Chapter 126: If You Are Injured, How Can You Protect Me?

She opened the message to find it was from an unfamiliar number. The opening words read: [The new book has arrived. Would you like to borrow it?]

Xianyu Qing paused, suddenly recalling the secret code Jiang Mohe had mentioned to her previously. She typed back: [Mr. J?]

[Yes.] Not a single word more.

It was definitely him!

Xianyu Qing replied: [Dr. Yuan is on leave today.]

That meant she couldn't enter the research department.

[I am in the room next door,] Jiang Mohe responded.

The room next door? Xianyu Qing thought for a second. This entire floor was a women's ward! However, besides her, there were no other patients on this floor.

Glancing at Ning Wenyan, who was sleeping soundly in the adjacent bed, Xianyu Qing climbed out of bed with light, cautious steps, even closing the door with the utmost care.

The security personnel at the end of the corridor stood straight as arrows. As she emerged, they glanced at her briefly before turning back, eyes fixed forward.

Xianyu Qing knocked softly on the door of the neighboring room. She suddenly felt as though she were a teenager sneaking out to meet a lover behind her parents' backs, and she couldn't help but feel her cheeks grow warm.

The door opened, and Jiang Mohe was met with a face as delicately pink as cherry blossoms in early spring. For a moment, he even forgot to step aside to let her in.

It wasn't until a phone rang at the nurse's station nearby that Jiang Mohe reached out, gripped Xianyu Qing’s shoulder, and pulled her into the room.

Xianyu Qing immediately spotted the wound on the back of his hand and asked urgently, "You're hurt again?"

Yesterday, his old wounds had all healed; this one was clearly fresh!

Jiang Mohe used to wear fingerless combat gloves, but after they were stained with blood during his last injury, the paramedics had thrown them away, and he hadn't yet had the chance to buy a new pair.

"It's nothing, just a small scratch."

He tried to pull his hand back dismissively, but Xianyu Qing grabbed it and pulled him to sit on the nearby hospital bed.

"Where is the medicine?"

Knowing that Jiang Mohe wore military-style tactical pants, she was certain he would have carried medical supplies with him. Sure enough, Jiang Mohe reached into a pocket on his thigh and pulled out a metal tube.

Xianyu Qing unscrewed the cap and squeezed out some ointment, applying it evenly over the clean, sharp edge of the wound. The ointment was ice-cold, and so were her small hands.

Jiang Mohe instinctively clasped the cool, soft hand beneath his, wanting to impart some warmth to her. Xianyu Qing froze, the heat that had just left her cheeks rushing back up. She quickly finished applying the salve and gently withdrew her hand from his warm palm.

Xianyu Qing had come out in such a hurry that she had forgotten her coat. The room was currently vacant and the heat was off, making the temperature quite low. Jiang Mohe turned, picked up a jacket from the bed opposite, flipped it, and draped it over her shoulders.

Better. Now she was warm. Even her heart felt warm!

The oversized jacket hung on her petite frame, making her look like a child wearing an adult's clothes.

"Didn't you say you were going to properly recover from your injuries?" she asked, looking up at him.

"It was just a small mission," Jiang Mohe replied.

Xianyu Qing didn't believe him. If it were a small mission, Nangong Ao could have sent any other subordinate; he wouldn't have called for him. Usually, when Jiang Mohe had to be deployed, it was for something no one else could handle!

She scanned him carefully for any other injuries. However, Jiang Mohe was in the habit of wearing black tactical gear, and just by looking, it was impossible to tell if anything was amiss.

"There are no other wounds," he assured her.

"You're always lying to me..." Her voice carried an unconscious, affectionate pout.

"I am not lying to you," Jiang Mohe said with a serious expression.

Xianyu Qing believed him. However, she admonished him: "You are my bodyguard; your task is to protect me. If you are always getting hurt, how can you protect me? From now on, don't take any other missions."

Jiang Mohe lowered his eyes in thought. He worked for Young Master Ao, so it seemed impossible to avoid other missions...

Seeing his silence, Xianyu Qing realized he was sometimes not his own master. She added, "If you absolutely must go on a mission, you have to let me know. You cannot hide it from me."

That, at least, he could do. Jiang Mohe nodded solemnly. "Alright."

"And you must tell me if you get hurt."

"...Alright."

"Don't hesitate!"

"Alright!"

Having received his firm promise, Xianyu Qing finally broke into a satisfied smile. Jiang Mohe smiled too—though it was hidden in his eyes, Xianyu Qing could feel it.

"Can you come back to protect me tomorrow?" Since he wasn't going to rest properly anyway, he might as well be back "working"!

Jiang Mohe replied without hesitation: "The mission is not yet complete."

Xianyu Qing was not satisfied with this answer. "Is the danger level high?"

"Yes." Jiang Mohe had promised not to lie to her, so he didn't. Seeing her small face fall, he added, "I will try my best not to get hurt." The opponent's abilities were not weak; he couldn't guarantee it.

Xianyu Qing realized she couldn't stop him, so she could only urge him once more: "Remember, you cannot protect me if you are injured."

"Yes," Jiang Mohe replied in a low voice.

Just then, the sound of soft footsteps echoed from the neighboring room.

Jiang Mohe, whose hearing was keener than an ordinary person's, reminded her: "Your mother is awake."

Xianyu Qing let out a gasp and immediately hurried back to her room. Before her hand could reach the doorknob, the door was opened from the inside.

"Where have you been?" Ning Wenyan asked.

Xianyu Qing tried to appear calm. "I went to ask the nurse about something."

"The nurse?" Ning Wenyan looked at her suspiciously. "Aren't all the nurses on this floor women? And that jacket you're wearing... it's a man's, isn't it?"

Oh, disaster! She had forgotten!

"It belongs to the guard," Xianyu Qing replied, feeling very guilty. "He saw me going out wearing too little and lent me his coat..."

Ning Wenyan didn't overthink it, simply saying, "Which guard? I'll return it for you."

"No need, I'll return it myself."

Xianyu Qing took off the coat, put on her own, and hurried outside. Just then, a security guard was passing by on his routine patrol. Xianyu Qing shoved the jacket into his hands and blurted, "Thank you, guard!" before quickly ducking back into her room and closing the door.

The guard: "..." What was going on?

The door to the room next door opened, and Jiang Mohe walked out. He took the jacket from the guard's hand and walked toward the elevator without a word.

The guard: "..." What was going on now?!

-------

In the West City, at the Mo family estate.

Ever since the explosion, Old Master Mo's consciousness had been drifting in and out of clarity for several days. Mo Haoyuan had heard that Xianyu Qing had returned safely and had intended to visit her, but he couldn't get away. He could only ask Nangong Ao about her condition when he came to visit.

Upon learning that Xianyu Qing had largely recovered and had not suffered any lasting psychological trauma, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It is fortunate that Miss Xianyu is unharmed; otherwise, my grandfather would surely have blamed me once he regained consciousness."

Nangong Ao found this strange. "Old Master Mo? Does he know Qingqing?"

Mo Haoyuan didn't want to hide it. "When my grandfather was recuperating in the hospital, he once saw Miss Xianyu. He said she was an old acquaintance of one of her ancestors, which is why he insisted on holding a banquet—he wanted to see her again."

Nangong Ao had not expected that there was such a connection between Old Master Mo and Xianyu Qing's family.