Gu Ran paid no attention to Li Junnan’s gaze, putting away her silver needles as she spoke calmly.
“If there’s no fever within twenty-four hours, he’ll be fine. Have someone prepare the Important decoction later and find a way to get him to drink it. Just administer an ordinary IV drip with Anti-inflammatory medicine—no other medications are needed.”
After speaking, Gu Ran had already moved to stand beside Fu Sijue, her tone becoming much softer.
“Let’s go. Is there a place to rest here? The first eight hours after surgery are the most critical. We’ll stay here tonight.”
“Alright, I’ll take you to rest.”
Fu Sijue completely ignored the others in the operating room, took Gu Ran’s hand, and left directly.
“Young Master Li, who is that? Could she be our future mistress?”
The one asking was Lao Jia, who could be considered one of Fu Sijue’s close confidants, though he usually stayed at the Alliance Base.
“Isn’t it obvious? Having known Sijue for so long, have you ever seen him this intimate with anyone of the opposite sex?”
Upon hearing this, Lao Jia somehow blurted out what was on his mind.
“But Miss Gu looks so young. Is she even an adult? Our Milord is robbing the cradle.”
“Pfft, Lao Jia, have you been looking to loosen your bones lately? You’re getting bold.”
Only then did Lao Jia realize what he had said. He chuckled sheepishly and replied,
“Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. But Miss Gu really does look very young.”
“How could she not be? She just turned adult two months ago. There’s almost a three-generation gap between them.”
Li Junnan couldn’t help but sigh when he thought about the age difference between Gu Ran and Fu Sijue.
Fu Sijue was twenty-six, while Gu Ran was only eighteen—an eight-year difference, nearly three generations apart.
Hearing this, Lao Jia’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he blurted out again,
“So Milord likes them young. If he had made his move any earlier, it would have been a crime!”
Li Junnan’s lips twitched at this. Thinking about Fu Sijue and Gu Ran’s relationship, he mused, wasn’t it almost a crime indeed!
The moment she turned eighteen, he had brought her to Tan Palace and kept her confined there ever since.
Meanwhile, after changing out of their sterile surgical gowns, Gu Ran and Fu Sijue walked out and encountered the same group of people who had been gathered at the entrance earlier.
Seeing Fu Sijue emerge, they rushed forward once again.
“Milord, how is the captain…?”
Their faces were even paler than before, clearly from having donated blood.
Fu Sijue replied indifferently,
“The surgery was successful. Stop crowding here and go tend to your injuries.”
After speaking, Fu Sijue took Gu Ran’s hand and left the entrance.
This villa wasn’t as large as Tan Palace, but it still spanned over six hundred square meters with three floors above ground. Fu Sijue directly led Gu Ran to the third floor, expertly guiding her to a bedroom.
“You’ve worked hard tonight. Go take a shower and get some rest early.”
Fu Sijue gently ruffled Gu Ran’s hair, then walked over to a wardrobe.
“There aren’t any clothes for you here, so wear mine for now. I’ll have Tan Palace send over a change of clothes for you later. I’ll shower outside.”
After saying this, Fu Sijue placed a set of clothes at the foot of the bed, took another set, and left the bedroom.
Gu Ran was truly exhausted. She took a quick shower and came out.
After washing her hair, she wanted to blow-dry it but couldn’t find a hairdryer after searching around. Just then, Fu Sijue returned from his shower outside.
“What are you looking for?”
“A hairdryer.”
Fu Sijue listened, then walked out again. When he returned, he held a hairdryer in his hand. Instead of handing it to Gu Ran, he took her hand and led her to the sofa, where they both sat down.
“I can do it myself.”
“Stay still. You must be tired after performing surgery just now. Be good, if you’re tired then sleep. I’ll carry you to bed after your hair is dry.”
Gu Ran didn’t hesitate either. Between the surgery and her recent recovery from serious illness, she was indeed exhausted.
Gu Ran lay directly on Fu Sijue’s lap. His movements were gentle, as if afraid of hurting her.
His fingertips softly combed through her silky hair with tender motions. Accompanied by the warm airflow, Fu Sijue would occasionally massage Gu Ran’s scalp gently, creating a very comfortable sensation.
If people around Fu Sijue saw him like this, their worldviews would likely shatter.
This was the deity in everyone’s eyes. These long, pale hands should be signing billion-dollar contracts, should be holding power over life and death.
Yet now, he was actually enjoying doing such servile work with a look of pure contentment.
In the bedroom, only the hum of the hairdryer could be heard – a somewhat hypnotic sound that made Gu Ran’s eyes droop as drowsiness washed over her.
Suddenly, the hairdryer stopped. Her hair was dry, and Gu Ran, who had been nearly asleep, became alert again.
“A-Jue, why wasn’t today’s injured person sent to the Alliance Hospital? Weren’t they injured during a mission?”
Actually, this question had been on Gu Ran’s mind since she arrived at this villa.
The people outside the operating room were all wearing Alliance Base uniforms, clearly on a mission. In such cases, injured team members should be sent to the Alliance Hospital for emergency treatment. From what she knew, Li Junnan seemed to be the deputy director of the Alliance Hospital.
