Just like what he’d said, Shen Yi brought Lu Xinyi to the private hospital. Before the receptionist could take his and Lu Xinyi’s names, a familiar woman ran towards them and greeted Shen Yi.
“This is a surprise. I haven’t heard from you for like six months.” Her eyes then turned to Lu Xinyi who was still in Shen Yi’s arms. “Oh, pardon me. Qiao He informed me what happened to you, dear.”
She waved a hand and called a nurse on duty. “You can put this pretty lady on the wheelchair, and I’ll look after her.”
“Zhao Xi, I expect that you’ll treat this as a private matter…” Shen Yi warned.
“Why, of course, President Shen. You don’t have to remind me about it.” The doctor named Zhao Xi sauntered towards the reception area and whispered to them. She then took Lu Xinyi’s wheelchair and headed to her private office with Shen Yi following behind them.
“I’ll take care of her from here. You can stay outside while I check on her.” Zhao Xi grinned at Shen Yi before attempting to close the door, but Shen Yi was quick to put a foot to prevent it.
“Why should I stay outside? It isn’t as serious, right?”
“We need some privacy.” Zhao Xi pointed out before kicking his foot from the doorway and slamming the door on his face.
Zhao Xi helped Lu Xinyi to move from the wheelchair to the vacant bed. She then kneeled before Lu Xinyi and inspected her ankle. As she removed the shoe, Lu Xinyi stifled her cry and bit her lower lip to prevent herself from crying in pain.
“Painful?” Zhao Xi looked up to Lu Xinyi and saw her grimace.
“Getting pushed and tripped over? Those reporters are mad.”
Zhao Xi nodded in agreement. She started treating the swollen ankle and prepared pain-relievers. This wasn’t the first time that she was patching up someone because of the reporters and paparazzi trailing the Shen family.
“Your ankle is swollen and tender. Good thing nothing is broken.”
Lu Xinyi sighed in relief, “Thank you for taking good care of me.”
“No worries. It’s my job as a doctor. I’m Zhao Xi by the way, and you are?”
“I’m Lu Xinyi.” She hadn’t mentioned being Shen Yi’s wife since she didn’t know who really Zhao Xi was. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Zhao Xi smiled before she continued treating Lu Xinyi’s foot.
“Shen Yi is such a nice guy. You don’t find men like him these days. Uncle is so proud of him and Xue. He couldn’t stop talking about his sons wherever there’s a celebration.”
Lu Xinyi kept her silence and let Zhao Xi talk. She seemed close to the Shen family. She quite agreed with Zhao Xi though. She’d been attracted to Shen Yi since she first met him at the cruise, and she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
“Though Uncle Huang is worried about Shen Yi’s love life,” Zhao Xi continued, “He and the Shen matriarch are starting to think that he might be really…”—she flushed a little—”you know… a gay.”
Lu Xinyi turned her head to look at her doctor. “What?” She couldn’t believe that even her husband’s friends and acquaintances doubted his sexual orientation. Oh, dear. If only they knew.
Zhao Xi bit her lip, almost ashamed of what she was telling Lu Xinyi.
“Uhh… you know that maybe he’s a gay, but I don’t believe it.” She let out an awkward laugh. “I’m sure Shen Yi isn’t attracted to men, and now that you’re here, I’m more convinced that there’s hope for him.”
Lu Xinyi’s eyes widened and blinked rapidly at her doctor’s words. She didn’t know what to say.
‘She’s pretty. I wonder what Shen Yi saw in her.’ Zhao Xi smiled inwardly. She couldn’t wait to share this juicy news to her husband. She bet that even her husband didn’t know about Lu Xinyi’s existence in their friend’s life until now.
Lu Xinyi couldn’t help but look around Zhao Xi’s office. It was very much the same with the other doctor’s she visited before except that Zhao Xi’s had more picture frames on her desk, and some were even hung in the wall.
She saw a picture of Zhao Xi with a younger woman, a picture of her in a wedding dress with her groom, and some high school photos in which her eyes were glued—as she spotted Shen Yi in those images.
There was her Shen Yi, in a high school uniform—looking bored and sleepy with some fellow schoolmates around him. She was so engrossed at Shen Yi’s photos that she didn’t notice Zhao Xi was watching her every move.
She took the nearest photo of Shen Yi with their schoolmates and showed it to Lu Xinyi.
“Shen Yi and I have known each other since high school. This is one of our photos taken back then. Oh, you see that grinning man on his right? He’s my husband, Kang Wei.”
Lu Xinyi’s eyes glimmered. “You knew him for such a long time. What was he like?” She was quite interested in what kind of man her husband was before meeting him. Was he always this flirty, or was it only to her?
Zhao Xi let out a giggle and nodded. Fortunately, she was able to kick out Shen Yi from her office earlier. He didn’t need to know what she says to Lu Xinyi.
“Ah, let see. What can I say about the infamous ‘Ice Devil’?” she tapped her chin.
” ‘Ice Devil?” Lu Xinyi was curious. While Xiao Lan had told her some stories about Shen Yi’s childhood, she had no idea what Shen Yi like when he was a teenager.
“What do you think about Shen Yi?” Zhao Xi countered. She wanted to know what this woman thought about their longtime friend. This was the first time that she saw Shen Yi willingly hold a woman’s hand without cringing with disgust.
