Given the intensity of Qi Xiuyi’s current reaction to the matter of “hospitalization,” Lin Chen seriously suspected that once the “desensitization plan” was officially implemented, Qi Xiuyi wouldn’t be desensitized but rather sensitized to the point of a severe allergic reaction.

After a moment of thought, he had Qi Jingming send him a brief written explanation of his late wife’s situation so he could carefully consider it.

Qi Jingming: [.]

About ten minutes later, a two-to-three-hundred-word explanation of his late wife’s situation appeared in the message box.

After quickly reading Third Dad’s explanation, Lin Chen understood why Qi Xiuyi had such a strong reaction to him being “hospitalized for a minor issue”—

It turned out that Qi Xiuyi’s mother had passed away suddenly from a “minor issue” that had unexpectedly become critical, leaving them no time to react!

At the end of the explanation, Qi Jingming specifically noted that Qi Xiuyi was only four years old at the time. He had always thought that since Qi Xiuyi was so young, he probably wouldn’t remember it clearly, especially since they had never mentioned the matter for so many years.

Who would have thought that Qi Xiuyi had secretly developed PTSD over it in a place he couldn’t see.

Lin Chen: …No wonder he blew up.

The original plan was definitely unusable.

Otherwise, once “Qi Wendong” died, wouldn’t Qi Xiuyi develop a hell-level PTSD for the words “minor issue”?

So that night, while Qi Xiuyi was furiously catching up on his homework in the corner of the room, Lin Chen sat on the bed, his laptop resting on his bent knees, a randomly opened textbook wedged between his thigh and stomach.

When Qi Xiuyi looked over, he would pretend to flip through a couple of pages of the textbook, feigning the appearance of taking notes from the computer.

When Qi Xiuyi looked away, he would reopen “Coffin Plan (30 Million Edition) 2.0”.docx and furiously edit the new plan.

After a night of hard work, the new plan was born smoothly and received unanimous approval from Third Dad and his professional team at ten the next morning!

…

Several days passed in a flash.

Qi Xiuyi rushed busily between the school and the hospital. Finally, through master-level time management, the exhibition that had been in preparation for over a month was successfully held!

That evening, all the teachers and students who had participated in the exhibition preparations happily decided to go out for a celebratory dinner.

As the overall person in charge of the exhibition preparations, Qi Xiuyi of course couldn’t be absent from this dinner.

But with things on his mind, after the dinner ended, he tactfully declined the subsequent nightlife activities and headed straight for the hospital.

Today was Qi Wendong’s last day of observation in the hospital.

As long as nothing happened tonight, Qi Wendong could go home with him tomorrow!

This realization made Qi Xiuyi feel unconsciously relieved and joyful.

He rushed into the hospital with familiar ease, stormed up to the ward, opened the door, and happily shouted, “Qi Wendong! Let me tell you, the exhibition was a super success today—”

Before he could finish his sentence.

Qi Xiuyi suddenly discovered that the hospital room was completely empty today!

The quilt was messy, and the various items in the room showed no signs of being tidied up. The water at the bedside was completely cold.

It looked as if the person in the room had been gone for some time, and had left in a hurry, not even bothering to straighten their slippers.

But Qi Wendong hadn’t left the room for so many days, why suddenly today…?

Qi Xiuyi couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled.

He craned his neck, searching every corner of the room while dialing Qi Wendong’s number.

The first call went unanswered until it disconnected.

The second call rang for about half a minute before someone slowly answered.

The moment the call connected, Qi Xiuyi’s words shot out like cannonballs: “Qi Wendong! Where did you run off to? Why aren’t you in your room?!”

On the other end of the line, the breathing was light, and the voice was faint.

Qi Wendong said, “I’m on the roof, getting some air.”

Qi Xiuyi was incredulous, almost jumping to his feet. “The roof? The rooftop? Getting air on the rooftop? Qi Wendong, today is the last day of observation, what would happen if you just endured it a little longer!”

After sharing a room for over a week, Qi Xiuyi had come to realize that this guy, Qi Wendong, had absolutely no sense of being a hospital patient!

Things like watching his diet, not catching a cold…

Qi Wendong truly didn’t take any of it to heart!

Thinking of this, Qi Xiuyi immediately found the act of Qi Wendong secretly going to the rooftop to catch a cool breeze detestable.

He immediately started walking, striding towards the elevator.

Hearing his movements, Qi Wendong said, “I won’t catch a cold… You don’t need to come up. I’ve had enough air, I’m coming back now.”

Qi Wendong’s tone was exceptionally calm, devoid of any emotion.

But Qi Xiuyi felt uncomfortable and uneasy with it, as if thousands of ants were crawling all over him.

Something’s wrong… something’s wrong!

How could Qi Wendong possibly say two sentences to him in such a calm and cold tone!

Fortunately, by the time he finished speaking, Qi Xiuyi had already reached the rooftop.

“You’re too late, I’m already here!” Qi Xiuyi said.

Qi Xiuyi walked out of the elevator area, and his eyes fell upon the open-air rooftop, completely enclosed by a white railing.

There weren’t many people on the rooftop at this time. With a casual sweep of his eyes, Qi Xiuyi spotted Qi Wendong.

Under the cool moonlight, Qi Wendong was wearing a thin, long-sleeved pajama set. The draping material of the pajamas made Qi Wendong’s already thin frame seem even more light and ethereal.

He seemed to blend in with the cool breeze of the summer night, as if he would dissipate into the air and drift away with the wind at any moment.

Qi Wendong, who had said “I’m coming back now” on the phone, hadn’t even stood up from his chair yet.

