The next morning, Shen Yu, for the first time in his life, did not hear the alarm and slept until noon.
The curtains in the room were drawn, thoughtfully leaving a small gap to allow a sliver of light to penetrate, giving those who awoke a sense of the approximate time.
Shen Yu lay in bed with his eyes open, silently remaining there for a few minutes.
It wasn’t that Professor Shen didn’t want to get up and work—he simply lacked the energy and felt exhausted.
Too tired, Shen Yu closed his eyes again, intending to continue his slumber in a drowsy state.
Just then, he heard a soft click from the bedroom door.
Familiar footsteps slowly approached. Qi Fang seemed to stand by the bed for a moment before reaching out to touch Shen Yu’s forehead.
“No fever…” Shen Yu heard him mutter with a sigh of relief.
Qi Fang’s fingers were cool, seemingly carrying a hint of fruit juice. Catching this scent, Shen Yu realized he felt somewhat hungry and opened his eyes again.
“Are you awake, Shen Yuyu?” Qi Fang, who had just straightened up by the bedside, met his gaze and asked in surprise.
“Mm…” Shen Yu responded.
Qi Fang hurried out and returned with a glass of freshly squeezed lemon water, noticing that Shen Yu had already slowly gotten up and was fiddling with his phone.
After drinking half the glass of lemon water, Shen Yu turned to look at him and said in a slightly hoarse voice, “I forgot to request leave.”
Qi Fang started, “Did you have a class today?”
Shen Yu shook his head and said softly, “I had a group meeting scheduled with my students.”
His phone was flooded with anxious messages from his students, the latest sent five minutes ago from the senior student in his group asking if they should call the police.
After briefly replying to the students’ messages, Shen Yu put away his phone and added, “I’ve never… been late before.”
Qi Fang somehow detected a hint of grievance in those words.
He immediately apologized, “It’s my fault. I checked your schedule and saw you didn’t have class today. When the alarm went off twice and you didn’t wake up, I turned it off.”
Shen Yu lowered his eyelashes, remaining quiet for a moment before saying, “Don’t do that next time, several times in a row.”
Qi Fang: “? That’s not possible!”
“…” Shen Yu turned his back to him, ignoring him.
“Shen Yuyu, yesterday I was using an experimental approach to prove to you that I’m not sick.”
Qi Fang moved in front of him again, speaking earnestly, “Perhaps my mindset was a bit too eager, my methods were a bit too aggressive, and my ears a bit too deaf to hear you saying no…”
“But the process doesn’t negate the results, right?”
“Procedural errors in the proof process don’t mean all our efforts last night were in vain. At the very least, we’ve discovered that humans with erectile dysfunction can’t possibly manage three rounds in one night, which means that in the future, to prove one doesn’t have dysfunction, we’ll need to engage in at least three or more theoretical discussions…”
Shen Yu’s gaze gradually grew unfocused.
Qi Fang’s verbal therapy and brainwashing tactics were in full swing. Seeing Shen Yu fall silent, he coaxed him to wash up and go out for lunch.
During the meal, Qi Fang casually probed, “Shen Yuyu, after our rigorous and diligent practical research last night, do you think I still need to take kidney tonics? Of course, you’re not allowed to take them either!”
Shen Yu: “…”
Under Qi Fang’s scorching gaze, Shen Yu remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, “I won’t take them…”
“…for the next few days,” he added.
My waist hurts so much, Shen Yu thought to himself.
Medicines indeed have side effects; he didn’t want to take them anymore, either.
*
On the weekend, Qi Fang drove a car, picking up Qin Xiaosa and Li Congming, and set off for Q City.
The journey of over a hundred kilometers wasn’t far, taking only two hours to reach, but even so, Shen Yu fell asleep in the passenger seat as soon as he got in the car.
Qin Xiaosa pushed up his sunglasses, and Li Congming put down his medical book, both looking somewhat confused.
“Hey,” Li Congming leaned closer to the driver’s seat and asked Qi Fang in a low voice, “Why does Shen Yu look so tired? Has his condition gotten worse again?”
Qi Fang was turning down the music in the car and didn’t hear the whole question clearly, so he casually replied, “Not at all. Shen Yu hasn’t mentioned anything weird these past few days, so it should be improving.”
“That doesn’t seem right,” Li Congming said. “When has Shen Yu ever been this sleepy? It must be a pathological symptom. I should quickly call Chen Ke and ask…”
Qi Fang finally understood what he was asking and hurried to stop him. “Wait, wait—”
“…It’s not what you think,” Qi Fang rubbed his nose, feeling somewhat guilty. “Shen Yu is fine, he’s probably just… not sleeping well lately and too tired.”
Li Congming wasn’t satisfied with this reason. “Why wouldn’t he be sleeping well? Are you forcing him to work overtime?”
“Get lost,” Qi Fang said. “Stop talking here, you’ll wake Shen Yuyu.”
Li Congming sat back in the backseat, disgruntled, and messaged Chen Ke to complain.
Qin Xiaosa, on the other hand, looked thoughtfully at the front seats, catching a glimpse of Qi Fang’s slightly reddened ear tips and forced composure in the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow.
Shen Yu slept until they reached their destination and was still a bit groggy when Qi Fang woke him up.
