Thinking of how Jing Yicheng had been full of joy preparing to give him a surprise, only to be frightened out of his wits first by his own week-long coma, Xu Chenghao felt like laughing a bit but also felt a bit pained. After thinking it over for a few seconds, he still decided to put it back exactly as it was and wait for the other party to surprise him instead.
Just as he stuffed the ring back and was communicating with the doctor, Jing Yicheng, who hadn’t seen him for a moment, immediately came in, nervous: “Why are you squatting here? Out of strength?”
“No, I was looking for my phone.” Xu Chenghao pretended to rummage around, conveniently covering it with Jing Yicheng’s clothes underneath.
Jing Yicheng stepped forward to help him up, explaining: “You’re wearing a hospital gown, there’s nothing in it. If you need something, let Li Nian get it for you.”
Xu Chenghao responded with an “oh,” and followed him out.
Jing Yicheng signaled for him to sit properly and not move around, then continued speaking with the doctor after giving instructions to Li Nian. Xu Chenghao sat at the bedside, completely bored, reaching out to idly twirl Jing Yicheng’s clothes with his finger.
Jing Yicheng comfortingly patted his head, his hand movements gentle, but his expression facing the doctor remained gloomy as he said in a displeased tone: “So you still haven’t found any problems, is that it?”
The doctor wiped his cold sweat: “The examination reports show that Mr. Xu’s body is in excellent condition, no issues at all…”
“Then why was he in a coma for a whole week!”
“…”
The doctor was left speechless. After all, over the past week they had run every possible test again and again without finding a single issue. Faced with someone in a coma, they were completely helpless, with no idea how to treat him. Even now, with the patient awake, they were still helpless—completely clueless as to how he even woke up.
The doctor even wanted to ask the patient: did you literally just sleep for a week???
Unfortunately… the patient was being firmly shielded behind this Mr. Jing, not even allowed to be looked at, let alone exchanged a few words with.
And the doctor’s stammering inability to explain anything clearly was simply adding fuel to the fire, fanning the flames of fury. Jing Yicheng’s face had turned completely dark, and he was just about to speak when Xu Chenghao suddenly tugged him over and changed the subject: “Cheng-ge, while I was in a coma these past few days, did my family find out?”
Jing Yicheng’s built-up anger instantly dissipated. Though his expression still looked unpleasant, his voice became several degrees gentler as he explained: “They don’t know. I told everyone we were traveling. In a bit I’ll have the assistant prepare some local specialties for you to take home.”
“What about the company…”
“Li Nian is holding things down. He contacts me for anything major. Everything’s stable.”
Xu Chenghao immediately wrapped his arms around his waist: “Thank you, Cheng-ge~ Cheng-ge, you’re the best~” As he spoke, the hand wrapped around Jing Yicheng’s back waved slightly, signaling the doctor to leave quickly.
Li Nian was the first to react, pushing the doctor’s shoulder and directly sending him out the door. The assistant looked around, felt that being the only third wheel wasn’t appropriate either, and followed them out, closing the door behind him.
With all that commotion, of course Jing Yicheng heard it, but with the instigator nestled in his arms, what could he say? He could only continue pampering him, hugging him close and asking in a softened tone: “If you keep neglecting your health and faint again, what then?”
Xu Chenghao said cheerfully, “I won’t! I don’t have to grow chili peppers anymore, and I don’t have to worry so much from now on!”
These words instead reminded Jing Yicheng. He immediately sat on the edge of the bed, stared seriously into Xu Chenghao’s eyes and said, “You said before that once the end of the month came, you’d tell me everything!”
“I will,” Xu Chenghao replied readily. “I’ll tell you once we get home.”
Jing Yicheng was very satisfied with his attitude, pulled him over and kissed him: “We’ll go home right away… is there anything you want to eat? I’ll have Auntie prepare it for you in advance.”
Xu Chenghao’s eyes immediately lit up, and he rattled off in one breath: “I want to eat cola chicken wings, shredded pork with garlic sauce, spicy chicken, pan-fried pork—”
Jing Yicheng helplessly pinched his mouth shut: “Could Mr. Xu please acknowledge the fact that he just woke up from a week-long coma? What I asked you to choose was stewed chicken soup, fish soup, bird’s nest, and snow pear—not those things you shouldn’t be eating.”
