Chapter 55 "This time, I'll help you with my mouth."...
After walking through the sun-baked flowerbeds and reaching the shady streets outside the hospital, Tang Ci's hands finally warmed up.
Pedestrians hurried along the not-so-wide street. Her shoulder was bumped by a pedestrian, and she stumbled.
Sheng Yu lowered his hand from her shoulder, took her arm, and pulled her closer to his chest.
Feeling his body temperature through her clothes, Tang Ci glanced up at him, then quickly lowered her eyes again.
Although she understood that Sheng Yu and Qin Ling's words were only meant to help her vent her anger, she still couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in her heart from his protectiveness.
It was as if she really had a family now.
Sheng Yu took out his car keys, opened the door, and glanced down at her: "What are you thinking about?"
"It's nothing," Tang Ci shook her head, and only after getting into the car did she remember to thank him: "Thank you for today."
Sheng Yu, steering the wheel, said, "If this happens again, just call me."
Hearing his seemingly self-evident words, Tang Ci tightened her grip on the seatbelt, a sudden impulse rising within her to ask him how far into the future "later".
But as the words were about to come out, she realized her own delusions and swallowed them back, only nodding.
/
Jianchuan organizes a team building activity every summer, and this year it was held in Guangxia Town, which is not far from Nanling.
Two days before his departure, He Xiao had a sudden inspiration and sent an invitation to Sheng Yu, hoping to take the opportunity to maintain his relationship with him.
He knew Sheng Yu was busy and too lazy to socialize with unimportant people, so he only intended to exchange pleasantries and didn't expect Sheng Yu to agree.
To his surprise, Sheng Yu replied to him shortly after he sent the message.
Just two words—yes.
He Xiao thought that Yunqi must not be busy recently, otherwise, how could a big boss like Sheng Yu, who is so busy with affairs every day, have the leisure to have a team building activity?
When Tang Ci returned home that evening and saw Sheng Yu packing his luggage by the sofa, she learned that his company had also moved to Guangxia Town.
She stopped in her tracks, somewhat surprised, and asked gently, "You haven't been busy these past few days?"
Sheng Yuli swiftly closed her suitcase: "It's alright."
Tang Ci said "Oh," and reminded him, "The temperature difference between day and night in Guangxia Town is large, so remember to bring a thick coat."
Sheng Yu nodded.
Tang Ci took a sip of water from her cup and was about to go back to her room when she remembered something and turned to him, saying, "Remember to bring a thermos too, so you can fill it with hot water."
"Is there anything else we should be aware of?" Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Teacher Tang—"
Tang Ci paused slightly, thinking back to when she was in high school tutoring, Sheng Yu always liked to call her "Teacher Tang".
His tone was the same as it is now, mostly unserious, with a touch of youthful arrogance.
Tang Ci cleared her throat, and before the heat from her ears spread to her face, she dryly replied, "That's all," and hurriedly returned to her bedroom.
/
Tang Ci, who loved to teach others, developed a fever on the day of departure, but she didn't pay attention to it and washed up and ate as usual. Before leaving, Sheng Yu noticed something was wrong.
"You didn't even know you had a fever?" Sheng Yu asked, frowning as he placed the back of his hand against her forehead.
“Ah…I know,” Tang Ci said, pulling up the shoulder strap of her backpack that had slipped down to her arm. “It’s nothing, just a minor illness.”
Sheng Yu snorted coldly, took off her backpack and put it in her own hand: "I'm not going."
"No way." Tang Ci paused for a second, then grabbed her bag. "The company has already booked a hotel."
For her, the annual team building event was like a free trip, and Tang Ci didn't want to waste this opportunity to take advantage of the company.
Sheng Yu took out a thermometer from the first-aid kit, checked her forehead, and seeing that the reading was not high, reluctantly agreed to go out, but did not return the backpack to her until they reached the high-speed rail station.
When entering the station, Tang Ci made an excuse to go to the convenience store first, and only came out after Sheng Yu had gone far away. Therefore, when they arrived at the rest area, no one noticed that they had come together.
Guangxia Town is located near Nanling City, just an hour away by high-speed rail. As soon as they exited the station, a business vehicle from the resort took them into the scenic area.
When checking in at the hotel front desk, everyone shared rooms with people they knew, and Xiao Jing ran straight over to Tang Ci and stuck to her side.
"Sister Xiaoci, let's share a room."
Just as Tang Ci was about to agree, Sheng Yu, who was a few steps away, suddenly said, "You'll live alone."
As soon as he finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the hall.
Yunqi's employees knew about Sheng Yu's relationship with Tang Ci because they had met her at the company, but since it involved the president's privacy, they only dared to gossip secretly with their eyes.
Jianchuan's employees only knew that Tang Ci and Sheng Yu were classmates, so they all stared wide-eyed at the two of them.
Tang Ci felt her face flush under his gaze, but she forced herself to remain calm and asked, "Why?"
