“How did you get hurt so badly?”

Seeing the wound on Shen Yi’s back, Rong Qian’s brows knitted together. What exactly happened last night?

“Yeah, boss, how did you get this injury?” Xu Mo couldn’t help but ask as well. Although he knew Shen Yi was injured, he didn’t know how it had happened.

Shen Yi said two words: “Car accident.”

“You were in a car accident?” Rong Qian’s expression changed completely. He’d been in a car accident, and yet he acted like nothing happened?

Qiao Junche then said with a smile, “To be precise, he witnessed a car accident that was about to happen, and got injured saving someone.”

“Saving who?” Rong Qian asked immediately.

There was a hint of something meaningful in Qiao Junche’s eyes as he said, somewhat ambiguously, “That young master-type downstairs lying on the sofa, the one who acts like he can’t be bothered with anyone.”

Upon hearing it was Lin Jie, Rong Qian’s expression immediately soured as if she’d swallowed a fly, and an inexplicable feeling rose in her—why bother saving someone like that?

To let her Shen Yi suffer such a serious injury for nothing!

The moment this thought surfaced, Rong Qian quickly shook her head, telling herself she shouldn’t think this way. She was a police officer—she couldn’t have such biased thoughts.

“Boss, have you noticed that Lin Jie seems to have changed a lot?”

Xu Mo didn’t dare say it too bluntly, but recalling when he’d first met Lin Jie, he’d been an obedient, sweet kid. How had less than a year turned him into this?

Shen Yi put on his shirt, and after carefully buttoning it up, he smiled faintly and looked up at Xu Mo. “When you’re sending Dr. Qiao off later, have him come to my room to find me.”

“Got it!” Xu Mo nodded firmly, hoping Shen Yi could change some of Lin Jie’s thinking and bring this young man, who’d gone down the wrong path, back to the right one.

Rong Qian had originally wanted to tell Shen Yi about how she’d hit Lin Jie earlier, but since Shen Yi was already planning to talk to him, Rong Qian decided there was no need to add insult to injury.

She hoped that kid would recognize his mistakes and correct them.

Afterward, Xu Mo saw Qiao Junche off, and Rong Qian returned to her own room.

Hearing Xu Mo’s message, Lin Jie went upstairs to find Shen Yi. The door wasn’t locked, so Lin Jie pushed it open and walked in, seeing Shen Yi standing with his back to him by the window, hands in his pockets. His silhouette looked very thin.

Lin Jie called out, “Eldest brother, what did you want to see me for?”

“Close the door.” The man’s clear voice was, this time, ice-cold.

Lin Jie turned and looked—the door indeed hadn’t fully closed—and hurried to shut it.

When he looked up at Shen Yi again, Lin Jie unconsciously swallowed, inexplicably feeling a very oppressive presence.

Perhaps because the lights weren’t on and the curtains were drawn, the room appeared quite dim.

And Shen Yi’s figure seemed shrouded in darkness—black suit pants, a white shirt—giving Lin Jie the impression that his world contained only black and white, cold, sharp, gloomy, and lonely.

Outside, it was still raining, and the drizzling sound of rain was now very clear in the quiet room.

Lin Jie didn’t dare to breathe loudly. Shen Yi didn’t speak, and he didn’t dare to act on his own either.

“Come here.” Shen Yi remained with his back to him.

Lin Jie walked over and stopped behind Shen Yi, only a single step separating them.

Shen Yi turned around, and with a backhand swing, slapped him across the face. Lin Jie froze in shock.

This slap, too, Shen Yi delivered with the back of his hand. His face was expressionless, his cold eyes utterly calm, his movements crisp and decisive, as if hitting him were simply a matter of course.

In a single day, he’d taken two slaps, one from each person—when had Lin Jie ever endured such a humiliating grievance?

But he didn’t dare let it out, only gritting his teeth, his back teeth clenched so tight that his facial expression twisted and twitched slightly.

“Do you know why I hit you?”

Without a smile on his face, Shen Yi looked unnervingly cold—his tightly pressed lips, his indifferent eyes, all radiating a ruthlessness that seemed to say: stay away from me, or you’ll die a terrible death.

If Rong Qian had been there, she would have seen what an angry Shen Yi truly looked like.

“Because of gambling.” Lin Jie said reluctantly. He wiped his lip and found blood—whether from the slap or from biting down so hard, he wasn’t sure.

Shen Yi replied, “You’re wrong. This slap was the consequence of you insulting her just now.”

Lin Jie froze. Just now? So, he had seen it?

“So, you clearly know I’m the one who got hit, and yet you still slap me?” Lin Jie sneered, his words laced with disappointment toward Shen Yi, and contempt.

Lin Jie had thought Shen Yi would take his side. He never expected him to stand up for that woman instead.

“Let me remind you of one thing: she’s not someone you can touch. If you do, you won’t be able to bear the consequences,” Shen Yi gave him a warning.

Lin Jie clenched his fists. He was unwilling, so unwilling…

“When that car came rushing at you, why didn’t you dodge?”

Shen Yi walked over to his desk and sat down, glancing up at him once, his sharp gaze pressing down on Lin Jie until he could barely breathe.

Shen Yi continued, “Did you want to die, or were you certain I would save you?”

“Neither!” Lin Jie quickly denied, explaining, “I was just scared—my legs wouldn’t move.”

“I see.” Shen Yi nodded, though no one could tell whether he believed it or not—in any case, what he was thinking was completely unreadable.

Shen Yi took out a photo and threw it on the desk, asking him, “Have you seen this person before?”

Lin Jie glanced at it, a flash of something strange passing quickly through his eyes. How could Shen Yi have a photo of that American man named Thomas?

“No, I don’t know him.” He shook his head, putting on a blank expression.

Shen Yi looked into his eyes, then took out another photo. “Then this person—you know him, don’t you?”

Lin Jie nervously swallowed, asking, “Who is he?”

Shen Yi spoke a name. “My half-brother, Shen Fengran.”

Meanwhile, in another room, Rong Qian had been lying lazily on her bed when suddenly, as if startled awake from a deathly illness, she abruptly sat up!

Rong Qian murmured in shock, “I think I just remembered when it was that Shen Yi nearly got into trouble!”