Chapter 9

Chapter 9

But He Wei couldn’t care about any of this at all.

She didn’t even know that Yan Huai, Cheng Yan, and several people she didn’t recognize were standing behind them, currently watching this young couple with ambiguous and awkward gazes.

He Wei’s cold hadn’t recovered yet. As soon as her tears fell, her whole head felt like it was splitting.

The suffocating feeling that came before every reload in the past surged up again. He Wei’s whole body trembled, her arms shaking especially badly. She choked with genuine emotion, crying while asking the system, “Is the favorability still dropping?”

The system was silent for two seconds. “That was close. It stopped.”

Survived a disaster.

Only then did He Wei breathe a sigh of relief.

Yan Chen’s voice sounded above her head: “Hehe, don’t make this kind of joke again in the future.”

He rarely spoke to her in this tone before — stiff and cold, not carrying much emotion.

He Wei sniffed, wiping her tears messily onto Yan Chen’s clothes. “I was just very scared… scared that one day you’d suddenly stop liking me.”

Her voice became softer and softer. Mixed with a heavy nasal tone, her words weren’t very clear, but he could still understand.

Yan Chen felt the woman in his arms gradually tightening her hold. The hands around his waist were like two vines, tightly entwined.

He Wei cried fiercely. Soon the fabric on his chest was soaked, the warmth pressing directly against him.

Yan Chen’s lower abdomen felt slightly warm. He took a deep breath, then raised his hand and patted her back. “Don’t cry, Hehe. If you cry more, you won’t look pretty.”

This didn’t work at all. He Wei continued sobbing.

For a moment, Yan Chen didn’t know how to comfort her.

He hadn’t really comforted girls before. The girlfriends he dated previously basically didn’t act coquettish with him. They knew his patience wasn’t very good — acting cute or getting angry usually meant breaking up.

He Wei was the first person to actively use breaking up to throw a tantrum at him.

Not only did Yan Chen not feel impatient, he instead felt extremely distressed for her. He touched He Wei’s hair, softening his voice. “Be good, Hehe. Don’t cry.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the silly-sweet system’s exclamation sounded in He Wei’s mind: “Wow, Host, you’re amazing. The male lead’s favorability has gone back up.”

He Wei’s palms were covered in sweat.

Yan Chen had just been hugged by Song Zhenzhen. Her perfume scent lingered on his clothes, and a peach-colored lipstick mark was still stamped on his shirt collar.

He Wei was thankful her cold had dulled her sense of smell, otherwise she might not have endured this long. She sniffed again. “What did it rise to?”

“Sixty-eight.”

Still two points lower than seventy.

She shouldn’t have courted death like this.

He Wei fixated on those two points. Just as she planned to stay in Yan Chen’s arms to raise it a bit more, before she could tighten her arms, she heard a slightly surprised male voice above her head: “Brother, you’re here to talk business?”

He recognized most of the people not far away. They were all from the business circle. Plus, in a money-burning place like this, bringing a few girls to accompany drinks would greatly increase the success rate of business negotiations.

Yan Chen released He Wei, then wrapped an arm around her and lowered his voice near her ear. “Say hello.”

He introduced the people in front one by one, and He Wei followed, greeting them one by one.

The girl who hadn’t yet graduated from university looked clean and lively. Because she had just cried, her eyes were red, with tears still lingering. She stood obediently beside Yan Chen.

Like an obedient little wife.

Yan Chen’s hand around her shoulder tightened slightly.

The system prompted: “Male lead favorability increased to seventy.”

He Wei lowered her head halfway and lightly pressed her lips into a small smile.

Someone opposite teased, “Young Master Chen changed girlfriends again?”

He emphasized the word “again.”

Yan Chen didn’t care about the obvious sarcasm. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and replied casually, “If I don’t like her, I change.”

The man then laughed and echoed, “This one’s prettier than the previous ones.”

He Wei still kept her head half lowered, calculating in her mind how to raise the remaining ten points of favorability.

She stood there quietly, like an outsider.

Even though the gazes of the few people opposite occasionally fell on her.

Men’s conversations were nothing more than a few topics.

Career, family, women.

They all knew each other, so when they met, they inevitably chatted a few words. As they walked toward the elevator, they were still talking about each other’s girlfriends.

He Wei found it annoying, but her expression remained calm. She slipped out of Yan Chen’s arms and said softly, “I’m going to the restroom.”

Yan Chen smiled at her. “Then I’ll wait for you in the car.”

He Wei nodded, then turned and quickly walked toward the other end of the corridor.

She had only been gone for a few seconds when the elevator doors opened. Cheng Yan smiled apologetically. “I think I left something in the private room. You guys go down first.”

He turned to the man who had been silent the whole time. “Ah Huai, come with me to get it.”

Cheng Yan said this with very little confidence.

After all, He Wei was someone else’s girlfriend now. Creating an opportunity for Yan Huai made him feel somewhat guilty.

The others didn’t think much of it. After nodding, they all entered the elevator.

The elevator doors quickly closed. Only then did Cheng Yan let out a breath. “Go check on Weiwei. I think she’s not quite right today.”

Yan Huai had noticed it too.

Her voice was soft today, her nasal tone heavy, her whole face red. When she lifted her eyes, her steps were also very small. More than half a minute had passed, and He Wei still hadn’t gone into the restroom.

