Lin Heng opened the door in a different manner, yet inside were the same people, in the same positions.

However, Shang Xinglu, who had initially looked confused, now wore an expression of expectation.

Although Shang Xinglu had a single room, the room wasn’t as spacious as home, and it was rather cramped.

When Lin Heng opened the door and saw the room filled with people, he felt extremely displeased.

He double-checked their faces.

Leaving aside the matter of Shang Xingyu and his frequently popping-up friend, or the fact that his wife, Yin Yao, had been inexplicably concerned, just the presence of Shen Wang…

One person with a complicated relationship with his ex and a lot of thoughts on his mind made Lin Heng feel—extremely annoyed.

Though Lin Heng was nearsighted, as long as he had his glasses, he could turn into a detective Conan!

Lin Heng observed Shang Xinglu’s expression. She seemed, maybe, possibly, to be as unwilling to face these people as he was.

Instantly, Lin Heng felt a little more at ease.

At that moment, he saw Shang Xinglu subtly signaling to him.

To be honest, Lin Heng didn’t quite understand…

It wasn’t just an eye signal anymore; her entire face seemed to twitch in a strange way.

It looked like Louise was extremely unwilling.

Lin Heng felt even more at ease in his heart.

Lin Heng cleared his throat and broke the silence in the room.

“Why is everyone here?” Lin Heng casually asked.

Shen Wang raised his chin, looking displeased as he faced Lin Heng.

He said, “Just happened to pass by.”

Lin Heng’s gaze shifted to Shen Wang’s hand.

Oh, just passing by.

And coincidentally, holding Louise’s hand.

What a coincidence.

Before Lin Heng could make a sarcastic comment, Shang Xingyu quickly jumped in, “I was just passing by too.”

Xiao Zai said, “Passing by.”

To be honest, he was just passing by, or rather, he’d been at the hospital for the past couple of days.

Aside from Lin Heng, there were four visitors in the room—three of whom were just “passing by,” and one who hadn’t said anything yet.

Shang Xinglu nearly shed tears. Life was truly full of traps.

She woke up, and suddenly, four people were visiting her, making it feel like she had woken up in a spider demon’s lair, as if she was so popular.

Thankfully, she was clever and didn’t get too narcissistic. Out of the four visitors, three were “just passing by.” It was hard to imagine the one left wasn’t just passing by!

At this moment, Yin Yao smiled warmly, looking as beautiful as always, her smile radiating spring-like warmth, instantly overshadowing the men in the room.

Yin Yao said, “I wasn’t just passing by.”

Shang Xinglu looked at her.

“!”

Touched!

Yin Yao still smiled, but her next sentence wasn’t directed at Lin Heng—it was directly to Shang Xinglu.

“Louise, I came specifically to see you. I saw your post last night, and I was so worried, but I was afraid visiting hours were over, so I bought a gift and came over immediately today.”

Lin Heng: “……”

Shen Wang: “…………”

Shen Wang suddenly felt like he’d been outdone!

Ah! Why couldn’t he just be honest! How could he resolve this sense of unwillingness?

But whether they came specially or were just passing by, Lin Heng remained unaffected.

Lin Heng also smiled.

His smile was a standard version 2.0, warmer than the 1.0 version but carrying a slightly more impatient undertone.

Lin Heng said, “Louise is fine, thank you all for visiting. However, on my way in, the doctor told me that Louise still needs more rest, so please, everyone, go home for now.”

Lin Heng had skillfully hit the point.

By saying that, no one could remain behind without seeming inconsiderate of Louise’s health.

With six adults in the room, plus the gifts and flowers brought by the visitors, the space was already cramped. Soon, the room was cleared out.

Only the patient, Louise, and Lin Heng remained in the room.

The once noisy room, with everyone talking at once, suddenly fell completely silent.

Shang Xinglu breathed a sigh of relief.

It felt like the great master had finally rescued the master from the spider demon’s den.

Phew—!

The silly monsters from the original story had finally left!

At that moment, a scraping sound echoed.

It was the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor.

Lin Heng pulled a chair over and sat next to her bed.

With a clink, he placed a thermal food container down.

Shang Xinglu’s nerves jumped again.

She grabbed the food container herself, “I… I’ll eat, I’ll eat.”

As she opened the food container, she struggled to use her hand with the IV drip, which was her dominant hand, making it difficult to open. Lin Heng sighed and helped her open it.

Although it was homemade food, much better than the hospital cafeteria’s offerings, it was still quite plain.

Shang Xinglu, sick and with a muted sense of taste, ate a couple of bites and refused to eat any more.

Lin Heng adjusted his glasses.

In a very nonchalant way, he said, “Since you don’t want to eat now, how about you answer a few questions for me?”

Shang Xinglu’s eyes darted around.

Though she had a bad feeling about this, she could only say, “Go ahead.”

Lin Heng asked, “A few days ago, when Shang Xingyu came to the house, you used his phone to make a call. Was it to Shen Wang?”

This wasn’t a question anymore.

Which meant Lin Heng was very certain.

Shang Xinglu, however, said, “No.”

She paused, then continued, “It wasn’t me calling Shen Wang, it was Shen Wang calling Shang Xingyu’s phone. I just happened to pick up.”

