Chapter 103 (1/2)

For the next few days, Shi Yan didn’t see He Nuo again. Wang Feng and Qiu Linsong both have a huge bone to pick with He Nuo. They thought that He Nuo was being way too arrogant, how could he be a friend like that? It’s not as if Shi Yan had killed his father so it was impossible for the two of them to live under the same sky.

But what about He Nuo? Was he really indifferent? If he could really be stone-hearted and stand as strong as an impregnable fortress, then an invisible fire wouldn’t have been ignited in him. He Nuo didn’t blame Shi Yan’s mother for what she did, and wouldn’t bother with her impolite words. He Nuo didn’t plan to visit Shi Yan again anyway even without her obstruction and rejection. Because in Shi Yan’s words: their misunderstandings have just been resolved, so they shouldn’t meet up right now.

He Nuo may look gentle and weak, but he definitely wouldn’t drag his affairs through mud and water. How could he not be concerned about Shi Yan’s illness? And how could he not hope that he would recover as soon as possible? But if he went to see him, then they would inevitably continue to be entangled with one another. He Nuo can forgive a betrayer, but he would not forget the betrayal. Because that suffering was worse than poison that could penetrate one’s intestines — poison can kill and relieve its sufferer with death, but this emotional wound wouldn’t kill you. Instead, it would instead seize your soul, and a life without one’s soul was even worse than death.

He wouldn’t look for him, but he wasn’t able to stop himself from thinking about him. A person’s will can force them to divert their attention, but their will doesn’t have a constant source like the water that flows through the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. As long as the stream was cut off for a short moment of time, his thoughts would drift off to that person. There were so many times — during the periods He Nuo fought off his illness under Shi Yan’s care and was coerced by him to take supplements — when he had secretly vowed to himself that when Shi Yan was ill, he would devote himself to taking care of him in the same way. But, now that he really was sick — and he was even sick to this kind of extent — he actually couldn’t even spare Shi Yan a single glance. He Nuo clenched his fist tight, and he clenched it so tightly his fingernails dug deep into his palms until it hurt.

Because Wang Feng and Qiu Linsong both have bones to pick with He Nuo, they wouldn’t go and look for him. When they discussed it among themselves privately, they both thought that they had been proven wrong — He Nuo was also an asshole who would secure his personal gains through trickery. Isn’t he treating Shi Yan so coldly like this just because he was guaranteed a pass in his exams this year?They believed that He Nuo would be able to get into a pretty good college, so Shi Yan should be of no value to him anymore. Under this sort of circumstance, looking for He Nuo meant that they were begging him on behalf of Shi Yan — they refused to do something so low-class. Even if He Nuo wasn’t around, Shi Yan still had their gang to stay with him anyway.

Because of this misunderstanding, He Nuo had zero news regarding Shi Yan. At first, he thought that Wang and Qiu would contact him through the phone, so he would at least be able to know how Shi Yan was doing recently, but he didn’t get a single call. So He Nuo kept suppressing and suppressing the anxiety in his heart, but in the end, he still couldn’t endure it. When he woke up this morning, several ulcers had appeared around He Nuo’s mouth and his throat was swollen. He took some anti-inflammatory medication and ate porridge for a day, but his condition got worse the next day. His ulcers spread all the way to his tongue, and his throat was so swollen that he couldn’t even swallow any food and he felt like his eardrums were about to be squeezed out.

He Nuo couldn’t eat his lunch at noon — even porridge had become hard to swallow. His tongue would sting with a sharp pain whenever it came into contact with any sort of food, so He Nuo lost his appetite and decided not to eat. His family thought that he was worried about his college entrance examination results, so they offered him some words of consolation. His family wasn’t worried at all. He Nuo’s results during his mock examinations have always been at the top of his cohort, so even if he couldn’t get into a key college, getting into a standard college shouldn’t be a problem. Also, after the example answers were out, the score that He Nuo calculated made them feel very satisfied. But He Nuo’s personality required him to have some reservations, so the score he told his family was 40 points lower than what he had calculated.

He Nuo was lying on his bed when he heard his family ask him to take a call. He immediately jumped up and went over. At this time, He Nuo’s throat was completely swollen, and his vocal chords sounded like it would tear apart if he talked, so it was very difficult for him to make a sound. So when he thought that it was either Qiu or Wang on the phone, he immediately said “un” with a nasal voice when he picked up the call.

“He Nuo?”

“……” It was Shi Yan. The He Nuo who was separated from him by a phone stiffened up a little.

“He Nuo? He Nuo?”

“Un.”

The sound of him exhaling deeply travelled through the phone, “I miss you.”

“…….”

“Come and see me, will you?”

“…….”

“I should go and look for you, but I can’t walk too far. Is it ok if you come instead?”

“…….”

“Please. I miss you.”

“…….”

“I’ll wait for you in the garden1. Nuonuo, I miss you.” Shi Yan put down the phone.

The hand that He Nuo held the phone with was trembling. A hazy fog could be seen in his eyes.

When He Nuo arrived at the hospital, he rushed straight to the garden at the back. He didn’t see Shi Yan. He looked for Shi Yan’s ward based on his memories — the ward was empty. Thus, he returned to the garden again. When He Nuo was turning round and round as he searched for Shi Yan, he bumped into a pair of middle-aged men and women who were walking over anxiously. The woman’s eyes met with He Nuo’s. He Nuo tugged the corner of his lips up slightly and said with a broken voice, “Hello, Auntie.”

The woman frowned in disgust, “Didn’t I tell you not to come look for Shi Yan anymore? Don’t you know he’s sick? You can display your hospitality some other time, can’t you just let him rest for now?”

The man looked at this scene doubtfully.