C18 As a Wife!

"Why are you out of bed? Has your fever gone down?" Qin Manrong looked up, surprised to see him. She walked over and touched his forehead, smiling. "Yes, you're recovering well. I made some porridge. Eat it while it's hot, and then get some more rest tonight."

The genuine relief and joy in her expression struck Yan Feibai deeply, as if something had hit him.

In a hoarse voice, he asked, "You didn't leave? You're making dinner for me?"

"Well, since you're sick, I figured I'd do a good deed for the day," Qin Manrong replied, rolling her eyes playfully as she turned to leave. "Now that your fever's down, I'm heading back. Don't push yourself so hard filming next time. You won't always have someone around when you fall ill!"

As her slender figure passed by, a warm, comforting scent lingered, making him instinctively want to reach out and hold onto that warmth.

But what could he say if he stopped her?

In the moment of hesitation, Qin Manrong was already gone.

Watching her slender, determined figure disappear, Yan Feibai suddenly realized he didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay. But he had no reason or excuse to ask her to.

Driven by an unexplainable urge, he got into his car and followed her.

Qin Manrong arrived home close to ten at night, only to find Gu Jingming's mother, Mrs. Ge, waiting in the living room with a stern expression.

With her son embroiled in scandals, her husband hospitalized, and the company's assets shrinking by a quarter, Mrs. Ge had been harboring a lot of anger.

Seeing her daughter-in-law out so late, all her frustration erupted. She slammed the table and exclaimed, "You finally decided to come home! Your husband is working himself to the bone for the company, and you're out gallivanting until this hour. Do you have any sense of responsibility as a wife?"

Having spent the entire day tending to Yan Feibai, Qin Manrong felt utterly exhausted, her body aching all over. All she wanted was to retreat to her room and sleep. She took a deep breath, trying to remain calm as she explained:

"I wasn't out messing around. A friend was sick, and I went to take care of him."

Geh Shuyi immediately chimed in, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "Oh, so you can't be bothered to care about your own husband who's worked himself to the bone, but you're rushing off to take care of some 'friend'? Is this 'friend' a boyfriend, perhaps?"

The study door creaked open, and Gu Jingming stepped out, his eyes fixed intently on her. "Which friend?"

Qin Manrong frowned slightly but answered truthfully, "Yan Feibai."

Gu Jingming's gaze turned sharp, cutting into Qin Manrong like a knife.

Geh Shuyi had only been trying to stir up trouble for her daughter-in-law, not expecting that Qin Manrong had actually spent the day with another man! Now, she was the one feeling upset, and she began to rant, "Well, well, you deny fooling around, yet you're with a strange man until late. What's next, spending the night at his place? I should have never agreed to this marriage. Since you joined the family, the company has been in trouble!"

These shameless accusations left Qin Manrong stunned. It was Gu Jingming's indiscretions, caught by the paparazzi, that had caused losses for Gu's Group, dragging Qin's Technology down with it. How was this her fault?

Qin Manrong was about to explain that the scandal had been resolved and that helping Yan Feibai was just settling a debt from that incident, but Geh Shuyi cut her off before she could speak.

"What a jinx! I knew I shouldn't have let Jingming marry you!"