"Who are you? Where is Le Xi going? What kind of checkup is she doing? Explain yourself clearly!"
“I am his… friend.” Shi Lu almost said “boyfriend”, but then felt it was inappropriate. Why should she tell this child?
"Oh, hello friend. I thought he'd lost his phone again. He's only just arrived in your area and he's already lost his phone, and his bag was stolen in broad daylight! How come the security situation is so bad where you are?"
His phone was stolen? I didn't hear him mention it. I wonder if he's hurt? I must ask him later.
"Hey, are you even listening to me? Are you even his friend? Where did he go? He never leaves the house without his phone."
"He's at the hospital getting a checkup!" Shi Lu felt this kid had a knack for adding fuel to the fire; just a few words had made her, who was usually quite mild-mannered, furious. If it weren't for the fact that he was Le Xi's friend, she would have hung up long ago.
"What's wrong? Why does he need another check-up? Is he feeling unwell?" The other person sounded a little anxious.
Perhaps influenced by the other person's anxious tone, Shi Lu thought to herself, "This kid is quite nice, so concerned about her friend." Just as she was about to speak, she saw Le Xi being pushed in by a nurse in a wheelchair.
"Why did you walk out and come back sitting down?" Shi Lu squatted down to look at Le Xi's face, and patted his hand with a smile.
"Heh, it's so embarrassing. I get dizzy when I see blood during the blood test." Le Xi pouted shyly, her face flushed. The nurse behind her couldn't help but laugh, which made Le Xi blush even more.
"Hello, hello, hello!" came the child's exasperated voice from the phone in Shi Lu's hand.
"Oh, the phone, it's for you." Shi Lu handed over the phone.
"Looking for me? Who is it? Hey? Zijie, is that you?" Lexi laughed as she stood up from her wheelchair, ran to the window to make a phone call, and was then pulled back by the nurse and put back on the hospital bed. Lexi stuck her tongue out at Shilu, talking happily while making faces.
It was rare to see Lexi genuinely smile. Perhaps because they were the same age, Lexi made harmless jokes, even occasionally letting out a swear word or two. Her eyes shone brightly when she smiled, radiating the joyful spirit of youth. For the first time, Shi Lu regretted being so close to her twenties. If only she could grow up alongside Lexi, how happy and wonderful that would be. If that were the case, she would love him dearly and never let him suffer any injustice.
Love is like a cough
On the morning of Lexi's surgery, Shi's mother said she was going to the Jade Buddha Temple to get him a good luck charm. Shi Lu ignored her, saying that she was a long-time member of the Communist Party and an atheist, and now she was believing in gods and Buddhas in her old age. Yan Shuang scoffed at him and shook her head, saying he didn't understand his mother at all. Shi Lu asked why. Yan Shuang said, "When Xiaoxiao has a cold and fever, your mother's eyes get red, let alone now that Lexi is having heart surgery."
Sure enough, when Shi Lu caught up to the door, she saw her mother sitting in a corner of the hall, quietly wiping away tears. Her mother said she couldn't bear to see Xiao Le suffer like this. The child was so young, his parents were gone, his health was poor, and he didn't even have any friends. Just thinking about it made her incredibly sad, and she didn't want to wait outside the operating room; the waiting was too unbearable.
"When your dad had his surgery, I waited outside the operating room, feeling like my hair had turned white from exhaustion. I even comforted myself, saying that when your dad came out, I'd tell him, 'We'll never argue again. You can go fishing if you want, play chess if you want.' But what happened next..." The mother paused, wiped her face, and laughed, "Pah, pah, pah, what am I saying! I'm going to get a good luck charm right now, and when I come back, I'll buy some sweet fermented rice for Xiao Le at the dessert shop on Zhangye Road. He said it was delicious last time! By the time I get back, his surgery should be finished, and he can drink it when he wakes up!"
“Mom!” Shi Lu sat down next to her mother, put her arm around her shoulder from behind, squeezed it hard, and said softly, “Le Xi will be alright. Such a good child, God will treat him well. Even if God is not good to him, he still has us, right? We will love him well and make up for everything God owes him.”
