Chapter 14 "Don't move."

In the blink of an eye, that gloom disappeared, as if he had another face, vanishing in an instant and reverting to his initial cautious businessman demeanor—because Song Mingli also came out from the inner room.

The boss bowed and said, "This kid always has a loose tongue. I'm afraid he'll say something that might disturb the young master."

Song Mingli glanced at him, didn't reply, and walked to Ying Shixue's side.

Ying Shixue looked behind him: "Is it all wrapped up?"

Song Mingli nodded: "Let's go."

Even after the two figures had disappeared from sight, the waiter was still staring blankly out the door when he suddenly received a sharp rap on the forehead.

"Ouch," he cried, clutching his head. "Uncle, why did you hit me?"

The boss got angry and hit him again: "Hitting you is too lenient. Don't talk to outsiders about the south house in the future."

"I know," the waiter mumbled, "You've said it a hundred times..."

-

Their business trip is packed with days, and they've already done most of the preliminary work. If all goes well, they should be able to sign the final contract tonight.

It was already 2 PM when the two finished lunch. They walked out of the alleyway, where the bluestone slabs were scattered. Song Mingli opened the car door, and Tang Ronghan had been waiting for a while: "Boss, are we still going to Jiaochanglou for the meeting?"

Song Mingli hummed in agreement, sat in the back seat, and opened his laptop.

As the traffic slowly entered the main road, Song Mingli dealt with the backlog of emails for a while, and suddenly felt that something was wrong.

It's too quiet.

He turned his head and saw Ying Shixue leaning against the car window with her eyes closed, her brows slightly furrowed. The afternoon sunlight shone through the car window onto her face, making the edges almost transparently white.

Is he asleep? Song Mingli held the computer on his lap with one hand and reached out slightly with the other to check.

He was scalded by the heat of the hand as soon as he got close, and Song Mingli's expression changed: "Xiaoxue?"

Ying Shixue looked up, somewhat dazed, and asked, "Hmm?"

Tang Ronghan also noticed the situation, glancing back while keeping an eye on the traffic ahead: "What's wrong, boss?"

Song Mingli didn't say anything, opened the small storage box between the front seats, and took out a forehead thermometer.

Ying Shixue noticed the foreign object approaching and instinctively reached out to push it away and turn to the side to avoid it. Song Mingli clicked his tongue lightly, holding the instrument in one hand and easily wrapping his other hand around Ying Shixue's wrists to press down on his shoulders.

"Don't move."

The temperature gun beeped, and the display slowly showed a number—37.3℃.

"Turn around and go to the hospital."

Ying Shixue struggled to free her wrist but couldn't, and glared at him, signaling him to let go.

Song Mingli's expression softened, and Ying Shixue pushed his head away, saying, "I'm not going to the hospital."

"There was no medicine in the car or the hotel... how did I suddenly get a fever?"

Ying Shixue repeated herself: "I'm not going to the hospital."

Song Mingli frowned, about to say something, but suddenly stopped.

From his angle, he could only see a section of Ying Shixue's pale cheek, with a clear and beautiful jawline. Although she maintained a look of refusal on the surface, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly. It was only then that he noticed that Ying Shixue had her jawline taut.

Song Mingli stared at him for a moment, then turned to Tang Ronghan and said:

"Back to the hotel."

-

The hotel staff member, who was on duty in the lobby, rushed over with his first-aid kit after receiving the call.

After understanding the situation, the waiter breathed a sigh of relief: "It's just a low-grade fever, no need to take medicine yet. I suggest you drink some water and get some sleep. If the fever doesn't go down after three hours, then take one of these capsule pills."

Ying Shixue leaned against the bed, and after listening, smiled slightly: "Thank you."

He had changed into his pajamas and was huddled in an oversized blanket. He looked somewhat listless, probably due to his illness, yet he was also unusually thin and handsome.

