Chapter 36

Following the address, Mingxi ended up at a high-end residential area. It looked a lot like a commercial district on the outside, but when she walked into the building, she realized that it was a service apartment.

She went to the security guard to explain the situation. The security guard took the walkie-talkie and most likely spoke to Fu Yangxi before he took her to the penthouse.

Mingxi stood outside the door, carrying a bag of anti-fever medicine, and rang the doorbell.

After a while.

Someone opened the door.

Fu Yangxi's red hair was damp, his frizzy hair scattered around his forehead. He was wrapped in a quilt as he opened the door.

There was no light on the entrance. Due to the thunderstorm, there was barely any light here. His lips were pale and dry, and his face was abnormally flushed.

In short, he looked exactly like someone who did not receive any care while being sick.

Mingxi looked up at him and was startled. “Xi ge, why is your hair wet? Did you wash your hair while having a fever?! Do you want to die?”

Fu Yangxi rubbed his forehead and instead asked nonchalantly, “Why are you here?”

Mingxi didn't notice his strangeness. She directly looked into her house. “Ke Chengwen said you’re sick. Is there anyone at home—”

After taking a look inside, Mingxi was certain that there was no one in Fu Yangxi's house.

The interior of the penthouse was far too deserted. The curtains were drawn, the living room was empty and there was no furniture at all, not even a background behind the TV. There was only a sofa and white walls. It was as if he only bought a floor within this 200 square meter building.

The marble top on the open kitchen counter looked new, and the warranty label on the refrigerator had not even been torn off yet.

Thank goodness I came. Otherwise, this— What would Fu Yangxi eat tonight? Is he still going to eat takeaways although he is sick?

Before she could see everything else clearly, she was pushed out by Fu Yangxi with a finger against her forehead.

The fingers on the forehead are hot.

Fu Yangxi would not let her in.

“Aren't you going to prepare for the Hundred School Tournament and meet the person you want to see? I can’t believe you still have time to come and visit a deskmate like me.” Fu Yangxi said coldly with a hoarse voice.

"Huh?" Mingxi was stunned. “I finished my review during the day, and I’m only free after school. I heard that you’re sick, so I just—”

Fu Yangxi interrupted her with a sad tone, “Why does it matter to you whether I’m sick or not? Do you care?”

Mingxi: ???

What?

The fever must have gotten to his head!

I haven't seen him for just a day, yet the way he spoke has become strange.

Mingxi was afraid that his brain had truly overheated, so she anxiously hung the medicine bag on his wrist and pushed him in. “Hurry up and blow your hair dry! Then go and lie down on the bed!”

She accidentally pushed him a bit hard, causing Fu Yangxi to stagger, and the heat emanating from his body suddenly overwhelmed her.

Mingxi hurriedly supported him.

“Exactly how heavy are you?!” Mingxi asked strenuously. She felt as if a great mountain was pressing on top of her. She was almost crushed to the ground. Her height of 1.7 meters was like a small bamboo shoot swaying in the wind, ready to break at any time. “You usually look so thin—”

“I'm 1.88 meters tall, okay?! You go and ask for the weight of other guys who are 1.88 meters tall!” Fu Yangxi said angrily. “And the quilt is practically another 20 kilograms!”

He was filled with righteous indignation as he thought, only Shen Liyao is light; only Shen Liyao is thin.

Forget about the fact that she didn’t like him, she was even criticizing his weight?!

"I don't need your help." Fu Yangxi was furious. He shook Mingxi's hand away, turned around and walked inside.

Mingxi: “...”

Mingxi closed the door, took off her school bag and looked around. Fu Yangxi didn't even have a coffee table in this huge penthouse, so she had to place her things on the ground first.

Fu Yangxi sat down angrily on the sofa.

Mingxi walked over. Fu Yangxi was very hot, and she could feel a heat wave coming from him even though he was wrapped in the quilt.

She raised her hand to touch his neck and was so scalded that she retracted her hand. She thought, this is bad, he has to go to the hospital.

Mingxi hurriedly said to Fu Yangxi, “Didn't your family doctor come? Shall I accompany you to the hospital?”

"I don’t want to go to the hospital." Fu Yangxi glanced at her, his eyes red-rimmed. There was a mix of emotions on his face, a combination of irritation, anger, desolation and hurt.

He quickly turned away. "Don't touch me."

Mingxi: “...”

Mingxi thought that his brains must have been fried by the fever, so she didn’t bother to argue with him.

“Forget it then. Either way, it's not good for you to go out and get blown by the cold winds after the rain. We’ll just have to break your fever at home. Do you have boiled water here?”

Mingxi went to the entrance to turn on a light, and then went to the kitchen counter to find some water.

