81: Chapter 81 Repair

A knock on the door.

"Is that you, Z23?" The voice from behind the door sounded a bit haggard, but remained gentle.

"It's me. I'm coming in, okay?"

Fujian froze for a moment, but Li Ming didn't give her a chance to choose, decisively swiping the room card open.

He walked in cautiously, looked her up and down, and then asked:

"You haven't actually been skipping meals, have you?"

"Commander..." she murmured softly.

"What's wrong?" He placed the lunch box on her desk; at that moment, she was sitting there in a daze.

The desk was piled high with training plans, but almost every line and paragraph was crossed out with black lines.

"Before you rush to negate yourself, eat your food first."

She watched as Li Ming casually tossed those documents aside, letting them scatter across the floor, before opening the lunch box.

The aroma of the food masked the gloomy atmosphere. Utensils were placed in front of Fujian, and then the tightly drawn curtains were opened. Afternoon sunlight streamed into her room, illuminating her face and the heavy dark circles under her eyes.

"You haven't slept at all during this time, have you?" He crouched at a corner of the desk, resting his cheek on one arm as he looked at her. "Regardless of the circumstances, our 'Big Sis' can't just lose her spirit like this."

"Commander, I..."

"Eat first." Li Ming stood up and moved behind her, taking off her hat and ruffling her hair. "Whatever the problem is, replenish your energy before we talk."

"..." Fujian looked at the food in front of her; it was all the things she usually preferred.

It must have been made by Z23, right? Fujian suddenly felt a bit like laughing and crying at the same time, but she still complied with his slightly forceful demand and picked up her chopsticks.

While she began to eat, Li Ming started organizing the documents on the floor.

As expected, they were his previous training plans.

Those black lines were likely all rejected content, but Li Ming tilted his head; he didn't mind the training itself, nor did he care much about being managed.

Rather, the feeling of being cared for was what mattered most to him.

Silently organizing the papers, Li Ming stacked them to one side.

After finishing the stack, he sat on Fujian's bed.

It was actually a hard board bed? No wonder she wasn't sleeping well; he used to get backaches every day when he slept on wooden boards.

Oh wait, "where would a child get a back from?" Hahaha...

Still, the room was a bit stuffy. Thinking this, Li Ming opened the window.

The sea breeze dispersed the stale air in the room. It carried a slight salty scent, but it was better than being cooped up.

Moreover, there was a faint, sweet scent coming from her body...

Sweet?

Li Ming remembered reading somewhere that if you perceive someone's body scent as fragrant, it means you highly approve of them.

While it sounded like unofficial history nonsense, if he didn't believe that now, he could only explain it as "Ship Girls have a natural body fragrance."

Fujian quietly packed away the lunch box. Li Ming stood up at the right moment, pulled her up, and they sat on the bed together.

"Do you feel any better?"

"Yes..."

"Even though I really want to say don't do this next time, I don't seem to have the standing to say that." Li Ming still maintained that slightly improper demeanor, as if he had never changed.

"You do have it, Commander," Fujian replied softly, yet she still lacked the courage to meet his gaze—or perhaps she didn't want to?

"You're afraid." Li Ming followed her gaze to where her hands were resting quietly on her lap; on the middle finger of one hand sat the ring. "You thought I would question you, scold you, or even do something to you directly, but you didn't expect me to be so... calmly not indifferent."

Fujian didn't answer, but her hand, which she had been clutching tightly, responded to his point.

"You realized long ago that I might not be able to bear the truth. Although there are some discrepancies, I guess that's part of it, right?" Li Ming paused; saying it like this made him sound like he was interrogating her. "I'm just guessing..."

"Yes..."

She answered him.

"First of all, don't be afraid. I don't blame you for hiding anything from me." Li Ming fell silent for a moment. "Can you look at me?"

"I mean, look at the me right now," Li Ming continued. "I'm scared. I'm very scared."

Only then did she lift her head, and their two pairs of lifeless eyes met.

She saw his exhaustion, his helplessness, and his pain.

He saw her sorrow and her fear.

"See? Don't be afraid, I'm always here." Li Ming reached out his other hand and waved it in front of her. "I am your Commander. That won't change because of anything."

"Mm..." came a response as thin as silk, and then she closed her eyes. Her fatigue seemed to deepen even further, as Li Ming observed.

"Just like your original intention for training me, I also hope you can be well, instead of shutting yourself away like this," Li Ming continued. "Treat it as my selfishness—don't do this anymore. For me, for the me standing in front of you, okay?"

She opened her eyes, and this time she didn't look away, but stared straight at him.

"What you... actually want to ask isn't this, is it?"

Li Ming was stunned for a moment; her attitude was very serious, and her analysis was piercing.

"Yes..." Li Ming nodded. "But that has nothing to do with what I want to do."

"I don't know," she said in a small voice.

Li Ming blanked for a second.

"But... I'm so afraid." Fujian looked at him. "If it's truly because of me that you are being hurt, I would rather... have never existed in the first place."

Dammit.

"Listen, Fujian, you saved me. You have never harmed me." Li Ming released her hand and instead cupped her face with both hands. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far."

She was silent for a long time, and then, like a kite with a broken string, she collapsed against Li Ming. Startled, Li Ming caught her.

Tears soaked his clothes, forcing Li Ming to face the fear she had been steadily accumulating ever since he fell ill that one time.

She gritted her teeth, trying hard not to make a sound, but large teardrops fell one after another.

He gritted his own teeth, shifted his posture, and used his strength to pick her up. He then turned and carried her out of the room in a princess carry, stunning the eavesdropping Z23 and Javelin.

"Could you two please clean up the dishes?"

Leaving behind those words, Li Ming turned and carried her into his own room.

He tossed her onto the bed, wrapped her in the blanket he hadn't made that morning, and incidentally pulled out the Laffey who was curled up inside...

Fine, he stuffed her back in.

Then he took off his shirt and crawled in as well.

"Sleep for a while. Everything will be back to normal when you wake up."

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