Xu Chenghao unhappily slapped his hand away: “Could Mr. Jing please acknowledge his boyfriend’s needs, and not reject him when he’s acting cute!”
Jing Yicheng was amused by this twisted logic, “Haohao, don’t fuss. How about just chicken soup, then?”
Seeing that the other party wouldn’t budge, Xu Chenghao could only let out a long sigh and said gloomily, “Whatever.”
Jing Yicheng was completely charmed by those pitiful little eyes. After finishing his call to Auntie, he immediately pounced and hugged Xu Chenghao, nibbling him several times while rubbing against him, as if he wished he could fuse them into one forever… His Haohao was so adorable, lively, radiating with energy—adorably alive!
Jing Yicheng practically couldn’t bear to part with him, wanting to keep Xu Chenghao by his side wherever he went. From time to time he would hold his hand, wrap an arm around his waist, and those gestures like patting his head or kissing his forehead would just pop up out of nowhere. Every place they passed by was filled with the sweet scent of “dog food.”
In the end, Li Nian couldn’t take it anymore and smiled as he said, “You two go on ahead. We’ll take care of the remaining procedures and packing!”
Jing Yicheng thought that sounded reasonable, so he readily brought Xu Chenghao home first.
At that moment, Auntie was cooking. The moment they opened the door, the aroma of food rushed out, and even before Xu Chenghao could speak, his stomach let out a loud growl.
The sound wasn’t loud, but Jing Yicheng caught it easily. He smiled and gently rubbed Xu Chenghao’s belly, lowering his head to say, “Hungry?”
“Mm.” Xu Chenghao took a deep breath and exclaimed, “So hungry, it smells so good…”
Auntie came out of the kitchen upon hearing the sound. When she saw it was them, she immediately greeted them: “Sir, you’re back. The food will be ready very soon, just wait a little longer.”
Xu Chenghao curiously followed her into the kitchen: “What delicious things did you make? It smells amazing.”
“I made chicken soup… Mr. Jing said you had some gastrointestinal discomfort from the change in environment during your trip, so I didn’t prepare too much. Just eat something light for now.”
Xu Chenghao silently nodded, standing at the kitchen door soaking in the fragrance.
Auntie had prepared quite a bit: yam, bitter melon, and black fungus congee, as well as double-boiled chicken soup with fish maw. When stirred, pork bones and chicken legs could be faintly seen inside, and it smelled absolutely delicious.
Xu Chenghao became even hungrier and secretly opened the refrigerator, trying to figure out what else he could eat. But just as he pulled out a box of strawberries, Jing Yicheng caught him and directly pulled him out of the kitchen, admonishing: “The stuff in the fridge is too cold. You can’t eat it.”
Auntie chimed in: “It’s almost ready. Sir, you two go wait in the dining room. I’ll bring it out right away.”
Jing Yicheng responded, supporting Xu Chenghao by the shoulder and pushing him to the dining room, pressing him into a seat and comforting him: “Dinner’s starting soon.”
Blocked by the two of them, Xu Chenghao couldn’t get a word in. He could only sit there in the dining room with hopeful eyes, waiting for the meal to begin.
Fortunately, Auntie was quick with her work and didn’t keep him waiting long before serving the dishes and starting dinner. Xu Chenghao downed two bowls of congee before slowing down, then forced himself to eat a bit of chicken and immediately put down his chopsticks: “I’m full.”
Jing Yicheng was sitting beside him, skimming oil from the chicken soup to serve him, and was surprised to hear this: “You were starving just now, and now you’ve only eaten this much?”
Xu Chenghao gestured at his throat with his hand: “It’s already up to here. If I eat any more, I might throw up.”
Jing Yicheng immediately became serious: “Uncomfortable?”
“Not really, maybe it’s just because I haven’t eaten for too long,” Xu Chenghao said, rubbing his belly. To ease Jing Yicheng’s mind, he still held the chicken soup in both hands and drank a few sips: “Tastes good… you haven’t eaten either, right? Hurry and eat!”
Jing Yicheng remained worried: “You’re really not feeling unwell? Don’t force yourself.”
