No matter the time of day, hospitals were always bustling.
The VIP ward, located in a building all its own, kept that commotion far away, leaving only the silence of a single room.
The moment Guo Fengnian opened the door, he saw Cheng Mingjiao sitting motionless on the bed in a hospital gown, his eyes lowered.
He looked like someone who was best left alone.
The alarm bells in Guo Fengnian’s head began ringing sharply. He immediately tried to back out of the room...
Too late.
Cheng Mingjiao, who had been as still as a statue just moments before, suddenly looked over with keen awareness.
Their eyes met, and the air seemed to solidify.
Guo Fengnian gave an awkward laugh, the blond hair on his head trembling along with it.
“Hungry? Is there anything you want to eat? I can go buy it for you.” He pretended to be relaxed as he entered the room and casually shut the door, as though he had never considered running away.
Cheng Mingjiao stared at him for several seconds before looking away. “I’ll eat the hospital food.”
“Sure, sure...”
Guo Fengnian nodded repeatedly, then suddenly realized that this was the first time since Cheng Mingjiao had woken up that he had answered a question normally instead of responding with sarcasm or pretending not to hear.
Guo Fengnian’s eyes lit up. “You...”
Cheng Mingjiao looked over again.
Guo Fengnian cleared his throat. “N-Nothing.”
Everyone knew that when Young Master Cheng gave you an opening, you had to take it—but you could never point it out directly.
Cheng Mingjiao looked at him for a few more seconds, then turned his face away again.
Guo Fengnian’s heart stirred.
In the eyes of outsiders, Cheng Mingjiao was brilliant, mysterious, and difficult to get along with. But once you had known him long enough, you would discover that he was like an open book—with audio narration and phonetic annotations beneath every word.
In short, he was incredibly easy to understand.
For example, right now, he had looked at Guo Fengnian twice, and each time he had turned his face away afterward. That meant he had something to say but didn’t want to bring it up himself.
He was waiting for someone to ask.
Guo Fengnian tactfully walked over to the bed, pulled up a chair, and sat down beside it. “What were you thinking about just now?”
“Nothing,” Cheng Mingjiao replied indifferently.
Of course, he had to put up a little resistance before answering. If Guo Fengnian considerately chose to stop asking at this point, Cheng Mingjiao would give up on him too.
Looking at the fussy Young Master, Guo Fengnian felt a little tempted to needle him. But then he remembered how much suffering Cheng Mingjiao had endured in the mountains, and decided to let it go.
“Come on, you can’t fool me. Don’t I know you better than anyone? You definitely have something on your mind.”
Cheng Mingjiao looked over for the third time.
Guo Fengnian sighed. “Aren’t we best friends? If you have something bothering you and won’t tell me, I’ll honestly be very sad.”
Cheng Mingjiao frowned.
He knew that his friends cared deeply about their friendship with him, but when they cared to this extent, it only made him feel troubled.
Guo Fengnian gazed at him eagerly, seeming genuinely desperate to know.
Although Cheng Mingjiao found it bothersome, he still reluctantly shared what he had been thinking about. “I just found out something.”
“What?” Guo Fengnian leaned forward, all ears.
Cheng Mingjiao said, “Zhang Xiyue has been deliberately trying to get close to me.”
Guo Fengnian blinked. “What?”
Cheng Mingjiao nodded, confirming that he had heard correctly.
Guo Fengnian’s expression gradually turned serious. “Is she a corporate spy?”
Cheng Mingjiao gave him a look that clearly said, What kind of stupid thing are you talking about?
“No,” Guo Fengnian said, letting out a sigh of relief. He slouched crookedly in his chair. “What does that mean, then? What do you mean, she’s been deliberately trying to get close to you?”
“When I first met her, Grandma Qian said she was going to join Lu Xue’s company. But just now, she let it slip that Yu Huang was actually her first choice.”
Guo Fengnian nodded, continuing to listen attentively.
But Cheng Mingjiao fell silent.
Guo Fengnian looked up in confusion and saw the encouragement in his eyes.
That was when Guo Fengnian realized he was supposed to say something.
...Unfortunately, he had no idea what.
After struggling in silence for a while, he finally managed to squeeze out a completely meaningless, “...So?”
Cheng Mingjiao frowned. “How did you ever get your doctorate?”
...He hadn’t said what Cheng Mingjiao wanted to hear, so now he was resorting to personal attacks?
Guo Fengnian was used to it. He put on a meek, pathetic expression.
Cheng Mingjiao glanced at him. “So she never intended to go to Lu Xue’s company in the first place. She was afraid I wouldn’t hire her, so she teamed up with Grandma Qian to set this whole thing up and use reverse psychology to make me agree to take her on.”
