Song Kening opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar white ceiling.
The fluorescent light above her, the call button on the wall, and the smell of disinfectant in the air took her several seconds to process.
How did she end up in the hospital?
She moved her fingers and felt a slight sting on the back of her hand.
Looking down, she saw a small bruise where the IV needle had been inserted.
A thin white hospital blanket covered her body, its edges carefully tucked around her.
Lu Zhiyu was lying beside the bed, his face resting against his arm as he slept.
His two long legs were awkwardly squeezed into the narrow space between the bed and the chair. His back was slightly hunched, making him look like a large dog forced to curl up inside a cardboard box.
His hair was messy, his bangs falling over half his eyebrows, and a layer of stubble had appeared on his chin.
His breathing was slow and steady, his brows slightly furrowed, as if he was still thinking about something even in his sleep.
Song Kening stared at his sleeping face and suddenly felt a little dazed.
The Lu Zhiyu she remembered was the ruthless, obsessive CEO from the novel—the man who wore custom Armani suits and stood in NEX’s top-floor office.
Not this man.
Not the man wearing cheap sportswear, curled up on a narrow hospital chair, unshaven and exhausted after staying by her side all night.
She supported herself against the bed and tried to sit up.
The mattress made a faint sound.
Lu Zhiyu instantly woke up.
He abruptly raised his head. Sleepiness still lingered in his eyes, but his first reaction was to look at the person on the bed.
“You’re awake?”
His voice was low and hoarse from just waking up.
“Why am I in the hospital?” Song Kening rubbed her eyes. Her throat felt a little dry.
Lu Zhiyu moved his numb shoulder before answering calmly, “The doctor said you’re pregnant.”
Song Kening’s hand froze in midair.
Pregnant?
She instinctively lowered her head and looked at her stomach.
It was still flat. There was nothing to see.
She reached out and touched it.
Soft.
She couldn’t feel anything.
But if the doctor said she was pregnant, then she really was.
In the real world, she had never even been in a relationship.
She had spent all four years of college buried in the library and working part-time.
Yet after being transported into a novel, she had slept with someone on her very first day…
And now she was pregnant.
Song Kening leaned against the pillow and stared at the ceiling.
At least the pregnancy part of the plot was still following the original storyline.
But now even the two adults were struggling to survive. What were they going to do when they had a baby to raise?
How much did a can of baby formula cost?
How much did a pack of diapers cost?
Baby clothes, bottles, a crib, vaccinations…
At that moment, Song Kening’s brain was like an old-fashioned calculator, clicking away nonstop.
She couldn’t calculate the exact numbers for any of it, but every single item pointed toward the same conclusion:
They didn’t have enough money.
At that moment, Lu Zhiyu stood up and moved the chair toward the wall.
“I’ll go buy you some porridge.”
Song Kening snapped out of her calculations and suddenly remembered an even more important problem.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait! We stayed here overnight. The medical bill must be expensive, right?”
She didn’t have social insurance, and neither did Lu Zhiyu.
In this world, the two of them were unemployed.
Where would they get medical insurance?
Without insurance, everything at the hospital had to be paid out of pocket.
One night of hospitalization, examinations, IV fluids, medicine…
She didn’t even dare imagine the amount.
Hospitals were basically money-eating monsters.
Lu Zhiyu glanced at her and answered casually, as though it were nothing important.
“I borrowed five thousand from the landlord.”
“He lent you money?”
Song Kening’s voice was filled with disbelief.
“Yeah.”
“Five thousand?”
“Yeah.”
Song Kening remembered how, before she entered the novel, she’d seen so many people fall out with each other because they borrowed money and never paid it back.
“Anyone who’s still willing to lend you money these days is someone you should really cherish,” she said softly.
Lu Zhiyu understood exactly what she meant after what had just happened.
“Yeah.”
Song Kening pulled back the blanket and moved her legs toward the edge of the bed.
“I’m fine now. Let’s leave the hospital.”
She looked at him seriously.
“I don’t know how much staying one more night will cost. The longer we stay, the more money we’ll spend. Let’s hurry home.”
Her feet touched the floor.
But the moment she stood up, her vision swayed again.
Her body was still weak. Her legs felt soft, almost as if she were standing on cotton.
Lu Zhiyu looked at her.
Then he turned around and bent slightly, presenting his back to her.
“I’ll carry you home.”
Song Kening stared at his back.
It was broad, and the way he bent over looked a little awkward.
Perhaps he had never bent down for anyone before.
She hesitated for a second.
Then she climbed onto his back.
