Ch 14
by SpringlilaWhen they arrived at Lou Cheng’s house, he gave Ding Xuerun a pair of cotton slippers that he hadn’t worn: “You follow me upstairs, and you pick out a coat.”
His room was so warm that Lou Cheng took off his fur coat.
Ding Xuerun cast a look at him. He usually sees Lou Cheng dressed very handsomely, but he never thought he would buy this kind of clothes.
Lou Cheng seemed to notice his gaze, touched his nose and said: “I didn’t buy the clothes. I don’t have such a rustic aesthetic. My dad made it. He went hunting in Siberia with someone more than ten years ago, and it happened that two bears were fighting, so he dragged the body back.”
“I don’t usually wear it. It’s too cold today,” he said. He took Ding Xuerun upstairs, with a slight grievance. “And I’m still sick. I rarely get sick. My body is great and strong, you know.”
People become fragile when they are sick, and they need care. Ding Xuerun knows this very well regardless of serious or minor illnesses.
“Stop talking, your voice is hoarse.”
Lou Cheng said “Oh”, and couldn’t help but force him: “I will go out with you to buy medicine, and then shall we go to the exam?”
“If you don’t take the exam, you need to rest.”
“I’ll just take the medicine and went to the examination room to get some sleep.” Lou Cheng opened the door of the room. His room was the master bedroom of the original owner’s house. It was decorated in the French style. The ceiling was decorated with complex plaster carvings. Maybe the former hostess studied sculpture, and there were many large and small white plaster statues in the room.
Some are placed next to the vase, and some stand on the ground.
Ding Xuerun said: “Since you are going to sleep, what are you doing in the examination room?”
Lou Cheng didn’t know either, he just thought Xiao Ding might be caught cheating. If he went, he could be safer. If he found that the invigilator’s expression is wrong, he would stretch his leg and trip him over!
He did not answer, and turned a light blue down jacket out of a pile of coats: “I wore when I was a freshman. Although it was not much shorter than now, this down jacket has a high waist. You can also wear it, try it.”
Lou Cheng looked down and watched Ding Xuerun unzipped the school uniform, revealing the sweater inside. The black sweater and the snow-white neck formed a sharp contrast.
“My mother bought all my clothes. It only looks good in white skin, but I can’t wear them.” He said while watching Ding Xuerun change his clothes.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the wound on the palm of his hand.
“Xiao Ding, what happened with your hand?”
Ding Xuerun just pulled up the zipper of the down jacket and looked down. There was indeed a long new wound on the palm of his hand, and the blood hadn’t dried out yet. He inadvertently lowered his head and licked to stop the bleeding, and calmly said: “It’s okay, there are band-aids in my dormitory.”
Seeing him sticking out his tongue to lick the blood on his hand, Lou Cheng feels his blood rushing, Xiao Ding looks like such a pure person, how did he make some movements so… Lou Cheng couldn’t tell. He just licked a wound, why did he feel like he was watching a striptease dance.
Lou Cheng coughed dryly, his face flushed with sickness: “Xiao Ding, are the clothes still suitable?”
It’s a bit big, but not too big. Ding Xuerun said it was suitable: “I will get it dry cleaned for you after the weekend, and then I will give it to you on Monday.”
Lou Cheng was about to say no. The clothes are old and he wouldn’t wear them anymore. Then he heard Ding Xuerun’s clean voice: “I can’t take your things for nothing like this.”
Lou Cheng’s lips moved, and after a moment he said, “No dry cleaning is necessary. My clothes are washed by my aunt. You can come to me on weekend nights.”
He was thinking about Xiao Ding’s breakfast. Lou Cheng’s mother had invited him a cooking aunt, but Lou Cheng didn’t like letting people come in and out of his home at will. The aunt always cooked for him, but he was often away. The meal went to waste because it was not eaten.
Later, he sent his aunt away.
Ding Xuerun put on his school uniform again and stretched out his hand: “Let me see if you have a fever. If you have a fever, we will go to the hospital. If there is no fever, we’ll go out to buy some medicine and then take a rest.”
He probed Lou Cheng’s forehead with the back of his hand and felt it for a few seconds. Ding Xuerun took his hand off: “Maybe my hand is too cold, I feel like you have a low fever, it’s a little hot.”
Lou Cheng’s brain was short-circuited. He touched his hand, and said, “It’s a bit cold…”
“…I’ll get you a glove.” Lou Cheng finished speaking, but he didn’t let go. He thought Xiao Ding’s hand was cold and slippery, so he could cool it down. It’s as if he could reduce the fever by holding it.
