in her heart already: "You're infected?"

Shen Xun startled, his pupils contracting sharply.

"What…"

After his moment of confusion, he said rapidly: "How do you know? Why would you know? Could it be that you too…"

Shen Xun tried to step forward but was stopped by a bodyguard's outstretched arm.

Jiang Lai wore an expression that said this was exactly what she'd expected: "I'm not. I've already been checked."

She just hadn't expected Shen Xun to still have a shred of conscience, coming in person to tell her.

"Why would you go get checked? You knew? When did you find out?" Shen Xun's speech was still rapid, his eyes carrying a trace of something complex.

Jiang Lai didn't hide anything: "At Hexin Yiyuan I overheard Lin Shutong and Lu Hongyuan's conversation, and picked up Lu Hongyuan's test report."

"Lu Hongyuan?" Shen Xun's already wide eyes widened even further, even stammering a little: "From Yuan Shu Technology — Lu Hongyuan? He's infected too? Lin Shutong's infected too, the two of them…"

Jiang Lai: "Lu Hongyuan was in the photos from the trial — you didn't see him?"

Shen Xun had seen him.

A wave of nausea hit him.

Lu Hongyuan was old, short and fat — Lin Shutong had actually been involved with him too!

Lu Hongyuan had actually dared to invite him!

Could it be another trap set by Lin Shutong? A trap aimed at him?

"When did this happen?"

"This month."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Shen Xun frowned, his face full of hurt.

Jiang Lai found him baffling.

"I don't even want to see you, much less talk to you at length. Or do you think I should have grabbed a megaphone and broadcast everywhere that Lin Shutong might have caught a sexually transmitted disease? Setting aside the fact that I wasn't even sure whether she was infected — even if I were certain, STDs are personal privacy protected by law. Taking a step back, even if they weren't protected, what difference would there be between me spreading it far and wide and Lin Shutong flaunting everywhere that her maternal grandfather is Ji Lao?"

"One spreads a tumor of the body, the other flaunts a cancer of the academic world."

Mo Yi looked coldly at Shen Xun: "You're not going to blame this on our Miss Jiang too, angry that she didn't notify you the first moment, are you?"

Shen Xun instantly deflated, speaking with difficulty: "No, it's just a habitual reflexive question."

Jiang Lai: "A habitual reflexive question is also a form of bullying, Shen Xun."

Shen Xun parted his lips: "Are your test results okay?"

Jiang Lai: "Thanks to myself for pulling out early."

Shen Xun closed his mouth; every time he met Jiang Lai's unrippled gaze, his heart ached.

Especially at this moment, Jiang Lai received a phone call, and he heard the four words "moving tomorrow."

Shen Xun's pupils contracted, and he said in panic: "Move what? Are you moving or what? Where are you moving to? Jiang Lai, where are you moving to?"

He had rented the house at Nanshan Villa just to be closer to Jiang Lai, yet Jiang Lai was going to move away?

With Jiang Lai's current status, going to the research institute—he couldn't get in.

Going to the Ke Clan's Research and Development Center, he couldn't get in either.

If he followed her, he would be invited for tea.

Asking around? Ask where! He wasn't in Jiang Lai's social circle at all!

Which person around Jiang Lai didn't despise him?

When Shen Xun learned she was moving away, he truly panicked.

He had already lost Jiang Lai—how could he not even be able to see Jiang Lai's face?