Heart Flutter

Chapter 16

“That was my aunt,” Tang Yan said with a slight smile.

“Aunt?” Shen Yuyin felt puzzled. She had not known about this at all, so she continued to probe by asking, “Were you two relatives?”

Tang Yan shook her head. “Aunt Ji knew my mother and was probably a friend of hers. I stayed with her temporarily.”

“Oh… oh…” At that moment, Shen Yuyin more or less understood the situation.

When the group finished their meal, everyone suggested going to a karaoke bar to sing. Tang Yan wanted to return to her dormitory earlier, so she declined to go along. As soon as she walked out of the buffet restaurant, Shen Yuyin hurried after her.

“Senior?”

“I wanted to walk you back,” said Shen Yuyin, falling into step beside her.

It was early autumn, and the tree-lined path was quiet. Some leaves drifted to the ground, and the dim lights by the roadside cast their elongated shadows ahead of them. With curfew drawing near, there were few people wandering around campus. Tang Yan was still wearing the short-sleeved camouflage shirt from her military training earlier that day. The night air felt chilly in the breeze, so she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself for warmth.

Noticing this, Shen Yuyin quickly took a thin jacket out of her bag and said, “You should wear this.”

“No need, really, Senior,” Tang Yan tried to refuse.

But Shen Yuyin draped it over her shoulders anyway. “It gets cool at night in early autumn. It is still a bit of a walk back to your dorm, so wear it if you do not want to catch a cold.”

There was genuine concern mixed with a slight tone of command, so Tang Yan felt she could not refuse again. She obediently slipped her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up.

It turned out that Senior Shen Yuyin lived in the dorm building right across from Tang Yan’s. Only a road separated the two buildings, which explained why Tang Yan happened to run into her in the dorm that day. Shen Yuyin had visited because of some club-related matters.

They then parted ways and went to their own dorms. After just a few steps, the person across from her suddenly turned around and called out, “Tang Yan!”

Tang Yan paused for a moment, then turned around.

With a wide smile, Shen Yuyin said, “Good night!”

“Good night, Senior,” Tang Yan replied, raising her hand to wave.

That night, before going to sleep, Tang Yan scrolled through her phone. She saw that Shen Yuyin had posted an update on her Moments feed, just three short words: “Little sun,” accompanied by a cartoon image of a smiling sun. Tang Yan did not think much of it and kept scrolling until she reached posts from the previous day. She then closed the feed without finding what she had been hoping to see.

Staring at the WeChat interface, Tang Yan zoned out for a moment. She opened her chat history with Aunt Ji, then tapped on Aunt Ji’s profile picture to look at her feed. She saw that the most recent post was from two months ago and was work-related. Tang Yan lay on her side with her phone in one hand, gazing at the glow of the screen in the darkness. She stayed on Ji Yuqing’s feed page, blinking until her eyelids grew heavy. Eventually, she drifted off, and the phone screen went dark once its timer ran out. Everything returned to the night.

The next morning, the entire dorm building stirred into action as the new freshmen got up to prepare for the day. Only Tang Yan’s dorm room stood out as different.

“Ugh… ugh…”

The sound of someone retching came from the bathroom, and it had been going on for a while.

Three of the roommates were already up. Hearing the noises, Xia Zihan quickly climbed down from her bunk, wondering who it might be, and headed to the bathroom. “Tang Yan? Are you alright?”

Tang Yan felt embarrassed. Seeing someone come in, she immediately flushed the toilet and went to wash her face. Xia Zihan, wearing slippers, walked over and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” Tang Yan said, but she had barely finished speaking when that wave of nausea hit her again. Covering her mouth, she bolted to the toilet and started retching all over.

The other two roommates did not dare step inside. They stood by the door and said, “Maybe you should go to the campus clinic. We can help you ask the instructor for leave.”

“Yeah, maybe you ate something bad.”

“…”

Because she wanted to look after Tang Yan, Xia Zihan did not attend military training on the field that morning. In the end, their advisor came to the dorm in person and convinced Tang Yan to go to the campus hospital. The university was affiliated with Huadu’s large hospital located just across the street; it also treated patients from outside campus, but students received a discount.

Their advisor was a man in his forties named Chen. “Alright, Xia Zihan, you should hurry back to the training ground.”

“But Tang Yan…”

“I will call her family,” the advisor said, taking out his phone and dialing the number for Ji Yuqing. When Tang Yan first enrolled, she had left Aunt Ji’s contact information under the guardian section, crossing out her mother’s number. Tang Yan’s mother was thousands of miles away, and in the past, Tang Yan had always managed things on her own. It did not matter if her mother was not listed.

Since the advisor had spoken, Xia Zihan could not just keep standing there. She returned to campus to take part in the training. Attendance was mandatory for the military drills, and skipping without a valid reason was not allowed.

When the call from the advisor reached Ji Yuqing, she happened to be in the office.

