Chapter 62

Cheng Yanjin kept his word. After dropping Lin Langyi off at the company, he snatched her bag and followed her all the way to his office.

When passing employees greeted Lin Langyi, they inevitably saw Cheng Yanjin, who had meticulously groomed himself that morning: "President Lin... um, President Cheng?"

Cheng Yanjin seemed to enjoy going to work even more than she did, nodding left and right with a beaming smile:

"Yes, good morning."

"Okay, I'll take her to work."

There were rumors circulating within the company last night about a madman appearing, so Meng Hui had people install a facial recognition system early this morning. From now on, people will scan their faces to enter the premises.

The accident happened yesterday, and he picked her up and dropped her off today. Employees who knew the situation praised him, saying, "So he's a protector of a beautiful woman. They have such a good relationship."

People do need external feedback.

Cheng Yanjin didn't sleep a wink last night, thinking about some things over and over again until his mood had sunk to the bottom. But then he received a bunch of blessings like "birds flying wing to wing" at Lin Langyi's company, and his mood immediately brightened.

He felt completely pleased, his smile never fading. He was so flattered that he nudged Lin Langyi with his elbow, saying shyly, "Since your company's employees are so nice, should I treat everyone to milk tea and fruit?"

Lin Langyi was speechless at his sunny demeanor. How could she not know that this person was just there to make an appearance at the company and, incidentally, to solidify his status as her fiancé?

She stared straight ahead, her lips barely moving: "If you don't leave now, you'll be late. What, does Cheng's company not have a clock-in system? Don't you get penalized for being late?"

Cheng Yanjin stretched his shoulders and neck, and chuckled, "I'm the boss."

He was in a particularly good mood after running around all that way. Seeing that Lin Langyi was busy with work and was about to lose patience with him, he decided to call it a day and reluctantly said goodbye.

No sooner had he left than Lin Langyi took out her phone and opened the chat window where she had received a message long ago but had yet to reply.

Y: [Was breakfast good?]

Pearl: [Don't send breakfast anymore. Cheng Yanjin also gets up early now, so we eat together.]

The other party displayed "typing," but the message didn't arrive for quite some time.

Lin Langyi tossed her phone aside, and it only vibrated once after she finished reading the initial draft prepared by the publicity department.

She glanced at it, and the other person sent a message: "I'll bring lunch from now on."

Lin Langyi gripped the phone, put it back, and didn't reply.

But when it comes to lunch, she really planned to go to the small restaurant near the gate of Y University to get takeout and order food to take to the hospital to eat with Bian Shu.

She acted immediately, first searching through her family group chat, which was usually silent and only used old-fashioned emojis, and found a "Good morning" emoji with colorful fluorescent colors, which she then forwarded to Bian Shu.

Follow it with: "Are you feeling better today?"

The other party replied very quickly, and Lin Langyi guessed that perhaps it was because there was nothing else to do in the ward except watch TV, so he kept playing with his phone.

She looked at the sentence, "[Much better, Aunt Meng has arranged a caregiver, who is very attentive, so don't worry]", and thought that he seemed to be in good condition.

She pressed her advantage, asking, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

Yes, I've already eaten.

"Shall we have lunch together? I'll be over in a bit."

The response speed on the other end visibly slowed down.

Bian Shu was always like this. Although he came from a humble background, he had always been very knowledgeable about interpersonal relationships since childhood. He was always unwilling to trouble others because he felt that the debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay.

Because of his upright character, he never takes any crooked thoughts to seek profit, nor is he envious of others for petty gains. He is down-to-earth and honest in every step he takes, so it is difficult for others to tempt him to do favors with benefits.

Therefore, she wasn't actually sure if Bian Shu would be willing to take advantage of their past relationship and give her a break by revealing the results of his research after their reunion.

Ultimately, Bian Shu is not an easy person to approach.

He was unlike anyone else in the world. He had his own set of rules and a strong sense of pride. He was the kind of person who was immersed in his own world and had his own set of rigid rules.

But unfortunately, he came from a poor family, so when Lin Langyi touched his straight, open shoulders and hard bones, he would occasionally strangely sense his well-hidden inferiority complex.

For example, when Bian Shu was in school, he met the criteria for a student from a poor family. He had a perfect GPA and comprehensive assessment, and he had won competitions and published papers. He undoubtedly received funding from the Lin family.

