Heat dissipation?
Gu Nianyi thought to herself that she wasn’t some kind of radiator.
Besides, if it was about cooling down, wouldn’t kicking off the blanket be faster and better?
“Dr. Lu, my hands and feet are ice-cold.” Every autumn and winter, Gu Nianyi’s extremities felt like they’d come straight from an ice cellar, her body temperature a full two degrees lower than average.
Lu Jin’an patted her back. “I like it.”
Gu Nianyi was utterly baffled. Her heartbeat, magnified in the darkness of the night, pounded like a typhoon spinning aimlessly in place—thump, thump, thump.
He liked her coolness that much?
Was he really that heat-sensitive?
Still, his body heat was intense. The bone of his shin pressed against her, but it felt warm and comforting.
Lu Jin’an’s broad palm enveloped her hand, the hard calluses on it unmistakable—remnants of countless long surgeries.
Gu Nianyi could picture just how intimate their position must look: her curled up in his arms, her knee nestled against his thigh.
More tender and lingering than ever before.
This was the closest she’d ever been to Lu Jin’an, and her heart felt like it might leap right out of her chest.
She didn’t dare move a muscle, terrified of triggering some uncontrollable mishap.
Like accidentally brushing against somewhere she shouldn’t.
“If you want to move, then move. Or is something uncomfortable?” Lu Jin’an’s clear voice brushed against her hair, a hint of laughter rumbling in his throat.
Gu Nianyi shook her head. “Nothing’s uncomfortable. I’m just not used to it. It feels weird. Why don’t I hug a pillow instead? If you’re too hot, you can always kick off the blanket.”
The scent wafting from him was the same as hers, and Lu Jin’an had no intention of letting go. He wasn’t hugging her to beat the heat—he was worried she might be cold.
“Kicking off the blanket would leave you freezing. Holding you like this is just right.”
Gu Nianyi gave in. “…Fine.”
He was trickier to deal with than she’d realized.
Maybe all young masters from big families had a touch of that spoiled streak.
The next morning, wisps of mist drifted lazily through the air as the sun shone brightly.
Gu Nianyi woke in Lu Jin’an’s arms. Lifting her gaze, she caught sight of his chin.
Stubble had sprouted like fresh grass after a rain.
It was the first time she’d seen him like this.
Her eyes traveled upward, meeting Lu Jin’an’s gaze as he watched her. “Morning,” he said.
Gu Nianyi ducked her head and slipped her hand free. “Good morning. Isn’t Dr. Lu heading to work?”
“I’m on leave. Taking care of you.”
Even with the housekeeper around, he couldn’t relax. No one could look after her as well as he could.
“No need to go to the trouble. The housekeeper’s here—work comes first.”
Three polite refusals, straight out of Gu Nianyi’s playbook.
“I want to stay with you.”
Stay with her? She wasn’t a child.
Lu Jin’an added, “You’re the most important thing.”
Gu Nianyi sensed something off about Lu Jin’an. Ever since the surgery, he’d been saying things that set her mind racing.
Was it because they were getting more comfortable with each other, or was there something more?
“I… should get up. I’m a little hungry.”
Unable to handle his bluntness, Gu Nianyi changed the subject.
It was a rare day without work. Gu Nianyi cradled Nian Gao as they basked in the sun. Her colleagues assumed she was back home handling family matters and wouldn’t bother her unless it was urgent.
Shen Lingyun: 【Yi Yi sis, sorry to bug you on your break. Baichuan Group’s put out the tender—report’s due soon. Got any materials?】
Gu Nianyi: 【I’ve got them ready. Sending now.】
That day, she’d been so focused on wrangling leave that she’d forgotten to send the finished PPT. But she had a good habit of uploading everything to her file transfer app.
Shen Lingyun: 【Aaaah, sis, you’re a lifesaver! Love you love you!】
Gu Nianyi: 【It’s not that big a deal.】
Through the glass window, sunlight carried a faint sense of distance, much like the smile on Gu Nianyi’s face.
