TLDMDTBS Chapter 50

Chapter 50

“Hug me.”

Hmm, it sounds like a request that’s extremely docile and gentle, impossible to resist.

Ji Ruan’s body temperature is very low.

He was originally the type whose hands and feet were cold year-round, and after losing so much blood in this incident, his body was completely depleted, making him feel even more like a little ice cube.

But when he buried his face in Gu Xiuyi’s shoulder, rubbing his cheek against Gu Xiuyi’s neck, Gu Xiuyi felt it was very hot, as if his nerve endings were ignited by the contact, and his blood seemed to boil.

He forced down the excitement in his heart, feeling both sour and heartbroken, and carefully wrapped his arms around Ji Ruan, holding him completely in his embrace.

Ji Ruan’s shoulders and back were slender and lacked weight; holding him this way, Gu Xiuyi could cover him tightly.

Ji Ruan clearly enjoyed the hug; he moved lightly in Gu Xiuyi’s arms and then let out a satisfied sigh.

In late April, the weather outside was bright and sunny; the girls on the street had already put on pretty little dresses, but the air conditioning in the hospital room was still blowing warm air.

Gu Xiuyi carefully sensed Ji Ruan’s body temperature, patting his back and softly asking, “Are you still cold?”

But there was no answer.

Gu Xiuyi was afraid he hadn’t heard clearly and leaned in to ask again.

The hospital room was silent, the sound of the humidifier bubbling clearly audible, yet there was no response from Ji Ruan.

Gu Xiuyi’s heart began to panic.

“Ji Ruan?”

“Ji Ruan… sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

What responded to him was a heavy slump of Ji Ruan’s shoulder.

Gu Xiuyi was almost driven mad, memories of Ji Ruan lying quietly and silently in his arms while in the ambulance surged back, fear overwhelming him.

·

Ten minutes later.

The outside of the hospital room was packed with doctors, and the inside was eerily quiet.

An awkward atmosphere filled the air.

Gu Xiuyi’s frantic actions just now had almost alarmed the entire floor of rooms, with some plastered patients struggling to come out to see the commotion.

The calm and composed head doctor hurried in with a group of doctors, looking as if they were facing a great enemy.

But the final examination result was simply that Ji Ruan had fallen asleep again.

The doctor looked at the man in front of him, whose complexion had not completely recovered and still looked murderous, cleared his throat, racked his brains for the right words, and tried to help him understand that his lover was just asleep, not in a coma, and that the situation was good with no complications.

“It’s already quite remarkable that he could stay awake for so long when he first woke up. This shows that his condition is quite good. Patients in such poor shape need to sleep and rest more to recover well…”

The doctor hesitated, then patted Gu Xiuyi’s shoulder: “Relax a bit, young man. The emotions of family members can also influence the patient. Don’t look too nervous.”

Gu Xiuyi: “…”

Gu Xiuyi nodded seriously, his expression grave.

The patients and their families who had come out to see the excitement, realizing nothing was happening, quickly scattered.

Yet the atmosphere on-site didn’t improve much; it was still filled with an awkward silence.

In the team of doctors led by the head doctor, someone suddenly chuckled, trying to lighten the mood: “It’s all good, as long as he’s fine, that’s a big good thing, haha…”

A second or two later, everyone joined in the laughter, filling the air with a cheerful atmosphere.

It turned out to be a false alarm. Ji Ruan had only slept for two hours, just in time to drink the rib soup that Aunt Zhao had made.

A weak person’s need for sleep is greater than that of a normal person; this is common knowledge to many, but not in Gu Xiuyi’s understanding.

Gu Xiuyi himself woke up at five or six every morning to exercise, didn’t go to sleep until midnight if he wasn’t working overtime, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it—he had never seriously thought about the importance of sleep for the human body in thirty years of life.

After the nurse who came to remove Ji Ruan’s IV told Aunt Zhao about this, it became her joke for a month, and she generously shared it with her good friend—Aunt Fang, who had just been diagnosed with diabetes and was feeling down. Aunt Fang laughed heartily all day, and her mood and health improved considerably.

