She got up, turned on her computer, opened her email, and stared at a string of numbers. Having not slept all night, her brain felt like it had crashed and couldn't process anything. So she opened her phone's calculator, but she kept making mistakes when typing in numbers.
So she had no choice but to give up, collapsed onto the bed, stared at the ceiling, and fell asleep without realizing it.
I received a call from Sheng Muxi in the evening and pulled her out of bed.
A new semester brings new beginnings, and the annual home visits are here.
The school requires teachers to visit all the students in their classes in batches.
Sheng Muxi arranged which student's home she would visit each afternoon after school, based on the distance of their home address. One of the students lived near her neighborhood.
Chai Qianning offered to go with her, saying that they could have hot pot together after the home visit.
As the vernal equinox approaches, temperatures are dropping instead of rising. Every corner of the city has been dampened by a long period of continuous rain. The rain-soaked roads are clear, and neon lights are reflected in them, creating swirling, winding lines of light.
Chai Qianning put on a coat and went out.
To better suit her image, Chai Qianning got a pair of non-prescription black-rimmed glasses to wear.
When Sheng Muxi saw her dressed like this, he almost burst out laughing.
Chai Qianning pretended to push up her glasses: "Teacher Sheng, do you think I look like a teacher?"
"A bit silly." Sheng Muxi tried to hold back, but couldn't help but smile. "Why are you trying to act like a teacher?"
“Of course…” Chai Qianning glanced sideways at Sheng Muxi with eyes that seemed to be filled with false erudition: “To match your status as a teacher.”
During the home visit, Sheng Muxi did all the talking with the student's parents, while Chai Qianning was responsible for holding Sheng Muxi's thermos. The conversation mainly revolved around the student's grades and situation at school, which was incredibly boring for Chai Qianning, and she had no interest in listening at all. So she sat there daydreaming, her mind filled with thoughts of the hot pot they were going to eat later.
The communication went smoothly, and the home visit ended in less than half an hour.
Afterwards, the students' parents even escorted them to the outside of the residential area.
After finishing all this, Chai Qianning finally took off her black-rimmed glasses, stuffed them into her bag, and pulled Sheng Muxi straight to the hot pot restaurant.
There's a hot pot restaurant right across the street, so Chai Qianning isn't picky.
Sheng Muxi laughed at her for being a foodie, but then noticed that her fingers were icy cold. She couldn't help but pinch them and carefully observed that Chai Qianning was only wearing a base layer under her coat.
"Why aren't you wearing a sweater underneath? Aren't you cold?"
"I forgot to wear it when I went out."
Sheng Muxi reached out and tucked her collar up a little: "What kind of temperature is this? You're only wearing two layers? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold? You always tell me to wear more, but look at yourself."
She let the other person put the hat on her.
Chai Qianning's coats are always very large and look thick, but they let in the wind.
Beneath her hat, she revealed a pair of clear, bright eyes as she looked at Sheng Muxi. Taking her hand, she playfully pulled her into the hot pot restaurant.
"I didn't get sick or catch a cold all last year, and I don't think I did the year before either. I rarely get sick."
Sheng Muxi casually checked off a few items on the ingredient list and then pushed it to Chai Qianning: "Really?"
"Hmm." Chai Qianning looked up from the ingredient list: "You don't believe me?"
Sheng Muxi handed the menu to the waiter, then tapped her forehead: "You should also take care of yourself."
The truth came back to haunt her very quickly. After eating hotpot and returning home, Chai Qianning's throat started acting strangely the very next day.
Sheng Muxi doesn't have to go to school on weekends, but he does have to visit the homes of several students whose families live far away.
She talked so much yesterday, giving lectures and making home visits, but her throat didn't get worse. Maybe it's because she drank too much hot water. This morning, she showed no signs of having had a cold.
Chai Qianning often sleeps in late in the morning.
Chai Qianning hadn't rested much while taking care of her when she was sick, so Sheng Muxi wanted her to sleep a little longer and didn't wake her up.
I was probably woken up by a sore throat.
Chai Qianning opened her eyes, first checking the time on her phone, and then saw a message from Sheng Muxi: "There's breakfast in the kitchen. If you're awake, just heat it up and you can eat."
She knew that Sheng Muxi had gone to visit her home.
After replying to the message, Chai Qianning got out of bed and poured herself a glass of hot water.
She was still sleepy after breakfast, so she went to bed for a while.
When she opened her eyes again, Sheng Muxi was already back, looking at her with a hint of worry in her eyes.
Do you have a fever?
Chai Qianning exclaimed "Ah!" and her eyelids twitched. Last night she said she wasn't so prone to catching a cold, but she caught one today.
She lowered her head and said, "It seems so."
With a low-grade fever, Chai Qianning didn't want to go to the hospital, so she brewed a packet of fever-reducing medicine and drank it.
She had a runny nose all night, and had to wipe it with a tissue every minute.
She sat cross-legged on the sofa, holding a blanket and a pack of tissues in front of her, with a trash can right in front of her.
Not wanting to do anything, slumped over with a lifeless expression, tossing wads of tissue paper into the trash can one after another.
This cold was so bothersome that Chai Qianning even considered stuffing two wads of tissue paper into her nostrils.
Sheng Muxi came back from outside, bought her some cold medicine, and brought her a cup of hot water, which she placed in her hands.
