Chapter 30: Lu Jue’s Lips Still Bore the Sensation of Yu Ting’s Palm…

At the same moment, the taxi stopped. The passenger window rolled down, and the Chauffeur yelled, “Need a ride?”

“…”

Yu Ting’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “No, thank you.”

The Chauffeur drove off.

Yu Ting looked back. Sure enough, it was Lu Jue.

Lu Jue’s chest was heaving, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead as he looked down at him.

The earlier tension vanished. Lu Jue was still holding his wrist. Using that grip, Yu Ting pulled Lu Jue back onto the sidewalk and replied, “It was nothing. Why are you here?”

Lu Jue took a second or two to calm his breathing. “Class ended, came to the hospital to check on Aunt Fei. Didn’t expect to run into you.”

His gaze flicked to Yu Ting’s pocket. “Something urgent? You stopped in the road to look at your phone.”

Yu Ting recalled. He had been replying to Li Chengxi’s WeChat. He said simply, “Replying to a message.”

Late at night, the day’s burning heat had dissipated, and the wind was finally cool. Lu Jue slowly let go of Yu Ting. As he opened his mouth, Yu Ting pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. “No tissues. Want a handkerchief?”

Yu Ting added, “Just washed, never used.”

Lu Jue reached out. “Yes.”

The handkerchief carried a clean scent of soapberry, just like Yu Ting’s. Lu Jue casually wiped his face, then crumpled it in his palm and moved around to Yu Ting’s right. “Going home?”

Yu Ting nodded. “My mom doesn’t need an overnight escort just yet.”

“I’ll take you. My chauffeur is nearby.” Lu Jue said, “Hard to get a cab at night.”

At that exact moment, a taxi drove right past them.

Lu Jue made a call. A short while later, that multi-million-yuan car silently pulled up in front of them.

Once inside, Yu Ting leaned back against the soft cushion. Though he tried hard to control it, he still fell asleep.

He had a montage-like dream.

In the dream, first he was a child, sitting by the sea watching passing ships. Then he was in junior high, holding a hose in a flower nursery, watering a vast sea of blue Endless Summer Hydrangeas that looked like the ocean. Then, he was in the sea cave on a dark night.

That day, he’d lost track of time reading, pulled from the book’s world by the sound of a rainstorm.

Only one kerosene lamp was lit inside the cave, its light illuminating just the book Yu Ting held. Everything else was pitch black.

Suddenly, blue dots of light danced in the gap at the cave’s entrance.

First a small area, scattered blue lights dotting and jumping in the dark night. Then a larger expanse of blue light points, following the downpour of rain, instantly connecting the entire sea surface. Rippling blue dots and threads, like the night sky weeping a grand rain of blue.

The sole audience was Yu Ting.

That was Yu Ting’s first, and only, time witnessing the Blue Rain.

Pitter-patter…

The same sound of rain woke Yu Ting. He lifted his eyelids, vision blurry. Following the sound, his nose touched the car window battered by heavy rain.

Warm breath misted the glass, condensing into a small circle of fog. Through the blurriness outside, he vaguely recognized his home’s courtyard gate.

He snapped awake instantly. He was still in the car.

He turned his head. The reading light on Lu Jue’s side was on, very dim, only shining on the book and scratch paper Lu Jue held.

Familiar handwriting, several physics problems. It was the physics exam paper Yu Ting had compiled himself.

Lu Jue was doing problems.

“…”

Yu Ting pulled out his phone, lighting up half the screen to check the time. 1:21 AM.

He had slept for over two hours. The car had long since arrived at his house.

Yu Ting glanced at the front row. The Chauffeur sat upright; in the rearview mirror, his eyes seemed closed. Couldn’t tell if really asleep or just pretending.

Without making much noise, Yu Ting leaned close to Lu Jue and whispered, “I’m going home. Thank you.”

Lu Jue stopped writing. Before he could turn his head and speak, a dry, warm hand, still carrying the faint scent of apple, suddenly covered his lips.

