Chapter 277: What is he, anyway?

Under the grape trellis, Pei Ling suppressed the urge to vomit and gritted his teeth, "Is this what you call improved?"

"Does it not taste good?" Zhu Yuan's eyes were incomparably clear.

Pei Ling picked up the water glass on the desk and drank the water inside, suppressing the nausea in his stomach.

These things were indeed nutritious and good for the body, but no one had told him that the taste of them mixed together would be like this.

She was quite a talent, being able to blend so many fruits and vegetables together into juice and turn the taste into this.

Had she also made these for the one surnamed Sheng before?

Watching him drink it all despite his distaste, Zhu Yuan took the glass and said, "As long as it's nutritious, we want the result; the process is not important."

We want the result; the process is not important.

Pei Ling lowered his eyes to stare at her face, "You should make a glass for yourself too. Since it's so nutritious, the cub in your belly should also have a taste."

"I don't want to have a belly..." Zhu Yuan blurted out, then quickly changed her words, "Such good stuff, it must be for you to drink."

"Such good stuff, I hope for you to drink it." Pei Ling looked at her guilty and resistant expression, thought of the words she hadn't finished earlier, and probed, "So, the day before yesterday, your stomach upset wasn't because of ice cream, but the fruit and vegetable juice?"

It had indeed been heard by him.

Zhu Yuan stopped hiding it, "You were so disgusted by the taste, so I thought I'd improve it so it would be easier for you to accept. I didn't expect that I only forced myself to drink one mouthful and it gave me a stomachache."

Speaking of this, she simply asked the curiosity in her heart, "Why were you fine after drinking it the first two times?"

For today's recipe, she had checked online; the ingredients wouldn't clash, and none of them would make a person's stomach uncomfortable.

She had done her homework thoroughly.

Pei Ling took the glass back from her hand and looked at the residual dark green fruit and vegetable juice hanging on the inner wall of the glass. Why could it be?

That person back then had fed him quite a lot of things that harmed him; his stomach had long since stopped reacting to ordinary food, and even medicine didn't have much effect on him.

Seeing the curiosity in Zhu Yuan's eyes, he suddenly found it amusing and looked down into her eyes, "Beg me, and I'll tell you."

He suddenly leaned in, giving Zhu Yuan a start. She instinctively backed away, but Pei Ling, worried she would fall, hurriedly reached out an arm to wrap around her waist and said in a low voice, "Does this scare you?"

Zhu Yuan was just about to swat his hand away when her gaze paused. At such close range, she clearly saw the red bloodshot lines in Pei Ling's eyes, as well as the dark circles beneath them; he was very exhausted.

She didn't speak, and Pei Ling thought she was angry, so he said with patience, "Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you, just don't be angry."

"I'm not..." Zhu Yuan pushed his hand away and looked up at him, "Is what you said true? You'll tell me whatever I want to know?"

Pei Ling guessed what she wanted to know, his Adam's apple bobbing, "Mm."

"What kind of illness do you actually have?" She gripped her fingers tightly, wanting to hear a truthful answer from him.

He knew she would ask this.

Pei Ling let out a low laugh and leaned back against the shelf behind him, his whole person languid and casual. His gaze fixed on Zhu Yuan; from a third party's perspective, it looked like he was flirting with Zhu Yuan, and Zhu Yuan's nervous appearance, in the eyes of a third party, looked more like the coquettish shyness of someone embarrassed into anger.

"Stomach disease," he said.

Zhu Yuan was stunned, then looked at the glass in his hand and hurriedly snatched it away, "If your stomach is uncomfortable, why didn't you say so earlier?"

She knew the fruit and vegetable juice she made was nutritious, but if his stomach was uncomfortable, how could he endure this unpleasant taste?

Pei Ling felt her concern; while he felt gratified, he couldn't bear her worry, "It is a bit unpleasant, but I didn't vomit, so it doesn't hurt my stomach."

Zhu Yuan no longer cared about his complaints, "I won't in the future..."