"Do you have a fever and want to infect others?"
Tang Ci grunted, put her mask on, and apologized to Xiao Jing, "I'm sorry, I forgot I'm still sick."
Xiao Jing waved her hand and said, "It's nothing." After picking out a single room for her, she suddenly realized, "How did President Sheng know you were sick?"
Tang Ci panicked for a moment, then thought for a second and said, "We bumped into each other this morning and chatted for a bit."
Xiao Jing didn't suspect anything. They put their luggage back in their rooms and then went to the restaurant for lunch.
The resort has various recreational facilities and a coffee shop. After dinner, everyone went off to play in their own groups.
Tang Ci and Xiao Jing weren't interested in sightseeing, so after leaving the restaurant, they went straight into a coffee shop, drinking coffee and watching old movies playing on the screen.
Colleagues who had returned from their trip gradually joined them, and once there were many people, they started chatting casually.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, hotel staff were tying colorful balloons to the trees, and from a distance, the red, orange, yellow, and blue balloons blended seamlessly with the lush greenery of the mountains.
Seeing the scenery before them, someone remembered something and looked at Tang Ci, asking, "Hey, you graduated from Peking University, right?"
Not knowing why he asked that, Tang Ci nodded blankly.
"I remember during Kyoto University's centennial celebration, they released a lot of balloons in front of the auditorium. The scene was amazing."
Xiao Jing also recalled: "It was trending on social media at the time, and many people went there specifically to check it out."
Tang Ci naturally remembered that it was graduation season, and she gave a speech in the auditorium on behalf of her department that day.
She nodded and said, "There were indeed a lot of tourists that day, and the cafeteria couldn't keep up with the demand."
Xiang Wen, who was talking to someone, suddenly turned around, looking puzzled: "What kind of activity?"
Xiang Wen studied abroad and was unaware of much information about China.
Tang Ci found the photos from that day in her cloud drive and showed them to him using her phone screen.
Upon seeing the photo, Xiang Wen immediately showed a surprised expression: "There's a similar photo on President Sheng's desk at headquarters."
Tang Ci's eyes flickered slightly, and just as she was about to ask something, the doorbell of the coffee shop rang.
Sheng Yu and He Xiao walked in. Seeing them gathered together, He Xiao asked with a smile, "It's so lively, what are you all talking about?"
Xiang Wen's eyes twitched, and he pointed at Tang Ci's phone screen, asking, "President Sheng, take a look. This looks just like the photo on your desk."
Sheng Yu asked the waiter for a glass of ice water, glanced down at the photo on her phone, and said, "It does look quite similar."
Tang Ci's fingers tightened around the mug: "Did you take this yourself?"
Sheng Yu raised an eyebrow and took a sip of water: "Found it online."
Tang Ci's tightly clenched heart relaxed, and she gave a bewildered "Oh".
/
If Tang Ci had known in advance that there were no partitions between the hot springs, she would have gone straight to her room to sleep after dinner.
That way, she wouldn't have to stand around the hot spring pool wrapped in a bathrobe, hesitating.
Several male colleagues were sitting and chatting in the pool a little distance away from her, while her female colleagues in the pool closer to her were urging her to go into the water.
"We're all adults, what's there to be shy about?"
"Exactly, once you're in the water, who can see who else?"
Tang Ci glanced around to make sure Sheng Yu wasn't there, then steeled herself, untied her bathrobe, revealing the one-piece racing swimsuit she was wearing underneath.
Xiao Jing was both amused and exasperated: "Sister Xiao Ci, why are you so worried about dressing so conservatively?"
Tang Ci sat down on the steps inside the hot spring and stubbornly said, "I'm just a little not used to it."
After calmly soaking for ten minutes, someone else came in, and Tang Ci immediately became restless.
Sheng Yu had probably just finished showering, as he was only wearing a towel around his waist. His upper body muscles were clearly defined, with broad shoulders and a lean waist.
He walked out of the dimly lit stone path, carrying with him a mysterious, hidden desire.
Several female colleagues exaggeratedly covered their mouths and screamed, causing the misty spring water to splash out of the pool.
Hearing their commotion, Sheng Yu lowered his eyes as he passed by.
Tang Ci sat quietly in the pool, holding her thermos and drinking water.
Sheng Yu stopped by the pool where several men were sitting, untied his bathrobe and tossed it onto a clothes rack, then placed his large, well-defined hands on the edge of the pool and entered the water.
Several suppressed screams erupted in Tang Ci's ears.
"Did you see President Sheng's hands?! They're amazing."
"Your palm is so big..."
"Your fingers are so long..."
...
The hot spring water was too hot, making her mouth and throat dry, so Tang Ci took a few more sips of water while holding her thermos.
However, the image of Sheng Yu's fingers kept flashing through her mind, and no amount of shaking her head could dispel the evil thoughts.
The voices of the surrounding colleagues grew softer and softer, and the topics became more private.
