After Cheng Xi rushed over to the hospital, she found that Lu Chenzhou"s grandmother had been exaggerating. Lu Chenzhou didn"t plan on leaving, but he had woken up, and was sitting by the head of his bed with a severe mien as he listened to the doctor explain his illness to him.It was true that his expression wasn"t good, but he certainly wasn"t “crying and shouting” about leaving the hospital.
From the monitor, Cheng Xi saw that Cai Yi was also inside the room, and immediately calmed down. She didn"t rush in, and silently observed the scene for a moment before heading outside again.
Lu Chenzhou"s grandfather had already left, and his grandmother was the only family member outside. She was somewhat embarra.s.sed that she had called Cheng Xi over for nothing, and said, “He really was shouting about leaving the hospital just now. Luckily, your professor arrived and convinced him not to.”
Cheng Xi smiled. She could understand her worry and didn"t mind it much, comforting her with a warm voice instead. She was quite good at it too; not long after, Lu Chenzhou"s grandmother was convinced by her words and indeed did calm down.
Upon noticing her wan and bleary expression, Cheng Xi was about to persuade her to leave and rest—the truth was that she wasn"t doing much here; Lu Chenzhou was in a germ-free environment and receiving the best possible treatment with a professional nurse and doctor attending to him. The presence of his family members was unnecessary.
There was only one thing they could provide: because Lu Chenzhou had septicemia, besides the necessary medical treatment, he also needed to be well nourished. In the Lu household, this was no problem at all.
And so, Cheng Xi began discussing Lu Chenzhou"s future diet with his grandmother. But before they could finish, the door opened and Cai Yi and the others came out. Lu Chenzhou"s grandmother was called away by the doctor in charge, while Cheng Xi and her professor stayed behind.
“Sorry to bother you last night.”
“It was fine.” Cheng Xi shook her head and glanced at Lu Chenzhou"s ward before asking, “How is it?”
“It"s in the early stages, so it"s not difficult to treat. As long as he cooperates, it won"t be a big deal.”
Cai Yi"s words were concise, her tone calm. Cheng Xi clutched at her chest as she sighed, “That"s a relief.” When she raised her head, she saw that her professor was looking at her with a half-smile, and she blushed. “I was worried that I was responsible as I suspected that he fell ill at my place.”
Cai Yi was somewhat shocked. “What do you mean?”
Cheng Xi explained what had happened that day briefly, only leaving out the fact that he had hugged and kissed her right after seeing her.
When Cai Yi had heard everything, she started shaking her head. “You love to take responsibility for everything, don"t you? Do you know why he"s such a clean freak? It"s because his skin is naturally sensitive, and just a bit of carelessness can lead to endless problems. Who knows whether or not he touched something dirty beforehand? As you said, he ran to find you while dripping wet.”
Cheng Xi had no reply.
Cai Yi stopped comforting her, and instead said, “But his situation really was quite dangerous. If it took us any longer to get to him, then he might not have been saved. Go and take a look at him first. If there"s anything wrong, we can talk later.”
So Cheng Xi tidied herself up and put on a face mask and isolation suit before entering the ward. Lu Chenzhou was still sitting by the head of the bed, his complexion pale and stark white, even his lips" color bleached out.
He seemed like a flower past its prime whose petals were wilting pitifully, completely devoid of its previous cold and haughty demeanor.
Cheng Xi walked over. She first picked up the medical records by the head of his bed in a smooth manner. Good—his last few temperature readings showed that his high fever had broken.
Although she wasn"t a specialist, she knew that, given his situation, as long as the fever broke, the rest would be far easier.
She put down the records and finally turned around to face him. Cheng Xi couldn"t help but smile—Lu Chenzhou couldn"t see her smile, but he could tell that she was smiling because her eyes, the only part of her body that was exposed, had curved into crescents.
“Are you better?”
