Jiang Yuyan was back home, and she must be in her room, but the lights in the room were off. It was late at night, so he thought she must be sleeping and stepped to go inside the mansion.
Lu Lijun went to his room, and after freshening up, he was ready to go to bed, but something was missing. He was yet to check on her if she was fine.
During the past few days in the hospital, he was with her every night, and it turned out as he got used to it. Since he returned home from England, those nights in the hospital were the ones when he could sleep peacefully even though the sleep he got was only for a few hours.
Before going to sleep, he needed to check on her, and he stepped out of the room. Standing in front of her room door, Lu Lijun struggled to think of what to do.
He didn’t want her to know he came to check on her. If he knocked on the door, she would wake up, and if he entered the room directly and if she was awake, she will know.
He thought for a while and knocked on the door lightly after deciding what excuse he will give, ’inform her that he was handling the project.’
There was no response from inside the room, so he thought, ’Seems like she is asleep,’ and he slowly opened the door.
Entering the room lit up with just a night lamp, he saw the bed was empty, so he looked towards the washroom, but something seemed off to him.
’Her leg is hurt,’ he thought, and the next moment he cursed himself, ’How can she be here when she can’t climb the stairs?’
Thinking he left the room and went downstairs. He was unsure which room she was in as there were few more guest rooms but decided to go to the one closest to the living room.
Just then, the butler came to the living room along with the servant and saw Lu Lijun standing near the sofa. He instructed the servant to leave and went to Lu Lijun.
"Is the fourth young master not able to sleep?"
Lu Lijun turned to look at him, "I was going to the kitchen to get chilled water from the refrigerator."
It was summer, so it made sense.
"The fourth young master should have called for the servant," said the butler as he added, "I will get it," and went towards the kitchen.
In a while, the butler brought water for Lu Lijun. Lu Lijun picked up the glass from the tray and sipped while the butler waited for him to finish it and get the glass back.
"When was everyone back from the hospital?" Lu Lijun asked.
"At noon," the butler replied.
Lu Lijun continued having seeps in between calmly and asked again, "Was everything fine?"
"Yes, fourth young master," the butler replied.
"Only one problem was there. Young mistress had to be in the guest room because of the hurt leg."
Lu Lijun’s eyes brightened up suddenly, but he hid it and acted as if what the butler said had nothing to do with him.
"Hmm."
Lu Lijun just hummed and asked nothing more, so the butler bowed and left. Lu Lijun looked in the direction of the guest’s rooms, but as the butler was around, he stepped out of the mansion to get fresh air in the garden as he wouldn’t be able to sleep and returned to the room.
Lu Lijun spent time strolling in the garden and thinking about what he would do next to get the information about Lu Qiang’s accident.
"Fourth young master, it’s late," said the butler, who was about to go to the servant’s quarters but saw Lu Lijun and went there.
Lu Lijun nodded a little, saying he understood, and the butler went to the servant’s quarter.
After a while, Lu Lijun thought to return finally. When he entered the dimly lited living room and stepped towards the stairs, he saw one figure climbing the stairs.
A woman wearing a loose one-piece peach color short-sleeved nightdress long up to her knees had her right feet taped and used her one hand to hold the stairs’ railing, was trying hard to climb the stairs slowly.
She was almost on the first floor but had to stop as she looked in pain.
Lu Lijun stepped towards the stairs, and she realized someone was climbing the stairs too. She turned to look at him, and he kept coming closer as he stared at her with emotionless sight.
Before Jiang Yuyan could understand his intentions, she was in the air and his arms as her one hand circled his neck.
His action startled her, but he was calm. He didn’t even look at her and continued walking ahead, carrying her in his arms towards the second floor.
"Put me down," she said in a low voice, but he didn’t buzz and continued climbing the stairs.
Not willing to make noise and wake up others, Jiang Yuyan kept quiet as she could see this stubborn guy won’t listen to her. She wished to get back to her room by any means, even if it hurt her leg.
