Shen An met Xu Yijing’s murderous gaze, which treated him like a mortal enemy. He touched his chin and mused, “No need to say something so scary with such a straight face, right?”
Xu Yijing scoffed. “Are you scared?”
“A little.” Shen An ruffled her hair. “Mainly because your eyes look so terrifying right now.”
“Don’t touch me!”
Xu Yijing bared her teeth like an enraged mother cat.
Her feeble hand flailing in midair resembled a kitten’s tail thrashing wildly after its scruff had been grabbed.
“I just wanted to comfort you a bit.”
Shen An ignored Xu Yijing’s warning completely, still toying with her hair playfully. “And help you cool off.”
“If you disappear from my sight right now, I’ll cool off.”
Xu Yijing knew she had no strength to fight back at the moment, so she could only compromise temporarily.
“Come on, we’ve lived together a month. Don’t you have even a tiny bit of attachment to me?” Shen An said shamelessly. “Not even a little?”
Xu Yijing narrowed her eyes. “Would you feel any attachment to a monitor?”
“A monitor?”
Shen An chuckled lightly. “That’s putting it a bit strongly.”
He realized that if he kept teasing, he might really cement an unchangeable image in Xu Yijing’s mind.
Though his image in her mind was already bad enough.
Still, there was room to turn it around.
The carrot-and-stick approach was unbeatable, after all.
“How should I put it? I really have no idea what you mean by ‘doctor,’ and honestly, I’m not some so-called doctor at all.”
Shen An put on a sincere expression and said softly, “On the other hand, what about you? Do you really have some unspeakable illness?”
Xu Yijing frowned slightly. She pursed her lips and said flatly, “No need to put on an act in front of me. From the moment you stepped into my apartment, I’ve had you investigated thoroughly.”
Shen An nearly burst out laughing when he heard that.
What a load of bullshit.
If her intelligence-gathering skills were really that good, she wouldn’t need to resort to empty bluffs like this.
At this point, Shen An was certain that Xu Yijing didn’t have any solid evidence.
She was good at putting on a show of strength to intimidate people—that was her trick.
In the past, the people assigned to her side had all been real doctors, with their own professional ethics and standards. A little intimidation from her was usually enough to make them spill everything.
But Shen An was different.
He knew full well that he wasn’t a doctor at all. Even if Zhao Li treated him like one, he hadn’t actually lied to Xu Yijing in this moment.
It was the plain, unvarnished truth—nothing more, nothing less.
Most importantly, Shen An trusted Zhao Li’s abilities.
Xu Yijing might be clever, but how could a little fox compare to an old one?
Zhao Li would have covered up every relevant detail perfectly. Even if Xu Yijing’s guesses were right, she had no hard proof.
“Do you have any evidence, then?”
He tossed the question out lightly, hitting her right where it hurt.
She looked troubled at once and said bitterly, “Whether you’re a doctor or not doesn’t really matter…”
“The reason you’re by my side is just because my mother arranged it.”
“But you should know full well that you can’t complete the task my mother gave you. Why waste time on it?”
She raised her head, trying once more to talk her way out of it. “Are you afraid of my mother holding you accountable? Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Listen to me, and when your mother comes after you later, I’ll protect you. She won’t make a fuss about it.”
Shen An couldn’t help but chuckle dryly. “You’ll protect me? If you really had any say in front of your mother, you wouldn’t need me here in the first place.”
Those words were a killing blow.
Xu Yijing’s face turned extremely ugly in an instant.
Even though her complexion was already quite pale from the torment of her stomach pain.
“I can tell you’re pretty curious about who I am, too.”
Shen An said gently, “I’ll be straight with you, then. Yes, your mother did arrange for me to be by your side.”
“But let me correct a couple of your assumptions. First, I really am not a doctor, and I have no idea what’s wrong with you.”
“Second, I really am just a student. I’m only following your mother’s instructions because she wanted me to look after you a bit.”
With that, he stood up and pulled out his phone.
Xu Yijing said coldly, “I don’t need your pity.”
