“I’m not eating.” Xia Ruoxin left the man’s line of sight and returned to her room. She lay on the bed, gripped with her fingers, and pulled her blanket up forcefully.
At this point, a big warm hand landed on the top of her head.
“No matter what, you’ve got to eat.”
Xia Ruoxin felt tears build up in her. She remained silent, not wanting to eat.
Chu Lui sighed gently. He walked out. When he returned, he was holding a bowl of the noodles that he had just made. He pulled the blanket down and caressed her pale face.
“Ruoxin, get up and have some food before you sleep, please?”
Xia Ruoxin opened her eyes. Her clear eyes had a sadness lingering.
“I don’t want to eat noodles,” she repeated. She did not feel like eating anything.
“Have a bite first.” Chu Lui pushed the noodles forward. “Just a bite.” He cajoled. “It’s not good for your stomach. Gastric pains are hard to deal with.
“By then, you’ll have to go to the hospital, and you’ll have to put up with all the pain.”
Xia Ruoxin pushed his hand aside and wrapped herself in her blanket. Chu Lui wanted to encourage her more, but he heard his phone ring.
“I understand. I’ll be right there.” Immediately—after he spoke, they were a rumble and a flash of thunder. It was about to rain.
Chu Lui put his phone away and opened the door. Xia Ruoxin was still in bed. He walked over and tucked her in before he placed his hand on her face.
“Ruoxin, I’ll be back later. I’ll bring you to eat whatever you want when I get back, okay?”
There was no reply, and his phone rang again.
He picked it up.
“En, I know. I’ll be right there.” At this point, it was pouring outside. He changed and dashed out of the house without an umbrella. Unbeknownst to him, Xia Ruoxin was standing in front of the window.
She parted the curtains with her fingers and placed her face on the cool glass.
In that instant, no one saw the tears slide down her face. They were cold, much colder than the rain outside.
She sat down on the bed and hugged the blankets. After a while, she stood up and picked up the bowl of noodles from the table. She finished it, without care if it was cold.
When Chu Lui returned, she was not asleep; but the bowl was no longer on the table.
“Ruoxin, where are the noodles?” He walked over. He only had time to change, but his body was still damp and cold from the rain.
“Tossed it,” Xia Ruoxin said plainly. She sat before the easel as she painted senselessly. It was abstract, but she had no idea what she was painting. It seemed like she was just wasting her materials as she was with her life and time.
Her words hurt Chu Lui a little. He walked over and squatted down before her. “What do you want to eat then? Shall we go out and eat something that you like?”
Xia Ruoxin turned and stared at him. “I want to eat the buns from the Sun family’s shop.”
“Okay, I’ll go get it.”
Chu Lui stood up and grabbed his car keys to go get the buns that Xia Ruoxin wanted, unbothered by the fact that he had just returned home. As for Xia Ruoxin, she continued painting on her canvas; but her eyes were looking beyond canvas at the distance.
After a while, Chu Lui returned. The distance from the garage to the house was long enough to drench to man. He then handed the buns over to Xia Ruoxin.
“Go ahead and eat it. They’re still hot.”
Xia Ruoxin placed her paintbrush down and grabbed the buns. However, Chu Lui stopped her. “Wash your hands first.”
She stood up and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.
She picked up a bun and began eating. It was still warm and had the same taste. Under the usual circumstances, there was a queue for the stall. She picked up one bun after another, placing her feet on the floor.
After eating three buns, she was a little bloated.
Chu Lui brought over a basin of water filled with warm water. He rolled up his sleeves and squatted down.
“Soak your feet.” He tested the temperature of the water and placed Xia Ruoxin’s feet in the water to wash them for her. This was a tip he heard from Jia Xinbao. He had said that Xia Ruoxin’s body had gone through a lot earlier, and soaking her feet daily might help her condition a little. So he learned the different ways of soaking feet from an old Chinese doctor to let her soak her feet nightly. However, he was not too sure if it worked.
After the treatment, the quality of Xia Ruoxin’s sleep improved. She did not jolt awake in the middle of the night anymore.
The tall man squatted on the floor. He did not feel like there was anything wrong with him washing a woman’s legs. He looked a little exhausted, perhaps because he himself had not been sleeping well. No matter how tired he was or how late he returned home, this was one thing he would never forget just like the promise he made from over twenty years ago.
Xia Ruoxin fell asleep at some point. Chu Lui opened his eyes slowly and carefully moved the blanket away. He then went to the study. The issue at the company was more troublesome than he had anticipated. He might actually have to give up his position as CEO of the Chu Enterprise after this. He had been in this position for rather long, and he was getting tired, too.
In the conference room of the company, many stockholders were unhappy with the major downsizing of the company’s assets. Chu Lui’s mistake had cost them quite a bit. How could they be happy with only thirty percent of the company’s assets left?
“CEO, is there anything else you’d like to say,” a stockholder asked Chu Lui with a gloomy expression. “If you can’t make up for our losses, then I think it’s better that you give up your position.”
“Yang Lao, I don’t think that’s how it works.” Du Jingtang laughed coldly. “When our CEO took over the company from the previous CEO, it was but ten percent of its current size. If it weren’t for the CEO, you would only be holding ten percent of what you currently have.”
