According to Yue Yao's plan, of course, she did not want to tell Zhang Yurong. Even if she called Zhang Yurong, she would find an excuse, like saying she had to go home temporarily or something, and only come back after her body was healed and discharged.

But Li Yan did not think so; he had his considerations. Although Yue Yao's injuries were recovering fairly well, she still needed some time in the hospital. Now that he was back, he couldn't be at the hospital to take care of her like the past few days. At most, he could spare some time to visit each day, but that would seem a bit sneaky.

Of course, he wouldn't fully detail everything to Yurong—just find a reasonable way to let her know that Yue Yao was in the hospital. That way, she could find the time to visit and accompany Yue Yao. Li Yan visiting the hospital would also be natural. Once her injuries were almost healed, they could also bring her back to stay. After all, no matter how good a caregiver you hire, it is just paid service that can only attend to general needs. Emotional and spiritual comfort still requires people. Yue Yao's only friends who could really talk with her here were the two of them.

After driving away, Li Yan found a place to stop and began checking the messages on his phone.

Indeed, ten days without turning on his phone, after powering it on, he had received a long string of text messages. Most of those who sent messages were close to him, so he couldn't just delete them all.

Looking through them, there were a few spam messages, a few from Sun Hui and Xu Ping jokingly asking if Li Yan was avoiding them to dodge hosting a meal. Huang Ying sent a message after knowing Li Yan took leave for job assessments, reminding him to take care of himself and to let her know if he wanted to eat her cooking when he returned. Both Hai Fu and Zhang Yurong sent several messages, asking where he had gone, why his phone was off, and asking him to respond when he could turn it on.

The most messages were from Yu Xiaodi. After a few days without hearing from Li Yan and unable to contact him, she asked if he had gone somewhere romantic with Zhang Yurong and when he would be back, saying she missed him, etc. These were clearly sent before they communicated with each other since after understanding with Yurong, she had sent a few more messages hoping Li Yan would call her back.

Qiao Huanxuan sent fewer messages than Yu Xiaodi, and they were simpler, just asking if Li Yan was purposely avoiding her and till when. Finally, she said, "No matter what, you're already mine. I'll take responsibility for you, and you can't escape!" This embarrassed Li Yan a bit, recalling the night she took the initiative.

Wen Qianyi also sent a message, but only one, which should have been sent after Yu Xiaodi reached out to her. Her message was very cryptic, saying she knew what he was doing, and to call back when he returned. Li Yan understood her meaning and could see her concern through the simple words. He was just a bit puzzled, wondering how she could have guessed. Couldn't he have just gone out for leisure?

The latest message was from Li Jie this morning, saying she hadn't been able to reach him for days, asking if he had returned and ditched this number immediately after. Like Qiao Huanxuan, there was a tinge of resentment.

He had to call everyone back, but when?

Li Yan felt a bit of a headache, but everyone was concerned about him, so it wasn't an option not to call back. Suddenly, he realized that upon receiving messages after turning on his phone, the other person's phone would get a notification. Since it had been off for several days, no one would have waited for the notification or reply. But by now, a while had passed, so all those who had messaged were gradually seeing the notifications.

Imagining multiple people calling him at once, he quickly composed a message saying he was back, hadn't had his phone on these past few days, and would call them in the evening. He then sent this group message to everyone. After sending it, he immediately turned his phone off again.

After ensuring the message was sent and that he wouldn't be bombarded with calls, Li Yan finally drove to the hospital.

...

Yue Yao's condition was much better now. It was very uncomfortable to lie on her side all day, so she now had the bed raised, sitting up and resting on her side when she got tired of sitting.

Now she was listening to music with earphones; Li Yan had bought her a music player, along with some magazines to pass the time. When she saw Li Yan, who had just left that morning, appear in the hospital room again, her eyes were full of surprise and happiness.

"You're back again? Did you just go back to change clothes?" Yue Yao asked with a smile.

"Yeah, the facility for showering here isn't that good, so I went home specifically to take a shower." Li Yan sat beside her bed and looked at the table, "Didn't have lunch?"

"I did, really."

Li Yan smiled but didn't say anything. Previously, he was the one taking care of her, and although he had instructed the nurses in the special care unit, they could only offer basic services, like bringing meals. How could they be thoughtful?

"Isn't Yurong home?" Yue Yao assumed he came back so quickly because Zhang Yurong wasn't home.

"She is. She's very worried about you. She was afraid you'd been deceived by your previous jerk boyfriend and might have been robbed or assaulted..." Li Yan briefly recounted what Zhang Yurong had told him.

