Chapter 45 I Can’t Help Myself

Chapter 45 I Can't Help Myself

The hospital.

At the ward entrance.

After the match, Zhou Yang hurried over with a group of his followers, having heard that Lin Yao had knocked Shen Chaowen unconscious with a stick. Shen Chaowen was still lying in the ward, unconscious.

Huang Mao, both disbelieving and immediately surrounding the ward with his men, feared Lin Yao might escape.

Shi Nian pulled Qi Yanye to block the ward's entrance, urging Huang Mao to calm down first.

Zhou Yang: "Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down? You wait. I'm calling for backup right now. Not just that crybaby, none of you will get away with this. You'll all regret it!"

"Sure, go ahead and try feeding us some juice." Behind them, Shi Yu's cool voice echoed.

Huang Mao and his gang froze, then turned around.

Only then did they notice Shi Yu standing in the corridor behind them, wearing the white jersey from today's match, adding a touch of aloofness to his casual demeanor.

Shi Yu's eyes, cold and indifferent, glanced their way, his tall and slender figure slightly shielding the petite girl behind him.

Upon closer inspection, Huang Mao realized Shi Yu was holding the hand of a girl.

She looked like she had been crying, her eyes red and her cheeks flushed with lingering tears. Her wet, deer-like eyes were filled with guilt as she nervously observed them, timidly peeking out from behind Shi Yu.

Seemingly frightened, one of her hands was tightly clasped by Shi Yu, while the other clung to his arm, only daring to show half of her face from behind him, quietly observing the situation.

Huang Mao squinted and exclaimed, "It's you! You knocked Shen Ge out! I'm going to..."

He lunged forward to grab Lin Yao.

Shi Yu shielded half of Lin Yao's body behind him, meeting Huang Mao's gaze head-on.

"What do you plan to do to her?"

His dark, deep eyes were clouded with a chilling aura, showing no sign of backing down.

Under Shi Yu's icy stare, Huang Mao's hair stood on end, sending chills down his spine.

He stammered, "Shi Yu, or rather, Yu Ge, we were at least schoolmates once. This girl knocked Shen Ge out, causing him to be hospitalized. Do you think this can just be swept under the rug? She should at least give us an explanation!"

Behind Shi Yu, hearing Huang Mao's words, Lin Yao's long eyelashes trembled as she lowered her head.

She felt Huang Mao had a point.

Although... although Shen Chaowen had done something immoral first, she had indeed acted too hastily, hitting him with the baton.

The young girl gently tugged at Shi Yu's shirt, forcing herself to sound calm, "Shi Yu, otherwise, I..."

"Ask Shen Chaowen himself if he wants to publicize being knocked out by a girl with a baton when he wakes up."

Shi Yu wouldn't let the little green tea suffer any injustice, his low, indifferent voice covering hers.

In his view, even if Shen Chaowen didn't deserve it, the deed was done.

Shi Yu raised an eyebrow, "Yelling about this at the door probably makes Shen Chaowen want to kill you more than her."

Huang Mao: "I..."

He was momentarily speechless, caught off guard by Shi Yu's logic.

Taking advantage of Huang Mao's momentary confusion, Shi Yu didn't turn back.

But his free right hand reached behind him, grasping the trembling hand of Lin Yao, who was clutching his shirt.

Warmth flowed from Lin Yao's cool fingertips to her anxious heart.

The girl paused, looking down in surprise at Shi Yu's hand, which had turned around to hold hers.

His palm was large, his fingers long and well-defined, warm and dry.

Both of her hands were easily enveloped by his.

Tightly.

Her gaze, visibly filled with complex emotions, shifted downward.

Lin Yao slowly lifted her eyes.

What she saw was Shi Yu's tall, lean silhouette blocking her from view.

Her heart raced uncontrollably.

For the first time, she noticed that Shi Yu's back seemed broader than before, shedding some of his youthful innocence.