Guo Fengnian said, “That only proves she wants to join your company. What does it have to do with her wanting to get close to you?”
“Although I really dislike Lu Xue, I have to admit that her company is decent. It’s just that the benefits aren’t as good as Yu Huang’s, the pay isn’t as high, the promotion system and prospects aren’t as promising, and its industry planning is inferior in every way. So why didn’t Zhang Xiyue go there? Why did she go so far as to team up with Grandma Qian to set a trap for me just to get into my company?” Cheng Mingjiao asked in return.
“You just listed a whole bunch of reasons to choose Yu Huang... What reason would she possibly have to choose Sister Xue’s company?” Guo Fengnian was utterly baffled.
Cheng Mingjiao said, “She was extremely shocked when she received her first paycheck.”
Guo Fengnian was confused. “And what does that prove?”
“It proves that when she joined the company, she had never looked into how her salary was structured. In other words, she didn’t care how much money she could make. She only wanted to come to Yu Huang.”
After saying that, he fell silent for a moment before summarizing, “If she isn’t working for the money, then the only thing left is me.”
Guo Fengnian stared at him. “?”
After only a few sentences, he had completely lost track of Cheng Mingjiao’s train of thought.
At this point, he didn’t even need Cheng Mingjiao to ask. He was already asking himself how exactly he had managed to earn a doctorate.
The hospital room sank into a long silence.
The lilies on the solid-wood cabinet in the corner gave off a faint, delicate fragrance, trying to soothe human emotions with an air of peace.
After a long while, Guo Fengnian slowly said, “Isn’t it a little hasty to conclude that she’s interested in you based solely on the fact that Yu Huang was her first choice and that she was surprised by her paycheck?”
“Of course those aren’t the only two things.”
It was as if Cheng Mingjiao had been waiting for him to raise that objection. He immediately began laying out all sorts of evidence.
For example, on her very first day at the company, she had carried a weapon to protect him.
For example, she had obtained the candy he had casually mentioned wanting.
And then there were the days they had spent surviving in the wilderness, when she had taken meticulous care of him, shared life and death with him, and refused to abandon him until the very last moment.
Cheng Mingjiao recounted every detail, large and small, from that period. By the end, his mouth had gone dry, and he drank a large glass of warm water.
After setting down the empty glass, he let out a long breath. “There’s one more thing.”
Guo Fengnian, whose brain had already stopped functioning, stared blankly up at him.
Cheng Mingjiao said, “When Zhou Ce took sick leave, she volunteered to take over as my executive assistant.”
Guo Fengnian fell silent.
If he had still been able to remain skeptical about everything that came before, hearing this made him suddenly believe Cheng Mingjiao’s conclusion.
Who would volunteer to be his executive assistant if they didn’t harbor some ulterior feelings toward Cheng Mingjiao?
Zhou Ce was their junior from high school, and they were already very familiar with each other. When he had first been promoted from ordinary assistant to executive assistant, he had even come crying to Guo Fengnian for three days and three nights.
How could there possibly be a normal person who, after learning about Cheng Mingjiao’s temperament and personality, would willingly leap into the fire?
“So...” Guo Fengnian’s expression turned solemn. “Which one of your enemies sent her?”
This time, Cheng Mingjiao was the one who failed to follow his train of thought. “What enemies?”
Guo Fengnian said, “What else could I mean? Your enemies, obviously!”
Since she wasn’t a corporate spy and had come specifically for him, the only possibility left was that she was deliberately seeking revenge.
Cheng Mingjiao finally understood. After a long silence, he suddenly flew into an embarrassed rage. “She’s not an enemy!”
Guo Fengnian: “...Huh?”
“Can’t you tell?” Cheng Mingjiao had already given up on his intelligence and decided to spell it out. “She likes me.”
Guo Fengnian’s eyes widened in surprise. “...What?”
Cheng Mingjiao narrowed his eyes. “What’s with that expression?”
Guo Fengnian: “No, I mean... Ahem. She likes you?”
“So what if she does?” Cheng Mingjiao shot back.
Guo Fengnian: “Uh...”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t. After all, Young Master Cheng came from a good family, had a promising career, and was handsome to boot. He had been pursued constantly since childhood. If he hadn’t been so impossibly fussy, he wouldn’t have reached this age without ever being in a relationship.
It was just that...
“Xiyue and I have been seeing each other quite often these past few days,” he said as tactfully as possible. “She never mentioned that she liked you.”
Cheng Mingjiao immediately seized on the key point, his gaze suddenly turning sharp. “Why have you been bothering a patient so often? Don’t you know she needs to rest?”
