Wife, dear

The morning light filtered through the clean glass windows, spilling onto the half-empty bed. Jiang Yibai lay there bored, his fingers occasionally twisting the few soft strands of hair left on the pillow—those accidentally left by Lin Xiyan when she woke up that morning.

The room was too quiet. Not the gentle breathing of the person beside him, not the rustling of pages turning, not even the whereabouts of Bai Yan. Just him, and his body, a little limp and bored now that the fever had subsided.

He reached for his phone on the bedside table, and the screen lit up, displaying several unread messages. He clicked on it, revealing the small group chat with only four people—him, Lu Panji, He Yunling, and... Lin Xiyan, whom he had forcibly dragged into the group and who almost never spoke.

There are already dozens of messages in the group.

Lu Panji: @Jiang Yibai, Brother Jiang! What's up? Are you really sick? Is it serious? Can you still breathe?

[He Yunling: It seems he is seriously ill, otherwise he would have burst into tears long ago.]

Lu Panji: Tsk tsk, a hero bows down to a beauty! The way they rushed out yesterday was like something out of an idol drama.

He Yunling: It was quite touching, but the scene where he was charging on someone's shoulder was a bit of a blow to his image.

Lu Panji: Hahahahahahahahaha! It's unbearable to watch! It's like a giant koala gone wild! @Lin Xiyan, thank you for your hard work, brother! Taking care of such a thing!

He Yunling: @Lin Xiyan, I sympathize with you. Next time he has an attack, I suggest just throwing him out.

Lu Panji: I agree! I don't want a brother like this who's so clingy and pretentious! [dislike.jpg]

This was followed by a series of mocking and teasing emoticons.

Jiang Yibai stared at the screen. Far from being angry, the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably. A strange, childish desire to show off arose within him. He typed slowly, his fingertips brimming with arrogance.

Jiang Yibai: I'm panting. Thanks for your concern.

Lu Panji: Wow! Alive! Looks like Lin Xiyan's taking good care of him, huh?

Jiang Yibai: Yeah. It's pretty good.

He Yunling: Could you please elaborate? Let's learn how to take care of a giant baby.

Jiang Yibai: It's nothing. I just fed him porridge, wiped his sweat, and stayed up all night.

Jiang Yibai: Oh, the water was also fed to my mouth one mouthful at a time.

Jiang Yibai: I don't even know how to read a thermometer. I have to be taught step by step.

Jiang Yibai: He's a bit clingy, he won't sleep unless I hold his hand. There's nothing I can do about it, the patient is the biggest one.

He sent one message after another, his tone as calm as if he was stating objective facts, but between the lines was full of undisguised boasting and pride, as if being sick was a great opportunity.

The group was silent for a few seconds, clearly stunned by this blunt display of skill.

immediately--

【Lu Panji: ??? 】

He Yunling: ...I vomited. Seriously.

Lu Panji: Jiang Yibai, have some shame!!! Is this taking care of a patient? This is like serving your ancestors!

[He Yunling: @Lin Xiyan, run! Now! Immediately! Right now! You can't control this yandere!]

[Lu Panji: That's right! He even fed me food and water! Look at him! Is his arm broken?! He's just pretending! Really pretending!]

He Yunling: Normally he's as cold as an iceberg to us, but then he turns around and becomes incredibly clingy. What a hypocrite!

Lu Panji: Lin Xiyan, wake up! Don't be fooled by him! He's just using his illness to gain sympathy! You can't have a man like that!

The news spread quickly, all of which were condemnations and "persuasion to break up".

Jiang Yibai looked at the screen and sneered, completely unconcerned. He was even in a better mood. This was exactly the effect he wanted. He typed slowly and delivered the final blow:

Jiang Yibai: Oh.

Jiang Yibai: So you don’t have a wife to feed you, give you water, and hold you to sleep?

Jiang Yibai: How pitiful.

The group exploded instantly.

【Lu Panji: !!!!!!!!! 】

[He Yunling: ...Jiang Yibai, you're done.]

[Lu Panji: Block him! Must block him! End of friendship!]

Lu Panji: @Lin Xiyan, look at him! Look at how deadly he is! Take care of him!

[He Yunling: @Lin Xiyan, scold him right now, we are still good friends.]

The messages kept ringing, all of them were Lu Panji and He Yunling's angry messages and bombardment with emoticons.

Jiang Yibai watched with satisfaction, tossing his phone aside. He imagined the two men jumping up and down in anger, his mouth almost grinning from ear to ear. Cool.

The morning self-study classroom was noisy, a mix of reading and whispers. Lin Xiyan lowered her head, trying to focus on the English words in front of her, but her fingertips unconsciously stroked the edge of the page.

The phone in his pocket vibrated. He ignored it. A moment later, it vibrated several more times.