Ding Xuerun was very self-conscious and naturally took out his hand: “Lou Cheng, you have a rest. I will buy you medicine.”
Lou Cheng was going to follow him and put on his white bearskin. Ding Xuerun looked at him and shook his head: “You’d better not to go out like this.”
Finally, when Ding Xuerun left, he walked out of the gate of his yard. Looking back he saw a tall furry bear standing at the door.
Lou Cheng waved at him.
He bought a thermometer, fever-reducing patches, and a few boxes of cold medicine. The pharmacy just slaughtered people. A little cold medicine cost more than 100 yuan. At the checkout, the pharmacy nurse said, “Your earmuffs are pretty cute. Where did you buy them?”
“Classmate’s.”
The nurse asked him: “Aren’t you taking an exam? Why are you out now.”
Ding Xuerun said: “My classmate is sick.”
The school bell has rung.
Ding Xuerun come out from the pharmacy and took a look at the time. It was only five minutes before the exam began. There was no student outside the campus gate. He went to buy some breakfast.
“This medicine is three times a day, three capsules at a time, this white one is two capsules. Don’t make a mistake, and this powder is one pack at a time and three times a day,” said Ding Xuerun, he opened the thermometer box and handed it to him. “You clip the thermometer first.”
“Where is it?”
Ding Xuerun glanced at him: “Haven’t you taken your temperature? Armpits.”
The campus bell rang again.
Lou Cheng unbuttoned his pajamas while the bell rang, he clipped the thermometer obediently, and asked him: “Xiao Ding, are you really not going to the exam? It’s still in time. It’s okay to be 15 minutes late.”
Although he was ill, his eyes were still very bright, but his cheeks were flushed with an unhealthy pink, and his eyes were drooping down as if he had changed from a vicious and unruly boy to a good baby.
He sat down to eat breakfast properly.
Ding Xuerun prepared the medicine for him, bringing him water, brewed the powder, and stirred it with a coffee spoon while saying, “Let’s see it later, I’m leaving. You are at home alone. What if you have a high fever and no one cares about you, what would you do?”
“But isn’t the first exam Chinese language? Chinese should be your best subject, right? You see, you recited the text yesterday, it took a lot of effort…”
“Don’t worry, even if I score zero in this subject, it doesn’t hurt.” In fact, he really wanted the bonus.
His calm and relaxed appearance made Lou Cheng mistakenly think that his study was too bad that it didn’t matter whether he takes the exam or not, just like himself.
Lou Cheng sighed.
“That…” Lou Cheng was sitting on the sofa, like a guest, feeling a little at a loss. He felt extraordinarily sluggish today, and it started when he got up and received the call from Ding Xuerun.
He tilted his head and thought for a while, then looked at Ding Xuerun and said, “I’ll call Old Dou to ask for leave.”
He called Teacher Dou on Wechat. They have a class group. Everyone added the teacher’s WeChat account, Lou Cheng also added it and the teachers of each subject were grouped separately.
There is a dynamic that occurs from time to time, saying that the wild dog has taken away his schoolbag, and it is so tiring to study English on the TOEFL.
The phone was quickly connected, without waiting for him to speak, Old Dou start to speak like a machine gun: “Lou Cheng, did you not come for the exam again? Do you still want to graduate?”
“I’m sick and I want to take a leave of absence.”
Lou Cheng’s voice was so dumb that he was sick, so Old Dou was silent for a few seconds after hearing it: “Take good care of your illness. It’s weird how you always get sick suddenly…”
“I will come to the exam this afternoon.”
“Oh.” Believe your nonsense!
Lou Cheng: “Also, Ding Xuerun is with me, and we will ask for leave together.”
When Old Dou heard the name, his attitude changed instantly. He roared like a myocardial infarction: “What did you say? He was with you?! Are you in school or outside school? Hurry! Let him take the exam!”
Lou Cheng didn’t understand why Old Dou was suddenly so agitated. What was he so agitated about, afraid that Xiao Ding would miss the exam and drag his class average score?
Then you have to postpone the exam, okay!
“No, we are in the hospital now. We just registered.”
Old Dou frowned: “What’s wrong with him? Is it serious? Can you come back for the exam?”
“Uh… he was bitten by a dog.” Lou Cheng scratched his head.
Old Dou: “…” Very good, this is Lou Cheng’s useful lie. Every time he said he was still unwilling: “Don’t punish me, you punish the dog. It’s the dog’s fault.”
