Zhang Xiyue's memories after being rescued were actually a bit muddled.
All she knew was that a lot of people appeared and forcibly separated her from Cheng Mingjiao.
When she was being strapped onto the stretcher, Cheng Mingjiao was still clutching the corner of her clothes, frowning and saying something to her.
The roar of the helicopter was too loud for her to hear clearly. All she knew was that the stretcher was very comfortable to sleep on.
Mm, she fell asleep.
When she woke up, she was already in a hospital bed—a spacious, bright ward, nutrient fluids flowing continuously into her veins, and a phone on the bedside table showing full battery.
Oh, and there was also an excellent caregiver attending to her every need, as well as Zhou Ce, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.
The caregiver immediately went to call the doctor the moment she saw Zhang Xiyue wake up. Zhou Ce, supporting his waist, walked over to the bed: "How do you feel now?"
"You can get out of bed now?" Zhang Xiyue spoke at the same time, her voice terribly hoarse.
Zhou Ce held his waist and got her some water.
Zhang Xiyue didn't stand on ceremony with him and took a few sips through the straw: "Thanks."
"I've been able to get out of bed for a while now, but I still need to rest. I heard something happened to you and President Cheng, so I came to the hospital to check on you," Zhou Ce answered her question, then repeated his own. "Is anything hurting right now?"
Zhang Xiyue took a careful inventory and answered sincerely: "Back to full health."
Zhou Ce: "That's good."
The hospital room suddenly fell quiet.
Cheng Mingjiao had eight assistants and secretaries in total. Among the ones who were usually in the office, Zhang Xiyue and Zhou Ce were the least familiar with each other. Although they could chat freely when there were more people around, when it was just the two of them, it was a bit awkward.
Zhou Ce cleared his throat and broke the silence first: "Do you need me to contact your family?"
Zhang Xiyue looked at him.
"I should have contacted them earlier, but your personal file doesn't list an emergency contact, so I could only wait until you woke up to ask," Zhou Ce explained.
Zhang Xiyue was dazed for a moment, then quickly calmed down: "No need. My family isn't in this area."
Zhou Ce nodded: "That's good."
Silence again.
Fortunately, the doctors arrived promptly, and Zhou Ce took the opportunity to step aside.
Ding-dong.
Zhou Ce and Zhang Xiyue's phones rang at the same time.
Zhang Xiyue was surrounded by doctors and couldn't get to her phone for the moment, but Zhou Ce opened his, then let out a snort of laughter.
Zhang Xiyue's curiosity immediately peaked.
It was ten minutes before the doctors left. Just as she was about to reach for her phone, Zhou Ce had already walked over and showed her the photo Fangfang had posted in the group chat.
Zhang Xiyue looked at it and laughed too.
The photo was clearly taken candidly, showing a hospital room identical to hers.
Cheng Mingjiao sat on the hospital bed with her arms crossed and a stern expression. Guo Fengnian was bowing and scraping beside her, Liang Xiao's family stood at attention like they were being punished, and Li Dong and the others looked utterly miserable.
"Her Majesty is quite displeased with them for arriving late to the rescue. She's currently in a state of isolating herself from the whole world," Zhou Ce explained. "This is already their eighth apology."
Zhang Xiyue looked again and still found it amusing: "So in this photo, who was the first to discover that Her Majesty was in trouble?"
"No one."
Zhang Xiyue looked up: "Huh?"
"It was the camp manager. On Wednesday morning, he called Dr. Liang to ask if the cars in the parking lot needed sunshades, and that's when Dr. Liang realized Her Majesty was in trouble," Zhou Ce explained.
And then the helicopter rescue happened, finding them within an hour.
Zhang Xiyue: "…Her Majesty and I didn't come to the company on Monday or Tuesday. Didn't Sister Fang and the others find that strange?"
"They thought Her Majesty had taken you on some secret mission," Zhou Ce pushed up his glasses. "You know how she is—she's always coming up with sudden ideas."
Zhang Xiyue was speechless for a moment, then picked up her phone and unlocked it.
Today was already Friday.
She had slept through most of Wednesday and all of Thursday. No wonder she felt so groggy.
Zhang Xiyue rubbed her brow and noticed that Sister Fang, Li Dong, Sun Nian, and the others had all sent her messages, but they only asked why she hadn't come to the company. After two questions, they started sending various knowing emojis.
She: "…"
Zhang Xiyue recalled how confident Cheng Mingjiao had been before, insisting that even if Liang Xiao and the others didn't look for her, the company employees would definitely…
All she could say was, Her Majesty was still too confident.
