Chapter 65: I’ll Be With You
Mi Yang was in the hotel room by himself, wrapped in a quilt, trying to keep warm. He called the hotel and had someone bring hot water. He took his medicine, drank a large glass of hot water, and felt a little better.
When the medical staff came to take his temperature, it had already dropped a little, to 37.3 degrees.
The doctor, hearing that his temperature had dropped, relaxed a little, but still stood at the door with a thick protective mask and asked about his itinerary for the past few days. “When did you arrive in Beijing? Did you go out? Where did you go?”
He asked in great detail, and Mi Yang answered one by one. The doctor then asked if he had had any contact with the sick person before.
Mi Yang shook his head. “No, I’ve been in my room the whole time. I just went to the restaurant to eat. I haven’t left.”
The doctor said, “It’s not over 38 degrees, so it’s just a low fever and you don’t need to go to the hospital yet, but you still need to be observed. Please stay in your room and don’t walk around.”
Mi Yang nodded in agreement.
The accompanying medical staff left him some medicine and told the hotel staff to have someone deliver a meal to Mi Yang’s door. Although it was not explicitly stated, he was not allowed to leave this room for the time being.
Mi Yang appeared quite calm. The doctor who had come even comforted him a few times, “It will be over soon. Please understand and persevere.”
Mi Yang said, “I should. You’ve also worked hard.”
The doctor smiled at him through the protective mask, nodded, and left.
Mi Yang remembered that the medical staff had worked the hardest during the SARS epidemic. The news had even reported on doctors and nurses who had sacrificed their lives. One of the nurses, after being infected with the virus, had repeatedly expressed her willingness to be a test subject for new treatments, hoping to give more lives a chance to survive. These medical staff who fought on the front lines were truly worthy of admiration.
Mi Yang ate a simple meal and felt a little warmer. After a while, he took his temperature again. It was still around 37 degrees. It should just be a cold, nothing too serious.
Mi Yang picked up the medicine and looked at it. They were all the common cold medicines from the hospital, and there was also a small bag of anti-inflammatory drugs. He took the medicine according to the instructions. Just as he swallowed the medicine, the phone on the side rang. It was Bai Luochuan.
Bai Luochuan’s phone had been off during the competition. Because the TV station had come to film, he had also been taken by the teacher for an interview afterward. He had turned on his phone a little late. When he saw the messages from Mi Yang, his voice was filled with panic. “Where are you?”
Mi Yang said, “In the hotel. I’m fine, but the hotel is now restricting entry and exit. You should go straight back to Shanghai…”
Bai Luochuan interrupted him. “I know.”
He then hung up in a hurry.
This abrupt sentence made Mi Yang a little uneasy. When he called back, the other party didn’t answer. Mi Yang was also a little worried, and with the effect of the medicine kicking in, his eyelids were very heavy. He wrapped himself in the quilt and fell asleep.
Fortunately, Bai Luochuan had asked for an extra quilt yesterday. He was using it now, and the warming effect was quite good.
It was unclear whether it was because he was wrapped in too many quilts or because the medicine was strong, but Mi Yang’s body was hot. He was curled up in the quilt, sleeping drowsily. Even when he heard a noise, it was as if it were through a layer, and he couldn’t wake up.
He vaguely heard the sound of an ambulance, and then he heard Bai Luochuan’s voice. He also kept dreaming of someone on the stretcher that the doctors had carried away. Perhaps because he had heard Bai Luochuan’s voice, he always suspected that it was him who was being carried away on it… The more anxious he was in his heart, the more his body couldn’t move, and it was even difficult to breathe.
“It’s only considered a high fever if it’s over 38 degrees. It’s 37.5 now, yes… no other symptoms. He’s had a fever before because of a sore throat. He’s been like this since he was a child, because of the change of seasons. It’s not the first time…”
Mi Yang was dizzy. He heard someone talking beside him. The voice was very familiar, but his ears were ringing, as if through a layer, and he couldn’t hear clearly.
He opened his mouth and called out, “Bai Luochuan…”
His voice was much smaller and hoarser than he had expected. The person then came over and held his hand, asking in a low voice, “You’re awake? Are you still uncomfortable?”
Mi Yang wanted to drink water. Before he could speak, warm water was brought to his lips. He drank a few sips with his eyes closed and felt a little better. He nodded. “A little better.” He was helped to sit up, and he saw Bai Luochuan see the medical staff out at the door, close the door, and then turn back to sit on the edge of the bed and test his forehead temperature. Mi Yang dodged a little but was still covered by his palm.
Bai Luochuan frowned. “It’s still a little hot.”
Mi Yang looked at him. “How did you get in? Didn’t I tell you to go back with the teacher and the others first?”
Bai Luochuan said, “The teacher told me to come and take care of you.”
Mi Yang looked at him and didn’t say anything.
Bai Luochuan paused for a moment. “Alright, alright, I snuck in myself, okay? I saw that the cordon over there was not strict, so I rushed in.”
Mi Yang’s head ached even more. “You can’t do this. Go and talk to the people downstairs in a bit. Take your temperature and see if you can get a health certificate. Let’s get out first.”
Bai Luochuan said, “I’m not leaving.”
Mi Yang said, “Don’t be difficult. The person who was sent to the hospital this afternoon hasn’t been diagnosed yet. You don’t know how dangerous it is here…”
Bai Luochuan put a coat on him. “I’ve turned on the air conditioner. Do you feel warmer? Should I turn it up a little higher?”
Mi Yang said, “Bai Luochuan!”
