Chapter 31

Feeling the heat on his forehead, Lu Yu finally had the driver turn around and take him back to the villa.Seeing his poor complexion, the butler immediately became worried and suggested having the driver take Lu Yu to the hospital.

Without a second thought, Lu Yu waved his hand in refusal, only retrieving a thermometer from the medical kit himself. seaʀᴄh thё ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The butler had no choice but to settle for the next best option, calling the private doctor.

The private doctor arrived quickly. Upon seeing the number on the thermometer and catching a whiff of the faint alcohol on Lu Yu's breath, he couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.

Drinking while sick, no wonder the condition had worsened so suddenly.

After a brief examination, the private doctor roughly determined that Lu Yu had actually been showing symptoms for several days already, but he hadn't paid attention, so it had dragged on until it became like this.

Hearing this, the butler hurriedly asked, "Is it serious? Should we go to the hospital?"

"It's not that serious," the private doctor, who had been working here for several years, was quite confident in Mr. Lu's physical constitution.

"However, it would be best not to overexert yourself for a while."

Although he was a Western doctor, not a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner...

"Worry harms the body, emotions affect the five organs. After the fever subsides, Mr. Lu should try to think less about things and not overthink. It's not good for your health."

The butler was left speechless.

After explaining everything that needed to be explained, since Lu Yu had just finished drinking alcohol and couldn't take many fever reducers, the private doctor prescribed some additional medication before quickly leaving.

Lu Yu acted as if he hadn't heard anything, casually took the medicine, then nodded to the butler before heading upstairs.

The butler was left standing there, deeply worried. After a while, realizing there was nothing he could do to help, he could only sigh quietly.

Upon returning to the master bedroom, Lu Yu practically collapsed face-first onto the bed.

He turned to his side, reaching out to touch his phone, wondering if Gu Wan had felt the same way when she was sick back then – wanting to call him, but afraid of disturbing him, and even more worried that her actions would annoy him.

At any rate, his past self had been quite impatient, and as for what he had said, Lu Yu could no longer remember.

Gu Wan had only been gone for a week, and he just had to get sick at this time, neither earlier nor later. Even Lu Yu felt like he was doing it on purpose. The situation seemed too much like he was trying to guilt-trip her into coming back.

In the end, Lu Yu still didn't dial that all-too-familiar number.

Lu Yu didn't know when simply calling her had become something that required so much consideration.

Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad...

His neatly combed hair had become disheveled at some point, and Lu Yu's face was flushed red from the alcohol and high fever. As if knowing that even if he threw a tantrum like before, no one would care now, he buried his head in the pillow and quietly fell asleep within minutes.

However, the next day, Gu Wan still found out about this.

Seeing his master lying there sick and unable to get out of bed, the butler couldn't bear it and finally secretly told the lady of the house.

Learning that Lu Yu was awake at the moment, Gu Wan, who had just come out of the water, thought for a moment and then, without much hesitation, directly made a video call.

At that time, Lu Yu was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling above him. Having slept for over ten hours straight last night, Lu Yu, now completely unable to sleep anymore, once again thought about the few times he had fallen ill during the previous three years. Once was appendicitis, another time his stomach condition had flared up. Both times, it was around two or three in the morning, and Gu Wan had accompanied him to the hospital without a word.

Perhaps people are just like that – when someone is by your side, you don't feel anything special, and might even think it's unnecessary, completely superfluous.

But when that person who used to be by your side is gone, you realize it's different, really very, very different.

So when it was Gu Wan's turn, why did he think that with a caregiver, she didn't need him to accompany her?

Soon, the vibration of his phone interrupted Lu Yu's thoughts. When he saw the bright contact name on the phone screen, Lu Yu's eyes widened slightly.

Before he could react, his finger had already swiped to answer faster than his brain could process.

Then, the familiar and gentle female voice came through—

Gu Wan first observed his complexion, feeling it looked okay, seemingly not as dire as the butler had described.

However, despite thinking this, Gu Wan still softly inquired about the situation. In fact, she wasn't particularly worried in her heart, because in her view, Lu Yu had the butler and housekeeper around him, and if something could go wrong with so many people taking care of him, then whether she was by his side or not wouldn't make much difference either.