The broad back seemed to shield her from the chaos outside.

Something within her began to change.

The person she once found annoying now held a different weight in her heart.

"Hey, wait a minute!" The thug scratched his head and suddenly realized, "It was her who knocked Shen out. Why would Shen want to kill me? That's right, this makes sense. I almost got confused by you guys... She should apologize to Shen. No way, we have to take her in!"

No matter how scared the thug was of Shi Yu, he had to stand up for justice for Shen at this moment.

How pitiful their Shen was, knocked out by a delicate girl... Yes, they even said she used a relay baton. How embarrassing!

They had to bring this little crybaby in to bow and apologize to Shen. Otherwise, where would their Shen’s dignity be?

Even if the thug feared Shi Yu and Qi Yanye, his underlings could only muster the courage to confront them.

But with Shi Yu and Qi Yanye present, and Shi Nian so protective of Lin Yao, there was no way they would let them bully her.

Thus, the two groups nearly caused a commotion outside the ward again.

"Bang—"

Suddenly, the tightly closed door of the ward was pushed open from inside.

The thug, about to roll up his sleeves for a fight, was startled.

Hearing the noise behind him, Zhou Yang, clutching his sore buttocks after being kicked by Qi Yanye, turned around and was stunned.

"S-S-Sir Shen... you... how did you get up!?"

Not just the thug, but all the other underlings who were about to fight were dumbfounded.

Shen Chaowen was still wearing the black jersey from today’s game.

Apart from a slight bruise on his handsome face, Shen Chaowen looked completely fine. There wasn’t even a bandage on his supposedly severely injured head, showing no sign of damage.

Leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, Shen Chaowen looked down at them with half-lidded eyes.

The thug scrutinized carefully and found that apart from looking a bit gloomy, Shen seemed no different from earlier.

"Sir Shen, you’re okay!" The thug excitedly rushed over.

Then he got kicked in the butt by Shen Chaowen again.

"If you shout any louder, I can hear you even when I’m sleeping inside." Indeed, as Shi Yu said, the first thing Shen Chaowen wanted to do upon waking up was to silence the thug.

"Shout louder, preferably with a megaphone, so everyone knows I was knocked out by that little crybaby."

As he said this, his gaze involuntarily drifted toward Lin Yao.

But before his eyes could reach the girl, a tall and sturdy figure blocked his view.

Tsk.

Shen Chaowen silently pursed his lips.

He heard everything that was said outside in the corridor.

Shi Yu’s protectiveness of the little crybaby was no secret.

"Come in and talk."

In the end, Shen Chaowen didn’t say much more and allowed Lin Yao, Shi Yu, Shi Nian, Qi Yanye, and the thug into the ward.

The misunderstanding in the equipment room needed to be cleared up among them.

...

It turned out that Shen Chaowen wasn’t knocked out by Lin Yao.

His fainting was due to an underlying health issue.

This was a hereditary condition in the Shen family; his grandfather passed away early because of it.

Lin Yao’s hit with the relay baton coincided with the onset of the young master’s condition, making it look like she had knocked him out.

"So, I wasn’t knocked out by a delicate girl like her," Shen Chaowen emphasized, leaning back on the hospital bed.

His beautiful eyes glanced at her, "Lin Yao, did you hear that clearly?"

Caught off guard, Lin Yao was momentarily stunned, then her eyes welled up with tears.

She never expected it to be because of this.

She suddenly remembered that in the original text, it mentioned that Shen Chaowen disappeared for a while during college. Could it be he went abroad for treatment?

Later, when he returned, he became the main antagonist between the protagonist and the heroine.

If he could become the main antagonist, it meant Shen Chaowen must have been cured.

He would be safe and sound.

Lin Yao: "I heard you, Shen Chaowen... you... you shouldn’t do bad things anymore. Even if you like Shi Nian, you shouldn’t force her. If you change your way of loving, it might be good for your condition."

