Chapter 93: Something’s Not Right

Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Something’s Not Right

Li Hanchen was just pondering how to respond when he was suddenly hit with a full-on hug.

Shen Songyao practically hung off him, her face tilted up, eyes sparkling.

"Hubby, don’t tell me you’re scared that if you sleep next to me tonight, I’ll steal a kiss?"

Li Hanchen’s eyebrows instantly knitted together.

"Nonsense! That’s not it at all!"

"I’m a grown man. You think I’m afraid of a young woman like you taking advantage of me?"

His words were tough, but the tips of his ears flushed red all the way down to the base of his neck.

"Then why do you keep running off?"

Shen Songyao eyed him sideways, her face a mask of disbelief.

Li Hanchen took a deep breath and decided to just lay it all out.

"Yaoyao, you haven’t been yourself lately. You’re sick, do you know that?"

"Huh?"

Shen Songyao tilted her head, her eyelashes fluttering.

"What kind of sickness?"

The moment she heard that, her heart leaped into her throat!

She immediately let go of him and started frantically patting herself down.

"Where does it hurt? What’s wrong? When was the last check-up? Did the original owner get blood tests? X-rays?"

Li Hanchen grabbed her flailing hands to still them.

"It’s not a physical problem! Don’t panic. The doctor said with proper care, you’ll be better soon."

’Are you serious? Are you sure what you just said makes any sense?’

"If it’s not a physical problem, then what’s gone wrong?"

The words had just left Shen Songyao’s mouth when a DING went off in her head.

The hospital from that afternoon, the red characters on the door of the psychiatry department—they were a vivid, piercing red.

She narrowed her eyes, staring daggers at Li Hanchen.

"So when you took me to register, it wasn’t on a whim, and it wasn’t because I’d angered you into a stupor. You had it all planned out, didn’t you?"

’A whole pile of melodramatic soap opera plots already flashed through her mind.’

’Forging medical records, signing someone into an asylum, locking the door for injections, force-feeding medication...’

She spat a "Pah!" and shoved him away.

"Get out! Get out now! Scram, and don’t ever let me see you again! Who’s sick? You’re the one who’s sick! You’re the one with water in your brain!"

With that, she slammed the door shut.

"Pah! You’re wicked to the core!"

She gritted her teeth.

"I have a mental illness? I have..."

Suddenly, her steps halted, her gaze turning vacant.

Wait...

Shen Songyao collapsed onto the sofa, limbs splayed, her chest heaving violently.

’Can this world really not tolerate a normal person who loves to laugh, make a fuss, and be lively?’

’Fine, fine. I’ll just lie low for a while.’

「The next morning」

When Shen Songyao saw Li Hanchen, her face was drawn tight.

Li Hanchen drove her to her stall as usual. She sat in the passenger seat, silent for the entire ride.

He glanced at her a couple of times and asked.

"Why are you so listless today? Something wrong?"

As he spoke, he reached out to feel her forehead.

Shen Songyao jerked her head away, her voice rising.

"Why are you just putting your hands wherever you please!"

"Ah?"

Li Hanchen froze, his hand hovering in mid-air.

She immediately sat up straight, her tone prim and proper.

"We’re just husband and wife in name only. We don’t even have a marriage certificate. What kind of couple does that make us?"

"So what’s the meaning of this hand on my forehead? Are we acquaintances? Relatives? Neighbors?"

Li Hanchen quickly pulled his hand back.

"I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just thought you might have a fever."

Shen Songyao hugged her arms tighter, twisted her body to press against the car window, and muttered under her breath.

"You thought, you thought. What good does your thinking do?"

As Li Hanchen drove, he snuck glances at her profile in his peripheral vision and actually felt a bit relieved.

’The girl was starting to pick fights with him again.’

’This kind of quarrelsomeness, on the contrary, showed she was lucid.’

He chuckled to himself. ’As long as her ’illness’ was taking a turn for the better, that was all that mattered.’

When they reached the entrance to the market, Shen Songyao pushed the car door open and started to get out.