Guo Fengnian: “I haven’t! She was bored, so she messaged me on WeChat...”
“You even added her on WeChat?” Cheng Mingjiao interrupted.
Guo Fengnian: “...”
Was that not allowed?
Had he broken some heavenly law?
Weren’t they discussing whether Zhang Xiyue liked him? Why had Cheng Mingjiao suddenly turned on him?
Guo Fengnian cleared his throat. “I didn’t add her. She was the one who added me.”
She had. Voluntarily.
Cheng Mingjiao sneered. “In modern society, adding someone on WeChat is perfectly ordinary. What’s there to brag about?”
Guo Fengnian: “?”
Cheng Mingjiao continued, “You should go back to school and focus on your research. Try to make a breakthrough in your current project and contribute to extending the human lifespan. That would be something worth bragging about.”
Guo Fengnian: “...”
What had just happened?
Why was Cheng Mingjiao lecturing him again?
And how was an engineering PhD supposed to contribute to extending the human lifespan?
Guo Fengnian felt that if he kept thinking about it, his brain might crash from overloading. He simply stuffed his hands into his pockets and pretended to be dead.
Cheng Mingjiao sulked on his own for a while. Once he had calmed down, he spoke again. “It’s perfectly normal. She doesn’t even tell me, so why would she tell you?”
Guo Fengnian: “?”
Had he missed an entire plot point?
Why had Cheng Mingjiao suddenly resumed the conversation?
It took Guo Fengnian a moment to realize that he was responding to his earlier remark: “She never mentioned liking you.”
Being friends with Cheng Mingjiao really was liable to cause premature aging.
Guo Fengnian rubbed the space between his brows. “So, are you certain that she likes you?”
“Of course.” Cheng Mingjiao’s gaze was filled with certainty.
Guo Fengnian fell silent.
Cheng Mingjiao might have been chronically short on emotional intelligence, but his intellect more than made up for it. One of his greatest strengths was accurately judging people’s true intentions through their behavior and logic. That was why he had never suffered a loss in this regard all these years.
Now that he was so certain Xiyue liked him, she probably really did like him... although it certainly didn’t look that way.
“This is going to be difficult...” Guo Fengnian said, troubled.
Cheng Mingjiao raised his eyes. “What’s difficult?”
“Aren’t you the one who hates mixing public and private matters and getting entangled in messy relationships? She’s violated your greatest taboo... You’re not going to fire her, are you?” Guo Fengnian asked tentatively.
Cheng Mingjiao looked baffled. “Why would I fire her?”
“You’re not firing her? That’s good. No matter what, she just went through life-and-death trials with you. Firing her over something like this would be rather heartless.”
Hearing that he wasn’t going to fire her, Guo Fengnian breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what are you planning to do? Transfer her to another position, or send her to a branch office to be a manager or something?”
“I’m planning to pretend I don’t know anything.”
Guo Fengnian: “?”
Cheng Mingjiao continued, “I’ll treat her as usual at work, but keep my distance from her emotionally. Once she sees there’s no hope, she’ll give up on her own.”
Looking at his solemn expression, Guo Fengnian wasn’t convinced. “That’s it? You’re... this tolerant now?”
Cheng Mingjiao gave a cold snort. “I’ve always been tolerant.”
Guo Fengnian: “...Sure.”
The hospital room fell silent for a few seconds.
Guo Fengnian raised a hand. “One last question.”
“Ask.”
“If she likes you, why hasn’t she come to see you even once since waking up?”
Cheng Mingjiao: “...”
Guo Fengnian: “?”
Cheng Mingjiao: “...”
Guo Fengnian: “...”
He had a distinct feeling that he had somehow made one careful mistake after another.
The air conditioner might have been broken. The hospital room kept swinging between hot and cold, and so did Cheng Mingjiao. Every second felt unbearable to Guo Fengnian.
Just as his mind began working again, trying to figure out how to escape, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
They both turned to look. The door slowly opened a crack, revealing a face they hadn’t seen in quite some time.
“Mr. Cheng, Mr. Guo.” Seeing the people inside the room, Zhang Xiyue smiled and greeted them.
Guo Fengnian instinctively studied Cheng Mingjiao’s reaction. Only after seeing that he showed no sign of rejection did he welcome her enthusiastically. “Xiyue, you’re here! Come in, come in.”
At that, Zhang Xiyue looked first at Cheng Mingjiao.
Guo Fengnian looked at Cheng Mingjiao too.
Cheng Mingjiao nodded reluctantly. “Come in.”
Only then did Zhang Xiyue enter.
“Mr. Cheng, are you feeling better?” Zhang Xiyue asked.
