Chapter 59
Chapter 59
“Doctor, something doesn’t feel right.”
Zhu Yin had discovered that Liu Ruyan seemed to place an inexplicable amount of trust in her. She told Zhu Yin everything.
Like now, for example.
Her delicate brows were deeply furrowed, and profound unease filled her eyes.
“Nanfeng has been acting very strangely lately.” She recalled the details carefully. “The moment he comes home, he goes to see Niannian. Of course, I’m happy about that. It’s just…”
There was something indescribably strange about the way he looked at the child.
He would hold the child and stare fixedly at him, seeming both tormented and conflicted. Liu Ruyan had walked in on him doing it several times.
A mother’s instincts filled her with fear. Bewildered, she said, “It sounds ridiculous. He’s the child’s father, but I keep feeling as though he wants to hurt Niannian.”
In fact, Liu Ruyan had noticed that something was wrong during the later stages of her pregnancy.
Li Nanfeng came home late many times. Once, she even smelled an unfamiliar perfume on his collar, and sometimes there was a faint medicinal scent.
All of it made her uneasy. But at the time, her entire mind had been occupied by the child about to be born, and she had no attention to spare for any of it.
After Niannian’s birth, her husband seemed much more normal and appeared extremely fond of the child, so she put those worries out of her mind.
But Li Nanfeng’s increasingly strange behavior could no longer be ignored.
For the past few days, he had come home early every day. He would fuss over her and treat her gently as if completing an assignment, then take Niannian from the nanny’s arms and hold him for hours without letting go.
The household servants all praised Mr. Li for loving his son and being a good father. Only Liu Ruyan felt terrified.
She knew her suspicions were illogical and ridiculous. Li Nanfeng was Niannian’s biological father. He had neither grounds nor reason to hurt him.
She could not tell the Li family about her fears. They would only say she had gone mad.
Her own family had probably been too disappointed in her. To this day, they remained hidden elsewhere and refused to appear.
Over the years, she and her old friends had drifted farther and farther apart.
After considering everyone, she found the doctor was the only person she could confide in. The doctor might not have a gentle personality, but she was patient, calm, dependable, and discreet.
There was always a steadying power about her.
Zhu Yin listened quietly until she finished, offering no opinion.
It made Liu Ruyan doubt herself. She said softly, “Do you think I’m being overly suspicious too?”
Zhu Yin slowly shook her head. “There’s no harm in being cautious.”
She tried to offer a suggestion. “If staying beside your husband makes you uneasy, why not try leaving the Li family temporarily and living alone with Niannian for a while?”
That was already within the bounds of the warning. It was the furthest she could go.
But Liu Ruyan rejected it without a moment’s thought. “How could I? Niannian is the Li family’s only young master. If I took him away, what would people outside think of him? Anyone who didn’t know better would assume the Li family didn’t cherish him.”
Zhu Yin: “…”
Perhaps because she saw Zhu Yin’s expression cool, Liu Ruyan added quietly, “It’s only a suspicion. I don’t have any evidence. How could I separate Niannian from his father? Maybe he only wants to spend more time with his son and play with him. Besides, the child’s grandparents want to see him every day too.”
“Then what did you come to me for?” Zhu Yin asked placidly.
Liu Ruyan flushed. “I-I was under too much pressure, and I had no one to talk to.”
“Ah!” Zhu Yin let out a long, deep sigh.
Liu Ruyan watched her feel around in a drawer and pull out an exquisite little object.
Zhu Yin handed it to her.
It looked like a small silver bracelet, an ordinary circle without any special shape. Intricate, dark patterns were engraved across its surface. The script was arcane, like some kind of scripture.
Liu Ruyan did not understand.
Zhu Yin said, “It’s for your son. It’s a rather good little item. Remember to put it on him.”
Liu Ruyan accepted it. The metal gave off a penetrating coolness against her palm.
She looked troubled. “Niannian’s grandparents have bought him lots of things, including bracelets. They’ve taken charge of all that and won’t let me interfere…”
Zhu Yin regarded her with a faint, ambiguous smile. “I’ve already given it to you and told you it’s something good. Whether you use it is up to you.”