“Really.” Xu Chenghao looked serious: “If I were feeling unwell, I’d have told you right away. I’m fine, just eat already.”
Jing Yicheng stared at his complexion for a few seconds, and only after confirming there was truly nothing wrong did he finally lower his head to eat.
Xu Chenghao sipped at his chicken soup while lingering beside him, just about to say something to chat, when a burst of music suddenly rang out. The phone on the table lit up—it was a call from Li Nian.
Xu Chenghao answered, “Hello?”
Li Nian’s voice was unusually serious as he began: “President Xu, I’ve got some bad news to tell you. Please brace yourself!”
Xu Chenghao was confused: “Go ahead.”
Li Nian: “Just now, an electrician from the chili base reported a power outage. The electricity was only out for three seconds, but when it came back on, every chili in the base warehouse had vanished!”
“???”
Xu Chenghao was dumbfounded at first upon hearing the news. Once he processed it, he immediately called out inwardly to the system: Was this your doing? Was it you?!
【Ding—Harvest successful, no reward.】
Xu Chenghao: Are you brushing me off?
The system went silent.
Xu Chenghao: System, you’ve changed! You’re no longer the system who used to go on and on in long speeches!
The system couldn’t be bothered to respond.
Xu Chenghao probed: Why did you only collect the chili peppers just now? Also… I’ve always wanted to ask, what’s the point of collecting the chili peppers?
【Ding——The reason they were only collected now is because No. 2333 had been by your side constantly over the past few days. As for the purpose of collecting chili peppers…】the system paused noticeably here before continuing blandly,【In the temporal dimension where No. 2333 exists, crops are an extremely valuable prehistoric resource that can be exchanged for a large sum of **, allowing No. 2333 to pay the fine.】
Because of this garbled censorship, Xu Chenghao couldn’t clearly hear what was said about their dimension. Instead, his attention shifted to the latter part: Why do you need to pay a fine?
Hearing this, the system didn’t bother putting up a front and responded with a cold snort: Why do you think?
These words echoed in his mind, and Xu Chenghao immediately recalled that silver-eyed youth. He cautiously asked: Was it because of that reckless gamble, which violated your book-transmigration system’s rules?
The system was silent.
To Xu Chenghao, that silence was as good as an admission. He immediately felt guilty and said: System, I’m sorry. I won’t call you “Zhou the Skinflint” anymore! (T/N: “周扒皮” is a slang insult referring to a greedy or exploitative boss, originally from a character in Chinese revolutionary literature.)
【……】
Xu Chenghao said: If I’d known you were doing it for me, I would’ve tried harder to grow the peppers.
The system sneered silently. If it had a form, it would definitely be looking at him with utter disdain.
Xu Chenghao continued: By the way, are you unbound from me now?
【Ding——Not yet. I can only unbind and leave after No. 2333 finishes upgrading.】
Xu Chenghao: What’s the latest you’ll stay?
【Ding——At most, two months.】
Xu Chenghao responded with an “oh,” then added: When you go, remember to let me know. Don’t just disappear without a word.
The system was silent for a moment… then agreed.
Xu Chenghao felt a strange reluctance at the thought of the system leaving, but was too embarrassed to say it aloud. Just as he was hesitating, Li Nian’s voice suddenly came faintly through the phone in his ear, snapping him back to reality. He blinked and asked in confusion, “What did you just say?”
Li Nian immediately sensed something was wrong. Seeing that Xu Chenghao seemed completely dazed by the news, he spoke seriously, “I think I’d better call President Jing. You need to calm down—”
“I’m fine.” Xu Chenghao, afraid he’d really hang up, quickly said, “I already know the ins and outs of this matter. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Li Nian was highly skeptical: “President Xu, are you in a stable mental state right now? Touch your forehead, are you running a fever?”
Xu Chenghao: “……”
“Get lost!”
“Alrighty.” Li Nian promptly ended the call and made himself scarce, but not before sending Jing Yicheng a message, telling him to make sure he talks some sense into Xu Chenghao—who seemed to be mentally unstable.
After reading the message, Jing Yicheng silently set down his chopsticks and said, “Haohao, shouldn’t we have a talk?”
Thank You for the new chapter (灬ºωº灬)♡