Jiang Yuyan was in one of the guest rooms, but she couldn’t sleep there. She felt empty and wished to go back to her room, which made her feel like Lu Qiang was always there with her.
She made sure no one was around and left the guest room. She knew the family members wouldn’t allow her to move, so she chose to do it when everyone went to sleep.
Lu Lijun carried her easily as if it was nothing and didn’t look like he was troubled.
They reached the second floor, so Jiang Yuyan instructed, "Put me down now. I can walk."
Still, there was no reply from the cold guy, and he continued walking towards her room. When he saw her climbing the stairs, he understood what she was up to.
Lu Lijun carried Jiang Yuyan inside her dimly lited room and only let her go when he put her on the bed.
Jiang Yuyan could only silently let him do what he was up to. He understood her when she didn’t even tell him what to do and took her to the room.
Not looking at her even once when he carried her and even when he put her on the bed, Lu Lijun adjusted the pillow for her and covered her with the quilt.
Not saying anything, he left the room, and Jiang Yuyan could only stare at the door, which he closed after leaving.
As much as it was hard for Lu Lijun to understand what was in Jiang Yuyan’s mind, it was the same for her too. Sometimes she could think she could understand him, and things were going in the right direction, but suddenly he would do something that would take the opposite turn.
Not thinking much and feeling glad that she was finally back in her room, Jiang Yuyan looked at the space beside her and could feel someone’s presence that made her happy.
Smiling lightly, she closed her eyes and mumbled, "Good night, Lu Qiang."
-------
The moment Lu Lijun came out of Jiang Yuyan’s room, he exhaled out deeply as if the breath was stuck in his lungs for a long time.
He couldn’t believe what he had just done and thought, ’how can I do this?’ He looked at his hands and sighed, thinking, ’Was I high on drugs to do this?’
Not knowing what to think, Lu Lijun returned to his room and climbed the bed. Whatever happened, good or bad, one thing was there that he could finally sleep as his mind suddenly felt at peace.
------
The next morning, Ning Jiahui was about to check on Jiang Yuyan; she saw the butler coming from her room’s direction.
"Is Yuyan awake? How is she?" Ning Jiahui asked.
"Young mistress is not in her room," the butler replied.
Ning Jiahui exclaimed, "Not in her room? Where can she go with a hurt leg? Did you check properly?"
The butler nodded, "I think the young mistress is in her room."
Ning Jiahui understood and sighed as the worry painted her face, "This girl. She will hurt her leg even more."
"Don’t tell me you didn’t expect it to happen," Elder Lu said, who heard the conversation between the two.
Ning Jiahui agreed, "But I thought this time she will care for herself."
"Let her be. We know she won’t listen," elder Lu suggested as he added, "Forcing her will only make her do the things without telling us."
"I need to check if she is fine." Saying Ning Jiahui stepped to go to Jiang Yuyan’s room.
Jiang Yuyan was awake and sat in her bed when Ning Jiahui knocked on the door and entered the room.
Jiang Yuyan knew why her mother-in-law was there.
Good morning mother," she said, being ready to get an earful from Ning Jiahui.
"Morning." Replying, Ning Jiahui straight went to bed and uncovered Jiang Yuyan’s feet from the quilt as she sat on the bed.
Ning Jiahui checked her feet wrapped in tape to see if there was any swelling.
"Does it hurt more?"
"No. It’s fine now, mother," Jiang Yuyan replied, but Ning Jiahui didn’t trust her.
"You climbed all those stairs. It can’t be better in any way," Ning Jiahui continued observing the feet.
Jiang Yuyan didn’t know how she should say the reason behind why her leg was fine and how she reached her room, so she agreed to her mother-in-law instead of saying no to the doctor’s visit.
The doctor arrived soon and assured everything was fine, and it will take a few more days for the feet to heal completely.