Chapter 19

"It’s not that bad."
His voice sounded like it scraped over gravel, raspy, parched.
Lin Jinshen knew his own body. He hadn’t had a single real illness all year. Whatever this was, it was just a blip from messed-up hours, rest would fix it.
Lu Yi hadn’t planned on fussing.
They were adults, he should know if he was sick or not. Besides, he had people looking after him. If he got worse, his assistant would drag him to a hospital sooner or later.
But seeing him there, this tall, imposing man crumpled in a lone armchair, his flushed face and those onyx eyes oddly bright, like steam just beneath the surface, sickness suited him poorly, but it made him human.
Worst case, he was still her husband. If nothing else, his body was, technically, joint marital property.
"Let’s go to the hospital," Lu Yi said flatly.
"No need."
Lu Yi ignored him, already pulling out her phone. "Which hospital do you usually go to? If you won’t tell me, I’ll just get one of my doctor friends to book you in."
"Lu Yi."
Lin Jinshen frowned. He had mountains of work, who had time for a hospital visit now? "Don’t make a fuss. Even if it’s a fever, there’s no need to go in for it."
"You shouldn’t just take random medicine."
"I know my limits."
Lu Yi hesitated. Why did it feel like negotiating with a stubborn little kid? "If you keep burning up like this, you won’t just lose work, you could actually die. I just got married; not eager to be a widow."
"…"
Lin Jinshen’s stern face used to inspire awe. Right now, sick and soft-eyed, he looked all deflated, like a pricked balloon losing air.
He tested his own temperature with the back of his hand. Clearly, something wasn’t right. Swallowing medicine would mean days of recovery, putting work even further behind. Hospital IVs would do the job quicker.
After a pause, he said quietly: "I’ll have Jiang Xun arrange it."
Translation: You don’t have to trouble yourself.
The Lin family always used Changxin Private Hospital, they even held shares there. Jiang Xun, on orders, scheduled everything in advance and apologized profusely when reporting back. He hadn’t dared look too closely at Lin Jinshen or noticed his condition at all.
"It’s not your fault," Lin Jinshen said, reaching for his jacket.
Lu Yi was packing the food containers when Jiang Xun came over to help, handing her a file with the insurance card and medical info. "Thank you, madam. Sorry for the trouble."
"…"
She hadn’t planned on going along.
But now that he’d handed over the folder, it’d look pretty bad for her to head home when her husband was off to hospital. Married life did come with its own set of obligations.
Lu Yi accepted it. "It’s nothing."
Jiang Xun said, "Just leave everything here, I’ll collect it and bring it home later."
"Thanks."
Lin Jinshen had already slipped on his jacket, stepping over until their eyes met. "Let’s go."
"Okay."
Because everything had been arranged ahead of time, there was a team waiting when they arrived at the hospital, just the usual checks.
Lin Jinshen’s fever clocked in at thirty-eight degrees Celsius. Wait any longer, and it’d only go higher.
A classic case of wind-heat, almost certainly from erratic work hours tanking his immune system, topped off with a chill.
Sure, working late explained the schedule. But how had he caught a cold? The AC at night was always set to twenty-seven degrees.
"Did you catch a chill last night?" Lu Yi asked, genuinely unsure if she might be the culprit.
Lin Jinshen turned his face away, spitting out the answer: "Wasn’t you."
Good. Not her fault then.
"Dr. Zhao, just start the IV."
"Of course, President Lin."
The hospital arranged a private room. The meds would drip in over the next three hours, at least.
Lu Yi couldn’t just dump him here. She braced herself, sat beside him on the hospital room sofa, both of them claiming opposite ends, watching as the nurse set his IV.
"Try to get some rest. When this bag’s done, I’ll call the nurse in."
"Thank you. Sorry for the trouble."
His voice sounded even rougher than before, his throat clearly sore, and he wasn’t in the mood to talk much.
Lin Jinshen closed his eyes, head tipped back, the line of his neck taut, long legs carelessly propping him up, it was as if he'd become a study in still life.
Only thing was, this sofa was a bit too small for him. Lu Yi had suggested more than once that he try sleeping in the hospital bed instead, but he'd shaken his head, insisting on squeezing into this little space.
