Chapter 32

Huiying High School held a swimming class every two weeks, and Lu Yao's class happened to have one next period.

Because of the swimming classes, every student had their own locker in the changing room.

After changing into his swim trunks, Lu Yao was organizing his locker when he heard the changing room door open. He looked up, saw Zhang Xinyang, and gave him a calm nod in greeting.

Zhang Xinyang pressed his lips together awkwardly, turning his head away and shifting his gaze. The more he did not want to run into someone, the more likely he was to encounter them.

Lu Yao closed his locker and turned to walk toward the door just as Zhang Xinyang took off his school uniform jacket, revealing the short-sleeved shirt underneath.

As he passed Zhang Xinyang, Lu Yao inadvertently glanced at him. When he saw Zhang Xinyang's short-sleeved school uniform shirt, his brows furrowed slightly.

When he reached the door, Lu Yao suddenly stopped. With his back to Zhang Xinyang, he asked quietly, "What happened to those shoe prints on your clothes?"

The moment Lu Yao finished speaking, Zhang Xinyang's body suddenly trembled.

With his head lowered, he stuffed all his changed clothes into the locker in one go.

Seeing Zhang Xinyang remain silent, Lu Yao turned back to look at him. Deep in his indifferent eyes was a trace of concern that was hard to detect.

Zhang Xinyang slammed the locker shut and walked toward the door with his head lowered.

He placed his hand on the doorknob, about to pull it open and quickly escape this situation that made him feel so awkward, when Lu Yao suddenly spoke again.

"Zhang Xinyang?"

Hearing Lu Yao call his name, Zhang Xinyang paused. His voice was restrained and gloomy. "It's none of your business."

Even if Lu Yao knew, what could he do?

Bang!

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the changing room.

Lu Yao stood where he was, frowning as though lost in thought. After a while, he left the changing room as well.

After they finished warming up, the swimming teacher let everyone move about freely.

Those who did not want to swim, such as Jiang Bai, who was severely germophobic, or Ye Muqing, who was terminally lazy, mostly chose to rest on the lounge chairs beside the indoor pool.

Scattered throughout the pool were small groups of people playing in the water and swimming.

Sunlight streamed through the transparent glass above the pool, scattering across the pale blue water and making it shimmer.

Wearing goggles, Lu Yao held his breath and swam underwater all the way to the end of the pool. Then he burst out of the water, sending up a spray.

After resting against the pool wall for a while, he climbed out.

The moment he emerged from the pool in black swim trunks, he immediately drew everyone's attention.

Lu Yao pulled off his goggles and casually shook his hair a few times. The droplets flung into the air refracted dazzling light.

Water ran down his cool, refined face, slowly winding over his lean, muscular waist.

At that moment, Lu Yao exuded an irresistibly alluring sexiness, yet he was completely unaware of it.

A girl who had been fooling around with her friends by the pool could not help swallowing when she saw how devastatingly sexy Lu Yao looked.

Fortunately, she was not the only one. Though many girls appeared calm on the surface, their sidelong glances remained excitedly fixed on Lu Yao.

The boys in the class, however, reacted completely differently.

At that age, boys loved competing in every aspect. Besides secretly comparing their appearances with those of other boys, in a place like the swimming pool, they paid particular attention to the gap between their physique and that of their peers.

Watching Lu Yao approach on his long, lean legs, Ye Muqing could not help lowering his head to look at his own body.

The next second, he suddenly took off running toward the other boys in class without even looking back, leaving Lu Qi behind alone.

"Brother Qi, I just remembered I have something to discuss with them. I'm leaving first!"

If he did not run now, then when Lu Yao came over later, his skinny build would look utterly tragic in comparison.

Lu Qi: "..."

Luckily, he played basketball often and had kept his physique in decent shape. Otherwise, he probably would have felt inferior just like Ye Muqing.

Seeing Jiang Bai, fully dressed, suddenly rise from his lounge chair and walk toward him, Lu Yao asked, "You're not going swimming?"

Jiang Bai said nothing. Instead, he smiled and handed over the large white bath towel in his hands.