After realizing that there was no hot water, she tiptoed out, found a kettle from the kitchen cabinet and started to boil the water.

Mingxi hurriedly boiled the water while urging, “Hurry up and blow-dry your hair. Then after you’re done, put on a fever-reducing patch. Drink hot water, take your medicine and go to bed. You’ll be fine after you sweat it out.”

After a few minutes, the water was boiling.

Mingxi thought that Fu Yangxi had also gone to the bathroom to blow-dry his hair. However, when she turned her head to check on him, he was still sitting on the sofa with a pale face, staring at her with a dead gaze.

His eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked so weak it was as if he had experienced the end of the world.

Mingxi: “...”

Isn't it just a cold? Why is he acting like he fell out of love?!

However, Mingxi remembered how she got drunk last time and vomited on him, so she immediately gave up on the thought of lecturing him.

Mingxi found a glass and poured a cup of hot water. Then she went to the bathroom to get a bath towel and a hair dryer— The water on the bathroom tiles hasn’t dried yet. Fu Yangxi had just washed his hair?

Mingxi couldn't understand what was going through his mind. Why would he wash his hair when he’s sick?

She walked up to Fu Yangxi, handed him the hot water, and asked him to hold it with both hands. “Drink some water, your lips are very dry.”

Fu Yangxi took the water, like an eggplant beaten by frost, his head was continuously hung low.

Mingxi took a towel and put it on his head, wiping the water off him indiscriminately.

She couldn’t identify the scent of Fu Yangxi’s shampoo. However, she did notice that it was the source of the faint scent of pine on his body, coupled with some gardenia, it was refreshing and fragrant.

But when Mingxi wiped his hair and felt his warm forehead under her fingers, she no longer cared about freeloading on his luck. She wanted to quickly dry his hair so that he could lie down on the bed and sweat it out under the quilt.

Fu Yangxi stared at the ground, thinking bitter thoughts, Little Mask treats me very well, but she only thinks of me as her boss.

She doesn’t like me at all.

What is so good about Shen Liyao? Is he taller? Is he richer?

“Xi ge, do you use this towel to wipe your hair? I just took one randomly.” Only when Mingxi was almost done drying his hair did she recall this question.

Fu Yangxi looked up at her weakly.

“It’s a mat,” he said with a bitter tone.

Mingxi asked, “...Why didn't you say so earlier?”

Fu Yangxi simply did not have the mind to care about such things. “Don't call me Xi ge.”

Mingxi stopped what she was doing. “What's the matter? Should I call you Boss then?”

‘Boss’, this damn word. He thought she liked him, but she just regarded him as her boss!

Putting in all his feelings on someone who didn’t even like him back was too embarrassing.

Fu Yangxi couldn't help but angrily yell, "Don't call me Boss!"

“Then what should I call you?” When Mingxi saw that his red hair had been wiped dry, she threw the towel aside. She then picked up the hair dryer and started blow-drying his hair.

Fu Yangxi said with an utmost saddened tone, “I was reckless when I was young, and I was arrogant to accept you as my follower. Now, you are no longer my follower.”

Mingxi: “...”

It’s only been a month since you were ‘young’?

Fu Yangxi lowered his voice and said, "You should call me Young Master Fu."

“...”

Mingxi stopped blow-drying his hair once it became dry, soft and fluffy.

She lowered her eyes to meet Fu Yangxi's gaze.

Fu Yangxi's eyes were red-rimmed. She didn’t know if it was because of the fever or something else, but his fair skin was very pale, and the tiny tear moles at the corner of his eyes were more obvious.

It's not the first time that Mingxi found him extremely good-looking, but with his freshly blown hair, his attractiveness seemed especially fatal. Messy short red hair, a high nose bridge, a fragile look due to his illness, and the watery glaze over his eyes.

While Mingxi looked at his face, she actually fell into a daze with the hair dryer in her hands.

Only after Mingxi came back to her senses did she fully process what he was talking about. She simply took his advice and said, “What? Oh, alright then, Young Master Fu, have you taken your medicine? And I mean medicine in the literal sense.* If you haven’t, I bought you some medicine for the cold.”

*Mingxi is explaining because the Chinese have a tendency to ask whether one has eaten medicine or not to indicate that they are acting a little out of the ordinary/crazy.

Fu Yangxi: “...”

She really doesn't love me! She just called me Young Master Fu so nonchalantly!

Mingxi took out two pills from the medicines that she had brought, stuffed them into Fu Yangxi's hands, and put a white fever-reducing patch on his forehead. She said, “Take the medicine and go to bed. I’ll go and make some porridge first.”

Fu Yangxi's eyes followed her, staring at her as she cooked the porridge.

