Upon receiving a clear response from Shen Xingruo, the tightness in Lu Xingyan’s chest suddenly dissipated. “Step aside,” Shen Xingruo commanded. But Lu Xingyan didn’t budge, maintaining her stance as a barrier in front of her, gazing at her intently.
Suddenly, he spoke again, “I’ll walk you home.”
Shen Xingruo raised an eyebrow. “But you ignored me.”
“And you didn’t come back with me.”
“I got caught in the rain.”
Shen Xingruo interjected, “Get to the point.”
A lump formed in Lu Xingyan’s throat, his voice lowering slightly. “I feel like I owe you something.”
With that, he leaned forward.
Shen Xingruo swiftly blocked his lips with her hand, then promptly stomped on his foot. However, her slippers were soft, with cotton soles, so stepping on Lu Xingyan’s foot hardly elicited any sensation.
The two locked eyes, palms separated by mere inches.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
A familiar yet refreshing sensation surged through Lu Xingyan’s nostrils…
He attempted to turn his face away, but Shen Xingruo thought he was trying to kiss elsewhere and moved her hand along with his face.
“Achoo!”
“Achoo!”
When Lu Xingyan sneezed, Shen Xingruo’s face moved in sync with his.
Once the sneezing fit subsided, Shen Xingruo’s hand was damp and sticky.
Reason told Shen Xingruo that it couldn’t be just saliva, but associating Lu Xingyan with snot left her with an indescribable sense of disillusionment.
She didn’t move her hand away, nor did she retract it. This tainted hand, like Lu Xingyan’s face, had become irredeemable garbage in Shen Xingruo’s mind at that moment.
The ambiguous atmosphere suddenly dissipated.
From Shen Xingruo’s gaze, Lu Xingyan could sense his image crumbling inch by inch.
No, he thought he could salvage it.
So, he quickly reacted and covered Shen Xingruo’s eyes with his hand. “Close them.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t obey, so he closed her eyelids forcefully from top to bottom as if putting to rest a restless braid.
Then, he stepped back and hurried into the bathroom.
In less than ten seconds, Lu Xingyan emerged again, clean and fresh, draped in a towel like a seductive young man once more.
He adjusted his hair with great care to maintain his appearance, then approached with a towel to help Shen Xingruo dry her hands.
Shen Xingruo’s hands were slender and white, resembling freshly peeled onions.
He had never assisted anyone with drying their hands before, so his movements were not very smooth, and he wiped them slowly.
Nearly forced into a kiss and then sprayed with an unknown liquid, Shen Xingruo had initially gathered her temper to retaliate, but somehow, she suddenly didn’t feel like it anymore.
She lowered her gaze as Lu Xingyan dried her hands.
Suddenly, she asked, “Where’s your umbrella? Why did you get caught in the rain?”
“It’s unlucky. I threw it away, and gave it to a girl in our class who didn’t have one.”
Shen Xingruo wanted to inquire further about the unlucky aspect when he added four more words abruptly, “The umbrella was green.”
Shen Xingruo “…”
It was something he would do.
She glanced up and noticed that Lu Xingyan’s newly changed T-shirt was already damp from the water droplets dripping from his hair. She patted it and said, “Change your clothes, dry your hair, or you’ll catch a cold.”
Lu Xingyan: “Then help me dry off.”
Shen Xingruo: “What are you dreaming?”
Lu Xingyan: “I got wet because of you.”
Shen Xingruo: “You got wet because you were being silly. If you’re sick, take medicine.”
Lu Xingyan: “…”
Shen Xingruo’s words proved prophetic.
Lu Xingyan really fell ill.
The next day was the start of the school term, but Lu Xingyan couldn’t get out of bed no matter what.
Shen Xingruo called out to him at the door, unable to rouse him, thinking he just didn’t want to go to school. She scolded him at the door for being lazy and incompetent.
Lu Xingyan’s throat felt parched, his head heavy, and his vision blurry. Hearing Shen Xingruo scolding him at the door, he forced himself to get up, opened the door, and in a tired, hoarse voice, said, “Stop scolding.”
Seeing his miserable appearance, Shen Xingruo was taken aback. Subconsciously, she reached out and touched his forehead. “You have a high fever.”
Mrs. Zhou was cooking porridge in the kitchen. Shen Xingruo took Lu Xingyan into the room and helped him onto the bed.
Lu Xingyan felt burning hot all over, yet he pulled the blanket up, saying he felt a bit cold.
Shen Xingruo got up, fetched another thick blanket from the cabinet, and tucked it in carefully. “Cover up more. Sweating it out should help.”
Afterward, Shen Xingruo thought of something else and tried to get up.
Lu Xingyan reached out from under the blanket, grabbing her. “Where are you going?”
Shen Xingruo: “To get medicine.”
Only then did Lu Xingyan let go.
Fortunately, they had a complete supply of common cold medicine at home. Shen Xingruo found some for fever and inflammation and brought Lu Xingyan a cup of warm water.
Mrs. Zhou had just finished cooking the porridge and, seeing Shen Xingruo pouring water, casually asked, “Xingruo, did Lu Xingyan get up?”
Shen Xingruo: “He’s got a cold.”
Mrs. Zhou was surprised. “How did he catch a cold? Was it because his shoes got wet yesterday and he didn’t dry his feet in time? I told him his shoes were wet, and cold starts from the feet. This child… Well, then I’ll cook some ginger soup for him.”
Shen Xingruo nodded.
Mrs. Zhou added, “I’ll ladle him a bowl of porridge. He should have porridge before taking medicine on an empty stomach.”
Shen Xingruo nodded again.
Mrs. Zhou was a capable woman who could manage everything inside and out of the house with ease. Hearing that Lu Xingyan was sick, she hurried her steps even more.
