Shi Youxi recognized her?!
Mu Yiran clasped her fingers together, trying to remain calm as she said:
"What...did you just call me?"
She tried to read something from the boy's face, but apart from being a little pale, he only smiled faintly:
"Excuse me, perhaps I should call you teacher."
Mu Yiran raised an eyebrow: "Now you know I'm a teacher?"
Shi Youxi put down his pen, walked around the functional table, leaned against it, and said, "I just found out, which is why I wanted to please you."
“Compared to being a teacher…” Shi Youxi tapped the table lightly with her index finger and said, word by word, “I think you might prefer to hear me call you sister.”
"........"
Shi Youxi looked at the woman's stunned expression, his eyes darkened, and he gestured with his chin toward her back.
"Could you please give me that box of blue crystals?"
"Huh?" Mu Yiran snapped out of her daze and turned around, pulling out the stack of sapphire blue crystals directly from the mixed storage boxes behind her.
“Look…” She turned around, but the box bumped against something hard.
It was Shi Youxi's lower abdomen.
So close...when did this guy start standing behind me?
"for you."
The person in front of her didn't react, so Mu Yiran looked up in confusion and met those deep, dark eyes.
He clearly had no expression.
But Mu Yiran suddenly remembered that Shi Youxi had looked at her with the same eyes yesterday, unlike before. In the past, she could always tell what Shi Youxi was thinking from his beautiful phoenix eyes.
But this time she couldn't understand it; she couldn't figure out what Shi Youxi was thinking at all.
Just as people on the shore never know how scalding and turbulent the calm, cold surface of the sea is, they only realize that they can only sink to the bottom and never be able to get back to shore when they are swallowed by the deep sea.
Mu Yiran couldn't bear to see him like this, so she raised the stack of crystals and murmured:
"Did I take the wrong one? It's not blue?"
“Yes.” Shi Youxi’s eyelashes trembled, her voice hoarse, “It’s blue.”
The boy reached out and took it, his long, slender, cool fingers gently stroking the back of Mu Yiran's hand, the thin calluses on his fingertips making her skin tingle.
Yesterday's meeting was too chaotic, and only now does Mu Yiran truly sense the change in Shi Youxi.
He seemed to be better at controlling his emotions and more mature and composed than before. Unlike a year ago when he was still a young man, Shi Youxi now made Mu Yiran feel extremely intimidated, both in terms of height and aura.
Suddenly, Mu Yiran's phone vibrated. Mu Yiran glanced at it and saw that it was a text message without a contact name.
What on earth are you talking about with him?! You were given a teaching assistant position and you're actually acting as a teacher, lecturing him?! There's enough room between you two for me to squeeze in too!
[Weren't you so good at seducing men before?! What are you doing now?! Go for it! Is that coffee just for decoration?!]
This is clearly news about that blonde woman.
Was she staring at me the whole time?
But so what?!
Mu Yiran stuffed her phone back into her pocket, intending to pretend she hadn't seen it.
But Shi Youxi saw it; he glanced at the back of the classroom and saw a corner of clothing faintly visible behind the glass door.
He sneered inwardly and pointed to the coffee Mu Yiran was holding. "Is it for me?"
"Oh, right? But you probably won't like it without sugar..."
Before she could finish speaking, the cup of coffee was taken away, and Mu Yiran said awkwardly:
"I broke into your house yesterday, sorry, but if you drink this, we can still be peaceful neighbors, okay!"
Shi Youxi ignored her and silently drank her coffee, gulping it down in large mouthfuls. Half a cup was gone, and the ice cubes made a loud thud as she chewed them.
Mu Yiran rubbed her fingertips awkwardly, remembering what he had just said, "You just said you were going to try to please me? Why?"
“I was a bit impolite yesterday, which caused my teacher’s friend to misunderstand me.”
Shi Youxi pursed her lips, glanced at her, and looked away. "I don't have many friends, so usually the people knocking on my door are either delivery people or... troublemakers."
"I was scared because I thought someone was trying to break in again..."
Before Shi Youxi could finish speaking, the woman in front of him interrupted him.
