After he finished answering the nurse's questions, she left. Wen He lay under the covers, figuring out how to use the projector. Ji Chi had only turned it on for him without opening Empresses in the Palace... he needed to figure it out.
When Ji Chi returned carrying breakfast, he saw a little figure wriggling nonstop on the bed in the hospital room...
That position was terrible... but a certain someone didn't seem to realize it yet...
Fortunately, his loose pajama pants didn't show off his figure very well.
Ji Chi approached soundlessly. The little figure with his back to him was still muttering away, completely unaware that danger had arrived.
Staring at the round objects swaying incessantly in front of him, Ji Chi swung his large hand.
Smack-
The crisp sound stood out in the hospital room. The sudden pain from behind, mingled with embarrassment, made Wen He blush. He hurriedly covered the source of the pain and turned around, glaring at the utterly composed Ji Chi.
With a rare trace of anger in his voice, he gave Ji Chi a little shout, his face red. "You can't do that! That's hooliganism! If this were a long, long time ago, I'd have you arrested for hooliganism!"
Even someone as slow on the uptake as Wen He knew that Ji Chi was acting like a hooligan.
Covering the sore spot, he settled back under the covers and turned his head away from Ji Chi, still huffing through his nose.
Ji Chi closed the hospital room door and watched Wen He with a teasing grin that belonged on a street hoodlum.
"Angry?"
Wen He ignored him. The pain gradually faded, replaced by an endless flush of heat in his face.
He took back what he'd thought that morning. Ji Chi was still annoying, and he wasn't a good person either.
Ji Chi, who wasn't a good person, set the breakfast he'd bought on the table beside him and casually sat on Wen He's hospital bed. He reached out to lift Wen He's slightly hot cheek, turning his face toward him, still all smiles.
"Really angry?"
Wen He didn't want to look at him, but the fingers at his chin were far too strong. Helpless, he could only glare at him again. Yet when he noticed the red veins in his eyes and the faint dark stubble coming in, the last trace of his irritation vanished.
"Don't be angry~ I was wrong. I bought you congee and fried dough sticks. Want some?"
Wen He lowered his eyes instead of looking at him, pushed away the man shamelessly sitting on his hospital bed, and pulled up the little overbed table.
Seeing him like this, Ji Chi knew he was no longer angry.
So easy to appease...?
Then... what if I went a little further? Would a little coaxing still be all it took...?
Wen He's forgiveness didn't make the Demon Dragon remorseful. Instead, it fueled that wicked thought in his heart.
The plain congee had sugar mixed into it again. Wen He soaked the fried dough sticks, cut into short pieces, in the congee and waited for them to slowly soften.
Ji Chi turned on the projector Wen He had been fiddling with earlier and played Empresses in the Palace, which he hadn't finished watching last night.
Wen He finished the small half bowl of plain congee while watching the show.
Ji Chi was still fiddling with his phone. At noon, the nurse came back to give Wen He another IV.
It wasn't until that afternoon, after he had taken his medicine and had his temperature checked again, that he was allowed to leave the hospital.
"You can't shower when we get back tonight. You'll have to wait until tomorrow, understand?"
"Oh..."
Wen He was a little unhappy because he still couldn't shower. He couldn't accept being smelly. Not one bit!
Wei Xun had driven Ji Chi over. His sports car only had two seats and wasn't practical to drive.
After Wen He's fever, he'd also realized how useless his lousy sports car was. So, unable to sleep yesterday, he'd gone home in the middle of the night and driven over a modified stretch Bentley.
When Wen He and Ji Chi reached the hospital's underground parking lot, Wen He had intended to keep Ji Chi company in the passenger seat, only to be grabbed by the collar and tossed into the back.
The back seat was spacious, and even the seat beneath his bottom was unbelievably soft. There was also a mini fridge and a round table beside him.
"Sit in the back. It's more comfortable. You haven't fully recovered from your fever yet. Even though it's gone down, you still need to listen to the doctor."
"All right..." Wen He sat in the spacious back seat. There was even a car diffuser inside, its scent faint and pleasant. Wen He liked faint scents.
The drive from Anxin Private Hospital to the house took nearly forty minutes. The castle was remote, and the private hospital was also in a somewhat out-of-the-way location.
It was nearly evening when they reached the house. Ji Chi had wanted to take him out to eat, but Wen He said he didn't have much of an appetite, so he dropped the idea.
The house was empty at the moment, with only a few cameras still running. One camera on the first floor was connected to the livestream, but no one was watching that stream.
It was date time, and everyone was gathered in the other livestreams. No one had noticed that the two from the hospital had returned.
Wen He didn't go upstairs. Instead, he headed straight for the kitchen.
Seeing him make straight for the kitchen, Ji Chi asked, "Didn't you say you had no appetite?"
Wen He opened the fridge. Aside from some unprepared ingredients, the only food available was a few slices of toast, milk, and an unopened box containing a little cake...
"I... I'm hungry now." Knowing he was in the wrong, Wen He muttered as quietly as a mosquito buzzing.
He really hadn't been hungry or had any appetite when they left the hospital, but he'd gotten hungry the moment he entered the house...
Wen He stared at the little cake for a long time, wondering whether it was still edible...
Normally, a cake should keep for two or three days, but he'd already spent two days in the hospital.
Behind him, Ji Chi reached out, took out the cake, and tossed it into the trash before closing the fridge.
"It's expired. You can't eat it. And with your fever, you can't eat anything too cold right now anyway. There's chocolate in it, so we can't give it to Big Yellow either. Throwing it out is the only option."
Wen He stared at the little cake in the trash, feeling it was a bit of a waste.
It hadn't even been opened... I hadn't had any either... and Big Yellow couldn't eat it...
Wen He had only ever had a tiny bite of cake as a child, when a classmate celebrated their birthday. It had been very sweet and soft.
Wen He had always thought cake was only for birthdays. After reaching adulthood, he had made his living drawing commissions every day. Apart from buying medicine, he bought groceries and cooked for himself, saving money wherever he could. He never celebrated his birthday either. His tablet was the most expensive thing he owned, because he relied on it to make a living.
Ji Chi saw the reluctance in his eyes. "Once you've completely recovered from your fever tomorrow, I'll buy you one exactly like it, okay? Stop thinking about it for now. What do you want for dinner? I'll order takeout."
Ji Chi couldn't cook. All he could do was order takeout.
Wen He didn't want to waste money ordering takeout. Takeout was so expensive... and didn't taste as good as cooking for himself.
"Don't order takeout... I'll make something myself. Takeout is so expensive. I don't have any more money to give you. Oh, right... the medical bills. I haven't transferred you the money for those yet."
Holding the rice cooker's inner pot, Wen He bent down and ducked beneath Ji Chi's arm, which was braced against the fridge, then headed toward the cupboard.
Ji Chi snatched the inner pot from Wen He's hands, lifted it high, then put it back in the rice cooker. "I don't need that little bit of money from you. We're having takeout. I've already ordered."
As overbearing as ever...
"When did you order takeout?"
Without blushing or missing a beat, Ji Chi pushed Wen He out of the kitchen toward the living room sofa.
"Just now. Go watch TV."
Liar. You clearly weren't using your phone just now.