My Lovely Wife is a Forensic Doctor - Chapter 245
Chapter 245 Learning to Toughen Up
Qin Jinhuan didn’t seem too concerned about it. He simply gestured for Bian Zijun to follow behind Mu Yu before he headed toward the hospital with the flask in his hands. He received a message from Bian Zijun when he arrived outside Qin Chengxi’s ward. His guess had been right—Mu Yu had indeed gone over to Rong Ying’s villa in the Fraternity Hospital. Dong Yueyun and Qin Wentao were both in Qin Chengxi’s room. They wore sheepish looks on their faces when they saw Qin Jinhuan entering the room, and they hurriedly came up with some silly excuse just to let themselves out of the room.
“Huan.” Qin Chengxi looked weak and ill as she forced herself to sit up. She didn’t dare to look her brother in the eye. Qin Jinhuan didn’t speak nor look at her; instead, he simply placed the thermos flask on the table beside her. He then took a bowl out and began to scoop the watery porridge into it. His actions weren’t hurried, but Qin Chengxi felt oddly anxious as she watched him with her fingers clasped together tightly.
“Here you go.” He brought a hot bowl of millet porridge over to her.
“Thanks, Huan.” She hastily took the bowl from him. However, she had overestimated her actions only to end up sticking her thumb into the porridge. She gasped in pain as the hot liquid burned her skin, yet she didn’t dare to lower the bowl. Qin Jinhuan frowned as he took the bowl away from her with one hand and held onto her hand with the other. She quickly pulled her hand away as she spoke with her teeth clenched. “I’m fine, Huan. I-I was just being an idiot.”
He gave her a calm glance. “You should stop doing silly things if you know how stupid you are.” The words slipped out of his mouth. Her gaze flickered and her back was soaked with sweat as she clearly understood what her brother meant. Yet, she couldn’t stop herself from trying to conceal the truth. “My poisoning incident was just an accident, Huan. Don’t worry about it.” She truly wanted the whole poisoning incident to come to an end as she didn’t want her brother to hate their parents more because of this. Her greatest wish was for her brother to be able to get along well with their parents. Grandpa has already given my parents a stern warning, so I’m sure they’ll be more careful in the future.
Qin Jinhuan pulled the portable table over to Qin Chengxi’s bed before he placed the bowl of porridge in front of her. “Did you think that I turned into an idiot after you got poisoned?” he said casually.
“W-What?” Qin Chengxi was about to reach for the bowl of porridge when she froze in response to his words. She looked up to meet his eyes for a moment before she lowered her head frantically as if she was a child who had just made a mistake.
Qin Jinhuan merely shook his head before he slowly sat himself down beside her bed. “You don’t have to make such pointless sacrifices in the future. It was a really silly thing to do.” His voice sounded a lot gentler this time.
“Huan, I didn’t…”
“Your continuous acts of compromising and tolerating them will only encourage them to indulge in their unethical behaviors. You wouldn’t just fail to protect the people you wish to protect then; you’d even hurt yourself and other innocent people around you. Humans and human nature aren’t as simple as you assume them to be. Furthermore, avoiding your problems isn’t the best way to deal with it,” he said. Qin Chengxi lowered her head ruefully when she realized that he knew about everything. She then stared at the bowl of porridge in front of her quietly.
“You need to learn to toughen up and say no to others, alright?” he continued.
“Okay.” She nodded ever so slightly. Her head was hung so low that it was nearly pressed against her chest.
“Lift your head! You have to speak with conviction!”
She slowly lifted her head, but she still couldn’t find the nerve to look him in the eye. He simply shook his head dejectedly as he knew that he couldn’t just change someone’s personality overnight. He simply moved the bowl of porridge closer to her. “Have some porridge,” he uttered.
Qin Chengxi—sensing the disappointment he felt then—slowly lifted her bowl of porridge without making a move to eat it. She spoke in a weak voice after a while. “Do you think I’m useless, Huan?”
“What do you think?” he asked in return.
“I-I-I know I’m useless. Sometimes, I really try to make things better, but I simply can’t do it. I just can’t seem to do anything right.” She felt a lump in her throat before she began to let out soft sobs.
“You’re not useless. You’re just too soft-hearted.”
