Chapter 19: Like Big Brother, Like Little Brother
The icy winter rain felt as if it wanted to drain the warmth from the entire city.
When Fu Yue arrived at the emergency room of Mary Hospital, he was almost mistaken for a patient by the triage nurse and nearly sent onto an emergency bed. He indeed looked terrible right now.
Icy rain dripped from the ends of his hair. He carried a soaked coat in his hand, and his shirt, drenched by either rain or sweat, had become semi-transparent and clung tightly to his body. The red, swollen welts on his back were faintly visible. There was a tear in his trouser leg, where the wound on his thigh could be seen slowly seeping blood.
Yet, he seemed oblivious to it all.
Fu Yueâs gaze searched the emergency hall anxiously until he finally spotted the person he was looking for in Section B. Chen Bai lay on a hospital bed, his face as pale as a sheet of paper, with an IV needle inserted into the back of his hand. Standing beside him was a middle-aged woman with a helpless expressionâhis landlord.
Fu Yue stepped forward quickly and greeted her.
“Itâs good that youâre here; I still need to go back and play Mahjong.” Seeing him, the landlord hurried to hand him a slip. “This is the payment slip.”
Fu Yue took it and walked quickly to the payment window.
“Sir,” the nurse behind the window looked up, “your balance is insufficient. Youâre short by eighty yuan.”
Fu Yue froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered his financial situation. After thinking for a few seconds, he immediately turned and bolted, flying toward the hospital’s main entrance.
“Landlord lady!” Fu Yue caught up to the landlord, who had already stepped out of the gate, and ducked under her umbrella.
“Is there something else?” the landlord asked impatiently.
“Could you… lend me eighty yuan first? I didn’t bring enough money. Iâll pay you back tomorrow.”
The landlord was clearly stunned, but since the amount wasn’t large, she took out her phone and transferred the money to Fu Yue. “Don’t you dare default on me.”
“I won’t, I won’t. Rest assured.” Fu Yue bowed in gratitude before racing back to the emergency hall.
Once the payment was finally settled, Fu Yue accompanied Chen Bai for his examinations. In the distance, Pei Luomian, wearing a white coat and possessing a tall, straight posture, approached the payment counter.
“What was that about just now?” he asked.
“Ah, Dean Pei. That gentleman just now…” The cashier nurse gave a brief account of Fu Yue not having enough money for the initial payment.
“Let me see the itemized bill.”
Pei Luomianâs gaze swept over the long receipt. He frowned slightly.
Two hours later, Chen Bai finished all his examinations and was transferred to a ward. The youth lay on the hospital bed, having changed into a hospital gown, looking exceptionally frail.
Knock, knock.
The ward door was lightly tapped, and a nurse pushed a meal cart inside.
“Hello, here is dinner for the two of you.”
The nurse arranged two exquisite meals on the bedside table. One was a warm, white liquid diet. The other was a sophisticated spread of three dishes and a soup, clearly not intended for a patient.
Fu Yue was a bit surprised. “I didn’t order any food.”
“Oh, this is our hospital’s speâno, I mean, it’s standard for this ward.” The nurse explained with a smile, pointing at the two meals. “This one is the patientâs stomach-nourishing liquid diet, and this one is the family meal for you. Please enjoy.”
A family meal?
Fu Yue looked at the steaming food. Just as the nurse left, the chief physician walked in holding a medical chart.
“Mr. Chen has acute stress-induced gastric bleeding. There is no active bleeding now.” The doctor scanned the test report. “Pay attention to his diet for the next few days, get plenty of rest, and avoid further stimulation.”
After giving the medical orders, the chief physicianâs gaze lingered for a moment on the bloodstains on Fu Yueâs shirt and trouser leg.
“Mr. Fu, the injuries on you… should I call a nurse to help you tend to them?”
“No need, thank you.”
Fu Yue refused without hesitation. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to treat them, but he literally had no money right now and couldn’t afford the medical fees.
Only after hearing the doctor’s words did Chen Bai realize Fu Yue was in such a wretched state. “Young Master Fu, what happened to the injuries on your body?”
“Itâs nothing. I had a small conflict with someone and got into a fight. It’s a small matter; don’t worry about it.”
Fu Yue didn’t notice that at the moment he perfunctorily said he “got into a fight,” the ward door, which wasn’t fully closed, was silently shut from the outside. Outside the door, a tall figure adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and stood in the shadows for a moment before finally turning to leave.
Before the chief physician left, he gave Fu Yue many instructions. For instance, how Chen Bai should take his medication during this time and how he should eat. Fu Yue recorded them one by one on his phone.
Once the doctor left, silence returned to the ward. Looking at the exhausted Fu Yue, Chen Baiâs eyes turned red, and tears were about to well up again.
“Young Master Fu… Iâve caused you trouble again.”
“Don’t cry.” Fu Yue handed him a tissue. “You didn’t cry when you were getting the gastroscopy without anesthesia just now; why are you crying now?”
Chen Bai pinched the tissue. “Iâve just been feeling particularly wronged lately and couldn’t hold it back. Iâm sorry.”
“No need to say sorry to me. Did something happen?”
Chen Bai lowered his head, his fingers lightly rubbing the corner of his clothes. “Itâs just… I suddenly feel quite useless.” His voice grew smaller. “Ji Linyue clearly gave me such a good job opportunity, yet I always fail to do it well…”
“Don’t worry, you can tell me.” Fu Yue patted the back of his hand and lowered his voice.
Chen Bai seemed to have suddenly found someone willing to listen to his grievances, and tears rolled down like broken pearls. He talked intermittently about things in the workplace. For example, when writing meeting minutes, he wrote the points of contention between competing departments too directly, causing dissatisfaction among department heads. Or how he didn’t understand internal “jargon” when translating documents, or how he messed up the seating arrangements at business dinnersâthings of that nature.
