The Sickly Double Doesn't Want to Be Spoiled - Chapter 35.1

Chapter 35.1

The day before New Year’s Eve, Lu Cong “returned to the palace.”

The weather that day wasn’t very good; the sun hadn’t come out, and a few gloomy clouds floated in the sky, leaving the villa brightly lit even in broad daylight.

As the car pulled up to the entrance, Lu Cong saw several new red lanterns hanging on the cold main gate. They had cartoon zodiac patterns on them and were quite cute.

Most likely, they were something Meng Yuan wanted to buy.

The spring couplets were also pasted up, and the courtyard was decorated with lanterns and colored streamers; from a distance, it was a sea of red.

Since birth, Lu Cong had never experienced a New Year with such “flavor.”

He pushed open the car door, stepped out, and stood at the entrance. Looking at that door, he suddenly hesitated.

Whether it was the timidity of returning home or an instinctive avoidance of something, he couldn’t bring himself to push the door open immediately.

The next second, the door opened from the inside.

Meng Yuan’s head poked out, but the cold wind made him shrink back. “Why have you been standing out there without coming in?”

Lu Cong then stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Meng Yuan was forced back several steps by the momentum and looked at him with a confused expression. “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Cong took off his coat and walked further in, asking nonchalantly yet with a hint of expectation: “How did you know I was outside?”

Meng Yuan took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and thrust it before his eyes.

Lu Cong looked closely.

Oh. There was surveillance at the door.

Whenever someone passed by, a notification would pop up at the top of Meng Yuan’s phone, reminding him that there was a living creature outside.

It wasn’t just Lu Cong; even if a bird flew past, Meng Yuan would know about it clearly.

Lu Cong: “…”

Didn’t that mean his sneaky, hesitant, and inexplicable behavior had been seen perfectly clearly by Meng Yuan?

What to do? This feels so embarrassing.

Lu Cong kind of wanted to die on the spot.

He restrained himself.

He pushed Meng Yuan’s hand down and said as if nothing had happened: “I didn’t even know when the surveillance was installed.”

“Just recently,” Meng Yuan said. “Sister Qin Qing said she told you about it.”

As he spoke, he followed behind Lu Cong, looking at the back of his head with a bit of concern. “Are you too tired from the business trip?”

Why is his memory starting to decline? He’s not that old yet…

Lu Cong glanced back at him.

Meng Yuan held his phone with both hands against his chest, the concern in his eyes completely genuine.

So naive.

Lu Cong thought.

“Yes,” Lu Cong said.

He accepted the excuse and walked up the stairs to the second floor.

“Hey, you…” Meng Yuan wanted to say something else.

Lu Cong interrupted: “I’m going to take a shower and sleep for a bit. You don’t need to worry about me.”

After saying that, he didn’t look at Meng Yuan again and continued upward.

Meng Yuan: “…”

He stood in place, his hand still pointing toward the elevator.

“I wanted to say that you could take the elevator,” he muttered to himself. “After all, your room is on the fourth floor.”

However, no one could hear him.

Perhaps Lu Cong just wanted to exercise after a long flight. Meng Yuan shrugged and went to find Qin Qing to hang out.

Qin Qing was in the kitchen with several aunties preparing dinner. Seeing Meng Yuan come over, she quickly picked up a piece of preserved sausage for him to eat.

“How is it?”

Meng Yuan chewed and let out an exaggerated “Wow!” “It’s so delicious!”

“Right?” Qin Qing ate a piece herself. “Auntie Li’s family made it themselves. I also think it’s particularly good; only a home can produce this kind of flavor.”

Meng Yuan nodded repeatedly, his eyes still fixed on the cutting board. “Can I have another piece?”

Qin Qing laughed and fed him another. “Eat, eat. Eat as much as you want. Preserved sausage tastes best when it’s right on the cutting board; once it’s plated and served, it loses a bit of its zest.”

“Sister Qin Qing, you’re right.” Meng Yuan’s mouth was full of oil as he nodded indistinctly.

After swallowing, he took a sip of water and leaned against the island. “I think Lu Cong is a bit strange today.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Qin Qing asked.

“Just… a bit spacey, I can’t quite describe it,” Meng Yuan said distressedly. “It feels like his brain isn’t quite clear.”

Qin Qing was amused by this description. “Maybe he’s just gone crazy from work. It’s fine, a minor issue. He’ll be better after a few days off for the New Year.”

“Makes sense.” Meng Yuan deeply agreed.

In his view, a holiday could indeed cure all ailments.

…

On New Year’s Eve, the three of them had a steaming hot pot at home.

The lights were on in the living room.

Lu Cong woke up and went downstairs to see Meng Yuan sitting on the sofa, clutching a cushion and watching TV.

His jet lag was adjusted, and his mind was clear. He walked over quietly.

Meng Yuan turned his head, and their eyes met. Lu Cong saw his eyes light up for a moment.

“Did you get enough sleep?” Meng Yuan asked with a smile.

Lu Cong nodded and poured himself a glass of water. “Completely clear-headed now.”

“Then you’re probably not crazy anymore,” Meng Yuan grumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Meng Yuan smiled again.

Lu Cong put down his water glass. Only now did he have the chance to look at Meng Yuan seriously.

Meng Yuan was wearing loungewear and was even thinner than a month ago.

Clearly, Meng Yuan’s appetite was decent; he was willing to eat basically everything served on the table yet he was still losing weight uncontrollably, as if it were an unsolvable problem.

Meng Yuan’s face was as bloodless as ever, with dark circles under his eyes. The gauze under his collarbone was gone, and a small, round object protruded under the skin; that must be the IV port.

