Jiang You watched Wang Huanxiu answer the phone, wondering who was calling.
Half a minute later, the call ended.
“Get out.”
Jiang You was stunned. “You want the driver to get out? Then how are we going? I drive?”
“I said you get out.”
Jiang You: “…”
Do you even hear yourself?
Hearing words this cold in a city where the temperature was already -5 felt like getting hit with -50 wind.
“You’re not going to the party?”
“No. Something came up.”
A few minutes later, Jiang You stood in the cold wind in a daze, watching the black Bentley disappear into the distance.
What could Wang Huanxiu possibly have to deal with now? The most pressing thing for the past three days had been the game proposal, and that had been settled this afternoon.
They should’ve been completely free now and on their way to the party.
An outrageous thought popped into Jiang You’s head….could it be that he was actually going home to drink Bai Shuijin’s bone soup?
Jiang You laughed at himself. How could it be possible.
But halfway through his laugh, the corners of his mouth froze. More often than not, the least likely possibility was the real answer.
Jiang You: “…”
No way! Does Wang Huanxiu actually love Bai Shuijin’s poisonous cooking?
Jiang You was horrified. Wang Huanxiu was seriously a pervert.
The black luxury car pulled into the hospital parking lot. Even at night, the crowd in the hospital showed no signs of lessening, and people came and went in a constant stream.
The pungent smell of disinfectant filled the air, carrying that same childhood fear of needles before an injection. There was an instinct to flee, but there was nowhere to escape.
Bai Shuijin looked like a wilted sprout that had lost its moisture. His brows and eyes were drooped, and his bangs clung limply to his forehead, almost covering his eyes, but he didn’t have the strength to brush them aside. It was as if he had been completely drained overnight.
Even now, his abdomen throbbed with nausea and spasms from vomiting.
At five o’clock that evening, in order to have bone soup ready when Wang Huanxiu returned home, Bai Shuijin had rolled up his sleeves, eager to show off his culinary skills in the kitchen.
Seeing him preparing to cook for Wang Huanxiu, Anut Li stepped forward to dissuade him. “Young Master Bai, how about not cooking today?”
She couldn’t forget Wang Huanxiu’s previous warning. That morning, he had told her explicitly not to let Bai Shuijin cook meals or make lunch boxes in the future.
Aunt Li was timid and didn’t dare go against orders. So as soon as Bai Shuijin started moving, she went up to persuade him.
Bai Shuijin held a soup ladle. “Aunt Li, I’m just making some soup.”
The weather outside was freezing. Coming home to drink some hot soup would be so cozy… it would feel like happiness.
But Aunt Li looked a little troubled. Still, she didn’t think too long about it. After all, Wang Huanxiu had left her with one more line.
If Young Master Bai insisted on cooking, let him taste it himself before serving it.
Aunt Li truthfully passed this message on to Bai Shuijin. “Sir said, if you really must cook, then taste it yourself before it’s served.”
Bai Shuijin nodded. “Okay.”
Then he began boiling the soup on high heat. Just before it was done, he scooped out a small spoonful into a tasting bowl and brought it to his lips.
A shudder ran through him from head to toe.
‘Yuck! Absolutely disgusting!’
He had never tasted anything so disgusting. It was so bad it made him feel like his whole being was falling apart.
Not long after drinking the soup, his stomach began to ache. He staggered over to the sofa and flopped down, then stuffed some spicy sticks into his mouth in a frenzy, trying to suppress the nausea with spice.
As a result, ten minutes later, he was vomiting and had diarrhea. In the end, it was food poisoning, and he had to be rushed to the hospital.
Summary: I poisoned myself.
He hadn’t expected that not only was the soup he made toxic in flavor, it almost took his life altogether.
It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality. In the past, he would never have taken an illness like this seriously. He would have endured the pain and kept grinding away at his side jobs like a beast of burden.
But things were different now. He no longer had financial worries, and he wasn’t alone anymore.
If it were like his past life, collapsing at work wouldn’t have drawn anyone’s attention. After all, colleagues were all strangers, they had no obligation to care about your feelings. Helping others was just making trouble for yourself.
This is the thinking of most people who are struggling to make a living. A money-centered society bred this mindset. If I take care of you, I’ll have to miss work, maybe even cover your medical expenses. No matter how you calculated it, it was not worth it.
Humans are creatures who put themselves first, that was human instinct.
But now, everything was different. Bai Shuijin lay in the hospital room, not worrying about medical bills, not worrying about missing work tomorrow.
Since it was the emergency ward, there were two other patients in the room, though curtain dividers separated the beds, and Bai Shuijin lay in the center.
At this time, his weak and boneless right hand was hooked to an IV drip.
If this had been his previous life, he wouldn’t have had the kind of life where someone noticed his illness right away and rushed him to the hospital, let alone have people who cared.
The household staff had noticed he was unwell immediately.
To Bai Shuijin, they felt like Youlemei milk tea…warm and sweet in the palm of his hand.
He didn’t have a family in his previous life. Whether it was graduating high school, entering college, or falling ill, he faced everything alone.
Not a single milestone in life had anyone cheering him on.
The person who had brought him to the hospital had gone to pay the bill, and would probably be back soon.
He lay on the bed, shifting his head side to side, with bluish green curtains drawn on either side.
The pain in his stomach came back in waves, and Bai Shuijin felt like crying but had no tears. He vowed never to cook again.
