Leaving work came so suddenly that Qin Yu’s excitement was overflowing. He bowed repeatedly. “Thank you, Director Rong! Director Rong and President Jiang, have sweet dreams! Goodbye!”
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from sight.
Jiang Moshan shook his head helplessly, turning his gaze back to the teenager cradled in the crook of his arm, but suddenly found his mind wandering inexplicably.
Immediately after, a shallow smile blossomed at the corners of his mouth, and the brilliance between his brows shifted quietly.
He slowly rose to his feet, supporting Rong Ning, whose body was as soft as if he had no bones, and walked him outward.
As soon as they stepped outside, a blast of cold wind hit them. Rong Ning shrank his body slightly. “Hiss… Cold.”
The temperature inside the bar had been high, and he had worked up a sweat. Being blown by this autumn wind, the alcohol rushed straight to his brain, almost making him faint. Subconsciously, he leaned closer into Jiang Moshan’s embrace.
“Where is your coat?”
“Mm…” Rong Ning pursed his lips, his eyes half-open as he leaned sideways into Jiang Moshan’s neck. “Lost it…” His words were slurred and unclear.
“Lost it?” Jiang Moshan paused for a moment, then found it somewhat amusing. He quickly draped his own coat over him, a suit jacket that looked quite oversized on Rong Ning.
Then, he braced Rong Ning’s shoulders and supported him into the car.
Before they even reached home, Rong Ning was humming and hawing as he fell asleep on Jiang Moshan’s lap.
Rong Ning and Jiang Moshan’s apartments were right next to each other, with their front doors facing opposite sides.
Jiang Moshan supported the sleeping Rong Ning with one hand while pressing the passcode on Rong Ning’s door lock with the other.
After the door opened, he carried him straight to the bedroom, used a warm, damp towel to wipe his face, hands, and neck, placed a cup of honey lemon water on the nightstand, and only then felt at ease returning to his own apartment.
One hour later, Jiang Moshan came back to Rong Ning’s bedroom and touched his forehead. The temperature was normal.
He tucked the blanket around him and went back.
At 3 AM, Jiang Moshan felt hazily as if a scorching body had burrowed under the covers.
He felt it with his hand, which startled him so much that he instantly bounced up from the bed and switched on the bedside lamp.
In a panic, Jiang Moshan pulled the person into his embrace, pressing his cheek against his forehead. “Aning, you’ve got a fever.”
“Aning, Aning!”
Jiang Moshan couldn’t wake him up.
He had drunk so much alcohol tonight, so medicine couldn’t be taken casually. He scooped up the phone from the nightstand and called the doctor.
During the half-hour wait for the doctor, Jiang Moshan didn’t idle for a single moment. He gave Rong Ning physical cooling, fed him water, massaged him, and helped soothe his chest. Even lowering his body temperature by 0.1 degrees would be good.
Rong Ning was a premature infant. He had suffered from a febrile convulsion once when he was little, and ever since then, whenever he ran a fever, he would become delirious and experience breathing difficulties, almost losing his life on several occasions.
The Rong family had pampered him like a treasured egg, and only after he grew a bit older and was frequently taken out to exercise did he slowly grow less fragile.
In the years he had been taking care of Rong Ning, Jiang Moshan also feared his getting sick the most.
Drinking that much alcohol at night and then walking right into the wind, of course he would run a fever.
Looking at Rong Ning, whose brows were tightly locked and whose expression was painful, Jiang Moshan felt extremely self-reproachful.
He still indulged him too much.
When Liang Chen rushed to Jiang Moshan’s apartment, Rong Ning’s temperature had dropped from 38.4 degrees to 38.2, but it was still lingering on the verge of a high fever.
The nurse administered an antipyretic injection, and 30 minutes later, the temperature dropped a bit. Jiang Moshan let out a long sigh of relief.
After the fright, Liang Chen looked at Jiang Moshan, who was on the verge of exhaustion, and couldn’t help teasing, “President Jiang, haven’t you seen me in a long time? Did you miss me?”
Jiang Moshan cast a white glance at him and sneered, “Not a single bit!”
“If you didn’t miss me, why did you send me money in the middle of the night?”
“Hmm?” Jiang Moshan stared at Rong Ning sleeping soundly on the bed, not hearing clearly what Liang Chen had said. He turned his head and muttered to himself, “Since you’re here, stay the night. Leave after the fever breaks.”
Liang Chen pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered softly, “As expected, it’s a big job.”
“Fine, I’ll obey your command since you’re my sugar daddy!” Liang Chen put away his medicine box absentmindedly, his gaze shifting as he calculated the reward in his heart. “Night consultation plus overnight stay, double pay. No backing out!”
“Tch, I’ll give you a card in a few days, swipe it however you like.” As long as Rong Ning could be taken care of, what did double pay matter?
“Whoa! President Jiang is truly righteous.”
Liang Chen gave the nurse a few instructions, telling her to go back first, then picked up his medical kit and walked outward. “I’ll sleep in the guest room next door. Call me if anything happens.”
