The elegant fragrance of perfume rushed toward her as she opened her arms. Ji Jie had no time to dodge before she was pulled into a warm, affectionate embrace. The expensive cashmere wrapped around her instantly, airtight and warm like a spring day.
Ji Jie couldn't help but let out a sound. "…Mom."
She was a little short of breath.
Duan Feihong still couldn't bear to let go. She was genuinely happy, because her daughter was introverted by nature and had always been reluctant to get close to her when she came home in the past, let alone come out to greet her.
"Get in the car first." Huo Jinge's voice came from inside the vehicle, carrying a tired smile. "It's late at night—don't let the child catch a chill."
"That's right, why did you come out without putting on more clothes? Winter's already here." Duan Feihong wrapped an arm around her as they walked toward the car, only then noticing the bottle of water in her arms. She let out a soft laugh. "Were you afraid Mom would be thirsty and there'd be no water on the road? This child."
Ji Jie struggled slightly, her gaze drifting past her mother into the distance. The countdown had only a few seconds left.
Ten, nine, eight, seven.
No headlights came toward them.
She followed Duan Feihong into the car, greeted Uncle Huo, then stubbornly looked back again.
Six, five, four.
Three.
Two.
One.
[Incomplete]
[Incomplete]
[Current — 25/100]
Her vision went dark. Utterly disheartened, she leaned back into the seat and fell silent.
Just as she'd thought—those scenes in TV dramas where someone arrives at the very last second didn't exist in real life.
She wasn't that lucky.
"Look at these little hands, ice cold," Duan Feihong said, studying her with surprise. "Baby, you've lost so much weight lately."
"Indeed, it's very noticeable." Huo Jinge also looked at her and chimed in. "Is it too much studying? Are you keeping up with the pace at school?"
"It's fine." Ji Jie said weakly. "I signed up for tutoring, and my friends at school are helping me catch up too."
"Then it must be that you missed Mom too much, right?" Duan Feihong squeezed her hand, rubbing it back and forth. "Once we get home, we'll have a good talk. Tonight Mom will sleep with you."
"That won't work… I invited a classmate over today, and she's still in my room."
"You invited a classmate over?" Duan Feihong said in surprise.
She turned to exchange a look with Huo Jinge. Their surprise was not the same.
Duan Feihong was surprised that her withdrawn daughter had managed to make friends at her new school—that was already impressive—and in such a short time, they were already close enough for a sleepover.
What surprised Huo Jinge, however, was that if she'd invited a classmate over, why would she run out in the middle of the night to greet them?
Besides, their return flight had been delayed. Even when he'd messaged Huo Zhenyan, he'd only said they'd be late. How could this child have known exactly when they would arrive?
"Mhm, I was hanging out with He Lingfeng, and it got too late so I let her stay." Ji Jie closed her eyes and made it up on the spot. "I was about to go to sleep just now, but I suddenly felt like you might be arriving soon, so I came out to check."
Duan Feihong was utterly satisfied by these words and said at once, "This is what they call a mother-daughter bond—a psychic bond."
Huo Jinge smiled but said nothing more. "Next time, no matter how urgent, remember to put on clothes. It's gotten cold—you'll catch a chill."
"Okay, Uncle Huo."
Qiao Ling was also sending messages, asking why she hadn't returned after so long.
Ji Jie barely made it back to her room. Only when she saw someone did she breathe a sigh of relief. "I was going to go look for you outside, but your house is so big—I was afraid I'd get lost, so I hurried back."
"It's fine. My mom just got back from a trip… I went to greet her." Ji Jie felt the familiar heat rising by the second, teetering on the edge. "It's fine, it's fine—no, wait… I think something's wrong with me…"
Qiao Ling cried out and caught her soft, burning body.
She had no memory of what happened after that. She had originally wanted to tell Qiao Ling not to notify anyone—she'd been docked points last time and already had experience, knowing it was just a fever.
Sleeping a few hours would be enough. It happened to be the weekend, so staying in bed until the afternoon wouldn't seem too strange.
But the heat radiating from her body was truly unusual. Qiao Ling was badly frightened. Even with the instructions she'd been given, she didn't dare actually listen and do nothing.
What's more, the moment she'd walked through the door, she'd passed out cold without managing to say anything. "…Help!"
He Lingfeng was lying in bed savoring the night's game when he got the call and rushed over at top speed. "Damn, how long has it been? How did she get this red with fever?"
Also alarmed were Huo Zhenyan and the family doctor. The couple, who had just set down their luggage, came at the sound as well. And so the whole house bustled with activity.
