Huo Zhiyuan vomited all over the floor. His face turned deathly pale, beads of sweat covered his forehead, and his body swayed as though he might collapse at any moment. Xue Yanxin hurried over to support him, letting him lean against her.
The restaurant immediately erupted into chaos.
A middle-aged man holding a pair of chopsticks with shredded potatoes dangling from them began trembling.
“That reaction is way too severe! Boss, did you put something in the food?”
His shout instantly stirred the entire restaurant into an uproar. Some customers began yelling at the owner, while others complained that Huo Zhiyuan was making everyone lose their appetite.
“What are you shouting for? Why would I drug the food? Do you think I don’t want to stay in business?” the owner snapped. “Xiaolian, call an ambulance! This customer must be having a relapse of an old illness!”
The owner deliberately claimed that Huo Zhiyuan’s condition was a recurrence of a previous illness. He was trying to protect his restaurant’s reputation and reassure the other diners that the problem wasn’t the food, but the customer himself.
In reality, he was panicking.
His chef had taken the day off, so he had personally cooked the dishes that afternoon. While preparing the shredded potatoes, he had used a sprouted potato. Instead of throwing it away, he had merely cut off the sprouted section before stir-frying the rest.
Sprouted potatoes were poisonous.
When he rushed over and spotted a plate of shredded potatoes with pork sitting on Huo Zhiyuan’s table, his heart nearly stopped.
He was almost certain the problem had come from those potatoes.
The owner helped carry Huo Zhiyuan into the ambulance, but he couldn’t accompany him to the hospital because the restaurant still needed someone to stay behind.
After a series of examinations, the hospital concluded that Huo Zhiyuan’s condition had been triggered by eating irritating food. Fortunately, he had vomited everything out, so it wasn’t serious. Even so, the doctors decided to keep him under observation with an IV drip for one day.
That night, Huo Zhiyuan lay weakly on the hospital bed, his pale face devoid of color as the IV slowly dripped into his arm.
Xue Yanxin stayed by his side the entire time.
The public hospital’s facilities were surprisingly decent. There was a fold-out bed for family members, so Xue Yanxin unfolded it and placed it beside Huo Zhiyuan’s bed.
There was no blanket for her, so she turned the air conditioner up a few degrees, curled herself into a ball, and quietly fell asleep beside him.
The next morning, Huo Zhiyuan slowly opened his eyes.
The unfamiliar ceiling and the IV stand immediately reminded him that he was in a hospital.
Turning his head, he saw Xue Yanxin sleeping beside him.
His breathing caught.
His entire body stiffened.
He didn’t dare move another inch, afraid that even the slightest motion would disturb her peaceful sleep.
The ward was still quiet. None of the other patients had woken up yet. In the silence, he could hear nothing except his own heartbeat and the gentle rhythm of her breathing.
Without blinking, he gazed at her face, as though he couldn’t bear to miss even a second.
A faint, delicate fragrance lingered around her.
The corners of his tightly pressed lips unconsciously curved upward.
Then he noticed that she wasn’t covered with a blanket.
His heart tightened.
Frowning slightly, he carefully tugged his own blanket over until it covered her. Afterward, he slowly edged closer himself, leaving the two of them sharing the same blanket.
An indescribable warmth filled his heart.
He couldn’t explain the feeling, but he knew he was genuinely happy.
If possible, he wished she would sleep just a little longer.
He wished time could stop at this very moment.
As daylight grew brighter, the patients in the neighboring beds gradually woke up, their quiet movements breaking the morning silence.
The sounds roused Xue Yanxin as well.
She slowly opened her sleepy eyes and found Huo Zhiyuan lying only inches away, quietly staring at her.
The moment their eyes met, he froze.
Then, as though he had been caught doing something shameful, his eyes widened in panic. He instantly turned around, presenting her with his back, like a thief desperately pretending nothing had happened.
The man who was usually calm, decisive, and composed had suddenly become as skittish as a frightened rabbit.
The contrast was simply too adorable.
Xue Yanxin couldn’t help laughing.
Looking down at the blanket covering her, she immediately guessed what had happened.
He must have secretly covered her with it, then gotten caught and become embarrassed.
After all, the image he always tried to maintain was that of a cold, aloof man who kept everyone at arm’s length.
