A Substitute Bride With Multiple Identities
Chapter 164: I’m Afraid of Getting a Stye

Chapter 164: Chapter 164: I’m Afraid of Getting a Stye

"Ranran’s body has already been exposed by you! You must take responsibility for her! Or compensate her!"

Su Lan pointed at Fu Yanhe with both anger and urgency, her chest heaving violently, her emotions highly charged.

She and Ranran had already paid such a heavy price.

Now that the plan had failed and Ranran had been exposed, wasn’t it all for naught?

No! She must make Fu Yanhe compensate Ranran!

Wrapped in a sheet, Xia Ran raised her head, her big watery eyes fluttering timidly as she looked at Fu Yanhe, biting her lip, "Yanhe... we..."

Her demure appearance was as if something had really happened between her and Fu Yanhe.

Fu Yanhe’s expression was calm, "I didn’t look at her body."

"The moment I saw her face, I closed my eyes."

His tone was calm, unhurried as he continued, "I was afraid of getting a stye."

Though his voice was steady, the sarcasm was at its peak.

Shen Yanhe couldn’t help but snicker, unable to suppress her muffled laughter, her shoulders shaking.

Indeed, even though Fu Yanhe’s personality had stabilized somewhat after the poison was cured, the sarcastic attribute still remained.

A slight smile crossed Fu Yanhe’s eyes as he gently took her hand and patted it, indulging her, "If you want to laugh, laugh out loud. Don’t hold it in; it’s easy to choke."

Xia Ran’s face turned both green and purple, her hands clenching tightly in her palms, feeling both mortified and aggrieved.

Su Lan was even more furious, her brows inverted, ready to say something.

Xia Tairan said sternly with a dark face, "Both of you shut up!"

Xia Tairan angrily pointed at Su Lan and Xia Ran, berating them fiercely.

"After such a disgraceful deed! Yanhe didn’t send you to the police station out of consideration for my old face! And you still have the nerve to ask him to take responsibility? To compensate you?"

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

"If you don’t leave, I’ll have you all thrown out of the Xia Family!"

Su Lan and Xia Ran were still afraid of the old man of the Xia Family, and seeing him in such a rage, they cowered instantly.

Fearful that he would truly throw them out of the Xia Family, they didn’t dare to utter a word, slipping away with their tails between their legs.

Xia Tairan clutched his chest, gasping for air, truly angry and profoundly disappointed.

He had never expected that a young lady of the Xia Family, just like that, would be turned into such a disgrace by Su Lan!

As Xia Tairan’s emotions became excessively agitated and his breathing too rapid, his vision began to darken, his complexion turning ashen, his chest tight with pain. His legs went weak, and his body started to collapse.

Seeing the bad turn of events, Shen Yanhe quickly stepped forward to support Xia Tairan, saying anxiously, "Grandfather Xia, your breathing is too rapid. Follow my breathing, exhale—in—hale—that’s right, take it slow."

Xia Tairan, gripping Shen Yanhe’s wrist tightly, followed her breathing, and gradually settled his rapid breath. His ashen face slowly began to recover.

Shen Yanhe helped him to sit on a chair, noticing that he kept clutching his chest.

Then she took his hand, rolled up his sleeve, and on the horizontal crease of his wrist, three fingers’ width up, she began massaging his Neiguan point.

The Neiguan point can alleviate symptoms like chest tightness, heart pain, and palpitations.

Fu Yanhe’s brow slightly furrowed as he took out his phone and made a call, asking Wu Fang to summon the Xia Family’s family doctor. Then he wheeled his chair closer to Xia Tairan, asking in a gentle voice, "Are you alright?"

Xia Tairan, feeling some relief from his chest tightness, took a deep breath, nodded, and looked gratefully at Shen Yanhe, "Much better, thank you, child. Have you studied medicine?"

"Yes, traditional Chinese medicine," Shen Yanhe said, letting go of his hand only after she saw him recovering, and nodded in response.

She didn’t take his pulse on her own accord.

