I'm Rich - 46
Parisians call their city the City of Light, its nights blazing with illuminations and neon signs that carry more vibrant energy than the day ever could. Yet Guan Zhiyi had lost all heart to admire it. Staring out the car window at the streetscapes sliding past into the dark, she felt only an oppressive disquiet.
Back at the hotel, Liu Yun ordered dinner sent up to the room. Guan Zhiyi picked at her food for a few moments before asking, with studied nonchalance, "Is he alright over there?"
Liu Yun did not register her meaning at first. "Hmm? Who?"
Guan Zhiyi lowered her eyes and picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks. "Didn't you say he was sick? Is anyone taking care of him?"
"Oh, you mean President Qi. I'm not sure, he's probably resting by now," Liu Yun said. "Though he didn't bring the assistant who usually stays with him this time. Being abroad like this, I imagine it's bound to be somewhat inconvenient."
Guan Zhiyi's brows knitted slightly. "Didn't we bring a medical kit with us? Send him a thermometer, some fever medication, things like that."
"You're right," Liu Yun said. "Why don't you take it over in a bit then?"
Guan Zhiyi froze. "Me?"
"Unless... you're not going?"
Liu Yun wasn't giving orders. Serving only Guan Zhiyi now, her livelihood depended on her; there was no workplace hierarchy between them. She simply assumed, given the relationship between Guan Zhiyi and Qi Chengyan, that she would naturally go see him.
"Maybe you should take the kit over." Remembering their conversation from yesterday, Guan Zhiyi felt a wave of embarrassment. She had let her temper get the better of her and said it all outright then—no more getting close, no more clinging to him, keeping a proper distance... Now that the thin veil had been torn away, she had no idea how to face him naturally.
"No, Zhiyi, I really think it's better if you go," Liu Yun said. "He's the boss. If I went, I wouldn't even dare to ask how he is. You two are close, it's only right for you to show some concern."
"Oh..."
"What is it? You two didn't... have a fight, did you?"
Guan Zhiyi waved her hand dismissively. "How could we? I'll go check on him in a bit."
When it came down to it, she remained uneasy. No matter what she claimed out loud, she simply couldn't bring herself to truly leave him be.
Besides... it was only proper to visit someone when they were sick, wasn't it?
Guan Zhiyi gave up on her meal entirely, pulled the medical kit straight out from her suitcase, and headed for Qi Chengyan's room.
His suite was located on the floor above theirs. Finding his room number, she stood before the door and hesitated a short while before knocking.
A full minute passed before the door was pulled open from within. Qi Chengyan stood quietly inside the doorway, wearing a bathrobe.
Guan Zhiyi glanced up at him and held out the medical kit. "I heard you went out to the suburbs today... Did you catch a cold? This is the medical kit I brought along. Take whatever you need."
Qi Chengyan looked down at her, still saying nothing.
Guan Zhiyi said, "...Take it."
"Come in." Qi Chengyan didn't take the kit; he simply turned around and walked back into the room.
Guan Zhiyi paused for a second, then had no choice but to follow him inside.
Once inside, she saw Qi Chengyan sit down on the sofa. She placed the medical kit on the coffee table and drew out the thermometer. "Take your temperature first."
Qi Chengyan gave a quiet word of agreement, offering no resistance. Guan Zhiyi stepped over to his side, leaned down slightly, and scanned his ear.
Beep—
"Thirty-eight degrees. You really do have a fever," Guan Zhiyi said hurriedly. "Have you had someone send up some medicine?"
He had, of course, already taken medicine.
Yet as Qi Chengyan looked at the anxious girl before him, the words that reached the tip of his tongue lingered for a turn before he swallowed them back down entirely. He leaned back slightly and said calmly, "No."
"Why didn't you ask someone to bring medicine over? I thought you had already taken some," Guan Zhiyi said, her tone tinged with annoyance.
Qi Chengyan cast a look at her. "Since you already thought so, why did you come over anyway?"
Of course, it's because she couldn't rest easy until she saw for herself?
Guan Zhiyi choked on her words, then said, "I thought, just in case you hadn't... There are fever reducers and cold medicine here. I'll go pour some hot water so you can take a dose."
Guan Zhiyi turned to boil water, and Qi Chengyan watched her retreating back, pinching the space between his brows.
He had been so bothered by her words in the stairwell yesterday that he'd skipped the shooting set early this morning and gone out to the factory instead. In truth, there was nothing much to inspect at the factory either, so he had merely taken a brief walk around before wandering aimlessly outside.
The weather today had been terrible, with fierce, howling winds, but his mood had been so foul at the time that he paid it no mind. Who could have known he would fall ill the moment he returned?
He had felt his childish behavior was foolish, but seeing Guan Zhiyi's flustered face just now, it suddenly felt somewhat worth it, the suffocating frustration weighed on his heart dissipated considerably. He even thought to himself with a trace of helplessness: she was just a kid who knew nothing, what was he getting angry at her for?
"Take one of these, drink a cup of the cold medicine, and then get some proper rest," Guan Zhiyi said. "When you wake up, we'll check your temperature again."
"Mm."
Guan Zhiyi stood by his side, watching him take the medicine, only after he finished did she speak: "Then get into bed, sleep for a bit. I'll head back first."
The moment the words left her mouth, her wrist was caught.
Whether it was because of his fever, his palm was scorching hot, so hot that her pulse quickened by several beats beneath his touch.
"...What is it?"
"You're really comfortable leaving a sick man all by himself?"
