Chapter 158: Deliberate

Xiao Mingyu did not expect Rong Xian to walk out so resolutely.

As the bedroom door opened and closed, the only sound left in the chilly bedroom was the man's increasingly heavy breathing fueled by anger.

In the living room, Rong Xian picked up her phone and headed straight to the small courtyard.

No matter how awkward she felt inside, she still couldn't bring herself to ignore a sick man.

Amidst her irritation, Rong Xian lit a cigarette, clamped her phone between her shoulder and ear, and called her family doctor.

Meanwhile, Xiao Mingyu had lain on the bed for about ten minutes. Believing that Rong Xian truly didn't care about him anymore, a bitter chuckle slipped from his throat, and he sighed as he sat up.

Had he really overestimated his standing in Rong Xian's heart?

Xiao Mingyu turned his head to look at the nightscape outside the window, waited a little longer, and then rolled out of bed, walking out of the guest room.

The living room was brightly lit, yet completely empty.

The dead silence made him restless. A heavy cotton-like obstruction clogged his chest, suffocating and gloomy.

Xiao Mingyu walked lazily toward the mini-bar, and just as he reached for a bottle to pour a drink, faint voices drifted from the small courtyard outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

It was very familiar—it was Rong Xian.

As the voices grew clearer, the glass door leading directly to the garden opened, and Rong Xian walked in accompanied by a polished, dapper-looking man.

Xiao Mingyu had already averted his gaze a second before they opened the door, holding his wine glass and taking a slow, arrogant sip.

"Why are you drinking again?"

Rong Xian led the family doctor into the living room and her expression darkened instantly upon seeing the man drinking.

Xiao Mingyu drained the remaining half-glass of wine in one gulp, casting a sidelong glance at the family doctor beside Rong Xian. "We have guests this late. Do I need to excuse myself?"

Rong Xian: "..."

The family doctor: "..."

"Will you ever stop playing games?" Rong Xian said, her face sinking as she gestured toward the sofa. "Come sit over here. Shen Yue is a doctor, let him examine you."

Oh, a doctor.

Xiao Mingyu's expression visibly softened a fraction. He put down his glass and retreated toward the guest room. "Sitting makes me dizzy. Come in here."

Rong Xian's temper almost shot through the roof; she had never met a man so difficult to wait on and so prone to being overly delicate.

Shen Yue adjusted his glasses with a detached expression, changed into indoor shoes, and followed Rong Xian into the guest room.

The door remained open. Xiao Mingyu was lying near the edge of the bed, his handsome face flushed with an unnatural dark red from the fever, and uncontrollable coughs wracked his throat.

Rong Xian stood with her arms crossed at the corner of the bed, giving Shen Yue a look. The latter stepped forward and performed a routine checkup on the man.

The digital thermometer displayed a fever of 38.7 degrees Celsius.

Shen Yue frowned, glanced back at Rong Xian, and explained, "This temperature is just a step away from a high fever. It's best to give him an antipyretic injection."

"Alright, give him the shot."

"I can't take an injection."

Rong Xian and Xiao Mingyu spoke almost simultaneously, yet their meanings were worlds apart.

Shen Yue, who had just picked up a disposable syringe, found himself in an awkward spot—neither knowing whether to proceed or stop.

“Xiao Mingyu, you—”

The man on the bed kept his eyes closed, his tone extremely slow and flat. "I know every detail of your hair strands, but a trivial thing like my fear of needles is something you never remember."

The resentment soaked in this tone gave Rong Xian a sinking feeling in her chest, mingled with an inexplicable sense of guilt.

She really... didn't understand him well, or rather, she had never wanted to understand anything about him.

Rong Xian swallowed hard and looked back at Shen Yue. "Is there any other way to reduce the fever besides an injection?"

Shen Yue placed the syringe back into his medical kit. "Oral fever reducers are fine, along with plenty of warm water. However, remember strictly no more alcohol."

The air fell silent for three seconds before Rong Xian said expressionlessly, "He took fever-reducing medication before the meal."

Shen Yue: "..."

Then why did they call him over?

Just to watch the two of them flirt?

Shen Yue stayed in the guest room for less than five minutes. Leaving behind two boxes of fast-acting fever medication, he picked up his medical kit and hurried away.

Rong Xian walked him out, and the two chatted briefly outside the building.

"Sorry to trouble you tonight."

Shen Yue placed the medical kit into the back seat, took off his glasses, and smiled. "You don't need to worry too much. Although 38.7 degrees is a bit high for an adult, his natural immunity is there. As long as he doesn't catch another chill and bundles up under thick covers tonight, the fever should break by tomorrow."

"Understood. If it doesn't break, I'll take him to the hospital."

Shen Yue's lips moved as if to speak, but after a moment, he said nothing more. Bidding farewell, he drove off by himself.

He secretly suspected that the man had been uncooperative on purpose, almost as if he desperately hoped his high fever would not subside.

...

Rong Xian returned to the guest room only to find Xiao Mingyu still lying flat on his back, except that his shirt buttons were completely unbuttoned, exposing his well-defined, honey-toned chest and evenly distributed abdominal muscles.

"Aren't you cold with a fever, leaving all your buttons open? You clearly don't want to get better."

Rong Xian didn't consider herself a malicious person, but whenever she saw Xiao Mingyu, she simply couldn't control her urge to snap at him.

As she spoke, she walked over, pulled the nearby blanket, and tossed it over his body. Turning her head, her gaze crashed squarely into the man's deep, well-like eyes.

Xiao Mingyu didn't speak; he rested his head on his bent arm and stared steadily at her.

The lighting in the guest room was dim, the warm, amber tones casting a subtle, ambiguous intimacy over the space.

Rong Xian sat sideways, pressed her palm against his cheek, and softened her voice. "Still feeling uncomfortable?"

"Do you care?"

"If you say one more useless word, let's see if I don't kick you out." Rong Xian averted her gaze, supplementing with a tone that mixed the soft with the firm, "Don't think that just because this is Xiao Jiu's place, I'm powerless to make decisions."

Xiao Mingyu lowered his eyelids with a calm expression. The next second, he abruptly sat up and pulled the woman before him straight into a tight embrace.

Rong Xian was almost knocked backward onto the bed. Struggling to steady her posture, her breath was instantly filled with the man's crisp, domineering scent.

She had always believed that Xiao Mingyu had only set his sights on her money, which was why he clung to her shamelessly and refused to break up.

Yet recently, her conviction had begun to waver.

Women possessed delicate minds and relatively accurate sixth senses. Coupled with daily interactions and exchanges, they could generally tell whether someone was being sincere or feigned.

Rong Xian could indeed sense Xiao Mingyu's obsession with her; she just couldn't tell whether this obsession was a sugar-coated shell or a genuine outpouring of emotion.

"Xiao Mingyu, how old are you? You can't even take care of yourself, and you still have the nerve to—Mmph."

Any preaching the woman intended to deliver was thoroughly blocked.

Rong Xian pushed against his chest, struggling continuously, but her resistance only earned her a deeper, more consuming kiss.

She must have been truly blind back then to ever think Xiao Mingyu was a harmless, gentle puppy.

With his increasingly wolf-like methods, he was anything but gentle.

After who knows how long, Rong Xian rested breathlessly against Xiao Mingyu's shoulder, trying to catch her breath.

The man's gloomy mood seemed to have dissipated significantly because of the kiss. He good-naturedly patted her back while letting out a sarcastic remark, "Panting this hard, do you need some supplemental oxygen?"

"Just shut up." Rong Xian immediately pushed him away. "How come a fever couldn't just burn you to death?"