Bringing Up Old Matters, Another Butterfly Flapping Its Wings, A Terrifying Storm

“Bang!”

The bathroom door slammed shut, and the chairman’s shrieks echoed faintly, darting back and forth through the vast empty hall.

Seeing the bathroom door close, Ye Cheng silently let go of the hands covering his ears.

“So, does this mean I’m doomed?”

Ye Cheng muttered uncertainly to himself.

Ye Cheng was a man who had seen his share of the world. He’d been through scenes like this so many times that he felt little emotional upheaval or fluctuation, capable of taking timely damage-control measures before things escalated.

Right now, the best move was to play dead on the floor, maybe even foam at the mouth for added effect—then the chairman would likely go easier on him.

“Sigh…”

Ye Cheng let out a sigh, already regretting his choices. If only he’d spent more time out here blowing bubbles, he’d have dodged this entire mess.

Hmm?

Come to think of it, if he’d popped a few more bubbles, could he have squeezed an extra freebie or two from the chairman—without any strings attached?

Genius!

“Hamster, where does your family keep the milk?”

Ye Cheng rummaged around the room, hunting for the key ingredient to create a foaming-mouth effect.

He called out twice, only to realize the little secretary beside him wasn’t acknowledging him. A question mark appeared over his head, and he waved a hand in front of her face.

“Hey, you little hamster, I’m talking to you. What’s with the cold act?” Ye Cheng pinched the secretary’s chubby cheeks.

Even though the secretary seemed sharper now, it was only on the surface. If Ye Cheng were out there selling health supplements, he’d definitely add a note—“Dummy”—and wait until she was old, then hawk them to her.

The secretary snapped back to reality, her ears still ringing. “Boss, I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

Ye Cheng: “…”

So her ears were busted. Fine, no worries, all forgiven.

Ye Cheng gave her cheeks another couple of squeezes for good measure, then started searching the second floor. Soon, he found what he needed in a refrigerator.

He grabbed a carton of milk, gulped it down, and then…

Waited for the perfect moment.

Ye Cheng’s eyes locked onto the bathroom door.

Click!

At that moment, the bathroom door swung open.

Now!!!

Clean and decisive, Ye Cheng collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing. Dongfang Zhixia stormed out looking like she could kill someone, her face terrifyingly dark, a tool already in hand.

The moment she opened the door, she saw Ye Cheng writhing on the floor.

Dongfang Zhixia: “???”

“You bastard, what’s wrong with you!!!”

She dropped the hammer in her hand, rushing toward him in a panic, ready to call an ambulance…

Half an hour later, Ye Cheng was lying on the first-floor sofa. A professional medical team had just finished their examination.

The lead doctor wore a peculiar expression but delivered the diagnosis anyway.

“Miss, based on preliminary findings, this appears to be a syncope caused by excessive fright or panic… May I ask, Miss, what happened to him earlier?”

The doctor was genuinely curious. For a man of Ye Cheng’s build to faint from shock was a rare sight.

This sort of thing usually only happened to people with underlying health conditions, or to toddlers whose minds hadn’t fully matured. You’d occasionally hear stories about horror movies scaring people to death, but that was only if they had preexisting issues—heart disease, for instance. Scare them once, and they’d be gone. In a different setting, the same effect would occur; the movie theater was just unlucky collateral.

The first thing the team had checked was exactly that, but after examining Ye Cheng’s body, they found no underlying issues.

However, when they pulled up Ye Cheng’s health records from the national database, they did uncover something odd…

For example, a while back, Ye Cheng had gone to the hospital alone. The doctor’s initial description and diagnosis at the time was something like “fatigue-induced coughing up blood”…

If there was a problem, it had to be there.

Going back a bit earlier, Ye Cheng had gone for a checkup and been diagnosed with a singular, one-of-a-kind terminal illness—unique on a global scale. But before the records could be finalized, Ye Cheng had bolted.

He had headed for the rooftop, planning to elbow the concrete ground.

Due to its uniqueness, the hospital had no choice but to label the report with a phrase like “suspected rare case” in the final diagnosis.

And to protect patient privacy, even if other doctors looked up the medical system, they couldn’t see the specifics. The entry was still marked “Confidential.”

Dongfang Zhixia’s expression darkened. Her hands clenched tightly.

She never expected Ye Cheng to have actually fainted. She had thought he was just messing with her again… And now, he’d literally been scared into passing out?

She already felt guilty toward Ye Cheng, and this second collapse made her chest ache with an unbearable heaviness, her throat tight, her eyes stinging.

She even started to regret screaming so loudly earlier.

It was just a little peek, after all—not like it would cost her anything. They were bound to be together eventually anyway, just a matter of time… It wasn’t that serious… Ugh…

Unbeknownst to herself, Dongfang Zhixia had already completed a full cycle of mind-washing, unaware of the shift happening inside her.

“I must have scared him. I was holding something sharp…”

There was no way Dongfang Zhixia could spill the whole truth about what just happened, or she’d never live it down—she couldn’t exactly blurt out that she had been in the shower… Ugh.

