The Sickly Double Doesn't Want to Be Spoiled - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Meng Yuan sat among the flowers and plants.

The warmth of the sun spilled over his body, and he closed his eyes. He truly loved the sun, loved the feeling of the sunlight warming his eyelids until his vision turned into a hazy white, like a sweet dream he might have had in his mother’s arms as an infant.

He also loved strawberries. Or rather, he had wanted to taste them.

In his small hometown, strawberries were sold at a very high price. People said that the cost of living was low in small towns, but Meng Yuan felt that every grain of rice he ate was exchanged for very, very hard work.

Actually, it wasn’t that he couldn’t afford a single box of strawberries at all; Meng Yuan looked at the bright red fruit in his hand, his lips curling in a shy smile. He just hadn’t been able to bring himself to spend the money. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to do it every year.

A box of strawberries could be exchanged for several of his father’s pills. If he wanted to eat strawberries today and tomorrow, it wouldn’t be long before a whole bottle of medicine was gone. Every time he craved them, he would coax himself: The strawberries this season aren’t good. Wait until next year. Buy them next winter; they say winter strawberries are the sweetest.

He had coaxed himself like this for many years.

The fresh, sweet juice burst in his mouth. So sweet. So strawberries were truly this sweet, Meng Yuan thought, his eyes feeling hot and his head spinning. By the end, there was a tiny bit of sourness at the root of his tongue, which gradually turned into a slight numbness.

Do strawberries make your tongue go numb?

Meng Yuan’s throat felt painful. “Cough… cough cough!”

He was choked by the fifth strawberry, a very light cough, but it suddenly became unstoppable. A cold sweat broke out over his body, and his heart beat faster and faster, as if someone were squeezing his windpipe. He began to lose the ability to breathe.

The strawberries spilled, scattered all over the ground. It was a waste, such a pity. Meng Yuan instinctively wanted to reach out and pick them up, but his vision blurred and his heart raced; he collapsed with no strength left.

His sight gradually faded. The door of the glass room burst open from the outside, and Qin Qing ran in, panting heavily.

…

By the time Lu Cong arrived at the hospital, Qin Qing was exhausted, keeping watch outside the intensive care unit.

The corridor was silent, a world away from the chaos of tens of minutes ago, but the echoes still lingered in Qin Qing’s ears, her brain humming. The thrilling rescue had forced a sweat out of her; her forehead was damp.

Lu Cong walked over, his expression cold and stern. “What happened?”

“Anaphylactic shock,” Qin Qing let out a long breath. “Thankfully, he was brought back.”

Meng Yuan already had underlying health issues, and all his physical indicators were poor. The rescue had been extremely perilous; at one point, he had lost the ability to breathe on his own.

“Allergies?” Lu Cong’s eyes moved. “Strawberries?”

“Yes,” Qin Qing buried her face in her palms, breathing deeply. “It’s my fault. I didn’t know he was allergic to strawberries.”

“Did you buy the strawberries, or did he take the initiative to eat them?” Lu Cong asked.

Qin Qing looked up. She was already overwhelmed with distress and self-blame, yet Lu Cong remained as indifferent as ever, as if he were incapable of feeling emotion for anything in the world, his brain operating only like a precision instrument.

Qin Qing did not speak. Silence was also an answer.

“If he wanted to eat them himself, how is it your fault?” Lu Cong said coldly. “How could he not know he had such a severe allergy?” A light chuckle escaped his nose. “He just wants to seek death.”

Lu Cong detested anyone who lacked reverence for life.

“It’s not like that…” Qin Qing tried to defend Meng Yuan. Although she hadn’t been with him long, and although she didn’t know why, she always felt the boy was optimistic at heart; he wouldn’t try to end his life so abruptly.

Lu Cong had already lost his patience and walked quickly toward the monitoring room.

“Wait!” Qin Qing hurried to stop him. “He’s very weak right now. Don’t…”

Lu Cong didn’t listen. He had never felt any pity for lives that were young or fragile.

Weak? Wasn’t that caused by himself?

Lu Cong pulled away Qin Qing’s hand, his tone as flat as always. “You go back first. I will have specialists look after him here.”

“But—”

“When he is well enough to return home, you will continue to be responsible for his daily life.” Lu Cong spoke softly, yet undeniably. Once he decided on something, there was never any room for negotiation.

Qin Qing opened her mouth but ultimately failed to speak, left outside the door by Lu Cong’s indifference.

…

The monitoring room was bright and cold, the equipment ticking and beeping softly.

Meng Yuan was not asleep; he was still conscious. The effect of the medication left him in a state of extreme fatigue but unable to sleep, a kind of hyper-arousal. He lifted his heavy eyelids, looking at the tall man who suddenly appeared at the door, his eyes filled with blank confusion.