Bai Luochuan pursed his lips and looked at him, his eyes also filled with anger, but he still lowered his voice. “I said, I’m not leaving.”
Mi Yang turned on the TV to show him. There were not many news reports yet, but they were starting to come in. He changed a few channels but still couldn’t find any news about SARS. Bai Luochuan first took the remote control from his hand. He stood by the bed and looked at Mi Yang. “I know how serious it is. I counted on the way here. 12 ambulances have passed.”
Mi Yang looked at him, opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.
Bai Luochuan leaned over and tucked him in a little more tightly. “I’m not leaving. The cordon has already been pulled up downstairs. The hotel staff just came to tell me that we have to be quarantined here for at least 15 days.”
Mi Yang rubbed his brow and, after a long while, nodded. “Alright. Get me my phone. I’ll talk to my family.”
Bai Luochuan said, “You’re calling Auntie Cheng, right? I called her when you were sleeping. I’ve already told the family everything. Don’t worry about it.”
Mi Yang had no strength. After sitting for a while, he lay back down. Bai Luochuan held his hand. He wiggled his fingers and asked, “Did I scare them?”
Bai Luochuan shook his head. “It’s not that serious in Shanghai yet. They just said they knew.”
Mi Yang said “oh” and didn’t say much more.
Bai Luochuan held his hand a little tighter and comforted him in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid.”
Mi Yang was not actually very afraid. After all, in his previous life, the epidemic had been brought under control in less than half a year, and everyone had slowly returned to their normal work. But the current atmosphere was too tense and solemn, and he couldn’t relax either.
In the evening, the hotel staff brought them a meal and left it at the door. Bai Luochuan went to get it and brought it in to eat with Mi Yang. Seeing that Mi Yang had no appetite, he called and ordered another portion of congee, coaxing Mi Yang to drink half a small bowl before letting him take his medicine and go to sleep.
Mi Yang had not been so seriously ill at first, but during the day, the hotel’s power supply would be on and off, and the temperature would fluctuate. He had also just come from the south and had not yet adapted to the climate, so he was a little more ill than usual.
Bai Luochuan, as the doctor had said, would take Mi Yang’s temperature every once in a while and record it on a chart on the side.
In the middle of the night, Mi Yang had a low fever and had a very long dream.
In his dream, he was on a long journey. He had been walking for too long, and his feet were so tired he couldn’t lift them. He was always looking for something, but he couldn’t call out its name.
Until he had been walking in the dark for a long time and saw a faint light. He looked up and stared at the flame.
It was a very familiar yet strange feeling, like meeting a good friend, and like a beating, blood-red flame “heart” that he had never seen before.
He had only taken a small step when he was immediately engulfed in the flames. All he could see was a dazzling red. The flames swept over his body but were careful not to hurt him at all, dancing wildly with an irrepressible joy. Mi Yang reached out and touched it. It immediately wrapped around his wrist, licked his palm, and with a slightly hot residual warmth, it clung to him possessively and wouldn’t let go.
It was as if they had both found their home, not afraid of each other, only with intimacy.
The flames were wrapped too tightly, and he was a little tired. Mi Yang wiggled his fingers and woke up.
He lay there for a long while before he remembered that he was in a hotel. Bai Luochuan’s arm was wrapped around his waist, pressing down heavily and not letting go. The other person was also wrapped around him from behind. No wonder he had been dreaming restlessly all night.
Mi Yang was in a daze as he thought about the dream and whispered, “…So it was you.”
The person who had been sleeping behind him woke up almost immediately and said in a thick, hoarse voice, “Who did you think it was?!”
Mi Yang chuckled and pried at his fingers. “My young master, of course.”
The person behind him snorted, still sounding unhappy.
Mi Yang said, “How did you get on my bed? Don’t be too close to me. Be careful not to get infected.”
Bai Luochuan didn’t listen to him and just held him a little tighter. “You were calling out that you were cold all night. I even covered you with my down jacket, but you were still shivering, so I came up… Are you still cold now?”
Mi Yang shook his head. “I’m not cold anymore.”
Bai Luochuan’s body also relaxed a little. He took a thermometer for Mi Yang and, after seeing the temperature with his own eyes, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He went to get the chart to record it. “Much better. 36.9 degrees. No more fever.”
He turned on a small bedside lamp and carefully wrote down the number. The chart was already filled with many entries. He had basically taken Mi Yang’s temperature every two hours. When Mi Yang looked at it, he noticed that it was blank after 10 p.m. and was curious. “Why didn’t you record it here?”
Bai Luochuan said, “I was too sleepy, so I didn’t.”
Mi Yang said, “You’re lying. You always stay up very late. You’ve never gone to bed at 10.” He looked at the slowly rising numbers of the previous two entries and also understood. He asked him, “Did I have a fever? Was it over 38 degrees?”
Bai Luochuan shook his head, threw the chart aside, and lowered his head to hug him. “It was just a little off. I took your temperature many times, but it wouldn’t go down. I thought for a long time, what if you went over 38 degrees? What if I called the hospital, and you were taken away in an ambulance in the middle of the night? What would I do…”
Mi Yang was not afraid, but the person holding him had trembling arms, and he was still trying to be brave. “Even if you go to the hospital, don’t be afraid. If you really have SARS, the TV says that people who are in frequent contact with patients will also get it. Then I’ll also be quarantined, and we’ll still be together.”
Bai Luochuan said in a low but firm voice, “I’ll be with you. Don’t be afraid.”
Mi Yang also hugged him. “I’m fine now.”
He felt that if he didn’t hug this person in front of him, this person was about to cry.
