It’s the moment when sweetness instantly spreads.
The woman continued, “Chi Yin has also moved back from his grandparents’ house. Didn’t you two play together quite well when you were kids? It would be nice for you to have some company. Your aunt can’t come home often, and being alone isn’t suitable for you.”
Qi Juan sneered, “Since we’ve been living separately for so long, there’s no need to bring me back at this time.” His tone was provocatively raised, “Could it be that Chi Yin has challenged your position in their family?”
Yu Yue Sheng sighed, “…”
He had been wondering about the relationship between this Uncle Chi and Chi Yin just a moment ago, and now it seemed very likely they were father and son.
“What do you think of me?” The woman’s tone became somewhat confrontational, but she quickly regained the same smiling face she had when she first arrived. After speaking, she adjusted her dress as if trying to calm herself down.
Qi Juan, on the other hand, didn’t buy into her act. “Is this something to be proud of? And do you have to say it in front of my Laoshi?”
“Is he your Laoshi ? I thought he was your classmate or friend,” the woman sized up Yu Yue Sheng and appeared apologetic. “I’m sorry, Laoshi, I just wanted to chat with the child; I’m worried about him.”
“You two can talk. I’ll step outside to take a phone call,” Yu Yue Sheng left the hospital room and found a bench nearby.
Indeed, the fresh air outside was more pleasant. He felt irritated and uncomfortable when he heard others arguing. It wasn’t because he needed to make a phone call; a significant reason was that he felt it wasn’t appropriate for an outsider to be present when others discussed family matters.
Yu Yue Sheng rested his head against the wall, silently watching the passersby. After a while, there was some movement beside him, and when he looked down, he saw a little child following him.
It was the child brought by the woman, known as “An An.” Yu Yue Sheng hadn’t dealt with children before, and he wasn’t sure how old this little one was, maybe around four or five years old.
If Qi Juan hadn’t seen An An before, it had been many years since he had seen his mother.
The little one seemed to want to climb onto the chair. His short legs bent several times, even though his knees were almost at the edge of the chair. He tightly clutched the sides of the chair and huffed and puffed but couldn’t quite make it up.
Pouting, he looked at Yu Yue Sheng with his big, round, pleading eyes.
“…”
“…” An An blinked his big eyes.
Unexpectedly, Yu Yue Sheng just looked at him indifferently without offering any help. An An deflated and, stomping in his little shoes, ran into the hospital room within a few minutes. He returned with a piece of white paper and started folding it on the chair.
When Yu Yue Sheng looked at him, An An used his elbow to shield the folded paper, reserving a small area for himself, like marking a territory he didn’t want anyone to intrude upon.
“Do you know Chi Yin?” Yu Yue Sheng asked.
An An continued to work on his folding without much enthusiasm and said, “Don’t know.”
“Do you have an older brother, then? Someone around the same age as the one inside, with a round face…”
An An’s movements came to a halt, and he stared at Yu Yue Sheng with his big eyes.
Yu Yue Sheng was looking at him when suddenly, An An’s brow furrowed, and all his features scrunched together.
Tears welled up instantly on his bright red cheeks, and they poured down in a torrent. He wiped away the tears and snot with his chubby arms, opened his mouth, and started screaming hysterically.
The child’s voice was sharp and piercing, with a long-drawn-out trailing pitch. As he continued to wail, his crying intensified, causing people in the corridor to stop and look.
Yu Yue Sheng: “…”
He felt an inexplicable sense of being mistaken for a child trafficker. Or perhaps he was misunderstood as a young dad who couldn’t even take care of himself, let alone a child?
In any case, the surrounding glances were either disapproving or sympathetic.
Yu Yue Sheng turned his face away, trying to avoid eye contact with the passersby. He reluctantly took out a napkin and handed it to An An. After a while, he lowered his voice and uttered a dry, “Don’t cry.”