Whether Shang Xinglu was a smart person, no one could say for sure.

But everyone could agree that Lin Heng was a smart person.

Although the result sounded the same — Shang Xinglu and Shen Wang had talked on the phone — the details made a huge difference.

This meant that before Lou Shanglu picked up, she didn’t know it was Shen Wang on the other end.

In other words, it was all just a coincidence!

Shang Xinglu said, “It’s not good to keep thinking about your ex. It’s really not good, but Shen Wang is more than just my ex. He’s also the boss of a venture capital firm.”

Finally, Shang Xinglu decided to tell Lin Heng the truth.

Whether out of a desire to question or just for caution, she had indeed double-checked the information Lin Heng had given her, confirming whether it was trustworthy.

And it turned out, Lin Heng’s information was indeed true.

Shang Xinglu thought Lin Heng would be angry.

But to her surprise, he wasn’t.

Although Lin Heng didn’t show many facial expressions and usually kept his emotions hidden, Shang Xinglu could easily tell the difference between his anger and happiness.

If she couldn’t, she really shouldn’t stick around in the Lin family.

…Though she wasn’t planning to stay there anyway.

Lin Heng slowly spoke: “I can’t blame you for double-checking, because if it were me, I would do the same. In fact, I think you did the right thing. I wouldn’t be upset by your doubts. After all, we’ve never had any business dealings before. It’s completely normal that we don’t trust each other.”

Trust between people is fragile.

The person behind all the schemes in Yunshi was Shang Xinglu’s trusted little aunt.

Lin Heng understood this and his words reflected that understanding.

At this moment, though, he couldn’t quite grasp the source of the faint feeling of loss in his heart.

It was… unpleasant.

Lin Heng didn’t want to dwell on it. He picked up the bowl of rice and pushed it in front of Lou Shanglu. “Eat.”

Shang Xinglu: “…”

“What’s with that face?”

“You didn’t keep your word,” Shang Xinglu said resentfully, “You said if I answered the questions, I wouldn’t have to eat, right? This is gross. It’s so bland! I don’t want to eat…”

“I meant, if you didn’t eat, you’d have to answer a few more questions. Once you’re done, you can eat. When did I say you didn’t have to eat?”

Saying that, Lin Heng stood up and took off his suit jacket.

He was already tall, and as he stood, his shadow loomed over Shang Xinglu, giving her a sense of pressure.

Then, Lin Heng rolled up his sleeves.

Shang Xinglu: “!”

Could it be that Lin Heng, though saying he didn’t care, actually did and was about to hit her?!

In a sense, Shang Xinglu’s guess wasn’t too far off.

Lin Heng, rolling up his sleeves, said, “You’re using your hand to hold the needle. I’ll feed you.”

He scooped up a spoonful of congee.

Shang Xinglu’s face turned to pure terror.

Oh no! This was scarier than Lin Heng hitting someone!

She quickly waved her hands, “No, no, no…”

But before she could protest, Lin Heng, with lightning-fast reflexes, shoved a spoonful of congee into her mouth.

Shang Xinglu: “…………”

She resisted at first, “No, I’ll do it myself… I’ll do it myself… mmm!”

Another spoonful.

Shang Xinglu: “……………”

Being forced to eat congee was worse than being forced to eat starfish.

She felt like a cat being held by the neck and force-fed medicine by her owner!

Under Lin Heng’s quick hands, Shang Xinglu had almost half a bowl of congee in no time.

At that moment, Marilyn knocked on the door and said, “Sir, Madam, Madam’s friends have come to visit.”

“Who?… mmm,” Shang Xinglu said while still eating.

Lin Heng raised his voice, “Who are they?”

Shen Wang and the others were dismissed.

Marilyn replied, “Ms. Shi, Ms. Xue, and the others.”

Shang Xinglu: “Oh, then let them in… don’t stuff more in! I’ll eat myself!… mmm.”

Shi Rui and Xue Shaoying pushed the door open and came in.

As soon as they entered, they saw Lin Heng feeding Shang Xinglu congee with his own hands. Everyone froze in place, stunned.

…What was going on here?

Shang Xinglu turned to look at them.

She saw that they were all wearing protective suits, masks, and goggles, not leaving a single inch of exposed skin, looking more prepared than for an ICU visit.

Shang Xinglu was shocked.

…What was going on here?

The difference was, none of them dared to speak.

They were afraid that even the slightest noise would blow away the “illusion” of Lin Heng feeding Shang Xinglu.

Shang Xinglu couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on? This isn’t an ICU!”

Shi Rui, who was the most straightforward, replied, “Didn’t you say you were petting penguins and then ended up in the hospital? We asked your assistant about your symptoms. Your assistant said it was a cold and fever. We thought about it, penguins are birds, and you got sick from petting birds. With the flu going around, that means…”

“Bird flu?” they all chorused.

“Even if it’s bird flu, we still wanted to come visit, but we didn’t want to catch it, so we took extra precautions.”

Shang Xinglu: “…………”

Bird… flu…

Bird… flu…

Bird… flu…………

Shang Xinglu couldn’t catch her breath and almost passed out from their words.