“The Apple of His Eye [Heart-and-Soul Meat]”
Jiang Zhi simply acted out of an impulse, and the next thing he knew, he had arrived at the entrance of the hospital.
Regrettably, the management of the inpatient department was strict—especially the building where the old master resided; the management was exceptionally strict, and anyone who wasn’t a family member of a patient fundamentally couldn’t get in.
He rubbed the corner of his forehead; coming here seemed a bit rash.
Thinking back to yesterday, Fu Yunting’s face was indeed not good-looking at the time he entered the venue, but later on the car ride back, he acted like a person with nothing wrong again, and even had the headspace to tease him and make him happy.
He was truly far too good at hiding his emotions.
He stood in the lobby of the inpatient department for a while, and dialed the phone over to Sheng Yuan again, telling him to think of a way to get him inside.
Only he hadn’t expected that upon reaching the ward, every single member of the Fu family was present, yet there was no sign of Fu Yunting.
Jiang Zhi instantly became a bit dumbfounded.
“Oh, Yunting’s wife truly has a lot of heart.” Hu Xiaoxia, while paring an apple, used the sharp blade of the knife to eat a piece of it, looking like someone with an aggressive, not-to-be-trifled-with style. “This path is quite familiar.”
“Hmph, a weasel giving New Year’s greetings to a chicken [harboring malicious intentions].” Fu Jiayang shook his crossed legs on the opposite side, somewhat disdainful.
“Brother, what are you saying? She is the apple of Brother Yunting’s eye, after all.” Fu Jiayue was currently keeping watch before the old master’s bed, massaging his shoulders while smiling genially; by her appearance, she was also a wealthy young lady.
But for some reason, it suddenly caused Jiang Zhi to think of those words from Ye Yanxi yesterday.
Be careful of Fu Yunting’s brothers and sisters.
Originally, Jiang Zhi still felt that he himself was quite abrupt, but hearing this, he instantly didn’t care anymore. Ignoring the three people, he went straight to the front of the old master’s bed to extend greetings, “Grandpa, are you doing well?”
“It’s nothing major. When a person gets old, it’s just like this—sickly and causing people to worry.” Old Master Fu patted the position beside him to let him sit down, and said to Fu Jiayue, “Let’s stop here for today. You guys go busy yourselves with what you ought to be busy with; I will speak with Zhizhi for a while.”
“Grandpa, I also want to stay behind to take care of you,” Fu Jiayue said. “I don’t have much work today, so I just want to fulfill a bit of filial piety here. How come you are still partial?”
“Can Grandpa not know what is in that petty mind of yours?” Old Master Fu’s voice was light and airy; it could be seen that his body was a bit worse than last time. “Go on, the butler has already prepared everything over there.”
Fu Jiayue’s eyes lit up, but she still insisted: “Thank you, Grandpa, but I didn’t come here to ask for money today. My mom and dad said it—you only have me as this one granddaughter, so I absolutely must stay behind to take care of you.”
Jiang Zhi curled the corners of his lips; he felt exhausted on behalf of the old master.
Hu Xiaoxia had originally also brought her two kids here just to complete a task; seeing that Jiang Zhi fundamentally wouldn’t bite her bait, she was also too lazy to jockey with him here, so she grabbed her bag and left, leaving her son and daughter here to contend for favor.
Of course, Old Master Fu didn’t care either. When a person reached this age, what ought to be seen through had all been seen through; even if it couldn’t be seen through, it also didn’t matter anymore.
“How come you came over all of a sudden, Yunting didn’t mention it either.” The old master smilingly took a jar of caramel walnuts from the head of the bed. “Taste this, usually this can’t be eaten here at Grandpa’s place.”
Jiang Zhi caught it, and with a single glance, he saw the syrup on top.
“Grandpa, didn’t Yunting forbid you from eating these sweets? Next time I come over, I’ll bring some sugar-free ones; sugar-free ones have a good texture and are also good for the body.”
“If he doesn’t allow it, then we don’t eat it? Even the doctor didn’t say anything.” Fu Jiayue had nothing to do, holding a pair of nail clippers and filing back and forth there.
“Just you have a lot of words.” The old master was helpless, and after finishing his sentence, he spoke to Jiang Zhi, “Yunting is in the lounge next door, go find him.”
Jiang Zhi understood the old master’s meaning; with these two siblings around, he shouldn’t even think about speaking today.
“Okay, then Grandpa, you guys chat, I’ll go over to take a look at him.”
