Volume One, Chapter Nine: The Fiancée of Twenty-Four Years, Named Chu Mian

Chu Mian followed the direction he pointed to and glanced over. Fu Jinnian also turned his head to look. Their eyes met.

The man was dressed in a sharply tailored dark gray suit, his angular face suggesting he was around twenty-eight or twenty-nine. His expression carried a mix of handsome allure and a hint of mischief, his deep black pupils captivating under the restaurant’s ambient lighting.

Even seated in a wheelchair, his lean, muscular frame could not be overlooked. A soft black-and-white plaid blanket covered his long legs, which were concealed beneath it.

He seemed about six feet two inches tall.

But, unfortunately, he was disabled in both legs.

Chu Mian looked at him, and he looked back at her.

The young woman was strikingly beautiful, slender and delicate, somewhat on the thin side. Her almond-shaped eyes appraised him from head to toe before settling on his legs. A fleeting look of regret crossed her eyes—different from any pity he had ever encountered. It was hard to pinpoint why, but it was unmistakably kind-hearted.

“Hey! Sister, don’t get dazzled by his face! Think about it—if you live with him, you’ll be the only one crying!” Chu Xian, seeing his sister fixated, panicked inwardly and cursed Fu Jinnian silently as a sly fox.

Chu Mian shook her head and gave her third elder brother a reassuring look.

“Go and fetch the others,” Fu Jinnian instructed his assistant behind him.

The assistant hurried forward and politely invited Chu Mian and Chu Xian to join them.

Chu Xian stood with hands on hips, glaring unreservedly at Fu Jinnian. Seeing his sister calmly seated opposite Fu Jinnian, he grew slightly anxious but maintained his fierce expression.

“Second Master Fu, if you have anything to say, say it quickly! I have to take my sister home—her four older brothers are waiting for her!”

“Third Young Master Chu, haven’t you just sat down? Aren’t you a bit impatient?” the assistant Zhou Qin responded, displeased.

His second master was not used to such an attitude.

Fu Jinnian pinched a Buddhist prayer bead bracelet on his left wrist with his right hand and smiled at Zhou Qin. “Guests have just arrived. Before asking Third Young Master and Miss Chu, what would you like to eat?”

Mentioning her name, Chu Mian finally tore her gaze away from Fu Jinnian’s legs and looked at the menu, which was entirely in English. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly.

Before she could speak, Chu Xian blurted out loudly, “Look at the time! Is this lunch or dinner? We’re not eating!”

They had already eaten before coming here; it was past two in the afternoon.

No point in eating now.

“Third Brother, I want to drink juice,” Chu Mian said, widening her eyes at Chu Xian.

Chu Xian hesitated, then leaned in with a smile. “What juice do you want, little sister? Let me see.” He flipped through the menu. “There’s green apple juice, watermelon juice, mango juice, peach juice, grape juice...”

“Grape juice, then.”

“All right! Waiter—”

“Third Brother, why don’t you and this gentleman go order up front? I want fresh-squeezed juice,” Chu Mian said.

Chu Xian was puzzled. In such a high-end restaurant, the juice was surely freshly squeezed.

Perhaps his sister had never been to such a place and didn’t know.

He quickly arranged for grape juice for Chu Mian, and Zhou Qin followed them.

Fu Jinnian watched as Chu Mian sent Chu Xian away, silent but growing curious about her.

“May I have your name, sir?”

She still didn’t know the name of this fiancé, only that his surname was Fu. Coincidentally, the Fu family had sent someone to the Xie family this morning to discuss the betrothal.

But looking at the man opposite her, she felt he looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

“My surname is Fu, Jinnian. I am the second son.”

“Oh, Mr. Fu, nice to meet you. I’m Chu Mian.”

“I know.”

Fu Jinnian had only learned two hours ago that the woman he was betrothed to for twenty-four years was named Chu Mian.

“Yes,” Chu Mian couldn’t help but glance again at his legs but felt it rude and decided to address the matter of breaking off the engagement first. “Mr. Fu, I’ve been drifting alone for many years and have forgotten much of my childhood. I don’t want an early marriage. Since you also want to break off the engagement, then let’s do that.”

The hand holding the prayer beads froze for a moment, then relaxed. His dark eyes fixed on Chu Mian’s lovely face with unreadable emotion. “Very well. Having held Miss Chu’s engagement for many years, now that it is broken, compensation should be made to Miss Chu...”

“What nonsense compensation?!” Chu Xian returned with two cups of grape juice, his face dark. “Nobody wants your compensation! It’s my sister who doesn’t want you!”

“Sister, freshly squeezed grape juice. I watched them squeeze it myself,” Chu Xian said, turning to hand the juice over to Chu Mian like a treasure, even placing a straw to her lips.

Chu Mian smiled in thanks, biting the straw and sipping.

Fu Jinnian watched her pink lips suck on the straw, her mouth pursed softly. He turned his head and said, “Third Young Master Chu is right. I, a double-leg-disabled invalid, am truly unworthy of the Chu family’s daughter...”

“Breaking off the engagement is because you and I have no feelings for each other, not because of your disability,” Chu Mian said firmly after finishing her juice and glancing once more at Fu Jinnian’s legs. “Besides, I can heal your legs.”

“Really?”

Zhou Qin looked stunned.

He then glanced at his boss sitting beside him.

Fu Jinnian’s expression remained unchanged. “Miss Chu, many doctors have said my legs can be cured, but none have succeeded in getting me to stand again. If you feel guilty about breaking off the engagement, there’s no need...”

“Who’s feeling guilty?” Chu Xian snorted coldly.

Chu Mian shook her head. “I said I can heal them, so I will.”

“The doctors say only that mysterious master of medicine can possibly cure Second Master’s legs. He has a great reputation, and many seek his treatment. We’ve been trying for years without success, which is why Second Master’s legs have been delayed. Miss Chu isn’t...”

“Zhou Qin,” Fu Jinnian interrupted quietly.

Zhou Qin rubbed his nose. What he said was true... Chu Mian was not that famed master of medicine. How could she heal him?

No need to make such grand claims using Second Master’s legs.

They had been waiting for years?

Chu Mian lowered her gaze. Why had she never received any appointment for leg treatment?

“What about that master of medicine? My sister is someone the old doctors at Shengdu Hospital all respect and admire! She’s amazing! She’s a doctor!” Chu Xian growled, unwilling to let the assistant belittle his sister.

“May I see?” Chu Mian gestured at the thin blanket covering Fu Jinnian’s legs.

“Of course.” Fu Jinnian folded back the blanket and handed it to Zhou Qin.

Chu Mian stood and crouched in front of Fu Jinnian, her eyes focused on his legs. Fu Jinnian lowered his gaze to the delicate pale face only inches from his knees. His breath caught; tension tightened his features, and his hand clutching the prayer beads turned pale.

Nothing could be seen through the trousers, but Chu Mian’s curiosity was extraordinary. She reached out and grasped Fu Jinnian’s calves.

“You!” Zhou Qin’s eyes widened in shock. He tried to step forward to push Chu Mian away but was stopped by Fu Jinnian’s outstretched hand.

Fu Jinnian was equally surprised.

He frowned as Chu Mian squeezed his left calf with both hands, then the right, her expression intense. One moment her brows were furrowed; the next, her eyes shone brightly, oblivious to everything around her.

Despite her movements, he felt nothing—the legs were numb.

“No sensation?” Chu Mian suddenly lifted her head, her face just between his knees, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.

That inquisitive gaze flowed over him like a pure river.

He nodded.