"He woke up yesterday," Zhou Ce continued. "The first thing he did after waking up was look for you. When he heard you were in a regular single room, he immediately had Dr. Liang arrange a VIP room. He came to see you in the afternoon, but you weren't awake yet, so he just looked at you and left… This is the first time I've seen him so human. It seems those days trapped really made him grow."
He had a lot to say, but Zhang Xiyue grabbed the key point in a second: "Can the VIP room be reimbursed?"
Zhou Ce: "…Yes, it can be reimbursed."
Zhang Xiyue: "What's the reimbursement rate?"
Although she didn't care much about money in this world, it was still the hard-earned salary she worked for. If the reimbursement rate wasn't high, she would definitely have to have a talk with Cheng Mingjiao.
The room transfer was a decision he made unilaterally while she was unconscious. He had to take full responsibility.
Zhou Ce: "…"
"Really that low?" Zhang Xiyue saw his expression and her heart skipped a beat.
She had also worked as an assistant in the real world and knew very well how extravagant wealthy people could be. A ward like this, not counting medical treatment, would cost at least twenty to thirty thousand a day—and currency in the novel world only inflated further.
Thinking about it, she felt genuinely troubled: "If it's too low, then I'll…"
"Bill it all," Zhou Ce said helplessly, "to the emperor's private account."
Zhang Xiyue relaxed and lay back down: "I want to stay a few more days and properly recover."
Zhou Ce: "…"
After saying she wanted to stay a few more days, Zhang Xiyue started feeling drowsy again, but before she could fall asleep, her colleagues who had narrowly escaped death at the emperor's hands arrived.
After she finished thanking everyone for their concern, Liang Xiao's family and Guo Fengnian, who had also escaped death, came in.
She chatted with one, then another, and finally fell asleep again before Liang Xiao's family even left.
When Cheng Mingjiao arrived at the ward, she was sleeping soundly.
Afraid of disturbing Zhang Xiyue's rest, everyone else had already left, with only the caregiver staying by her side.
Seeing Cheng Mingjiao appear, the caregiver quickly stood up, but before she could speak, Cheng Mingjiao stopped her.
The caregiver understood and quietly slipped out.
Cheng Mingjiao stood by the hospital bed, staring at Zhang Xiyue for a long time. She still showed no sign of waking.
This made him very displeased.
Hadn't she already slept for two days? Why was she still so sleepy? Was sleeping really that important?
The emperor, who insisted on going to bed early and waking early for nine hours every day, felt deep hatred for sleep for the first time.
But he wasn't so foolish as to forcibly wake her. After staying in Zhang Xiyue's ward for a while, he went back.
Anyway, once Zhang Xiyue woke up, she would definitely come to see him first.
Thinking this, he began to wait.
That evening, Zhang Xiyue woke up again, ate some nutritious food, and got out of bed to walk around a bit.
She didn't come to see him.
The next day, Zhang Xiyue ate more nutritious food, went for a walk on the lawn downstairs, and spent the rest of her time either sleeping or staring into space.
She didn't come to see him.
The third day, Zhang Xiyue ate even more nutritious food, dragged Guo Fengnian into playing games for three hours, and chatted with Wei Chengfang for a long time.
She didn't come to see him.
More and more dark clouds gathered in Cheng Mingjiao's ward.
Even Guo Fengnian, peeking from outside the door, felt his heart tremble with fear.
"How long is he planning to hold this against us?" He clutched his chest, not daring to go in. "He's not going to remember this for the rest of our lives, is he?"
Liang Xiao looked thoughtful: "Has Xiyue not come to see him yet?"
"…Huh?" Guo Fengnian didn't understand why she suddenly came up in conversation.
Liang Xiao didn't say anything more, but at noon, he went to Zhang Xiyue's place.
"…Go see President Cheng?" Zhang Xiyue looked surprised. "Me?"
Cheng Mingjiao's ward was just one floor above hers. Although she had never been there, she knew his place was bustling every day, with family and friends everywhere, receiving plenty of care and attention. He probably wouldn't care whether she went or not.
Besides, during the time they were trapped, her attitude hadn't been exactly deferential. What if the moment he saw her, he remembered all those times she'd been disrespectful, and used that as an excuse to fire her?
And also, she hadn't fully recovered yet, and didn't have the energy to visit another patient…
Fine, those were all excuses.
She just didn't want to go.
