Getting Along (Part 3)

"I understand. I will pay attention to it next time."

After saying this, He Shu bent down slightly, pursed his lips in front of Li Qinglan, and drew two fingers across his lips, making a sealing gesture.

This appearance made the person opposite him laugh uncontrollably. Just as he was about to say something else, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking them.

"What are you talking about? You look so happy?"

"Nothing, this is all your fault, brother. Why didn't you remind Doctor He to keep the matter secret? He just mentioned it outside and it scared me to death!"

When Li Qinglan saw his brother, he approached him affectionately. His tone was angry, but there was still a smile on his face, and he did not mean to blame him.

"What's up?"

He Shu looked at Li Qingshan, who seemed to have completely forgotten about this, and glanced at him secretly.

Well, this guy disguised himself as a woman and deceived him first, and he remained calm when he was praised to his face, and now he is pretending to be confused!

It's a pity that he has been feeling sorry for the disguise he put on three days ago. It turns out that the other person must be an old hand to be so "observant"!

The memory in the bookstore suddenly came back to my mind.

I had clearly noticed something that day, but I hadn't thought much about it. Mortals can't see through disguises, and I had been fooled before... When I saw Li Qingshan again, I felt familiar, thinking they looked like brother and sister, but it turned out they were clearly the same person.

He Shu felt a surge of hot blood rushing to his head, his cheeks and ears burning hot. He felt ashamed and annoyed, and almost squeezed out the words from between his teeth:

"Oh……"

"Master Li is truly a good brother."

He spoke each word deliberately, the dissatisfaction in his tone almost overflowing.

"For your sister, I even wear a silk skirt!"

Li Qingshan was stunned at first when he heard this, then his brows slightly frowned. His eyes fell on He Shu's flushed face. He wanted to open his mouth to explain, but nothing came out.

"I won't disturb you two, brother and sister. The medicine is still boiling on the stove, so I'll have to take care of it."

"Brother He..."

Li Qingshan stretched out his hand to stop him. He glanced at Li Qinglan, explained softly, and followed He Shu's steps. The two of them came to the pavilion outside the house together.

"Wuming, I didn't mean it, I..."

"Of course I know you mean well. You're trying to cover up for your sister. So, you want me to praise you a few more times, brother?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I'm not a worm in your stomach, how can I know what you mean?"

He Shu reached out and pushed away the person following closely behind him.

"Alright, alright, go back to the house and accompany your sister. Don't disturb me while I'm making the medicine."

As he spoke, he squatted down and picked up the palm-leaf fan again, but a blush gradually appeared on his ears.

“Cough cough cough——”

Suddenly, a few restrained coughs were heard behind him. He Shu didn't care about the medicine furnace in front of him. He quickly stood up and helped Li Qingshan sit down on the stone bench beside him.

"Oh, I told you to go back to the house. If you get blown by the wind, you'll have a cough..."

He Shu hurriedly lowered his head to feel his pulse. As soon as his fingertips touched the other's slightly cold wrist, he was suddenly grasped by an equally cold hand.

The palm trembled slightly after coughing, but it stubbornly covered the back of his hand, wrapping his fingers without giving him any room to refuse.

"Wuming, I didn't mean to hide it..."

Li Qingshan's voice was slow and hoarse as he cautiously probed.

"I just feel that... cross-dressing is really... really embarrassing to talk about. It's my fault for not considering your feelings."

As he spoke, his fingertips tightened slightly.

"Wuming...please don't be angry with me, okay?"

He Shu didn't know how to respond. The anger in his heart had actually been mostly extinguished by this explanation, and what remained was unspeakable embarrassment.

But this person was so close, speaking so softly, with his palm pressed tightly against his...

The skin on the back of my hand seemed to be on fire, and the heat went straight to my heart along the blood vessels.

His Adam's apple rolled and he wanted to pull his hand back, but his fingertips seemed to have their own consciousness and curled up slightly in Li Qingshan's palm, but ultimately did not move.

The inexplicable panic surged up again, stirring up chaos in his heart. He could only bury his head deeper, clumsily avoiding the source of his confusion, mumbling:

"I...I'm not that petty..."

"nameless……"

He Shu clearly felt the warmth of Li Qingshan's breath brushing against his forehead as he spoke. His voice became a little deeper, with a mixture of frankness and self-mockery.

"Since I've given up my chance to take the imperial examinations, I've been spending my time on my sickbed writing stories. It's funny, but I've only been talking to myself. I never thought I'd be able to win anyone's favor..."

He paused, and He Shu clearly felt a heavy gaze falling on his lowered head.

"That day... in the bookstore and the teahouse, I heard you eagerly inquiring about 'The Journey to Know Each Other', and even... you praised 'her'..."

Li Qingshan's voice became softer and softer, like a sigh.

"Wuming, that was the first time I realized that my writing could be truly loved by others."

"The joy I felt at that moment was worth more than a million..."

"Wuming, I..."

Li Qingshan's sincere whispers were heard in his ears. He Shu stared at the intertwined hems of their clothes on the ground. When his eyes fell on their tightly clasped hands, he suddenly looked away.