Cheng Mingjiao remained silent.
She stood at the foot of his bed, wearing the same hospital pajamas as him. Her complexion was good, making it clear that she had been doing well lately.
The silence in the room was overwhelming. Apart from Cheng Mingjiao, the other two were both feeling a little awkward.
Guo Fengnian’s head began to ache. He wanted to tell Cheng Mingjiao that even if he planned to distance himself from her emotionally, he should at least wait until after they had been discharged. From Zhang Xiyue’s perspective, it would be incredibly upsetting if her boss suddenly changed his attitude after they had escaped death together.
Before he could offer the reminder, Cheng Mingjiao suddenly spoke. “Have you eaten lunch?”
Guo Fengnian: “?”
Was he asking him?
Zhang Xiyue: “Not yet. What about you, Mr. Cheng?”
Oh. Not him.
Cheng Mingjiao: “Neither have I.”
Zhang Xiyue immediately said, “I’ll have someone bring food over.”
“No need.” Cheng Mingjiao pressed the call button and ordered two meals to be sent up.
Guo Fengnian cleared his throat. “Well, actually, I haven’t eaten either...”
“I looked over your medical report. Apart from a few indicators that are still below standard, everything else is basically back to normal. You’ll be able to leave the hospital in another couple of days,” Cheng Mingjiao continued speaking to Zhang Xiyue. “But I recommend that you stay a little longer.”
Guo Fengnian: “...”
Zhang Xiyue was surprised that Cheng Mingjiao had even looked at her report, and then curiosity took over. “Why?”
Cheng Mingjiao gave her a meaningful look, indicating that there was an outsider present and it wasn’t convenient to say.
The outsider: “?”
The insider: “?”
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Cheng Mingjiao had no choice but to be more direct. “I’ll tell you later.”
Zhang Xiyue nodded.
Guo Fengnian looked from one to the other, suddenly overwhelmed by a strong sense of being excluded.
Was Zhang Xiyue really the person Cheng Mingjiao had decided to distance himself from? Why did it feel as though he was the one being pushed out?
Guo Fengnian took a deep breath and ventured, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now?”
“Go ahead.” Cheng Mingjiao dismissed him without hesitation.
Guo Fengnian’s mouth twitched a few times. He wanted to ask how exactly Cheng Mingjiao planned to distance himself from Xiyue, but the man’s eyes were fixed on Xiyue, not sparing him even a glance from the corner of his eye.
Hmph.
What a jerk.
Guo Fengnian sneered inwardly and left.
The door slammed shut behind him with a bang. Cheng Mingjiao thought that was terribly rude, but the room did feel much more spacious afterward.
Zhang Xiyue, on the other hand, hadn’t wanted Guo Fengnian to leave. Facing the Emperor alone was still rather stressful.
In fact, she still hadn’t wanted to come, but when Grandma Qian had visited her earlier, she’d accidentally let slip what had happened when the two of them had tricked Cheng Mingjiao before. Xiyue had been a little worried about how Cheng Mingjiao would react, so she had hurried over.
Given Cheng Mingjiao’s personality, if he really intended to hold it against her, he wouldn’t have let her into the hospital room in the first place.
Not only had he let her in, but he hadn’t mentioned the matter at all for so long. He probably hadn’t taken it to heart… right?
Zhang Xiyue wasn’t entirely sure, but saying something nice certainly couldn’t hurt. “I asked the doctor about it too. The stomachache you had that day was caused by not eating for too long, which led to acute gastroenteritis. It had nothing to do with the fruit. All the fruit was safe.”
An excellent professional knew how to convey two layers of meaning in a single sentence—for instance, implying that even though she hadn’t come to see him, she had still been thinking about him, while also praising his wilderness survival skills.
Sure enough, Cheng Mingjiao understood her hints, and his expression improved considerably.
He had originally been looking for the right opportunity to prove himself, but now there was no need.
Zhang Xiyue pressed her advantage. “I’ve been worried about you these past few days, but I was afraid of disturbing your rest, so I didn’t dare come see you. You’re not going to hold that against me, are you, Mr. Cheng?”
“You don’t need to make excuses.” His brows and eyes were full of haughty pride. “I know why you didn’t come.”
Zhang Xiyue felt a pang of guilt. “You… know?”
“That’s also why I asked you to stay in the hospital for a few more days.” Cheng Mingjiao got straight to the point. “Zhang Xiyue, I’ve brought in a psychologist from overseas. She’ll arrive at the hospital at one this afternoon. After lunch, I’ll take you to see her.”
Zhang Xiyue stared at him in confusion.
