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Chapter 19: Jiaojiao, he… is your cousin?
It had rained all night.
The morning was chilly. Qin Shi only jogged half a lap around the nearby park before walking his dog Barbecue back home.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, he saw Li Huanhuan’s body collapsing straight toward the ground.
On reflex, before he could even think, Qin Shi reached out and caught her by the waist.
But the moment he did, he froze—he wasn’t wearing a mask, and as the mysterious “Neighbor #150,” he couldn’t let Li Huanhuan recognize him.
He was debating how to explain when he suddenly noticed something wasn’t right—Li Huanhuan’s body was burning hot.
Quickly, he supported her shoulders and propped her up. Her face was flushed bright red, her eyes glazed over, and she completely lost consciousness in front of him.
“Li… Huan… Huan?!”
Qin Shi didn’t have time to think—he swept her into his arms and rushed into the elevator.
Ding.
The elevator doors closed.
The dog left behind in the hallway: “Woof?”
Li Huanhuan felt like her whole body was in pain.
Like she’d been thrown into molten lava, boiling all around her. Overhead, it felt like the sun was bearing down directly, searing everything beneath it. Her skin was burning, her blood boiling—her whole body dizzy, on the verge of evaporating.
Then, everything faded to black.
When she woke up, it was already evening.
She was in a hospital bed, with a monitoring device next to her and an IV drip in her left hand.
Her whole body was weak and sore, like an out-of-shape recluse suddenly forced to run a 15km marathon. She felt like her heavy body had separated from her fragile soul.
A nurse came in to check on her.
That’s when Li Huanhuan found out she had caught the flu—some kind of intense seasonal virus that had taken down a lot of people recently. She didn’t understand how a homebody like her, rarely going out, had even gotten infected.
In any case, the prescription was simple: IV fluids, medication, and rest.
“Excuse me… do you know who brought me to the hospital?” Li Huanhuan asked weakly as the nurse was about to leave.
She vaguely remembered seeing Qin Shi’s face as the elevator doors opened before she blacked out. But what were the chances of Qin Shi appearing in her building’s elevator?
Before the nurse could reply, hurried footsteps echoed from the hallway.
A young woman burst into the room, wearing a blue sweater, tight jeans, and black high-heeled boots. She carried a pale yellow purse and looked like a whirlwind.
“Jie! You’re awake!” she cried out.
“Dongfang Jiao?” Li Huanhuan blinked in surprise at the familiar face.
Ten minutes later, Dongfang Jiao sat at her bedside, telling her what had happened after she passed out.
“So… you’ve been the one staying with me at the hospital, handling all the paperwork?” Li Huanhuan asked.
Reclined against the pillow, her complexion pale, she looked at Dongfang Jiao beside her.
Dongfang Jiao shifted uncomfortably in her seat, fiddled with her ears, and blinked rapidly. “Y-yeah. Of course, I was the one looking after you. But… my cousin was the one who brought you to the hospital.”
“Your cousin?”
Li Huanhuan frowned. “The guy who owns that dog?”
“Yes! Exactly!”
Dongfang Jiao nodded so fast her head almost fell off. “He was walking his dog downstairs this morning when he found you collapsed by the elevator. He rushed you to the hospital… then had to leave suddenly for work. He didn’t know any of your family or friends, so he called me—and I came over.”
She waved her hand as if fanning herself. “Running around all day was exhausting!”
Li Huanhuan gave her a long look.
Even though Dongfang Jiao’s behavior was a little odd, it was true someone had helped her, and that someone now sitting at her bedside was Dongfang Jiao.
She owed her and that mysterious neighbor a lot.
“Thank you. And thank your cousin, too. Without you guys, who knows how long it would’ve been before someone found me.”
“That’s fine! He was more than happy to help,” Dongfang Jiao blurted out. Realizing what she’d said, she scrambled to explain: “I mean, distant relatives aren’t as good as close neighbors. My cousin’s just a lonely single guy—uh, I mean, he’s alone too. We help you today, maybe one day you’ll help him, right?”
She quickly painted her cousin as some weakling who needed constant care, practically on the verge of death every minute.
Though Li Huanhuan found it a little over-the-top, it made sense if he really just wanted to make friends and help a neighbor. After all, he was her anonymous food-sharing buddy from Apartment 150.
“Your cousin…”
She suddenly remembered the face she saw before fainting. “What’s he like?”
“What’s he like?” Dongfang Jiao wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead. “He… he’s a big fat guy!”
“Huh?”
“Yep! Totally fat! And weak! Small eyes, super average face!”
She described someone completely unlike Qin Shi. “Not very tall, just about 170 cm. Loves to smile. Just a very very ordinary chubby guy.”
Very ordinary and chubby?
Then… it couldn’t be Qin Shi.
Li Huanhuan let out a small sigh of relief.
Lying wasn’t Dongfang Jiao’s strong suit, so before Li Huanhuan could ask more, she excused herself to go get meds and ran off.
Li Huanhuan was left staring blankly at the IV drip.
In the hospital stairwell.
“Cousin, you owe me big time! I’ve never lied this much in my life!” Dongfang Jiao crossed her arms and glared at Qin Shi.
He was still in his black tracksuit from this morning’s jog, now with a black fisherman’s hat and mask covering most of his face. Only his deep, dark eyes were visible.
Leaning against the wall, he looked tense. “Jiaojiao, did she suspect anything?”
“Nope. She totally bought it.”
Qin Shi sighed in relief.
“Cousin…”
Dongfang Jiao leaned close, eyes full of suspicion. “You’re acting weird.”
“What?” Qin Shi frowned, pushing her away.
“Why are you so afraid of her finding out it was you who saved her?”
“You were the one who carried her to the hospital, stayed with her, paid the fees, did everything. But when she woke up, you hid and made me take the credit. Why?”
Qin Shi said nothing.
“There’s something fishy here!” she declared.
Li Huanhuan’s condition stabilized and she was ready to go home. Dongfang Jiao eagerly offered her a ride.
Ever since she came back with the meds, Li Huanhuan noticed her demeanor had changed—sometimes overly enthusiastic, sometimes distracted.
Jiao did have a car—and a driver.
When Li Huanhuan saw the driver, she suddenly froze.
“Not tall, about 170 cm, chubby, small eyes, average-looking…”
Exactly how Dongfang Jiao had described her “cousin.”
Li Huanhuan swallowed.
Once they were on the road, curiosity got the best of her.
“Jiaojiao,” she asked cautiously, “is this gentleman your cousin?”
Dongfang Jiao, in the front seat, turned to her with a guilty look. She almost shook her head, but caught herself just in time and nodded vigorously: “Of course! He’s my cousin!”
The driver, Ah Zhou, looked confused and turned to her.
“Eyes on the road, cousin!” she snapped, emphasizing the word.
Ah Zhou didn’t get it, but he played along.
Li Huanhuan looked at him.
So this is what Neighbor #150 looks like?
“Thank you for bringing me to the hospital,” she said sincerely.
Ah Zhou mumbled a polite acknowledgment.
Soon, they arrived at her community. She thanked the “siblings” again and promised to treat them to a meal once she recovered.
Once she was gone, Ah Zhou turned to Dongfang Jiao. “Jiaojiao, what the heck just happened? I’m so confused.”
“Good,” she said, waving him off. “Stay confused. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
She quickly texted Qin Shi to report, and reminded him: “Don’t forget the purse you promised me!”
Back in Apartment 150…
Qin Shi was in the kitchen, wearing an apron and simmering pork rib soup for Li Huanhuan.
Barbecue lay on the floor behind him, still a little sulky about being abandoned that morning.