In the end, Liu Ruyan put the little silver bracelet in her bag and took it away.
The next time they met, she came carrying her son. The little fellow was wearing Zhu Yin’s bracelet on his left wrist.
Liu Ruyan asked anxiously, “Doctor, what’s going on with this bracelet? I put it on Niannian, and now I can’t get it off no matter what I do.”
She had originally intended to let her son try it on, then secretly remove it whenever her in-laws wanted to see him.
But though the bracelet was clearly very loose, she could not remove it by any means.
Her mother-in-law had even mocked her with displeasure. “What fine thing doesn’t Niannian already have? Where did you get this piece of junk?”
Looking at the bracelet on the child’s wrist, Zhu Yin said, “It has a very clever design. It won’t come off until the child grows up.”
Liu Ruyan grew somewhat angry. “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand about something this important?”
Impatience appeared between Zhu Yin’s brows. “I made myself perfectly clear. Whether to use it was up to you.”
They dared look down on her item?
She gave Liu Ruyan a cold look. “Your mother-in-law is blind, and so are you. That pile of junk she owns is beneath my notice.”
Liu Ruyan fell silent and did not dare say anything else.
It was strange. The person before her was clearly only a doctor, yet Liu Ruyan, the Li family’s proper Young Madam, always felt she did not dare act presumptuously in Zhu Yin’s presence.
It was not only her. Even Nanfeng seemed rather wary of the doctor.
She quickly convinced herself and did not bring up the matter again.
The little fellow in her arms, however, caught a familiar scent and kept babbling as he lunged toward Zhu Yin.
When the mood struck, Zhu Yin occasionally enjoyed teasing a cub. But hold one, let alone coax one? Absolutely impossible.
She extended one finger and poked the baby’s plump dimple. She watched the soft flesh sink in, then slowly spring back, and scoffed. “At least you have better judgment than your mother.”
Liu Ruyan felt Zhu Yin was insulting her, but she had no proof.
She did not dare say so aloud, but deep down, she had developed some resentment toward Zhu Yin.
For a long time afterward, she did not bring her son to see Zhu Yin.
When they next met, almost a year had passed.
The weather was poor that day. The sky was dark and overcast, and a few icy threads of rain drifted down from time to time.
Liu Ruyan charged inside like a madwoman. “Doctor! Nanfeng took Niannian away!”
Zhu Yin was painting the claws of Barbara’s cat form with purple nail polish. She looked up at Liu Ruyan.
The outrageous plot point had arrived at last.
She asked calmly, “Mr. Li is the child’s father. Perhaps he only wants to spend more time with the child and take him out to play. What’s the problem?”
The words sounded familiar to Liu Ruyan, but she had no time to think about that now.
In a panic, she said, “He’s been very rough in bed lately, and he keeps telling me we’ll have other children in the future. I thought he wanted to give Niannian a younger brother or sister. But he didn’t go to work this morning. He said he was taking Niannian for a walk, and they still weren’t back by noon. He didn’t answer when I called either.”
The more she connected it with her husband’s recent words and behavior, the more panic-stricken she became.
Zhu Yin was baffled. “If you’re worried, call the police. I’m only a doctor. Why come to me?”
“No!” Liu Ruyan faltered. “What if–what if he only took the child out and forgot his phone?”
Zhu Yin: “…”
“You are unbelievable.” Zhu Yin’s temper flared, and she accidentally snapped a piece off the corner of her desk.
She tossed it aside without a thought and ignored Liu Ruyan’s rigid stare.
“Your personality makes me want to hit someone.” Zhu Yin looked at her in exasperation. “You can’t do this, and you can’t do that. You fret over every little thing, dither endlessly, and never stop whining. You want to keep everyone happy and have everything at once, but you don’t have the ability to pull it off.”
She slowly exhaled and warned her coldly, “Be careful, or in the end, you won’t be able to hold on to anything.”