Chapter 41 Spring Dream
The familiar scent of citrus shower gel enveloped the room, mixed with the refreshing soapy aroma from the boy's pajamas.
At this moment, however, the high body temperature emitted a slightly ambiguous heat, which seeped into her nasal cavity in wisps.
"Ugh—" Peng Chengyi's delicate nose bumped heavily against his prominent collarbone, causing her eyes to well up with tears from the pain.
She instinctively raised her arms to try and break free, but his large, well-defined hands gripped the back of her head, pulling her back into his warm embrace without a word.
Even through the thin layer of sweat-soaked pajamas, the boy's heat was transmitted without any obstruction.
His heartbeat was fast and heavy, creating a strange resonance between their pressed chests, causing her heartbeat to become uncontrollably irregular.
"Chen Yubai!" She pressed her face against his sweaty chest, her voice muffled by the fabric, "What's wrong with you! Let me go right now!"
After she finished speaking, Chen Yubai's body visibly stiffened for a moment, and his heartbeat seemed to stop.
A moment later, he suddenly let go as if he had been electrocuted, and sprang up from the bed.
"...What are you doing in my room?!"
He quickly stepped back, then grabbed the blanket that had slipped off and haphazardly covered his legs. His movements were so hasty that he almost tripped over the blanket, and his hoarse voice carried a hint of barely perceptible panic.
"...It's lunchtime! I've called you on WeChat several times but you haven't responded, so I had to come and check if you're alive or dead."
Peng Chengyi straightened up speechlessly, rubbed her still slightly aching nose, and glanced at Chen Yubai, who had retreated to the corner of the bed.
In the dim light, she couldn't see his face clearly, but judging from the heat on his body, he seemed to have a fever.
No wonder he hugged her for no reason.
When he was a child, he liked to hold something in his arms when he had a fever.
She even served as his cooling pillow once or twice, because he said she felt cool and comfortable.
Of course, he never did it again after graduating from kindergarten.
Even after junior high school, he stopped hugging anything. The plush rabbit she gave him for her elementary school birthday was moved from her bedside table to the closet.
So she reached out again to touch his forehead to see if it was hot, but he slapped her hand away: "I'm perfectly fine, you get out of here."
His voice was muffled, with a heavy nasal tone and a hint of irritation.
Peng Chengyi paused, her hand moving slightly. She pouted, looking both aggrieved and confused. "I just wanted to check if you had a fever. Why are you being so fierce?"
Chen Yubai remained silent for a moment, the light filtering through the curtains casting a soft shadow on his sharply defined face.
His Adam's apple bobbed almost imperceptibly, and when he spoke again, his voice was noticeably softer: "Feeling with your hand isn't accurate. The thermometer should be in the living room. Try looking in the drawers of the coffee table and TV cabinet."
Peng Chengyi: "...Oh."
Although she was still somewhat dissatisfied with his reaction, seeing his drooping head, his hair soaked with sweat and clinging messily to his skin, looking like he had a high fever, she decided not to argue with him anymore.
Seeing that the girl who had been standing in front of his bed had finally left, Chen Yubai let out a deep breath and pinched his brow.
He felt a dull ache in his head before falling asleep last night, and tossed and turned in bed, unable to find a comfortable position.
I don't know if it was because I got caught in the rain, or because of someone.
She usually acts as childish as an elementary school student, so why is she wearing lace lingerie underneath?!
Can't she just wear that childish SpongeBob SquarePants suspender top like she used to?
The more he thought about it, the drier he felt, and the hotter he became, so he had to get up and turn the air conditioning down several degrees.
Later, in the early hours of the morning, after finally falling asleep, he had another dream about her.
In her dream, she was wearing only that damn lace lingerie, sitting cross-legged on his bed, casually flipping through the "Practical Guide to Harmony" that he had placed beside his pillow.
Soft strands of hair fell onto the pages of the book, swaying gently with each turn of the page.
"You're reading such a boring book..." She looked up, a sly smile playing on her lips, "Could it be because I said I wanted to perform at a livehouse?"
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he quickly lifted her off the bed, ordering her to go out and put on some clothes.
But she stubbornly lay down on his bed and said she wouldn't leave until he answered her.
He could no longer restrain himself and pinned her down, silencing her incessant chatter in the most direct way possible...
So, the moment he opened his eyes and saw her, he thought he was still dreaming.
He instinctively grabbed her wrist, pulled her into his arms, and wanted to continue what he hadn't finished earlier.
It wasn't until her cool little hand pressed against his chest, carrying a real touch and warmth, and she scolded him for being crazy, that he realized that everything before him had long since left the dream.
He almost made an irreparable mistake.
"Hold."
Chen Yubai cursed under his breath, burying his face deep in his palms. The dizziness from the fever and the lingering dream made his temples throb.
At this moment, he was incredibly grateful for her obliviousness in this regard, for not noticing the obvious abnormality in his body.
I'm also glad that she took care of him when he had a fever and didn't question his obviously excessive reaction to her touch.
Otherwise, he wouldn't know how to justify his actions.
-
Peng Chengyi searched through all the drawers in the living room for a long time but couldn't find a thermometer. She had to go back to Chen Yubai's room and ask, "Are you sure the thermometer is in the living room?"
