“Yes, he is. It seems to be caused by the alternation of heat and cold, that is to say, air conditioning sickness. Fortunately, his temperature has come down. He has gone for a pee.” Niu Junjie explained it to Di Qiuhe and kept rattling on, “I am ready to move back to our dorm and stay for several days. Bai always forgets to take medicine, so he’s getting better slowly. Other two roommates aren’t here, one in the countryside and the other, abroad. Neither can be counted upon, so I have to take care of him. By the way, have you seen the news online? Bai is a celebrity now, Ha-Ha. When you’re back, how about we go out for a meal to celebrate?”
Di Qiuhe looked at his arm, on which there was a pretty small bruise. Thinking of He Bai’s slightly hoarse voice during the morning call, he leaned to the wall and heaved a silent sign, his shoulder drooped. “Sure. Let’s enjoy ourselves when I’m back. Please take care of Bai and make sure he takes medicine on time.” Aware that Bai’s voice was quite abnormal before, Di Qiuhe opinionatedly believed that it was because he woke up just now. He also felt the sleepy voice so cute…
He was a pretty awful friend.
Diu Qiuhe raised his hand to massage his forehead. He said several words and hung up before He Bai came over. He looked at the time and calculated the distance from his location to B City when an impetuous idea crossed his mind.
Wang Boyi finished his reporting and was ready to buy some food for Di Qiuhe when his master pushed the door open and ran out, giving a command, “Book a ticket for me. I’m going back to B City!”
“Hm?” Wang Boyi caught him up in haste, utterly baffled, “But you have a training tomorrow, dear master. And the police will come at any time…”
“You stay here to deal with them. I’m coming back in the evening and won’t miss training.” Di Qiuhe pressed the elevator button, “I’m going to the green grocery for some fruit. Book me a flight. We’ll meet at the airport very soon. Be quick.” After saying this, he strode into the elevator and pressed the switch, leaving Wang Boyi outside.
Wang Boyi: “…” If he had no idea that Master Di was single and had no intimate friend of the other sex, he would have thought Di Qiuhe was about to court a lass thousand miles away…
Having a hurried meal outside, Niu Junjie drove He Bai to campus, murmuring, “There’re someone cooking and washing clothes for us in my house. I don’t know why you insist on coming back. Even staying in a hotel is better than living in the school. Here you have to go to the boiler room when you would like a cup of hot water.”
“Your parents have come back. How could I bother them when I’m sick?” He Bai explained, and then said, “My fever has gone. I’m feeling well. There’s no need for you to look after me. Besides, your quilt isn’t aired, and your sheet is still dirty. How could you sleep on it? Go straight home later to keep your parents company, will you?”
Niu Junjie kept silent in disapproval… But it didn’t work. He Bai urged him towards the car and drove him to return home. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring the key to his dorm, thus unable to go in.
“The other two will read you a lecture when they come back!” Niu Junjie said indignantly. He bought a large bunch of food and requested the housemaster to give them to He Bai. After that, he drove home with a long face.
Watching Niu Junjie’s car running far away, He Bai smiled, went downstairs and fetched things from the housemaster. Then he took the Thermos flask, heading for the boiler room. The water dispenser downstairs broke down, while no maintenance worker would provide home service during the holiday.
The sun blazed down, while He Bai didn’t feel hot at all. He strolled along, with a full flask in his hand.
“Little Puppy.”
He Bai raised his hand to touch the forehead, puzzled. Strange as it may, something was ringing in his ear, and he suffered from delusions when his fever was obviously gone.
“Would you like it?”
Another shadow loomed up beside his, and a delicate but strong hand was reached over him, with a large mango inside.
He Bai stopped, stared at the mango for three seconds, and turned around to look at the person behind, frowning, “You childish guy, Why are you here?”
“I got hurt and came back to get sympathy from my father.” Di Qiuhe wore no hat this time but a T-shirt, a pair of running pants and canvas shoes. Short hair made him look pretty handsome. He poked He Bai in the dimple with the other hand, smiling, “Pity my father went out. My plan failed. So I turn to you. Could you please take me in?”
He Bai got rid of his hand and cast a glance at his bruised arm when his anger faded. He rolled his eyes at Di Qiuhe, “Why are you so silly to seek sympathy without inquiring about your dad’s whereabouts in advance? … Come on, hurry to my dorm where there’s air conditioning. You’re sweating a lot.”
“Don’t you think I look sexy when sweaty?” Di Qiuhe walked closer to He Bai, grabbed the flask from him, shook it and sighed with emotion, “It has been many years since I fetched hot water last time. I really miss it.”
He who flaunted his wealth really needed a spanking!
When Di Qiuhe recollected what hot-water fetching was like, He Bai looked at a bag of fruit in his hand, his brows raised, “You brought it from the border, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.” Di Qiuhe also raised his eyebrows in a more charming manner than He Bai, “This is bought on my way here. I’ll get embarrassed if I come to visit you empty-handed. The fruit I selected are all your favorites. Am I good enough?”
“So good that I want to be your elder brother!” He Bai answered back and stopped at the college supermarket, asking, “Have you had lunch?”
Di Qiuhe covered his stomach with his hands, “I’m starving. I feel I can eat an elephant up.”
“…” He’s really good at seizing an opportunity.
He Bai forced a smile, flinging his head back at ease, “Keep up. Your brother will go buy an elephant for you.”
Di Qiuhe caught him up, completely putting his dignity on the shelf, “It’s really kind of you, brother. I would like the elephant you made by yourself.”
He Bai: “…”
“Brother?”
He Bai opened the freezer at the door, took an ice cream from inside and staffed it into Di Qiuhe’s mouth. Then he strode into the door to pay, keeping as far from Di Qiuhe as he could.
The Ice cream is milky, in which raisins were sandwiched. Di Qiuhe pulled it from his mouth, took a look at the brand name and smiled, with his eyes narrowed. Just as he expected, Little Puppy adored him a lot. It was obvious that he had inquired about his favorite ice cream brand.
They got some food and went back to the dorm. He Bai took out a small electric rice cooker, plugged something in and started to cook noodles for Di Qiuhe.
“Why do you plug this in?” Di Qiuhe seemed awfully curious about it. He squatted in front of the rice cooker and kept touching the appliance.
He Bai put the noodles in boiling water, beat an egg in, and began to unpack sausages, answering, “The switch will trip when excessive electrical devices are used in the dorm. Now it is equipped with air conditioning, so we have to pay more attention, but with it, everything will be okay.”
Di Qiuhe nodded. He stared at the bruise on He Bai’s hands, which was caused by injection, and somehow had a sudden impulse to hold his hand and blow onto it to relieve the pain. Aware of what he was thinking about, he jumped out of his skin, walked to the air conditioning as if he was hot and talked nonsense, “It’s too hot. What’s the temperature of the air conditioning?”
“Is it hot?” He Bai looked up at him, found out the remote control and threw it over, “I’ve had an injection just now and did not switch the air conditioning to lower temperature. You can make it several degrees lower if you feel hot.”
Di Qiuhe immediately stopped pressing the button of the remote control and put it back, saying as if nothing had happened, “Actually, it’s not too hot. I just need to wash my face.” He walked to the washstand on the balcony while speaking. When he raised his eyes, a pair of underwear hanging on the window frame greeted him.
A thump came.
Di Qiuhe tripped up on the level ground, as if a fake tumble.