Qi Chengyan looked up at her, a subtle flicker of exhaustion in his eyes, alongside... aggrieved vulnerability. It passed in a flash, so quickly that Guan Zhiyi wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
Setting aside her hidden feelings for him, Qi Chengyan had always been an imposing, authoritative elder figure in her heart. He always maintained the demeanor of an adult around her, so this child-like vulnerability when sick felt entirely out of character for him.
Her eyes must have deceived her...
Yet she suddenly recalled her childhood when she had fallen ill. Once, when she ran a high fever, he had come to her house to visit her, and she had cried uncontrollably to keep him from leaving. He really stayed by her side for the entire day, skipping his classes at school.
Looking back at her conduct now, she truly seemed a little heartless.
After a moment of self-reflection, Guan Zhiyi said, "But you need to rest. Won't I be disturbing you if I stay?"
"I won't be able to fall asleep anytime soon. Stay and talk to me for a bit."
"Oh..."
Seeing her agree, the corner of Qi Chengyan's mouth curved slightly upward. He stood up and walked toward the bed. "I'll lie down for a while."
Yet he kept his grip on her hand, forcing Guan Zhiyi to follow him to the edge of the bed and watch as he slid under the covers.
Guan Zhiyi said, "...Then what about me?"
"Sit right here." Qi Chengyan did not let go. "Keep watch."
"..."
Guan Zhiyi sat by the edge of the bed, watching him lie on his side as his calm gaze rested upon her. Neither spoke, and the room fell into a quiet, strange atmosphere that made her feel thoroughly out of place.
"Did the shooting go smoothly today?" Qi Chengyan finally broke the silence.
Guan Zhiyi glanced at her wrist held firmly in his grip, shifting uneasily. "Pretty... pretty smoothly."
"How many more days do you have left to shoot?"
"Three or four days, I think. We have to shoot the commercial stills on the last day..."
"Mm."
"What about you? When are you heading back?"
"When do you want me to head back?"
Guan Zhiyi was taken aback. Was that really something for her to decide?
Seeing her bewildered expression, Qi Chengyan let out a faint smile, though he offered no explanation, merely saying, "We'll see how it goes. I'll head back once my body feels a little better."
"Mm... that works too."
Drowsiness washed over Qi Chengyan in heavy waves as he spoke with her; the medicine he had taken before her arrival was taking full effect now. Yet looking at the girl sitting by his bed, he felt reluctant to give in to sleep.
"Xiao Wu."
"Hmm?"
"Remember what you said in the stairwell yesterday?"
Hardly expecting him to bring that up out of nowhere, Guan Zhiyi felt a surge of embarrassment. "That matter—"
"Your gege felt a little hurt."
"..."
Huh?
Qi Chengyan's eyes were half-closed, his voice somewhat raspy from the fever. "After hovering around me for so long, you suddenly say you don't want to hang around anymore and that we need to keep a proper distance... Are all you young people so hard-hearted?"
The heating in the room was turned up high, and as he lay beneath the quilt, his face seemed flushed with a faint layer of red.
Guan Zhiyi stared at him foolishly, feeling as though something inside her mind had snapped with a sharp click.
Was he... complaining?
"There's no need to keep your distance. No one will ever think there's anything wrong with you being by my side, and even if someone does... do you think I'd pay them any mind?" Qi Chengyan's voice gradually drifted lower, as if he could no longer fight off sleep.
Yet even so, she heard his final words with absolute clarity. He said, "Xiao Wu, no one is more important than you."
Thump-thump, thump-thump—
He still held her wrist, his eyes already closed. Guan Zhiyi stared at his face, her heart hammering wildly in her chest, blow after heavy blow, as if it were about to break through her ribs and burst free. She felt a sudden illusion that she was suffocating.
He said no one was more important than her.
Was that truly how he held her in his heart?
The sudden rush of emotion left her thoughts in complete disarray, yet amidst the chaos, an irrepressible joy surged within her. She had built a thick wall against him, but with a single, simple sentence, he had brought it crumbling down. Dust billowed everywhere, and she found herself standing within the ruins, lost and helpless, yet filled with boundless delight.
He said she was the most important... Did that mean his heart held the same feelings as hers? Could it be that he liked her?
Her face flushed crimson in an instant, a wave of panic crashing over her even as her heart fluttered.
Such thoughts and wild guesses terrified her, because when it came to him, she was always afraid of being wrong.
Perhaps his "most important" did not carry that kind of meaning. Perhaps he merely meant... she was as important as family?
"Gege?"
"Mm..." he hummed in response, his voice thick with the haze of sleep.
Guan Zhiyi bit her lip, not daring to ask further. "Nothing... go to sleep properly."
She sat by the bed for a long while until she felt Qi Chengyan had fallen completely asleep, and only then did she secretly slip her hand out from his palm.
Buzz—
The phone in her pocket vibrated. Fearing she might wake him, Guan Zhiyi answered it immediately. "Xiao Ran?"
"Zhiyi, where are you? I picked up some delicious food while I was out today, let me bring it over to you," Xiao Ran's voice came through the receiver.
Guan Zhiyi took a few steps toward the bathroom, keeping her voice low. "No need, I've already eaten."
"Why are you whispering? Where are you?"
Guan Zhiyi said, "I'm in Chengyan-ge's room. He has a fever and he's sleeping right now."
Xiao Ran paused for a moment. "Is he alright?"
"His fever should break in a little while."
"Mm, alright then. I'll have my assistant drop the food off at your room instead. Your manager and the others are there, right?"
"Yes, they're there. Thanks."
...
Over by the bathroom, Guan Zhiyi was speaking on the phone in hushed tones. Inside the bedroom, Qi Chengyan opened his eyes after she walked away. He glanced at her retreating back, the corners of his lips curving upward into a faint smile.
Step by step...
He couldn't afford to scare her away.
---
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