Chapter 43: The Secret Room

Yu Xi stayed inside Gu Chuanzhou’s bedroom for a very long time.

He maintained his posture of sitting below the bed and resting his arms along the edge of the mattress, keeping his eyes fixed on Gu Chuanzhou.

A basin of cold water had been placed on a nearby stool so that he could change the towel draped across the man’s forehead at any moment, as well as wipe down his hands and neck.

Caring for a patient running a high fever was a task where one truly couldn’t step away for even a single second. Fully aware of this reality, Yu Xi intended to watch over Gu Chuanzhou through the entire night just like this.

“You’re going to be very exhausted this way, Xi Xi.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, you’re the one who is suffering the most right now.” Yu Xi stuffed Gu Chuanzhou’s extended hand back into the blanket, carefully tucking it in tight. “When I was ten years old, I also ran a severe high fever once. There was no one home that day because my mom was working the night shift. I thought I could just endure it by taking some medicine and sleeping it off… My mom was scared half to death when she came home and discovered me.”

Yu Xi could never forget that day.

He had wanted to smile and tell his mother that he was fine, but instead, his mother wept right in front of him.

“That was the first time I ever saw her cry.” Yu Xi propped his chin up, his downturned eyes looking as though they were shrouded in a layer of rainy mist. “She has always been an incredibly resilient person. I felt as though nothing could ever defeat her, even though the heavens were constantly unkind to her… She could always grit her teeth and persist through it all. She never showed a fragile side in front of me, and the words she said to me most often were ‘It’s nothing,’ ‘It’s not hard,’ and ‘Mom can handle it alone.'”

Gu Chuanzhou nodded. “Your mother loves you very much.”

“Yes.” The corners of Yu Xi’s lips tilted upward slightly, radiating the sheer happiness of being loved. “As she rushed me to the hospital, she cried while asking me why I didn’t call her, why I had to force myself to carry it alone. She said so, so much. I kept apologizing to her the entire time. Ultimately, she just held me tightly, asking if I had been very lonely and scared by myself, telling me that a sick person can act as spoiled and willful as they want, and that I shouldn’t be so sensible all the time.”

“And then… I cried too.”

“I originally wanted to comfort her properly, but hearing her words suddenly made me feel so aggrieved. I just couldn’t hold it back all at once and wept for a very long time, completely soaking her shoulder. When the doctor saw us, he even asked if it was raining outside.”

As Yu Xi finished speaking, his lips crinkled into a smile. Lifting his eyes, he noticed the slight tilt of Gu Chuanzhou’s lips. “If you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh.”

Gu Chuanzhou let out a soft chuckle before holding it back, extending his hand once more to tap the tip of Yu Xi’s nose. “A Xi Xi like this is very adorable, but I can also understand your mother’s feelings. Simply hearing you recount these past events makes my heart ache for how sensible you were, while also blaming myself for not being there to care for you sooner.”

Yu Xi caught Gu Chuanzhou’s fingers, a look of complete solemnity washing over his face. “That’s why a sick person gets special privileges. Don’t be afraid of troubling others, especially the people who care about you.”

“I understand.” Gu Chuanzhou nodded with equal seriousness. “Then right now, I want Xi Xi to lie up on the bed and stop sitting on the floor.”

Yu Xi froze. “Huh?”

Gu Chuanzhou spoke with absolute justification: “Didn’t you just say a patient has the privilege to act spoiled? Right now, this is my only request. Shouldn’t you agree to it?”

“But…”

Before Yu Xi could finish his sentence, his hand was caught in a reverse grip and he was hoisted upward, followed immediately by being scooped up by the waist and brought onto the bed.

The position he landed on was a spot Gu Chuanzhou had intentionally vacated, lingering with residual body heat and feeling incredibly warm.

As the blanket was drawn over him, Yu Xi once again detected the familiar minty, woody fragrance drifting from Gu Chuanzhou’s body, and his frame relaxed instinctively.