He sat down next to her and placed his warm palm on her forehead: "She should be fine after taking the medicine for a few days."
“You’re too close to me, it’s easy to get infected, and it wouldn’t be good if we kept infecting each other.” Chai Qianning stared into her eyes.
Sheng Muxi reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing her fair and rosy profile: "You caught a cold from the wind. Look, you were only wearing two layers of clothing yesterday."
"Okay, I understand. I'll definitely pay attention next time."
As she spoke, Chai Qianning pulled out another tissue to wipe her nose.
The other person's eyes were red at the corners, and her pupils were glistening with tears. Sheng Muxi couldn't bear to say too much to her, so she raised her hand and gently rubbed her cheek with her fingertips.
Chai Qianning originally wanted to do something to distract herself, but the cold had already distracted her completely, and she couldn't even play games.
Bored out of my mind, I scrolled through my WeChat Moments and came across Fang Jiaqin's latest post: 【DO NOT ...
It's a video, and the video cover features a photo of Fang Jiaqin herself.
Isn't this just a way to pique people's curiosity and make them click to see?
Chai Qianning wanted to sneeze, but it got stuck in her throat. She half-closed her eyes, trying to sneeze for a long time, but couldn't.
My hands reacted faster than my brain, and I'd already clicked on the video. The first few seconds were normal; it was Fang Jiaqin singing to the camera. Then the image gradually distorted and blurred, conjuring up a terrifying ghost face that suddenly slammed into the screen.
The sudden scene almost made Chai Qianning's hand tremble, but it mostly triggered her to sneeze.
After she sneezed, she felt much better and reached out to shake out a tissue to wipe her nose.
Chai Qianning clicked on the post first without checking the comments. Now that she's done, she sees a bunch of "thank yous."
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get a new phone.
Thank you, the kitchen knife is ready.
Chai Qianning typed a comment: "Thank you, you cured my stuffy nose."
Fang Jiaqin replied: 【? ? 】
The following afternoon, Chai Qianning took her medicine and went to bed for a nap. She had a dream—a dream she had never had before, a dream that was both crazy and unbelievable. It was so real that Chai Qianning's body even reacted.
When I woke up, dusk had already fallen, and a delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen.
The bedroom lights were off, and the twilight outside seeped in through the window, covering the foot of the bed and the floor in a thin, pale layer, exuding a decadent beauty.
She had just lifted the covers when she saw Sheng Muxi come in.
Sheng Muxi had taken a shower and was wearing a cotton fleece nightgown. The hem of the dress reached her calves, and rippled like waves as she walked.
The bedroom light was turned on, and Chai Qianning subconsciously squinted.
Sheng Muxi walked to the bedside and sat down, facing her. Only then did she notice the detail of the other's flushed face. Thinking that the other had a fever again, she raised her hand and covered Chai Qianning's forehead with her palm.
Chai Qianning rubbed her fingers, her voice soft and gentle, as if she had just woken up: "I'm not feeling unwell."
Sheng Muxi lowered his hand, his gaze sweeping over her face: "Are you feeling much better?"
"Um."
Is your nose still stuffy?
Chai Qianning sniffed: "It's mild, not that serious anymore."
Sheng Muxi gently pinched her chin with her fingers: "Then why is your face so red? That's strange."
Upon hearing this, Chai Qianning recalled the content of her dream, and her gaze, which had been fixed on Sheng Muxi, suddenly froze, lost in thought.
His gaze pierced Sheng Muxi's heart. She slowly blinked: "Why are you looking at me like that? Have you fallen asleep and become stupid? What age are you?"
Chai Qianning smiled and removed the finger that the other woman was waving in front of her: "But I had a dream."
"What dream?" Sheng Muxi asked.
Chai Qianning suddenly stopped talking, and after a few seconds she lifted her eyelids to look at Sheng Muxi, biting her lip: "I dreamed that you kissed me."
These words made Sheng Muxi pause for a moment.
She returned early in the afternoon and, seeing Chai Qianning asleep, didn't disturb her. She sat by the bed and watched her for a while, but couldn't resist kissing her forehead.
Sheng Muxi's peach blossom eyes welled up with tears: "You're not asleep!"
"No way." Chai Qianning bent her knuckles and rested them on her chin, feigning surprise. Her expression gradually changed. "I'm sick, and you actually...you did that kind of thing to me!"
Sheng Muxi: "??"
I just kissed her forehead, how could she talk about it in such a shameful way?
Chai Qianning hooked a corner of the blanket with her fingertips, her mouth slightly open, and said in an exaggerated tone, "I was wondering why my body was so weak, as if my life force had been drained and I was just an empty shell. It must be you. Ugh, how annoying."
Chai Qianning gently flicked the corner of the blanket she was holding onto Sheng Muxi. Sheng Muxi's forehead twitched, and she placed her palm on the other's forehead again, then touched her own forehead and compared the two.
She doesn't have a fever, so why is this so abnormal?
"I just kissed your forehead." Sheng Muxi's throat bobbed. "So what were you dreaming about?"
"You only kissed my forehead?"
Sheng Muxi nodded, her expression becoming complicated as she looked at her.
Chai Qianning coughed a few times: "It's nothing. I smell the food. Let's go eat."