At least the waiter blushed slightly after hearing his thanks, and stammered, "No, it's nothing. Please call me anytime if you need anything. By the way, my employee number is..."

Song Mingli interrupted him at just the right moment: "It's good that you're alright."

He tucked the slightly loose corner of the blanket around the person and said, "You get some rest. I'm going to a meeting and I'll be right back."

Ying Shixue nodded gently and buried her head in the pillow.

The pillowcase and blanket were white, but his face seemed even whiter than the surroundings. His eyelashes were gently closed, and there was a hint of red at the corners of his eyes—that was because his skin was so thin that even the slightest reaction would be very noticeable.

Song Mingli made a grasping motion in the air, as if trying to hold onto something, but his expression remained unchanged. He even glanced at the time with restraint and said, "Then I'll be going now."

Ying Shixue buried her head in the blanket and did not answer.

Song Mingli slowly stood up. The waiter originally wanted to find an excuse to stay a while longer, but after being coldly swept over by Song Mingli's eyes, he immediately sobered up, packed up his medicine box, and left.

The door slammed shut, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

On the large bed, the person who should have been asleep suddenly opened their eyes, their gaze clear and bright.

-

One hour ago, Juweige

After the busiest time of day, the front-of-house waiters were dozing off, looking a bit tired, when suddenly, hurried footsteps and a clear, pleasant voice rang out:

"Hello, do you have toothbrushes and toothpaste?"

The waiter jolted awake, stood up, and looked at the person who had come in.

He was a very young man with extremely fair skin and pure black hair. He covered his mouth with one hand, obscuring the lower half of his face, but judging from his exposed forehead and eyes, he was definitely a rare beauty.

Seeing him looking over, she smiled apologetically: "I accidentally ate some wasabi just now. I'm not used to it, it's too spicy. I rinsed my mouth but it still doesn't feel like it. I was thinking brushing my teeth might help."

"Yes, yes," the waiter quickly bent down to pull out a drawer, rummaged around for a bit, and then took out disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste: "Would you like a paper cup for rinsing your mouth?"

"Sure." The young man seemed to be in a hurry. He took the things, said "thank you," and then turned and left.

Even after the man's figure had turned the corner and disappeared from sight, the waiter was still staring blankly in the direction he had left.

...It's so beautiful.

bathroom

Ying Shixue put the paper cup and toothbrush aside, and without changing her expression, squeezed out the small tube of toothpaste and applied it to her temples. At the same time, she opened the mint candy in her pocket and poured the whole tube into her mouth.

The cool, spicy sensation shot straight to the top of her head. Ying Shixue stared at the person in the mirror without even blinking, and then used her teeth to crush the candies one by one.

Finally, five minutes later.

Ying Shixue reached out and felt the temperature on her forehead—it was starting to get hot.

-

He threw off the covers and got out of bed, quickly changing into his outdoor clothes, and then putting on a baseball cap and a mask.

Fortunately, the waiter arrived in time, though he wasn't very professional; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret any longer.

Ying Shixue rearranged the things on the bed as they were, pulled her hat brim down, and then walked out of the hotel lobby in a very dignified manner.

As soon as he arrived at the hotel, he hailed a taxi at the next intersection: "Nanhe Lane, Yongqing District".

-

Half an hour later, Ying Shixue stood in front of the burned-down house.

That guy was right, this place is indeed remote; we haven't seen a single person along the way.

The wooden door creaked open with a sound of disrepair, its noise particularly jarring in the otherwise quiet room.

Dust rushed towards him, and even though he was wearing a mask, Ying Shixue was still choked and couldn't stop coughing. After waving his hand to disperse the dust for a while, he finally calmed down and looked around.

Before me lay a scene of broken wells and ruins, with half of the burned beams lying askew on the ground, a wooden table missing a corner, and the white paint on the walls long since peeled off, revealing the stark white rammed earth.

Ying Shixue stood in the middle of the house and suddenly felt a little short of breath.

