It fell from his fingertips

When Tang Luoqing woke up again, her head was still dizzy.

She slowly opened her eyes. Before her was an unfamiliar ceiling, and a simple floor lamp stood by the bedside, its warm light dimmed.

The mattress beneath me was just the right amount of soft, and the blanket exuded a familiar, fresh scent—clean and refreshing.

Tang Luoqing's memory is stuck on the roadside in the pouring rain, the blinding headlights of cars, an open umbrella, and a tall figure walking quickly towards her...

Is it... Zhou Jinbai?

Tang Luoqing's heart skipped a beat. She tried to sit up by supporting herself on her arms, but as soon as she raised half of her body, everything went black and she fell heavily back onto the pillow.

I could still feel a slight foreign object in my left wrist. Looking down, I saw medical tape on the back of my hand, with an IV tube and a drip bag on it.

Her clothes seemed to have been changed; she was now wearing a beige shirt.

At that moment, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Zhou Jinbai walked in.

The man changed into a dark blue loungewear set, which made him look less sharp and more relaxed at home.

Zhou Jinbai held a thermometer in his hand, his fingers with distinct knuckles, and he walked very lightly, clearly afraid of disturbing Tang Luoqing.

When he met Tang Luoqing's gaze as she woke up, the man paused slightly before walking to the bedside.

"I'm sorry I brought you back without asking first. You were delirious with fever at the time, so I couldn't take you home. As for the clothes you were wearing, the housekeeper helped change them."

"Secondly, your fever is 39.2 degrees Celsius, and you've just finished half a bottle of fever reducer. Even if you want to leave, you have to wait until the IV drip is finished."

Zhou Jinbai's voice was low, carrying the composure typical of the president of the Zhou Group.

In just a few simple words, Tang Luoqing's current state was explained clearly.

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing looked up at him, her throat tightening. After a long while, she finally managed to utter two words in a hoarse voice: "Thank you."

The girl's face was very pale, and her lips were almost bloodless, which made the pale red at the corners of her eyes stand out even more, and made her look especially pitiful.

Zhou Jinbai withdrew his gaze and placed the thermometer on the bedside table, indicating that Tang Luoqing should measure her own temperature.

The man's long eyelashes drooped, concealing the turbulent emotions in his eyes. When he spoke again, his tone was slightly hoarse: "At the coffee shop earlier, I said I would return to Zhou Yanchen's seat."

At this point, Zhou Jinbai paused slightly, looked up at him, and his gaze was as deep as a night of rain: "But the premise of that agreement is that he can treat you well."

Tang Luoqing was taken aback.

She hadn't expected Zhou Jinbai to suddenly bring this up. Thinking about how he had asked the little girl to bring her tissues, Tang Luoqing felt a little lost and didn't know what to say.

Zhou Jinbai remained silent for a moment, staring at Tang Luoqing's pale profile, his fingertips curling slightly at his side.

When he bumped into her by chance by the river, he had no idea that Tang Luoqing would go to the cemetery. Watching her walk down the mountain in the rain, seeing her all alone in the rain, every step felt like stepping on Zhou Jinbai's heart.

"He didn't do what he was supposed to do, so if... you're still willing to give him another chance, I'll talk to him and get him to change his ways and treat you better from now on."

At this point, Zhou Jinbai's prominent Adam's apple bobbed slowly as he solemnly added, "If he makes you sad again, I'm afraid... it will be difficult for me to keep my promise."

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing looked up and met Zhou Jinbai's unusually serious gaze.

Knowing that Zhou Jinbai was serious, Tang Luoqing felt a surge of complex emotions welling up in her heart despite his intense gaze.

But the matter between her and Zhou Yanchen was ultimately their own affair, and she didn't want to drag others into it, especially not Zhou Jinbai.

Tang Luoqing then looked away from the other person's burning gaze, deliberately making her tone more distant: "No, no need. This is between Zhou Yanchen and me, so I won't trouble you, brother."

No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Sir, the ginger soup is ready."

The maid's voice came from outside the door.

"Come in."

Zhou Jinbai stepped aside, and the maid came in with a steaming bowl of ginger soup, placed it on the bedside table, and then quietly withdrew.

The aroma of ginger mixed with brown sugar filled the air. Tang Luoqing moved her fingers, wanting to reach for the bowl, but her arms were too weak to lift it.

The next second, her well-defined hand picked up the bowl before she could.

Zhou Jinbai pulled up a chair and sat on the edge of the bed, keeping an arm's length distance between himself and Tang Luoqing, maintaining a perfect sense of propriety.

He held the bowl in one hand and picked up a porcelain spoon in the other, scooped up half a spoonful of ginger soup, blew on it before slowly bringing it to her lips.

Tang Luoqing paused slightly, then looked up and met Zhou Jinbai's calm eyes.

The man's dark eyes were deep and unreadable, revealing no extraneous emotions.

Tang Luoqing hesitated for a moment, but finally leaned forward and took a small sip of the ginger soup from the man's hand.

The spicy warmth slid down his throat, warming him all the way to his stomach. As he lowered his head to drink the soup, a few stray hairs from Tang Luoqing's forehead brushed against the back of Zhou Jinbai's hand, tickling him.

