Chapter 43: While The Girl Was Lost In Thought, Completely Unguarded…

Over the weekend, after getting approval from Jiang Qi’s attending physician, Zhi Qi took him out of the hospital.

She brought the young man to a marine animal rescue center to visit the little dolphin she had adopted.

“Her name is Lang Lang, and she’s a girl.” Standing behind the large glass window, Zhi Qi explained to Jiang Qi as she watched the sleek figure swimming freely in the deep water. A smile of contentment played on her lips. “She was sick a while ago, but now she’s lively and full of energy again.”

Jiang Qi watched quietly for a while. His voice, muffled behind his mask, sounded a bit hoarse: “You adopted her?”

Although it was a rescue center, there were still quite a few people around. Jiang Qi’s face was too eye-catching, so Zhi Qi hadn’t let him take off his mask indoors.

Zhi Qi nodded. “I adopted her together with an older sister.”

Actually, doing this kind of “good deed” was quite costly, but Zhi Qi was more than willing.

Jiang Qi’s light-colored eyes unconsciously shifted from the dolphin in the water to the side of the girl’s face. Zhi Qi stared straight ahead, her delicate profile practically radiating the word “contentment.”

How to put it—Zhi Qi’s thoughts were sometimes a bit idealistic, but she always fought for the beliefs she held dear.

And he… what he liked most was exactly this about her—her beauty, vitality, and the way she brimmed with life. Every positive adjective could be used to describe this girl.

“It’s past eleven… um, you should eat now.”

Zhi Qi had become very strict about Jiang Qi’s meals, no longer allowing him to skip or delay them and hurt his stomach like before. She glanced at her watch and said, “There aren’t many people in the cafeteria at this time. I’ll take you there.”

Jiang Qi, as usual, was very obedient and nodded.

It had been about ten days since he was admitted to the hospital. During this time, he had always done whatever Zhi Qi told him to.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, Zhi Qi told Jiang Qi to find a quiet corner to sit in while she went to get the food.

She returned with two neatly packed meal boxes, carefully balanced with meat and vegetables. Only then did she let Jiang Qi take off his mask to eat—there were only a few people in the cafeteria, mostly middle-aged staff, so it was unlikely anyone would recognize him.

Sure enough, the meal went smoothly.

Jiang Qi was still in the stage of nursing his stomach, so his appetite wasn’t big. However, having grown up in poverty, he had always upheld the traditional virtue of “not wasting food,” so he still finished the cafeteria meal—even though it didn’t taste very good.

“Ugh, it’s really bad,” Zhi Qi muttered with a frown, clearly picky. “The food at our school cafeteria isn’t great either, but this is even worse.”

She came from a well-off family and had been raised in comfort. Though she wasn’t spoiled in temperament, she was definitely particular when it came to food.

Jiang Qi thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “I can cook for you.”

Zhi Qi was stunned. “You can cook?”

Jiang Qi nodded and gave a soft “mm.”

If he hadn’t learned to cook for himself, he probably would’ve starved long ago. Over the years, he’d gotten pretty good at it—at the very least, his cooking wasn’t bad.

“That’s great!” The girl’s eyes lit up with excitement. She couldn’t wait and said, “Can you cook tonight?”

Jiang Qi and cooking—those two words together felt oddly mismatched. But she really wanted to see it, and more than that, she wanted to taste food he made with his own hands.

Her innocent joy softened Jiang Qi’s gaze, and he couldn’t help but smile gently. “Okay.”

He had been recovering well in the hospital these past few days—early to bed, early to rise, three meals a day. It was probably the most disciplined routine he’d ever had in his life. His complexion had improved too; his pale skin no longer looked so bloodless.

As they chatted and prepared to leave, they unexpectedly ran into someone familiar.

“Zhi Qi?” A woman’s voice called from behind. Zhi Qi turned around in surprise and saw Jiang Yu, instantly recognizable by her thick, wavy hair. Zhi Qi quickly stood up to greet her. “Sister Yu, you’re not off today?”

Jiang Yu was a staff member at the rescue center, but today was the weekend.

“I do have the day off—do I look like I’m dressed for work?” Jiang Yu said, gesturing at her fitted knit dress, clearly not the standard white coat she wore on duty. “I was supposed to be out with my brother, but halfway through I got a call from the office asking me to come in and handle something. I got hungry, so I figured I’d grab a quick bite here.” A trace of bitterness—one only fellow office workers would understand—appeared on her sweet face as she shrugged helplessly. “But what about you? Why are you here?”

“I came to see Lang Lang…” Zhi Qi replied hesitantly, glancing at Jiang Qi. Seeing that he had quickly and smartly put his mask back on, she let out a breath of relief. “I’m here with a friend.”

Jiang Yu didn’t pay much attention to the masked man behind Zhi Qi. Instead, it was the man beside her—her brother, Jiang Chi—who kept his eyes fixed on Jiang Qi.

His gaze was probing, suspicious. His narrow eyes narrowed even further.