He reached up and loosened his collar, his nails digging into his palms in an attempt to stay awake, but his vision went completely blank.

Red, large swathes of orange-red flames.

The flames licked at everything in their path, causing everything to collapse. The air was thick with the pungent smell of burning fire, and the waves of heat made it hard to open one's eyes. A woman in a white lab coat blocked the exit with her body and screamed at him:

"Run! Run!"

"Don't look back!!"

Collision, falls, dizziness—he ran forward desperately, but the large hand behind him, like a nightmare he could never escape from in his illusion, suddenly gripped his throat across layers of time.

ah--

He slipped and fell to the ground, cold sweat dripping down his face.

It took a long time before the image reappeared in front of her. Ying Shixue stood up slowly, panting.

The man-made fire that year almost burned everything, and the entrance to the underground laboratory was also buried underground forever when it collapsed, but there must still be some evidence.

But he was too young then, so young that he spent the first few years of his life in a cramped room where he could see the ceiling at a glance, amidst the beeping of medical equipment. His memories were hazy, and even when he woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't tell whether it was real or not, and whether the promise he made in secret, "I will take you out," was real or just a figment of his imagination during those four years of delusion in the orphanage.

He had tried to find this place before, but without any clues, he could not make a single step. Then, a few years ago, his little bear porcelain doll was suddenly broken. When he was piecing it back together inch by inch, he suddenly found two crooked and almost illegible characters in the core at the bottom.

Nanhe.

Ying Shixue walked little by little into the backyard. This place was located at the foot of a small hill, surrounded by layers of trees. A mountain stream flowed through here, splashing and tinkling on the rocks.

wrong.

Ying Shixue narrowed her eyes slightly. The residents already had tap water pipes and general equipment to fetch water. If this place was really remote and sparsely populated, why would the grass on one side show the same tendency to lean to one side?

He knelt down on one knee, reached out and parted the grass, finally discovering a few inconspicuous, messy horizontal ridges.

—Shoe print.

Ying Shixue took a deep breath and stood up, taking light steps. He was wearing casual clothes today. He crouched down in the bushes, which were about half a person's height, and followed the trail to guess where he was going.

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, a courtyard-style house came into view.

Bang, bang, bang.

Blood rushed back to his heart, which was pounding rapidly. Ying Shixue pressed her fingers together to calmly observe from the outside. Finally, she found a gap in the wall, took a running start, and flipped herself over with one hand!

It landed silently on the ground like some kind of nimble nocturnal animal, so quiet that it barely disturbed a single leaf.

With the windows and doors tightly shut, Ying Shixue chose one room and climbed inside. Unexpectedly, the room was furnished in a very ordinary way, like the storage room of any ordinary household, with utensils piled up and thick cobwebs covering the corners.

Ying Shixue looked at them one by one, and finally stopped by the house.

What looked like just two old, tattered quilts piled up haphazardly was actually something Ying Shixue stood there for a long time before suddenly reaching out and lifting the quilts off!

— Corn flour, a still, tubing, a half-full bucket, and a large vat with a lid.

Ying Shixue's pupils suddenly contracted, and she froze on the spot.

-

Guangyun Conference Room.

Luo Hongjun smiled broadly: "President Song, you've also come to see the winery. We've already discussed the contract. If there are no problems, why don't we sign the contract today?"

Song Mingli closed the contract he was looking at and went to the first page, his gaze now fixed on the signature area.

The smile on Luo Hongjun's face grew wider and wider, almost to the point of being strange.

Suddenly the door was flung open with a bang. The person who entered was clearly in a hurry and looked travel-worn. He was still slightly out of breath from rushing over and his face was as white as if it had been soaked in water. If you looked closely, you could see that his pupils were still trembling slightly.

The beauty's face was as fair as jade and as delicate as orchids. Luo Hongjun was caught off guard and stunned. The next second, he watched as the beauty strode over and fell straight into Song Mingli's arms.