nagging
Wen Xubai offered no explanation, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Qi Zui didn't hesitate. He casually took the bowl from the table out of the room, and when he came back, he had a thermometer in his hand.
"Come on, let's take your temperature again."
Wen Xubai looked at the thermometer extended in front of him, somewhat unfamiliar with it, and asked in confusion, "Where did this thermometer come from?"
Upon hearing this, Qi Zui's eyes widened, and he immediately launched into a complaining mode:
"You're one to talk! I searched your house and couldn't find a thermometer or even any cold or fever medicine. I had to go downstairs to the pharmacy to buy some myself."
"Ugh, look at you! How can you have no sense of prevention at all? Even if you don't get sick, you should at least buy some preventative medicine, just in case. Like that Banlangen..."
She's starting to ramble on again.
Wen Xubai stared blankly at the sky.
Qi Zui: "......I'm really not kidding you!"
Wen Xubai nodded and said, "I know, I know, you're still here, aren't you?"
Qi Zui choked abruptly. Wen Xubai wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he suddenly noticed that the tips of Qi Zui's ears were a little red. Thinking that he was still angry, Wen Xubai took the thermometer and put it under his armpit.
Five minutes later, a "beep" sound was heard.
Wen Xubai handed the now-warm thermometer back to Qi Zui, who took it back, glanced at it, and said with satisfaction, "37.4°C, now it's a low-grade fever."
After saying that, she noticed that the blanket had slipped off Wen Xubai's body, and helped him tuck the corner of the blanket back in.
"Does your head still hurt?" Qi Zui asked.
Wen Xubai shook his head.
Reaching out to take the warm water and pills offered by the other party, Wen Xubai tilted his head back and gulped them down in one go.
He gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, and to the other person's surprise, handed the cup back.
Taking the water glass, Qi Zui couldn't help but say, "This is medicine, not candy. Aren't you afraid of choking..."
But then he saw the other person nonchalantly shrink into the blankets, and he couldn't help but twitch his lips.
Unexpectedly, the next second, Wen Xubai suddenly threw off the covers and sat up.
Qi Zui: "?"
Qi Zui was startled, his hands trembled three times, and he looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
But then Wen Xubai spun his head around like a top, quickly scanning the surroundings before fixing his light brown eyes on him and asking, "Did you clean this?"
If he hadn't turned around, he wouldn't have noticed that everything in the room was arranged neatly. Even the book he had half-read and casually tossed on the desk had been re-marked and put back on the bookshelf.
Actually, his room wasn't too messy before, but because he had just moved in, he didn't have much stuff, and precisely because of that, he hadn't had time to tidy up.
Perhaps because he was used to being waited on in the Wen family, he liked to leave whatever he used casually aside. After a while, servants and housekeepers would naturally come to clean up for him. So he focused on efficiency and threw himself into his work.
But now...
A word suddenly popped into his mind, and he blurted out, "Qi Zui, you are so virtuous."
Qi Zui froze instantly, clearly never expecting that he, a grown man, would one day be described as "virtuous." After a long pause, he waved his hand at him.
Wen Xubai: "?"
Qi Zui: "I don't call this 'virtuous,' I call this capable."
As he spoke, he gave a thumbs-up.
Wen Xubai: "...Hmm, capable."
Suddenly remembering something, he looked around in alarm and exclaimed, "Where's my paper bag?"
Seeing that he was about to throw off the covers and get out of bed, Qi Zui quickly stopped him, "Hey, hey, don't rush! What paper bag? Tell me, I'll help you find it."
"It's just a brown kraft paper bag!" A chill ran down Wen Xubai's spine, and he felt a sudden, inexplicable panic.
"A brown paper bag?" Qi Zui thought for a moment, then suddenly got up and rummaged through a box not far away. He successfully pulled out a file folder and said to him, "Is this it?"
“Yes.” Wen Xubai nodded. After receiving it, he quickly checked it from top to bottom to make sure there were no signs of it being opened before he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is this...something important to you?"
Upon hearing this, Wen Xubai was taken aback.
It wasn't actually anything that important to him, but he was afraid... afraid of being seen by Qi Zui.
I saw the photos inside, and... information about that child...
Seeing Qi Zui's puzzled look, Wen Xubai forced a bitter smile and said, "No, it's just... some work materials."
"I see..." Qi Zui scratched his head, then suddenly picked up something from the side and placed it in front of him.
Wen Xubai was stunned at first glance.
It was a black watch with a severely cracked dial that was no longer recognizable, and the leather strap was peeling, suggesting it had been around for many years.
“I noticed you kept it by the bed, and it almost fell to the floor when you turned over, so I put it in the closet for you.”
After saying that, he added with difficulty, "This watch... it's so rotten, I guess it's unusable. Maybe... we should just throw it away?"
Qi Zui could also tell that the watch was completely unusable.
Wen Xubai lowered his eyes, slowly reached out, and held the watch in his palm.
The bend in the watch strap hurt his hand a little, but he kept tightening it and shook his head.
"Don't throw it away."
