Chapter 38
When Chao Youqian woke up, he felt his legs were a little heavy. He leaned on the pillow on the back of the bed and lifted his legs to see the situation. The ointment was absorbed into the skin. Now there was no pain or itching, but it was a little swollen.
The conversation with Lang Xin in the early hours of last night was a bit vague, but he still remembered that he called his brother to comfort the somewhat angry Lang Xin.
Her face instantly felt hot, and she reached out to Youqian and hugged a soft, big white dog pillow, pounding it a few times to vent the indescribable shame.
He must have been sleep deprived! He thought firmly that Lang Xin's contrasting depression was too confusing. He was just like Tang Sanzang, who was easily bewildered by monsters.
By the way, in the last moment of clarity in his memory, Lang Xin seemed to have said something about the next plan.
Chao Youqian slowly moved down from the bed, and when he stepped firmly on the ground, he really didn't feel any pain at all. The slight feeling of heaviness was acceptable.
He picked up the tube of ointment on the bedside table out of curiosity. Hmm, what a complicated name and such a precise treatment range, targeting all dermatitis.
Maybe because he woke up once during his sleep, Chao Youqian slept exceptionally long this time. When he was brushing his teeth in front of the smart mirror in the bathroom, the clock showed that it was already 11:30 in the morning.
He scooped a handful of cold water from the faucet with both hands and splashed it on his face. It was refreshing and invigorating. Chao Youqian pulled a face towel and pressed it against his face, and all the excess water droplets were absorbed.
His skin care routine is very simple. When he first arrived in City B from the south, he couldn't stand the dry climate all year round, so Chao Youqian bought a huge bottle of essential water and facial cream at the recommendation of a girl in his class. It was expensive but effective.
The climate difference between City H and City B is not much, but the continuous rain and high temperature have forcibly turned the air of the northern city into that of the south. Northerners who are used to opening a bag of potato chips and eating half of it and seeing them become crispier as time goes by have experienced what it means when biscuits left on the table become soft in half a day.
But there are still some benefits. When Chao Youqian first arrived in City B, he didn't understand why dust was called dirt. Isn't dust just the gray and black particles that appear when you wipe the surface of a game console that has been left unused for a month?
Later, in the dormitory of University B, Chao Youqian saw that after one night, a thick layer of large black particles had accumulated outside the dormitory window. After opening the window for ventilation for a while, everything was covered with a layer of black.
After raining for so long, the "soil" in the air in the north was attached to the ground by raindrops. Although it was a bit muddy, the dust accumulation situation improved a lot.
Chao Youqian thought of the air purifier in the flat and the dirty filter of the fresh air system, and silently rejected the possibility that less dust would improve the air quality. However, whether it was a flat or a villa, the outer surfaces of the windows were kept clean.
He took the elevator to the first floor. Lang Xin was on the phone with someone, and he could faintly hear sobs coming from the other end. Chao Youqian went to the kitchen to get a glass of warm water and drank it. When he came out, the call had just ended.
There were cream rolls on the table in the living room that could be eaten at any time, and next to them were a few jars of jam and a box of cheese. Chao Youqian took out a piece, spread it with blueberry jam and cheese, and took a bite to fill his stomach.
"Who are you talking to on the phone? Why do you look so serious?"
Lang Xin came over and poured him a glass of oat milk. After he got up, he went to consult about the foods he should avoid when suffering from insect bite dermatitis. He should not eat high-protein foods such as beef, milk, and eggs. He also needed to avoid irritating spices and seafood.
The taste of oat milk is slightly different from that of regular milk. It has a rough plant-like texture, but it is not difficult to drink.
Chao Youqian wanted to pour a tube of cold brew coffee into the oat milk, but Lang Xin stuffed a tube of matcha powder in his mouth and said, "You should drink less coffee recently. If you want to be alert, use matcha powder instead."
"The person who just called me was my former subordinate. He resigned."
Using a blender, he stirred the matcha powder and asked Youqian, puzzled, "Why? The gaming industry's stock prices are looking good lately, your company is under a large manufacturer, and the pay is good. And the pandemic has caused massive layoffs in many industries. Why would you resign at this time?"
Lang Xin said gravely, "I asked him the same thing. He's also from B University and joined the company right after graduation, so there shouldn't be any issues with unfair treatment. He comes from a single-parent family; his mother lives alone in her hometown. He accidentally fell a few days ago and was only found by a neighbor the next day and taken to the hospital. He's still in the ICU."
"Because of the epidemic, it's hard to find caregivers and nannies, so he changed his job to a job in his hometown so he can take care of the baby nearby."
Chao Youqian sighed. Birth, old age, sickness and death cannot be controlled by humans. All ordinary people can do is to accompany.
"Is his money enough to pay for his mother's treatment? If not, I can donate a little."
"He's a core programmer and he stayed until the company's current project was finished before leaving. He said he didn't need the money for treatment." Lang Xin grasped Chao Youqian's calf and observed his condition carefully. "He just wanted to say goodbye to me, his former boss."
