Chapter 4 Gastroenteritis

“Lu Shun?”

Zhang Wenqian’s voice reached his ears. Before Lu Shun could react, he heard a deep middle-aged voice speaking from nearby with a strongly condescending tone, “So you finally decided to wake up.”

Hearing that voice, Lu Shun instinctively shrunk his neck and turned his gaze behind Zhang Wenqian, where he saw a figure in a crisp suit standing against the light by the window.

It was his brother.

Thirty-five-year-old Lu Zhao.

The head of Lu Corporation, his power unshakable, a hand that could overturn the business world with a single gesture, someone countless investment bank managing directors would scramble to connect with but couldn’t.

Lu Zhao rarely appeared in public, often too busy to be seen. If Lu Shun remembered correctly, his brother should have been on a business trip elsewhere at this time, negotiating an important acquisition deal.

Yet here he was, appearing in the hospital at this inappropriate moment.

Lu Shun glared at Zhang Wenqian before propping himself up on the bed, forcing an awkward smile as he said, “Brother, what brings you here?”

“Lu Shun, how old are you?” Lu Zhao asked, looking down at him. “For your birthday, Mom and Dad asked you to come home but you refused, then went out and drank yourself into this state.”

Lu Shun’s memory was completely blank. He only remembered drinking heavily last night and Zhang Wenqian taking him home, but how did he end up in the hospital?

He turned his head and looked at Zhang Wenqian with confusion.

Zhang Wenqian explained, “You drank too much last night and developed a fever, nearly forty degrees!”

Zhang Wenqian gestured exaggeratedly, afraid Lu Shun would blame him for speaking out of turn. “You were trembling, your face looked terrifying, and you kept mumbling about stomach pain. I was worried something might happen, so I called your brother.”

After receiving the call, Lu Zhao had flown back overnight to find his younger brother hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis from excessive drinking, still running a high fever.

Frustrated but with no outlet for his anger, he had waited until the young man woke up.

With a dark expression, Lu Zhao scolded harshly in front of others, showing no mercy. “I actually thought you’d matured over the past two years, but you’re still the same. Do you think you’ve grown wings now?”

“Did a few compliments go to your head? Drinking yourself into the emergency room – if Mom found out about this…”

“Ouch…” Lu Shun didn’t want to hear it, but he knew arguing with his brother would only lead to trouble. So he pitifully lifted his hand with the IV drip, extending it toward Lu Zhao, deliberately showing weakness as he said, “Brother, the injection site on my hand hurts.”

“Don’t move.”

Lu Zhao had always doted on his younger brother since childhood. Though he scolded, his heart remained soft. Hearing this, he immediately stepped forward to check, frowning at the bruised hand with concern. “Ah, it’s swollen.”

His expression softened as he personally adjusted Lu Shun’s IV drip to a slower rate, then asked, “Anywhere else uncomfortable?”

“No,” Lu Shun said. “Just a bit hungry. Brother, I want claypot rice from Jinghong Street.”

“Save it. The doctor said you need to be hospitalized and fast for a few days, only getting glucose drips and such.” As he spoke, Lu Zhao looked up at Zhang Wenqian with a meaningful glance that made the latter extremely uncomfortable.

“Wenqian, I need to have a few words with Lu Shun.” Lu Zhao smiled, but an invisible pressure filled the entire hospital room.

“Ah.” Zhang Wenqian quickly responded. “Of course, Brother Zhao. You two talk first. I, I’ll just go out for a smoke.”

He fled as if running for his life.

He had no desire to stay in the same room as Lu Zhao it was suffocating in more ways than one.

Watching Zhang Wenqian leave, Lu Zhao waited a long moment before speaking. “I’ve been hearing some rumors outside.”

“What rumors?” Lu Shun leaned back against the hospital bed, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“That you…might not be straight.”

Lu Zhao’s sharp, penetrating gaze swept over him, trying to detect any flicker of emotion on his face as he deliberately adopted a humble tone. “I know you and Zhang Wenqian have been close since childhood, and it was his encouragement that brought you back from the U.S. But give me the truth do you have feelings for him beyond friendship?”

“None,” Lu Shun blurted out. “He’s fine for drinking and skewers, but if I saw him in my bed, I’d lose years off my life.”

