Chapter 164

Chapter 164

Extra – Tan Yi

“Tan-ge, let me take you to the hospital.”

Assistant Xiaoshuai looked worriedly at Tan Yi curled up on the sofa and set the thermometer aside with a frown. “Your fever’s already at 38.7°C.”

Tan Yi cared about saving face and refused to go to the hospital over something like this.

“Just get me some fever medicine. I’ll be fine after a dose and a nap,” Tan Yi said with his eyes closed, instructing Xiaoshuai.

Xiaoshuai hesitated for a moment, then nodded and went out to buy the medicine.

As soon as he opened the door, he was startled to find someone standing outside.

“Who are you?”

Xiaoshuai stared at the mixed-blood man with deep-set features and warned, “This is private property. Stay back.”

“Is Tan Yi inside?”

Gong Zhe ignored his warning and asked directly.

“He is.”

Xiaoshuai answered instinctively, then quickly regretted it and added, “I mean—he’s not!”

This man looked unfamiliar—if he was some obsessed fan, that’d be trouble.

“I’m his friend.”

Gong Zhe said calmly, “I want to check on him.”

Xiaoshuai shook his head, unconvinced. “Without proof, why should I believe you?”

Gong Zhe narrowed his eyes slightly and directly called Tan Yi—he had his number saved.

But after calling twice, no one answered.

Seeing that the number was indeed correct, Xiaoshuai let down his guard a bit.

“Tan-ge’s sleeping. He probably didn’t hear the phone.”

“He’s sleeping at this hour?” Gong Zhe frowned slightly.

“Yes,” Xiaoshuai answered honestly. “Tan Yi has a fever. I was just heading out to buy fever medicine.”

“No need. I’ll call a doctor to come here.”

Gong Zhe didn’t hesitate. Right in front of Xiaoshuai, he contacted a private doctor.

After finishing the call, he added, “This doctor is very discreet. It won’t cause any bad publicity for Xiao Yi.”

“Okay!”

Xiaoshuai watched Gong Zhe’s actions and began to believe him. Still, when he let him in, he stayed close behind to prevent any mishap.

Tan Yi was dazed from the fever, his whole body alternating between chills and sweats.

When Gong Zhe came in, Tan Yi was curled up in a blanket, shivering.

“Xiao Yi?”

Seeing him trembling in the blanket, Gong Zhe didn’t hesitate for a second. He bent down and scooped him into his arms.

Gong Zhe’s body temperature was high, and Tan Yi felt warm and comfortable in his embrace.

He instinctively clung tightly to him with arms and legs. His beautiful eyes half-opened and looked at the man holding him.

“Why… why are you here?”

Once he recognized the person in front of him, Tan Yi wanted to resist and push him away on a rational level, refusing to be held.

But on a primal level, he just wanted to keep warming up like this.

“I came to check on you.”

Gong Zhe looked at his fever-flushed face and misty eyes—he was unbearably tempting. Unable to resist, he leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

“Sorry. Yesterday was my mistake.”Gong Zhe checked the information today and knew that if the cleaning wasn’t done properly, it could cause a fever. He thought carefully for a long time but still wasn’t sure if he had restrained himself enough in that kind of environment to do a proper cleaning...

So, he came specifically to check on Tan Yi’s condition.

And sure enough, he caught Tan Yi running a fever.

“Stupid idiot.”

Tan Yi, despite being weak, still scolded him, “How can you dare to do it without doing the cleaning properly!”

It made him feel terrible now, and he still had to take medicine.

Gong Zhe was already used to his irritability.

Tan Yi scolded; Gong Zhe just listened and comforted him.

“Xiao Yi, I won’t let you get hurt next time.”

“Dream on, there won’t be a next time.”

“There will be a next time. Xiao Yi, don’t you remember? You have to be responsible for me.”

Tan Yi: “...”

Damn it, can someone help him handle this idiot?

Their interaction was seen by Xiaoshuai, whose jaw nearly dropped in shock.

In his mind, a flood of messages appeared—

“Damn, Tan-ge’s acting weird! Tan-ge and this guy aren’t normal!”

“Is Tan-ge coming out to me? What should I do? Should I tell Niu-ge?!”

“Whoa, they even kissed! Who is this guy?! Why does he keep kissing Tan-ge?!”

While Xiaoshuai’s mind was overwhelmed with these thoughts, the private doctor Gong Zhe called also sensed something.

“Mr. Gong.”

The private doctor was suave and good-looking, stepping forward quickly: “Who’s sick?”

“Him.”

