Chapter 42 "How about you wipe it for me?"...

Sheng Yu had fallen into a coma before the ambulance arrived.

Tang Ci thanked the middle-aged man who helped save her, and climbed onto the ambulance, stepping on the wet ground illuminated by blue light.

Once everyone was on board, the nurse slammed the rear door shut. The deafening horn and the clamor of the onlookers still seeped into the carriage through the gap.

"He looked quite energetic... He jumped into the water to save people immediately..."

"How can someone who can save lives drown?"

"I don't know, maybe he's sick. I just glanced at him, and the young man's face was as white as a ghost."

"You didn't see it! One second he was swimming towards the shore, and the next he was sinking into the lake. It was terrifying..."

...

As the ambulance started moving, Tang Ci, her hands and feet ice-cold, sat on the stretcher, swaying with the vehicle, watching the nurses and doctors quickly check Sheng Yu's condition.

There was no water accumulation in the mouth and nose.

“Breathing is normal,” the doctor said, prying open Sheng Yu’s eyelids. “He is conscious and the drowning is not serious.”

“Normally, someone drowning to this extent shouldn’t be unconscious,” the doctor muttered, frowning, then turned to Tang Ci, who was frozen to the side, and asked, “Does the patient have any other medical conditions?”

Tang Ci recalled the scene of Sheng Yu sinking into the lake with a pale face, without struggling or exhaustion, as if she had given up naturally.

She choked back tears and said in a trembling voice, "I don't know..."

Seeing that she was young and clearly frightened, the nurse gently patted her back and asked softly, "Young lady, are you a patient's family member?"

Tang Ci shook her head: "I'm his classmate." She paused, then saw the name of Nanjing University Affiliated Hospital on the nurse's white coat and immediately thought of Song Min. "I'll contact his elders."

Song Min was off work tonight, and her voice was sluggish when she answered the phone, sounding like she was already asleep. But upon hearing Tang Ci's words, her tone immediately became alert: "Xiao Ci, thank you for calling me. I'm coming right now!"

Tang Ci put down her phone, and her hand was suddenly touched. Sheng Yu's eyelids were still closed, and her eyeballs were moving under her thin skin, as if she was having a nightmare. She grabbed at the air with all her might and touched Tang Ci's fingers again, and then clenched her fist tightly.

Tang Cihui grasped his cold palm and saw his bloodless lips moving rapidly.

"What did you say?" Tang Ci hurriedly leaned in to listen.

Sheng Yu's breath was shallow, his cold breath brushing against her earlobe: "I was wrong... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I really know I was wrong..."

"Mom...please come back...I'm not participating in this weekend's race. I'm withdrawing. I'm not swimming anymore..."

Tang Ci was startled, gripped his hand tightly in a panic, and subconsciously looked at the older doctor: "Doctor, what's wrong with him? Why is he talking nonsense?"

The doctor quickly bent down and examined him from head to toe. Sheng Yu had calmed down, his lips pressed into a straight line, looking very uncomfortable.

"It must be a nightmare from being frightened." The doctor frowned and said to the nurse next to him, "Put a blanket over him. The child is cold all over; he might be getting a fever."

The doctor's diagnosis was accurate. Sheng Yu developed a fever as soon as the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Her pale skin turned red from the fever, and although she was wrapped in a blanket, she was still shivering slightly. She only calmed down completely after being admitted to the ward and given an IV drip.

After seeing that there was no serious problem, the doctors and nurses went to check on the patients, leaving Tang Ci to sit on the edge of the bed and watch over Sheng Yu as he received an IV drip.

The medicine dripped silently into the plastic tube. Tang Ci touched the back of Sheng Yu's hand with the IV needle in it; it was as cold as when she had just come out of the water. She got up, slowed down the IV drip rate, and went downstairs to the convenience store outside the hospital to buy heat packs.