So Gu Wan just verbally expressed concern and care, without ever mentioning returning.

Lu Yu thought he probably knew now how she had felt when facing these situations before.

But it's okay, the fact that she took the initiative to call and patiently explain so much was already very good. Lu Yu couldn't help but comfort himself this way.

So Lu Yu responded as if he hadn't noticed that all of this was futile.

But Gu Wan wasn't stupid either. As she spoke, she also felt that all of this was just empty talk, and a practical person like Lu Yu couldn't possibly not realize it.

Gradually, Gu Wan even began to regret making this call, thinking that pretending nothing had happened might not have been as awkward.

Not caring is just not caring, and even she felt the forced appearance of concern was hypocritical. While inwardly admitting she wasn't cut out for this, Gu Wan decisively stopped talking.

They stared at each other, and after a moment, Gu Wan sighed, "...I'm sorry."

She apologized for her lack of care and sincerity.

Hearing these words, Lu Yu's heart instantly trembled.

Just as Lu Yu was forcing a smile, trying to put on a brave face, he suddenly heard what seemed to be several exclamations coming from the other end of the line.

Lu Yu saw Gu Wan instinctively turn her head to look in the camera, and then, as if seeing something, her expression subtly changed.

At first, when Gu Wan saw people fighting, she didn't have any particular reaction, but when she caught sight of Xiao Chi among them, she felt something was amiss.

Now Gu Wan couldn't even manage the awkward eye contact with Lu Yu.

Lu Yu watched helplessly as she first looked surprised, and then, without giving him a chance to speak, promptly hung up the video call.

At the very end, Lu Yu only heard her say, "Sorry, I might have something to deal with. We'll talk again when I have time."

"Wait—"

"Beep."

In an instant, the master bedroom fell into dead silence.

In the split second before the camera turned off, Lu Yu seemed to see her running towards a very young man.

That scene was inexplicably imprinted in Lu Yu's mind.

Lu Yu suddenly felt uneasy.

Lu Yu thought of something and began messaging the fortunate bodyguard who had been left behind.

About an hour later, the bodyguard's hesitant reply almost made Lu Yu crush his phone. At this moment, only one thought remained in his mind—

Now, immediately, at once, he needed to go to the neighboring province!

Ignoring the butler's exclamations, Lu Yu didn't even care that he was still running a fever, and promptly contacted his private jet.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Gu Wan never imagined that in the span of just a few minutes, Xiao Chi would suddenly get into a fight with someone.

The reason was simple. Over the past week, Gu Wan had been coming to this beach almost every day, and given her exceptionally striking appearance, many people had learned about this. With more people knowing, it was inevitable that a few ill-intentioned individuals would mix in.

After coming out of the sea, Gu Wan was resting on the beach while Xiao Chi went to a nearby shop to buy water. By chance, he overheard two men, about thirty or forty years old and rather portly, talking crudely while looking in Gu Wan's direction, occasionally letting out the kind of lewd laughter that made one's skin crawl.

Xiao Chi, of course, couldn't tolerate this and immediately went up to confront the two men.

The two men were startled at first by Xiao Chi's sudden appearance, but then, realizing how young he was despite his height, they stubbornly refused to apologize. Not only did they not apologize, but their language became even more vulgar. They kept looking at Gu Wan with those eyes, then back at him, which made Xiao Chi's face turn red with anger. Unable to control himself, he threw a punch at them.

However, that single punch caused the situation to escalate quickly.

Soon, the police arrived and took all three involved parties to the police station.

After hearing the whole story on the way, Gu Wan couldn't help but frown slightly, suddenly having a bad feeling about the situation.

Indeed, when they arrived at the police station and the officer heard the full account, feeling it wasn't a serious matter, he suggested that both parties settle it privately and let the incident go.

Gu Wan sighed softly, not surprised. After all, from any perspective, private settlement was the simplest and most convenient solution.

Gu Wan had no intention of getting entangled with those two men. Seeing one of them clutching his stomach and the other holding his face, they immediately demanded fifty thousand yuan. Gu Wan's expression didn't change.

This is how society works nowadays. Basically, regardless of the reason, whichever party throws the first punch is at fault and has to pay compensation.

