Chapter 15: Falling Ill
Regarding red wine, Lin Zhile’s impression still remained stuck on the rumor that it helped with sleep before bed. Occasionally seeing his Ge have a few drinks, he had no thoughts of trying it himself.
So he merely let out an “Oh.”
On this side, Gu Jingxiu lost the mood to have a few drinks before sleeping. He turned and left the wine cabinet.
He saw that Lin Zhile’s hair was still wet and said nonchalantly, “Actually, you could have blow-dried your hair first before contacting me. After all, my phone is reachable at any time.”
Lin Zhile sighed. “The hotel’s hairdryer is absent from duty.”
“However, I already called the front desk. They said they’d be right up to help me solve this problem.”
Actually, he was lying; he hadn’t called yet.
It was just that for so many years, he was used to making it seem like he wouldn’t be stumped, avoiding making others worry over trivial matters.
Gu Jingxiu clearly believed him, saying no more on the matter. He walked from the storage room upstairs. Lin Zhile couldn’t see that his hands were actually completely empty, only hearing him say, “There’s something you must be informed of.”
Lin Zhile: “What?”
Gu Jingxiu said, “Ms. Lin Xiaofang’s flight lands in Jinghua tomorrow morning. She’s coming to visit me.”
“The subjects of her visit also include you.”
Lin Zhile abruptly widened his eyes.
Ms. Lin Xiaofang was precisely the elder of the previous generation with “deep affection” that Father Lin had spoken of.
Her life could be called legendary. Born in the countryside, she was reduced to an orphan at seventeen. A few years after entering society, she married into a wealthy family, and by now she was an iron lady with a net worth in the hundreds of millions.
Being able to have an intersection with Father Lin was because the two were from the same village and could barely be called cousins.
But aside from these stories that people delighted in talking about, Lin Zhile had never met her, nor had he heard his family mention her before.
If it weren’t for him coming to Jinghua this time, he wouldn’t even know this relative existed.
“Then what should I do?” Lin Zhile inquired.
Gu Jingxiu replied with a lazy tone, “You don’t need to do anything. Just showing your face is fine.”
“You seem very nervous. An ugly daughter-in-law afraid to meet the in-laws?” he added.
Lin Zhile: “…”
“How can you use analogies so carelessly!” Lin Zhile condemned him.
Then he muttered quietly, “And I’m not ugly either, okay.”
It wasn’t that he was overly confident; this conclusion came from the countless feedbacks from the people around him.
Lin Zhile believed his face might not necessarily make Auntie Fangfang especially like him, but it should be very difficult to dislike.
Gu Jingxiu let out a low laugh and said, “Mm, not ugly at all.”
“Then do I need to prepare any gifts? What should I say when we meet?” Lin Zhile was so distressed he didn’t even want to dry his hair anymore.
“None of that is needed. She lacks nothing.”
As Gu Jingxiu spoke, he walked onto the terrace and sat down. The night wind outside was a bit cold, haphazardly blowing his clothes about.
Lin Zhile heard him leisurely continue, “Furthermore, I have always been very magnanimous. When the time comes, I will put in a good word for you in front of her.”
“I definitely won’t speak of those things you’ve done to me.”
Best Actor Gu’s line delivery skills were extraordinary. He specifically enunciated the words “definitely won’t speak of” with perfect clarity.
Lin Zhile: “…”
These words were clearly a threat!!
Where is the magnanimity in this?
Lin Zhile was a bit angry. “…I got it. I’m so sleepy, I’m going to sleep.”
Gu Jingxiu said, “Then I’ll come pick you up after you finish work tomorrow.”
“Make sure to blow-dry your hair before sleeping.”
Lin Zhile turned his head to the side, not looking at him, merely giving a simple “Mm” as an answer.
Refusing to communicate with this kind of petty ghost.
Gu Jingxiu rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Alright, this time I truly teased him too hard.
Hanging up the video call, Lin Zhile expressed his request to the front desk. However, half an hour passed, and no one came to handle it.