She wore a soft beige cotton pajama set, her long black hair pinned up in a loose bun—elegant and coolly detached.
But she looked thinner. Her collarbones were more pronounced, her back more delicate.
Lu Jin’an stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on her.
He hadn’t been taking proper care of her.
Sensing the weight of his gaze, Gu Nianyi looked up. “Dr. Lu, is there something on my face?”
Her suspicions were mounting. Lately, he really had been acting strange, staring at her all the time.
Maybe Ruan Zhixu had chewed him out and told him to keep a closer eye.
Lu Jin’an stepped inside with the ointment in hand. “No.”
Gu Nianyi set Nian Gao down, her expression calm. “Mom was just talking. I didn’t tell you about the surgery because I didn’t want to worry you. I’m fine now—I can apply it myself.”
Lu Jin’an lifted his dark eyes, locking onto hers. He wanted to peer into her thoughts, figure out why she was so impossible to reach.
Just then, a message popped up from Chi Wenjing: 【Yi Yi, how’d the surgery go? Can I come visit?】
Lu Jin’an’s gaze dropped to the unfolded phone on the floor.
All her colleagues knew. She could tell them, but not him.
He knew Ming Yue had held back because of her connection to Xie Yunting.
Lu Jin’an crouched down, his deep, shadowed eyes level with Gu Nianyi’s.
“Gu Nianyi, do you even consider me your husband?”
“No.”
“Am I your emergency contact?”
“No.”
His thin lips parted and closed as he questioned and answered himself, his voice cold and clipped, a layer of darkness clouding his eyes.
Lu Jin’an couldn’t name the raw emotion surging through him—resentment? Sorrow? Something else?
He didn’t know. It was the first time he’d felt anything like it.
His chest felt like it was being gnawed by countless ants, his breaths coming short and labored.
Gu Nianyi knew she’d messed up. They’d been married so long, and all his talk of dropping the formalities had gone in one ear and out the other.
She’d squandered his sincerity.
Her lips parted to speak, but Lu Jin’an pressed a slender finger to them. “Don’t apologize. You never listen anyway.”
He was tired of apologies, tired of the distance.
Gu Nianyi’s clear eyes met his as she fidgeted with her fingers. “Dr. Lu, I have an image to maintain too.”
No one wanted casual acquaintances seeing them vulnerable.
Lu Jin’an cut right to it. “You don’t want me seeing because we’re not close.”
“Starting now, get used to it. What’s your phone password?”
He scooped up the phone from the floor, his tone unyieldingly firm for once.
Gu Nianyi had no idea what he was up to but answered honestly. “0922.”
Lu Jin’an pulled up her contacts and tapped away. “Emergency contact: me. WeChat pinned: me. Mind if I reply to him?”
“Not at all.”
Perfect—she hadn’t known what to say anyway and had no interest in the polite back-and-forth.
The man’s voice turned icy. Worried about a misunderstanding, Gu Nianyi explained softly, “I didn’t tell him. No clue how he found out.”
Lu Jin’an’s fingers paused, the corner of his mouth twitching upward almost imperceptibly as he finished the reply.
“Done.”
Gu Nianyi took the phone and read his message.
【No need—my husband’s taking great care of me. Hasn’t left my side.】
Hasn’t left her side? Talk about exaggerating.
Gu Nianyi touched her burning, flushed earlobes.
Lu Jin’an announced matter-of-factly, “My phone password is our registration date. Location sharing’s enabled—it’s all in your hands now.”
The implication was clear: she could check up on him anytime, track him wherever he was.
Meanwhile, a rumor was making the rounds at the hospital.
Word was that Dr. Lu had been so cold to his wife that their marriage had soured—she’d even had surgery without him knowing.
Now he was deep in wife-chasing crematorium territory.
He’d even skipped shifts to care for her at home.
