Raine: Stupid me forgot to turn on Grammarly before working on this chapter. Let me know if you find any mistake.
[Qi Er Shao: My sweetheart has arrived.]
[Qin Xiaosa: ?]
[Qin Xiaosa: Don’t do anything to betray Shen Yu.]
[Qi Er Shao: How could I? Shen Yu took the initiative tonight and asked if I was feeling down. He wanted to accompany me for a walk outside.]
[Qin Xiaosa: What’s so strange about that?]
[Qi Er Shao: A walk! A walk! Do you see? Shen Yu asked me to go for a walk! Just to cheer me up!!!]
[Qi Er Shao: A walk! For Shen Yu, that means he carved out a whole chunk of blank time from his meticulously planned schedule, just to keep me company! Just for me!]
[Qi Er Shao: [overjoyed.jpg][rolling_on_the_ground.jpg][laughing_out_loud.jpg]]
[Qin Xiaosa: …Aren’t you in a wheelchair? You can still go for walks? Want to buy prosthetic limbs? I happen to have a partner who can give you a 20% discount.]
[Qi Er Shao: That’s not important. Do you think Shen Yu might be falling in love with me?]
Qin Xiaosa glanced down at the message on his phone and chuckled softly, not even bothering to reply.
If someone like Shen Yu truly didn’t like Qi Fang at all, would he have agreed to marry him?
Only Qi Fang, caught up in the midst of it all, would fret and ask such pointless questions.
[Qin Xiaosa: Enjoy your honeymoon.]
*
At 4:20 a.m., Shen Yu woke up in bed.
The unfamiliar environment seemed to make the surrounding darkness unstable. Shen Yu checked his phone and decided to get up, moving sluggishly.
He appeared to have had an unpleasant dream. Though he had forgotten its contents moments after waking up, his mind remained foggy, with an uncomfortable, dull ache throbbing at his temples.
After spacing out in bed for half a minute, Shen Yu finally turned on the small bedside lamp and decided to check his emails on the computer.
Yesterday, he had spent an enormous amount of time on other matters. It had been a full sixteen hours since he last worked on the plane. The habit he had cultivated over the years made him rather eager to open his laptop.
However, when he accessed his inbox, he found it nearly empty. There was only one email received at 6 p.m. yesterday – a daily study and work summary from his research group students.
Shen Yu clicked to read it. The students had organized their daily work well, with concise and appropriate summaries. They had even attached several photos of themselves conducting experiments in the lab for Shen Yu to review.
Shen Yu briefly replied to the students’ email. Just as he was about to send it, he caught sight of the time in the lower right corner of the screen. He paused for a moment, then scheduled the email to be sent at 8 a.m.
After completing this task, Shen Yu stared at his empty inbox in silence for a while.
Moments later, he closed his email and opened the academic forum he frequently visited, intending to log in and read some new papers.
However, upon entering, Shen Yu was surprised to find very few newly published papers on relevant topics from yesterday. There was only one, and it was in a field Shen Yu was already very familiar with. It merely summarized and organized the evolution of experimental techniques in recent years, offering no additional reference value.
Shen Yu was caught off guard, momentarily bewildered.
What… could he do now?
Logically, there were still many things Shen Yu could do, like assigning new tasks to his students to check upon his return.
But suddenly, as he leaned against the headboard, he found himself reluctant to do any of those things.
“Shen Yu?”
Just as Shen Yu was feeling at a loss, Qi Fang’s slightly hoarse voice suddenly came from the other side of the room. “Why are you awake?”
Still in a daze, Shen Yu didn’t respond immediately, only managing a vague, “Mm.”
There was a rustling sound, and soon Qi Fang’s figure, draped in an outer coat, appeared in the glow of the small bedside lamp.
Shen Yu sat on the bed, cradling his laptop, looking up slightly at him.
“What are you doing?” Qi Fang only glanced once before his tone darkened. “Not sleeping in the middle of the night, are you reading papers or grading assignments?”
Caught red-handed, Shen Yu: “…”
Qi Fang, sporting a messy bedhead, immediately erupted, “Shen Xiaoyu! When you were at home with the door closed and I couldn’t see, were you secretly working in your bedroom every night without sleeping?!”