"Here. Be careful not to catch a chill after swimming."

"Thanks."

Lu Yao took the towel from Jiang Bai and wrapped it tightly around his upper body.

Seeing Lu Yao actually put on the towel, many girls revealed deeply regretful expressions.

The boys gathered some distance away, however, all breathed a sigh of relief. In their hearts, they applauded Jiang Bai for bringing him that towel.

Seeing everyone by the pool finally shift their gazes away from Lu Yao, a faint smile slowly appeared in Jiang Bai's eyes.

Lu Qi happened to turn around and see that expression, and he could not help shivering. Was that scheming bastard plotting against someone again?

When Lu Yao woke up the next morning and realized his limbs were weak and his head felt heavy, he could not help giving a bitter smile. It seemed Jiang Bai had really been right yesterday.

Father Lu and Ms. Li had been away on business these past few days. After making breakfast that morning, the housekeeper had gone out, saying she would not return until that evening.

Lu Qi had assumed Lu Yao had merely slept in today. Yet even after finishing breakfast, he still had not seen Lu Yao come downstairs.

Lu Qi knocked on Lu Yao's bedroom door for quite a while. When no one came to answer, he directly opened it.

Seeing the unnatural flush on Lu Yao's face, Lu Qi immediately realized that Lu Yao must be sick.

As Lu Yao lay there sleeping groggily, he heard someone talking beside him. He struggled to open his eyes and saw Lu Qi standing at his bedside with someone dressed like a doctor.

Seeing Lu Yao wake up, Lu Qi hurriedly pulled the doctor closer.

"Doctor Zhang, he's awake. Please give him another thorough examination."

Doctor Zhang said, "Lu Qi, you really don't need to worry so much. Your brother just has an ordinary cold. I've already prescribed medicine for him. If you think medicine isn't enough, have him sweat it out a little. That'll help him recover faster."

Before Lu Yao could finish listening to Doctor Zhang, he drifted back to sleep in a daze.

As he slept, he gradually felt as though he were inside a furnace, with several mountains pressing down on him.

By the time Lu Yao was sweating profusely from the heat and fully regained consciousness, he looked down at himself and discovered that Lu Qi had covered him with a full five thick quilts.

Lu Yao laboriously lifted off the quilts one by one before finally managing to get out of bed.

Looking at the pile of quilts on the bed, Lu Yao gave a helpless chuckle. That idiot. Even sweating it out wasn't supposed to be done like this, was it? No wonder he had felt unable to breathe in his dream just now.

In the kitchen, thinking that Lu Yao had slept through lunch without eating, Lu Qi decided to cook him a meal himself.

The moment Lu Yao came downstairs, he saw thick smoke billowing out of the kitchen.

He hurried to the kitchen door and saw Lu Qi holding a basin of water, staring helplessly at an oil pan that had caught fire.

Lu Yao instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

He rushed forward, grabbed the lid set nearby, and slowly covered the flames rising from the oil pan from the edge of the pan before turning off the gas stove.

Lu Yao sat at the dining table, supporting his head with one hand in helplessness. His voice was hoarse. "How did you manage to set an oil pan on fire just by cooking? And when the oil pan caught fire, you actually wanted to put it out with water?"

Lu Qi lowered his head dejectedly and said quietly, "I don't know how it caught fire either. I just waited for a while, and it suddenly started flaming up. Besides, isn't it normal to think of using water when you see a fire?"

Lu Yao sighed. "You did everything firefighters tell people not to do. You can't use water on an oil fire. Do you know that oil will splatter when it comes into contact with water? Forget it, just sit here. I'll cook dinner today. Until you learn proper fire safety, a dangerous person like you is forbidden from entering the kitchen!"

Seeing that he was so clumsy he could not even cook a meal and had ended up making Lu Yao, who was sick, work instead, Lu Qi's voice was full of guilt. "How about we just order takeout?"

Lu Yao considered it and was about to nod in agreement when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Lu Qi and Lu Yao looked at each other in confusion. Who would come to visit at this time?