The newcomer was He Lin’s exclusive private doctor, surnamed Xu. Young and capable, with superb medical skills, he usually only holed up in the laboratory doing research and did not make house calls for anyone other than He Lin, which naturally included Chi Ye.
For He Lin to be able to invite him out of the mountains today, he must have spent a lot of money.
Chi Ye sat very straight, his limbs tense.
Under He Lin’s gaze, he mechanically cooperated with every move of the doctor.
“The indicators in all aspects are very good; Director He can rest assured.” The private doctor methodically packed up the sphygmomanometer and ECG monitor, stepped back a few paces, and bowed slightly to He Lin.
He Lin nodded. “Troublesome for you.”
“However,” the doctor paused slightly, frowning as he looked at the medical examination report in his hand, seeming somewhat doubtful about the accuracy of the data, “Generally speaking, patients with short-term fasting or extreme hunger will show a physiological increase in urinary ketone bodies. However, judging from Madame’s report…”
Chi Ye and Uncle Zhu exchanged glances rapidly, avoiding He Lin’s line of sight.
Tacitly, they decided it was imperative to tightly conceal the cruel fact that Chi Ye had devoured all the imported milk, biscuits, and luncheon meat belonging to the small puppy during his hunger strike in the basement.
Bubu happened to run over, wagging its tail and affectionately rubbing against Chi Ye’s hand.
Unaware of the sinister nature of human hearts.
“Please sit down and take your time looking.” The butler gentleman pulled over a chair, pushed it under the private doctor’s backside, and subtly hinted, “Aren’t there exceptions clinically?”
The doctor was interrupted, stunned for a moment, and then nodded, saying, “Different people have different physiques, so indeed we cannot generalize.”
Chi Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Doctor: “However, judging from Madame’s physiological state in other aspects, it doesn’t seem…”
Uncle Zhu handed over a cup of tea. “Please have some water.”
“Oh, thank you.” The doctor was a bit puzzled; in the past when he made house calls, the butler gentleman didn’t seem this eager.
“I mean, did Madame frequently engage in sports or physical exercise before?”
He Lin’s gaze gradually grew sharp. “He refuses any exercise and has never been to a gym.”
Chi Ye choked on his own saliva.
The fruit plate that the butler gentleman was holding in his hand was already too late to be handed over, so he had to watch helplessly as the doctor continued to sincerely inquire from an academic perspective: “According to Director He’s previous description, Madame had already shown extreme symptoms such as a sharp drop in blood pressure and blood sugar and a decrease in red blood cells due to excessive hunger. To be able to recover to normal values in just a few short hours is too incredible. May I ask what special medication Madame used?”
The fingers with which Chi Ye was rubbing Bubu’s head stiffened for a few seconds.
How was he supposed to know what medication he should have used? Assessing the situation, he had no choice but to throw the blame very ungratefully: “Sorry, I only managed the intravenous infusions; I’m not clear on what specific drugs were used.”
The butler gentleman suffered the exact same brain crash.
In the script he had given to Assistant Lin, there was simply no such segment—who would fabricate a frail character setting for a fine, grown man out of thin air, saying he could be on the verge of death after going hungry for a few days?
This wasn’t filming an advertisement for Snickers, were they playing Lin黛玉 (Lin Daiyu)?
Bearing a massive black pot dropped out of thin air, the butler gentleman stammered and stuffed a few grapes into the doctor’s hand. “Please have some fruit.”
Doctor: “…”
He Lin’s gaze patrolled between Chi Ye and Uncle Zhu.
His eye color gradually grew colder.
“We did use quite a few new drugs not yet on the market domestically, and the clinical effects should be quite good.” Lin Yishui walked in at some point.
Silently standing behind He Lin, like heavenly soldiers descending from the clouds.
“But it’s also possible that the previous blood sample analysis results were incorrect. At that time, Young Master Chi’s condition was relatively serious, and the doctor called in was inevitably nervous.” His voice was as business-as-usual as ever, and at the end, he even curved up a professional smile. “After all, not every doctor is as professional as Dr. Xu.”
The doctor was complimented out of nowhere, making him feel even more that the cup of tea and grapes in his hand harbored ill intentions.
