Chapter 56 Illness

Dinner was finally decided to be a barbecue. In the extremely exquisitely maintained garden on the top of the mountain, a group of young masters wanted to experience rural life, so they had an open-air barbecue. There were a group of chefs and servants waiting nearby, responsible for cutting vegetables, skewering vegetables, and burning charcoal.

"Cheche! Come here quickly!"

Li Zimai waved at him while holding the skewers. When Cheng Che walked in, he couldn't wait to show Cheng Che his masterpiece - a mid-wing with black and red colors.

Cheng Che took off his apron, put it on himself, and demonstrated how to grill the meat simultaneously and quickly. As he sprinkled the ingredients, Zhou Xumao and his young couple clapped and shouted, "Chef, what a great chef!"

After grilling a plate of meat, Li Zimai quickly surrounded the man, forcibly took off his apron and handed it to the aunt next to him, "Okay, okay, let's wait and eat after the show, okay?"

He didn't want to work hard to barbecue for this group of people.

The male classmate complained: "Brother Che's cooking skills are so good, we can't even try it."

Zhou Xumao agreed: "Yes, yes, yes! Can I go to your house someday to try Cheche's cooking?"

Before Li Zimai could refuse, Cheng Che nodded and agreed: "Okay."

Zhou Xumao glanced at his girlfriend, then looked back at Li Zimai with envy, "Hey, how lucky are you to have found such a good housekeeper like Cheche?"

Li Zimai immediately became proud and said, "The Jiang family's ancestors have blessed us. You can't envy them."

Zhou Xumao: "You are too arrogant."

After eating and drinking, everyone lay on the sofa bed and watched an open-air movie.

It was midsummer, the evening breeze was cool, the hanging lights on the vines in the garden were talking to the stars in the sky, and the air was filled with the occasional smell of earth. Cheng Che remembered that when he was a child, he loved lying on his grandmother's back and watching her dig the soil and then plant peanuts. The smell of the earth was exactly the same as it is now.

He looked at Li Zimai from the side and said in a low voice: "...Li Zimai, I miss my grandma..."

Li Zimai rarely heard him talk about his family, let alone say he missed his grandmother in such a soft tone. He stretched out his arms and took Cheng Che in his arms, saying softly, "How about we go back to see Grandma tomorrow?"

Cheng Che didn't answer. After a long pause, he said, "...Teacher Zuo's project is about to close for bids."

"But you miss grandma. We can go there quickly and come back quickly. I will ask Teacher Zuo for leave for you tomorrow morning."

Li Zimai knew best that Cheng Che was prone to regret, so he had to follow his promise and do it immediately, otherwise he would deny it the next day.

Cheng Che nodded, his head resting heavily on his shoulder. He had fallen asleep before the movie was over. Li Zimai didn't wake him up, but hooked his legs and picked him up.

There are several villas in the villa. Li Zimai carried Cheng Che to the nearest one. Cheng Che, who always had poor sleep, was rarely woken up and leaned on Li Zimai's arms all the way.

Gu Wei whispered to him, "I didn't realize Master Li was so caring."

Li Zimai lowered his voice and said, "Don't talk."

Afraid of waking up his Cheche.

Gu Wei silently followed and opened the door for them. The science PhD who had never been in a relationship watched Li Zimai put his partner gently and slowly on the bed, taking off his shoes, covering him with a quilt, and kissing him goodnight, providing him with a one-stop service. He learned a lot of dating skills.

After closing the door, Li Zimai said, "Why did you follow me here? Go back and take a shower and go to bed."

Gu Wei glanced through the crack in the door, and Li Zimai immediately closed the door tightly and warned, "Why are you staring at my Cheche all the time? Don't even think about it!"

"Relax, no one is watching you, Cheche."

Gu Wei said, "I just want to remind you that your Cheche sometimes looks at you in a strange way, you know."

"What's wrong with that? He loves me, so the way he looks at me must be different from the way he looks at you."

Gu Wei sighed and said, "I've always thought you had a high IQ, and your EQ isn't low either."

Li Zimai clenched his fists and murmured, "I know. I can see it."

Li Zimai has always known that Cheng Che has always been a layer of separation between him and him. It's like he has closed a door to his heart. Li Zimai can see the door, but he is outside. No matter how he calls out to Cheng Che, he can't open the door either.

Cheng Che had been feeling a little uncomfortable since that tiring affair, but he had been enduring it, thinking that he was too tired in the past few days and had sex with Li Zimai so early in the morning.

Cheng Che always adhered to the principle of enduring minor illnesses, so much so that it was already late at night when Li Zimai discovered that he had a fever.

"Cheche...Cheche, where do you feel uncomfortable?"

Cheng Che hugged him in a daze, his face flushed, his skin extremely hot, and he was mumbling something.

Li Zimai was heartbroken and hurriedly knocked on Zhou Xumao's door, not caring about disturbing the young couple so late at night.

Zhou Xumao had just laid down when he opened the door to see Li Zimai wearing pajamas, with only one slipper on his feet, and his hair was as messy as a dog's kennel.

"Where's your doctor?"

Before Zhou Xumao could answer, he heard the other party anxiously deny: "Forget it, where is the nearest hospital near here?"

Zhou Xumao reacted, "What happened to Cheng Che?"

"I have a fever. I guess I'll feel uncomfortable this afternoon."

Li Zimai said this and he wanted to slap himself. He was so busy playing that he didn't even notice that Cheng Che was sick.

Zhuang Kaiyue instructed Zhou Xumao, "Doctor Feng is here, go and call him. I have a thermometer here, Zimai, take it to Cheng Che first."

