Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Miss Ji, this so-called ‘body cold’ disease of yours is called uterine deficiency in traditional Chinese medicine, that is, uterine coldness. It does affect your probability of conception, but your disease is not a genetic one, and your menstrual period is very regular, so it can be cured with treatment.”
With that, the doctor asked carefully, “Miss Ji, you don’t get this disease from your mother. I wonder what on earth caused you to have this disease? Maybe by finding out the cause, we can eradicate the disease and save time.”
What caused her to suffer this disease?
Ji Nuan didn’t want to mention that matter in front of Mo Jingshen, but he had brought her to the hospital for an examination. Although he never asked her about her past, she knew she should take it seriously as it concerned their future baby.
She turned her eyes to the man beside her but could only see his jaw. She hesitated and answered, “The winter when I was fifteen was very cold, especially the month before the Spring Festival. It was about minus 20 degrees that night, and I was on my period, but I ran out in my pajamas barefoot because of something unexpected. I squatted in the snow for a night and was frozen into unconsciousness. To stay awake, I grabbed some snow on the ground and ate it…”
Ji Nuan didn’t look at the doctors in the consulting room who looked shocked. Before the doctors asked her anything, Mo Jingshen’s eyes had turned to her.
They looked at each other. Ji Nuan noticed a gleam of darkness flickering across his eyes and knew that this matter that she had been hiding for years would be known by him sooner or later.
Knowing why Ji Nuan had this disease, the doctors had her lie down and rechecked her body. After the examination, Ji Nuan walked out of the consulting room, reading the diagnosis report.
Her disease was not severe, but she needed to drink traditional Chinese medicine for about two months.
Mo Jingshen took her to the dispensary to pick up her medicine. When the dispensary was decocting the medicine for her, he took her to the quiet VIP waiting room where no one would disturb her.
When Ji Nuan was about to sit down, he pulled up the chair for her and put aside the coat that she took off. His low voice was full of love and care for her. “Are you cold? Put on the coat. Let me buy you a hot drink.”
Ji Nuan gazed at his handsome face and shook her head. “I’m not cold or thirsty.”
Then she paused and said, “You heard what I said when I told the doctors why I had this disease, didn’t you? Why don’t you ask me what happened?”
Mo Jingshen’s voice was clear and casual. “Since you don’t want to tell me, why bother to ask? Let bygones be bygones. Just like your relationship with the Ji family, don’t let it bother you too much; it has nothing to do with your future life. Just let those events buried deep in your memory rot. Don’t let the unpleasant past that should be cleared from your memory haunt you.”
“You know about it, right?”
He smiled mildly. “Do you think Ji Mengran will keep secrets for you?”
Ji Nuan: “…”
Yes, she certainly wouldn’t.
Resting her chin in a hand, Ji Nuan looked at the doctors in the dispensary who were busy decocting medicine for her and said in a lowered voice, “She would certainly exaggerate it, but since even her exaggerated description has been heard by you, I don’t think I need to keep it from you any longer.”
“So, is it true?” Mo Jingshen looked at the little woman resting her chin in her hand.
“The winter when I was fifteen was really, really cold. I don’t want to recall that coldness again,” Ji Nuan said in a low voice. “My father took Shen Heru home that year, and Sheng Yihan entered the Ji family too with his mother. Although I was arrogant and asocial back then and wasn’t friendly to them, I accepted the reality in the end after throwing a tantrum for several days because Dad insisted, they should stay in the Ji family, and I was still a kid back then.”
“Sheng Yihan is four years older than me. As a fifteen-year-old girl, I was curious yet ignorant about love. I didn’t even know when he began to notice me. As he said later, I, his stepsister, was his first love.”
At this moment, Ji Nuan looked at Mo Jingshen and noticed his furrowed brows. She knew it was harsh for him to listen to that ridiculous love affair of hers that couldn’t even be called puppy love, but at least he was listening patiently.
“The more I gave him the cold shoulder, the more nicely he treated me. In several months, he bought me countless presents just to make me happy. Then I grew less vigilant towards him and wasn’t that cold to him. He gave me a very chic souvenir that he bought abroad. I liked it very much and began to accept him like a kid accepting a friend. That’s why Ji Mengran said some of my stuff at home was gifted by Brother Sheng. Our servant had put those things away, but Ji Mengran just took them to sow discord between us.”
“In that Spring Festival, Dad and Shen Heru took Ji Mengran to visit friends, and I didn’t go with them because I was on my period and my belly hurt. I stayed alone at home, and our servant went back home in advance because one of her family members got sick.” Ji Nuan suddenly clenched her sleeves. “I didn’t expect Sheng Yihan would come back that night. I was in pajamas after taking a shower and was going to find some snacks to eat when Sheng Yihan suddenly came in. I smelled liquor from him; a very strong liquor smell.”
Noticing her clenched fists, Mo Jingshen reached out to hold her hand. “It’s okay. Just stop.”
Ji Nuan felt the warmth of his palm. “No, I want to tell you. As you said, I should let those events buried deep in my memory rot. Now let me clear these rubbish out of my memory by speaking them out.”
She turned her eyes to Mo Jingshen again. “Who can imagine that the first daughter of the Ji family—envied by most girls and whose life was almost perfect—was nearly raped at home by her stepmother’s son? Although I grabbed the ashtray on the tea table and knocked him out, I was terrified. I ran out of home in case he would wake up. The night was pitch-black, and I dared not run out of the yard because I wore too little, so I hid barefoot all night under the old pagoda tree in the yard.”
Ji Nuan slightly turned up the corners of her lips. “Twenty degrees below zero, it’s really chilly. Fortunately, my father came back in time. He drove me to a hospital as fast as he could, and even run several red lights, after finding me lying unconscious in the yard. Otherwise, I might have frozen to death.”