She genuinely couldn’t understand what not coming to see him had to do with seeing a psychologist.
Her confusion must have been written all over her face, because Cheng Mingjiao’s expression turned serious. “Haven’t you noticed? You have acute stress disorder.”
Zhang Xiyue: “?”
“If it isn’t treated promptly and the symptoms last for more than a month, there’s a high chance it will develop into PTSD. But don’t worry. The doctor I’ve invited—”
“Wait a minute.” Zhang Xiyue calmly cut him off.
Cheng Mingjiao stopped halfway through his sentence.
“What do you mean, I have acute stress disorder?” Zhang Xiyue asked, half amused and half exasperated. “How come I didn’t know I had a psychological disorder?”
Cheng Mingjiao’s gaze gradually filled with pity.
Zhang Xiyue: “?”
“You’re always sleeping,” he said.
Zhang Xiyue: “…And?”
What did that have to do with a psychological disorder?
“You sleep a lot, especially during the day. But someone whose medical checkup results are basically normal shouldn’t need that much sleep unless they aren’t sleeping well at night.” Cheng Mingjiao stared steadily at her, her reflection clear in his dark tea-colored eyes. “Zhang Xiyue, do you often have nightmares at night?”
Zhang Xiyue’s lips moved, but it took her a long while to speak. “That still doesn’t prove I have a psychological disorder.”
“You’re always looking for someone to accompany you. You like going to crowded places, and you spend almost no time alone. That’s very different from your usual behavior. It means you’re anxious, uneasy, and perhaps even a little frightened.”
The hospital room was quiet, with only Cheng Mingjiao’s calm analysis filling the air.
Zhang Xiyue listened in a daze. It took her a long time to find her voice again. “How do you know all this so clearly?”
“I always know everything.” The Emperor was getting smug again.
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
Fine.
“The most important point is…” Cheng Mingjiao lifted his eyes and continued with what he had been saying. “After you woke up, you actually didn’t come looking for me.”
Zhang Xiyue: “?”
“To protect itself, your brain instinctively tries to avoid anything that might trigger the trauma—the time, the place, the weather, and even me, since I shared the same experience with you. That’s why you kept refusing to see me.”
Cheng Mingjiao’s tone was utterly certain, as if he had already seen right through her.
Zhang Xiyue felt that his final point was wrong.
Whether she wanted to see him had nothing to do with trauma.
But he had been right about the first two points.
She had indeed been having nightmares lately and sleeping poorly. She also disliked being alone. She had even taken the initiative to add Guo Fengnian on WeChat just to make things livelier, playing games with him whenever she had nothing else to do.
She really had done many things she normally wouldn’t.
Zhang Xiyue gradually fell into deep thought. By the time she came back to herself, the food had already been delivered.
“Eat,” Cheng Mingjiao told her.
Zhang Xiyue answered and saw that the meals had been placed on the small table beside his bed. She was about to take her portion to the sofa to eat when, before she could do anything, Cheng Mingjiao had already opened it for her.
Did he want her to eat with him?
Zhang Xiyue paused and looked at him hesitantly.
Cheng Mingjiao frowned slightly, then handed her a pair of chopsticks.
That meant he did want her to eat with him.
Zhang Xiyue understood. She thanked him and accepted the chopsticks, but then found herself faced with another problem as she looked at the small table on his bed.
The table was pressed against the side of the bed and extended directly over it. It was convenient for him to eat while sitting in bed, but her chair wasn’t tall enough. To eat comfortably, she would have to stand—unless…
“Sit.” Cheng Mingjiao finally spoke, then pushed the covers aside.
Zhang Xiyue had no choice but to sit on his bed as well.
The two of them faced each other and began eating their respective lunches.
The meals were identical: three meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a bowl of soup. Light, but nutritious.
Zhang Xiyue had a hearty appetite and ate with her head lowered, while Cheng Mingjiao was thinking about how she had asked him to hand her the chopsticks.
Apparently, those few days on the mountain had given her quite a few false impressions. Now she was even asking him to pass her chopsticks. If this continued, she would only become more and more presumptuous. He had to find a way to make his position clear.
Cheng Mingjiao considered how to express, as tactfully as possible, that even though they had weathered a crisis together, he still wouldn’t let her have her way.
Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly noticed Zhang Xiyue picking the carrots out of her food.
“Don’t be picky,” he reminded her sternly.
Her chopsticks trembled, and Zhang Xiyue looked at him speechlessly.
“Being picky is bad for your health,” Cheng Mingjiao emphasized.
Zhang Xiyue really didn’t like the half-cooked carrots, but she also didn’t want to defy her boss over something so trivial. After thinking for a while, she said, “My health should be pretty good.”
