It was rare, but Wen Ya slept very well that night, without a single dream.
The next morning she threw herself into work in high spirits, completely different from the gloomy mood she had been in for most of the month.
“How strange.” Her colleague accepted the hot tea Wen Ya had brought for her. “Did you suddenly become rich or something? Why are you so happy?”
Wen Ya waved a finger at her like a boss. “Happiness does not need a reason.”
Just as she finished speaking, the big boss with his long limbs swept past the office door like a gust of wind. One second later he stepped back and beckoned to Wen Ya.
“Come to my office for a moment.”
After saying that, he left again just as quickly.
Her colleague shrank her neck. “Caught chatting during work hours. Office regulations are about to be introduced.”
“That cannot be it.” Wen Ya was full of doubt as she set down her teacup. “Baby, wait for my update.”
Her colleague raised a hand and blew her a flirtatious kiss.
The office door was not closed. After entering, Wen Ya casually shut it behind her.
“Chairman.”
The big boss nodded, but before speaking he sighed first.
Wen Ya’s heart skipped a beat. Could something serious have gone wrong with her work?
“Good thing you told me last night.” The big boss rubbed his temples. “That guy had a fever of forty degrees last night. Even after giving him fever medicine it did not help. He kept coughing and breaking out in cold sweats. Around two in the morning we sent him to the hospital. This morning they confirmed that his cold has developed into pneumonia.”
The breath Wen Ya had just relaxed suddenly tightened again, and she felt a bit guilty.
What a sin. Could it be that the reason she slept so well last night was because Lin Xuehe had been suffering from illness?
“I stayed at the hospital all night. I only came back to the company to handle a few matters. In a moment, ask the sales and finance managers to come over for a short meeting. Around ten I will head back to rest.”
“Alright.”
“Before that, there is something else I need to trouble you with.”
Wen Ya quickly replied respectfully. “It is no trouble. Please go ahead.”
“You probably know that strictly speaking I am not a local here. I only settled down in this city after coming out to work years ago. I have quite a few cousins in the family, but I am closest to Xuehe. This time he came to City A alone, and because… you know my family is going through a divorce, right?”
Wen Ya nodded quickly. She had heard about it when she first joined the company. After starting work she had even recorded a court visit in his schedule. Things had calmed down a bit in the past month, but she heard they were still fighting over custody of the child, so nothing had truly been settled.
“Because of that, I have not even invited him to come to my home for a proper meal. Now that he is sick, I also do not have the energy to take good care of him…”
Wen Ya’s expression shifted from sympathy to calm, then into a polite smile, all within the span of that single turning sentence.
She should have expected this.
“So I will have to trouble you. While he is hospitalized these next two days, go visit him more often.”
The big boss smiled like a fox.
He had no choice. This cousin of his was too difficult to deal with. Since his little secretary could handle him, she might as well take on a bit more responsibility. He would just give her a bigger bonus at the end of the year.
Yes, decided.
An extra one thousand yuan.
He was so generous.
Since the big boss had already said it, and Wen Ya had agreed, she could not possibly neglect the matter.
After lunch she took a taxi to the hospital and stopped by the fruit shop behind the hospital entrance to buy a fruit basket.
When she completed the payment transfer, Wen Ya felt as if her heart had gone numb from the pain.
Finding the capitalist’s private hospital room, Wen Ya knocked and entered, only to almost retreat in shock when she saw the room filled with flowers and fruit baskets. Compared to them, even the wrapping paper on the one she carried looked far more shabby than any of the others there.
Just as she was thinking about slipping out quietly without leaving a trace, Lin Xuehe, who had been lying there with his eyes closed pretending to nap, suddenly opened them. His reddened eyes caught her on the spot.
Wen Ya awkwardly pulled back the right foot she had already moved backward and gave a dry laugh. “Did I wake you?”
Lin Xuehe pressed his empty left hand behind him and sat up. His voice was hoarse. “Before buying a fruit basket, did you consider the possibility that everyone else would also choose fruit baskets?”
“……”
So annoying. It cost two hundred yuan after all.
Wen Ya set down that useless basket, picked up the thermos by the bedside, and poured a cup of water. “But I couldn’t think of a better gift to bring when visiting.”
Lin Xuehe reached out to take it, took a sip to moisten his lips and throat, then handed it back.
Wen Ya placed the cup on the bedside table and added a pillow behind his back.
“You can put more effort into the renovation work instead.”
For example, for colleagues who came to visit him right away, compared with the flowers and fruit piled everywhere, he would much rather see a brand new team after he recovered, not these things that could neither be finished nor used up.
“Oh.” Wen Ya bent down and picked the most beautiful basket, quickly tearing it open and pulling out a perfectly shaped apple. “Do you want an apple?”
Lin Xuehe glanced at her with a complicated expression. “No.”
“Alright.” She held the apple in her hands and sat properly on the stool beside the hospital bed, tilting her head to look up at the liquid in the IV bottle.
The cold liquid dripped from the bottle into the tube drop by drop, then flowed along the thin line of tubing into the body, leaving part of his arm chilled.
Lin Xuehe’s hand resting on the blanket looked slightly bluish, his nails pale. His fingers were faintly curled, the lines shallow and delicate, like something carved from jade.
“Then…” Wen Ya turned back and carefully suggested, “Should I keep you company and chat a bit?”
Lin Xuehe lifted his eyelids slightly. “Do we have anything in common to talk about?”
Probably not.
How cold.