During the surgery, Lexi was conscious. She kept hearing the doctor asking for knives, tweezers, and forceps. She felt like an animal placed on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered. Suddenly, someone would cut her open with a knife, make a hole in her chest, fill it with seasonings, and sew it up, just waiting to be steamed and made into a delicious dish.
Lexi stared at the ceiling, feeling utterly bored. Counting the days, there were less than two weeks left before the start of the university semester for freshmen, and she began to plan her future life.
Well, first I need to join some kind of club. I heard the school's drama club is very famous, so I definitely need to sign up.
Then I need to attend classes at the art and design college. I think they have a fashion design major. I'll look it up online after I'm discharged from the hospital.
Every day I go to school, spend time in the library, eat in the cafeteria, and run on the track in the evening. Hmm! It's been a long time since I ran. I must keep exercising, take good care of my health, and strive to be a healthy and positive new generation of college students!
I heard that Xiaoyanba is volunteering at a special education school, the same school Xiaoxiao used to attend. When I get better, I'll try volunteering there too.
Next, have a proper relationship. They say not having a relationship in college is a major regret in life. Hehe...
"Come on, try coughing." The doctor patted Lexi, pulling him back from his reverie.
"Cough cough." Le Xi coughed twice as the doctor instructed.
"Come on, put some more force into it. We need to test if the machine is working properly."
"Cough cough!...Cough cough!..." Le Xi coughed twice forcefully, perhaps too forcefully, because her head hurt and her throat felt itchy, so she coughed a few more times. The doctor was anxious: "Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? Just cough a couple of times and it's fine."
Lexi blushed, noticing the doctor stop what he was doing and ask the nurse beside him about her blood pressure and heart rate. Only after receiving confirmation that everything was normal did he continue.
Even if washed clean with water
There are still tear stains.
Even when trying to smile
The pain is written all over your face, isn't it?
Some people asked me what happened.
Just like a cough, love can't be hidden, can it...?
Suddenly, this song popped into my head: Love is like a cough, it can't be hidden. Shilu's smile, Shilu's concern, so real, so warm, couldn't be concealed.
Lexi closed her eyes and chuckled softly.
Shi Lu, let me try to love you, let's have a proper romance, and let our lives be complete, okay?
As Lexi was wheeled out of the operating room, the door opened to reveal Shi Lu leaping from his seat and rushing towards her, bringing with him a thick smell of smoke, as if he had just emerged from a chimney. Smoke swirled behind him, and he held a half-smoked cigarette butt in his hand. Lexi smiled, raised her hand in a "V" sign, then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep peacefully.
I had a long dream. In it, I was floating in the sky, looking at my tiny self in a small, low-lying courtyard. It was snowing, and the whole world was white. My mother was stewing mutton, and Aunt Lan and my brother were there too. The air still faintly smelled of orange peel. Back then, I was so young and didn't understand anything. My mother, grandmother, Aunt Lan, and brother were my whole little world.
My brother held my tiny self's hand as we watched the snowflakes fall from the sky in the snow. The snow in the south wasn't heavy; a few snowflakes landed on our hair and eyelashes, icy and cool. Occasionally, a snowflake would drift down our necks, making me shiver with a laugh, which made my brother laugh too. The two of us stood in the snow, laughing and calling out, my tiny self becoming blurred in the swirling snowflakes. Then, that version of myself, floating in the air, landed in front of my brother, gazing at him intently, as if trying to exhaust all the gazes I had in this life. Then I stepped forward, embraced him, and whispered, "Goodbye, brother."
“Baby…” The brother looked at himself in surprise, grabbed his hand, and looked at him with a pained and panicked expression.
I turned and walked away quickly. The sound of my brother calling after me faded into the distance. A burning pain shot through my heart, a pain that seemed to penetrate to the bone.
