Chapter 188: Intentional Payback!
Although An Han’s care made Su Peng feel a little uncomfortable, he had to admit, she looked very gentle and capable while cleaning.
After eating two meals within just one hour, Su Peng’s stomach hurt badly. Leaning against the headboard, he watched An Han busying herself around the room. A feeling of guilt and uneasiness rose in his heart. When he tried to get up to help, she pressed his shoulder down with one hand.
“You’re sick, stop moving around.”
Wearing a mask and holding a broom, An Han glared at him. “What if your illness gets worse?”
After all, the system’s mission said to “take care of Su Peng for two days,” but it didn’t say his illness had to get better within two days… it could also mean he might just die and no longer need any care.
Since this was Option Two, the difficulty was unpredictable, so she had to be extra cautious.
Realizing that, An Han became even more attentive. “Try not to get out of bed, unless you really need to go to the bathroom.”
Su Peng felt like he had been paralyzed.
“It’s really not that bad,” he said.
“You’re coughing like your lungs are about to come out, and you still say it’s not serious?”
An Han shot him another glare and swept the trash into the dustpan. Then she turned and walked to the computer desk.
On the desk was a basin filled with water. She threw a rag into it and dipped her hands in to wash it.
The cold tap water made her shiver, and when she took her hands out, her skin was red from the chill.
But she didn’t care. She kept wiping the table and chairs while secretly glancing at Su Peng, who lay in bed looking restless, and that actually made her feel quite pleased.
“I’ll make some ginger tea later,” An Han said happily.
Su Peng looked troubled. “No, that’s not necessary, really.”
He hated the smell of ginger and since he hated it, of course she planned to make more.
“See? After you drank my ginger tea this morning, your runny nose is already much better,” An Han said with a serious face, taking revenge in her own way. “It’s obviously working.”
“That’s because of the medicine,” Su Peng argued.
She shook her head hard. “Medicine isn’t as reliable as food therapy!”
Su Peng sighed inwardly. She’s usually smart… so why does she sound so silly now? Is she panicking because she cares too much?
“You can just clean and help me get the takeout, that’s enough,” he said weakly.
“No way. Most illnesses happen because people have poor self-discipline and weak bodies…”
She paused, realizing that his flu was probably just something he caught from someone else. Still, she stubbornly added, “Anyway, what I said makes sense, so just listen to me.”
“……”
Su Peng sighed helplessly and pulled the blanket aside, leaving only one corner covering his stomach.
An Han quickly noticed, hurried over, bent down, and carefully pulled the blanket back up, wrapping him completely so only his head was exposed.
Then she gently tucked in the edges around his neck.
“Just sweat a little and the cold will go away,” she said kindly.
“You’ll suffocate me first…”
“No, you won’t.”
Su Peng’s eyes fell on her hands, red from the cold water. He wanted to say something, but she was already smiling and walking away.
If you can’t resist, just accept it, he thought hopelessly.
With a look of quiet despair, he lay still and watched An Han busily clean every corner of the room and open the window for fresh air.
She wasn’t very skilled at housework, a bit clumsy, but her little face was tense with focus, showing how seriously she was trying.
When he looked again at her red, cold hands, all the doubts he had about her disappeared completely.
How could I ever think that An Han was doing this on purpose to get back at me? That’s just too mean of me…
“Are you going to take a nap this afternoon?” she asked.
“Yeah, probably. Or maybe I’ll play some games?” Su Peng felt itchy all over from doing nothing the whole morning.
“No games. Just lie down and sleep.”
Sure, he had a bad cold, fever, weakness, coughing, and a runny nose. But that didn’t mean he was completely paralyzed and couldn’t even enjoy some entertainment!
Su Peng couldn’t take it anymore. “Then at least give me my phone, okay?”
“You can’t fall asleep at night not only because of the coughing,” she scolded. “It’s because you’re always playing on your phone! How can you recover if you keep playing?”
After tidying up the last bit of cleaning, An Han plopped down in front of his computer, her eyes shining as she looked at the heavy, high-end laptop.
As someone who used to be a guy, she was especially interested in good computer specs. She had long heard that Su Peng’s laptop cost over ten thousand yuan!
“You go to sleep. I’ll play some games!” she said excitedly.
“You…”
“I’m playing in your room, so if something happens to you, I can come right away, right?”
Before Su Peng could respond, she had already opened his Steam library.
“Holy crap! You have over a thousand games!” she gasped. “Most of them you haven’t even played! That’s such a waste!”
“What’s your account and password? Let’s share game libraries!”
She squealed in excitement as she scrolled through his list of games. The endless titles dazzled her eyes, Su Peng’s library was like a treasure chest. Many of the games she had wanted to play before but couldn’t afford, or her old computer couldn’t run, were all here.
Su Peng suddenly felt that maybe buying her that hydrating skincare product was a mistake. If he had bought her a collector’s edition game instead, she probably would’ve been much happier, and wouldn’t have complained about the price.
“What do you want for dinner? I’m thinking maybe I’ll cook something myself.”
“Pizza.”
“I can’t make that… let’s just order takeout.”
Su Peng sighed in relief. The rock sugar pear soup An Han made was barely edible. Other dishes would probably be worse.
The taste wasn’t the only problem, she would insist on watching him finish every bite, too…
He looked at her back. The oversized shirt she was wearing hid her figure, but the contrast between the big shirt and her small frame made her look oddly cute, like a little girl wearing her dad’s clothes.
From the computer came the rapid tapping of keys and mouse clicks. Su Peng secretly sat up and glanced toward the screen.
“You actually know how to play Dark Souls?” he asked.
“Of course! It’s famous! I bought it before, but my old computer couldn’t run it,” she said, eyes glued to the monitor while carefully controlling her character. “I heard Gundyr is super hard!”
The clacking of the mouse grew louder, and the game’s background sounds filled the room.
Su Peng felt a headache coming on. “So are you here to take care of me or to stop me from resting?”
“Both!”
He gave up and lay back down again. The noisy clicking mixed with An Han’s occasional small frustrated yelps made his mind grow fuzzy. He really hadn’t slept well last night, and now he was feeling drowsy.
“Su Peng! Su Peng! How do I beat Gundyr?!”
“……”
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Su Peng jerked awake. He coughed twice and lifted his head, only to see An Han turning toward him with a pitiful, helpless look, as if she’d just been bullied. That seemed to awaken something within him and made him want to protect her.
“Move! Let me do it!”
“Even with a fever and the flu, I can still beat him with one hand!”