Lu Ge returned to his room, took a shower, and had a servant bring him dinner. After finishing his meal, he washed up and rested, completely forgetting about Ji Mian, who was being neglected in the hospital room.
The next afternoon, strong sunlight poured through the thick velvet curtains, landing on Lu Ge's eyelids.
He woke up.
Lu Ge usually didn't sleep in; on most weekdays, he would get up before six and arrive at the office early.
Recently, he had been working day and night for nearly two weeks on a major project for the company, severely lacking sleep. After the project was completed, he happened to receive an invitation to Lin Xu's banquet.
Lu Ge rarely participated in such events. However, feeling nauseated from being in the company and not wanting to face his parents’ endless nagging about finding a partner and getting married when he returned to the Lu family, he decided to drop the company matters and attend the banquet, hoping to get some rest as well.
But Lu Ge didn't expect that this leisurely trip would be completely disrupted by a sickly person in the adjacent room.
He sat up, feeling a disoriented sense of comfort from sleeping too long.
His upper body was bare, and the muscle lines on his back were smooth. In the sunlight, his skin was covered with a layer of soft gold.
He hadn’t dreamt last night. Lu Ge felt a bit disappointed.
This was the third consecutive night without dreams. Since boarding this cruise ship, the dreams that had visited him every day since his adolescence had failed to show up for three nights in a row.
A certain sickly person flashed through his thoughts, and Lu Ge dazedly got out of bed and left the room.
The cruise ship was scheduled to dock around seven o'clock this evening, concluding this journey. Only breakfast and lunch were served today.
The meals were buffet style.
As Lu Ge leisurely picked out his dishes, Qin Yan and Xu Zhixia hurried past him, seemingly searching for someone.
Lu Ge knew exactly who they were looking for, but he simply remained indifferent as he picked up a fried dumpling.
“Lu Ge.”
A cold voice called from behind, unwillingly stopping him.
Lu Ge put down his plate and turned to greet the newcomer, “President Qin.”
“Do you know where Chi Qiuxiu is?”
“Who?”
“Xu Chi Qiuxiu.”
“Oh, that sickly person.”
Qin Yan didn’t have the time to care about Lu Ge's description of Xu Chi Qiuxiu. He said, “I haven't seen Chi Qiuxiu since yesterday. No one answered when I knocked today. Xu Zhixia and I asked the manager to open the door, but Chi Qiuxiu wasn't inside.”
“President Qin isn’t taking enough responsibility for the patients, huh?” Lu Ge laughed. “He was missing since yesterday, and you only noticed today at noon?”
Qin Yan gritted his teeth, feeling powerless to refute. It was indeed his oversight.
He took a deep breath and continued, “I remember your room is right across from Chi Qiuxiu's. Do you know where he is?”
Unexpectedly, Lu Ge’s answer floated down lightly.
“I know.”
“...What?” Qin Yan was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted: “Where is he now?”
“Is this how you ask for a favor, President Qin?”
“……”
“I'll owe you one for this. In the future…” Qin Yan suppressed his discomfort, “if there's anything I can help with, I will do my best.”
The phrase “do my best” was well chosen. If Lu Ge asked Qin Yan to do something that would affect the interests of the company or the Qin family, he could still use this as an excuse to refuse.
Lu Ge detected the cunning in his wording, but he didn’t intend to profit from Qin Yan in such a way.
“Medical area, Room 109.”
“Medical area?” Qin Yan's face was filled with shock. “Did something happen to Chi Qiuxiu?”
However, the person who had received the favor had already turned away coldly, picking up his plate again without any intention of answering.
Qin Yan exchanged a glance with Xu Zhixia, not daring to delay, and hurried out of the dining room.
—
Minutes later, the two rushed to the medical area room that Lu Ge mentioned.
In the center of the white hospital room, they saw Ji Mian sitting on the bed while a doctor examined him.
“Chi Qiuxiu!”
“Brother!”
Two concerned and anxious voices rang out simultaneously. Ji Mian turned his head toward the door, and upon seeing who it was, he was slightly taken aback. “What are you two doing here…”
Qin Yan strode over. “What happened?”
Xu Zhixia followed closely behind, worry written all over his face as he held Ji Mian's hand. “Ge…”
Ji Mian smiled comfortingly at the two of them, signaling that he was fine.
"I have a bit of a fever. Mr. Lu brought me over."
"Lu Ge?"
"Yes."