Of course, the greatest pressure came from Ji Linyue. This domineering CEO was cold and serious in the workplace; just him sitting there gave Chen Bai “mountain-like pressure.”
When the scandal broke today, it became the final straw that crushed him. After Ji Linyue saw the news, his face was dark; he didn’t ask anything and simply ordered Chen Bai to “get off work.” That cold “get off work” sent Chen Baiâs heart plummeting to the bottom of the abyss. He returned to his rented room in a daze, and the more he thought about it, the more miserable he felt. Under the immense pressure and grievance, his vision went black, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and then he knew nothing more.
As Chen Bai said all this, his eyes were clear, but his tone was very bewildered. Fu Yue understood after listening. Chen Bai was just a fresh graduate; being parachuted into the position of Assistant to the President of the Ji Group made it normal for things to be difficult. Not understanding workplace unwritten rules made it inevitable to face exclusion from colleagues and work pressure.
As for Ji Linyueâ
Fu Yue immediately thought of Ji Hanmo and how serious and terrifying he looked while working. Like big brother, like little brother; Ji Linyue was bound to be extremely strict with work. Causing Chen Bai to have gastric bleeding from anxiety seemed very much like the style of the Ji brothers.
Fu Yue felt it was necessary to give Chen Bai some advice.
“Chen Bai, if you want to stay by a domineering CEO like Ji Linyue, you can’t have this kind of mindset.”
“How should it be, Young Master Fu?” Chen Bai suddenly looked up, wiped his tears, and waited for his strategist to speak. After all, Fu Yue’s brilliant performance last time had earned him Chen Baiâs complete trust.
“The first method is called ‘retreating to advance,'” Fu Yueâs lips curled. “Of course, that’s just basic operation. In front of him, don’t apologize, don’t explain, just directly…”
Following that, Fu Yue explained eloquently. Do this, then do that. Since coming to this world, he had done quite a bit of homework on “how to capture a CEOâs heart,” and he had one theory after another in his head. From workplace basics like how a personal assistant should ask for instructions in the morning and report in the evening, to high-level psychological plays like “value anchoring” and “two-way binding,” it left Chen Bai stunned.
“So, remember, don’t let him lead you by the nose. Next time, it should be your turn to make him enter the hospital with gastric bleeding,” Fu Yue said half-jokingly.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Fu Yue himself was stunned. Gastric bleeding… Suddenly, he realized something. Gastric bleeding was an unavoidable plot point after Chen Bai entered the Ji Group!
In this plot, Chen Bai was supposed to meet Pei Luomian in the hospital. This Dean Pei would develop feelings for the pure and resilient Chen Bai and would even have a small “shura field” moment with Ji Linyue when he came to visit.
Fu Yue had almost forgotten this plot point. If he kept sticking around here like a third wheel, how could Pei Luomian fall in love at first sight? How could Ji Linyue get jealous and have a dark face?
“Young Master Fu, you should eat something. You definitely haven’t had dinner either.” Chen Bai held the bowl of warm rice paste and pointed at the luxury family meal nearby.
Fu Yue was indeed starving; from this morning until now, he had only eaten a cup of noodles at a convenience store. But now, he couldn’t stay here anymore.
“Chen Bai, I just remembered I have something to take care of. Excuse me for a bit; you eat first, and Iâll be back later.”
After Fu Yue finished speaking, he grabbed his “family meal” and ran out into the corridor. At the end of the corridor was a row of chairs. Fu Yue sat down in a corner, watching the movements of the ward while opening the meal box.
Inside were sautĂŠed shrimp, oyster sauce lettuce, and a small portion of squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, accompanied by a bowl of mushroom soup. It was a well-balanced mix of meat and vegetables, light yet nutritious.
Fu Yueâs hand holding the chopsticks paused slightly. He realized that these dishes were actually all things he liked. To be precise, things the original owner of this body liked…
At this very moment, in the deputy deanâs office on the administrative floor of the medical building. The air was filled with the aroma of coffee. The chief of the emergency department was sitting across from Pei Luomian. “Dean Pei, the patient Chen Baiâs condition has stabilized.”
The young and handsome deputy dean across from him was leaning back in his office chair, one hand supporting his forehead. His eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses were lowered; he seemed to be listening yet not listening, as if he was distracted.
“Do we really not need to send someone to tend to that Young Master Fu’s injuries?”
Pei Luomian shook his head. “Let him be.”
The emergency chief arched an eyebrow. “These two are the stars of todayâs news. This Young Master Fu is indeed as the rumors say; either he’s entering the hospital himself, or men are entering because of him.” After saying this, the chief made a “tsk” sound with a gossipy tone.
A complex emotion flashed through Pei Luomianâs eyes. He seemed to be speaking to his colleague, yet also to himself. “It surely won’t be as serious as that time back then.”
“The ‘back then’ Dean Pei is talking about is… when a genius youth jumped into the river for him? I think you were doing your ER rotation then. Supposedly, that Young Master Fu didn’t even come to take a single look.”
“He has too many romantic debts,” Pei Luomian let out a cold laugh. “He probably doesn’t even know such a person existed.”
Just then, the intercom on the desk rang. Pei Luomian picked up the phone, and the voice of the head nurse from the VIP floor could be faintly heard. “Mr. Chen Bai is already asleep… Fu… is eating, guarding in the corridor…”
A trace of irritation flashed across Pei Luomianâs face. He interrupted the other party directly. “I know.” After a pause, he said coldly, “In the name of the hospital, notify Ji Linyue to come and take Chen Bai away.”
Hanging up the phone, he waved his hand at the emergency chief, who wanted to say more. “Fine, that’s enough. Dismissed.”
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