Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 307 - 288: It Hurts So Much

The New Year’s Eve dinner started at 7:30 PM, and the Spring Festival Gala hadn’t begun yet.

Cheng Jin’s cooking skills were impeccable, handling all the chicken, duck, fish, and shrimp by herself. Each dish had a unique flavor and tasted incredibly good.

Shen Jianian had a lavish lunch at the Pei Family’s house, so she wasn’t very hungry. But not wanting to waste Cheng Jin’s entire afternoon of effort, she ate a lot and even drank a bowl of rice wine dumplings.

She felt like her stomach was about to burst.

The dinner wasn’t even over when the Spring Festival Gala started; the sound of the TV was so loud in the living room that it could be heard clearly in the dining room.

Only a few cats and dogs were watching TV.

Jixiang, whom Shen Jianian brought over, was not sociable, curling up alone on the back of the sofa, looking down at the others below like a king surveying his territory.

At 8:30, Shen Jianian helped Aunt Cheng clear the leftovers on the table.

Her hand was injured, and Aunt Cheng kept telling her to stop.

Fu Jichen simply dragged Shen Jianian to the living room. She didn’t want to just sit still, so she suggested to Fu Jichen that they go for a walk to aid digestion, otherwise she’d feel uncomfortable from over-eating.

"Not afraid of the cold?" Fu Jichen glanced outside, where snow had fallen in the evening and accumulated into a thick layer by now.

"It’ll be fine with more layers."

Fu Jichen asked her to wait while he went upstairs to the cloakroom to find the thickest down jacket, which was almost like a quilt, and wrapped it around Shen Jianian, outfitting her with a scarf and hat.

She wasn’t wearing the white leather boots from the daytime but opted for thick snow boots instead.

As the door opened, the wind swept the snowflakes onto her face, a patch of icy coolness.

Fu Jichen, as usual, wore a black overcoat over his cashmere sweater, which made him appear grave and aloof, but his brows and eyes were gentle as he held Shen Jianian’s hand and walked out of the villa through the yard.

With firework bans in place, New Year’s Eve was quiet; walking on the road, only the sound of wind rustling through the tree branches could be heard, along with the occasional car passing by, neither hurried nor slow.

Shen Jianian’s snow boots were waterproof, and she stepped into the untouched, clean white snow, leaving a deep footprint.

She said, "Fu Jichen, I’ll draw you a flower."

She released his hand, kept her heel steady, and rotated her toe, using the footprints to draw a six-petal plum blossom for him.

Under the streetlamp, Fu Jichen had his hands tucked into his overcoat pockets, the light soft, his eyes brimming with smiles.

Shen Jianian stamped the snow off her feet and took the initiative to hold his hand. The two strolled through the silent snowy night, with no destination, as if they could walk forever.

Suddenly, Fu Jichen stumbled, almost slipping, causing Shen Jianian, who he was holding, to tilt to one side. He muffled a groan as severe pain shot through his left leg, cold sweat streaming from his palm, and a layer of sweat appeared on his forehead instantaneously. The cold wind blew, sending chills all over his body.

Recently, the pain in his left leg had become increasingly frequent, possibly due to the weather.

This winter seemed particularly cold, with more snowfall than usual.

Shen Jianian steadied herself, suddenly feeling something slick, it was the sweat in Fu Jichen’s palm, as if he had fished it from water. She looked at his leg under the streetlight: "Are you okay? Did you twist your ankle?"

"No." Fu Jichen gritted his back teeth, the two words forced through clenched teeth.

Shen Jianian looked up at his face, it was unnaturally pale: "Let’s go back."

She hooked her arm around his, heading back.

Fu Jichen tried his best to control the awkwardness in his left leg while walking, not wanting Shen Jianian to notice anything unusual, but the pain was unmanageable, and a few steps in, his leg trembled with agony.

If someone were to look from behind, they would notice his limp.

When they got back home, Fu Jichen collapsed onto the sofa, his temples and back soaked, his gray cashmere sweater darkened by sweat.

Shen Jianian frowned: "Are you really okay? Don’t try to act tough..."

Fu Jichen pulled her to sit beside him, arm wrapped around her, his body sinking into the sofa back, the pain not easing much. He swallowed hard, cold sweat trickling down his neck into his collar.

Cheng Jin brought out a plate of cut fruit from the kitchen, seeing the two in the living room: "You’re back." As she got closer, she noticed Fu Jichen’s state was not good, "What’s wrong with Sir?"

Shen Jianian wasn’t sure either; considering he didn’t fall, it shouldn’t hurt this much from just slipping.

"It’s nothing." Fu Jichen’s voice was hoarse.

Shen Jianian deliberated for a moment, then explained to Cheng Jin: "He slipped a little when we were walking, and then it was like this."

Cheng Jin knew Fu Jichen’s leg had been injured before, the accident happened in Yicheng, but she wasn’t clear on the details. After surgery, when he returned to Beicheng, due to his busy work schedule, he didn’t get much rest, and during times when he needed to go out, he would either use a cane or a wheelchair.

