Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Protecting YouCheng Huai came out of the room and put the medical kit away.

    Zhao Haishuang stepped forward and asked Cheng Huai, "He got hurt—was it your doing?"

    Although Cheng Huai had just told her that Cheng Lie accidentally cut his own hand with a knife, Zhao Haishuang didn’t believe it at all.

    Cheng Huai grinned at her words, "Mom, it seems there’s nothing you can’t see through."

    Zhao Haishuang scoffed, "I’m your mother, I know exactly what’s going on in your head."

    Cheng Huai chuckled, showing no guilt about being exposed for doing something wrong.

    "Mom, after all these years, how could you endure it for so long?"

    Zhao Haishuang’s gaze flickered slightly at Cheng Huai’s words, taking a moment before replying, "What choice do I have? Even if I can’t stand it, I have to. He’s still your father’s son—and a fool at that. You can’t seriously harm a fool, can you?"

    "Why not harm him? I have no feelings for him," Cheng Huai’s eyes flashed with a fleeting cruelty.

    To be honest, these days there had been a few lingering thoughts in his mind.

    He wanted to deal with Cheng Lie once and for all.

    A fool like him—he’d lost his mind and yet Cheng Guomin would still dote on him like that.

    What if he recovered someday?

    Of course, his anxiety stemmed from another reason as well.

    Recently, Cheng Guomin had sought consultations from foreign specialists and even considered taking Cheng Lie abroad for treatment.

    He couldn’t imagine what their lives would be like if Cheng Lie truly recovered from his autism.

    "Mom... you mentioned before that his grades were excellent before he got sick?"

    "That’s what I heard from his former teachers. He was only in kindergarten and already knew everything. But that was years ago, have you learned about ’The Decline of Zhongyong’? Don’t worry too much over it." Zhao Haishuang keenly sensed what Cheng Huai might be worrying about.

    "Don’t worry, I only have you as my child. No matter what, our family’s assets won’t end up benefiting an outsider." Sёarch* The n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Worry? He wasn’t worried.

    It was just that he couldn’t stop thinking.

    But hearing Zhao Haishuang’s words, were his worries truly unnecessary?

    ...

    By the next afternoon, Yun Shifei came over for her lesson.

    As soon as she arrived, she noticed the injury on Cheng Lie’s wrist. She couldn’t help but grab his hand, her face filled with concern. "What happened to your hand?"

    "Xiao Lie was sharpening pencils yesterday and his hand slipped—it accidentally got hurt." Zhao Haishuang offered an explanation when she heard Yun Shifei ask.

    Something felt odd.

    While sharpening pencils, no matter what, at most you’d injure your fingers, right? How could the wound travel all the way to the wrist?

    Even though Yun Shifei found it puzzling, in the end, she said nothing.

    Ever since learning about Cheng Lie’s background, Yun Shifei didn’t fully trust what the Cheng Family said.

    But Cheng Lie...

    She cast a glance at him—the boy was the same as always, quiet, holding a book, engrossed, as though nothing could disturb him.

    Seeing him like this inexplicably made her heart ache.

    That afternoon, Yun Shifei constantly found herself distracted during the lesson.

    Time, which usually passed in the blink of an eye, now felt like an eternity to her.

    "Alright, that’s all for today’s class." Ming Zeqi was packing up and getting ready to leave.

    Before leaving, he reminded Yun Shifei, "Shi Fei, you seemed a bit distracted in class today. Go home and complete two practice sets—I’ll be checking them tomorrow."

    "Alright, teacher." Yun Shifei felt a bit embarrassed.

    She truly hadn’t been in the right state all day.

    Only Yun Shifei and Cheng Lie remained in the study room now.

    Yun Shifei’s gaze lingered on Cheng Lie’s wrist for a while before she gathered up her courage to ask, "Cheng Lie, did you really injure your hand accidentally?"

    Seeing her slightly skeptical look, Cheng Lie’s expression remained indifferent.

