Liang Xiao spent the night on the sofa with a fever. The next morning, he woke up feeling parched and weak. He grabbed his phone to check the time—8 a.m. He had a meeting with a client at 9 a.m., so he quickly tried to push himself up from the sofa. However, his knee hit the coffee table, and dizziness forced him to sit back down.
After resting for a moment, Liang Xiao realized he wasn’t in any condition to go out. He sent a message to the client explaining his situation. Though the client wasn’t too happy, they understood it was because he was sick and rescheduled the meeting, advising him to rest well.
Liang Xiao put down his phone and touched his forehead, estimating that it was probably just a low fever. He stood up again and went to the kitchen to boil some water. While waiting for the water to boil, instead of sitting back down, he leaned against the fridge, resting his head against its cold surface.
He felt incredibly thirsty, tired, and drained of energy. In the short time it took for the water to boil, Liang Xiao actually fell asleep leaning against the fridge. It wasn’t until he heard a WeChat notification that he woke up again.
He poured himself a cup of hot water and walked back to the sofa. Just as he set the cup down, his phone rang. He sank into the sofa and picked up the call.
Jiang Qing’s voice came through quickly, firing off questions in rapid succession: “What are you doing? Why didn’t you reply to my messages? Are you feeling better? Do you still have a fever?”
Liang Xiao stared at the steam rising from his cup of water and replied wearily, “It hasn’t even been a minute since you sent your message before calling… I still have a slight fever, but it’s nothing serious.”
“You sound so weak even with just a low fever. Is your health deteriorating?” Jiang Qing said bluntly.
Liang Xiao was used to Jiang Qing’s way of showing concern. She was clearly worried about him but couldn’t bring herself to say anything overtly caring. He rarely got sick, and even when he did in the past, Jiang Qing didn’t have much time to look after him. She would just tell him to drink more hot water and sleep it off. Now that she wasn’t around to see him in person, she finally seemed more like a mother who worried about her child.
This actually made Liang Xiao quite happy, though he couldn’t let Jiang Qing know that—otherwise, she’d definitely get mad at him.
In his usual slow tone, he replied, “Maybe. I haven’t been exercising much lately, and I caught a chill from yesterday’s rain.”
Jiang Qing clicked her tongue in disapproval and paused for a moment before asking, “How exactly are you making money? How come you’re about to pay everything off so quickly?”
Liang Xiao chuckled. “Didn’t I tell you before? With my looks.”
“With your looks? Did you become someone’s model?” Jiang Qing was skeptical. “Can being a model really earn that much money?”
“Good looks can,” Liang Xiao replied cheekily.
“You little brat! Stop messing with me,” Jiang Qing said irritably. “Anyway, you’re an adult now—you’ve been to college and are educated. You should know better than me what’s right or wrong and what you should or shouldn’t do.”
As Jiang Qing spoke, Liang Xiao reached out to touch his cup of water. Feeling that it wasn’t too hot anymore, he picked it up and cautiously took a sip.
“That friend who lent you money—is he really your friend?” Jiang Qing asked suspiciously. “It’s not some kind of online loan or something shady, is it?”
“Do I look like I’d be stupid enough to take out an online loan just to pay off high-interest debt?”
Parched beyond belief, Liang Xiao took several gulps of hot water in quick succession despite nearly scalding his tongue in the process.
“How did you get to know such a wealthy friend? And so generous—he didn’t even charge you interest.”
Liang Xiao sighed, putting down his cup. “He’s not really a friend. He’s the owner of the bar I work at, a rich second-generation heir. The money he lent me is nothing to him, and he’s not worried about me paying it back.”
Jiang Qing was silent for a while. Liang Xiao rubbed his temples and said, “If there’s nothing else, let’s stop here. I want to sleep some more.”
Suddenly, Jiang Qing spoke again. “Liang Xiao, tell me honestly—are you being kept by someone?”
Liang Xiao thought his fever might have fried his brain. Confused, he asked, “What?”
Jiang Qing repeated seriously, “I’m asking if you’re being kept by someone.”
This time Liang Xiao was sure—his brain was fine; it was Jiang Qing’s that had issues. Half amused, half exasperated, he said, “Who the hell would keep me?”
“That bar owner you mentioned—the rich heir.”
“He’s a man,” Liang Xiao replied.
“So what? A man can’t keep you?”
Liang Xiao fell silent, momentarily unable to respond. Seeing his lack of reply, Jiang Qing grew anxious. “Liang Xiao! You little brat—has your brain gone to mush? You’re so young and already being kept? By a man, no less! You—”
“Stop, stop,” Liang Xiao interrupted with a deep frown. “Don’t yell—it’s giving me a headache. I’m not being kept, okay?”
“Really?” Jiang Qing sounded skeptical.
“Really,” Liang Xiao said. “What kind of rich heir would keep someone like me?”
“True,” Jiang Qing clicked her tongue. “You’re stubborn and bad at sweet-talking—anyone who’d spend money on you must have lost their mind.”
Leaning back against the sofa, Liang Xiao replied weakly, “Fine, my brain’s fried. Can we hang up now?”
“Do you think I want to care about you? If it weren’t because you’re paying off debts for me, I wouldn’t care who’s keeping you… Fine, hang up then. Drink more hot water and rest well.”
After Jiang Qing hung up, Liang Xiao let his hand drop and felt like her yelling had worsened his illness. His mind was now filled with nonsense about ‘being kept.’
He sat blankly on the sofa for a while before finishing the rest of his water. Then he grabbed his phone and went to the bedroom. After plugging in the phone to charge, he collapsed onto the bed.
·
When he woke up again, it was already noon. This time he woke up from hunger. Touching his forehead, he still felt feverish. He went to the living room and found some leftover fever medicine from Lu Ze’s visit last time. He took one pill with the now lukewarm water from earlier.
Searching around the house for food, he realized even instant noodles were gone. Starving, he picked up his phone to order takeout but noticed a message from Lu Ze: “[Xiao-ge, have you eaten an apple yet? Isn’t it super sweet?]”
So Liang Xiao walked to the fridge and took out the two bags of fruit Lu Ze had brought him—apples, bananas, oranges, and such. He peeled a banana and finished it in two or three bites before grabbing an apple. After casually wiping it clean, he took two bites—it was sweet, crisp, and juicy.
Liang Xiao replied: [Sweet, the bananas are delicious too, thank you.]
Two minutes later, Lu Ze responded: [It’s just a bit of fruit, and you’ve thanked me so many times already.]
Lu Ze: [I paid off my debt to you with a bowl of beef noodles yesterday. Should I also keep saying thank you?]
Liang Xiao had just finished eating a large apple. Seeing Lu Ze’s message, he smiled and was about to reply “No need,” but Lu Ze sent another message: [Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.]
Lu Ze: [Is that enough? If not, I’ve got more.]
Liang Xiao: [How about you just give me the money instead?]
Lu Ze: [Now you want the money?]
Lu Ze: [Too late, not giving it.]
By the time Liang Xiao finished peeling an orange, Lu Ze had already changed the topic: [Why are you so free at this time? No work?]
Liang Xiao: [Yeah, I have a bit of a fever, taking a day off.]
Lu Ze: [… Impressive.]
Lu Ze: [Yesterday I said you were cool. Today you’ve got a fever—can’t even handle a compliment.]
Liang Xiao stared at those two messages for a few seconds. Calling him “impressive” for having a fever—he thought it must be tough for Lu Ze to even pretend to act gay.
Lol he was like ‘that answer was too straight guy syndrome like to come from a gay guy’ 😭