Pretty Wife Insists I Live Off Her - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Is Xiao Xue Still Not Awake?

Yue Lei always believed her body was made of iron and steel. Her poor, short-lived parents left her with a healthy body and strong stomach. She had indulged in all sorts of food for years, rarely even getting diarrhea. Who would have thought that this time in Fencheng, fried insects would lay her flat? She was sent straight to the hospital for induced vomiting, stomach pumping, and cathartic treatment…

After all that ordeal, her life was saved, but she was completely listless and weak. Her whole body felt as if it had been run over by a car, sore, sleepy, and exhausted. Her mind was filled with the memory of physical agony; she had no recollection of what she had said or done before.

Once it was confirmed that she was out of danger, Mo Yingxue sent the waitress away. Returning to the ward, she saw Yue Lei was awake.

“Are you feeling better?” Looking at her pale, sickly face, Mo Yingxue pouted, feeling like her own heart was being ripped apart.

“I have to thank the doctors and nurses for saving my life…” Yue Lei forced a smile, trying not to worry her wife too much.

Mo Yingxue looked fiercely at her, her voice heavy: “I’ve hired someone to sample the food from all the restaurants we ate at today. We’ll find out exactly what caused your food poisoning.”

Yue Lei agreed wholeheartedly, forcing herself to be alert: “That definitely needs to be investigated, to prevent a child or an elderly person with a weaker body from eating it next time. They certainly wouldn’t be able to handle all the washing and pumping at the hospital. I just felt like a tattered sack; nothing could stay in my body…”

Hearing her say that, Mo Yingxue felt even more distressed. She squeezed Yue Lei’s hand, trying to give her strength. Now was not the right time to discuss that form of address. While waiting in the corridor earlier, she had prayed to all the gods and buddhas. As long as Yue Lei survived this crisis, she could temporarily set aside past issues.

Yue Lei was also preoccupied at the moment. She looked up and asked Mo Yingxue: “The doctor said the toxin can cause hallucinations, but luckily I had eaten a lot of food beforehand, so it didn’t damage my brain. I don’t remember when I lost consciousness. Did I make a fool of myself in front of the camera?”

“No, you said a good goodbye to the audience. You just slumped onto me like you were drunk. If the waitress, Xiao Mi, hadn’t seen the scorpion tail and told me you might be poisoned, I really would have thought you were just drunk and sleeping.” Saying this, Mo Yingxue felt a wave of fear. Poisoning is a race against death. If she hadn’t taken it seriously and had just called a car to send Yue Lei back to the hotel, who knows what would have happened…

“Then we must thank Xiao Mi properly. I’m never eating strange food again! Honestly, if I wasn’t thinking about finding some entertainment for the stream today, I absolutely wouldn’t have eaten fried scorpions or centipedes. At most, I would have tried the silkworm pupae.” Yue Lei was earnest.

Since waking up, she could feel her wife’s worry and fear. Her eyes hadn’t left her for a moment, their clasped hands were cold and tight, and her smudged eye makeup showed she had cried… Yue Lei saw all of this and was heartbroken.

“You don’t need to worry. I’ve already thanked her,” Mo Yingxue said, feeling a little better with Yue Lei’s promise. She had not only paid the promised reward but had also hired Xiao Mi to conduct the investigation afterward, essentially teaching her to fish during their short time in Fencheng.

The two chatted for a while about various things. Yue Lei looked at the time and reluctantly released her wife’s hand: “The doctor said I need to be observed for a day. You should go back to the hotel tonight.”

“No way.” Mo Yingxue immediately refused. Whether it was her imagination or not, Yue Lei felt her eyes were starting to turn red again: “The room is empty. I don’t want to be alone.”

Yue Lei continued: “Then let Lin Zhixi and Cong Die come stay with you. They’ll be happy to get a free hotel stay.”

Mo Yingxue’s eyes darkened little by little, her tone unusually stubborn: “No. I don’t want anyone else.”

When their eyes met, Yue Lei suddenly felt her wife’s gaze was incredibly complex. There was reluctance, worry, sadness, and even anger. What was she angry about? Hadn’t she promised not to eat strange things anymore…

Thinking this, Yue Lei didn’t dare to actually say it. She obediently nodded, moved further into the bed, and patted the cramped space: “Then don’t go back. You sleep here.” Squeezing two adults onto a narrow bed that was just over a meter wide would be too much.

Mo Yingxue gestured towards the adjacent bed: “No need. The hospital beds aren’t that busy right now. I told the doctor I was also afraid of food poisoning, and I actually have some discomfort, so I booked an anesthesia gastroscopy for tomorrow morning. I paid for two beds. I’ll sleep there tonight.”

After learning Yue Lei had to be admitted, she had initially asked for a private room. But the doctor wouldn’t approve it, so she compromised with a double room. To do this, she didn’t hesitate to make herself a patient who needed medical attention.

“Where are you uncomfortable?” Yue Lei immediately asked upon hearing this.

Mo Yingxue smiled at her: “My stomach feels a bit acidic. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Yue Lei never imagined she would one day be ‘duo-queuing’ in a hospital room with her wife. The hospital corridor lights weren’t completely turned off at night. She had slept enough during the day and wasn’t sleepy at all that night. So, she used the dim light to greedily admire her wife.

She was truly beautiful, like a meticulously crafted BJD doll come to life. Her dark eyes gave her a cold and distant demeanor in the daylight. Who would have thought she would look so serene and gentle with her eyes closed?

