“Mr. Kang, I’m not sure if it’s good news for you or not. Actually, Ms. Xu’s baby has died.”

Mu Sijue had drummed it into him so many times that he could even recite it backward.

However, Kang Ruicheng didn’t buy what he said. He stared at the doctor intently with a vicious look on his face. “Are you sure?”

“Mr. Kang, please believe your eyes.” The doctor handed the report to Kang Ruicheng again. “I might lie, but it won’t.”

Kang Ruicheng stared at the report silently.

Three examinations showed that Xu Youning’s baby had died.

“Could I really have misunderstood her?

“Did she really not hide anything from me? Did she enter my study just to look for something unimportant?” he thought.

Seeing Kang Ruicheng’s face becoming less sullen, the doctor said hurriedly, “Mr. Kang, I think you should be more concerned about the clot in her brain than her dead baby.”

Actually, it was the point.

“Let’s talk about it with her,” Kang Ruicheng said. Before he opened the door of the lounge, it occurred to him that Mumu thought Xu Youning’s baby was alive, so he reminded the doctor, “Don’t mention A Ning’s baby in front of Mumu.”

The doctor had to follow Kang Ruicheng’s instructions even though he wondered why Kang Ruicheng cared about Mumu so much. “I won’t.” He nodded.

Seeing them, Mumu ran toward Kang Ruicheng while Xu Youning sat still.

With a worried and expectant look on his face, Mumu asked cautiously, “Could you tell me when Auntie Youning will get better?”

That was the only thing he was concerned about.

The doctor finally understood why Kang Ruicheng asked him to hide the truth from Mumu.

As Mu Sijue had said, Mumu was the only one who truly cared about Xu Youning here.

Mumu would be inconsolable if he knew that Xu Youning’s child had died.

The doctor smiled at Mumu. “Well, let’s talk about it later, okay?”

Despite being disappointed, Mumu nodded obediently. “Okay.”

The doctor was touched by the eager anticipation in his eyes.

Xu Youning stood up and met the doctor’s and Kang Ruicheng’s eyes calmly. She kept her nervousness well under wraps.

Kang Ruicheng looked sullen yet not furious.

Xu Youning assumed that things weren’t as terrible as she had thought.

In other words, Kang Ruicheng didn’t know that her baby was still alive.

Xu Youning looked at the doctor, whose expression was as calm as ever.

If the doctor had told Kang Ruicheng that her child was still alive, Kang Ruicheng would have been furious, and the doctor would have been pale with fright.

Since the doctor did not show any signs of being frightened, Xu Youning was almost sure that things were better than she had thought.

She exhaled in relief, squatted down in front of Mumu and looked at him tenderly. “I’m a little thirsty. Can you buy me a bottle of water?”

Since her secret was not exposed, she assumed that the doctor would next talk about her illness, together with Kang Ruicheng.

She hated to let Mumu know that there was little hope for her to survive.

Mumu always thought she would get better as long as she saw a doctor.

In fact, no doctor, including the most brilliant brain surgeons, dared to operate on her.

If Mumu were to hear this, he would be heartbroken. So, Xu Youning thought they had better not talk about it in front of him.

Even though Mumu was still a child, he knew that her asking him to buy a bottle of water was nothing more than an excuse that Xu Youning used to send him away.

He was well aware that Auntie Youning tried to keep something from him.

So, he held Xu Youning’s hand and looked at her tearfully. “Can’t I stay here with you?”

Xu Youning kissed him on his forehead and said in a soft yet firm tone, “Mumu, you’re a good boy, right?”

Mumu blinked and then the tears flowed from his eyes.

He didn’t want to leave, nor did he want to disappoint Xu Youning.

So, he nodded and left the lounge with Dongzi.

Xu Youning turned her softness into strength as if it would protect her from all the harm from the outside world like her armor.

After Kang Ruicheng and the doctor remained silent for a while, she said slowly with a smile on her face, “Go ahead. I’ve known it earlier, so it won’t bother me to hear it again.”

Glancing at Xu Youning, the doctor blurted out, “Ms. Xu, Mr. Kang showed me your last examination report. Your condition is… getting worse.”

Shocked, Xu Youning looked at the doctor in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“I’ll never joke about my patient’s health.” The doctor handed the reports to Xu Youning with an upset look. He continued, “The clot is killing you. Check the reports if you don’t believe me. But I should tell you that you must receive treatment at once.”

