The sick "good man"
When they were eating, the sky was already completely dark. Jiang Lin must have been hungry, as he kept eating without saying a word. Gu Yansheng took a long time to finish a piece of beef rib.
"What's wrong? Your teeth hurt? Are your wisdom teeth coming in?"
Jiang Lin looked at the beef ribs with half a piece of meat still in his hand and stared at his lips. He wiped his hands and reached out to pinch his lips. Gu Yansheng frowned in dissatisfaction but did not shake off his hand.
“No tooth pain!!!”
"Oh, so what? Gay men still have periods now?"
"Jiang Lin!!!!"
Gu Yansheng slammed the table with his face flushed, and Jiang Lin couldn't help laughing.
"You are discriminating against people! This is wrong!"
"Then I apologize."
Jiang Lin put away his smile, apologized solemnly, and put the beef ribs on the plate into his bowl. "Eat more. Have you been working overtime lately? You have dark circles under your eyes."
“I don’t work overtime often.”
He spoke in a low voice, and Jiang Lin knew that he was being a good guy again and working a lot of overtime for free. He was too lazy to say anything about this problem, as it couldn't be changed.
Thus, the living room began to have a quiet dining atmosphere again. Gu Yansheng took a few deep breaths. Fan Zhong's pleading gave him courage.
"Jiang Lin, Fan Zhong's mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the Second Municipal Hospital. He wants to come to your hospital. You..." At the dinner table, the "good guy" put the piece of beef ribs into the other's bowl, and looked at him with his puppy eyes. He really couldn't refuse Fan Zhong's desperate look today, so he specially bought some delicious food to bring to his house.
"Gu Yansheng, Fan Zhong bumped into you during the 100-meter relay race at his first-year sports meet!"
Insulator frowned and stuffed the beef ribs into his mouth, then cleared the dishes and went to the kitchen. Mr. Good Chew chewed the meat in his mouth and thought about it, he didn't remember this incident at all. They have been working for several years now, who would remember the school sports meeting in the first grade of junior high school?
“Who doesn’t make mistakes when they’re young?”
"I can't!"
Mr. Insulator stood in front of the sink with his back to him, the water rushing over the dishes. He hunched his back slightly, the outline of his shoulder blades rising and falling clearly and powerfully under his soft gray home clothes.
Clinging to the cold, white, tightly defined muscles of his forearms, there was a sense of control, a power borne of years of precision surgical training. Water flowed through his fingers, his bony hands moving with a smooth, unwavering rhythm that left no room for questioning.
"Then you really won't help? Aunt Fan is innocent."
The puppy's eyes look a little lost and sad...
Mr. Insulator's rolled-up sleeves fell down and stained the detergent-soaked water. An imperceptible sigh was drowned out by the sound of running water...
"Tell him to come to the outpatient clinic to see me at 12 noon tomorrow. I need to look at the film first."
Gu Yansheng's puppy-dog eyes, which had just been covered with mist, instantly lit up. It was as if a crack suddenly appeared in the gloomy sky, letting in golden sunlight. Pure, unreserved joy shone in his amber pupils, a shocking brightness.
The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upwards, revealing a few small white teeth, and his whole body was covered with a warm halo. The forced loss and sadness were washed away by this sudden acceptance.
Jiang Lin is a person who is tough on the outside but soft on the inside!
After dinner, only a warm yellow floor lamp was on in the living room, and the light lazily spread on the dark gray carpet.
Two tall figures sat side by side on the wide sofa, the sound effects of the controller buttons and the background music of the game intertwined, becoming the only sound in the space.
Colorful lights and shadows danced across the screen, reflected on Jiang Lin's expressionless profile and Gu Yansheng's focused, joyful eyes. He leaned forward slightly, his fingers deftly moving across the controller. Occasionally, due to the tacit coordination in the game, he'd turn his head and glance quickly at Jiang Lin, his eyes sparkling with a smile that seemed to hold stars.