"You can go back! Go home and practice your needlework or something. Don’t just stand around here and get in the way of my business."

Li Hanchen actually did turn the car around and leave obediently.

He had just picked up his bowl for lunch when an orderly began pounding on his door, his voice urgent and loud.

"Director Li! You have a visitor! She says she’s your sister-in-law!"

Hearing this, Li Hanchen immediately dropped his chopsticks, grabbed his military cap, and put it on.

"Got it, I’m on my way!"

Zheng Cuiyun had been staying at the Song family’s house for a few days, and her tears hadn’t stopped flowing.

She cried and chanted.

"I dreamt of Wen again last night... He was in the snow, calling for me until his voice was hoarse..."

Liu Yumin’s heart trembled as she listened, a cold sweat breaking out on the soles of her feet.

In the end, she couldn’t stand the daily wailing and gnashing of teeth. Plus, she was worried about her grandson. So, she gritted her teeth, nodded, and told Zheng Cuiyun to bring money to get the boy back.

But Liu Yumin was cunning. She only told her to bring the stipend money Li Wen had left behind.

She pushed the box across the table.

"Count it. Not a single cent is missing."

"That stipend money, the young lady didn’t spend a penny of it. She saved it all for you. You two couldn’t bear to touch it, and now you’re giving it back as it was. How can anything be missing?"

"Still think it’s not enough? Then you get nothing!"

Just as Shen Songyao had figured earlier, the original owner had sent all that money back, down to the last cent.

Zheng Cuiyun and her husband had saved it like it was their lifeline, completely unwilling to waste it.

Over two years, they had managed to save up more than two thousand yuan.

But to hand it all over in one go made her heart tremble.

Seeing her pained reluctance, Liu Yumin tried to persuade her again.

"Just give her five hundred. Say the rest was spent long ago."

"She won’t be satisfied with five hundred? That’s enough to build two spacious brick-and-tile houses!"

Zheng Cuiyun heard this, thought it made sense, and came with five hundred yuan in her pocket.

Song Pengfei didn’t come along. The round-trip fare cost money, and an extra person meant an extra ticket.

The moment Li Hanchen caught sight of her, he smiled and greeted her.

"Sister-in-law!"

But as soon as Zheng Cuiyun saw Li Hanchen, her face fell.

"Li Hanchen, where is my son?"

"Where did you take my son?"

Before the words were even out, her voice shot up.

Li Hanchen’s brow furrowed.

"Son? What son?"

"Sister-in-law, did you lose the child?"

Zheng Cuiyun stared at his serious face, feeling a flicker of doubt. ’This man never lies. Shen Songyao was probably too scared to tell him the truth.’

At this thought, she slapped her thigh and began to howl.

"Oh, Li Hanchen, my dear brother-in-law! Don’t you know? Your Yaoyao has gone mad!"

Li Hanchen nodded.

"Oh, I know about that."

"She’s completely lost her mind now! She came to the city, kicked me and her brother right out of the house, and then turned around and rented our home to two strange men! She even took Xiao Wen! She won’t let the boy go to school and makes him dig through trash cans every day to collect bottles and cardboard!"

"Tell me, how many cents can you save by collecting scrap?"

"Isn’t this just ruining the child’s life!"

"Xiao Wen has never suffered a day in his life, and now he’s so skinny he’s just a bag of bones! His clothes are just hanging off him!"

"Sister-in-law, I need to set the record straight with you on this."

Zheng Cuiyun’s wailing came to an abrupt halt.

Li Hanchen glanced down at her, then continued.

"In the days since Yaoyao married into the family, how has she treated you, Big Brother, Mom, and Xiao Wen? Outsiders might not know, but don’t you know in your own hearts?"

Zheng Cuiyun’s mouth opened, about to retort, when Li Hanchen added in a low voice.

"But how have you all treated her?"

"You live in the housing provided by my unit and take every cent of the stipend I send back."

Zheng Cuiyun quickly tried to explain.

"This... wasn’t it all for the sake of you two?"