"How could he be so kind..." Qin Yan frowned suspiciously.
Ji Mian remained silent.
He couldn't tell Qin Yan that he had been drugged; that would be like trampling on Xu Chi Qiu's face.
Xu Zhi Xia saw the name tag on the old doctor who had just finished examining Ji Mian and asked, "Doctor Huang, how is my brother doing?"
"Are you family?" Huang Rong Gui asked.
"I am, and Yan Ge is also considered family."
Huang Rong Gui glanced at the two of them but said nothing and directly left the ward.
Qin Yan, however, understood his hint and excused himself to go to the restroom, leaving the two brothers in the ward.
【Who drugged you? Do you have any clues?】 The system asked in Ji Mian's mind.
【Hmm.】 Ji Mian replied slowly, 【... Originally, I suspected Lin Qian.】
That night, the only thing he had drunk was the few glasses of wine served by the waiter when Wen Yu invited them to sit in the banquet hall. Among everyone present, Lin Qian, who had been fawning over Qin Yan the entire time, was undoubtedly the most likely person to do something so despicable.
After being rejected by Qin Yan, Lin Qian went to the restroom, giving him a perfect opportunity to act.
Lin Qian's target was Qin Yan, but the drugged drink accidentally ended up in Ji Mian's hands—
Originally, Ji Mian thought this way.
But drinking the wine Lin Qian intended for Qin Yan could be a coincidence, and he didn’t believe that it was just a coincidence that Xu Zhi Xia mistakenly remembered his room number. He didn’t think two improbable events could happen at the same time.
From a general perspective, it could almost be regarded as an impossible event.
Moreover, that night, his room card was clearly in the pocket of his coat. But Xu Zhi Xia couldn’t find it.
The system said: 【In Xu Chi Qiu’s past memories, he suspected Lin Qian, just as you initially did. He subsequently took a series of revenge actions against Lin Qian. Lin Qian was made to suffer terribly by Xu Chi Qiu later on...】
Lin Qian was just a relatively unknown idol with only a few hundred thousand fans; how could he contend with the Xu family's power?
As for the specifics of how badly Lin Qian suffered, the system refrained from detailing it for Ji Mian’s mental well-being.
【Ultimately, the original protagonist’s methods of revenge also became one of the pieces of evidence for the main characters to see his true colors.】
Ji Mian lowered his eyes, looking at the black-haired boy holding his hand. Unlike Ji Mian's face, which was so thin it was just a contour, Xu Zhi Xia’s face was slightly more feminine, with fuller cheeks, and his profile was perfect, like an angel in a Western painting.
He didn’t jump to the conclusion that it must have been Xu Zhi Xia. Subjectively, Ji Mian was more inclined to believe in his younger brother, but suspicion towards Xu Zhi Xia was inevitable.
He gently squeezed Xu Zhi Xia's hand, offering him a warm smile.
—
"Doctor?" Qin Yan chased after the old doctor who had stopped not far from the ward.
"How is Chi Qiu doing?" he pressed.
"Currently, there’s nothing serious. Just make sure not to let the patient catch a chill in the next few days to avoid another fever."
Qin Yan breathed a sigh of relief but then felt puzzled. His instinct told him that the doctor had suggested he come out for more than just this.
The old doctor looked at him and said meaningfully, "The patient's fever was indeed caused by catching a chill, but if it were just a chill, the symptoms shouldn’t be so severe..."
Qin Yan froze.
"You’ve been in this circle; you should know more than I do." After being a private doctor for a long time, he could tell the difference between catching a chill and getting a fever from something unclean.
Qin Yan understood the old doctor’s implication, his expression suddenly turning cold. "Are you saying he was drugged…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Qin Yan suddenly thought of someone—someone who knew Xu Chi Qiu's whereabouts and brought him to the medical area.
Qin Yan took a deep breath. "Doctor, who brought Chi Qiu in yesterday?"
"Oh, a pretty young guy, tall and looking quite proper," the old doctor shook his head. "But his temper isn’t very good."
There was a lot more to say about the patient’s care...
—Lu Ge!!
It really was that guy!
Qin Yan clenched his teeth tightly.
He knew Lu Ge; that guy was notoriously emotionally detached. How could he possibly be kind enough to take Chi Qiu to see a doctor? Unless the night before, Chi Qiu had been...
He didn’t dare to think further and stared fiercely in the direction of the dining room.
That bastard!!
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