At that moment, the curtain on the right side was pulled back. An aged, wrinkled hand held the fabric aside, just as Bai Shuijin lay there groaning weakly.
The old woman in the neighboring bed was bored, so she pulled back the curtain and struck up a conversation.
“Young man, are you here alone?”
Bai Shuijin looked over at the old woman and shook his head. “No, the person who brought me is paying the bill. My laogong ge will come to see me soon too.”
In the ambulance, while clutching his stomach in pain, he’d heard someone call Wang Huanxiu. He believed his laogong ge would come. After all, they were married and were family.
Hearing the words “laogong ge”, the old woman was surprised. “You look so young, and you’re already married?”
Bai Shuijin nodded.
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty.”
Twenty…still the age for school.
The old woman sighed again. “So young and already married?”
Bai Shuijin nodded and asked, “Grandma, when did you get married?”
“Me? I was nineteen.”
“…”
‘Isn’t that even earlier…’
Bai Shuijin glanced at the old woman, who was also hooked up to an IV like him. “Did you get food poisoning too?”
“Mm, the string beans weren’t cooked properly. I got poisoned after eating them.”
The old woman looked at him. “I really envy you. When you’re sick, your husband comes to take care of you.”
Hearing the longing and envy in the words, Bai Shuijin blinked. Could it be that her husband didn’t treat her well?
If he wasn’t good to her, what was the point of staying married? Divorce him!
“Then why didn’t he come to take care of you?”
“Oh, he’s lying in the bed next to you.”
Bai Shuijin: “…”
The words of advice he was about to give got swallowed back.
He thought it was some tragic story of a cold, abusive husband. Turns out, they were poisoned together.
On the other side, the Wang family staff who had paid the fees at the front desk was heading back to check on Bai Shuijin.
He had initially planned to move him up to a VIP private room, but Bai Shuijin didn’t want to move. Even being wheeled over made him uncomfortable, as if he haf motion sickness. He weakly shook his head and said he’d rather just stay here and lie down.
So the plan to move to a private room had to be scrapped.
On the way back after completing the paperwork, he happened to run into Wang Huanxiu.
Tall with long legs, he stood out in the crowd like a crane among chickens. He was very conspicuous, wearing a black handmade suit with dark patterns, which perfectly set off his superior body proportions.
His aura was powerful, and his looks were extraordinary. People passing by couldn’t help but turn their heads to look at him.
The servant stepped forward to greet him and then led him all the way to Bai Shuijin’s hospital room.
There were three people in one room, and Wang Huanxiu immediately frowned slightly.
“There are no private rooms available?”
In his opinion, there is no such thing as living in a ward with others.
Bai Shuijin’s food poisoning was sudden and the symptoms were severe, so the servants had called 120 and brought him straight to the ER.
The servant: “Young Master Bai said this room is fine. He said moving makes him uncomfortable.”
Wang Huanxiu sneered. “How delicate.”
He doesn’t want to move? Fine, the don’t move. He would be the one suffering in the end anyway, so Wang Huanxiu had no intention of interfering.
When he reached the second cubicle, Bai Shuijin looked over at him listlessly, with his eyes drooping, lacking their usual vitality and energy.
When he saw Wang Huanxiu, his lips pouted, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned down. “Laogong ge.”
Wang Huanxiu was standing about two meters away with a cold face. That “laogong ge” was called with as much reliance as one could muster.
Wang Huanxiu was the first person he had seen after arriving in this world, and the one he’d spent the most time with.
When people are vulnerable, they will subconsciously grab at a life-saving straw.
And obviously, Wang Huanxiu was the life saving straw at this time.
With his lips drooping and his voice feeble, Bai Shuijin said, “Laogong ge, I’m sick.”
Wang Huanxiu stood by the bed for a few seconds, then sat down in a chair. “I can see that.”
Seeing him, Bai Shuijin suddenly had a lot to say. “Laogong ge, my feet are a bit cold.”
“So?”
“Can I put them on your abs to warm them up?”
“…”
In the end, Wang Huanxiu had someone buy him a hot water bottle. The driver took the task, returning with a rechargeable, plush heating pad that was warm to the touch once charged.
Wang Huanxiu lifted the blanket and tucked it under his feet. The bed instantly became cozy and warm.
Bai Shuijin: “Laogong ge, you’re so nice.”
Before Wang Huanxiu came, the old woman chatted with him briefly and then drew the curtain and went to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep because of the aftereffects of food poisoning.
Wang Huanxiu ignored him, his eyes falling on Bai Shuijin’s left hand with a band-aid on it.
The band-aid was wrapped around his finger. There weren’t any particularly sharp objects at home, and he’d already heard about the cause of Bai Shuijin’s poisoning and his suicidal adventure in the kitchen.
He had cut his finger while using a knife to deal with the bones.
Bai Shuijin lay on his side, facing Wang Huanxiu.
Seeing him reminded him of the lunchbox he had made.
“Laogong ge, did you eat the love bento I made earlier?”
Wang Huanxiu stared at the band-aid on his hand and was silent for a few seconds. “No.”
Cold and decisive.
Despite all the effort the other party put into getting up early and carefully preparing it, Wang Huanxiu had never taken it seriously.
“That’s great.”
Wang Huanxiu’s fingers curled slightly.
The heavy stone in Bai Shuijin’s heart was lifted. “Laogong ge, I’m so glad you didn’t eat it. Otherwise, you would have gotten sick too.”
“I can’t bear to let that happen.”
