At 8:30 PM Beijing time, Lu Jiaheng stood at Chu Zhi’s security door holding an electric blanket, his black hair damp, lips slightly pressed together, like an abandoned puppy.
Chu Zhi also stood at the door, hesitantly looking at him.
While observing his expression, she carefully said: “Electric blankets work pretty well too?”
“…”
Lu Jiaheng made an “mm” sound.
Chu Zhi was at a loss for what to do. After thinking for a moment, she pattered back into the room, making quite a racket before dragging out an electric heater and pushing it in front of him: “My grandparents sometimes use this when they visit. You can borrow it too. If you put it by your bed, it’ll be just like having heating.”
Lu Jiaheng was speechless.
Just earlier, Chu Zhi had even dug out a stack of over ten heat packs for him, plus a hand warmer and a hot water bottle.
This was really very thoughtful.
Chu Zhi looked up at him, then looked at him again, feeling extremely uneasy inside.
It was mid-December now, it had snowed just yesterday, and this was probably the coldest time so far. In this weather, not having heating was really terrible.
Plus this person actually had a fever.
Chu Zhi felt somewhat guilty.
Lu Jiaheng didn’t say anything though, quietly accepting the electric blanket and heater she handed over, dragging them to the door.
There was no heating in the hallway. When the security door opened, cold wind rushed in. Chu Zhi was only wearing a cotton nightgown and couldn’t help shrinking her shoulders, shivering.
Lu Jiaheng’s face was flushed as he slightly bowed his head: “You should go to bed early too. Cover yourself well with blankets, don’t catch a cold.”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Chu Zhi’s conscience hurt so much.
She frowned, standing very hesitantly at the door, feeling tortured inside.
The man slightly lowered his head, dragging the heater out the door. The hallway was silent, the cold marble floor reflecting like a mirror.
Lu Jiaheng walked forward two steps without looking back, hearing a slight sound from the security door behind him, followed by a slight resistance.
He turned around.
Chu Zhi had one leg out the door, one hand on the handle, the other hand holding the heater’s power cord. She tilted her head slightly without looking at him, exposing one bright red ear, “You should come in after all.”
Lu Jiaheng didn’t speak, turned his head to look at her, blinking very slowly.
After a quiet moment, Chu Zhi turned her head, her black eyes sparkling in the dim hallway light, looking somewhat embarrassed: “Are you coming in or not?”
Lu Jiaheng asked knowingly: “Uncle and Auntie—”
He shouldn’t have mentioned them – her ears got even redder, as if she had really done something wrong: “They’re not home…”
Lu Jiaheng pressed his lips together, carrying the electric blanket back into the room.
He had been acting up all afternoon, and now he genuinely had a fever. Although it wasn’t very high, his head did feel a bit swollen.
He closed the door behind him, standing in the entryway, looking down at her.
The room was extremely quiet, with only the soft swishing sound of You Cai’s fluffy tail sweeping across the carpet.
Chu Zhi lowered her eyes, her voice very soft: “Just for today.”
Lu Jiaheng looked at her soft hair crown, which had a gentle fuzzy quality under the light.
“Mm,” he responded softly.
“You’ll pay the heating bill tomorrow.”
Lu Jiaheng smiled: “I’ll go back to school with you tomorrow.”
Though it was a very normal statement, for some reason Chu Zhi felt an indescribable strangeness, her face burning as if she had caught his fever.
Chu Zhi felt herself becoming stranger and stranger.
She cleared her throat, dragging the electric heater back into the room.
Chu Zhi’s home had three bedrooms and a living room. One room was usually empty, occasionally used when her grandparents visited. The room was long uninhabited, and although it was regularly cleaned, it still had a slightly old, dusty smell.
Lu Jiaheng sat on the sofa, head slightly tilted back, watching Chu Zhi carrying bedding and pillows, going back and forth busy with preparations.
He rested his elbow on the sofa armrest, one hand supporting his brow: “What are you doing?”
“Changing your bedding,” Chu Zhi said while bustling from one room to another, not even looking at him, “And the sheets.”
She carried a pink and white blanket from one room to another, while seriously frowning and lecturing him: “Having a fever but wearing so little and standing at the door, not paying the heating bill in such cold weather, having expired fever medicine – what’s wrong with you?”
Lu Jiaheng propped his chin watching her busy little figure, smiling lazily: “Mm, just careless.”
Chu Zhi glared at him, then left carrying a pillow.
Just after she left, Lu Jiaheng’s phone vibrated. Cheng Yi’s loud voice still had extreme destructive power, thunderous as if it could pierce eardrums: “Lu Jiaheng you bastard, are you coming back or not?!”
Lu Jiaheng’s throat had a slight burning sensation and his voice wasn’t quite right, but his tone carried a kind of leisurely pleasure: “No, do as you please.”
Before Cheng Yi could react, he had already hung up.
Cheng Yi stared dumbfounded at the ended call: “This idiot not even wearing a coat, where the hell did he go.”
Cheng Yi had taken Chu Zhi home once before and knew she lived in this complex too. Although he didn’t know exactly where, he could basically guess that Lu Jiaheng had gone to find her.
He shrank his shoulders shivering from cold, slamming Lu Jiaheng’s door as he went downstairs while cursing him as a scumbag who valued romance over friendship.
Separated by a ceiling and floor, Lu Jiaheng sneezed twice.
