"Come out. I'm at your school gate. I'll take you home."
Hearing the words "take you home", Xia Sanghuan's heart skipped a beat. It was as if there was a little rabbit pounding in her chest.
Didn't the second brother arrange a dedicated driver for her? Why did he come to pick her up in person today?
She took a deep breath to keep her voice from sounding too excited.
"Second brother, why did you come to pick me up? Aren't you busy at the company?"
The time arranged between Xia Sanghuan and the dedicated driver was 9 p.m. to pick her up, so that she could stay in the research lab for a while after dinner.
She had already stayed in the research lab quite late, but every time she got back to the Leng family's house, she found that Leng Chuanjin wasn't home. She asked Wang Fu and learned that he had been working overtime at the company. Presumably, he had encountered quite a big problem.
She glanced at the time and found that it was already 8:30 p.m.
Leng Chuanjin said, "Well, I'm not very busy today."
"I asked Uncle Wang after getting home and learned that you stay in the lab until so late every day."
"No matter how tough the research is, you can't abuse your body like this. Let's go home and rest."
Although Leng Chuanjin's voice was still as cold as usual, without much warmth, and he said these words as if he were reading a company report.
But Xia Sanghuan still sensed the concern hidden beneath Leng Chuanjin's cold voice, which made her heart beat a few beats faster.
Xia Sanghuan replied, "Okay, second brother. I'll come down right away."
She hung up the phone, her ears burning. Her ears must have been bright red.
To prevent Leng Chuanjin from noticing, Xia Sanghuan quickly went to the sink and splashed some water on her face.
When her heart gradually calmed down, Xia Sanghuan slung her white canvas bag over her shoulder and walked out.
Although it wasn't winter yet, the night was already a bit chilly.
Xia Sanghuan walked out of the research lab building. A gentle evening breeze blew by, making her can't help but sneeze and shiver.
"Why has my body become so weak since I came to Yuntan?"
Xia Sanghuan mumbled to herself and rubbed her nose.
She remembered that when she was in the countryside, she had done all kinds of rough work. She had planted rice seedlings under the hot sun and harvested wheat in the rustling autumn wind. Her body had long been tempered to withstand heat and cold.
Although she felt a bit dizzy, Xia Sanghuan didn't pay much attention and continued walking towards the school gate.
Just thinking that Leng Chuanjin was waiting at the gate to pick her up made her steps even lighter.
The research lab building was not close to the gate. Moreover, the area of Fernos College was a full 500 hectares. Even though Xia Sanghuan trotted all the way, it still took her more than 20 minutes to get out of the school gate.
Leng Chuanjin was wearing a thin white knitted sweater today, with a dark brown suit jacket over it. Leaning against the car door, under the dim yellow street lamp, he looked like a young student.
It made Xia Sanghuan can't help but think of the set of photos she had taken with Leng Chuanjin before.
And the warmth on her waist at that time.
If only Leng Chuanjin were really her classmate or senior.
Thinking like this, Xia Sanghuan felt the heat that had just faded rush back to her cheeks. She walked up to Leng Chuanjin step by step and looked up at him.
Leng Chuanjin still looked as cold as ever, but when he saw Xia Sanghuan, he relaxed his frowned eyebrows.
"Get in the car."
Leng Chuanjin opened the passenger door for Xia Sanghuan.
"Hey, are you driving today, second brother?"
Xia Sanghuan was a bit surprised, since most of the time it was the driver who drove.
"Yeah. My driver gets off work after dropping me off at home. I can't ask him to make another trip."
After answering, Leng Chuanjin sat back in the driver's seat.
Xia Sanghuan sat in the passenger seat, took out her phone, and was about to call her dedicated driver to tell him not to come to pick her up.
Just as she was about to press the call button, Leng Chuanjin suddenly leaned over.
Looking at his face so close, Xia Sanghuan was stunned for a moment. She stared blankly at Leng Chuanjin and let him fasten her seatbelt.
While fastening the seatbelt, Leng Chuanjin said to Xia Sanghuan, "Don't call your driver. I've already told him."
A slightly cool breath blew on Xia Sanghuan's neck as Leng Chuanjin spoke.
Xia Sanghuan felt her face burn even more.
Her mind went blank. She stammered a reply, "Thank you."
After Leng Chuanjin fastened her seatbelt and looked up, he saw Xia Sanghuan's blushing face.
He frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you? Why is your face so red?"
Xia Sanghuan seemed to be suddenly awakened. She waved her hand in front of her face in a flurry and said with a forced laugh, "Maybe it's because the temperature suddenly rose after I got in the car. It's so cold outside after all."
But Leng Chuanjin wasn't convinced. Without saying a word, he reached out his hand and placed it on Xia Sanghuan's forehead.
The slightly cool hand felt very comfortable on the burning forehead.
However, as Leng Chuanjin's eyebrows frowned tighter and tighter, Xia Sanghuan was so nervous that she couldn't sit still. She didn't even dare to care about the hand on her forehead.
Would he notice?
Just as Xia Sanghuan was worried, Leng Chuanjin let go of his hand.
He sighed and said angrily, "Don't you even realize that you have a fever?"
Fever?
Xia Sanghuan's dizzy head finally became a bit clearer.
No wonder she had been feeling unwell since she woke up. She had even sneezed when she went out just now. It turned out that she had a fever.
"Sorry, second brother. I've caused you trouble. But it's okay. I'll just take some medicine and sleep when I get home... Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Before she could finish her sentence, a violent coughing fit interrupted her.
"You call this okay? Let's go. We're going to the hospital."
Xia Sanghuan quickly grabbed Leng Chuanjin, afraid that he would really take her to the hospital.
When she was living in the countryside before, she never went to the doctor as soon as she got sick. She endured minor illnesses on her own and found some herbs to eat for serious ones.
Under Xia Sanghuan's insistence, Leng Chuanjin finally gave up the idea of taking her to the hospital. He had no choice but to drive home.
Neither of them said a word on the way. Xia Sanghuan didn't have the strength to talk, and Leng Chuanjin was too angry to speak.
Leng Chuanjin couldn't figure out why he was so angry when he saw Xia Sanghuan sick. And besides anger, there seemed to be other emotions, but Leng Chuanjin subconsciously didn't want to face them, let alone explore what kind of emotions they were.
Finally, they got home. After hesitating for a long time, Leng Chuanjin still opened the car door for Xia Sanghuan himself and helped her out of the car.
Xia Sanghuan's mind was so muddled from the fever that she could hardly think, but she still insisted on not letting Leng Chuanjin help her.
She waved her hand at Leng Chuanjin and forced a smile at him.
"Second brother, I can do it myself. I'm not a three - year - old kid."
She said so, but Xia Sanghuan took only a few steps forward. Her vision went dark, her steps faltered, and she was about to fall to the ground.