Marriage of a Sickly Villain and a Fortune Hunter - Chap 37
When the private plane landed at the Beijing Airport, Zhao Yinhe was already waiting outside.
All transfer procedures were completed and experts were waiting at the hospital. Li Chengyuan was directly snatched from the airport for a checkup, and couldn’t even go back to his house.
As soon as Zhao Yinhe saw him, he said like rapid gunfire:
“I almost thought I wouldn’t see you again, how dare you fucking scare me like that!”
“It’s good thing your little ChiChi is so amazing, his CPR was comparable to a professional’s!”
“I didn’t dare tell Mom about it, but she saw the news this morning and insisted on buying a plane ticket to find you. I said you’d be back soon, so she’s waiting at the hospital.”
After a pause, Zhao Yinhe finally slowed down and asked in a whisper: “Was it poison? Although the test results haven’t come back, I think your symptoms are similar to aconitine poisoning……don’t tell my mom, she’s faint-hearted.”
Li Chengyuan gave a slight nod.
Liu Xian had bombarded him on WeChat a while ago, asking why he had suddenly fallen ill. He only vaguely replied that he had not been feeling well.
As a result, he was inevitably given a worried scolding and told not to procrastinate the next time he felt unwell, and go to the hospital for an examination.
When he was poisoned as a child, Liu Xian had been terrified, and for a long time she had looked at everyone as if they wanted to kill this poor boy. Seeing that Li Chengyuan was sick, she suspected that he had been poisoned again.
As soon as he stepped through the doors of the hospital, Liu Xian, who had been waiting for a long time, came up anxiously.
First, she looked Li Chengyuan up and down. Seeing that although his face was pale, he was still in good spirits, she felt relieved. Then she turned around and joyfully hugged a dazed Xia Xingchi.
“Thank you for being there, Xiao Chi.” Liu Xian rubbed Xia Xingchi’s head fiercely. “Were you scared? My eyes are still swollen from crying, I’m not afraid to pat your head.”
Xia Xingchi had never been comforted like a child by an elder before, and instantly felt embarrassed. This was a rare moment when the thick-skinned person blushed and bowed his head.
But he was happy, and very willing to have his hair messed up.
Liu Xian comforted him for a while, then turned her head and said: “Xiao Yuan, you have to be good to Xiao Chi for the rest of your life. If you lose him, you will never find another child as good as him!”
Li Chengyuan smiled faintly and gazed down at Xia Xingchi for a moment, then nodded slightly. Xia Xingchi was even more embarrassed by his gaze, so he hurriedly looked away and pretended not to see it.
. . . . . . .
There were enough physical examination items to make a person dizzy. Xia Xingchi couldn’t help being dumbfounded by the sight of a whole stack of medical examinations that needed to be done, thinking that this was true manual labor.
He thought of what the doctor had told him before. Li Chengyuan couldn’t tire himself out walking around and needed to stay in bed to recuperate, so Zhao Yinhe had a certain person push him in a wheelchair.
Xia Xingchi immediately agreed, and took the initiative to grab the wheelchair and gesture for the villain to sit down quickly. It was worrying to see him standing.
Li Chengyuan was already long-suffering upon seeing those complicated physical examinations, but seeing that there were even more outrageous battles to fight, he couldn’t help but frown: “It wasn’t really a heart attack —”
Before he could finish, Xia Xingchi pushed him down into the wheelchair without warning: “Boss, if you don’t want to sit on this, I think the stretcher bed over there is also good? As long as you don’t find it embarrassing, I’m willing to borrow one to push you. Lying down is also a good thing!”
Li Chengyuan: “…….”
Zhao Yinhe nodded in agreement, and almost couldn’t help laughing when he saw Li Chengyuan’s helpless and resigned expression.
As expected, everyone had a weakness. There was finally someone who could control a certain person.
Furthermore, this was really not a big deal. Although Li Chengyuan’s heart was not so bad that he had serious arrhythmia, after walking through the gates of Hell, his heart may hurt temporarily.