Because it was too late and he was afraid of delaying tomorrow’s schedule, Lin Zhile had no choice but to go to sleep just like that.
At the same time, tens of thousands of miles high above the English Channel.
A plane took off from Heathrow, flying directly to Jinghua.
A woman wearing sunglasses accepted a cup of warm water from a flight attendant. She possessed a radiant and beautiful Eastern face and a powerful aura. Her other hand held an iPad, looking at a photo.
On it was a selfie of a young woman. The background was precisely the cabin of this plane, even the seat number was similar. Only the pixels were a bit blurry.
The foreign old man sitting in the next seat looked at her and struck up a conversation in broken Chinese: “She is very beautiful, very much like you. Are you relatives?”
The woman in sunglasses stroked the face on the screen with her finger and said, “She is my younger sister.”
This time, he spoke in English, “Oh, you look like you miss her very much. You should go meet her. She will definitely be very happy to hug you.”
The woman in sunglasses raised her hand to turn off the electronic screen, lowering her eyelashes:
“But she is dead.”
Sleeping into the latter half of the night, Lin Zhile began having many strange dreams.
He dreamed again that he was fleeing together with Xinlebi. Passing through a desert, the sun shone down, making his whole body burn hot, as if he were wrapped inside a steamer.
A while later, night fell, the burning heat receded, and his whole body shivered with cold. It went back and forth like this until he was woken up by his alarm clock.
But he also finally realized that things were not right. His throat felt as if it were scorched by raging fire, and his limbs didn’t have a shred of strength. He reached out his hand, intending to grab the phone on the nightstand, but suddenly his consciousness detached from his body, and his vision plunged into darkness once again.
At the recording site, a female assistant rushed into a certain office, holding up her phone.
Her phone screen displayed numerous unanswered call logs. Facing the executive director, who was holding a meeting with a face full of deep, bitter resentment, she said, “Director Wang, Zhang Ran told me Contestant No. 42 didn’t show up today…”
Director Wang clicked his tongue. “Call him then. What’s the use of coming to me?”
The assistant shook her head. “Here, he didn’t pick up.”
“Should we go to the hotel to take a look?”
Director Wang recalled who No. 42 was. Aside from Mei Yi, who recommended him, he didn’t have any background. Oh, he seemed to have outstanding looks.
Amateurs were indeed troublesome, not understanding the workplace rules of the entertainment industry. He said impatiently, “Look for what? If he didn’t come, then just don’t shoot his scenes. Who is there to blame but himself for not cherishing the opportunity?”
The assistant had no choice but to nod and retreat from the office.
Time ticked away bit by bit. On the bed, Lin Zhile’s cheeks were flushed, his breathing heavy, and bead-sized drops of sweat continuously rolled down his forehead.
Meanwhile, the phone on the nightstand hadn’t stopped ringing. For the third time, a missed call notification popped up on the screen. Caller name: Gu Jingxiu.
Caroline arrived at the hotel a step behind Gu Jingxiu.
On the way, she contacted the producer of Lingering Resonance, Yuan Zheng. The other party initially thought Gu Jingxiu was planning to cross over into different territory. But upon hearing she was merely looking for a contestant, his tone cooled down.
Caroline still remembered what was written in the agreement: Lin Zhile was not allowed to use Gu Jingxiu’s name to do anything.
At this moment, however, she spoke to Yuan Zheng with an ice-cold tone, “He is Gu Jingxiu’s younger brother. Tell me, how can I not be anxious? He is recording a show at your place, and you guys don’t even know that he’s been missing for half the day. If an accident occurs, who will take responsibility?”
Hearing her words, Yuan Zheng on the other end likely knocked over his teacup by mistake, letting out a yelp of pain from being scalded.
He hurriedly tried to say something, but Caroline tossed out the bombshell and smack, hung up the phone.
Smart people all knew what to do.
“Still haven’t gotten in touch?”