Before he finished sneezing, Chu Zhi came out of the room, walking back into the light.
Lu Jiaheng’s mouth was slightly open as he watched her circle around the sofa, walk in front of him, one hand on the armrest as she leaned close, her soft cool little hand gently covering his burning forehead.
She was slightly above him, blocking the living room light as her shadow covered him, looking as if she had enclosed his entire person on the sofa.
Lu Jiaheng leaned back on the sofa, muscles slightly tense, not daring to move at all.
Chu Zhi felt his forehead, carefully testing for a while, then felt her own, seeming unable to tell the difference. She frowned slightly, raising her head a bit: “Seems like you’re still a bit hot.”
Lu Jiaheng’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his eyelashes lifted slightly, looking up at her: “Mm.”
His voice was low and hoarse, sounding very different from usual, as if mixed with something else.
Chu Zhi lowered her eyes, meeting directly with his dark peach blossom eyes.
The corners of his eyes had a slight redness, deep and black, dark at the bottom, his gaze seeming to carry tangible temperature, releasing all his current fever heat through his eyes.
Chu Zhi only then realized she was leaning too close, looking as if she had pressed him into the sofa.
She quickly withdrew her hand, straightened up, and hastily stepped back.
The tea table was behind her, and as she stepped back, her knee hit it with a dull thud.
The solid wood table scraped back slightly from the impact. It wasn’t a light hit, and Chu Zhi cried out in pain, tears almost coming to her eyes.
It seemed she had hit exactly some tendon in her leg hollow. Her left knee bent as a sharp pain shot through with numbness.
Lu Jiaheng reacted extremely quickly, immediately straightening up with arms half-raised, frowning as he looked at her: “Does it hurt?”
Chu Zhi didn’t speak, lowering her head and bending her leg, standing in place waiting for a while as the pain slowly subsided.
Actually it was only that initial impact that was especially painful. After that moment passed it was much better. Chu Zhi shook her head, slowly bending her knee: “It’s fine, doesn’t hurt much.” She straightened up saying, “I’ll go get you some water, take your medicine and then sleep.”
Lu Jiaheng sighed, not waiting for her to take two steps before reaching up to grab her arm and pull her back: “I’ll go myself, you sit for a while.” He stood up, one hand gripping her wrist, the other hand holding her shoulder to press her into the sofa, eyes lowered with some helplessness, “Why so careless?”
Chu Zhi rubbed her leg hollow, raising her head to glare at him defiantly: “It’s because you were leaning so close!”
The moment she finished speaking, she realized this really had nothing to do with him – she was the one who had leaned in.
Lu Jiaheng raised his eyebrows, accepting this sudden blame without question. He laughed softly, obediently apologizing: “Mm, sorry.”
Chu Zhi’s face turned bright red, not knowing what to say. She reached up to grab her earlobe, looking away: “You should go to sleep…”
Lu Jiaheng didn’t move.
After a quiet moment, she couldn’t help raising her head again, softly urging him: “Go on.”
He stood in front of her, eyes lowered deeply dark, still not moving.
Chu Zhi was about to speak again, only managing to get out the word “you” when Lu Jiaheng suddenly bent down.
His long arm extended to brace against the sofa cushion, long leg bent with knee pressing into the sofa beside her, his whole body bending low to enclose her between himself and the sofa.
Chu Zhi was startled, her leg no longer hurting as she instinctively raised her hands to push against his chest.
His body temperature was very high, the heat from his chest burning through the thin white shirt material into her palms. Chu Zhi jumped and hurriedly pulled her hands back.
You Cai had long since huffily retreated to the bedroom to sulk. The quiet living room was completely silent – at their extremely close distance, only their breathing could be heard.
Chu Zhi’s breath caught, her heartbeat seeming to skip a beat.
Her small hands hovered at his chest, not sure whether to push or put them down, her eyelashes trembling as she urgently said: “What are you doing!”
Lu Jiaheng slightly lowered his head: “Confirming the crime.”
Chu Zhi was stunned: “What?”
He pressed down further, his whole body leaning even closer, the burning hot air from his body pressing down overwhelmingly: “Confirming the crime of getting close to you.”
He lowered his eyelashes to look at her, his chest slightly vibrating with a low laugh,
“I apologized, can’t not do anything.”
She turned completely red.
From her cheeks to her ears, to her long slender neck, even the bit of delicate collarbone exposed above her nightgown collar.
Perhaps it was because of the currently ambiguous and sensitive location, perhaps it was the extremely close distance.
Her black eyes were wide, her soft little hands gripping his shirt material, pushing with negligible force.
Lu Jiaheng’s gaze deepened.
He seemed to have never been sick since he could remember, and was very unfamiliar with the feeling of fever and cold. Now his thoughts felt somewhat fuzzy yet also incredibly clear, his impulses stronger than usual.
He closed his eyes briefly, lowering his head further, his lips hot and dry. Not caring what he had put on his lips before, he licked them, letting out a low, restrained breath as if preparing for something.
The scorching air carrying his breath burned the person below, making her tremble slightly and shrink back trying to escape.
Lu Jiaheng’s other hand also reached past her ear to brace against the sofa, his knee moving forward slightly as he said slowly: “There was a question I didn’t get to finish asking earlier,”
His voice was slightly tense as he looked down at her, his eyes hiding a barely noticeable carefulness and nervousness: “Little Zhi, do you want to try being my girlfriend?”
Leave a Reply