"It's really nothing."
"Are you really, really, really okay?"
Gu Wanqiu sighed softly and squatted down, cupping Li Yue's tear-streaked face in her hands and forcing Li Yue to look at her: "Baby, you have to believe me, and you have to believe Yu Nan too. She will be alright."
"Go outside and calm down first. Leave things here to me... Miss Zhu, could you please keep Li Yue company for a while?... Miss Zhu?"
Zhu Yao sat next to Yu Nan's hospital bed, her body trembling like a leaf, her expression showing no less despair than Li Yue's.
Gu Wanqiu: ……
Zhu Yao helped Li Yue to a bench outside the ward, attracting the attention of passersby.
One person looked ashen-faced, while the other cried until she broke down emotionally.
An old man sweeping the street sighed as he passed by. He had already walked past, but then turned back, patted Zhu Yao on the shoulder with a knowing look on his face, and said, "Everyone has to go through this sooner or later in life."
Li Yue cried even louder.
Zhu Yao felt her head buzzing, half of it from the match that had just ended, and half from Yu Nan's pale face lying in the toilet.
Author's Note:
Why coffee? Because it's in sips...
Chapter 46 Is Yu Nan having second thoughts?
Zhu Yao and Li Yue didn't have to wait long before Gu Wanqiu came out, took off her mask, and gave Zhu Yao a meaningful look.
"Yu Nan is fine. It's not that her heart condition is serious; she just ingested an excessive amount of caffeine."
Li Yue was still a little confused, "Huh?"
"They just arranged for him to have his stomach pumped; he must have drunk too much cola."
Zhu Yao's expression turned strange. "Cola can make someone pass out?"
"For heart patients, the caffeine in cola can cause an increased heart rate, increased oxygen consumption by the heart, and induce myocardial infarction."
"This little brat has no self-control; she can forget about ever touching carbonated drinks again..."
Li Yue stopped crying, replaced by overwhelming anger. She seemed about to rush in and beat the child, but Gu Wanqiu stopped her.
“Yu Nan is well aware of her own body condition, and this particular intake just happened to cause her to faint.”
The implication is that Yu Nan deliberately drank so much cola.
Li Yue realized what was going on, suppressed her sadness and anger, and calmly sized up Zhu Yao.
Zhu Yao's grief was no less than hers. Gu Wanqiu said that Zhu Yao ran frantically with Yu Nan in her arms after getting out of the car, and by the time she got her to the hospital, she was practically collapsing to the ground...
How far has the relationship between these two people progressed?
Could it be because of the cola Zhu Yao drank?
"Miss Zhu, what have you and Yu Nan been up to lately?"
"Ah... I think she's been studying the professional books that Miss Lang Xi recommended lately, but I'm not too sure."
"Didn't you communicate much? Were there any conflicts?"
Zhu Yao thought about it carefully. These past few days, she had spent all her time playing games except for sleeping, and time had passed extremely quickly.
"No, I've been preparing for a Civilization VI competition recently, and I just heard the alarm in the middle of a match... I haven't really been communicating with Yu Nan these past few days, and I haven't been paying attention to her mood..."
That's strange. Is Yu Nan having some kind of mental breakdown? Li Yue didn't believe Yu Nan would have such thoughts.
Gu Wanqiu clicked her tongue as if she had suddenly realized something.
Li Yue looked at Gu Wanqiu, who was trying not to laugh, with a puzzled expression, and was then pulled into Yu Nan's ward by the other party.
Do you remember when Caesar was lame a while ago?
Caesar is a Siamese cat owned by Li Yue and Gu Wanqiu. It was originally a small and cute cat, but when it grew up, it looked like a coal mine owner, with its whole body charred black.
During that time, Gu Wanqiu was very busy with work, and Li Yue was also negotiating contracts. The two of them would go home and fall asleep almost immediately. When Li Yue finally caught her breath after finishing the contract, she found that Caesar was limping.
Caesar was on three feet, his left foreleg slightly bent, as he limped and slid across the floor with difficulty, looking pitiful.
Mr. Li, who had just given himself a day off, rushed to the vet with his cat in his arms, and was so scared that he burst into tears.
Just as Gu Wanqiu arrived from the hospital, Caesar's test results came back—Caesar's foot was perfectly fine.
"Have you been...very busy with work lately?"
The veterinarian put it subtly, "Cats are like that—aloof yet affectionate. Siamese cats, in particular, know they've become less attractive, and if they feel neglected, they might do something to get attention..."
The veterinarian put Caesar on the table, and Caesar immediately started running around the room. With all his limbs intact, he was nothing like the pitiful creature he was at home, which made Li Yue so angry that her teeth itched.
…
"You mean Yu Nan..." Li Yue's expression also turned strange. "That can't be right, how old is she?"
Gu Wanqiu clicked her tongue again, "But she's just immature."
"Besides, Zhu Yao also said that she has been preparing for the competition these past few days and has hardly communicated with Yu Nan. You know what your cousin is like, right?"
