Chapter 83 The Love-Brain Female Lead Awakens 26

Only then did Sang Ruo scramble to her feet in a panic.

After being teased by him like that, she no longer felt like crying.

She asked him, “Does it still hurt?”

Yi Chen’an said, “If I say it hurts, are you going to cry again?”

“It’s already like this, and you still won’t stop making fun of me. Talk less, will you?”

“I’m just trying to cheer my girlfriend up first.”

At that, Sang Ruo smiled too, and the bleak heaviness from earlier vanished.

“Go to sleep. I’ll watch the IV for you.” Then she reminded him, “If you need to use the bathroom, don’t be embarrassed and hold it in.”

Yi Chen’an answered with a smile and closed his eyes.

Sang Ruo touched the hand with the IV needle in it. It was a little cold, so she held it in one hand to warm it for him.

Leaning over the hospital bed, Sang Ruo used her phone to order a pile of things they might need.

She also asked Yin Xiaoxin to pack some clothes for her and send them over by same-city express delivery, so she wouldn’t have to go back.

Yi Chen’an was sleeping soundly. He only woke up when Sang Ruo called the nurse over to remove the needle.

Feeling something warm under his hand, he looked down and saw that it was a towel.

Seeing him look, Sang Ruo explained, “There’s a heat pack wrapped inside the towel. The delivery I ordered just arrived. This way your hand won’t get cold during the IV.”

Yi Chen’an carefully felt the towel. Only after a while did he say, “There’s no more medicine for today. You should go back. I’m not visibly injured, so there’s no need for anyone to stay with me here.”

Sang Ruo refused to listen to him. “It’s so boring being hospitalized alone. Besides, the weekend’s coming up.”

Then she showed him the results of her efforts while he had been asleep.

A whole case of bottled water, plus fruit, snacks, her own clothes, and personal items.

When Yi Chen’an saw that she’d even bought bowls, chopsticks, and a juicer cup, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Are you planning to build a nest in the hospital?”

Sang Ruo rolled her eyes at him. “I’m building a nest wherever you are.”

Yi Chen’an looked at her, his gaze flickering as he froze for a moment. Then a smile spread across his lips.

“Alright, you build the nest, and I’ll help you gather branches.”

Tsk, this man really knew how to sweet-talk.

He’s mine!

After indulging in herself for a moment, she pointed at her pile of belongings and introduced them to Yi Chen’an. “I asked the doctor. For the first couple of days, it’s best if you only eat liquid foods, the kind without residue. Stuff like lotus root starch, rice oil, and thoroughly strained fruit juice. You just finished your IV, so after you go to the bathroom in a bit, I’ll make you some lotus root starch.”

Then she added, “And don’t think I bought so much fruit and snacks just for myself. If any of your friends come by to visit, we need something to serve them.”

Yi Chen’an kept smiling as he held her hand. “Bubu is so capable. You’ve thought of everything.”

Of course she had. She had plenty of experience staying with someone in the hospital. In her dream, she had stayed with Yi Chen’an in the hospital for several months.

“As long as you know that. So I’m very useful here. Don’t even think about trying to send me away.”

“Alright, stay with me.”

Later that evening, Yi Chen’an’s friends started coming by one after another. Sang Ruo had met them all before, so she wasn’t reserved around them.

All those things she had bought in advance for guests finally came in handy.

Feng Nan even brought her dinner.

So Sang Ruo let them chat while she ate at the table by the door with her head lowered over her food.

The last time this group had seen them, Yi Chen’an had still said Sang Ruo was his younger sister. This time, she had directly become his girlfriend, so the two of them were inevitably teased. Of course, Yi Chen’an got the brunt of it.

This group laughed and joked around until after ten before finally leaving.

So Yi Chen’an wasn’t all that bored, either.

Sang Ruo made him some lotus root starch.

Yi Chen’an didn’t like that sticky texture. Drinking the starch was like taking medicine.

Sang Ruo said, “You can’t buy this starch outside. My aunt mailed it to me. They grow a lot of lotus roots where they live, and the starch is all ground by farming families themselves. It’s much safer than what you buy outside. You’re eating my emergency rations and still complaining.”

