This kind of remedial class had never been relevant to him—it should have gone in one ear and out the other—but he couldn’t help thinking of Fu Yuhan.
In the last monthly exam, Fu Yuhan was last in Class 6, though in the grade he was only in the bottom half, not quite fallen into the dust.
After all, this was Class 6.
However, if remedial spots were available for every class, Fu Yuhan definitely couldn’t escape.
“Wen Yu!” Ge Ran suddenly walked over.
Wen Yu’s steps toward the exit paused: “Mm?”
“I’m asking you,” she smiled at him, “is Fu Yuhan’s condition serious? Is he very sick?”
“He’s okay, just caught a cold.” Wen Yu glanced at her and chuckled lightly. “The class monitor is so concerned about him?”
Ge Ran’s gaze flickered as she said softly: “I’m just asking—is he still in the infirmary?”
How would Wen Yu know? He was planning to go to the infirmary to check.
But after thinking, he changed the subject: “He went back… his mom came to pick him up.”
“I see… so where are you going?”
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
Wen Yu strode out of the classroom.
But he didn’t expect his words to become prophetic. When he arrived at the infirmary, there was no one inside. Upon asking the doctor, he learned they had just left five minutes ago.
If Zhou Wenkang hadn’t kept them after class to say those things, or if Ge Ran hadn’t stopped him to ask questions, or if the dismissal bell could have rung a bit earlier…
Wen Yu lowered his gaze, looking at the marble floor of the corridor.
After a while, he sighed softly.
He really was sick, not pretending.
What he should be doing now was taking advantage of Fu Yuhan being sick to mock him a few more times, or simply ignore him. Admittedly, Fu Yuhan was quite interesting as a person, but as a “toy,” he really wasn’t very qualified.
Fu Yuhan was too perceptive, able to see through him at a glance, often causing him to do things unlike himself.
Many of these things didn’t quite conform to his father’s long-standing requirements of him.
But…
Wen Yu thought for a moment and clenched his fists.
“I still want to see him.” Wen Yu thought. “He looked very uncomfortable.”
Wen Yu remembered how Fu Yuhan looked when caught in the rain, when drunk, when feverish…
He wanted to see him, at least until he recovered.
For the first time in his life, Wen Yu contemplated the possibility and specific methods of skipping class during school hours.
But Wen Yu didn’t succeed in implementing this. Even though he had learned Fu Yuhan’s regular escape routes from school from several people who suddenly came to invite him to join the “Underachiever Self-Rescue: Let’s Be Each Other’s Wings Mutual Help Study Group,” he didn’t know which hospital Fu Yuhan had gone to.
The messages he sent sank like stones into the sea.
–
Fu Yuhan had no mood to look at his phone. He never expected to run into his mom while getting an IV at the hospital.
The IV area had openings on both ends, and almost all patients coming to register and pay fees would pass through here. Especially in autumn when temperatures changed drastically, there were only more patients like Fu Yuhan with fever and cold recently, and the emergency room was packed.
It was under these circumstances that he saw He Yan hurrying past with payment slips.
Calling out was impossible—Fu Yuhan tried hard to reduce his presence. Unfortunately, tall, upright, young, and handsome boys were the focus of attention wherever they went. His skin was fair, and wearing a white school uniform under fluorescent lights, he looked like a glowing orb.
He Yan still saw him.
“Xiao Han?” She widened her eyes and walked over. “Why are you here?… What’s wrong?”
Fu Yuhan sniffled: “I have a fever.”
“How did this happen?” He Yan frowned. “Where did you go when you didn’t come home Saturday? I told you to call me but you just won’t listen!”
“Why didn’t you call me…” Fu Yuhan sniffled. “It was Yang Fan’s birthday, went singing all night.”
