Chapter 12

On their way back, the two were silent.

Yu Tian didn’t know if He Ming had already found out what he was thinking.

Although he thought he hadn’t shown any hints, he always felt that He Ming already knew. After all, that person had always been very smart.

‘ …… If he knows, why not just make it clear?’

‘ Just say it’s a joke if you really feel like it.’

He Ming looked at the street light in front of him and suddenly said, “The weather forecast says that it will snow in two days.

Yu Tian: “Oh.”

He thought about it and added: “Then remember to bring an umbrella when you go out in the near future.”

He Ming gave a “hmm”.

Yu Tian was slightly relieved. He didn’t know why but when He Ming spoke, he was a little nervous. He Ming opened his mouth at this time, his voice so low that it could almost blend in with the night: “The car that came to pick you up that day was indeed borrowed by me.”

Yu Tian’s mind was full of another matter and when he suddenly heard him mention ‘borrowing a car’. He couldn’t react for a while.

He Ming said, “Auntie said that day.”

Only then did Yu Tian remember that when their two families were having that 30th anniversary celebration, Chen Ran once said that on a certain snowy day, He Ming had walked to borrow a car from someone else and came to pick him up.

Yu Tian did not know what he meant by mentioning this, and heard him say, “That day, did you want to ask me?”

That day if Yu Tian remembered correctly, He Ming was looking down at the phone almost all time. Yu Tian didn’t know from which chat he perceived his desire to ask about it.

However, there was nothing wrong with mentioning it at this time. Yu Tian admitted: “It is a little unexpected, I thought you ……”

“Thought I hated you?” He Ming suddenly stood still. Yu Tian also had to follow him to stop. He saw him lose his smile and shaking his head he put one hand into the pocket of the coat, raising his feet again. “…… quite the opposite.”

He Ming’s legs were long and his steps were big. Yu Tian was dazed for a few seconds and he had already walked out a few meters away. Yu Tian could not care about other things. He pulled his legs to chase.

“What did you say?”

He Ming this good student’s slightly root nature was reflected here . He always spoke only once and thought the other party must be able to understand. Once when he was lecturing on a topic, Yu Tian had repeatedly begged him to ‘tell him one more time’ but He Ming showed an expression of ‘children cannot be taught’.

Now a few years passed, but Mr. He still had the ‘just say it once’ bug and the bug had gotten worse. No matter what Yu Tian said, He Ming wouldn’t repeat it again.

Frustrated, Yu Tian looked at his back and wondered, ‘Does he mean it or not?’

The two entered the hallway, Yu Tian took out the key and opened the door. He habitually turned sideways to make way but He Ming did not walk in.

“It’s a little late,” he said, “Please go inside and give me your scarf.”

”

”

Yu Tian: “……”

This one polite sentence shattered the countless little theatres within his brain, and even his brewing confessions were reduced to nothing.

He dryly responded with an okay and went inside to get a scarf for He Ming.

The apartment was originally small. Yu Tian did not go out for a day. The doors and windows were closed, producing a stagnant smell in the house. Yu Tian entered the bedroom. He Ming l went into the living room window and opened a small crack. The cold wind quietly poured in circulating the air inside the house.

Yu Tian came out at this time. He probably did not expect He Ming would enter the house so his footsteps halted. He Ming said without looking back: “occasionally have to open the window to get some air.”

Then, he took the scarf in Yu Tian’s hand and left.

Yu Tian heard the door close with a not too loud‘bang’ sound. His heart felt very uncomfortable.

He went to the window, reached out to push the window a little bigger so that the cold wind could make his mind clear.

…… what an egg-crushing day this is.

***

The next day, due to the cold wind blowing for half an hour, Yu Tian, gloriously caught cold.

He had the strength to take down his temperature -37.8 degrees. Fortunately, the fever was not high. Even though his heart was 10,000 reluctant, this was also the Monday of all evils, capitalism would not stop the oppression of working people. Yu Tian struggled to get up, reluctantly gathering himself out of the door.

At dusk, even after taking fever-reducing medicine, Yu Tian felt unwell. When he left the company’s door, he reached out to stop a taxi and closed his eyes after giving his address.

Half-asleep, He Ming’s pet hospital passed before his eyes, Yu Tian suddenly sat up: “Master, that front-“

The driver slowed down, ready to stop, who knew the guest in the back seat would stop him: “Forget it, you continue to drive.”

