Su Ying looked at the dazed person on the bed and found it both amusing and exasperating.
Wen Bai quickly noticed the person at the door and, as if trying to hide something, pulled the covers up.
His face was tense.
Su Ying pretended not to see anything and walked to Wen Bai's side.
Wen Bai, with a stiff expression, watched the person approach him, then saw this person reach out. Wen Bai instinctively tightened his grip on the blanket…
However, the other person merely took the cup he had been holding tightly.
"I'll make some porridge, millet porridge?" the person began, changing the subject.
Seeing Wen Bai’s silence, he continued, "Or fish porridge? Or do you want lean meat porridge?"
As expected, Wen Bai immediately responded, "Fish porridge!"
"Mmm~ Fish porridge it is then."
Su Ying turned away, chuckling softly.
He was truly too adorable.
-
System 001 appeared at an inopportune moment, "Host, I genuinely don't know how your body could be this weak. How can you get sick from just a cold shower!"
Wen Bai: "..."
In a cold tone, "Go into sleep mode first..."
System 001, feeling wronged, "Understood, Host."
After tidying himself up, Wen Bai went downstairs carrying a bundle of something.
He peeked into the kitchen and saw Su Ying, his back to him, preparing the fish porridge.
He immediately turned and padded to the laundry room, quickly tossing the items inside and pressing the start button.
Seeing the washing machine begin to run, he slowly walked towards the kitchen.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Su Ying gestured for him to sit down, put down what he was doing, and went to open the door. He returned with a box.
"Your delivery," Su Ying said, placing the box on the dining table.
Wen Bai was puzzled; he hadn't ordered anything.
He walked over to the table and looked. Were these clothes?
Su Ying didn't rush back to preparing ingredients, but stood beside him, watching.
Wen Bai opened the box.
Huh?
It was a set of a well-tailored, high-end looking royal blue suit.
He seemed to recall something.
"What's today's date?"
System 001 chimed in, "The 9th!"
Wen Bai ignored it.
Su Ying asked, "The 9th, why?"
It was tomorrow, the day of Ji Tianle and Lin Shuangshuang's engagement banquet.
Wen Bai turned and went upstairs, fumbling for his phone on the bedside table.
He opened the unread messages. As expected, it was from Ji Tianle: "Xiao Bai, your brother has your outfit ready. Remember to come to my engagement banquet on time! Of course, if you want to bring someone, brother will welcome them with open arms~"
Actually, Ji Tianle had wanted to say Wen Bai could bring a plus-one, but he wasn't sure about the relationship between Dr. Su and Wen Bai.
They seemed intimate, but not quite like lovers.
He didn't know Su Ying well either. A doctor wouldn't earn enough money to live in such a high-end villa.
Unable to fathom it, he had hinted at it indirectly.
Wen Bai came downstairs with his phone, looking at the steaming fish porridge on the table.
He sat down.
He was considering Ji Tianle's last sentence.
He remembered what System 001 had said about this stage of intense, inseparable feelings…
Su Ying had been very clingy recently.
He felt an uncontrollable urge to seek validation of his existence through the other person…
Yes, sending him strange clothes, and recently, agreeing to whatever he wanted to eat so readily.
Being apart for even a short while felt like time had stopped, with every second dragging on like years…
Wen Bai, with a blank expression, sighed softly, as if he really couldn't do anything about this person.
Fine, he'd bring him.
It shouldn't be a problem.
Swallowing a spoonful of porridge, feeling refreshed, Wen Bai leisurely narrowed his eyes, as if enjoying the sensation, and then asked, "I'm going to an engagement banquet tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
"Tomorrow?"
Su Ying, who was supposed to work tomorrow, looked at Wen Bai, who was looking down at his porridge with a hint of anticipation, and replied, "Sure."
Su Ying was even considering taking his annual leave.
"However, you have a slight fever. I'll take your temperature again later."
Wen Bai nodded obediently.
-
Not far from the villa, Jiang Dalei was leading a group of people searching the area.
"Are you sure it's this area?"
"Big Brother, it is. We managed to get the exterior surveillance, but the people living in this villa are wealthy and influential. Security is handled by specialists, and they were uncooperative. They were very firm and wouldn't provide any surveillance footage. It's… it's my fault!" The subordinate lowered his head, bracing for a reprimand.
Jiang Dalei frowned.
