CM - 48

Zhou Shuirong didn’t sleep all night.

Shen Tingwen stayed up all night, keeping watch.

Zhou Shuirong took a shower, preparing to go to school.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, and they weren’t going to make her admit to a mistake she didn’t make.

Don’t take medicine indiscriminately, don’t talk nonsense, and don’t admit to a mistake you didn’t make! If they were relentless, she would start from the beginning. Every person who had stepped on her, she would hang them out to dry one by one.

When she left, she didn’t see Shen Tingwen. It wasn’t that he had left; he was hiding in the stairwell.

Once she was in the elevator, he came out, preparing to go home and change. He had things to do.

After he came out of the first-floor lobby, he didn’t see Zhou Shuirong. Just as he felt something was off, Zhou Shuirong suddenly appeared in front of him like a ghost.

Zhou Shuirong looked at him. “Don’t tell me you stayed outside my door all night.”

“No, I came this morning.”

“Not going home to change clothes?”

“Why would a man need to change clothes every day?”

Zhou Shuirong glanced at him. “Don’t think I’ll be touched.”

Shen Tingwen nodded. “Yeah, you won’t be touched. You’ll just be moved. But you won’t be moved by me; you don’t think highly of me and never will. I shouldn’t waste my energy.”

He had said everything Zhou Shuirong was about to say.

Shen Tingwen asked her, “You only have these two lines to say; I’ve memorized them.”

Zhou Shuirong couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. She turned and walked away.

Shen Tingwen followed her. “Since you found out I watched over you all night, could you buy me breakfast?”

“Did I ask you to watch over me?”

“No.”

“Then why should I buy you food?”

“Okay, I get it. I’m not worthy. I’ll just go home and have porridge and pickles.”

If Zhou Shuirong’s glare had any power, Shen Tingwen would be a corpse by now. His pitiful act was always just right, both genuine and fake. She gave in. “Just one meal.”

“Great!”

Zhou Shuirong took Shen Tingwen out for a meal and ran into an acquaintance of his—a woman. She looked to be in her late twenties, with a certain mature charm. Her eyes lit up when she saw Shen Tingwen, and she automatically ignored Zhou Shuirong.

Zhou Shuirong had no appetite. After a couple of bites, she paid and left.

Shen Tingwen tried to follow her, but the woman stopped him.

Zhou Shuirong didn’t look back, but since Shen Tingwen didn’t catch up to her, it meant he had things to say to the woman. That worked out; she was going to be late anyway, so she left first.

On the bus, Zhou Shuirong recalled the scene, the woman’s face, and her previous guess about whether Shen Tingwen was a virgin. Although there was no direct connection, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering.

Shen Tingwen wasn’t delayed by the woman for too long. By the time he got out, Zhou Shuirong was already gone. He sent her a message: “That’s my sister.”

Zhou Shuirong replied: “You don’t need to explain to me.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be jealous.”

“You’re thinking too much.”

“Oh really? Then why did you run off? You didn’t even finish your cream soup. Were you in that much of a hurry to leave?”

Zhou Shuirong stopped replying. Shen Tingwen always had something to say, and she couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense.

Shen Tingwen’s reflection period had one day left, and he had already planned out what to do. First, he would go to the hospital to see Teacher Fan.

________________________________________

In the hospital room, Shen Tingwen, dressed neatly, brought flowers and a fruit basket for Teacher Fan.

Teacher Fan was pleasantly surprised. Shen Tingwen was the first student to visit her at the hospital, and they hadn’t interacted much before.

Shen Tingwen even peeled an apple for her himself, with a rare smile on his face. “Teacher Fan, I can’t believe Zhou Shuirong is that kind of person. It’s so sad that you got hurt. I couldn’t sleep all night after hearing the news.”

Teacher Fan smiled, a little unconvinced. “You care that much about me?”

Shen Tingwen took out a biology test paper and said, “When I first started high school, biology was my worst subject. You helped me with tutoring for over a week, and my biology grades caught up. It’s all thanks to you.”

Teacher Fan remembered something like that happening, but she thought he would have forgotten after so long. She was surprised he still remembered.

Shen Tingwen continued, “I heard your husband travels for work a lot and doesn’t have time to take care of you. How about this? I can’t go to school right now anyway, so I can take care of you? And I can pick you up and drop you off from work later.”

Teacher Fan was about to refuse, but who could say no to Shen Tingwen’s face?

And just like that, Shen Tingwen became Teacher Fan’s “bodyguard.”

When his reflection period was over, he took a leave of absence from school. He spent his days taking care of Teacher Fan at the hospital, his nights watching over Zhou Shuirong’s apartment door, and squeezed in time to get his own bandages changed at the clinic. He was a very busy man.