In the rush hour B city, a taxi was a very unwise choice. It was difficult to get home. Yu Tian felt like he was about to vomit from the exhaust fumes.

He paid and stood against the street light for a while, finally feeling a little more comfortable. He was about to go home when his cell phone in his pocket sent out a continuous vibration.

Yu Tian picked up the phone and a female voice came from there: “Yu Tian, it’s Xu Wenwen.”

Yu Tian: “Oh, what’s up?”

His feverish brain slowed down half a beat and only now did he realize that the two of them had left each other a phone number last time.

Xu Wenwen: “Nothing much, just asking how you’re doing. What, you sound like you have a cold?”

Yu Tian: “A little bit, probably didn’t sleep well last night.”

Xu Wenwen said, “Oh, take care of your health, or someone will be very worried.”

Yu Tian thanked her for her concern and the two of them chatted for a few more minutes before Xu Wenwen said she had something else to do and hung up the phone.

Yu Tian’s feverish brain was too lazy to think too much. So, naturally he didn’t notice who the ‘someone’ was in Xu Wenwen’s words and confusedly felt his way into the house. He flung himself under the covers without even turning on the lights.

He didn’t care whether He Ming liked him or not. He was tired now.

Yu Tian closed his eyes, gradually sinking into sleep. Even when Ara put his paws on his shoulders and said,‘Yu Tian, turn over and sleep again.’ He did not even pay attention to it and slept soundly.

When he woke up, he found himself lying under the covers in a regular manner. His body was covered with sticky sweat and even his hairs were wet sticking to his forehead. However, the fever was probably gone since his consciousness was much clearer.

Yu Tian sat up with one hand on the bed. He drew two sheets of paper from the bed and wiped the sweat from his body. He lifted the covers and got out of bed. He found himself wearing pajamas.

Although fever made memories fade. Yu Tian was sure that he fell head first into bed after entering the door, and could not have any spirit to change pajamas again.

Also, the room door was closed, but not by him.

By the way, Yu Tian remembered before going to sleep, he seemed to sense a person telling him to turn over and sleep again. But he was probably confused due to fever and actually thought that was Ara.

…… as a dog, Yu Tian believes Ara had not evolved to speak Mandarin.

‘So who else could it be?’

Yu Tian’s heart was pounding. He lifted the covers off the bed, put on his slippers and slowly pushed the door open.

There was no one in the living room but a faint scent of food got into the nostrils.

Ala never left the kitchen door. Even when Yu Tian came out of the door, Ara didn’t pay the slightest attention.

Yu Tian inhaled the smell of porridge with difficulty. He moved to the kitchen door. The person standing inside was slender and was holding a wooden spoon to stir the porridge in the casserole.

He Ming.

Yu Tian was not surprised.

The world would not have such a kind robber.

He Ming sensed someone behind him but did not turn around and kept on boiling the congee. As if he intended to boil a bowl of excellent congee with a craftsman-like mind.

Yu Tian coughed lightly: “He Ming.”

His voice was a bit hoarse.

He Ming’s hand gave a beat and turned around: “You’re awake.”

Yu Tian nodded his head. He Ming was clearly taking care of him at the moment, but his eyes and tone were cool.

He Ming was really angry.

He was just testing last night and the reason why he didn’t answer even when Yu Tian asked him a lot of questions was also part of the strategy. But he didn’t expect that the next day when he sent a WeChat to Yu Tian, the person directly did not reply. So he had to ask Xu Wenwen to help probe.

Who knew that after spying, the first thing Xu Wenwen said to him was, “He seems to be sick.”

He Ming couldn’t care about the work at hand and hurriedly left the hospital gate.

On the way, he called Yu Tian several times but the other party did not answer. When he finally arrived at the door of Yu Tian’s house, He Ming took a look. He felt that his seven orifices1 were going to be angry out of smoke.

Yu Tian actually did not lock the door!

The bedroom was wide open and Yu Tian’s face was buried deep in the blanket.

He Ming nudged him: “Yu Tian, wake up, turn over and go back to sleep.”

Yu Tian seemed to be sleeping soundly, muttering “Ara, don’t make a fuss”, and fell asleep again.

The light in the house was very dark. Yu Tian went out to work in the morning and did not bother to open the curtains. He Ming inhaled a deep breath, and felt that the fire in front of Yu Tian’s room had gone down but there was another one up soon.