“Then make me another cup and I’ll savor it properly?”

Sang Ruo ignored him, opened up the chair for the overnight attendant, and started making the bed.

The hospital had provided one blanket, so Sang Ruo spread it directly over the stiff chair as a mattress, then used her own small blanket as a cover. It was summer anyway, so she wouldn’t get cold.

Along with the blanket, a plush hippo as long as her arm tumbled out.

Yi Chen’an laughed at her for even bringing a toy.

“What do you know.”

Sang Ruo had Yi Chen’an lift his head a little, pulled out his pillow, and stuffed the hippo under his neck.

“Isn’t it comfortable? Better than a normal pillow, right?”

Yi Chen’an carefully felt it out, then nodded.

Sang Ruo said smugly, “This is a multifunctional hippo. You can hug it like a bolster, use it as a pillow, and there’s even a little blanket inside its belly that you can unfold and use as a cover.”

She was noisy and lively, and she could latch onto any little thing and talk to herself for ages. Yi Chen’an simply watched her with a smile, listening to her speak.

When she realized it, she stopped talking. “Was I bothering you?”

She was just about to go sleep on the bed she’d freshly set up. The attendant’s chair was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to lie flat, and even turning over had to be done carefully.

Yi Chen’an shifted slightly backward on the hospital bed. “Want to come up and sleep here?”

Sang Ruo hesitated.

Yi Chen’an said, “I’m already like this. Are you really still worried I’d do something?”

“Not exactly. It’s just that the hospital bed is narrow too, and you’re so big. I’m worried you’ll squeeze me off the bed after you fall asleep.”

“…”

“…”

Sang Ruo blinked, looking especially sincere.

Yi Chen’an let out a soft sigh and opened his arms. “Bubu, I want to hold you.”

Sang Ruo shuffled over in tiny steps, climbed onto the bed, and carefully lay down in the small space in front of Yi Chen’an.

Yi Chen’an wrapped his long arms around her, lowered his head, and breathed deeply into her hair.

Sang Ruo’s first reaction was that luckily, she’d washed her hair that morning.

They had been together for over two months, and this was still the first time they had ever shared a bed. Before this, Yi Chen’an had guarded himself against her like some fiercely chaste man.

Inside this little space enclosed by his arms, everything was filled with his scent.

Sang Ruo didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. She felt especially at ease.

The man beside her buried his face in her hair and said in a muffled voice, “Bubu, I’m sorry, and thank you.”

“Hm?”

Yi Chen’an gave a light laugh and didn’t continue.

He only held her a little tighter.

Sang Ruo wasn’t having it.

“Why are you apologizing to me? Did you sneak a peek at one of the little nurses here?”

Yi Chen’an rubbed the back of her neck and said with a smile, “Bubu, you look like a fighting rooster right now.”

That damn man was always comparing her to all kinds of weird things.

Sang Ruo was fuming.

She had just been about to say something else when the man lowered his head and caught her lower lip between his teeth.

“Hiss… are you actually a dog?”

The man chuckled softly and sucked on her lips, gently tapping against her teeth.

He kissed her with tender intimacy. Yet this time, Sang Ruo felt like the kiss was a little different from before. As for exactly how it was different, she couldn’t quite put it into words.

The kiss left Sang Ruo dizzy and bewitched. In the cramped space, with nowhere to put her hands, she rested them on his waist.

The man stopped and held her as he caught his breath.

After calming down for a while, Sang Ruo couldn’t resist giving the firm lines beneath her hand a squeeze through his clothes.

Every time she’d seen him wearing a dress shirt before, she’d been especially curious about what he felt like underneath.

Now that the timing and circumstances were perfect, her hand secretly slipped under the hem of his shirt and gave him a bold grab.

Ah… just like she’d imagined, sharply defined and full of strength.

Then that naughty little wandering hand was caught by a much larger one.

“Don’t touch randomly.”

Sang Ruo snorted. “Cheapskate.”

His breath brushed her ear as he said, “Touching like that can cause trouble. Not here. When we get back, you can touch all you want.”

She hadn’t been embarrassed at all when she’d first made her move.

