Gong Yingxian struggled to open the car door and placed Ren Yi in the back seat. Ren Yi immediately lay flat, his eyes half-open as he looked at Gong Yingxian.
“You… taking me home?”
His mind was like a bowl of paste right now, and he could barely see people clearly. All he remembered was the word home.
“Mm.”
Gong Yingxian fastened Ren Yi’s seat belt, then took off his coat, rolled it into a bundle, and tucked it beneath Ren Yi’s head.
“We’ll be there soon. Get some sleep.”
Ren Yi only felt that Gong Yingxian’s voice was soft and gentle. Although he couldn’t make out his face clearly in the dim light, it should be gentle too, right? Being sick came with this kind of treatment. Pretty nice.
He peacefully closed his eyes.
Gong Yingxian looked at Ren Yi several times before gently closing the car door, getting into the driver’s seat, and driving away.
Ren Yi’s home was quite far from here, across nearly half of Beijing. By the time they arrived, the sky was already getting light.
Ren Yi was fast asleep. Gong Yingxian opened the car door and struggled to pull him out of the back seat, only to discover that his fever had gotten even worse. He was almost unconscious.
Alarmed, Gong Yingxian scooped Ren Yi up horizontally and hurried upstairs.
Someone was waiting outside Ren Yi’s apartment—it was Gong Yingxian’s family doctor. Two large cases sat at his feet, one a medical case and the other a thermal box. He was so sleepy that he kept yawning.
“Young Master.”
Dr. Wang became more alert when he saw them.
“How is he?”
“He was out in the cold all night. His fever is severe,” Gong Yingxian said worriedly.
After entering the apartment, Gong Yingxian carefully laid Ren Yi on the bed, then walked around to the other side to give the doctor room.
Dr. Wang took Ren Yi’s temperature and gave him an antipyretic injection.
Ren Yi mumbled unintelligibly in his sleep, sweat pouring from his body nonstop.
“ When will his fever go down? Could it damage his brain?” Gong Yingxian asked anxiously.
“39.2°C. It’s okay, not particularly high. The injection should work. If you want to bring the fever down faster, you can wipe his body down with alcohol.”
“W-Wipe his body?”
Dr. Wang nodded and looked at Gong Yingxian questioningly.
Wiping his body meant taking off all his clothes, and taking off all his clothes meant…
Gong Yingxian immediately refused.
“No need.”
Dr. Wang breathed a sigh of relief. He had been dragged out of bed before dawn and now only wanted to go home and make up for his sleep.
“Fine. Anyway, he’s stable now. Once he wakes up, give him something to eat. The food in that thermal box was prepared by Uncle Sheng. Just heat it up when the time comes. Give him his medicine half an hour after he eats. If his fever hasn’t gone down tonight, I’ll come back and give him another injection.”
Gong Yingxian nodded.
“You can go.”
Dr. Wang glanced at Gong Yingxian and advised him, “Young Master, you don’t look much better than he does. No matter how busy work is, you need to rest. If you keep pushing yourself like this, I’m afraid you’ll fall ill too before we even catch Purple Flame. Haste makes waste.”
“I understand.”
“I heard Captain Ren was the one who went down to retrieve the bodies from the well last night. And I heard he has a fever?”
“Yes. He was out in the cold all night.”
“We’ve really troubled him too much. I’ll go to the hospital later to check on him and bring some supplements on behalf of the substation.”
“Uh, there’s no need.”
“What’s wrong?”
Gong Yingxian hesitated.
“He didn’t go to the hospital. He’s recovering at home.”
Qiu Yan was extremely perceptive. The unusual tone in Gong Yingxian’s voice immediately made her suspicious.
“Are you at his place?”
“…Yes.”
Qiu Yan fell silent.
For some reason, that silence made Gong Yingxian nervous.
“Then take good care of him.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up, Gong Yingxian let out a breath.
Suddenly, Ren Yi’s eyelashes trembled. The slight movement of his body was a sign that he was waking up.
Gong Yingxian practically fled from the bed, pulled over a chair, and sat beside it.
After a while, Ren Yi woke up. His head felt heavy and foggy, his throat burned with pain, and his swollen eyelids could barely stay open.
Gong Yingxian braced one hand against the bed and leaned over to look at him.
“You’re awake.”
Ren Yi looked at Gong Yingxian and opened his mouth.
“Thirsty.”
His voice was terribly hoarse.
Gong Yingxian helped Ren Yi sit up and lean against the headboard, then poured him a cup of warm water.
“Slowly. Don’t choke.”
Ren Yi gulped down the entire cup. He felt as though he had been roasted over a fire all night and was completely dehydrated.
“Another one.”
Gong Yingxian poured him another cup.
“After you finish the water, eat some congee. You need to eat before you can take your medicine.”
Ren Yi stared blankly at him.
“You brought me home?”
“You don’t remember?”
Gong Yingxian reached out and felt Ren Yi’s forehead.
“You don’t seem as hot as before.”
He handed Ren Yi the thermometer.
“Take your temperature again and see if it’s gone down.”
Ren Yi didn’t take it. He simply continued staring blankly at Gong Yingxian.
His reactions were slow right now. All he could think about was that he was sick and Gong Yingxian was taking care of him.
This kind of good fortune… Could it be a hallucination caused by the fever?
