When the male nurse and Aunt Chu left, Mu Xingyu, with a towel in hand, suddenly regretted his decision.
“Is there a problem?” Gu Yunzhou asked.
Mu Xingyu, forced a smile, shook his head, “No.” Then he carried the basin and headed to the bathroom. After he left, Gu Yunzhou, lying in bed, had a slight smile on his face.
Mu Xingyu returned with a basin of warm water, placed it by the bedside, wet the towel, and urged Gu Yunzhou to quickly undress.
“Sorry, but I need your help with the buttons,” Gu Yunzhou said helplessly.
Only then did Mu Xingyu realize that Gu Yunzhou, given his current condition, couldn’t manage delicate tasks like unbuttoning. He reluctantly put down the towel, lifted the blanket, and began unbuttoning Gu Yunzhou’s silk pajamas.
Gu Yunzhou’s mixed European and American heritage, combined with lying in bed for over a year, gave his skin a fairer complexion than many. His once well-defined abdominal muscles, which had slowly disappeared due to his coma, now only left faint traces.
After removing his shirt, Mu Xingyu began to wipe Gu Yunzhou’s body. He had seen how nurse did it, but it was his first time actually doing it himself, and he felt that the atmosphere was rather awkward.
He stole a glance at Gu Yunzhou and noticed his calm expression, which made him realize that he might have overreacted. He tried his best to display the professionalism of a caregiver, finally finish wiping Gu Yunzhou’s upper body.
Unbeknownst to Mu Xingyu, behind Gu Yunzhou’s calm expression was a sense of delight. Of course, he dared not show his true feelings, or Mu Xingyu would surely quit.
Mu Xingyu began to shift focus, taking off Gu Yunzhou’s pants. However, he stopped at this point.
To remove or not to remove the lower part of the clothing? That was the question.
Mu Xingyu hesitated for a moment, then decisively gave up. He wet the towel and proceeded to wipe Gu Yunzhou’s legs. He noticed the prominent scars on Gu Yunzhou’s knees and assumed they were related to his leg disability.
After wiping once, Mu Xingyu changed the water in the basin and wiped a second time. However, for both rounds, he avoided the sensitive areas. Gu Yunzhou understood his discomfort but didn’t mention it. Finally, he calmly said, “I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Huh? Alright, this is for you,” Mu Xingyu handed the towel to Gu Yunzhou.
Gu Yunzhou raised an eyebrow and said, “First, make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned.”
“Oh, sure,” Mu Xingyu rewet the towel, squeezed it dry, and then handed it to Gu Yunzhou, saying, “I’ll go get your clothes.” With that, he turned and fled as if escaping the situation.
Gu Yunzhou smirked and began wiping the areas that Mu Xingyu missed.
Thinking about Mu Xingyu’s embarrassed appearance earlier, Gu Yunzhou couldn’t help but feel that sending Chen Feng away was a wise decision.
In the dressing room, Mu Xingyu was frustrated with his previous performance. He scolded himself, “We’re both men, why was I so awkward?”
Unable to come up with an answer, he blamed it on Gu Yunzhou’s intimidating presence and began selecting a sleepwear.
One couldn’t deny that Gu Yunzhou was indeed the CEO of W&W. All the clothing was custom-made by W&W, making even someone from a prestigious family like Mu Xingyu marvel at the difference between noble families.
Although Gu Yunzhou had been in a coma for a long time, the household staff continued to organize and maintain the clothing. Among many pajamas, Mu Xingyu chose a convenient light gray robe. After hesitating for a while, he left the dressing room.
By that time, Gu Yunzhou had finished cleaning himself and pulled the blanket over.
“I’ll help you put it on.”
“You’re missing one thing,” Gu Yunzhou reminded.
Mu Xingyu looked at the sleepwear in his hand, not initially realizing the issue. However, under Gu Yunzhou’s determined gaze, he reconsidered and found that he indeed had forgotten something.
“Wait…wait for Chen Feng to return to help you put it on,” Mu Xingyu said hesitantly.
“Why?” Gu Yunzhou looked serious, making Mu Xingyu feel like he had impure thoughts. Mu Xingyu quickly returned to the dressing room and brought a pair of underwear.
He reached under the blanket and began dressing Gu Yunzhou. During the process, their hands inevitably brushed against each other, causing Mu Xingyu’s face to turn red.
From childhood to adulthood, he had never been so intimate with someone else, and he was only now realizing how awkward it could be to help someone of the same gender get dressed.
After finally finishing, Mu Xingyu felt relieved and said, “Let’s have Chen Feng help you next time.”
Gu Yunzhou frowned but chose not to insist. He didn’t want Chen Feng to do it, but he didn’t want to make Mu Xingyu uncomfortable.
After the stimulating morning, Mu Xingyu felt disoriented throughout the day. When Charles asked him to massage Gu Yunzhou in the afternoon, he immediately shook his head in refusal.
After what happened in the morning, Mu Xingyu had no idea how to face Gu Yunzhou.
In order to avoid Gu Yunzhou, he went downstairs to watch TV.
Seeing that there was tension between Mu Xingyu and Gu Yunzhou, Grandpa Gu asked Mu Xingyu to bring the ginseng soup to Gu Yunzhou. Mu Xingyu reluctantly returned to the fourth-floor room.
Charles had finished the massage and was teaching Gu Yunzhou hand exercises. Gu Yunzhou sat on the bed, practicing a trick rope maneuver with skilled and varied movements.
Mu Xingyu almost burst into laughter because the composed Gu Yunzhou and trick rope practice seemed like a mismatch. Holding back his laughter, he asked Charles, “Is this useful?”