“I know. I really want to toughen up, but I…” Her vision was blurry as she lowered her bowl of porridge and covered her face with her hands before she continued to sob.
“Crying’s not going to solve anything.” Qin Jinhuan’s heartless words made her clamp a hand over her mouth as she forced herself to swallow her sobs. However, she couldn’t force her tears back into her eyes—she had no choice but to allow them to stream down her face.
He didn’t attempt to comfort her. He simply placed a box of tissues in front of her and watched as she dried her tears. “You need to learn to protect yourself,” he then uttered with a heavy heart.
“Thanks, Huan. I…” Her sobs drowned all the words that she had. Of course, I’d like to toughen up. Of course, I’d like to be able to say no when my parents order me around. Of course, I want to protect myself and all the people I care about. Yet, for some reason, I find it hard to verbalize the sentences that I’ve made in my mind. That itself is already a huge task, let alone taking actions against others. I knew that there was something wrong with Mom’s candy, and I wanted to throw it away, but the candy seemed to have glued itself onto my skin. I couldn’t seem to let go of it at all. I was too afraid to say no to my mother, so I had no choice but to finish all those candies by myself. When I woke up, I couldn’t stop myself from protecting my mother. I was afraid that Grandpa and Huan would be angry at her otherwise. She’s my biological mother, after all; she…
“I’m contacting a few universities in Europe. You can head over there for your studies in spring.” Qin Jinhuan’s words had disrupted her train of thought.
“But Shang Qi…”
“Xin Xin Multimedia Group is branching out into the European market, so Shang Qi and the rest of his team will be there soon,” Qin Jinhuan replied.
“Oh.” Qin Chengxi didn’t know what else to say. Beads of tears were still hanging on her bottom lashes right then.
“You should focus on starting a brand-new life there.” Qin Jinhuan got out of his seat as he finished his sentence.
“Huan!”
“Hmm?” He was about to turn and leave when he heard her calling for him. He then slowed himself down to look at her once again.
She lowered her gaze as she spoke in a pleading tone. “Huan, since we’re all starting our lives afresh, can we just let go of everything in the past?”
“You’re already lying on the hospital bed right now. What more can I do?” he asked in return.
“I… Thanks, Huan.”
“Get some rest and have a speedy recovery. Don’t get Grandpa all worried about you,” he uttered.
“Okay!”
“You shouldn’t eat too much at one go; you can have a few mouthfuls of millet porridge for now. You should get some rest after that. I’ll get someone to send you more porridge later in the day,” he said.
“Thanks, Huan.”
Qin Jinhuan then left the ward without saying anything more. He wouldn’t have continued looking into this whole poisoning incident even if Qin Chengxi hadn’t begged him not to, as Qin Xiaozhi had already ordered him not to do anything about it. After all, Mu Yu wasn’t harmed in the end. The whole incident also served as a reminder to him. Of course, the main reason he chose to neglect this incident was that it involved Yin Anran. However, anything that had to do with Yin Anran would definitely cause misunderstandings between him and Mu Yu, so his best option was just to disguise his acts as an attempt to satisfy his grandfather’s orders to forget about the incident.
However, he wasn’t kind enough to just let Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun off the hook so easily. Apart from a job in Qing Tian Group, Grandpa didn’t provide anything else for Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun. All of the inheritance is listed under Qin Chengxi’s name now. I’ve arranged for Qin Chengxi to travel overseas for her studies following both her and Grandpa’s wishes. If Shang Qi’s career is well-established there, they’ll surely decide to settle there. Even if they don’t, Qin Chengxi won’t be back for the next three to five years because of her studies. Once she leaves An City, Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun’s happy days will come to an end. I’ve already given Wen Zeyu the orders to find an excuse to fire Dong Wanqing from the company during spring.
“Oh? Why are you out?” Mu Yu jogged toward Qin Jinhuan as she spoke. He then stepped forward to stop her in her tracks. “Xi had really bad stomach aches last night, and she didn’t manage to get a lot of sleep. She just finished a bowl of porridge and is about to go to bed, so you shouldn’t disturb her now,” he said.
“Oh.” Mu Yu wrapped her arms around him as she glanced over his shoulder to look at the observation window of Qin Chengxi’s room to see her lying down in bed. “How is she feeling now? Does she still have stomach aches? Was the millet porridge okay for her?” Mu Yu asked in a whisper.
