Chapter 41: The Small-Time Star and His Short-Tempered Sugar Daddy (Part XLI)
On the day Xiao Ji transferred from Su City back to Haicheng, his parents originally wanted to follow.
However, after Fang Yinnian repeatedly promised to take care of Xiao Ji meticulously and properly, ensuring he wouldn’t suffer any grievances, they reluctantly entrusted Xiao Ji to Fang Yinnian and returned to their hometown.
“If you don’t give me grief, I’d be thanking the heavens.”
Back in Haicheng, the more Fang Yinnian thought about his promise to Xiao Ji’s mother, the more stifled he felt.
From the day Xiao Ji climbed into his bed, whenever a conflict arose between the two, he, Fang Yinnian, was inevitably the one getting angry.
Xiao Ji leaned against the headboard, looking at Fang Yinnian’s face, expressionless. “Can’t understand. Want to kiss.”
Fang Yinnian laughed in anger. “Keep dreaming.”
Xiao Ji let out an “oh” and sighed.
Fang Yinnian stood up, paced around the room twice, and finally cursed:
“Guess I owed you in my past life.”
Then he sat back down by Xiao Ji’s bed, pressed the back of his neck, and kissed him.
Xiao Ji had originally discussed with Fang Yinnian hiring a caregiver to serve tea, pour water, and deliver three meals a day on time.
But Fang Yinnian wasn’t at ease and moved his office directly into Xiao Ji’s ward.
Every day after the doctor’s rounds, he held video conferences. If there were documents he needed to sign personally, Little Lin would deliver them to the hospital, and take them back to the company after signing. Fang Yinnian guarded Xiao Ji every step of the way.
Fang Yinnian, who used to have others serve him in everything, now learned to act according to someone else’s mood.
If Xiao Ji coughed, water was brought to his lips.
If Xiao Ji yawned, the raised hospital bed backrest was lowered to coax Xiao Ji to sleep.
If Xiao Ji raised a hand to shield his eyes, the sheer curtains and drapes were drawn.
Fixed meals and fruits, washing up every morning and evening—Fang Yinnian did it all personally.
At noon, as Xiao Ji lay on the hospital bed drowsily, he watched Fang Yinnian, who had finished washing clothes, stare at his vital sign data for a long time before sitting back on the sofa to work silently on his laptop.
For the first time, he truly felt the repaired heart in his chest beating slowly.
Two days before Xiao Ji was ready to be discharged, his manager, Sister Cao, finally finished her work with several newcomers and came to the hospital.
At that moment, Fang Yinnian had just fetched hot water and was washing Xiao Ji’s hair while tilting his head to hold his phone between his ear and shoulder, taking a call from Fang Xun.
“It depends on the situation. Whether I’m there or not, Dad has to celebrate his birthday. One more of me isn’t much; one less isn’t missing. I doubt I’ll have time to go.”
Fang Xun’s voice came through the receiver, carrying obvious dissatisfaction:
“You left things half-done before and made me wipe your ass. You haven’t been at the company all this time. I asked Little Lin, and he hemmed and hawed for ages without saying anything. Fang Yinnian, what exactly are you busy with lately?”
Fang Yinnian said casually:
“That turtle-grandson Cheng Nuo wants my life. Didn’t you guys know that already?”
But this obviously couldn’t fool Fang Xun:
“Cheng Nuo’s matter has long been set in stone. Not to mention you, even Dad and I wouldn’t let him continue living. Don’t try to use that excuse to brush me off.”
Fang Yinnian’s neck hurt from holding the phone. He shook his hand and took the phone down, placing it on speaker beside Xiao Ji’s bed, but accidentally flicked foam from his hand onto the corner of Xiao Ji’s eye.
Xiao Ji closed his eyes and sighed.
Fang Yinnian hurriedly took a towel to wipe his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Fang Xun’s voice on the phone double in volume:
“Fang Yinnian, I’m talking business. What are you doing?”
