Chapter 67: The Married Beta Has a Fever

Chapter 67 The Married Beta's Fever

Bai Yu walked toward the school gate with his backpack, moving slower than usual to avoid aggravating the wound on his left leg.

After leaving school, Bai Yu walked around two blocks, checking for familiar faces before finding the familiar black luxury car, opening the door, and slipping inside.

Secretary Zhou noticed Bai Yu had changed out of the clothes he wore that morning and looked pale. He turned and asked, "What happened today?"

Bai Yu tugged at the collar of his windbreaker, which bore the emblem of Yunjing University. "I accidentally fell into the water. This is the school doctor's windbreaker."

Secretary Zhou knew Bai Yu's class schedule and found the incident rather odd. "You were having an assessment today. How did you accidentally fall into the water?"

Bai Yu's eyelids fluttered. "It was just an accident."

Secretary Zhou opened the messaging app on his phone to compose a message. "I need to report this to the boss."

Bai Yu instantly tensed. "Just say my clothes got wet. I’m fine!"

Secretary Zhou asked, "Are you really okay?"

Bai Yu nodded vigorously. "I’m fine. I just need to return the windbreaker to the school doctor on Monday."

Secretary Zhou paused his typing and glanced in the rearview mirror. Bai Yu’s wide, cat-like eyes were filled with panic, as if telling Situ Jing about falling into the water was more terrifying than the incident itself.

"If something bad happened at school, tell the boss. He’ll help you sort it out."

Bai Yu shook his head. "Nothing happened."

If he told Situ Jing what happened, would Situ Jing uphold justice for him and punish Mu Qingkong?

Probably not.

Mu Qingkong and Situ Jing had some history. Although Bai Yu didn’t know the exact reason, even if Situ Jing didn’t like Mu Qingkong, he still showed him a degree of courtesy whenever they met at the aquarium, the club, or the school parking lot—a much better attitude than he ever showed Bai Yu.

Last time at the club, Mu Qingkong’s uncle, Mu Ga, was also in the VIP room chatting with Situ Jing, which indicated Situ Jing’s friendly disposition toward the Mu family.

Even if Situ Jing were to discipline Mu Qingkong on his behalf, it wouldn’t be a severe punishment—at most, a reprimand.

This would only make Mu Qingkong resent him even more for reporting to Situ Jing.

The university program lasts four years. His contract with Situ Jing had only one year left, but he would still have to face Mu Qingkong for over a year after that.

By then, without Situ Jing as his backer, if Mu Qingkong sought revenge, it would be all too easy. What would he do then?

Besides, Song Huaiqian had already reported the incident to the counselor, and they would investigate. Bai Yu also didn’t want Situ Jing interfering in his school matters.

Seeing Bai Yu's insistence, Secretary Zhou simply reported to the boss: "Mr. Bai Yu’s clothes got wet today. He returned wearing the school’s windbreaker."

*

Back at Yanting, Bai Yu went upstairs to wash up again and used the body lotion in the bathroom that had never been touched, ensuring he had no lingering odor.

Just in case—he didn't want Situ Jing to notice if he came back.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t come back, Bai Yu thought.

Bai Yu looked down at the bandage covering the wound on his left leg. It should heal in about two weeks.

After dinner, the butler mentioned, "The wintersweet flowers in the garden have bloomed. They smell wonderful."

Bai Yu usually took walks in the garden every evening, and the butler had remembered this habit.

Bai Yu curled up in his seat. "It’s a bit cold today. I won’t go for a walk."

The butler nodded. "It is rather cold. There’s a sauna room on the basement level. You could try that."

If he couldn’t even take a walk, a sauna was even less appealing.

Bai Yu said hesitantly, "Maybe another day. I’ll go upstairs and rest now."

The butler sensed that Bai Yu seemed preoccupied, his expression less relaxed than usual, but he didn’t press further and helped the housekeeper clear the table.

*

Upstairs, Bai Yu settled on the guest room sofa and watched a movie before returning to the bedroom to sleep.

Later that night, the bedroom door opened.

The man’s tall figure cast a long shadow across the room, and his footsteps echoed softly as he slowly approached the bed.

Bai Yu was spread out like a starfish, occupying the entire bed. His eyelashes fluttered gently as if he were dreaming, and his breathing was steady.

