Chapter 40: This... What kind of medical treatment is this?! (Brother Zhou’s welfare)
Zhou Ai's straightforward and sharp question accurately pierced through all the calmness and excuses Chu Yi tried to maintain.
Chu Yi's heart suddenly sank, and he subconsciously avoided Zhou Ai's gaze that seemed to see through everything.
He couldn't even answer "yes" or "no" because even he himself couldn't sort out his complicated and dark emotions.
Chu Yi remained silent, but his fingers were consciously curled up.
Although when retouching Zhou Ai's photos, he had deliberately abandoned his usual distinctive style that he had left behind on the "π" account on the fan page, and tried to only make basic adjustments, highlighting the environment rather than the person himself...
But he still felt an inexplicable sense of panic in his heart.
The Internet has memory, and fans' eyes are terrifyingly sharp.
He always felt a sense of unease, always feeling that once this set of photos was released, even the slightest compositional habit, preference for light and shadow, or even some indescribable "perspective" would be captured and could be unraveled and connected to his past works that he had carefully hidden.
The fear of being exposed under the spotlight and having all secrets revealed far outweighs the pressure brought to Zhou Ai by his current dissatisfaction.
Chu Yi took a deep breath, trying to make a final effort. His tone even carried a hint of negotiation that he himself didn't even notice: "Teacher Zhou, how about... you post it on WeChat Moments? Weibo... or maybe forget it?"
"No." Zhou Ai refused without any room for maneuver. He stared at Chu Yi's slightly flickering eyes and the barely perceptible panic in his eyes. His suspicions became more certain, and his tone became more resolute. "I'm going to post on Weibo."
Chu Yi felt a surge of weakness. He felt like he was already doing his best to soothe this crazy "puppy" Zhou Ai, even making an exception and sitting beside him to finish retouching his drawings.
But this prince is still the same as always - he won't respond to any advice or suggestions.
He looked at Zhou Ai's stubborn look, which said, "I'm going to publish it and I've already got official approval, what can you do to me?" His temples began to ache slightly.
The atmosphere between the two men was once again at a stalemate. One was determined to attack, while the other racked his brains to stop him, but could not find any valid reason.
Just as Chu Yi was racking his brains to think of something else, Zhou Ai suddenly spoke again. This time, his tone was a little slower, but with a deeper level of inquiry and... a hint of subtle coaxing:
"Doctor Chu, you seem... particularly afraid that I'll post these photos on Weibo?"
His eyes were fixed on every subtle change in Chu Yi's expression.
"Why?"
"Are you afraid that if the filming isn't good, I'll get scolded by my fans?"
Zhou Ai deliberately misinterpreted the situation and analyzed it slowly, "No, Brother Yang said it was okay. He's just afraid... of being seen? Who?"
With every question he asked, his body leaned forward a little, and the feeling of oppression grew.
"Or," Zhou Ai lowered her voice even lower, almost whispering, with a bewitching tone, "these photos...are there some secrets that cannot be seen in the light? For example - who took them?"
Chu Yi's breath suddenly hitched, and his pupils trembled slightly. Although he tried his best to control it, he couldn't completely conceal his instantaneous instinctive reaction.
Zhou Ai accurately captured this flaw.
The anger in his heart caused by being "treated differently" suddenly turned into another stronger and more exciting emotion.
It is a wonderful feeling of getting close to the truth and solving the mystery.
But compared to clearing the fog and understanding the truth of the matter, Zhou Ai felt that what he really wanted to know was actually the person Chu Yi.
What he really wanted to dispel was the fog of self-enshroudment surrounding Chu Yi.
The atmosphere between the two of them rarely gave Zhou Ai the upper hand.
Zhou Ai's body kept leaning forward, and the feeling of oppression enveloped him. The continuous questioning and the body that kept approaching made Chu Yi unable to bear it.
In such a silent and quiet atmosphere, Zhou Ai stared at Chu Yi's face motionlessly, trying to find more flaws.
One second, two seconds...
Seeing Chu Yi's increasingly pale face despite trying to remain calm, Zhou Ai finally stopped pressing him with questions. Instead, he slowly stood up, picked up his phone, and began operating on the screen with his fingers.
"Forget it, if you don't want to send it, then don't send it." His tone suddenly became nonchalant, as if the person who was insisting just now was not him.
