The Promise Sealed with Our Lips

Chapter 31

On the way back, when he saw He Nuo’s nose that had turned red from rubbing it too much, Shi Yan handed his handkerchief over, “You’re really something you know, it’s summer and you actually managed to get a cold and fever.”

He Nuo accepted the handkerchief, but when his snot dripped down his face he still wiped it away with the neatly folded tissues that he took out from his pocket.

“Use the handkerchief!”

“(It’ll be) covered in snot.”

“You’ll just need to wash it clean for me then, didn’t I use it to wipe you off before anyway? Oh right, if I hadn’t mentioned it I would’ve been letting you off easy, last time I was the one who washed the handkerchief.”

“……” He Nuo’s face was originally tinged with a pink flush from his fever, but now he had turned bright red. He was speechless. That day at the office…is a day he didn’t dare to recall. Even the new set of underwear that Shi Yan had given him – after he had washed it clean and folded it – was never worn again, because his heart was inexplicably uncomfortable with the thought.

“Get on, I’ll fetch you back. You’re so slow that it doesn’t even look like you’re moving.”

“Have you taken any medication? You’re down with a summer cold, it’s different from the winter kind1.” Shi Yan continued cycling as he asked the He Nuo who was sitting at the back.

“I’ve eaten. I’m alright now. Thank you.”

“Eaten what?”

“Paracetamol, Ganmaotong2 and the anti-inflammatory medicine you gave me.”

“Idiot! What kind of lousy medicine are those.”

He Nuo stopped talking, there was nothing he could say in reply.

When they reached He Nuo’s house, “Sleep earlier tonight, drink more warm water.”

“O3. Thank you.” He Nuo said goodbye before he went in. He was feeling dizzy and really wanted to sleep.

Shi Yan needed to cycle about 15 minutes to get back home. In the hot summer, the moment you moved your whole body would sweat. When Shi Yan got home he went to bathe immediately, then he lied on his bed and comfortably basked in the cool wind blowing from his fan. He suddenly wondered if He Nuo had fallen sick from sitting directly in front of a fan to cool down. That guy’s so skinny, no wonder his body is so delicate. Shi Yan jumped up to the front of his desk, pulled out one of its drawers and took out two sealed boxes that he threw onto his bed. Then he went out into the living room and rummaged through more drawers.

In the afternoon, the little nephew was taking his afternoon nap. He Nuo went to wash the clothes that had piled up because he was too sick to do laundry. When he was hanging up the clothes to dry on the ropes in his courtyard, someone knocked on the door – it was Shi Yan carrying a plastic bag. He Nuo had never been visited by a cla.s.smate before, so He Nuo didn’t think of inviting him in and only stood at the door to ask, “What’s wrong?”

“What the heck, don’t you know you should invite me in?”

“Oh,” He Nuo was at a loss as he opened the door, “please come in.”

Shi Yan magnanimously stepped into the courtyard, looked at the clothes that were drying, then saw that there were two doors. Shi Yan asked, “Where do you stay?”

“There.” He Nuo pointed to the right. Shi Yan immediately walked in. He Nuo was stunned, but quickly followed. Other than the living room at the front, there were two rooms at the back, one was bigger than the other. The bigger room belonged to his twin brothers, but currently they were at their maternal grandmother’s place to play. Usually they would stay there for half the holidays, so He Nuo put his little nephew into his brothers’ room to sleep. He Nuo brought Shi Yan into his own small room.

Shi Yan scrutinised He Nuo’s room. Honestly, he was very curious about He Nuo. Usually, he could tell that his family wasn’t very financially sound from his dressing, but he couldn’t have imagined that his room would be so simple. One bed one table one chair and one dresser, and they were all rather ancient. At this time, Shi Yan’s good upbringing prevented him from showing any signs of his joy, and he looked like he was just taking a glance around the room normally.

He Nuo went to pour a cup of cold water for Shi Yan. Shi Yan had pulled out the chair from underneath the table to sit on by himself, so He Nuo sat on the bed. Drafts could be felt from the front and back of the room, even though it’s hot in the day, it shouldn’t be too bad at night. There isn’t a single electric fan in sight, how did this guy even catch a cold?