Hearing this, a cold expression flashed across Fu Sijue’s previously tender face – fleeting, but Gu Ran still caught it.
Gu Ran didn’t mind. Given Fu Sijue’s current position, such vigilance and caution were appropriate. If in her previous life, Fu Sijue had maintained this level of alertness and precaution toward her, perhaps they wouldn’t have met such an end.
Seeing that Fu Sijue didn’t answer immediately, Gu Ran continued.
“A-Jue, someone wants to harm you, don’t they? You’re also from the Alliance Base, aren’t you?”
Gu Ran asked this deliberately. After all, with her experience of two lifetimes, she already knew about Fu Sijue’s hidden identity.
In this life, she needed to take precautions early regarding certain matters. There were also mysteries that remained unsolved until her death in the previous life. To investigate these, she would inevitably touch upon Fu Sijue’s hidden identity, so it was better to address it openly early on through this opportunity.
Faced with Gu Ran’s questioning, Fu Sijue hesitated slightly. It wasn’t that he wanted to hide anything, but sometimes knowing more meant less safety. He only wanted Gu Ran to remain untouched by dust, to be a beloved little princess without worries.
But when he met Gu Ran’s clearly perceptive eyes, Fu Sijue knew he couldn’t hide it – or rather, he didn’t want to lie to Gu Ran.
“Ranran, they are all my subordinates. On the surface, I’m just a businessman, but I’m also part of the Alliance Base. This mission is clearly a trap—their target is me, while Xiao Guang and the others are merely pawns in their power struggle. I don’t know if they have people at Alliance Hospital, but for Xiao Guang’s safety and to thwart their scheme, his injury must not be leaked.”
“It’s Han Muze, isn’t it?”
This was the first time she had mentioned that name since her rebirth, and the moment Fu Sijue heard it, his expression darkened instantly, his gaze toward Gu Ran growing distant.
Suddenly, a cold, disappointed, and somewhat mocking laugh echoed in the room.
“So, you weren’t asking just now—you were testing me, weren’t you? You’ve known my identity all along, haven’t you? Han Muze must have told you, right? What else did he say? Did he ask you to deal with me or stay by my side to gather information?”
Fu Sijue’s voice grew louder as he spoke, his face eventually contorting in despair and pain, as if he had been utterly abandoned.
Gu Ran hadn’t expected such a reaction from Fu Sijue, but she couldn’t blame him.
When she had been brought back to Nancheng by the Gu family, one reason was her status as the designated marriage partner in an early arrangement between the Gu and Han families—specifically, with Han Muze.
Two months earlier, on her first day back in Nancheng, Gu Ran had met Han Muze at the Gu residence.
At the time, she had intended to dissolve the engagement because, years ago, her heart already belonged to someone else.
But as she prepared to discuss the matter privately with Han Muze, he noticed a photograph that had fallen from her bag and brought up a mission from years ago, mentioning a girl he had encountered.
Gu Ran still remembered how exhilarated she had felt upon hearing this. She had asked for numerous details, all of which matched perfectly. When Han Muze claimed he had been searching for that girl all along, she impulsively embraced him, declaring that she was the one.
It wasn’t until the day she died in her previous life that she discovered the truth: it had all been Han Muze’s deception. The moment he saw the photo and realized Gu Ran was searching for that person, he had devised a plan to take the other’s place.
Han Muze knew so many details only because he had indeed participated in that mission—alongside Fu Sijue.
The one who had saved Gu Ran back then was actually Fu Sijue, a fact Han Muze had learned from another team member who had been on the mission with them.
After that encounter, Gu Ran abandoned all thoughts of breaking off the engagement and naturally entered a relationship with Han Muze.
But their relationship lasted only a little over ten days before Fu Sijue captured her and confined her in Tan Palace.
At the time, Gu Ran was utterly bewildered—she didn’t even know Fu Sijue, yet he claimed to have loved her for years.
It was only later, from Li Junnan, that she learned she and Fu Sijue had met as children at his grandfather’s house. Back then, Gu Ran was just four or five years old—how could she possibly remember such things?
Li Junnan had spoken vaguely at the time, only saying that her appearance was like a beam of light in Fu Sijue’s dark life. Back then, Fu Sijue was only twelve or thirteen years old, yet he had already developed an unwavering conviction in his heart—to marry her when he grew up.
Looking back now, it still felt absurd. A twelve or thirteen-year-old boy falling in love at first sight with a four or five-year-old girl—even TV dramas wouldn’t dare portray such a plot.
But now, it seemed as though everything was destined. In their childhood, she was Fu Sijue’s light, and when she fell into darkness, Fu Sijue rescued her from the abyss.
Thinking of this, Gu Ran suddenly embraced Fu Sijue. It seemed some things had to be clarified; otherwise, continuing to live with such suspicion would inevitably lead to trouble.
“Brother Jue, five years ago, in the Y Continent War Zone, did you rescue a girl from the Beast Fighting Arena? Brother Jue, I am that girl you saved! I still remember how you carried me out of the cage and said to me, ‘Little one, don’t be afraid. I’ll take you home’! Brother Jue, do you still remember?”