A full set of reception staff were responsible for all the examinations. Li Chengyuan didn’t let Xia Xingchi follow him, and asked him to go back to the ward to unpack his luggage. Aunt Li would bring their dinner later.
As soon as Xia Xingchi entered the ward, he was stunned by the luxury. This was indeed the best private hospital in Beijing, and the ward was comparable to a five-star hotel.
Not only was it not a lifeless white, but it also came fully furnished. There was an independent bathroom and even large French windows with a panoramic view.
Simple daily necessities had already been prepared on the table. Xia Xingchi picked up a bottle and a can, and found that they were the mint candy that Li Chengyuan often ate, along with his favorite black tea.
This was such meticulous and thoughtful service. What was even more meticulous was that when he opened the closet, his shirts were actually hanging inside, and even the shower gel in the bathroom was the brand he usually used.
Zhao Yinhe stuck his head in, and seeing Xia Xingchi’s surprise, he explained: “This ward is reserved for Li Chengyuan, and no one else is allowed to stay in it except him – he used to be in poor health and spent most of the year in the hospital.”
Those years at the Li residence had broken down his already frail and sick body.
Moreover, when he successfully seized power, the entire Li Group was already in turmoil, and he had to deal with various affairs almost without sleep.
Once, he really couldn’t spare the time and had to have an IV drip while he was holding a meeting. As soon as he finished work, he fainted to the ground the moment he stood up.
Not to mention that his mental state was not very good at the time, and he had to take psychotropic drugs with severe side effects in order to stabilize his mood.
But it was this kind of desperate effort that finally saved the Li Group from going bankrupt and brought it back to life.
The more Xia Xingchi heard, the more distressed he became. He’d never thought that Li Chengyuan had been through such a difficult time before, and wished he could rush over to him and hug him hard.
After thinking about it, he couldn’t help asking: “Isn’t that too much? Treating money like it’s more important than his own life……from what I’ve seen, he’s not really a money-lover, ah?”
Hearing this, Zhao Yinghe immediately showed a strange and complicated expression.
He hesitated to speak for a long moment, and finally said: “Li Chengyuan left the Li residence once when he was a child. Have you heard about it?”
Xia Xingchi nodded. He’d heard it while that idiot Xia Yu was revealing Li Chengyuan’s private information in front of the camera. He had mentioned that he ran away from home.
“It wasn’t that he wanted to leave.” Zhao Yinhe shook his head. “He was in a stupor after being stimulated, and the vicious mother and son threw him out and pretended he had run away from home.”
At that time, Li Chengyuan had just witnessed his mother’s suicide. So day and night, he was tortured by the horrible scene of her frantically writhing as she hung from the ceiling, and lost his mind.
No matter how mature he was, he was still a mentally disturbed child, and was easily induced by the vicious new mistress to “run away from home” in the hopes that he would die of illness in some corner.
At that time, Li Chengyuan had a weak physique and could cough up blood even when the wind blew, and often fainted suddenly. But miraculously, not only did he fail to die, he survived until the countless people sent out by Liu Xian found him —
No one in the Li family actively looked for him, and didn’t even care about him as much as outsiders.
Liu Xian and Li Chengyuan’s mother were as close as sisters, and she had a heart for the only son left behind by her dead best friend.
In addition, since Li Chengyuan had been quiet and forbearing since childhood, Liu Xian always treated him like her own son.
“After coming back, Li Chengyuan’s spirit suddenly recovered a lot. He no longer acted mindless and dazed, but ever since, he was always thinking about finding someone.”
Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears when he heard these words. It appeared that Li Chengyuan had met his White Moonlight during that time.
Zhao Yinhe went on to say unexpectedly: “But this person……is probably someone he imagined, and doesn’t exist at all.”
In order to stabilize Li Chengyuan’s spirit and alleviate his condition, Liu Xian had worked very hard to find that person for him.