The woman hastily walked out, scooped up An An, not minding that her child’s face was a mess from crying, and just greeted Yu Yue Sheng, “Laoshi, we’re leaving now.”
“Okay.”
As the woman took a few steps, she turned back and stopped Yu Yue Sheng, “If it’s convenient, could I have your contact number? I don’t know many things about what Qi Juan is doing at school.”
Yu Yue Sheng took out his phone and, seeing that it was inconvenient for the woman to input her contact, said, “I’ll call you.”
His long, slender fingers swiftly dialed a series of numbers.
Qi Juan looked at the screen as the woman transferred money to him. He didn’t accept it, just tucked his phone back under the pillow, planning to refund it when the woman was far away.
He pulled the blanket back over himself, feeling burning hot and disoriented. He was parched, and even his eyelids felt like they were in a boxing match, struggling to stay open.
The blanket was gently pulled down a bit, and Qi Juan raised his eyes to find that Yu Yue Sheng had already returned, likely wanting to check if he had fallen asleep.
“I’m thirsty,” Qi Juan mumbled.
“Wait a moment.”
When Qi Juan was on the verge of drifting off to sleep, he felt a damp cotton swab gently touching his lips, gradually moistening them with water. Sweat was trickling down his forehead, possibly because someone was using a towel to wipe his face. The warm sensation covered his forehead, which felt really comforting.
As he sensed the person leaving, Qi Juan mumbled in his drowsiness, “Don’t go.”
The young nurse, who had been adjusting his IV drip, turned to look at Yu Yue Sheng and smiled faintly.
Yu Yue Sheng: “…”
He didn’t offer any response but simply tossed the cotton swab aside.
After the nurse left, Qi Juan continued, “I really hate hospitals.”
Yu Yue Sheng checked the wall clock, sent a WeChat message to Lao Yuan using his phone, and then placed Qi Juan’s hand back under the blanket, saying, “She hasn’t gone.”
Not sure if it was a misconception, but he had the feeling that Qi Juan was trembling slightly, and he didn’t know what the woman had said to him.
Yu Yue Sheng simply asked him, “Is your stomach still hurting?”
Qi Juan nodded, then quickly shook his head.
Yu Yue Sheng asked, “What does that mean?”
Qi Juan cleared his throat and said, “It still hurts a bit. It was really painful when she was here, but it got better when I saw you.”
“Okay.”
“Laoshi, does what you said earlier about taking me to your home still count?”
“It still counts.”
In the teacher’s study, the room was brightly lit, and the curtains swayed gracefully in the gentle breeze.
Yu Yue Sheng sat at the computer desk, organizing something.
Qi Juan lay on one corner of the table, chewing on the pen cap while doing his homework, occasionally lifting his head to glance at Yu Yue Sheng.
The man was fully immersed in his work, his profile sharp and clean, his eyes reflecting the blue light from the computer screen. His slender fingers effortlessly tapped on the keyboard, and even his slim wrists displayed an attractive curve.
Qi Juan propped his face up and suddenly thought, a serious man can be quite handsome.
The vibration of a phone brought him back to reality. When he swiped the screen, he saw that the class chat group was once again buzzing with messages.
Class monitor Cheng Yuanyuan said that when she passed by the office during the day, she heard that Yu Yue Sheng’s research paper had won a national award.
Below her message, there was a flood of clapping emojis.
Qi Juan scrolled through his moments on the social network and saw many of his classmates sharing screenshots and discussing this matter. He thought it was quite boring and decided to send one to Zuo Ziming.
Zuo Ziming: [……]
Zuo Ziming: [???]
Qi Juan tapped the desktop with one hand and calmly replied: [It’s nothing, just showing you.]
Zuo Ziming: [??? What is this?]
Qi Juan: [How about it? Our class teacher is impressive, right?]
Zuo Ziming felt as if an invisible knife was hovering at his throat and reluctantly replied: [Mmmm! very impressive.]
