Outside the door.
999 bumped into Qin Zhen’s shoulder. “That villain is unhappy again. Aren’t you going to coax him?”
Although it was very angry that the other party had called it the most useless ball and didn’t want to pay any attention to its host, it still had professional ethics.
Qin Zhen glanced at it. “Will coaxing him even work?”
999 lowered its tail. It didn’t know either, but it felt that doing nothing was wrong. After all, it could sense that the villain’s current mood was negative.
Qin Zhen didn’t know what he was thinking, either. He closed his eyes tiredly, got up, took the medical kit, and entered the bedroom, leaving behind one sentence.
“He has a name. Stop calling him ‘the villain’.”
Bang.
999 was heartlessly shut out, bumping its head in the process.
It kicked the door in anger, then shrank its size and slipped through the door crack.
The bedroom was dark and lightless.
Shen Jin’an was accustomed to keeping the curtains drawn tightly, locking himself in a dark room to work. He sent messages, looked at his phone, or scribbled on a piece of paper. The incomprehensible characters and little figures drawn on them were a mystery.
When Qin Zhen pulled up Shen Jin’an’s shirt, Shen Jin’an’s expression was unpredictable.
“What exactly are you trying to do?”
He was burning with rage and grabbed Qin Zhen by the collar, but upon seeing the calm, ripple-free look in Qin Zhen’s eyes, he frowned and slowly loosened his grip.
In this silent confrontation, Shen Jin’an lost without a sound. He felt an unusual sense of embarrassment.
In the other party’s calm eyes was a fleeting indifference, just like a doctor treating an injury looking at a patient they didn’t know at all.
Healing was his duty, with no additional meaning.
Qin Zhen said, “I’m going to put some medicine on you.”
Shen Jin’an wrapped himself back in his thorny shell, his tone cold and stiff, “I don’t need you to. Get out.”
Qin Zhen stared at his beautiful, half-lidded eyes. He wanted to say “forget it then,” but in the end, he didn’t say it. He pulled open Shen Jin’an’s shirt and gently used a cotton swab to wipe away the dried blood.
“I was angry just now,” he explained slowly.
Shen Jin’an was half-confused and half-disbelieving, staring at him suspiciously, “What were you angry about?”
“Angry that you aren’t taking good care of your body.”
He finished speaking and quietly applied the medicine. In some areas that hadn’t healed well, blood was seeping out. He could clearly feel Shen Jin’an trembling and shrinking back. Qin Zhen frowned, his movements subconsciously becoming even more cautious.
The two fell into a brief silence once more.
In the dark, quiet space, only the sound of the cotton swab rubbing remained.
After a long time, Shen Jin’an suddenly asked, “Then if I take good care of myself, is there any reward?”
“Huh?” Qin Zhen thought he had misheard and looked up at Shen Jin’an.
He saw Shen Jin’an staring at him seriously, his expression showing a rare stubbornness as he said word by word, “Doing the right thing should have a reward, and doing the wrong thing should have a punishment. Everyone is the same, isn’t that right?”
Actually, it wasn’t necessarily completely like that.
For normal people, doing the right thing was mostly taken for granted. Everyone agreed in terms of morality, but they wouldn’t receive a reward for it.
Qin Zhen wanted to tell Shen Jin’an these cruel truths bit by bit, but looking at those bright, sparkling eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
He could only nod helplessly and say, “Yes. If you do well, you can get a reward.”
Shen Jin’an’s face clearly became more lively. He took the initiative to lift his shirt and leaned forward, though his tone was still a bit unnatural, “Then if I apply the medicine well these next two days, what’s the reward?”
Reward.
Qin Zhen got up, picked out the jar of preserved plums from the things he had bought at the supermarket, returned to the bedroom, unscrewed the lid, and stuffed one into Shen Jin’an’s mouth.
The preserved plum entered his mouth with a heavy, sour astringency that slowly gave way to sweetness.
The reward was too small. Shen Jin’an’s cheeks were puffed out, and he was clearly dissatisfied, but for the first time ever, he didn’t say anything, simply savoring the preserved plum quietly.
Soon, the day for removing the stitches arrived.
The July weather was stifling and hot. Heatwave warnings flickered constantly on his phone. Yesterday, the news said the ground temperature was 66 degrees, hot enough to cook an egg.
At 2:00 PM, Shen Jin’an was wrapped tightly in a hat and mask, covering every part of him that could identify his identity.
He rarely went out. His skin had a bloodless white color, and wearing Qin Zhen’s black shirt created a sharp contrast, making him blindingly pale.
Qin Zhen finished putting on his shoes. As soon as he turned his head, he saw Shen Jin’an with only his eyes exposed. He figured he must already be hot; the skin around his eyes was slightly flushed pink, his long eyelashes hanging straight down, rarely revealing such a harmless and well-behaved softness.
He subconsciously averted his gaze, tilted his head to gulp down some water, and reminded him, “Aren’t you afraid of getting heatstroke again like this?”
“I’m not hot.”
Shen Jin’an’s voice was muffled behind his mask.
Qin Zhen thought about his past life; in three more days, it would be the day Shen Jin’an left.
If the progression of this life was the same as the past, he would need to find a reason to follow Shen Jin’an to Huai City.
He set down the bottle and speculated, “Why do you have to cover up so tightly? Is someone looking for you? You can’t be discovered?”
Shen Jin’an’s dark pupils rolled, then he nodded.
Qin Zhen waited a few seconds. Seeing that the other party didn’t continue speaking and appeared unwilling to explain, he didn’t pursue the question further. He just pulled Shen Jin’an’s mask down slightly, revealing his high, delicate nose.
“There’s no one here. Put it back on after we get in the car.”
The distance between the two was extremely close; Qin Zhen’s fingers were slender and very cold.
Shen Jin’an’s fingers clenched, and his face turned even redder.
Qin Zhen saw this, touched Shen Jin’an’s face, and raised an eyebrow with a playful look, “See? You’re still acting tough, your face is already red from the heat.”
Shen Jin’an: “.”
The two drove to a private hospital.
Shen Jin’an was clearly not as resistant as last time, only requesting that Qin Zhen accompany him by his side during the stitch removal. Qin Zhen hadn’t intended to leave anyway and leaned to the side to check his phone.
Coincidentally, the one removing the stitches was the same young nurse who had assisted the doctor the last time they came.
She had such a deep impression of this patient that she went to the front desk to ask about him after they left.
The receptionist nurse told her mysteriously that the patient’s information was completely confidential, even his name couldn’t be revealed. If the information leaked, their hospital would be finished.
The two exchanged a look, tacitly understanding.
Someone like that must have a deep background; he was the kind of man they could never reach in their entire lives.
She withdrew those thoughts and prepared the tools. She noticed that Shen Jin’an wasn’t holding his dagger and was mostly cooperative, except that his eyes were fixed on the man beside him.
That gaze was unique and emotionally complex.
The young nurse couldn’t help but follow his gaze to the handsome man beside him, and her eyes instantly lit up.
Qin Zhen saw her, smiled, and nodded in acknowledgment. His long, narrow peach-blossom eyes were half-squinted, a polite way of greeting. On his overly handsome face, it looked as if he were flirting with someone.
Like a male fox spirit.
At least, that was what Shen Jin’an thought. He coughed coldly.
“I’ll disinfect the area first. It will hurt a little bit during the stitch removal,” the nurse said, using tweezers to hold a cotton ball soaked in iodine, offering a thoughtful reminder.
Qin Zhen, however, received several messages on his phone, and his attention was entirely on them, ignoring Shen Jin’an’s cough.