Back then, the Zhao family had the largest film and television group in the country, and had a wide network of contacts and financial resources. But after searching high and low, they couldn’t find the person Li Chengyuan was obsessed with. “He” seemed to have disappeared from the world.
In the end, Li Chengyuan was so sick that he barely had one breath left, and was in a stupor at that time. Everything was more like a dream woven by his brain to escape the reality of his torment and despair.
Xia Xingchi was taken aback upon hearing this. He never thought that he would be a substitute for a non-existent person, and it had never occurred to him that everything could just be a fantasy.
Zhao Yinhe: “But I kind of believe that such a child really existed.”
In order to fake that he ran away from home, the Li Shengrui mother and son had deliberately given him a lot of money. In any case, he didn’t have much desire to survive, and this crazy person was barely aware. He certainly wouldn’t spend money on medicine and treatment.
When Liu Xian found Li Chengyuan, he was already unconscious with a high fever, and didn’t have a penny on his body —
It really seemed that after someone cheated him of all his money, he was thrown into a small abandoned warehouse upon seeing that he was too sick to survive.
“Oh, but I’m getting off track! Getting back to the topic, the conclusion is that – Li Chengyuan doesn’t care about money, but the person he was looking for was very fond of it. He said that the person’s mind and eyes were full of money, and he wanted to use this method to catch the liar back.”
Xia Xingchi was utterly shaken.
Assuming that the White Moonlight existed, there were thousands of people who loved money in the world. He couldn’t assume that he was the right person just because of this common hobby, right?
What’s more, he was incapable of vicious things such as killing for money…..the one Li Chengyuan had been obsessed with for so many years was this kind of person?
As if he had learned some shocking secret, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but feel uncomfortably sour, and didn’t speak for a long time after hearing those words.
Seeing the change in his expression, Zhao Yinhe immediately felt strange and sensed that he had said something wrong, but didn’t know what it could be.
Every time Li Chengyuan mentioned the “little liar” over the years, he gritted his teeth with a paranoid attitude, as if that person was his sworn enemy, and he wished to bring him back and imprison him and torture him severely.
Was Xia Xingchi…..jealous?
. . . . . .
When Li Chengyuan returned to the ward after completing various examinations, he noticed that Xia Xingchi’s mood was very strange.
This was a little hedgehog whose face couldn’t hide anything. Although it could be seen that he was trying hard to cover it up, there were still clues.
Xia Xingchi shook his head and took the wheelchair from the medical staff, saying nonchalantly: “How was it? Are the test results okay?”
Li Chengyuan nodded slightly and only continued to stare at him.
Xia Xingchi was already used to being stared at like this by the kitty cat, but at the thought that he had actually replaced a despicable little liar who might not even exist, he couldn’t help feeling even more sour.
“Aunt Li made some shredded chicken porridge for you.” Xia Xingchi pushed the wheelchair to the bed. “Does your stomach hurt? The nurse just brought your stomach medicine.”
Because his mind was still obsessing over the White Moonlight, his short-circuiting brain wasn’t functioning at all as he bent over and tried to figure out how to carry Li Chengyuan from the wheelchair to the bed.
Li Chengyuan gave him a mystified look. After a while, he pursed his lips and teased him by remaining silent, watching Xia Xingchi trying to lift him as if pulling up a radish.
Although Li Chengyuan looked thin, he was tall and heavy-framed. Coupled with his self-discipline in maintaining a good figure over the years, his muscled body was inevitably extra heavy.
Xia Xingchi tried a few times from various angles, but all of his attempts failed.
Feeling flustered, he couldn’t help but get distracted again, thinking that Li Chengyuan must have been easy to carry when he was a child. He must have been delicate and beautiful, like a porcelain doll.
It was a pity that he didn’t meet Xia Xingchi, but met a little liar with a bad character.
Thinking of Li Chengyuan being so young at that time, trembling and unconscious in a cold abandoned warehouse, waiting for a person who would never come back, Xia Xingchi felt very distressed.