“Hello,” she answered, placing her phone to the side while she continued to look at her computer screen, assuming it might be a work-related call.

“Hello, are you the guardian of Tang Yan?”

Surprised, Ji Yuqing realized immediately that this might not be good news. “Yes, I am. Is something wrong with Tang Yan?”

“Well, Tang Yan is currently at our campus hospital. We are not yet sure what is going on. Her roommates said she has been throwing up and having diarrhea all morning. If you have time, it would be best for you to come and check on her.”

“Understood. Thank you, Teacher. I will be right there.”

Worried, Ji Yuqing removed her work badge, grabbed her phone, and left the office. She ran into her assistant, Pei Wen, on the way out. Without stopping, she said, “Help me request leave. I have to go out.”

“Alright, Maam… Wait, what happened?” Pei Wen asked as she stood there holding some documents, watching Ji Yuqing stride away in high heels at a brisk pace until she turned the corner and disappeared.

The diagnosis soon came back as acute gastroenteritis. The doctor had prescribed medicine to stop the vomiting and diarrhea, and Tang Yan also needed an IV of glucose.

The advisor stayed outside the hospital room until her guardian arrived. In her rush, Ji Yuqing had barely changed out of her work clothes; she still wore a black blazer and high heels when she got there.

“You are Tang Yan’s guardian?” The advisor was clearly surprised by how young she appeared.

“You must be the advisor. It is nice to meet you. I am Tang Yan’s aunt,” Ji Yuqing introduced herself.

The advisor nodded in confusion and, upon seeing such a lovely, poised young woman, felt his masculine energy surge a bit. He softened his voice considerably. “The doctor already checked her, and it is nothing serious. She seems to have come down with acute gastroenteritis, likely from bad food. There is no need to be too worried.”

Nodding politely, Ji Yuqing asked, “May I go in and see her?”

It was as if the advisor had not heard her question. He kept smiling and said, “You must have rushed here straight from work. You look pretty flustered. Would you like some water?” He offered her an unopened bottle of water.

She waved her hand to decline and asked again, “May I go in and see her now?”

“Oh, of course! Please go right in.”

After thanking him, she opened the door and stepped into the room. Only when the advisor saw her enter did he move away from the doorway.

“Why are you here, Aunt Ji?” Tang Yan asked in a weak voice. She was leaning back against the bed, an IV drip attached to her arm, her face unusually pale.

Seeing how energetic Tang Yan had been when she dropped her off at school, only for her to end up in this state after just one day, made Ji Yuqing both worried and upset. She put down her bag and hurried to the bedside. “What happened?”

Tang Yan smiled awkwardly. “I ate something that did not agree with me.”

“You are still smiling?” Ji Yuqing could not help feeling exasperated, but the very next second, she placed a hand on Tang Yan’s forehead and compared her own temperature with the other hand to make sure Tang Yan did not have a fever.

For a brief moment, Tang Yan’s mind was flooded with random thoughts: Aunt Ji’s hand felt so comforting. It felt so nice when she touched her forehead…

“Do you still feel uncomfortable?” Ji Yuqing asked in a particularly gentle tone.

Tang Yan shook her head. She felt much better, and hearing Aunt Ji speak so kindly made her troubles fade away. She suddenly realized that getting sick had its upside.

“You are still smiling. What is so funny, silly girl?”

That only made Tang Yan laugh harder, thoroughly confusing Ji Yuqing.

It took a while for Tang Yan to calm down and ask, “Were you at work? How did you end up here?”

“Your advisor called me. How could I concentrate on work when something came up with you?”

Tang Yan finally remembered that she had listed Aunt Ji’s number under the guardian section. No wonder Aunt Ji had appeared so suddenly. She felt a little guilty and worried that she might have caused trouble for her aunt at work. Noticing her change in expression, Ji Yuqing decided to tease her. Pretending to be troubled, she said, “My boss is going to dock my pay now. What should I do?”

“What? Then, Aunt Ji, you should go back to work right away. I am really fine. I can handle this on my own. It is just a minor issue…” Tang Yan grew flustered.

Looking at her, Ji Yuqing could not help bursting into laughter. She reached out and tapped Tang Yan’s nose. “I was kidding.”

Tang Yan froze for a second, feeling rather foolish.

“It is almost noon.” Checking her phone, Ji Yuqing noted the time. “You still need to eat something. If I recall correctly, there was a congee shop on this street. I will buy you a bowl.”

Seeing that Aunt Ji was about to leave, Tang Yan quickly sat up and asked, “Aunt Ji!”

“Yes?” Ji Yuqing turned around.

“You… you will come back, right?”

“Of course,” she replied with a faint smile. After a moment’s pause, she added, “Be good and wait here.”

Tang Yan realized a second too late how silly her question sounded. Sitting on the bed, she used her free hand to knock herself on the head again and again.

Aunt Ji definitely thinks I am being ridiculous! Tang Yan thought to herself.