In his sleep, Bai Yu felt someone pinching his face. He tried to swat the hand away, but his left wrist was caught and immobilized. When he tried with his right hand, it was also caught.

Unable to use either hand, Bai Yu mumbled something unintelligible. When he opened his eyes, Situ Jing’s handsome, sharply defined face was right in front of him.

In the dim light, Bai Yu thought it was still a dream. He looked drowsily at Situ Jing, his eyelids heavy and about to close.

It wasn’t until Situ Jing stepped away to turn on the light and asked in a deep, magnetic voice, "Where is my pillow?" that Bai Yu fully woke up.

Bai Yu’s eyes widened, his tea-brown pupils dilating in shock. He sat up abruptly. "You’re back?"

Situ Jing removed his wristwatch and tossed it onto the table, looking down at Bai Yu from his height. "Obviously. Have you gotten too comfortable? How dare you throw away the master’s pillow?"

Bai Yu avoided meeting Situ Jing’s gaze and threw back the covers to look around. "Huh? Where is the pillow?"

"I’ll help you look. It must have fallen under the bed or something."

Situ Jing undid his tie and headed toward the bathroom. "You’d better find it before I come out, or you’ll regret it," he warned.

"..."

Bai Yu quietly got out of bed and walked to the sofa, opened the cabinet where bedding was stored, took out Situ Jing’s pillow, and returned to the bed.

Under the covers, he furtively touched the wound on his left leg. Situ Jing must have come back tonight for sex. How should he explain if it was discovered?

Before he could think of an excuse, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.

Bai Yu hurriedly turned off the light and turned onto his side. He listened as Situ Jing’s footsteps drew closer to the bed, then the covers were lifted as Situ Jing got in.

Situ Jing’s hand slipped under Bai Yu’s loungewear, moving up along his waist and stomach. He smelled his skin and paused. "Did you spray perfume?"

"I used body lotion."

"Why suddenly use body lotion?"

Bai Yu remained facing away, his voice quiet. "The winter weather is too dry. Should I go wash it off?"

"No need."

The next moment, the lower half of his loungewear was pulled off, and Bai Yu was pressed into the man’s scorching embrace.

Bai Yu’s wounded left leg was bumped, and he let out a soft whimper.

Situ Jing noticed something on Bai Yu's leg, lifted the blanket, and removed his partially removed loungewear.

By the pale moonlight outside, he could see a bandage wrapped around Bai Yu's left leg, covering a wound the length of two fingers.

Situ Jing's expression darkened. He threw on his robe, got up, and turned on the light.

Bai Yu’s gaze followed Situ Jing, unsure of what he was about to do.

Only when Situ Jing stood before him, grabbed his left leg, and unwrapped the bandage did Bai Yu gasp, "Huh?!"

Seeing the dark red, two-finger-long wound on Bai Yu’s leg, Situ Jing frowned. "How did this happen?"

Bai Yu shook his head without answering and tried to pull his leg away.

"What are you trying to hide?" Situ Jing tightened his grip on Bai Yu’s ankle. "Answer me."

Under Situ Jing’s intense, oppressive gaze, Bai Yu could only stammer, "I accidentally cut it on some glass. It’s not serious."

Seeing Bai Yu avoid his gaze, Situ Jing sneered, "Falling into the water was an accident, and cutting your leg was an accident too?"

Bai Yu knew the excuse was full of holes, but he couldn’t come up with a convincing reason for Situ Jing. Situ Jing was smart enough—how could he not figure out what really happened?

After an awkward and tense silence, Bai Yu said to Situ Jing, "It’s fine now."

Situ Jing re-wrapped Bai Yu’s bandage and let go of his ankle. "If someone’s bullying you, you can tell me."

Bai Yu immediately wrapped himself in the blanket, covering his leg. "No, things are fine at school. Today was just an accident."

Situ Jing’s expression turned cold. "Fine? Then I won't bother."

Bai Yu curled up under the blanket, watching Situ Jing walk to the windowsill, light a cigarette, the ember glowing orange-red.

The man seemed to have lost interest in continuing, so Bai Yu put his loungewear back on and closed his eyes to sleep.

A while later, Situ Jing went to the bathroom to shower again. By the time he returned to the bedside, Bai Yu was already asleep.

Curled up like a small animal, his cheeks flushed, his brows slightly furrowed as if uncomfortable.