“Of course, it can improve dexterity1skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands in both hands.”
Mu Xingyu became curious, “Then, with this practice, when will he be able to unbutton his clothes?”
“He learned how to do that yesterday.”
“What did you say?” Mu Xingyu looked at Charles in astonishment, while Gu Yunzhou stopped his practice and looked displeased.
Charles was perplexed; he didn’t understand why both Mu Xingyu and Gu Yunzhou reacted so strongly.
Mu Xingyu was angry now, saying, “Great, he learned how to unbutton his clothes yesterday.” He glared at Gu Yunzhou and, full of frustration, left the room.
“What’s going on with him?” Charles was confused and asked Gu Yunzhou.
Gu Yunzhou, feeling annoyed, responded, “Just be quiet!”
In the evening, Mu Xingyu hadn’t visited Gu Yunzhou. At medicine time, Gu Yunzhou noticed it was the housekeeper who came over to give him the medicine, and his expression darkened. Nevertheless, he knew he was in the wrong, so he cooperated with the housekeeper and took his medicine.
When it was time to sleep, Mu Xingyu finally entered the room. He had already prepared for bed, seemingly with no intention of speaking to Gu Yunzhou.
Once the lights were off, the room was quiet. Mu Xingyu had his eyes closed but couldn’t find any sleep due to his anger. Suddenly, he heard a cold voice from the side, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
Mu Xingyu pretended not to hear.
“Xingyu, I’m sorry,” Gu Yunzhou said again.
This was the first time Gu Yunzhou had called Mu Xingyu by his name, and his voice was cold but carried a magnetic, masculine quality that inexplicably caused Mu Xingyu’s heart to skip a beat.
“Why did you lie to me?” Mu Xingyu asked, unable to fathom why the distinguished CEO of the Gu Group would engage in such a trivial deception.
However, Gu Yunzhou didn’t explain further; he just repeated, “I’m sorry.”
Mu Xingyu could only say, “You’re not allowed to lie to me in the future.”
“Alright, I won’t.”
Mu Xingyu finally let go of his grudge and said, “It’s late; let’s rest.”
“Goodnight,” Gu Yunzhou replied.
The next day, both of them didn’t mention yesterday’s incident.
As usual, Mu Xingyu secretly fed the spiritual water to Gu Yunzhou.
When he returned from the garden, he found Charles instructing Gu Yunzhou in arm recovery exercises and decided to stay in the room to watch.
Initially, Charles didn’t make Gu Yunzhou perform high-difficulty exercises; he started with basic gripping and holding. After Gu Yunzhou could accurately complete these, Charles moved on to arm extension exercises.
At first, Mu Xingyu thought the rehabilitation was easy. However, at this stage, Gu Yunzhou’s arm began to experience spasms2(painful muscle contractions or movements).. Charles continuously massaged his arm. It was only then that Mu Xingyu truly understood the difficulty of the process.
During a break, he quickly poured a glass of water for Gu Yunzhou and added some of his freshly brewed spiritual water.
Charles teased, “Why don’t you pour me a glass of water? I’m the one working the hardest.”
Gu Yunzhou, holding the glass, glanced at Charles, “Pour it yourself.”
“Hmph, I knew you were biased towards him.” With that, Charles poured himself a glass of water.
After the arm exercises, they moved on to neck and lower back training, and Gu Yunzhou cooperated diligently. Mu Xingyu could tell from his expressions and Charles’s tension that this was no easy task.
When the training was over, Gu Yunzhou was drenched in sweat. Charles called Chen Feng, who helped Gu Yunzhou sit in a wheelchair and then wheeled him into the bathroom to take a shower.
Mu Xingyu couldn’t help but remember the incident from yesterday when he had to help Gu Yunzhou wash, leaving him feeling a mix of frustration and worry.
He looked in the direction of the bathroom and asked Charles, “How is his rehabilitation going? It won’t be this difficult all the time, will it?”
“Difficult? This is just the beginning,” Charles replied with a nonchalant expression, “The training will become even more complex in the future.”
Mu Xingyu frowned, “How long will it continue like this?”
“It depends on his recovery progress. Don’t worry, his recovery is going well, and it will continue for about a month,” Charles reassured Mu Xingyu, adding, “Rest assured, Ethan has strong willpower. After his leg injuries, he persisted in rehabilitation, which was even more challenging than it is now.”
Mu Xingyu fell silent, feeling a hint of sympathy for Gu Yunzhou.
In the afternoon, during the leg massage, Mu Xingyu put aside his previous grievances and massaged Gu Yunzhou.
Mu Xingyu once again saw the scars on Gu Yunzhou’s knees, which further deepened his admiration for Gu Yunzhou’s long-standing perseverance.
While massaging, he asked Gu Yunzhou about his feelings, finding that Gu Yunzhou’s condition was similar to the previous day.
Mu Xingyu believed that most of the spiritual water’s effects were probably directed towards recovering from the long-term coma’s aftereffects. However, as Gu Yunzhou’s body continued to recover, he was confident that the spiritual water’s effects would eventually extend to his legs, giving Gu Yunzhou hope of standing up in the future.
Author’s Note: Chen Feng: I was kicked out by Mr Gu.
Gu Yunzhou: So what?
Mu Xingyu: Lying, be careful not to get caught.
Translator’s Note-Guys don’t forget to support and comment your views(^-^)
2 thoughts on “Chapter 16”
Thanks for the chapter!
Read the room Charles!! XD (The emojis not working are killing me)