Chapter 139: Her Majesty's Fan

Seeing Mo Qi’s guilty attempt to conceal her unease, Shen Yijue’s inner irritation finally subsided a little.

Giving her a helpless sidelong glance, he asked, "Have you ever thought about the consequences if the old man finds out we are playing this game of crossing the Chencang secretly while making a show of repairing the plank road in broad daylight?"

Mo Qi rubbed her nose and answered honestly, "He would most likely fly into a rage." At this, she mustered some courage. "But by that time, I will definitely be different from who I am now, and his perspective of me will naturally change. When someone dislikes you, everything you do looks wrong, but after gaining understanding and a fresh perspective, won't there always be a little more tolerance?"

After all, she was not very familiar with Elder Shen, so her final sentence lacked conviction, trailing off into a whisper.

"Grandfather only loses his temper with his own family. Outside, even when facing life-or-death rivals, he can still put on a smiling face and never show anger," Shen Yijue said.

Mo Qi felt her confidence waver slightly. "Then what should we do?"

"Don't worry, we are ultimately family; it won't reach the point of completely severing all ties." Shen Yijue patted the back of Mo Qi's hand to comfort her before continuing, "However, Grandfather has always appreciated energetic and ambitious young people. Once you get to know each other, he should like you."

"Liking without respect is completely useless," Mo Qi muttered under her breath, pouting.

Shen Yijue looked at her and ultimately compromised. "If I agree to your proposal, what's in it for me?"

Mo Qi's eyes rolled, and she suddenly lunged forward to cup his face and planted a fierce kiss on it. "How's that?"

"Come here," Shen Yijue said, lifting the edge of the blanket.

Mo Qi replied, "This is a hospital; isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Despite her words, her entire body quickly wriggled under the covers.

Shen Yijue lay down as well, and Mo Qi rested her head comfortably in the crook of his shoulder, letting out a mischievous chuckle.

"No wandering hands." Shen Yijue grabbed her restless, meddlesome claws.

"If you won't let me touch, why did you tell me to get under the covers in the first place?" With her hand caught and immobilized, Mo Qi pouted in complaint.

"You've been busy all day, aren't you tired?" Shen Yijue was both exasperated and amused. "Go to sleep now."

In truth, a layer of undisguised exhaustion had long lingered between Mo Qi's brows; she had simply been forcing herself to hold on.

"Then I'll sleep for just a little while. If you feel any discomfort anywhere, wake me up."

"Sleep."

Shen Yijue pinched Mo Qi's shoulder. She snuggled closer into his embrace, wrapped one arm around his waist, and closed her eyes to sleep.

After the exhaustion of body and mind, the moment she relaxed, drowsiness washed over her like a tide, and Mo Qi fell asleep in no time at all.

Looking down at her, Shen Yijue drifted off to sleep as well before he knew it.

He suffered from chronic insomnia and could only fall asleep with ease when holding Mo Qi.

When Mo Qi woke up again, the sky outside was pitch black, and the ward was illuminated only by a sliver of light shining through the window.

Moving quietly, Mo Qi got up without waking Shen Yijue.

Having slept, she felt much more energetic. Wandering around and finding nothing else to do, she simply picked up the dirty clothes she had changed out of and headed to the hospital's bathhouse to do some laundry.

The hospital corridor was completely quiet. Mo Qi stepped into the bathhouse, tested the water, and discovering there was hot water, decided to take a bath first.

She placed the basin of clothes on the sink outside and stepped into a private stall to wash up.

At first, the water temperature was just right, but as she washed, the water suddenly turned completely cold. Although it was summer, taking a cold shower deep in the night was still quite a shock.

"Hiss, freezing to death! The hot water was fine just a moment ago, why did it suddenly turn cold?" Mo Qi muttered to herself as she hurriedly finished up, wiped the water from her body, put her hospital garments back on, and walked out.

Sweeping her damp hair back, she checked the hot water valve and discovered it had actually been turned off.

