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Chapter 159: Cause and Effect

Xia Fei did say that Avril was his woman, but it was something that came out while he was seething in rage—something that he had never fully thought through before saying. Xia Fei and Avril’s relationship was not at the stage to consider marriage yet, so saying that she was his woman might not have been entirely correct.

“I did.” Xia Fei easily admitted it.

Xia Fei was a man, after all. Since it had come out of his mouth, he did not regret saying it. Moreover, he could not find any reason not to have Avril as his woman, so he might as well come clean.

Xia Fei quietly observed Avril’s reaction. Her beautiful cheeks turned from pink to red in a matter of moments as if she were about to burn.

She held her hands against her cheeks. Her eyes were darting around, unsure of what to do and remained quiet for a while.

After the doctor was made aware of Xia Fei regaining consciousness, he came in to ask a few simple questions before knowingly left the room to the two. Even a dunce could tell that Avril and Xia Fei did not want to be interrupted at this moment. The two of them must have a lot to say to each other now that they had finally met.

Luckily, although Xia Fei had sustained a lot of injuries, they were all just flesh wounds, of which he could recover from after a few days of rest. Repeated use of Demon Axe had surprisingly not caused any irreversible damage to Xia Fei’s brain, which even Phantom could barely believe.

It should be made known that the amplitude of Xia Fei’s brain waves were raised to unimaginable heights back then. Any normal human being would probably die just by entering that state for a second, let alone survive unscathed.

Naturally, Phantom had attributed all this to his fully opened seventh brain region as if it was a guardian angel of sorts, protecting Xia Fei from danger.

The capital ring had the most advanced medical facilities in the Alliance. Moreover, the hospital also happened to be a subsidiary of Starlink Corporation, so Xia Fei’s treatment was never skimped out on, receiving the best medicine and being put under the most-advanced equipment the hospital had to offer irregardless of price.

The doctors even performed skin grafting treatments on his scars while Xia Fei was passed out. Now, not a single scar could be seen on his body, and his skin was even as smooth as a baby’s bottom, but he still had his salt and pepper hair, which made him look much older than he actually was, as if he had experienced the vicissitude of life.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Avril had spent every single moment next to Xia Fei. The pair’s talks were always punctuated with laughter, just like what conversations between couples would.

Avril had always been a cheerful girl, but Xia Fei’s sudden disappearance and the recent kidnapping incident had taken some of that cheerfulness away from her. Xia Fei realized this and decided to guide her back to her carefree and happy self. With Xia Fei’s guidance, the haze in her eyes eventually receded, returning to her bubbly and cheerful personality.

However, Xia Fei never brought up what happened in that year he was on Heritage Planet. He had full trust on Avril; since he did not want to talk about it, she decided not to pry.

With a red strawberry in her hand, Avril placed it next to Xia Fei’s mouth, while he remained comfortably lying on the bed with his eyes closed and his mouth open, enjoying the care from the princess next to him. Sometimes, Xia Fei could not believe that he was currently experiencing something that seemed to only happen in fairy tales.

“Is it sweet?” Avril asked with a smile.

Xia Fei nodded before glancing at the sunny, autumn day outside the window. “How about we go for a walk outside? Cabin fever’s no fun.”

Xia Fei was never one to sit around and do nothing, feeling exceedingly irritable after lying on the bed these past few days as if he was missing on things.

In truth, Xia Fei had another reason to go out for a walk: He wanted to smoke. He was afraid that Avril would choke on the smell of cigarettes being next to him, so he had been restraining himself from smoking all this while. Only when Avril had fallen asleep would Xia Fei sneak into the bathroom to deal with his addiction. The days without cigarettes were awful, even worse than starving.

“Sure, I’ll have someone to get a wheelchair.”

Xia Fei waved his hand before getting off the bed. “Please don’t. I’m not disabled, so it’ll feel terrible for me to be restricted by a wheelchair.”

Xia Fei was adamant on not using a wheelchair, so Avril could do nothing about it. After changing into some simple sportswear, Xia Fei walked outside. At this moment, Avril quickly walked forward and clung onto his arm.

Xia Fei received a slight shock if anything but, ultimately, did not stop her. His heart was now filled with warmth.

The hallway outside the ward had many bodyguards, all of them tall-, fierce-, and certainly scary-looking. These weren’t the same as the ones at Sunset Villa. Evidently, after Avril’s kidnapping incident, the bodyguards had most certainly faced some questioning, and losing their jobs might be the least of their problems.

Xia Fei did not feel sorry for them. If it were up to him, he would change all the bodyguards sans hesitation as their work was unsatisfactory. Moreover, there could be a mole among them, and it was not worth trusting the lot.

The guards were utterly shocked upon seeing Avril and Xia Fei walking out of the ward while holding hands. The young lady’s every movement affected the entire upper society of the Alliance. Although they did not think anything was wrong with her exiting the room with Xia Fei sans a care, this would most certainly cause a commotion in the Alliance if word got out.