After unbuckling his seatbelt, Shen Yu sat up straight, a jacket that had been draped over him falling off. He then heard Qi Fang ask, “Shall we go for lunch first? You only had a bowl of porridge this morning. Have this piece of chocolate first.”
Shen Yu lowered his gaze, looked at the chocolate held out to him for a moment before swallowing it.
The group first went to a private restaurant near the high school for lunch.
Shen Yu sat quietly in his seat, neither saying what he wanted to eat nor what he didn’t want to eat. He only nodded or shook his head when asked, and the rest of the time seemed to be in a drowsy daze.
Li Congming kept glancing at Shen Yu, growing increasingly worried. Finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “Shen Yu, why aren’t you talking? Did you have a fight with Qi Fang? Tell us, and we’ll help you beat him up.”
“…” Shen Yu shook his head and, after a moment’s hesitation, spoke, “No.”
Li Congming was taken aback. “Do you have a cold?”
Shen Yu’s voice was hoarser than usual, which wouldn’t have been so noticeable if not for the quiet environment of the private room.
“…He does have a cold. Stop bothering him; Shen Yuyu doesn’t want to talk much today.”
Qi Fang took the menu from Li Congming’s hand, glanced at it for a moment, crossed out two dishes, and said, “Shen Yu can’t eat spicy food. Let’s change these to two mild stir-fries.”
“Is that okay?” Qi Fang asked for approval from the person next to him.
Shen Yu glanced at the menu and nodded.
This private restaurant had been a popular dining spot during their school days. Although the number of customers had decreased slightly over the years, the taste of the dishes still retained the flavors of the past, even enticing Shen Yu to eat a bit more.
For the alumni open day, there were performances and team-building activities in the afternoon, but seeing Shen Yu’s low spirits, Qi Fang simply suggested, “Let’s take a walk around the teaching building and the gymnasium.”
Li Congming and Qin Xiaosa went off to find their old friends, while Shen Yu stood in the shade of the trees along the school path, gazing distantly at the groups of well-dressed alumni on the sports field, his eyes finally showing some signs of alertness.
Soon after, he felt Qi Fang touch the hand hanging at his side.
“Shen Yuyu,” Qi Fang turned to him and asked softly, “Can I hold your hand?”
Shen Yu slowly withdrew his hand.
“…” Qi Fang understood. “Still angry?”
“I’m sorry, Shen Yuyu. I’ve been eating too much beef and lamb lately, making me a bit hot-tempered.” He earnestly added, “Next time, I definitely won’t make you cry, okay? Can I sleep on the bed tonight instead of the floor?”
Shen Yu thought for a moment and said quietly, “We need to sign an agreement.”
Qi Fang coaxed humbly, “We’ll sign it, we’ll sign any agreement. Will you give me your hand?”
Shen Yu said seriously, “Only once a month.”
Qi Fang immediately replied, “I think I’m about to develop sex addiction. Do you think there’s still a cure, Shen Yuyu?”
Shen Yu: “.”
Seeing that he was about to annoy Shen Yu again, Qi Fang hurriedly coaxed and flattered with exaggerated promises until Shen Yu finally agreed to give him his hand.
The two walked hand in hand to the teaching building, looking up to see golden sunlight cascading down from the brick-red building. The large banyan tree nearby swayed gently in the wind, and a few wooden stools forgotten by students were placed in the corridor. A row of fresh green grass grew in oval pots outside the railing.
For a moment, it seemed as if time had never passed, and a few steps forward would take them back to that pure and beautiful time.
“Your classroom was on the top floor, Shen Yuyu,” Qi Fang pointed upwards.
Shen Yu’s class was well-known as the top class, located on the highest floor. Every time Qi Fang brought him breakfast, he had to climb from the first floor to the fifth and then return to the first. He was even keen on doing this exercise during breaks, occasionally peeking outside Shen Yu’s classroom.
“You were always buried in your books back then,” Qi Fang recalled for a moment, saying, “You probably didn’t even notice I was outside the window.”
Shen Yu paused, then said, “I knew.”
“Hm?” Qi Fang was surprised: “Your eyes were on your books, how did you know?”
Shen Yu: “My classmates told me.”
“Oh?” Qi Fang asked with interest, “What did they say? Were they discussing how that handsome guy who’s 1.8 meters tall came to deliver you a loving breakfast again?”
Shen Yu: “…”
But no matter how Qi Fang pressed, Shen Yu refused to tell him. After being asked a few more times, Shen Yu turned his face away, the tips of his ears turning red.
The two went up to the fifth floor and revisited Shen Yu’s old classroom.
There was a small storage room next to the classroom on the top floor. As they passed by, Qi Fang glanced at it twice and casually said, “I used to study here during evening self-study for a few months.”
Shen Yu looked at him puzzled. “Why?”
Qi Fang’s classroom wasn’t here.
“It was during senior year,” Qi Fang thought for a moment and said:
“My grades were fluctuating, and I was studying restlessly, always afraid I wouldn’t get into the school you wanted to go to. Whenever I found myself unable to focus, I’d sneak out of the classroom and come up to the fifth floor, bringing a handheld lamp and my books to this storage room. Thinking that you were just on the other side of the wall, my heart would settle down.”
After hearing this, Shen Yu didn’t speak, but gently hooked his fingertip in Qi Fang’s palm.
Qi Fang gripped his hand tighter and smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Fortunately, all the wishes I had while huddled in this storage room have now come true.”
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