Lu Cong instinctively stepped closer, wanting to take a look.

Meng Yuan, however, pulled up his collar a step ahead and patted the spot next to him. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

Lu Cong raised an eyebrow.

He had nothing to do today, nothing tomorrow, and nothing for three days straight. Watching a movie to pass the time seemed like a very reasonable choice.

“Sure,” he sat down beside Meng Yuan. “A science film?”

The hand Meng Yuan was using to hold the remote paused, and he made a pained face. “I beg you.”

Ah, what a cute expression.

Lu Cong couldn’t help but chuckle and pressed down the corners of his mouth. “Then what do you want to watch?”

Meng Yuan took out his phone, opened Xiaohongshu (Little Green Book), and pulled up several bookmarked posts.

Lu Cong glanced at them and pointed. “This one.”

Meng Yuan switched back to look at the synopsis, then wrinkled his nose. “This looks like a very hardcore mystery; I’m afraid I won’t understand it.”

“So little confidence in your own IQ?”

Meng Yuan looked up, his innocent gaze meeting him directly. “Do you actually think I can do it?”

Lu Cong was silent for two seconds. “Let’s keep looking. There must be something better.”

In the end, the two chose a half-mystery, half-suspense thriller with a touch of horror. They drew the curtains to create an atmosphere.

At first, Meng Yuan was very invested.

Gradually, Meng Yuan became very annoyed.

It wasn’t because he didn’t understand, but because he understood too well.

On average, every five minutes, Lu Cong would state an opinion calling it an “opinion,” but in reality, it was a spoiler.

The plots he predicted would be enacted exactly a few minutes later.

After watching for a long time, Meng Yuan realized he was watching a void. Where was the suspense? Where was the mystery?

Looking at Lu Cong, this guy actually had a face full of pride and satisfaction, feeling smug about his excellent IQ and predictive abilities.

Meng Yuan was so angry he almost cried.

On the projection screen, the ending theme had already started playing. Meng Yuan’s mind was empty, completely lacking the thrill of having just finished a suspense movie.

He only had the urge to strangle Lu Cong.

“You are so annoying!” he shouted.

Lu Cong: “?”

Lu Cong was still smiling triumphantly. Hearing this, his smile froze. “What did I do to you?”

“Have you seriously never watched a movie with someone else before?”

“Who says?” Lu Cong countered. “Didn’t I just watch one with you?”

“Then that’s a ‘no’.” Meng Yuan declared.

Lu Cong: “…”

“Don’t you know you can’t give spoilers while watching a movie? You spoiled everything, how am I supposed to watch it?” Meng Yuan was frantic. “I’m never watching a movie with you again!”

Lu Cong: “??”

The next second, Meng Yuan sprang up from the sofa in a rage and ran off wailing.

He was wearing cream-colored loungewear. From Lu Cong’s perspective, he looked like a little white radish head loaded into a rocket launcher, disappearing with a “boom.”

Lu Cong: “???”

A few minutes later, Qin Qing walked out angrily. “Are you bullying Xiao Yuan again?”

Lu Cong sat on the sofa, shocked by everything around him. “Again?”

Qin Qing had her hands on her hips, one hand still brandishing a spatula, her eyes wide with anger. She completely forgot she was a housekeeper paid to do a job.

And paid with Lu Cong’s money!

Qin Qing wasn’t like this before.

She was calm, rational, and gentle. Even when Lu Cong’s mother passed away and Qin Qing was only in her early twenties, she hadn’t shown such strong emotions.

Everything had changed after meeting Meng Yuan.

Lu Cong didn’t speak; he also forgot to argue because he was too shocked.

At the start of the New Year, Lu Cong felt that the world he lived in was beginning to subtly collapse because of Meng Yuan’s presence.

…

The winter this year was very short. After the New Year, in the blink of an eye, the spring was warm, flowers were blooming, and birds were flying.

On a weekend in mid-March, when Meng Yuan woke up, there was a chorus of birds outside the window, and sunlight peeked through the gaps in the curtains.

He lay still, staring at that gold line for a while.

He had to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion today.

Recently, his transfusions had become more frequent, changing from once a month to once every two weeks. He didn’t know how long this frequency could be maintained.

According to the doctor, in another two months, chemotherapy might need to be considered.

But Meng Yuan didn’t really want to.

Chemo was very painful; you couldn’t go anywhere, and you’d be in a haze every day. He didn’t have many days left to begin with; if possible, Meng Yuan still wanted to walk around and see more.

Moreover, no amount of chemo could cure this disease; ultimately, it relied on a bone marrow transplant. But Meng Yuan knew he wouldn’t wait long enough for a matching donor before he died.

He only thought these things in his heart and didn’t tell anyone.

After all, Qin Qing didn’t know anything; she truly hoped Meng Yuan would get better.

In her eyes, if a bone marrow match couldn’t be found for the time being, chemotherapy was the only way to prolong his life.

Whenever Meng Yuan saw her gentle and worried eyes, he would think that if his own mother were still alive, she would probably look at him with that same gaze.

He couldn’t bear to say anything self-defeating to Qin Qing.

He still had to get the blood.

Meng Yuan got up slowly and sat on the edge of the bed, enduring the dizziness and nausea brought on by anemia.

The last transfusion was two weeks ago. Not much time had passed, yet his body was already very weak.

Meng Yuan felt he was a bit like that demon from Journey to the West; only after drinking a large bowl of blood would he briefly regain some vitality.

There were two knocks on the door.

“Meng Yuan, are you up?”

Lu Cong’s voice.