He insisted; she could only respect the patient’s wishes.
Lin Jinshen hadn't had his eyes closed for more than a few minutes before his phone started buzzing endlessly.
He opened his eyes, picked up the phone with one hand, scrolled through the notifications, work, all of them. As he tried to reply, he was reminded by the IV in his hand that texting was now a thumb-only ordeal.
“Do you want me to help?” Lu Yi had been quietly watching the whole routine. “Unless it’s all company secrets, then forget I offered.”
Lin Jinshen already had his phone held out to her.
One-handed typing was way too much hassle. Plus, his throat needed a break.
Lu Yi took the phone. It was a black model, no case at all, which fit his no-nonsense, cold style. Lin Jinshen pressed a hand to his sore throat and dictated replies at a measured pace. She typed and sent the messages for him.
They made a pretty good team.
When Lu Yi exited the chat screen, a familiar avatar caught her eye at the top of his pinned contacts, her own. The display name: “Wife.”
Just those two simple syllables, but right now it felt like a wave had slammed over her head. She hadn't expected, in all honesty, that he’d saved her under that name, or that he would have her pinned to the very top.
Right up there with his family.
“You really saved me as ‘Wife’?” she teased when she handed his phone back, feigning nonchalance, pretending she hadn't noticed would have been even faker.
Lin Jinshen didn't see anything odd about it. He took the phone back with a calm, “What should I call you, if not that?”
She’d half-expected her name, but to him, it was obvious. She was his wife, so that’s what he’d put. That was just how his world worked.
“So what am I in your contacts?”
Lin Jinshen abruptly asked, his clear eyes fixing on her.
...Welp.
She hadn’t set any cute note for him at all, just the name “Pioneer,” his WeChat username.
But after seeing how much thought he’d put into hers, it was suddenly hard to admit. She choked, instantly regretting bringing it up.
Lin Jinshen's gaze felt like an X-ray, slicing right through her poker face. He raised an eyebrow. “So, nothing?”
“!”
“I’ll save you as something right now.” Lu Yi snatched up her phone.
Lin Jinshen asked, “What name are you picking?”
She copied his move: pulled up his profile, typed in a two-character note, paused, then pinned him to the top, just to be fair.
She looked up and met his gaze, her voice soft: “Mister.”
Lin Jinshen pressed his lips together, making just a small, noncommittal hum in his nose, offering no commentary.
After a brief moment, he turned away, closed his eyes, reclining in a facsimile of sleep. The IV hadn't brought much relief, instead, his head felt even heavier, as if it were filled with lead.
With Lin Jinshen hooked up to the drip, Lu Yi had nothing to do but fiddle with her phone.
Yu Yin texted to ask about her weekend plans.
Lu Yi: [Can’t make it. Lin Jinshen’s down with a fever.]
Yu Yin: [Wait, isn’t that guy your regular morning runner, with a body like some kind of fitness ad? How’s he even catching a cold in summer?]
[Or is it you two burning the midnight oil every night, and Ms. Femme Fatale here has drained him dry?]
Lu Yi: [...]
[It’s work. He’s just been insanely busy lately.]
Yu Yin: [He’s been a workaholic since before you met him, babe. This is nothing new for him, okay?]
[Remember that control variable experiment in science class? Honey, you’re the variable.]
You’re the variable.
Lu Yi stared at those last few words for a while, mentally arguing back, no way. Really, it couldn't be.
Half an hour later, she called the nurse to change his IV bag.
Lin Jinshen cracked his eyes open, gaze blurry, and murmured, “You should go home. This is going to take a while.”
“It’s fine. There’re still two bags left,” Lu Yi replied. She couldn’t just leave him here hooked up to the drip alone, especially since, “You don’t really look too hot.”
You don’t really look too hot.
Did he?
Lin Jinshen fully opened his eyes, his dark gaze sharp. With his raspy voice, he shot back, “Are you saying I look weak? You should know better than anyone.”
“…”
The nurse had just finished swapping the IV and hadn’t left yet, so she overheard his words. It took everything she had not to burst out laughing as she bent to nod politely. “Call me if you need anything.”
She hadn’t even left the room before she was already thinking about how she’d gossip to her coworkers.
