“Xiao Yuanmu?” Song Xuanhe patted the other gently on the face. The sensation beneath his palm was ice-cold. When he saw the other’s eyelashes tremble slightly, he promptly said, “Where does it hurt? I’ll help you to your bed and call the doctor over. Bear with it for a bit.”
Xiao Yuanmu’s eyes opened slightly. Even though he was feeling weak, the cold in his eyes hadn’t lessened in the least. In fact, it was even chillier than normal. It was like something had sent ripples across a serene lake, only for the lake to be suddenly encased in a layer of ice and snow. Beneath that ice was endless vigilance and darkness. mJ2zOW
“No need.” His voice was calm. He brushed off Song Xuanhe’s hand that had been on his waist and slowly straightened his back. Aside from the dark, icy gaze in his eyes and his overly pale face, you wouldn’t have thought that he had collapsed just now. There were no signs of him feeling uncomfortable anywhere either.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Xiao Yuanmu had just fallen against him and that he had touched the other’s cold, wet forehead with his fingertips just now, Song Xuanhe would have been deceived by this serene act.
“You’re not feeling well. But, it doesn’t seem like you have a fever.” Song Xuanhe’s gaze shifted from the other’s tense jaw to his frosty eyes. He calmly said, “You nearly fainted just now. We have to call the doctor.”
The chill in Xiao Yuanmu’s eyes intensified with every word Song Xuanhe uttered. His voice was even colder than before, but there was also a trace of hoarseness from his lack of strength. He spoke in a halting manner, “I. Said. There’s. No. Need.” b7pzlm
He lifted his chin. With his gaze slightly lowered towards Song Xuanhe, the frigid, stifling aura around him could no longer be repressed. In a very oppressing voice, he said, “Leave now. Don’t appear in front of me again until tomorrow morning.”
Song Xuanhe didn’t budge. He simply pulled out his phone and made a call.
Xiao Yuanmu raised his hand, wanting to slap the phone out of the other’s hand. His tone was stern. “Did you not hear what I just said?”
“I heard you.” Song Xuanhe avoided him. As he noticed Xiao Yuanmu’s increasingly paling face, he barked back coldly, “Who said that I have to listen to you?” 1MA3iQ
This interlude didn’t affect his actions either. His call went through to the hotel’s emergency line right away. He was about to tell the butler to bring a doctor over right away, but Xiao Yuanmu took the phone from him. His cold fingers trembled slightly as they brushed against Song Xuanhe’s.
“Song Xuanhe….”
It looked like stealing the phone from him had taken up the last of Xiao Yuanmu’s energy. He suddenly staggered back. He couldn’t help but cover his stomach with his hand. His pale lips pressed into a straight line, and a sickly pallor slowly took over his complexion. Despite this, his back didn’t dip down at all, remaining as ram-rod straight as ever. He was determined not to show any weakness.
One hand was on his stomach while the other was tightly holding onto Song Xuanhe’s phone. Although his fingers were clenched so hard that they had turned white, his tone was still as calm as ever. He even added another statement, “My stomach is unwell. It’s chronic. I’ll be fine after resting for a while. Don’t bother me.” FYtNoO
Song Xuanhe continued to stare at him. The System had told him about Xiao Yuanmu’s situation just now: his irregular workrest schedule and his consecutive all-nighters combined into a low-grade fever. His exhaustion and emotional fluctuations had resulted in stress-induced stomach cramps.
Song Xuanhe had never had stomach cramps before. However, he had suffered from alcoholic gastritis because of excessive drinking before. He remembered the occasional sharp, twisting pain and that difficult-to-endure sensation of feeling bloated and achy. Back then, there had been a forty-something-year-old man in the same emergency room as him. That man had also been experiencing extreme stomach cramps. He had been curled up on the bed, trembling and howling. He had alternated between shouting and vomiting. It had seemed like he would faint from the pain at any time.
Song Xuanhe had always been afraid of pain ever since he had been young. He had remembered being so shocked by that patient that his own pain had seemed to subside. He had then asked the doctor, “What is wrong with him? Is there something wrong with his organs?”
The doctor had only glanced at him calmly and replied, “Severe stomach cramps.” bDwFTn
“Do they hurt?”
“Are you hurting right now?” The doctor asked him.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Song Xuanhe naturally nodded. The doctor then laughed. “They hurt ten times as much as you’re hurting right now.”
From that day on, Song Xuanhe had completely changed his messy lifestyle. He had eaten three meals a day at fixed times and had stopped drinking heavily. The tragic image of that stomach cramp patient had been firmly etched into his brain. K6F4R3
Looking at the seemingly calm Xiao Yuanmu right now, Song Xuanhe’s hanging hand suddenly twitched. All of a sudden, his chest hurt.
What kind of frightening pain had Xiao Yuanmu gone through to be able to remain calm and composed when enduring pain that would make anyone else roll around, shout, and cry? Meanwhile, he didn’t act any differently. How many difficulties had he overcome to be able to maintain such a strong, indifferent facade at all times? Even when he was in so much pain that he had broken out into a cold sweat, he wasn’t willing to let anyone see even a hint of weakness.
Suddenly, Song Xuanhe understood why Xiao Yuanmu had been rejecting his help. At the same time, he found himself incapable of breaking the other’s hard shell. He didn’t want to cause the other to bleed just to settle his own heart.