"Who's giving you trouble?!"
"Did those people bully you?!"
"..."
Mu Yiran thought that the Shi family's influence was all in Liguo, but this was England, which was not as safe as the Shi family's territory. Not to mention that there was already someone by his side who was about to cause him trouble. What was that blonde woman trying to scheme against Shi Youxi for?
How many people like the blonde woman approached Shi Youxi with ill intentions?
Have these been the kinds of people around him for the past year or so...?
Mu Yiran felt a tightness in her chest and a little anxious:
"Why did you stop talking? Who are those people? Why are they causing you trouble?"
Shi Youxi stared at her expression, his meaning unclear. "Are you concerned about me? Why? We only met for the first time yesterday."
"I……"
Mu Yiran clutched the urn necklace on her collarbone, pretending to adjust the pendant. "Isn't it normal for a teacher to care about their students? If you're scared..."
He probably wouldn't be happy with that, so Mu Yiran changed her meaning, "If you have any difficulties, you can tell me anything."
“Anything is fine…” Shi Youxi’s gaze went unfocused for a moment before slowly refocusing on the person in front of him.
He stared blankly at the glittering little pendant.
So that's why... it was because she was wearing a glass bead necklace.
No wonder...
No wonder she always likes to touch it.
...
How clearly do you have to remember someone to recognize them at a glance, even if they do nothing?
Sometimes he even wanted to erase all the memories in his mind except for hers.
That way, I wouldn't be in so much pain, not because I couldn't find her, not because I saw people who looked like her.
At least he'll be like Guan Shiyan and Shi Si, carefree and a little happier.
But right now, at this moment.
Shi Youxi then realized that everything about her was already etched into his bones. He couldn't forget her. Forgetting was like breaking a bone; it would hurt, it would hurt a lot.
And now, I, who clearly remember every minute, every second, every smile and frown of hers, only feel happy.
I'm happy like an idiot.
Shi Youxi closed his eyes, his eye sockets burning hot, and he couldn't suppress the fishy and sour feeling. He straightened up, but couldn't help bending down to get closer to her, the boy's hard boots pressing against the woman's white sneakers.
"If I told you... what would you do?"
Without even thinking, Mu Yiran replied, "Of course I'll protect you. With adults around, there's no reason for you to be bullied."
"And then what?"
Her stomach had been cramping and aching since the beginning, and sweat beaded on Shi Youxi's nose as he approached her relentlessly.
"This time it's resolved, but what about next time? Will you still protect me next time? And the time after that?"
Mu Yiran frowned. "Don't say that, it's bad luck."
"Heh..." Shi Youxi chuckled somewhat awkwardly, his chin slightly puffed out, staring intently at the woman in front of him, his voice weak and broken:
"I thought you were going to say you'd always protect me!"
Didn't we always say that before?
Isn't this how I always try to coax him?
His stomach churned, and Shi Youxi's vision blurred. As the pretty face loomed larger and larger, he buried his face in the woman's arms, inhaling her scent greedily and murmuring softly.
Not only did she not try to comfort him, she also pretended not to know him.
But this time I won't let go!
"Shi Youxi!"
...
"It's probably gastritis caused by long-term irregular eating habits. You're saying he also drank a whole cup of iced coffee? That's impressive, he must have an iron stomach! If he's not in pain, who is?"
"I'm sorry... I didn't know, it's all my fault."
The Chinese-American female doctor wore glasses, and her tone of voice was as cold as her face.
With each reprimand, Mu Yiran lowered her head slightly, but looking at Shi Youxi on the hospital bed, Mu Yiran couldn't find a single word to argue.
"Let's leave it at that for now, we'll talk more after the blood test results come out. There's another bag of IV fluid left after this one's finished, go get it for him."
After instructing the nurse beside her, the female doctor glanced at Mu Yiran's wrist, which was still being held by the boy, clicked her tongue, and left the ward.
Guan Yi's private ward was quiet and spacious. Mu Yiran looked at the boy's slightly flushed face, sighed, and reached out to touch the side of the boy's face.
"—Ran!"