His lips touched that soft palm. A warm breath tingled his earlobe. Yu Ting whispered in his ear, “You made a mistake on this one. I’ll give you the answer at school the day after tomorrow. I’m off now.”

The warmth of the palm and breath pulled away. Yu Ting silently opened the door and silently closed it behind him.

The cool air and smell of rain that rushed in were quickly swallowed by the car’s warmth. Lu Jue’s lips still bore the sensation of Yu Ting’s palm.

Warm, soft, and the scent of apples.

He turned sideways, watching Yu Ting run into the house through the rain-streaked window. Only when Yu Ting closed the door and the light inside came on did he slowly rub his lips several times and hoarsely command, “Drive.”

The Chauffeur’s eyes snapped open. “Yes, sir.”

~

Inside, Yu Ting watched the taillights fade before going to his room to grab a change of clothes and quickly shower in the bathroom.

Back in his room, the glued-together Ship Science and Technology Issue 221 still sat on his desk.

The beautiful Olympic ship had been carefully restored with clear tape; light hitting the tape gave it a shimmering effect, as if truly sailing the ocean.

Yu Ting picked up the magazine, pulled open a drawer, and gently placed it inside. Catching sight of the aluminum lunch box, his eyes flickered. After a pause, he still took out the box and opened it.

Besides a few bills, the wooden bracelet lay quietly inside. In the light and shadow, each bead flowed with a gentle, water-wave luster.

After a long time, Yu Ting took a deep breath, closed the lunch box, put it back in the drawer, and silently pushed it to the back of the desk.

He pulled out a chair, sat down, took out his daily study plan, and quickly got into the flow, solving several problems in a row.

Suddenly, a WeChat message popped up on his phone.

【Lu: I’m home.】

Seeing the contact name, Yu Ting put down his pen and picked up the phone.

Lu Jue hadn’t expected a reply. He watched the “Typing…” indicator, the corner of his mouth lifting. He closed the car door and went upstairs.

The next second, a simple 【Get some rest. Goodnight.】 appeared.

Lu Jue didn’t want to stop. “You going to sleep?”

“I napped in the car, not sleepy. I’m working on problems.”

Reaching the second floor, Lu Jue patted his pocket for his keys. Finding none, he didn’t bother to keep searching. Leaning his back against the door, head down, he typed a reply.

【I’m doing problems too. There’s one I don’t get. The sum of the first N terms of the sequence {a…} is S…】

The rainstorm continued. The sensor lights in the stairwell flickered on and off. When the light went dark, the phone screen glowed, its dim light shining on Lu Jue’s upturned lips. Clear mirth spread through his pitch-black, unfathomable eyes.

【Lele: I’ll explain it to you at school the day after tomorrow. I need to sleep. Goodnight.】

His fingertips lingered over the “Lele” at the top. Lu Jue took out the handkerchief hidden in his pocket.

He clutched it to his nose and inhaled deeply. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he slowly sent a voice message.

In the background was the pitter-patter of rain.

“Goodnight, Lele.”

At the same time, Yu Ting finished listening to the voice message. He focused for a few seconds, then put down his phone and continued solving problems.

A few minutes later, he stopped writing, pushed aside the problem set, and took out a blank notebook, writing on it—

10-Day Math Improvement Plan.

Sep 21, Sets and Logic.

Sep 22, Mappings and Functions.

Sep 23, Trigonometry and Vectors.

…

~

The next morning, Yu Ting went to the bank first thing to withdraw money.

Since it was an early withdrawal from a fixed-term deposit, the teller confirmed multiple times before processing it.

Twenty-five thousand yuan, two and a half thin stacks of fresh banknotes. At the bank, Yu Ting carefully wrapped them in newspaper into two separate bundles: one of twenty thousand, one of five thousand. He checked the remaining balance in the passbook, tucked the five-thousand bundle into the inner pocket of his backpack, and placed the twenty thousand in a separate compartment.

After getting the money, he rushed straight to the flower nursery. He worked for a few hours until finishing, then added Zhao Rufei on WeChat.