Jiang Moshan nodded. “Mm.” But his eyes never left Rong Ning, his brows locked tightly and unable to smooth out.
He brought over a basin of warm water and continued to cool him down, his movements extremely gentle.
Only when the temperature dropped to around 37 degrees did Jiang Moshan feel slightly reassured. He went into the bathroom to take a shower and carefully lay down beside Rong Ning.
This was the third time he had taken care of Rong Ning when he had a fever. The first time was two years ago; back then, he had been flustered and completely at a loss, entirely dictated by the doctor.
Fortunately, he had experience now. Although he was still very nervous, he knew what to do, and the fever broke pretty quickly today.
Jiang Moshan lowered his head to test his breathing, which was very even.
“Jiang Moshan…”
“Hmm?” After pulling away a distance from Rong Ning, Jiang Moshan heard his mouth continuing to murmur fragments of words.
Jiang Moshan leaned in a bit closer, wanting to hear clearly what he was mumbling about, but unexpectedly, his neck was suddenly hooked by Rong Ning’s arms. Jiang Moshan wriggled a bit, unable to break free, so he dared not disturb him further.
The head restrained by the arms rested honestly against the teenager’s chest.
“Can I call you Big Brother?”
Jiang Moshan’s expression flickered slightly. He heard this sentence clearly, and as his thoughts drifted secretly, he pondered it carefully.
“Want to call you Big Brother…” Rong Ning muttered in his sleep, his voice as soft as a newborn kitten.
Jiang Moshan opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.
“You want to make me angry again…” Rong Ning even started acting aggrieved, his brow slightly furrowed, and a trace of moisture seemingly dyeing his eyelashes.
With his eyes closed, yet his mind was clear, and he still knew how to be angry?
Jiang Moshan’s neck was held tighter and tighter, leaving him between laughter and tears. “Calling me Big Brother skips a generation.” His tone was soft and pampering; although it was a refusal, there was no displeasure.
Whether Rong Ning heard what he said or was just talking to himself, he kept whining in his mouth, “Call you Big Brother… I want to call you Big Brother.”
Taking advantage of his illness to act shamelessly, Jiang Moshan could do nothing about Rong Ning either. He pinched his flushed cheeks and compromised, “Fine, fine, fine. Call me whatever you want.”
In his haziness, Rong Ning twisted his body, but his arms remained hooked around Jiang Moshan all along.
At this moment, his head was even closer to the teenager’s cheek.
Close enough to feel his steady breathing, and to clearly see his trembling eyelashes and the tiny peach fuzz on his cheeks.
“Big Brother…”
“How can I, how can I like you so much…”
Rong Ning’s sleep-muttered voice was much smaller than before, seemingly a sort of self-intoxication after satisfaction, and the smile at the corners of his mouth spread on its own.
“What?” He tried hard to listen clearly to the murmured fragments in Rong Ning’s mouth, but eventually gave up.
Completely unable to understand.
Rong Ning hugged Jiang Moshan’s neck and refused to let go. Near dawn, he crawled directly up his body along his neck, like a koala.
When Liang Chen pushed the door open, he was almost scared to pee. “Holy crap!”
“Shh…” Jiang Moshan motioned for him to keep it down, waving his hand in a small arc. “Come over and help.”
Liang Chen walked over quickly, lowering his voice. “Restraint! Do you understand restraint?! He’s like this, and you’re still tossing him around. You pervert!”
“Get lost!” With Liang Chen’s help, Jiang Moshan slowly untied Rong Ning’s tightly clasped arms, pressed against the teenager’s forehead, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “Fever made him delirious, he forcefully crawled all over me.”
“He crawls, and you just let him? You did it on purpose, didn’t you?!”
Jiang Moshan:
Too lazy to explain.
Liang Chen took his temperature with a thermometer. “Not bad, 37.8, not much of a rebound.” He then turned to look at Jiang Moshan. “Go catch up on your sleep, I’ll keep watch.”
With that expression, he definitely hadn’t slept the latter half of the night.
Jiang Moshan rubbed his neck and went down the bed leisurely. “Forget it, I’m afraid you can’t handle it; this kid is a handful. I’ll go prepare breakfast.”
“Fine, eat something before feeding him medicine.” Liang Chen put away the thermometer and suddenly looked at Jiang Moshan suspiciously. “Eh? President Jiang is cooking personally? Where is the original auntie?”
“I don’t like outsiders at home.” Jiang Moshan replied flatly.
Liang Chen felt quite pleased with himself. “Hehe… Then me and this kid are insiders.”
As he walked out, Jiang Moshan gave him a massive white-eye. “You’re thinking too much, you’re an accident.”
Liang Chen’s smile disappeared. “Your great-grandfather, does that mean I’m the only outsider?!”
Although Rong Ning had no blood relation to Jiang Moshan, this kid at least called Jiang Moshan “Uncle”.