Just as Song Qingchun was spiraling into insanity, the door to the study was pulled open and Su Zhinian's voice drifted out.
"Brew me a cup of coffee."
"Okay." Song Qingchun immediately stood to attention and answered accordingly. When she noticed Su Zhinian's gaze slowly moving toward the shirt in her grasp, she quickly hid it behind her and nodded, adding, "Understood, Mr. Su."
Su Zhinian did not say anything but looked at Song Qingchun with a gaze filled with equal measure confusion and probing before nodding and retreating into his study.
Song Qingchun took a deep breath to calm her beating heart before biting her lips and looking at the bloodied shirt in her hands. Finally, she snuck to her bedroom and hid the shirt in there.
The door to the study was open, but Song Qingchun did not walk in. Instead, she stood at the door and knocked on it. Su Zhinian was focused on the document in his hands. Without raising his head, he answered softly, "Come in."
Song Qingchun slunk into the room and was about the put the china cup on the table when Su Zhinian's hand reached out toward her. So, Song Qingchun placed the cup in his hand instead.
"Thank you," Su Zhinian said nonchalantly before raising the cup to his mouth, his gaze still fixated on the document. His other hand kept moving, the pen scrawling all over the paper.
Su Zhinian took a sip of the coffee and frowned involuntarily, realizing the taste was off.
Before he could comment anything, Song Qingchun's soft voice said, "Mr. Su, you're still in recovery; coffee is not good for that, so I heated you a cup of milk instead."
The pen in Su Zhinian's hand shuddered, and a long line appeared on the page of the document. This was the first time she had ever denied his order ever since moving in with him.
Before this, she would follow his orders to the tee like a robot, never mixing in her own emotions or thoughts. There was that one time when he had asked her to boil some meat slices because he was suffering from acid reflex. She did so without asking any questions. During dinner, he had his palm over his rumbling stomach and pointed at the boiled meat slices by way of explanation, but she had merely glossed over the fact and helped him with the dish without any words of concern.
Song Qingchun thought Su Zhinian's silence was a sign of his displeasure so she added, "Mr. Su, this is Doctor Xia's order…"
Before Song Qingchun finished, Su Zhinian interrupted with a light "Okay."
Then, his hand picked up the pen and continued to write. He sipped the milk slowly like it was coffee.
Song Qingchun stood quietly beside him, and when she saw Su Zhinian stop for a break, she added, "Mr. Su, let me help you change your bandage. Doctor Xia said we have to reapply the medicine often over these few days."
"Okay." Su Zhinian put down his work and pointed at the spot behind him, signaling for Song Qingchun to go ahead.
The first three days, when the injury had been at its worst, it was Doctor Xia who had changed his bandages. Even though the injury had been given three days to heal, Song Qingchun still wheezed audibly in shock and fear when she unveiled the bandage gauze.