And he felt even more sour, regretting that he couldn’t be the one who had met Li Chengyuan.
It wasn’t until Li Chengyuan was almost thrown from the wheelchair onto the ground by the absent-minded Xia Xingchi that he finally couldn’t endure it any longer. While Xia Xingchi was leaning over, he raised a hand to touch his furry head —
Then he stood up and sat on the bed.
Xia Xingchi: “…….”
Shit, he seemed to have forgotten that this person didn’t have a leg problem, he just had a weak heart and needed to walk less for the time being.
His reflexes were stunted, and it took Xia Xingchi a long time to remember to be angry:
“Li Chengyuan, how dare you play tricks on me! Believe it or not, I’ll take your food and let you starve to death here!”
Li Chengyuan’s face was expressionless when he heard these words, but a faint smile flashed in his eyes. He knew that Xia Xingchi couldn’t bear to starve him. After all, he would suffer from stomach pain and hypoglycemia when he was hungry.
Xia Xingchi also realized that he was being manipulated to death by this black-hearted capitalist, so he made a gesture like a sugar glider that was about to pounce on him.
Li Chengyuan had seen the depressed look on his face just now and purposely teased him, raising his arms to indicate that Xia Xingchi could throw himself into them.
While they were horseplaying, the phone suddenly rang. Xia Xingchi reached for it and found that it was the police calling.
Killing someone with poison was a major event, not to mention that the witnesses and suspects involved in the case were all public figures with great fame.
For this reason, the case immediately alarmed the upper echelons, and it only took a day for the report to be done. The hospital had already issued the test results, and jointly determined that this was deliberate poisoning.
The poison used was exactly the same as Zhao Yinhe had guessed, pure, highly-toxic aconitine.
While Li Chengyuan answered the police call, Xia Xingchi playfully sat in his wheelchair and looked down to see what was brewing on Weibo.
The big villain’s bad character was like a cat. After catching their prey, they didn’t kill it with one bite, but intentionally tortured it, constantly frightening it and destroying the opponent’s mentality to their heart’s content.
When he opened it, the hot search item of the young master of the Xia family being exposed was ridiculously popular.
Because it was filled with onlookers and abuse after Xia Yu completely collapsed in just a few days, it could be said to be quite lively.
What he didn’t expect was that when Xia Xingchi refreshed it casually, there was new shocking content on the hot search list:
#The Truth About Mr. Li’s Heart Attack#
#Police Confirm Deliberate Poisoning#
. . . . . .
[Oh my god, Mr. Li was actually poisoned, no wonder it was so serious all of a sudden]
[Thinking carefully, the suspect is either a celebrity or a staff member of the program team. Is a suspenseful case going to play out?]
[I have a wild guess – At that time, Xia Yu deliberately obstructed the first aid, and suddenly cooked porridge for Mr. Li. That was his brother’s fiance, he’s very strange]
[Bullshit! Li Chengyuan didn’t drink Xia Yu’s porridge at all! Are you framing and slandering him?!]
[That’s right, ah. Li Chengyuan himself said that he only eats food cooked by Xia Xingchi. He got poisoned because he drank Xia Xingchi’s porridge!]
[A pure passer-by. It is impossible for a person to poison the porridge he cooked, otherwise wouldn’t “I’m a murderer” be written on his face?]
[Maybe he thought the most obvious way was the safest, and he was just waiting for you to say that?]
The fans and anti-fans soon scuffled again. Previously, Xia Yu’s fans were numerous and had an overwhelming advantage.
But in just two days, his house had completely collapsed and he lost countless fans. On the contrary, Xia Xingchi had more and more fans, occupying an unprecedented dominant position with great momentum.
In the melee between the two sides, there were also passers-by who analyzed the situation rationally:
[There must be a motive for hurting someone. Such a meticulous and unnoticed poisoning plan can’t be someone suddenly wanting to kill a rich person.]