Upon entering the convenience store and smelling the aroma of oden, she realized that neither she nor Sheng Yu had finished eating. Not knowing when Sheng Yu would wake up, Tang Ci bought some room-temperature food and heat packs and returned to the hospital.

Sheng Yu remained lying quietly on the bed, her rapid breathing slowing down, her chest rising and falling slightly under the thin blanket.

Tang Ci quietly placed the plastic bag on the bedside table and applied a heat pack to his cold wrist.

A series of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. Song Min, her face filled with anxiety, pushed open the door and entered. Seeing Sheng Yu asleep, she slowed her movements and softly asked Tang Ci, "How is Xiao Yu now?"

"He has a fever. The doctor said there's nothing wrong with him right now, so he needs to have an IV drip and we'll see what happens when he wakes up."

Song Min's tense heart relaxed slightly, but her brows were still furrowed: "What exactly happened? How did he fall into the lake?"

It wasn't convenient to talk much in the ambulance, so Tang Ci only briefly told Song Min about Sheng Yu falling into the water, without explaining the whole story.

Tang Ci also had many questions on her mind. She swallowed hard, her throat dry, and said softly, "Dr. Song, let's go outside and talk."

Song Min nodded, patted Tang Ci's shoulder with her broad palm, and said thank you to her again.

With the ward door ajar, Tang Ci recounted the whole story to Song Min.

Upon hearing this, Song Min's eyes widened in disbelief: "You mean he jumped into the lake to save someone on his own initiative?"

Tang Ci's breath hitched: "Why do you ask that?"

Song Min shook her head thoughtfully, burying her face in her hands: "I thought that after what happened to his mother, he would never dare to go into the water again. I never expected him to take such a big risk to save someone."

"Could you... tell me about Sheng Yu's mother?" Tang Ci asked softly.

“Xiao Yu’s mother…” Even after so many years, Song Min’s eyes still welled up with tears when she mentioned Rong Wei: “She committed suicide by cutting her wrists in the Sheng family’s swimming pool.”

The hospital corridor was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Tang Ci gripped the back of the chair and took a light breath. The clean smell of disinfectant filled her nostrils, making her shiver involuntarily.

She wanted to ask why, but the image of Sheng Hong arrogantly insulting and belittling Sheng Yu suddenly flashed into her mind, and she swallowed her words.

“Xiao Yu started acting strangely around that time,” Song Min said with a wry smile. “She quit the city swimming team, her performance plummeted, and she started speeding and fighting.”

“Actually, I can understand all of this. It’s unbearable for anyone to lose their mother when they are just a teenager. I thought he was just having a moment of despair,” Song Min paused for a while before saying in a hoarse voice, “until more than two years after his mother passed away, he was taken to the emergency room late at night.”

"Why?!" Tang Cixin's heart tightened suddenly.

“It was also drowning.” Song Min said softly, “Sheng Hong’s explanation was that he insisted on going swimming in the backyard in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, and his leg cramps caused him to drown.”

Song Min clenched her teeth, her voice sounding like it was being squeezed out of her throat: "But I only found out after interrogating the Sheng family's housekeeper that ever since his mother passed away, Xiao Yu has been afraid even of the water in the bathtub."

"How could he possibly go swimming in the pool where his mother committed suicide in the middle of the night?" Song Min murmured. "What do you think he was doing there?"

Tang Ci suddenly pursed her lips, preventing the two words on the tip of her tongue from slipping out, but her hands couldn't help but clench tightly.

After a long pause, she asked in a hoarse voice, "After that, did he still have... tendencies?"

Song Min let out a heavy sigh: "After that, I kept a close eye on his medical treatment, and this kind of thing didn't happen again, but he kept getting sleeping pills and medication for neurasthenia." Tang Ci blinked her sore eyes: "He always has insomnia."

“Yes.” Song Min said softly, “Xiao Wei passed away in the middle of the night, so it’s normal that he couldn’t sleep.”