Chu Yi suddenly looked up, with a hint of surprise and disbelief in his eyes as to how Zhou Ai suddenly became so easy to talk to.
However, it lasted less than two seconds.
Zhou Ai expertly logged into Weibo, her fingers swiftly editing content as she casually muttered, "Then I'll post something else... Okay, this one. What should I write as the caption?"
He paused, as if a brilliant idea suddenly occurred to him. The corners of his mouth curled up into a sinister yet charming arc. He looked up at Chu Yi, whose expression instantly tensed again, and said clearly, word by word:
"Just write - 'Thank you Dr. Chu for taking these photos. Your skills are amazing! [heart]'... Oh, and remember to @ you, right?"
As he spoke, he actually started typing the word "Chu Yi" in the @ box!
"No!" Chu Yi almost pounced on him to snatch his phone, and his voice changed.
Zhou Ai had anticipated this and quickly raised his hand to dodge it, while pressing the [Send] button at the same time.
He shook his phone, and the screen displayed the prompt "Sent Successfully".
"Oops, my hand slipped and it was sent out." Zhou Ai blinked, with no apology on his face, only the cunning and pleasure of having his plan succeeded.
"Now, everyone knows you took the photo without having to post the original one."
"Teacher Chu, what do you think we should do now?"
Chu Yi's heart suddenly jumped, and he looked at Zhou Ai nervously, as if trying to judge from his face which one he had sent.
Zhou Ai, however, seemed to have done nothing more than a trivial matter. He casually put his phone back into his pocket and returned his gaze to the closed computer screen. As if suddenly remembering something, he casually asked, "Teacher Chu, your photography skills are so good, and you also have such professional post-production. When did you learn this?"
As he spoke, he raised his chin slightly in the direction of the photo editing interface that had just appeared, and his tone was full of pure curiosity, as if it was just a casual chat between friends.
The photo has been sent out. Chu Yi knows the speed of Zhou Ai's Weibo fans. It is futile to struggle anymore. He can only pray that no one really understands the source of the photo.
Chu Yi's tense nerves finally relaxed a little, but because of Zhou Ai's second question, he unconsciously became more alert again.
He reached out to close his laptop and said casually, "It's nothing. I just learned it when I was bored in school." His tone was flat, trying to downplay the matter.
"You can reach this level just by casually learning?" Zhou Ai raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, but didn't delve into it. Instead, he followed up the conversation with a new request, his tone as natural as if it were a matter of course. "That's perfect. Teacher Chu, could you please take more photos for me during the rest of the show? I think you take better photos than my team."
Chu Yi: “…” He had never expected the topic to turn here.
He stood up, picked up the closed notebook, turned and walked towards the suitcase, ready to put it away, and at the same time ordered him to leave: "The photos have been retouched, Teacher Zhou can go back." His tone returned to his usual cold and distant tone, implying that the conversation was over.
However, Zhou Ai was clearly incredibly thick-skinned. Instead of leaving, he stood up as well.
"Wait, I have something else to say." Zhou Ai's voice came from behind.
Chu Yi was bending over to put down his computer. He paused for a moment when he heard this and asked without turning his head, "What's the matter?"
As soon as he finished speaking, before he could straighten up, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed his wrist accurately.
Chu Yi was startled and subconsciously tried to break free, but the hand was so strong that it pulled his hand without any room for rejection and pressed it directly on a warm and strong chest.
Through a thin layer of inner fabric, he could hear the clear and powerful heartbeat rhythm under his hand, thump, thump, thump hitting his palm, and he could even feel the outline and temperature of the muscles.
Chu Yi froze completely, his mind went blank, his ears buzzed, and all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his grabbed wrist and the palm that was forced to press on the other person's chest.
In an instant, all the defenses and precautions he had just made were shattered.
Then, Zhou Ai's voice, which was a bit distressed and complaining, but inexplicably sticky, sounded above his head:
"Doctor Chu, I've been feeling chest tightness and difficulty breathing these past few days. You're a skilled doctor, so please help me take a closer look at what's going on."
His tone sounded innocent yet serious, as if he was really just stating his condition.
But the hand that tightly grasped Chu Yi's wrist, pressing it firmly against his heart, didn't yield an ounce of strength. The excessively rapid, drum-like heartbeat that reached through his palm seemed to silently reveal a completely different "symptom."
