Chapter 34

When Cheng Yan took a taxi back to the villa, it was indeed very late.

She had left school after nine o’clock. She’d thought about just not returning since it was so late, but remembering the message she’d sent to Jun Jianqing during the day, she hailed a cab back anyway.

As she was changing her shoes at the door, a servant asked if she was hungry and if she needed a late-night snack.

“No need. Don’t worry about me,” Cheng Yan said.

But she saw the servant was still hesitating, not leaving.

Cheng Yan put down her bag. “Aunt Wu, is there something else?”

The servant speaking was surnamed Wu, in her forties. It was said she had served Jun Jianqing back in the old house and later followed her to this villa where she usually lived.

She was also the most senior among all the servants—kind, attentive, and meticulous. However, Cheng Yan generally didn’t interact much with the other people in the villa, so she didn’t have much contact with her.

Aunt Wu asked, “President Jun came back around six p.m. She didn’t eat much for dinner and is still working in the study now. The kitchen has prepared some easily digestible late-night snacks. Could you please help take them up to her?”

Cheng Yan nodded. “No problem.”

She washed her hands and took the tray Aunt Wu offered. On it was a small dessert and a bowl of nourishing soup.

All were Jun Jianqing’s usual preferences.

Carrying the tray to the study, Cheng Yan freed a hand to knock lightly on the door. After getting permission, she pushed it open and entered.

“President Jun, I’ve brought you a midnight snack.”

Jun Jianqing looked up at the sound. Her pale, tense face instantly relaxed. “You just got back?”

“Yeah.” Cheng Yan carried the tray over. Only when she got closer did she notice how pale and abnormal Jun Jianqing’s complexion looked.

Just then, the woman at the desk coughed twice, tilting her head away.

“Are you sick?” Cheng Yan took her hand resting on the desk. It was very cold. Although President Jun’s hands were usually never warm, always keeping a cool temperature, today they felt exceptionally icy.

Her hand was held. Jun Jianqing put down the pen in her right hand and said, unconcerned, “Perhaps.”

Cheng Yan’s gaze swept over the familiar fountain pen. She frowned disapprovingly. “What do you mean, ‘perhaps’? If you’re sick, you need to see a doctor. And if you’re not feeling well, why are you still sitting in the study working? You should be resting early.”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Cheng Yan was surprised. “Huh?”

Jun Jianqing looked listless. “I tried lying in bed. Couldn’t settle my mind to rest.”

Only then did Cheng Yan notice Jun Jianqing was wearing pajamas while working, meaning she had already washed up earlier.

“…That still doesn’t mean you should be in the study working when you know you’re unwell. But why couldn’t you settle your mind? Do you have a fever?”

She leaned closer, reaching out to feel Jun Jianqing’s forehead, but couldn’t really tell anything.

“Did you take your temperature?” she asked, noticing Jun Jianqing’s dark eyes fixed on her steadily. A wordless atmosphere flowed between them. Cheng Yan shifted her gaze away. “Forget it, I’ll go find the thermometer gun. You should check, and also call your family doctor to come take a look.”

She turned to leave.

The moment she turned, her wrist was grabbed. An icy coldness settled on her skin.

“Restless mind. Maybe because the bed is too big?”

Cheng Yan froze. “?”

She detected a faint hint of dependence in those words.

Besides dependence, there seemed to be a touch of habit, too.

Cheng Yan looked back, glancing down. Jun Jianqing’s expression didn’t seem like she was joking. Her face was very pale, her lips colorless, making her dark eyes seem especially earnest in the quiet night.

Her weak physical state amplified that frail aura tenfold tonight.

But the hand gripping her wrist was very tight. Knuckles white, veins bulging. Cheng Yan could even feel a subtle pain.

Cheng Yan didn’t pull away. Instead, she curved her lips into a smile. “What kind of joke is President Jun making? The bed is a normal size.”

Jun Jianqing stared at the nonchalant smile on her face. It floated on the surface, looking like it could be torn away with a strong tug.

“Is that so?”

Cheng Yan said with certainty, “Yes. President Jun, your body must be affecting you. Don’t they say that when people are sick, they tend to overthink all sorts of things? Maybe that’s what’s happening now.”

A concerned expression reappeared on her face, sincere and earnest. “Remember to eat your snack; it’ll get cold if you wait longer. I’ll go find the thermometer gun and be right back.”

“Mm.”

Jun Jianqing responded flatly. Right in front of her, she released Cheng Yan’s hand, turned back, picked up a spoon, took a mouthful of soup, and swallowed.

Seeing this, Cheng Yan smiled reassuringly, then her face filled with worry again as she left the study to find the thermometer gun.

The moment she turned her back to Jun Jianqing and walked out of the study, the multitude of emotions on Cheng Yan’s face dropped away instantly. Her whole face became very blank, very indifferent.

Going downstairs, Aunt Wu was there. Seeing her come down with an expressionless face, she asked worriedly, “Miss Cheng, what’s wrong? Did… President Jun scold you?”

President Jun didn’t like being disturbed while working, but since Miss Cheng moved into the villa, that rule had never applied to her. Plus, there was a precedent for this, so Aunt Wu had asked Cheng Yan to deliver the snack.

But Miss Cheng had gone up with a smile and come down looking completely different. Aunt Wu was a little worried.

She should have known better than to ask Miss Cheng to help.