"Could it be..." Cheng Jin intended to ask if it was a recurrence of the aftereffects.

"Aunt Cheng." Fu Jichen interrupted her, looking at Shen Jianian, his tense lips pulling slightly, still saying those few words, "I’m fine."

Shen Jianian: "Let me help you upstairs to rest for a while, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll go to the hospital for a check-up."

Fu Jichen did not refuse, allowing her to support him into the elevator.

Cheng Jin was still holding a fruit platter, watching the back of the two people, she sighed.

*

Fu Jichen took a shower, changed into pajamas, and lay on the bed, the pain still persisting, sweat on his forehead just wiped clean emerging again.

Shen Jianian dampened a towel, sat by the bed wiping Fu Jichen’s sweat. She wasn’t a fool; Fu Jichen was hiding something from her. Just now in the living room, when he stopped Cheng Jin from finishing her words, she sensed something was wrong.

Everyone has secrets. Since Fu Jichen doesn’t want to say, she won’t ask.

But she knew, he was in a lot of pain right now.

The way he looked was a sign of pain, it couldn’t fool anyone.

With a towel in her hand, Shen Jianian didn’t know how to handle the situation, hesitating, "Where... does it hurt? Maybe applying an ice pack might help a little."

Fu Jichen saw the worry for him in her eyes, which was exactly what he wished for most, yet he couldn’t feel pleased. He reached a hand from under the blanket, grasped her hand, rubbing it twice, and mumbled, "It’s an old problem, I’ll endure it for a while, don’t worry."

Shen Jianian frowned, knowing that if it’s an old problem, ice packs wouldn’t work, needing warm compresses instead.

"Wait here."

She went to the bathroom, ran the hot water for a long time until it became boiling, soaked the towel until white steam rose, and slowly wrung it out, her hands were scalded red.

She handed the towel to Fu Jichen, "Press the hot towel on the painful area, it should relieve a bit."

"You have an injury on your hand, you shouldn’t get it wet." Fu Jichen reminded her.

"It’s just a small wound, almost scabbed over."

Fu Jichen sighed inwardly, even if he wanted to hide, he probably couldn’t hide it from her for long. He lifted the blanket, sat up, and rolled up the left pant leg.

There was a scar on his calf, Shen Jianian saw it, it was a surgical suture scar after healing that leaves a mark, she was not unfamiliar with it.

Shen Jianian still didn’t ask, silently placed the hot towel on his leg, his complexion hadn’t recovered, pale to the point of fragility. This was a vulnerability he never exposed in front of outsiders.

"Were you in a lot of pain at that time?" Fu Jichen’s voice trembled a bit, uncertain if it was due to pain or sadness.

This scar of his, occasionally when it hurt, could make it impossible to do anything. After she was in the car accident, with so many injuries on her body, how painful must it have been. Broken bones, facial lacerations, intracranial bleeding, and the child...

Before deciding to win her back, he had thought countless times about the words in the medical reports, feeling unworthy of appearing in her world again.

He spent a month convincing himself that he couldn’t let her go, trying to persuade himself to change the mentality of "having no face to see her," to treat her doubly well in the future, to make amends for the rest of his life.

But some things can’t be made up for, no matter how good he is to her, the injuries she suffered can’t be erased.

Fu Jichen’s question was abrupt, yet Shen Jianian surprisingly understood what he was referring to; he meant the injuries she suffered in the car accident, whether they were painful or not.

Before she could answer, Fu Jichen suddenly laughed at himself, "I must be foolish, how could it not hurt, it must have hurt a lot."

It was the first time Shen Jianian heard Fu Jichen call himself foolish, he was someone always confident in doing anything, yet even he had moments where he felt foolish.

Fu Jichen held her shoulders, pulling her into his embrace, the hot compress on his leg falling off, he didn’t care.

"It’s all my fault." Saying it once wasn’t enough, he kept repeating, "It’s my fault, I’m sorry..."

Shen Jianian’s heart twisted, listening to his apologetic voice, not knowing why tears fell as she felt wronged.

Perhaps it was another soul residing in her body acting up, it was the Shen Jianian who once loved him causing trouble.

She discreetly wiped away her tears and withdrew from his embrace, "Do you still want the compress on your leg?" She looked down and saw the towel had fallen off, quickly picking it up, luckily it hadn’t soaked the bedsheet.

She went back to the bathroom to soak the towel in hot water, applying it to his leg, "Don’t move around so much anymore."

Shen Jianian’s eyes were a bit red, not wanting to be seen, she lowered her head, her chin poking between her collarbones, suddenly noticing the hem of Fu Jichen’s pajamas lifted, revealing a distinctly toned abdomen, on which there was also a scar, slightly shorter than the one on the leg.

It was the same width as a fruit knife.

She was somewhat curious, completely forgetting her shyness, pointing to the conspicuous scar on his fair skin, she asked, "How did you get this scar?"