After thinking it through, she couldn’t help but speak up.

Shen Chaowen was very unreasonable, forcing Shi Nian with his domineering and obsessive ways.

But perhaps this was just the result of him being a supporting antagonist, controlled by the script.

Just like how she, before awakening, was driven by jealousy and did many foolish things and said many insincere words.

Zhou Yuwei was like this, and so was Shen Chaowen.

He was the antagonist in the book, maybe he was arranged to have poor health and a twisted psyche because he forced Shi Nian.

If he had chosen a healthier way to love, perhaps he could have avoided such an ending.

Shen Chaowen: "Tsk, who told you I forced Shi Nian?"

Lin Yao: ???

Wasn't it so?

Qi Yanye had the same expression as Lin Yao, but his was even more displeased.

"Everyone misunderstood." Shi Nian was very frustrated.

He had been in a hurry to take Shen Chaowen to the hospital and hadn't found the right time to explain.

"I went to the equipment room with Shen Chaowen actually to help him connect via video call with a foreign medical team."

Lin Yao, Qi Yanye: What???

It turned out that Shi Nian had known about Shen Chaowen's illness for a while.

She had accidentally witnessed Shen Chaowen receiving treatment at the hospital not long ago.

Shi Nian had always wanted to help mend the relationship between Shen Chaowen and Qi Yanye. Recently, Shen Chaowen's behavior had become increasingly erratic, almost involving Lin Yao several times.

To thoroughly 'solve' the problem of Shen Chaowen, Shi Nian felt she should help him get back on track.

Shi Nian: "Martin is a friend I met last year during a summer camp. He graduated from a prestigious foreign university and comes from a well-known international medical family. Martin is passionate about medicine and formed his own medical team right after graduation. His mentor's current research aligns closely with Shen Chaowen's condition."

Shen Chaowen's grandfather had experienced the same health issue as Shen Chaowen.

This wasn't a terminal illness, but because Shen Chaowen's grandfather was older and discovered it late, it was difficult to treat.

No other members of the Shen family had this issue. Perhaps if they had found out earlier and invested their resources into research, they might have changed the outcome.

Shi Nian: "I met with Shen Chaowen to tell him that there are many things more important and meaningful than what he is currently fixated on. Martin's medical research team is lacking funds, and the Shen family has money. I wanted to help them connect. This way, if there's a chance in the future, Shen Chaowen can not only save himself but also help more people and do more meaningful things."

No one expected that Shi Nian's private meeting with Shen Chaowen was for this reason.

But...

Qi Yanye said grimly, "If it was for something like this, why did you meet in the equipment room? And why did you need someone to guard the door?"

You could have just talked anywhere; there was no need to make it so secretive.

"Because Shen Chaowen didn't want to lose face," Shi Nian looked at Shen Chaowen helplessly. "He said he didn't want anyone to know about his health issues. Not even Zhou Yang."

Huang Mao immediately understood that Brother Shen didn't want him to worry, which is why he didn't tell him.

He wished he could hug Shen Chaowen and shed tears of brotherhood, but Shen Chaowen would have kicked him away.

Young Master Shen was just too proud.

The illness was something he deliberately kept hidden, but unexpectedly, Shi Nian found out by accident.

He threatened Shi Nian into dating him, but Shi Nian secretly confronted him instead.

Shen Chaowen wasn't stupid; he knew that Shi Nian's proposal was far more meaningful than his childish, obsessive, and vengeful actions toward Qi Yanye.

Moreover, like Qi Yanye, Shen Chaowen was raised by his grandparents from a young age.

His relationship with his parents was distant, and he rarely saw them.

The first time he remembered seeing his globe-trotting parents was at his grandfather's funeral. The second time was at his grandmother's funeral.

What Shen Chaowen cared about most was seeing his grandfather suffer and die on a hospital bed due to heart failure, unable to be cured.

