Liu Chen handed the suitcase containing the samples to Zhang Jiawang, and then, famished, went to the restaurant with Ren Yu for dinner.
"Wow! Finally, some food!"
As the first dish was served, Shen Hong couldn't help but exclaim. Liu Chen then remembered that she hadn't eaten for ten hours since noon, no wonder she was so hungry...
Half an hour later, the six of them were full. Liu Chen sat back in her chair, leaning against the backrest, and looked at the Los Angeles night view outside the window. After seeing Xu Jun and Shen Hong off, Liu Chen and Ren Yu returned to their room together.
She hadn't felt it while answering questions at the police station or eating in the noisy restaurant, but now, back in the quiet room, she just felt tired.
After a hasty wash, Liu Chen's hand paused on her modest pajamas. She had sweated a lot last night due to the fever, so...
Liu Chen shifted her gaze to the silk nightgown and then looked at Ren Yu, who was brushing his teeth in the bathroom.
"Ahem, Ren Yu, could you go out for a bit? I need to change into my pajamas."
"Okay."
Ren Yu spat out the foam in his mouth, wiped his lips, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him and heading to the living room.
Liu Chen looked at the silk nightgown hanging in the wardrobe, her face flushing, but she still put it on.
After getting into bed, Liu Chen pulled the quilt up to her chin, then lifted her chin and called out loudly to the living room:
"I'm done~"
Ren Yu came in and began to undress, facing away from Liu Chen.
The diffused light from the hotel illuminated Ren Yu's back, and the defined muscles of his back showed variations in light and shadow.
A perfect spinal groove extended from his perfectly shaped buttocks to the base of his neck.
"Hmm?"
Ren Yu, facing away from Liu Chen, turned his head slightly, catching Liu Chen's peeping gaze.
Caught red-handed by Ren Yu, Liu Chen froze for a moment, then quickly turned away and said towards the bathroom, her eyes wide:
"What 'hmm'? Turn off the light! I want to sleep!"
"Okay, Your Majesty."
Ren Yu's voice, tinged with a smile, finished speaking, followed by a "click," and the room plunged into darkness.
Perhaps it was due to the many events of the day, but the moment Liu Chen closed her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep.
-
On the other side of the Earth, in Zhonghua Jia, due to the time difference, it was just past nine in the morning when Liu Chen fell asleep.
This was the usual time for most office workers to settle in, turn on their computers, and engage in some light browsing.
Browsing on a computer was more easily detected, but thankfully, phone screens in 2010 weren't very large, making them perfect for scrolling through Weibo.
'Los Angeles Local Chinese Shooting Incident.'
Initially, this headline didn't really grab the attention of netizens browsing at work. It's understandable; they weren't familiar with the overseas Chinese, and there were no casualties. A quick glance, a sigh about overseas public safety, and that would be it.
Until...
A fan of Liu Chen, after watching the video released with the news, thought the girl in the video looked familiar. When she paused and zoomed in, she was shocked.
She then quietly commented under the news:
'Hey? Doesn't the girl in the video look like the campus beauty and top student? Could she be her long-lost twin sister?'
On Weibo, anything related to "campus beauty" and "top student" generated explosive traffic, and this time was no exception.
'She really looks alike!'
'Could they really be twins?'
'Holy cow!!! Brothers upstairs, I have explosive news for you: the person in the video is none other than Liu Chen!'
'What? Why is Liu Chen in Los Angeles? Is Shui Mu University on break? Or has our top student finally been exposed, skipping class to go play abroad?'
'Heh, the mouth upstairs is really foul. Her college entrance exam scores are right there for everyone to see, so how could she be exposed? As for you, your morning bowel movement was exposed, your mouth smells awful!'
'Holy cow, you guys stop arguing. A friend of mine said that Liu Chen hasn't just missed class this week, but basically hasn't attended much class at all since the beginning of the semester. All skipped.'
'...Holy cow? Why?'
'I even told my daughter to look up to her, how can she skip class? Is she skipping class to make money and neglecting her studies? Young people are like this, easily giving up on learning for a bit of immediate gain.'
'Holy cow, the person upstairs, you don't know anything and you're already defining her, are you sick???'
Mi Zhuzhu also saw the video on Weibo, which was gradually climbing the trending list. She instinctively picked up her phone, wanting to call Liu Chen to ask how she was.
