Chen Yi bought a chicken and a few scallions on his way back, carrying the groceries home.
Han Wenxue was still there, sitting inside, engrossed in a copy of the I Ching. She seemed to be reading with great interest. When she saw him return, she merely glanced up briefly before lowering her head to continue reading, showing no intention of speaking.
Chen Yi paid no mind to her indifference. He had long grown tired of dealing with this unreasonable woman and even felt a faint dislike for her.
Of course, Chen Yi knew it wasn't entirely her fault.
How could someone chosen by the King of Hell himself be let off so easily? The conflict between them was largely a matter of fate.
Long ago, Chen Yi had calculated that she would face a deadly calamity yesterday. Without intervention, she would have died from "a sharp object piercing her skull." Yet his interference came with a significant contradiction—it would only hasten her death.
A sharp object piercing the skull symbolized a metal calamity. As a young man, Chen Yi's element was earth, which nourished metal and thus intensified the danger of her metal calamity.
For this reason, Chen Yi had to keep his distance from her, even carefully considering every word he spoke to avoid altering her fate.
Though he understood it was all the work of destiny, Chen Yi couldn't help but feel irritated. Every time he saw Han Wenxue treating him like a criminal, his frustration surged.
He had saved her twice, yet she still regarded him as an enemy. Even the most magnanimous person would feel a pang of resentment.
Not to mention, this woman was constantly scheming to seduce him, only to hand him over to the police.
She thought her self-defense stun baton was well-hidden in her bag, but to Chen Yi, it was as obvious as if it were lying on the table. If he could divine the workings of heaven, how could a mere stun baton escape his notice?
Chen Yi set down the groceries, retrieved some gauze and iodine, and began cleaning and carefully bandaging the wounds on his fists.
Han Wenxue noticed him struggling to dress his wounds and felt an impulse to help, but seeing that he didn't even glance in her direction, she abandoned the idea.
"What happened to your hand?"
Han Wenxue was surprised at herself for asking.
She was supposed to hate him—why was she concerned about him?
She couldn't understand her own feelings. To her, Chen Yi was a despicable fraud who deserved to be punished.
But why did she hate him so much?
Aside from that unclear night, Chen Yi had never truly wronged her. In fact, she had always been the one using and scheming against him.
Logically speaking, given that Chen Yi hadn't laid a finger on her all this time, he could even be considered a gentleman. And yesterday, he had indeed saved her life. Whether it was out of genuine intent or a miscalculation, the fact remained undeniable.
Without his text message, she would undoubtedly be dead by now.
Han Wenxue couldn't make sense of her feelings. It was as if a voice in her head kept urging her, "This man is no good. Leave him!"
Then why hadn't she left?
Was it because of her grandfather's request? She didn't think so. She had already fulfilled her grandfather's task and gained nothing from it. Chen Yi's conduct could be rated as exemplary. According to the original plan, she should have left triumphantly and never seen him again.
"Feng Kun did it. He wanted his phone back, and I refused," Chen Yi said suddenly.
Han Wenxue, accustomed to their cold war, was momentarily caught off guard by his willingness to speak.
"Feng Kun? He came to find you?"
Her heart tightened. She vividly remembered the two tall and burly bodyguards by Feng Kun's side and couldn't imagine the slightly built Chen Yi standing a chance against them.
Although she disliked Chen Yi, her impression of Feng Kun wasn't any better.
"Why did you take his phone? Are you that desperate for money?"
Han Wenxue didn't expect Chen Yi to answer, but she asked anyway.
Chen Yi glanced at her briefly before returning to bandaging his wound.
Han Wenxue chuckled bitterly to herself. She truly was trying to warm a cold heart.
"Take a look at what's on his phone. You might find what you're looking for," Chen Yi said after a long silence.
"What I'm looking for?"
"Yes."
…
Han Wenxue had to admit that Chen Yi was an excellent cook.
A simple old hen, in his hands, was transformed into an exquisite dish. It tasted a hundred times better than the fried chicken legs at KFC.
He hadn't used any special ingredients, just some ginger, fennel, and star anise, yet the flavor was so divine that she wanted to swallow her tongue.
The half-cooked scallions steeped in the chicken soup were especially delightful. The heat had removed their spiciness, leaving behind a refreshing fragrance that perfectly balanced the soup's richness.
If there was one thing Han Wenxue appreciated most about this place, it was undoubtedly Chen Yi's cooking.
However, her satisfaction didn't last long. Soon after, Chen Yi began brewing Chinese medicine, filling the entire house with its bitter aroma, which made her grit her teeth in frustration.
After drinking the medicine, Chen Yi broke out in a sweat. A warm flow of energy rose from his abdomen, spreading throughout his body and leaving him feeling revitalized. It seemed his vitality had been partially restored.