Zhou Jinbai's fingertips stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment, but he didn't withdraw his hand. He continued to feed her spoonful by spoonful as always, without saying another word throughout the process.

The bowl of ginger soup was quickly emptied.

After finishing the ginger soup, Tang Luoqing thanked him again, but dared not look at Zhou Jinbai again.

Zhou Jinbai, holding the bowl, took a deep look at the girl on the bed, nodded, and left the room.

The door closed, and Tang Luoqing stared blankly at the liquid in the IV drip.

After an unknown amount of time, a heavy drowsiness swept over her, and Tang Luoqing couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep again.

A few minutes later, Zhou Jinbai quietly pushed open the door and walked in.

First, Zhou Jinbai picked up the forehead thermometer and measured Tang Luoqing's temperature. It was 37.8 degrees Celsius, indicating that the temperature was dropping. Zhou Jinbai breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, Tang Luoqing's cell phone, which was on the bedside table, suddenly rang with a piercing ringtone. It was a call from Zhou Yanchen.

Zhou Jinbai frowned and immediately looked at the girl sleeping on the bed. Seeing that she hadn't been woken up, he reached for his phone, tapped the screen, and silenced it.

For the next half hour, Zhou Yanchen's calls came in one after another. The screen lit up and dimmed, then dimmed and lit up again. Zhou Jinbai sat on the chair by the bed, flipping through the documents in his hand, until the last call was automatically disconnected and the phone went completely silent. Only then did Zhou Jinbai pick up the phone again and turn the ringtone back to normal.

After doing all this, he put down Tang Luoqing's phone and his gaze returned to the sleeping girl's face.

Tang Luoqing seemed to be sleeping restlessly, her brows furrowed, as if she had a bad dream.

Zhou Jinbai raised his hand, his fingertips hovering a few centimeters above the girl's brow, wanting to smooth out the wrinkles. But just before touching Tang Luoqing's skin, the man's knuckles curled up, and he withdrew his hand.

Immediately, Zhou Jinbai stood up, quietly closed the door, and left the bedroom.

·

When Tang Luoqing woke up again, it was already completely dark. Only the moonlight hanging high outside the window shone into the bedroom, giving the large room a dim light.

Tang Luoqing waited for a while before turning on the bedside lamp.

Warm light filled the room. She moved her left hand and saw that the needle in the back of her hand had been removed.

At the same time, Tang Luoqing felt that most of the soreness and heaviness in her body had dissipated, and her mind had become much clearer.

She picked up her phone, turned on the screen, and saw it was 8:17 PM.

Several missed call notifications were piled up at the top of the screen, all of them from Zhou Yanchen, the latest one being from just two minutes ago.

As I was looking at my phone, the screen lit up again; it was still Zhou Yanchen.

Tang Luoqing stared at the screen for a few seconds, her brows furrowed slightly, her fingers tightened, and she pressed the reject button without hesitation.

She didn't want to talk to Zhou Yanchen right now, nor did she want to listen to him.

Because Tang Luoqing didn't know which of Zhou Yanchen's words were true and which were false.

The screen gradually dimmed. Tang Luoqing sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then threw off the covers and got out of bed.

Tang Luoqing opened the door and went to the second-floor railing. At a glance, she saw the man in the living room.

Zhou Jinbai sat on the sofa with several documents spread out in front of him. The light from the floor lamp fell on his profile, outlining his hard jawline.

He held a fountain pen in his hand, his fingertips tapping on the paper, his expression focused. Hearing a sound, he slowly raised his head.

The two locked eyes.

The living room was quiet, with only the ticking of the wall clock.

"woke up?"

As Zhou Jinbai watched Tang Luoqing walk down the stairs step by step, her steps normal and she showed no signs of weakness, the man's tense body gradually relaxed.

He placed the pen and documents on the coffee table, stood up from the sofa, and watched Tang Luoqing approach. His voice was calm and emotionless: "How are you feeling?"

"fine."

Tang Luoqing had already come down to the first floor. She walked a few steps to the sofa and thanked Zhou Jinbai sincerely: "Today... I really troubled you and bothered you for so long. I'll go back now."

Zhou Jinbai nodded slightly and uttered four words: "Be careful."

The man's tone was flat, as if he were giving instructions to any ordinary customer, without revealing any extra emotion.

Tang Luoqing hummed in agreement, walked to the door, opened it, and went out.

The rain had stopped, and a summer evening breeze was blowing, making it a bit stuffy. Fortunately, Tang Luoqing had just recovered from her fever, so the breeze felt much more comfortable.

She walked to the entrance of the residential area, hailed a taxi, and gave them the address of Yujingwan.

As the car slowly drove away, Tang Luoqing leaned against the window, watching the scenery rushing by outside. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, and she couldn't quite describe the feeling.

Unbeknownst to her, less than a minute after the taxi she was in drove away, a discreet black car slowly drove out of the residential area she had just left, following behind the taxi at a leisurely distance.

In the back row, Zhou Jinbai was flipping through documents.

Only when the car stopped at the entrance of Yujingwan residential area and Tang Luoqing opened the car door and safely walked into the gate did he look away.

The carriage was silent.

After a long while, Zhou Jinbai watched the slender figure gradually disappear at the entrance of the residential area and said in a calm tone, "Drive."

The driver started the car, and it slowly turned around and drove into the night.