Seeing that Ning Yichu seemed ready to leave at any moment, He Shixia gently asked, “Are you planning to go now? How about tomorrow or the day after? I can go back with you, okay?”
Ning Yichu raised an eyebrow at him, “What, am I a prisoner now? Can’t go out for a walk without my warden watching over me?”
He Shixia softened his voice, “Not a warden, think of me as your bodyguard and driver, okay? Ah Ning, you just recovered from your illness, and you talked so much at the restaurant earlier. You should rest a bit more.”
“Besides, I’ve arranged for the lawyer to come this afternoon. The contract is ready. Once you sign it, the lawyer will handle the rest of the procedures. In a few days, you’ll have all my assets under your name. Isn’t this a bit more important than going back to the Ning family?”
Ning Yichu blinked, realizing that money was indeed more important than the Ning family.
So he sat back on the swing, swaying slowly, and said, “You’re giving me everything?”
He Shixia smiled, finding Ning Yichu’s cautious reaction quite adorable.
“Yes, all the assets I can leave behind if I were to die now would be yours,” He Shixia said. “Compared to inheriting an estate, the difference is that you won’t have to split it with my parents, and I’m still alive, so I can continue to create assets…”
“Ah Ning, doesn’t that mean I’m more valuable alive than dead?”
Ning Yichu didn’t feel guilty at all. He said slowly, “If you give me your future assets too, then yes, you are.”
He Shixia laughed, “Of course, I’ll give you everything.”
Ning Yichu glanced at him, “Then when we divorce, remember to put that in the divorce agreement.”
He Shixia nodded first, not opposing Ning Yichu’s implied intention to divorce, then casually mentioned, “But if we divorce, without the spousal relationship, there might be taxes on the asset transfer, and it could be a significant amount…”
Catching the implication in He Shixia’s words, Ning Yichu deliberately teased him, “Typical entertainment industry person, always thinking about tax evasion.”
He Shixia, who just wanted to use “legal tax exemption” as an excuse to suggest not rushing into a divorce, was momentarily speechless.
“By the way, is my surgery arranged?” Ning Yichu asked again.
He Shixia paused slightly and said, “Tomorrow, we’ll go to the hospital for a check-up and confirm the surgery plan with the doctor, okay? Your pregnancy is quite unique. Although it’s still early, it might involve an open surgery. Even if your body can handle it, it’s unlikely that the surgery can be done immediately after the check-up. It might take some time to arrange. If you still have energy after the check-up tomorrow, we can visit the Ning family right after leaving the hospital, okay?”
Ning Yichu sat on the swing, tilting his head slightly, “Having such a considerate husband, I’m so touched.”
Hearing Ning Yichu deliberately call him “husband” in a sticky, teasing tone, He Shixia, although knowing it was sarcastic, couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat, his breath catching for a few seconds.
Ning Yichu noticed this and found He Shixia’s reaction inexplicable but amusing.
So he continued in a deliberately exaggerated tone, “Why isn’t my husband speaking? Don’t like me calling you that? How about I call you Shixia-gege instead?”
Ning Yichu sat on the swing with a smile, his thin body swaying like a breeze. He Shixia looked at his eyes and brows, almost unable to resist the urge to kiss him.
Barely holding back, He Shixia restrained himself and called out, “Ah Ning…”
Ning Yichu suddenly let go of the swing ropes with both hands, reaching out as if asking for a hug, “Come here, gege.”
The last two words were said slowly and lingeringly, as if they had circled around his tongue several times before being spoken with care.
Already unsettled, He Shixia didn’t think much, fearing Ning Yichu might fall off the swing, and hurried forward.
But Ning Yichu retracted one hand, grabbing the swing rope again.
As for the hand he hadn’t retracted, it landed unceremoniously on He Shixia’s face when he got close.
He Shixia was slightly stunned after being slapped.
Ning Yichu steadied himself on the swing, his expression turning cold, “You really dare to think.”
He Shixia touched his slapped left cheek, then turned his head, offering his right cheek, “Want to make it symmetrical?”
Seeing his reaction, Ning Yichu was momentarily stunned, blinking, “…Get lost.”
He Shixia took a few steps to the side, avoiding blocking Ning Yichu’s swing.
Then he nonchalantly started a new topic, “By the way, during the days you were sick, I had someone start investigating at Kangning. The night we had the accident three months ago, the hotel’s surveillance was incomplete, and their footage is overwritten every three months, so it’s no longer available…”
Unlike the diversified He Group, the Ning family specializes in the hotel business, with their Kangning Grand Hotel chain being famous nationwide.
Three months ago, the Ning family held a birthday party for their young master Ning Zeshu, also celebrating his college graduation, inviting business elites, at the Kangning Grand Hotel’s main branch in City A.
Since most attendees were of some status, the surveillance inside the banquet hall was turned off, only the perimeter was monitored to prevent security issues without leaving a trace.
Additionally, considering some guests might need rest or for various reasons need to stay overnight, the Ning family had reserved an entire floor of guest rooms and even dedicated an elevator for that floor’s exclusive use.
The elevator’s surveillance was operational, but the corridor cameras on the guest room floor were turned off.
After the accident with He Shixia that night, in his previous life, Ning Yichu wanted to investigate the hotel, but it was Ning family territory. With limited ability, he couldn’t avoid the Ning family even if he tried to hide his identity. Before he could reach the surveillance room, he was discovered by Ning Zeqi, and naturally, he found nothing.
