OS - 36

Yanci walked to the empty seat next to Zhou Yu and sat down. The nurse told him to take his temperature; he wasn’t doing much better than Zhou Yu.

The canned fruit had been warmed with hot water and was still warm.

Although Cheng Yuzhou didn’t speak, he thought a lot. Zhou Yu had just talked about her childhood memory of having a fever and liking to eat canned fruit, believing it would make her feel better, and Yanci brought the canned fruit.

It was like when Cheng Wanyue and Cheng Yanqing had their birthdays in the summer. She silently drank that cup of water with chili oil for Yanci, her face red and coughing uncontrollably, but she didn’t say anything.

He only found out later that Yanci couldn’t eat spicy food.

Cheng Wanyue probably knew these things too; they weren’t unique secrets between her and Yanci. Even if she didn’t drink it, Cheng Wanyue might have stepped up bravely, but Cheng Yuzhou still felt a bit suffocated. He had felt for a long time that whenever these two were together, everyone else seemed to be pushed to the outer circle. At that time, he misunderstood that she liked Yanci, and a spark in a pile of dry wood could ignite a raging fire. Even if it was frozen three feet deep, would it not melt?

The nurse came to give Yanci an injection. His hand veins were clearly easier to find. Zhou Yu’s first injection had caused a lump, so it was switched from her left hand to her right.

Cheng Yuzhou spoke first, “You went to bed earliest yesterday. How did you also get a fever?”

Yanci said, “Couldn’t sleep, went out for a walk.”

The nurse saw that they knew each other and told him to also put his injected hand on the hot water bottle.

Zhou Yu’s hand retracted into her down jacket sleeve, not touching him.

“Can you stop leaning on her? She’s uncomfortable and weak,” Cheng Yuzhou reached around Zhou Yu from behind with one hand and pushed Yanci’s head. “Lean on the wall, lean on the chair. Isn’t this big place enough for you to lean on?”

Yanci said indifferently, “She hasn’t said anything, so why are you complaining?”

His tone wasn’t very good. Even the nurse glanced over. Zhou Yu had a severe headache and just lightly pulled on Cheng Yuzhou’s hem.

Cheng Yuzhou felt her subtle movement, and the anger in his heart was appeased.

Zhou Yu finished two bottles of IV fluid. She had also drunk hot water and had been enduring for a while before Yanci arrived.

Cheng Yuzhou quietly asked, “Does it hurt too much? I can slow it down for you.”

“I... I want to go to the restroom.”

He took down the IV bottle. Zhou Yu slowly got up. “I’ll hold it myself. There should be a place to hang it inside.”

“Go ahead.”

Cheng Yuzhou held the IV bottle and escorted Zhou Yu to the restroom door, finding an auntie to help.

Without that auntie, she wouldn’t have been able to unbutton or button up with one hand.

Cheng Yuzhou waited outside. When he saw Zhou Yu come out, he walked over, took the IV bottle, and thanked the auntie.

“Are you coming again tomorrow?”

Zhou Yu was still a bit embarrassed. “The doctor said if the fever doesn’t go down, I’ll need to come again. My mom will pick me up in a bit. You go back first.”

Cheng Yuzhou touched her face. “Why are you always trying to send me away today?”

Zhou Yu slowed her steps. “...I feel like you two are about to argue.”

“I won’t argue with him,” Cheng Yuzhou said. “I’ll go home after Auntie arrives. I don’t feel at ease with you here alone.”

“Did you eat dinner?”

“No, I’ll eat when I get back. Oh, by the way, the cup Wanyue gave you, I put it in your desk.”

She had been about to sleep last night, but because she was thinking about that cup, she went back to look for it near the streetlight. “I thought I had lost it.”

Cheng Yuzhou sighed somewhat helplessly. “You really can’t drink any alcohol.”

“...Who said that!”

“Then guess why I have a cold? Who infected me?” He deliberately paused for a few seconds, his gaze moving from her eyes down to her lips. “How did you infect me?”

Zhou Yu refused to answer, citing that “she’s still sick and her brain isn’t working well.”

Liu Fen arrived just in time. Zhou Yu’s last bottle of medicine had finished dripping, and the nurse was removing the needle.

Yanci leaned against the wall, his hat brim pulled low, looking as if he were asleep.

Cheng Yuzhou saw them downstairs, only standing at the door without following. When he went to Zhou’s house, he could tell Liu Fen was very resistant to outsiders. Cheng Wanyue had said that it was Zhou’s father’s death anniversary in a few days, and Liu Fen’s emotions were very unstable.