Chao Youqian finished a cup of matcha oat milk and supported his chin. He felt that he had a very sharp sense of touch. Resigning and saying goodbye to his former boss was not a very normal behavior. Moreover, Lang Xin was a rare first-generation rich man, tall, rich and handsome. It was very likely that this was a classic plot of a subordinate secretly in love with his boss.
What was strange was that he had no sense of crisis at all. Chao Youqian was a little puzzled. According to the various emotional public accounts he had read, if you like someone, you will have bad emotions towards other people who also like that person.
Perhaps because he was favored and felt fearless, Lang Xin half-knelt on the cushion beside the sofa, holding his calf as if it were a rare treasure. There seemed to be something sweet fermenting in the air.
Chao Youqian dismissed the random thoughts in his mind: "It's okay. Although it looks red, I don't feel anything at all."
Lang Xin carefully put his legs down. "I'll get the ointment and apply it again just to be safe. If you want to go out into the yard, remember to spray it with mosquito repellent first. Even though there are insect repellent lights in the yard, small bugs can still easily slip through."
Nodding, Chao Youqian continued to eat his brunch. The TV in the living room was still on the news channel, just like when he was on the first floor.
He got up late and hadn't opened his phone to check today's trending searches. The news channel reported that the three cities that were on lockdown would be unsealed tomorrow, and the number of new infections with the X virus in the country had reached an unprecedented zero. The new cases in the daily reports were all people returning from abroad and staying in quarantine hotels.
He swiped open the lock screen of his phone with surprise and found that many of Chao Youqian’s friends who hadn’t been in contact for a long time had all posted the same official announcement picture. The texts were different, but they all expressed the joy of welcoming the unblocking.
The first, second and third hot searches are followed by the "explosive" symbol, which are the names of the three cities + the unblocking. Click on any one and scroll down, and you will see the cheers and excitement in real time almost jumping out of the screen.
Chao Youqian couldn't help but smile as he watched. Although he hadn't personally experienced the immense pressure of epidemic prevention on the front lines, all his efforts would be rewarded. Compared to the extremely high death tolls abroad, the dedication to saving every life in China made the data look good, leading some conspiracy theorists to spread rumors and sour opinions.
The public's eyes are sharp. How can those who spread rumors know the true situation without experiencing it firsthand? The Internet police's actions, driven by accurate reports, have resulted in a resounding arrest, bringing a rare peace to the internet.
Lang Xin came back with the ointment. Chao Youqian wanted to take it and apply it himself, but was rejected with the reason that "it would be inconvenient to apply it on yourself with your hands turned away."
He didn't really want to do it himself. Lang Xin was already accustomed to his meticulous approach to Youqian, but he just felt awkward after noticing a different kind of affection.
He stood up and walked around twice. Because he had applied the ointment, Chao Youqian was wearing a pair of white shorts that were ten centimeters above his knees. When he walked, the lower edge of his pants was dazzlingly white on his thighs.
Lang Xin took a glass of ice water and drank it to drown out the inexplicable heat. He cleared his throat and said, "Chao Chao, come and sit down. I want to discuss our future affairs with you."
The ointment felt a bit cool when it took effect, but I was too sleepy last night to feel it at all. Chao Youqian sat down in a position that would not let the ointment rub against the sofa. "I thought I heard something you said before I fell asleep, but then I fell asleep directly."
Lang Xin adjusted his awkward sitting position. He didn't want to be touched, so he put his legs on him. "Let's buy the 25th floor over there. And here in the villa, we should also build shelves in the empty rooms on the two underground floors and fill them with things."
Chao Youqian didn't object. If the money was kept in the bank card and never used, it would just be a string of numbers. But their reserves were already sufficient, so what else did they need to buy?
"The villa is large and the yard is suitable for raising chickens and growing vegetables, but the lower floor is still damp and infested with insects. It's better for us to mainly live on the ground floor. We can feed and irrigate the chickens with automatic feeders and waterers. We come here once a week to check on the situation and pick some vegetables."
"We also bought the 25th floor because we mainly work on the 26th floor, and it gives us peace of mind to have both floors under our control. We also bought filters for the fresh air and air purifiers, which will fit in our home, but will squeeze out some of the spacious space."
She shook her legs towards Youqian, and the swelling in her calves subsided. "Then buy it! We have several small goals in our account, so we have plenty of funds."
Fearing that Chao Youqian's legs were still uncomfortable, Lang Xin said there was no rush and that he would wait a few days until the redness and swelling in his calves had completely subsided before returning to the flat to buy the apartment on the 25th floor.
He smiled faintly at Youqian and said that although Lang Xin was a leader in the gaming field, he still lacked understanding of the new and updated applications of current technology.
Due to the epidemic, many matters have been transferred to online processing, including online classes, court sessions, work... After a phone call with the previous real estate agent, Chao Youqian experienced the online signing of a house purchase contract.
The outbreak of virus X has reduced the income of many people. Even the richest people have been affected, but not by much. For example, fewer people are buying houses worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan. Real estate developers simply hate the arrival of this virus.
Upon receiving the news that they wanted to buy the 25th floor in full, the agent was ecstatic and took charge of all the procedures, saying that they would handle all the procedures and Chao Youqian only needed to sign and swipe his credit card.
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