Liang Xiao could also tell she didn't want to go, and smiled: "Just kidding. He's surrounded by people right now, and it's making him irritable every day. Better you don't go."
Hearing this, Zhang Xiyue immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Cheng Mingjiao waited another day. Instead of Zhang Xiyue, he got his grandmother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
Qian Xiulan started scolding him the moment she walked in: "This is really something—trying to hide such a big incident from me! If your mother hadn't let it slip on the phone, I still wouldn't know my own grandson almost died!"
Cheng Mingjiao: "It's not that exaggerated…"
"How is it not? You almost starved to death in the mountains!"
Cheng Mingjiao: "Please don't make baseless assumptions."
Qian Xiulan grabbed her phone and whacked him with it.
Cheng Mingjiao protested: "That's assault!"
Qian Xiulan hit him again.
Cheng Mingjiao: "…I'm calling the police."
Qian Xiulan gave him another hit.
Cheng Mingjiao: "I'm calling security."
Qian Xiulan grabbed his face.
Cheng Mingjiao, nearly thirty years old and still getting his face grabbed, protested vigorously. When the protest failed, he started calling for security.
Security didn't come, but Qian Xiulan thoroughly vented her frustration before finally getting around to feeling sorry for her precious grandson.
"The hospital food isn't nutritious. Starting tomorrow, have the family chef cook and deliver meals. I'm not going back to Yunxi Temple for a while either—I'll go back once I've built your health back up." Qian Xiulan's eyes reddened as she spoke.
Cheng Mingjiao kept a wooden expression, still sulking.
Qian Xiulan found it both infuriating and amusing. Ignoring his protests, she cupped his face and kneaded it again, then moved on to other topics.
Cheng Mingjiao responded absentmindedly while staring at the trees outside the window, wondering if Zhang Xiyue would come to see him when the last leaf fell.
Unfortunately, what was planted here was Chinese pine—evergreen, never shedding its leaves.
"I want to replace this tree." Cheng Mingjiao suddenly spoke.
Qian Xiulan, who had been interrupted, looked bewildered. "What?"
"Replace it with a tree that has no leaves," Cheng Mingjiao was a woman of action. As soon as she finished speaking, she pulled out her phone and sent a voice message to Liang Xiao. "Move the tree in front of my hospital room window, and find a leafless tree to plant in its place."
Qian Xiulan: "…What nonsense are you up to?"
Cheng Mingjiao explained, "This hospital is under his management now, so he's the only one I can ask to change the tree."
Qian Xiulan: "Where is he supposed to find you a leafless tree?"
"That's his problem to figure out." Cheng Mingjiao was quite unperturbed.
Qian Xiulan frowned. "Cheng Mingjiao, don't bully your friend."
Cheng Mingjiao glanced at her and directly made a video call to Liang Xiao.
It connected, and Liang Xiao complained, "My dear ancestor, what did that tree do to offend you this time…"
Before he could finish, Cheng Mingjiao held the phone up in front of Qian Xiulan.
Liang Xiao instantly turned serious. "Hello, Grandma."
Qian Xiulan leaned back a little to make her face look smaller. "Xiaoxiao, it's been a while."
"Grandma, you're here! I'll come over right now…"
"Liang Xiao," Cheng Mingjiao interrupted the pleasantries, "have I been bullying you?"
Liang Xiao immediately replied, "No."
Cheng Mingjiao hung up the call and looked at Qian Xiulan with a triumphant expression.
Qian Xiulan: "…"
After a moment of silence, she picked up her bag and stood to leave. "Forget it, do whatever you want. I'm going to check on Xiyue. If I'd known you'd take her running off into the deep mountains and wild forests, I would have talked her out of joining your company when she insisted, and persuaded her to go to Xiaoxue's instead…"
"What did you say?" Cheng Mingjiao suddenly spoke.
Qian Xiulan was caught off guard by his question. "What did I say?"
"What do you mean she insisted on joining my company? Wasn't she originally going to Lu Xue's place?" Cheng Mingjiao suddenly asked.
Qian Xiulan realized she had let something slip and looked guilty.
Cheng Mingjiao was more serious than ever before. "You all lied to me. Her goal from the very beginning was the Universe Emperor, wasn't it?"
"…That's not true." Qian Xiulan didn't dare look at him and hurried away.
In the vast hospital room, only Cheng Mingjiao remained. He stared at the pine tree outside the window, and scenes of Zhang Xiyue's behavior over this period flashed through his mind.
Suddenly, something clicked. His expression turned more serious than it had ever been.