Serenade

Jing Chi said, "How is it that some people have a constant stream of blossoming love, like peach blossoms blooming one after another without end?"

Xu Chaoyang said, "It's fate."

Xia You said, "There's no such thing as an ugly man, only lazy men. You two should clean yourselves up, I'm sure there will be girls who like you."

Xu Chaoyang said, "Do you have any more face masks? Let me use one."

Xia You said, "Sure, one hundred yuan per mask."

Xu Chaoyang said, "Damn it, you're robbing me!"

Xia You said, "Uncultured."

Jing Chi said, "That's still better. The last girl who confessed to him, her overpowering perfume made him vomit right there on the street. Just imagine the psychological trauma for that girl."

Jin Xi asked curiously, "So he rejected her?"

Jing Chi said, "Obviously..."

Just then, the three boys simultaneously turned their heads back in surprise, staring at Jin Xi, saying in unison: "Holy crap! When did you get here?!"

Jin Xi blinked innocently and said, "The door was open, so I just..."

Xu Chaoyang quickly pulled Jin Xi over to prevent her from looking at the other two downstairs.

"Little Jin Xi came to get some milk that her brother sent over, I've already warmed it up for you."

Xu Chaoyang took out a package of warm milk from a big red basin and handed it to Jin Xi.

"Thank you Instructor Xu. Let me pay you for the milk."

"No need. Your brother said it was all sent over by him, we're like family, no need to pay."

"Oh, thank you Instructor Xu." Jin Xi turned to leave.

Jing Chi called out to her, "Little Jin Xi, your brother Bo Yan is quite charming to others."

Jin Xi bit open the milk package and said, "I know."

After she left, Xu Chaoyang asked Jing Chi, "What did she mean by that?"

Jing Chi said, "It means the revolution has yet to succeed, comrade Bo Yan still needs to keep working hard."

...

Comrade Bo Yan hurried out the door to go to the appliance store outside the school to buy something. He lingered amongst the shelves, carefully comparing brands, and bought the smallest power hair dryer, repeatedly confirming with the store owner that it was a model allowed for use in student dorms.

At 11pm, there was a knock on the door of room 410. After Lin Luo opened the door, there was no one outside, just a plastic bag hanging on the door handle.

"Hey, who could it be at this hour, doing good deeds without leaving their name, sending us a hair dryer."

"How timely," said Jin Xi. "My hair is still wet."

She curiously unpacked the box and took out the hair dryer. Inside was a sticky note, with nothing written on it, just a simple doodle of a sleeping orange cat.

Lin Luo asked Jin Xi, "Who sent this?"

Jin Xi hesitated, "I...don't know, there's nothing written."

She carefully placed the sticky note between the pages of a book for safekeeping.

**

For two or three days, Jin Xi didn't see Bo Yan. Only after asking Xu Chaoyang did she learn that Bo Yan had taken leave to return home, for unknown reasons.

Should she ask about him?

As a good friend, it would be normal to show concern. She had even drafted a text message—

"Senior Bo Yan, you haven't been at school these past few days, did something happen?"

But she hesitated for a long time before sending it.

In class, Lin Luo leaned over and whispered an exaggerated "Oh~~"

Jin Xi glared at her sideways, "Peeping at my screen is shameful!"

Lin Luo laughed and said, "You've been editing and revising those few lines for half the class. Little Jin Xi, when did you learn to beat around the bush? Why not just ask him directly?"

"He's been really nice to me, it's normal for me to ask about his whereabouts!" Jin Xi explained earnestly.

Lin Luo said, "I didn't say it wasn't normal, I'm also very concerned about the senior's whereabouts."

Chu Zhao turned around, "I'm concerned too, plus one."

Their handsome new roommate Chutang also turned around, "I'm concerned too, plus 10086."

So the message Bo Yan received from Jin Xi said:

"Senior Bo Yan, you haven't been at school these past few days. All 410 members are very concerned about your whereabouts. Did something happen? It would be great if you could tell all 410 members."

His mouth curled into a faint smile, which was all the strength he could muster, half-dead as he lay limply on the sofa, taking out the thermometer from his armpit for a look: 38.3 degrees.

