Chapter 198: Youre Protecting Him? (1/2)
Lin Fan’s expression was very serious, so Cheng Xi eventually chose to get into his car.
In the muffled darkness of the night, the city took on a unique silence of its own. There were barely any cars on the road, but Lin Fan drove at a very steady rate, neither too fast nor too slow.
Cheng Xi didn’t say anything, and Lin Fan didn’t either; the two of them drove to her apartment in silence.
When they arrived, Lin Fan asked, “Does Lu Chenzhou have some sort of mental issue?”
His question was very direct, and Cheng Xi slowly turned around to face him.
Before she could deny it, he continued explaining his own thoughts. “Tian Rou said that the reason why you were reassigned was related to Lu Chenzhou.” So it was Tian Rou again, that loudmouth! Just how many people did she blab to about my affairs?! Cheng Xi grit her teeth in annoyance, but her face remained expressionless as she patiently listened. “However, I think that, if the report against you actually had something to do with him, then Lu Chenzhou wouldn’t have personally reported you because he wouldn’t do something so tasteless. Even if you dumped him, he has many different ways to get back at you, all of them without you even realizing anything. For example, like how he used Qingyang to set me up and destroy our relationship.”
Cheng Xi was extremely shocked by this revelation. “What?”
“You didn’t know?” Lin Fan smiled wryly. “I only learned about it a while back myself, actually. When Qingyang and I were out on a business trip, we met a guy named Xie Ziming. I later found out that he’s actually a friend of Lu Chenzhou’s. Additionally, it was he who, after inviting Qingyang and me to a meal, spiked our tea. Do you remember that? After that incident, I started gradually drifting away from you. A few days ago, I was visiting my stepbrother, and he told me that Gao Ge—who’s called Baldy by his friends—told him that Lu Chenzhou wanted him to find me a wife with an illustrious background, all so that my mother wouldn’t obsess over the Wang family’s property.” After pouring everything out, Lin Fan leaned against the steering wheel as he clutched his face in his hands. “Ha, ha, ha. In the end, everything was orchestrated by him, all because he became interested in you! And to think, all of the effort I spent struggling and all the agony I suffered amounted to nothing more than a minor pebble in his eyes, a pebble easily removed with a mere flick of the finger.”
Cheng Xi didn’t know what to say.
Did she think that he was lying? No, he had no need to lie to her. Was there any need for her to condemn Lu Chenzhou? Yet that also seemed unnecessary.
She remained silent for a moment before saying, “Actually, from another perspective, the way this situation played out isn’t that bad for you.”
“You’re defending him?” Lin Fan bristled as he suddenly spun around. “You’re defending a patient suffering from a mental illness?”
Cheng Xi frowned. “Why do you think he’s a patient?”
Lin Fan chuckled softly. “What else could he be? If he were a regular person, then why would you be forcefully transferred to a remote branch? Bribery and corruption? A misdiagnosis or malpractice? Based on how passionate you are towards your work, I don’t think that you’d do anything like that and ruin your career path. Actually, that’s the only reason you’d make a mistake—you love your job too much, which means that you’re very easily influenced by your emotions. Before I came here tonight, I had someone look into your case, and he told me that you barely avoided medical suspension. The only infraction that merits such a punishment for a psychiatrist is a doctor-patient relationship that developed into something more.”
“So, this must be the reason why you’re being reassigned, and also why you always told me that you couldn’t explain the relationship between Lu Chenzhou and you, isn’t it?”
Cheng Xi looked straight at him. “And then what? Is the truth behind my reassignment that important to you?”
“I just want to know what mental illness he’s suffering from.”
Cheng Xi sighed as she remorsefully said, “What does any of this have to do with you? Are you going to attack him with information on his supposed illness? He wouldn’t care.”
Lin Fan turned around, feeling guilty.
“Lin Fan, honestly, you didn’t lose too much……”
“Who said that?! I lost you!”
Cheng Xi frowned, her expression turning severe. “Don’t ever say that again, and don’t think about it like that either. Lin Fan, we can’t stay mired in the immutable past. Instead, we have to look towards the ever-changing future. You can’t deny that the reason why you ultimately separated from me wasn’t just because of something that happened between you and Meng Qingyang. Rather, the underlying reason is your mother. No, actually, I suppose that it should be you, as you were unable to bear her pressure. Even if Lu Chenzhou didn’t do anything, we might not have gotten together in the end.”