Old Dou was so angry that he had liver pain every time. It was the first time in so many years since he was a teacher had met such a student like Lou Cheng with all kinds of poisons.
The key is not to be angry. He is not that kind of bad student. He usually respects you very much, so he can’t get angry.
Ding Xuerun couldn’t listen anymore, and stretched out his hand: “Lou Cheng, let me speak.”
He walked aside, Lou Cheng only heard a few words. “He was confused by the fever.” “I didn’t get bitten by a dog.” “…The schoolbag was not taken away either.” “Teacher, I know it very well.” “I will definitely come in the afternoon, and it is too late for me to rush back from the hospital.”
When the phone was hung up, Ding Xuerun returned the phone to him: “Okay.”
“Old Dou cares a lot about you…” Lou Cheng had a thermometer in his armpit, so he sat very upright looking at him, “Xiao Ding, tell me the truth, are you relatives with him?”
“…No.”
“That shouldn’t be it. How can he be so good to you? He keeps asking you to take exams. Doesn’t he know how bad your grades are?”
“Maybe.” Ding Xuerun smiled, “Take out the thermometer and drink the medicine.”
Lou Cheng was taken care of by him, lay him down on the bed, and covering him with a quilt. Ding Xuerun said: “You are sweating, the fever will go down quickly. You just have a low-grade fever. Just get some sleep and get up after a while.”
Lou Cheng said, “You should have a rest, too.”
“It’s okay, I’ll review.” He sat on the sofa by the window.
Perhaps because of the medicine, Lou Cheng fell asleep very quickly and his forehead was sweating all the time. After a while, Ding Xuerun was also sleepy. He set an alarm, took off his glasses, and put it next to him. He lay on his side on the sofa and fell asleep.
Only shallow breathing remained in the room.
At eleven o’clock, the school bell rang, and Lou Cheng heard the broadcast from the school: “There are still fifteen minutes before the end of the exam. Please pay attention to the time.”
He wakes up as soon as he hears the school bell, which has become a conditioned reflex.
And Ding Xuerun is a person who usually doesn’t have enough time to sleep. He wakes up at six o’clock for a long time. His learning style seems not as hard as other students, but it consumes more brainpower than others, so he will be more tired.
So Lou Cheng covered with seat, lifted up the quilt, and sat up. What he saw was Ding Xuerun curled up asleep on the sofa in his bedroom.
Lou Cheng’s mouth was very dry and bitter. He took off the anti-fever patch on his forehead and took a sip of water before getting out of bed. Because he was afraid of waking Ding Xuerun, he moved very lightly.
He didn’t even dare to wear slippers. Fortunately, the heating was warm enough that he would not feel cold when he stepped barefoot on the floor.
He sweated a lot, but the dull feeling disappeared. He was already in good health, and he got better even faster than ordinary people when he suffered a minor illness.
He was originally going to take a bath but when he saw that Ding Xuerun was covered with nothing, he brought him a blanket.
Lou Cheng carefully covered him with the blanket. At this moment, Ding Xuerun seemed to have noticed and turned over on the sofa.
His arms dropped.
Lou Cheng noticed his hand. Ding Xuerun didn’t know if he had forgotten it or something. He didn’t stick the band-aid. There was a long thin bloodstain on his hand. It looked very eye-catching in the palm of his hand so white.
He went downstairs to search for a while. He found medicine and band-aids for treating the wounds. Because he usually plays basketball and rides a bike, it is inevitable to have a small bump, which is why he had them at home.
When he went downstairs, Ding Xuerun opened his eyes, but did not move and closed his eyes again.
Lou Cheng glanced at him and found that he was still sleeping and breathing shallowly. Ding Xuerun’s sleeping face is very quiet, and his lips are naturally smiling. However, Xiao Ding doesn’t like to laugh very much. He is very cold and cool. However, when he falls asleep, he appears soft and well-behaved. His skin is white and tender that he want to pinch it. The eyelashes are also very long, even the arc of the closed eyes is very beautiful.
He originally took Ding Xuerun’s hand to apply iodophor to the wound on the palm of his hand, but seeing that his light-colored hair looked soft and easy to touch, he couldn’t help but stretched out his hand and touched it.
But at this moment, Ding Xuerun suddenly woke up.
His eyelashes trembled and he slowly opened his eyes, his voice still a little asleep: “Lou Cheng, what are you doing?”
He is nearsighted, and every time he takes off his glasses, he loses sight of people, but he has suddenly focused on Lou Cheng.
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Lou Cheng almost jumped up, “I didn’t touch your head!”