Chapter 16: Towel

The hospital room window faced a lake not far away, and under the setting sun, the lake surface glistened with a layer of orange light. When Jiang Nai entered the bedroom, she was momentarily captivated by the beautiful view before looking at Li Qingji, who was lying on the bed.

“There are so many gifts outside. Did a lot of people come to see you today?” Jiang Nai sat on the chair by the bed.

Li Qingji: “Friends and some relatives.”

“Oh…”

Jiang Nai thought that such malicious relatives were better left out of one’s life. “Would you like an apple? I can peel one for you.”

Li Qingji didn’t hold back. “Sure, thank you.”

“No problem.”

Jiang Nai picked up an apple and began peeling it with a small knife. She was skilled, and the thin peel came off in one continuous strip.

Li Qingji was a bit surprised. “Did you practice this specifically?”

Jiang Nai looked at the apple and replied casually, “When I was a kid, my mom was often sick and in the hospital, so I peeled apples for her a lot. Over time, I got good at it. Here, let me cut it into small pieces for you since it’s hard for you to hold it.”

As she spoke, she carefully chopped the apple into small pieces and placed them on a plate. At that moment, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

“Boss.” Chen Min appeared in the doorway.

Li Qingji: “What is it?”

Chen Min glanced at Jiang Nai, who had her back to the door, and hesitated. “President Chen and the others are here… they said they wanted to visit you.”

Jiang Nai was still cutting the fruit and didn’t immediately realize who President Chen was. It wasn’t until Chen Min said, “Miss Jiang, this might be inconvenient for you,” that she understood.

“Which President Chen?” she turned around and asked Chen Min.

Chen Min replied, “President Chen from the financial department of Siningte, President Liu from the marketing department, and some others.”

“They all came?! Where, where are they?”

Chen Min: “They’re in the hallway outside. I haven’t let them in yet.”

Jiang Nai froze, dropping what she was holding and standing up abruptly. “What do I do? They’re already at the door? It’s too late to leave! Where should I hide?”

The panic on her face was evident; the half-cut apple was left with the knife still stuck in it, lying on the table.

Although she was clearly terrified, Li Qingji found it amusing. He patted the bed and said, “You could hide under the covers.”

“How can you joke at a time like this?!” Jiang Nai’s voice rose, and she shot him an exasperated look.

Li Qingji paused for a moment, then chuckled, looking at her with interest. “Then what do you suggest? Should we just say you’re here visiting me?”

Jiang Nai, too anxious to notice her own tone, frowned and said, “I’m just an assistant in the planning department. If I’m seen visiting you alone, what will people think?”

“What would they think?”

“Of course, they’d think we have some… inappropriate relationship.”

Li Qingji said nonchalantly, “Well, we do have an inappropriate relationship.”

“…”

Realizing Li Qingji was no help, Jiang Nai turned to Chen Min. “Sister Chen Min, what should I do now?”

Chen Min had always thought that Jiang Nai had matured a lot in the past three years and had become much calmer. But seeing her nervously asking for help now, it reminded Chen Min of the first time they met. After all, she was still a young woman at heart.

Chen Min couldn’t help but smile and said, “Why don’t you hide in the bathroom for now, Miss Jiang? Just make sure no one goes in there afterward.”

Jiang Nai was starting to panic and suddenly remembered that there was one place in this space that could be closed off.

She nodded quickly. “Yes! Okay, I’ll hide in the bathroom for a while!”

She dashed off and shut the bathroom door with a bang. Chen Min couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her frantically hiding away, but remembering that her boss was still present, she quickly composed herself. Unexpectedly, when she looked up after composing herself, she noticed a hint of amusement in her boss’s eyes.

Chen Min felt reassured and lowered her head slightly. “Shall I let them in?”

Li Qingji: “Yes.”

Two minutes later, a group of senior executives from Snytte came in to visit Li Qingji.

Liu Nian from the marketing department was also there. She stood to the side as someone from HR was speaking with Li Qingji. Since she couldn’t find a chance to join the conversation, she glanced around the room idly and caught sight of a woman’s jacket draped over a chair next to the bed. The placement was such that it was obviously not Chen Min’s.

Liu Nian’s gaze paused for a moment before she subtly pulled it back.