Lu Chenzhou didn"t respond, turning instead to face the other side of the room. A nurse pushed a cart inside; on the pushcart were cups filled with medicine, needles, and other medical paraphernalia.
Cheng Xi almost immediately noticed Lu Chenzhou"s anxiety, and couldn"t help but be momentarily startled. It couldn"t be—the brilliant Lu Chenzhou, who acted as though he didn"t care much about anything, was actually afraid of needles?
He was really quite scared, so much so that he even ignored Cheng Xi as he stared rigidly at the needle in the nurse"s hands.
“Lu Chenzhou?” The nurse pinched the needle tip, verifying his ident.i.ty.
Lu Chenzhou didn"t speak, so Cheng Xi had to answer for him. “Yes, he"s Lu Chenzhou.”
The nurse glanced at her, and then lowered the needle, preparing to give him an injection. Lu Chenzhou stretched out his hand rigidly, and the nurse had to tap his wrist several times before finally saying, “Relax.”
But despite the request, Mr. Lu"s hand remained as taut as ever. Even though he was trying his hardest to cooperate, his muscles contracted of their own accord.
His physique wasn"t bad, and the muscles in his hand were well developed. Once he got nervous, his muscles became bundles of steel.
Seeing this, Cheng Xi suddenly grabbed his other hand as she lightly called out to him.
Lu Chenzhou turned around subconsciously, his mind relaxing for a moment. And in that moment, the nurse found the correct vein and thrust the needle into his skin.
Good, there was blood flowing.
Beautiful people always received preferential treatment. Were he an ordinary man, the nurse might have sneered at him and left upon realizing that such a big fellow was afraid of a needle. But because he was so handsome, the nurse even comforted him. “Look, it doesn"t hurt, does it? Don"t be so anxious.”
Cheng Xi couldn"t help but laugh, which made Lu Chenzhou glare at her. When the nurse left, he s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand, pulled it next to his face, and ran his teeth over it.
There wasn"t any blood, but he did leave a neat row of teeth marks; it didn"t hurt, but it was quite suggestive.
Cheng Xi took her hand back, somewhat embarra.s.sed, but Lu Chenzhou behaved like nothing had happened. He closed his eyes and shamelessly requested, “I"d like to hear a story.”
His tone was cold, but his voice was hoa.r.s.e. Without his usual power, he sounded like an awkward child acting coyly with an adult.
Cheng Xi didn"t refuse and told him a story, his favorite one. Lu Chenzhou must have been exhausted, because he fell asleep before she could even finish. Cheng Xi adjusted his bed a little to help him sleep easier, only leaving when she saw him sleeping soundly.
As she exited the room, she saw Cai Yi looking at her strangely.
Cheng Xi couldn"t help but touch her face as she asked, “What is it? Is there something on my face?”
Cai Yi merely responded, “Cheng Xi, how old are you?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Hmm, age isn"t the problem. At least now I know why, despite your looks and personality, you"ve never been in a romantic relations.h.i.+p until now.”
Cheng Xi was very surprised, as this seemed like a random topic to bring up; when had Professor Cai started behaving like an ordinary woman, gossiping about such things? But she didn"t correct her; the main reason why she had never been in a relations.h.i.+p was because that person wasn"t here. Once he returned, however, she had indeed quickly gotten into one.
Somewhat amused, she asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Because the way you look at other people is too benevolent. From their point of view, your eyes probably remind them of their mother"s.”
Cheng Xi choked quite abruptly.
Cai Yi laughed loudly, and then she dragged Cheng Xi to her office. Instead of first discussing Lu Chenzhou"s illness, she instead asked, “Cheng Xi, even though you"re more of a mother than me, what will you do if someone particularly likes that aspect of you? Let me ask you something—tell me honestly, have you ever considered getting into a relations.h.i.+p with your patients?”
After running around for the entire morning, Cheng Xi had been thirsty and had naturally poured herself a gla.s.s of water and taken a sip right as she entered. When Cai Yi asked such a bizarre question, she almost choked again.
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