Cheng Mingjiao: “If you keep being picky, there’ll come a day when it isn’t.”
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
Was he cursing her?
He was, wasn’t he?
Apparently, if she didn’t eat carrots, she had to be cursed. Her boss’s controlling tendencies were truly something else.
Zhang Xiyue smiled. “I don’t think that’ll happen. Look at me—I spent so long on the mountain and nothing happened to me.”
She was making a pointed reference to the fact that Cheng Mingjiao had suffered both a fever and gastroenteritis.
The clever Cheng Mingjiao instantly caught her meaning.
Zhang Xiyue realized she had been a little too obvious and immediately apologized. “I’m sorry. Actually, I…”
“My body is much better than it used to be. Even the doctor says my gastrointestinal function has improved, and I’m recovering much faster too.” Cheng Mingjiao wasn’t angry. In fact, he looked a little smug. “It’s all because I’m not a picky eater.”
Was it really because he wasn’t a picky eater?
Why did it feel more like all those ready-made meals had raised his tolerance threshold?
Zhang Xiyue put on a fake smile and ate all the carrots.
Seeing her take bite after bite, Cheng Mingjiao was pleased at first, but then his brows drew together.
She listened to him far too well.
Carrots were clearly food she hated, yet a few words from him had been enough to make her eat every last one. Without an extraordinary amount of affection supporting her, that would have been nearly impossible.
What was he supposed to do? Zhang Xiyue liked Cheng Mingjiao far more than he had ever imagined.
Zhang Xiyue quickly polished off all the carrots, finally allowing herself to eat the rest of the food in peace.
This had been her habit since childhood: whenever she could pick and choose, she would. If she couldn’t, she would eat the unpleasant food first, then slowly savor the good stuff.
She lowered her eyes and seriously gnawed on a piece of spare rib. It wasn’t until she had been at it for a while that she realized Cheng Mingjiao hadn’t spoken in quite some time.
She glanced up and found him staring at her.
Was he supervising her?
She helplessly announced, “I finished all the carrots.”
Look at that.
She was taking credit.
Sure enough, she had only eaten all those carrots for his sake.
Cheng Mingjiao looked away. His chopsticks had poked several holes in the rice in his bowl.
They finished the meal with their own thoughts on their minds. It wasn’t until the caregiver came to collect the food containers that Cheng Mingjiao remembered he still hadn’t made his position clear to Zhang Xiyue.
The air-conditioning in the hospital room was pleasantly cool, but it couldn’t completely dispel the warmth of the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. After eating too much lunch, both he and Zhang Xiyue felt languid and sleepy.
It really wasn’t the right atmosphere for a serious conversation.
Fortunately, the caregiver was quite perceptive. Before leaving with the containers, she cheerfully remarked, “Oh my, you two look so well-matched!”
Cheng Mingjiao froze for a moment. Then he realized that he and Zhang Xiyue were both wearing hospital gowns, and both were good-looking enough to make the caregiver mistake them for a handsome couple.
He looked at Zhang Xiyue.
After hearing the caregiver’s words, her ears had visibly twitched. Yet she was now looking down and fiddling with her phone, pretending she hadn’t heard a thing.
She was probably thrilled inside.
Cheng Mingjiao felt that crushing her fantasy right then would be rather cruel, but dragging things out would only cause more trouble.
So…
“What is she talking about?” he said, putting on an unhappy expression.
Zhang Xiyue had already been pretending not to hear. She hadn’t expected him to bring it up anyway, so she could only put on her professional smile. “The caregiver must have misunderstood. Please don’t take it to heart, Mr. Cheng.”
“It’s difficult not to,” he said, glancing at her casually. “After all, this sort of ambiguous joking is the greatest taboo between a boss and an employee.”
Zhang Xiyue didn’t know how to respond.
Seeing her fall silent, Cheng Mingjiao remembered how she had stayed up almost the entire night of his high fever, periodically checking his temperature with her hand.
After a moment of silence, he said pointedly, “Office romances are strictly forbidden. There’s no way I could fall for one of my employees. If any employee had those kinds of feelings for me, I would fire her immediately.”
Zhang Xiyue had even less idea how to respond.
She couldn’t understand how a teasing remark from the caregiver had somehow escalated into a discussion about office romance.
But at times like this, going along with him was always the right choice.
After a brief silence, she agreed, “You’re right, Mr. Cheng.”
Seeing her assent against her own conscience only made Cheng Mingjiao feel more sorry for her. But he had his own principles. After learning that she liked him, he was already showing mercy by pretending nothing had happened and leaving all her benefits intact. He couldn’t give her anything more.
