When Xu Duwan called Shen Mingjin, Shen Mingjin was lying in bed, burning up with fever and oblivious to the time.
The phone buried under his pillow kept vibrating incessantly, making it impossible for Shen Mingjin to sleep.
His brain felt like it was being hammered repeatedly, buzzing with pain. His throat felt like it was stuffed with a wad of wet cotton. The scratches on his hands were still pricking him like needles. Shen Mingjin had finally fallen asleep, but Xu Duwan woke him up again. His rationality was on the verge of collapsing.
He didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his pale fingertips scribbled haphazardly on the sheets before finding his phone. With his eyes half-closed, he casually swiped a few times on the screen, and a deep, weary voice came through the phone to Xu Duwan’s ears:
“……Hello.”
“Shen Mingjin.” Xu Duwan didn’t react at first, but after calling Shen Mingjin’s name, he suddenly didn’t know what to say. The imposing manner he had shown in front of his assistant just now had vanished, and he said very hesitantly:
“Why haven’t you called me these past few days?”
“…” Shen Mingjin did not speak. His half-closed eyelids trembled, then closed weakly. His breathing gradually became steady, as if he had fallen asleep.
“Hello, Shen Mingjin?” Xu Duwan didn’t receive a reply from Shen Mingjin for a long time, and couldn’t help but raise his voice, wondering if there was no signal. He even shook his phone forcefully, but because his palms were sweaty from nervousness, he almost dropped the phone.
“Can you hear me?”
“I can hear it…”
Shen Mingjin slowly opened his eyes, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded, deep and hoarse, making Xu Duwan’s ears tingle:
“I’ll call you back later.”
“Why not now?”
Xu Duwan’s suspicious and sensitive young master temper flared up again. Suspecting that Shen Mingjin was being flirted with, he couldn’t help but ask in a girlfriend-checking-up tone:
“What are you doing right now? Who’s around?”
“…Just me all by myself.”
Shen Mingjin clicked his tongue, scratching his hair in frustration. The wound on his arm reopened due to the sudden movement, and a few drops of blood seeped out.
“I’m sleepy, I’ll talk to you later.”
After saying that, he hung up the phone immediately.
Xu Duwan: “………”
He sat there for a long time, still holding his phone, his expression unreadable.
After a long while, he slowly stood up, not even taking his coat from the chair, and walked out quickly, ignoring his assistant’s questions.
The figure looked hurried and anxious, as if he had been cheated on and was about to catch his lover in the act.
By the time Xu Duwan arrived, Shen Mingjin was already nearly delirious from the fever.
He woke up from those bizarre dreams and found himself back in the hospital with an IV drip in his hand. His wounds had been treated well, and Xu Duwan was sitting next to him, looking at him with an expression he had never seen before.
It seemed like he was both sad and heartbroken.
But the moment Shen Mingjin opened his eyes, Xu Duwan seemed to change his expression instantly, quickly adjusting his gaze and feigning indifference as he said:
“Is it any better?”
“It’s you again?”
Shen Mingjin moved his dry, cracked lips, intending to say that it was you who saved him again, but Xu Duwan misunderstood and thought he was blaming him for meddling.
Xu Duwan immediately reacted like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, his fur practically standing on end.
“What do you mean ‘it’s me again’? Without me, you would have gone crazy from the fever long ago, you know?”
“…Is it really that serious?”
Shen Mingjin felt a little guilty after being scolded. After a moment, seeing Xu Duwan’s flushed face and the genuine nervousness on his face, he thought for a moment and thanked him anyway.
“Thanks.”
“…” Xu Duwan was stunned for a moment, stared at Shen Mingjin without saying a word, and sat down in silence.
Behind the soft black hair, two bright red ears were hidden.
Shen Mingjin had a terrible headache, and after saying that, he didn’t speak again, closing his eyes to rest. Seeing this, Xu Duwan assumed that Shen Mingjin had fallen asleep, so he didn’t disturb him. A silence fell between them, and neither of them spoke again.
The atmosphere was so quiet it was as if glue had been mixed in, stagnant and stuck, even breathing felt heavy.