“Lying here to take care of me is exactly the same.” Gu Chuanzhou lay back down alongside him, not pressing particularly close so as not to make Yu Xi feel constrained.

He then closed his eyes, adopting a posture that indicated he was about to rest.

Beholding this, Yu Xi couldn’t bear to move around and disturb Gu Chuanzhou further. He could only lie down obediently, staring blankly at Gu Chuanzhou’s profile to pass the time.

Whenever enough time had elapsed, he would sit up to change the cold towel resting on the man’s forehead.

Once he wrung out the cloth and turned back around, he discovered Gu Chuanzhou’s eyes were wide open, watching him. He paused briefly. “Did I wake you up?”

Gu Chuanzhou spoke in a low voice, “I wasn’t asleep.”

Yu Xi draped the towel over him, using the back of his hand to test his temperature. “Is it because you’re feeling too uncomfortable that you can’t fall asleep?”

Gu Chuanzhou shook his head gently. “Can you tell me a story?”

“Ah… Tell a story?” Yu Xi was caught off guard by Gu Chuanzhou’s request yet again. “Why do you suddenly want to hear a story?”

“You probably don’t know.” Gu Chuanzhou turned his head slightly, his eyes reflecting the dim, amber glow of the lamp alongside Yu Xi’s face. “When we were children, Zhang Xingkuo once bragged to me that you stayed over at his house, slept in the same bed, and even read storybooks to him.”

Yu Xi blinked in surprise. “How do you remember that so clearly?”

Gu Chuanzhou let out a low chuckle. “If it’s related to you, of course I will remember.”

“Do you really want to listen? What do you want me to read?”

“There is a book inside the study, I’ve prepared it for a very long time…”

It wasn’t until Yu Xi made his way into the study and located the book according to the position Gu Chuanzhou had specified that he truly understood just how long “a very long time” actually meant.

It was a children’s book meant for kids under the age of ten—the exact same book he had read to Zhang Xingkuo when they were young.

The plastic wrap remained unopened, and the edition was still the old version from ten years ago. It had simply sat here quietly all this time, completely mismatched with the surrounding literature, as if its entire existence was solely dedicated to this very moment.

Yu Xi pulled it down. Because a vacancy was suddenly created, the books along the same row lost their support, toppling over together like a set of dominoes.

Setting the storybook off to the side, he began to straighten the volumes one by one. As he reached the final few books at the end, he suddenly discovered a push-button switch resembling a lamp hidden deep inside.

A switch? Even if it were a built-in light for the bookshelf, it ought to be positioned in a far more convenient location.

Though Yu Xi was bewildered, his mind remained focused on reading the storybook. He didn’t investigate further, exiting the study with the book in hand.

He returned to the bedroom and beheld Gu Chuanzhou sitting up. He inquired, “Why did you sit up?”

“Sitting up for a bit after lying down for so long feels nice too.” Gu Chuanzhou’s gaze tracked Yu Xi’s movements. As the youth sat down by the edge of the bed, the man suddenly inquired, “What do you think of my study?”

“Eh?” Yu Xi tilted his head. “It’s very nice.”

He hadn’t scrutinized it closely, but a single sweep of his eyes left an impression of simplicity and grandeur, which thoroughly matched Gu Chuanzhou’s status.

Gu Chuanzhou pressed further: “Did you discover anything interesting inside?”

Hearing this, Yu Xi froze once more. Meeting Gu Chuanzhou’s deep gaze, he couldn’t help but feel as though the other party was guiding or awaiting something.

“Is there something inside there?” Yu Xi’s heart grew increasingly perplexed.

But in the next second, Gu Chuanzhou smiled again. “It’s nothing. Xi Xi, tell me the story.”

“Mm… Okay.”

Yu Xi tore open the plastic wrap of the storybook. In order to allow Gu Chuanzhou to see the illustrations as well, he sat very close to him.

The last time he read this was twelve years ago. Yu Xi only retained a rough grasp of the plot; flipping it open once more inevitably brought a wave of nostalgia.