Ren Yi’s flushed cheeks, watery eyes, and sluggish expression were completely different from his usual dashing, tough image. Gong Yingxian had never seen Ren Yi like this—not even when he had been hospitalized last time.
He looked so weak, so pitiful.
Gong Yingxian secretly swallowed, his gaze almost unable to move away from Ren Yi. His heart had softened into a puddle of spring water.
He cleared his throat, opened the thermometer cap, and said, “Ah. Open your mouth.”
“Ah…”
Ren Yi obediently opened his mouth.
Gong Yingxian slipped the thermometer inside.
“Take it out in two minutes. I’m going to the kitchen to warm up the congee.”
Ren Yi held the thermometer in his mouth.
Gong Yingxian couldn’t help reaching out and gently pinching Ren Yi’s chin.
“Did you understand?”
Ren Yi nodded.
Only then did Gong Yingxian get up and leave.
The sick-person meals Uncle Sheng had prepared were all in the thermal box, and the temperature was just right. They didn’t need to be reheated.
He took out two white porcelain bowls and filled them, then put several light side dishes onto a plate. He arranged everything on a tray and carried it into Ren Yi’s room.
“38.3.”
Ren Yi seemed a little more awake.
“Your fever’s gone down. It was 39 degrees this morning,” Gong Yingxian said. “Dr. Wang said that if the fever hasn’t gone down tonight, he’ll come back and give you another injection.”
Ren Yi glanced at the tray.
“You haven’t eaten either.”
“No. I was too tired. I slept for a while.”
Gong Yingxian placed the tray on the bed and picked up a bowl, handing it to Ren Yi.
“Eat something. Then you can take your medicine.”
Ren Yi took it. He had been starving for a long time.
As the overcooked congee slid down his throat, Ren Yi immediately felt some relief from the dryness and pain. As he ate, he struggled to get his paste-like thoughts moving again.
“What time did we get back? Who was handling things over there?”
“Around six or seven. There are plenty of people there. Don’t worry.”
Ren Yi nodded.
“Yangbo and Captain Yan are there. It should be fine.”
Gong Yingxian said nothing.
Both of the names Ren Yi had mentioned annoyed him.
“What about those two bodies? Were they sent to the medical examiner?”
“Yes. They’re checking their identities. Sister Qiu just told me they were both female, one an adult and one a child. They may have been mother and daughter. If a mother and daughter disappeared together, they should be easy to identify.”
Ren Yi didn’t have the strength to get angry. But the thought that one of the victims was a child made him feel deeply sad. Being sick only intensified the emotion, making his chest feel unbearably heavy.
“This mother and daughter will probably help us find the killer very soon. The killer most likely had very strong feelings toward them, whether love or hatred.”
“How do you know?”
“We still don’t know whether they were burned alive or burned after they died. Then they were thrown into a foundation well, a place where no light could ever reach them. Most arsonists aren’t particularly interested in killing people. Death is simply collateral damage from the arson. But what happened to this mother and daughter shows that the killer had an intense hatred toward them. Whether burning them or burying them deeply, both acts have the symbolic meaning of punishing evil in religious terms. This wasn’t a random killing. The killer knew them.”
Ren Yi struggled to process what he had just heard, and a chill ran through him.
His hand trembled, and the bowl nearly fell onto the bed.
Gong Yingxian reacted quickly and caught it—along with Ren Yi’s hand.
The two of them froze at the same time.
The heat passing through their joined hands was enough to make their hearts tremble, and that heat quietly spread through their bodies.
Gong Yingxian said softly, “You can’t even hold the bowl steady?”
“…”
“I’ll feed you.”
Gong Yingxian took the bowl from his hands.
Ren Yi almost thought he had heard wrong. He was so shocked that his mind went completely blank.
He instinctively said, “N-No, that’s not necessary.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Gong Yingxian scooped up a spoonful of congee and awkwardly brought it to Ren Yi’s lips.
“Eat.”
Ren Yi stared blankly at Gong Yingxian, stiffly opening his mouth and taking a bite.
Gong Yingxian watched Ren Yi stare at him the entire time. After swallowing, Ren Yi even licked the corner of his lips, as though every expression and movement existed solely for him.
Gong Yingxian felt his own cheeks beginning to burn. He even wondered whether Ren Yi had somehow infected him.
By the time they finished the bowl of congee, both of them were sweating all over.
Gong Yingxian cleared away the bowl and chopsticks. When he returned to Ren Yi’s room, he had a book in his hand.
“Do you want to sleep, or do you want to stay awake? If you can’t sleep, I can read to you.”
The treatment Ren Yi had received today had already left him overwhelmed by the attention.
“You… don’t need to go back to the substation?”
“I’m on leave.”
Ren Yi blurted out, “Is it to take care of me?”
Gong Yingxian froze, then awkwardly said, “My sleep hasn’t been good lately. Sister Qiu insisted that I take some time off to rest.”
He paused.
“And… take care of you.”
Ren Yi smiled knowingly.
No matter the reason, he was happy.
“What book are you holding?”
“Quinn’s detective novel, The Tragedy of X.”
“Okay.”
Gong Yingxian opened the book and had only read one line when Ren Yi said,
“Could you… come a little closer? My ears are ringing.”
Gong Yingxian looked at Ren Yi.
He stood up, sat down on the bed, and leaned against the same pillow as Ren Yi.
Ren Yi gave a satisfied smile.