【020】
Yu Ting instinctively explained, “I was looking for the keys—”
He suddenly stopped.
Pressing against his abdomen was something…
His brain instantly short-circuited. In this hormone-fueled phase of adolescence, Yu Ting also had normal physiological reactions. He immediately realized what it was.
The skin behind his ears heated up astonishingly fast. He almost pushed Lu Jue away, but he quickly controlled his hands.
Last night in the sports equipment room, whether intentionally or not, his actions had hurt Lu Jue twice.
Today, with anyone else here, Lu Jue would also have had a normal physiological reaction. It wasn’t because of him, Yu Ting.
Besides, Lu Jue had someone he liked.
Once he sorted this out in his mind, Yu Ting quickly became calm.
The bedroom light was still off, the curtains only half-drawn. The other window was open for ventilation. A breeze and the sunset light squeezed into the room together. Some orange, slightly pink light rays reached the bottom of Yu Ting’s eyes, making his amber irises seem even clearer and brighter.
He calmly finished his sentence. “Couldn’t find any fever reducer. I was looking for keys to go out and buy medicine.”
Because of the fever, Lu Jue’s lips were much redder than usual. Even his exhaled breath carried fire. He looked down at the face so close to his own, his eyes narrowing slightly. The next second, his head slumped to the left and buried into Yu Ting’s black hair.
His burning cheek pressed against the cool skin of Yu Ting’s neck. Lu Jue closed his eyes. “No medicine. I’ll just eat the old-fashioned popsicle.”
“…”
Yu Ting still went downstairs with the keys. He bought one box of fever reducer, two boxes each of anti-inflammatory and heat-clearing tablets, one mercury thermometer, along with a container of plain vegetable congee and two pieces of spicy fermented tofu.
On the way back to the residential area, he ran into that group of kids again. They really liked Yu Ting and followed him all the way, only scattering again once they reached Building 6.
Yu Ting finally had a moment to pull out his phone. It was almost time for evening self-study. He composed his words and dialed Yang Shuyun’s number.
“Are you feeling unwell again?” Yang Shuyun’s voice turned serious. “This won’t do. The school clinic isn’t equipped well enough. I’ll take you to the city hospital for a systematic checkup right now.”
“…” Yu Ting was silent for two seconds. “It’s not me, it’s Lu Jue. He has a high fever.”
Yang Shuyun exhaled in relief, but was also surprised. So they actually had quite a good relationship! True, she didn’t know Lu Jue well yet, but Yu Ting was a prized student she had guided since his first year of high school—excellent grades, steady, and obedient. No one would find it unpleasant to interact with him.
Yang Shuyun readily approved the leave.
After hanging up, Yu Ting finally carried the things upstairs.
He inserted the key and pushed the door open. It had gotten dark outside, and the lights inside were still off. The living room TV was on, its screen light illuminating Lu Jue, who was wrapped in a thin blanket on the sofa, eating a popsicle. His hair was somewhat disheveled, a rare sight.
Yu Ting closed the door, changed into slippers, found the light switch, and turned on the lights. Carrying the items over, he placed them on the coffee table. He glanced at the table surface. Yesterday’s leftover tube of wound ointment was there, cap separated from the tube, the tube itself twisted like a pretzel. Whoever tried squeezing it probably had no patience; after a few squeezes with no ointment coming out, they just tossed it aside.
The box of cotton swabs hadn’t even been opened.
“Why did the wound split open again?” Yu Ting asked.
Lu Jue chewed up the last piece of ice, his lips stained a deep purplish-red by the sweet syrup. His voice was much calmer now, though. “I got beaten up.”
“?”
Lu Jue pulled down the thin blanket, and this time, directly took off his T-shirt. He turned his back to let Yu Ting see.
Layer upon layer of scars covered his entire back. Today, they were all a fresh, vivid red again. Several wounds had even split open, revealing stark white flesh underneath.
“Someone came looking for me after school.” Lu Jue said. “Said I stole his girlfriend.”
“…”
Yu Ting was very familiar with this routine. The only thing that surprised him was that Lu Jue apparently couldn’t fight.