Qi Juan’s lips were slowly curving into a smile, but his head was gently tapped with a ballpoint pen, causing his small head to retract suddenly.
“Are you done writing?” Yu Yue Sheng asked him.
“Yeah, almost done,” Qi Juan replied, ruffling his hair.
–
The sky was split by a bolt of lightning, followed by a torrential downpour. The rain, driven by the wind, beat against the window, quickly forming overlapping water streaks.
In the guest room, Qi Juan curled up under the covers, his eyebrows tightly knit, and his forehead damp with cold sweat.
He was trapped in a dream –
…
Qi Juan was holding a bag of chestnuts, walking beside Yu Yue Sheng, peeling chestnuts and chatting with him at the same time.
The sunlight gently spilled onto the small path, and a group of primary school students wearing red scarves ran past quickly. Their school uniforms flapped open, and their backpacks bounced against their backs.
Soon, they ran further away with laughter.
As they walked into the alley, wisps of cooking smoke rose from the windows of the houses, carrying the aroma of food. On a nearby wall, there was a colorful painting, half bathed in shadow and half in sunlight, depicting a sky-blue and sea-blue scene.
“Yue Sheng, let’s take a photo here,” Qi Juan took out his phone and nudged Yu Yue Sheng with his elbow.
“Sure, in a moment.”
Yu Yue Sheng lowered his voice, and Qi Juan finally heard the distinct sounds of an argument and insults not far away. He furrowed his brow, carrying the bag of chestnuts, and followed Yu Yue Sheng.
The cool air in the alley hit them as they walked, and the sunlight couldn’t penetrate. The flagstone ground was covered in moss, making it slippery to walk on.
The abrupt sounds were getting closer, pounding into their eardrums one after another, giving them a sense of unease.
When they turned a corner, Qi Juan suddenly couldn’t move. His legs felt like they had a thousand pounds on them, and his whole body seemed to be stuck in that space, adhering to the air seamlessly, unable to budge.
He felt a bit suffocated.
In their line of sight, a masked man rudely yanked a necklace off a girl’s neck, leaving a long and sinister blood mark on her fair skin.
The girl’s somewhat disheveled hair and her eyes were swollen from crying. She cried out for help and fiercely struggled with the man. She was no match for the tall man and received several solid slaps to the face, making her look even more disheveled.
“What are you doing?”
Yu Yue Sheng kicked the assailant in the waist, forcefully knocking him to the ground and causing him to eat a mouthful of dirt. He pried the necklace from the man’s tightly clenched hand and then returned it to the girl.
The girl, still in a state of panic, thanked him while trembling, and she fumbled for her phone to call the police.
The assailant kept his head down, his long hair hiding any clear view of his expression, but all that was visible was him spitting out a mouthful of mud.
Immediately, a cold, piercing flash of light occurred, causing intense discomfort under the scorching sun.
A gentle breeze brushed over them, as light as a sigh.
Qi Juan stood frozen in place, distinctly hearing the sound of the blade not piercing a body.
Amid the girl’s screams, he stared in shock as Yu Yue Sheng slowly slid down.
And he held his fists clenched tightly, with threads of bloodshot appearing in his eyes, his throat making strained noises but unable to produce a complete sound.
The sound of flowing blood echoed softly between his eardrums, and the painful gasps carried by the wind seemed to expand infinitely.
Yet his fists remained clenched, threads of bloodshot filled his eyes, and a strangled sob escaped his throat, yet he couldn’t utter a complete sound.
The flowing of blood inside his eardrums created a soft sound, while in the wind, the sounds of painful gasps were amplified indefinitely.
He heard the sound of a camera shutter, and everything was frozen into a black-and-white photograph, suspended in front of a black coffin. Shortly after, funeral music pierced his eardrums.
…
“Yue Sheng!” He finally shouted.
Amidst the pouring rain, Qi Juan suddenly sat up from the darkness, gasping heavily.