Zhao Rufei frequently used WeChat for business. When she got Yu Ting’s call asking her to accept his friend request, she almost thought it was a scammer.

“You registered for WeChat?” Zhao Rufei was incredibly surprised.

“Mm.” Yu Ting urged her, “Hurry and accept so we can video call. Your plants miss you.”

Zhao Rufei added Yu Ting and took the video call. Seeing the flower nursery she had cultivated with her own hands, her smile visibly widened. She gestured, “The doctor says my condition is good. After chemo, I can move freely. I want to come back to the nursery every afternoon.”

Afraid Yu Ting would disagree, she even got out of bed and walked around. “It’s not an illness that prevents walking. If hospitalization weren’t required for health insurance, I wouldn’t even need to be in the hospital. I feel great right now, no discomfort…”

Yu Ting asked Dr. Shen, and only after Dr. Shen agreed did he give his consent.

Zhao Rufei looked at Yu Ting on the video, thinner than ever. She refused his offer to deliver food: “The hospital cafeteria has everything, I can buy it myself! Don’t run to the hospital every day. Go home, eat a good meal, sleep well tonight, and go back to school tomorrow, fully rested.”

Yu Ting locked up the nursery and got on his bicycle. “I’m coming to bring you money. Once school starts, even if you want me to come, I won’t be able to.”

Zhao Rufei grinned soundlessly. “Just this once.”

It was past three when he arrived at the hospital by bike. Yu Ting parked and bought some fruit at the shop downstairs.

All fruits Zhao Rufei normally considered too expensive to buy.

He carried them upstairs. As expected, Zhao Rufei fretted over the money for a while, dividing more than half for Yu Ting to take home.

Yu Ting had never tasted these premium fruits either! Those two imported bunches of Shine Muscat grapes were sold by the berry. She’d heard people say they really tasted like roses and had no seeds.

Yu Ting was about to refuse when he suddenly thought of something. He looked at the plump, translucent grapes, even their color different from ordinary grapes, emerald green, looking delicious just by sight.

He swallowed his words. He took one bunch of the Shine Muscats, a few red-fleshed kiwis, and a small box of coin-sized blueberries.

It was close to dinnertime. Yu Ting stayed with Zhao Rufei and ate at the hospital cafeteria before leaving.

He didn’t go home. He headed towards No. 2 High School.

City Hospital wasn’t far from No. 2 High School. It was just when school let out, the road teeming with students.

Yu Ting rode his bike into the residential area opposite the school. At the entrance of the area, he got off and pushed his bike to Lu Jue’s building.

In front of Building 6, there was a designated parking zone for bicycles and e-bikes. Yu Ting found an open spot, parked, and called Lu Jue.

It rang twice before connecting.

A boy’s voice was speaking next to Lu Jue. “Brother Lu, please agree! I’m begging you!”

Yu Ting recognized it. It was the class Sports Representative, Fu Diyang. The next second, Fu Diyang’s voice disappeared. Lu Jue asked him, “Have you eaten?”

Yu Ting replied, “Yes. When are you coming back? I’m downstairs at your place.”

Immediately, the sound of running came through the receiver. Lu Jue said, “I’ll be right there.”

It was truly right there. Just as he hung up, Lu Jue appeared on the path ahead within moments.

Less than two minutes.

Yu Ting looked at Lu Jue, who had appeared before him as if by teleportation. His eyelashes fluttered rapidly, and the words slipped out: “Was the Sports Rep asking you to join a running competition?”

The school sports meet was at the end of next month.

Lu Jue was breathing hard, hands still braced on his knees, panting. Hearing this, he lifted his eyes to reply, “No, asking me to play in the basketball league.”

After answering casually, he immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Ting shook his head. “I came to pay you back. Also—”

He paused, holding out the bag of fruit. “Bought too much fruit for my mom. See if there’s anything you like—”

“I do.” Lu Jue immediately straightened and took the bag. “I like everything you give me.”