“So you do like men.” Lu Zhao stared at him, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

Lu Shun had no idea where this conclusion came from or who had been whispering in Lu Zhao’s ear. He shook his head. “Right now, I’m not interested in men or women. I’m only interested in business contracts. So, brother, do you have any connections for me?”

“What kind of connections?”

“The Housing and Construction Bureau…” Before Lu Shun could finish, he saw Lu Zhao’s face darken abruptly.

“Is this about Yunji Real Estate’s Sky Citadel Project?” Lu Zhao was sharp.

“Yes,” Lu Shun replied. “There’s a lot of room for me to maneuver on this project.”

“That land isn’t as simple as you think. If it succeeds, Yunji could become the leader in the real estate industry. If it fails, He Qiuting will end up worse than his father did.”

Lu Shun’s heart lurched.

Lu Zhao’s eyes were profound. “I know you have business dealings with He Qiuting, but I’m warning you don’t get too entangled with Yunji. This project is already under scrutiny. Don’t wade into these muddy waters.”

“What if…I already have?” Lu Shun smiled, looking at his brother.

The air suddenly grew tense. Lu Zhao’s expression turned resigned, but his tone remained calm as he enunciated each word: “Then be prepared to clean up your own mess.”

With that, he turned toward the door but paused with his hand on the doorknob. “I’ll set up a connection at the Housing and Construction Bureau for you. I’ll notify you once the dinner is scheduled. In exchange, visit Mom after you’re discharged. She misses you.”

“Fine, got it.” Lu Shun agreed cheerfully, feeling it was a very profitable deal.

It was a long while after Lu Zhao left that Zhang Wenqian returned, complaining the moment he entered, “I’ve had it! If you and He Qiuting are dating, can you stop using me as a shield? Your brother looks at me differently now like I’m some seductive homewrecker.”

“I already cleared things up for you,” Lu Shun said. “I just don’t know how this reached his ears. Was it you ”

“Bro! Look at yourself for once!” Zhang Wenqian finally lost his temper, roaring at him, “You’re twenty-six, and you’ve never had a girlfriend fine! But every time we go out or attend banquets, you’re clearly more interested in men! Remember that female CEO last time, the really stunning one who sat next to you? What did you say?”

“What did I say?”

“You told people, ‘President He is so handsome.'” Zhang Wenqian laughed in exasperation. “Are you out of your mind? Now you’re asking here how my brother found out? How do you think your brother found out?”

“Get lost, get lost.” Lu Shun didn’t want to hear him talk, picking up his phone from the bedside table to check his messages.

He Qiuting, pinned at the top of the list, had sent ten messages. Lu Shun opened them with anticipation, scrolling through each one, the light in his eyes gradually dimming.

Out of ten messages, nine were work-related.

Data reports, regulation screenshots, and cold text.

Reminding him that bonds would be issued next week, requiring Lu Shun to subscribe to part of Cloud Horizon’s bonds in the name of CL Capital to attract follow-up investments.

Essentially, it was about leveraging Lu Shun’s market influence to hedge against the risks of high-priced land purchases, providing credit enhancement to boost investor confidence.

This had been agreed upon in advance between the two – He Qiuting would issue bonds to Lu Shun at below-market prices with additional profits included.

What should have been a mutually beneficial, tacit understanding suddenly felt like a loss to Lu Shun.

He kept rereading those messages, growing more disheartened with each pass.

The tenth message read: Call me when you wake up.

“Does He Qiuting still not know I’m hospitalized?” Lu Shun’s fingers tightened slightly around the phone.

“He knows.” Zhang Wenqian spoke while carefully watching Lu Shun’s expression, afraid of catching the backlash of his anger. “When you passed out yesterday, I called He Qiuting but couldn’t get through, so I contacted your brother instead.”

Lu Shun took a deep breath. “Did you use my phone to call?”

“Yes, I changed phones and don’t have his number saved.” Zhang Wenqian said.

“How many times did you call?” Lu Shun asked.

“Three or four times. No one answered until this morning when he called back, and I told him you were hospitalized.”

“What… did he say?” Lu Shun’s voice carried a slight tremor.

“He asked which hospital.”

“And then?”

“Then… that was it…” Zhang Wenqian’s voice grew progressively quieter.

