Ling Xiao was startled again. “How do you know my sister is waiting for me at the family compound?”
Xie Jinwen gave a light chuckle. “Sister? Is she really your sister?”
Ling Xiao nodded. “She is.”
Yin Ciying’s father and Ling Xiao’s father had been close friends since childhood. Yin Ciying’s mother and Ling Xiao’s mother were best friends as well. The two families had always been very close.
But an accident had taken Yin Ciying’s parents. Ling Xiao’s mother brought her home and adopted her. Though they did not share the same surname, in Ling Xiao’s heart, Yin Ciying was his real sister.
Xie Jinwen sighed.
“What a slow-witted little fool.”
She said nothing more. The IV drip had finished. Mimicking a patient in the neighboring room, she pressed the call button by the bed to summon a nurse to remove the needle.
The nurse entered the room and checked Xie Jinwen’s temperature with a forehead thermometer.
The device immediately sounded an alarm.
She looked troubled.
“Thirty-eight point nine degrees! Why has your fever gone up again?”
Instead of removing the needle, she hung another bag of medication and turned to Ling Xiao.
“Sir, are you the family member of Bed Number Three? Please come with me to the doctor’s office.”
Ling Xiao was just about to explain that he was not family.
Before he could speak, Xie Jinwen leisurely said, “I’m an orphan. I don’t have any family members. If there’s anything to discuss, just tell me directly.”
The nurse glanced at Xie Jinwen, then gave Ling Xiao an apologetic look.
“I’ll go get the doctor.”
After the nurse left, Xie Jinwen looked at the still-awkward Ling Xiao.
“Aren’t you leaving? If you stay, they’ll drag you away as my family member again.”
Ling Xiao became even more embarrassed. The tips of his ears turned red, yet he still didn’t leave.
“I’ll stay a little longer. You only ended up hospitalized because you got dragged into this innocently.”
Xie Jinwen reminded him, “You already paid. We’re even. You don’t need to take responsibility.”
Ling Xiao looked at her.
After two seconds of silence, he asked, “Aren’t you afraid? What if you can’t be cured?”
Xie Jinwen replied indifferently,
“I’m all alone anyway. Nobody loves me, nobody cares about me. If I can’t be cured, then I’ll just die. What’s the point of being afraid?”
Ling Xiao felt uncomfortable hearing that.
“Miss Xie, don’t you take yourself a little too lightly? Can’t you cherish your own body?”
The question rendered Xie Jinwen speechless.
She looked at him as though he were an idiot.
Then she crooked a finger at him.
Ling Xiao had no idea what she wanted, but under her beckoning gesture, he still walked over.
The moment he reached the bedside, Xie Jinwen abruptly sat up and wrapped both arms around his waist.
Forcing out two tears, she wailed dramatically,
“Ah! I’m so scared! I don’t want to die! Help! Somebody save me!”
“It’s all your fault! This is all because of you! If not for you, I wouldn’t be suffering like this! You have to compensate me!”
Clinging to Ling Xiao, she put on a full performance, acting out the helpless, devastated emotional breakdown that he had apparently imagined she should be having.
Ling Xiao panicked completely.
At a loss whether to push her away or hug her back, he hesitated for less than a second before bending down and embracing her.
“Miss Xie, don’t be afraid. I’ll take responsibility for you.”
Xie Jinwen: “…”
Who exactly was acting here?
A short while later, the nurse returned with the doctor.
Having already made his promise, Ling Xiao confidently remained by the bedside, playing the role of family member.
Closing the medical chart, the doctor spoke with difficulty.
“Miss Xie, ever since you were admitted, other than your repeatedly rising body temperature, all your test indicators have been normal. We’ve done everything we can. However, the high fever persists. Prolonged fever can easily cause irreversible brain cell damage. We recommend transferring you to a hospital in the capital.”
To put it bluntly—
They were out of options.
This military hospital’s medical standards were not poor.
