I’ll be heading off on vacation for two weeks in a few days, and then when I get home, I’ll be caught up in the busyness of the Christmas season. So, the next post will still come at its usual time, but then, for the month of December, I’ll only be able to post one time per week on Friday night (N. American time)/Sat.u.r.day (everywhere else). Posting should go back to normal in the New Year.
Lu Jun and Mo Ting were both sick recently. Toupai feels sad that he missed out on the party and decided he needs to join in on the fun, too.
Chapter 35 – Floured Beef Steamed in a Cup (5)
Only half an hour was needed for her to arrive outside the ground level of Toupai’s apartment building.
She had reckoned that Jue Mei needed to work, and if Mo Qingcheng was alone in his room with a high fever that would not break, he would definitely need someone to take care of him. However, now that she had actually arrived here, she started to waver… She looked up towards the twenty-fourth floor, wondering how she would get up there. He should be sleeping now, right? He was fevering and probably not too alert. Would it be okay if she woke him up when he was like this?…
“Little la.s.s, what is the matter?” asked a white-haired old lady carrying two bags stuffed with groceries. She set the bags down by her feet and felt for her key. “Did you forget your key?”
“Huh? No… My boyfriend is sleeping right now, and I…”
I was actually just wondering if I should wake him up to open the door for me…
The old lady smiled and opened the door. “Come in first.”
So just like that, she got in through the door. She helped the old lady carry her bags, and to her surprise, it turned out they were both going to the twenty-fourth floor. She recalled that the last time she came, she had sighed over what a nice layout this place had. Each floor only had two units… So, this old lady should be… Toupai’s neighbor across the hall?
Only now, while she was carrying these bags of laundry detergent – liquid or powder or something – did she suddenly think about this. The old lady smiled at her, “What a coincidence. Those young fellows across the hall, whose girlfriend are you?”
“I, ah… am…”
Her palms felt as if they were heating up, and she sensed this kindly gaze was looking her over interestedly. What was going on T.T?…… How come it felt like she had just met a parent or guardian and not just a neighbor? Sure enough, most elderly people were extremely cordial and nosy…
“Don’t say it. Let me guess.”
o(╯□╰)o Respected elder, just don’t guess…
“Is it that young doctor? The one who does not really like to talk?”
“Mm…” Doesn’t like to talk?
He was a voice actor, a profession that relied on speaking T.T ……
“Doctor’s are good. Having a doctor in the house benefits the entire family… Oh, it seems I’m being too much of a realist with what I’m saying. That child is so serious. I took my grandson to the hospital and ran into him once. That was the first time I saw him speak a little bit more. He was scolding two parents. Those two were a young mom and dad, and they had fiery tempers. They were yelling at the nurses, saying their technique was poor, that at other hospitals, they were able to get the scalp IV in one try, but here, they could not even find a vein… They were yelling so loudly they scared my grandson. And they had rolled up their sleeves, all ready to hit the nurses…… Ah… You know, the doctor-patient relations nowadays… The other day I saw on the news…”
The old woman’s topic drifted and drifted some more until it was far off from where it had originally been.
Gu Sheng was dying of curiosity over what she had heard and hurriedly pulled her back on topic. “And then? What did he say to them?”
“Oh, right. Your Little Mo, he asked, did the child have the IV in his scalp for four or five days already? Those two parents were not happy to answer, eh, and were still shouting. They said, yes, it had been five days already, and this was the first time they had such a problem. Little Mo then said, it had been so many days already, so the vein itself couldn’t handle it anymore. He told them to go and cut some raw potato slices and put it on the insertion site of the needle. That would help the vein heal faster…… I listened very carefully and even tried it on my grandson. It really works…”
So, he was actually… a pediatrician?
The elevator door opened. They had arrived at the twenty-fourth floor.
The old lady finally got to keenly watch her as she stood before the door and looked her over several times more in a kindly way before cheerfully stepping in her own door. Gu Sheng breathed out in relief. In that empty hallway, she stood there in front of the door and hesitated for a while. She glanced at her watch. The second hand was ticking and ticking away, and soon her heartbeat fell into pace with it.
That beat made a person feel so tense, aaah…
Exhaling gently, she finally pressed the doorbell. She had only been his girlfriend for three days… and it was only the second time seeing him since then… and she was here at his home again. What kind of luck was this? …
She waited quietly for a little while. No sound could be heard.