Fifty thousand yuan wasn't much for Gu Wan. However, just as she was about to take out her wallet, she glanced down and inadvertently saw Xiao Chi sitting there, his fists clenched tight, with a look of disbelief on his face.

This was probably Xiao Chi's first encounter with such a situation, and his first... experience with the unreasonable demands of reality.

The young Xiao Chi probably couldn't understand why, when those two men were clearly in the wrong first, why his side had to pay compensation.

Gu Wan's hand, reaching for her wallet, involuntarily paused.

She couldn't help but think that although Xiao Chi would eventually have to face and get used to all this after graduation, at least... it shouldn't be now.

The nineteen-year-old Xiao Chi should be pure, passionate, and full of life.

Gu Wan didn't want to see him suffer such a blow, especially when the incident was because of her.

Gu Wan's hand unconsciously moved from her wallet to her phone.

Fortunately, because of her parents' inheritance lawsuit earlier, Gu Wan had maintained contact with her senior from A University's law department.

After winning the lawsuit and receiving the inheritance, Gu Wan had invested quite a bit in her senior's newly established law firm. Now, she held some shares in the firm, so when Gu Wan spoke up, it still carried weight.

At this moment, Gao Mingqian, who had finally received the news, rushed over. Upon learning that they needed fifty thousand yuan to settle the matter, he immediately felt relieved.

For Gao Mingqian, fifty thousand wasn't a big deal either. He had several times that amount in his card alone.

Gao Mingqian's reaction was almost identical to Gu Wan's earlier. He felt that fifty thousand for peace of mind wasn't a bad deal, especially considering that Xiao Chi still had to continue his studies. If this incident were to affect his academic career, even ten times fifty thousand couldn't make up for it.

However, Gao Mingqian saw Gu Wan shake her head and say, "His feelings are equally important."

Gao Mingqian was stunned.

Gu Wan smiled, "Don't worry, Xiao Chi won't need to face this anymore. I'll help him resolve it."

Gao Mingqian certainly didn't think Gu Wan couldn't afford this money. Look at the lawyer she contacted - a top lawyer from a well-known firm in City A. The starting price for them to take on a case was more than this amount, let alone the time and energy wasted in between. For someone like her, it was far beyond what could be measured by this small sum of money.

So, was it purely because she didn't want Xiao Chi to lose?

Gao Mingqian, who also came from a wealthy family and was used to measuring everything in terms of interest, fell silent.

Later, Gu Wan noticed him looking at her with an indecipherable gaze.

However, Gu Wan didn't pay much attention to Gao Mingqian's unusual behavior. The phone call she made was quickly answered.

After learning about the incident, her senior thought for a moment, then called a law firm in the neighboring province.

"I'm not in City A now, and I'm quite far from where you are. I can't come back right away, but don't worry, the law firm I'm recommending to you is no worse than mine." In fact, being local might make it even more convenient for a lawsuit.

"They'll be there in an hour at most, much faster than I could be."

Gu Wan nodded.

Then her senior seemed to think of something and casually asked, "By the way, why didn't you contact Mr. Lu? Just based on what those two men said, his company's legal team could definitely sue those two men until they're penniless, or even send them to jail without much difficulty." Although it was a private matter, as long as they were willing to pay, no one would refuse such above-board extra income.

Gu Wan hesitated.

What could she say? Should she admit that she hadn't even thought of it?

Her senior clearly sensed something and sighed softly.

The call ended quickly, and everyone saw that Gu Wan, who had been very easy to talk to before, suddenly became extremely firm in her attitude. The two men were first startled, then sneered, clearly not afraid of Gu Wan's change in demeanor.

As for Xiao Chi on the side, he vaguely sensed something and his eyes suddenly became bright and shining.

Seeing that Gu Wan chose to stand on his side, he wasn't as angry anymore.

Gao Mingqian was already thinking about leaving.

Gu Wan lowered her voice, indicating that someone would come to resolve this matter soon.

Xiao Chi nodded eagerly, showing complete trust in her, which made Gu Wan feel an urge to ruffle his hair.

Xiao Chi was truly quite obedient.

However, what Gu Wan didn't expect was that instead of waiting for the lawyers from the law firm, she ended up waiting for someone who shouldn't have been there at all.

Lu Yu, how did he get here?

Wasn't he still sick?