Chapter 38 - 35 Accompanied You for One Night

The doctor came to check on Qiao Yuxian. Low immunity due to her physiological period and exhaustion from staying up late caused a cold and high fever. The issue wasn’t severe, so the doctor prescribed some medication and left. Qiao Yuxian took the medicine and lay down, Aunt Mei set up everything needed and left. Watching Aunt Mei leave, Gu Yanjing was about to leave too. She reached out to grab his sleeve, but because Gu Yanjing had already taken a step forward, she missed his sleeve and caught his finger. Gu Yanjing felt her cold fingers and paused, looking at her. Qiao Yuxian felt uncomfortable with the fever and didn’t want to be alone, so she didn’t notice she was holding his finger and said, "Can you stay with me for a while?" When she was a child and got sick, her grandparents would stay with her. As she grew older, her grandmother would stay and sleep with her. That’s why whenever she’s sick, she really hopes someone can stay, otherwise she can’t sleep. Gu Yanjing looked at her. Qiao Yuxian shrunk under the quilt, only revealing her eyes outside, and whispered, "Just for a while, leave after I fall asleep, alright? I should fall asleep quickly. I don’t want to be alone." Gu Yanjing looked at her feverish eyes, her eyelashes losing their usual vitality, and said, "I’ll go get some hot water." "Oh." Qiao Yuxian let go of him and pulled her hand back into the quilt, hugging a hot water bottle, even her head was tucked in. Gu Yanjing rubbed the spot on his finger where she had touched and went downstairs to get hot water. Qiao Yuxian only drank half a glass before she couldn’t drink anymore, then lay back in the quilt and hoarsely said, "Karma really got me. Just over a month of inactivity and my immunity became so weak." Gu Yanjing grabbed a chair and sat by the bedside. "Kicked off the quilt karma." Gu Yanjing said in a calm voice. Qiao Yuxian glanced at him, "I haven’t had such a high fever in a long time, it broke my record for high fevers." "Do you get fevers easily?" Gu Yanjing asked. "Not at all." Qiao Yuxian said, coughing twice, "I’m usually very healthy, today was an accident." Gu Yanjing didn’t speak. Qiao Yuxian looked at him and obediently lay down, saying, "I’m going to sleep, you can leave after I fall asleep. Quietly, don’t turn off the lights, I won’t wake up." "Okay." Qiao Yuxian closed her eyes and went to sleep. As she said, possibly afraid of delaying Gu Yanjing’s rest, she fell asleep quickly. Gu Yanjing sat in the chair, watching her. Her eyelashes were thick and long, resting quietly like two small fans. Her skin was very good, fair and tender, but now showed an abnormal pallor. The usually hydrated and rosy thin lips had also lost their color. Normally obedient, quirky and mysterious. Now obedient too, but seemed fragile. Like she might shatter with a touch. Gu Yanjing did not leave, nor did he turn off the lights, staying with her the entire time. Seeing her sleep soundly, he checked his phone for messages he hadn’t dealt with that night. One message was from his assistant. [Mr. Gu, still no useful information found, everything is too clean, nothing was left behind.] Gu Yanjing looked at the message, glanced at Qiao Yuxian. Paused before replying: [Don’t investigate for now.] Last week, when Gu Yanjing asked Shang Chen to deal with Qiao Yuxian’s tutor agency, he found someone had already moved ahead of them and reported the agency. Moreover, it was done efficiently, taking down the tutor’s relative and those bribing the tutor together. With no one covering, the agency was quickly investigated, shut down, and the tutor taken away. The speed was too fast, someone must have exerted pressure. Unable to see through Qiao Yuxian, Gu Yanjing had someone investigate further. The result was fruitless. Gu Yanjing closed the phone and looked at Qiao Yuxian again. She had just turned over, shifting her head further under the quilt, exposing only her eyes, she seemed deeply asleep. He initially investigated Qiao Yuxian due to the old man’s attitude towards her and also for feeling she was not safe. The old man asked him to take care of her, treat her well. However, in his words, he also implicitly allowed his suspicion, approved of his investigation. Too many people want to harm him, he has no choice but to be suspicious. This time, suspicion remained but curiosity grew stronger. Curious about what background she might have. However, since there’s nothing to be found, he decided not to pursue further. He was willing to retain some sense of mystery about her, suddenly, also somewhat willing to choose to believe in her. Hopefully, he didn’t choose wrong. "Grandma." Qiao Yuxian’s hand under the quilt moved slightly, she whimpered. "Hmm?" Gu Yanjing thought she was awake, "What?" "Don’t want them." Qiao Yuxian mumbled again. Gu Yanjing noticed she was talking in her sleep but still responded cooperatively: "What?" "Don’t want them." Qiao Yuxian’s voice became a bit clearer. "Who don’t you want?" Gu Yanjing said. Qiao Yuxian kicked her leg, frowned, "Don’t want auntie, don’t want to live with them." Her voice was small, a bit angry. Gu Yanjing watched her and after a few seconds, asked: "Why?" "They’re all bad people." Qiao Yuxian muttered, "Big bad people. Not bad luck stars. Not. Hate, so much hate." Her words were disjointed, some clear, some muddled. Gu Yanjing could piece together a rough idea. Qiao Yuxian quietly talked for a good while, then suddenly tears fell, she softly said, "Grandma, I miss you so much." After saying this, she settled down. Stopped sleep-talking, her brows relaxed too. It was like she fell into a nightmare and grandma entered the dream to bring her out. Gu Yanjing watched her and after a while, reached out to wipe the tear on her nose, then lightly brushed her head. After some time, Qiao Yuxian started to sweat and her fever slowly subsided. The next morning, when Qiao Yuxian woke up, Gu Yanjing had already left, the chair by the bed was also gone, leaving no trace of him having been there. Qiao Yuxian felt refreshed, her mood improved too, feeling she could run a kilometer downstairs right now. She got up to wash, changed clothes, and went downstairs. In the living room, she saw Gu Yanjing sitting on the sofa drinking coffee. She lightened her steps, sneaking up to the back of the sofa, then crouched down, moving slowly behind him. Suddenly appeared, her hand slammed on the back of the sofa, making a loud noise: "Mr. Gu! Morning!" However, Gu Yanjing, who had long noticed her, was unfazed and merely turned his head to look at her. Qiao Yuxian looked at his delicate yet indifferent face, pouted, sighed: "Why can’t I scare you." "Feeling better?" Gu Yanjing asked. "Of course." Qiao Yuxian walked around to the front of the sofa, crouched by the coffee table, "I’m still quite healthy." Gu Yanjing didn’t respond and took a sip of his coffee. "Mostly because I slept well last night." Qiao Yuxian tore open a packet of nuts, casually saying, "I thought I’d be unable to sleep because of the illness, but it turned out I slept quite well." Gu Yanjing glanced at her, still silent. "Why are you drinking coffee?" Qiao Yuxian tilted her head to look at him, "I haven’t seen you drink it in the morning before, didn’t sleep well?" Gu Yanjing looked at the coffee, hesitated before saying quietly, "Occasional habit." "Oh." Qiao Yuxian continued to eat nuts. Just then, Aunt Mei came out from the kitchen, smiling at Qiao Yuxian: "Madam feeling better?" "All well." Qiao Yuxian smiled, "Thank you, Aunt Mei, for your concern." Aunt Mei glanced at Gu Yanjing warmly: "It’s nothing much on my part. However, the gentleman stayed with you all night, probably didn’t sleep much." Gu Yanjing’s fingers lightly twitched: "......" Qiao Yuxian was suddenly stunned, the nuts slipped from her fingers, she turned to look at Gu Yanjing...