His phone buzzed, getting Jin Xi all excited, "He replied, he replied!"

What Bo Yan sent was a photo of a thermometer. Jin Xi looked at her phone sideways for a long time before saying, "He has a fever."

In addition, Bo Yan had also screenshotted Baidu Baike, which said a fever below 38.5 degrees was considered low-grade, 38.5-39 degrees was moderate, and above 39 degrees was high fever.

Looking at the Baidu snippet, Lin Luo said in a daze, "Your senior is worried your silly brain can't understand that he's sick."

Jin Xi: ...

Was that necessary!

In any case, he had made clear that he was ill. So was there a need to visit him in the hospital?

On this issue, Jin Xi consulted the most dear, reliable, and trustworthy Instructor Xu.

Dressed in full military garb, Xu Chaoyang stood by the pull-up bars, frowning as he did pull-ups. "It's just a little problem, your Senior Bo Yan has a strong constitution. No need to be hospitalized, just take medicine and lie down at home for a couple days, and he'll surely be lively and jumping again."

"That's good then." Jin Xi felt somewhat relieved.

"But..." Xu Chaoyang changed his tone, "Your Senior Bo Yan has no one to take care of him at home. Being sick and all alone is pretty pitiful."

"He has no one at home?"

"That's right, Bo Yan lived with Elder Bo since he was little, and moved out when he started high school. Now he lives alone."

"So when he's sick there's no one to take care of him?"

Xu Chaoyang nodded gravely.

Jin Xi thought for a moment, then asked Xu Chaoyang, "Could you give me his address?"

Xu Chaoyang sent Bo Yan's home address to Jin Xi, and heaved a sigh of relief, poking into Bo Yan's chat window, "Although my apprentice's brain doesn't work too well, her kindness is genuine. These days you haven't been around, and she's been taking care of the stray cats and dogs on our campus."

Bo Yan now only had enough strength left in his fingers to poke at his phone screen. He directly typed abbreviations: "sytswnpybsnnpy."

Xu Chaoyang: "Speak human words."

Bo Yan: "wnpyrmxstxdy."

Xu Chaoyang: ......

Who could understand that!

He found Jing Chi to help translate Bo Yan's cryptic words, "Take a look, is this punk insulting me again in a roundabout way?"

Jing Chi was going around the dorms peddling a new batch of condoms. After glancing at the abbreviations, he murmured, "The first sentence says: So she is my girlfriend not your girlfriend."

"What about the second sentence?"

"My girlfriend is beautiful, kind-hearted, and best in the world."

Xu Chaoyang: "Look how smug he is...since when did my student become his girlfriend?"

Jing Chi just laughed and shrugged meaningfully, "He's sick with a fever, just let him be a bit 'delusional'."

The more Xu Chaoyang thought about it, the more he felt something was off. "No, I have to go tell my student, can't just watch her jump into that old fox's trap!"

Jing Chi pressed down firmly on Xu Chaoyang's shoulder, "If you ruin Senior Bo's plans, you'll face his cold glares and petty tricks for the next three years."

Xu Chaoyang shivered a little, yeah he was kind of scared.

As a veteran with no sense of direction, Jin Xi had set off in the morning based on the address Xu Chaoyang gave her. She took the bus, transferred to the light rail, switched lines several times, and also got on the wrong lines several times. After trekking over mountains and rivers amidst difficulties and obstacles, she finally arrived at Bo Yan's apartment complex at dusk.

In her hands she carried a heavy bag of fruit, her shoulders felt like they were about to dislocate.

She really was too foolish, if she had known it would be such an ordeal she could've just taken a taxi here directly.

Following the address, Jin Xi took the elevator and stopped in front of a dark red security door, carefully checking the unit number.

Right, this was it.

She knocked on the door. After a very long time, the sound of sluggish, powerless footsteps came from inside the room.

With a creak, the door opened.

"Senior Bo Yan, I came to see how you're doing and wish you a speedy recove..."

Before Jin Xi could even finish her sentence, the man collapsed right onto her. His hands wrapped around her shoulders, his head drooped powerlessly over her back, his full body weight pressing down.

He weakly said, "Just opening the door...took all my strength. I'm so weak right now."