Caroline walked over to Gu Jingxiu’s car. The other party was swathed entirely in black, fully equipped with a mask and hat. Having just stepped out, he slammed the car door shut.
“I asked the production crew, and not a single person knew. It’s truly…” She didn’t voice the second half of her sentence.
“He’s on the fourth floor,” Gu Jingxiu spat out, then took large strides up the hotel steps.
Caroline said, “Should we wait for the production crew’s people to arrive?”
Gu Jingxiu said coldly, “Not waiting. I booked all the rooms on the fourth floor.”
Caroline understood his meaning and went up to fetch the room cards.
While fetching the cards, the front desk receptionists were chatting, excitedly discussing which sucker had booked all the vacant rooms on the fourth floor ten minutes ago.
Because that floor’s number had an inauspicious meaning, very few people stayed there. Consequently, the hotel’s renovations for it were incredibly perfunctory.
Who knew the person would arrive right as they were speaking.
The front desk receptionist looked at the customer in front of her, who was exuding a suffocatingly low pressure. With a height approaching 1.9 meters, his mere stance was packed with intense intimidation.
Not to mention how freezing cold the gaze was within those deep black pupils.
She felt almost as if she had been stabbed, tremblingly handing over the room cards.
According to regulations, one person could only book one room, but how could she dare to say that?
Arriving at the fourth floor, they quickly found Lin Zhile’s room. It was at the very end. A “Do Not Disturb” sign hung on the door, meaning the person was highly likely still inside.
Gu Jingxiu dialed the phone once more. Caroline’s expression changed. “There’s a sound!”
She turned around, randomly swiped open a room, and called down demanding the manager to come over.
Meanwhile, at the set, Director Wang dashed out of his office, grabbing the assistant passing by in the corridor.
Wiping his sweat, Director Wang asked her what the woman who dropped off Lin Zhile earlier looked like.
The female assistant said she truly couldn’t remember her face, but she had heard Lin Zhile address the other party as Caroline when saying goodbye.
“You don’t even know Caroline?!” He was so angry he burst into curses.
The female assistant was a bit bewildered from the scolding. “She is?”
Director Wang almost lost his breath. Not wanting to deal with her, he turned and marched out of the set, heading straight for the hotel.
At this time, Caroline was negotiating with the hotel manager.
Withstanding the gaze of the other male guest, the manager braced himself and said the hotel didn’t have the authority to open a guest’s door privately, especially since this was an artist participating in a show.
Therefore, they either had to wait for the police or wait for the production crew’s people to arrive.
Caroline had naturally called the police immediately, but it took time for them to get here.
She secretly cursed the production crew in her heart. It wasn’t like they had no money, yet they rented such a shabby hotel. As soon as you walked in, it smelled of mold everywhere, and there was practically zero service attitude.
Right now, because Lin Zhile’s phone had been called too many times, the rejection notification had already turned into a “powered off” message.
They had no choice but to knock on the door from the outside. A few minutes passed, and suddenly, a crisp crash rang out from within the room.
It sounded like something being knocked to the floor. The noise was very clear; everyone present heard it.
The manager’s expression changed. He had originally thought no one was inside.
Caroline’s heart immediately leapt into her throat. She glared at the manager. “Hurry up and open it! Do you have to wait until someone actually gets into an accident inside?!”
The manager didn’t dare to neglect it any longer. He swiftly pulled out the master room card and unlocked the door.
The lights in the room lit up one by one as the door opened. Gu Jingxiu was the first to walk in.
He saw Lin Zhile curled up on the floor, his beautiful eyes squeezed tightly shut, his entire body flushed red from being tormented by a high fever. Near his hand was a shattered glass cup; that was exactly where the noise had come from.
“Please save…” Sensing someone enter, the person on the floor began to struggle, like a butterfly with torn wings, letting out a weak cry for help.
Gu Jingxiu’s breath trembled for a moment. He bent down on one knee, reaching out his hand toward Lin Zhile. “Sorry, I’m late.”
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