There had been hot water just moments ago, yet now it was shut off; even with her toes, she could tell someone had done it on purpose.

Frowning slightly, Mo Qi walked over to the sink where her dirty clothes had been left. The basin was still there, but the clothes were gone.

She walked over to the trash can by the door, and as expected, the clothes had been tossed right inside.

Bending down, Mo Qi retrieved the clothes. Since this was her first day at the hospital, it was impossible for her to have made any enemies, so who could possibly be targeting her?

The image of that nurse who had been stealing glances at her instantly flashed through Mo Qi's mind. Not only had that nurse sneaked peeks at her earlier, but she had also gazed at Shen Yijue with deep concern—could she be one of his die-hard fangirls?

Mo Qi felt a throbbing ache in her head. "Not only are beauties a curse, but handsome men are disasters too."

First a cold shower, then her clothes thrown away—there was no telling what tricks might come next.

Sighing, Mo Qi placed the clothes back into the basin. There was no help for it; these belonged to Xi Miaomiao, so she couldn't simply throw them away.

After finishing the laundry, Mo Qi carried the basin back to the ward. Shen Yijue had already woken up and was leaning against the headboard reading a book.

"You're awake. Want to eat anything? I can go out and buy it," Mo Qi said as she set down the basin. The mud was washed away, but she couldn't find anywhere to dry the clothes, so she had no choice but to leave them like that until the next day when she could take them back to the production crew to wash and dry properly before returning them to Xi Miaomiao.

"Not hungry," Shen Yijue said, looking at Mo Qi. "Why is your complexion a bit pale?"

"Oh, it's probably because I took a cold shower; I'll be fine in a moment," Mo Qi replied, drying her hands. "Food options around here might be limited at night, so I'll go buy some fried rice or fried noodles. I don't have any money on me, where's your wallet?"

The mention of money reminded Shen Yijue that she hadn't taken her wallet when she fled earlier.

"When you left, just to throw me off, you could have at least taken the cash out of my wallet," Shen Yijue said as he handed her his wallet.

"What if you had nothing to do and decided to open my bag, only to find neither my ID nor any cash in the wallet? Wouldn't I have been exposed immediately?" Mo Qi took the wallet, pulled out two hundred-yuan bills, and handed the wallet back. "Two hundred is enough."

It was past ten o'clock now; she just hoped there were still night market stalls open on the street where she could buy an outfit.

Shen Yijue sneered. "You certainly thought of everything to ensure zero flaws."

"Hehe, that's all in the past, let's not dredge up old accounts. I'm off to buy food now." Mo Qi offered an ingratiating smile and scurried away with the money.

Watching her fleeing figure, Shen Yijue felt a faint sense of helplessness. Sometimes he truly wished she could be a bit clumsier and rely on him more. But on second thought, if Mo Qi weren't the exact person she was, he probably wouldn't have fallen for her in the first place.

In the small county town, very few pedestrians remained on the streets past ten o'clock, and almost all the shops on either side of the road had closed for the night.

After walking quite a distance, Mo Qi finally found a clothing store that remained open because they were clearing out their inventory.

The clothing store was quite large, with a sign outside advertising direct sales from the manufacturer.

Mo Qi went in and picked out a white short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of wide-leg denim pants. After haggling for a long time, she finally secured the items for one hundred and sixty-eight yuan.

The clothing quality was quite ordinary, but Mo Qi didn't mind. Back when she used to pinch pennies to buy gifts for He Shuai, she had never worn clothes or pants that cost over a hundred.

With her clothes purchased, Mo Qi headed back, stopping along the way at a roadside stall to buy a portion of fried rice, a portion of fried noodles, and a bowl of trotter soup.

Two hundred yuan was almost entirely spent, but she returned fully laden with goods.

In a fairly good mood, Mo Qi walked back into the hospital, only to bump straight into a nurse doing her ward rounds.

Mo Qi raised an eyebrow. What a coincidence—wasn't this precisely the nurse who had been glancing sideways at her earlier?