“I need rest more right now.”
Wen Ya thought to herself that she had not come to visit out of genuine concern anyway. She was just carrying out instructions, and she had even sacrificed her lunch break.
How heartless.
“And since you’re already here… when I said I don’t eat apples, couldn’t you switch to an orange?”
Now he was just being unreasonable.
Did he really think she was that easy to bully? When she got angry, even she was afraid of herself.
Fuming, Wen Ya tore open several fruit baskets and finally found an orange in her own basket. She not only peeled off the skin but also carefully removed all the white fibers before holding it up to Lin Xuehe’s lips.
“…Please.”
The orange was close at hand, and the delicate orange-tinted fingertips holding it were just as close.
Lin Xuehe lowered his gaze and leaned forward slightly to bite it. Wen Ya suddenly let go. Heat rushed to her face, burning and stinging.
Amitabha, she truly had not meant it, it was not intentional…
The cool and sweet taste filled his mouth. Lin Xuehe nodded. “Not bad.”
“But did you wash your hands?”
“……” Wen Ya, who had been too embarrassed to raise her head, instantly lifted it as if relieved and answered in a cheerful tone, “Nope.”
Lin Xuehe: “……”
He had only changed the topic to spare this absent minded girl from further embarrassment, but hearing that answer… he almost wished he had just let her stay embarrassed.
After finishing one orange and drinking half a cup of water, Lin Xuehe went back to resting. Wen Ya stayed for a while, and after the large bottle of IV fluid finished dripping, she called a nurse before leaving to return to work at the company.
He had not fully broken the fever yet, but his temperature had already dropped and stabilized.
Wen Ya carried two fruit baskets and took the elevator with effort but great happiness.
Mr. Lin was really generous. He gave her all the fruit he could not finish eating.
“Wen Ya?”
The person immersed in joy looked up and met Duan Ming’an’s smiling face.
Duan Ming’an glanced at the fruit baskets in her hands. “Why did you buy so much fruit?”
“Oh, these weren’t bought. Mr. Lin gave them to me, the one you met yesterday.” Wen Ya explained. “He’s hospitalized. His colleagues brought these when they came to visit him.”
Duan Ming’an continued smiling. “Then why did he give them to you?”
Wen Ya said shyly, “He can’t eat them all by himself, so I’m helping reduce his burden, hehe.”
“I see. But yesterday he seemed perfectly fine. Why was he suddenly hospitalized?”
Wen Ya sighed. “He was already unwell yesterday, we just didn’t notice. He had a low fever for several days. It flared up yesterday and turned into pneumonia.”
“Mr. Lin doesn’t seem very good at taking care of himself.” Duan Ming’an extended a hand. “Here, let me carry one basket for you.”
Wen Ya thanked him and did not refuse.
After Duan Ming’an took one basket, the elevator doors slowly opened. They had arrived.
“…I’ll walk you to your office.”
“…Thank you.”
When Wen Ya and Duan Ming’an walked into the office together, one of the female colleagues nearly fainted from shock.
Was this girl’s romantic luck really this good lately? She had even gotten connected with Duan Ming’an.
Meanwhile Wen Ya, completely without any such thoughts, called out to her, “Baby, come eat some fruit. Deluxe edition!”
Deluxe your big head!
The colleague hurried over, only to see Wen Ya also call out to Duan Ming’an, “President Duan, take whatever you want.”
Duan Ming’an raised an eyebrow. “Is this a labor fee?”
“Call it whatever you like. As long as you’re willing to accept it, I’m satisfied… I’ll go next door and call the finance department over.”
After saying that, Wen Ya very naturally hid one basket behind her and shuffled toward the next office.
Sharing was based on having extra to spare. She could share, but she would never sacrifice.
She clenched her fist.
As soon as she left, Duan Ming’an turned his head to look at the other person who was still staring at him in a daze, and laughed. “It’s only been a while since we last met, why are you looking at me like that?”
The colleague, the older sister type Liu Yun, shook her head repeatedly. She and Duan Ming’an had joined around the same time and were about the same age, so when they talked there was no excessive restraint because of the difference in position, and their topics were a bit more relaxed.
“Still no girlfriend?”
Duan Ming’an nodded helplessly. “Busy, no time.”
“You’re thirty already, and you’ve been single for two years. Time to find someone,” Liu Yun said, fully displaying the matchmaking enthusiasm of a married woman. “What do you think of our Wen Ya? She may be a bit gloomy sometimes, but most of the time she’s just like earlier, lively, cute, and full of energy.”
“Don’t joke like that, it’ll just make things awkward.” Duan Ming’an waved his hand. “Let things happen naturally.”
Liu Yun understood immediately, her expression turning teasing. “Oh my, then you’d better hurry up. Our little cutie has a super high-quality man right beside her.”
Duan Ming’an curled his lips slightly. “Wen Ya has no thoughts about him.”
“You already know that?” Liu Yun laughed and shook her head, correcting him. “But I think it’s more like she just doesn’t think about it.”
“Fruit’s here!”
A group of people crowded in. Liu Yun shrugged. “Anyway, don’t be too confident.”
Hearing the last sentence, Wen Ya leaned over. “What were you talking about?”
The one who answered was Duan Ming’an. He asked, “Are you still going to the hospital?”
“Uh.” Wen Ya took a moment to understand. “Yes, I am. The Boss told me to visit more often.”
“I see.” Duan Ming’an spoke with a smile. “Next time you go, call me. I’ll come along to visit too.”