Mo Qingcheng, you didn’t pa.s.s out from your fever, did you?
She pressed the doorbell again, her anxiety escalating bit by bit and overshadowing that slight nervous embarra.s.sment from a moment ago.
Still… no sound could be heard…
He didn’t really faint, did he?!
Her heart was in her throat. Suddenly, the door opened.
It was apparent the person before her was not fully awake. He was dressed in only a white t-shirt and jogging pants, and, with one hand on the doorframe, he looked down at her. His eyes were only half-open, as if he had not quite processed what was going on. She, too, was given a shock and could only raise her head to look up at him. Hence, the two of them stood there, he looking at her and she looking at him, both of them not expecting this.
His lips pursed together in a smile and, all of a sudden, he chuckled. “Come in first.”
This time, his voice was truly thoroughly hoa.r.s.e. He turned around and slowly headed back in the direction of his own room. Gu Sheng hurriedly shut the door and changed into a pair of slippers. When she turned around, he had already entered his room.
Good thing… the door was open.
Stepping into his room, she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed. He ripped open a packet of medical alcohol swab, used it to wipe down a body temperature thermometer, and then stuffed the thermometer into his mouth before finally raising his head to look at her. The room’s curtains had been drawn closed, and it was dim inside. It was apparent that he really had been sleeping and she had woken him.
She walked over and sat on the small sofa beside his bed. “Feeling really… unwell? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
His brows creased together. He shook his head.
She could see the stray hairs in front of his forehead were damp. He should have sweated quite a bit. Why did the thermometer in his mouth seem almost like a lollipop he was sucking on?
“I’ll pour a cup of warm water for you? Hurry,” she pointed at the bed and instructed, “and lie down.”
Otherwise, if he sat here like this, he would catch another cold.
The heat in the room had not been turned on, and it was very cold.
She contemplated whether she should turn on the heat for him.
Pulling out a remote control from somewhere on his bed, Mo Qingcheng was already turning on the heat with it. With a frown, he asked, “Why are you wearing a skirt?” A voice that was speaking m.u.f.fledly, was a little sluggish, and carried a hint of reproach in it …
T.T…… Why did she feel like she was talking to a doctor? Had she been brainwashed by what the old lady said?
“It was quite warm this morning, so I decided to wear one …” Her cheeks flushed slightly. Rising to her feet, she went out to pour a gla.s.s of water for him. “Cover yourself with your blanket and go to sleep… I just came to check on you. Don’t mind me.”
Behind her, it was extremely quiet.
When she walked back into the room with a gla.s.s of warm water in hand, Mo Qingcheng really had already climbed back into bed. Half lying down, half leaning against the head of his bed, he closed his eyes and continued his battle with the high fever. Seeing that his forehead was damp with sweat, Gu Sheng set the gla.s.s down on the windowsill beside the bed and walked up to the edge of the bed. She leaned over and asked softly, “Have you taken any medication yet? What does your towel look like? I’ll go wet it with some warm water so you can wipe your face?”
She was leaned over at the waist, and her hands supported her weight on the edge of the bed so she could speak to him.
She had not really thought anything about this position.
But now, as she leaned forward, she started to feel a little anxious.
Mo Qingcheng answered with an “mm.” Those eyes, which, because of his feverish state, seemed covered with a layer of mist, opened and looked at her. He continued in that indistinct voice, “I wanted to tell you last time, don’t wear dresses and skirts in the winter anymore.”
She was somewhat bewildered. How did the topic manage to come back to this again?
Reaching up, he took the thermometer out of his mouth and then explained in a quiet voice, “Girls need to be conscious about keeping themselves warm.” Because of his sore throat, he was speaking very slowly, and as a result, his tone naturally was tinged with hints of gentleness and tenderness.
A “thump, thump” sound carried up from her chest to her ears. She felt slightly fl.u.s.tered and unconsciously pulled away to increase the distance between the two of them to a safe one. Suddenly, she felt his burning hot finger brush her ice-cold ear. “You’ll remember to be careful about that?”
His voice was hoa.r.s.e, yet his tone was gentle.
With no effort at all, he had broken down any defense she may have had and spoken straight into the very bottom of her heart…
“What color is your towel?” She abruptly leapt to her feet, whipped around, and hurried out of the room, clearly running to the pace of her own heartbeat. Her legs felt weak…
“White.”