But for some reason, the moment she heard him say that, her face instantly grew hot.

Sang Ruo tucked her hands and feet back in place and stopped fidgeting.

Curled into a little ball, breathing in Yi Chen’an’s scent, she somehow slowly drifted off to sleep just like that.

Sang Ruo slept very quietly and didn’t move around much.

Even on this small bed, she slept soundly through the night. She barely woke up at all.

“Bubu, wake up.”

Sang Ruo heard someone calling her softly by her ear.

It took her a hazy moment to realize it was already daylight. There was no sun in sight, so it was probably still early.

At that moment, she was lying on her side in front of Yi Chen’an, loosely held in his arms.

Yi Chen’an said, “Guaiguai, get up. The doctor will be making rounds soon.”

She rubbed against his chin. “What time is it?”

“Almost eight. The doctor starts rounds at eight.”

Only then did Sang Ruo slowly get up.

It wasn’t until she went to brush her teeth that she suddenly realized Yi Chen’an had just called her “Guaiguai.”

He’d said it out loud, and at the time, she hadn’t even felt that there was anything strange about it.

During this hospital stay, she had clearly felt that Yi Chen’an was treating her with more affection than before.

Could this be the magic of going through hardship together?

She decided not to think about all that messy stuff. Right now, all Sang Ruo wanted was to take good care of him, help him recover quickly, and make sure his stomach wouldn’t be left with any lasting problems.

Fortunately, he wasn’t difficult to take care of, and there were plenty of things he could do himself.

He couldn’t eat much anyway, so Sang Ruo was mainly just a glorified errand runner and chat companion.

Yi Chen’an stayed in the hospital for five days in total. It hadn’t been easy for him either. Over the last few days, he even had several conference calls with people.

The doctor said he was recovering well. By the day he was discharged, he no longer looked sick at all.

That day, Sang Ruo was at home making millet and Chinese yam porridge for him.

She was watching the stove when she heard the front door open.

She went out to look, and who else could it be but Yi Chen’an, who was supposedly still at the hospital waiting for her to pick him up.

“Didn’t they say you could only handle the discharge procedures this afternoon? I was planning to pick you up after the porridge was done. Why did you come back by yourself?”

Yi Chen’an walked over and gently pulled her into his arms, rubbing against her cheek. “I missed you. I didn’t want to wait. I had my assistant stay behind to handle the paperwork this afternoon. As soon as the IV was done, I came back first.”

“That’s a little dramatic, isn’t it? I only left the hospital this morning.”

“Not dramatic at all. I missed you so much.”

A shower of kisses was already falling.

Yi Chen’an placed her hand on his waist and tempted her, “Didn’t you want to touch?”

No, wait, was he really being this fierce and direct?

And in broad daylight, too.

Sang Ruo didn’t know if it was because she was shy or what, but just as the atmosphere was turning intimate, she suddenly blurted out, “When you kiss me, you smell like saline.”

Yi Chen’an paused, then silently let her go.

There was even a trace of resentment in the way he looked at her.

“Ahem…”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Sang Ruo also felt she’d said the wrong thing. The mood was gone, and it didn’t seem right to continue, so she said, “How about… you have some porridge first?”

He grabbed her head and gave her hair a vigorous ruffle.

He messed all of it up.

With obvious grievance in his voice, Yi Chen’an said, “You’ve got the guts of a mouse, yet you still want to play thief.”

Sang Ruo smoothed her hair back down and shot him a glare. “Settle down already. The doctor said you need proper rest.”

In the end, Yi Chen’an still didn’t get to rest properly. Just a few days after leaving the hospital, he had to go out of town on a business trip for meetings.

Once he left, he was gone for two whole weeks.

Sang Ruo was worried, but she couldn’t go with him.

Watching Yi Chen’an pack the things he needed to take, she said, “Give me your phone.”

The man was busy and didn’t even lift his head. “It’s on the cabinet. Take it yourself. The password is your age plus mine.”

Using their ages as a password really was bizarre enough.

Sang Ruo successfully got hold of the prop she wanted. “Aren’t you even going to ask why I’m taking your phone?”