At that time, he did not know that Lin Langyi was the eldest daughter of the Lin family. So, he was awarded a certificate as an outstanding representative on the stage, but when he came to find her, he found her talking intimately with Meng Hui and her daughter. His feet were instantly rooted to the ground.

After that, he never applied for financial aid for students from impoverished families again, and instead chose to work as a tutor at an off-campus institution.

To make up for the shortfall in the fund and to avoid looking so financially strapped and embarrassed in front of her, he kept his tutoring schedule very full, with a strict and tight to-do list from morning to night, which he completed meticulously on time.

Lin Langyi sometimes found him terrifying; he was a ruthless person who had evolved to lose sleep.

She remembered that Bian Shu was the most favored by his mentor in his studies, as an undergraduate. He worked on many projects with him, and several senior students would deliberately make him stay up all night in the science and engineering laboratory building, repeating experiments without rest during winter and summer vacations.

Lin Langyi once sat beside him, watching him process data from morning till night without blinking, yet the key results were not significant. She was getting a headache just watching, but Bian Shu simply saved the record and went back to the first step of the experiment.

His advisor said at the time that he was better suited to working with data than with people, so he was better suited to work in a research institute in the future.

Lin Langyi had always felt the same way.

Once, a senior student from the same group saw her sitting outside the lab waiting for her to finish her assignment. That day, she was wearing a pleated skirt, and when she sat down, the skirt rode up a bit, revealing half of her fair thigh. The senior student, as if his brain was full of shit, said a few vulgar things to her. She immediately grabbed a long-handled umbrella that was still dripping with water and swung it at his head, cleanly and decisively cracking his skull open.

Even after the fight was over, senior students from the neighboring labs came out to check on the situation and try to break up the fight, but Bian Shu was still engrossed in his experiment and oblivious to what was happening outside.

The senior brother didn't expect Lin Langyi to be so beautiful, yet she attacked without warning, and before he could react, he was hit several times.

Seeing that the crowd was gradually increasing, he realized that it was not advisable to make a scene, so he covered his bleeding nose with one hand and slipped away with his head down and shoulders slumped.

Lin Langyi didn't tell Bian about it afterward. She was hungry after the fight, and seeing that he couldn't finish the experiment in a long time, she even slipped out and ate a big meal by herself.

But since someone witnessed what happened, Bian Shu eventually found out about it. Lin Langyi took revenge on the spot, and after the fight, he moved on and didn't dwell on it. But he was still curious about Bian Shu's reaction.

But he was like a block of wood. Apart from questioning her three or four times about the cause and effect of the matter like a police interrogation, he finally nodded with a sullen face and said he understood, and then nothing more.

At first, the senior students didn't dare to let Bian Shu do experiments anymore, but after observing him closely for a week and seeing no abnormalities, they finally felt at ease and started ordering him around as before. After all, once a person has gone through a period of rest, they don't really want to get up again.

Therefore, knowing the cause and effect, Lin Langyi strongly agreed with her mentor's statement to Bian Shu: "He is not suited to getting along with people, but is suited to dealing with numbers."

However, a year later, the foul-mouthed senior was publicly criticized for academic misconduct and his graduation was delayed. Because he could not produce a research paper, his graduation certificate and degree certificate were nowhere in sight.

He insisted that he had also been deceived, but Lin Langyi didn't care about the specific truth.

However, her angelic roommates were still upset about what happened before. They brought it up when they were eating together in the cafeteria. Bian Shu was there at the time, but she didn't say anything.

After her roommate went back, she secretly told Lin Langyi that Bian Shu was boring and couldn't provide any emotional value. She said that if they spent more time together, she would really be driven crazy by his taciturn nature.

What was her response at the time?

She said, "That's just how he is. He doesn't have any dramatic emotional ups and downs, but it's okay. Nine out of ten couples break up after graduation."

But even such a self-disciplined and extremely proud person could lose his composure like that when they broke up.

His humble, spineless demeanor, pleading and begging to stay, was the most memorable scene from their three-year relationship.

No matter how you look at it, the fact that she dumped him must be a minefield he doesn't want to recall, and she probably can't stand being treated well either.