Song Xuanhe took a step back. He glanced at Xiao Yuanmu, who was currently as white as a blank piece of paper, before looking away. He pretended to believe the other. “If that’s the case, I won’t bother you anymore. Go back and rest in your room. But, I’m going to put a bowl of congee and some water in your room. After all, the kitchen worked hard to make it. You won’t refuse this, right?” i2MOlI
Song Xuanhe nodded and then immediately went to bring the congee over onto the bedside table in Xiao Yuanmu’s room. He also brought in a thermos of hot water. Afterwards, he glanced at Xiao Yuanmu, who had been standing at the door with a hand over his stomach the whole time. He pursed his lips slightly. “I won’t bother you anymore. Rest.”
As soon as he saw Song Xuanhe considerately close his door, Xiao Yuanmu’s back, which he had been forcing to stay straight, bent over. Hand over his stomach, he slipped to the floor. The cold sweat on his forehead was dripping down and falling onto his black suit pants, disappearing without a trace. HC9dQY
A long time passed before the pain finally subsided a bit. There were no sounds of movement outside. Xiao Yuanmu shifted from his position on the ground—curled up with his arms around his stomach—and locked the door. He then grabbed onto the door’s copper handle and slowly stood up.
He had already been doing his best to straighten his back, but the pain emanating from his stomach forced him to bend over again. After reaching the bed, he let go and allowed himself to fall heavily onto the mattress.
Before closing his eyes, Xiao Yuanmu’s gaze had shifted from the congee and thermos to the wall. He then stared at the wall for a moment as he waited for the dusky colours in front of him to disappear. He then shut his eyes and tried to endure the familiar pain.
A slightly cold smile appeared on Xiao Yuanmu’s lips. This was…the most profound gift that his biological family had given him. HIPGaf
As the pain increased, a trickle of blood fell from Xiao Yuanmu’s lips as he bit on them even harder. However, his mind was clearer than ever before. He had felt like things had constantly been out of his control after his second rebirth. But with the return of this chronic illness from his previous life, it felt like control was gradually returning to him. The hesitation and infatuation he felt were also being slowly driven out.
The Xiao Family. That was his ultimate goal.
Song Xuanhe didn’t return to his room. He stayed in the living room, perpetually ready to react if anything else were to happen to Xiao Yuanmu.
The System saw that Song Xuanhe was silent and that there was a never-before-seen complicated expression on the other’s face. It couldn’t help but say：【Even if you had brought him to the hospital, there isn’t any way for them to treat stress-induced stomach cramps. They would only be able to help dull the pain. Besides, it’s just a low-grade fever. You don’t have to worry. 】 Rz5DZv
Song Xuanhe knew this. If it hadn’t been because he understood this, he would have never let Xiao Yuanmu go back into that room on his own. It was just that he had suddenly thought of something. Would Xiao Yuanmu truly be happy if he went back to the Xiao Family?
From the contents of the book, he knew that Xiao Yuanmu was crafty and skilled. Regardless of whether it was with business or the Xiao Family, he was able to handle it all with skill and ease. But…had he been happy?
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Song Xuanhe had never thought about this before. The readers of the book had probably never thought of this before either.
Xiao Yuanmu in the book had found his biological parents, taken back his noble identity, taken revenge on the people who had offended him before, and had become the Xiao Family Head who everyone looked up to in the end. br 7I5
When he had read all of this in the book, Song Xuanhe had naturally thought that Xiao Yuanmu must have been happy. As an orphan, he should have been happy to finally be with his parents again. As someone who used to be on the bottom rungs of society, he should have been happy that he had become the successor of a massive corporation. He should have been happy to personally take revenge on all of his enemies….
But, the author had never said whether or not Xiao Yuanmu had been happy. All he had said was that, after Xiao Yuanmu had been reborn, he had come to possess everything mortals yearned for. Anything and everything that humans would scrabble madly for were easily attainable for him. Everything he had once lacked was now made up with the best of the best.
That had been why Song Xuanhe and the other readers had thought Xiao Yuanmu had been happy.
But if he had been happy, why had Xiao Yuanmu still been so gloomy and cold even in the story’s late stages? Had it really been the things Song Xuanhe had done prior to his rebirth that had made him permanently cold? zgZN5C
Song Xuanhe covered his eyes. When the light disappeared, he felt like he could hear the muffled moans from Xiao Yuanmu through the walls as he endured the pain. They were weak and faintly audible—like he was an injured cub that had been forced back into a corner by the darkness, only to be helpless as the darkness’s vines continued to lash out and take away its last breath.
【Song Xuanhe!】
The System’s voice suddenly rang in his head, drawing Song Xuanhe out of his thoughts.
【What’s wrong?】 VX98Fx
【What were you thinking about just now?】For the first time, the System’s tone was solemn. It said：【Abnormalities had suddenly appeared in the data pertaining to the completion progress status for this world’s central mission. This means that you suddenly had had an intense desire to destroy a crucial part of the plot. If you don’t control your thoughts and actually end up doing something like that, the main System will immediately sense it. At that time, your mission would be forcefully terminated. In that case, because you would be judged as having had made the most grave of violations, you won’t even be given the chance to live out the rest of your life in your original body. Your soul would immediately be destroyed on the spot.】
The System said：【Song Xuanhe, do not act presumptuously. Do not treat your life like it’s a joke.】
Song Xuanhe quietly listened to the System. He didn’t lift the hand over his eyes, but he had already opened his eyes. Light from the chandelier above him trickled in through the cracks between his fingers, but for some reason, it currently reminded him of darkness. It felt like the light was turning him blind.
【Song Xuanhe?】The System called his name again, this time with concern in its voice：【Please think this through. Think about it, the plot regarding Xiao Yuanmu causing your tragic death with his words won’t happen anymore. All you have to do is quietly stay in this world for another year and a half, and then, you’ll be able to return to your original world with a healthy body! Don’t make a mistake because of a moment of impulsiveness!】 yklvf4