He cautiously stretched out his hand, as if afraid of being seen by the general self-excuse: “Then I help you turn over.”

Yu Tian did not make a sound. He Ming first pulled over one of his arms using his own hand as cushion and then lent a hand to turn his whole person over.

Yu Tian was still wearing a thick coat. He smothered a little sweat making his slightly wet hair curled on the fair forehead. He Ming tried to keep himself from looking. He silently unbuttoned Yu Tian’s coat.

These few buttons nearly made He Ming sweat.

He Ming was going to tuck him into the blanket with his sweater as a whole to reduce his own non-existent thoughts but glanced at the hard belt around his waist and sighed – ‘this is definitely not comfortable to sleep.’ So he simply changed Yu Tian’s pajamas, tucked in the corner, and gently closed the door.

***************

” How are you, in here?” Yu Tian was ordered to sit on the sofa. He squatted beside Ara, as if both had made a mistake. He couldn’t figure out where the powerful low pressure on He Ming was coming from so he just had to say a word or two as he saw fit.

He Ming: “You didn’t close the door.”

Yu Tian: “……”

Was that right? How could he not remember?

“Moreover, I sent you weibo and called you today, but you didn’t answer.” He Ming said again. His voice was even cooler.

Yu Tian’s first reaction was to go through his phone. When he saw five missed calls on the screen as well as the WeChat He Ming sent this morning, his heart sprouted an impulse to kneel down on the ground.

“I didn’t look at my phone much today, and then you called, I probably didn’t hear it, and then I fell asleep ……” Yu Tian’s voice got smaller and smaller as he spoke.

You could imagine that if it weren’t for his sloppy failure to close the door, He Ming would have had to wait at the door for hours.

‘ Wait a minute, what makes him think that He Ming will be waiting at his doorstep? He’s not his boyfriend.’

“Forget it,” He Ming closed his eyes, “you’re a patient.”

Yu Tian was still nestled in the sofa. He watched He Ming bring him hot water and actually thought for a moment ‘it’s good to be sick’.

‘Blah blah blah!’ Yu Tian spit on himself in his heart, ‘Even if you want to enjoy He Ming’s care, you can’t be sick, you can’t fall in love until you’re well!’

That’s right, he decided, he wanted to chase He Ming.

He Ming was handsome, capable, had a good personality (under the current condition of Yu Tian’s added filter), and also took care of people. He was very gentle most of the time.

Such a perfect person, why couldn’t he think about it?

However, this idea, after Yu Tian sat face to face with He Ming at the dinner table, went up in smoke miserably.

Yu Tian found that he could not help but feel weak whenever he was face to face or eye to eye with He Ming.

After all, He Ming probably didn’t know that he was thinking about him like that, right?

And when would it be appropriate to confess?

Should he buy some popular items or should he prepare something?

Yu Tian pondered. He then thought that perhaps this question should be asked to a female friend, such as ……

Well, like Xu Wenwen.

When he thought of this, Yu Tian’s heart fell into the ice cellar. He decided to face this real problem first. He should test He Ming’s feelings first, right?

“Ahem, that, last time I had coffee with Xu Wenwen.”

He Ming gave a careless ‘hmm’, took his bowl and gave him a small bowl of porridge: “It’s hot, take your time.”

Yu Tian replied with a ‘Oh’. He reached out to take the bowl. The porridge was boiled very thoroughly. The rice has been scattered, chopped vegetables and minced meat was dotted in between and looked especially appetizing. Yu Tian ate for half a day before remembering his purpose of mentioning Xu Wenwen.

“She said she came back to China for not just career, but love as well.” Yu Tian continued to say.

Anyway, Xu Wenwen was the love rival he had to face. So he might as well pick it out now.

When He Ming heard the last two words, he raised his eyebrows slightly and seemed a bit surprised: “And then?”

“She seemed to have a little interest in you when she was studying, haha. The other day she even told me that after seeing you. You were still the same as before, making her like you again.” Yu Tian was about to stammer.

He Ming put down the spoon.

No wonder Xu Wenwen always came to ask him if Yu Tian had said anything to him in the past few days. It turned out that she had come to Yu Tian first. He knew that she probably wanted to help him out.

However, he did not need it.

So, he smiled: “How is it possible, she’s married.”

Yu Tian’s eyes widened in surprise: “Married?”