Situ Jing reached out and touched Bai Yu’s forehead—it was burning hot.

It was already 3 a.m. Annoyed, Situ Jing picked up his phone from the table and called Jiang Ming.

The phone rang twelve times, but no one answered.

Situ Jing dialed Jiang Ming’s number again, pacing back and forth in the room.

If he dared not answer this time, he wouldn’t let it slide.

Jiang Ming picked up on the eleventh ring, his voice hoarse, like an old man's, barely able to speak. "What is it?"

Situ Jing’s tone carried a hint of urgency. "I’m looking for Jiang Ming. Put him on the phone."

Jiang Ming strained his voice. "It’s me. I have a bad cold."

Situ Jing stopped pacing. "What kind of doctor are you?"

Jiang Ming: "Doctors are human too."

Situ Jing: "Can you still come over?"

Jiang Ming rasped, "What’s wrong? Tell me."

Situ Jing walked to the bedside and pressed the back of his hand against Bai Yu’s forehead. "He has a fever, and there’s a wound on his leg."

Jiang Ming: "Ah, jeez, I told you not to go overboard. How can his body handle it?"

Situ Jing frowned. "It wasn’t me."

Jiang Ming: "Then take him to the hospital for a check-up first."

Situ Jing hung up, looking annoyed as he pulled Bai Yu out from under the covers.

Bai Yu was a light sleeper. The moment Situ Jing wrapped an arm around his waist, he opened his eyes, trembling but dazed from the fever. "What are you doing?"

Situ Jing buttoned Bai Yu’s loungewear all the way up and lifted him. "You have a fever. We’re going to the hospital."

Hearing this, Bai Yu didn’t calm down; instead, he struggled violently. "No, I’m not sick!"

Situ Jing hadn’t expected such fierce resistance. Bai Yu fought back wildly, pushing against him, his body burning hot. For a moment, Situ Jing struggled to keep him under control.

Bai Yu struggled until he fell to his knees, the wound on his left leg tearing open. Blood seeped through the bandage, staining a small patch red, and he heard a crack from his joint.

Dizzy and disoriented, he gasped for air, trying to regain some clarity.

Situ Jing bent down and picked him up again. "Stop moving!"

Bai Yu tried to pry Situ Jing’s hands away, leaving scratch marks on his forearm. "I’m not going! Let me rest. I’ll be fine by tomorrow."

Ignoring Bai Yu’s struggles, Situ Jing restrained him firmly, his voice deepening. "I'm running out of patience. You’d better behave and listen to me!"

Bai Yu sobbed, "I’m not going. I’m really fine."

Situ Jing held Bai Yu by the waist and dragged him toward the stairs. "Even a three-year-old knows to go to the hospital when sick. Are you regressing?"

Bai Yu thrashed and resisted, his voice slurred with agitation. "I hate hospitals!"

Situ Jing paused for a moment. Bai Yu had spouted a lot of nonsense before, but this was the first time he’d heard him say "hate."

Bai Yu had always been so tolerant—whether it was food, material things, or how others treated him, he never complained, forgetting things easily. What could make him feel such hatred?

When Bai Yu’s mother and sister were hospitalized before, he had spent so much time at the hospital. He should have been familiar with it by now, not this resistant.

Situ Jing had seen documentaries about impoverished people in remote areas who avoided hospitals—either because they had no money or because they didn’t want others to see their shabby clothes or unkempt state.

Now, as Bai Yu’s provider, money wasn’t an issue.

Naturally, Situ Jing assumed Bai Yu was avoiding the hospital out of shame—just like how he didn’t want to be intimate with Situ Jing in front of others or in the glass room at the golf course.

While this trait was worth preserving, it didn’t change the fact that he needed to go to the hospital. At most, Situ Jing could personally change his hospital gown and then leave.

Bai Yu continued to resist stubbornly, stumbling to the ground again. "I’m not going."

Situ Jing wrapped his arms around Bai Yu’s waist and lifted him. A warm tear fell onto the back of his hand, leaving a trail.

The harmless, warm saltwater seemed to burn Situ Jing.

He paused, holding Bai Yu’s flailing hands. The two of them were like fighters in a temporary truce—red and blue clinging together, one refusing to let go, the other refusing to give up.

Finally, Situ Jing said impatiently, "Fine, we’re not going to the hospital."