After a while, Shen Mingjin’s IV drip was almost finished. Seeing this, Xu Duwan called the nurse to change Shen Mingjin’s IV drip.
Because the nurse was an intern, she wasn’t very skilled at changing the IV drip. Also, because Xu Duwan was watching her the whole time, she was extremely nervous, so it took her a while to finally get it done.
Seeing this, Xu Duwan was a little worried. He stood over and looked up to adjust the IV drip rate for Shen Mingjin. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stood over, Shen Mingjin, who was sleeping, heard the noise and suddenly jolted awake. He frowned instantly, grabbed Xu Duwan’s wrist, and twisted it so hard that he almost broke Xu Duwan’s bones.
Xu Duwan almost cried out in pain. Shen Mingjin’s grip was so tight that Xu Duwan didn’t even have time to react.
In his dream, Shen Mingjin seemed to regard Xu Duwan as an enemy, his fingers clenching tighter and tighter. For a moment, Xu Duwan felt that even the pain of pinching someone’s fingers with bamboo clips in ancient times was no more than this.
Fortunately, Shen Mingjin’s shock in his dream didn’t last long. He realized that Xu Duwan didn’t intend to hurt him, so he quickly loosened his grip on Xu Duwan’s wrist. However, he kept his lips pursed and remained asleep in a very defensive posture.
Xu Duwan didn’t know what Shen Mingjin was dreaming about, but he didn’t dare to get close to him. So when Shen Mingjin vaguely woke up, he saw Xu Duwan sitting far away from the bed, sleeping on the table.
Shen Mingjin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, feeling his throat was very dry, almost parched.
He struggled a few times, reached out and groped around on the bedside table for a moment, intending to find a water glass to pour water, but accidentally bumped into the glass.
The glass fell over, rolled once on the table, then fell off the tall cabinet and shattered into countless pieces on the floor with a sharp cracking sound.
Xu Duwan was awakened by the noise. His eyelashes fluttered, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Shen Mingjin looking at him while still holding the water glass. His eyes had regained some clarity, and he seemed a little apologetic.
He moved his lips, and it took him two tries to produce a hoarse sound:
“Sorry, did I wake you up?”
“Do you want some water?”
Xu Duwan was so sleepy he wanted to die, but he still subconsciously stood up. However, he forgot that he had just fallen asleep on the table. When he stood up, his limbs were still a bit uncoordinated. He tried to go over to bring Shen Mingjin water with his stiff neck, but he underestimated his physical strength. When he suddenly stood up, everything went black, and he staggered a few steps and almost knelt down.
He instinctively braced himself with his hands, but his palm accidentally pierced the glass on the ground, causing him to groan in pain.
“What’s wrong?”
Shen Mingjin sat up abruptly, his face darkening as he looked at Xu Duwan’s bleeding palm. Already in a bad mood due to his illness, he couldn’t help but say:
“It’s just a few steps, and you still slip and fall?”
“…For whom?!”
Xu Duwan’s eyes widened instantly, his expression fierce, but his tone carried a hint of grievance. His hand was in excruciating pain; he felt incredibly unlucky today. He had been inexplicably gripped so tightly he almost broke his arm, and he even got injured while taking care of a patient, to make matters worse, the patient didn’t appreciate it at all.
Previously, when Jiang Ruoling said he was a scoundrel, Xu Duwan didn’t believe him. Now, Xu Duwan really has to admit that he is indeed quite scoundrel.
He eagerly sent him money and helped him with his medical treatment, only to be scolded by Shen Mingjin.
Thinking of this, Xu Duwan’s eyes also reddened.
He poured water for Shen Mingjin, then turned to leave, but Shen Mingjin grabbed his hand.
Shen Mingjin raised his head, raised an eyebrow, and asked him:
“Where to?”
Xu Duwan turned his face away, genuinely hoping that Shen Mingjin wouldn’t make so many little moves. After all, not everyone’s actions could accurately hit the spot that made his heart flutter. He stubbornly said:
“What’s it to you?”
“It’s late, don’t go out.”
Shen Mingjin paused, then pulled Xu Duwan back with a little force, and patted the bed beside him:
“Come up here and sleep with me for a while.”