In the following days, the tension between Chen Yi and Han Wenxue eased slightly. Their interactions were no longer as hostile as before, and they could even exchange a few calm words.
During this time, Chen Yi received some good news: Little Nan Nan's surgery had been successfully completed, and she had been moved out of the intensive care unit.
While he felt relieved, he also harbored some guilt.
He hadn't been by her side during her surgery.
He wished he could have been there to cheer her on before she entered the operating room.
But Han Wenxue's life-threatening calamity was too severe for him to leave her side, even for a moment.
According to his calculations, this calamity involved fire.
He was of the earth element, while Han Wenxue was of the metal element. Fire nurtured earth, earth nurtured metal, and earth's energy would be drained while strengthening metal's power. Thus, he had to stay by her side constantly.
Perhaps it was this drastic change in his behavior that made Han Wenxue feel unsettled.
Chen Yi followed her everywhere, speaking little, like a silent and stoic bodyguard.
The wine-red Volkswagen Golf crawled along the congested road, stopping and starting. Traffic lights and gridlock seemed to conspire against her. What was usually a thirty-minute drive had already stretched to over an hour, and she was still only halfway there.
The aftermath of the last banquet had not yet subsided, but it had brought Han Wenxue an opportunity.
She had just received an invitation from Sanjian Group to discuss a landscaping project. This was her second project, and she took it very seriously. Early in the morning, she drove to the meeting, with Chen Yi inevitably accompanying her.
Whether it was bad luck or something else, as the appointed time approached, she found herself still stuck in traffic.
Finally, the line of cars ahead began to move, slowly at first, then picking up speed.
Han Wenxue exhaled a sigh of relief as she followed the flow of traffic out of the jammed area and onto the ring road, where she accelerated sharply.
Crack!
Just as the Golf picked up speed, a thick, arm-sized dead branch suddenly fell from the sky, landing squarely in front of the car and snapping in two.
"Ah!"
Startled, Han Wenxue gasped. Fortunately, the German-engineered car held up well; the Volkswagen Golf merely jolted over the branch and continued forward.
She placed a hand on her chest, her heart still racing with fear. Thankfully, nothing serious had happened.
For most people, a falling branch might seem like a random occurrence, unusual but not alarming. For Chen Yi, however, it held deeper meaning.
Silently calculating the divination, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
"A dead branch represents the Li trigram. Breaking into two symbolizes the Dui trigram. Li and Dui together form the hexagram Fire Over Lake (Opposition). With the hour's number added, the result is ten. Subtracting six leaves four, indicating the fourth line is active. This transforms into the hexagram Mountain Over Lake (Loss), with interchanging trigrams of Kan and Li. The body trigram is Dui, representing metal, while the interchanging trigram is Li, representing fire. Fire overcomes metal, and the names of the hexagrams suggest injury or harm."
As Han Wenxue sped southward toward her meeting with Sanjian Group, Chen Yi's expression grew increasingly grim.
"Stop the car!"
Chen Yi suddenly shouted, his voice firm and commanding.
"What? Stop the car?"
Han Wenxue was momentarily at a loss. They were in the middle of the road, having just escaped the traffic jam. Cars surrounded them on all sides, and she was already running late. Stopping now would cost her precious minutes.
"Yes, stop immediately!"
Chen Yi's tone left no room for argument.
"I can't stop now," Han Wenxue said hesitantly, glancing at the speeding vehicles around them.
As they argued, the Golf had driven another fifty or sixty meters, nearing a large gas station. A massive fuel tanker was pulling out of the station, swaying unsteadily as it approached.
Fire belonged to the south, and the gas station was also associated with fire. Han Wenxue was highly likely to encounter a disaster here.
Time was running out. Without further deliberation, Chen Yi lunged forward from the passenger seat, grabbed the steering wheel, and yanked it hard.
Bang!
The Volkswagen Golf crashed into the central guardrail. The airbags deployed instantly, cushioning them from injury. Even so, the force of the sudden stop left them both shaken.
"Chen Yi, are you insane?"
Han Wenxue's face was pale with fright. She pushed the airbag aside and turned to yell at him.
Bang!
The car shook violently.
A vehicle behind them had rear-ended the Golf.
"Are you blind? How the hell did you get your license?" the driver of the black Toyota shouted angrily.
"Chen Yi, you'd better have a d*mn good explanation!"
Han Wenxue's eyes blazed with fury. This lunatic had yanked the steering wheel in the middle of a busy road.
"Get out of the car!"
Chen Yi said firmly, unbuckling his seatbelt and reaching over to unfasten hers as well.
"You owe me an explanation!"
Han Wenxue's anger erupted, all the grievances she had endured over the past days boiling over.
Before she could react further, Chen Yi reached under her arms and pulled her into the passenger seat.
"What are you doing?!"