【Host, Host, the Protagonist is trying to run away!】 The System issued beeping alarms in 360° surround sound.
Xun Ji irritably threw a pillow at the air and mumbled sleepily, “Let him run if he wants to. Don’t disturb my sleep.”
【But Host, the Protagonist is prying open your garage door. It looks like he’s trying to steal your car!】
“Steal my car?” Xun Ji froze for a moment before finally struggling to sit up. “Lu Zhou?”
Facts proved that Lu Zhou was indeed trying to steal his car—though it was a bicycle.
“You planned to ride a bicycle to take Lu Ting to the hospital?”
In front of the garage with its broken lock, Xun Ji grabbed the handlebars and looked helplessly at the boy before him.
The small body on his back burned with fever, her breathing rapid. Lu Zhou straddled Xun Ji’s Race-Level Mountain Bike, a flash of embarrassment crossing his eyes.
“There are no buses at this hour. I need to get to a place where I can hail a cab as quickly as possible.”
“So you pried open my garage in the middle of the night to steal my bike?”
Lu Zhou’s hands gripped the handlebars tightly, a faint tremor in his voice. “Xiao Ting has a fever. I should have noticed earlier. I must…”
Xun Ji yanked over the messily tied rope on his back and carefully untied it under the faint light from the Villa.
It looked familiar—like the curtain tie from the guest room in his house. With no rear seat on the mountain bike, Lu Zhou had strapped his sister to his back like luggage.
Lu Zhou fell silent and did not stop Xun Ji’s actions. He merely stared at him with deep black pupils. Xun Ji lifted the barely breathing little girl from Lu Zhou’s back and handed her to the driver and butler who had hurried over upon hearing the commotion.
“Oh dear, she’s burning up this badly. We need to get her to the hospital right away.” Uncle Li touched Lu Ting’s sweaty forehead.
“Brother Wang, take Xiao Ting to the car. Uncle Li, grab a thicker blanket and fill a thermos with hot water,” Xun Ji instructed.
He then pointed at Lu Zhou, who was still rooted to the mountain bike. “You come with me. We’re going to change clothes right now.”
Both of them were still in their pajamas.
The pitch-black night pressed gently down on them. Amid the silence of all things, only one luxurious Villa faintly emitted a glow. That light washed away the shadows on the tall boy walking ahead, revealing the original golden sheen of his hair tips.
The black night manipulated Lu Zhou’s body, drawing it irresistibly toward that golden glow.
*
“Acute pneumonia caused by a virus. We’ve administered medication and stabilized her, but she’ll need to stay for observation for a few days.” The doctor handed a medical record to Lu Zhou, displeasure evident in his eyes.
“Did you give her medicine during the day? This is a viral infection, but you gave her something for bacterial infections. The wrong medication not only didn’t help the patient but worsened her condition like this. She’s so young—delayed treatment can be very dangerous.”
Red veins threaded Lu Zhou’s eyes as he said softly, “I’m sorry. I should have brought her to the hospital sooner. It’s my fault.”
After school, he had sorted the moving items alone and neglected Lu Ting until she said she felt unwell. Only then did he realize she had a fever. But with his mind full of finalizing the move, he assumed it was just a common cold and took her to a nearby clinic for some cold medicine. It wasn’t until he couldn’t sleep at midnight and checked on her that he found her burning up and on the brink of death.
Lu Zhou could hardly describe his feelings at that moment.
With Mom gone, he was supposed to protect his sister and take care of her. Yet he couldn’t even handle something as simple as taking her to the doctor, and in his panic, he had pried open Xun Ji’s garage.
Lu Zhou walked through the clean, bright corridor and pushed open Lu Ting’s ward door.
After a hectic half-night, dawn had broken outside, but the room still had thick curtains drawn, with only a few warm yellow wall lamps lit.
Lu Ting lay properly on the hospital bed, her breathing steady as she slept.
On the genuine leather sofa beside her sprawled a figure.
Xun Ji’s long legs were bent on the sofa, his head pillowed on the armrest—neither sitting nor lying properly. He held his Mobile Phone in his hands, clearly playing a game. When the battle intensified and he wanted to curse, he remembered it was a hospital room and held back.
“The doctor said Xiao Ting’s condition has stabilized, but she needs a few days of hospital observation,” Lu Zhou said, unsure why he was reporting this to Xun Ji.
“Mm.” Xun Ji ignored him, his fingers flying across the screen.
Lu Zhou fell silent for a moment before saying, “This room is too expensive. I want to switch to a standard ward.”
“Why?” Xun Ji glanced at him puzzledly, then quickly returned to his phone screen. “You’re not paying for it.”
【Ding! Daily Tasks completed: Humiliate the Protagonist. Reward: 10 Points.】
Hm? Xun Ji paused his hands. There was such a good thing?
Deep fatigue welled in Lu Zhou’s eyes. “I’ll add the cost to my previous debt and pay you back all at once later.”