“She had a few mouthfuls of the porridge. I didn’t give her much. She’s a lot better than before; she just needs a lot more rest.”
“Poor Xi.” Mu Yu let out a helpless sigh as she spoke in a sympathetic tone.
“What about Qiqi? How is she?” Qin Jinhuan asked.
“Her injury is getting a lot better, but her emotions… Well, let’s not talk about this anymore. Let’s go,” Mu Yu mumbled. Qin Jinhuan shifted his curious gaze to look at Feng Rubing’s ward, which was directly next to Qin Chengxi’s room. “You’ve come all the way here. Aren’t you going to visit Madam Feng?”
“I visited her just now.”
“What? When?” he asked.
“When you were with Xi. Come on; let’s go,” Mu Yu urged. Qin Jinhuan was a little suspicious of her acts as she wrapped her arms around him to drag him out of the hospital. “Why are you in such a rush; where are you heading to now?” he asked.
“I want to pay the bureau a visit.”
“What’s there to do there?” he asked.
“I just want to see if there’s anything I can help with. As you can see, Madam Feng’s in the hospital now; there wouldn’t be a single person in the forensic lab if I didn’t go to work. That’s against the rules,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure the place will still be able to function well without you.” Despite his teasing words, Qin Jinhuan didn’t stop her from returning to the bureau as he could already guess what she was planning to do there.
Right as they arrived at the bureau, Qin Jinhuan called out for her name as he recalled something. “I’ll be asking Wen Zeyu out for dinner tonight. I’ll send you the location once it’s confirmed; you have to force Jiang Wenwen to come along with you.”
Mu Yu quickly nodded as she recalled how they were trying to matchmake their friends. “I’ll give her a call later.”
“See you tonight,” he said.
“See you.” Mu Yu waved her hand exaggeratedly as Bian Zijun started driving the car away. She then turned and ran toward the forensic lab in the Municipal Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Nie Yunkang was in the lab, and she greeted him and asked about Snow’s condition. She felt a heavy feeling in her chest when she heard that Snow’s condition wasn’t improving, and she then began to zone out with strands of hair that she had collected earlier still in her hands.
“Yu, can you help me talk to Snow? She’s probably sick of seeing me every day; I’m sure she wishes that she has new friends.” He pleaded in a deep, sincere voice.
“Sure. I just…” She looked down at the sample bag in her hands.
“Is that for an NDA test? Let me do it.” Nie Yunkang had already taken the sample bag from her as he spoke.
“It’s for a DNA test,” she explained.
“I got it. I’ll let you know about it once the results are out.”
“Thank you for your efforts, Sir Nie,” she said.
Nie Yunkang beamed happily. “This is nothing to me; as long as Snow’s happy.” Mu Yu felt a warm tingling in her heart upon hearing his words. After a few more exchanges, Mu Yu then headed toward Snow’s ward according to the address that Nie Yunkang had provided her. On her way there, she pulled her phone out to give Jiang Wenwen a call. She only gave her good friend a brief explanation about the dinner. “I’ll let you know the details once Huan confirms the booking.”
Once Jiang Wenwen found out that Mu Yu was at work, she offered to head over and spend some time with her. “I’m on leave; we can go over together.” Mu Yu was extremely pleased to hear this, as she thought that Snow would enjoy Jiang Wenwen’s bubbly presence. Therefore, she asked Jiang Wenwen to head over to the hospital ward.
Indeed, the talkative Jiang Wenwen succeeded in putting a smile on Snow’s face. At noon, they had their lunch with Snow before they brought her out for a stroll in the tiny garden outside the hospital building. They spent some time under the sun, but Mu Yu and Jiang Wenwen finally sent Snow back to the ward after 4 PM. They were both tired, and all Mu Yu could think of then was the test report. She rushed back to the forensic lab after that.
“You’re back, Yu. I was about to give you a call.” Nie Yunkang handed a test report over to Mu Yu. She quickly took it from him to glance at the words printed on the paper. Although she had mentally prepared herself for the results, she was still utterly shocked to see it with her own eyes.
At that very moment, her phone began to ring. She felt her heart pounding when she saw that it was a call from Rong Jian.