Li Qingshan's hands had distinct joints, and they were trembling slightly at the moment because of his unstable mood.

He Shu didn't dare look up. He could almost imagine the man's expression at that moment: focused and gentle, perhaps with a rare, cautious nervousness between his eyebrows. This realization made the heat in his ears, which had just subsided, flare up again.

"Then...then even if you didn't mean it that time at the bookstore..."

He Shu's voice was muffled. He gently broke free from the hand being held and turned his head away, but his eyes unconsciously glanced at the other person's tightly pursed lips.

"Yesterday? You must have done it on purpose!"

He spoke as fast as frying beans, and hardly dared to pause, for fear that if he did, he would lose his temper.

"Wearing the same veil... You, you must have recognized who I was at first glance! You knew I couldn't do acupuncture, but... you still deliberately..."

He Shu recalled the scene of Sun and Moon Bai's robe slipping down, and his voice suddenly dropped to a level that became almost an indistinct mumble.

"And you did that on purpose... You clearly just wanted to see me look bad, and you weren't afraid that I'd hurt you..."

"So I stopped you at the last moment..."

Li Qingshan did not retract his hand. Instead, he stroked the side of He Shu's face. With soothing force, he gently turned his face back and forced him to look at him.

"Wuming... I know you did it for my own good, so I didn't expose you. But..."

He tried hard to force a relaxed smile, but the corners of his mouth were a little stiff, and the slight trembling of his fingertips revealed the tension in his heart.

"I'm really a little scared. I'm afraid that Doctor He's miraculous healing technique will really turn me into a little hedgehog with a back full of silver needles."

"hedgehog?"

He Shu was stunned at first, then he burst out laughing, and the remaining shame and anger in his heart was diluted a lot by the laughter.

However, just as he smiled, he realized that Li Qingshan's fingers holding his cheek had not moved away, and the warm fingertips even gently rubbed his cheekbone. He hurriedly slapped the troublesome hand away and forced a serious expression:

"Nonsense, don't accuse me of anything. What a hedgehog..."

Before he finished speaking, their eyes met. As their gazes met, it was unknown who started it first, or if it was both of them at the same time, smiles spread in their eyes, and even their breathing intertwined.

For a moment, the only sounds in the pavilion were the gurgling of the medicine furnace and their lingering laughter, which filled the pavilion with a hot and steamy smell of herbs.

He Shu smiled so hard that his shoulders shrugged slightly. He took a breath and continued:

"Alright, alright, let's put this behind us! If Brother Qingshan really feels bad about this, then make up for it..."

"I was wondering why you've been taking your medicine so obediently these past few days..."

Suddenly, an apricot-yellow figure appeared from the half-open window opposite. Li Qinglan leaned against the window frame, dragging out a long tune, her big eyes rolling between the two of them.

"So you're familiar with Doctor He, but you've been whispering about this for too long, haven't you?"

He Shu was like a cat whose tail was stepped on. He suddenly bounced away from Li Qingshan and almost overturned the medicine furnace.

"We're done, just finished... Oh, it's over, it's over, the medicine is almost gone..."

He frantically steadied the stove, not daring to raise his head, and drove people away incoherently, his voice hurried and rapid, with a guilty conscience that was trying to hide.

"Qingshan...Master, please go in quickly. You are not needed here!"

He Shu squatted back to the medicine furnace almost at the same time, grabbed the palm-leaf fan and fanned it hard, as if to blow away the heat on his face.

Li Qinglan, like a fluttering yellow butterfly, flew into the pavilion with her skirt lifted up:

"Brother..."

She came close to Li Qingshan, pulled his sleeve and shook it, and asked eagerly:

"What were you talking about in the pavilion just now? You were so secretive that even Lan couldn't hear you."

"We were just talking about healing."

Li Qingshan patted his sister's head gently and changed the subject.

"Alan, you're looking for me this time because of the Shangsi Festival, right?"

"Um!"

"Before, Alan asked my brother to go for an outing in the suburbs during the Shangsi Festival. But now my brother is still ill, so naturally I don't have that idea anymore. It's just..."

Seeing that Li Qinglan no longer asked about the conversation, He Shu breathed a sigh of relief. He quietly made a gesture in his sleeve to extinguish the fire and stood up.

The Shangsi Festival that Li Qinglan mentioned just now attracted his attention and he couldn't help but become curious.

"The Ye family next door held a banquet. When they heard that my brother was at home, they insisted on inviting him, but they knew that my brother was sick!"

"Father and Mother refused out of concern for my brother's health. Who knew the Ye family's grandson would be so abominable, actually spreading rumors outside..."

Li Qinglan raised his eyes and glanced at Li Qingshan. After choking for a long time, he whispered:

"Say...say, brother, you won't live long..."

"How can this be possible!"

Before Li Qingshan could reply, He Shuxian couldn't help but speak. He was so enraged that he stood up and slammed the palm-leaf fan in his hand heavily on the stone table.