Chapter 13

Chapter 13: 2. eden lake-04

Although Liu Yi’s long, confident strides looked stylish and impressive, in reality, he was dizzy, lightheaded, almost needing all his concentration just to walk in a straight line without stumbling.

As he stepped out of the office door, a hand suddenly reached from the side and grabbed the toolbox Liu Yi was carrying.

Liu Yi looked up and saw Qi Shanyu silently helping carry the box. He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

“Are you okay?”

Qi Shanyu only helped carry the heavy toolbox because he noticed the faint but clear bruise on the small section of Liu Yi’s wrist exposed from the sleeve and remembered his complaint earlier about almost injuring his hand.

As Qi Shanyu reached for the handle, his hand brushed against Liu Yi’s hand briefly. That short, cold contact and the fine cold sweat on Liu Yi’s hand immediately felt wrong to him.

Liu Yi’s surprise deepened. He stared at Qi Shanyu for a few seconds, then smiled, curling his phoenix-like eyes, and asked instead: “You don’t smoke, but you can drive, right?”

Seeing Qi Shanyu nod obediently, he continued: “Then I’ll trouble you to drive us back to the research institute.”

He tilted his head slightly, leaned close to Qi Shanyu’s ear, and whispered so others couldn’t hear: “Feeling a bit dizzy, don’t let anyone else know.”

Qi Shanyu’s expression changed immediately: “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“No, it’s fine, just a little cold.”

Liu Yi waved dismissively and patted Qi Shanyu’s shoulder: “I have cold medicine in my office. Just take some when we get back, and I’ll be fine.”

Qi Shanyu was silent for a moment, softly said “Oh,” and carried the toolbox behind Liu Yi, following him downstairs toward the parked car.

Though Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu didn’t think anything unusual about their brief conversation, to the secretly watching Li Jin, it looked completely flirtatious.

The young intern, left behind, stared at the two whispering closely together, imagining all sorts of scenarios. Looking at Qi Shanyu, once his crush and ex-boyfriend, he felt increasingly suspicious—could Liu Yi’s previously virtuous appearance have been an act? Was the reason he never took things further with Li Jin just because he didn’t like him?

Li Jin’s imagination ran wild, making him angrier and angrier. His delicate face puffed up like a pufferfish, eyes shooting tiny arrows of rage at Qi Shanyu’s back.

Qi Shanyu, focused on driving, didn’t notice the overt resentment of his ex barely twenty-four hours since their breakup.

At the parking lot, Qi Shanyu informed his partner, then got into Liu Yi’s BMW to drive, taking Liu Yi and the two students back first.

Along the way, aside from the usually energetic Jiang Xiaoyuan, the other three remained silent.

Liu Yi, dizzy and nauseous, forced himself to keep up appearances for the students; Qi Shanyu, naturally taciturn, had to concentrate on driving while also observing Liu Yi; Li Jin, consumed by love, stared at the front two, imagining scenarios about their relationship.

Even with Jiang Xiaoyuan chattering endlessly, no one cared to respond, making him annoyingly persistent.

Liu Yi endured less than fifteen minutes, finally unable to tolerate Jiang Xiaoyuan’s relentless questioning, and turned on the car radio to ignore him.

The radio played a sentimental music program, a male host reading a listener’s letter about a cheating boyfriend and a backstabbing best friend.

After reading, the host offered empty sympathy and advised the listener to move on, then said: “Next, a song for those who’ve had similar experiences.”

The melody was soft, the female voice beautiful, and the lyrics mournful. But Li Jin, listening in the car, grew increasingly upset, feeling as if his knees were being pierced.

Especially the line about “intentionally being the spare bulb,” he thought it sounded exactly like the scheming Qi Shanyu!

Li Jin glared angrily at Qi Shanyu’s back in the driver’s seat, thinking… this person, who was with him until last night, had quietly started getting close to his long-admired Liu Yi…

An hour later, the car arrived at the Forensic Science Research Institute.

The institute was only about a kilometer from the city bureau, a ten-minute walk for Qi Shanyu, who parked and decided not to use Liu Yi’s car further, walking back himself.

Liu Yi brought the two students to the pathology lab and immediately swallowed two cold pills.

After half an hour, his dizziness and headache worsened, and he had to face the reality that he might not be able to hold on.

Since Su Ruirui’s autopsy results hadn’t arrived and there was nothing else to do, Liu Yi instructed Jiang Xiaoyuan to watch the lab and went home.

&&& &&& &&&

At home, Liu Yi had no energy even to wash. He took off his coat and pants, leaving only his shirt, rolled himself in a blanket, and collapsed onto the sofa, falling into a heavy sleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept. When he woke, the room was almost pitch black, only the neon light through the curtains hinted that it was nighttime.

“Damn… must be a fever…”

With his body aching, head pounding, forehead burning, and yet shivering, Liu Yi knew without checking that he had a high fever.

Trembling, he reached from the blanket cocoon to the coffee table, grabbed his phone, opened contacts, and sent a desperate text to his friend Xue Haofan: “Michael, I have a fever, help bring me some Bifenning, urgent, wait at home!”

After sending, he tossed the phone on the table, buried himself in the blanket, and quickly fell asleep again.

During this doze, the doorbell rang incessantly, “Ding dong, ding dong.”

Struggling through the fever, Liu Yi crawled toward the door in the dark, attempting to speak, but his throat burned too much to make a sound.

—Okay, okay, I’m awake, I’ll open the door.

He silently thought, opening the door.

Unexpectedly, it wasn’t Xue Haofan but an anxious-looking Qi Shanyu at the door.

—Why are you here?

Liu Yi opened his mouth but no sound came out.

Seeing someone, his tense nerves relaxed. The moment Qi Shanyu stepped in, Liu Yi felt dizzy, weak, his legs gave way, and he collapsed forward uncontrollably.

In the last second before losing consciousness, he felt a pair of hands catching him, preventing a face-to-floor collision.

The firm strength was reassuring, so Liu Yi closed his eyes, leaning against Qi Shanyu’s broad, strong chest, and fell asleep peacefully.

……

“…Mm, okay, got it…”

Feeling warm yellow light through his eyelids, Liu Yi half-awake heard someone speaking softly.

He reached around, realizing he had been moved from the sofa to the bed.

“Mm…”

He groaned softly, struggled to open his eyes, and saw Qi Shanyu by the window, speaking on the phone.

“Mm, I won’t come back tonight. Make sure to close doors and windows, don’t stay up too late. There’s milk in the fridge, remember to heat it in the morning…”

Hearing Qi Shanyu’s unusually gentle tone, so many words, Liu Yi thought the person on the other end must be very close to him.

“Okay, good night then.”

Qi Shanyu hung up, turned, and saw Liu Yi’s half-asleep, smiling face. He paused, then quickly stepped forward, placing his hand on Liu Yi’s forehead.

“The fever’s down.”

Feeling the temperature, he realized it was close to his own, and finally relaxed.

“Do you want something to eat? I made porridge and some side dishes.”

Qi Shanyu said, skillfully lifting Liu Yi, supporting him half in his arms.