Chapter 17: Game

That night, Jiang Nai ended up falling asleep on the caretaker’s bed. Perhaps because of the embarrassment from helping Li Qingji clean himself, she hadn’t assisted him since; it was all done by professional caregivers.

It was a weekend.

Jiang Nai didn’t have to go to work, so she naturally came to the hospital to be a diligent “good wife.”

Having visited several times, she could now easily and naturally play on her phone and use her computer in the ward without paying much attention to Li Qingji’s presence.

*Knock knock—*

While she was idly sitting in the chair beside the bed, absorbed in her phone, Zhao Siyuan appeared at the door of the room.

“Boss, the people from Hengchuan are coming for a meeting in ten minutes.”

Jiang Nai straightened up. “A meeting here?”

“Yes, Ms. Jiang,” Zhao Siyuan replied.

Jiang Nai looked at Li Qingji. Although he had mostly recovered except for his right foot during this time, it didn’t seem appropriate for him to go to work while still injured.

The big boss really was different.

“Then I’ll leave for now,” Jiang Nai said.

“No need,” Li Qingji said. “I’ll go to the living room. You stay here.”

“But your leg—”

“Help me out.”

“Yes, sir,” Zhao Siyuan replied.

Since Li Qingji insisted, Jiang Nai didn’t say much more. The bedroom door was left ajar, and a few minutes later, she heard some noises—several people had come in. Jiang Nai was afraid of disturbing their meeting, so she sat quietly, playing on her phone and trying her best not to make any noise.

She didn’t expect the meeting to drag on for so long; her phone was almost out of battery. She would have charged it, but she forgot to bring her charging cable, and she had no idea where Li Qingji’s was.

With nothing to do on her phone, she could only sit and wait.

After a long while, feeling a bit drowsy, Jiang Nai yawned. She figured it would take a while for Li Qingji to finish, so she lay down on his bed for a bit. She hadn’t lain on this bed since she wiped her body down last time.

It was surprisingly comfortable…

—

“Mr. Li, you should get some rest. I’ll take care of things at the company. You can rest assured about the West City project; I’ll keep an eye on it.”

The meeting ended, and everyone gradually left, leaving only a subordinate who was relatively close to Li Qingji to assist him. He intended to respectfully escort his boss to the bedroom, but as soon as they arrived, he saw his boss stop.

“You can go back now.”

The subordinate glanced over and was surprised to see a woman lying on the sickbed in the bedroom. He immediately lowered his head, saying, “Understood.”

Once everyone left, Zhao Siyuan helped Li Qingji back to the sickbed.

“Go prepare lunch.”

“Okay.”

Zhao Siyuan turned and left.

Li Qingji leaned against the edge of the bed, pressed his fingers to his temples, and glanced at the person sleeping soundly beside him.

The door had been wide open, and it was so noisy, yet she was able to fall asleep?

Li Qingji’s lips curled up as he contemplated whether to wake her up, when the sleeping person suddenly stretched her hand and placed it on his leg, then seemed to use him as a blanket, stretching her feet toward him. Li Qingji’s brow twitched; however, the person who had moved closer seemed to avoid his injured area by mere chance, comfortably cuddling against him.

Li Qingji squinted, doubting whether she was awake. But then he remembered that if she were awake, she would never be doing these things.

“Li…” Chen Min arrived later today, intending to report on the Siningte project after the meeting in Hengchuan ended, but as soon as she stepped into the room, her voice caught in her throat.

Her pupils visibly trembled, and her footsteps halted.

In the room, Li Qingji looked over as well. A single glance was enough for Chen Min, who had been his assistant for many years. She retreated and casually closed the door behind her.

The room was exceptionally quiet. Li Qingji no longer considered waking Jiang Nai. He picked up a book that was lying nearby but couldn’t focus on the content. He set it down again and glanced at the person still sleeping. She wasn’t wearing makeup today, her hair casually tied up, with wispy strands falling around her neck and on the pillow. She looked completely unguarded, fair-skinned, and even a bit youthful.

She came every day, almost like clockwork, to keep him company; she was quite obedient.

Buzzing—

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

The sleeping person was startled awake by the slight commotion and opened her eyes.

Li Qingji turned his gaze away and glanced at his phone, which displayed an incoming call.

