Qin Yucen numbly stood there, then was pulled into the examination room.
When Guan Haoyang saw the door separate him from the Qin Yucen in front of him, he listlessly turned around, leaning against the cold wall. His head hung low, the light from above casting a shadow that blurred his face, concealing his expression.
His hands were in his pockets, one leg bent, the other straight, like a still oil painting steeped in inexplicable melancholy.
Qin Yucen stood there as the doctor coldly said, "Lie down, take off your left trouser leg, and bend your right leg."
"I... I..." Though Qin Yucen reminded herself to stay calm, faced with such a situation for the first time, she was still at a loss.
She knew she had no way out. If she didn't comply, she would face coercion. Clenching her teeth, she still lay down, helplessly and nervously staring at the snow-white ceiling, her fear infinitely magnifying within her, like a dark abyss into which she kept falling toward an unknown end.
Because she was too tense, the doctor couldn't conduct the examination, "Relax. You're a married woman, what's there to be embarrassed about, every woman goes through this."
She was like meat on the chopping board, at the mercy of others, cut into pieces with no one to rescue her.
She bit down on her lower lip, slowly closing her eyes, her hands tightly gripping the cold, hard edge of the bed, so hard that she broke her fingernails. Her embarrassment, her awkwardness, unseen by anyone. She alone bore the impending pain.
She breathed deeply, trying to make herself relax, then relax some more.
The pain was like a sharp knife scraping viciously over her body, then like a storm raging over every nerve, so intense that her body stiffened suddenly, a breath of cold air rushing into her mouth, sweat beading her icy forehead, her bloodless face ghostly pale.
She bit through her lip and didn't cry out in pain!
She felt a warm liquid flowing over her skin; she knew her virginity was gone like that!
Not given to the husband she loved, but forced by her husband to give to that cold instrument!
To speak of it was laughable, tragic!
Even if she had fallen into such a miserable situation in life, she would not cry!
When the doctor saw the fresh blood on the instrument and the spots of blood blooming on the disinfectant paper beneath her, he was first shocked, then his brows furrowed deeply, stammering, "You... you're a virgin? Didn't President Guan say you'd been married for five years? What's going on?"
"Is the... examination over? Can I... go now?" Qin Yucen, in so much pain she could not speak a complete sentence, felt a bitter taste deep in her throat, as if she had eaten Coptis.
The doctor nodded dumbly, watching Qin Yucen stubbornly refusing to shed a tear, not making a sound of pain. As a woman, she felt her heart soften.
Qin Yucen straightened her clothes and took a light step forward, feeling a sharp pain beneath her, as if tearing apart. She stubbornly walked to the door, using the wall for support, opened the door, and stood tall as she walked out.
Guan Haoyang straightened up and met Qin Yucen's clear eyes, "How are you..."
Her face was so pale that it was almost transparent, sweat still lingering on her forehead, and she looked like a small flower that had lost its vibrant colors after being battered by wind and snow, fragile and pitiful.
"Didn't you want to know the outcome? Then go ask the doctor," Qin Yucen said coldly, her voice void of any emotional fluctuation, "Don't stand in the way here."
Right after she spoke, the doctor came out. He looked at Guan Haoyang, who was looking more troubled than before, opened his mouth, but didn't utter a word.
"Speak plainly," Guan Haoyang frowned, sensing something wrong from the doctor's panicked expression.
"President Guan, Miss Qin… she is still a virgin, so…" The doctor's voice grew quieter and quieter until it faded away.
Virgin?!
The doctor's words struck Guan Haoyang like a bolt from the blue, leaving him stunned, his mind reeling with confusion and a dizzying sensation that made him sway on his feet.
"President Guan, are you all right?" the doctor asked, seeing that Guan Haoyang's complexion had worsened even more.
Guan Haoyang steadied himself, took a step forward, and grabbed Qin Yucen's slender arms tightly, glaring at her fiercely as if he wanted to devour her, "Qin Yucen, why didn't you tell me? Why?"
Compared to Guan Haoyang's furious reaction, Qin Yucen was eerily calm, her eyes devoid of any life, like the still water of a deep pool.
Seeing that she had no reaction to his accusations, Guan Haoyang became even more infuriated. He tightened his grip on her arms, shaking her a few times, his voice cold as frost, "Are you deaf? I am asking you a question, speak up!"
"Tell you what? That I was a virgin and you wouldn't have me checked?" Qin Yucen's eyes, clear-cut between black and white, were filled with desolation, mockery, and disappointment in him, "I reminded you to think this through. Now, asking me 'why,' does that make any sense?"
"If you had made it clear, I wouldn't have done this," Guan Haoyang's voice softened slightly, "But why didn't you make it clear?"
"Guan Haoyang, although I'm from an ordinary background, not a rich heir like you, I, too, have my pride! Do you expect me to beg you, with my pride in shreds, to tell you I am a virgin and to ask you to spare me? You must be dreaming!" Qin Yucen took a deep breath, swearing crudely in a moment of rage, yet even that couldn't calm the trauma in her heart and body, "Even if I told you I was a virgin, would you have believed me?"
Regarding him, she had come to see just how selfish and presumptuous he was, and her... perhaps she had long since eroded away in the depths of his memory, hadn't she?
"Qin Yucen, I swear I want to strangle you! Is it that hard to be honest with me? Pride? To hell with your pride!" Guan Haoyang's hand grasped her delicate and fair neck, "You wanted to get back at me, didn't you? Wanted me to regret treating you like this, right?"
Qin Yucen stared intently into his eyes, a faint smile on her face, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, "If I wanted to get back at you, I would have lived recklessly in these past five years! And I certainly wouldn't have kept chaste for something that you deemed worthless! The moment I became your wife, I told myself that you would be the only man in my life, no matter how hard it was, I would stay true! But what about you? You had long since lost any trust in me, and if there was even a shred, you wouldn't have put me through this! Tell me, is there a woman in the world more foolish than me?"