247: Chapter 247 President Su...is she alright?

Su Qingxue was stunned for a moment.

Lin Fan's words were baffling, and she didn't quite understand what he meant, but she still replied: "Yeah, it's almost four months."

Looking at her expression, Lin Fan suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

"Now that it's been four months, why are you still putting on your president airs?"

Su Qingxue raised her head. "When have I ever put on airs?"

"Which day haven't you?" Lin Fan crossed his arms and lifted his chin toward the cave. "Look at Song Ya. She used to be ordered around by you at the company, but what about now?"

"She doesn't have to take orders from you anymore. She runs around busily on her own every day, starting fires, cooking, cleaning up, and rushing to do all the dirty and exhausting work."

"And look at you."

Lin Fan exposed her shortcomings without any mercy.

"Aside from sitting there in a daze, you just wait for ready-made meals. Even if I ask you to add a piece of firewood, you manage to put the fire out."

"Tell me, why don't you know how to learn from them?"

Su Qingxue's chest heaved from Lin Fan's rebuttal, and her face flushed bright red.

She bit her lower lip, wanting to retort, but lacking the confidence to do so.

In the past, she had never lifted a finger to do any household work; how could she have ever done such rough labor?

"I... I don't know why either." Su Qingxue's voice trailed off, her gaze shifting evasively.

"Lately, I've been feeling an extreme urge to sleep all the time."

"I simply can't get up in the morning. My whole body has zero strength, and even standing for a while makes me feel dizzy."

Lin Fan scoffed, completely unimpressed.

"If you're going to make an excuse, at least find a decent one."

"If you want to slack off, just say it directly. Why pretend to be so frail?"

Su Qingxue grew anxious and took a step forward. "I'm not pretending! I really feel unwell!"

"Unwell?" Lin Fan retorted. "We eat the same food and drink the same water every day, so why are the others fine?"

"Xu Zhixia has only been here for a month, yet she knows to go to the edge of the woods every day to pick up some dry firewood and dig up some useful herbs along the way."

"You, the dignified eldest Miss Su, are soft in every way except for that stubborn mouth of yours."

Lin Fan originally only wanted to tease her a bit, but these words made Su Qingxue extremely uncomfortable.

She could tolerate Lin Fan saying she couldn't work, and she could tolerate Lin Fan comparing her to Song Ya.

But being compared to Xu Zhixia was something she could not bear.

Ever since that day, Su Qingxue had harbored immense hostility toward this woman.

Now Lin Fan was actually praising Xu Zhixia and belittling her right to her face.

"Lin Fan! Don't go too far!"

Su Qingxue's voice suddenly raised sharply.

"Fine! I can't do anything! I only know how to freeload!"

"If you find me an eyesore and think I'm a burden, just say it bluntly!"

"So what if I don't work? At worst, I won't eat your food anymore from now on! I might as well starve to death!" She trembled all over with anger.

Looking at her flustered appearance, Lin Fan had to admit that she was much cuter than back in the company building.

Seeing that Lin Fan completely ignored her and couldn't even be bothered to say a soft word, Su Qingxue's grievance reached its absolute peak instantly.

"Bastard..."

She cursed through clenched teeth, then turned around and strode deep into the cave.

Lin Fan shook his head. It was no big deal; coaxing her a bit tonight would fix it.

The most pressing matters right now were the snakes about to come out from below and Wang Laoliu's life.

He was just about to turn his head to continue observing the movement below.

"Bang!"

A muffled impact suddenly came from behind him.

Lin Fan turned back. Less than a meter away from him,

Su Qingxue collapsed heavily to the ground without any warning.

"Su Qingxue?"

Lin Fan rushed over in a single stride, crouched down, and patted her cheeks.

Her skin felt icy cold to the touch, without a trace of warmth.

"Su Qingxue, wake up."

He increased his strength, but Su Qingxue's eyes remained tightly shut. Her lips, which had previously been somewhat rosy, now bore a pale, bluish tint.

Lin Fan's heart skipped a beat. This didn't look like pretense, and furthermore, Su Qingxue wouldn't resort to such scheming tricks.

The others in the cave also heard the commotion.

Song Ya was the first to run out. Seeing Su Qingxue collapsed on the ground, she covered her mouth in fright. "Oh gosh! President Su!"

Lin Fan raised his head and roared at Xu Zhixia, "Xu Zhixia, come over and take a look! What's wrong with her!"

Xu Zhixia's expression turned stern as she walked quickly to Su Qingxue's side and knelt down.

Instead of shaking Su Qingxue, she first gently opened her eyelids with her fingers to check her pupils, then quickly placed two fingers onto the carotid artery of Su Qingxue's fair neck.

Song Ya was so anxious that her tears were about to fall. "Dr. Xu, is President Su... is she okay?"

Xu Zhixia didn't answer; her brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

A few seconds later, she grabbed Su Qingxue's wrist again, placed three fingers on her pulse point, and closed her eyes to feel it carefully.

The cave was frighteningly quiet. Seeing Xu Zhixia's increasingly solemn expression, Lin Fan's sense of ominous foreboding grew even stronger.

She was perfectly fine just moments ago; how could she suddenly faint?

"Oh my, I told you so."

Liu Feifei, who had been watching from the sidelines with her arms crossed, suddenly spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Some people are just born with a pampered fate and weak constitutions. Coming to such a desolate wilderness and failing to acclimate, they must have collided with something unclean."

As she spoke, she glanced meaningfully toward the darkness deep inside the cave.

"I heard from older crew workers back when I was in the film crew that places like this have the heaviest yin energy, and people with weak bodies easily get their yang energy borrowed. Look at how white her face is, just like a sheet of paper. Isn't that because her yang energy was sucked away?"

Song Ya was already completely at her wits' end, and hearing Liu Feifei say this made her small face turn even paler with fright.

With a trembling voice, she tugged at Xu Zhixia's arm.

"Dr. Xu, is what she... what she said true? Should we... should we pay our respects and kowtow to appease it?"

"Shut up!"

Xu Zhixia opened her eyes and sternly stopped their nonsense.

Liu Feifei shrank her neck back from the shout and muttered softly, "It's true anyway, otherwise how could a perfectly fine person just collapse like that..."

Xu Zhixia ignored her and instead looked up at Lin Fan, her expression looking extremely grim.

"How is it?" Lin Fan asked.

Xu Zhixia took a deep breath, seemingly organizing her words.

"The situation is very bad."

She said in a deep voice, "Her heartbeat is fast, but extremely weak, and her breathing is also very shallow. It could stop at any time."

Lin Fan's heart sank. "What illness is it?"