Sunlight slipped through the cracks in the curtains, casting elongated shadows on the milky white walls. A subtle warmth permeated the tranquil space.
Yan Yibing wiggled his toes, slipping one leg outside the blanket.
The moment his toes touched the wall, a chill ran through him, jolting him awake.
He had slept deeply last night, feeling remarkably at ease. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept, but during that slumber, the discomfort had finally subsided.
Opening his eyes, he knew he was still running a fever because there was a slight ache when he moved his eyeballs.
Throughout the night, he had sweated a lot, and the blanket clung tightly to his body, leaving his skin feeling sticky.
Furrowing his brow, he tilted his head, preparing to sit up.
But the next moment, he suddenly stopped.
Fully awake now, every nerve in his body regained its sensitivity.
He realized that someone was holding his hand.
Han Mo was leaning against his bed, a bit of the blanket against his head, half of his face pressed into it, leaving only one closed eye visible, and his messy black hair hung over his eyebrows.
He was asleep, breathing softly without making a sound.
He was still wearing yesterday’s thin short-sleeved shirt. One arm was tucked under his head, and the other was hidden beneath the blanket, clasping Yan Yibing’s hand.
So, Han Mo had watched over him all night.
Yan Yibing blinked his almond-shaped eyes, looked at Han Mo’s sleeping face, and subconsciously moved his pinky finger.
He touched a soft, warm palm.
Han Mo’s palm.
He froze, uncertain whether to withdraw his hand or not.
Withdrawing it might wake Han Mo up. Considering Han Mo had changed his wet towel throughout the night and probably hadn’t slept much, disturbing him now would be a bit too heartless.
But not withdrawing it… didn’t seem appropriate, either.
He was lost in his thoughts when Han Mo suddenly moved his neck.
The strands of hair brushed against the soft summer blanket, emitting a rustling sound.
Yan Yibing hastily withdrew his gaze, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.
The best way to avoid an awkward situation was to wait for Han Mo to let go of his hand on his own.
So, he relaxed his fingers, resigned to being held by Han Mo.
Sure enough, Han Mo woke up.
His eyes were red and bloodshot, and his double eyelids had become more pronounced.
Glancing up, he saw Yan Yibing with his eyes closed, breathing evenly, and his eyelids fluttering gently.
Han Mo tilted his head, focused his attention for a moment, and then smiled.
Any trace of drowsiness that remained instantly vanished.
This foolish master, doesn’t he know that when pretending to sleep, he should cover his uncontrollable eyes?
Han Mo licked his lips and shifted his gaze to the tidy blanket.
Last night, while sleeping, he had reached out and grabbed Yan Yibing’s hand.
Not to take advantage, but to monitor his body temperature at any time.
However, after holding hands for a while, with their palms pressed tightly together, he unknowingly fell asleep.
Han Mo moved his fingers and looked at Yan Yibing’s face.
Still pretending to sleep, but his eyelids were trembling more visibly.
Han Mo chuckled lightly and boldly touched Yan Yibing’s fingers under the blanket..
From the round nails to the joints of each finger, down to the tender flesh between the fingers that had barely seen sunlight.
Yan Yibing’s whole body tensed up; Han Mo’s touch was ticklish, but his movements were particularly ambiguous and suggestive.
Feigning discomfort, Yan Yibing grunted, frowned, turned over, and, took advantage of the motion to free his hand from Han Mo’s grasp.
Facing the wall, he curled up under the blanket, letting out a small sigh of relief.
Amusement glinted in Han Mo’s eyes as he casually remarked, “Tsk, you’re really turning your back to me?”
Yan Yibing nearly bit his cheek.
He forgot.
Han Mo was gay and had feelings for men.
Moreover, every morning when a man wakes up, he is most sensitive.
Yan Yibing was caught in a dilemma, and even his breathing became erratic.
Clearly, it was Han Mo who had that kind of intention towards him, he was a straight man, open and honest, but how come Yan Yibing felt like he was the one acting like a thief?
Yan Yibing, feeling frustrated, turned over, opened his eyes, and pretended to look like he had just woken up, with all his features wrinkled.
Han Mo deliberately teased him, “Such a pity, you woke up so soon. I wanted to feel how hot the person with a high fever is.”