Jin Xi's eyes widened slightly. Glancing from the side, the man's ears were flushed red, his hair was disheveled and messy. His breathing seemed quite hampered, hot and humid puffs hitting her neck, tickling her skin.

She could even smell the soft, powerless scent on him.

"Senior Bo Yan, can you stand up straight?"

"I'm very weak."

"Oh dear..."

Jin Xi struggled to support his body and with difficulty brought him into the room, closing the door behind them.

"You're so heavy, senior."

With eyes closed, Bo Yan clung to her like an octopus, his voice soft and powerless, yet hoarse and low. "No strength, take me to the bed."

Jin Xi strenuously got him settled on the sofa laying down.

"Senior, how did you get so terribly sick?"

Jin Xi felt his forehead, his temperature really was quite high. "Did you go to the hospital?"

"Got medicine." Bo Yan stretched out his hand, pointing to the coffee table.

Jin Xi checked his pockets, all prescription medication, with dosage and instructions written on them. But she counted and saw he had barely taken any.

She asked solemnly, "Senior, you didn't take your medicine?"

Bo Yan's eyes were narrowed to lines, his lashes dark and thick, yet his complexion was as pale as paper. Breathless and weak, he said, "Couldn't read what was written, took a few pills randomly."

Jin Xi couldn't bring herself to blame him. She neatly laid out all the medicine packs, separating them by dosage and frequency according to the prescriptions. She also got some warm water from the water dispenser.

"Senior, time to take your medicine."

Bo Yan's lips parted slightly. She patiently fed the pills into his mouth one by one, then supported his jaw and spoon-fed him some warm water.

His Adam's apple moved slightly as he swallowed.

"Did you swallow it, senior?"

"No, it's stuck in my throat."

Bo Yan glanced at her hazily: "Jin Xi, feed me some more water."

Jin Xi lifted his head gently and carefully fed him water, a small sip at a time, afraid he would choke on it. She was even more attentive than when taking care of a sick kitten at the cat society.

After taking the medicine, Bo Yan simply rested his head on Jin Xi's lap and began to doze off.

The young auntie really cherished him now and couldn't bear to push him away.

She was kind-hearted. When the school's cats got sick, she would be worried all night unable to sleep. Let alone now it was a person.

"Senior, you're so severely ill, how could you not tell your family?"

Bo Yan opened his eyes a slit and gazed at her tenderly: "My grandfather is seventy-six this year. I can't bear to have him come take care of me."

Jin Xi asked again: "What about other relatives? Uncles, aunts, cousins?"

"They all have their own matters. It's just a minor ailment," he said mildly as he shifted his body to lie flat. "I can tough it out until it passes. Why bother others?"

After all they weren't his immediate family.

Jin Xi felt for the first time that her senior Bo Yan needed a girlfriend. At least when he was sick there would be someone to look after him, so he wouldn't be abandoned here untended.

The more she thought about it, the more pitiful she felt. Jin Xi's eyes turned red.

"Jin Xi, what are you thinking about?" He asked feebly.

"You're so ill, yet you still care what I'm thinking?"

After Jin Xi spoke, she couldn't hold back anymore, and a teardrop fell onto his eyelashes with a 'plop'.

He blinked lightly, the teardrop moistening his eyelashes. In his groggy state, it also softened his heart.

...

After Jin Xi left, Bo Yan sat up from the sofa and rubbed his eyes.

In the WeChat group, Xu Chaoyang had tagged him no less than twenty times.

Xu Chaoyang: "My student still hasn't returned to her dorm! What did you do?! I warn you--don't you dare mess around!"

Bo Yan: "She's back. I saw her downstairs and watched her get in a taxi. Let me know when she reaches you."

Xu Chaoyang: "Yo, you can so easily let go of the lamb you got your hands on. Not bad!"

After a long pause, Bo Yan said: "I want to marry her."

Xu Chaoyang looked down and asked Jing Chi: "Human translator, isn't this punk cursing at me again?!"

Jing Chi was calculating his earnings for the day with a calculator. He glanced at the phone and murmured: "Your Lordship Bo has said his first civil words in this life."

Xu Chaoyang: "What did he say?"

Jing Chi: "He said, I want to marry her."