*

After Ji Fanling finished vomiting, her mind slowly started to clear.

As she came back to her senses, she saw the mess all over Fu Yingcheng: “……”

Clearly, she had thrown up so suddenly that he hadn’t had time to kick her away.

Given his level of cleanliness, it felt like he could kill her on the spot.

Ji Fanling cautiously lifted her head and, sure enough, saw his expression darken with rage, as if he might die of sheer anger.

“See?” Ji Fanling said hoarsely, “…I warned you.”

Fu Yingcheng said nothing as he lifted her back into the car. He leaning in, quickly pulled out a few tissues and tossed them to her, then grabbed a few more to roughly wipe his hands and the hem of his coat while standing outside. After a moment, he got back into the car.

Vomit was notoriously difficult to clean, and wiping it down half-heartedly was useless. Even if he could take off his coat, there was no way to remove his pants and shoes along with it.

As Fu Yingcheng got back into the car, the doors, seat, and carpet were all smeared with a mess, and Ji Fanling’s clothes weren’t spared either. The seat was in an even worse state, almost unbearable to look at.

Even someone like her, who wasn’t a clean freak, felt her scalp tingle at the sight.

Fu Yingcheng drove out of the garage, catching a glimpse of the girl diligently wiping the car beside him. Unable to hold back any longer, he snapped, “Wipe yourself.”

Ji Fanling: “…Oh.”

On the road, Fu Yingcheng drove with extreme steadiness, barely touching the brakes, yet Ji Fanling still ended up vomiting twice. She used a plastic bag meant for storing medicine to catch it, but by the end, there was nothing left to throw up, only dry heaving, as if her stomach itself was about to come out.

Between her retches, she heard Fu Yingcheng making intermittent phone calls, his voice cold and devoid of any warmth: “I’m coming over now. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Are you at the hospital? …Director Liang will do.”

“One hour after eating, stomach pain, vomiting.”

“Understood.”

Fu Yingcheng took her to a private hospital she had never heard of before. The décor was luxurious, more reminiscent of a five-star hotel than a medical facility.

Perhaps because Fu Yingcheng had notified them in advance, as soon as they entered the hospital, a staff member was already waiting in the lobby for them. There was no delay as doctors guided them through examinations, blood tests, lab work, and medication prescriptions.

This time, Ji Fanling’s stomach pain was more intense than ever, leaving her without the strength to speak, so she could only let herself be handled.

The test results confirmed acute gastritis, and she was soon set up for an IV drip.

Fu Yingcheng stayed by her side the entire time. Perhaps due to instructions from higher-ups or because Ji Fanling was still a minor, the medical staff all bypassed her and communicated directly with Fu Yingcheng about her condition and treatment plan.

Although Fu Yingcheng was a Biomedical Engineering major from University B, he didn’t interfere with the doctors’ treatment just because he understood the field.

He only nodded occasionally, remaining silent the entire time.

The scene was somewhat strange.

Rather than appearing like a family member of the patient, he looked more like… a guardian taking care of a child.

The IV treatment worked almost immediately.

In less than half an hour, Ji Fanling clearly felt that her stomach pain had subsided, and the nausea had faded.

As soon as she felt better, she silently glanced at Fu Yingcheng, who stood behind the group, several times.

The man’s expression was grim.

He stood by the window, his tall figure outlined sharply by the light and shadow. His fingers, hanging by his side, unconsciously curled as he twisted the black obsidian tail ring.

Anyone could see the tension he was holding back.

Ji Fanling felt a sense of hopelessness.

The clothes she had vomited on must have been very expensive.

The car Fu Yingcheng usually drove was one she didn’t recognize, but it was probably on par with the Maybach.

This was bad.

Really bad.

She felt like she had completely offended him.

The girl stared at him hesitantly. Fu Yingcheng noticed her gaze, his expression softening slightly as he took a few steps toward her. “What is it?”

Ji Fanling: “…I’m sorry.”

Fu Yingcheng frowned.

For a moment, he didn’t even understand why she was apologizing.

Seeing his frown, Ji Fanling thought that a simple “sorry” was indeed too easy. So, she offered her most sincere gesture:

“You know, I have two kidneys.”

Fu Yingcheng: “?”

“I can sell one,” Ji Fanling said. “To pay you back.”

The slight ease in the man’s expression quickly darkened again, visibly worsening.

“Want to apologize?” Fu Yingcheng’s voice was icy.

Ji Fanling nodded.

Fu Yingcheng coldly dropped a statement: “Don’t say another word tonight.”

