The response he got was a bout of silence: "..."
Fu Yihan looked at her coldly and repeated, "Who were you just on the phone with?"
"No one, let's go back." She awkwardly turned her head, muttering vaguely. "I'll explain it to you slowly. You shouldn't be standing right now; I'll help you back."
As she reached out to him, her hand was abruptly slapped away.
Caught off guard, Su Qingnuan's arm accidentally knocked over the teapot on the table, and a searing pain imdiately shot through her nerves.
"Hiss—"
The all-too-familiar sensation of suffocation washed over her. Clutching her chest, she struggled to breathe. Cold sweat drenched her temple, causing strands of hair to stick to her damp forehead.
"Help... help ..." Her lips, now tinged with purple, trembled helplessly. The sound she made was faint, almost inaudible.
The hand she extended froze midair. Before she could fully reach out to him, she collapsed heavily to the ground under Fu Yihan's horrified gaze.
"Su Yuerou!"
Ergency room at the hospital.
Fu Yihan held a stack of lab reports, while the attending physician spread them out, pointing to each piece as he explained.
"The patient experienced typical left ventricular dysfunction, which led to her difficulty in breathing. She's probably had the condition for many years. As her family mber, you need to be more attentive moving forward."
The doctor sternly rattled off a list of precautions. Seeing that Fu Yihan was cooperative enough, he vented his frustration.
"What's with the traces of sedatives in the patient's system? If this had progressed any further, her heart would've completely failed!"
"What kind of hospital would dare to be this reckless? Injecting so much at once? That's insane." He shook his head.
"Sedatives?" Fu Yihan's expression darkened. Suddenly, a mory surfaced—he recalled the scene when "Su Yuerou" had been dragged into the Fu residence by the bodyguards.
So it started back then?
After the doctor left, he wheeled himself slowly into the hospital room, his face contemplative.
A person with a chronic heart condition, and one that has gone untreated for years—how could she possibly endure such physical strain?
His slender eyes narrowed as his defined fingers tapped rhythmically on the wheelchair's armrest. His gaze fixed intently on the unconscious Su Qingnuan lying on the hospital bed, suspicion growing within him.
If you're not really "Su Yuerou"...
"Tell , who are you—really?"
Morning light began to brighten the room, its warm rays streaming through the hospital window. The glow softened Su Qingnuan's pale, nearly translucent face, enveloping it in a dreamlike aura.
After a brief mont, her thick, crow-feather-like lashes quivered slightly, and her eyes, closed all night, slowly opened.
The mont her consciousness returned, she saw Fu Yihan sitting across from her against the light. Perhaps due to fatigue, he was propping his chin up with his hand, leaning lazily yet elegantly in the wheelchair with his eyes closed. The usual frost exuding from him had lted away without her noticing, rendering him picturesque, like a work of art.
"Awake?"
His voice was deep and husky.
Su Qingnuan forced a response, tugging at the corners of her mouth uncomfortably. "Mhm."
The room fell into silence again, leaving only the sound of their shallow breathing.
With his fingers lightly tapping the armrest, Fu Yihan studied the woman in front of him with a probing gaze.
It was as if a dense, dark fog surrounded her entire being. Beneath her refined exterior, the façade of flesh and beauty was no more than an illusion—flowers in a mirror, the moon reflected in water. From head to toe, everything was false.
What a wife he had married, he mused coldly, his lips curling into a smirk as the thought of her deception struck him.
"Who are you really? Su Yuerou? Or soone else from the Su family?"
"What?"
Su Qingnuan looked up, as though not comprehending at first, but her body stiffened violently the mont his last words registered.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Sensing sothing amiss, she avoided the man's questioning gaze in panic.
"Still playing dumb?" Fu Yihan sneered. "As far as I know, Su Yuerou loved dancing and physical activities, and she was perfectly healthy, without a single ailnt."
"So, tell —who exactly are you?"
He emphasized the words "perfectly healthy," his tone layered with a hidden implication that made Su Qingnuan's heart sink instantly.
Could Fu Yihan already know? But then, why would he still ask her this question? Was he just baiting her into admitting it?
She bit her lip hard, frantically searching through her mind for a plausible explanation, but she couldn't deny the truth: If Fu Yihan had already started to suspect her, how much longer could she keep this hidden? Besides, even if she could deceive him for the ti being, it wasn't as if she could live the rest of her life under the guise of "Su Yuerou," could she?
The scales in her heart tipped further.
"I..." Su Qingnuan hesitated to speak.
But just as she began to utter a word, Fu Yihan interrupted her.
"No need to say it."
He had abruptly changed his mind.
Fu Yihan smirked. "I do indeed need a Mrs. Fu. And at the very least, your performance has been satisfactory so far, hasn't it?"
"No matter who you are, from this day forward, you are to remain the young madam of the Fu family—my wife, Su Yuerou."
"Understood?"
It was as if she had been doused in freezing water; Su Qingnuan felt an unbearable chill seep into her entire being.
"What... what do you an?"
"..."
Her heart sank deeper and deeper. Frozen in place, her bright, lively eyes dimd, robbed of their vitality.
She had indeed wanted to leave the Fu family ever since stepping into their ho. Every mont had felt like a desperate attempt to hold herself together, preventing her collapse.
But now, even that wasn't allowed. "Your answer?" Fu Yihan pressed.
With effort, she forced a bitter and despairing smile. "Do I even have a choice?"
With those words, silence reclaid the room.
After a long while, Fu Yihan's voice broke the quiet. "In that case, Mrs. Fu, focus on your recovery."
Her faint "Mhm" in reply was barely audible. He didn't seem to mind, as he wheeled himself out of the hospital room.
...
Chapter Nine: The Day of Returning Ho
Jianxun Technology Building.
The air conditioning's cold breeze humd through the office, but the young man in a suit was still sweating profusely. He kept fiddling with his tie, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as if the sofa were riddled with pins, unable to sit still.
"Has President Fu finished yet?" He had already been waiting for half an hour. Surely this wasn't just an excuse to delay?
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure either. Perhaps you could wait a little longer?" Assistant Li offered a polite smile.
"Alright, I'll wait."
He didn't know how much longer he waited before the eting room door finally opened. Yi Xuan looked up to see Fu Yihan in his wheelchair, slowly entering.
"President Fu..." The man leapt up from the sofa and almost rushed over, but stopped abruptly five steps away.
"You've finally finished." Yi Xuan's eyes brimd with gratitude and excitent. He quickly straightened himself and extended the prepared docunts to him.
"President Fu, you must help us."
"Get to the point."
Fu Yihan frowned, cutting off his lengthy preamble.
"Uh!" Yi Xuan faltered, his face turning serious as he slowly began, "President Fu, the Fu Group has had cash flow issues for so ti now. While we've managed to scrape by..."
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