Shen Yu wanted to argue, but thinking about it, he did often work late into the night, so he remained silent.
Qi Fang was furious, truly feeling like he might develop heart problems now.
“From now on, you’re not allowed to close the door when you sleep. I need to monitor whether you’re sneaking out of bed to work.”
Like an authoritarian patriarch, Qi Fang reached out and took Shen Yu’s computer. Seeing no pages that needed saving, he promptly clicked to shut it down, saying:
“Either that, or you write me a letter of guarantee, promising you won’t get up in the middle of the night to read or use the computer. Then I won’t have to monitor you; you’ll monitor yourself.”
Shen Yu continued to remain silent.
He couldn’t write a guarantee for something he couldn’t do.
“I…” Shen Yu finally spoke, his tone inexplicably weak. “It’s not like this every day. Sometimes when work is urgent, I have to deal with it late at night.”
“Oh?” Qi Fang asked: “Then may I ask, Professor Shen Yuyu, what urgent work are you dealing with at 4:30 in the morning?”
Shen Yu: “…”
Qi Fang tucked the laptop under his arm, scrutinized Shen Yu for a moment, then declared decisively, “Go back to sleep. We set the alarm for 7:30 a.m. There’s still over two hours left.”
Shen Yu watched as Qi Fang turned around, seemingly about to take his computer back to the bed on the other side of the room in a huff.
“I dreamed about… Dad,” Shen Yu suddenly said.
Qi Fang’s footsteps halted.
When he turned back, Qi Fang’s expression had already regained its composure, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, his tone softening, “Oh? What did you dream about?”
Shen Yu shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
After a few seconds, he thought for a moment and added, “It seemed to be something from childhood.”
Qi Fang put the laptop aside and returned, responding, “From childhood? Was it a dream about Uncle taking you out to play?”
Shen Yu shook his head again, but this time he didn’t immediately recall anything. After a quiet moment, he said, “Dad rarely took me out to play.”
Qi Fang actually knew this, but was trying to lighten Shen Yu’s clearly low mood.
Shen Yu’s father and mother were both prominent figures in different academic fields.
Father Shen was a medical researcher who always seemed to carry the scent of disinfectant, even out of his white coat. However, he was also skilled in cooking. Most of Shen Yu’s proper meals at home during childhood were prepared by his father. Qi Fang had even shamelessly enjoyed a few of these meals in the past.
Father Shen was a very gentle and patient person, contrary to Shen Yu’s mother.
In Qi Fang’s view, Shen Yu’s personality took after his mother more.
Shen Yu’s mother specialized in physics. She was capable and decisive, with strong logical thinking, passionate about her work and career. She was constantly busy with various meetings and business trips, only managing to squeeze in time to call Shen Yu and check on him briefly.
Even though Shen Yu’s parents wanted to care for little Shen Yu, apart from trying their best to prepare a nutritionally balanced dinner, they couldn’t find much more time to take their son out to play.
Shen Yu’s childhood mostly consisted of lonely meals prepared by his father left on the dining table, and his mother’s hurried, gentle greetings over the phone.
Even this bit of warmth, snatched from their busy schedules, became even more rare and intangible following the sudden death of Shen Yu’s father.
“I don’t really remember what he looked like,” Shen Yu said in a flat tone, seemingly without any emotional fluctuation. “He passed away a long time ago.”
“Dad’s illness was the same as yours,” he suddenly raised his eyelashes to look at Qi Fang, saying, “Both had heart problems.”
After saying this, Shen Yu fell silent.
Qi Fang felt a mix of tenderness, heartache, and a bit of regret, regretting why he had spoken so carelessly, bringing up Shen Yu’s past sorrows.
“Shen Yuyu, can I come up?” Qi Fang suddenly asked.
Shen Yu looked at him with confusion, not quite understanding the meaning of this question, but he didn’t refuse either.
Qi Fang hesitated at the bedside for a moment, then decisively lifted the blanket and sat on the bed, rather unceremoniously settling himself into Shen Yu’s covers.