"Didn't you find it?" Chen Yubai, who was leaning against the wall, raised his eyes.
“No.” Peng Chengyi shook her head.
"Perhaps I'm mistaken," Chen Yu said in a hoarse voice.
"..." Peng Chengyi twitched her lips speechlessly. She couldn't very well call him an idiot when he was so weak, so she could only take a step and say, "Then I'll go home and find you a thermometer."
"Thanks." Chen Yubai nodded slightly.
Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she came back, grabbed the air conditioner remote control from beside his pillow, and turned it off with a beep.
“You have a fever, why are you using air conditioning? Be careful it will make it worse. At your current height and weight, I can no longer carry you to the hospital near the entrance.”
"..."
Chen Yubai stared blankly at her hurried figure, and only after she had completely left did he come back to his senses, lower his head, and chuckle softly.
That was during the summer vacation when I was in fourth grade.
He turned the air conditioner too low to cool off and left it on all night, which caused him to develop a high fever the next day.
At that time, Chen Jianye had already gone into business, and Lin Qingying was busy with her promotion, so there was no one at home to take care of him.
If Peng Chengyi hadn't come to him to watch cartoons with him, probably no one would have noticed.
Seeing him curled up on the bed, looking sickly and clutching the rabbit she had given him, she reached out her little hand and patted his head.
"Oh my god! It's so hot!" she exclaimed, her brows furrowing. "Did you take your temperature?"
"I measured it." He said, his eyes half-closed, his voice barely audible.
"How many degrees?"
39.5.
Peng Chengyi panicked and tried to pull him out of bed, saying, "You have to go to the hospital! My mom said that temperatures over 39 degrees Celsius are very dangerous!"
"It's okay, my mom is a doctor too. She said this morning that it's nothing serious." Chen Yubai curled up, breathing rapidly as if he had run 800 meters.
"That must be because your temperature wasn't this high this morning!" Peng Chengyi stamped her feet anxiously and pulled his sinking body with all her might. "Hurry up, get up and go to the hospital."
"Stop pulling me... I can't walk, I just want to lie down." He slumped back onto the bed like a lump of mud.
Peng Chengyi stared at his face, which was flushed abnormally, for a long time before suddenly squatting down: "Then I'll carry you on my back!"
Chen Yubai was stunned for a moment. Before he could react, she had already struck a pose, her ponytail swaying gently as she turned around: "Hurry up and come up."
"No need, you can't carry it..." He pursed his pale lips.
"Who says I can't carry you! I'm almost half a head taller than you!" Peng Chengyi pouted unhappily, then turned to urge him, "Hurry up, don't dawdle, or the cartoon will start soon!"
Unable to resist her stubbornness, he reluctantly propped up his aching body and carefully climbed onto her thin back.
"If it's heavy, put me down..." he said softly.
“Heavy? What’s so heavy about it! Besides, I ate spinach for lunch today.” Peng Chengyi said, gritting her teeth as she stood up from the ground.
"..."
Although I really want to complain that her animations are all fake, and that eating spinach doesn't turn you into Popeye.
But for some reason, his eyes felt a little hot.
Finally, without saying a word, he buried his face in her thin shoulder.
And so, she carried him on her back from the family dormitory to the hospital at the entrance.
Although the journey wasn't long, it still exhausted her.
When she stumbled into the hospital, her face was even redder than his, and the stray hairs under her ponytail were all wet and stuck to the back of her slender neck.
"Mom, Mom!" she called out breathlessly to Zhou Lifen in the outpatient clinic, her chest heaving. "Quick, quick, take a look at Xiaoyu!"
Moreover, she didn't go home to watch cartoons in the end; instead, she sat by his hospital bedside, chin in hand, accompanying him as he received his IV drip.
She and Zhou Lifen didn't return home until Lin Qingying finished her surgery and rushed over.
...
"Here's the thermometer, take your temperature quickly."
Peng Chengyi rushed back to the room and shoved the thermometer into his hand, interrupting his recollection.
Chen Yubai obediently put the thermometer away, lifted his eyelids and said, "Go back and eat first."
"It's okay, I've already told my mom. I'll wait for you to take your temperature." She waved her hand and sat down at his desk. After a while, she couldn't help but get up again. "Don't you think it's dark? Could you open the curtains?"
Chen Yubai, who hadn't fully recovered, quickly stopped her, saying, "It's too bright when it's open; it's more comfortable when it's darker."
“…Are you a vampire?” Peng Chengyi couldn’t help but tease him, but she still considerately sat back down. “Can I turn on the desk lamp? Otherwise it’s too dark, and I can’t do anything sitting here. It’s so boring.”
Chen Yubai remained silent for a few seconds before softly uttering the word "can".
So Peng Chengyi reached out and turned on the desk lamp on his desk. The soft light shone on her round face and cast a faint shadow under her long eyelashes.
She glanced at the books on his desk, intending to pick up a comic book to revisit, but her eyes were drawn to a book that seemed out of place.
"Practical Guide to Harmony..." she read the title slowly and deliberately, her pretty face turning to him with a puzzled look. "Why are you reading this book?"
Reality and dreams strangely overlapped at this moment.
Chen Yubai's heart skipped a beat, and he unconsciously pursed his lips.
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Author's Note: [Dog head with rose in hand]
Thanks to uoow for the nutrient solution!
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