Hearing He Shixia’s words, Ning Yichu interrupted, “So, right after the incident, you checked my medicine box with a testing agency but didn’t check the hotel’s surveillance, and only now realized this?”
He Shixia apologized, “That was my oversight.”
Then he explained, “At the time, I was waiting for you to wake up in the hospital, and I was quite out of it myself. He Rulin volunteered to check the hotel’s surveillance, saying it would prevent missing any clues.”
“I didn’t know then that He Rulin had once shown interest in you and been rejected, nor did I understand your situation in the Ning family. I thought since He Rulin and Ning Shaoyi were classmates, it would be easier for him to speak, so I agreed.”
Ning Yichu “oh”ed, “And He Rulin said there was nothing wrong with the surveillance?”
He Shixia: “Yes.”
He Shixia recalled that three months ago, when the Ning family held the banquet at Kangning Grand Hotel, he didn’t know what kind of banquet it was before going, only that it was hosted by the Ning family, and his parents wanted him to attend, so he agreed since he was free.
Upon arrival, he realized it was just Ning Zeshu’s birthday and graduation party, but the Ning family valued this young master, so they invited many guests for a seemingly ordinary event.
Normally, for such events where the main character is a junior, even if the families are close, He Shixia’s parents wouldn’t place such importance on it.
“But… my parents were still trying to match me with Ning Zeshu, so they specifically asked me to attend,” He Shixia said. “After understanding the banquet situation, I planned to leave early.”
However, the Ning family’s old master, who had already celebrated his eightieth birthday, personally came to stop him upon learning He Shixia wanted to leave. Being an elder, He Shixia patiently listened to him for a while.
Old Master Ning said that if guests left right after arriving, it would be embarrassing for the Ning family as hosts. So if He Shixia didn’t want to stay in the banquet hall, he could rest in a guest room upstairs and leave with his parents when they were ready.
After saying this, Old Master Ning didn’t give He Shixia a chance to refuse, calling someone to arrange a guest room for him.
The person beside Old Master Ning was his young wife, who had been married for only a few years, named Lu Xi, just twenty-eight years old.
She said, “Arranging guest rooms seems to be Xiao Chu’s responsibility tonight.”
He Shixia, about to refuse, paused slightly.
Lu Xi continued during this pause, “That child is introverted, always shrinking in the corner at such banquets, as if being ignored and excluded. We thought he didn’t like such occasions, but if we didn’t let him come, he was even more unhappy. So this time, we gave him some light work to do, so he wouldn’t be alone in the corner, not talking to guests.”
As if discussing an embarrassing but unavoidable “family shame,” Lu Xi smiled awkwardly, and Old Master Ning frowned, clearly displeased.
Lu Xi: “Xiao Chu should be over there by the door. I’ll take you to find him to get a room card. Which rooms are still available depends on the room cards Xiao Chu has left.”
At this point, due to social etiquette, He Shixia couldn’t refuse in time and had to agree.
However, he declined Lu Xi’s company, saying he recognized Ning Yichu and could go get the room card himself.
Thus, at the banquet that night, He Shixia and Ning Yichu had their first brief encounter.
But they didn’t have much interaction at the time.
He Shixia said he needed a guest room to rest, Ning Yichu handed him a room card, He Shixia thanked him, Ning Yichu replied with “you’re welcome,” and they parted ways.
—These detailed processes weren’t covered in the original novel’s plot. The original only had the protagonist’s perspective concluding with “the fake young master climbed into He Liugongzi’s bed,” deeming the process unimportant and thus not presented.
So it was only now, with He Shixia recounting, that Ning Yichu learned the backstory of He Shixia coming to him for a room card.
He Shixia, looking at the calm-eyed Ning Yichu sitting on the swing, softly said, “That night, after I went to the guest room, you brought me some food.”
Although the original novel didn’t specifically detail this, the world derived from the original plot wasn’t just theoretical but a real, functioning world, with every minute personally experienced. Ning Yichu naturally hadn’t forgotten this event.
He nodded nonchalantly, “My adoptive mother asked me to bring some food to the guests resting in the guest rooms, so they wouldn’t go hungry and make the Ning family seem inhospitable.”
He Shixia frowned, “There was clearly room service available, yet they made you do it.”
Ning Yichu chuckled, “I was free. So, you ate what I brought, and then your condition went wrong. As for me, after delivering the food to the guest room floor, I drank a glass of orange juice handed to me by a waiter downstairs… I was taken upstairs, the elevator surveillance couldn’t have missed it.”
So, either He Rulin lied about checking the surveillance, or someone else tampered with it, and He Rulin was also kept in the dark. The least conspiratorial possibility is that He Rulin was careless and didn’t check thoroughly, leading to oversight.
“Do you remember what the waiter who handed you the orange juice looked like? Any features you recall?” He Shixia asked.
Ning Yichu shook his head.
Possibly due to the drug’s effects, combined with being ill for a few days after that night, although he remembered the general events, he couldn’t recall the face of that unfamiliar waiter. The person probably looked ordinary, with no striking features that left a strong first impression.
Later, when Ning Yichu tried to investigate on his own, he waited near the hotel staff’s exit for a few days, hoping to recognize the person if he saw them again, but to no avail.
Now, with the hotel surveillance already overwritten, there were even fewer clues.
He Shixia said, “Don’t worry, I’ve had people start contacting the staff involved that night, going through the clues one by one. We’ll find something.”
Ning Yichu suddenly laughed, “Hey, the more I think about it, the more it seems like your parents and the Ning family conspired to arrange that night’s accident.”
He Shixia paused slightly.
**Author’s Note:**