CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 67; PRESIDENT SHEN

Bai Zhi blinked, her long lashes fluttering softly as confusion clouded her delicate features looking all innocent and naive of what Shen Xiao was insinuating about.

"I... I don’t understand..."

"What are you insinuating?" She panicked and stammered trying to divert her eyes.

"Don’t play innocent here, Shen Xuan is too young to be thinking like that." His deep voice was quiet but sharp as a blade, each word cutting with clinical precision. "Did you tell him Yueyao didn’t want him anymore? That you were a better mother than she? Did you tell him to tell his mother that he liked you and preferred you being his mother compared to his biological mother?"

Her lips parted slightly, her eyes widening in feigned shock as her fingers flew to her chest. How was she going to

"Ah Xiao... how could you say that...?" she whispered, her voice trembling with perfect hurt and aggrieved. "I only comforted him when he was crying. I would never... never turn him against his own mother. I... I only told him I would be here if he needed someone but not to replace his mother, he might have misunderstood."

His dark eyes narrowed, studying her with cold scrutiny. Her petite frame seemed to shrink under his piercing gaze, but her hands remained folded demurely before her.

"Don’t lie to me," he said quietly, the low rumble of his voice vibrating with dangerous calm. "He’s just a child. Stop poisoning his mind, Yueyao is still his mother, you should know that!"

Tears welled in Bai Zhi’s eyes, glistening as they spilled silently down her flawless cheeks.

"I... I’m sorry..." she whispered, her shoulders trembling faintly. "I only wanted to help him. He was crying so much last night... he kept asking for you... and... and for her... but you weren’t there... so I... I only wanted to comfort him..."

She stepped closer, reaching out to grasp his hand with both of hers, her delicate fingers curling tightly around his cold, limp one.

"Ah Xiao... you are so tired... so sad... I hate seeing you like this, you were never used to being like this?" she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder, her tears dampening the wrinkled fabric of his shirt. "Please... let me take care of you. Let me take care of everything. I will handle Xuan’er... I’ll handle her... You don’t have to suffer like this anymore... and I don’t want anything from you, I understand it all."

But his hand remained limp in her grasp. His obsidian eyes stared blankly ahead, seeing nothing but the image of Yueyao’s tear-streaked face and Shen Xuan’s trembling shoulders as he whispered that he wanted Mommy Zhi instead.

His chest tightened painfully with an emotion he refused to name: guilt, rage, grief; they all blurred into one suffocating mass that threatened to crush him from within.

"Leave," he said quietly.

Bai Zhi’s shoulders stiffened. She pulled back slightly to look up at him, her eyes red and shimmering with tears.

"Ah Xiao..."

"I said leave." His voice was still quiet, but this time cold enough to freeze the air around them.

Slowly, her fingers slipped from his hand, falling limply to her side. She lowered her head gracefully, wiping her tears with her delicate fingertips as she turned away.

"Yes... President Shen."

She walked out silently, closing the guest room door behind her with a soft click.

Shen Xiao sat alone once more, his tall frame hunched forward, elbows on his knees as his hands clenched together until the veins along his knuckles bulged against his pale skin.