346. Cousin
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The hospital room was now only occupied by Grandfather and Lin Nan.
Wu Guodong had ventured outside to find an inn to catch some z’s. He hadn’t slept well the night before, and with driving on the agenda for the afternoon, he absolutely needed a nap to recharge.
Grandfather was glued to the TV, while Chen Yao quickly tidied up the room and then leaned against the wall, pulling out his phone to read some novels.
At long last, Lin Nan had received a response from Li Na.
“No relapse, guaranteed safe.”
Although Li Na didn’t explain the science behind it, she had been living in a chaotic otherworld for three hundred years as a saintess, clearly possessing powerful abilities but having never even harmed a chicken. Lin Nan felt she could trust her assurance.
With that, she finally relaxed, but feeling a tad guilty, she glanced around the room. Seeing no one focused on her, she secretly began casting the Holy Light Spell.
Holy Light, here we go!
With a thought, the milky-white orb slipped discreetly into Grandfather’s body. Lin Nan nervously watched him, fearing something might go wrong.
Compared to the last time when Chen Yao had fainted for a whole hour, Grandfather didn’t seem to react much this time, though he did breathe a bit faster, wiped his forehead, and muttered, “Why’s it so hot today?”
He held his belly, feeling a slight ache around his appendix, but it was much more bearable than before.
The odd sensation made him feel extremely uncomfortable, and he raised his hand to ring for a nurse.
However, after several modifications, the Holy Light Spell now also had a hypnotic effect. As soon as Grandfather’s hand went up, it dropped limply, and he slipped into a snore-filled slumber.
Chen Yao glanced up from his phone and chuckled, “Your uncle must’ve stayed up late on his phone last night; it’s no wonder he didn’t sleep well.”
“Yeah, probably,” Lin Nan responded sheepishly.
She was somewhat worried about the safety of the magic and bit her lip as she watched Grandfather sleep.
“He’s asleep now; we can go have some fun,” Chen Yao suggested, moving closer to her. “Want to tag along to a high school reunion? Only three people have signed up so far.”
“A reunion?”
Chen Yao explained, “Last time we planned a reunion, we had a ten-person group arranged, but then news broke out about a serious pandemic, and it turned into an online event.” He sighed. “Now we’re just left with the few slackers still stuck in the county and one who hasn’t started college yet.”
A reunion, huh…
Lin Nan felt a little tempted but doubted whether she could pull off this newfound persona. She shook her head.
“Just say you’re my girlfriend.”
“But I still look a lot like I did back then…”
Chen Yao replied without any hesitation, “Just say you’re Lin Nan’s sister, named… Lin Jin, how about that?”
Pretending to be her own sister at the reunion?
Lin Nan felt a bit dazed, unsure of whether this plan was even doable.
“Anyway, I don’t have many friends from high school; it would just be awkward if I went.”
“Come on, last year at the reunion, I was the only one who showed up, and all those losers brought their girlfriends, making me feel weird. This time, we can flaunt it back at them.”
So he just wants to show off that he has a girlfriend now, huh?
She shot a glare at Chen Yao, but he just kept smiling.
Lin Nan was still uneasy about Grandfather and peeked back at him. After a moment of thought, she shook her head, still unsettled. “Forget it, let’s wait until Grandfather wakes up.”
Even though Lin Nan didn’t know too much magic, if the Holy Light Spell was really putting Grandfather’s life in danger, she’d just be standing there looking worried. But at least if she was next to him, she could call Li Na right away to come over with her magic and save the day.
As a saintess, shouldn’t it be a piece of cake for her to appear in an instant?
“Why are you still hanging around?”
“Just waiting an hour. There’s still plenty of time; why are you in such a rush?”
Chen Yao glanced at his phone—only a bit past nine. He certainly didn’t need to hurry.
With a sigh, he planned to find a place to sit in the hallway. But just as he looked toward the door of the room, he suddenly noticed someone peering in through the small glass window.
It was Lin Nan’s little cousin.
Uh oh, did he sense something?
Not telling Lin Nan, he stood up and opened the door, stepping out of the room to check out the tall, lanky guy in front of him.
“What’s up?” Chen Yao asked nonchalantly.
“Nothing, that girl just called my name, and I thought she looked familiar,” Lin Qi smiled, his face bright as if he’d just walked out of a greeting card.
Crossing his arms, Chen Yao said, “Didn’t you say you mistook her for someone?”
“Probably not a mistake. She looks familiar, and she even knows my name,” Lin Qi replied with a warm grin. “Can I talk to her for a second?”
“She’s busy.”
Lin Qi noticed the distrust radiating from Chen Yao and, after a moment’s thought, got straight to the point. “I have a cousin. We used to see each other every year during the holidays, but this year his dad said he ran away, and I think that girl looks a lot like my cousin…”
“I just want to confirm; I’m really worried since he ran away from home.”
Chen Yao noticed Lin Nan’s cousin seemed to care about her a lot, but too bad that what he was looking for was actually a cousin turned sister.
“You said cousin, so that means she’s a girl, right?” He decided to cover for Lin Nan.
“Touché…” Lin Qi’s smile dimmed a bit.
Just then, the door swung open, and Lin Nan poked her head out curiously. “What’s going on?”
Upon catching a glimpse of Lin Qi, she immediately yanked her head back and slammed the door shut.
How did he catch up with me?
Her heart raced like never before, and she pressed her back against the door, wearing an expression of panic.
Lin Qi noticed all of this. Although he dropped out after middle school, he had a decent IQ. Looking inside the room again, he turned to Chen Yao, “Hey, she clearly knows me.”
That face he caught a quick glimpse of was even more familiar to Lin Qi.
“But she’s a girl,” Chen Yao continued to tease.
“What if… what if it’s my cousin? He’s been missing for months, and we’re all worried sick.” Lin Qi sighed, “His dad won’t let us file a police report, and we feel like something’s off.”
“A few of you?”
“There are two other cousins… They couldn’t find him either and went off to work a few days ago.”
Lin Qi scrambled for words: “I just want to take a look, ask a couple of questions.”
“No way!” Chen Yao shook his head firmly, rejecting him. “There’s a patient asleep inside—don’t make a fuss out here! Clear out!”
With a scowl, Chen Yao turned back into the room, glancing at the glass door, seeing Lin Qi still peeking inside.
Meanwhile, Lin Nan sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, her expression completely unreadable.
“Feeling unwell?” she mumbled.
“It’s okay. Want to go out and see? I think your cousin seems pretty open-minded and genuinely cares about you.”
“We played together since we were kids; wouldn’t he care?”
Lin Nan buried her face in her arms, hiding her emotions completely from view.