The calmness that Yan Yibing, who had been single for over twenty years, had maintained was completely shattered by Han Mo’s antics.
“My housekeeper is coming over; you should go back and rest for now.”
“I’ve informed Yu Yan and Chen Chi; they will cooperate first. We’ll join a week later.”
Han Mo indeed didn’t sleep much last night. If this continued, he probably wouldn’t last.
But he still felt a bit reluctant to leave.
Yan Yibing responded with a simple “Hmm.”
In fact, he was a bit anxious.
The opponents were formidable, and their training time had been unavoidably shortened.
If they couldn’t achieve a good ranking in the East Asia Championship, it would be a disgrace to the country.
“Tonight, let’s try and arrange something. I’ll join in from home,” Yan Yibing didn’t want to waste time due to his condition.
Even if he couldn’t perform at his usual level due to the high fever, he could try not to hold them back too much.
Han Mo glanced at him and said, “Don’t play today. I have an interview that I can’t get out of.”
“Okay,” Yan Yibing closed his eyes without insisting. However, Han Mo’s words alleviated some of his guilt.
After a while, his housekeeper arrived.
After briefing her on the situation, Han Mo went home first.
Yan Yibing, hearing Han Mo leave, immediately got up from the bed, feeling light-headed, and headed to the bathroom.
Being covered in sweat was too disgusting. No matter how uncomfortable he felt, he had to take a shower.
His housekeeper shouted from downstairs, “Bing Bing, it’s time for you to check the temperature!”
Yan Yibing opened the door, “No need, right?”
His housekeeper came up, wearing a mask, and said with concern, “Oh no, you must check your temperature regularly. If the fever is too high, it might damage your brain.”
As soon as she entered the room, she quickly tidied up Yan Yibing’s room.
She neatly folded the scattered clothes, took off the sweaty sheets and quilt, piled them together, and replaced them with new ones.
After finishing everything, his housekeeper found the thermometer, took it out, shook it vigorously twice, and was about to put it in Yan Yibing’s mouth.
Yan Yibing was so frightened that he dodged, “Uh!”
His housekeeper was surprised, “Hurry, check your temperature.”
Yan Yibing frowned, “You don’t check it using your mouth.”
Wiping her hands on her apron, his housekeeper smiled innocently, “Oh, in our village, we do it by mouth. They say it’s more accurate. After measuring, just wash it. It might be different in the city.”
Yan Yibing tucked the thermometer under his armpit while muttering, “There’s this method too?”
After measuring his temperature, ensuring it hadn’t exceeded 39 degrees, his housekeeper went downstairs to cook.
Yan Yibing soaked in the bathtub, finally not feeling as light as cotton anymore.
The buoyancy of the water made him feel comfortable.
He grabbed his phone from the side and curiously searched for “how to use a thermometer.”
The first result on Baidu had the answer —
There are three ways to measure body temperature: orally, axillary, and rectally.
Yan Yibing stared at the last two words for a few seconds, his face turning embarrassed, and then turned off the phone.
His expression froze for a moment, then a red flush spread from his neck to his ears.
A tingling sensation, like an electric current, spread throughout his body. He gritted his teeth and fiercely pounded the innocent water surface.
Splashes of water scattered everywhere, making a mess.
So, that’s what Han Mo meant yesterday.
And he foolishly asked!
Damn…
Little beast!
Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fuck!
Yan Yibing scooped up a handful of water, wet his hair, rubbed his face for a while, and pondered for a long time before swallowing this ‘piece of knowledge’ with difficulty.
After calming down, he deeply understood how accomplished a nineteen-year-old little wolf dog could be in certain aspects.
It’s almost as good as skill points earned in esports.
Being targeted like this, he seemed to be in some danger.
He didn’t know how long he had been soaking in the bathtub when he heard his housekeeper’s enthusiastic shout from downstairs, “Oh young man, you’re here again!”
Yan Yibing was startled, he raised his head, and it took him a moment to react.
Wasn’t Han Mo supposed to sleep until evening? Why did he come back so soon!
Then he heard someone coming upstairs.
Yan Yibing jolted, sat up straight, and tried to jump out of the bathtub.
However, he had soaked for too long. When he abruptly stood up, everything went black before his eyes, his knees gave in, and with a flop, he tumbled back into the tub.