"Baby!!"
Duan Feihong lay slumped by the bedside, crying as if she'd been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
The child had been perfectly fine just moments ago—how had she become unconscious in the blink of an eye!
"Let the doctor take a look. She'll be fine. Don't worry too much, Xiao Hong." Huo Jinge supported her and shot a look at his son.
Huo Zhenyan nodded. "Everyone stop crowding here. Go back to your rooms and wait for news."
Qiao Ling, worried and hesitant, instinctively looked at the boy beside her. "Then I…"
Staying here, sharing a bed with the patient, didn't seem appropriate either.
"Come with me! I'll go fix up a guest room for you." He Lingfeng naturally wouldn't miss a chance to show off, volunteering eagerly. "Don't be scared. The doctor's here."
"Have someone else do it." Huo Zhenyan's gaze cut over. "You go back to your room and sleep early too."
"I know, I know. I'll just walk Xiao Qiao to her room first."
The noisy room returned to silence. Huo Zhenyan sat down on the single sofa across from the bed. The moment he leaned back, he felt uncomfortable and sat up straight, reaching behind him to yank something out from behind the cushion—a girl's undergarment.
"…"
He didn't know where to put it either, so he could only put it back in place, pretending nothing had happened, and switched to a different seat. He watched the doctor attach equipment to her, monitor her vitals, administer medication. He couldn't shake the feeling that tonight's scene was familiar.
The family doctor's conclusion was similar to last time: high fever brought on by fatigue and a cold. She could be observed at home for now, and a decision about whether hospitalization was needed could be made later.
Huo Zhenyan relayed the results. Putting down his phone, he leaned by the window and gazed into the night. The small detached house next door had its lights on.
No one was asleep.
Only Ji Jie lay on the bed, forced into a deep coma.
It was no exaggeration to say that the pain of a 10-point deduction was double.
She endured the suffering of her first twenty years in the depths of misery, so much so that even in unconsciousness she was bewildered—why did her life flashing before her eyes contain only unhappy fragments?
She even felt pain that wasn't her own, coming from the real Duan Baoni—that long-ignored, suppressed feeling of trying so hard and never being favored.
Dense despair and fury.
Ji Jie's brows were tightly knit. Her usually pale cheeks burned red, her breathing light and rapid, her lashes trembling erratically, as though she were being hunted through a nightmare and might scream herself awake at any moment.
She looked utterly miserable. Huo Zhenyan placed a fever patch on her forehead, and without realizing it, his own brows drew tight as well. He reached to smooth the furrow between her brows.
It wouldn't smooth out.
He didn't know why he was doing something so pointless either, so he withdrew his hand and sighed, his voice low. "How do you get sick so easily?"
The night was cold and long. The villa briefly returned to calm.
Early the next morning, just as the sky was brightening, Duan Feihong rushed over to see her daughter. Finding him dozing propped on his elbow by the bedside, she was quite surprised.
She hadn't expected Huo Zhenyan to keep watch here half the night. She'd entered without knocking. Just as she hesitated over whether to speak, Huo Zhenyan opened his eyes. Seeing her, he was quite calm, and said concisely, "The fever hasn't broken yet."
Duan Feihong pursed her lips and flung herself toward the bedside in tears. "My baby!!"
"…"
The mother and daughter were nothing alike in temperament. One was thick as fire, the other mild as water.
Huo Zhenyan rose and rotated his shoulders, stiff from sitting. "Call me if you need anything."
"Oh, alright."
After Qiao Ling woke up, she came to visit too, and chatted with Aunt Duan for a while.
After waiting the whole morning without her friend waking, she felt awkward staying for lunch, so she told He Lingfeng and had the driver take her back to school first.
Dusk fell once more before Ji Jie finally drifted awake.
Another long dream, illusory as though a lifetime had passed.
She felt completely hollowed out.
[Current — 25/100]
This was practically the Waterloo of her entire mission history.
No one was in the room when she woke. She was starving, so she propped herself up to find Auntie Ping and slowly finished a bowl of yam and lean pork congee. Only then did Duan Feihong come upon the news.
She still carried the fragrance of essential oils on her—the stress of her daughter's illness had been too much, so that afternoon she'd booked a spa therapist to come to the house to ease her anxiety.
"Sweetie, you can't go wandering around late at night anymore." Like everyone else, she attributed Ji Jie's sudden fainting and fever to catching a chill from the night air. "What else do you want to eat? Tell Mama."
"I want fruit cut by Mama." Ji Jie said, her voice hoarse.
She had to give her something to do.