While Zhou Xumao was calling the doctor, Zhuang Kaiyue comforted Li Zimai, "Don't worry, wait for Dr. Feng to come. He has everything. Let him see us first before we go to the hospital. This place is too far away."

Zhuang Kaiyue was worried that he couldn't handle it alone, so she followed him to the next door. As soon as she entered the door, she saw Li Zimai holding the man in his arms and taking his temperature, with a look of heartache on his face.

Zhuang Kaiyue had been dating Zhou Xumao for several years and was no longer a virgin, but she still blushed when she saw a naked handsome man hugging another handsome man with rosy complexion. "...Stay away from him for now, he has a fever and he's feeling unwell."

Li Zimai looked down at Cheng Che, touched his burning face, and said uncomfortably, "Cheche, are you feeling very uncomfortable?"

Cheng Che heard someone calling him in a daze. He wanted to open his eyes to see who it was, but his head felt like it was hit by a stone and he couldn't wake up. His body felt like it was thrown into the sea, extremely cold, and then put into the fire to be roasted. He was tossed back and forth so hard that he felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Xiao Che...wake up. Are you feeling unwell? Tell your mother."

"Don't feel bad, Xiao Che, are you feeling weak? Mommy will carry you and we'll go to the hospital. Mommy has taken a day off and will stay with you all day, okay?"

Um... I feel bad. Mom, I feel bad...

He only dared to cry in his dreams.

Cheng Che was a premature baby, weighing less than three kilograms when he was born. He stayed in the hospital incubator for a long time. At that time, the family was poor, and it was his grandmother who used up her savings from a whole year of busy farming season to save Cheng Che.

Before he was nine years old, Cheng Che had to be hospitalized every year. Whenever he caught a cold, he would have a fever, which would cause bronchitis and he would often feel shortness of breath. His grandmother felt very guilty, thinking that she had passed this problem on to her son and grandson, and she could only compensate them with more love.

But Cheng Lijia is a vampire. He never knows how to be grateful. His grandmother's doting has made him the annoying person he is today. He even pushed the old woman down several times.

After Cheng Che was born, the old man used the money that was originally spent on his son on his grandson. Cheng Lijia disliked his son as a disobedient burden, and beat and scolded him when he was unhappy. He beat him even harder when he was sick, and scolded Cheng Che as a useless thing while beating him.

Later, Cheng Che was afraid of getting sick. He always endured it and wore thick clothes, fearing that he would catch a cold and get beaten again. After enduring it for a long time, Cheng Che no longer cried out in pain. He would just hide in the room alone, covered with a quilt and crying, wondering why his mother hadn't come back yet.

At that time, Cheng Che's mother worked outside every day and came back very late. It was too late when she realized that Cheng Che was a loner. Cheng Che became violent and often lost his temper. It took her a long time to raise her son, but her son no longer liked to laugh.

Mom and grandma were Cheng Che's only light in that family, but later his mom died in front of Cheng Che.

"Xiao Che, you should tell your mother when your throat feels uncomfortable, otherwise your cold will get worse and you'll have to get injections for many days. Xiao Che, don't you hate injections the most?"

She always appeared in Cheng Che's dreams. That smiling face mixed with the bloody face tormented Cheng Che throughout his adolescence.

The doctor gave Cheng Che a fever-reducing injection. Li Zimai stayed by Cheng Che's side and wiped his body. Cheng Che couldn't wake up, so Li Zimai crushed the medicine into small pieces and fed it to him. Cheng Che was drowsy and talking nonsense, so Li Zimai held him and kept saying, "I'm here. I won't leave. I won't leave."

Li Zimai had never seen him so vulnerable, and he felt depressed and uncomfortable. His Cheche always kept herself tense and only dared to rely on him when she was sick. She hid in his arms with a red face, like a child asking for love. What should he do to make Cheche understand that she was worthy of being loved.

When it was dawn, Cheng Che's temperature dropped slightly, but Li Zimai still didn't dare to close his eyes. He got up and took a shower. In just a short while, Cheng Che's fever came back again.

Li Zimai put clothes, shoes and socks on Cheng Che and anxiously prepared to send him to the hospital. Just as he was carrying him out of the door, he ran into Gu Wei, who directly threw the car keys at him.

Before getting in the car, Cheng Che woke up for a while and struggled to get out of Li Zimai's arms. Li Zimai hugged him tighter and said in a low voice, "We're going to the hospital now. Be obedient."

Cheng Che didn't want to go to the hospital. Going to the hospital would cost money and waste time. He whispered, "...I want to go back."

Li Zimai rarely disrespected Cheng Che's opinion and directly carried him into the car.

Gu Wei was driving in front, glancing in the rearview mirror from time to time. Seeing Li Zimai's sullen face, he sighed and said, "Don't worry, I see Cheche is awake too, so it shouldn't be a big problem. I've already contacted the hospital, and we can just go straight to the ward."

Cheng Che didn't say anything. In the past, when his mother took him to see a doctor, he would have to wait for a long time on the cold chair in the hospital before his mother came to pick him up. He also had to sit in the lobby and corridor of the hospital to get an IV drip.

Although he felt very uncomfortable at that time, he wanted to stay there forever because his mother would be with him and Cheng Lijia would not be there. However, he was also afraid of the day when he would leave the hospital because that would mean he would have to go back to that home and worry about Cheng Lijia kicking him at any time.

Li Zimai could clearly feel Cheng Che's body stiffen slightly. His weak, burning fingers refused to relax as they clenched into fists. Li Zimai could only wrap his hands around his fists and coax him softly, "Cheche...if you're sick, go to the hospital. When you're well, we can go home to see grandma."

Cheng Che thought of something and his eyes became moist. This illness seemed to be breaking down the psychological defenses he had maintained for so long.