Chu Yi's fingers were forced to feel the violent heartbeat, and his own heartbeat instantly went out of control. His cheeks and ears quickly turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This...what kind of medical treatment is this?!
Chu Yi's scalp was numb from the scorching body temperature and the excessively intense heartbeat under his palm, and he subconsciously pulled his hand away.
But it had little effect. Zhou Ai's hand was a whole circle bigger than his, and it easily covered his entire hand.
The two of them were in a stalemate for several rounds, and Chu Yi did not pull his hand back, while the other party, Zhou Ai, still remained unmoved and looked innocent as if he was "sincerely" treating the patient.
When Chu Yi gritted his teeth and tried to pull his hand away from Zhou Ai for the fifth time, Zhou Ai suddenly lowered his head and took a look at the hand that he was holding.
The white and slender back of his hand was now turning red due to his unconscious force, and Zhou Ai suddenly let go.
Freed from the shackles, Chu Yi quickly pulled his hand back, his fingertips still trembling. He forced himself to remain calm, even adopting a touch of professional indifference to mask his panic. "Wait a moment, let me listen with my stethoscope."
After saying that, Chu Yi walked quickly to the door as if he was fleeing, opened the door and took out the medicine box placed in the main room outside.
The photographer who was following him outside was standing at the door professionally, and the camera was immediately aimed at him. Chu Yi dodged to the side, quickly found a stethoscope from the medicine box, took a deep breath, calmed his raging heartbeat, and then turned back to the house.
However, the moment he pushed open the door, he suddenly froze at the door and his pupils suddenly contracted.
In the room, Zhou Ai had already neatly taken off the stealthy gray windbreaker and the white short-sleeved shirt underneath, and casually threw them on the stool next to him.
At this moment, he was shirtless, wearing only a pair of low-waisted black sweatpants that hung loosely on his hips, revealing a clear mermaid line.
He was sitting casually on the small wooden stool that Chu Yi had just sat on, leaning back slightly with his hands behind his back.
This posture tautly stretched the muscles around his waist and abdomen, outlining a distinct set of eight abdominal muscles, thin yet firm, rising and falling slightly with his breathing. His chest was broad, his lines flowing and full of power, and his skin was a cool white that seemed to have a glazed sheen in the dim light of the room.
His silver-gray hair was a little messy, with a few strands hanging down in front of his smooth forehead, forming a very impactful visual contrast with his bold yet lazy posture at the moment.
Zhou Ai looked at Chu Yi, who was frozen at the door, with a frank and even provocative look, a playful smile on his lips.
"You—!" Chu Yi felt a surge of hot blood rushing to his head, his cheeks and ears instantly burning red. He was so angry and anxious that he couldn't speak clearly. "Why are you taking off your clothes?! I'm just using the stethoscope!"
Chu Yi almost reflexively grabbed the off-white knitted sweater that Zhou Ai had just thrown on the stool. It was the sweater he usually wore after taking a shower at night, and threw it at Zhou Ai, trying to cover up his overly glaring exposed skin.
The sweater draped softly over Zhou Ai's head and shoulders, partially obscuring the scenery but adding a touch of ambiguity.
Chu Yi didn't even bother to pay attention to Zhou Ai, and suddenly turned his head to look outside the door.
The diligent photographer outside the door was obviously surprised by this sudden "welfare", and his camera was still stupidly pointed at the house.
The string called "reason" in Chu Yi's mind broke instantly.
He rushed over without caring about courtesy and almost roughly pushed the still dazed photographer away a little, then slammed the door and locked it with a loud "bang".
The whole action was done in one go, with a kind of determination to throw the jar into the ground.
Outside the door, the photographer who was suddenly locked out was holding his camera, looking at the closed and slightly shaking wooden door in front of him in confusion, completely unaware of what was happening.
Inside the door, the world suddenly became quiet, leaving only the two people's somewhat rapid breathing.
Zhou Ai slowly took off the sweater covering his head, held it in his hand, and looked at Chu Yi, who was leaning against the door, his chest slightly heaving, his cheeks flushed, and his eyes almost spitting fire. Instead of feeling embarrassed, he laughed softly.
"Doctor Chu," he said, shaking the sweater in his hand, his tone innocent yet demanding, "Didn't you say you wanted to listen to the stethoscope? How can I listen if you don't take off my clothes?"
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