Hearing this, Yue Yao's eyes grew moist. Her world was quite closed off. Although the "they" organization consisted of dozens of people, she was more connected and understood more than Li Yan. To maintain the authority and mystery of the "Queen" role, all interactions had to be carried out via calls, the internet, or other indirect means. So, she was really an introverted person, the living person she cared most about was Li Yan.

In her heart, Li Yan had always been the most important. This time coming to S City, and even trying to get close to Zhang Yurong, was all for the sake of Li Yan. But after spending several months together, she felt a familial atmosphere, and Zhang Yurong gave her familial-like care, making them second only to Li Yan in her heart. The more she interacted, the more she felt that the two of them were best together.

"I'll call her right away... How should I put it?" Yue Yao picked up her phone, which had been turned off. "Should I say I went home temporarily?"

Li Yan shook his head, "I have another suggestion."

"What suggestion?"

"Let me tell her you're in the hospital."

"No way!" Yue Yao immediately shook her head upon hearing this.

"Hear me out. You find a reason that will temporarily reassure her, but what about me? Once I go back, if I'm running here every day, won't she be suspicious? Won't that make her worry again? And if I don't come, I'll be worried about you."

"No need to worry about me; I'm doing fine here, you know that..." Yue Yao whispered.

"We don't have to tell the whole story, but we shouldn't tell all lies either because later on, it's easy to slip up. You just suggest you're unwilling to talk about distressing matters, and if pushed, we can blame your fictional scumbag ex-boyfriend. Seeing you like this, Yurong won't press you too hard. This way, she'll come to see you, and my visits will seem normal too. Once your condition improves, we can bring you back to our home. Otherwise, I'll have to hire two caregivers to take turns watching over you day and night, and you'd have to stay here until you're completely discomfort-free before being discharged!" Li Yan threatened playfully.

Yue Yao couldn't help laughing and crying but knew he was doing this for her good. Not fully revealing the truth but partially revealing her situation wouldn't affect Yurong. After thinking it over, she agreed. "Already wasted a lot of money, more for hiring a caregiver... Okay, I agree, let's say the bastard ex-boyfriend stabbed me!"

When transferred here, the injury report couldn't be listed as a gunshot wound, so it was recorded as a stabbing.

"Then that bastard wasn't after money; he attacked you after a disagreement, got scared, and wanted to drive away your car, fearing pursuit and disabled the GPS. But when a security officer appeared, he got scared and ran off without succeeding. Since you didn't have much cash, to save yourself, you used the card I left in the car. You wanted to call me for the PIN, but I was unreachable, so you tried 123456. It worked. Since you have no relatives or friends here, and didn't want to worry or delay Yurong at work, you splurged a bit to get a private ward. You assure her you'd pay me back, though Yurong wouldn't care about the money and would likely feel bad bringing it up, so she wouldn't ask too much."

As Li Yan spun the story, Yue Yao stared wide-eyed at him. "I discovered... you're pretty good at lying to your wife!"

Li Yan rolled his eyes at her, "Aren't I doing this for you? Do you have a better idea?"

"How do you explain finding me here then? Should I say I called you?"

"I was originally looking for the car, but when I turned on my phone and received a text alert for a card transaction, I found it odd, so I came to this hospital to check it out and found you." Li Yan said as he handed a bank card to Yue Yao.

Yue Yao smiled gently at him, "Seems to make sense."

"There are sure to be some holes, but seeing you're in such a state and owing money to me, Yurong likely won't have the heart to question further."

"She's been so concerned about me, and yet we're deceiving her like this... I feel uneasy." Yue Yao said softly, the smile fading away.

"If she doesn't know, she'll worry even more! Even if you said you went home, would she believe it? She'd likely think you were kidnapped by that jerk and even possibly sold off. Letting her see you in person will ease her mind."

"Alright then."

After spending some time with her, Li Yan called Yurong to tell her he had found Yue Yao. He followed the planned story and let Yue Yao talk to her.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Yurong was extremely excited. Although she found it too coincidental and easy, the worry that had been hanging over her heart relaxed a bit, and she overlooked these coincidences, stating she'd come over immediately.

Li Yan could only say he'd go pick her up before saying goodbye to Yue Yao and leaving the hospital.

Just having left, his phone rang again. He saw that it was Yu Xiaodi calling. He had sent the message and turned off the phone again just now, then had been on a call for a short time, so Yu Xiaodi couldn't have called by coincidence so quickly. Knowing her well, Li Yan was sure she had been calling over and over since she received the message. How could he bear not to answer? (To be continued, for further developments, please visit www.qidian.com, support the author and authentic reading!)

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