She assumed he was about to make a call.
“What are you talking about?”
Shen An didn’t call anyone. Instead, he fished his ID card out from his phone case.
Xu Yijing, realizing she’d guessed wrong, felt a bit awkward and quickly looked away.
“Here, take a good look. Does a twenty-two-year-old doctor exist?”
Shen An dangled his ID card in front of her. “If one does, then maybe he’s still in med school.”
Xu Yijing examined Shen An’s ID card closely. In her agitation, she even reached out and snatched it from him.
“Hey, be careful not to tear it.”
Shen An watched her warily.
Look, keep looking.
Xu Yijing narrowed her eyes, her pupils contracting.
She had investigated him before and checked his school records. All of Shen An’s personal information was right there in the files.
But she hadn’t quite believed it. She’d thought her mother had tampered with them.
Now, holding his ID card in her hand…
He…
He really was twenty-two.
A twenty-two-year-old psychologist? That was pretty far-fetched.
Not to mention, her mother would never hire some young doctor who hadn’t even finished his studies or was just starting out.
Shen An chuckled lightly. “What’s this? From the look on your face, you still don’t believe me. You think this ID is fake too? How about I call the cops right now and let them check it out?”
Xu Yijing tossed the ID card back and muttered, “No need for that.”
“Tsk, can’t you be a little nicer about it?”
Shen An leisurely picked up the ID card and slipped it back into his phone case.
“Now do you believe me?”
Shen An felt a bit smug.
Xu Yijing shook her head slightly. “Like I said, whether you’re a doctor or not doesn’t matter.”
“Either way, I don’t like having someone spying on me.”
“No matter what excuse my mother uses or what deal you two made, I don’t want to see you in my apartment anymore. Got it?”
Shen An listened along until he suddenly let out a light laugh.
Xu Yijing’s face darkened. “Is it funny?”
“No, I was just thinking—has the pain stopped? You’re managing to rattle off these long speeches to me now.”
Shen An pointed at her hand, which was clutching her lower abdomen tightly.
Xu Yijing gritted her teeth. “It’s none of your business.”
Of course it hurt!
She was in agony.
It had just eased up a little, not as intense as before.
“To be honest, my initial thoughts were pretty much the same as yours.”
Shen An said softly. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have agreed to that deal of yours.”
“You say I’m spying on you, but I’ve been busy with my own stuff this whole month. I haven’t had time for that.”
A black line appeared on Xu Yijing’s forehead. “Why can’t you get it through your head? Even if you’re not doing anything, just having you in front of me makes me sick!”
“Got it now?”
The smile on Shen An’s lips gradually faded, and his eyes narrowed into slits.
Nobody would like hearing that.
Xu Yijing panted as she said, “If you think my words are too harsh and you don’t like hearing them, then sorry.”
“But that’s the truth.”
“You think I’m pretty awful too, right? So… just move out, and everything will be fine!”
Shen An simply sat down right in front of Xu Yijing.
He propped up his chin and said gravely, “Yeah, you’re pretty awful. You’re like a block of ice—impervious to cold or heat.”
“But I’m a compassionate guy. I think you really do need someone to take care of you.”
Xu Yijing: ???
She laughed out of sheer anger.
Her smile dripped with sarcasm. “A guy whose head is full of fooling around with women is claiming to have compassion?”
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to this past month.”
“You’re not wrong, but compassion and being a horndog aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Shen An was gradually taking control and smiled faintly. “I both feel sorry for you and lust after your beauty.”
“I’m thinking, if one day I could become your boyfriend—or even your husband—wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds? Wealth and women, no need to struggle for the rest of my life.”
“That’s the truth too, even if you don’t like hearing it.”
He was giving her a taste of her own medicine.
Xu Yijing had laid out terms to induce him to leave.
Well, he wasn’t going anywhere.
They’d already torn the facade anyway—he didn’t need to keep pretending to be the perfect student around her anymore.
This was more his style.
Xu Yijing clutched her lower abdomen tightly, her voice hoarse and cold. “Have you always been this confident in yourself?”