Mu Yiran was so startled that she almost slapped Shi Youxi in return.
"Shh!"
Mu Yiran lowered her voice and said sternly, "What are you shouting for! Don't you know you can't make loud noises in a hospital!"
Kandis, who barged in, shrank back. "I heard you came to the hospital, I thought you were sick..."
If Mu Yiran hadn't read Mu Yiran's chat history with Candice and learned that the two had only known each other for a few days because of the cliché of picking up a phone, she would have thought that Candice had a crush on Mu Yiran.
Seeing Shi Youxi on the hospital bed, Condis made no attempt to hide his contempt.
His vocabulary was limited, but that was the only word that could express his thoughts. He thought about how to pronounce it, then scoffed:
"Weak bird!"
Mu Yiran: "? What are you talking about?"
Candice scoffed, "You've already taken him to the hospital, so this is none of your business. Come with me!"
Mu Yiran didn't move. "If I leave, who will take care of him? Besides, it's because I gave him the coffee that he's like this."
Besides, she couldn't leave at all; Shi Youxi had been holding her hand tightly ever since she fainted.
Even though she's unconscious, they're still holding onto her.
He exerted force as soon as Mu Yiran moved, and she couldn't break free at all.
"Call his parents over. Doesn't he have any friends?"
"His parents are unlikely to come, and I don't know anything about his friends either."
When Mu Yiran saw Shi Youxi faint, she was stunned and never expected this.
However, since Shi Youxi was still a minor, her school records contained a family member's contact information. When she brought Shi Youxi to the hospital, other teachers told her that they had already made a phone call and that the person would be there soon.
"Then I'll go and ask a nurse..." Candice still remembered what Shi Youxi had done yesterday and didn't want the two of them to be alone together.
"Stop messing around. Instead of wasting your time, go buy me breakfast."
Condis's attention shifted: "Oh! You haven't had breakfast yet! What would you like to eat? I'll go buy it!"
Mu Yiran casually signed up for a few, "And..."
"There's more? You ate so much!"
Mu Yiran threw a punch with her bare hands, and Kandis took a step back, naturally changing his tone.
"No wonder you're so thin! You should eat more! Hehe... What else do you want? Just tell me."
"Bring him some too, Chinese porridge, preferably sweet porridge,"
Kandis pouted in dissatisfaction, but still made a note of it.
"Cheesecake".
"Hmm? Don't you get tired of eating this so early in the morning?"
"Won't."
She's just someone you can use to appease people.
The IV drip was changed again, but Shi Youxi still hadn't woken up. Apart from his features, which were outlined in thick ink, the rest of the boy's face was light-colored, like a sleeping beauty.
His light pink, curly hair was scattered on the pillow. Even with his eyes closed, his handsome features remained undiminished, instead possessing a captivating beauty that made one want to abuse him.
Mu Yiran swallowed shamefully, but still couldn't resist ruffling Shi Youxi's hair.
She followed the strands of hair downwards and rubbed them against his face.
I'm even thinner than when I was 15 or 16.
He touched it again, "Ouch...why does it feel even hotter?"
Mu Yiran felt the temperature under her hand and sensed something was wrong. She directly lifted Shi Youxi's bangs, lowered her eyes, and pressed her forehead against him.
Mu Yiran was suddenly pricked by a soft tuft of hair on her eyelid. She lifted her eyelids and met Shi Youxi's gaze.
"..."
"You're awake? Is anything bothering you?" Mu Yiran stood up. "I'll go get the doctor, wait for me a moment, ah—"
She forgot that their hands were still tightly clasped, and with a strong tug, Mu Yiran fell back onto the bedside.
Shi Youxi had already sat up, and the two of them were so close that they could see each other's pores.
"Where are you going again?" His voice was still hoarse and hot from a low fever.
Before Mu Yiran could speak, Shi Youxi lowered his head and spoke in a very soft voice, which still rang in Mu Yiran's ears.
"You asked me to wait for you last time, and you're doing it again this time. Even your excuse for leaving is so perfunctory."
The boy's eyes were red, filled with deep grievance.
"Sister, you're so cruel to me!"
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