When Lu Zhengfei and Liu Huamei returned to Chen Qianqing's hospital room, Chen Qianqing was sleeping under the covers.
After Lu Yiqin left, Lu Zhengfei called a nurse to change the bedsheet for him, and the water stains were completely gone. But even if they couldn't be seen, Chen Qianqing had a way to make Lu Zhengfei notice.
"Qianqing, don't sleep. If you sleep now, you won't be able to sleep at night," Liu Huamei softly said, "Wake up, Mom brought some fish for you."
Chen Qianqing groggily opened his eyes, rubbed them, and sat up from the bed.
It was May now, and the weather wasn't cold. Chen Qianqing wasn't wearing much, so when he stretched his hand, his reddish hand back was in stark contrast to the fair skin around it.
"What happened to your hand, Qianqing?" Liu Huamei immediately noticed something unusual about Chen Qianqing's hand and asked, "Did you get burned?"
Chen Qianqing smiled and said, "It's nothing, I accidentally got burned."
Lu Zhengfei raised an eyebrow and asked, "When did you get burned?" Chen Qianqing had been in bed all day and didn't need to touch hot water, so how could he get burned?
Chen Qianqing glanced at Lu Zhengfei and replied calmly, "I got burned while drinking water."
Upon hearing Chen Qianqing's evasive answer, Lu Zhengfei clearly showed a displeased expression. But because Liu Huamei was present, he didn't say much.
"You, how can you be so careless?" Liu Huamei scolded, "Look at your hand, it's so badly burned. I'll buy some medicine for you to apply tonight."
Chen Qianqing nodded.
Liu Huamei steamed a carp and made some carp soup. She also prepared some side dishes, which greatly improved Chen Qianqing's appetite. He finished all the food brought by his mother, which was a rare occurrence.
In their twenties, young men usually have the biggest appetite. Chen Qianqing usually ate very little, which bothered Lu Zhengfei. But when he saw that Chen Qianqing had almost finished all the food his mother had made for him today, his mood improved.
"Mom, have you eaten?" Chen Qianqing finished his meal, wiped his mouth, and asked.
"I've already eaten," Liu Huamei sat next to Chen Qianqing and watched him finish his meal, smiling with narrowed eyes, "You're so lucky to have a friend like Xiaolu. He ordered takeout and ate with me."
Chen Qianqing looked at Lu Zhengfei upon hearing this, but all he received was a smiling gaze. Chen Qianqing pretended not to see it and casually looked away.
"The doctor said you can be discharged in a few days. But you'll have to use a wheelchair for a while... Don't neglect your schoolwork," Liu Huamei continued, "I thought you only took a few days off."
Chen Qianqing hadn't attended classes for almost three months, but Liu Huamei thought her son had only taken a few days off. Chen Qianqing said, "Mom, I know, don't worry."
Upon hearing the conversation between mother and son, Lu Zhengfei tactfully interrupted, "Auntie, you chat with Qianqing. I have something to do and I'll leave first." Liu Huamei smiled and nodded. From her perspective, Lu Zhengfei was already the perfect friend for Chen Qianqing - warm, attentive, and caring. If he wasn't a guy, Liu Huamei would have suspected that he liked Chen Qianqing.
Lu Zhengfei left confidently. He was certain that Chen Qianqing would never tell Liu Huamei about their relationship. Even if he did, it wouldn't change the current situation. The worst outcome would be dragging his mother into their suffering.
Indeed, Chen Qianqing had no intention of telling Liu Huamei. He only chatted with her about ordinary household matters and didn't dare to delve deeper into the conversation. After all, he wasn't the real Chen Qianqing.
Liu Huamei had been worried when she came, but when she saw that Chen Qianqing wasn't as serious as she had imagined, she could finally relax a bit. However, there were still some concerns and reproaches in her words. She blamed Chen Qianqing for being careless and worried about his recovery.
Chen Qianqing listened to whatever Liu Huamei said without showing any signs of impatience on his face. In fact, Liu Huamei herself became embarrassed in the end and forced a smile, "Qianqing, do you find your mom nagging?"
Chen Qianqing turned his head to look at Liu Huamei with impatience and simply said, "Not at all."
"Mom," Chen Qianqing said, "how could I ever find you annoying? I never have the chance to hear you speak. Say more, I want to listen to you."
With that, Liu Huamei smiled again.
After leaving the ward, Lu Zhengfei did not leave the hospital. Instead, he returned to the monitoring room and greeted the person guarding it. He pulled up the surveillance footage of Chen Qianqing.
"Nothing happened today, right?" Lu Zhengfei asked casually.
"No, Mr. Lu," the guard replied. "I've been here all day."
"I see." Lu Zhengfei said, "Let me see the footage."
"Sure." The guard wasn't afraid - what was there to be afraid of? They had manipulated the surveillance footage, so Lu Zhengfei wouldn't be able to see the footage of Lu Yiqin's arrival.
Lu Zhengfei sat in the chair and fast-forwarded through the surveillance footage of Chen Qianqing from today, but he didn't find anything unusual. Chen Qianqing seemed to have been lying in bed sleeping the whole time, hardly moving at all.