As a result, Li Sui’an even sent a thank-you message, saying it was all thanks to Gu Xiuyi’s selfless dedication, leaving behind such a heartfelt legendary story that could be passed down from mouth to mouth at the Gu family annual meeting for decades, showcasing the deep and touching love between their chairman and his wife.

Of course, the most important thing was that Aunt Fang felt much better after hearing this, and the dining table at Li Sui’an’s home finally saw some oil again.

When Gu Xiuyi learned of this, he didn’t respond; instead, he calmly went to the company’s internal forum, deleted a few posts, and banned a couple of accounts.

Then he clicked to exit, opened his phone, found Li Sui’an’s pretentious WeChat profile picture, clicked—add to blacklist.

Li Sui’an was only released when Gu Xiuyi took Ji Ruan back to get his external device later.

At this moment, Gu Xiuyi was feeding the soft Ji Ruan who had just woken up rib soup.

Aunt Zhao came in, first pulling Ji Ruan to comfort him sympathetically. When she learned about the earlier misunderstanding caused by Gu Xiuyi, she wiped her tears, sat down on a nearby chair, and now was busy typing away on her phone without speaking, occasionally laughing.

Gu Xiuyi didn’t care about the elderly’s entertainment; his heart and eyes were filled with Ji Ruan. Even if Aunt Zhao said she had found a second spring, Gu Xiuyi probably wouldn’t react much, just slightly considering how to help her organize a wedding banquet.

Aunt Zhao’s rib soup was rich and thick, extracting all the essence from the bones. When she opened the lid, the entire room was filled with a savory aroma.

Ji Ruan sipped the soup that Gu Xiuyi was feeding him while pondering what the nurse who had come to remove his IV said earlier.

He had poor hearing, and whether he had the external device or not, everything sounded hazy, but what the nurse said seemed particularly interesting. Aunt Zhao had initially held his hand, looking like she would cry, but upon hearing those words, she seemed perfectly fine and now was in the mood to chat.

Ji Ruan really wanted to know if the nurse was saying his health was improving, which was why Aunt Zhao was so happy, but when he asked Gu Xiuyi, Gu Xiuyi didn’t tell him, just said it had nothing to do with him and told him to eat well.

Ji Ruan always felt a bit dazed and, after sipping a few mouthfuls of soup, lowered his head a bit weakly.

Seeing this, Gu Xiuyi put the soup bowl back on the small table and touched Ji Ruan’s stomach: “What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

The doctor had said that after a long period of fasting, the first meal might stimulate the intestines and stomach, but he believed he had been careful while feeding Ji Ruan.

Could there still be a problem?

Gu Xiuyi’s brows furrowed tightly.

Ji Ruan sighed, pulled away Gu Xiuyi’s hand gently, and shook his head.

“Then what is it?” Gu Xiuyi was anxious inside but could only ask gently.

Ji Ruan looked up at him, his eyes filled with worry: “Do you think… bleeding affects IQ?”

“……?”

Gu Xiuyi was stunned.

His lips moved, feeling like he had a lot to say, but suddenly felt at a loss for words.

After a long while, Gu Xiuyi managed to press his lips together, considering his words: “You… um… why would you think that, sweetheart?”

Ji Ruan’s expression was far from joking; his delicate brows were furrowed, his cheeks puffed up, seemingly seriously pondering this question.

So cute that Gu Xiuyi wanted to kiss him.

He pointed to his own temple, his finger pale, and said earnestly: “I feel like my head is so dumb now, I can’t understand things… and I can’t think clearly.”

Gu Xiuyi never expected to hear such an adorable response in his lifetime, and his lips couldn’t help but twitch, which he quickly suppressed.

He held Ji Ruan’s hand, gently pinching that pale finger: “It won’t, sweetheart.”

Ji Ruan’s big eyes were still filled with worry.

Gu Xiuyi could no longer hold back. He pulled Ji Ruan into his arms and, where Ji Ruan couldn’t see, smiled with his eyes squinted:

“It won’t affect IQ. It’s just that your hearing is poor right now and your spirit is too weak, which makes it feel difficult to communicate. We can slowly take our time to recover.”

Ji Ruan took quite a while to comprehend this statement, and he felt even dumber, anxiously asking: “Really?”

