Invalid Firefighting.

"You're back!"

Seeing Tao Yaoyao return, Xu Mingyao was genuinely happy.

However, she was still a little curious. After all, compared to her usual schedule, she had come back much too early today.

"How come you're back so early today?"

Xu Mingyao asked casually.

It was meant to be a casual question, but it seemed to catch Tao Yaoyao off guard.

She lowered her eyelashes, her gaze darting around the clean floor in a slight panic, while her empty hand restlessly began to lightly rub against the seam of her pants.

After pausing for about ten seconds, she finally replied in a low voice, with a tiny stutter.

"T-today, I'm not feeling very well."

"So I came back early."

Xu Mingyao was originally a little confused as to why Tao Yaoyao was acting so unnaturally.

But the moment she heard that Tao Yaoyao was feeling unwell, she instantly threw everything else to the back of her mind.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Xu Mingyao hurried over anxiously, asking with deep concern.

"It's nothing."

"I probably just stayed outside the company for too long. After being in the sun for a while and then suddenly going back into the air-conditioned office, my body couldn't quite take it."

"It's nothing serious."

"I just need to rest for a bit."

While Tao Yaoyao spoke, she never lifted her eyes, continuing to stare at the floor, the sofa, and other low objects nearby.

Her hand that wasn't holding the bag remained restless; she raised it again, subconsciously rubbing the hollow of her neck.

"I see."

Xu Mingyao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly added:

"Then hurry back to your room and rest."

"I'll bring your food in for you once it's ready."

"Mhm."

Tao Yaoyao nodded gently, letting out a soft nasal sound.

Only then did she lift her eyelids to glance at Xu Mingyao, but she quickly averted her gaze again.

Tao Yaoyao went back to the bedroom to rest, and Xu Mingyao turned around to continue busying herself in the kitchen.

Washing the rice, rinsing it, changing the water, and setting it to cook.

After taking care of the staple food, Xu Mingyao didn't rush to stir-fry the dishes.

Instead, she opened the pressure cooker and ladled out a steaming, fragrant bowl of corn and pork rib soup.

She set the soup bowl aside, letting it cool down naturally.

During this time, Xu Mingyao took out some fruit she had bought last night from a bag and began carefully peeling and dicing it.

In just a short while, Xu Mingyao had finished preparing the fruit. She took a tray from the cabinet, placed the corn and pork rib soup and the fruit platter on it, and carried it toward Tao Yaoyao's room.

Xu Mingyao was by no means an expert when it came to cooking.

Even though she had been frantically studying culinary skills recently, her level was still only average.

However, there was one thing she did know.

It wasn't something she learned from the complex information on the internet.

It came from the person who had left long ago.

Xu Mingyao remembered that when she was little, whenever she felt unwell but hadn't quite caught a cold yet, her mother would make her some warm soup to drink.

She would say that drinking something warm would make her body feel better.

Xu Mingyao didn't know exactly how Tao Yaoyao was feeling unwell.

She also didn't know if she had caught a cold.

She just wanted to do everything in her power to help her feel a little more comfortable.

Carrying the tray into Tao Yaoyao's room, Xu Mingyao saw Tao Yaoyao lying on her side on the bed.

Her hands were completely empty, not even holding a phone. She just lay there, looking absent-minded.

It seemed she really was feeling quite uncomfortable.

Xu Mingyao placed the tray on the bedside table. She sat on the edge of the bed, instinctively grabbed her hand, and looked at her with heartache, saying worriedly:

"Maybe we should go to the hospital to get it checked out."

"Take some medicine, and you'll get better quickly."

Tao Yaoyao shook her head stubbornly, flatly rejecting Xu Mingyao's suggestion.

Left with no other choice and unwilling to force her, Xu Mingyao could only point to the hot soup and diced fruit on the nightstand and say:

"Then drink the soup while it's hot, and rest a bit more."

"If you don't feel better after that, we'll go to the hospital."

Tao Yaoyao didn't answer; she just tilted her face up and glanced at the hot soup on the nightstand.

Having given her instructions, Xu Mingyao instinctively prepared to stand up and return to the kitchen to continue cooking.

But before her legs were even halfway straight, she felt a relentless force gripping her hand.

Xu Mingyao looked down and found that it was Tao Yaoyao tightly holding onto her hand.

"What's wrong?"

Xu Mingyao sat back down on the bed. She leaned over slightly, closing the distance between them, and asked with concern.

"Sister..."

Tao Yaoyao's pink lips parted slightly, and a passionate hue gradually surfaced in her eyes.

Xu Mingyao was stunned for a moment.

She knew exactly what Tao Yaoyao meant.

She usually only called her "Sister" without any other titles under one specific circumstance.

Just as Xu Mingyao was dazed by Tao Yaoyao's sudden invitation, Tao Yaoyao had already reached out her arms, crossing them behind her back, hugging her, and pulling her into her embrace.

"Yaoyao."

Finally snapping out of it, Xu Mingyao instinctively braced her hands against the bed to stop herself from being completely pulled into Tao Yaoyao's arms.

Faced with Tao Yaoyao's inexplicable assertiveness today, she seemed a bit flustered and said worriedly:

"Let's not do this today."

"You're not feeling well. Can we do it another day?"

"No."

Tao Yaoyao's muffled voice sounded, carrying a trace of imperceptible hoarseness.

Unable to pull Xu Mingyao down, she lifted her face slightly, burying it in the crook of Xu Mingyao's neck. Her voice was soft and husky, yet as clear as if she had pressed her soft lips directly against her eardrums.

"I missed you."

Tao Yaoyao's soft whisper easily shattered Xu Mingyao's already fragile defenses.

The hands bracing against the bed began to relax, and Xu Mingyao's perfectly curved body pressed down...

...

...

"I'm going to go cook now."

"Be good and wait for dinner."

Xu Mingyao's eyes and brows were filled with gentleness and laughter, and the corners of her mouth carried a hint of unconcealed triumph, like a victorious general.

Tao Yaoyao's eyes were full of spring as she nodded gently and said obediently:

"Okay."

Xu Mingyao turned off the light and left the bedroom, fully satisfied.

Once that not-so-thick door was completely shut, Tao Yaoyao's satiated expression quickly froze.

Immediately after, the satisfaction on her face seemed to melt and blur away slowly in the silent darkness, like a mask made of wax.

Once the flush on the surface faded away.

That beautiful face, like a work of art, revealed a desolate, almost chilling expression under the moonlight.

She stared blankly at the wall, her gaze seemingly dull and lifeless, but in reality, dark undercurrents were surging within.

Just like a pile of ashes that had been doused with water.

The illusory flames on the outside had disappeared.

But the heat hidden inside had not extinguished in the slightest; instead, it burned so intensely that it made one's heart tremble.