Mingxi looked for rice everywhere, but found that Fu Yangxi had nothing at home. So in the end she had no choice but to take out her mobile phone and ordered a takeaway, asking the fresh food store to send over some millet and vegetables.

The place where the rich lived was very convenient. In less than 10 minutes, a delivery guy had already delivered the goods to the door.

Mingxi took the things, walked over to the open kitchen, and began to make porridge.

She noticed that Fu Yangxi still hadn’t gone to bed. Instead, he had his head against the white walls, sitting on the sofa while looking at her.

Mingxi didn’t give it much thought.

It’s fine so long as he’s eaten the medicine. The fever-reducing patch should work later, so even if he sits in the living room wrapped in a quilt, the effect will still be the same.

There was a momentary silence in this double-storey penthouse.

Fu Yangxi suddenly said with a hoarse voice, “So… it’s been a while since you changed classes, yet I haven't heard you talk about other people before.”

"Don't you know He Yang?" Mingxi said without turning back. "Then there are some people I knew before, but you wouldn't want to know them. Even if you do know them, you probably can’t remember their names, such as Geng Jing, the monitor of Class 6…”

Mingxi said a bunch of names. Fu Yangxi scanned through them and found that she had left out Shen Liyao's name.

“What about those from the School Representative Team? Do you know anyone from there?”

Mingxi heard Fu Yangxi's hoarse voice coming from the sofa.

“What’s up with the School Representative Team?” Mingxi thought that Fu Yangxi could not sleep so he was chatting with her casually. She said, “I know a few people. Those people are young and vigorous, and they often win gold medals. They are really amazing."

Fu Yangxi asked, “Do girls like that type of guy?”

Mingxi thought about the number of love letters Shen Liyao had received before. In just one weekend, the letters stuffed in the table could fill a trash can. He should rank first in their school, and no one could be ranked second.

So she answered, “I suppose that’s the case for most girls.”

Then she stopped speaking.

The porridge was almost ready. Mingxi squatted down to look for the bowls and spoons. She eventually found two sets of bowls in the disinfection cabinet. She raised her head and asked Fu Yangxi, “There are black and red ones, which bowl do you want?”

Fu Yangxi replied, “I’m fine with anything.”

Mingxi subconsciously chose the black-colored bowl and began to serve the porridge.

Fu Yangxi's hand which was placed in the quilt suddenly clenched silently. Anger, embarrassment, loss, sadness, all these emotions surged into his heart.

He envied Shen Liyao.

He was in utter despair.

Mingxi watched as he shook his head before he turned listlessly and left for his bedroom.

"What's the matter? Drink the porridge first and then sleep." Mingxi looked at him with the porridge in her hands.

Fu Yangxi didn't say a word. He walked into the room wrapped in a quilt and lay down on the bed. Then, he wrapped himself into a bear, and buried his head in it.

Mingxi carried the porridge in, thinking that he must be feeling uncomfortable. After taking the medicine, he should be starting to feel sleepy. So she put the porridge on the bedside table next to him and said, “Get up and eat while you still have some strength. I’ve also kept some in the rice cooker so that it can stay warm.”

Fu Yangxi said, “Okay.”

Once Mingxi saw this, she knew she couldn't stay any longer.

She closed the door gently, turned to go out, and turned off the light. She picked up her school bag and planned to leave.

However, just before leaving, she saw Fu Yangxi's mobile phone dropped on the ground, so she picked it up for him and took it to the room.

Mingxi suddenly noticed that Fu Yangxi’s phone was without the phone case——

Isn't it his gang’s phone case? Why did he take it off so casually?

...

On the one hand, Mingxi felt that she became as naive as Fu Yangxi as she still cared about this. However, she couldn't help but stare at the phone case that was no longer similar to her own.

For some reason, she felt a sense of loss.

It may be her misperception, but the Fu Yangxi today seemed to be a little stranger than before. He even asked her to call him Young Master Fu again.

Nonetheless, Mingxi immediately changed her mind. Maybe it’s because of the fever and discomfort?

Humans are like this - once you get used to being intimate with someone, your emotions will undergo a subconscious change even when the smallest details are changed in that person, and all this would happen before you could understand the reason why.

Mingxi inexplicably became depressed along with Fu Yangxi's gloomy mood.

She shook her head to stop herself from overthinking and left Fu Yangxi's penthouse.

When she got downstairs, she was worried about how she was going to get back to school. Just then, a car slowly came to a stop in front of her.

Lawyer Zhang, whom she had already met last time, poked his head out of the driver's seat and said, “Miss Zhao, it's raining outside. Young Master Fu has asked me to give you a ride back to school.”

ray's note: poor yangxi :(