Ji Fanling: “…”

*

Ansheng Hospital, where Ji Fanling was being treated, had been acquired as a wholly-owned subsidiary by Jiuzhou Medical three years prior through equity acquisition and capital increase.

At that time, the person Fu Yingcheng was contacting on the phone was Director Luo Zhengxiang. However, since he was out of town, he could only arrange for the chief doctor to treat Ji Fanling over the phone.

By the time Director Luo rushed back, the night was deep and damp with dew. He barely had time to catch his breath before going to see Fu Yingcheng.

“I’m really sorry that I wasn’t at the hospital when you came,” Director Luo said.

“There was no need for you to come all the way here,” Fu Yingcheng replied in a calm voice. “Director Liang has been very thorough.”

“Yes, yes, I’ve also reviewed her medical records. Let’s monitor her condition with IV treatment for three days first. If she has frequent stomach pain, it might be due to damage to the gastric mucosa. She should be careful with her diet, and it would be wise to come in another day for an endoscopy to be sure.”

“Alright.”

Director Luo glanced at the lab report again and couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “But, her condition isn’t that severe, is it?”

For Fu Yingcheng to personally drive someone to the hospital in the middle of the night indicated an urgent situation. Though not a doctor himself, he worked in the medical industry and was used to seeing people with broken limbs or near-death conditions on a regular basis.

For him to use the word “severe” over the phone, it would normally need to be something like acute gastric perforation with vomiting blood and shock, requiring immediate resuscitation.

—And yet, this was it?

Fu Yingcheng, with an expressionless face, said, “I misjudged.”

“Oh! Not at all, taking it seriously is the right thing to do.”

Director Luo quickly added, “At such a young age to have stomach issues, it won’t be easy to recover fully in the future.”

…

The IV drip would take about three hours. Fu Yingcheng called his assistant, Gao Yi, asking him to bring over a couple of clothing items and a laptop. After that, he stood in a quiet spot in the hallway, using his phone to handle work.

When he finished and returned to the hospital room, the girl was already curled up on the sofa, asleep.

It seemed she had dozed off while playing on her phone, which was still loosely held in her hand.

Fu Yingcheng approached with light steps, and from his angle, the girl looked even thinner.

Her chin was small and pointed, as if half a palm could cover it. Her long lashes were delicately lowered, making her pale cheeks look even more paper-like.

A stray lock of hair on the side of her face was still stuck with dried vomit.

Fu Yingcheng frowned.

He had told her to clean herself up, but she had done it perfunctorily.

She was probably in so much pain that she didn’t even care about the mess.

…The way she treated herself wasn’t even a fraction of the care she showed when she was secretly wiping down the car.

Fu Yingcheng silently lowered his eyes. And the deep night seemed to absorb and soften the indescribable, heavy emotion that lingered in his gaze.

*

On the road, Assistant Gao Yi was driving the car, rushing with a large paper bag on the back seat to the hospital.

At this hour, all the malls were already closed. When Fu Yingcheng suddenly told him to deliver clothes, all he had was Fu Yingcheng’s overcoat, which had just been picked up from dry cleaning. With no other choice, he also brought a down jacket he had prepared to wear for the New Year.

When he arrived at the hospital, the receptionist, upon hearing he was looking for Fu Yingcheng, immediately stepped forward to guide him and led him to the ward upstairs.

Gao Yi walked to the door of the ward and was about to knock when he suddenly froze.

Through the window on the door, he could see that the person receiving the IV was a very young girl, curled up on the sofa. And the tall man with long legs and wearing a dark shirt, stood in front of the sofa, slightly hunched over, holding a white towel in one hand.

He lowered his head and was gently wiping a strand of her hair.

The man’s long eyelashes were lowered, and his eyes were deep in color.

In a place where no one could see.

There was a hint of… a tenderness that even he hadn’t realized.

Gao Yi’s hand trembled slightly, and the door made a very soft creaking sound.

Fu Yingcheng looked up.

The cold white light from the hospital corridor spilled into the dim ward, illuminating the man’s face, which was as indifferent as it had been during the day.

Gao Yi snapped back to reality.

… What was he feeling distressed about in the middle of the night?

He actually imagined seeing a touch of humanity in Mr. Fu!

Gao Yi walked into the ward, handed over the clothes and the laptop, and typed on his phone to explain that time was tight. Besides the dry-cleaned coat, there was also his own down jacket, which he hadn’t worn.

Fu Yingcheng put on the down jacket and asked him how much it cost.

