CH 14

Xu Xinghe went home, took a shower, and fell asleep without blowing his hair dry.

He slept till dawn.

He opened his eyes in a daze, realizing that something was wrong-

Sore throat, headache, body ache.

Even without taking his temperature, he knew that the fever hadn’t subsided, and had gotten worse.

Xu Xinghe has had a strong body since childhood and rarely gets sick. He’ll catch the occasional cold, but mostly relies on “drinking more water and resting” to recover.

But this omnipotent solution failed this time.

Xu Xinghe lay on the bed for a while, and said in a hoarse voice, “Xiao K, help me make an appointment with Dr. Tom.”

Xiao K is his smart housekeeper system, which is connected to his housekeeping robot and various smart devices.

Three minutes later, Xiao K’s prompt sounded: “Doctor Tom can come over at 2:30 in the afternoon at the earliest. Do you need me to help you make an appointment?”

Xu Xinghe glanced at the time and said weakly: “Okay. Is there still fever medicine at home? I’ll take some first.”

Xiao K: “Your antipyretic medicine expired half a year ago, it is recommended to throw it in the trash can.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

Xiao K continued to ask thoughtfully: “I need to help you get rid of Do you want to order new antipyretics online?”

Xu Xinghe said while sending a text message: “Forget it, I’ll ask Aunt Sophia to bring some…”

Because of the severe nausea, Xu Xinghe couldn’t eat anything, so he lay back down after drinking some nutritional supplements.

But the fever grew worse, and he even began to wonder if he could last until Dr. Tom came.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Aunt Sophia arrived so soon?

Lying on the bed with his brows furrowed and eyes closed, Xu Xinghe didn’t look carefully at who was on the monitor screen. He directly said, “Please come in.”

He took a deep breath, stood up and leaned on the bed. Licking his dry lips, he said to the housekeeping robot in a daze: “Xiao K, help me get a glass of water.”

——

Colonel Lewis personally drove a pure black military bulletproof vehicle through the 031 complex in District 5, and arrived at Xu Xinghe’s small courtyard.

The speeding car slowly landed, and Major General Qin Yuan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly sighed: “Sir, although I can understand your mood right now, but after such a chaotic night, I still advise you to go to the hospital first to…”

“You guys wait for me in the car.”

As soon as the vehicle landed, the person sitting in the back seat left a hurried sentence, disregarding what other people said, and quickly got out to ring the doorbell.

The camera flashed, and then the door opened automatically.

Ling Changfeng raised his foot and walked in.

At 9:10 in the morning, artificial sunlight filled the floor through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows with light gold.

Xu Xinghe’s two-storey villa has a simple and modern style with white as the main color. It was full of artistic flavor, and electronic paintings on the walls were replaced with warm colors when guests came.

Mismatched eyes looked around. They landed on the flourishing plants in the living room, obviously well taken care of.

It seems that Xu Xinghe does come back often.

So what about the person himself?

“Aunt Sophia?”

Xu Xinghe’s voice suddenly came from the second floor, sounding a little weak and hoarse.

Ling Changfeng’s eyes moved, and he walked up the stairs quickly.

As soon as he arrived on the second floor, he heard the sound of glass breaking from the room on the east.

——

Xu Xinghe leaned weakly on the head of the bed, his throat was on fire, and he had a splitting headache.

He stretched out his hand to take the warm water brought by Xiao K, but unexpectedly his hands trembled and the cup fell. He subconsciously wanted to catch it, but as a result, his body leaned forward, his center of gravity was offset, and he tumbled off the bed together with the quilt.

So when Ling Changfeng pushed the door and entered, he saw such a messy scene–

Xu Xinghe was still wrapped in half the quilt, with his whole body on the ground rolled up in the quilt.

His cheeks were flushed, and there was shattered glass and a puddle of water by his hand.

Sucking on his wounded index finger that was probably scratched by the broken glass.

Xu Xinghe raised his head at the sound and was almost scared to death.” It’s you? Where’s Aunt Sophia?”

Ling Changfeng looked at him and frowned slightly. “Sick?”

If Xu Xinghe was still thinking clearly, he might have noticed that Ling Changfeng’s voice was more hoarse than usual.

But he was dizzy, and could only weakly answer: “It’s alright, it’s a small problem.”

Marshal Ling stopped talking. After placing his coat on the sofa, he turned and walked towards Xu Xinghe.

The alarm in Xu Xinghe’s heart rang out, and those eyes reddened from the fever widened. “Why are you here… ah!”

The moment his feet left the ground, the sense of weightlessness made him subconsciously wrap his hands around anything that could be wrapped–

Such as Ling Changfeng’s neck.

Xu Xinghe instantly froze into stone.

His brain and body shut down together.

It wasn’t until Ling Changfeng brought him back to the bed that he reacted to what happened–

Ling Changfeng! Actually! Hugged! Him!

Fortunately, Ling Changfeng’s movements were fast enough, and this awkward hug lasted only a few seconds.

Still panicking as he was placed back on the bed, Xu Xinghe didn’t notice the moment he hooked Ling Changfeng’s neck, the arms hugging him were also stiff.

When Xu Xinghe came back to his senses, Ling Changfeng was already tidying up his sleeves casually.

Xu Xinghe was stunned: “You, you…how did you break into the house?”