Lin Langyi sighed... Oh, who would have thought things would turn out this way? If only we had parted amicably back then.

But then again, Bian Shu's demeanor at the time didn't seem like the kind of person who could part amicably. If she had given even the slightest hint, he definitely wouldn't have broken up with her, no matter what.

She reflected on the steps of her breakup and gained a deeper understanding of the saying "practice makes perfect." She thought that next time she broke up with Cheng Yanjin, she would definitely learn from her mistakes and part ways amicably, learning from her errors and never repeating the same mistake.

Humans are always progressing and spiraling upwards.

Just as I was lost in thought, my phone vibrated again. Finally, a WeChat message arrived, albeit belatedly, from someone nicknamed "Xuezhishuliang":

I heard from Aunt Meng yesterday that you work very hard every day. If you're very busy, please focus on what you're doing first. I'm fine.

Yesterday, she said she was busy with Cheng Yanjin and Yuan Chuyu, but it was clearly Cheng Yanjin and Yuan Chuyu she was busy with.

Lin Langyi pondered the wording for a moment and felt that it didn't sound like Bian Shu's tone of rejection. In the past, when he rejected something, he would only say a cold "no" instead of rambling on and on with so many words.

Pearl: [I do have time to eat, but I was mainly worried about you and wanted to come see you.]

After sending this message, the other party replied very quickly:

【OK. 】

Lin Langyi had a good plan. She would use the familiar taste of the chicken feather shop as a starting point to express the deep affection between the two of them in the past, and then get to the main topic to win over Bian Shu in one fell swoop.

However, reality proved harsh. Because the publicity department revised the first draft twice and held another meeting, it was past midnight by the time Lin Langyi finished the meeting.

The chicken feather shop is packed with customers. If I go to get takeout now, and then go to the hospital, by the time I eat it, it will have turned into afternoon tea.

She was in a bit of a panic, calling the company cafeteria to ask the chef to cook some dishes, when Xiaoyu knocked on the door, poked her head out, and held up a paper bag she was carrying: "President Lin, your takeout."

Lin Langyi turned her head and saw that the bag in Xiaoyu's hand was exactly the same as the breakfast bag from that morning. She almost burst into tears of joy.

If it weren't for the fact that Yuan Chuyu is capable!

This meal has become a lovingly prepared bento box by her "hands"!

“It’s mine, thank you Xiaoyu!” Lin Langyi accepted the phone with a big smile, while the chef on the other end was still asking how many dishes she wanted.

"Make just a few, thank you." Lin Langyi already had the script in her mind and said meticulously, "You don't need to make them too perfect. A little undercooked or a little burnt is fine, or add more salt. It's okay if they don't taste very good!"

*

Lin Langyi arrived at the Second Hospital around 1 p.m. She carried a large insulated bag in each hand and took the elevator to the inpatient department.

Bian Shu's ward door was not completely closed, but left ajar, as if waiting for a guest who might push the door open at any moment.

Lin Langyi, carrying bags of various sizes in both hands, pushed the door open with her toes and went straight in.

She saw Bian Shu sitting upright on the bed, with a thick English dictionary in his hand, reading it intently.

The curtains were fully open, letting in bright light that cast shadows on his slightly pale face, highlighting the sharp, defined bone structure of his profile. He looked incredibly captivating as he immersed himself in his work.

Lin Langyi paused for a second, then closed the book, looked at her, and smiled.

"You've arrived."

"Well, something came up, so I'm late. Are you hungry?"

Bian Shu shook his head: "It's okay. I used to eat late when I was abroad too. Have you forgotten how we worked day and night when we were doing experiments?"

He smiled and said, "When I get busy, I lose all sense of time, so I don't feel hungry. I'm used to it. You're telling me to eat earlier, but I don't have an appetite yet."

Lin Langyi turned her head and looked around: "Hey, where's the caregiver?"

His expression faltered for a moment. He slightly turned his head and said in his usual tone, "She... oh, I saw she was working hard, so I told her to take a break at noon. Anyway, I don't have anything to do here for the time being."

Lin Langyi understood. She placed both insulated bags on the bedside table and explained, "Because there wasn't time to go to the chicken feather shop, I had the chef at the cafeteria make me something."

Bian Shu paused in tidying up the other items on the bedside table, and the water in the cup in her hand rippled slightly before disappearing into the water.

