Were you with him today?

When they realized they were getting nowhere with Gu Yun, they tried bribing his classmates to find out what he liked.

Which meant Bai Chen.

Starting one day, piles of snacks appeared on Bai Chen's bed, and on Gu Yun's too.

The difference was that his snacks were stuffed into a random plastic bag, while Gu Yun's were neatly arranged in an elegant gift box. The quantities were different too.

Talk about double standards.

There was always a note in the plastic bag.

Although the wording and handwriting varied completely, they all amounted to the same thing.

For example: "Hello, Bai Chen. Did you get the snacks this time? You know what I mean, right? I'd like to be friends with Gu Yun, but he keeps refusing. Could you help me?

Your classmate, so-and-so. Phone: ##.

Please contact me when you see this."

Whenever this happened, Bai Chen would tell Gu Yun first.

Without a second thought, Gu Yun took all the snack gift boxes on his bed outside and threw them away.

Bai Chen wasn't the sort to sell out his roommate, either. Besides, accepting gifts or food would leave him beholden to them, so he never dared touch the snacks. Every time, he messaged those classmates one by one to apologize.

He asked them to come collect their things, but they stopped replying.

That left Bai Chen with the trouble of going to their floors to return the snacks. For girls, he sent a message asking them to pick their things up near the cafeteria.

But girls generally didn't send snacks. They offered him complete sets of game skins in exchange for Gu Yun's number.

That was much easier to handle. Bai Chen wasn't particularly into gaming, and even when he played, he never spent money on it, so he turned them down outright.

Even hanging a sign on his bed that read, "Please don't leave things on my bed," didn't help.

All sorts of designer sneakers and watches still appeared on his bed. These people really had money.

Bai Chen wouldn't have been surprised if this happened once or twice every week.

Gu Yun kept throwing things away, and he kept running to other people's floors to return things.

He had visited every floor. He couldn't navigate outside the school, but inside the dormitory building, he could just about serve as a guide.

He could tell you exactly which floor every room was on and where it was, without getting anything wrong.

So to Bai Chen, spending time with Lin Jingchen was much better than spending time with Gu Yun.

At least he didn't have to act as a free delivery guy.

As the IV continued dripping, Bai Chen grew a little sleepy. It would take ages to finish.

Because of his fever, Bai Chen had felt hot just a moment ago, but now he was freezing.

Just then, Lin Jingchen suddenly stood up and said to Bai Chen with a gentle expression, "I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back soon."

Thinking he had something urgent to do, Bai Chen quickly told him to go ahead.

After Lin Jingchen left, Bai Chen drifted off again without realizing it.

Half an hour had passed by the time he returned.

Lin Jingchen draped the jacket he was carrying over Bai Chen, gently set down the plastic bag in his hand, and slowly sat down.

Bai Chen was sound asleep and didn't notice that Lin Jingchen had returned. He only felt his body growing much warmer.

His tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Lin Jingchen watched Bai Chen sleeping soundly, his small, rosy lips lightly pressed together.

His lashes curled gently upward, casting shadows like tiny fans.

He reached out to stroke Bai Chen's fair, jade-like face, but afraid of waking him, he stopped with his hand suspended in midair. He breathed in the faint fragrance in the air, which seemed to come from Bai Chen.

"You didn't even say you were cold. Silly." Lin Jingchen smiled helplessly and glanced at his IV. Half was still left.

He took out his phone to look over the things he needed to handle tomorrow.

"Brother, where are you? Where are you? Why are you abandoning me too? I'm so scared. I'm really scared..." A girl with skin as white as snow crouched in a corner, trembling with fear.

Then she walked onto the balcony and jumped.

"Bai Xi!!" Bai Chen jolted awake from his dream, gasping for breath, ice running through every vein in his body.

"Bai Xi?" Startled by Bai Chen as well, Lin Jingchen looked at him in confusion.

Seeing how unusually pale his lips were, he asked reassuringly, "Are you all right? Did you have a nightmare?"

It took Bai Chen a while to calm down.

He looked around with an unfocused gaze. The instant he turned his head, his eyes met Lin Jingchen's. Concern filled the other man's face.

"I... I'm fine. It was just a nightmare." Bai Chen shook his head.

"Is Bai Xi your younger sister?" Lin Jingchen asked.

"Wh-what?" Bai Chen visibly panicked. How did he know about Bai Xi?

Lin Jingchen was puzzled. "You called out that name just now."

"I, I..." Now that he had his answer, Bai Chen didn't know how to respond to that question.

She was his younger sister, but not the original owner's.

Seeing his reaction, Lin Jingchen understood that he had his reasons and dropped the subject.

He bent down, took a cup of hot milk out of the bag, inserted a straw, and placed it in Bai Chen's hand.

"This is hot milk. It helps you sleep. Have some."

With something warm suddenly pressed into his hand, Bai Chen lowered his head and noticed the jacket draped over him, carrying the scent of pear blossoms. Warmth filled his heart.

"Okay, thank you." Bai Chen took a sip.

It wasn't sweet, just the taste of ordinary plain milk, but it was fresher than the milk he bought.

"Get some more sleep. I'll wake you when it's done," Lin Jingchen said.

Bai Chen felt bad sleeping while making someone else sit here and watch his IV.

But he still nodded. "Okay."

This time, he didn't fall deeply asleep. Every so often, he opened his eyes to check the IV bottle.

Sometimes, he secretly opened his eyes a crack to study the young man beside him.

The young man sat with his back perfectly straight and had taken off his glasses. When he wasn't smiling, his eyes looked slightly cool as he focused on the documents on his phone.

Bai Chen stared at him for a long time before closing his eyes.

The IV didn't finish until one in the morning.

Three yesterday, one today. Neither was much better than the other.

As before, Lin Jingchen took him back to the entrance of his dormitory building.

After they said goodbye, Lin Jingchen drove out through the school gates.

Inside the dormitory.

Bai Chen carefully turned the door handle, relieved that the dorm supervisor hadn't caught him tonight.

What he didn't know was that she had spotted him long ago. She had even wondered why it was this student again and was about to go over and catch him.

But when she saw the medicine he was carrying, she immediately stopped, then pretended she hadn't seen anything and let Bai Chen go.

I'll let him off this once. If there's a next time, I definitely won't let him get away with it.

Their school had a rule: anyone who returned late received a disciplinary mark, regardless of the reason. Losing points might not mean much to rich kids, who could simply slip someone some money.

But for ordinary students, it was very serious and could affect their graduation.

Neither Lin Sen nor Gu Cheng was in the room. Apparently, they had both gone out partying. Only Gu Yun was lying in bed.

Bai Chen tiptoed inside and slowly set the medicine on the desk, afraid of waking Gu Yun.

The next moment, a voice broke the silence.

"Xiao Bai, did you just go to the hospital with Lin Jingchen?" Gu Yun's tone was flat, giving nothing away.