Seeing Lu Shun pick up his phone to dial with murderous intent, he quickly made an excuse to leave. “I’m going out for another cigarette.”

Only Lu Shun remained in the hospital room.

Beep beep

The call rang for a long time before being answered.

He Qiuting’s familiar voice came through the phone, calm and pleasant, faintly mixed with mechanical beeping sounds.

“Did you see my messages?” He Qiuting lay in bed, having just finished having his blood pressure measured.

Li Feng frowned slightly at the screen’s data, telling him, “Not good, Qiuting. Your blood pressure is still a bit low.”

He Qiuting gently made a shushing gesture. With one hand holding the phone, he flipped through Lu Shun’s various test reports from last night with the other, the abnormal values already circled in red.

No wonder they were a couple – they even got sick on the same day.

Last night after leaving the restaurant and returning to the company, he had sent the relevant work information to Lu Shun, then drank a cup of coffee.

Perhaps because of the coffee, his stomach pain intensified after drinking it, accompanied by breathing difficulties, so he went directly to Li Feng’s private clinic.

Feeling drowsy, he fell asleep after receiving IV fluids. Only when he woke up in the morning did he see the missed calls on his phone and learn about Lu Shun’s hospitalization.

According to Zhang Wenqian, Lu Zhao had come.

Worried that an encounter would be difficult to explain, He Qiuting obtained Lu Shun’s medical report and gathered his physical examination records from different periods over the past two years. He handed them all to Li Feng, asking him to analyze the data.

Li Feng’s conclusion was: His physical condition is exceptionally good, far surpassing He Qiuting’s by a wide margin. As long as he doesn’t do anything reckless, he’ll live a long and healthy life.

“Where are you?” Lu Shun’s voice was hostile as he demanded bluntly, “He Qiuting, where are you right now?”

“I’m at Li Feng’s place, picking up some motion sickness medication. I have a flight at eleven and need to go on a business trip,” He Qiuting replied.

“I’m in the hospital,” Lu Shun said, feeling short of breath and alternating between hot and cold flashes. “I had a high fever of 40 degrees last night. I almost burned to death.”

“Did you check your temperature this morning?” He Qiuting’s tone sounded genuinely concerned. “Has the fever subsided? What’s your temperature now? Hmm?”

“36.5°C.”

“Oh, that’s normal then,” He Qiuting said, his voice turning more serious. “Don’t drink so much next time. It’s not good for your health.”

In He Qiuting’s worldview, the outcome of a matter mattered more than the process. Since Lu Shun was fine now, that was all that mattered to him.

“Aren’t you going to come see me?” Lu Shun lost his patience. “I need you here with me right now, He Qiuting.”

“At this moment, we need to be cautious,” He Qiuting weighed his words carefully. If the media caught him and Lu Shun in close contact, even if it was just a friendly visit, it could affect their upcoming collaboration plans.

The public would then have reason to believe that CL Capital’s subscription to Cloud Horizon bonds wasn’t based on neutral and objective considerations, but influenced by other factors.

“Do you really not care at all whether I live or die? Is your head filled with nothing but Cloud Horizon and your financing plans!?” Lu Shun snapped, yanking out his IV needle in frustration.

Blood droplets splattered across the hospital bed.

“I’m begging you to come see me. I’m fucking begging you, alright!” Lu Shun didn’t know how to describe his feelings it was like being trapped in a dead end, feeling driven mad by He Qiuting. “He Qiuting!”

Like a rabid dog. So undignified.

After a long silence on the other end, He Qiuting let out a soft sigh. “It’s just gastroenteritis. Nothing to make a fuss about. Don’t let it delay next week’s bond issuance.”

Lu Shun’s eyes reddened instantly, feeling as if his heart had been brutally crushed.

The calmer He Qiuting’s voice was, the more it made him feel like a clown.

He Qiuting said, “Get some proper rest, eat well, and take good care of yourself. Let’s both take care of ourselves and try not to get sick.”

These words were actually meant for himself, because for He Qiuting, getting sick came with a high cost it was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Lu Shun took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions as he slowly exhaled. His throat moved with difficulty before he finally reached a resolution.

“Let’s break up, President He,” Lu Shun said. “I hope you never get sick in this lifetime and work yourself to death.”