Gong Zhe carried Tan Yi to the bedroom, laid him on the bed, and let the doctor examine him.

After a while, the doctor put an IV drip on Tan Yi and prescribed medicine.

“Here, have him take the medicine.”

“Okay.”

Gong Zhe took the medicine and said to Xiaoshuai, “Please invite the doctor to the living room. I’ll stay here with Xiao Yi.”

Xiaoshuai quickly nodded and led the doctor out.

Before leaving, the doctor glanced at Tan Yi, then smiled warmly: “Mr. Gong, you have good taste.”

Gong Zhe glanced at him without responding.

After Xiaoshuai and the doctor went to the living room, only Gong Zhe and Tan Yi were left in the room.

Tan Yi was asleep. Gong Zhe brought some warm water, sat by the bedside, and started calling him.

“Xiao Yi, wake up.”

After calling several times, the sleepy Tan Yi finally opened his eyes drowsily.

Gong Zhe leaned down, lifted him up slightly, and propped him against the pillow.

“The doctor gave you medicine. Let’s take it before sleeping again.”

Tan Yi, still half-asleep, looked dazed.

If it were before, when he was healthy, being woken up like this would make him grumpy.

But now, since he felt unwell, his temper was gone, leaving only dazedness.

Gong Zhe fed him the medicine and, after watching him drink it, gently put him back under the covers.Back in bed, Tan Yi wasn’t very sleepy anymore.

He looked at Gong Zhe sitting beside him and said harshly, “Why haven’t you gotten lost yet?”

Gong Zhe held his hand and said softly, “I’m not leaving.”

Tan Yi didn’t have the energy to argue and could only glare at him with his eyes to shoo him away.

However, this guy was too thick-skinned to be shooed off.

After a while, the medicine kicked in, and Tan Yi couldn’t hold on any longer; he fell asleep again.

While Tan Yi slept, Gong Zhe took off his jacket, lay down on the bed, hugged him tightly, and watched him sleep.

Three hours later, the manager was let in by Xiaoshuai.

The doctor had just finished removing Tan Yi’s IV and left. The manager was surprised to see Gong Zhe still there.

Gong Zhe had recently returned to the country and was usually low-key, so at first glance, not many people would recognize his face immediately.

“Who are you?” the manager asked cautiously.

Gong Zhe looked up at him calmly and said, “Gong Zhe.”

Gong Zhe also had a foreign name, but this was his real name, though not many people knew it.

The manager thought for a moment, couldn’t place him, but seeing how close Gong Zhe was to Tan Yi, anyone with eyes could see his possessiveness toward Tan Yi.

“I’m Xiao Yi’s manager, Niu Lai.”

Seeing the two still holding hands, the manager held back but finally couldn’t resist: “Mr. Gong, forgive me for asking, what’s your relationship with our Xiao Yi?”

Gong Zhe squeezed their joined hands and showed them to Niu Lai: “Can’t you tell?”

Niu Lai: “...”

Alright, alright, it’s clear.

His expression was complicated. He never expected Tan Yi was already involved with someone else behind his back.

“This is Tan-ge’s schedule.”

The manager turned around and called Xiaoshuai over, handing him the schedule: “The company has been giving me too many tasks lately, plus several new people to train. I’m afraid I won’t be able to take care of Tan-ge.”

“This schedule needs you to follow him around.”

The assistant took the schedule and was about to promise to complete the task well, but then he noticed the densely packed words on the schedule.

He was stunned.

“Niu-ge, did you get this schedule wrong? This plan doesn’t seem right.”

Just a quick glance showed that such a packed schedule was impossible for any normal person to handle.

He had been following Tan Yi for work for so long and had never seen such a fully booked schedule.

“The company arranged it,” the manager said. “I can’t change it.”

“Tan-ge had a falling out with the higher-ups. Now the company is trying every trick to pressure him to submit.”

The manager’s situation was really tough. After giving the schedule to Xiaoshuai, he didn’t even stay.

He was embarrassed to see Tan Yi, so he just disappeared.

The manager left hurriedly. Xiaoshuai clenched the schedule, bit his lip, and returned to the room.

Inside the room.

Tan Yi had just opened his eyes but was scolding Gong Zhe.

Xiaoshuai, now considering Gong Zhe one of his own, didn’t avoid him.

“Tan-ge.”

He looked miserable and complained to Tan Yi, “The company’s bullying him.”

“What?”

Tan Yi paused from messing with Gong Zhe and looked up at Xiaoshuai.“Look, the company gave you this schedule. Isn’t this clearly bullying?!”