The guards were full of shock, jealousy, envy, and hatred; all kinds of eyes were cast on Xia Fei, while he could not care less, pretending that nobody was there, just like what he had done previously.

The bald man from the guards before managed to remain, and this one was Butler Pang Hai’s son, Pang Xing. The father and son were the only ones who had escaped interrogation, and the job of guarding the ward even fell into the hands of Pang Xing, showing the trust the Jian family had in the father-son duo.

“Hurry, the lady’s about to go out. Alert everyone around the hospital to provide some privacy and get a few more hands on the streets. We can’t let the journalists report on what happened to the lady,” ordered Pang Xing in a lowered voice.

Hundreds of guards, who were around the hospital, quickly started moving upon receiving his order, securing an area of over ten kilometers. They looked incredibly serious as they went on standby. The president probably did not get this kind of VIP treatment.

Since the abduction attempt, the weak mental fortitude of the Jian family had become exceedingly on edge. There were no fewer than a thousand guards around the hospital. Including the people working in shifts, as well as the nearby Alliance police, there were probably more than six thousand people protecting Avril now; perhaps ‘massive’ was the word for this.

After ordering his subordinates, he walked next to Xia Fei and Avril with knitted eyebrows. “Young mistress, are you heading out?”

Avril snapped, “Xia Fei and I will be taking a walk in the garden; get out of my way!”

Pang Xing replied with a smile, “Mistress, you’re mistaken. I’m not trying to stop you and Xia—Mr. Xia Fei from going out. I merely hope that you can wait for a few more moments. I’m sure you know that many members of the media have heard some rumors, so now there are many of them waiting outside the hospital for a scoop. It won’t do good if news that you have someone by your side gets out.”

Avril hugged Xia Fei tightly and said sternly, “If they want pictures, they can have them. Xia Fei and I aren’t afraid of letting others know.”

The girl’s stubbornness became clear as day at this moment. Avril was certain that, since Xia Fei had driven himself to the ground trying to save her life, the two of them belonged to each other regardless of what others thought.

Xia Fei remained quiet for a few seconds before saying, “Sure, the reporters are harmless, but the enemies hiding in the dark might try something again after hearing about this. It’s still best to wait for a few more moments.”

Avril told Xia Fei with a smile, “Sure, we’ll wait then.”

Pang Xing could not help but wipe the cold sweat off his forehead. Avril had always been short-tempered, and there was nothing he could do about it. Luckily, Xia Fei was here to help him resolve the situation, or else he would have had no way to deal with the successor that was Avril.

It was just that the guards could not bear the fact that Avril listened to everything Xia Fei would say.

“Geez, we’re all humans, but how come their lives are so much better than ours?”

“The mistress is so well-behaved in front of this chap; did she actually fall in love with him?”

“Bull’s-eye. Xia Fei can do anything he wants seeing how well the mistress treats him.”

The guards all had their thoughts inside. They only saw the benefits Xia Fei could reap from Avril but ignored how Xia Fei treated her. How many other people were willing to risk their lives, ripping her from the hands of those people who wanted to harm her?

Even if they were as capable as Xia Fei, how many would be as brave or have the will? How many would have the opportunity?

Everything had a cause and effect. In two years, Xia Fei and Avril had gone from strangers superficially knowing each other to dear friends with tacit understanding, from thinking of the other who was lightyears apart to holding hands side by side under the sunset. Everything had causes and effects, accumulated over the years until they finally exploded. Although they were not lovers, they were a tiny step away from it.

A few moments later, Xia Fei and Avril walked out of the hospital, their arms wrapped around each other, and headed to a small bridge on a small stream behind the building.

Along the way, Xia Fei noticed that all the wards in the hospital were empty. He learned from Pang Xing that, in order to ensure Avril’s safety, the entire hospital had been vacated.

The garden was not as colorful in autumn as in summer, but it still had a different flavor. The golden leaves dancing in the wind as they fell from trees was a sight to behold.

Xia Fei lit up a cigarette and walked to a pavilion with Avril, sitting down on a bench made of marble and gazing at the few lotus flowers that were about to wither.

Avril quietly leaned on his arm, her face filled with happiness and warmth.

“How great would it be if we could stay like this forever,” Avril shyly whispered.

Xia Fei smiled without saying anything. Old Porter was still waiting for him in Black Abyss, and he would have to leave once he recovered a bit more. However, he had yet to find a chance to break it to Avril. Moreover, Xia Fei was reluctant to leave Avril here after the kidnapping incident.

Having the surroundings manned by numerous guards really killed the mood. Although they carefully hid behind trees and mong bushes, Xia Fei’s keen perception easily noticed them, leaving something to be desired for him.

The two of them leaned against each other, chatting. After half an hour or so, Pang Xing approached Xia Fei and whispered to his ear.

Xia Fei was shocked and got up immediately with eyebrows knitted. “Understood, I’ll be there right away.”