But remembering that Liu Chen was in Los Angeles, Mi Zhuzhu quietly opened Baidu and searched for the time difference between Los Angeles and Beijing.
"Twelve hours... it's almost ten in the evening there..."
Hesitating, worried about disturbing Liu Chen if she was asleep, Mi Zhuzhu left a message on QQ.
While waiting for Liu Chen's reply, Mi Zhuzhu played the video almost second by second after zooming in, only then confirming that Liu Chen was not injured.
After doing all this, Mi Zhuzhu didn't forget to post her zoomed-in screenshot to the QQ group, along with the local time in Los Angeles.
Thus, the three of them, who had class early in the morning and hadn't checked Weibo, all found out.
Ren Mo: Holy cow?? Is that my brother next to Liu Chen? They went to Los Angeles together??
Sang Ling: They're a couple, what's strange about going out together.
Ren Mo: No... I just wanted to say, will Godmother be scared if she sees this news?
Lai Jielun: Ren Mo, call Uncle Chen and ask him? If he hasn't seen it, tell Uncle Chen to pay attention. If he has seen it, send the screenshots from our group to Auntie? So Auntie can be a little more at ease?
Ren Mo: Got it! I'll call him now!
-
Such a big incident, Liu Fang naturally saw it. Not only did she see it, but she also had spotting due to being overly frightened.
When Chen Long received the call, he had just put Liu Fang in the ambulance. Hearing the purpose of Lai Jielun's call, he quickly showed Liu Fang the screenshots Mi Zhuzhu had sent to the group.
Her face pale with pain and her forehead covered in sweat, Liu Fang looked at the photos after seeing them and did feel a bit relieved. But as the worry for Liu Chen subsided, the pain intensified.
"Chen Long..."
Upon hearing his wife call his name, Chen Long had no time to answer Ren Mo's call. He put it aside, half-knelt beside Liu Fang, and tightly clasped her hands.
"Yes, yes, I'm here, darling, I'm here."
Chen Long's words trailed off, and then only the intermittent wailing of the ambulance could be heard. Ren Mo thought for a moment, hung up the phone, and posted what he had heard in the QQ group.
In the five-person group chat, apart from Liu Chen, everyone else was a legitimate freshman, at most a bit diligent, but their efforts were within the scope of normal freshmen.
After Ren Mo's update, everyone was temporarily at a loss.
-
Liu Chen woke up because she was hot.
Perhaps worried that Liu Chen would catch a fever from the cold again, Ren Yu turned up the air conditioning to 26 degrees after she fell asleep.
With the temperature at 26 degrees, plus a down comforter, and Liu Chen sleeping in a very well-behaved posture without kicking off the covers, she was thoroughly heated awake.
Feeling the warmth in the room, Liu Chen guessed that Ren Yu had turned up the temperature. She turned her head to look. In the darkness, Ren Yu's quilt had also been kicked to the floor.
His lean build, when clothed, revealed a muscular physique when undressed. His solid black briefs perfectly hugged the curve of his posterior.
His long legs twitched slightly, and Liu Chen quickly turned her head away, focusing her gaze on the glass door of the bathroom. Only after hearing even and long breaths from behind her did Liu Chen breathe a sigh of relief.
However, after the scare, Liu Chen felt she couldn't sleep for the time being. She reached for her phone on the nightstand, turned onto her side, propped her head on the fluffy down pillow, and held her phone with both hands, sliding to unlock it.
"Hmm?"
Seeing the number of calls and some text messages on her phone screen, Liu Chen finally remembered that the shooting incident from yesterday had probably been broadcast in China.
She glanced at the time on her phone. It was past eleven at night. It was likely midday in China. She wanted to call her mother, but Ren Yu was sleeping soundly beside her, so Liu Chen thought for a moment, quietly got out of bed, put on her bathrobe, and went to the living room.
Holding her phone to her right ear with one hand and resting the other on the handle of the living room window, Liu Chen looked out at the midnight Los Angeles.
The phone rang for quite a while before someone finally answered, but it wasn't her mother's voice.
"Dad Chen? Where's Mom?" kuAiδugg
"Um... Sister Fang, Sister Fang is in the observation room in the delivery ward."
Liu Chen's hand, gripping the window handle, unconsciously tightened, and her gaze shifted away from the scenery outside.
Liu Chen frowned, her voice involuntarily rising slightly: "Last time I called, you said there was still a month until the due date?"
