Yu Huan was about to kick him again.
A warm, large hand grabbed her ankle, stopping her from moving.
The next moment, the blanket was pulled back slightly.
Zhu Heqing, who was usually smiling, had a rare serious expression on his handsome face.
His brows were slightly furrowed, and his eyes were filled with disapproval.
“Darling, don’t joke around with your health.”
The usually stern-faced Zhu Heqing had an intimidating air about him. With his mature, handsome features and cold expression, he seemed distant and untouchable.
He looked exactly like the Zhu Heqing in her memories—the one who had coldly watched her end up homeless.
Yu Huan shuddered.
She blinked, and large tears immediately rolled down her cheeks.
She didn’t stop kicking him, but her words came out between sobs.
“Go away. Just go away. I don’t want to see you right now. Not at all.”
She kicked wildly, without caring where her feet landed.
Zhu Heqing didn’t dodge. He was afraid that if he moved, she might kick something else and hurt her foot.
As a result, Yu Huan accidentally kicked him in a rather sensitive spot below his abdomen.
A sharp, indescribable pain immediately shot through his entire body.
Zhu Heqing’s face turned pale from the pain.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to endure it, then grabbed the blanket and tightly wrapped both of Yu Huan’s legs together.
Yu Huan: “!!!”
She glared furiously at him.
“Baby, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Zhu Heqing wiped the tears from her face and patiently reminded her, “Don’t cry. I’ll leave now. The doctor will come by later to check your temperature.”
“There’s black-boned chicken soup in the thermos. It’s still very hot, so pour some out and let it cool before drinking.”
“I’ll have someone bring your clothes over and arrange for a caregiver. If you need anything, just tell the caregiver.”
Zhu Heqing had no idea why Yu Huan was suddenly so resistant to him.
But whatever the reason, he was certain that he must have done something wrong.
His Fufu had only just turned twenty. She was still a sheltered young woman who hadn’t fully stepped into the adult world.
At that age, whether it was love or anger, emotions were especially intense.
A single word or gesture could stir up those overflowing emotions.
If she was throwing a tantrum at him, that only meant he had done something wrong.
Zhu Heqing knew that Yu Huan was extremely lazy when it came to doing things herself, so before leaving, he quietly poured the chicken soup into a bowl and placed it somewhere she could easily reach.
Then he gathered his documents, picked up his clothes, and left the hospital room with a slightly awkward gait.
The room fell silent.
Yu Huan could still feel the warmth of Zhu Heqing’s fingertips on her face from when he had wiped away her tears.
She stared at the empty room, and a trace of grievance surfaced in her heart.
Yu Huan knew that it had only been a bizarre dream.
But the sensations had been far too real.
That made her unable to completely dismiss the possibility that it might actually be true.
What if… it really was?
But why would she know about these things in advance?
Yu Huan lightly bit her lower lip, her mind a complete mess.
Who had stuffed those memories into her head?
If someone had revealed the answers to her life ahead of time, what did they want her to do?
Frustrated, Yu Huan ran her fingers through her hair.
She wasn’t good at complicated problems and had never been able to figure them out.
Besides, even if someone had revealed all this to her, what good would it do?
Sure, she really liked Zhu Heqing.
But she loved her parents and herself even more.
She wasn’t the heroine of some cheesy romance drama. How could she possibly ruin her entire life over a man?
Men could always be replaced.
But she only had one set of parents.
If she had to choose between a man and her parents, even someone as foolish as Yu Huan knew the answer.
Before she could figure out what the whole thing meant, there was a knock on the door.
A doctor in a white coat walked in.
“Miss Yu, how are you feeling? Does your head still hurt?”
The doctor used a forehead thermometer to check her temperature.
“37.5°C. You still have a slight fever, but it’s nothing serious. I’ll come back and check your temperature again in two hours. Give me your hand. I need to see whether the IV needle has slipped out.”
Yu Huan pulled her hand out from under the blanket.
She was stunned to discover that her originally slender hand had swollen up like Doraemon’s.
She had been so distracted by the bizarre dream and everything involving Zhu Heqing that she hadn’t noticed it at all.
Now that she saw her swollen, bun-like hand, the pain finally registered in her brain.
“The needle has completely come out. We need to remove it.”
The doctor took a wad of cotton from her breast pocket, tore off some medical tape, and skillfully removed the needle.
She pressed the cotton firmly over the puncture site and secured it with tape.
“Luckily, there isn’t much medicine left, so you don’t need another IV.”
Seeing Yu Huan carefully cradling her hand, the doctor reached into her pocket and pulled out a few pieces of candy.
She handed them to her.
Yu Huan sniffled and accepted them, her voice slightly muffled.
“Thank you, Sister.”
“I’ll have the nurse bring you an ice pack later. Put it on your hand to help with the pain and swelling.”
The doctor smiled.
“I have a younger sister around your age, too. Whenever she’s upset, I always give her a few pieces of candy.”
“I hope these make you feel a little better. I’ll be going now. Press the call button if you need anything.”
The doctor left the room and gently closed the door behind her.
When she returned to the office, she hadn’t even stepped inside when Zhu Heqing, who had been sitting on the sofa, heard her footsteps and immediately stood up.
“Cousin, does Fufu still have a fever?”
Zhu Nanxu clicked her tongue twice.
“Look how worried you are.”
“The girl is fine. She just looked like she was trying not to cry. Poor thing looked absolutely miserable.”
“Did you give her the candy?”
“I did.”
Zhu Nanxu sat down on the sofa.
“She has really good manners. The way she said thank you was adorable.”
Zhu Heqing looked proud.
“Fufu is always polite to outsiders.”
He thought that was one of Yu Huan’s best qualities.
She knew the difference between those close to her and those who weren’t.
“But you really are attentive. You even remembered to ask me to check her hand carefully.”
Zhu Nanxu clicked her tongue in amazement.
“Oh, and she hasn’t touched that bowl of black-boned chicken soup yet. Should I order something for her under my name?”
She figured that after arguing with her cousin, the little girl probably wouldn’t want to eat anything he had brought.
Zhu Heqing shook his head.
“I’ll have someone bring her something later. She’ll drink the chicken soup.”
Zhu Nanxu raised an eyebrow.
“You’re that confident?”
“She doesn’t like wasting food.”
Whether she ate at home or outside, Yu Huan never wasted food.
She only ordered as much as she could eat.
And if she really couldn’t finish something, she would always leave it for him.
“All right. You two know your relationship best.”
Zhu Nanxu’s eyes traveled up and down before stopping on a certain rather sensitive area of Zhu Heqing’s body.
“You sure you don’t want me to have someone check you out?”
Zhu Heqing shot the gleeful Zhu Nanxu a look.
Without changing his expression, he turned and walked out.
“It’s getting late. I’m leaving.”
Zhu Nanxu clicked her tongue.
What a stiff old-fashioned guy.
He was still exactly the same as when he was a kid—whenever someone teased him, he’d make an excuse to leave.
No fun at all.