“Grandpa, let me play a movie for you.” As soon as Jiang Zhi left, Fu Jiayue hugged the old master’s arm and said, “Let’s just watch this, I heard it was just released this month…”
…
Jiang Zhi sighed with emotion while walking outward; it was hard to imagine how Fu Yunting had come through these matters, with every single one of them possessing so many scheming minds.
For the sake of the old master’s peace and quiet, this entire floor had been booked out by the Fu family; usually, apart from doctors and nursing workers, basically no one walked around.
Jiang Zhi followed the butler to the front of the room door, just about to raise his hand to knock on the door.
“Last night the Second Young Master didn’t rest much for the whole night. No need to knock, just go straight in,” the butler encouraged.
“Oh…” Reasonably speaking, a fiancé pair could do whatever, but Jiang Zhi had a guilty conscience; no matter what, he felt it wasn’t quite appropriate.
Watching the butler walk far away, and since he himself couldn’t beat a retreat, he could only brace himself to push the door and go in.
The entire floor was of this type of configuration; beside every single ward, there was a specially equipped lounge room. This room looked just like a hotel suite.
However, even with things like this, Jiang Zhi estimated that only Fu Yunting would stay at the hospital.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw the coat hanging at the entrance; it was the exact one Fu Yunting wore when he went to pick him up yesterday.
The inner room door was left ajar, revealing a small crack. Jiang Zhi poked his head to look inside; the man was lying by the bed with his clothes on, not even having taken off his shoes.
In terms of distance from yesterday when he sent himself home, it had also been ten-odd hours; Jiang Zhi felt Fu Yunting very likely hadn’t rested at all last night. He silently went inside, walking to the head of the bed.
The man was lying on his side with his face toward the inner side, his two lips compressed tightly, the blanket pressed beneath his body, and the space between his brows was still death-locked into a knot.
He let out a sigh, thinking that this person’s heart should not be light—matters of the company, the old master’s body, and even having to engage in wits and courage against those few next door; it would be strange if he could be lighthearted.
Standing at the head of the bed staring at Fu Yunting for a while, Jiang Zhi绕 [circled] around to the other side to cover him with half of the blanket.
Apart from those sigh-inducing matters in the book, Jiang Zhi had smooth sailing for a lifetime; where could he bear to watch this kind of family? Before anything had even happened, his Holy Mother heart [excessive empathy] exploded past the charts.
Only, just as he was preparing to go out, the man on the bed suddenly sat up.
In an instant, the four eyes of the two individuals met face-to-face.
Jiang Zhi was embarrassed, “…Uh, you’re awake?”
Seeing clearly that it was Jiang Zhi, the man’s expression suddenly relaxed down again. “When did you come?” He rubbed the corner of his forehead, looking as if his brain was still not very clear.
“Just arrived. There’s nothing major, you go back to sleep for a bit.”
The man leaned toward the head of the bed, seemingly not yet fully awake.
Jiang Zhi took a careful look at him. “How come you broke out in so much sweat, did you have a nightmare?”
“It’s nothing, just a bit tired.” Fu Yunting was about to get up right after speaking.
“What are you doing?” Jiang Zhi blinked his eyes, pressing his shoulders. “If you’re tired, then sleep a bit longer. I don’t have anything going on anyway.”
Fu Yunting was suspicious, “Truly nothing going on?”
Jiang Zhi shook his head. “Nothing, just heard that Grandpa wasn’t too comfortable and came over to take a look. You sleep; we’ll talk after you wake up.”
Only then did Fu Yunting lie back down again, but he still stared at Jiang Zhi without blinking for an instant.
Jiang Zhi was embarrassed. “What are you doing? Is it that with me here, your sleep is uncomfortable? Otherwise, shall I go out?”
“Just stay right here.” After finishing his words, the man closed his eyes.
Yesterday he had accompanied the old master to speak for a whole night, and in the morning he pushed aside the matters at hand before moving over to this side to lie down.
Having managed with great difficulty to barely fall asleep, he ended up dreaming about some not-too-good matters, and then he saw Jiang Zhi.
The Jiang Zhi before his eyes was somewhat different from the Jiang Zhi in his dream; the Jiang Zhi in the dream was persistent, cold, and detached. Whereas the Jiang Zhi before his eyes was willful and happy.
So vivid and alive that it gave him no feeling of reality at all.
Seeing that the person was still knitting his brows, Jiang Zhi let out a sigh, unable to resist comforting him, “I went to see Grandpa, he is doing well, don’t you worry. Just go see him after you wake up.”
The man’s eyelashes moved slightly, without offering a contradiction.
It wasn’t until Jiang Zhi’s finger gently poked the center of his brows that Fu Yunting’s tightly knitted brow finally smoothed out slightly.