The style of the jacket looked youthful, so she assumed… it must belong to a woman close to the boss. The visitors didn’t stay long, politely departing after a few minutes and leaving behind many health recovery gifts.

Li Qingji gestured to Chen Min. “Call her out.”

Chen Min: “Yes.”

Jiang Nai came out of the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief before continuing to slice the half-cut apple.

“Bring all the documents over.”

Once Jiang Nai finished cutting the apple, she saw Chen Min handing Li Qingji a folder and a tablet at his request.

His right hand was immobile, and his left hand, wrapped in bandages, struggled to move properly, yet he was still insisting on working?

Jiang Nai was a little impressed by the sight, so after dinner, she sat in the living room with her laptop, reviewing the content of the day’s meeting and thinking about ways to improve their proposal. 

It’s scary when someone better than you works even harder.

—

Jiang Nai decided to stay as a bedside companion for the next few days. Partly because she felt it was her duty, and partly because Li Qingji did indeed look quite miserable.

At eight o’clock that evening, the nurse came to do her routine check. Before leaving, she said, “Miss Jiang, in his current condition, taking a bath is inconvenient. However, you can help your husband by wiping him down at night; it will make him feel more comfortable.”

The nurse knew they were married, so there was nothing inappropriate about the instructions.

However, both Jiang Nai and Li Qingji were momentarily stunned by the suggestion.

“Wiping down… where exactly?” Jiang Nai asked.

The nurse gave her a smile. “Anywhere that’s not injured. Just dampen the towel and wipe gently.”

With that, the nurse left, leaving Jiang Nai bewildered in the room. It was appropriate for an injured person to be wiped down when bathing was inconvenient, and as the patient’s wife, it was natural for her to do this. But the problem was, to some extent, she wasn’t fully a wife in the complete sense of the word yet.

Jiang Nai cleared her throat, feeling a bit at a loss.

Li Qingji looked at her awkward expression and gave a subtle smile. “Are you scared?”

“What? There’s nothing to be scared of,” Jiang Nai forced herself to sound confident, muttering, “It’s not like I’m the one at a disadvantage.”

“What did you say?”

Jiang Nai: “…I mean, since you’re like this, of course, I’ll help you.”

Besides, there was no way she could avoid it. If she went out now and told the nurse to call an aide instead because she wouldn’t do it, it would definitely raise suspicions, which could reach their families and become a problem.

“I’ll go get some water.”

With these thoughts, she turned and went into the bathroom.

But when she came back out holding the bowl of water, the calm facade she tried to maintain had a slight crack. It took her a while before she said, “I’ll help you sit up first and wipe your back.”

“Okay.”

Li Qingji was only wearing a thin hospital gown.

Standing by his side, Jiang Nai took a deep breath. “Then I’ll start?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Nai lifted the corner of his gown, revealing his waist and then moving upward. His skin was fair and smooth, with defined but not overly pronounced back muscles that were sculpted and rigid. This was far more stimulating than the quick glance she had caught in the bedroom before.

Jiang Nai’s face turned uncontrollably red, overwhelmed by the surge of hormones.

She tried to push aside the random thoughts swirling in her mind and gently wiped his back with the towel, starting from the nape of his neck and shoulders, gradually moving down to his waist…

However, the more she wiped, the hotter her face became, and she couldn’t control it.

Li Qingji, noticing the bright red of her earlobes, found himself bored enough to suddenly feel mischievous. “That’s enough for the back, wipe the front now.”

Jiang Nai: “Huh? Oh… okay.”

She rinsed the towel again and stepped in front of him, starting with his left arm. After that, she needed to lift the front of his gown.

But Jiang Nai paused and asked, “Can you hold the towel with your left hand? If you think it’s inconvenient for me to help, maybe… you could do it yourself?”

Li Qingji raised his left hand slightly and said lightly, “There’s too much bandage, I don’t have the strength to grip it.”

He glanced at her and added, “I don’t feel it’s inconvenient. Are you the one who feels uncomfortable?”

Jiang Nai was speechless. “I’m not uncomfortable.”

She wasn’t the one undressing and being wiped down, so why should she feel embarrassed?

Besides, this was a rare chance to look at a handsome body for free—why not take advantage of it?

With that thought, Jiang Nai suddenly felt invigorated. No longer worried, she reached out and unbuttoned his gown.

Hmm… the front was just as impressive.