Cheng Yan saw the misunderstanding and pressed her lips together reassuringly. “It’s nothing. President Jun didn’t scold me. It’s just… I think President Jun seems to be sick. I wanted to ask if you know where the thermometer gun is? I looked where the first-aid kit is but couldn’t find it.”

A stone had just fallen from Aunt Wu’s heart, only to instantly shoot back up. “Thermometer gun? I know where it is. Miss Cheng, I’ll go get it for you.”

After successfully getting the thermometer gun, Cheng Yan asked Aunt Wu, “Do you have the contact info for President Jun’s family doctor here at the villa?”

She’d always heard Jun Jianqing was in poor health, but aside from President Jun’s stamina indeed being lacking, in over two months, Cheng Yan had never seen her sick.

It was the first time she was handling something like this.

Aunt Wu immediately nodded. “Yes, yes. I’ll contact Doctor Jiang right away.”

Cheng Yan: “Okay, I’ll head back up first.”

She returned to the study with the thermometer gun. Noticing the bowl of nourishing soup was already empty, she felt somewhat satisfied.

“Here, let’s check.”

She stood before Jun Jianqing, who was seated. Cheng Yan stood.

She held the thermometer gun in one hand, using the other to gently brush aside the stray hairs on Jun Jianqing’s forehead. Once the pale skin was fully exposed, she brought the thermometer gun close.

“38.9. You definitely have a fever.” Cheng Yan frowned, sighing. “I already asked Aunt Wu to call your family doctor. The doctor should be here soon. President Jun, are you feeling any discomfort now? Like a headache? Dry, painful eyes? Aching limbs? Lack of strength?”

She listed off common fever symptoms one by one. Jun Jianqing shook her head slightly at each, negating them all.

“I can’t really feel anything.”

Truthfully, when you experienced these conditions often enough, your body became immune to such pains. Unless the pain reached a new threshold, Jun Jianqing probably wouldn’t even perceive it.

Cheng Yan looked at her bloodless lips, her brows tightly knit in frustration. “Fine. We’ll wait for a professional doctor. I can’t tell anything either.”

Long illness makes a doctor of the patient. Jun Jianqing knew her own body very well. She consoled Cheng Yan, “It’s nothing. Just some old problems. A few days of rest and it’ll pass.”

Cheng Yan made a sound of acknowledgment. Faced with a sick Jun Jianqing who needed care, she seemed unable to stay idle. “Do you want some hot water? I’ll get you some.”

“No need.” Jun Jianqing stopped her. “Sit down for now. Let’s just wait for the doctor.”

Cheng Yan sat down as told, but her gaze still involuntarily drifted towards Jun Jianqing again and again.

Watching Cheng Yan’s clumsy, inexperienced fussing, Jun Jianqing smiled faintly. “You and the people around you must all be in very good health?”

Cheng Yan made an “Ah” sound, catching her meaning. She nodded in acknowledgement. “Yes. I’ve been especially healthy since I was little. I rarely get sick. Same with the people around me. Occasionally catching a cold or fever, just some medicine and it’s fine.”

Even when they were sick, they probably looked a fraction healthier than Jun Jianqing did on a normal day.

Jun Jianqing: “That’s very good.”

While waiting for the doctor, they chatted idly about this and that—the movie they’d watched together two days ago, Cheng Yan’s studies, trivial things from Jun Jianqing’s university days.

In this slow, meandering conversation, the subtle sense of confrontation from earlier in the study vanished completely, as if it had never existed, never left a mark on their hearts.

Jun Jianqing said, “The car I bought for you has arrived. It’s in the garage. If you go to school tomorrow, you can try driving it.”

Cheng Yan hadn’t expected her to suddenly bring this up. “My reward?”

Jun Jianqing nodded.

Cheng Yan pressed her lips into a smile. “Thank you, President Jun.”

A knock sounded on the study door. It must be the family doctor.

The family doctor, surnamed Jiang, was wearing home clothes and her hair was a bit messy—clearly the look of someone who’d been dragged out of bed on short notice.

Watching her earnestly examine Jun Jianqing, Cheng Yan’s thoughts wandered a little.

She suddenly thought of the “CEO’s doctor friend” trope that always appeared in novels—the one who gets yanked out of bed in the middle of the night, receives the CEO’s summons, and has to rush over immediately.

She wondered if the CEO’s doctor friend was highly paid?

“I pay her a salary. A high one.” Jun Jianqing’s voice suddenly rang out.

Cheng Yan snapped back to reality, a little surprised that President Jun knew what she was thinking just now.

But she had asked President Jun similar questions after reading novels before. Now, seeing her staring blankly at the doctor, it wasn’t strange that President Jun would notice.

A little embarrassed, Cheng Yan said, “I just suddenly thought of that trope.”

Clearly, Doctor Jiang also knew the trope. Her hands moved steadily as she looked up with a light smile. “President Jun’s salary is indeed very generous. So being on call twenty-four hours a day is my duty.”

Cheng Yan nodded and asked, “How is President Jun’s condition?”

Doctor Jiang glanced at Jun Jianqing. Seeing no sign of objection from her, she said gently, “I’ve already administered an injection. President Jun should rest early tonight and take the fever reducer I prescribed on time tomorrow. With a few more days of rest, she should slowly recover.”

Just as Jun Jianqing had said earlier.

“Oh, and remember, during the recovery period, no exercise. Any form of exercise, to avoid hormonal stimulation,” Doctor Jiang emphasized.

Jun Jianqing’s cool gaze settled on Cheng Yan.

Cheng Yan: “?”

Why are you looking at me?