The air was still filled with the smell of dinner, mixed with the very faint, cold soapberry scent on Jiang Lin's body, forming a strange, relaxing and warm atmosphere.
He likes staying here in Jianglin. It makes him feel safer than the house he rented.
However, this warmth was quickly shattered by a strange feeling. Gu Yansheng unconsciously shrank his neck, his fingertips gently brushing the skin at the back of his neck. Then, he shifted his shoulders uncomfortably.
The dazzling light effects on the screen seemed to become a bit too dazzling, causing him to squint slightly. A fine tingling sensation, like countless invisible needles, started as a minor nuisance, but soon escalated into an unbearable, burning itch that crawled all the way down his spine.
He couldn't help but raise his hand to scratch the back of his neck, but his wrist was accurately intercepted by a cold hand in mid-air.
Jiang Lin paused the game without realizing it. The vibrant colors frozen on the screen cast flickering shadows across his stern profile. He ignored Yan Sheng, his gaze fixed on the inside of his wrist, which was slightly reddened as he was forced to raise it, then slowly moved to the back of his neck, which he subconsciously tried to cover.
Those deep eyes appeared particularly dark under the warm yellow light, like a deep frozen pool, calm on the surface but with an indistinguishable undercurrent surging underneath.
"Don't move." The voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable commanding tone, even louder than the air conditioning in the living room.
Gu Yansheng's body stiffened, the tingling sensation he'd been suppressing suddenly magnified. He felt Jiang Lin's cool, calloused fingertips irresistibly pull back the collar from his neck. The fabric rubbed against his hot, rash-ridden skin, eliciting a sharper, tingling pain that made him gasp and his long, slender eyelashes tremble uncontrollably.
The cool ointment with the refreshing scent of mint and herbs was applied by the fingertips with thin calluses across the burning and itchy skin.
Jiang Lin's strength wasn't gentle; it was even a bit rough, like he was venting his anger. He pressed and rubbed each raised rash spot with precision. The pain and the intense cooling sensation brought by the medicine tore at his nerve endings violently.
Gu Yansheng bit his lower lip, a faint whimper escaped from his throat, and his body trembled uncontrollably under Jiang Lin's hands that held his shoulders like iron clamps.
The cold smell of the ointment invaded his nasal cavity domineeringly, mixed with Jiang Lin's unique cold smell, like a mixture of metal and disinfectant, enveloping him tightly.
The only sounds in the air were the subtle, sticky sound of the ointment being rubbed in and his own suppressed, unsteady breathing.
Just then, he slowly caught sight of the continuous rustling sound coming from far away and getting closer outside the window.
It was raining. Not the scattered evening showers, but a growing, sweltering summer rain, pounding against the windowpanes, blurring the neon lights outside into a wet, blurry patch. This belated realization was like a key, instantly unlocking a floodgate deeper within me.
The air became thin and sticky, and every breath he took felt like it was through a layer of thick, water-soaked cotton wool. A dull, stagnant feeling came from his chest, and tiny gasps leaked uncontrollably from between his clenched teeth.
At the same time, the originally soft cotton T-shirt on his body seemed to have turned into rough sandpaper. Every slight vibration, the fabric rubbing against the sensitive rash spots on the back of his neck, shoulders, and even the sides of his waist, brought new waves of scalp-numbing itching and burning pain.
He twisted his body unbearably, his brows furrowed in pain.
Jiang Lin's deep eyes suddenly raised up, as sharp as a knife, and instantly locked onto Gu Yansheng's abnormally flushed cheeks and rapidly heaving chest.
His face was terribly grim, and without hesitation, his ointment-covered hand swiftly reached into the pocket of his trousers. When he pulled it out, his fingertips were already holding a small, individually wrapped white tablet. The wrapping paper was torn away neatly, and with the slightly cool touch of his fingertips, he pressed it irresistibly against Gu Yansheng's slightly parted lips, which were slightly damp from the difficulty breathing.
