Chapter 29: Sore Throat

Chapter 29: A Sore Throat

At ten o'clock deep into the night, the Qin family villa was ablaze with light. The long corridor was bathed in a dazzling glow, the mother-of-pearl patterns winding across the off-white walls shimmering with a gentle luster, reflecting off the apricot-hued marble floor.

Outside the third door on the left stood a tall, slender man. His long legs, encased in dark gray trousers, leaned slightly forward, the tips of his black leather shoes almost touching the light-colored door panel, as if poised to shatter the barrier separating inside from out at any moment.

"Song Shimu!"

Qin Xu pounded on the door, his voice sharp and cold like a blade dipped in ice.

His face was grim, appearing even more severe under the cold white light. The crimson in his eyes made it seem less like he was knocking and more like he was trying to smash the door down.

"Open the door, Song Shimu! I know you're in there!" The fury churning in Qin Xu's chest erupted into a low growl, making the air tremble slightly. The ferocity in his words burst forth like a breached dam, carrying sharp ice shards that pierced straight to the heart.

Behind the door, no sound could be heard. Inside remained silent despite the palpable tension outside. The towering door stood like a chasm separating the two.

After calling out three times, Qin Xu issued his final warning: "If you don't open the door now, I’ll kick it down! Song Shimu, if you dare play games, don’t hide like a coward!"

"I’ll give you three seconds!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Bang—"

Qin Xu took half a step back, his right leg gathering force. Like an unsheathed heavy sword, it slammed into the door lock with a sharp, cutting sound.

The collision of metal and wood was deafening. The doorframe splintered instantly, wood fragments scattering like shrapnel.

The door was kicked open violently, crashing into the wall on the other side with a loud "bang!" before bouncing back.

The room was dark, curtains drawn and lights off, making it impossible to see anything. Yet Qin Xu’s eyes immediately caught the distinct lump on the bed.

A vein throbbed at Qin Xu’s temple, the burning rage in his eyes almost enough to incinerate everything. He had never seen anyone pull such a stunt and then sleep so soundly without a care.

He strode over quickly. In the pitch-black room, the velvet duvet glowed faintly, enveloping Song Shimu’s entire body.

The snow-white velvet duvet was piled from the head of the bed all the way to his chin, revealing only his tousled head. Beneath the covers, his body was curled into a tight ball, as if afraid of facing the noise and cold outside.

"Song Shimu."

Qin Xu yanked the velvet duvet aside, then grabbed Song Shimu by his pajamas and hauled him up.

"Hmm—"

Song Shimu let out a soft groan, his eyelashes fluttering slightly. After a long moment, he slowly cracked his eyes open.

Qin Xu gritted his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. "After playing your tricks, you actually have the nerve to sleep so peacefully!"

"...Qin..." His vision blurry, Song Shimu couldn’t make out who it was, but he recognized Qin Xu’s voice from the tone.

It sounded aggressive, meaning he must have upset Qin Xu again.

Song Shimu wanted to ask why Qin Xu was angry, but when he opened his mouth, only a breathy sound came out.

His throat felt even worse, as if it had been slashed with a knife and then held over a fire.

Qin Xu shook him. "Say something! Cat got your tongue?"

Song Shimu parted his lips, struggling to form words with what little voice he had. "What... happened?"

The lights were off, and the curtains were tightly drawn. The room was so dark he could only make out vague outlines. Without being able to speak, he had to rely on sight, but it was nearly impossible to see his lips moving in such darkness.

"Stop pretending to be asleep, Song Shimu! You play childish games and now act dead?"

Song Shimu weakly lowered his head. Half a second later, mustering a bit of strength, he judged Qin Xu’s position and roughly aimed for exposed skin, wrapping his arms around him.

"! What are you doing!"

Startled by the sudden embrace, Qin Xu instinctively thought Song Shimu was trying to incapacitate him and raised his hands to push him away. But when his palms touched Song Shimu’s waist through the thin fabric, the temperature felt extremely abnormal.

Normally, even through a layer of cloth, body heat shouldn’t feel this intense.

It was unlike any normal person’s temperature.

"You..."

Qin Xu abruptly grabbed Song Shimu’s shoulders and pushed him away, then turned to switch on the lamp on the nightstand.

His eyes, just adjusted to the dark, were momentarily blinded by the sudden light. But Qin Xu immediately noticed Song Shimu’s face, red like a steamed shrimp.

Frowning, he said, "You didn’t go to the hospital!"

He had known since the first day Song Shimu asked for leave, citing a cold as the reason. But Qin Xu didn’t believe it, thinking it was just an excuse for Song Shimu to carry out his revenge scheme.

How could a fully grown man catch a cold from just a few seconds in the cold wind?

But clearly, he had overestimated Song Shimu’s constitution—

Song Shimu really was this fragile. A brief exposure to the cold wind had given him a cold, and now a high fever had even caused him to send the wrong flight information...

"You asked for leave yesterday. Did you even go to the hospital?" Qin Xu gripped Song Shimu’s shoulders, unable to hide the anxiety in his eyes.

Song Shimu shook his head and pointed to the medicine box on the nightstand, indicating he had taken medication.

Qin Xu glanced at the medicine box, then turned his gaze back to Song Shimu after a couple of seconds. His tall nose bridge tensed into a cold, hard line, and his jaw trembled slightly, all his suppressed emotions concentrated in his furrowed brow.

"Don’t you have any sense? Can’t you tell if the medicine is working or not? Do you have to be like a child, waiting for someone to take you to the hospital before you’ll go?"

Song Shimu pressed his lips together, his eyes suddenly looking lost. His hands, resting naturally on the soft duvet, unconsciously pinched a bit of the fabric, mechanically and repeatedly picking at it.