“Of course it’s true.” Gu Xiuyi smiled enough, regained his seriousness, and gently rubbed Ji Ruan’s temple, trying to prevent him from getting tangled up in thoughts about his IQ. He changed the subject.

“Did you know that you cried often in your sleep a few days ago? Can you tell me why?”

Ji Ruan poked his head out from Gu Xiuyi’s arms, looking a bit dazed.

Gu Xiuyi wasn’t in a hurry, his palm gently caressing the back of Ji Ruan’s neck as he waited for him to think slowly, while also faintly apprehensive that it might evoke Ji Ruan’s bad memories from when he was injured.

In a bid to believe his IQ had not truly diminished, Ji Ruan thought especially seriously, remaining silent for two or three minutes.

When he looked at Gu Xiuyi again, his expression became clear and resolute.

“Because I’m hungry,” he said.

Gu Xiuyi: “…………？？？”

After being hit multiple times in the same day, Gu Xiuyi began to question whether there was something wrong with his own brain.

But Ji Ruan was insistent, emphasizing again: “Because you keep whispering various dish names in my ear, reading the recipe for steamed bass every day. Sometimes I can hear it, and I’m so hungry but can’t wake up; do you understand that kind of suffering?”

“I…”

Gu Xiuyi was at a loss for words.

Was Ji Ruan really feeling hungry after crying with swollen eyes? So he was actually blaming him? Even if it wasn’t from being kissed, they still ended up in the same place?

It was simply unbelievable.

“But I didn’t cry,” Ji Ruan insisted.

“……”

Okay, the kid refused to acknowledge this established fact.

Knock knock—

The door was knocked on, and a beautiful nurse entered with a medical tray, smiling brightly: “Oh my, you look so much better after eating!”

Ji Ruan had been in a stupor for the past few days and didn’t recognize the nurse, but still obediently nodded.

The nurse placed the tray on the small table and gently asked Ji Ruan, “Shall we change your dressing now?”

Gu Xiuyi’s expression subtly changed.

It was Ji Ruan’s first time awake while changing dressings, and he didn’t find anything particularly special about it. Since waking up, his leg had been a bit painful, but it was within bearable limits.

Without much thought, he lifted the blanket and stretched his leg out to make it easier for the nurse.

The nurse gently rolled up his pants, and Ji Ruan saw a long strip of medical tape stuck to his calf, with some blood seeping through.

But before the tape could be removed for him to see his wound, his eyes were covered.

Gu Xiuyi hugged him close, gently patting his back: “Don’t look, babe, it’ll be over soon.”

Ji Ruan wanted to say he wasn’t afraid of this; he had experienced much worse surgical scars many times before.

But when the tape was ripped off and the wound was cleaned with antiseptic, Ji Ruan still felt a moment of dizziness from the pain.

This pain was even more intense than when he was trapped in the mountains, like countless little knives slicing his skin, tearing him apart.

Sweat beaded on Ji Ruan’s forehead, and his hands couldn’t help but tremble, making it hard for him to hear Gu Xiuyi’s comforting words clearly.

Where he couldn’t see, Aunt Zhao’s previously smiling demeanor disappeared, and Gu Xiuyi’s expression turned especially grave.

Even after watching Ji Ruan change dressings so many times, Gu Xiuyi couldn’t face this bloody wound.

A ten-centimeter-long gash lay across Ji Ruan’s white calf, sewn together with stitches, resembling a ferocious centipede, clashing with Ji Ruan’s pale and clean appearance, leaving a chilling feeling in one’s heart.

The nurse maintained a good psychological quality throughout, not changing her expression, and after placing a new bandage on Ji Ruan, smiled and said:

“The wound is healing well; it’s just still bleeding a bit. Family members need to pay attention to hygiene, and be careful not to let it get infected.”

Gu Xiuyi’s face was slightly stiff as he politely nodded: “Understood, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The nurse completed her task and gracefully left.

Gu Xiuyi held Ji Ruan tightly, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile after a while.

He wiped the sweat off Ji Ruan’s forehead and gently asked, “Are you okay, babe?”

Ji Ruan’s gaze seemed a bit scattered. After meeting Gu Xiuyi’s eyes, he forced a smile, looking troubled:

“It really hurts a bit…”