Back then, his reading would have been somewhat stumbling, requiring the aid of the pinyin annotated above to finish, and his comprehension had been rather superficial. Re-reading it now, however, brought a far richer and entirely new experience.

“The whole morning through he had been working very hard, doing his spring-cleaning in his little home… Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him…”

The youth’s voice was soft and clear, delivering the tale in a gentle, measured cadence. It felt exactly like the spring described within the story—warm, beautiful, and brimming with vibrant life.

The story was somewhat long. Yu Xi flipped page after page. As he read on, he couldn’t help but lose himself within the gripping narrative. By the time he snapped back to reality, he discovered the person beside him had already sunk deep into the pillows, fast asleep at some unknown point.

Yu Xi called out to Gu Chuanzhou in a soft voice. Receiving no response, he gently closed the book, drew the blanket tight over him, and stepped off the bed to change the damp towel.

Picking up the thermometer to take a reading, the screen displayed 37.5°C.

Seeing that the temperature had successfully dropped, Yu Xi let out a silent sigh of relief, exiting the bedroom with the book and his phone in hand.

He returned the storybook to its original position, then borrowed Gu Chuanzhou’s computer to handle an assignment due the next morning, as well as reply to various messages on his phone. By the time everything was entirely processed, it was already late into the night.

Having done so many things throughout the entire day, Yu Xi inevitably felt a wave of exhaustion washing over him. Even so, his brain was still contemplating what kind of breakfast he should prepare for Gu Chuanzhou tomorrow morning.

As his mind wandered, his vision inadvertently drifted back to the spot where he had discovered that strange switch.

Gu Chuanzhou’s earlier, equally strange question surfaced in his mind: “Did you discover anything interesting inside?”

Something interesting…

Yu Xi hesitated for a brief moment, but ultimately failed to suppress his inner curiosity. Rounding the desk, he walked over slowly, once again pulling down the book that concealed the switch.

There was a red dot on the switch, appearing exactly as though it were enticing someone to press it down.

Yu Xi slowly extended his hand—

Click!

The light strips of the bookshelf illuminated.

Just as Yu Xi was about to laugh at his own paranoia, he caught the sound of a mechanical mechanism turning. Following the sound with his gaze, he actually witnessed another cabinet shifting aside, gradually exposing a narrow, cramped passageway.

Yu Xi’s heart began to race inexplicably. Licking his lips, he stepped inside.

At the very end of the passageway loomed a door. The lock was complex and advanced, seemingly requiring a password.

It was evident that whatever resided inside was of monumental importance to the owner of the house, hence the layers of security and the extreme secrecy of its design.

The sight of the password lock instantly dispelled Yu Xi’s intentions to investigate any further.

No matter how curious he might be, he had no desire to offensively encroach upon Gu Chuanzhou’s vital space and belongings in this manner.

However, just as he intended to back out, the password lock unexpectedly let out a automated beep, followed by a synthesized vocal notification: “Face recognition successful.” The lock latch snapped open.

Yu Xi’s eyes widened in sheer astonishment as he stared at the small crack of the opening door, the interior pitch-black and unknown.

How did it suddenly open?

Yu Xi didn’t dare think too deeply about it. The automatically opening door before him felt like a dangerous yet alluring Pandora’s box. It had been delivered actively into his hands, yet it brought him no pleasant surprise—only an infinite sense of dread.

Instinct told him that this was not a place he should ever enter.

Consequently, Yu Xi harbored absolutely no intention of pushing this door open, retreating backward in panicked confusion.

Yet, after taking a mere two steps back, his spine collided flush against an obstacle, while his shoulders were simultaneously gripped from behind.

Utterly defenseless, Yu Xi let out a violent shudder from the fright. Turning his head, his eyes collided with the dark irises of Gu Chuanzhou—who was supposed to be sound asleep inside the bedroom.

Gu Chuanzhou leaned down closer, his hot, damp breath washing entirely across the youth’s ear: “Why isn’t Xi Xi going inside?”

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