The gossip had originated in the gynecology ward, fleshed out with vivid details.
Paired with Lu Jin’an taking leave right after her discharge, it gained instant credibility.
Lu Jin’an, of course, was clueless.
Zhou Ziyu was halfway to believing it himself.
Everything about Lu Jin’an had been off since the wedding.
He decided to verify. 【Bro, you really in full wife-chasing crematorium mode?】
Lu Jin’an: 【?? What’s a wife-chasing crematorium?】
The man in question was baffled. Zhou Ziyu told him to look it up.
Lu Jin’an closed the chat and opened a search engine. The results described it as a trope where the male lead starts off aloof and tsundere toward the heroine, only to later grovel with every effort and sacrifice to win her back.
Ridiculous.
He’d never been aloof or tsundere.
Lu Jin’an: 【No.】
Zhou Ziyu got it—no believing rumors, no spreading them. He knew it: Dr. Lu was a thousand-year iron tree just starting to sprout, not yet in bloom.
Gu Nianyi was ninety percent recovered. Aside from the scar on her abdomen, she was back to normal.
Lu Jin’an proved his “never leaving her side” claim with actions.
He even waited outside the bathroom while she showered—paranoid to a fault.
“Ah!”
A sudden yelp echoed from the bathroom.
Without a second thought, Lu Jin’an yanked open the door and rushed to the shower. “What happened?”
He snatched a bath towel and wrapped her up completely.
“My elbow hit the tile, and my heel slipped.” Gu Nianyi stood there dazed. She’d been stark naked just moments ago, fully exposed to Lu Jin’an.
Her face burned scorching hot, flushed crimson.
Lu Jin’an, tense, asked, “Where are your pajamas?”
In the emergency, he’d burst in fearing the worst, his eyes darting everywhere.
Gu Nianyi’s voice was a mosquito’s whisper. “Haven’t rinsed the foam yet.”
“Then rinse. I’ll wait right here.”
What was he saying?
But he turned his back to the shower, leaning against the bathtub without budging.
Gu Nianyi clutched the towel with both hands, a flicker of anger in her eyes. “Dr. Lu! Please leave.”
“I’m not looking.”
This wasn’t a matter of looking or not. Even with familiarity, things couldn’t progress overnight.
The girl hesitated for a long moment, watching him quietly.
Lu Jin’an let out a low sigh. “Then I’ll step out.”
He had barely left the room when he heard a sharp click from behind.
Gu Nianyi locked the door from the inside.
After a moment, the person in the bathroom had changed.
There was no steam on the shower glass. As Lu Jin’an recalled the scene he’d just glimpsed—without staring directly, of course—he couldn’t deny what he’d seen.
The girl’s cheeks flushed pink, a few damp strands of hair clinging to her temples and forehead.
Her eyes misty with steam, her voice softened by the water.
He despised his current state but couldn’t help surrendering to his desires.
Muffled, ragged breaths echoed softly in the bathroom.
Gu Nianyi didn’t notice how unusually long Lu Jin’an took with his shower that day.
When it was time to sleep, Lu Jin’an pulled her into his arms as usual, his hold growing tighter and more insistent.
Finally, Gu Nianyi couldn’t take it anymore. “Dr. Lu, if you’re running hot, maybe you should see a doctor for some treatment.”
She was being squeezed so tightly she could hardly breathe.
And his body wasn’t hot or feverish at all—it was actually quite cool.
Lu Jin’an brushed it off. “I am a doctor.”
Gu Nianyi shot back, “Specialization matters. You’re a surgeon; body heat is an internal medicine issue.”
“I know exactly where my problem is.”
“Where?”
“You.”
What did that have to do with her?
Gu Nianyi pondered for a moment before arriving at an answer.
It had to be a physiological need.
After all, they were a man and a woman—legal adults. She understood and respected that.
Emboldened by the cover of darkness, Gu Nianyi mustered her courage. “So, do you want… anything?”