His old injuries hadn’t healed yet, and now he’d been beaten up again. No wonder he had such a high fever.
He said, “Next time someone calls you out to the back alley, tell me. First, have some congee.”
As he spoke, Yu Ting took the thermometer and went to the bathroom.
Soon, the sound of water running came from the bathroom, then stopped. Yu Ting washed his hands clean and returned with the sterilized thermometer.
Lu Jue withdrew his gaze, lifted his arm to clamp the thermometer under his armpit, and then picked up a spoon with his other hand, leaning forward to drink the congee from the coffee table.
The vegetable congee was just plain white congee with some seasonal vegetables, no salt or sugar added. Behind him came the clean scent of soap. Lu Jue finished it clean in no time.
After finishing the medicine application, Yu Ting wiped his hands and went to retrieve the thermometer.
39.2…
Yu Ting took out the medicine. “In half an hour, take one fever reducer, four anti-inflammatory tablets, and four heat-clearing tablets.”
Lu Jue nodded.
The ointment was almost dry. He put his T-shirt back on and looked at Yu Ting. “You should go back. Don’t let this affect your studying.”
His face was pale again now. Yu Ting said, “I’ll leave after you take your medicine. I already asked Teacher Yang for leave, and for you too.”
Lu Jue coughed twice. “Thanks.”
There was still half an hour before he needed to take the medicine. When searching for the keys and first-aid kit earlier, Yu Ting had glanced into the other bedroom. Besides a bed, there was a computer.
He asked, “Can I use the computer?”
Lu Jue nodded, and Yu Ting went into the room.
The computer desk and chair were all newly equipped. The computer itself was the latest model, better than the ones at an internet cafe.
Yu Ting opened a webpage and typed a string of transliterated words into the search bar.
No results came up. He then turned on the computer’s microphone and perfectly reproduced that sentence from his memory.
Last time in Jing City, he had gone with Guan Ning to a restaurant. He got drunk on some liqueur chocolate, and that sentence was all that remained in his memory.
After reciting it, he clicked the recognition button.
The next second, a familiar voice said, “Baby, you’re as beautiful as Aphrodite.”
It wasn’t from the computer, it was from his right side.
Yu Ting turned his head and saw Lu Jue leaning weakly against the doorframe.
“What?” Yu Ting’s eyelids twitched several times.
The corners of Lu Jue’s eyes were red, and he raised an eyebrow slightly. “That sentence you said.”
At the same time, the computer’s speech recognition slowly displayed a line of text—
【Baby, you’re as beautiful as Aphrodite!】
Yu Ting: “…”
Lu Jue’s lips curved into a smirk. “Your Italian pronunciation is very standard.”
Only then did Yu Ting realize that sentence was Italian. He turned off the computer. “Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Lu Jue suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit. A fleeting flush of red spread across his pale face. “Wanted some water, but had no strength to boil it.”
“…”
The water dispenser hadn’t even been plugged in yet, and Yu Ting wasn’t used to using one anyway. He went into the kitchen, found a brand new electric kettle, came back to fill it with water, boiled it in the kitchen, poured three-quarters of a cup, added a bit of cold water, and only then gave it to Lu Jue.
Lu Jue tried several times but couldn’t hold the cup steadily. Yu Ting simply fed it to him.
“Thanks.” Lu Jue lowered his eyes and drank slowly. “Even swallowing water makes my throat hurt.”
Yu Ting nodded. “Drink slowly.”
It took a full ten minutes for Lu Jue to finish a single cup of water. When it was time for the medicine, Yu Ting opened the boxes, portioned out the pills, and gave them to Lu Jue.
Lu Jue obediently swallowed them all in one go and then drank a few more sips of water, his complexion looking terrible.
“I should feel better after a sleep.” Lu Jue said weakly. “I’m fine now. It’s really late, you should go home quickly. I won’t see you out.”
He still hadn’t broken the fever. Yu Ting naturally wouldn’t leave.
“You go to sleep first. I’ll work on some homework in the living room. I’ll leave once your temperature drops.”
“Sorry to trouble you.” Lu Jue went back to his room.