Lin Yishui hadn’t polished the lie at all; it was full of loopholes.
He Lin obviously didn’t believe it, turning his head to shift his questioning gaze onto Lin’s face.
The latter, however, maintained a calm demeanor, lowered his volume, and bowed to whisper a few explanations in He Lin’s ear.
He Lin’s level of trust in his assistant was obviously much higher than in Chi Ye or Uncle Zhu. Although his expression remained displeased, after pondering for a moment, he finally nodded and didn’t pursue the matter further.
Instead, he said word by word to the private doctor, “Madame’s body is temporarily handed over to you; please ensure his health during this period.”
He Lin rarely entrusted someone so solemnly, and the doctor, who was not privy to the inner workings of wealthy families, simply assumed Chi Ye was deeply favored, nodding repeatedly.
Responsibly, he placed his fingers on Chi Ye’s wrist once more, pressed a few times, and earnestly exhorted, “Unbalanced nutritional intake can easily cause irreversible damage to the body. Madame really doesn’t need to excessively fast. If you want to maintain your figure, you can try exercising more in the future.”
He Lin’s gaze fell on Chi Ye’s fair wrist, staring at the two faint finger marks, his pupils growing a bit more gloomy and dark.
“Dr. Xu seems to have a special partiality for my wife.” He Lin’s deep tone seemed to carry displeasure. “You didn’t have direct physical contact when diagnosing patients before.”
The butler gentleman was mentally exhausted: “Who would dare to grope and press around randomly on you, He Er Ye?”
The indoor temperature seemed to drop several degrees out of thin air.
Chi Ye shivered.
Even the doctor felt a bit cold, pulling his hand back and dryly explaining, “I’ve been studying our country’s traditional medicine recently—look, listen, ask, feel the pulse; the emphasis was placed on the ‘feeling’ (cut).”
He Lin didn’t pick up on that.
The doctor felt somewhat embarrassed. “To be ashamed, I only understand the surface.”
He Lin got up, walked to the bed, grabbed the wrist that had been pressed by the doctor, and stuffed it back under the quilt.
The movement was strong and domineering.
The tone, however, was soft and low-pitched: “I will exhort Madame more regarding health preservation, no need to trouble the doctor. In fact, I couldn’t bear to see him get this thin either.”
Chi Ye, “…”
Fortunately, he knew very well that He Lin had no feelings for him at all.
Otherwise, He Er Ye’s gaze, movements, and expression—no matter which gossip reporter secretly photographed them—would definitely be able to compose a panegyric of marital harmony and deep affection on the entertainment front page.
He Lin’s acting skills in front of outsiders were just too good; even Chi Ye felt inferior by comparison.
After the private doctor left, He Lin immediately let go of his hand.
Chi Ye made a “tsk” sound inwardly—he drops character just as fast.
If the He family ever went bankrupt one day, Er Ye might even make a splash if he went into the entertainment industry.
Reading the room, the butler gentleman knew clearly that He Lin had already seen through the clues and they couldn’t cover it up anymore.
Resigning to his fate, he pulled out the notebook dedicated to recording Chi Ye’s dark history.
Holding it in his hand, however, he hesitated, not knowing how to start writing.
“Forget it.” He Lin waved a hand.
The butler gentleman was slightly startled, but his action of putting away the little notebook preceded his consciousness.
He Lin walked up to Chi Ye, sat directly on his bed, leaned down ignoring everyone else, and said slowly right next to Chi Ye, “You always manage to surprise me.”
“However, next time you want to lie, remember to tie up all the loose ends beforehand, especially cheap tricks like hunger strikes and faking illness—they’re too easily exposed. Chi Ye, cherish your dwindling trust value with me, because I can’t guarantee I’ll be interested in playing along with you every time.”
This was the first time He Lin had said so much to Chi Ye; when his slightly hoarse, smoke-roughened voice whispered like this, it had a mesmerizing magnetism.
Chi Ye was dazed for a second; he opened his mouth, but forgot what he was supposed to say.