Fortunately, he instinctively protected his head, so he only banged his knee hard.
“Ah!”
Yan Yibing gritted his teeth, taking a sharp breath.
Han Mo had slept for two hours at home, then went to the pharmacy to get some fever-reducing ice patches. Now, armed with these items, he came to physically cool down Yan Yibing.
After all, antipyretics were harmful to the body and couldn’t be taken in large doses for a short time. But this illness demanded it; without medication, the fever couldn’t be brought down.
As soon as Han Mo came up, he heard the commotion from the bathroom.
Then he heard Yan Yibing’s painful cries.
In his urgency, Han Mo quickly twisted open the bathroom door.
Yan Yibing was kneeling in the bathtub, completely naked, gripping the edge with both hands. The muscles in his forearms were tense and he was slightly trembling.
One knee was bent, and he was trying hard to step out of the bathtub.
The gentle ripples of water caressed his fair skin, and underneath the water’s surface, nothing could escape notice.
Yan Yibing realized the gaze behind him, and his neck quickly turned red.
He retracted his legs without embarrassment, crouched in the bathtub, and hugged himself into a small ball.
“You go out first.” Yan Yibing awkwardly spoke in a low voice.
His hair was still wet, awkwardly clinging to his ears, with water dripping down his face.
Taking a deep breath, Han Mo ignored his words. Instead, he picked up a nearby towel, walked over, and unceremoniously lifted Yan Yibing up, wrapping him in the towel.
Before Yan Yibing could refuse, Han Mo directly held his waist, and lifted him out of the bathtub.
The water droplets from his body soaked the towel, making it damp where Han Mo’s hands touched.
People soaked for a long time felt all soft, as if they could squeeze water out with a pinch.
Han Mo’s gaze fell on a deep red mole behind Yan Yibing’s ear, and he said hoarsely, “Master, please don’t play such an exciting scene next time, okay?”
Yan Yibing: “…”
He tightened his towel, lowered his head, and staggered out of the bathroom.
Han Mo’s gaze shifted down to the rippling water in the tub, licked his lips.
Sick with a fever, he could only endure it.
Back in the room, Yan Yibing quickly dried himself, took a new blanket, and wrapped himself up.
His hair was still damp as he sat cross-legged on the bed, feeling embarrassed and awkward.
Damn.
This was the second time Han Mo had fished him out of the water.
At this rate, he would soon lose all his sense of shame.
Han Mo waited for Yan Yibing to finish cleaning up before coming out of the bathroom.
Today, he wore a gray T-shirt, and with the water, the visual effect was particularly obvious.
When he brought Yan Yibing out just now, some water spots inevitably stained his clothes.
All these reminded Yan Yibing of what had just happened.
“Why did you come back so early?” Yan Yibing asked calmly.
“It’s not early, it’s been over two hours.” Han Mo approached, naturally reached out, picked up a strand of Yan Yibing’s wet hair and rubbed it.
Fortunately, it was at home, and there was no need to blow dry.
Yan Yibing then realized how long he had been soaking.
Lowering his head, he looked at the knee that had just been knocked against the bathtub.
It still hurt a bit there, seemingly bruised, and it would turn blue tomorrow.
“Why are you so careless? It hurts more than when you kicked me.” Han Mo knelt down and lightly touched his injured area with his fingertips.
Yan Yibing pulled back his leg and retorted, “Stop talking nonsense. I didn’t use that much force.”
Han Mo lazily said, “Oh, why didn’t you use force, feeling sorry for me? Or you don’t hate being kissed by me that much?”
Yan Yibing replied, “…You’re not that old; where do you get so much flirtatious talk from?”
Not teasing him further, Han Mo rubbed the injured area on Yan Yibing’s leg with his palm and asked, “Where’s the thermometer? Check your temperature.”
Yan Yibing immediately recalled the piece of knowledge he had just found. His throat tightened, and his eyelashes trembled uneasily, “I measured it this morning, 38 degrees.”
“Oh.” Han Mo looked him over, raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone carrying a hint of teasing, and his expression innocent. “Then why is Master blushing?”
Author’s Message:
Yan Yibing: Evil disciple, be a decent person!
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