At this moment, a lightning bolt outside struck, briefly illuminating the room, making his face turn as pale as paper.
Qi Juan raised his hand to turn on the bedside lamp, and the warm yellow light enveloped him. He felt the fear and powerlessness dissipate somewhat.
He didn’t know why he had such a dream. Perhaps it was because of what the mysterious man in black told him about the previous life when Yu Yue Sheng saved a girl, but he got hurt. He had been holding a grudge about it.
Qi Juan picked up his coat and draped it on. Still, he couldn’t help but pace back and forth in front of Yu Yue Sheng’s room. He repeatedly raised his hand towards the closed door, then curled his fingertips and slowly put them down.
“Click.”
The door suddenly opened.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Yue Sheng looked at him.
Finally seeing someone, Qi Juan took a deep breath and didn’t avoid him, saying, “I had a nightmare.”
Yu Yue Sheng raised an eyebrow, with an expression that seemed to say, “You’re not expecting me to comfort you, are you?”
Qi Juan looked inside the room and asked, “Can I sleep on the floor in your room?”
Just then, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by the deafening sound of thunder, shattering the silence of the rainy night.
Qi Juan leaned against the door frame, not letting Yu Yue Sheng close the door. He smiled and said, “I swear I don’t have any ulterior motives.” The way he said it made it sound like he had some hidden agenda.
Yu Yue Sheng couldn’t be bothered with him, stepped aside, and continued lying on the bed.
After Qi Juan had arranged a makeshift bed on the floor with a mattress and blanket, he turned off the light. He rolled over and placed his arms under his head, facing Yu Yue Sheng’s direction.
He could hear the wind howling and the rain persistently beating against the windows. The rain seemed to have lessened a bit, but it still sounded muffled and not very clear.
Qi Juan placed his hand on his stomach, which had been uncomfortable since he woke up from the nightmare, and it had been rumbling and turning restlessly.
The subtle pain gradually crept in, and his body curled up into a ball. He clenched his teeth and pressed his knuckles firmly against his abdomen.
“Click.”
The light suddenly turned on, casting a spill of light onto the young man. Yu Yue Sheng sat up, staring at him.
Qi Juan: “…”
It was unexpected.
He quickly grabbed the blanket and covered his face.
Yu Yue Sheng got up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He crouched by the makeshift bed and asked, “Hot water. Do you want some?”
“I’d like some,” Qi Juan replied from inside his blanket.
Then the blanket moved. Qi Juan propped himself up from the ground, peering out with a pale face, resembling the wall beside him. He sat by the bedside table, taking the glass from Yu Yue Sheng.
His throat gurgled as he drank about half the glass and decided not to drink anymore, placing the glass next to him.
Realizing he had been exposed, he didn’t bother hiding it anymore. He openly covered his abdomen with his hand and quietly folded his body under the blanket.
Yu Yue Sheng adjusted his position, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. He reached under Qi Juan’s clothing. His fingertips paused for a few seconds when they touched the uneven skin from the surgery. When he heard the person beside him quietly gasping in pain, he gently started massaging the area.
Qi Juan had only recently been discharged from the hospital, and he couldn’t eat much. His abdomen felt thin, flat, and soft to the touch, quite cool, resembling the texture of jelly or pudding. Regardless of what he had said earlier, at this moment, he was powerless due to the pain.
His entire body was tensed, like a tightly drawn bowstring. He held onto Yu Yue Sheng’s hand, pressing it firmly inward, almost reaching its limit.
“This way, I can’t move,” Yu Yue Sheng said.
“It feels better this way,” Qi Juan buried himself even harder, and his jet-black hair cascaded down along his knees.
Yu Yue Sheng gently patted Qi Juan’s back, trying to help him relax. Before he could release his grip, Yu Yue Sheng felt a sudden twitch in the ice-cold skin beneath his hand.
