Shen Hui pressed his face against the table to cool down, his exquisite eyebrows and eyes like autumn water. He calmed down slightly, opening one eye to raise his phone screen.
Hmph, trying to peep, huh? Do you think I’m afraid?
Shen Hui squinted, his long and thick eyelashes unable to hide his curious gaze. He hadn’t seen Lin Jingming’s abs yet, so he wanted to see what a punch-worthy set of abs looked like…
How come it’s gone?!
He straightened up suddenly, futilely turning his phone in different directions, as if that would bring Lin Jingming into the frame.
But Lin Jingming was probably changing into pajamas. Shen Hui hadn’t seen him the whole time, and soon he heard a light chuckle.
“What are you looking for?” Lin Jingming took the phone, dressed decently, making Shen Hui’s restless gaze seem like that of a little pervert.
Shen Hui angrily hung up the video call and went to take a shower.
He only glanced at it once? He had missed out big time.
But then again, Lin Jingming truly lived up to his reputation as someone who could intimidate a street thug. Look at those abs, truly unbeatable. Shen Hui looked at himself in the mirror, his flat stomach devoid of any excess fat, his waist slim, his skin fair. But he looked like he could be knocked over by Lin Jingming with a single punch.
After spending a long time in the bathroom, Shen Hui sneezed a couple of times when he came out, but since it was summer, he didn’t pay much attention.
His cheeks had suffered from Lin Jingming’s teasing these past few days, so Shen Hui was very careful to apply a face mask. If there was a next time, he would… he would send Lin Jingming the most detailed makeup removal tutorial!
He had a chaotic dream all night, crying in Lin Jingming’s arms in high school, doing physics homework at Lin Jingming’s house, and being chased all over the street while wearing women’s clothes by Lin Jingming… In short, the Shen Hui in his dreams was incredibly busy, to the point where he woke up with sweat dripping down his forehead.
He touched his forehead and felt that it was okay, so he didn’t pay it much mind. He had been frozen by the air conditioning in the room, and he was too lazy to get out of bed, so he curled up in the blanket and fell asleep again.
At seven o’clock in the evening, the scheduled study time with Lin Jingming arrived. Shen Hui groggily got out of bed and opened the video call.
He felt like he had a fever.
Shen Hui didn’t think it was because he had taken too long to shower. “I might have been scared sick by Lin Jingming; his fists are really terrifying.”
After pushing the blame onto Lin Jingming, Shen Hui pouted, his lips burning with a bright red color as if they could ooze rose juice.
Lin Jingming looked at him uncertainly. “Did you turn on a filter?”
Shen Hui: “…You annoying straight guy!”
“Yeah, it’s a new filter. Just trying it out,” Shen Hui didn’t want Lin Jingming to know he had a fever; it might bring up bad memories.
The next moment, his phone beeped with a transfer notification. Lin Jingming had transferred fifty thousand to him.
Shen Hui counted the zeroes and glared at him. “What are you doing?”
“I remembered your live stream as soon as you turned on the filter, couldn’t help but want to tip you. Turn it off, I’ve never seen you like this before,” Lin Jingming said.
Even though you’ve seen me before, why can’t you tell I have a fever?
Shen Hui didn’t move, so the transfer notifications kept chiming.
Shen Hui: You’re making it look like I’m intentionally scamming money.
After teasing Shen Hui for a while, Lin Jingming sensed something was wrong. “Are you running a fever?”
“No!” Shen Hui immediately denied.
Lin Jingming’s smile faded, and a barely perceptible mix of concern and anger flashed in his eyes. “Did you take any medicine?”
Shen Hui nodded.
“Why do you look like you haven’t been out today?” Lin Jingming seemed to have installed a surveillance device on Shen Hui.
“I asked my roommate to get the medicine for me,” Shen Hui replied. He hadn’t been seriously ill for years; a little headache or fever would pass with time. He didn’t like taking medicine.
“Let me see the medicine,” Lin Jingming demanded.
Shen Hui reluctantly admitted, “I don’t have any.”
“Shen Hui, you used to take all the medicine at once, but now you won’t take any. Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?” Lin Jingming asked.
“I’m not,” Shen Hui muttered, then abruptly ended the video call. “I’m tired. I don’t feel like studying today.”
When Lin Jingming saw Shen Hui lean over to turn off the video call, he noticed that Shen Hui’s lips were almost cracked. But the little brat avoided eye contact, refusing to look at him, and efficiently ended the call.