Qin Xu’s cold, sharp eyebrows twisted into icy ridges, his jawline taut to the point of paling. Endless fury burned in his chest, forced down and suppressed, unable to erupt. "If you don’t want to go to the hospital, then call the family doctor! We don’t pay him for nothing! Can’t you even make a phone call?!"

Song Shimu wanted to say he didn’t have a phone, but when he moved his lips, he found he could still only produce breathy sounds and gave up.

After waiting what felt like an eternity for a response, Qin Xu grew even angrier. "Can’t you say something? Will a single word cost you your life? Or are your words worth a fortune?"

Song Shimu helplessly pointed to his throat, shook his head, and mouthed in a breathy voice to prove his point, "My throat hurts."

"......"

Qin Xu’s cold gaze seemed as if it could bore a hole through Song Shimu’s face. He stared at him for a long time, countless waves of fury stifled by those three "unheard" words.

Qin Xu took a deep breath, straightened up, his deep eyes colder than ever before. "To the hospital. Get up!"

Song Shimu nodded and climbed out of bed.

He wanted to change out of his pajamas before going out, but Qin Xu had already bundled him into a long coat and pulled him out the door.

Dragged away too quickly, Song Shimu stumbled, only managing to grab his phone before being pulled to the car.

Once inside, Qin Xu grew even more impatient. Before Song Shimu could fasten his seatbelt, Qin Xu had already driven half a mile.

Finally securing his seatbelt, Song Shimu picked up his phone and saw dozens of missed calls from Qin Xu.

Song Shimu raised an eyebrow, typed a message on his phone, and initially intended to show it directly to Qin Xu. But seeing how furious Qin Xu was and how fast the car was moving, he worried about causing a distraction and opted for voice synthesis instead.

"You seemed really angry when you came back," a flat, robotic voice emitted from the phone.

Hearing this, Qin Xu glanced at the rearview mirror. The person reflected there looked pale, yet his cheeks were flushed with a feverish hue, like rouge spilled on snow, even the tips of his ears tinged with an unnatural pink.

His bangs were soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his burning skin. His usually gentle and calm eyes were shimmering with a glassy moisture, revealing a fragile beauty.

Qin Xu seemed to want to say something but held back. His throat moved three times, his lips parted slightly twice, but in the end, he clamped his mouth shut and remained silent.

Seeing that Qin Xu wanted to speak but was holding back, Song Shimu wondered if he was angry because he hadn’t answered the door. He typed an explanation: "When I’m sick, I sleep very deeply. I didn’t hear you knocking."

Qin Xu shot him a cold glare, pressed his lips together, and said nothing.

Seeing that Qin Xu still didn’t want to talk, Song Shimu decided to use a taunt: "Are you mad that I didn’t take good care of myself?"

The anger on Qin Xu’s face instantly cracked. A sharp exhale escaped his throat, and his smile was sharp as shattering ice.

"I am indeed angry that you didn’t take good care of yourself," Qin Xu said.

Song Shimu’s eyebrows shot up, and his thin lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. Qin Xu’s sudden honesty made him forget his throat was too raw to make a sound.

Just as he was about to type a question, Qin Xu continued—

"I’m angry that you didn’t take better care of yourself. If you had, I could’ve yelled at you guilt-free."

Song Shimu’s brows knotted like tangled thread, a shallow crease forming between them. "Why would you scold me?"

"Take a look at the flight ticket you booked for me and the messages you sent," Qin Xu’s voice was as cold as a frozen lake in the dead of night, utterly icy.

The moment he finished speaking, Song Shimu immediately guessed the problem—there were two airports in Shenzhen...

Which one he had sent Qin Xu, Song Shimu couldn’t remember. But judging by Qin Xu’s mood, there was only one possible answer...

As he suspected, the reality confirmed it. Song Shimu saw the booking information and the message interface—the airport names in each were different. He had nothing to say.

Right and wrong were clear. Knowing it was his mistake that caused trouble for Qin Xu, Song Shimu said, "I’m sorry."

Qin Xu’s jaw tightened, and he glanced at him sideways. "If you were really sorry, you’d say it to me yourself, not use that awful robotic voice."

Song Shimu nodded meekly and put down his phone.

Qin Xu drove at the maximum speed limit the entire way, and they soon arrived at the hospital. There, he was all but dragged by Qin Xu to register and see a doctor. They moved quickly, and the process was efficient, with Qin Xu handling most of the communication, which made things much easier.

It wasn’t until he was led into a VIP ward, lying in bed with an IV drip, that Song Shimu realized he was being handled like a child.

Only with his hand firmly held was he willing to see a doctor.

Realizing this, Song Shimu looked at Qin Xu with complicated feelings.

Qin Xu sat nearby, arms folded, staring coldly at Song Shimu.

Meeting his complicated gaze, he couldn’t help but ask, "What were you thinking? Why didn’t you come to the hospital when you were sick?"

Song Shimu pressed his lips together, picked up his phone, and typed, turning it into speech: "It was just a minor illness."

Qin Xu let out a scornful laugh. "Not serious? A 39.5°C fever can cause dehydration or pneumonia—that could kill you!"

"..."

Song Shimu pressed his lips together, wanting to say that he had gotten through worse alone before without any major issues—at most, the fever would break after a week. But...

As he gazed at Qin Xu’s brow furrowed like the character "chuan," the unconscious concern in his eyes, and the words that were harsh but full of concern, Song Shimu felt as if thawing spring snow had seeped into frozen earth, sending a spreading warmth and prickling tenderness from his heart to his fingertips.

He couldn’t understand how someone could be so tenderhearted beneath the anger.