He frowned slightly and hesitated for a moment, but while the teacher was looking down at the lesson plan, he quickly took out his cell phone, turned it to silent mode, and turned it on.

It's the group with only four people. There are already 99+ messages.

He hesitated before clicking on it, starting with the earliest message. Seeing Lu Panji and He Yunling concerned about Jiang Yibai's illness, his heart warmed slightly. He felt a little hot in his ears when he saw them teasing Jiang Yibai for being so clingy yesterday.

Then, he saw Jiang Yibai’s remarks which were… “shocking”.

[Just fed him porridge, wiped his sweat, and stayed up all night.]

[Oh, the water was also fed to my mouth one mouthful at a time.]

[He's a bit clingy, he won't sleep unless I hold your hand. There's nothing I can do about it, he's the most patient.]

So you don’t have a wife to feed you, give you water, and hold you to sleep?

How pitiful.

Lin Xiyan's cheeks flushed instantly, and even his neck was tinged with crimson. He slammed the screen shut, his heart pounding like he'd been caught red-handed. He... why was he saying anything?

The sounds of morning reading seemed to fade away, and all he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat and the throbbing of blood rushing to his head. Too... too shameful!

The phone vibrated again in the palm of his hand. It was Lu Panji and He Yunling's angry messages swiping and @ing the screen. The words were full of condemnation of Jiang Yibai and exhortation for him to "run away".

He looked at the messages and Jiang Yibai's arrogant and childish boasting, and his heart felt like a mixture of emotions: shame, helplessness, and a hint of... a very subtle sweetness that he himself had not even noticed.

He knew that Lu Panji and the others were just joking and had no ill intentions, but he didn't like them talking about Jiang Yibai like that.

Pretending to die... double standard dog... yandere...

It's not like that.

He pursed his lips, his fingers trembling slightly as he hovered over the screen. He was struggling internally. He rarely spoke in the group chat, almost like a invisible person.

But……

He took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind, and with trembling fingers, he typed the letters very slowly, one by one. Because of nervousness, he made several mistakes and had to delete them and start over.

After finally finishing typing, he closed his eyes and, as if using up all his strength, pressed the send button. Then he quickly stuffed the phone back into his pocket as if it were a hot potato, his face flushed red, and he lowered his head, wishing he could crawl into the table.

In the group, that freshly-posted message, strewn with typos and hastily corrected, suddenly appeared next to the latest one:

[Lin Xiyan: Jiang Yibai is very gentle, not that bad (ˊˋ)]

It was followed by a built-in, somewhat silly-looking smiling emoticon.

The buzzing group chat suddenly fell silent.

It's like the pause button has been pressed.

A few seconds later.

【Lu Panji: ??????】

He Yunling: ...

[Lu Panji: Wait? What did I see?]

[He Yunling: The real boss is gone?]

Lu Panji: No... Lin Xiyan, you? He put a spell on you!

[He Yunling: [Screenshot.jpg] This tone… this expression… @Jiang Yibai, did you teach this? ? ?]

Lu Panji: Gentle??? He said Jiang Yibai is gentle??? Is this world crazy or am I?!

[He Yunling: @Jiang Yibai, what on earth did you do to our poor Xiyan?! Did you torture her to extract a confession?]

Jiang Yibai, who was lying on the bed scrolling through group messages and waiting to see the two continue their helpless rage, was completely stunned when he saw Lin Xiyan's message.

He looked at the awkwardly worded message, even adorably studded with typos and emoticons, three times over. His heart felt like it was being gently tickled by the softest feather, or completely enveloped in warm honey. An indescribable feeling of immense surprise and satisfaction instantly overwhelmed all his thoughts.

He suddenly sat up from the bed, not caring about his still weak body, holding the phone, the corners of his mouth curled up wildly, and he smiled like a child weighing over 100 pounds.

His fingers were typing rapidly.

[Jiang Yibai: @Lu Panji @He Yunling, did you see that?]

Jiang Yibai: [screenshot.jpg]

Jiang Yibai: My wife.

Jiang Yibai: Dear.

Jiang Yibai: Are you envious? Are you jealous?

[Jiang Yibai: What a pity you didn’t. :)]

After sending the message, he immediately set his phone to Do Not Disturb and tossed it aside. He fell back onto the bed, covering his head with the quilt, and let out an uncontrollable, muffled giggle.

Elsewhere, in the classroom, Lin Xiyan didn't dare look at his phone. He could imagine the bloody chaos in the group chat. His cheeks were burning, and even when the English teacher called on him to read the text, his voice trembled slightly.

But somewhere in my heart, I felt unusually soft and at ease because of the message I sent.

He could even imagine Jiang Yibai's smug and silly look when he saw the news.

It seems... it's not bad to do this occasionally.