Until he and Liu Huamei entered the ward again, Lu Zhengfei didn't see anything happen to Chen Qianqing.
Lu Zhengfei wasn't foolish. When he connected the sudden burn on Chen Qianqing's arm with this unremarkable surveillance footage, he instantly understood what had happened. He didn't point it out, he just smiled and patted the guard's shoulder, "Not bad."
"You're too kind, Mr. Lu." The guard didn't expect Lu Zhengfei to discover anything, and truly thought that Lu Zhengfei was praising him. He smiled so much that his eyes disappeared.
Lu Zhengfei had little tolerance for betrayal, so little that he would snuff it out at the first sign. Faced with such a definite situation, how could he let it go?
But it was not the right time yet, so Lu Zhengfei picked up his coat and left the monitoring room.
At nine o'clock in the evening, after Lu Zhengfei picked up Liu Huamei from the hospital and took her back to her residence, he returned to the hospital.
Chen Qianqing had slept a lot during the day, and now he was watching TV, looking quite bored. When he saw Lu Zhengfei walk in from the door, he wasn't surprised. He just glanced at him, then looked away.
"Your school enrollment procedures are done," Lu Zhengfei said. "You can start classes next week."
Chen Qianqing glanced at him and said, "Oh."
Lu Zhengfei thought Chen Qianqing would say something more, but he didn't expect that all he would say was, "Oh." Lu Zhengfei said, "Can't you at least thank me?"
...Why didn't I realize how shameless I am before, Chen Qianqing silently thought to himself, as if it was your fault for causing me to drop out of school.
"Thank you," Chen Qianqing said straightforwardly, but his gaze remained on the TV.
Lu Zhengfei followed Chen Qianqing's gaze and saw that there was an advertisement on the TV. His mood instantly worsened as a result. He said, "What happened during the day?"
Chen Qianqing appeared innocent, "Nothing happened."
"If nothing happened, how did your hand get burned?" Lu Zhengfei approached and grabbed Chen Qianqing's hand, noticing that the arm had been smeared with the burn ointment Liu Huamei bought, making it even more conspicuous.
"Don't you have surveillance?" Chen Qianqing was in pain from being squeezed, but showed no expression, only innocent eyes. "Didn't you watch it?"
...Lu Zhengfei couldn't possibly admit that the surveillance had been erased, so he could only grit his teeth and say, "I want to hear you say it."
"Your sister came and threw a cup at me," Chen Qianqing said. "She called me a prostitute. She told me to stop bothering you, Lu Zhengfei, but did I ever bother you?"
Lu Zhengfei was trembling with anger, still gripping onto Chen Qianqing's hand.
"You're hurting me," Chen Qianqing said in a light tone, causing Lu Zhengfei to release his hand. Chen Qianqing lowered his head and noticed that the skin on his wrist was starting to turn purple.
If there was one thing that Chen Qianqing didn't want to do now, it was to harm this body. Even a simple action like this from Lu Zhengfei, which should have been familiar to him, made Chen Qianqing furrow his brows.
"Next time she comes, call me," Lu Zhengfei said. He knew that his sister was spoiled, but Chen Qianqing was the one thing he couldn't touch, not even Lu Yiqin.
"Will she let me call you?" Chen Qianqing asked. "There were several men with her."
"Men?" Lu Zhengfei asked. "Who?"
"I don't know," Chen Qianqing said.
Of course, he wouldn't know because those men weren't actually there—
"I will talk to her," upon hearing that there were men with her, Lu Zhengfei almost immediately thought of the identities of those people. But he didn't plan on telling Chen Qianqing, he just assured him, "She won't appear in front of you again."
Chen Qianqing didn't say anything, he just nodded indifferently. It seemed that he didn't quite believe in the truthfulness of Lu Zhengfei's words.
Lu Zhengfei was in a bad mood. He wanted to explain everything to Chen Qianqing, but he had no standing to speak. Lu Yiqin was his sister, and he was responsible for her actions. And judging by Chen Qianqing's reaction, it seemed that this situation was not the first time. Thinking about this, Lu Zhengfei had made a decision on how to handle Lu Yiqin. He could tolerate his sister's wilfulness, but he couldn't tolerate her trying to deceive him with other people.
Chen Qianqing, with no expression on his face, seemed to have almost penetrated Lu Zhengfei's thoughts. He propped his chin up with his hand and shifted his attention back to the TV.
Lu Zhengfei's mood worsened to the extreme, but in the end, he didn't say anything and simply got up and left. It was clear that he had been angered.
Sitting on the bed, Chen Qianqing watched Lu Zhengfei's retreating figure and suddenly became absent-minded. He had been reborn into Chen Qianqing's body, but what was his ultimate goal? Was it to help Chen Qianqing achieve his dreams or step by step make Lu Zhengfei alienated and betrayed— to personally take revenge for his own stupidity and cruelty.
The spot on his arm, burned by his own hand with hot water, throbbed faintly, and the TV program playing was just as boring. But Chen Qianqing couldn't sleep; he just wanted to find a place, be alone, and quietly smoke a cigarette.