Through the small window in the ward door, Tang Ci glanced at Sheng Yu, who was sleeping peacefully inside, then turned to Song Min and asked, "Do you know any doctors who treat mental illnesses?"

“Do you think I haven’t tried to find him?” Song Min anxiously ran her fingers through her hair. “I know a doctor who is very famous for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Whenever that doctor has time, I contact Xiao Yu. He either doesn’t reply to messages or answer the phone, or when he does answer, he says he’s fine and not sick, and tells me not to worry about him.”

"Could you please arrange it for him again?" Tang Ci released her fingers, which had been twisted until they were white, and said in a soft but firm voice, "He will go this time."

Are you sure?

"Have you forgotten? This time, he not only went into the water, but he also saved someone."

Tang Ci forced a smile, her gentle eyes shining brightly: "He's not as afraid of the past as he used to be."

/

The nurse answered the doorbell and came to the ward door, saying to the two, "The patient is awake." As she spoke, she pushed open the door, then realized something and turned to look at Song Min again: "Dr. Song, are you a family member of the patient?"

Song Min didn't deny it and led Tang Ci into the ward.

Sheng Yu propped himself up on the bed with his elbows. The heat patch on his wrist fell off, so he bent down and put it back on. He asked naturally, "Aunt Min, what brings you here?"

Tang Ci recalled the last time she went to the emergency room, when Sheng Yu faced Song Min's deliberately cold attitude and admitted first, "I called Dr. Song."

Sheng Yu raised the corner of her mouth slightly: "You were scared, weren't you?"

Tang Ci did not deny it: "A little."

The nurse stepped forward to replace the empty IV bottle and took Sheng Yu's temperature and heart rate. Although he still had a fever, his temperature had gone down and his face had regained some warmth.

Tang Ci and Song Min stood on either side of the foot of the bed, their faces not looking too good, like guardian deities. Even the nurses' expressions became serious. After the examination, they gave a few quick instructions and left the ward.

Sheng Yu smiled and said, "Alright, I'm fine. Aunt Min, you have to work tomorrow, right? It's so kind of you to make this trip so late at night. Please go back quickly and take her back to Zizhuyuan for me."

His lips were still a little pale, but he seemed to be in good spirits and spoke as thoughtfully as usual, as if he had just had a common fever and was hospitalized.

Before Song Min could say anything more, Sheng Yu interrupted her, saying, "I'm really fine, I'm just getting an IV drip. You're just keeping me company."

“Okay,” Song Min glanced at the IV drip bottle and nodded decisively, “I’ll come see you again tomorrow.”

Sheng Yu closed his eyes briefly, then looked at Tang Ci and said, "You go back with Aunt Min."

“I’m not going back.” Tang Ci, who was usually the most obedient, was stubborn at this moment, pointing to the other empty bed in the double room: “I’ll sleep here tonight.”

The ward door was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged couple, under the guidance of medical staff, placed the elderly man in the wheelchair onto the empty bed.

"..." Tang Ci curled her fingers, still unwilling to back down: "There are folding beds for sale downstairs."

She was still carrying her schoolbag, and her ponytail, which she had tied up when she left home, had come loose. She stood there pitifully yet silently and stubbornly.

Sheng Yu's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, as if he were sighing: "Aunt Min, you should go back first. She'll stay here."

Song Min could easily see the undercurrents between the two, but she was surprised that Sheng Yu would compromise for someone else. Her tense expression eased a bit, and she gave the two a few instructions before leaving.

Sheng Yu naturally didn't let Tang Ci go downstairs to buy a folding bed. He contacted the nurse to change the ward, got up, pushed the IV bottle, and took Tang Ci to a single ward on the top floor.

The single ward was equipped with a bed for a caregiver and a private bathroom. Sheng Yu sat on the edge of the bed and gestured with his chin toward Tang Ci: "Who wants to shower first?"

Tang Ci frowned as she looked at the back of his hand with the needle in it: "You have a fever, so don't take a bath."