“How noble of you! Not coming home and expecting me to chase after you? You’re almost eighteen, you’re an adult, not eight years old!” He Yan’s tone was quite aggressive. “Look, the temperature dropped over the weekend, you don’t wear long underwear, and you stay up all night without sleeping—isn’t catching a cold and fever exactly what you deserve? Really think you’re young and have an iron body?”
He Yan spoke rapidly, her voice sharp and loud, giving Fu Yuhan a thorough scolding that made several bored IV patients around them look over.
Fu Yuhan had a splitting headache.
He didn’t want to argue with her about this. The IV was only half finished and he couldn’t leave, so he could only force himself to be patient and steer the conversation elsewhere: “Why are you here? Is Xiao Lu sick again?”
“Xiaolu likes you so much, yet you as her brother can’t care about her more. Xiaolu has secondary asthma, autumn and winter are always hard for her. I brought her for a follow-up.” He Yan pointed at his forehead. “The doctor is still waiting, I’m going to pay, I’ll deal with you later.”
Fu Yuhan: “…”
Her “later” meant a long time, because after paying she had to go back upstairs to submit forms and then take Qin Xiaolu for tests. Fu Yuhan only hoped he could finish his IV and leave before she returned.
Usually listening to her scold was one thing, but when he had a fever and was already feeling noisy, listening to her curse made Fu Yuhan’s head hurt even more.
However, what Fu Yuhan didn’t expect was that He Yan returned quite quickly, bringing a pile of things: “Did you eat breakfast?”
Fu Yuhan shook his head. When he woke up in the morning, he had vaguely felt nauseous and hadn’t eaten anything. Thinking about it now, he might have already had a fever then, but he hadn’t noticed and thought the morning temperature had dropped too much, so even wearing a jacket he still felt cold.
He Yan separated one bag from the things in her hands and placed it on the small table beside him. Fu Yuhan looked carefully—it was a bowl of porridge.
“…”
Honestly, he didn’t want to eat a single bite.
“Drink it,” He Yan said. “Even if you don’t want to eat, you have to eat a little.”
She opened the lid for Fu Yuhan, placed a disposable plastic spoon, then hurried upstairs again. Then Fu Yuhan saw her come downstairs to pay again more than ten minutes later, taking away the porridge bowl he had drunk half of but really couldn’t finish anymore to throw it away.
If she didn’t scold him thoroughly every time she came to Fu Yuhan, this kind of care could really be considered thoughtful.
Most importantly, when Fu Yuhan was sick, He Yan didn’t make him take care of Qin Xiaolu, and told him to go home early after finishing his IV.
He rarely experienced the feeling of being cared for—as long as he ignored He Yan’s scolding.
“Can you walk? Do you want Mom to take you?” He Yan looked at him, her tone still not very good.
“I’m fine.” Fu Yuhan said sullenly. “There are buses to home at the entrance.”
“Xiaolu will finish her checkup in another hour, Mom will be back soon.”
“Take good care of her.” Fu Yuhan said as he walked toward the entrance. “I’m leaving.”
Fu Yuhan didn’t see Wen Yu’s message until he walked out of the hospital entrance. He asked which hospital he was at.
Fu Yuhan: What are you asking this for?
Wen Yu replied quickly.
Wen Yu: To come see you.
Fu Yuhan: Go to your classes, honor student. I’m going home.
Wen Yu: Didn’t go to the hospital?
Fu Yuhan: Just came out, got an IV.
Fu Yuhan: I’m going home to sleep, see you when I’m better.
Fu Yuhan put away his phone after replying.
That day he went home not daring to think about Yang Fan, and couldn’t sleep, so he started pondering about Wen Yu. At first, Fu Yuhan didn’t have many thoughts, but then he suddenly remembered something Wen Yu had once said.
“As long as you give them what they want, they won’t try to understand what you really think.”
Fu Yuhan couldn’t remember the exact words, but that was roughly the meaning.
Maybe he was overthinking.
This sentence, along with how Wen Yu presented himself, allowed him to connect many things.