[Who is the beneficiary when Mr. Li dies? He and Xia Xingchi aren’t married yet and don’t share any property. He is only twenty-five years old, and it isn’t likely that he would make a will so young]
[I just went to patrol around the gossip squads and found that Mr. Li actually has an older brother! Informed sources broke the news that they are half-brothers]
[Pricking up ears to listen to the gossip of the rich and powerful, hurry up and talk, upstairs!]
[Wait, how do I remember that Mr. Li’s mother died young, and his father remarried……shouldn’t that be the younger brother?]
[The hell?! How is the mistress in the top position, and the child of the mistress is older than the child of the original spouse?]
[Mr. Li was originally the first young master, but as soon as the mistress brought her illegitimate child into the home, he became the second young master. At that time, anyone who didn’t change their form of address was fired. A driver who made a mistake and got fired broke the news]
[But there’s still a problem with that, the illegitimate child didn’t participate in the show, ah, how could he poison him from thousands of miles away?]
[He must have bribed someone or had an insider]
. . . . . .
Xia Yu hadn’t closed his eyes and slept for two days and two nights. He fearfully read the analyses of everyone online, trembling with panic when the crime was revealed.
He wanted to call Li Shengrui, but after receiving the message, “We won’t have contact for now,” he was directly blocked by him.
Li Shengrui also had trouble protecting himself. While fearing that his crimes would be exposed, he was furious at being torn down by public opinion.
Just the words “illegitimate child” online pierced his sensitive and self-conscious heart, and his anger flared.
Xia Yu was clutching his cell phone, and panicked at the sound of a servant knocking twice on the door, trembling violently.
The servant said: “Young Master, why don’t you go downstairs and have something to eat?”
Xia Yu had no choice but to crawl downstairs with weak limbs, hoping to get some comfort from his cheap parents.
Unexpectedly, Xia Pingjian was looking at his phone with some admiration, and said to his wife delightedly:
“This kid Xingchi is really promising and determined not to fall short, ah! He’s actually so favored by Mr. Li, and became a big star.”
“I see that Mr. Li seems to want to get a marriage certificate, but Xia Xingchi doesn’t……this is playing hard to get, what a good boy! As expected of my genes!”
When he heard these words, Xia Yu felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Ever since Li Chengyuan let everyone know of his affection in a high-profile way, Xia Pingjian liked Xia Xingchi more and more —
Even though he had been blocked and was never contacted, Xia Pingjian firmly believed that this timid son who would shine when given a little sunlight would definitely change his mind after a period of being angry.
He diligently bought a lot of gifts for Xia Xingchi, and sent them all to Li Chengyuan’s villa like a loving father.
However, his attitude toward Xia Yu became increasingly indifferent.
After all, Xia Yu failed to “marry” into a top wealthy family, and his only outstanding quality was that he was a popular idol – but now half of his future as a celebrity had been destroyed.
Xia Pingjian had always set a clear price for his fatherly love.
Just like how the original worthless “Xia Xingchi” never received any love and care at all, it was as if the current Xia Yu had no value anymore.
Xia Pingjian made an impulsive decision: “Xia Xingchi’s birthday is coming soon, and I plan to hold the biggest birthday party for him. It would be even better if Mr. Li can also come and honor him!”
Xia Yu almost broke the spoon in his hand when he heard this.
The two of them were born on the same day of the same year. Last year on his birthday, he received an unparalleled luxurious banquet with the banner “Happy Birthday to our baby Xia Yu.”
And Xia Xingchi, that bastard who couldn’t make the cut and was only worthy of watching from the sidelines, what qualifications did he have for his birthday to be celebrated?
. . . . . .
In the ward, Li Chengyuan ate half a bowl of porridge before shaking his head.
Xia Xingchi sat beside him and reached out to touch his upper abdomen: “Is your stomach uncomfortable? Shall I rub it for you?”