He was still young and not short of money. With resources, Shen Chaowen believed he could overcome his fate.

Even if not for himself, investing in that medical research team could lead to more effective treatments, benefiting patients like his grandfather. That would be a good thing.

"But..." Lin Yao hesitated, "But at that time, I clearly heard you force Shi Nian into the equipment room and say... say..."

Lin Yao recalled the scene and found it hard to speak.

At that time, Shen Chaowen had threatened Shi Nian—

"Don't act like that. It will just be you and me inside. If you behave well, maybe I'll let Qi Yanye go."

And similar phrases like—

"Shi Nian, you wouldn't want anything to happen to Qi Yanye, would you?"

Shen Chaowen seemed to remember what he had said and awkwardly cleared his throat. "That was just to scare Shi Nian in case she tried to play tricks and not cooperate. Where did your mind go?"

Lin Yao's face turned red instantly.

She... where did her mind go?

She didn't go anywhere.

Shi Nian saw Lin Yao's blushing face and instantly realized what Lin Yao had misinterpreted. She burst out laughing.

With her laughter, Lin Yao's face turned even redder.

The girl was flustered and wanted to find a hole to hide in. Oh my god, how could she have thought that...

She had assumed Shen Chaowen was going to do something inappropriate to Shi Nian in the equipment room, which made her rush to bring Qi Yanye over.

Lin Yao suddenly felt a strong urge to escape, her face flushed red. Finally, she pulled Shi Yu over and hid behind him.

Shi Yu probably already guessed something.

The young man silently curled the corners of his lips, taking half a step to the side, skillfully blocking the overly familiar little green tea from view.

Shen Chaowen's amused smile instantly vanished.

His handsome face fell once again.

It seemed that Lin Yao's earlier knock had cleared his head somewhat.

Now, looking at that crybaby, he found it more agreeable.

But in the next second, someone walked over and gently patted Shen Chaowen's shoulder.

"You... get better soon."

The hand on his shoulder belonged to Qi Yanye.

Shen Chaowen raised an eyebrow, his jaw tightening even more than before.

Yet when his amber eyes reflected Qi Yanye's cool face, he couldn't help but feel a bit dazed.

"I'll get better without you telling me." Shen Chaowen turned his face away.

"Uh-huh."

Qi Yanye also gritted his teeth, perhaps not used to such sentimentality. But as his gaze fell on Shen Chaowen's face, he suddenly thought of something and lowered his single-folded eyelids to look at him.

"So, does that wisdom tooth still hurt?"

Shen Chaowen: "..."

Ha, typical Qi Yanye, always bringing up the sore spot.

The teenagers in the ward burst into laughter after this inexplicable conversation ended the brief awkwardness.

Even Lin Yao bent over laughing, her head bumping against Shi Yu's back.

These two were truly childish, so funny.

She laughed until tears streamed down her face.

*

It was getting late, so Shi Yu decided to send Lin Yao home first.

Just as they stepped out of the elevator on the first floor of the hospital building, Shi Yu suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her into the stairwell beside them.

In an instant, he pressed close, trapping her in the narrow space.

Lin Yao's heart skipped a beat as she lifted her confused gaze.

But she caught the familiar cold, woody scent from Shi Yu.

He leaned in, shielding her.

"Someone is coming."

Through the gap where Shi Yu's body blocked her view, Lin Yao saw a group of No. 5 Middle School students approaching with fierce determination.

They looked menacing, more like they were here for revenge rather than visiting someone sick.

Lin Yao was worried about Shi Nian and Qi Yanye upstairs, and she anxiously looked at Shi Yu.

Her moist, beautiful eyes sparkled in the dim light, almost as if they had hooks, pulling at Shi Yu's heart.

His heart itched for a moment.

The young man lowered his eyes, lifting his hand to cover her wandering, alluring gaze.

His voice was hoarse and slightly dark.

"Yao Yao, don't look at me like that..."

"I can't help myself."