Han Luoli affectionately rubbed her hair, his thin lips chapped and lined.
After a night's vigil, his voice was hoarse and weary as he spoke, "How do you feel now? Does your head still hurt? Do you feel nauseous? Is there anything else uncomfortable?"
Gu Xiaoer shook her head, her heart aching yet warmed. The discomfort in her body was trivial; it was the pain inside that truly hurt. Not wanting him to worry, she mockingly teased him, "Da Luoluo, why are you fussing like an old lady... I'm fine now..."
Weakly, she stretched out her hand to touch his sculpted features, only to find her fingers all clumsy with clamps and threads, puckering her lips in frustration and giving up.
"Baby, I don't mind being called an old lady or an old man. As long as you're alright, that's what matters. Do you know that last night, my heart went around the Ghost Gate Pass with you..."
Tears welled in Gu Xiaoer's eyes, as they became misty. A huge wad of cotton seemed to choke her heart, tight and unyielding. Couldn't this big man consider a patient's feelings and not be so touching right from the start? It made her feel so upset she wanted to cry.
"Da Luoluo, I'm really okay!" she insisted.
Finally, the man relaxed, his brows knitting as he carefully flipped through her medical records and test results, asking, "Baby, do you know you have hereditary favism?"
"Well..." Gu Xiaoer blinked, then nodded honestly: "I know. I was hospitalized once when I was a child and found out I had it. My mother was there then, just like you are now... Later, when I was living on my own, I've been careful and it hasn't happened again."
Talking too much left her breathless, and she continued timidly, "This time, I was careless. At lunch yesterday, I was so preoccupied that I didn't notice there was fava bean sauce in my food, so..."
At that time, she was so focused on helping Da Luoluo find a job that she didn't pay any attention to the green fava bean sauce in her meal...
It was her oversight.
"Da Luoluo, the doctor told me that this disease is hereditary, passed from mother to son, father to daughter. I have this condition, will you still want me?" Her big eyes filled with a mix of contrition and embarrassment. The words "hereditary disease" spontaneously brought guilt towards Han Luoli.
Want you?
What a question to ask!
Feeling as if his heart had been pricked by a needle, Han Luoli took a deep look at Gu Xiaoer. His gaze was even a bit cold, and after a long while, he lowered his voice and said coolly, "Gu Xiaoer, in this life, you can only be mine."
"Da Luoluo..."
"Also, from now on, you're not allowed to eat with Bai Xiaoyu anymore!" Han Luoli ordered sternly, without sensing any domineering tone in his voice.
"It's not Minister Bai's fault..."
"Even so, he's a jinx!"
"..."
Not wanting to continue the argument, Gu Xiaoer changed the subject, her little brows furrowing deeply, "Da Luoluo, weren't you going to take care of some business? Wouldn't coming back so suddenly cause problems? Haven't you rested at all? And..."
"You see, you're being an old lady too..."
Han Luoli reined in his previously stern demeanor, tapping her forehead with his long finger, smoothing out the wrinkles for her, and gently lifted her small hand to plant a feather-light kiss on the pale back of her hand.
The same care, the same prioritization of each other, their tacit understanding spoken without words, and the hospital room was filled with nothing but warmth and romance.
Outside the hospital room.
Bai Xiaoyu put down his hand from knocking and folded his arms instead.
He leaned tiredly against the clean wall, listening to the domineering man and gentle girl inside, and smiled.
As long as she was alright, that was all that mattered.
...