Duan Feihong received the message immediately and bustled downstairs for over half an hour, producing a plate of exquisitely cut fruit.
If she hadn't refused, saying she was afraid of passing on the cold virus and shouldn't get too close, Duan Feihong would have sat on the bed and fed her bite by bite.
"It's very sweet." Ji Jie said, making idle chatter.
"Of course—these were all air-freighted back the moment they were picked, the freshest." Seeing her with an appetite, Duan Feihong relaxed, and said with a touch of envy, "After being sick like this, you'll lose a few more pounds."
"…"
"Ah, Mama can't eat dinner tonight either. A few pieces of fruit will do."
Ji Jie thought this mother was very special.
She had never seen a woman like this in her past life—forty years old, with a daughter, yet still keeping a girl's innocent sincerity, fearlessly loving and enjoying being loved.
Duan Feihong yearned for a lavish, luxurious life, but she was not the gold-digger people called her. She was even more blind and fervent than that—what she wanted was love, true love, and love with a rich man.
Duan Baoni thought a mother like that was embarrassing, like a parasitic vine subsisting on men, forever in love, forever seeking men to make a living.
But Ji Jie felt that she was subsisting on love.
In her last relationship, when she discovered Wei Chao's father had been unfaithful, she made a huge scene, yet she didn't take the opportunity to demand a single cent in compensation. Instead, she took her daughter and left without a backward glance, rushing toward her next romance.
Ji Jie believed she should have demanded compensation. And given that background, it was completely understandable why Wei Chao wouldn't even come home for the New Year.
After regaining her strength, she started replying to messages. Last night when Huo Yuxi got home, she'd asked what exactly Ji Jie had wanted to say.
Things having come to this, she could only brush it off. Then she called Qiao Ling. "I didn't scare you yesterday, did I?"
"Thank god you're finally awake!" Qiao Ling let out a long breath on the other end. "I just came out of the school library and was about to ask He Lingfeng how you were doing."
"I'm much better. I can go to school normally tomorrow," she said.
Duan Feihong overheard and immediately objected. "Tomorrow? No way! You need to rest a few more days and build your strength up."
"But I'm already fine. It won't interfere with school." Ji Jie covered the phone and explained to her. "I'll take my temperature for you in a bit."
Duan Feihong exclaimed that she worked too hard, but she couldn't bring herself to hold the child back from her studies, so she reluctantly relented.
She'd assumed it would be the same as last time. But perhaps because of the cold weather, the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, and the fact that the fever had spiked so fiercely, her immunity had dropped. Ji Jie went to school as usual for two days and actually caught a cold.
This time Duan Feihong wouldn't agree to her going to school no matter what, even if it wasn't a high fever. Huo Zhenyan went with the flow and directly had her confined to the hospital for a full day of comprehensive examinations.
Dozens of detailed tests—quite the spectacle. In the end, the conclusion was a minor cold.
Ji Jie felt like even the nurse's glances toward her were tinged with exasperation.
And during her hospitalization, Duan Feihong wouldn't let her read or study, afraid of straining her brain. There wasn't much fun to be had on her phone either, so she could only lie there gloomily, worrying about her end-of-term ranking.
Her classmates were all busy with classes; she couldn't disturb them. Truly bored out of her mind, she had no choice but to pester the big boss.
No—this was called checking in.
【The doctor just took my temperature again. It's under thirty-eight degrees now.】
【Good.】
【For lunch I had blanched choy sum and braised shrimp in oil. The yogurt was so thin, like water.】
【Noted.】
【When can I be discharged?】
【After your temperature is normal.】
【Actually, normal people can have a temperature of over thirty-seven degrees too. Some people are just naturally high-temperature. Look it up if you don't believe me.】
【……】
【I want to go home!】
The nurse knocked and came in, swapping out her yogurt for a new cup.
Rich and creamy. Ji Jie was satisfied.
But Huo Zhenyan didn't reply to her messages anymore.
She lay in bed again, staring at the ceiling in a daze, the 【25/100】 at the edge of her vision seeming to taunt her. Staring at it too long made her angry.
At dinnertime, there was another knock on the hospital room door. She thought it was the nurse bringing her nutritional meal, so she pressed the button to raise herself up, planning to chew her food aggressively to vent her frustration.
But the door was pushed open, and the person who entered was Huo Zhenyan. In a crisp suit, as if he'd come straight from the office.
"Didn't you say you wanted to go home?" He glanced at his watch. "We need to be quick. Room checks in ten minutes."
Their eyes met. Ji Jie swung out of bed with unprecedented agility.
"I'm coming!"