Lin Jingming clicked his tongue, changed into outdoor clothes, and went to the pharmacy to buy fever-reducing medicine. Then he called one of Shen Hui’s professors at the university to help him find Shen Hui’s dorm room.
In this field, everyone knew each other.
Half an hour later, Lin Jingming appeared at Shen Hui’s dorm room door. He happened to see someone who looked a lot like Shen Hui from behind, opening the door.
With Shen Hui’s luck, Lin Jingming was well-versed in identifying crossdressers.
Lin Jingming didn’t know about the “when a crossdresser appears in the dorm, it’s easy to infect a group of people” rule. Shen Hui had worn this outfit during a livestream, so Lin Jingming thought it was him.
Pressing his temple, Lin Jingming felt a sense of déjà vu. Three years ago, he had gone to see the sick Shen Hui with a bag of medicine. When he arrived, there was no one at Shen Hui’s home, so he couldn’t wait and broke in, only to find out that Shen Hui had gone street racing with Huang Mao. Lin Jingming had felt a little disappointed at the time.
Just like now.
Even though Shen Hui was sick, where was he going again? Or was it another lie to avoid studying?
Was he being deceived again?
“Shen…” Lin Jingming wanted to call out to him, but he remembered Shen Hui’s way of apologizing three years ago and ultimately didn’t say anything.
As he watched the figure enter the room, Lin Jingming hung the medicine bag on the doorknob and turned to leave.
Shen Hui’s roommate, Su Yuhe(from story 6), took off the little camisole he had borrowed from Shen Hui and heard some movement at the door. He was a bit puzzled. “Shen Hui, did you order takeout?”
He opened the door and saw a bag of medicine and a bottle of glucose. “Are you sick?”
“Yeah,” Shen Hui replied.
“Then come down and take your medicine. Why didn’t the delivery person knock?” Su Yuhe helped him boil water.
“I won’t take it… huh? Medicine?” Shen Hui suddenly sat up, climbed down the stairs, grabbed the medicine, and asked, “I didn’t buy this… when did it arrive?”
“Just now. It wasn’t here when I came in,” Su Yuhe replied.
Was it Lin Jingming? Then why didn’t he say anything?
Shen Hui glanced at Su Yuhe’s attire. Recently, there had been perverts lurking around the school, so his roommate took it upon himself to dress as a weak girl to enforce the law, coming and going early every day.
His eyes widened, and his mind suddenly became agile. Did Lin Jingming mistake Su Yuhe for him? Thinking that he wasn’t sick and lying to him?
Shen Hui grabbed the medicine bag, didn’t even bother putting on his shoes, and ran downstairs barefoot, his mind in chaos.
Lin Jingming…
He saw a figure wearing a shirt and trousers flash past the corner on the second floor. In the middle of summer, who else but Lin Jingming would dress like that?
Shen Hui sped up, bounding down the stairs like a bouncing ball about to burst. Finally, just before Lin Jingming was about to leave, he caught up to him.
“Lin Jingming!” Shen Hui didn’t stop, and he collided with Lin Jingming’s back, his head spinning from the impact against Lin Jingming’s solid muscles.
Lin Jingming, hit by this little ball behind him, almost collided with the glass due to inertia.
“I… I didn’t lie to you,” Shen Hui gasped for breath behind him, his voice hoarse, like a little lamb that hadn’t drunk water for days.
Shen Hui grabbed the corner of Lin Jingming’s suit, his fingertips trembling, his moist toes curling anxiously as he rubbed the other foot’s toe pads, restless like an ant spinning around.
The moment Shen Hui pressed against him, Lin Jingming understood his misunderstanding just from the feeling of the fabric. He held Shen Hui’s hand, turned around, and saw Shen Hui’s anxious red eyes and cracked lips, instantly feeling distressed.
“Sorry.”
He looked down Shen Hui’s clothes and found that he wasn’t wearing shoes. Without hesitation, he squatted down slightly, put one hand around Shen Hui’s hips, lifted him up like a child, and put his other hand around his back.
Lin Jingming strode towards his parked car, opened the door, and put Shen Hui inside.
Just as he was about to close the door and go to the driver’s seat, Shen Hui suddenly grabbed his hand, pressed it against his forehead, and said softly, “I didn’t lie to you. Please don’t hit me.”
Don’t… don’t ignore me.