His shoulder blades pressed against her chest through the thin fabric of his clothes.
There was a faint scent of jasmine soap on him.
She wrapped one arm around his neck and held the bag of medicine from the hospital with the other.
Lu Zhiyu slipped his hands beneath her legs and lifted her slightly higher before straightening up.
Then he carried her out of the hospital room.
People were already moving around the corridors early in the morning.
Some family members carried thermos flasks to get water. Nurses pushed carts as they changed shifts, the wheels rumbling across the floor.
Lu Zhiyu carried her through the hallway, into the elevator, and out into the lobby.
Morning in Yangcheng was already humid and warm.
The sun hadn’t completely risen yet, and the horizon was a pale orange.
Breakfast stalls along the roadside were already open.
Steam rose from the rice noodle stalls, while fried dough sticks sizzled in hot oil.
Song Kening rested on his back, her chin against the hollow of his shoulder.
Her eyes suddenly became wet.
When she was young, she had often been sick, catching colds and fevers every few days.
The town clinic was two kilometers from home.
Her father used to carry her there on his back.
She would lie against his back, her face resting against the back of his head, breathing in the faint smell of tobacco on him.
She had always felt safe there.
Her father’s back had been narrower than Lu Zhiyu’s.
Softer, too.
His body would sway slightly with every step.
Later, when she went to college, her father grew older and could no longer carry her.
And then she entered this novel.
She didn’t know how her father was doing now after she disappeared.
She didn’t even know whether he had received the dreams she’d tried to send him.
Song Kening buried her face against Lu Zhiyu’s neck.
Her tears silently soaked into the collar of his shirt.
She didn’t make a sound.
Her shoulders didn’t tremble.
She simply shed a few quiet tears before wiping them away with the back of her hand.
“Lu Zhiyu.”
“Hmm?”
“Can we afford to raise this baby?”
Lu Zhiyu’s footsteps paused for a moment before continuing.
His voice came from deep within his chest, slightly muffled.
“Yes.”
“The landlord found me a job. His son’s logistics company needs workers to load and unload goods. Three hundred yuan a day, from nine in the morning to seven in the evening, with an hour-long lunch break.”
Song Kening’s fingers tightened around the fabric on his shoulder.
A loading worker.
Carrying boxes of fruit off trucks and moving them into warehouses.
She imagined Lu Zhiyu doing that.
Wearing that old sports outfit, carrying boxes of fruit on his shoulder, his clothes soaked with sweat, his muscles tightening with every movement.
“You… you agreed?”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“I’ve thought it through.”
Lu Zhiyu’s voice was calm.
“We need to solve our basic living expenses first. Then we can think about everything else.”
Song Kening buried her face against his shoulder.
There were so many things she wanted to say.
She wanted to apologize.
If she hadn’t entered this world and taken the place of the original female lead, perhaps he wouldn’t have been this unlucky.
She wanted to tell him he worked hard.
For someone who had once stood at the top of the pyramid to start carrying boxes, the psychological gap alone must have been enormous.
She wanted to thank him for not abandoning her at the hospital.
But none of those words came out.
Her throat felt blocked, heavy and sore.
“Yeah.”
She sniffed hard.
“Being hardworking might not make us rich, but at least it will keep us from starving.”
“We really have to repay the landlord properly someday. He’s such a good person.”
“Yeah.”
They crossed the pedestrian bridge.
There weren’t many people on it this early in the morning.
An elderly man was squatting at the entrance selling jasmine flower garlands for one yuan each. Their sweet fragrance drifted through the air.
Song Kening lay on Lu Zhiyu’s back and looked at the traffic below.
The morning sunlight fell warmly across her face.
“Lu Zhiyu.”
“Hmm?”
“Am I heavy?”
“…No.”
“You hesitated just now.”
“I didn’t.”
“You definitely hesitated.”
Lu Zhiyu didn’t answer.
He simply adjusted her higher on his back and continued walking.
When they returned to the rented room, Lu Zhiyu gently placed her on the bed.
The pillow and hotel bathrobe were still exactly as she’d arranged them the previous morning.
“You lie down. I’ll make some porridge,” Lu Zhiyu said.
Song Kening propped herself up.
“I’ll do it. You don’t even know—”
“I know.”
Lu Zhiyu finished speaking and turned toward the kitchen.
Song Kening leaned against the headboard and listened to the clattering sounds coming from the kitchen.
The faucet turned on and off.
Then came a sharp clang as the pot lid fell onto the floor.
She wanted to laugh.
But at the same time…
She was a little worried.