Xiaoshuai was so angry he was about to explode: “If you really follow this schedule, you won’t last half a month before collapsing into the hospital.”

Tan Yi reached out to take the schedule, but Gong Zhe was faster and took it away.

“Hey, that’s mine!”

Gong Zhe held his hand to stop him from snatching it back: “I’ve looked at it, now be good.”

Tan Yi: “...”

Tan Yi punched him: “Be good, you old grandpa!”

They really weren’t involved. If this stupid idiot said any more weird ambiguous stuff, he’d seriously want to kill him.

Gong Zhe held down the irritable cat and quickly finished reading the schedule.

“The company arranged this?”

“Yes.”

Gong Zhe lowered his gaze, looked at Tan Yi who was still struggling, and handed the schedule back to him.

A few seconds later, Tan Yi gave up arguing with Gong Zhe and started cursing the shameless company instead.

“Tan-ge, do you have any plan now?” Xiaoshuai asked anxiously, “We can’t really follow this schedule, right?”

Tan Yi gritted his teeth.

Without backing or connections, he really couldn’t think of any way to fight the company head-on at the moment.

“Tan-ge, don’t you have a pretty good relationship with President Xie…”

At the crucial moment, Xiaoshuai thought of Xie Chen.

Not long ago, there had been rumors about Tan Yi and Xie Chen, and they even had some shipper fans.

Tan Yi shook his head: “Not asking him.”

Xie Chen was with Lili; he didn’t want to owe Xie Chen any favors.

Aside from Xie Chen, Tan Yi began thinking about what other backing he could use.

There were seven kittens in their cat family; he was the third oldest.

The other cats each had their strengths and were quite popular after coming down the mountain.

Only he was a pretty useless one, relying on his looks alone.

Now…

Now that trouble came, he racked his brains but still couldn’t think of any useful solution.

“Xiaoshuai, just follow the schedule for now. I’ll try to come up with a solution as soon as possible.”

Before finding a solution, he still had to keep battling the company.

Xiaoshuai nodded.

Tan Yi was annoyed to death, about to throw a pillow at that idiot to vent, but that idiot stood up and left instead.

Tan Yi: “?”

Tan Yi was frustrated.

Did he know Tan Yi was in trouble and was immediately washing his hands of it?!

Sure enough, a stupid mouth is a lying ghost.

A moment ago still clinging to him to take responsibility, now he just turned and walked away cleanly.

Gong Zhe was leaving.

If he didn’t leave now, Tan Yi feared he wouldn’t be able to control his emotions.

He didn’t want his beloved to see his less-than-good side.

Outside the villa.Gong Zhe sat in the car, his tone cold as he spoke to the person on the call.

“Bring me all the plans, motives, and information about the people in his company—everything—on my desk within a day.”

“Yes.”

“The things I asked you to order from Daniel last time, have they arrived?”

“Yes, I’ll deliver them to you this afternoon.”

“Hm.”

After hanging up, Gong Zhe glanced out the window again at Tan Yi’s villa gate.

His Gong family’s people wouldn’t let any trash bully Tan Yi.

Tan Yi was just about to go out with Xiaoshuai to at least run tonight’s work.

Coincidentally, his sixth younger brother Bai Liu came to see him.

The Bai family’s youngest sixth was clever since childhood and now known as a teenage genius.

“Third brother.”

Bai Xiao Liu looked at his silly third brother and squeezed through the door: “Why do you look so pale?”

“Nothing, just a little unwell.”

“Unwell?” Bai Xiao Liu reached out to touch his forehead.

Tan Yi dodged his hand: “I’ve already seen a doctor.”

“Alright then.”

Bai Xiao Liu sat down at his place and began questioning his third brother: “How have you been recently?”

“Pretty good.”

“Oh.”

Bai Xiao Liu raised his eyebrows, as if to say, “I’m just listening to you talk.”

Tan Yi couldn’t resist this brother at all. Before long, he explained his current situation clearly.

After hearing everything and looking at his third brother’s face—which could be called a disaster…

“Forget it, who told mom to make you like this.”

Bai Xiao Liu leaned in and pinched his brother’s cheek: “Don’t worry, with me around, no one can bully you.”

Tan Yi pushed his brother’s hand away, scowling: “I’m not going to be bullied.”

Bai Xiao Liu responded perfunctorily: “Mm-hmm, third brother is the strongest, third brother won’t be bullied. I even asked third brother to protect me.”

Tan Yi: “Bai Xiao Liu, you better just keep quiet.”