Xu Duwan sneered:
“I’m not here to seduce anyone, so what’s the point of sleeping with me?”
“Then I’ll let you be my prostitute.”
“Damn it, you motherfucker…”
Xu Duwan laughed in exasperation, a surge of anger rising to his head. He clenched his fists, about to explode, when he saw Shen Mingjin leaning against the headboard, watching him with a smile:
“Are you going to sleep or not?”
Shen Mingjin was more handsome than anyone Xu Duwan had ever seen. He had thin lips, a high nose, and phoenix eyes. When Xu Duwan first saw him, it was like a poor boy on earth seeing a celestial being descended to earth. He was amazed for a long time and couldn’t forget him afterward.
Unfortunately, Shen Mingjin ignored him. Xu Duwan had seen Shen Mingjin’s profile the most. Now that Shen Mingjin was sitting in front of him and smiling, Xu Duwan had to admit that he had been charmed by Shen Mingjin again, which was quite pathetic.
He forced a snort through his nose, still trying to get the upper hand with his mouth, and awkwardly said:
“I’m not giving you any money.”
“Okay, come on up.”
Shen Mingjin felt a little strange when he first took the initiative to pull Xu Duwan onto the bed, but he quickly suppressed it with guilt when he saw the wound on Xu Duwan’s palm.
“Does your hand still hurt? Should we get it cleaned?”
“It hurts, it hurts so much!”
Xu Duwan, furious that he was injured because of Shen Mingjin, wanted nothing more than to broadcast reminders to Shen Mingjin repeatedly through loudspeakers and propaganda trucks. He shook his still-reddened wrist, exclaiming in anger:
“And before, when I adjusted your drip rate, it was like I was trying to murder you, and you wouldn’t let go of me.”
“I had a nightmare.”
Shen Mingjin paused, vaguely describing the specific nightmare, then took Xu Duwan’s wrist and gently stroked it a few times, as if handling a precious treasure, his dark eyes filled with seriousness:
“Should we call a doctor?”
“No need, don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.”
The skin that Shen Mingjin had touched still felt slightly hot. Xu Duwan thought to himself, “I can get another chance to share a bed with you after being hurt once. It’s not a loss for me.” He completely forgot how anxious he was when he found out that Shen Mingjin had a fever, as if he wanted to present the best doctor in the world to Shen Mingjin.
“Okay.” Shen Mingjin blew on Xu Duwan’s reddened skin and thought Xu Duwan’s wrist was like a porcelain doll, with delicate and fair skin that turned red when pinched. He wondered how beautiful it would be when the rest of his body was covered with fingerprints.
“Leave me alone.”
Xu Duwan felt that Shen Mingjin’s gaze suddenly became a little strange. He awkwardly withdrew his hand, wanting to avoid Shen Mingjin’s actions, but Shen Mingjin subconsciously clenched his fist, hiding his fingertips in his palm.
“…” Xu Duwan hesitated, but Shen Mingjin closed his eyes before Xu Duwan could speak.
My head is starting to hurt again.
“Shen Mingjin,” Xu Duwan turned his face away, his gaze involuntarily falling on Shen Mingjin’s arm that was draped over him, and suddenly found the scars on the other’s body extremely glaring.
He mistakenly thought they were traces of abuse inflicted on Shen Mingjin by Yu’s parents. He hesitated for a long time, mentally rehearsing his next move, before finally mustering his courage:
“You should quit your current job.”
As Shen Mingjin opened his eyes, Xu Duwan turned to the side, and a sparkling silver chain inlaid with tourmaline fell out, fully displayed in front of Shen Mingjin, perfectly matching the image of the boy who held him and cried in his dream:
“I’ll take care of you.”
“…” Shen Mingjin’s attention was briefly drawn to Xu Duwan’s silver chain, which seemed somewhat familiar. After a long while, he slowly realized that Xu Duwan was talking to him and subconsciously asked:
“What did you say?”
“I said,” Xu Duwan took a deep breath, leaned closer like a small animal, intertwined his fingers with Shen Mingjin’s, and looked at him intently:
“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be with me.”
Shen Mingjin: “………”