Which normal person comes to the hospital for a work-related collapse, only to get destroyed by a patient flirting shamelessly? If not for professionalism, she would've stuck around to see just how “weak” he really was.
“I did not mean that kind of weak.” Lu Yi’s ears turned red as she mumbled the explanation.
“Then what kind?” Lin Jinshen prodded.
“Never mind. Go back to sleep,” Lu Yi exhaled, reminding herself he was the patient, no use stooping to his level.
But Lin Jinshen barely got a chance to rest. The phone wouldn’t quit. He pressed a hand to his throat, enduring the discomfort to answer call after call, listening carefully and responding as briefly and clearly as possible to give direction.
Lu Yi watched, unable to do much else, so she poured him hot water for his throat.
Once the IV was finally done, Lin Jinshen still had to run back to the office. Lu Yi advised him not to work too late and to come home early to rest. After all, he was sick, someone should be there to look after him.
Lin Jinshen just looked at her for a long moment before finally agreeing.
By ten, Lin Jinshen was home.
He didn’t look much better than he had earlier. After a brief hello, he headed up to shower. By the time she checked on him, he was already asleep, still burning with fever, brow furrowed, his rest anything but peaceful.
Before bed, Lu Yi set the AC to a warmer 28 degrees.
This should keep him from catching a chill, she thought.
Being sick was nothing short of miserable. Even in his dreams, Lin Jinshen felt like he was burning up, every breath coming with a sting, as if some amateur swimmer was thrown into a deep green lake, water invading mouth and nose, body sinking fast, powerless to know when, if ever, he’d reach the bottom. The dread, the loss of control, filled every inch of his mind.
In the depths of this suffocating haze, Lin Jinshen’s eyes snapped open. He stared up at a ceiling white as snow. Moving sluggishly, he turned his head, registering the familiar décor around him. Right. He wasn’t at the hotel, he was home.
In the bedroom, he was completely alone.
Lin Jinshen checked the time, nine o’clock. He almost never slept this late. With a reluctant sigh, he forced himself out of bed to wash up.
He'd cleared his Sunday schedule on purpose last night. In his current state, dragging himself into the office would only make things worse. Better to rest up for a day and return when he had some real energy back.
His pajamas from the night before were drenched in sweat, so he changed into a fresh set of casual loungewear.
Heading downstairs, he heard voices and assumed it was Lu Yi. He trudged a few steps toward the kitchen island.
Aunt Fang, hearing the footsteps, turned around with a warm smile. “You’re up, Mr. Lin.”
He nodded, giving the room a quick once-over for any other signs of life. Seeing none, he asked, “Where’s Lu Yi?”
“Madam went out,” Aunt Fang explained. “She took Puff along for a bath. In this summer heat, that chubby cat really needed a wash.”
Lin Jinshen’s gaze drifted to the cat bed in the corner, empty, not a single pair of mischievous eyes lurking in the shadows.
Neither wife nor cat was around.
His brows knitted, thin lips pressed into a grim line.
Aunt Fang ventured, “I heard your throat wasn’t feeling well, are you coughing? If you are, let me steam some rock sugar pears for you, it’ll soothe your throat. Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? I’ve got homemade wontons in the fridge, or if you want something lighter, I can make a small pot of porridge.”
“Don’t trouble yourself.”
Lin Jinshen gave her a tired, half-lidded glance. “I’m not hungry.”
“It’s normal to lose your appetite when you’re sick, but you can’t just skip meals. How about a little porridge?”
“I said I’m not hungry.”
Without another word, Lin Jinshen headed upstairs, leaving only his back to Aunt Fang.
He felt awful.
Actually, now that he was up, he felt worse than he had right after waking.
Lu Yi really had taken Puff out for a bath. She’d booked their usual pet salon, the only place Puff tolerated bath time. In fact, Lu Yi suspected Puff secretly liked the shop owner. He was tall, handsome, soft-spoken; even the most dramatic, water-averse Puff turned into a perfect angel in his hands.
After Puff was washed and toweled dry, the shop owner popped the little guy into the pet dryer. Puff sat there with her eyes slitted in utter contentedness.
“You’ve spoiled Puff into a tiny princess,” the shop owner joked as he dried his hands and came over to chat. “I remember when you first found her, she was so tiny! Now look at that pudgy belly.”