Shen Hui let go of Lin Jingming’s hand, anxiously and hastily opened the bag, took out a strip of medicine, and poked out a few pills.
Lin Jingming held Shen Hui’s hand. “Shen Hui.”
He pried open Shen Hui’s fingers, took away the extra pills, and left only two. “Take according to the doctor’s instructions.”
Lin Jingming felt sorry. Just the words “I didn’t lie to you” poked a hole in his heart, and a little person crawled inside.
Over the years, the only person who could evoke such emotions in him, make him endure everything, and resign himself to fate, was Shen Hui.
Lin Jingming unscrewed the thermos in the car. “There’s still some warm water.” He watched Shen Hui obediently swallow the medicine, feeling both angry and distressed.
The reason why he had brought medicine to Shen Hui today was because he knew Shen Hui wouldn’t proactively buy it. To be precise, Shen Hui hadn’t liked taking medicine since the incident when he was caught street racing with Huang Mao.
After Shen Hui took the medicine, he sat quietly without speaking. He knew Lin Jingming must have remembered their high school days.
…
High school.
When he found the medicine on the table, his mind went blank for a moment. At that time, he both resented Lin Jingming for being too cunning and not letting him make money and, at the same time, he also knew how good Lin Jingming was to him.
He couldn’t remember his childhood clearly, but Lin Jingming was the first person he had met who was willing to teach him wholeheartedly, guide him, and treat him well. Old man Lin also cared about him, but with over fifty students in one class, it was impossible for him to chase after Shen Hui every day. Otherwise, he would either be angry or exhausted.
Lin Jingming was different. He couldn’t pinpoint what was different about him.
He used to be afraid of getting beaten by Lin Jingming when he made mistakes. This was the first time he was afraid that Lin Jingming wouldn’t care about him. When Lin Jingming didn’t show up to scare him as usual, Shen Hui, who had always been headstrong, wasn’t afraid, but this time, Lin Jingming didn’t use his usual tactics to scare him, and Shen Hui was scared.
He knew that if a person’s heart turned cold, it would truly be irretrievable. He and Lin Jingming had no blood ties or friendship. If Lin Jingming didn’t care about him… if Lin Jingming didn’t care about him… every child would worry about what would happen if their parents didn’t want them and picked them up from the trash only to throw them away again. The fear he hadn’t experienced in his childhood, the heavens had given it to him now.
Shen Hui didn’t know how adults apologized, even though he was an adult himself, his behavior was still terrifyingly childish.
He ignored the dosage and swallowed all the pills from the medicine Lin Jingming left on the table, then went to find Lin Jingming.
Lin Jingming was scared and immediately took him to the hospital for gastric lavage.
Shen Hui lay pale on the hospital bed, pulling on Lin Jingming’s sleeve, asking if he could forgive him for lying this time.
Lin Jingming agreed.
So Shen Hui took advantage and asked him to promise, “I won’t take medicine anymore in the future.”
Lin Jingming also agreed.
…
There was an awkward atmosphere in the car. Shen Hui looked down as Lin Jingming took out a wet wipe to wipe the soles of his feet.
It felt cool and itchy.
With his higher-than-usual body temperature and senses, these sensations were even more pronounced.
Lin Jingming put his feet on the cushion. “Close your eyes and sleep for a while.”
Shen Hui watched him start the car and asked, “Where are we going?”
“My place.” Professor Lin wanted to take care of the patient.
Shen Hui felt that his actions today didn’t fit his image as the crossdressing boss. He tried to distance himself, saying, “No, I have to check the dorms.”
If he went with Lin Jingming, what if Lin Jingming got upset and wanted to beat him? This wasn’t the street; there were no constraints when it came to fighting.
Lin Jingming glanced at the rearview mirror while reversing the car. “The school’s student affairs office shouldn’t interfere with me taking care of my blind date, right?”
Shen Hui suppressed a smile. Wasn’t this too childish? Playing house, still immersed in the scenario of a blind date? He wouldn’t turn into a “well-educated and reasonable” standard blind date candidate.
Who was more childish? To say you wouldn’t go after the car had already started, who was more childish?
Seeing Shen Hui’s mood improve, Lin Jingming smiled and said, “Let’s make a deal. Don’t mention me hitting you every day from now on.”
He had never hit Shen Hui, so what gave him the impression that he would? Problems that could be solved by law, Professor Lin never resorted to violence.
For problems that couldn’t be solved by law, such as Shen Hui, Professor Lin would never resort to violence either.
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