Who is he?

“What, don’t recognize me?” Lu Cong said.

He wore a dark brown suit, the tailored fit accentuating his exceptionally long and slender frame. His shoulders and back, wrapped in the cold fabric, were upright, faintly revealing the sense of power of an adult male. Looking only at his appearance, he seemed to be the polite and refined type, but if one listened carefully, one would find that every sentence he spoke carried a subtle arrogance, a politeness so extreme it lacked empathy.

“Although we haven’t officially met, you shouldn’t be a stranger to me.”

Meng Yuan remembered. After coming to this world, he had searched for Lu Cong’s name online and seen this face in financial news.

“Mr… Lu.” Wearing an oxygen mask, his voice was barely audible.

Lu Cong took two steps closer. This distance allowed him to see every subtle expression on Meng Yuan’s face more clearly, while also increasing the pressure of his physical presence. As his shadow fell over Meng Yuan, he soon noticed a flash of timidity in the boy’s eyes.

“Scared?” Lu Cong seemed not to understand. “Weren’t you unafraid of even death just now?”

“I didn’t…” Meng Yuan defended himself in a small voice.

“You didn’t?” Lu Cong let out an absurd laugh. “Are you trying to say you didn’t know you were allergic to strawberries?”

Meng Yuan fell silent. The original owner of this body certainly knew. But Meng Yuan was not him; he had none of the original owner’s memories.

Allergic to strawberries? How to explain? There was no way to explain.

Meng Yuan could only keep his mouth tightly shut, like a clam.

“Lost your tongue?”

Lu Cong stared at the boy who couldn’t squeeze out a word for half a day, a difficult-to-resolve irritation gradually rising in his heart. He began to doubt whether his decision to enter a marriage alliance with Meng Yuan was correct.

Conventionally, the Lu and Meng families developed different business sectors, were equal in strength, and were well-matched socially. Meng Yuan had low status in the Meng family; an alliance with Lu Cong would greatly increase his influence at home, benefiting him in every way. For Lu Cong, Meng Yuan was frail and posed no threat, a quite perfect partner for an alliance. Their union, setting aside useless matters of love and affection, could practically be called a match made in heaven.

However, Meng Yuan’s repeated attempts at life and death truly annoyed him. Lu Cong hated troublesome things, and currently, Meng Yuan seemed a bit too troublesome.

He reached out, the back of his hand brushing against Meng Yuan’s jaw, feeling the boy shudder physiologically. “Speak.”

Meng Yuan still held out. Lu Cong’s patience was exhausted; his pity for weak creatures went only this far. He pinched Meng Yuan’s chin not even using much force causing Meng Yuan to furrow his brows and make a wheezing sound in his throat as if he couldn’t catch his breath.

“Do you want to die that badly?” Lu Cong’s eyes smoldered with anger, each word deliberate. “Do you… want to die that badly?”

The air suddenly became thin. Even with the oxygen mask, Meng Yuan could feel the oxygen he relied on for survival gradually drifting away. He looked at Lu Cong’s gradually blurring face, instinctively grabbing the man’s arm, his fear breaking him out in a sweat.

“I don’t…” He stiffened his neck, offering a weak resistance.

Tears filled his eyes unknowingly. He looked at Lu Cong intently, and for a moment, his vision suddenly became incredibly clear.

“I really want to live.”

It was because he wanted to live so much, because he was so unwilling to give up, that God took pity on him and gave him these two years out of thin air. He actually cherished them very much.

He said softly and firmly: “I really want to live.”

These words startled Lu Cong into instinctively releasing his grip. As the pressure was removed, the boy on the hospital bed took a heavy breath, and the oxygen mask filled with dense mist.

Lu Cong saw Meng Yuan lower his eyes, tears soaking the white pillow. He was already very weak, his forehead covered in sweat, and his chest covered with electrode pads connected to the monitor, rising and falling imperceptibly.

Lu Cong remembered the look in Meng Yuan’s eyes at that moment. It was a very sad look, yet carrying a miraculous desire for life. Lu Cong had never seen such a gaze; it was so bizarre that he couldn’t understand it at all, and subsequently felt a jolt of alarm.

He stepped back several paces.

Meng Yuan had inhaled enough oxygen and painfully lifted his eyelids. The man who had been viciously pinching his throat and questioning him just now was currently standing at the threshold of light and shadow by the door.

Meng Yuan could no longer see his face clearly.

Lu Cong didn’t say another word. He turned and left in a hurry.

Soon, medical personnel filed in. Under the gentle soothing of the nurse, Meng Yuan slowly closed his eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.