Chapter 27: Touching the Heart

ies buried deep in her heart and touched a chord within her. Suddenly, she felt that she was not on the same wavelength as those three men outside, and she suddenly wanted to have a big argument with...Chapter 27: Touching Hearts

Zhou Guangtao slumped on the sofa. These days, his continuous search had left him feeling exhausted and drained. Every day was a cycle of worry, fear, daze, and endless waiting.

The room was deathly silent, and a fine layer of moisture appeared on his forehead once again.

Whether due to the mental pressure or lack of rest, Zhou Guangtao, who had always been physically strong, fell ill with a high fever the day before. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time, thinking it was just a minor illness that wasn't serious enough to worry about. As a result, he continued driving around in search of Yan Luoxi.

The fever left him feeling dizzy and unsteady, causing him to momentarily lose focus and hit a tree by the roadside. Fortunately, his speed wasn't too fast at the time; otherwise, it could have been worse than just breaking his forehead.

Even so, Zhou Guangtao nearly fainted from the sudden jolt. With an excruciating pain in his head, he remained motionless on the steering wheel for a long while.

A traffic police officer arrived at the scene and noticed that he was flushed with fever and seemed disoriented. Upon feeling his forehead, it was as hot as fire, prompting immediate action to call 120.

"39.8 degrees!" The doctor held up the thermometer in shock, staring wide-eyed at Zhou Guangtao while examining him from head to toe. "Don't you know that you're running a fever In this condition, you could pass out or convulse anytime! No matter how urgent your situation is, driving while sick can be extremely dangerous!"

Zhou Guangtao endured the doctor's scolding silently, his mouth tasting as bitter as licorice.

"Given that you're currently running a fever and have an open wound on your forehead with signs of inflammation in your blood, we need to admit you for hospital treatment and monitor for any potential post-concussion syndrome," the doctor declared decisively.

"No, I can't be hospitalized." Zhou Guangtao responded hoarsely, immediately refusing. "My mind is clear; there's absolutely no concussion."

The doctor looked at Zhou Guangtao with his bloodshot eyes and could tell that he had not slept for days. His expression turned stern: "No matter what you're trying to achieve, your health must come first. Overworking yourself like this will only lead to a counterproductive outcome. In the end, you'll collapse from illness."

Zhou Guangtao, looking like a haggard large dog, curled up in the chair and無奈地妥協，“I agree to receive intravenous fluids at the hospital but I won’t accept inpatient treatment.”

The doctor looked into his eyes, seeing an obsession bordering on insanity, realizing further persuasion would be futile. He prescribed some medicine for him to have an IV drip.

Considering Zhou Guangtao’s condition needed ample rest, the doctor added a sedative in the intravenous solution. Soon enough, Zhou Guangtao fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping when he felt someone standing by his bedside. He strained to open his eyes and found it was Yán Luoxī whom he had been longing for day and night.

Luoxī!

Overwhelmed with excitement, he wanted to call out her name but his parched throat wouldn’t allow any sound.

Yán Luoxī smiled gently at him and turned around to pick up a cup of water that was placed nearby. She awkwardly fed him the water using a small spoon, occasionally poking his teeth with it.

The cool liquid seeped into his parched lungs, exactly what Zhou Guangtao needed. Luoxī, you’re finally back!

He communicated with her through his eyes.

All he could hear was Yán Luoxī’s soft sigh.

The sedative made Zhou Guangtao fall asleep again. When he woke up completely, he found someone lying by the bedside facing him. Her long wavy hair was beautiful and elegant, her makeup exquisite, her long eyelashes fluttering slightly as she had a faint pout on her red lips; even in sleep, one could tell she was a beauty.

Due to Zhou Guangtao’s movement, the sleeping beauty woke up. "You’re awake!" He Yufan exclaimed joyfully, her face reddened where it had been pressed by her arm, with several marks that made her look very cute.

Zhou Guangtao nodded slightly, still looking somewhat bewildered.