Generally, kids who act out are trying to get attention. Fu Yuhan felt Wen Yu was simply lacking love.
Not romantic love between lovers, but “lacking love” in a broad sense. The subtext of that sentence was probably something like “having been given too many expectations since childhood, so much so that no one has ever asked what I really think.”
—Wasn’t that quite easy to solve?
Fu Yuhan thought, since he recently needed to do something to distract from his heartbreak, he might as well help Wen Yu while he was at it.
Thinking of this, Fu Yuhan’s persistently low mood inexplicably improved. He got on the bus, went home, took some medicine, and fell asleep.
–
Every hour, Wen Yu would type a line in that chat window, but there was never a response from the other side.
He wasn’t sure if Fu Yuhan was really asleep or simply didn’t want to acknowledge him.
The classroom he had long been accustomed to became a shackle. For the first time, Wen Yu felt that studying was an extremely torturous thing. After finally enduring until afternoon, he eventually sent a message to Yang Fan.
Wen Yu: Bro, can I ask you something?
Yang Fan: Holy shit, the person who’s always ready to be my daddy is actually calling me bro? I need to screenshot this!
Yang Fan: What’s so important that you’re making such a big deal of it?
Wen Yu: Do you know Fu Yuhan’s home address?
Yang Fan: …
Yang Fan: …I do know it… but you just want to ask this…?
Wen Yu: Yeah.
Yang Fan: Can’t you ask him yourself?
Wen Yu: He has a fever, I want to go see him.
Yang Fan: Huh? How did he get a fever? Is it because he got caught in the rain the day before yesterday?
Wen Yu: Probably… Can you tell me the address first before we chat?
Yang Fan: Tsk, not easy. I’ve been hoping you two would make up every day, didn’t expect the reconciliation to come so suddenly.
Yang Fan: I can’t really describe the address, I just know how to get there. Let me draw you a map, wait.
Wen Yu waited for more than ten minutes, or maybe it felt like half a century, before finally receiving an image from Yang Fan.
Incredibly ugly, about twenty levels worse than Fu Yuhan’s drawing skills.
But after studying it for two minutes, Wen Yu found that Yang Fan had actually drawn it quite clearly. Take bus xx to station xx, walk straight after getting off, turn left at the second intersection, see the residential complex entrance and go in… these basics were all drawn out. Wen Yu could find it by following the map.
Wen Yu: Thanks.
Yang Fan: Don’t mention it, but I’ll remind you—Xiao Han’s room is the first one on the left after entering. Don’t go into any other rooms. If you disturb Xiao Lu’s rest, his mom will go crazy.
Wen Yu: Xiao Lu? Who? Full name?
Yang Fan: His sister, full name Qin Xiaolu.
Wen Yu: So many precautions.
Wen Yu: Got it.
Yang Fan: Yeah, if Xiao Han is okay, let me know too. With midterms coming up I might not have time to visit him—
Wen Yu: Mm.
Wen Yu copied that map and drew it again himself, memorizing the address in his mind.
With midterm exams approaching, the study atmosphere in class suddenly intensified. Previously Wen Yu had said Third High’s school culture was quite “wild,” but this afternoon he suddenly saw some potential of the bookworm First High.
Compared to people from other schools, Third High students naturally cared more about whether they’d be outperformed by First High. The class happened to have a living person who had transferred from First High, so while Wen Yu was drawing his map, quite a few people came to ask him about First High’s level.
“Hey Wen Yu, is First High’s overall strength better than ours?”
“Don’t know.”
“…Why don’t you know?”
Wen Yu looked up: “Because none of them have better grades than me—what are you afraid of? Just use me as a reference point.”
“Damn, that statement is really pretentious.” Fang Jiayuan, sitting in front of him, turned around and clasped his hands toward him. “Our Class 6 is counting on the big shot to carry us.”
“What can I do…”
“Can I borrow your notes to look at?”
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