After saying that, Liu Chen's eyes widened:
"Was it because she saw my news?"
Chen Long was silent for a moment on the other end of the phone, then her mother's voice came through: "Chenchen, how are you? Were you scared? Mom isn't afraid, tell Mom, are you injured?"
Hearing her mother's still trembling voice, Liu Chen pursed her lips.
"Mom, don't worry about me, I have bodyguards with me, remember? And what happened yesterday was a misunderstanding. I'll tell you when I get back. How are you doing now?"
"How am I doing? What situation? No situation! Maybe I've been eating too much spicy food lately. It's nothing, it's just that your Dad Chen is always making a fuss, sending me to the hospital for the slightest thing.
Don't worry, okay? I'm in the hospital, what's there to worry about! Alright, alright, the international call is too expensive, I'm hanging up!"
Perhaps knowing that her daughter seemed fine, Liu Fang's tone became lighter. After a few words, she urged to hang up.
"Okay, Mom, bye-bye. I'm flying back tonight."
After speaking, Liu Chen hung up the phone without listening to her mother's dissuasion.
After hanging up, Liu Chen looked up and exhaled, only to see Ren Yu standing by the bedroom door at some unknown time. Ren Yu was holding the doorframe, his gaze on her face filled with concern.
Liu Chen pursed her lips: "Did I wake you?"
"No, I set the air conditioning too high, and it woke me up." Ren Yu said as he walked towards Liu Chen, then raised his hand and gently patted her shoulder before turning and opening the laptop on the desk.
"Let me check the recent flights. I'll go back with you."
Hearing this, Liu Chen's eyes turned red. Ren Yu was always like this, never asking why, just supporting her.
"No need. Summer and Winter are with me. You stay in Los Angeles and finish the exhibition. Don't forget, this is the hen that lays golden eggs for me."
After saying that, Liu Chen even chuckled herself and walked behind Ren Yu, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"You're not allowed to say no! You've been busy with my affairs since you came to Los Angeles. You'll do a good job at the exhibition these few days and strive to make these foreigners fall in love with our games. When I become big and strong, you have to be with me!"
Ren Yu shook his head: "That was my choice."
Finally, under Liu Chen's strong insistence, Ren Yu was still unable to board the plane back home with her.
After a thirteen-hour journey, Liu Chen flew directly back to C City and landed.
By the time she landed, it was already past two in the morning Beijing time. The entire arrival area of the airport was almost empty, with only passengers from this flight.
Through the partitions, she could see that the departure floor was already dark, and all the shops were closed.
As she walked, Liu Chen zipped up her down jacket. The air in C City at two in the morning seemed to carry a freezing chill, making it feel cold all the way down to her organs just by breathing.
She got into a taxi queuing for passengers inside the airport. Liu Chen sat in the back seat, looking out at C City through the window.
Because it was late at night, what used to be a twenty-minute, or even half-hour, drive during rush hour took only a little over ten minutes.
Taking out a hundred-yuan bill from her pocket, Liu Chen didn't bother with the change, got out of the car, and headed straight to the address Chen Long had sent her.
The observation room on the second floor of the S Province Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
Liu Fang, who had been brought to the hospital by ambulance that morning, was now lying on the hospital bed, covered in sweat. She gritted her back teeth, her hands gripping the guardrails on both sides of the bed so tightly that the veins on the back of her hands bulged.
Chen Long sat beside her, wiping the sweat from Liu Fang's forehead with a cloth, and said with a pained expression:
"Sister Fang, let's just have a C-section, look how much pain you're in!"
Liu Fang gritted her teeth, shook her head slightly, and firmly refused Chen Long's suggestion with her eyes closed.
Liu Chen pushed open the ward door and heard Chen Long's words. She quickened her pace and walked to her mother's bedside. Looking at her pale face, she turned to her mother, who was lying down and in so much pain that her eyes were closed:
"Why won't you have a C-section?"
Hearing Liu Chen's voice, Liu Fang's eyes instantly opened. Seeing her daughter's seemingly angry face, she quickly closed her eyes and then reopened them.
When she saw that it was indeed her daughter Chenchen standing by her bedside, she was so happy that she blurted out:
"Chenchen, why are you back? Ugh... Mom is fine... Ugh... Ouch..."
Liu Chen looked at her mother's face contorted with pain and heard her mother trying to be brave while involuntarily crying out in pain.
"Mom, why are you refusing a C-section?"