Wife Takes the Reins: The Calm CEO

Chapter 49: Careless and Heartless

“Sister Xiaowan, I’m so sorry—I meant well but ended up making things worse.” Seeing this, Xia Yiting put on a guilty expression and apologized to Li Xiaowan, almost as if she were smearing saliva on her face. Feng Yan immediately tugged at Li Xiaowan, but that only made matters worse—the shards dug in even deeper. “Ah!” The pain made Li Xiaowan gasp sharply, and tears nearly welled up in her eyes. “Oh my! Sister Xiaowan, I was just trying to pull you over a little so you wouldn’t accidentally step on the shards again—that would just make things worse, wouldn’t it?” Feng Yan said with an innocent look on her face. Fortunately, Housekeeper Mo rushed over upon hearing the news. As soon as she saw the broken bowl shards on the floor, she knew exactly what had happened. “Xiaowan, please don’t move. I’ll carry you out right away. Miss, could you please call Xiao Yi for me and ask him to drive to the main gate as soon as possible?” “Okay, Sister Fen.” Feng Yan looked genuinely worried. “Hello! Is that you, Yi Ge? Hurry and drive to the main gate—Xiaowan’s foot is injured,” Feng Yan said, her voice trembling with tears. Meanwhile, “Sister Fen, I can barely make it out on my own—no need to trouble you,” Li Xiaowan said, not wanting to put Sister Fen through any trouble. “Miss Xiaowan, don’t worry about that right now. The most important thing is to get you to the hospital,” Housekeeper Mo said, crouching down slightly. “That’s right, Sister Xiaowan, just listen to Housekeeper Mo!” Xia Yiting urged from the side. Li Xiaowan thought it over. This wasn’t the time to get hung up on trivialities. Just take the excruciating pain radiating from the sole of her foot—she’d likely be unable to grit her teeth and walk all the way out the front gate. More importantly, if the shards were to dig in any deeper, she might lose the use of her entire foot. “Then I’ll have to trouble Sister Lao Fen.” With the help of Feng Yan and Xia Yiting, Li Xiaowan managed to clamber onto Housekeeper Mo’s back. She thought to herself that Housekeeper Mo was about the same build as she was—both of them were rather slender—yet he was struggling to carry her as he staggered toward the front gate. Fortunately, Yi Ge had just pulled up outside the gate. After getting out of the car, he quickly opened the rear door and politely said to Li Xiaowan, “Miss Xiaowan, please excuse me.” He then took her from Housekeeper Mo’s back and carefully placed her into the car in a princess carry. Given the urgency of the situation, this was perfectly normal—yet it was secretly photographed by someone with ulterior motives. “Sister Fen, I’ll take Miss Xiaowan to Old Master Mo’s clinic nearby first. As for Young Master Lingzheng, please go and let him know,” Yi Ge said, looking at Housekeeper Mo. “All right, Xiao Yi, you should go now!” Housekeeper Mo urged. After Yi Ge left, Housekeeper Mo took out his cell phone, preparing to call Feng Lingzheng. “Sister Fen, you go ahead and take care of your business. I’ll make the call for you. Grandpa and Grandma have something they want me to personally relay to Second Brother,” Feng Yan interjected before Housekeeper Mo had a chance to dial the number. “Thank you for your help, Miss Feng,” Housekeeper Mo said politely, bowing to Feng Yan and Xia Yiting before leaving. “Feng Yan, you absolutely must not tell Ling Zheng Ge on the phone that I was the one who caused this, okay? Not even if you say it was ‘an accident’!” Xia Yiting was determined not to let Feng Lingzheng blame her for what happened with Li Xiaowan. “Yi Ting, don’t you trust me yet? We’re on the same side. This is just between you and me—and heaven and earth. As for Li Xiaowan, I doubt she’d dare say anything.” A cold, calculating smile flashed in Feng Yan’s eyes. “You’re still the best to me, Yan'er. I’m just worried that Ling Zheng Ge’s engagement party will go ahead as scheduled tomorrow.” Xia Yiting’s eyes were filled with deep disappointment. “Yi Ting, I’ll do my absolute best to help you. All you have to do is play along with me. I already have a foolproof plan in mind.” Feng Yan glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then leaned close to Xia Yiting’s ear and whispered. “Feng Yan, will this really work? And I’m afraid something might actually happen to you.” Xia Yiting was filled with doubts. “You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing the lamb. Do you still want to marry my second older brother and become my second sister-in-law, Feng Yan?” Xia Yiting always hesitated and wavered at critical moments—I was really getting fed up with her. Seeing Feng Yan’s determined gaze, Xia Yiting finally let go of her reservations. “All right, let’s do it. Good Yan'er, my whole future is now entirely in your hands!” “Sigh! With a clueless second sister-in-law like you, I’m not even sure if I’m lucky or unlucky.” Feng Yan sighed, pulled out her phone, and dialed Feng Lingzheng’s number, but no one answered—which suited both of them just fine. “Lucky—definitely lucky! Even the heavens are on my side, aren’t they?” ” Xia Yiting happily linked her arm through Feng Yan’s as they walked toward the second floor of the villa. This was something she and Feng Yan had agreed on before coming—they had to do something while Li Xiaowan was away. At first, it had been difficult to make a move because Housekeeper Mo had been standing guard nearby, but at this very moment, Housekeeper Mo was surely out in the back garden pruning the flowers and plants. Inside the Mo Family Clinic. A silver-haired doctor, well past sixty, said earnestly, “Young lady, you were far too careless. If you’d arrived half an hour later, I’m afraid these two feet of yours would have been truly ruined.” “Old Master Mo, is it really as serious as you say?” It was just a few pricks from broken bowl shards, wasn’t it? She recalled a time during a mission