Touching hope

Song Nianxing could not see any of his expressions now. Just hearing him say that, he no longer dared to look for a cotton swab and hurriedly applied the ointment he had just prepared to his wounds.

The moment his fingertips touched Shen Siyi's skin, Song Nianxing's heart filled with wonder.

Shen Siyi's skin is so fair.

It feels... so smooth and nice.

How can someone this perfect exist in the world?

Good-looking, good at acting, and a good personality, too.

As Song Nianxing thought this, his gaze fell once more on Shen Siyi's two wounds.

The only bad thing is that he met someone like me, and even seems to have fallen for me.

He's waiting for me to reciprocate... If I can't, will Shen Siyi be very sad? But if I do, I'll become the flaw in all his perfection.

At that thought, Song Nianxing felt as though even the fingertips he was using to apply the ointment had been scorched by Shen Siyi's skin.

His thoughts grew increasingly tangled, too.

It was not until that night, when his palm was truly scorched by the heat of Shen Siyi's body, that he regained a little clarity amid the confusion.

...So hot...

Shen Siyi really has a fever!

Song Nianxing raised his hand again to feel the forehead of Shen Siyi, who had collapsed onto his bed. The frightening temperature sent him into a panic, and he started fumbling for his phone.

But his hand had barely moved an inch from Shen Siyi's forehead before Shen Siyi seized it tightly. "Nianxing... I'm so hot, and my head feels so dizzy..."

Shen Siyi murmured softly, rubbing his cheek against Song Nianxing's palm like a large, injured, helpless dog begging a softhearted person to help him.

Song Nianxing's heart clenched at the sound. Remembering Shen Siyi's words, "If you don't put the ointment on soon, I feel like I'm going to catch a chill," he felt an uncontrollable sting in his eyes.

I caused trouble again. It's all my fault for hesitating even over applying ointment. Now Shen Siyi has caught a cold on top of being injured.

Sniffling, Song Nianxing did his best to rein in his anxiety. He patted the hand Shen Siyi refused to let go of soothingly and said, "Senior Shen, I'll call right away. I'll take you to the hospital."

But Shen Siyi refused to release his hand no matter what. "No... Don't go to the hospital. Nianxing, I don't like hospitals. Don't make me go to the hospital."

His eyes were already glistening from the fever, and every look he gave Song Nianxing was indescribably pitiful.

But this time, he really was not lying.

He did not want to go to the hospital.

He hated hospitals. Really hated them. Absolutely hated them!

Because the smell of disinfectant there was far too similar to the smell in his lunatic adoptive father's home.

"But you can't stay out of the hospital in this state." Song Nianxing was so anxious he was close to tears.

"Water... Just wipe my body down with water, and I'll be fine. Please wipe me down, Nianxing."

Seeing the pleading look filling Shen Siyi's eyes, Song Nianxing simply could not refuse. He could only nod and agree before getting out of bed to fetch water.

Watching his movements in the dimness, Shen Siyi's eyes immediately flickered with a greedy gleam.

This is wonderful.

That extra cold shower afterward and the cold wind I stood in by the window weren't wasted~

Hmm... If only I could keep running a fever. My Nianxing is so softhearted, he'd surely be willing to keep taking care of me, wouldn't he?

As he thought this, his expression grew increasingly infatuated.

Only when Song Nianxing came in carrying a basin of heated, lukewarm water did he swiftly put on a pitiful expression again.

This time, Song Nianxing did not dare hesitate at all. After helping Shen Siyi sit up against the pillow, he reached for the buttons of his silk pajamas.

One, two, three... Once all the buttons were undone, Shen Siyi's bare upper body struck his vision once more, his abdominal muscles rising and falling with the rhythm of his breathing.

Song Nianxing blinked, wrung out the towel, and began wiping slowly from the side of Shen Siyi's neck. Then came his collarbones. When he reached his chest, he could distinctly feel Shen Siyi's rapid heartbeat.

The next second, Shen Siyi switched off the only bedside lamp that had been lit in the room.

His vision suddenly darkened, and Song Nianxing's hand stopped in the middle of wiping. Then Shen Siyi's voice reached his ears.

"I can't watch you wipe me down. You felt how fast my heart was beating, too..." Shen Siyi spoke again. "I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back if I keep watching... So I could only turn off the light."

Listening to him and feeling Shen Siyi's body temperature, which seemed to have grown much hotter, Song Nianxing felt his own body heat up as though it had caught the fever, too. "Okay, I... I'll try to hurry."

As he spoke, he quickly dipped the towel in the water again.

It was too dark in front of him, and he could not see anything at all, so he could only feel tentatively over Shen Siyi's body with one hand and follow the places he had explored with the towel in the other.

When his fingertips touched a somewhat prickly patch of short hair, Song Nianxing shuddered as if shocked, and his voice took on a faint, uncertain tremble. "Do... Do I keep going down? Senior Shen, maybe you could... do it yourself?"

In the darkness, Shen Siyi no longer needed to control his expression, which was precisely his real reason for turning off the light.

Hearing Song Nianxing's words, he opened the eyes he had closed in pleasure at Song Nianxing's touch. A sly curve formed at the corners of his lips. Then he coughed lightly and said, as though weak and exhausted, "But I'm feeling a little limp. Still, it's all right. This really is asking too much of you, Nianxing, so I'll do it myself."

Hearing his frail, hoarse voice, Song Nianxing felt guilt surge through his heart again, and he clenched his teeth.

"Let me do it after all. I'm the one who wronged you, Senior Shen."

It was too dark for him to judge the exact position of Shen Siyi's... and he was too embarrassed to feel around with his fingers again, so he could only start roughly from the outermost edge.

In the end, he still inevitably "collided" with that sizable... thing, which was already standing at attention.