While drinking water, Xiao Jing saw Tang Ci's face turn as red as a boiled shrimp and exclaimed in shock, "Sister Xiao Ci! What's wrong?! Why is your face so red?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Ci touched her face and was startled by the temperature of her skin. She said blankly, "I probably have a fever again."
Xiao Jing touched her forehead and frowned: "It should be. You should go back and rest. Don't soak anymore."
Tang Ci nodded, stepped out of the pool, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and left, not daring to look back into the pool.
After arriving at her room, the heat on her face had dissipated, so she went to the bathroom to take a shower.
After changing into her nightgown and drying her hair, Tang Ci came out of the bathroom.
Knock knock.
There was a knock on the door.
Thinking it was Xiao Jing, Tang Ci opened the door and met Sheng Yu's gaze as he stood outside.
He changed into casual clothes, his short, jet-black hair falling over his eyebrows.
He looks like a male college student right now.
Tang Cichao stepped aside and asked a pointless question: "Aren't you going to take a bath?"
"Um."
Sheng Yu waited for her to close the door, then reached out and touched her forehead: "It's still a little hot, did you take any medicine?"
"No, not at all." Tangcita pulled on her slippers and rummaged through her bag for a medicine box.
Sheng Yu took it from her hand and gestured towards the bed with his chin: "Go lie down."
Tang Ci said "Oh," walked to the bedside, lifted the quilt and sat down, her eyes following Sheng Yu as he boiled water and prepared medicine, busying himself around.
Finally, he even stuck a straw into the cup full of medicine.
After finishing his work, he sat down on the edge of the bed, first giving her a handful of pills, and only after she took them did he put the cup in her hand.
The water was a bit too hot. Tang Ci took two sips of the medicine through the straw, and her dry throat felt a burning sensation. Her brows immediately furrowed.
Sheng Yu reached out and tested the temperature on the rim of the cup: "Did it burn your throat?"
Tang Ci subconsciously swallowed and said, "Mmm."
"Open your mouth so I can see."
Tang Ci hesitated for two seconds before opening her mouth.
Sheng Yu glanced at it under the overhead light: "Tonsillitis."
Tang Ci closed her mouth, pausing slightly: "It's probably because I didn't rest at noon."
Sheng Yu nodded and ruffled her hair: "Then go to bed early."
After he finished speaking, neither of them moved.
Tang Ci looked at his plain features and suddenly remembered something.
She held her breath, propped herself up a little with her hands, and carefully kissed his forehead.
Sheng Yu lowered his gaze slightly, as if amused by her actions, and lightly tapped the edge of the bed with his fingertips: "You're sick today, so you can make a request of me."
"What do you want?"
Tang Ci paused for a moment, thinking of her unrealistic dream, and expecting rejection, she mustered her courage and asked, "Can I hold you and sleep for a while...?"
Sheng Yu didn't move and asked, "Why?"
Tang Ci's heart skipped a beat. She glanced out the window and then looked back. "The streetlights outside are very dim. I'm a little scared."
Sheng Yu narrowed his eyes, as if he found her troublesome, but he still agreed.
He lifted the corner of the blanket and lay down beside her, beckoning her with his fingertips: "Come here."
Tang Ci lowered her eyes, crawled to lie down an inch away from him, and gently placed her arm on his side.
After lying there for a while, Sheng Yu felt uncomfortable in the position, so he turned his body to the side and wrapped his arm around her back.
Tang Ci's cheek pressed against his chest, and through the cotton T-shirt, she could hear his steady and powerful heartbeat.
Thump thump.
It was beating rhythmically in her eardrums.
Tang Ci's breathing became erratic, and her chest heaved more rapidly.
She pursed her lips, turned her cheeks back slightly, and tried to get out of the range covered by Sheng Yu's heartbeat.
Such a small movement drew an annoyed voice from above: "Can't sleep?"
Tang Ci stopped moving, held her breath, and paused for a while before saying, "A little bit, I drank coffee this afternoon."
As soon as the words left her lips, she felt Sheng Yu's slender fingers slide into her hair, the cool fingertips brushing against her scalp, sending shivers of electricity through her.
Tang Ci asked in a hoarse voice, "What's wrong?"
Sheng Yu's fingertips traced down her hair, then grasped her neck and lifted it slightly.
Tang Ci lifted her face from his embrace and met his deep, dark eyes, which were so close to hers.
Sheng Yu's soft fingertips gently caressed the hard neck bones at the back of her neck, his deep voice trailing off slowly: "If you can't sleep, do something else."
Tang Ci's entire body was focused on the small piece of bone he was playing with, and he asked in a daze, "What..."
"You can ask for a reward whenever you need it."
Sheng Yu finally gave up on her neck, which had been kneaded until it was red, and grasped her knees with his palms down, lifting them up easily: "This time, I'll help you with my mouth."
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Author's note: Hehe
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