After all, if she were to diagnose a problem with her pulse-taking right now, considering the tricky nature of the Xia Family, they wouldn’t let her treat it.

They might even accuse her of being a quack.

Better to find an opportunity later to take Xia Tairan’s pulse and treat him.

Xia Tairan marveled, "Traditional Chinese medicine?"

Nowadays, most young ladies study Western medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine takes a long time to learn; you have to memorize hundreds of prescriptions and herbs, and if you want to be able to independently treat patients, it can take upwards of ten, even twenty years.

If you wish to continue to advance your medical skills, it’s a lifelong commitment of incessant research and study.

The tedium and difficulty of the process cannot be easily explained in just a few words.

An old friend of mine, who was quite aged, was still delving into the medical knowledge passed down by our ancestors.

"I didn’t expect there to be young girls willing to settle down and learn Chinese medicine nowadays, good, very good."

Xia Tairan’s gaze softened even more as he looked at Shen Yanhe, and he chuckled while turning to Fu Yanhe, "You, my boy, are quite fortunate."

Fu Yanhe’s eyes softened as he looked at Shen Yanhe with a hint of indulgence, and he chuckled softly, "Indeed, I am."

Fortunate.

Shen Yanhe’s cheeks heated slightly, and she shot him a somewhat reproachful glance.

What was he saying in front of the elders?

That look was seductive and carried a hint of the allure of spring.

Fu Yanhe’s eyes suddenly darkened, his forefinger and thumb gently rubbing together, as if they still held the warmth of her tender skin. Yet, his expression remained calm.

After a few teasing remarks,

Xia Tairan sighed and looked at Fu Yanhe with a touch of guilt, "Yanhe, today’s trouble was Ranran and her fault, and Grandfather will make sure they are properly disciplined."

"In the future, Grandfather will also try to keep Ranran under control and find a good match to marry her off so she won’t entangle you anymore."

"I came here today in good spirits, but I didn’t expect this mess..." Xia Tairan’s face, full of wrinkles, showed signs of weariness as he let out a long sigh, "I have wronged you."

He wondered if, in a few years’ time, when he met his old friend down below, his friend would blame him for not controlling his descendants properly.

"It’s not your fault, Grandfather Xia. They are the ones at fault, not you," Fu Yanhe said indifferently. "They will pay the price for what they have done."

Xia Tairan fell silent.

He sensed the unspoken part of Fu Yanhe’s statement.

For today’s incident, he would make the Xia Family pay a price in the business world.

Remembering how, just a few days ago, Xia Tingyuan was probing about the Fu Family’s stance in front of him, Xia Tairan felt helpless, "Indeed, those who make mistakes must pay the price."

Let them be. He was too old for this turmoil.

The two tacitly moved past this conversation.

Wu Fang arrived just in time with the family doctor to check on Xia Tairan’s health, carrying a suit for Fu Yanhe.

This birthday party could no longer continue, but he couldn’t leave in such a disheveled state; if the media caught a photo of him, there was no telling how they would spin it.

"Wait for me in the room, I’m going to change into some clothes."

Fu Yanhe, holding the bag with the clothes, instructed Shen Yanhe.

"I’ll go look for Shiwei," Shen Yanhe murmured, her lips still feeling a bit numb. "When I arrived earlier, she was just about to talk with Qi Yunqian and hasn’t sent any message back yet. I’m worried she might be getting bullied."

Fu Yanhe paused in his movements but did not stop her, nodding slightly, "Alright then, I’ll come find you after I change."

He didn’t want her to feel constrained.

Shen Yanhe: "Okay."

-

She left the room wearing Fu Yanhe’s suit, went downstairs, and headed straight for the small garden.

On the way, she was careful to avoid the guests to prevent being stopped for gossip.

As she passed the tulip garden and approached the swing, a familiar, clear voice called out from behind, "Yanhe!"

Shen Yanhe stopped in her tracks and looked behind her.

Ji Qian, out of breath, ran up to her. His puppy-dog eyes looked at her somewhat pitifully, "Can we talk?"