Xu Youning stepped back suddenly as if she lost all her strength. She unfolded the reports in her hand.

She had undergone a lot of examinations, so there was a pile of reports.

On the top was the pregnancy report.

Xu Youning threw the pregnancy report onto the floor and read the brain report directly as if she didn’t care about the pregnancy report at all.

But in fact, she glanced secretly at the pregnancy report before casting it aside.

She couldn’t be more familiar with the medical terms on it. It showed that her baby was not alive.

As she had expected, her secret was not exposed. No wonder Kang Ruicheng and the doctor were so calm.

Xu Youning felt relieved as if a heavy weight had been removed from her heart. But she frantically flipped through the brain report instead of showing any signs of relaxation.

Suddenly, she stopped as if she was in utter despair. “What should I do?” she asked while looking at the doctor helplessly.

It was not until now that Kang Ruicheng relaxed his guard slightly.

Xu Youning entered his study without his permission, which aroused his suspicions about her again.

He suspected that Xu Youning lied to him about the baby thing.

If his guess were correct, Xu Youning should have been concerned about her pregnancy report.

The pregnancy report was on the top of the pile of reports, so she should have read it carefully if she cared about it.

However, she bypassed it and looked for the brain report as if she didn’t care about the pregnancy report at all.

It turned out that he was wrong. He should have believed her as before.

He came over and held Xu Youning’s hand. “A Ning, calm down and listen to the doctor.”

“How can I calm down?” Xu Youning pushed him away agitatedly. “I thought you’d help me, but you’ve been suspecting me!”

Xu Youning, trained by Kang Ruicheng, had never been the submissive type. She flared up at him now.

“A Ning!” Kang Ruicheng shouted, trying to calm her down by being imposing. “I should suspect you. If it upsets you, I can apologize when we get home. But now you must calm down and listen to the doctor.”

Seeming to be intimidated by Kang Ruicheng, she looked at the doctor and asked with a hint of self-mockery, “Why don’t you tell me how long I can live?”

“Ms. Xu, please don’t be so pessimistic.” The doctor looked at her with confidence on his face. “You’re getting worse, but I might help you.”

Xu Youning was surprised and incredulous.

All the doctors she had seen before said she was a goner, so she wondered if the doctor was bragging.

Kang Ruicheng was more excited than Xu Youning. He grabbed the doctor by the arm and stared at him expectantly. “What can you do?”

The doctor paused, thinking about what Mu Sijue had told him.

Mu Sijue had told him that he must try his best to convince Kang Ruicheng and Xu Youning that he could cure her illness.

Then, Mu Sijue would handle the rest.

So, the doctor decided to say what he had been told.

He met Kang Ruicheng’s eyes with a confident smile. “I’ll try my best to treat Ms. Xu. I can alleviate her illness even if I can’t remove the clot in her brain.”

“Good!” Kang Ruicheng was more excited than ever. He grabbed the doctor’s shoulder and said, “As long as you can cure her illness, I will give you whatever you want!”

The doctor waved a hand and had a righteous look on his face. “Never mind. It’s my duty to treat my patients, so the best repayment for me is curing them.”

He didn’t want to get anything from Kang Ruicheng. He knew Mu Sijue and Lu Boyan wanted Kang Ruicheng’s life, but Kang Ruicheng would by no means give it to them for Xu Youning’s sake.

But anyway, Mu Sijue and Lu Boyan would kill Kang Ruicheng sooner or later.

Suddenly, Xu Youning clutched the doctor’s neck and scowled at him as she stared sharply at him. “How do I know that you are not lying?”

The doctor made a gesture of surrender to calm her down. “Trust me, I can help you.”

Xu Youning scrunched her eyes shut and held his neck in a tighter grip.

She wondered if this doctor could really cure her illness.

But what she wanted to know was if he was on Mu Sijue’s side.

She had him in such a tight hold that he could barely breathe, and his face turned pale slowly. Instead of begging for mercy, he looked at her and said slowly, “I can save your life, and you will survive.”

With a strange feeling surging in her heart, Xu Youning loosened her grip and stared at him for a while.

Kang Ruicheng assumed that Xu Youning did it because she doubted the doctor’s ability.

In fact, Xu Youning was trying to guess if the doctor’s words had a hidden meaning.

“Did he mean that he could cure me or help me escape?” she thought.