Fang Yinnian was annoyed by Fang Xun asking this and that. Hearing Fang Xun being so fierce, he also became irritable:
“I’m washing my ancestor’s hair! If you have nothing to do, can’t you find a man to fall in love with? Why are you always staring at what I’m doing all day?”
With that, he hung up the phone and saw Sister Cao, who had pushed the door open at some point, standing at the entrance at a loss.
“What are you here for?” Fang Yinnian asked.
After Cheng Nuo’s incident broke out, everyone online knew the victim was Xiao Ji.
Sister Cao’s relationship with Xiao Ji was very average. At that time, when Xiao Ji was hospitalized in Su City, she received a notice from Little Lin asking her to issue a statement on Xiao Ji’s behalf saying he would temporarily withdraw from the program with a return date to be determined. At that point, Sister Cao had completely given up on Xiao Ji.
She had called Xiao Ji to ask how his recovery was going, but regrettably, Xiao Ji hadn’t removed her from the blacklist, so the call didn’t go through.
So she gradually forgot about the matter.
Until she bumped into Little Lin at the company this morning and casually greeted him:
“Special Assistant Lin, haven’t seen President Fang lately?”
Little Lin sighed. “President Fang is in the hospital. No time to come to the company.”
Sister Cao was stunned. “President Fang is hospitalized?”
Little Lin shook his head. “No. Isn’t Xiao Ji still not discharged? President Fang is accompanying him. Didn’t Xiao Ji tell you?”
As soon as his voice fell, his phone rang again. He apologized to Sister Cao, answered the phone, and left in a hurry.
Only then did Sister Cao realize the stakes involved. She dropped everything at hand immediately, carried bags big and small, and rushed to the hospital. As soon as she pushed the door open, she saw Fang Yinnian washing Xiao Ji’s hair and claiming Xiao Ji was his ancestor.
At this moment, facing Fang Yinnian’s question, Sister Cao was somewhat tongue-tied. She opened her mouth and squeezed out a sentence:
“President Fang, I came to see Xiao Ji.”
Fang Yinnian originally planned to reassign a manager to Xiao Ji after the program ended.
But Xiao Ji said he really didn’t want to do it anymore, so Fang Yinnian put the matter to the back of his mind for the time being.
Now that Xiao Ji was almost discharged, Sister Cao showed up.
One could guess that Sister Cao must have heard something to suddenly remember Xiao Ji.
From the perspective of Sister Cao’s job, this was understandable. But from the perspective of Xiao Ji’s lover, Fang Yinnian only felt very dissatisfied with Sister Cao’s attitude toward Xiao Ji.
He sneered, “Now that the child is dead, you come with the milk. Now that the car hit the wall, you know to turn.”
Being exposed on the spot, Sister Cao was embarrassed to death. “Sorry, President Fang, it was my negligence.”
Fang Yinnian waved his hand. “Appreciate the thought. Take the things back. Terminate the contract for Xiao Ji, and transfer the compensation to Xiao Ji’s account.”
Sister Cao froze. “Terminate the contract?”
Fang Yinnian had been washing this head for a long time. If he didn’t finish soon, the water would get cold. He lost patience:
“Can’t you tell? Me, Xiao Ji, a couple. If we don’t terminate the contract, is he supposed to continue filming and suffering?”
Sister Cao accepted the order and left, having made a wasted trip.
After Xiao Ji finished washing his hair, he sat on the edge of the bed looking at Fang Yinnian. “She was just following the rules; she didn’t do anything wrong.”
By now, Fang Yinnian understood Xiao Ji somewhat. He didn’t understand why, despite eating the same grains as everyone else, Xiao Ji seemed to understand nothing about human nature.
But almost all his remaining patience was used on Xiao Ji now. Hearing such words, he wouldn’t get angry anymore.
He just said patiently:
“Rules are dead; people are alive. Living in this world, rules are nothing more than human feelings. We are all flesh and blood; there is closeness and distance between people. You are my person, so it’s normal for me to be biased and protective.”
“Xiao Ji, I don’t like talking about rules or reason. Whoever is most important in my heart, I use them as the rule, and them as the reason.”
“Do you understand what I mean?”
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