She told Shen Xingruo not to worry, and to have her breakfast peacefully first, then took the warm water and medicine from Shen Xingruo’s hand. She grabbed a tray and brought the medicine, warm water, and porridge into Lu Xingyan’s room.
Seeing Mrs. Zhou enter, Lu Xingyan subtly frowned. Then, he very uncooperatively refused to eat the porridge or take the medicine, insisting she just put them down and he would take them later. Mrs. Zhou couldn’t argue with him. When she came out, she kept muttering to Shen Xingruo, “I don’t know where Lu Xingyan learned this stubbornness from. He won’t eat anything without brushing his teeth first. Even when he’s sick, he’s so concerned about his appearance. There are only three people in this house, what’s the point of being so image-conscious? With so much concern about his appearance, I still haven’t seen him bring home a girlfriend…”
Shen Xingruo paused with the porcelain spoon in her hand.
She quickly finished the remaining porridge, got up, and said, “I’ll go in and check on him.”
As Shen Xingruo entered the room, Lu Xingyan, looking rather frail, came out of the bathroom.
He glanced at Shen Xingruo, then effortlessly lay back on the bed, saying, “Hey, feed me.”
Shen Xingruo: “…”
She turned around, ready to leave.
Lu Xingyan called after her, “I got sick because of you.”
Shen Xingruo turned back, astounded by how thoroughly Lu Xingyan could leverage a favor and how nonchalant he was about it.
Lu Xingyan continued nonchalantly, “You were even cursing me last night to take medicine if I got sick.”
“…”
Suddenly, Shen Xingruo walked back to his bedside and picked up the porridge from the bedside table. For some reason, Lu Xingyan had a premonition that she was about to splash the porridge on his face and intensify the curse to make him drop dead immediately.
Driven by a survival instinct, he cried out, “Wait!”
“I’ll do it myself!”
He took the porridge from Shen Xingruo, blew on it to cool it down, and finished it in three or four gulps. He also conscientiously drank a couple of sips of warm water and prepared the cold medicine granules himself, saying, “I’ll take the medicine in a while.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t know what game Lu Xingyan was playing. But she was someone who responded better to gentleness than to forcefulness. Now that Lu Xingyan wasn’t so adamant, she felt a bit uneasy.
After hesitating for a moment, she silently sat back down beside the bed and helped him take out the remaining capsules.
Lu Xingyan glanced at the time and asked, “It’s 7:30, aren’t you going to school? You’ll be late.”
Before Shen Xingruo could respond, he waved his hand dismissively. “Okay, you go to school. I’ll ask Wang Youfu and myself to take a leave of absence later. It’s just some routine stuff on the first day of school, very annoying.”
“Oh, by the way, if the final exam scores come out today, could you check them for me?”
Shen Xingruo was about to tell him that she had already checked them.
Lu Xingyan continued, “Mrs. Zhou said she’ll buy me some Chinese medicine later. I’ll be fine alone, lying in bed feeling lonely and miserable.”
Lu Xingyan was incredible. He always found a way to elicit sympathy from people and then completely nullify it.
What a drama queen.
Shen Xingruo got up and said from above, “Then you just lie in bed feeling lonely and miserable.”
Watching Shen Xingruo decisively leave, Lu Xingyan was a bit slow to react.
Damn… Why isn’t the script going the way it’s supposed to?
Although Shen Xingruo left the room, she didn’t go to school.
She called Wang Youfu and got a day off for Lu Xingyan, and half a day off for herself.
Lu Xingyan was right—most of what happened on the first day of school was just a lot of talk, and she didn’t want to hear it.
But she didn’t know that their absence on the first day of school had caused quite a stir in their class.
During the break, He Siyue came out of Wang Youfu’s office with a stack of papers.
As he passed by the staircase, he ran into Zhai Jiajing, who was fetching hot water. He smiled and greeted her.
Zhai Jiajing also smiled back. “Class Monitor.”
They walked back to class together. Suddenly, Zhai Jiajing brought up, “Hey, Class Monitor, did you take Shen Xingruo home yesterday?”
He Siyue nodded. “She didn’t have an umbrella, so I escorted her part of the way.”
“By the way, how did you know? Did you see us yesterday?”
“No.”
“I saw Lu Xingyan coming out alone later. He was supposed to pick up Shen Xingruo for school, but couldn’t find her, so I guessed you must have taken her home.”
He Siyue paused, “What did you say?”
Zhai Jiajing seemed somewhat surprised and covered her lips. “Oh, um…”
She seemed unsure how to conceal it, bit her lip, and whispered, “Class Monitor, don’t tell anyone, but, it seems like Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan are dating, and they’re living together.”
She had followed Lu Xingyan all the way yesterday, holding that dark green umbrella.
And then she saw Lu Xingyan entering the same building where Shen Xingruo had gone in before.
A lot of things seemed to fall into place then.
The information was overwhelming, and He Siyue was momentarily stunned.
Zhai Jiajing continued, “I mean, just look at Lu Xingyan… Haven’t you heard the rumors around school?”
There were many rumors about Lu Xingyan. One of the most shocking ones was that he had paid thirty thousand yuan to take a girl’s virginity at Twelfth Middle School.
He Siyue somehow felt that Zhai Jiajing was referring to that one.
Zhai Jiajing added, “Their circle of friends has always had a chaotic private life. I feel like Shen Xingruo was also captivated by him…”
“But there’s that principal’s recommendation spot recently, one for each of the science and humanities classes in our sophomore year. I think Shen Xingruo has a good chance of getting it. So, I didn’t advise her against it. If they break up at such a critical time, and Lu Xingyan spills the beans, then Shen Xingruo will lose the opportunity.”
“Class Monitor, please don’t spread this around either.”