After learning what the girl wanted to eat, Xia Chen did not rush out to buy lunch immediately. Instead, he went to the hospital's payment counter, intending to pay Shi Yao's hospitalization fees for the next few days all at once.
"Sir, since you booked a single room and the nutrient solution we are administering to the patient is recently imported from abroad, the total comes to 1,600 yuan," the receptionist explained, handing the bill to Xia Chen.
Xia Chen scanned the bill with a calm expression, though inwardly he felt like he was bleeding money.
"As expected of a major hospital, their pricing standards really are something else!"
Despite his inner complaints, he handed over his bank card. Since he was the one who brought her here, he had to take responsibility to the end.
He had no idea if there was enough money in the bank card. Compared to digital funds, Xia Chen preferred cash that he could hold firmly in his own hands, so he kept very little money in his bank account.
"Whatever, if worst comes to worst, I'll just make up the difference with the cash I have on hand," Xia Chen thought to himself.
"Payment successful." As the mechanical voice sounded, the heart hanging in Xia Chen's chest finally settled.
"Alright, sir, here is your card. Please take it."
"Thank you."
After taking back his card, Xia Chen had a lingering feeling that something was amiss. He subconsciously used his phone to check the balance on his bank card.
"What the hell?" Looking at the balance of 20,000 displayed on the card, Xia Chen couldn't help letting out an exclamation.
However, he quickly calmed down. When things happen out of the ordinary, there's always something fishy going on; pie falling from the sky simply wasn't the kind of good luck that came his way.
After checking the transfer history, he realized this was the masterpiece of his "sons."
Xia Chen smiled with a sense of warmth. He hadn't misjudged his friends; although those jerks were usually unreliable, when it mattered most, they were just as fierce as he was.
He secretly decided in his heart that once he found a job and made some money, he would definitely return this favor. After all, they were all adults now, and each of them had their own families to support.
Yet, on second thought, if his sons ever found out that he was actually a rich second-generation heir going through a trial by fire, he wondered what their reaction would be.
The autumn of November could be described as unusually cold, with the sky shrouded in dark clouds, but for someone like Xia Chen—who feared the heat rather than the cold—the temperature was just right.
Xia Chen didn't have to walk far before he happened to spot a steamed bun shop near the hospital, except that the queue was rather long.
Looking around and finding that this was the only bun shop in the vicinity, he didn't know where he suddenly found the patience, but he honestly walked to the back of the line and waited.
Fortunately, by the time his turn arrived, the shop owner happened to lift the lid of a fresh steamer basket. Steaming hot buns appeared before everyone's eyes, their irresistible aroma filling the air.
The moment Xia Chen caught the scent, he secretly rejoiced inwardly: "Looks like my wait wasn't in vain."
To cater to the girl's tastes, he swept up all the vermicelli buns and meat buns in the steamer, and conveniently packed a basket of soup dumplings as well.
As for the people lined up behind him, they watched Xia Chen leave with peculiar gazes.
Back at the hospital, the young girl rested her chin in her hands and gazed out at the dark clouds in the sky, a trace of sorrow flashing through her pretty eyes.
In the end, dark clouds blocked the sun, and she had lost all hope for life.
Shi Yao muttered to herself, but soon the corners of her mouth curved upward involuntarily.
Her world should have been gray, but precisely because of Xia Chen's appearance, a heavy stroke of vibrant color had been added to it. Although it was just a single stroke, it was already enough.
While the young girl was lost in thought, Xia Chen had already pushed the door open, carrying the buns he had bought.
He placed the buns in front of the hospital bed and said bluntly, "Take a look and see which kind of bun you like."
"Th-these are all for me?" Shi Yao looked at the wide variety of buns on the bed, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief.
"What else?" Xia Chen casually picked up a bun and shoved it into his mouth, muttering, "Still the same old taste. Shi Yao, eat them while they're hot—they won't taste good if they get cold.""Mhm." Shi Yao nodded, her eyes welling with tears, and then cautiously pulled a steamed bun from the bag.
The moment she touched the bun, Shi Yao trembled all over. She had half-believed she was dreaming, but the warmth radiating from the bun told her this was real—that she, too, had the right to enjoy hot food instead of being restricted to salted vegetables and cold rice.
The girl wiped away her tears and eagerly brought the bun to her mouth. The instant it entered her mouth, her pretty face flushed crimson in a flash.
She hadn't expected the bun to contain soup inside, let alone that it would be so scalding hot.
Shi Yao instinctively wrung her hands together, her pupils dilating.
Having just finished his own bun, Xia Chen froze for a few seconds at the sight. Recovering his wits, he immediately stood up from the chair, reached out to pat the girl's back, and asked with an anxious expression, "What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
Shi Yao wanted to open her mouth, but she couldn't bear to spit out the bun. Her face red, she shook her head repeatedly.
"Damn it, don't tell me this girl swallowed the soup dumpling whole!"
Xia Chen furrowed his brow. Even he had to eat that kind of thing in tiny bites; he had never seen anyone pop a soup dumpling straight into their mouth in one go.
Well, of course, he suppose he had seen it now.
"Be a good girl, Shi Yao, and spit it out right now." Xia Chen extended his hand toward the young girl's mouth. He was genuinely afraid the poor thing might be seriously scalded.
Hearing Xia Chen's direct command, Shi Yao obediently spat the bun out.
The moment the bun landed in his palm, Xia Chen's brow knitted. "Even the residual heat is this hot; this girl really knows how to endure."
He specifically checked the girl's mouth and found that the inside was almost blistering from the heat.
"It was so hot, why didn't you just spit it out?" Xia Chen asked Shi Yao, who was sitting on the bed.
Thank goodness she had only held it in her mouth; if the little girl had actually swallowed it down, it would have been a real disaster.
Shi Yao lowered her gaze slightly, looking like a child who had done something wrong, and said apprehensively, "I'm sorry. I... I didn't want to waste food."
She was terrified that if she spat it out, he would think she was wasteful and abandon her. She really, truly didn't want to be abandoned.
Seeing the young girl blaming herself so heavily, Xia Chen sighed and soothingly reassured her, "Don't ever do that again next time. And eat this bun slowly; no one is going to take it from you."
"Mhm," the little girl nodded weakly, whispering, "There won't be a next time."
After they finished lunch, Xia Chen chose to sit in the chair and play a game on his phone, while Shi Yao sat propped up on the bed, playing with her fingers.
"If you have matters to attend to, you can go ahead. There's no need to stay here looking after me," Shi Yao suddenly broke the silence after a long while.
In her mind, a high-level professional like Xia Chen must be extremely busy every day and shouldn't be wasting time on her.
"Matters to attend to? I don't have anything going on!"
Xia Chen scratched the back of his head. As an unemployed person, what else could he possibly have to do?
Hearing this, the guilt in Shi Yao's eyes deepened. She hadn't expected Xia Chen to care about her this much—willing to set aside his work just to come and keep her company. Yet the more he did, the more painful her heart felt.
Sensing Shi Yao's misgivings, Xia Chen smiled. "I'm a big boss. I work when I want to work, and I don't work when I don't want to."
"Really?" Shi Yao blinked her bright, lively eyes, her expression utterly innocent.
"Of course," Xia Chen explained with a guilty conscience; there was no way he could tell the girl he was actually unemployed.
"Right, why don't you play with my phone for a bit?" With that, Xia Chen handed his phone over to her.
Shi Yao reached out and took the phone. As she looked at the game screen glowing on the display, her expressive eyes filled with curiosity.
Seeing that the little girl's attention had finally been diverted by the phone, Xia Chen let out a silent sigh of relief.