"Why?" Qi Zui asked, somewhat puzzled.
"This was left to me by my parents."
In that fire, everything was taken away, except for this watch, which he had cried out and yanked from his father's hand as his parents were dragged into the crematorium...
The original dial was long gone, and the strap had been repaired multiple times. But no matter how expensive the strap was, ranging from a few hundred dollars to millions, he never changed the black dial.
The last time he went to get his watch repaired, the watch shop owner had already warned him that it couldn't be repaired anymore.
Even though he knew that one day the watch would be completely unusable, he never imagined that day would come so soon...
This time, the watch face was broken during the argument with Wen Xuyuan last time, and the watch strap... was damaged by being soaked in rainwater.
Seeing Wen Xubai's dejected expression, Qi swallowed hard, feeling like he wanted to kill himself.
Having learned of the other person's suffering just half an hour ago, Qi felt an urge to slap himself on the spot, if slapping himself would have been effective.
I cursed my own stupid mouth a thousand times in my heart, and began to doubt whether I should really read more books and have a higher level of education so that I wouldn't speak so thoughtlessly.
Qi said anxiously, "No, that's not what I meant... I meant..."
He stammered for a long time, but didn't know how to say the next sentence.
"Oh dear, I don't know how to explain it either. You... if you're unhappy, just yell at me! Yell at me however you like, I promise I won't talk back!"
Just as he was about to raise his finger, Wen Xubai said helplessly, "It's nothing."
"Are you really okay?" Qi looked at him cautiously. "Don't keep your anger inside, it's bad for your health."
"It's really nothing."
Wen Xubai really didn't know whether to say the other party was too sensitive or too extreme. Why was the other party so afraid of such a small problem?
Qi Zui finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the other person slowly take a clock box out of the bedside table, put the broken watch inside, and show no displeasure on their face.
She volunteered to put the box back for him before turning around and helping him back to bed.
Sure enough, he was ill and his body was not as strong as usual. As soon as he covered himself with the blanket, Wen Xubai felt sleepy again.
Qi Zui also realized that something was wrong with him. After tucking him in, she drew the curtains to block out the dark night view outside, and switched the lamp to night mode. The bright light made people feel at ease for no reason.
Watching the tall man bustling about, Wen Xubai suddenly felt a pang of unease: it's nice to have someone by your side...
The thought startled even him.
Wen Xubai has lived his entire life under the control of the Wen family. All his social interactions have been monitored by the Wen family, and he cannot interact with others freely.
Moreover, the people around him are all wealthy young men or scions of powerful families, with eyes that look down on everyone. Knowing his identity, they all deliberately keep their distance from him.
Gradually, he got used to being alone and lost interest in making friends.
He would only deliberately approach someone when Wen Tingyi wanted him to befriend them, or when someone else wanted to use him to climb the social ladder by attaching himself to the Wen family's power. But how could there be true "friendship" when the relationship was veiled in a layer of self-interest, and both sides were well aware of it but tacitly chose not to expose it?
As for love... he had never thought about it.
If, because of him, an innocent girl were to find herself in the same predicament as him, constantly watched and unable to easily show her emotions, he truly couldn't bear it...
But at this moment...
Just then, Qi Zui's handsome and rugged face appeared in front of him. Seeing that he had his eyes open, he asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Is it still too bright?"
As he spoke, he leaped half his body over him and turned off a desk lamp.
"Are these all done?" Qi Zui looked at him with a bright and energetic expression, half of his face illuminated by the warm light, making his eyes even brighter.
"Hmm..." Wen Xubai snapped out of his thoughts and nodded.
"Okay, it's too late today, I'll head back now. If you need anything tonight, just give me a call and I'll come right away."
"good."
Having received a response, Qi Zui was about to get up, but immediately turned back and instructed him, "Oh, by the way, your fever should break by tomorrow, but you should still ask for leave from work and get some rest. Your health is the most important thing..."
"Oh, and there's more...!"
Seeing that the other party was about to transform into "Tang Sanzang" again, Wen Xubai quickly covered himself with the blanket and nodded.
Then a "Hey—" came from the other side, and Qi Zui left the room, saying, "Then you should rest well. I'll come see you again tomorrow."
He closed the door so gently that he barely noticed.
It wasn't until Wen Xubai got out of bed and saw the pitch-black room that he suddenly realized: Qi Zuizhen was gone.
For some reason, looking at the empty room, Wen Xubai slowly placed his hand on his chest and suddenly felt a sense of emptiness...
It felt like... he couldn't bear to see the other person leave...
Fortunately, sleepiness eventually overcame his reluctance, and he slept soundly. However, he did not expect to be woken up early the next morning by a cell phone ringing.
Wen Xubai glanced at his phone sleepily.
It was a text message sent to Tan Yu's email address.
Skipping over the long string of nonsense at the beginning, he went straight to the attachment in the text message, scrolled to the last page, and instantly woke up from his dream.
At the very bottom of the report, behind two names he had haphazardly chosen, lay the number 99.9999...
Dazzling and eye-catching.
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