The problem was that Xie Jinwen was an exceptional case.
For most people, a high fever was either caused by inflammation resulting from elevated white blood cells or by a secondary reaction to some illness.
But in Xie Jinwen’s case, all other indicators were completely normal.
It was almost as though the fever itself was her normal body temperature.
Yet what normal person maintained a temperature of thirty-eight point nine degrees?
If this continued, she might literally burn herself into an idiot.
That was why the attending physician suggested a transfer.
Xie Jinwen slapped the bedside table.
“Fine. Process my discharge, then. Pull this needle out of my hand.”
The nurse removed the IV.
Meanwhile, Ling Xiao very consciously went to handle the discharge paperwork.
It was nearly six in the evening, and the hospital lobby was relatively empty, allowing him to complete the procedures quickly.
Instead of returning immediately to the ward, he stepped into the stairwell and made a phone call.
He explained everything—the inexplicable collision with the village and Xie Jinwen’s unexplained persistent fever.
“You brat. I already did a fortune reading for you at the beginning of the year. I told you this year would be a lucky one. You’d meet your destined partner and turn misfortune into fortune. Don’t worry too much.”
Considering the fighter jet had crashed into that state while he himself was completely unharmed, it certainly counted as turning misfortune into fortune.
His destined partner…
Xie Jinwen’s face appeared in Ling Xiao’s mind.
The tips of his ears reddened once more.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him.
Every word and action of hers seemed capable of stirring his emotions.
And now she was sick like this.
She was truly pitiful.
Ling Xiao spoke again.
“What about this girl…?”
“What’s her name? What are her birth details? Let me calculate.”
“Xie Jinwen. I don’t know her birth details. Even if I did, I’d need her permission before telling you.”
“Xie Jinwen… Holy crap! Boy, the moment I started divining her name, I coughed up blood!”
Ling Xiao was shocked.
“Coughed up blood? Great-Uncle, are you alright?”
The other side replied,
“I’m fine now. Recovered a bit. Anyway, this girl is no ordinary person. I can’t give you any advice. Whether it’s fortune or disaster, you can’t avoid what’s destined. Just handle things however the doctors recommend.”
After a pause, he added,
“By the way, did you bring up what I advised you at the beginning of the year?”
When a tree grows large, its branches spread. When children grow up, they establish separate households.
Ling Xiao had been advised to move out and live independently.
In recent years, he only returned home during the New Year holidays, staying for a day or two at most.
Besides, he was neither married nor even had a girlfriend.
He had never brought up the matter of separating households to his parents, fearing it would hurt them.
His great-uncle had not only strictly controlled his private life but had also sent him into the military.
His parents held considerable resentment over that.
As a result, Ling Xiao had never dared tell his family that he remained in contact with his great-uncle.
His great-uncle said,
“Ling Xiao, I would never harm you, nor would I harm the Ling family. The sooner this matter is handled, the better.”
“I… I’ll think about it.”
Ling Xiao ended the call and headed back toward the inpatient ward.
Inside the room.
Xie Jinwen lay quietly on the hospital bed, still wearing the hospital gown.
She had no spare clothes to change into.
In a way, she could finally understand how Ling Xiao had felt those past few days walking around bare-chested.
Her brows suddenly furrowed.
She looked toward the doorway.
Under the light stood a young man in military uniform. His features were sharp and heroic, but his face was filled with worry and sorrow.
Xie Jinwen spoke first.
“Handsome guy, are you looking for me?”
The young man froze in shock and rushed inside.
“Miss, you can see me?”
Xie Jinwen nodded calmly.
“I saw you on the first day I was transferred into this room. Since you never approached me, I ignored you.”
The young man became so emotional that tears welled up in his eyes.
“You really can see me! It wasn’t my imagination!”
Xie Jinwen spoke again.
“Do you need something from me?”
After calming himself with effort, the young man finally explained why he had come.