Cheng Yan guessed, “Is she sick?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the man beside him had already lifted his leg and followed.

From the elevator entrance to the restroom was only a dozen meters, but He Wei took nearly a minute to walk it.

Her body was weak. She felt dizzy and feverish, and even her legs were soft.

A buzzing sound rang in He Wei’s ears. After finally reaching the restroom door, she quickly supported herself against the doorframe and slipped inside.

Then, before she could turn on the faucet, a rough male voice of alarm sounded behind her, “Ahhh! Y-you… how did you get into the men’s restroom!”

He Wei frowned, her hands braced on the sink. She had just turned her head to look when, before she could see who the person was, someone wrapped an arm around her shoulders, turned her around, and pressed her into his arms.

The next second, the man’s deep voice sounded above her head: “Why aren’t you getting out?”

Not far away came the rustling sound of someone pulling up his pants. Soon after, hurried footsteps approached, accompanied by a weak male voice, “President Yan, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at this young lady…”

It had just been a natural reaction.

Anyone who was relieving himself in the restroom and suddenly had a woman rush in would probably lose composure.

Yan Huai glanced at him, slightly raised his chin, signaling him to hurry out.

A few seconds later, just as the man slipped out, Cheng Yan appeared at the doorway. He glanced at the two people embracing inside the men’s restroom and coughed lightly as a reminder, “Not planning to come out?”

As soon as he said that, Yan Huai released his hold.

He Wei felt like a string in her head had burned through. Her reaction time lengthened, and after a few seconds she finally realized what happened, quickly stepping back a few steps.

Yan Huai frowned. “Don’t step back.”

So He Wei stopped again.

She didn’t dare disobey Yan Huai.

“Come out.”

Only then did He Wei realize she had entered the wrong restroom. Lowering her head, she shuffled out in small steps.

Cheng Yan stood at the door. When he lowered his gaze and saw her flushed face and ears, he couldn’t tell whether it was from embarrassment or something else. He bent slightly and asked softly, “Weiwei, are you sick, or drunk?”

He Wei opened her mouth, her throat dry, unable to say anything.

Yan Huai answered for her, “She has a fever.”

When he held her just now, it was like holding a piece of freshly heated charcoal.

Cheng Yan: “I’ll take you to the hospital?”

After all, He Wei was Cheng Nuo’s friend; he couldn’t just ignore her.

Cheng Yan was still waiting for He Wei’s response when, before she could speak, her phone chimed.

It was a WeChat notification.

He Wei’s whole body was burning hot, and she had no strength, so she simply leaned lightly against the corridor wall. The wall was cool, lowering her temperature a little through her clothes.

She took out her phone and looked at it. It took her quite a while to barely make out the content. It was from Yan Chen, just one sentence: [Hehe, I have something to do. Can you take a taxi back by yourself?]

He Wei replied: [Okay.]

Her hands trembled while typing. Yan Huai saw it. He stood half a meter beside her and took out a cigarette.

Cheng Yan still wasn’t at ease. This time he changed the question into a statement. “Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

He Wei didn’t refuse. After softly thanking him, she had just straightened up when the system’s mechanical voice sounded again: [Host, I now have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.]

It didn’t intend to ask He Wei’s opinion and continued on its own: [The good news is I’ve upgraded and can independently detect angst points… the bad news is there’s about to be one.]

He Wei swallowed lightly, then heard the system say: [You’re about to faint.]

The mechanical voice still echoed in her mind. Before she could even take a step, her head grew heavy and her feet light, and she fell backward heavily.

System: [Congratulations, Host, you didn’t faint onto the ground and successfully avoided the angst point.]

He Wei’s eyelids twitched, but she couldn’t feel happy at all.

Although she avoided this angst point, she would likely face a bigger one—

Yan Huai had caught her.

The overhead lights were glaring. The man removed the cigarette he had just lit from his mouth. The spark flickered. He Wei felt her body lighten as she was lifted horizontally into his arms.

Yan Huai had only taken two puffs of his cigarette before it was extinguished again.

He hadn’t expected He Wei to suddenly faint.

Just as he hadn’t expected that this woman would be so light.

She was wearing quite a lot—sweater, coat, scarf, all wrapped tightly—but she was still light. He could lift her effortlessly.

Yan Huai frowned slightly and turned to Cheng Yan. “Go start the car.”

When He Wei woke up, it was already the next morning.

There was still a bandage taped to the back of her hand. Perhaps because she had received an IV, she felt much more comfortable.

But when she sat up and looked around, that feeling instantly vanished without a trace.

The room was spacious, the walls white, but the curtains, the floor, and even the bedding on the bed she was in were all dark blue.

He Wei’s breathing stalled, and she hurriedly lifted the blanket and got out of bed.

Barefoot, she ran to the door, praying that this wasn’t Yan Huai’s room, while gently pulling the door open a crack.

Outside, Cheng Yan’s words in the living room instantly reached her ears without missing a single one—

“Ah Huai, she’s Yan Chen’s girlfriend.”

He Wei tightened her grip on the doorknob.

At this moment, Yan Huai sat with his back to her, holding a cigarette between his fingers and taking a puff. After several seconds, he said indifferently, “No need to remind me.”