allergy
Thanks to Lu Er's emergency rescue, Teacher Mina was able to put Tao Yangnian and Ruan Xiyan down.
During the break, Lu Er tidied up her notes and was thinking of copying them verbatim from her own notebook when Tao Yangnian grinned and leaned in, saying, "Hey kid, you're practicing your English behind my back again to save the beauty, aren't you?" Lu Er noticed that Ruan Xiyan was also glancing at them out of the corner of her eye.
"I just searched for it online," she said casually.
In the afternoon, the two met as usual on their way to tutoring. This tutoring session, which started with Ruan Xiyan guiding and Lu Er taking the lead, had been going on for who knows how many days. Ruan Xiyan watched the two of them, resting her chin on her hand.
"Wait a minute, Brother Xiyan, I'm going to the restroom." Jiang Yanyan got up and casually said, "Sister Lu, are you two hungry? There's fruit on the table. Mom specially prepared it for you, you can wash it and eat it."
Ruan Xiyan readily accepted: "Okay, thank you and your mother."
The bag contained a variety of fruits, and unsure of what Lu Er liked to eat, Ruan Xiyan picked through each type and washed them clean.
He sat back down and handed Lu Er a green grape. Lu Er was engrossed in watching Jiang Yanyan do her homework and, without thinking, took a bite of the grape from his hand. As the sweet taste filled her mouth, she was startled, only then realizing that Ruan Xiyan had fed it to her.
Ruan Xiyan then realized that he had just started feeding her grapes without thinking, a gesture that was rather intimate for the two of them. He awkwardly withdrew his hand and quickly looked away, asking, "Yanyan, do you want some grapes?"
Jiang Yanyan had already taken in this scene. "Still saying they're not a couple," he thought to himself, while feigning indifference and shaking his head.
Lu Er and Jiang Yanyan were discussing their problems, and Ruan Xiyan had nothing to do with it. He would get bored listening to them, so he continued eating his fruit.
Before Ruan Xiyan had even taken a bite of the fist-sized peach, he suddenly felt an intense itch on his neck. He scratched it, but it felt like he had scratched an itch in a sensitive spot; the stinging sensation only intensified. Ruan Xiyan increased his efforts and discovered that the itch wasn't limited to his neck; it had spread to his face and forehead as well.
Ruan Xiyan was puzzled when Lu Er suddenly grabbed his wrist, scrutinizing his face and furrowing her brows: "You're having an allergic reaction."
Ruan Xiyan was still in a daze when Lu Er decisively said, "I'll take you to the hospital." She turned to Jiang Yanyan and apologized, "Yanyan, can we end the tutoring session for today? I'll ask Aunt Jiang not to pay today's wages later."
Jiang Yanyan nodded vigorously, "It's alright, Brother Xiyan. What's wrong with Sister Lu? Let's take her to the hospital quickly."
"It's nothing, just an allergic reaction, I got a rash."
Jiang Yanyan saw them off, her worried gaze shifting from their retreating figures to the window. The dark clouds resembled heavy mulberries on branches, their dripping juice turning into a steady drizzle.
It's going to rain. Jiang Yanyan thought anxiously, "Sister Lu and Brother Xiyan, did they forget their umbrellas?"
—
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were allergic to peaches." Ruan Xiyan stared intently, and vaguely saw some conspicuous red rashes protruding from his once fair forehead in the reflection of the car window. He was hesitant to touch his face, guessing that there were probably even more rashes on it.
Lu Er: "It's okay. I forgot to tell you about my peach allergy."
The hospital was unusually crowded today, with men, women, and children forming a long queue. Lu Er and Ruan Xiyan sat on chairs waiting for their number to be called.
When her face became unbearably itchy, Ruan Xiyan would secretly scratch it.
As he waited, he grew sleepy. Weariness piled up like drowsiness above his eyelids, and Ruan Xiyan fell asleep without realizing it.
They were sitting near the window. Ruan Xiyan heard the pattering sound of rain hitting the window, and an old woman muttering, "This rain is so heavy, it won't stop until nightfall," followed by the rustling sound of the window being closed.
Ruan Xiyan suddenly opened his eyes. Turning his head, he saw Lu Er looking at him with her dark eyes and saying calmly, "Awake?"
Ruan Xiyan blinked, then realized that the two had switched back: "Switched back?"
"Yes, it changed back a few minutes ago." Lu Er glanced to the side and saw a little girl and her father in front of her.
Her allergy was unusually severe. The red rashes, both sparse and dense, covered her entire face, a truly terrifying prospect for someone with trypophobia.
Ruan Xiyan felt increasingly ashamed as she looked at her face: "I'm sorry, I made your face look like this."
Lu Er maintained the same attitude: "It's okay."
The doctor called them in. The young doctor prescribed allergy medication, saying as he wrote the prescription, "Little girl, you scratched it when you had an allergic reaction, didn't you? And you scratched it quite hard." He looked up and said, "Your neck and forehead are broken. I think it might leave scars."
Lu Er's face remained as still as water, unmoved by any disturbance: "Hmm, it's nothing."
Ruan Xiyan immediately panicked: "Hey, what do you mean 'nothing'? Something's wrong, something's definitely wrong. Brother, can we buy some medicine?"
"You can go to the pharmacy and buy some scar-reducing cream, apply it, and it should be gone."
Standing on the moving escalator, Lu Er looked up at his back and couldn't help but say, "You don't need to buy this for me. I don't care about leaving a scar."
"I scratched your scar, so it's on me. I'll also pay for this."
Lu Er didn't say anything else in the end. After buying the ointment, the rain outside hadn't stopped, and it was getting dark.