“Cough…” Qi Juan suddenly sat up, covering his mouth, and stumbled into the bathroom. He leaned against the shelf, and as soon as he bent over, he couldn’t help but start vomiting. His stomach churned violently, expelling the little food he had eaten.
He slid down slowly, clutching his stomach, and ended up in a disheveled state, embracing the toilet. When Yu Yue Sheng followed him in, Qi Juan used his last bit of strength to reach for the flush button on the side and pressed it wearily.
As Qi Juan prepared to stand up, he still stumbled and fell, which brought the person behind him down as well.
Yu Yue Sheng asked, “Are you okay?”
Qi Juan leaned against Yu Yue Sheng’s neck, his hand pressing down firmly on his spasming stomach. He coughed twice and tried to sound calm, “I had a dream that something happened to you. It scared me.”
“Dreams are not real,” Yu Yue Sheng said softly, supporting the person who was in too much pain to stand. “Do you still feel like vomiting?”
Qi Juan nodded.
After a short while, Qi Juan, holding Yu Yue Sheng’s wrist, struggled to get up. Yu Yue Sheng quickly helped him stand.
Qi Juan bent over, struggling to vomit a clear liquid. His shoulders were trembling, making anyone want to ease his pain.
“Does it feel like fetal movements?” Qi Juan forced a smile. When he didn’t get an immediate response, he continued aimlessly, using a slightly breathy voice, “What do you think, Laoshi?”
“If you’re uncomfortable, don’t talk,” Yu Yue Sheng said, supporting Qi Juan.
He could feel Qi Juan sliding down little by little, breathing becoming increasingly rapid. Qi Juan’s hand was very cold, squeezing his own hand. Under the rhythmic contractions of his hand, Qi Juan struggled to vomit, mouthful after mouthful.
After emptying his stomach of water and stomach acid, Qi Juan retreated to the corner of the room, taking a long while to recover. He figured that Yu Yue Sheng must be exhausted from taking care of him.
“Go back to sleep,” Qi Juan said, his tone filled with weariness.
He stood up, took a handful of tap water to rinse his mouth, and when he reached the bedroom door, he couldn’t resist. He grabbed the doorframe.
“Are you feeling okay?” Yu Yue Sheng asked.
“A bit…” Qi Juan thought for a moment and chose to replace the word ‘pain’ with something milder. He simply said, “Dizzy.”
“Low blood sugar?” Yu Yue Sheng supported him and glanced at the cabinet at the door, where his mother had left two boxes of wedding candy and soft cakes for his cousin Bin Bin’s wedding.
He extended one hand, reached for the wedding candy box, quickly poked a hole, picked a piece of fruit candy, and then laboriously placed it beside Qi Juan’s supporting hand. Using his fingertip, he tore open the candy wrapper and stuffed the candy into Qi Juan’s mouth.
“Um.”
It’s the moment when sweetness instantly spreads.
Yet, on that night of pouring rain, he tasted the delightful sweetness of summery oranges.
“You sleep on the bed, I’ll take the floor,” Yu Yue Sheng said. When Qi Juan came back to his senses, he found himself lying on the bed, and the blanket had been properly arranged.
The fruit candy was very sweet. His aunt had brought back this type of wedding candy before, but Qi Juan had never opened it. Now, he suddenly felt it was quite delicious.
Yu Yue Sheng bent down to pick up another pillow from the bed.
With his scorching breath nearly at arm’s reach, Qi Juan’s head spun. He impulsively pulled Yu Yue Sheng down. Caught off guard, Yu Yue Sheng’s hands landed on Qi Juan’s body, and he ended up falling into a warm embrace.
The young man’s strong yet tender bones, combined with the lingering scent of oranges in his breath, filled Qi Juan with warmth. He crushed the candy, but wrinkled his brow without realizing it.
“Did it hit you?” Yu Yue Sheng quickly sat up.
Author’s Note:
I got hit I got hit! compensate quickly!
![There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_2023-11-22_095131618.png "There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]")