“You mean arrogant.”
Shen An shook his head slightly. “Doesn’t matter. Dreams are dreams—why dream if you don’t aim high?”
“What if it actually happens one day?”
“Compared to graduating and slaving away at some job, getting beaten down by life, I’d rather put in the effort on you and make you like me.”
Xu Yijing took a deep breath. “Keep dreaming. Even if I die, I’d never fall for you.”
“Tsk, don’t jinx it like that.”
Shen An grinned.
But Xu Yijing didn’t want to keep bickering with him anymore.
More precisely, her body wouldn’t let her.
From the office to the apartment, she’d been holding on for three or four hours already. Her willpower was impressive.
Now, a fresh wave of stomach pain crashed over her, and she didn’t even have the strength to suppress it.
With a soft groan, Xu Yijing collapsed to the floor in agony, her delicate body curling up and trembling.
She felt like if the pain kept going, she might actually die from it.
At that moment, Shen An narrowed his eyes and said flatly, “Actually, this is pretty good, isn’t it?”
“What…”
Her voice was feeble.
“Anyway, you don’t want my help, and honestly, I don’t really want to help you.”
“Because even if I did, you wouldn’t thank me.”
“Dreams are just dreams. Rather than let you recover and hate me for it, better to go all in.”
He slowly stood up, a trace of indifference in his demeanor. “It’d be fine if you just died in pain like this.”
“Even if you kicked the bucket, I wouldn’t be responsible for it.”
The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly. “I could even tell your mother I wasn’t even in the apartment tonight.”
Gulp.
His tone was utterly flat, as if he were stating a simple fact.
For no reason at all, Xu Yijing felt a twinge of fear.
“My… apartment has surveillance.”
She said hoarsely.
“Does it? The terminal’s on your room computer, right?” Shen An stretched lazily. “I’ll take care of it in a bit. Won’t leave a trace. Don’t worry.”
“You…”
Xu Yijing struggled to lift her head, only to catch the emotionless look in his eyes.
It was as if she were staring at a lifeless object.
This…
She was afraid.
Urp.
The urge to dry-heave surged up again, and she couldn’t help but retch.
Shen An arched a brow and drawled leisurely, “Enjoy the feeling. I won’t disturb you anymore.”
He turned to leave.
Shen An…
Bastard… damn bastard…
Xu Yijing’s abdomen began to spasm and tremble. It really hurt so much…
She could barely breathe.
“Don’t…”
She reached out with a trembling hand toward Shen An.
Shen An halted, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly. “Scared now?”
“I… it hurts so much.”
Xu Yijing furrowed her brows tightly, murmuring weakly.
“Are you scared?”
Shen An suddenly dropped into a squat. “You’re scared out of your wits, aren’t you?”
Xu Yijing didn’t want to admit it, but she had no idea how to respond.
“You are scared.”
Shen An reached out and gently stroked her icy little face. “So, don’t casually talk about killing me. I might take it seriously.”
“And if I do take it seriously, I’ll kill you first.”
Whimper.
He… suddenly felt so unfamiliar.
It was the kind of unfamiliarity that made Xu Yijing tremble in fear.
But damn it…
His hand brushed lightly over her cheek… Why… did it bring a strange sense of warmth, like being soothed?
“Alright, no more joking around.”
Shen An’s acting switched seamlessly—one moment deep and cold, the next revealing a gentle smile.
“Don’t put on such a tough front in front of me. When you need help, learn to swallow your pride a little.”
He let out a soft huff and scooped her up into his arms by the waist.
Hiss.
The motion tugged slightly at her abdomen, sending waves of pain rolling through her.
But more than that, what bothered her was…
Shen An arched a brow and said coolly, “Keep talking nonsense, and I’ll toss you off right now—from the thirteenth floor. You’ll not only die in pain but splatter on the ground too!”
Whimper…
So fierce.
Xu Yijing pursed her little lips and helplessly closed her eyes.
She swore she’d never touch another ice cream bar again.
