Eat here.

“Do you have any medicine to ease the pain? Can you help me put some on—”

“Put it on yourself! Why didn’t you think about pain when you were fighting?” Xia Yuwei retorted sharply, but still walked over to the bedside table, opened the first aid box, found a tube of ointment for bruises and sprains, tossed it to Lu Yichen, and headed straight for the door.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to help me put it on?” Lu Yichen called after her. Seeing that Xia Yuwei ignored him, he muttered under his breath, “Heartless old woman…” and lay back down with the ointment in hand, refusing to move. He didn’t believe she would really ignore him forever.

After a while, Xia Yuwei opened the door and came back in.

“Did you put on the ointment?” she asked him. “If you have, get dressed and come out for breakfast.” She supposed he must be starving, so she’d spent some time in the kitchen making him something to eat.

“I’m not going out. I want to eat here…” He had made up his mind to stay in bed a while longer, unwilling to get up.

“Get up!” Xia Yuwei sighed, exasperated by his stubbornness.

“I want to eat here.” Lu Yichen rolled over on the bed and then back again, as if he couldn’t bear to leave it.

“No food until you get up,” Xia Yuwei said sternly, her face set.

“But I’m hungry, I want to eat!” Lu Yichen looked at her with pitiful puppy-dog eyes.

“Then get up!” Xia Yuwei remained unmoved, growing irritable at his increasing demands.

“I want to eat here, and I haven’t put on the ointment yet. If I get dressed now, I’ll have to take my clothes off again to apply it later—so troublesome!”

“And whose fault is that? Why haven’t you put it on all this time? If you don’t want to, then don’t—just roll off the bed!” she snapped.

“I want to eat here. Without food, I won’t have the strength to apply the ointment…” Lu Yichen ignored her harsh tone, continuing to whine softly.

… Xia Yuwei silently swore to herself that next time, she would never let him into her house again.

She turned and left the room, but after a while, she reappeared, carrying a plate in one hand and a glass in the other. On the plate were two softly fried eggs and a fork; the glass was filled with orange juice. She set them down on the small bedside table.

“Eat! And remember, there won’t be a next time!”

Lu Yichen’s eyes lit up at the sight of food. He’d wanted to ask her to feed him, but when he saw the look on her face—she seemed truly angry—he obediently sat up, wrapped himself in the blanket, stuck his arms out, picked up the plate and fork, and was just about to eat when he suddenly looked up and offered the plate to Xia Yuwei. “Why don’t you have some first?”

Seeing that he was ravenous yet still thought of her before eating, Xia Yuwei couldn’t help but soften her tone. “You eat first. I have mine outside.”

“Oh…” He gobbled up the eggs in a few bites, then finished the juice.

Setting down the plate and glass, he looked utterly content and lay back down again. Xia Yuwei was about to lose her temper, but then she heard Lu Yichen speak.

“Weiwei, come help me with the ointment. I already put some on, but I can’t reach my back…” He turned over and lay on his stomach, speaking to her in a gentle tone.