The subordinate assured him, "At the park, only one car entered and exited. That car indeed drove directly through this villa's main gate and then disappeared. Without proper channels, we can't just go and investigate the person."
"What's that person's name?"
"Su Ying, a doctor, quite famous in the hospitals in C City."
Jiang Dalei's frown deepened, almost carving itself onto his face, "A doctor?"
A cheerful ringtone suddenly blared.
Jiang Dalei was deep in thought…
Seeing that Jiang Dalei remained still, the subordinate spoke up, "Big Brother, it's your phone."
This was the special ringtone Jiang Dalei had set for Jiang Yiyi's phone and her hospital room line. He took out his phone and his voice softened considerably, "Yiyi? What's wrong?"
There was no reply from the other end.
"Yiyi?"
Then came the sound of calm breathing, followed by the call being hung up.
Jiang Dalei felt a sense of unease. Nothing was more important than his family. He instructed, "You all stay here. Notify me if there's any news."
Then he swiftly got into his off-road vehicle, closed the door, and stepped on the accelerator, leaving.
Jiang Dalei rushed to the hospital, thinking Jiang Yiyi had caused some new trouble.
He shoved the ward door open, only to find Jiang Yiyi sitting calmly on the bed. A nurse was removing the indwelling needle from her hand.
Jiang Yiyi heard the commotion, glanced over calmly, and then turned back to stare at her hand.
The nurse quickly finished, gathered the IV bag and tubing on her tray, and prepared to leave.
Jiang Dalei breathed a huge sigh of relief and walked over.
He was usually very close to his sister, and Jiang Yiyi was a very pampered person.
Before meeting Yu Yang, despite her strong will and capabilities, she was most afraid of pain.
Jiang Dalei wanted to blow on his sister's hand as he usually did.
The nurse left with the tray, closing the door behind her.
As soon as he touched Jiang Yiyi's hand, she flinched away with a look of disgust, "What are you doing?"
Her voice was defensive.
Jiang Dalei was dumbfounded. What was he doing? Hadn't he always done this?
Wouldn't she be unhappy if he didn't blow on her hand? What was going on now?
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Jiang Dalei: "..."
He had been focused on his sister lately, even getting reprimanded at home for defending her. Now, the instigator was treating him like this.
Jiang Dalei immediately became enraged, "I'm your damn brother! Who am I?! Jiang Yiyi, are you out of your mind?! Don't you recognize me anymore?"
"I don't have a brother. Sir, please leave now!" Jiang Yiyi's demeanor was polite and restrained. Jiang Dalei recognized this tone; it was how his sister usually treated others.
Jiang Dalei took a deep breath…
And was then escorted out of the ward.
Jiang Dalei, agitated and stiffly twisting his neck, asked the nurse who had returned to retrieve something, holding her tray, "Tell me, her! What! Is! Going! On?!"
The little nurse was startled, her hand holding the tray trembling, "Sir… after the memory-erasing treatment, it's like this. It could be a few days, or it could take several months for the patient to remember. Of course, they might also selectively forget some things."
Memory-erasing treatment? Seriously? She was hospitalized and forgot her own brother? Argh!
Enraged, Jiang Dalei took a couple of steps forward, "Who agreed to this?! Huh! Did I agree to it?!"
The little nurse backed away, holding her tray, clearly frightened, almost in tears. "It… it was a family member. We have a family member's signature here."
------ Separator ------
Below is unrelated to the plot, placed here because it exceeded the character limit for the author's notes.
I couldn't resist and gathered my courage to read the comments.
Although I haven't finished reading them all, I will.
I've received many valuable suggestions that I, working alone, wouldn't have discovered.
For instance, the issue of transition continuity. I only realized my transitions and line breaks were lost when I pasted them into Tomato.
As for the slow plot pace, because my pacing isn't great, I wanted to put the story I wanted to tell into one book and shorten the length as much as possible to practice pacing. Compared to other authors' books, my pacing is much slower. Please bear with me.
I never imagined so many people would like my work, and that I could even inspire some of you…
I've realized that emotions can truly be transmitted. I am incredibly happy writing novels, and I find that when I'm happy, you are also happy. When I'm excited while writing, you are also excited.
This is what it feels like to have people like your work. It's a mutual connection.
Hugging you all, I couldn't reply to every comment due to the sheer volume, but I felt everyone's enthusiasm.
Thank you.
The best way to repay you is to continue writing well.
I hope we can accompany each other for a long time, an even longer time.