"Open your mouth." The command was shorter and colder than before, but it carried a sense of control that left no room for questioning.
Gu Yansheng obeyed almost subconsciously, his slightly parted lips touching the other person's cool fingertips. The pill was precisely pushed into his mouth, and the tip of his tongue tasted a hint of bitterness.
The cool fingertips seemed to linger on his lower lip for a fleeting moment, almost as if it were an illusion, before they withdrew. Gu Yansheng didn't even have time to swallow the pill before it quickly dissolved in his mouth.
His mouth and nose were covered by a mask, and a small oxygen tank was stuffed into his hands.
"It hurts..." A thin, breathless voice uttered from his throat, filled with unbearable grievance. He instinctively raised his hand to scratch the side of his neck, where the collar rubbed the most.
"Don't touch!" Jiang Lin shouted, standing up suddenly. A tall figure instantly loomed over him, bringing a strong sense of oppression.
The next second, Gu Yansheng felt his body lighten—Jiang Lin had lifted him up sideways! With quick and decisive movements, his arms passed through his knees and back, holding him firmly in his embrace.
He cried out in surprise and instinctively put his arms around Jiang Lin's neck, forcing his cheek to press against the cold, hard fabric of his home clothes. The smell of the mixture of ointment and cold air lingered in his nose, strangely suppressing the burning sensation on his skin a little.
Jiang Lin held him in his arms and strode towards the master bedroom. The warm yellow light from the living and dining room was left behind. In the master bedroom, only a single, extremely dim bedside lamp was on, creating a nearly private, isolated, and gloomy space.
He was carefully placed on the edge of the bed, but his weak body could not sit up at all. He fell weakly on the bed and gasped softly. Jiang Lin then knelt on one knee in front of him, and the shadow completely covered him.
The bony hands of a surgeon, with an almost ruthless efficiency, began to unbutton his T-shirt. As the fabric peeled away from his burning, itchy skin, Gu Yansheng couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, tinged with a hint of pain.
The cool air touched the chest and waist covered with rashes, bringing a brief relief, which was then replaced by a deeper sensitivity.
Jiang Lin said nothing, opened the wardrobe, and accurately pulled out a light-colored long-sleeved pajamas that was extremely soft and cool to the touch - it was a special pure cotton clothing that Gu Yansheng was familiar with, and was jokingly called "baby fabric" by Jiang Lin.
The man unfolded the clothes, his movements expressionless yet filled with a strange, irresistible gentleness. He carefully avoided the worst spots of rash and helped Gu Yansheng put them on. The cool, silky fabric covered her sensitive skin, greatly relieving the pain caused by friction.
After changing his clothes, Jiang Lin didn't get up immediately. He still knelt on one knee beside the bed, his tall figure like a silent mountain in the dim light.
Then, he stretched out his arms, and in an extremely natural yet protective gesture, he gently but without letting anyone escape, embraced Gu Yansheng, who had just changed into soft pajamas and was still trembling slightly, into his arms.
Gu Yansheng's cheek was pressed against his strong and warm chest. Through the thin home clothes, she could clearly hear the other's steady and powerful heartbeat, boom, boom, boom... The rhythm strangely drowned out the annoying sound of rain outside the window, and seemed to suppress the crazy itching under the skin.
Jiang Lin's chin rested lightly on the top of his head, and a large palm, with soothing force, slowly and firmly stroked his tense back through the "baby fabric" that was as soft as baby skin.
There were no words, only the warmth of her body and the steady beat of her heart, transmitted through the thin fabric of her clothes, like an invisible net, gently isolating all the restlessness and discomfort. The dim light blurred the boundaries, leaving only the blending of body temperature and the soothing low rhythm in this small space.
"Take a deep breath, don't hold your breath."
The extraordinary sensitivity of the skin made Gu Yansheng's eyes red. He raised his hands to hug the other's neck, then obediently took slow, deep breaths. The anti-allergic medicine made him feel sleepy and dizzy.
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