“I rang the doorbell, and you said ‘please come in’.” Ling Changfeng pulled down his sleeve, raised his eyes and asked back: “Why didn’t you answer my call?”

“Did you call?” Xu Xinghe used his dizzy brain to think slowly for two seconds. “Uh…Did we not exchange contact information yet?”

Ling Changfeng looked at him, his thin lips pursed slightly, and he did not answer.

Xu Xinghe was a little uncomfortable seeing him like this, so he turned his head sideways to avoid looking. “I set Do Not Disturb for all unfamiliar numbers. It’s not on purpose.”

Ling Changfeng couldn’t see the expression on his face. “You’re in my address book.”

Xu Xinghe: “…Ah?”

He was stunned for two seconds, and raised his hand with difficulty: “I’ll add you— what’s your number?”

Ling Changfeng fell silent for a while. When he spoke again, he changed the subject: “Last night, there was an accident on my way to the restaurant. It happened too suddenly, and I didn’t have time to tell you… When the matter was over, your phone was no longer available.”

Xu Xinghe finally remembered that Marshal Ling did not show last night.

Although he didn’t have any expectations for this dinner at first, the behavior of releasing pigeons1no show on an appointment is too annoying!

So that little guilt just now turned into a sense of self-righteousness.

Xu Xinghe turned around, covered himself with the small blanket, turned his back to Ling Changfeng, closed his eyes, and said hoarsely, “I’m not feeling well. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. If there’s nothing else, please leave.”

The house suddenly became quiet.

Ling Changfeng stood in front of the bed for a while without saying a word, then leaned over and picked up the broken glass on the ground.

Then he turned and left the bedroom.

Gone?

Xu Xinghe listened to the sound of the footsteps getting farther away, heaved a sigh of relief, and gradually relaxed.

His head was still dizzy.

In a daze, he thought to himself, the fever seems to be a little severe. Should he go to the hospital later?

Having said that, why did Ling Changfeng come??

—–

Marshal Ling has not done any housework for more than ten years.

After he cleaned up the glass on the ground, he thought about pouring a new glass of water, but he didn’t know which button to press to dispense water from the newer water purifier models.

After tossing in the kitchen for a while, he returned to the bedroom on the second floor with a full glass of water.

Xu Xinghe fell asleep again.

Ling Changfeng stood in front of the bed, looking at the fluffy back of Xu Xinghe’s head, speechless.

Is this guy a pig, so able to sleep?

He put the water glass on the bedside table and gently lifted a corner of the quilt.

The glass really scratched Xu Xinghe’s index finger, but fortunately, it was only a shallow wound, and the bleeding had stopped.

Thinking of this, Ling Changfeng glanced at his left arm.

After confirming that there was no trace, he put down his hand.

He re-covered the quilt for him, then pressed the earphone and said softly: “What’s the matter?”

Colonel Lewis’s, the captain of the guard, came from the earphone: “Reporting, sir! There is a lady named Sophia outside the door, claiming to be Mr. Xu’s friend. She’s the vice president of the Capital Seventh Welfare Institute, and was entrusted by Mr. Xu to deliver medicine. Do you want to let her in?”

Ling Changfeng turned to look at his sleeping young spouse. “Tell her Xu Xinghe is resting, and to come back next time.”

“Yes!”

“Wait a minute—” Before he hung up, Marshal Ling suddenly thought of something. “Vice president of the Seventh Welfare Institute?”

Before getting married, he hurriedly glanced through Xu Xinghe’s information, and knew that he was raised in the Seventh Welfare Institute.

Ling Changfeng changed his mind. “Invite her in.” After that, he gently closed the bedroom door and walked down the stairs.

Sophia is sixty-eight years old this year. In an era where the average life expectancy is more than 200 years, she’s still considered in her prime.

Even if it was the first time she saw a bigshot like the Marshal of the Alliance, she wasn’t frightened, and greeted him with a smile and nod. “Marshal Ling, I’ve admired you for a long time, it’s a pleasure to finally meet.”

Ling Changfeng nodded as he entered the living room, and stretched out his hand to gesture. “Sit down.”

Sophia asked, “Is Xinghe okay now?”

Ling Changfeng said, “He said there was nothing wrong, and he fell asleep again.”

Sophia looked at him in surprise. Just as she was about to say something, Ling Changfeng had already asked, “How long have you been working in the capital’s welfare institute?”

Sophia replied, “This year happens to be the 40th year.”

Ling Changfeng asked again: “Did Xinghe grow up in your welfare home?”

Sophia said with a smile: “Yes, he is a very special existence in our welfare home. He has been smart, kind, and strong since he was a child. Although he can be a little stubborn sometimes, which causes headaches for the teacher, but he’s really a good kid at heart.”

Ling Changfeng nodded: “I have a question to ask, you can choose to answer or not to answer.”

He used the word “ask”, which was already rarely courteous of him.

Sophia said: “Ask. If I know, I will try to answer you.”

“On our wedding day, he told me that if there is a child in the future, he wants joint custody of the child.”

Ling Changfeng raised his head and said with a low voice: “You watched him grow up, do you know why?”

T/N: LCF and the Mu family’s question and surprise why XXH insists on joint custody is in part due to the settings of SMM – omegas don’t normally get them / they’re normally more like Miles in personality.

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