“Ah!” The person half-hanging on him like a koala let out a soft gasp, which was to be expected.

“When… when did you finish? How did you come in? I’m sorry, I fell asleep! Did I kick you?” 

Her fluster was also anticipated.

Li Qingji glanced sideways, speaking calmly, “You look pretty comfortable while sleeping.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a flush crept onto her face. “I’m sorry, I just… I didn’t realize.”

It was indeed amusing to tease someone when bored, Li Qingji confirmed to himself while observing her expression. However, that phone call was somewhat of a buzzkill.

But the continuous vibration compelled Li Qingji to answer it. “What’s up?”

Lu Feng’s voice came from the other end: “Nothing much, just checking in since I haven’t seen you in a few days. How’s your injury? Feeling better?”

Li Qingji replied, “Yeah, it’s better. Hang up now.”

“Ah? You’re hanging up just like that? I’m here to check on you! You’re really cold-hearted! Are you blaming me for not coming to see you directly? Fine, I’ll come to see you as soon as I have time.”

Li Qingji was annoyed by his incessant chatter and frowned slightly. “No need.”

Jiang Nai, on the other hand, had no idea who Li Qingji was talking to; she was simply embarrassed about her earlier actions. It was one thing to wake up and find herself pressed against him, but this time she had actually cuddled up to him, using him like a leg or a blanket…

What’s worse was that she might have inadvertently bumped into his injury.

Why didn’t he wake her up?

Feeling somewhat downcast, Jiang Nai glanced down a few times, fearing that her actions had made it worse.

“Stop looking,” Li Qingji said, having hung up the phone without her noticing.

Jiang Nai turned to him. “Are you… really okay?”

Li Qingji noticed her panic and decided to let her off the hook. “Really, it’s fine.”

Jiang Nai sighed in relief and explained, “I was bored because my phone ran out of battery while you were in the meeting, so I thought I’d take a nap. I didn’t expect you to come back, and I didn’t wake up.”

Li Qingji casually opened a drawer and pulled out a charging cable. “Here, take it.”

“Thanks!” 

She immediately took her phone to the side to charge. Once it powered back on, she was relieved that it was the weekend and she hadn’t missed any important work.

“If you’re bored, there’s a game console over there,” Li Qingji said.

Jiang Nai knew about the game console; it was brought by Lu Feng during one of his visits. The last time the console was used was when Lu Feng came over, and he and Chen Jiming had played for quite a while that day. Since then, Jiang Nai had never seen Li Qingji play, probably because he wasn’t interested in those things.

Jiang Nai wasn’t particularly keen on games either, especially not the handheld type, but wanting to escape the awkwardness of the moment, she pretended to be interested and slipped off the bed to fiddle with it.

“There are so many games, which one is fun?” she casually asked.

“Not sure,” Li Qingji replied.

He genuinely didn’t know, but remembering that day when Lu Feng and Chen Jiming had played for half the day, he suggested, “There’s one called *It Takes Two*; you could give it a try.”

“Ah… I’ve heard of it.” 

Jiang Nai quickly searched for the game, but after opening it, she realized something and turned back to Li Qingji: “This game can only be played in pairs, right?”

Li Qingji lifted his gaze to look at her.

Jiang Nai hesitated for a moment, then let out a dry laugh: “Do you want to play?”

“…”

—

Zhao Siyuan couldn’t believe his eyes when he returned with lunch and saw his boss holding a game controller, playing video games in front of the TV. He was stunned for several seconds before finally setting down the lunch he was carrying.

As he turned to head into the living room, he couldn’t help but grab his phone and message Chen Min: [Sister Chen, what’s wrong with the boss?]

Chen Min: [?]

Zhao Siyuan: [He’s playing Switch.]

Chen Min: [？？]

Zhao Siyuan: [With Miss Jiang.]

Chen Min: [Oh, just leave it alone. Did you deliver lunch?]

Zhao Siyuan: [Yes, I did.]

Chen Min: [Okay, then you don’t need to stay there. You can leave now.]

Zhao Siyuan understood: [Got it…]

Jiang Nai also didn’t expect that Li Qingji would actually stay and play with her. Neither of them were particularly skilled at gaming. At first, they had to figure things out together before finally understanding how to operate it.