“It feels really nice hearing the nurses talk about your girlfriend. I truly hope we can be together forever.” Muttering this, Yue Lei closed her eyes on the unfamiliar hospital bed and fell asleep.

The next day, Yue Lei was awakened by noise. Lin Zhixi and the others had been extremely worried after learning about her food poisoning last night. As soon as the dorm gates opened this morning, they rushed over. Seeing the empty bed opposite, Yue Lei immediately sat up and asked: “Where’s Xiao Xue?”

“Cong Die, Xiao Tang, and Xiao Jing went with her for her gastroscopy,” Lin Zhixi immediately replied.

“Oh no, why didn’t they call me? I should be the one going with her!” Yue Lei immediately reached for her clothes.

Lin Zhixi stopped her: “You rest first. The nurse will come to draw blood later. Don’t push yourself. Xiao Xue said you had your stomach pumped and an enema; it sounds awful. You don’t have the strength to go with her now.”

“I think I’m fine now.” Yue Lei sighed softly. After a night’s sleep, she felt much better, and her body wasn’t so uncomfortable anymore.

Seeing that she was okay, Lin Zhixi couldn’t help but scold her: “You have some nerve! I’ve been here for a few years, and not many locals even dare to eat those things. You, a tourist, came and ate so many skewers by yourself, sending yourself straight to the hospital!”

“It was all for the sake of the live stream’s entertainment… I’m a food streamer, I can’t be boring…” Yue Lei trailed off, feeling increasingly guilty.

Xiao Xue was dignified and always mindful of her face when speaking. Even when angry, she would silently internalize it and wouldn’t constantly nag her. But Lin Zhixi was different; her sharp tongue was just as bad as her own.

As expected, before she could finish, Lin Zhixi became even angrier. She was furious, only holding back from hitting her because Yue Lei was a patient: “Fine, fine, you want content. Then why didn’t you stream as a large-eater like everyone else! At most, that would only require a stomach pump, and you’d be fine afterward! You ate that random stuff here and almost died! You selfish woman, do you even value your own life?!”

Yue Lei could only stick out her neck and promise: “I’ll never do this again! Yue Lei announces that from now on, I will only eat non-toxic, harmless food. I will absolutely not be a pica sufferer anymore!”

“You better keep your word, otherwise…” Before she could finish, she heard a knock on the door and Lin Zhixi immediately went to open it.

After the blood draw, her anger had largely subsided. Lin Zhixi looked at the listless Yue Lei and started speaking sincerely: “You had a tough first half of your life, but meeting Xiao Xue is truly a turn of good fortune for you. You have no idea how worried she was about you. Yesterday, while you were being treated, she called me to ask if any of us had any experience with eating fried bugs and going to the hospital. Her voice was tearful, she could barely speak, and she sounded completely broken.”

Yue Lei had guessed her wife would be worried and sad, but she hadn’t realized it was that severe. Hearing it from someone else made her feel even more pained, and her eyes dimmed considerably: “I truly owe her an apology for this.”

“It’s a good thing the doctors are so skilled and saved you.” Lin Zhixi glared at her irritably: “Think about it. If you really died, and she was traveling alone with you, wouldn’t she be the biggest suspect? The person most worried about you would probably have to go to the police station for questioning, and if they couldn’t find evidence, she’d have to face a lawsuit or go to jail. You would have ruined her whole life!”

Yue Lei had never considered that angle. If such a thing really happened, she wouldn’t be able to rest in peace even as a ghost. She would have to find a way to escape the shackles of the underworld to come back and possess someone to prove Xiao Xue’s innocence to the police.

While they were talking, Cong Die and the others returned, pushing Mo Yingxue’s bed. Yue Lei climbed up anxiously to look at her: “Is Xiao Xue still not awake?”

Cong Die replied: “The doctor said she had two small polyps, and they removed them on the spot. It might take a little longer for her to wake up, but she doesn’t need to stay in the hospital. She just needs to watch her diet later.”

“What? She really had something in her stomach?” Yue Lei was completely distraught. In the previous life, her wife never had problems like this. What was going on in this life?

Xiao Tang said: “The doctor said it’s unusual for someone so young to have this kind of illness. It’s usually caused by immense stress. Maybe the pressure of school is too much. Being an art student is a grind.”

“Aish, it’s a good thing it was discovered early.” Yue Lei was heartbroken for her wife again.

When Mo Yingxue finally woke up half an hour later, the group left the hospital together.

Sitting in the car back to the hotel, Yue Lei held Mo Yingxue’s hand: “Xiao Xue, don’t keep things bottled up anymore. Don’t worry too much about your studies. You’re naturally talented in this field, and graduating definitely won’t be a problem. Your stomach is already showing signs of illness at such a young age. What will happen later?”

“Mhm.” Mo Yingxue nodded obediently and opened her arms to her, looking slightly wronged.

Yue Lei sighed, pulling her into her embrace and gently rubbing her cheek against the top of her head, completely filled with tenderness.

The next phase involved both of them needing to recover, so many high-intensity activities were cut from the itinerary. They only visited nearby parks and waterfront areas. Sometimes Yue Lei felt like she wasn’t on vacation at all; she could easily blend in with the locals.

One day, Mo Yingxue checked her phone: “Xiao Mi finished the investigation!”

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