Cheng Mingjiao took a sip of water and said, “Although what happened to you this time involved me, it would be difficult to classify it as a work-related injury. So I’ll compensate you personally. Send me your bank account number.”
Zhang Xiyue blinked. “Ah… there’s compensation too?”
“Yes.”
Zhang Xiyue immediately copied her account number and sent it to him.
Ding.
After receiving the message, Cheng Mingjiao remembered that she had voluntarily added Guo Fengnian on WeChat.
“Send it to me on WeChat,” he said coldly.
Zhang Xiyue nodded, sent the account number to the work group, and tagged him.
Cheng Mingjiao: “…”
Everyone else in the group must have been dying of curiosity. Fangfang sent a message, then quickly deleted it, pretending it had never existed.
But the Emperor had still caught it with his sharp eyes. He directly tagged her and asked, “Are you very free?”
Zhang Xiyue found those three words strangely familiar and silently mourned Fangfang.
Sure enough, Fangfang came out to apologize.
Cheng Mingjiao’s brows remained tightly furrowed, as though he were still unhappy. Zhang Xiyue quickly spoke up. “Mr. Cheng, is this all right?”
Cheng Mingjiao glanced at her.
Zhang Xiyue: “?”
At first, she had thought his displeasure was directed at Fangfang. Why did it now feel as though it was aimed at her?
She was about to say something else when her phone received a notification.
Incoming deposit: 200,000.00 yuan.
Zhang Xiyue: “!!!”
On the bed, Cheng Mingjiao’s brows drew slightly together, as though he felt it still wasn’t enough. He tapped his phone a few more times.
Zhang Xiyue looked at her phone again and saw another notification.
Incoming deposit: 200,000.00 yuan.
She drew in a deep breath.
Cheng Mingjiao still didn’t seem satisfied. For the third time, he tapped his phone.
Incoming deposit: 200,000.00 yuan.
When she saw him about to enter a fourth transfer, Zhang Xiyue hurriedly stopped him. “W-wait, Mr. Cheng! Isn’t that a little too much?”
“Is it?” Cheng Mingjiao countered.
Zhang Xiyue: “…”
Amid her silence, Cheng Mingjiao pondered for a moment before saying, “It’s all what you deserve.”
She hadn’t been injured, so technically there was no need to compensate her with so much money. But what he was buying out at the same time was Zhang Xiyue’s feelings for him—feelings she shouldn’t have had.
So it wasn’t too much after all.
“Once you accept this money, what happened on the mountain is over. From now on, we’ll go back to the way things were. Is that acceptable?” Cheng Mingjiao asked.
Although this was money from the novel world’s [redacted]… [Redacted] was still money! She couldn’t spend it in the real world, but she could use it in the novel world!
Zhang Xiyue smiled until her eyes curved into crescents. “Of course, Mr. Cheng.”
The smile was forced.
Cheng Mingjiao pressed his lips together.
The afternoon psychological consultation arrived as scheduled.
As she approached the consulting room, Zhang Xiyue felt a rare sense of nervousness.
Her anxiety was subtle. Her breathing changed slightly, and her footsteps faltered for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and placed her hand on the doorknob.
“Do you need me to go in with you?” Cheng Mingjiao suddenly asked.
Zhang Xiyue paused. “Ah, no, I can do it myself.”
“You don’t need to force yourself.” Cheng Mingjiao glanced at her. “The doctor inside was hired by me personally and doesn’t have to follow the hospital’s rules. If you’re nervous, I can go in with you.”
Zhang Xiyue let out a short laugh. “Really, there’s no need.”
She insisted on going in alone. Cheng Mingjiao was slightly displeased, but he said nothing.
Zhang Xiyue took a quiet breath. As she entered, she instinctively looked back and saw Cheng Mingjiao still standing outside.
She couldn’t help hesitating. “Mr. Cheng.”
Cheng Mingjiao immediately started walking inside.
“No, no, no, I’m not asking you to come in with me.” Zhang Xiyue hurriedly stopped him. The moment her fingers closed around his arm, she felt him tense. “I just wanted to ask if you were planning to wait for me outside?”
Blocked at the doorway, Cheng Mingjiao looked displeased. “Yes. I’m waiting for you.”
The thought of the Emperor standing guard outside made Zhang Xiyue feel immense pressure, so she tried to dissuade him tactfully. “That sounds exhausting. Why don’t you go back first?”
Cheng Mingjiao glanced at her, thinking that she still couldn’t control her feelings. He had made himself so clear just now, yet she still dared to show such blatant concern for him.
“I’ll have to talk to the doctor later too,” he said.