After turning off the TV, the room instantly fell into complete silence. Yu Ting hadn’t brought his backpack, so he solved problems on his phone.
He downloaded a set of last year’s math college entrance exam, widely considered the hardest. He finished it around ten o’clock.
His gaze turned toward Lu Jue’s room. The bedroom door was slightly ajar. It was dead silent inside, not a single sound.
He put down his phone, disinfected the thermometer again, shook the mercury back down, and went to Lu Jue’s room.
Knock, knock.
He knocked lightly twice. “Lu Jue, I’m coming in.”
After a few seconds, Lu Jue’s low voice came from inside the room. “Come in.”
Yu Ting pushed open the door without turning on the light. The light coming from the living room was enough.
He handed the thermometer over. “Take your temperature again.”
Lu Jue took it and tucked it under his armpit. When he took it out again, Yu Ting held it up to the light and looked. Both brows furrowed deeply into a frown.
39.6…
It was even higher.
Yu Ting had once burned with a 39.5-degree fever himself. His whole head had ached so badly it felt like it would split open; even lying down and breathing had been painful.
“It didn’t go down?” Lu Jue leaned forward, squinting. “I can’t see clearly.”
“39.6.”
“Not too bad, hasn’t reached 40.” Lu Jue coughed a few times. “It’s really late, you should go back quickly, don’t end up missing the last bus. I feel much better. Just taking another fever reducer will do.”
Yu Ting didn’t agree. “Just lie down for now.”
Yu Ting closed the door behind him and went out. Grabbing his phone, he walked onto the balcony.
The balcony of this apartment was at least ten square meters, very large, unenclosed, and completely empty.
Yu Ting closed the balcony door and called Zhao Rufei to explain about Lu Jue’s high fever. “I won’t be returning tonight.”
This was the first time Yu Ting had ever stayed out all night. But since Lu Jue was sick with no one to look after him, Zhao Rufei agreed. She then sent a text message.
“Little Lu is a good kid. He’s quite pitiful without any family around. Don’t worry about me, just stay and take good care of him. When he gets better, invite him over to our house more often.”
Yu Ting let out a soft breath. He put away his phone and went back inside. He first went to the kitchen to find some ice.
Surprisingly, the refrigerator was full to the brim. Besides having ice cubes, it was also stocked with all sorts of food and ingredients.
Yu Ting took out a few ice cubes, wrapped them in a dry towel, and directly pushed open the door to Lu Jue’s room.
Probably because his back hurt, Lu Jue was now lying on his stomach. The blanket wasn’t just kicked away but seemed deliberately pulled down to below his waist. Seeing Yu Ting return, he asked, “Leaving now?”
“I’m not leaving. The bus has stopped running.” Yu Ting stepped forward and paused. He asked, “You need to physically cool down. Can you turn over?”
“It hurts quite badly. I’ll try.”
Seeing that even moving was difficult for Lu Jue, Yu Ting put the towel down and helped him turn over. But his hand was still supporting the back of Lu Jue’s neck. He pulled another pillow over and tucked it under Lu Jue’s neck before withdrawing his hand. “Is this okay?”
Lu Jue let out a soft laugh. “Okay.”
Yu Ting pulled his hand back. “I want to take a shower. Do you have any clothes—”
“The wardrobe’s got some.” Lu Jue cut in, his breathing growing heavier. “Just grab whatever, they should all fit you.”
His build was a size larger than Yu Ting’s, so his clothes would naturally fit Yu Ting. Yu Ting took a black T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
All of Lu Jue’s toiletries were imported brands, labeled in English and other languages. It took Yu Ting a moment to figure them out before he could shower.
Although this apartment was in an old residential area, it was once truly a gathering place for the wealthy and was also one of the first areas to have natural gas piped in.
The hot water was endless, no need to conserve water. Yu Ting’s shower took a little longer than usual. After washing, he changed into Lu Jue’s clothes. The style was common and plain, but once on, he realized they were something special—skin-friendly and cool.
Yu Ting casually dried his hair a few times, went out, and poured a cup of hot water. Enough time had passed between doses; it was time for the second round of medication. He picked up the fever reducer and went back into Lu Jue’s room.