“You didn’t say anything, so I’ll take that as a yes,” Qi Fang said.
Shen Yu appeared slightly dazed.
In the soft, thin light of the bedside lamp, Shen Yu’s snow-white face took on a faint, creamy glow in the dim light. His hair was tousled from lack of grooming, his long straight eyelashes drooped down, and even his usually cold and sharp black pupils unexpectedly lost their aggressiveness.
In short, he looked beautiful, but a bit dazed.
This was quite rare for Professor Shen.
Shen Yu was indeed stunned for a moment, as he felt the approaching warmth under the blanket — Qi Fang had tactfully not touched him, but in such cool weather, another person’s warm body heat could still be transmitted through other mediums. Moreover, Qi Fang carried a faint mint scent of shower gel.
Shen Yu, rarely surrounded and enveloped by such a fragrance, found his train of thought momentarily interrupted.
Fortunately, Qi Fang quickly broke through Shen Yu’s discomfort. Shen Yu heard the familiar voice right beside his ear.
“Shen Yuyu, I will get better,” Qi Fang said.
Shen Yu’s long lashes trembled lightly.
“Really,” Qi Fang leaned in a bit closer, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Shen Yu as he spoke with utmost sincerity, “Don’t you believe me? When have I ever failed to keep a promise I made to you?”
Under his gaze, Shen Yu nodded slowly.
Qi Fang breathed a slight sigh of relief, but suddenly saw Shen Yu extend his hand, palm open towards him.
“This time,” Shen Yu looked at him and said, “I need a definite guarantee.”
Qi Fang was stunned for a moment.
But he quickly recovered, raising an eyebrow before extending his left pinky finger, coaxing, “Shall we pinky swear, then?”
Shen Yu: “…”
Just as Qi Fang thought Professor Shen would disdain such a childish trick, Shen Yu lifted his long lashes and very lightly hooked his pinky with Qi Fang’s.
That slight touch felt like an electric current, causing both of them to freeze for a moment.
After a two-second hesitation, Qi Fang decisively clasped Shen Yu’s hand tightly with both of his own, saying once more, “I promise you.”
Shen Yu didn’t immediately struggle against Qi Fang’s bold move. Instead, he blinked, allowing Qi Fang to hold his hand for a long while until the temperature of their touching palms rose. Only then did he gently move to withdraw his hand.
Qi Fang unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment’s thought, he continued from their previous conversation, “When you’re not so busy in a while, and I’m… not sick, let’s go visit Uncle together.”
Shen Yu’s father had died suddenly while on a business trip. According to his preference during his lifetime, his grave was chosen on a small island in the North Atlantic. It was sparsely populated with beautiful, clean scenery. Every year before the New Year, Shen Yu and Qi Fang would go there together to pay their respects.
However, Shen Yu didn’t agree to this suggestion. Instead, he said flatly, “I visited him recently.”
“Oh?” Qi Fang didn’t immediately react, wondering why he hadn’t gone along. “Recently? When was that?”
Shen Yu replied, “During my last business trip. The flight path passed by that place, so I made a stopover to see him.”
Qi Fang made a noncommittal sound, as if he’d lost interest in the topic. He asked, “Do you want to sleep a bit more? It’s still early.”
Shen Yu had actually started to feel drowsy after talking for a while. He curled up under the covers, leaning against the pillow and watching Qi Fang with his dark eyes gleaming.
“I’m going to sleep now,” Shen Yu said.
Knowing that Shen Yu wasn’t used to having someone beside him while sleeping, Qi Fang softly wished him goodnight before lifting the covers and returning to his own bed on the other side.
As the glow of the night light dimmed, Qi Fang lay stiffly on top of his covers for a moment. He held his breath and waited intently for about ten minutes, feeling that Shen Yu should be asleep by now, before suddenly rolling over and sitting up.
Disregarding the time, Qi Fang grabbed his phone and fired off a series of messages to Li Congming:
[Qi Er Shao: Urgent report!]
[Qi Er Shao: I have a hunch. I think I’ve found the cause of Shen Yu’s illness.]
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