Hearing that, Zhang Xiyue said nothing more.
She went inside and carefully closed the door, making sure to lock it before greeting the doctor, who had been waiting for her.
The doctor had a kindly smile. He was a grandfatherly man in his sixties, and after exchanging pleasantries with her, he invited her to sit down.
Zhang Xiyue nodded and settled onto the soft sofa. She also took the initiative to finish the cup of warm water on the table. Once everything was ready, she looked at the doctor with a smile.
“Doctor, I’m ready.”
The doctor chuckled. “Have you seen a lot of psychologists before?”
Zhang Xiyue nodded. “For a while before I started university, I went to the hospital quite often.”
The doctor did not ask any further questions. Instead, he began talking with her about the recent accident.
The counseling session lasted nearly two hours. When Zhang Xiyue came out, Cheng Mingjiao was sitting on a bench outside the room, his knees together and his back straight. The patient’s uniform he wore looked like some sort of poorly tailored suit—soft, yet severe.
Zhang Xiyue let out a soft breath and took the initiative to greet him. “Mr. Cheng, I’m finished.”
Cheng Mingjiao had heard the door open and had been about to stand up immediately, but he was afraid of giving her too many false impressions, so he could only remain seated.
Now that she had greeted him first, he rose in no hurry. “Did you and the doctor…”
“Are you going in now?” Zhang Xiyue asked.
Cheng Mingjiao had intended to ask what she and the doctor had discussed, but after she interrupted him, he could hardly continue. After pressing his lips together for a few seconds, he nodded.
“Then hurry up and go,” Zhang Xiyue said.
Cheng Mingjiao was somewhat unhappy with her urging. He gave her a long look before entering the room.
The smile disappeared from Zhang Xiyue’s face. After standing silently for a moment, she was about to leave.
Before she could turn around, the door suddenly opened again.
“Are you going to wait for me?” Cheng Mingjiao asked.
Zhang Xiyue was speechless for a long moment before nodding.
Although he already knew the answer, seeing her nod still made Cheng Mingjiao sigh inwardly. He was troubled by how his parents had given birth to such an outstanding son.
Then again, perhaps Zhang Xiyue simply liked Cheng Mingjiao as a person. It might have nothing to do with how outstanding he was.
That was even more troubling.
Cheng Mingjiao decided that he would have a serious talk with the psychologist.
The door closed again.
This time, Zhang Xiyue waited several more minutes. Only after making sure he would not suddenly pull another about-face did she quickly slip away.
A counseling session lasted at least an hour, and the counseling room was in the most remote corner of the hospital. It was far too quiet there, and she did not want to be alone, so she decided to go outside for a walk and return when Cheng Mingjiao was nearly finished.
After stepping out of the temperature-controlled room into the sweltering outdoors, Zhang Xiyue felt herself come back to life as sweat gathered on her forehead.
She stood in the sun for a while until her cheeks flushed, then walked toward the shade of the trees.
It was already past three in the afternoon. Most of the specialists and department directors were in the hospital at this hour, making it the busiest time of day.
Zhang Xiyue walked along briskly. When she passed a small convenience store, she bought a Hami melon popsicle. She ate it as she pulled out her phone and held a press conference in the small group chat called “What on Earth Does the Emperor Want?”
“Yes, I gave the bank account number to the Emperor.”
“He said he wanted to compensate me in his personal capacity, so I sent it over.”
“It’s not much—just six hundred thousand. That’s only a few months’ salary for me.”
Her deliberately boastful tone enraged the others. One after another, they shouted, “Remove the treacherous minister! Purge the Emperor’s court!” as though they had sworn to oppose her to the death.
Zhang Xiyue calmly replied: “So envious? Why don’t you come work as the Emperor’s executive assistant?”
The chat fell silent at once.
Thirty seconds later, the message “We were only joking. There’s no need to take it so seriously, Minister Zhang” popped up.
Zhang Xiyue laughed at the sight of it. Unfortunately, her amusement brought misfortune. The popsicle she had only eaten halfway suddenly jabbed into someone else.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” She hurriedly pulled out some tissues. The moment she reached over to wipe the stain off the other person, her wrist was seized.
When she saw his hand, she froze for a moment.
She had always thought that, among Asians, her skin was already considered quite fair. She had never expected someone to be even paler than she was.
It was a kind of pallor born of years spent away from the sun.
He was also very thin, his skin cold to the touch and radiating a fragile air.
Seeing the bandage wrapped around his other arm, Zhang Xiyue quickly came to her senses. “I’m really sorry. I’ll pay for the shirt…”
Their eyes met, and she recognized him.
He was the young man who had come to the camp for help that day.