    Did she know about his circumstances in the Cheng Family?

    Perhaps she had some inkling.

    But knowing wouldn’t change anything—she couldn’t help him.

    And he didn’t need help anyway.

    Thinking this, Cheng Lie nodded.

    Whether he admitted it or not, it didn’t matter—the outcome wouldn’t change.

    But unexpectedly, in the next moment, her hand clasped his.

    Yun Shifei started unwrapping his bandages layer by layer.

    When she saw the wound beneath, Yun Shifei couldn’t help but frown.

    "You’re lying, aren’t you?"

    She carefully re-bandaged his hand.

    The angle of this wound—unless a knife fell straight down while his wrist was beneath it—it couldn’t possibly have happened otherwise.

    Additionally, if it simply slipped, the light impact wouldn’t have resulted in such depth.

    Though the wound appeared fine and small, it was surprisingly deep.

    Yun Shifei frowned, her tone tinged with irritation. "Were you bullied?"

    Cheng Lie looked up at her—a pair of emotionless eyes, as if saying, "Even if you figured it out, what can you do?"

    That kind of cold alienation.

    His habitual composure made Yun Shifei feel even sadder—it was hard to imagine how much suffering he had endured.

    Having been around Cheng Lie for some time now, Yun Shifei knew that Cheng Lie wasn’t a fool at all.

    He was perfectly aware of the actions of others toward him.

    When he sensed that the world saw him as a fool—someone easily oppressed—he must have felt awful.

    Looking at Cheng Lie, Yun Shifei softly said, "Don’t be scared... even though... even though I’m cowardly myself, I won’t let them bully you like this."

    "You’re wounded, and yet they say it was self-inflicted? That’s just cruel."

    Seeing Yun Shifei standing up for him, Cheng Lie tightly pursed his lips, nearly forming a straight line.

    For some reason, this feeling of being cared for left him profoundly unsettled.

    Inwardly, he sneered.

    She couldn’t protect herself, yet she wanted to protect him?

    Still, Yun Shifei appeared serious.

    She felt that, despite being as pitiful as Cheng Lie herself, their situations were slightly different.

    At the very least, she had the experience of a previous lifetime. When Xu Ya initially mistreated her, she still knew that Xu Ya had feelings for her, which made her endure the harshness a little.

    And now, Xu Ya was slowly coming to accept her.

    As for Yun Tiancheng, he had genuinely accepted her from the start.

    Yun Sisi’s little schemes behind her back—if she didn’t take the bait, they wouldn’t hurt her at all.

    But Cheng Lie wasn’t the same.

    A hidden child of the Cheng Family, afflicted with illness—if Cheng Guomin was willing to take him back and raise him, it meant he wouldn’t harm him.

    But Zhao Haishuang and Cheng Huai—there was no telling.

    She recalled that when she had just traveled back in time, having accompanied Cheng Lie home, Cheng Huai’s gaze toward Cheng Lie was filled with distance and contempt.

    Thinking of this, Yun Shifei felt deeply saddened.

    For Cheng Lie to grow up in such an environment, it was only natural for him to become the person he would be in the future.

    No matter how much sugar she gave him, his heart would never taste sweetness.

    From her time spent with him, Yun Shifei could sense that Cheng Lie was cold on the outside but warm inside, or else he wouldn’t have helped her when she fell.

    Precisely because of this, she couldn’t just stand by—Cheng Lie was finally starting to open up to her, and if she heartlessly ignored his suffering now, watching him get mistreated, she wouldn’t be able to find peace within herself.

    That day, Yun Shifei used the excuse of finishing her homework as a reason to stay.

    This "homework" dragged on for an hour, lasting until Cheng Guomin returned.

    "Shi Fei, why don’t you just stay and have dinner with us tonight?"

    "Thank you, Auntie." Yun Shifei smiled at Zhao Haishuang.

    Zhao Haishuang had only been making a polite suggestion. Who would’ve thought Yun Shifei would actually accept?