Gao Yi had become accustomed to answering instantly in front of Fu Yingcheng: 【Two thousand three hundred.】

Fu Yingcheng transferred him four thousand six hundred and gestured that he could leave.

Gao Yi, warmed in body and mind by the money, nodded in understanding, tiptoed out, and turned to close the door.

The gap in the door slowly closed.

The last scene he saw was Fu Yingcheng shaking out the coat and draping it over the girl.

Gao Yi’s mind suddenly stopped working.

Wait, what?!

Two people, two pieces of clothing—that made sense, but…

Why would Fu Yingcheng choose to leave his own coat unused and wear his(Gao Yi’s) down jacket instead?

*

The IV drip finished, and it was already past midnight.

Fu Yingcheng sat at the nearby table, working on his laptop. Noticing the IV bottle was empty, he called a nurse to remove the needle.

Ji Fanling hadn’t woken up yet, so Fu Yingcheng softly called her name, “Ji Fanling.”

The girl didn’t respond.

“Ji Fanling, we’re leaving.”

Still, there was no reaction.

The area around her eyelids had a bluish tint, the result of staying up late, waking up early, and exhausting herself with four or five interviews in one day.

No one had ever pressured her to earn money, yet she was always in such a hurry, as if she wouldn’t have anything to eat the next day.

… Why couldn’t she ever be satisfied?

After cleaning up the IV bottle, the nurse looked up and explained to the man, “The medication in the IV contains some sedative and sleep-inducing components, so she might be sleeping quite deeply.”

After speaking, the nurse reached out, as if to help, and lightly patted the girl’s shoulder, calling out loudly, “Miss Ji! Wake up…”

Fu Yingcheng’s brow twitched suddenly, and he raised his hand to stop her. “Forget it.”

Nurse: ?

Fu Yingcheng’s emotions were unsettled, and he curled his fingers in frustration. After a moment’s hesitation, he crouched down and carefully positioned her to lie on his back before standing up with her.

… The weight on his back was so light that it made him pause for a moment.

He bent down, picked up the laptop bag with his fingers and shifted her higher up on his back. In a voice that sounded almost like he was talking to himself, he murmured, “… It’s not the first time, after all.”

Ji Fanling slept deeply, remaining unconscious in the car, not waking when the seatbelt was fastened, not stirring on the way home, and still not waking when she was carried out.

It wasn’t until the “ding” of the elevator reaching the first floor that the girl drowsily lifted her eyelids a little.

Her first reaction was… everything around her was so bright.

Ji Fanling instinctively avoided the light, burying her face in the man’s back. After a few seconds, she suddenly realized something was off.

Where was she?

Who was carrying her?

And why were they still walking?

She abruptly opened her eyes and looked around.

The elevator display showed the floor numbers slowly rising, and she was wrapped in a high-quality cashmere coat. Fu Yingcheng didn’t touch her directly with his palms but supported her knees through the coat with his elbows.

The man had an impressive build, with broad, straight shoulders. His arms, wrapped in fabric, exuded a sense of taut strength.

Only the back of his neck, covered by the dark collar, was visible, with short black hair and skin of a cold, pale hue.

The silver-framed glasses rested on his ears, extending down to a sharply defined jawline, clean and coldly striking.

Ji Fanling’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Somewhere deep in her subconscious, she felt that this scene was strangely familiar.

It was as if, at some point, somewhere, she had been carried like this before.

Ji Fanling’s thoughts moved sluggishly as she pondered, suddenly lifting her head. She was met with her own reflection in the mirrored elevator doors, showing half of her head resting on Fu Yingcheng’s shoulder.

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over her.

Her gaze stiffly moved up inch by inch, only to meet Fu Yingcheng’s cold, sideways glance.

Ji Fanling: “……”

“Awake?” The man, as expected, spoke up.

Whether it was due to gravity or guilt, the girl slid down a little.

The man’s arm supported the base of her legs, lifting her up again.

Then came a light, measured chuckle.

It was hard to tell if it carried a hint of mockery or something else.

“… Since it’s still early, want to go have another meal with Cheng Jiali?”

---

Author’s Note:

Ji Fanling: …

P.S. 00 (Lingling) would never flirt with her ex, haha! She’s long moved on; it’s (the ex) who can’t forget their early love that died young, and it’s (Mr. Fu) someone who still holds grudges about the ex—I’m not naming names.

There will be many red envelopes in the comments section! Thank you, dear readers, for your support! Tomorrow’s update will be posted early at midnight! More red envelopes to come! Muah muah muah!!

---