Li Yue thought about it for a moment and felt that such a childish thing... Yu Nan seemed... really capable of doing it...
How embarrassing! I suddenly don't want to acknowledge this childish little sister anymore!
Li Yue immediately called the housekeeping service, and soon received feedback—three cans of Coke were missing from the refrigerator, and the empty cans were stuffed into the innermost part of the garbage bag, as if the person who drank them didn't want to be discovered.
A jar that hadn't been washed yet was in the center of the kitchen sink, and the marks indicated that it had been filled with cola.
All signs indicate that Yu Nan did it on purpose.
Li Yue's expression twisted slightly as she rubbed her hands together, ready to teach Yu Nan a lesson the moment she woke up.
"Think positively," Gu Wanqiu patted Li Yue's shoulder, seemingly wanting to comfort her. "Yu Nan isn't neglecting her health. She even brushed her teeth after drinking the cola, so she should care about her health quite a bit."
Li Yue: ...Thank you, but I wasn't comforted at all; in fact, I'm even more speechless.
Yu Nan was still frowning, lying unconscious on the bed, with a trace of water still around her mouth from washing her stomach.
Li Yue became increasingly annoyed, wishing she could strangle Yu Nan right there in the hospital room—to stop the brat from causing any more trouble.
“You still have work to do, right? I can keep an eye on things here. Besides, your current mood isn’t suitable for you to stay here.”
Out of a sense of responsibility to the patient, Gu Wanqiu decided to send Li Yue away, who was in a bad mood. The patient's "death" was a minor matter; the wife's "entry" was a major one.
"Ah! Today's orders!"
Reminded by Gu Wanqiu, Li Yue grabbed the contract and hurriedly left the hospital.
"Miss Zhu, Yu Nan is fine. She probably drank too much cola and will wake up soon."
"Dr. Gu... is there anything Yu Nan should avoid eating? I'll keep an eye on it."
"It's nothing... You can't eat too much spicy food, coffee, or Red Bull. It's okay to drink a little carbonated beverage occasionally to perk yourself up, but you can't consume too much caffeine and taurine. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with it."
Gu Wanqiu was still too embarrassed to tell Zhu Yao that Yu Nan was trying to get her attention.
At least... save some face for your sister-in-law.
…
When Yu Nan regained consciousness, she saw the familiar ceiling.
"Dr. Gu, Yu Nan is awake!"
Zhu Yao already had dark circles under her eyes, and now, due to her emotional tension, her eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of her eyes seemed to be moist.
"Can't you be a little gentler? Every heart muscle cell that dies is one less to worry about."
Gu Wanqiu tapped Yu Nan on the head with a look of exasperation, "Alright, you're awake now, so it's fine. Just rest for a bit and get discharged as soon as possible. I'm short on single beds here."
"Huh? Isn't this my private hospital room?"
"Dream on."
Gu Wanqiu rolled her eyes and turned to leave, leaving Yu Nan with only her back view.
At this moment, only Zhu Yao and Yu Nan remained in the ward.
Yu Nan was a little afraid to look at Zhu Yao, trying hard to recall the moment she fainted... Did she pull up her pants? Did she? Or did she not? Why can't she remember?
Zhu Yao hugged Yu Nan tightly, her voice trembling slightly: "Thank goodness, you're alright...that's great!"
"Yes, I'm fine..." This was exactly the result Yu Nan wanted—because of her illness, Zhu Yao focused all her attention on her.
But why doesn't she feel joy? Instead, she feels suffocated because of it.
…
Zhu Yao took Yu Nan home, but the game room downstairs had long since closed.
[Qin Shi Huang]: Yao Ling, are your family members alright?
Trajan (Yo Zero): Thank you everyone, it's all done now.
[Genghis Khan]: Business is important. The match can start anytime. I've saved my progress. We can restart the game tomorrow or continue playing.
[Alexander]: Restart tomorrow, it has to start! Let's have another good fight! I'm afraid someone will analyze my current strategy!
[Tomilis]: You're dreaming. I can take you all down without even studying you. (Disdainful face)
Trajan: Thank you so much everyone!
[Qin Shi Huang]: Hahaha, it's nothing. But your alarm system is quite advanced. I'll get one someday.
[Alexander]: High-tech, huh?
Zhu Yao breathed a sigh of relief; she was terrified when she heard the alarm during the competition.
For a moment, his mind went blank. Without even explaining to the content creator he was playing with, he threw down his headphones and ran upstairs to find Yu Nan.
Fortunately, someone realized that Trajan hadn't taken any action for a long time, and there was no response when they called out to Yao Ling in the microphone. The chat in the live stream said that the sound just now sounded like an alarm, and everyone realized that something might have happened to Yao Ling.
Nearly an hour later, [Yao Ling] explained in the group chat that a family member had suddenly fallen ill and they had just taken the person to the hospital.
Zhu Yao lost all interest in the competition and spent the entire night trying to relax.
She realized that in the instant Yu Nan had her accident, her panic exceeded the limits that should exist between friends.