The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

Seeing that although his face was a little pale, his eyes were bright and he looked quite energetic, not at all like the person she had imagined, Qiao Xinxin finally breathed a long, heavy sigh of relief. The heart that had been hanging in her throat finally settled back into her stomach.

She walked quickly over, sat down on a wooden chair next to the hospital bed, and placed the cloth bag she was carrying on the bedside table next to it.

"It's good that you're awake." Qiao Xinxin looked at him, her brows furrowing slightly, her tone filled with undisguised worry and a hint of reproachful concern. "I ran into some soldiers from your battalion outside in the corridor just now. They said you lost a lot of blood, your entire back was stained red. I was terrified, you know? How could you be like this? You don't even care about your life in battle? You're so irresponsible!"

Looking at her slightly furrowed delicate brows and listening to her words, which carried a hint of coquettishness and complaint, Lu Baizhou felt not annoyed at all, but rather as soft as a ball of cotton.

She's feeling sorry for him!

However, Lu Baizhou's eyes lit up and a wicked idea popped into his head.

Unlike when he faced the soldiers earlier, he didn't pat his chest and boast that he was fine. Instead, he deliberately frowned deeply, pretending to be in excruciating pain.

He used his uninjured left hand to gently brace himself against the edge of the bed, the movement extremely slow and laborious, as if he were using all his strength. He even let out a weak groan: "Hmm... I did lose a lot of blood. The bullet went deep, damaging a major blood vessel. I... I feel so dizzy right now, my vision is blurring, and I have absolutely no strength left."

As he spoke, he deliberately closed his eyes halfway, pretending that he was about to faint at any moment.

When Qiao Xinxin saw his weak and painful appearance, she instantly forgot all her previous scolding and was filled with tension and heartache.

She quickly stood up, as if protecting some fragile porcelain, and carefully reached out with both hands to support his uninjured left arm, saying anxiously, "Oh dear! Don't move! The doctor said you absolutely cannot move now, you must lie down and rest! Although the medicine has stopped the bleeding from your wound, you have lost too much blood and your body is very weak. You need to rest slowly to recover. Quickly, lean on me properly."

Lu Baizhou was overjoyed, but his face still showed a weak and exhausted expression. Following Qiao Xinxin's support, he obediently and limply leaned back against the soft pillow behind him.

However, instead of withdrawing his left hand, he took the initiative and grabbed Qiao Xinxin's soft, slender hand, holding it tightly in his palm and refusing to let go.

He slightly raised his eyelids and stared straight at Qiao Xinxin with a pitiful look, a look that he would never normally show in a vulnerable manner.

"Xin Xin..." Lu Baizhou's voice sounded a little hoarse, with a hint of grievance, "I'm a little hungry. I haven't had a drop of water since last night. But the cafeteria's meals for patients haven't been delivered yet. Could you... could you get me something to eat? I feel so hungry I can barely breathe."

Qiao Xinxin's cheeks flushed slightly as he held her hand. Hearing him plead so pitifully that he was hungry, how could she possibly refuse?

She nodded quickly and said softly, "Okay, okay, don't worry, just lie still and don't move. Wait here, I'll go to the hospital cafeteria right now and see if they have any light, liquid foods that are suitable for you right now, and I'll buy them for you."

As she spoke, she tried to pull her hand away and get up to leave.

"Hey, wait a minute." Lu Baizhou pulled her back with a forceful pull.

Qiao Xinxin turned to look at him, puzzled. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Lu Baizhou shook his head and pointed to the corner of the bedside table: "No need to go through the trouble of going to the cafeteria. Look, there's food in that red thermos next to my bed. It's some millet porridge that the nurse on duty brought this morning. It's been kept warm in the thermos, so it's perfect to eat now."

Qiao Xinxin looked in the direction he was pointing and sure enough, she saw a red plastic thermos in the corner of the bedside table. She had seen the thermos when she came in because she was too anxious to see him, but she only thought it contained hot water. She didn't expect it to contain porridge.

"Oh, there's porridge! That's great!"

Qiao Xinxin walked over and reached out to unscrew the cork cap of the thermos. Instantly, a light and sweet aroma of rice porridge, accompanied by warm steam, wafted out from the bottle opening, making one's mouth water.

She found a clean white porcelain bowl in the cabinet next to her and carefully poured a bowl of porridge from the thermos. The porridge was cooked until very soft and thick, with a thick layer of nutritious rice oil floating on top.

Qiao Xinxin carried the bowl of steaming porridge and turned back to the bedside.

However, when she walked to the bedside, she found that Lu Baizhou was still comfortably leaning against the pillow, with both hands on the quilt, showing no intention of reaching out to take the bowl.

He looked at her with his deep eyes and said matter-of-factly, "Xin Xin, look at my right shoulder, it's been shot through and wrapped in such thick bandages, I can't use it at all. As for my left hand, it's fine for holding a gun, but it's too clumsy and inconvenient to use it to eat porridge with a spoon. If I were to hold the bowl myself, I would definitely spill it all over the bed, and then the nurse would have to come and change the sheets."

He paused, his eyes becoming even more innocent and pitiful: "So... could you feed me? Otherwise, I can't eat this bowl of porridge myself, and I'll just have to go hungry."

Qiao Xinxin stood by the bed, holding the steaming bowl of porridge, looking down at him.

She didn't speak immediately, but instead scrutinized the man in front of her from head to toe with a critical look.

She's not stupid; how could she not see that this person was pretending to be pitiful?

She had clearly heard him outside in the corridor, loudly reprimanding those soldiers in the ward! His voice was so clear that it could be heard throughout the entire corridor; he showed no sign of weakness whatsoever. Now that those soldiers were gone, he couldn't even lift a light porcelain bowl? His change of expression was faster than turning the pages of a book!

Qiao Xinxin chuckled inwardly, and was about to speak up and mercilessly expose his clumsy acting.

However, when her gaze fell on the thick gauze on Lu Baizhou's right shoulder, which even faintly revealed a trace of blood, she swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue.