I Like Zhouwei: @GY, Brother Yu, have you finished the physics assignment? Can I borrow it for reference?
Sport: +1
Gentle: +2
Wei Junjie: +3
Che Ye: Wait a sec.
Everyone: Worship Worship.jpg
Only after bowing down in worship did the crowd realize that the message seemed to be… sent by Zhao Che?
I Like Zhouwei: Hey! Brother Che, why are you lurking in the chat?
Wei Junjie: I don’t know.
I Like Zhouwei: Did anyone ask you? Get lost.jpg
Che Ye: I wasn’t lurking, I just happened to see it. Your Brother Yu is making breakfast for me, wait a moment~
Everyone: ? Is the person above speaking human language?
The classmates in the group loved copy-pasting; if they agreed, they would send the exact same line one after another. At this moment, eight or nine people had already posted “? Is the person above speaking human language?” to accuse Zhao Che.
The phone vibrated continuously in his palm. Holding back a laugh as he watched the messages flood the screen, Zhao Che intentionally sent an even more infuriating message: Refusing to accept it?
Everyone: Fuck… my fists are clenched.
Gentle: Sigh, letting a male god like Brother Yu into the kitchen is a complete waste of precious talents!
Che Ye: Oh, I wanted to go into the kitchen too, but I’m sick. Crying hard.jpg
I Like Zhouwei: Why do I smell a strong scent of green tea (being manipulative)? Did you drink green tea? @Wei Junjie
Wei Junjie: How did you know?
Right after, he sent a picture of a green tea beverage.
I Like Zhouwei: You pig. White eye.jpg
When Gu Yu came in carrying two plates, he saw the person on the bed holding his phone with the corners of his mouth almost grinning up to the sky.
He announced expressionlessly: “It’s ready.”
Hearing his voice, Zhao Che sat up and took a sandwich handed over by Gu Yu. Taking a close look, it was a simple two slices of bread with an egg and bacon. The overall appearance didn’t have any big issues, looking pretty much like what Ms. Wang Xue made, though he didn’t know how it tasted…
He took a bite with a trial mindset, letting out an exclamation of surprise.
“Holy crap! Gu Yu, did you secretly take cooking lessons?” His eyes widened. Not only did it lack any imagined strange taste, but it was exceptionally delicious.
“No.” Gu Yu shot him a glance. “Eat first; I’m going downstairs to look for medicine.”
The moment Zhao Che heard the word “medicine”, his face instantly slumped. Pouting, he said, “Got it.”
Hearing the door close, he closed his eyes and took a big bite of the sandwich. Although his head felt dizzy and heavy, his consciousness at this moment was incomparably clear. He could distinctly feel Gu Yu’s care and concern for him.
Thinking of this, he felt great inside, though suffering physically was real torture too. Having lived twenty-four years, his physical constitution had always been robust since childhood. Yet, just a few days after being reborn, taking a single cold shower actually gave him a fever.
However… the silver lining was that he had another legitimate reason to stick close to Gu Yu.
He felt that waiting for Gu Yu was exceptionally long. Even though less than ten minutes had passed since he went downstairs, it felt as long as an entire century.
Finally, amid his eager anticipation, he heard a sound at the door. Looking over blankly, he saw the incoming person holding a cup of brewed brown liquid and a thermometer.
Zhao Che pulled up the blanket, asking nervously: “What is… this?”
“Fever medicine.”
“Ahem, is it bitter?”
Gu Yu raised an eyebrow, letting out a “Hmph” as if he had heard a joke, and replied: “Don’t know if it’s bitter, but if your fever doesn’t come down after drinking it, you’ll have to go to the hospital.” After speaking, he handed the thermometer over.
“Then let’s wait five minutes before taking it.” Accepting the thermometer, Zhao Che’s expression turned somewhat complex, his other hand clutching the bedsheet beneath him. “I just ate, I can’t drink medicine right away…”
Hearing this, Gu Yu set the glass on his nightstand, the liquid inside still giving off plumes of hot steam.
You can dodge for a moment, but you can’t run forever; five minutes went by very quickly.
Under Gu Yu’s cold gaze, he picked up the glass—the water temperature was just right. At a time like this, it was purely by relying on his firm willpower that he didn’t drop the glass and play dead.
Seeing white foam floating on top of the brown liquid, he took a whiff, and a wave of nausea instantly surged up.
After composing himself, he simply closed his eyes, held his breath tightly, and downed the glass of medicine in one gulp. As the medicine slid through his mouth and into his stomach, his face contorted like a bitter gourd.
After finishing, he wiped the corners of his mouth and was just about to ask for praise when he heard Gu Yu’s cool voice ring out beside him, his hand casually pointing to the tablets on the nightstand: “Why drink so fast? You haven’t taken the tablets yet.”
???
Where on earth did these tablets come from?!
With a face full of agony, Zhao Che said: “Why didn’t you say so earlier…”
“Didn’t have time; you chugged it down in one gulp.”
“…”
So it was still because he drank too fast just now…?
Lowering his voice, he asked tentatively: “Can I not take them?”
“No. Unless you want to go to the hospital.”
Go to the hospital… what a terrifying term. He didn’t want to lose face in front of Gu Yu, because he couldn’t guarantee whether twenty-four-year-old Zhao Che would still faint at needles.
“Then can I take them later? This medicine is too bitter.” He blinked, looking at this impartial and stern Lord Gu, attempting to play the pity card to exchange for a sliver of hope for survival.
“No.” Gu Yu refused in no uncertain terms, reaching out to snatch the glass back from Zhao Che’s hand, saying coldly, “I’ll go downstairs to get water.”
Before Zhao Che could react, Gu Yu turned around and walked out.
Fuck, he really wanted to lament right now: The most toxic things in the world are the medicine liquid and tablets served up by Gu Yu!
In the end, not only did Zhao Che fail to escape taking the medicine, but he also suffered an extra blow—
A single gulp of water failed to flush the tablets down, so predictably, the bitter taste exploded on his tongue in an instant.
“Damn, why is this thing stuck in my throat? Bitter to death…” Finishing the warm water in the glass with no sign of the bitterness dissipating, he complained: “How on earth did Shennong sample a hundred herbs? Did his tongue still have taste buds?”
“Don’t know.” Gu Yu pulled an orange hard candy from his pocket and handed it over: “Eat this, it’ll feel better.”
!!!
Seeing this candy was like seeing a savior to Zhao Che. Tearing open the wrapper, he popped it into his mouth. Only when the sweetness overpowered the bitterness did he react: “Gu Yu, where did you get this?”
“Grabbed it casually from the coffee table downstairs.”
“Oh~”
Grabbed it casually downstairs? How could he believe that? It was clearly picked on purpose, yet he claimed it was casual—classic tsundere! But he couldn’t care about that right now; grasping the opportunity to make Gu Yu stay and take care of him was the real priority.
So covering his face, he wailed mournfully: “Sigh, my mom isn’t home either, and I’m sick like this now. So pitiful…”
Watching his dramatic performance, Gu Yu frowned, speaking speechlessly: “If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Can you stay in my room?” After a moment of silence, Zhao Che bent his long legs under the blanket again: “I mean keep an eye on me. What if I pass out unconscious again?”
The air went quiet for a few seconds.
In the end, out of tolerance for the sick person, Gu Yu didn’t pull a face and leave. He pulled out the chair in front of the desk, uncurled his brows, and let out a sigh: “Mm.”
Seeing that the other agreed to stay, Zhao Che pointed to his phone, speaking with a beaming face: “Oh right, take a look at the group chat, they’re asking you for the physics assignment.”
“?”
Gu Yu opened his phone with a puzzled look, the bangs on his forehead growing long enough to cover those deep, bottomless eyes. Leaning one arm on the desk with his legs slightly parted, his whole body was wrapped in warm sunlight, carrying a sense of casual nonchalance.
Zhao Che looked on entranced for a moment, involuntarily holding up his phone. After turning off the shutter sound, he aimed at Gu Yu and took a photo.
At this moment, it was an indescribable flutter of the heart. It was as if past and present lives were nothing more than this—no matter which spacetime, Gu Yu was always cool and distant, radiating aloofness. Yet every single time, from beneath that seamlessly tight exterior, Zhao Che could touch that hidden tenderness.
Right now, just quietly looking at Gu Yu like this, his heart had long since succumbed uncontrollably time and time again.
“I’m going to get the assignment.” Gu Yu casually greeted the person on the bed who was dazed like an idiot.
“Ah?” Zhao Che was stunned for a second before reacting: “Oh.”
Curled sideways in his blanket, the medicine gradually began to take effect. Amidst his hazy sleepiness, his gaze landed on Gu Yu, who was earnestly working on problems by the window sill.
Zhao Che didn’t know how he fell asleep either. By the time he opened his eyes again, it was already past six in the evening.
He slowly sat up, feeling his whole body was no longer as uncomfortable as in the morning; except for a dry throat, there were no other symptoms. Rubbing his head, he swept his eyes across his bedroom—it was completely empty, and the workbooks and test papers on the desk had been cleared away neatly.
Where was Gu Yu? Back in his own room?
Just as he was about to send Gu Yu a message, he couldn’t find his phone after searching on the bed for a long time. It was only when his peripheral vision caught a black shadow on the nightstand that he found it.
A vacuum flask was placed beside the phone. Feeling parched, he unscrewed the flask and chugged gug-gug first. After drinking, he found the water temperature was neither hot nor cold, just right to drink.
Without thinking, he knew this cup of water was prepared by Gu Yu before leaving.
At this moment, his heart was full to the point of overflowing. He simply didn’t bother sending a message anymore, stepping into his slippers and walking next door. Without even knocking, he pushed the door open and walked right in.
“Gu Yu!” With messy bedhead hair, he shouted Gu Yu’s name, but saw no sign of anyone for a long time.
???
Where was the person? If he wasn’t in his room, where did he go?
The furnishings in the room were neat, the window was open, and paper cranes hung straight down, seeming to overlap with the scene of Gu Yu’s departure in his past life.
His heart dropped violently. Running back to his room, he grabbed his phone and dialed Gu Yu’s number. Before the upbeat ringtone could ring twice, it was picked up.
“Hello?”
Gu Yu’s cold voice came from the other end of the phone, accompanied by noisy background sounds, seeming to be on the street.
Zhao Che’s tone carried obvious haste: “Gu Yu! Where are you?”
“Buying food.”
“Oh. I thought…”
“Hanging up.”
“…”
Before he could finish, the busy tone of a ended call rang through. Only then did he realize his tone just now was a bit uncalled for, while Gu Yu was no different from usual—loving to hang up on people without a second word.
However, hearing Gu Yu’s answer made him feel quite at ease.
While waiting for Gu Yu, he washed up and took his temperature along the way. Just as he went downstairs, he heard the “Ding-dong, ding-dong” of the doorbell.
His first reaction was definitely that it wasn’t Gu Yu—after all, his house had installed a smart lock last year, which opened with a single fingerprint, requiring no doorbell ringing at all.
“Coming.”
Opening the door, he saw a man dressed in grey work overalls. On the left chest of his top, a line of orange Kai font was printed: XX Electrical Appliance Repair Company.
“Hello, I’m the repair technician you contacted earlier, coming over to take a look at your water heater.”
Zhao Che was stunned. He had a fever since morning and hadn’t had time to call for repair—could it be that Gu Yu contacted them…?
“Mhm, come on in, Master.”
Leading the repair technician upstairs, after not long of work, the water heater was fixed.
He brought a bottle of water for the technician, thanking him: “Thanks for your trouble, Master.”
The repair technician waved his hand politely: “Aiya, it’s what I should do, what I should do.”
“How much is the fee? I’ll scan it to you.” As he spoke, he opened WeChat to prepare to scan the QR code.
Just then, the unlocking sound of the front door carried over.