"I want to drink it," Pei Ling interrupted her, his deep amber eyes looking at her profoundly, "Yuanyuan, I want to drink the fruit and vegetable juice you squeeze for me."

At this moment, Zhu Yuan didn't dwell on his form of address for her; she suddenly felt sad in her heart, "It's very serious, isn't it?"

Pei Ling exhaled, "Not considered serious, just a bit troublesome."

"Does it require surgery?"

Pei Ling gave an 'mm', turned his head, and looked at the grapevines winding on the trellis with a complex expression, "I had just finished surgery when I called you that day. I had intended to rest for a week before coming to see you."

Zhu Yuan was startled.

No wonder he was wearing hospital trousers, no wonder there were needle marks from an indwelling needle on his hand, no wonder he looked somewhat exhausted and haggard.

So he had just had surgery that Saturday.

It was she who had been too careless.

"Then hurry back to the room and lie down." Zhu Yuan rushed over in a flurry to push him into the room; he was too reckless, not knowing how to rest properly after just having surgery.

Pei Ling, however, grabbed her wrist and looked down at her, "Just lie here. Will you keep me company?"

After a few seconds of silence, Zhu Yuan nodded, "Okay, then lie down properly and don't run around."

Pei Ling was amused by her words, "Are you starting to boss me around?"

"Is Second Master going to listen or not?" Zhu Yuan feigned seriousness.

Pei Ling raised his eyebrows slightly, walked back, and lay down on a rocking chair. He patted the other rocking chair beside him, "I'll listen. Will you keep your word?"

The two lay side by side on the rocking chairs, and Zhu Yuan asked with concern, "Was the surgery successful?"

"Very successful."

"That's great."

In the building in the distance, behind the curtains, Sheng Yu looked at this scene with a gloomy expression and bloodshot eyes, curling his lips in self-mockery.

What was he, anyway?

He was here now like a voyeur watching their happiness, looking like a stray dog; what was he?

Because she had upset her stomach on Saturday, Zhu Yuan was strictly forbidden by Pei Ling from going out, but except for that day at the hospital, she hadn't been out for several days.

Pei Ling was afraid she would be stifled, so the next day he had Pei Li drive and take her to the Ancient Street for a stroll.

Zhu Yuan thought of the noodle shop she had eaten at last time. When she left that time, the proprietress had asked her if there was anything that needed improvement. She had suggested a few points; she wondered if the taste after the improvements was like what her grandfather used to make?

"I want to go eat soybean paste noodles."

As soon as her voice fell, the expressions of the several Bodyguards following Pei Li all changed.

Was Miss Zhu's sense of taste really different from theirs?

What could possibly be worth savoring in that hard-to-swallow noodle dish, enough to make her want to go back for a second visit?

But since Zhu Yuan had already said she was going, the group had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow her inside.

The moment the proprietress saw Zhu Yuan, her heart skipped a beat; why had she only come today?

Zhu Yuan ordered a bowl of noodles, and once the proprietress brought them over, she took a bite and immediately tasted that something was wrong, "Proprietress, why does the taste of this fried sauce seem different?"

"Oh!" The proprietress felt uneasy inside; this young lady's sense of taste was truly quite sharp, "Are you referring to the one you had last time?"

Zhu Yuan nodded.

The proprietress had a sudden flash of inspiration, "That was... made by my son. He has gone to work; his job is rather special, and he only gets to rest on Mondays. He comes to the shop to help me when he is off, so if you would like to eat that, could you come back next Monday?"

After Zhu Yuan and her group finished their noodles and left.

The proprietress picked up the phone number that Sheng Yu had left for her before he departed the shop yesterday.

She dialed the number written on it.

"Sir, that young lady just came to the shop to eat noodles."

On the other end of the line, Sheng Yu tightened his grip on his phone, and after a few seconds of silence, he said in a low voice, "Did she notice the taste was different?"

"Yes, I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty..." The proprietress repeated what she had just said to Zhu Yuan.

Sheng Yu did not care about her taking liberties, but instead asked, "What did she say?"

"She agreed."

Sheng Yu's eyes deepened, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, "Good."