Chapter 48: Did You Bite Me?

Lin Xi and Engineer Chen exchanged a glance; the latter looked entirely innocent. He really had seen Qin Yu and the others leave with his own eyes! Who could have expected them to double back like that?

Having been misled, Lin Xi could immediately guess that Qin Yu had done it on purpose. Fortunately, she maintained her composure, face unreadable. “Did you need something from me?”

The deputy general manager hurried to smooth things over for her. “Miss Lin, you must have just come back, right? This is Mr. Qin from LX Capital. Since you’re free, why don’t you show Mr. Qin around?”

He finished speaking and gave Lin Xi frantic, exaggerated winks, his eyelids nearly twitching out of control, terrified that she might miss his signals.

In truth, even if Lin Xi saw it, she’d pretend she hadn’t. Giving him no face at all, she slipped her hands into the pockets of her white coat. As she turned her head, a lock of hair slid from her shoulder and fell across her chest.

She didn’t look at anyone, instead fixing her gaze on the window opposite. “I don’t have time right now. I need to get back to the lab.”

“Aren’t you done for the day?” Hadn’t she already come out?

At those words, Lin Xi raised an eyebrow at the deputy and gave an awkward smile. “No, I just came out to get some water.”

The deputy was speechless. Having such a rebellious employee was certainly a blessing.

This was not a place to linger. Lin Xi turned to leave at once.

“Wait.”

A man’s voice sounded behind her at just the wrong moment. Lin Xi pretended not to hear, quickening her pace.

Qin Yu made no effort to stop her. After a moment, his voice drifted after her, unhurried and calm. “I hear congratulations are in order, Miss Lin?”

Lin Xi spun around sharply, confusion clouding her eyes. “What?”

Congratulations? What good news was there lately that even she didn’t know about?

She hadn’t seen any good fortune—just a mountain of worries, most of them related to Qin Yu. And yet he had the nerve to ask.

“Cheng Si said you’re getting married next month? How come I never heard about this?”

Lin Xi instinctively glanced at the deputy general manager beside her. Clearly, both of them remembered that offhand joke from earlier that morning.

After a silent exchange, the deputy immediately stepped forward to explain the misunderstanding. “Not at all, Mr. Qin. That was just a joke between Miss Lin and me during a meeting. I don’t know how it got to Mr. Cheng. Our Miss Lin is still very young—marriage is a long way off.”

Everyone in the company knew Lin Xi was single.

When she first joined, plenty of male colleagues had been eager to try their luck, and even some executives had asked about her. Lin Xi’s answer was always the same: no boyfriend, and no plans to date.

Someone had once asked her why. Half joking, half serious, she replied, “Young people should focus their energy and attention on their careers. Romance is a waste of time—I’ll think about it after I retire.”

With that pronouncement, no one dared approach her anymore. Half thought they didn’t stand a chance; half found her, as a woman of science, rather dull.

Besides, with the amount of overtime Lin Xi had pulled over the past month, she hardly seemed like someone about to get married.

It was clearly just an offhand remark.

But why did Mr. Qin care about this?

The deputy found it increasingly odd, his gaze darting between the two of them. Qin Yu’s feelings were plain in his eyes—anyone could see it at a glance.

“So you and Miss Lin know each other, Mr. Qin.”

Both had close ties to Cheng Si; it made sense for them to know each other privately, too.

Although Lin Xi didn’t explain, she didn’t deny it either. The deputy understood at once and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

In that case, there was nothing to worry about—he could keep on good terms with both sides.

Qin Yu’s gaze lingered on Lin Xi for a moment. “Are you working overtime this Saturday?”

“That depends on what you want from me.”

Lin Xi’s tone with Qin Yu was colder than with any ordinary colleague, but in the eyes of the deputy and others, even that was a kind of intimacy.

To dare show Qin Yu a cold face—this was no ordinary acquaintance. If anything, it suggested a closer relationship.

Almost like the playful pique of a girlfriend.

Noticing that the two had things to discuss, the deputy gave a discreet signal, prompting everyone else to quietly withdraw. Still, no one went far, all straining to overhear.

“Your grandmother says you’re not in the best health and asked me to take you for a full checkup on Saturday.”

Lin Xi’s most loathed place was the hospital—no exceptions.

Qin Yu wasn’t lying; her grandmother really had asked him to do this.

He hadn’t seen Lin Xi at all after waking that morning. Only when talking to her grandfather did he learn she’d gone back to Beijing at dawn. He’d stayed to have breakfast with the old couple, and during the meal, her grandmother mentioned that she’d checked Lin Xi’s pulse the day before and found her health wanting.

Her grandmother planned to return to the clinic today to prepare some medicine for Lin Xi, but her grandfather suggested she have a proper checkup at the hospital first.

There was no way Lin Xi would willingly go to a hospital alone, but with the distance and their advancing age, her grandparents couldn’t accompany her. They could only entrust Qin Yu with making sure she got checked in Beijing.

After hearing this, Lin Xi fidgeted nervously with her hands in her pockets. “That’s not necessary. I’ve just been working a lot of overtime lately. I haven’t really felt unwell.”

Busy as she was, aside from occasional insomnia, she had no symptoms.

“A checkup will set everyone’s mind at ease, and your grandparents want to see the final report.”

Their greatest worry now was Lin Xi’s health. She knew this well. In years past, the couple had even considered moving abroad to be with her during her studies, and only after she and her uncle took turns persuading them over the phone did they finally relent.

“I might not be free on Saturday. I’ll see how things go. If not, I’ll just get a checkup myself over the weekend.”

She made it clear she’d rather go alone. Right now, the idea of being alone with Qin Yu was far more daunting than a hospital visit.

She wasn’t sure if Qin Yu remembered what happened last night, but she certainly did—every detail. Whether he blacked out after drinking was a question that had plagued her all morning.

Cheng Si, as his close friend, surely knew everything. But Cheng Si was sharp—any hint of suspicion and he’d sound the alarm immediately. No matter how casually she tried to ask, he’d take it to heart and report straight to Qin Yu.

So she had no one else to ask—not unless she wanted to ask Qin Yu himself.

As if oblivious to her meaning, Qin Yu said, “I’ll pick you up first thing Saturday morning.”

His tone brooked no refusal.

“But I really might have to work this Saturday. It’s hard to say.”

“That’s fine. I’ll wait as long as it takes. I’ve made an appointment at a private hospital—any time is fine.”

Lin Xi tugged her lips into a thin line, no longer resisting but giving him a frosty look. “Is there anything else? I have work to do.”

“Wait.”

Qin Yu called out to her again.

Impatient, Lin Xi turned around. “Can’t you say everything at once?”

“I can,” Qin Yu replied, granting her wish. “Last night, did you bite me?”