Huo Shao Ting closed the drawer impassively. He was willing to wait for her to give him an answer. He didn't want to force her into doing anything against her will.
When he came out from the bathroom, Rong Dai was already lying in bed.
The air conditioning at home was set to a constant temperature, so even during the hot summer, it wouldn't feel too warm indoors. But Rong Dai seemed as if she was feeling very cold, curling up tightly and wrapping herself in a thin quilt.
"Rong Dai?"
Seeing her looking unwell and pale, he walked over with a frown and felt her forehead to check her temperature.
Rong Dai murmured a soft response to him, but her physical discomfort made her feel awful.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Huo Shao Ting tucked the quilt around her and gently told her, "I'll go see who it is. You just lie down and rest first."
After saying so, he went to open the door. Seeing that it was Huo Mei Shu, his frown deepened.
"Big brother, I've come to give you some advice. Don't always look at me like that. You and sister-in-law have such a good relationship. Don't I deserve some credit for that?" Huo Mei Shu felt rather dejected. Her big brother was so ungrateful after all the hard work she did for him.
Huo Shao Ting's expression softened a little. He walked forward a few steps and closed the bedroom door, afraid their conversation might disturb Rong Dai's rest.
"She's in a lot of pain and seems very cold," he explained to Huo Mei Shu. He was worried and distressed, but her illness was not something he could take on in her place. All he could do was try to find ways to solve it for her and alleviate her discomfort.
"Why else do you think I'm here?" Huo Mei Shu scoffed, then brought out her secret weapons.
"Here's some brown sugar and heat patches. I'm only giving you this one set. Go buy more yourself tomorrow. I don't need to say more about opportunities like this, do I?"
Huo Mei Shu stuffed the items into his hands.
"How do I use them?" Huo Shao Ting asked very seriously. Huo Mei Shu sighed inwardly. Their whole family was worried half to death. It seemed that only the people involved could truly understand matters of the heart.
"Remember to buy handmade brown sugar tomorrow. The kind made by machines will have an unpleasant smell. Get this brand of heat patches - they're safe. You're welcome," Huo Mei Shu said with a smile before sauntering off humming a tune.
Huo Shao Ting returned to the bedroom with the items. He called Rong Dai, who seemed on the verge of losing consciousness from the pain, back to awareness.
"Shao Ting, can we talk about this tomorrow? I'm really not feeling well now," Rong Dai hadn't expected this body's original owner to be even more agonized than her past self. This was pure torment!
"These are heat patches. Lift up your clothes," Huo Shao Ting spoke to her gently as if soothing a child, seeing how pale her face had become.
Rong Dai felt as if she was about to faint. She simply obeyed his instructions, mumbling deliriously, "Is it Nurse Tang? Hurry, apply it for This Palace..."
Huo Shao Ting applied the heat patches on her. These patches had adhesive sides and a velvety middle over the heating area, so they wouldn't burn her skin directly.
Although she didn't speak very loudly, Huo Shao Ting was close enough to hear every word clearly.
Nurse Tang? This Palace?
His gaze was deep, as if dyed by ink. After carefully tucking her into the quilt, he went downstairs to make brown sugar water for her, adding two slices of ginger according to Huo Mei Shu's instructions.
"Young Master, are you...making brown sugar water? Is it because Madam is having her monthly pains and feeling unwell? I don't recall Madam drinking brown sugar water very often," Mrs. Wang said in surprise, walking out from the bedroom after hearing the sounds from the kitchen. It wasn't new for the Huo family's Young Master to cook, but she found it odd that he was making brown sugar water for Madam.
Huo Shao Ting's expression was calm, but his eyes were profound. He replied evenly, "The pain is very bad this time. Drinking this will help more."
Mrs. Wang could only nod. She didn't think much more about it and returned to her room to rest.
After boiling the brown sugar water, Huo Shao Ting poured it into a thermos and brought it upstairs. Seeing that Rong Dai had fallen asleep and her complexion was no longer so pale, he finally felt relieved.
Looking at her sleeping form, it was still the same face, yet he felt something was different about her.
She held more and more secrets. She was now vastly different from the Rong Dai he first knew.
Before their marriage, they had met only twice before deciding to wed. Later on, most of what he knew about her came from listening to Grandmother.
On their wedding night, her coldness and aloofness irritated him greatly.
If she was unwilling, he certainly wouldn't have married her. Marriage had never been a necessity for him.
But her coldness that night cut him deeply. He would never force a woman into anything.
He hadn't intended that they must be intimate that night either. They would have plenty of time to slowly cultivate their feelings. He could wait until she was willing wholeheartedly, not just stiffly obliging physical needs.
After marrying, they seldom met. Yet whenever they did, she always had that frigid expression, with eyes full of chill and detachment.
The atmosphere at home changed because of it. Of course he wouldn't let things continue that way.
But after she called him from the hospital, things began to shift.
Huo Shao Ting gazed at her, his eyes filled with bewilderment. Some of her behavior made him feel as if she didn't quite belong in this world, unlike a modern person.
He knew such thoughts were absurd, yet she was like an enigma he had to peel back layer by layer to find the answers to.
Setting aside his inner doubts for now, he showered then dimmed the bedroom lights before heading directly to his study and turning on his personal computer.
He had photos stored of the jade pendant he acquired for 100 million yuan but didn't give to her in the end.
A hundred million was no big issue for him. At most he just needed to expand some minor projects to earn it back.
Moreover, he had intended to buy something she liked, since she gave her set of jade jewelry to his mother.
He was simply curious why she reacted so strongly upon seeing this jade pendant.
He still remembered Rong Dai's excitement then, the joy of recovering something lost.
Meaning this jade pendant was something she had owned before. Otherwise there would have been no talk of recovering something lost.
But the investigation into An Fei Ya's background showed that she returned to Huaxia from country Y, and held Huaxia citizenship, only living abroad since young.
The reason she returned alone was still unknown, nor were any of her family members found.
An Fei Ya's identity was a mystery, as were Rong Dai's changes.
However, one thing he could ascertain - this jade pendant could not have belonged to Rong Dai before. Although An Fei Ya's profession was jewelry design, she operated in fashion circles, following international trends.
One look and anyone could tell this jade pendant was an antique from Huaxia. Apart from the material value itself, it held no fashion value, moreover it was recovered from a remote mountain village. There was no relationship at all with Rong Dai.