Bai Yu's tense body relaxed, gasping for air like a suffocating fish, and leaned against Situ Jing.

Situ Jing picked Bai Yu up again, laid him down on the bed, and checked his left leg. The gauze was soaked with blood, showing just how fiercely he'd been struggling.

It was already 4 a.m. He called Jiang Ming again.

Jiang Ming, fighting through his own feverish discomfort, answered his boss's call in the middle of the night and asked hoarsely, "Did you take him to the hospital?"

Situ Jing: "He refused to go. How do I bring the fever down?"

Jiang Ming thought to himself: He refuses, and you just let him? You spoil him that much?

But in reality, he asked meekly, "Have you taken his temperature?"

Situ Jing went downstairs and told the butler to get the medical kit. He took a thermometer to check Bai Yu's temperature.

The butler said, "Young Master, let me do it. Why don't you get some rest?"

Situ Jing's face was grim, but he didn't hand the thermometer to the butler. "No need. I'll do it."

After taking the temperature, it was 38 degrees Celsius.

Jiang Ming managed to say: "Take a photo of the wound on his left leg and send it to me."

Situ Jing unwrapped the gauze on Bai Yu's leg, took a photo, and sent it to Jiang Ming.

Jiang Ming: [Cover the wound with a waterproof medical patch. Give him a sponge bath with lukewarm water to reduce the fever. You have anti-inflammatory and pain meds at home—give him two pills. If the fever doesn’t break, you still need to take him to the hospital.]

Half-conscious, Bai Yu felt someone giving him something to swallow, then putting him in warm water. He murmured dreamily, "Am I being boiled?"

Situ Jing sat by the bathtub, trickling water over him, and said coldly, "Yes, I'm cooking you."

"I don’t want to." Bai Yu struggled to get up, splashing water everywhere.

Situ Jing pushed him back down, getting splashed with water himself. "Don’t move!"

Bai Yu settled down and closed his eyes again, falling asleep.

Situ Jing glanced down at his soaked bathrobe and couldn’t help asking the unconscious man in the bathtub, "Hiding my pillow, not telling me about your injury, even murmuring such things in your feverish dreams—am I really that bad in your mind?"

"Maybe it’s for the best. When the time comes, we can make a clean break. No need to worry about you getting clingy."

The bathroom fell quiet, leaving only the sound of Situ Jing pouring water over Bai Yu’s chest.

Bai Yu's skin was pale and translucent, his flushed face covered in a layer of moisture, his rosy lips slightly parted.

Undeniably, Bai Yu was beautiful.

Especially those round, tea-brown eyes—when he looked up at someone, they were filled with the other’s reflection, docile yet lively, his tearful expression always stirring a destructive desire.

His lips were soft to taste, and his voice was gentle, always emitting soft, whimpering sounds that seemed to beg for attention.

Even now, feverish and unconscious, lying in the bathtub, he looked downright erotic.

Situ Jing gazed at Bai Yu for a while, then checked his phone for the time. In two hours, he would fly abroad for a business trip and wouldn’t return until before Christmas.

After about forty minutes, Situ Jing pressed his hand against Bai Yu’s forehead again—the fever had gone down.

He lifted Bai Yu out of the bathtub, wrapped him in a large towel to dry him, carried him back to bed, and tucked him in.

Half an hour later, Situ Jing changed into a crisp, straight suit, threw on a black overcoat, went downstairs, and instructed the butler, "When he wakes up, have Third Hospital send a doctor to check on him."

Butler: "Yes, Young Master."

By then, the sky was just beginning to lighten, the air slightly cold, with a layer of frost on the ground.

Situ Jing walked out of the hall and got into the car.

Secretary Zhou noticed dark circles under his boss' eyes, as if he hadn’t slept well last night.

Situ Jing rubbed his temples. "Find out what happened to Bai Yu at school yesterday."

Secretary Zhou: "Yes, boss."

Situ Jing lowered his hand and glanced at the frost on the car window, where the faint outline of a drawing remained—a dog’s head, left by someone’s pinky finger.

"You said last time Mu Qingkong saw you delivering clothes to Bai Yu?"

"Yes. After that, every time I pick up or drop off Mr. Bai Yu, he has me stop far away."

Situ Jing touched his thin lips, his expression darkening. "Keep tabs on him."