He Lin didn’t care about his answer; he stood up and instructed Lin Yishui, “Send over the Yan’s Family Instructions, Zhu’s Family Instructions, and Zeng Guofan’s Family Letters.”
Lin Yishui was relatively kind-hearted: “Shall we let Young Master Chi pick just one? To read thoroughly and recite.”
He Lin swept a glance at him and didn’t speak.
Barely counting as tacit consent.
Under the butler gentleman’s desperately hinting gaze, Chi Ye dragged down the alpaca (grass-mud horse) that was about to break loose in his heart, crushed his silver teeth, and swallowed his grievances.
Because Chi Ye knew clearer than the butler gentleman that not being thrown back into the basement and merely having to casually memorize some books meant—
This dark, ruthless, reward-and-punishment-strict He Er Ye was already showing extraordinary leniency.
Although mentally prepared long ago, when Lin Yishui came to deliver the hardcover family education classics in the evening, Chi Ye’s mouth still twitched a few times looking at the thickness of the three volumes stacked together, which rivaled bricks.
Chi Ye had already matched accounts with the butler, tricking He Lin into believing the person who was starving to death was this Assistant Lin.
Naturally, he didn’t give him any good looks.
Lin Yishui’s attitude, however, was surprisingly good, and he wasn’t too stingy with passing on experience: “You must remember the table of contents; it’s fine to just read the contents thoroughly. Er Ye usually makes you recite the full text, but occasionally he’ll spot-check.”
Chi Ye revealed a knowing expression of “stop pretending, you must have memorized it too.”
Unusually, Lin Yishui didn’t refute him, instead softly uttering a sentence: “Er Ye letting you out—I’m quite glad.”
The voice was very small, so small that Chi Ye didn’t hear it clearly at all.
Chi Ye paused for a few seconds, then couldn’t help asking him, “What on earth is your ulterior motive in doing all this?”
When Lin Yishui looked back at Chi Ye, his gaze was exceptionally profound. After a long while, he lightly said, “I don’t know either. Perhaps I just couldn’t bear to watch you suffer.”
Chi Ye obviously didn’t believe it.
Fortunately, he hadn’t expected to extract any honest truths to begin with, so he shifted to toss out the next question: “What did you and He Lin talk about this morning?”
This time Lin Yishui didn’t hide it: “Just re-emphasizing your importance and reminding Er Ye that you can’t afford to have any accidents in the short term.”
Chi Ye shrugged—still not believing a single word.
Lin Yishui suddenly leaned in mysteriously: “If I told you that Er Ye actually didn’t realize you were faking your hunger strike before he came over, and that he only invited Dr. Xu purely out of concern for your health, would you still not believe it?”
Chi Ye raised his head abruptly.
Lin Yishui, however, didn’t intend to continue spilling secrets, casually waving a hand as he excused himself, leaving behind only: “Er Ye said since your body needs plenty of rest, you shouldn’t go out recently.”
Chi Ye looked at Lin Yishui thoughtfully.
Always feeling that this person’s actions and demeanor leaked strangeness everywhere.
Recalling Lin Yishui’s occasionally wandering gaze when looking at He Lin, and his inexplicable hostility toward himself…
Chi Ye casually opened the Zhu’s Family Instructions, while in his mind, those cliché BL novel plots he had read in his previous life continuously surged forth.
“Ah! So that’s how it is…” Chi Ye slammed the book shut with a pa, suddenly enlightened.
Putting on an expression of penetrating insight, Chi Ye told Bubu, who had just climbed onto the bed: “You’d never guess, this assistant who has followed He Er Ye for over ten years actually has a secret crush on his own master.”
Bubu shook its head: “Wang wang.”
Chi Ye didn’t care at all about the small puppy’s skepticism, sprawling starfish-style on the bed and talking to himself: “This could actually be put to good use… If I can make He Lin fall for Lin Yishui too, wouldn’t I be able to peacefully divorce him? He might even hand over a bit of property out of guilt!”
Chi Ye suddenly couldn’t suppress his excitement.
Bubu couldn’t bear to listen anymore, its doggy face filled with vicissitudes,
finding it utterly bizarre that humans could actually come up with the idea of proactively slapping a metaphorical green hat onto their own heads.