when she’d accidentally stepped on a sharp steel nail—it had nearly pierced the top of her foot. After getting it treated and resting at home for a few days, she’d been just fine. “You little rascal, don’t you trust your Old Master Mo’s medical skills? You’re truly audacious—not even your young master would dare to doubt me.” Though he spoke sternly, Old Master Mo wasn’t actually angry with Yi Ge, which showed they knew each other well, and that Old Master Mo likely had deep ties to The Feng Family. Li Xiaowan lay diagonally on the bed, thinking to herself, while her feet had already been raised onto a small board padded with foam. “Young lady, let me give you two shots of anesthetic first. I can see you’re sweating from the pain,” Old Master Mo said sympathetically. Under normal circumstances, he was reluctant to administer anesthetics to patients; not only was he a highly respected surgeon, but he was also a true master of traditional Chinese medicine, and as such, he tended to be somewhat averse to Western medicine. “Thank you, Old Mo,” Li Xiaowan said, gritting her teeth against the pain. From the moment the anesthetic was administered until the bandaging was finished, the entire process took nearly two hours—a clear indication of just how deeply the shard had become embedded. Meanwhile, Yi Ge, seeing no sign of his young master, decided to call Feng Ling Zheng himself. “Ling Zheng Ge, Miss Xiaowan injured her foot. She’s at Old Master Mo’s clinic, but it’s already been treated.” “Mm, I know,” Feng Lingzheng replied coldly. “So, Ling Zheng Ge, will you be coming over later?” Yi Ge asked tentatively. “No. Tell her not to forget tomorrow’s engagement party. Make sure she gets up early—otherwise, if anything goes wrong, she’ll be held solely responsible.” Feng Lingzheng saw no reason to care about Li Xiaowan’s well-being; all he cared about was whether tomorrow’s engagement party would go smoothly. “Okay, Ling Zheng Ge.” After hanging up, Yi Ge looked utterly puzzled. Hadn’t Sister Fen just told him that Ling Zheng Ge’s attitude toward Miss Xiaowan had improved? Why had it actually gotten even worse? On the other end of the line, Feng Lingzheng couldn’t care less that it was the brand-new phone Ye had just given him ten minutes ago. He casually flung it onto the marble floor, and with a loud “crack,” the phone shattered into pieces. Hah! He’d thought that even if he couldn’t find a single redeeming quality in her, she should at least be considered a decent person. But he never expected her to dare play the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” game right in front of him. Recalling the harrowing scene Yan'er had just described to him, a chill still ran down his spine. Fortunately, it wasn’t Yan'er or Yi Ting who got hurt in the end; otherwise, even if he were to cut her into a thousand pieces, it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the hatred in his heart. “Miss Xiaowan, Ling Zheng Ge asked me to tell you to be sure to get up early tomorrow—you absolutely must not be late for the engagement party,” Yi Ge relayed Li Xiaowan’s message verbatim. “I can barely walk, and yet they’re forcing me to attend some engagement party? Is there no justice in this world?” Li Xiaowan furrowed her brow; the pain in her foot was growing more intense as the anesthetic wore off. “Well… that’s not something I can control. Why don’t you call Ling Zheng Ge yourself?” Yi Ge knew full well that the call would likely be in vain, but he couldn’t bear to see Li Xiaowan continue to worry. After all, he wasn’t a completely heartless person; he still possessed a basic sense of compassion. “Right, Yi Ge, you’ve really given me a wake-up call.” Li Xiaowan felt as if she could see a glimmer of hope not far away, an angelic hand slowly reaching out to her. “Beep… beep…” Li Xiaowan dialed three times in a row, but each time she heard the message: “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later!” “Yi Ge, could I borrow your phone to try calling again?” Li Xiaowan was being cautious—perhaps Feng Lingzheng was deliberately ignoring her calls, but if he didn’t answer Yi Ge’s call either, that would mean he wasn’t targeting her specifically. “Sure, Miss Xiaowan, here you go.” Yi Ge pulled his phone out of his pocket—where he’d put it back—and respectfully handed it to Li Xiaowan. “Ring… ring…” Still no answer. Maybe she really was overthinking it—after all, there was no reason for him not to answer her call! “Thank you, Yi Ge.” Li Xiaowan handed the phone back to Yi Ge. Yi Ge silently took the phone without saying a word. Ling Zheng Ge’s message was already very clear: under normal circumstances, Ling Zheng Ge almost never failed to answer calls from her or her companions, even during extremely important occasions. “All right, young lady, you can go home and rest up. But be sure to come back every other day to get a fresh supply of medicine, okay?” Old Master Mo paused for a moment, then added, ““And I must emphasize this, Xiao Yi: stop playing with your phone. You listen to me carefully, too. When you get back, be sure to tell your second young master not to bully people with his power like last time. Playing that ‘Chain of Death’ game in the dead of night, forcing an old man who’s practically six feet under to go treat his beloved—I thought for sure it must be a serious injury, something that broke bones or tore ligaments,but when I finally arrived, gasping for breath, guess what? His beloved had nothing more than a minor scrape on her finger. You have no idea—that incident nearly drove me to my wits’ end.” At first glance, Old Master Mo had a rather ethereal, otherworldly air about him—especially with his long robe and flowing beard. But upon closer inspection, his current expression—frowning and glaring, practically to the point of pulling out his own eyelashes—was truly a mix of laughter and tears. He was, without a doubt, a genuine old rascal.