Zhou Yu looked back when Liu Fen wasn’t paying attention. Cheng Yuzhou waved at her.

She must be the saddest, right?

A nurse ran out of the IV drip hall, passing by Cheng Yuzhou. The can of fruit she was carrying bumped into Cheng Yuzhou’s leg.

He watched the nurse take the can over, hang it on Liu Fen’s hand, and then rush back to the IV drip hall.

Mother and daughter stood by the trash can for a while, but ultimately didn’t throw it away.

Cheng Yuzhou walked a short distance away, then turned back. Yanci was still in the same position as when he had left, not even changing the angle of his lowered head. Cheng Yuzhou sat on the chair and waited until Yanci finished his IV drip. Then, the two of them walked back together.

The weather was cold, and there were few people on the streets at night. It became even quieter after turning into the alley from the intersection.

Snow had been swept into piles on both sides of the road, and some was already melting.

Neither of them spoke. When they reached the gate of the Cheng family compound, Yanci was about to walk into the family dorm building on the right when Cheng Yanqing called out from behind.

“Feeling better? Are you going to class tomorrow?”

Cheng Yuzhou was in low spirits and said casually, “Hard to say, depends on the situation.”

Cheng Yanqing then looked at Yanci. “What about you?”

Yanci said, “I’m moving tomorrow.”

“Moving?” Cheng Yanqing was surprised. “Where to?”

“Changchun Road.”

Cheng Yanqing looked at Yanci’s retreating back in astonishment. The new house on Changchun Road was just renovated before Yanci’s parents passed away.

The Yan family had lived in this family dorm building for nearly ten years. Every corner of the house bore traces of Yanci’s parents. Before this, people had tried to persuade him to try a new environment, thinking it might help a little, but he had ignored them.

Cheng Yanqing asked Cheng Yuzhou, “Is he a bit strange? How did he suddenly have a change of heart?”

“How would I know?”

“He’s almost a bit abnormal like this.”

From that can of fruit, he hadn’t been quite normal, Cheng Yuzhou didn’t say.

“I hope I’m just overthinking,” Cheng Yanqing entered the house with him. “Are Uncle and Auntie coming back for New Year’s after all? Why did I hear my parents say we might all go to Nanjing this year?”

“They haven’t decided yet.”

“Only about ten days of vacation, and it’ll all be spent traveling.”

“You were cheered up that quickly?” Cheng Yuzhou, of course, knew why he didn’t want to go to Nanjing for New Year’s. “Weren’t you quite depressed this morning?”

Cheng Yanqing’s face looked awkward. “Don’t be a pot calling the kettle black. You’re not much better than me.”

Zhou Yu had been on an IV drip for three days at the hospital, and her fever finally broke on the fourth day, though she still had some cold symptoms.

She woke up in the morning, drank two packets of cough granules, and prepared to go to school.

After the snow melted, the ground was wet and sticky. Zhou Yu left earlier than usual. Many new residential complexes had been developed on Changchun Road in recent years, and most parents chose to buy homes here because of its proximity to both high school and junior high school.

Zhou Yu saw Yanci standing at the community entrance from a distance.

That night, the last thing she told him was: She wouldn’t.

She wouldn’t be like him.

Yanci seemed to sense her presence, looked up towards Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu averted her gaze and walked naturally forward. He didn’t call out to her either, silently following behind.

The two entered the classroom one after the other. At this time, everyone was rushing to class, and no one would pay attention to who was walking with whom.

Qing Hang was always the first to arrive. Zhou Yu hadn’t been there for three days, and there was a thick stack of test papers on her desk, but they were neatly arranged.

Her desk was also filled with things: medicine, snacks.

“Cheng Wanyue put them there.”

Zhou Yu had guessed as much. Cheng Wanyue liked pink and always chose strawberry-flavored yogurt. She had also been texting her frequently these past few days, asking if her fever had gone down. “Thank you for helping me organize the test papers.”

Qing Hang said, “It wasn’t me.”

Zhou Yu instinctively looked back towards the desk near the back door. Cheng Yuzhou was still coughing when he came in. She was better, but he had gotten worse.

He was wearing a mask, only his eyes visible. Perhaps he hadn’t slept well, giving him a very different feeling. There was a hint of sharpness in his nobility, which slowly softened when he looked at her.