"The doctor said I should apply this as soon as possible." Lu Er had just bought a mask, and only her eyes, wet from the rain, were visible beneath her bangs. Ruan Xiyan suddenly had an idea, "It's inconvenient for you to apply it yourself, let me help you?"
Lu Er's eyelashes drooped as if they were withered: "No need."
Ruan Xiyan surprisingly insisted, "I'll help you."
Seeing how stubborn he was, Lu Er finally looked at him directly, a little helplessly: "Ugly. I don't want to take off my mask."
"Where am I ugly?" Hearing this reason, Ruan Xiyan laughed. His eye bags were very prominent, forming a curved arc under his eyes. "You don't know that I was stung by a bee when I was little, and I grew a head full of bumps. My mom even took a picture of it. I'll show it to you sometime. That was really ugly."
Lu Er took off her mask. Ruan Xiyan applied the ointment to her face, perhaps too carefully, and didn't even realize how close they were.
A cold blob of ointment touched her face, and Lu Er seemed startled, her eyelashes trembling slightly. Like a firefly fluttering in the wind, it vanished in an instant.
The rain kept falling, and neither Ruan Xiyan nor Lu Er had brought an umbrella. In the end, Ruan Xiyan ran into the supermarket and bought one.
When Ruan Xiyan came out, Lu Er's phone rang, probably because Cui Fenglai was there to confront her.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Ruan Xiyan took the phone for her and explained, "Auntie, Lu Er didn't mean to not come home. I asked her to tutor me, and my mom invited her to stay for dinner, so she forgot to tell you. I'm so sorry."
A strange male voice suddenly came through the receiver. Cui Feng was taken aback: "...Oh, it's nothing. Just remember to go home early."
Having managed to fool Lu Er's family, Ruan Xiyan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Since that's what she said, Ruan Xiyan thought for a moment and said, "Shall I take you home for dinner? Or we can go to a restaurant and have dinner together."
Lu Er shook her head, her face looking unwell: "I'm not eating, I don't have much of an appetite."
Ruan Xiyan tried to persuade her several times to no avail, so she decided to take her home first.
“I think I’ve discovered a pattern,” Lu Er suddenly said, staring thoughtfully at the weather forecast on her phone. “But I might need to confirm it.”
Ruan Xiyan was overjoyed: "Really? What's the pattern?"
"It's...when it rains," Lu Er explained. "The last few times we switched were on rainy days. The first two times, we switched when it was raining, and then we switched back the next time it rained."
“Let’s try it next time it rains. The next time it rains… the weather forecast says Saturday.” Ruan Xiyan thought it made sense. He opened his umbrella, and Lu Er sat under it with him.
Lu Er was more than half a head shorter than him, and he easily pulled the person under the umbrella.
—
Once these topics were removed, their conversation gradually became less interesting. Seeing Ruan Xiyan's hesitant expression, Lu Er, remembering how busy he had been all day, took the initiative and said, "You're quite famous at school."
"Me? Chen Xiang, Shen Guanghao, and I are all quite famous."
Lu Er shook his head repeatedly: "They are not as famous as you."
Ruan Xiyan became more curious: "How did you become famous?"
“Probably…” Lu Er pondered, “They all say that your family donated a building, so you can do whatever you want at school, and even the principal has to take a detour when he sees you.”
Ruan Xiyan burst into laughter, half amused and half incredulous: "So that's how you all see me? If I had donated a building to No. 3 Middle School, I wouldn't be getting caught by vultures while playing basketball all day."
"The basketball court next to the school cafeteria was built with my dad's investment, costing around 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. We never donated any buildings. My mom is clear-headed; she'd rather put more money on my meal card than donate a building to the Third Middle School."
He thought for a moment: "The principal is my aunt's relative, so he takes better care of me. Well, at most, he'll make me write a thousand fewer words in my self-criticism during meals. Others write two thousand words."
It's actually quite interesting to hear the person involved deny the rumors online. The two passed by an internet cafe on the street, where music was playing.
"How do I get through the long night, with its blurry vision?"
"The feeling of that tight hug feels like it happened just yesterday."
I will do everything in my power to fulfill my promise to you.
"I felt like I was falling into a whirlpool..."
Lu Er lowered his eyes and saw the colorful, glittering lights reflected in the puddle.
Ruan Xiyan whispered in her ear, "Do you really like this song?"
"What?" Lu Er raised her eyes in surprise.
"You really like this song, don't you? I saw on the app that you've been listening to it on repeat over two hundred times."
Lu Er paused for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I like it." Her WeChat name was the name of the song.
The two walked for a while longer, and Lu Er looked into the distance and spotted a bus stop by the roadside: "You can take me there. You should go back soon too."
Ruan Xiyan agreed and didn't go back until she saw her board the last bus.
When Lu Er arrived home, Cui Feng and Lu Guoyang were watching TV on the sofa. After she came in, only Cui Feng glanced at her. Lu Er didn't look at her directly, gave a perfunctory greeting, and went straight to the bedroom.
She came out of the shower when her phone rang. Lu Er answered it and saw it was the deliveryman calling; the food had already been delivered to her door.
Lu Er was surprised; she hadn't ordered takeout. She secretly went to the door and picked up the takeout. When she returned, she saw the note on it: "You have to eat dinner even if you don't have an appetite. I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I ordered from a restaurant I've been to before. Their porridge is delicious (˙▽˙). Delivery lady/man, please don't knock on the door. Call me when you arrive downstairs."
It goes without saying who ordered it for her.
Lu Er tightened her grip on the takeout packaging. She then switched off her phone and sent Ruan Xiyan a thank you message.
A few seconds later, Ruan Xiyan replied with an impolite emoji.
Lu Er scrolled up and down their chat history. In the past few days, she and Ruan Xiyan had had more conversations than any other contact in her address book combined.
He has become the person she contacts most frequently now.
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