Lu Jin’an paused. “Want what?”
“You know…”
She squeezed her eyes shut and blurted it out. “Want to do it? I’m ready. There’s stuff in the nightstand drawer.”
She had the air of someone facing martyrdom with heroic resolve.
Lu Jin’an fell silent.
Where had he gone wrong to give her that impression?
He had thought about it in the bathroom, sure—but thinking was as far as it went.
The man let out a cold chuckle, grinding his teeth. “So you think I’m taking care of you just to get laid, huh?”
“Not entirely.”
There was Ruan Zhixu to consider, too.
Not entirely? That still meant she believed it.
Lu Jin’an continued, “I’m not some beast who’d prey on a patient.”
Their minds were galaxies apart. He just wanted to hold her while they slept.
As for anything else… let it happen naturally.
Gu Nianyi murmured, “Oh. So Dr. Lu’s a real gentleman.”
She’d overthought it.
Soon it was time for Gu Nianyi’s stitch removal, and Lu Jin’an went with her.
The two of them headed to the gynecology department together, lending even more credence to the rumors from before.
He hadn’t been there for the surgery itself, but he’d stuck around afterward and now for the stitches—his anxious expression screamed “chasing his wife through the crematorium.”
Three patches of fresh pink scar tissue had formed on her belly, like little pink flowers blooming there.
Gu Nianyi didn’t mind. They were just markers reminding her to take better care of herself.
Besides, they were barely noticeable unless you looked closely.
On the way home from stitch removal, Lu Jin’an got an urgent call and had to assist with emergency surgery. The situation was critical.
After hanging up, he instructed her, “Remember to lock the doors and windows. Eat on time.”
Gu Nianyi muttered under her breath, “Dr. Lu, you’re getting so nagging lately. You weren’t like this before.”
It was a little past six in the evening, and South City’s autumn was at its most pleasant—hazy clouds drifting like apricot blossoms, the city humming along in orderly fashion.
Suddenly, an ambulance siren wailed in the distance. Flashing lights cut through the osmanthus-scented air as it screeched to a halt in front of the Municipal Hospital’s emergency department.
Police cars followed close behind.
Ten minutes earlier, the hospital had received the alert. They’d cleared the area, and medical staff waited anxiously at the entrance.
The stretcher hit the ground running, rushed through the green channel straight to the operating room.
The path was clear.
On the stretcher lay an adult man, his face deathly pale and eyes closed in unconsciousness.
His dark hair was disheveled, blood streaking his forehead.
His black shirt was caked in dust. At first glance, no red blood was visible, but the fabric had been torn in several places.
There was also a round burn wound on his shoulder.
Whatever had happened before he passed out had been brutal, inhuman.
The medical staff raced at top speed, phoning the surgeons with an update. “Three stab wounds to the abdomen, each about three centimeters deep. One gunshot wound, bullet lodged in the shoulder.”
“Blood pressure 65/38 mmHg, heart rate 40-50 bpm. He’s in hemorrhagic shock and deep coma.”
Orders had come from above. It was too urgent to transfer to the Armed Police Hospital, and the patient was a special case.
Sun Shaozhen, Lu Jin’an’s mentor, took the lead as chief surgeon, with Lu Jin’an assisting.
No one dared slack off. Everyone gave it their all.
Halfway through the procedure, the call came: “Cardiac arrest.”
Hearts stopped in every chest.
After emergency resuscitation, the heart monitor stabilized.
Time ticked by, minute by minute. Fine beads of sweat gathered on the staff’s foreheads.
Eight hours in, and the patient was still in critical condition.
The Municipal Hospital’s operating room light stayed on through the night, no one sleeping.
The team battled on.
Dawn broke in the east, the sky turning fish-belly white.
A new orange sun rose over the horizon, ushering in another day.
On the operating table, the man’s cracked lips twitched.
A faint voice escaped. “Yi Yi…”
Then the heart monitor flatlined, straight and still.