*It Takes Two* is a game that tells the story of a couple on the brink of divorce who are transformed into dolls by a curse. They must overcome various challenges to return to their original forms, and in the process of helping each other, their relationship gradually mends…

The game mainly tests the players’ teamwork and communication skills, and, of course, a bit of imagination and intelligence as well. When Jiang Nai decided to play, she thought it would just help pass the time, and she guessed that Li Qingji was thinking the same.

But unexpectedly, they both became genuinely engrossed in the game.

After finishing their lunch midway, they picked up the controllers again.

“How do we get past this? It feels like it’s definitely related to this spinning thing,” Jiang Nai said, her eyes glued to the TV screen.

Li Qingji leaned against a cushion, his gaze calm as he appeared to be contemplating, yet he seemed to have a clear idea: “I think it’s about using the hammer on your back and my nail to get up there.”

“Hmm… how do we get up?” 

“Wait a minute.”

After searching for a while, they suddenly discovered a mechanism.

Jiang Nai was teleported up, while Li Qingji observed from below. He quickly figured out that they needed to control the “husband” at the bottom to throw nails so that the “wife” could swing across.

Jiang Nai looked at him excitedly: “It’s really working! We can get through! Awesome! Now let’s see how you get up.”

Seeing Jiang Nai so openly happy for the first time surprised Li Qingji, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

“Ah, I found it! This way, come over here!” 

Li Qingji responded with a hum, withdrawing his gaze and looking back at the screen, moving toward the spot she indicated.

“Damn it.”

As the two were trying to figure out the puzzle, they suddenly heard a curse from the doorway. They both looked over to see Lu Feng standing in the doorway, holding his phone, and he snapped a photo with a loud click.

“Last time I invited you to play games, you didn’t want to! But here you are, happily playing games with your wife!” Lu Feng looked down at his phone and mumbled, “I’m going to post this in the group for everyone to see!”

Jiang Nai’s eyes widened slightly: “What are you posting in the group?”

Lu Feng replied, “Our friends’ group. Don’t worry, Jiang Nai, you look great! The only one in this picture with an ugly mug is your husband.”

The terms “husband” and “wife” still felt a bit strange between them. Jiang Nai felt a little awkward hearing someone else refer to them like that in front of Li Qingji.

Li Qingji, however, remained unfazed, glancing at Lu Feng before returning to the game video: “What brings you here?”

Lu Feng plopped down beside them, “Didn’t I say? I’d come over as soon as I had time.”

At that moment, Lu Feng’s phone started vibrating incessantly.

[Is our Li Qingji playing games??????]

[Looks like it! Having a wife makes all the difference; it’s been centuries since I’ve seen him play anything like this.]

[So out of place.]

[Who would’ve thought that after getting married, Li Qingji would show a more human side?]

…

Lu Feng strongly agreed and replied: [It’s not a human side; it’s prioritizing romance over friendship.]

Not only did he send the reply, but he also teased Li Qingji: “A classic case of prioritizing romance over friends.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nai froze for a moment, causing the character she was controlling in the game to fall into a bottomless pit with a loud crash. They had to restart the level because of that.

Li Qingji raised an eyebrow and turned to Jiang Nai: “What’s the rush? Am I really prioritizing romance?”

Jiang Nai was taken aback: “No…”

Not in a rush, nor prioritizing romance. It was all quite ambiguous.

Li Qingji smiled slightly, nudging her game controller: “Let’s try again. Don’t let anyone distract you.”

“Great, I’m the distracting factor here,” Lu Feng said, raising his hands in surrender.

Since Lu Feng had come to see Li Qingji, Jiang Nai felt it would be rude to ignore him, so she handed him the controller: “Why don’t you play?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. It’s rare to see him prioritizing romance over friends; I’ll stay out of it,” Lu Feng replied as he got up. “I have things to do, so I’ll head out. You two enjoy yourselves.”

Li Qingji replied, “No need to see you off.”

Lu Feng clicked his tongue: “Not expecting you to see me off anyway.”

Lu Feng came quickly and left just as fast, getting up and disappearing in an instant.

Jiang Nai looked toward the door: “He really left that quickly?”

“Focus,” Li Qingji said calmly. “Don’t worry about him.”

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