Jiang Chi’s stare made Zhi Qi extremely uncomfortable, as if she were sitting on pins and needles.

She frowned, took Jiang Qi’s hand, and said to Jiang Yu, “Sister Yu, we’ll get going now.”

Jiang Yu didn’t stop them, just smiled teasingly. “Zhi Qi, is that your boyfriend?”

When Jiang Chi heard Jiang Yu call her “Zhi Qi,” he visibly froze for a moment. Then his gaze grew even more meaningful.

That’s when Zhi Qi remembered—Jiang Yu had once mentioned that her brother worked as a talent agent at some entertainment company. Zhi Qi had even thought about asking him for tickets once, though it never worked out for various reasons.

Realizing this, her heart suddenly sank.

She lowered her head to avoid Jiang Yu’s gaze and mumbled something vague, not answering directly. She just said, “Let’s talk next time,” and quickly pulled Jiang Qi away.

Zhi Qi couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated. She had arranged for Jiang Qi to stay in the hospital, brought him to this quiet rescue center—all because she wanted him to live like a normal person, away from the spotlight. So why did things related to the entertainment industry always seem to find their way in?

Even just coming to see Lang Lang, they had to run into Jiang Yu’s brother—the talent agent.

What a terribly inconvenient coincidence.

Zhi Qi’s thoughts were in disarray. Just thinking about the entertainment industry made her so anxious that she bit her lip in frustration. Because of that, she didn’t notice the expression on the boy behind her.

Jiang Qi, wearing a mask and a hat, had only his high-bridged nose and amber-like eyes visible. A faint trace of sadness flickered in those eyes—so subtle it was almost unnoticeable.

He hadn’t paid attention to Jiang Chi. What he did notice was the way that girl had reacted when Jiang Yu teasingly asked, “Is that your boyfriend?”—how flustered she looked, how she didn’t say a word, and just pulled him away.

So it seems… one really shouldn’t get ahead of themselves.

With that thought, the headache he hadn’t felt in days seemed to return, faintly throbbing.

And when people are in pain, they tend to become a little extreme—resentful, even. Jiang Qi thought to himself, I really am a little unwilling to let this go.

The boy, who had been quietly following behind Zhi Qi, suddenly reached out. His long fingers gripped the girl’s wrist like an iron clasp, forcing her to turn around.

Zhi Qi had been lost in thought and was completely unprepared. She was suddenly pulled into his arms, and when she looked up in surprise, she met Jiang Qi’s deep, unreadable eyes.

“Jiang Qi?” Zhi Qi felt something was off. His gaze at that moment was intense—like molten lava hidden beneath glaciers, full of aggression and possessiveness. Her heart began to race uncontrollably, and her voice trembled slightly. “W-what’s wrong?”

Could it be… was Jiang Qi having another episode?

Zhi Qi struggled to resist the urge to drool over how handsome he looked and asked, trembling slightly, “Why are you suddenly, uh… emotional?”

She honestly didn’t know what word could accurately describe the feeling Jiang Qi was giving off at that moment.

Jiang Qi stared at her for a moment, then lowered his eyes. His voice, muffled behind the mask, was low and heavy: “Just now…”

“Miss Zhi!” Unfortunately, before he could finish, a voice interrupted from not far away, making both of them instinctively turn to look.

It was Jiang Chi, tall and long-legged, catching up to them.

The moment she saw him, Zhi Qi’s eyes sharpened. She stepped forward and shielded Jiang Qi behind her—though she was much shorter than him, the scene looked both comical and heartwarmingly protective.

Jiang Chi approached and, seeing Zhi Qi’s guarded posture, chuckled. “Miss Zhi, you seem to have quite the opinion of me?”

“You’re Jiang Yu’s agent brother, right?” Zhi Qi wasn’t interested in playing word games. The fact that he had come over himself made his intentions clear, so she cut straight to the point: “What do you want?”

The girl was pretty sharp. Jiang Chi’s smile didn’t falter, but his gaze shifted to the boy behind her.

He locked eyes with Jiang Qi—cold, sharp eyes. Jiang Chi noticed that aside from indifference, there was no emotion in them. No curiosity, no surprise—nothing.

“Mr. Jiang,” Jiang Chi nodded slightly and said politely, “Would you mind stepping aside to have a word?”

There was a glint in his eyes, the kind of hunger one might see in someone who had just spotted a spark in the dead of winter. After all, for the past while, every gossip reporter had been trying to track down Jiang Qi’s whereabouts—and now, he had stumbled right into Jiang Chi’s path. Wasn’t that like striking gold?

---

But this “lucky break” didn’t follow the usual script—Jiang Qi had no interest in playing polite games or exchanging empty pleasantries.

He simply gave Jiang Chi a cold glance and said, “No time.”

With that, Jiang Qi wrapped an arm around Zhi Qi and walked away without looking back.

Jiang Chi was left standing there alone, utterly stunned. He watched the slender figures of the boy and girl fade into the distance, his dark eyes gradually growing deeper and more shadowed.

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