Sheng Yu raised his arm and sniffed it, then frowned in disgust: "It stinks." After saying that, he pinched the bridge of his nose, a nonchalant smile playing on his lips: "Why don't you wipe it for me?"

Tang Ci felt her ears burning from his flippant tone, but upon reflection, she realized it wasn't a big deal. He was a patient with an IV drip in his hand, so it didn't seem like a big deal for her to help wipe it.

"...Alright then."

Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow: "Really?"

Tang Ci scratched her ear: "Why don't you wash yourself after you take off the IV bag... Let's wash up first today."

“Okay.” Sheng Yu readily agreed. When he stood up, holding onto the IV pole, he swayed slightly. His lips, which were peeling from the fever, were hoarse as he said, “I might have to trouble you to help me inside.”

Tang Ci bit her lip, took a few steps forward, hugged his arm, and sighed, "Let me wipe it for you."

Sheng Yu sat back on the edge of the bed and smiled politely: "Thank you for your trouble."

Tang Ci wrung out the hot towel and walked out of the bathroom nervously. Even though she had mentally prepared herself, she still paused when she saw Sheng Yu sitting on the bed with his upper body naked.

Sheng Yu lowered his head slightly, his delicate, pale skin shining like jade under the incandescent light. As he turned his head to look at him, the muscles in his shoulders, neck, and arms stretched out beautiful and powerful lines.

These are the same arms that make fluid movements in the azure pool, achieving one outstanding result after another, and these are the same arms that, tonight, unhesitatingly saved a child who had fallen into the water.

My gaze moved down, past the protruding wrist bone, to the back of his hand where the IV needle was pinned down. A tiny needle, connected to a long IV line, was wrapped around his body like an inescapable chain.

"What are you standing there for?" Sheng Yu winked at her. "Regretful?"

Tang Ci shook her head, holding the towel without moving: "Could you grant me one request first?"

Sheng Yu chuckled lightly: "I didn't see you make any demands when I wasn't sick. What, are you trying to take advantage of my misfortune?"

Tang Ci ignored his teasing and kept a straight face: "You have to promise me first."

"I agree." Sheng Yu nodded nonchalantly.

"Dr. Song has made an appointment with a psychologist. Why don't you go and see him?"

Sheng Yu pursed his thin lips into a downward line, looked at her for a while, and then smiled: "She told you? About my mother."

Tang Ci breathed slightly: "There's also your business."

"What's up?"

Tang Ci fell silent.

Sheng Yu was quite frank: "The thing about me jumping into the pool to commit suicide in the middle of the night?"

Tang Ci clenched the towel tightly, and her eyes instantly reddened.

Sheng Yu exhaled a breath of stale air, slipped on his shoes, stood up from the bed, still pushing the IV drip in his hand, and walked to Tang Ci with a disheveled look, wiping her wet eyelids.

"She cried when I said I wasn't going."

Tang Ci's voice choked with sobs as she confirmed with him, "Then it's settled. Dr. Song, we'll make an appointment, and I'll go with you."

"Go away, my ancestor." Sheng Yu turned around and sat back on the bed. "Come and wipe me down first."

"Oh." Tang Ci sniffed and quickly followed.

Sheng Yu only let her wipe her back, and she took care of the rest herself in the bathroom. After they finished cleaning up and turned off the lights in the ward, it was almost midnight.

So much happened that day that Tang Ci thought she would have insomnia, but after lying on the cot and staring at the ceiling for a while, she fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the ward was brightly lit, and doctors and nurses were gathered around the bed to conduct a routine check-up on Sheng Yu.

Seeing Tang Ci staring blankly from the doorway, Song Min smiled and said, "You're awake? Xiao Yu asked us to keep our voices down so as not to wake you."

Tang Ci saw the mischievous look in her eyes, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly got out of bed to go to the bathroom to wash up.