Even though this was He Nuo’s home, he wasn’t as carefree as Shi Yan. He had never hosted a cla.s.smate or a friend before, so he didn’t know what to say. Shi Yan was the first to break their stalemate, “I brought you some stuff. Who asked you to be this delicate, falling sick so easily.” He opened up his plastic bag and took some things out, “Eat these on time! I guarantee that after eating these you’ll grow some meat on your bones.”

It was two boxes of Royal Jelly and two boxes of Apollo’s oral liquid. He Nuo doesn’t know what they are, but from their packaging he could tell that it wasn’t medicine.

“Thank you, I don’t want it.” He Nuo recalled that there was still that item, so he opened up his drawer, and took out the package that hadn’t been open to return to Shi Yan, “This belongs to you too.”

Shi Yan saw that his package hadn’t even been opened yet, so the fire in his heart began to rise and his voice became much lower, “Didn’t I tell you, if you don’t want it then throw it away?”

He Nuo knew that Shi Yan didn’t have any malicious intentions when he gave him this gift, but it wasn’t good for their friendship to be so one-sided. He Nuo had always been the one on the receiving end, and he had already received a lot of gifts, yet he didn’t have anything to give Shi Yan in return. So he hoped that Shi Yan wouldn’t misunderstand his rejection as hostility, “I’ve taken too much from you, and you’ve spent so much money, I can’t take any more.”

“What money? Who did you say spent money?” Shi Yan replied aggressively, but the anger he was repressing had subsided quite a bit. So the rejection was because of this.

He Nuo pointed towards the four boxes, “Even if you had taken these from your house, they cost money to buy.” He Nuo suddenly wondered if Shi Yan had obtained his parents’ permission to take these things out of his house, and whether he would be scolded for doing so.

“You’re really dumb, how are you so clueless. These were all given to us by the hospital, they’re reimburs.e.m.e.nts, I still have tons of them at home. They were given to us in boxes.”

“?!” He Nuo didn’t know anything, “These are medicine?”

“Of course not, what kind of family have you seen that opens medicine in boxes, how much do you intend to eat?” Shi Yan couldn’t help but laugh at his silly question, “Anyway, these are good for your body, and it doesn’t cost anything, not even a single cent. Now can you eat them in peace?”

Shi Yan casually opened one of the boxes, took out a small bottle and inserted a straw for him, “Drink!”

He Nuo took the bottle and looked at it. Shi Yan said, “It’s sweet, you think I’ll give you a bitter one as a trap?”

He Nuo carefully took a sip, it really was sweet, “I still need to thank you.”

Shi Yan smiled, then nonchalantly waved his hand, “Aren’t you sick of it, those are the two words that you’ve said to me most. Don’t you know how to say something else?”

“Something else?” He Nuo really couldn’t think of anything, “Oh, what’s this?” He took the package that Shi Yan had given him.

“Take a look, you’ll definitely like it.”

“You didn’t spend any money on this either?”

Shi Yan’s face was full of black lines, he said dispiritedly, “I didn’t spend anything, I picked it up!”

Originally Shi Yan had said that in a moment of spite, but He Nuo had coincidentally opened the package at the same time and saw the conch sh.e.l.l. His two eyes immediately widened in glee, “It’s so pretty, where did you pick it up from?”

1. Chinese people believe that there are two types of cold: a hot cold and a cold cold (directly translated). Hot colds result when you eat/drink heaty things which causes a throat inflammation; cold colds occur when the weather turns chilly and you didn’t keep warm enough. ↩

2. ↩

3. The “O” sound has two meanings: 1. Oh? as in surprise or Oh as in “I see”. 2. O eg. when your teacher asks you to do homework and you reply “O” in acknowledgement. Which is like Orz but making HN say Orz sounded weird so I left it as “O”↩

T/N: Shi Yan has taken a rock and smashed his own foot with it