Smiling mischievously, she poked him through the blanket.
“Hey, President Huo, this blanket is so warm. Don’t tell me you secretly hugged me to make it this warm?”
Huo Zhiyuan’s body stiffened again.
He quickly turned back.
“I… I… I didn’t! I only covered you with the blanket. I didn’t do anything else. I’m still a patient myself. Don’t… don’t imagine things. I’m a respectable gentleman.”
“I know, I know,” Xue Yanxin replied with a grin. “Why are you so nervous? I was only teasing you.”
“Who’s nervous? I was just… just explaining myself!”
“Alright, alright, I believe your explanation. More importantly, how are you feeling now? Does your stomach still hurt? Anywhere else uncomfortable?”
As she spoke, she reached toward the hem of his shirt, intending to examine him the way the doctor had done yesterday by gently pressing his abdomen.
Huo Zhiyuan didn’t stop her.
Instead, his neck flushed bright red.
He instinctively tightened his waist and abdomen, making his sculpted abs stand out even more prominently.
Xue Yanxin’s eyes instantly locked onto them.
He caught every bit of her reaction and couldn’t help smiling in satisfaction.
She reached out and poked his abdomen.
“Does this hurt?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
Huo Zhiyuan secretly expected that she would seize the opportunity to feel his abs a little longer.
Instead, she withdrew her hand.
She even pulled his shirt back down properly to cover him.
He’s still a patient.
Don’t be shameless.
Don’t be shameless.
Xue Yanxin silently warned herself.
It would be better to wait for the doctor to examine him.
Otherwise, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist slipping her hands under his shirt and thoroughly enjoying the chance to admire his muscles.
She forced herself to look away.
Huo Zhiyuan, however, became depressed.
What was going on?
Had she suddenly changed?
Didn’t she usually love staring at his muscles?
He recalled every time he came out of the bathroom shirtless after a shower. Her gaze had always been completely undisguised, filled with admiration, and she was remarkably creative when inventing excuses to touch him.
Sometimes she would squeeze his chest.
Sometimes his biceps.
But her absolute favorite had always been his abs.
Had his abs somehow lost their appeal?
Or had they become less defined because he hadn’t exercised for the past few days?
He secretly reached down and felt them himself.
No.
They still seemed perfectly firm.
After getting up and washing up, Xue Yanxin left to buy breakfast.
While she was gone, the restaurant owner arrived carrying a basket of fruit to visit him.
The moment their eyes met, both men felt incredibly guilty.
The owner was thinking about how he had made a customer sick by serving sprouted potatoes, then shifted the blame by claiming it was the customer’s old illness to protect his restaurant’s reputation.
The more he thought about it, the more ashamed he felt.
Huo Zhiyuan, meanwhile, was thinking about how he had actually ended up in the hospital because he had eaten the dish he himself had cooked, yet the restaurant owner had been forced to shoulder all the blame.
That made him feel equally embarrassed and guilty.
“Brother,” the owner began awkwardly, rubbing his hands together, “please forgive me. I’ve got elderly parents and children depending on me. This restaurant is how my family survives. I only said it was your old illness because I couldn’t afford to ruin the restaurant’s reputation. I’m truly sorry.”
He set the fruit basket down, looking completely at a loss.
His nervousness, embarrassment, and sincere remorse were written all over his face.
“I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I kept thinking about how to face you. I’ve seriously reflected on what happened. I’m just too stingy. I couldn’t bear to throw away a sprouted potato. I thought cutting off the sprout would be enough. Who would’ve thought it would actually make someone sick?”
As he spoke, he slapped his thigh in frustration before pounding his chest in promise.
“I swear, my restaurant has always been clean and hygienic. Yesterday was only because my chef wasn’t there, and I foolishly decided to use that sprouted potato. I promise this will never happen again. And if you ever come back to eat at my place, your meal is on the house.”
Huo Zhiyuan felt increasingly uncomfortable listening to his apology.
He quickly waved both hands.
“There’s really no need, Boss. Maybe… maybe it really was my own old health problem. Who knows? Anyway, you shouldn’t blame yourself, and you definitely don’t have to pay my medical expenses.”
“How could I not?” the owner insisted. “The doctor already said it. You got sick because you ate contaminated food.”