When she came out, the doctor had already finished the examination. Sheng Yu was young and in good physical condition. After receiving intravenous fluids last night, her fever symptoms had subsided.

"Your heart rate is still too high. You'll need to be admitted to the hospital first and have all the relevant tests done." The doctor quickly wrote in the medical record, glancing up occasionally to ask, "How's your sleep? Did you have another nightmare last night?"

After the doctor finished speaking, Tang Ci and Song Min both looked at Sheng Yu on the hospital bed.

Tang Ci was close enough to see a small patch of blue under Sheng Yu's eyelids.

“No…” Sheng Yu seemed to notice her intense gaze, glanced at her through the white coats, and cleared his throat before speaking again: “Not really.”

The doctor prescribed some more sedatives and then led the person out of the ward.

Tang Ci took out her phone and checked the time. If she didn't leave soon, she would miss the first class.

Sheng Yu saw through her thoughts and looked up, saying, "Go to class. Aunt Min is here."

“Yes, I don’t have surgery today, so I can come whenever I have time,” Song Min replied.

Unsure how long he would be hospitalized, Tang Ci said, "I'll bring you some clothes after school."

"OK."

"Shall I get you a few more sets of test papers?"

"good."

"Then I'm leaving."

Sheng Yu smiled and said, "Message me when you get to school."

Tang Ci opened her mouth, wanting to say something more, but seeing Song Min's doting smile, she pursed her lips, mumbled a greeting, and quickly left the ward.

Song Min still remembers the first night she met Tang Ci. Sheng Yu said in a cold tone that they were just classmates, and Song Min teased with a smile in her eyes, "You classmates are so close?"

Sheng Yu remained unmoved: "It depends on what kind of classmate it is."

/

Thinking of Sheng Yu alone and helpless in the hospital receiving an IV drip, Tang Ci spent the whole day in a daze.

Finally, school ended in the afternoon. Tang Ci asked her substitute teacher for leave from evening self-study and went straight to the hotel.

Tang Ci took Sheng Yu's suitcase out of the closet, stuffed two T-shirts inside, and then Sheng Yu called.

"I'm getting your clothes for you, do you need me to take a look?"

"No need, you know what to take."

"I know." Tang Ci looked at his neatly organized wardrobe, her voice trailing off as she spoke: "Clothes, pants, socks, and...that."

"Which one?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

Tang Ci swallowed hard, her voice barely audible: "Underwear..."

Sheng Yu's voice was tinged with laughter: "In the cabinet in the first row on the bottom left."

"Okay, I understand."

Tang Ciqiang answered calmly, and after hanging up the phone, she covered her face and calmed down for a while before quickly opening the closet like a thief, grabbing a few pairs of underwear and throwing them into her suitcase.

During rush hour, the bus was stuck in traffic for a while, and Tang Ci arrived at the hospital 15 minutes later than scheduled.

Hearing voices coming from inside the door, she assumed it was Song Min and Sheng Yu chatting. She pulled her suitcase and pushed the door open, coming face to face with five or six classmates standing in front of the hospital bed.

Zhou Yiyang smiled and greeted her as if it were nothing out of the ordinary: "Little Tang Ci, you're here."

Zheng Shuyao pursed her lips, staring blankly at the suitcase in Tang Ci's hand.

The remaining classmates looked puzzled: "Tang Ci, why are you bringing a suitcase when you're visiting someone in the hospital?"

Sheng Yu sat with his back against the headboard, and upon hearing this, he lazily looked at Tang Ci, who was standing stunned at the door.

Tang Ci saw his lips move and quickly said, "I'm helping Sheng Yu... classmate, get something."

The students' surprise remained.

Under the gaze of everyone, Tang Ci forced herself to continue explaining: "It's like... running errands, the kind where you get paid."

Before anyone else could speak, Sheng Yu crossed her arms and gave a knowing "Oh," then asked in a deep, emotionless voice, "You didn't forget your underwear, did you?"