Jiang Nai’s mind was celebrating, but her face remained composed, focused on the task. She carefully wiped his chest with the towel, then moved down to his abdomen. When it became difficult to reach from where she was standing, she simply kneeled on the bed with one knee.

Today, she hadn’t tied her hair up, and her long, curly locks fell down, thick and soft.

As she leaned closer, Li Qingji distinctly caught the fragrance of her shampoo.

He paused slightly and looked up, his gaze landing on the delicate, pale skin of her neck and collarbone framed by her hair, and unexpectedly catching a glimpse of the undulating curve within her neckline.

His brow twitched, and he turned his eyes away, but the scent in the air became even more pronounced.

Jiang Nai continued to carefully wipe his body, avoiding his chest’s more sensitive areas and moving downward.

The pants…

The upper body was fine, but she clearly couldn’t casually touch the lower half… yet it also needed to be cleaned, right?

What should she do…

Distracted by this thought, she didn’t realize her hand had been resting just above the waistband of his pants for quite some time. The ambiguous position and close proximity… Just as Jiang Nai was deep in thought about how to ask Li Qingji what to do about the lower half, her wrist was suddenly gripped.

She froze, looking up at Li Qingji, only to see him staring at her with deep, unwavering eyes.

“…What is it?” Her heart inexplicably fluttered.

In a low voice, Li Qingji said, “I’ll do it myself. You can leave now.”

“But your hand—”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it really okay?”

Jiang Nai wanted to say that if he couldn’t even hold the towel properly, how could he clean himself… but her thoughts stuttered to a halt, and her pupils constricted when she inadvertently looked down and saw a certain scene.

An inch below the towel’s position, beneath the thin hospital gown, there was an unmistakable shift.

“Can you leave now?” Li Qingji asked her.

Compared to his calm demeanor, Jiang Nai’s face turned a deep red as she quickly scooted back. With one knee still on the bed, her sudden movement almost caused her to fall.

After regaining her balance awkwardly, she turned her head to the side. “Yes!”

“Pass me the towel.”

“Oh!”

She quickly handed him the towel and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her with a loud thud. Li Qingji, using his bandaged left hand, picked up the towel and frowned slightly.

Outside, Jiang Nai leaned against the door, taking a deep breath, but even that couldn’t calm her pounding heart. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that startling scene replaying in her mind!

Of course, as an adult with the internet being so accessible, there was nothing she hadn’t seen before, but seeing something in a video and witnessing it in real life were vastly different experiences.

Not that she had actually seen anything since he was still wearing pants, but still…

She regretted not calling for a male nurse to handle it!

Jiang Nai sat in the living room, mulling over her embarrassment until she finally cooled down and regained her composure.

What’s the big deal… really, what’s the big deal…

Wondering how he was doing inside, she realized that her prolonged absence might just make things more awkward, especially since he was injured. With a sigh, Jiang Nai stood up and knocked on the bedroom door.

The room was brightly lit, and when she pushed open the door, she saw Li Qingji leaning back against the bed, a book open in front of him. He was using his bandaged left hand to turn the pages. On the bedside table, the towel and basin were neatly placed.

Jiang Nai silently walked over, collected the items, and brought them to the bathroom. When she returned, she pulled out the caretaker’s bed to sleep on.

“I’m a normal man.” In the silence, Li Qingji spoke.

Jiang Nai froze for a moment, and then heard him continue, “So it’s normal to have a physiological reaction in special circumstances.”

“…”

She turned to look at him, but he didn’t even shift his gaze, calmly reading his book and speaking calmly.

Jiang Nai swallowed. “Oh… I know.”

“Since you know, why are you nervous?”

“I’m not nervous.”

“Then why are you moving that bed?” Li Qingji finally looked over at her. “Don’t you plan to sleep on my bed?”

Jiang Nai exclaimed, reacting after two seconds, “I just think it’s easy to bump into you. In fact, I was really cautious last night when I was sleeping. Being overly cautious made me uncomfortable. I think I’ll sleep alone tonight… it really has nothing to do with what just happened; I’ve seen it before.”

Talking too much inevitably leads to mistakes, especially when feeling flustered.

Jiang Nai instantly wanted to slap herself. Did she really need to say that extra line?

Li Qingji paused, withdrew his gaze. “Oh, well-informed.”

“…No.”

“Very impressive.”

“…”

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