Shen Xue snorted and crossed his arms on his chest.
“It’s not my fault you threw yourself in the middle of the road. What are you doing here anyway?” His frown deepened when he realized that she was in discomfort. Well, at least she wasn’t crying this time unlike their previous encounters, he thought.
Lu Xiulan let out a hiss.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Shen Xue asked in panic. If his favorite Big Sis found out that he abandoned Lu Xiulan at the time when she needed help, he would never hear the end of it from his elder brother.
Stuck in the middle of the busy road, Shen Xue didn’t have any choice but to help Lu Xiulan get back to her feet and let her sit on his pa.s.senger seat. Lu Xiulan curled on her seat and sweated profusely putting Shen Xue in distress.
What’s wrong with this woman?!
“Lu Xiulan, what’s happening to you? Hey, say something!” He turned on the engine of his car and resumed driving. He was about to go home from a lunch meeting he attended but changed his mind when he saw Lu Xiulan in pain.
“Sorry for troubling you, Mr. Shen, but can you bring me to the nearest hospital?” She gasped when another wave of pain hit her.
“You better make sure you won’t vomit on my baby!” Shen Xue growled in frustration; however, as soon as he said it, Lu Xiulan started to feel her stomach reacting.
Her stomach lurched. She was paler than a sheet of paper and lathered in sweat. Nausea clawed at her throat, and she tried to force down the bile, but it was too late. Chunks of partially-digested chicken spewed out of her coughing, choking mouth—much to Shen Xue’s horror.
“Holy s.h.i.+t, Lu Xiulan!” he yelled, distancing himself from the woman vomiting on his pa.s.senger seat. He kinda regretted helping her at the moment.
‘Nooooooo! My baby!’ He internally screamed as he realized his newest car had been baptized by Lu Xiulan with her vomit.
Her stomach kept on contracting violently and forcing everything up and out. Her face was white and dripping with bile, sweat, and tears. She lurched forward and sunk to her knees. The pungent stench invaded her nostrils, and she heaved even though there was nothing left to go.
Shen Xue panicked, turned his steering wheel, and took the route to the nearest hospital he could find. After ten minutes of driving, he parked his car and took Lu Xiulan to the ER, making sure to call the attention of the nurses and doctors to look after her.
An hour later, Lu Xiulan felt better and thanked the doctor for their help while Shen Xue was on his phone talking to someone. Lu Xiulan sat up from being lying on the bed and overheard a few words, realizing that he might be talking to Shen Yi on the other line.
“Did you tell Xinxin?” she asked when Shen Xue came back after ending his phone call.
“No, my brother said she’s already asleep and would tell her once she wakes up. Now, could you tell me what the h.e.l.l are you doing, running on the busy streets while in pain?”
“Well, I was trying to call a cab to get me here in the hospital. I’m lucky I stumbled into you.” She grinned back.
“Technically, you didn’t stumble into me. You practically threw yourself on my way to get hit. I didn’t know you wanted to die that badly.” Shen Xue accused her. His eyes turned into slits as he glared at her.
“Hmm…” Lu Xiulan nodded, “About your car… I’ll pay for the cleaning.” She blushed.
At the mention of his car, Shen Xue’s mood deteriorated further. After making sure Lu Xiulan was being attended at the ER, he’d called someone to take his car for overall cleaning. The stench had been too much for him to handle.
“How do you plan to pay for it?” He challenged. The amount for the cleaning for his expensive sports car wouldn’t be that cheap!
Lu Xiulan chewed her lower lip. How indeed? Although she had enough money on her bank accounts, that wouldn’t mean she would easily throw it off just to repay Shen Xue. It took her years to save it up since she neither received support or allowances from her parents anymore.
She was practically jobless right now. She couldn’t just go back after declining so many job offers before leaving the country.
“What do you have in mind?” She tilted her head to one side as she thought about her other options.
Shen Xue, being a perceptive as he was, knew what Lu Xiulan meant by that. It was either she was short of money or she couldn’t pay for it at all! He grunted as he realized how unlucky he was since arriving here at Country D.
Grammie and his brother had sent him to this country to prepare for his upcoming promotion as the next President of Shen Group after Shen Yi’s departure. The three-month time limit they set wasn’t helping him at all.
What’s more, the timing of his own secretary was appalling.
*Flashback*
“What do you mean you cannot travel?”
“I’m very sorry, Boss Xue!” Secretary Chang spoke through the phone, “but the doctor a.s.sures me I will be cleared after two weeks have pa.s.sed. He suggested that I stay home until I’m no longer contagious. I wouldn’t want you to catch my sickness, Boss! Especially with what’s going on in your business travels.”
“Are you f.u.c.king kidding me?!” Shen Xue roared over the phone. Unlike his older brother who held himself with such dangerous elegance that no one could ignore, Shen Xue’s mouth was unfiltered. “You are contagious for two weeks? You know we are to leave for Country D tomorrow, and you’re only telling it to me now?”
“I realized that, Boss, but I’m afraid there’s nothing much I can do at the moment.”
Furious, Shen Xue hung up the phone on his secretary.
*End of Flashback*
Why couldn’t he have an a.s.sistant as proficient as Qiao He? Qiao He had been serving his brother for as long as he could remember. He knew what to do even if Shen Yi hadn’t said anything.
It wasn’t that Secretary Chang wasn’t good, but Shen Xue needed a capable a.s.sistant. Now, when he needed his secretary the most, he abandoned him alone in a foreign country.
Going to a foreign place without an a.s.sistant, Shen Xue had been cramming up to attend each event indicated on his appointment. There were parties and festivities he had to attend as Shen Group’s representative. It also meant he had to meet some well-known personalities later on.
He couldn’t keep his schedule straight at the moment, and that wouldn’t do for a high status like himself to make his own arrangements. As the second young master of the Shen family, Shen Xue had to fulfill some expectations thrown his way.
“If you don’t have money to pay, your services will do,” Shen Xue replied to Lu Xiulan.
Lu Xiulan’s eyes widened, her jaws slacking as she thought of the words she should say; but nothing came out from her mouth.
Seeing Lu Xiulan’s reaction, a vein on Shen Xue’s forehead appeared. The corner of his mouth twitched, his fist clenched in irritation.
This woman?! How dare she think that he needed services on ‘that’ department?