"You really gave me a scare. You were unconscious for a day and night. I happened to be visiting a classmate at the hospital when I saw you getting an IV drip... The doctor said that even in your condition, you refused to be hospitalized... Hehe... Seeing how serious it was, I took it upon myself to pretend to be your girlfriend and got you admitted here..."

He Yufan spoke as she awkwardly tried to feed Zhou Guangtao water with her clumsy hands. Zhou Guangtao silently sighed; the person in his dream wasn't Yan Luoxi but He Yufan.

Since he didn’t know He Yufan very well, after saying thank you, Zhou Guangtao sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed to take the water cup from her hand and drank it himself.

He Yufan didn't argue with him; she knew that someone who had been unconscious for a day and night must be hungry. She turned around and left to get porridge for him.

Zhou Guangtao, troubled by his thoughts, only drank a little water before putting the cup down and turning to look out of the window.

The sun was setting, with golden rays streaming from the west across half the sky. A gentle breeze blew as leaves rustled softly. This scene was so beautiful.

But where is my beloved

Zhou Guangtao sighed deeply in disappointment.

He Yufan returned with a box of porridge and upon entering the room, saw Zhou Guangtao sitting there lost in thought. The setting sun cast a faint golden glow on his side face while he lowered his head slightly; his straight nose perfectly accentuated his handsome profile from the side.

She felt inexplicably moved once again.

The frenzied search for her by Zhou Guangtao had made everyone who knew Yan Luoxi aware of her disappearance. He Yufan understood that what caused the confident and successful Zhou Guangtao to reach his current state was because of this girl.

Since Zhou Guangtao woke up, He Yufan had never mentioned Yan Luoxi. It wasn't because she was afraid of hurting him; rather, it was her instinct to avoid the topic.

He Yufan looked at herself in the glass by the door and found that her appearance was decent enough. She took a deep breath, rallied her spirits, and deliberately shouted happily, "Here's some delicious food! We can start eating!"

In her clear voice, Zhou Guangtao snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at He Yufan gratefully and approvingly.

He Yufan had bought him porridge, but she didn't loudly announce its arrival. To touch someone's heart, one doesn't need sweet words or grand vows; it only takes a small detail to penetrate deeply into another person’s soul.

In the past, Zhou Guangtao hadn’t held any particular fondness towards this good friend of Yan Luoxi's, especially after seeing He Yufan's attitude toward Li Xin. It made him feel that she was somewhat arrogant and fickle, with too much concern for personal gain, leading to some prejudice against her.

But today, perhaps because someone who is sick is more vulnerable emotionally; within just half an hour, Zhou Guangtao’s impression of He Yufan completely changed. Watching her deliberately try to cheer him up by being playful and mischievous, with sparkling eyes as if they could speak, and a face filled with joy.

Zhou Guangtao felt that He Yufan was originally also a kind, frank, and sincere good girl.

No matter how nice He Yufan was in front of him now, she couldn't shake Zhou Guangtao's determination to find Yan Luoxi. After drinking the porridge, he thanked He Yufan and insisted on being discharged from the hospital; while searching for Yan Luoxi, he waited for news from Li Haonan.

Zhou Guangtao leaned against the sofa, ignoring the beads of sweat on his forehead as he slowly took a cigarette out of the box.

Before, he almost never smoked; when he did smoke, it was usually due to nervousness and irritability. But these days, he found that smoking was indeed a good thing—frustration and anxiety in his heart could be transformed into curling wisps of blue smoke, gradually dissipating.

If not for cigarettes, he truly didn't know how he would have gotten through the past few days.

Zhou Guangtao lit a cigarette and took several deep drags until reaching the end. Just as he was about to extinguish it, he suddenly heard his phone ringing; an expression of wild joy appeared on his face. roughly against the glass sliding door, pinning her body tightly with his arms.The sharp pain reminded her of a previous night when that domineering and aggressive aura had been all too familiar, agg...