So she phrased it differently, and the doctor understood.

“I see. Then it’s likely your end, Miss. The patient harbors some fear toward you, and in that moment, the fear was triggered, leading to the fainting…”

“Once the patient wakes up, you’ll need to avoid such situations as much as possible, or it could leave lingering psychological trauma.”

The doctor frowned, speaking as delicately as possible.

It was clear that the patient had an unusual relationship with the young miss—completely cutting contact seemed unlikely. And so, conservative treatment and a shift in tone were the only options.

“Alright, I understand. Anything else I should keep in mind?” Dongfang Zhixia nodded, listening intently.

She mentally noted every word the doctor said, silently resolving to be gentler with Ye Cheng from now on.

Her heart was filled with regret and self-blame. She never thought she could leave such a deep psychological mark on him. That was the opposite of what she wanted.

The doctor hesitated a moment, then decided to share what he had just discovered with his mistress.

“Miss, actually… Mr. Ye may also have some underlying health issues. But I’m not entirely sure how serious they are.”

"A few months ago, Master Ye came here for a follow-up exam. The hospital's doctors diagnosed and noted that he was coughing up blood due to overwork, and his body was weakened..."

The more she listened, the more wrong Dongfang Zhixia's expression became.

Her hands were clenched tightly, her fingernails nearly digging into her flesh—when she let go, there would definitely be red marks. What the doctor was saying now matched what she had investigated earlier. But at the time, she couldn't understand why Ye Cheng would choose the most tiring and hardest method among the simplest ways to make money.

With his intelligence, he should have made far more as a tutor—so why did he choose to work under the table?

These questions, according to Dongfang Zhixia's original expectations, were supposed to be revealed gradually as the two spent time together, little by little, as Ye Cheng opened his heart and told her on his own.

But now... before they could open up to each other, Ye Cheng had collapsed—and it was because she had scared him.

The pain in her heart was unbearable, beyond what words could describe...

"So what exactly is the illness?" Dongfang Zhixia asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Sorry, Miss. We don't have the authorization here, and probably no one else does either. Unless the patient himself agrees, we can only retrieve the report from the relevant hospital."

Dongfang Zhixia frowned. "No authorization?"

Even her family didn't have that kind of access?

The medical system was indeed unique, but... only to a certain extent. If she wanted to know, there were countless ways to find out.

Getting Ye Cheng to say it himself was out of the question. Dongfang Zhixia knew exactly what kind of person he was—unless he wanted to talk, she wouldn't get any useful information out of him.

She would have to investigate on her own.

Silently, she filed that thought away. She would go immediately to the hospital where Ye Cheng had been treated before and find the doctor who had diagnosed him.

What came next would be much simpler. She had plenty of ways to pry information out of a doctor and get what she needed!

"Alright, I understand. How much longer until he wakes up?"

"The exact time is uncertain—it depends on the patient's own condition. We can do another ECG to estimate his current physical state. Please wait a moment, Miss. We'll draw some blood first, and then—"

Before they could finish speaking, Ye Cheng sat up.

He sprang up like a man rising from his deathbed!

The doctor: "???"

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

The truth was... Ye Cheng had already woken up after surviving the first round of examinations. He was awake, but not entirely. Listening to the current situation, it seemed like things weren't going to end well for him.

Let's rewind to the moment the esteemed leader opened the door. Ye Cheng had decisively faked a collapse and played dead, hoping to escape punishment.

But later, things took a turn for the worse. It turned out he had genuinely scared the esteemed leader—she was shedding tears. Ye Cheng broke out in a cold sweat.

To avoid truly getting beaten to death, Ye Cheng made the snap decision to lean into the act, held his breath, and managed to pass out for real...

Unconsciousness, in a sense, was just a different form of "taking a nap." It wasn't all that different—Ye Cheng knew that well.

When he woke up, he found himself lying on the sofa, with a bunch of white coats swarming him and "boundlessly" copping a feel. Ye Cheng wanted to come back to life right then and tell them to stop touching him.

But with the heavens holding him down—the esteemed leader watching from the side—Ye Cheng had no choice but to endure it.

The longer he listened, the worse it got.

The hell? Where's this headed?

How did they dig up everything?

When he heard about the hospital and the examinations, Ye Cheng already couldn't hold still. He wanted to stir back to life, but if he did, the esteemed leader might catch on and follow the clues to cut him down in one blow...

Just hold on a little longer. Just hold on.

And then: "You're going to draw my blood?!"

You dogs!!!

Drawing blood was absolutely out of the question—if they did, he'd be totally exposed. The cancer mid-stage issue with Xiaxia hadn't even been cleared up yet, and now they were picking at this?

No way. No blood test!

"Suddenly, I feel full of energy—like I could run a 5K! Esteemed Leader, I'm off!"

Ye Cheng scrambled off the sofa, ripped off all the medical equipment attached to him, and bolted for the door.

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

After a two-second pause, she snapped out of it. "Seize him!!!"

A swarm of people lunged forward, diving toward Ye Cheng...