Li Chengyuan grabbed his wrist and sat up, saying lightly: “I’m going to take a bath.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchi immediately refused: “No way! You’re not well now, what if you get dizzy again?”
It was a pity that these words couldn’t overcome a clean freak’s determination to take a bath. Xia Xinchi knew that Li Chengyuan usually took a bath or shower once a day, and sometimes washed up in both the morning and evening.
But he hadn’t showered since the accident two days ago, and the big cat who loved cleanliness had restrained his temper without getting immediately irritated.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Xia Xingchi couldn’t convince the domineering and rebellious boss, so he had no choice but to simply turn around and clean the bathtub before filling it with water of a suitable temperature.
At the same time, he voiced a condition: “I have to keep an eye on you in here. If you faint, I can fish you out in time.”
Anyway, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t already seen everything, or fished it out or touched it.
The idea was fine, but the reality was completely different.
Watching Li Chengyuan undo the buttons with one hand, revealing beautiful collarbones and the pleasing lines of his chest and abdomen —
Xia Xingchi suddenly felt that this matter was not only something he wasn’t accustomed to, but also more and more ambiguous and strange.
“Wait!” Xia Xingchi promptly stopped him. “You, you……”
Li Chengyuan frowned slightly, and turned to look at him with a little puzzlement.
Xia Xingchi could only say awkwardly: “Go on. I’ll bring a chair and sit down.”
Originally, the little part-time worker had planned to wash the hair of the big cat in person, but it really took actual combat to realize that he didn’t dare take a look, and blushed at the sight.
Xia Xingchi could only stare “soulfully” at the bottle of hand sanitizer on the sink, not daring to look away.
At this time, he heard Li Chengyuan say calmly: “I was awake that night and just couldn’t move.”
Xia Xingchi gave a hesitant “Huh?” but didn’t know which time he was talking about.
A few seconds later, he suddenly remembered that Zhao Yinhe had told him that Li Chengyuan had an incurable undiagnosed condition since childhood. He would faint suddenly and frequently, sometimes accompanied by severe dizziness and a headache.
Xia Xingchi had witnessed this matter with his own eyes. It was just like when he passed out in the bathtub the night he transmigrated, and then passed out again after being sober for a short time.
But the frightening thing was that he didn’t lose consciousness every time. Sometimes he simply couldn’t move his body, but his consciousness and perception were still functional.
After Xia Xingchi heard this, his hair stood on end. He was deeply suspicious of whether or not Li Chengyuan had been conscious the night he transmigrated. Did he know about the mysterious and supernatural process of him appearing out of thin air?
And now this person suddenly said that he was awake?!
Xia Xingchi suddenly became alert. He pricked up his ears to hear why Li Chengyuan had brought up this matter, but heard his train of thought take a leap as he said: “You didn’t recognize me on the day of the engagement party.”
He didn’t know what the other party had up his sleeve, but Xia Xingchi had a vague premonition, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and make excuses: “I have poor eyesight……I wanted to play hard to get and pretend I didn’t know you to draw your attention!”
Li Chengyuan spoke again: “A year ago, I met ‘Xia Xingchi,’ and he also met me.”
Xia Xingchi’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this, and his intuition of “something bad is going to happen” immediately reached its peak.
He just listened as Li Chengyuan continued: “He was not the man I was looking for. But now when I think about it again, the memory has changed – you know the reason for this, right?”
Something somewhere had tampered with everyone’s memories. Others had never seen the current Xia Xingchi, so the change of appearance in their memories would naturally not be noticed.
But the only variable was Li Chengyuan. Not only had he seen his appearance, but he had imprinted it in his mind. A year ago, he definitely hadn’t seen the person he was thinking about.
When Xia Xingchi heard Li Chengyuan’s straightforward statement, devoid of doubt, his hands shook involuntarily as if he had been struck by lightning again.
The bottle of bath salt that he was fiddling with in his hand fell to the floor with a bang, after which silence reigned.