"You did it yourself." He seemed to be in a daze for a moment, then mumbled the rest of the sentence.

Lin Langyi replied without batting an eye: "Mm."

He sat silently, as if frozen in place, until Lin Langyi raised the small table on the hospital bed, at which point he rushed over to help as if waking from a dream.

He seemed somewhat distracted, and his movements were too large, causing him to accidentally knock over some books, which made the IV tube attached to the back of his hand sway.

"Hey, hey, don't move!" Lin Langyi grabbed his arm without thinking. "We'll remove the needles in a bit."

Bian Shu reacted strongly, his arm trembling, and he looked up at her like a half-dead wooden block.

Lin Langyi arranged the boxed lunches one by one on the small table, looking at the dishes that weren't particularly appealing in terms of color, aroma, or taste with satisfaction. She then handed him a pair of chopsticks, saying, "Eat up. Just so you know, I'm really not a good cook, I don't cook."

“I know.” He pursed his lips, as if lost in some fond memory. “Back when your class rented short-term rentals and cooked for your own group activities, you asked me to cook for you.”

As he spoke, a smile curved his lips. Although she had treated him like a savior and put him to work as her assistant, he was incredibly happy: "Did you hear what your class's organization committee member said back then?"

Lin Langyi was delighted as she automatically began reminiscing about the past, without needing any introduction or transition, and asked in response, "What did you say?"

Bian Shu was a little embarrassed and lowered his voice: "I've seen boyfriends and girlfriends accompany each other to each other's major classes, but this is the first time I've seen someone come to cook."

"So what! All the dishes you cooked were devoured, and besides, you were the head chef for all the meat and main dishes." Although Lin Langyi didn't remember the details, she did remember Bian Shu's feat of cooking for the whole family while standing on a stool when he was seven or eight years old, so she also remembered his excellent cooking skills.

Bian Shu looked away completely, and a faint blush appeared on her originally bloodless face. She said in a low voice, "That's not what you told the organization committee member back then."

Huh? What did she say?

Bian Shu turned his back to her and didn't see Lin Langyi's bewildered expression. He asked in a low voice, "Do you remember what you said back then?"

No! That was ages ago, how could she possibly remember? She has a human brain, not a computer.

Lin Langyi's legs, which had been relaxed and crossed, tensed up and closed, as if she had been suddenly called on by the teacher to answer a question in class.

She did want to reminisce about the past, but only to remind Bian Shu that their relationship was extraordinary.

I didn't come here to be randomly selected for questions!

Lin Langyi broke out in a cold sweat, thinking to herself that she had almost forgotten the anniversary of their relationship, so how could she possibly remember what they said during a meal she cooked on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year? Unless she was the one who stewed herself in the iron pot that day, she wouldn't have any recollection of it.

"Well... anyway, I refuted him." Lin Langyi began to dodge the question.

"You're right, your future spouse will definitely have to be a master chef." His voice was so low that the half of his ear peeking out from under the gauze was so red. "What kind of man can he be if he can't even manage the kitchen?"

That sounds like something she would say.

Lin Langyi clapped her hands: "Yes, yes, that's what I said."

Bian Shu held chopsticks in her hand, her eyes lingering on the bowls of food, and suddenly asked, "Can your fiancé cook?"

Lin Langyi was startled by this sudden revelation of his true intentions. She had originally intended to say that Cheng Yanjin's skills were inferior to Bian Shu's, and to flatter him: "He simply can't—"

"Really?" Bian Shu's smile gradually faded. "So that's why you started practicing cooking?"

ah? ?

She was dumbfounded. Just as she was trying to salvage the situation by flattering the horse's hoof, the redness around her ears gradually faded, and her expression seemed to be a mixture of resentment and heartbreak.

He said, "So, all those rules and regulations are actually set up for people you don't love. When you really meet someone you like, all the previously set conditions can be compromised for them, right?"

Lin Langyi was covered in sweat, feeling lost and helpless, like someone in a short drama who had answered questions without any problems but was constantly stepping into dead ends.

She quickly stopped her from the source: "What are you thinking? I never cook, I always order takeout. This meal was specially made for you, that's why it doesn't look good."

"If I cooked every day, would things have turned out like this?"