“Shh, you can’t let the princess hear that,” Lu Yi laughed. “She’s on a diet these days.”
“If you ask me, I’d say you’ve got a long way to go.”
His gaze flicked to the wedding ring on her finger, eyes lingering for a few seconds before he asked, “You got married?”
Lu Yi glanced down at the band on her ring finger and nodded. “Yes, about a month ago.”
The shop owner offered a half-smile. For a moment, he’d thought about pursuing Lu Yi, but he knew he wasn’t in her league. “I’m honestly curious, what kind of man could actually win your heart?”
“He’s a workaholic. Mature, very steady,” Lu Yi said, thinking for a beat about Lin Jinshen’s image in her mind. She left out the part about him being a stuffy old man. She wasn’t about to trash-talk behind his back.
“He must be a pretty good guy then. I hope you’ll be happy together.”
“Thanks.”
As Lu Yi waited for Puff to finish, a message popped up on her phone. It was from Lin Jinshen.
Lin Jinshen: [I feel terrible]
Four bare words. Not even his usual punctuation.
Lu Yi stared at his message, trying to figure out what kind of mood he’d been in writing it, or why he sent it to her at all. Suddenly, her earlier assessment of his maturity felt way off base.
Maybe not so steady after all.
The drying finished. Lu Yi scooped up a freshly bathed Puff and headed home.
Puff still smelled fluffy and clean, so she indulged herself and hugged the cat, nuzzling deeply into her fur.
Back at home, Aunt Fang was tidying up. When she saw Lu Yi come in, she came over at once. “Mr. Lin woke up earlier this morning. Honestly, he looked worse than usual, wouldn’t touch a bite of food.”
Lunchtime was nearly here.
Lu Yi asked, “So he hasn’t had anything at all?”
“No. And I’m not in a position to insist. Maybe you could give it a try?”
“Alright.”
Lu Yi let Puff out of her carrier. The little princess fluffed her fur and went off in search of Aunt Fang for more petting.
The bedroom door was closed. Lu Yi pushed it open quietly. No lights. Curtains drawn. The room was cast in shadows. Lin Jinshen lay silent and still on the bed.
She walked to his bedside. He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. She tried gently: “Lin Jinshen?”
He couldn’t just lie here not eating, especially with an IV scheduled for this afternoon.
She called his name twice more before he finally cracked open his eyes, slow and reluctant. His brow was knit in pain, and the look he gave her was oddly unfamiliar, like he barely recognized her.
“Come on, eat something,” Lu Yi coaxed.
“Not hungry.”
His voice was low, muffled, almost childishly petulant.
Lu Yi crouched down, softening her tone. “You need energy to recover when you’re sick. Aunt Fang steamed some pears for you. Even if you’re not hungry, just sip some of the soup.”
Whether he thought she was being naggy or not, Lin Jinshen turned away to face the wall, presenting the back of his head like a sulking kid.
…God, he’s acting like a child now.
But Lu Yi wasn’t about to give up. She leaned over to pull him gently by the shoulder. The moment her hand touched him, a strong arm suddenly looped around her waist. She barely had time to yelp before she was pulled straight onto the bed with him; her slippers hit the floor with a double smack.
Now she was lying face-to-face with Lin Jinshen, his arm pinning her at the waist, his sharp, forbidding features close enough to feel his breath.
Lu Yi’s breath caught.
“Lin Jinshen…”
“Don’t, ”
“Don’t what?” he snapped, brows creased. “I can do whatever I want right now.”
His voice was hoarse, low, almost sulky as he grumbled, “You’re at least fifty percent responsible for me being sick.”
Lu Yi’s mind spun. What on earth did his illness have to do with her? Before she could object, Lin Jinshen tightened his hold, tucking her completely into his chest. His chin rested on the crown of her head.
His body burned, hot as a live coal, making her dizzy just holding him.
“You’re burning up!” Lu Yi protested, blushing hotly herself, feeling like she might just melt.
“Mm.”
Lin Jinshen didn’t budge, holding her tight, his voice low and rough: “I’m burning up.”
“But this feels really nice.”
Her skin was cool, and he just wanted to hold her closer, as if the chill in her could soothe the heat simmering inside him.