He sat alone in a corner of the rooftop, propping his head up, his head turned to gaze at the sparkling, prosperous night view beyond the railing.

The atmosphere around him was very cold and lonely. The moment Qi Xiuyi got close, he felt the surrounding temperature drop by two degrees Celsius.

Noticing Qi Xiuyi’s arrival, Qi Wendong finally, slowly, tore his gaze away from the night view, glanced at him, sighed, picked up his water cup, stood up, and said to him, “Let’s go.”

Qi Xiuyi pressed his lips together tightly.

The moment he saw Qi Wendong, the feeling of unease in his heart was instantly pushed to its peak.

The expression on Qi Wendong’s face…

Qi Xiuyi didn’t know if it was his imagination.

He actually felt as if Qi Wendong was on the verge of tears, his calmness a fragile facade, he seemed… a little downcast.

…Downcast?

Qi Wendong??

The questions that had been stuck in Qi Xiuyi’s throat were instantly swallowed back down.

He walked side by side with Qi Wendong and asked tentatively, “Qi Wendong? You-what’s wrong with you?”

Without even raising his head, Qi Wendong said, “What could be wrong.”

How could Qi Xiuyi believe that? “You don’t look like nothing’s wrong at all! …What, don’t tell me you failed one of your recent exams?”

If it were the usual Qi Wendong, hearing him say such a thing would have earned him a barrage of scornful ridicule, and he probably would have retorted with a few jabs of his own.

But today’s situation was very strange.

Qi Wendong entered the hospital room and, without even taking off his shoes, sat on the edge of the bed, looking weary. He said slowly, “Don’t overthink it. How was your exhibition today? …Forget it, I’m so sleepy. Tell me tomorrow.”

Qi Wendong gave him no room for refusal, kicked off his shoes, turned around, and switched off the light.

Qi Xiuyi didn’t have time to stop him. “Qi Wen—!”

“Click.”

The room was plunged into darkness.

Qi Xiuyi sensed the silent rejection coming from Qi Wendong and was at a loss for a moment.

But he had a method—

He turned and left the hospital room, running to ask the nurse about Qi Wendong’s situation today.

The nurse on the night shift wasn’t very clear about the specific situation, only telling him that Qi Wendong had gone for some kind of check-up today, and it seemed the results weren’t very good.

Qi Xiuyi’s heart immediately skipped a beat, and he hurriedly called the butler.

“Lin San! What check-up did Qi Wendong have today??”

The butler was silent for a moment, then said hesitantly, “This… Young Master Xiuyi, Young Master Wendong doesn’t seem to want you to know about this just yet.”

Qi Xiuyi threatened fiercely, “You better tell me honestly, or… or you can just wait to retire on the spot and have your son take over!”

The butler was embarrassed. “Young Master, I’m not even married yet…”

Qi Xiuyi roared, “Tell me!”

The butler hadn’t intended to really hide it from Qi Xiuyi anyway. He let out a long sigh and said with a wry smile, “Young Master Wendong may… have to go abroad for a trip in the next couple of days.”

Qi Xiuyi: ???

Qi Xiuyi: “…What?”

“Young Master Wendong’s check-up this afternoon found that… the results weren’t very good. But Young Master Wendong doubts the accuracy of the machine’s readings and plans to go to Country D to be re-tested with the most advanced medical equipment…”

At first, Qi Xiuyi’s brows were tightly furrowed. When he heard “not very good,” it was as if he had been struck by lightning, and all expression froze on his face.

Then, when the butler mentioned that Qi Wendong suspected the readings and planned to go abroad for re-testing, Qi Xiuyi’s expression finally regained its life.

Qi Xiuyi was so angered by this up-and-down news that he started cursing directly. “What kind of trash testing standards does Didu Hospital have? They can even make a mistake like this and still dare to call themselves a top-tier hospital? When is Qi Wendong planning to go abroad for re-testing? I’m going with him!”

The butler was alarmed. “Wait, Young Master Xiuyi, that’s not what I meant by telling you this! …Young Master, Young Master??”

…

Qi Xiuyi returned to the hospital room.

Because of the butler’s words, his mind was in turmoil. On the short half-minute walk back to the room, he had already bottled up a stomachful of words.

Three-quarters of these words were various ways to persuade Qi Wendong to take him along.

Such an action seemed unnecessary.

But the moment Qi Xiuyi thought of the possibility of “not very good” that the butler had mentioned, coupled with the various terrifying speculations about the symptoms on Qiandu, his heart immediately became anxious and uneasy.

So much so that when he returned to the room and found that Qi Wendong was already breathing evenly, his mood was as gloomy as if he had been beaten with a sack of clubs!

…Please, he was still worrying about Qi Wendong, and Qi Wendong himself had comfortably fallen asleep??

Qi Xiuyi was incredibly gloomy.

Obviously, tonight, all thoughts of studying and homework were thrown to the back of his mind. Even the daily act of sleeping became difficult.

Qi Xiuyi lay in bed with his eyes wide open, not closing them until the sun came out.

The more Qi Xiuyi thought about it, the more he felt that him worrying about Qi Wendong’s situation to the point of being unable to sleep, while Qi Wendong himself was snoring away, was extremely detestable!

He was filled with anger all night. He simply rolled out of bed, unhappily crossed his arms, sat by Qi Wendong’s bed, and glared fiercely at Qi Wendong’s sleeping face.

And so.

When Lin Chen groggily woke up in the early morning, the first thing he saw after opening his eyes was a face with bloodshot eyes, glaring at him with a very stubborn expression.

Lin Chen: “…?”

Lin Chen was expressionless. “Did I wake up too hard?”