Bian Shu moved his lips, his hand holding the chopsticks trembling slightly. He turned his face and looked at her deeply, then suddenly gave her a contradictory smile that was both sad and joyful.

He began to eat, picking up the dishes that Lin Langyi had deliberately "missed" and putting them into his bowl, chewing and swallowing them.

Lin Langyi also held a bowl, glancing at him every now and then. She saw Bian Shusu with a calm face, eating non-stop as if he had lost his sense of taste.

“Uh… if you’re full…” She recalled the process of sprinkling seasonings as vicious as a witch making medicine, and tried to stop her with a heavy heart.

Bian Shu moved the dishes that Yuan Chuyu had made in front of her: "These are pretty good, they'll suit your taste better, you can have these."

After saying that, he turned his chopsticks and continued to pick up the dishes that weren't very tasty.

Lin Langyi's conscience was touched, so she stopped him and forcefully picked up the dish that Yuan Chuyu had made and put it into his bowl: "You eat this too."

Just as they were feeding the baby, there was a knock on the ward door. Bian Shu thought it was the caregiver returning and called out, "Come in."

Before the final tone of the word "enter" could be finished, the door opened, and Bian Shu suddenly stopped all sound.

"What's wrong? Eat up, eat more." Lin Langyi was still enthusiastically serving Bian Shu the dishes that Yuan Chuyu had made when she turned her head and found that the person standing at the door was none other than the real Yuan Chuyu.

Yuan Chuyu held a document in one hand and slowly withdrew the other from the doorknob, casually slipping it into his pocket. Tall and elegant, he gazed at the two people having lunch with him with a hint of aloofness and a subtle coolness.

Lin Langyi was still holding his lovingly prepared bento box in her hand, trying to present it to Buddha, when she felt her brain was going to shut down.

Yuan Chuyu naturally saw it too. His gaze lingered on the dishes on the table for a second, then shifted to the gift in her hand, and finally slowly returned to her face, revealing a half-smile.

Lin Langyi paused, then forced a smile and asked, "President Yuan, what brings you here?"

"President Lin." He also enunciated each word clearly, a slight smile on his face, "I went to your office first, and Xiaoyu told me that you still took time out of your busy schedule to come to the hospital, so I came to deliver the documents."

He waved his hand: "The second phase of commercial loan that we agreed on before."

This is a big deal!

Lin Langyi perked up, immediately put down her bowl and chopsticks, stood up and went to the door to greet them: "Oh, thank you, President Yuan, for bringing this over in person. But it is important, and we really need to take it seriously."

He stood at the door without taking a single step inside. Lin Langyi didn't pull him in, but instead went straight to the point and took the documents from his hand, just like a donkey pulling a millstone with only carrots in front of it but no work to do.

Suddenly, Bian Shu behind him coughed, as if he had choked on something.

Lin Langyi subconsciously turned her head to check, but the arm had already reached out towards Yuan Chuyu. Because their eyes missed each other, she missed the target on her first attempt.

Bian Shu was still coughing while covering his mouth. Lin Langyi said with concern, "Take it easy," and then looked back at the documents in Yuan Chuyu's hand.

He stood still, clearly not moving his hand; she had simply missed.

When she tried to take it again, Yuan Chuyu slowly raised his arm and casually held the document to his ear, missing her finger.

Lin Langyi looked up at him, and he lowered his eyes to meet her gaze for a moment, his gentle and refined smile unchanged.

"I haven't eaten yet either," he said in a whisper, only the two of them could hear. "This is for two people, I originally wanted to..."

"The result." He smiled at her with an even gentler smile, his exceptionally handsome face truly outstanding.

"Come on, come on, you've worked so hard, you should eat too!" Lin Langyi was a mother to everyone, and invited them warmly.

She spoke sweetly and ingratiatingly, and with a swift movement, Yuan Chuyu did not dodge this time, and snatched the document from her.

"I'm so sorry." His gaze swept over her shoulder and met the dark, unfathomable eyes on the hospital bed.

The two stared at each other silently for a while. Yuan Chuyu's eyelids slowly drooped, his jawline tightened coldly, and the smile he had shown when facing Lin Langyi slowly disappeared from his lips. His arrogant and aloof aristocratic aura was fully revealed.

"Then I'll have to bother you," he said.