"Lexi, Lexi..." A concerned voice rang in her ears. Lexi opened her eyes and met Shi Lu's gaze. Those eyes were scrutinizing her carefully from head to toe.
"You look like you're in a lot of pain. Does the incision hurt a lot?" Shi Lu took a towel and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"It's alright." Le Xi smiled and comforted him, but she felt weak and powerless, as if all the strength had been drained from her body, and even her voice was low and weak.
"If it hurts, just say so. If it's really unbearable, ask the nurse to give you an injection..."
“No need for a shot.” Le Xi interrupted Shi Lu, then, feeling it was too abrupt, awkwardly turned her head away, avoiding the questioning look.
"What's wrong?" Shi Lu hesitated for a moment and gently pinched Le Xi's cheek. "You're sweating so much, does it hurt a lot? If it hurts a lot, don't hold back and say anything. Are you... afraid of getting addicted?"
Lexi sighed: "I used to take drugs, so I'm still afraid. I'm afraid that I'll become addicted to those injections. It's so hard... Aru, I want to be a good person. I don't want to be controlled by these bad things and bad emotions."
"Don't overthink it. I don't want the shot anymore. I'd like to talk to you, okay?"
"Um."
What are you saying?
"If you don't know what to say, can you even call it talking to me?" Le Xi glanced at him and secretly smiled. "Well, how about I ask you a question?"
"Yes, go ahead and ask."
Lexi picked up a towel from the table, rolled it up to make a microphone, and held it out to Shilu: "Have you been tired these past two days?"
Shi Lu thought for a moment, then said with a worried look, "It's alright, it's just that I can't eat or sleep well. Everything else is fine."
"If you can't eat well and can't sleep well, can you call that a good thing?"
"What's wrong with you? I think you're beautiful, really beautiful, so beautiful that it makes me forget to eat and sleep. So I want to sneak a peek at you while I'm eating, and I even want to get up and look at you when I'm asleep."
"You..." Le Xi's face turned as red as a tomato. She turned her head away from him and muttered softly, "Rogue..."
"Huh? What did you say? I didn't hear you!" Shi Lu leaned closer, shamelessly lowering his head and staring intently at him. He saw his slender, almond-shaped eyes slightly closed, his long eyelashes trembling gently from the sudden closeness, his delicate skin flushed faintly with sweat, his small, beautifully shaped nose wrinkled, and his gently bitten lower lip glistening with moisture. Shi Lu's breathing suddenly became erratic, his heart pounding. Staring blankly at the person before him, he involuntarily leaned down and kissed him.
Lexi was startled by the sudden movement. She opened her eyes and saw Shilu stiffly and nervously pecking his lips.
"Are you... feeling unwell..." Shi Lu suddenly looked up at him, his eyes full of concerned and cautious inquiry.
Le Xi's lips curled up, and she sighed, "It's alright..."
"Are you alright?... So that means it's comfortable? Can I... kiss you just a little longer?"
School starts
Lexi asked Shilu why he knew first aid for heart attacks, especially methods like restoring a heartbeat through coughing, which many people didn't know. Shilu told her that since meeting Lexi, he had been consciously or unconsciously learning about this topic, and would unconsciously look at related information online, so he knew how to help in an emergency. Lexi laughed at him, saying, "So you were planning to trick me from the beginning!" Shilu pinched her increasingly well-being on her cheek, grinning lewdly, "You're not a respectable woman, how can you trick me?" Lexi turned away angrily, but Shilu stuck to her like a leech, swaying left and right, making faces and smiling ingratiatingly to amuse her. Shilu never knew he had such a good sense of humor. When he was with his girlfriend, he always adhered to the principle of "if it's good, stay together; if it's bad, break up." He was always very measured and principled in his words and actions. According to his girlfriend, he was an extremely rational person.
Yan Shuang's explanation was that many people who didn't know they were gay, after discovering their true sexuality, would unleash their inner "powerhouse," becoming incredibly sensitive and gentle, even completely overturning the impression they had left on others when it came to their loved ones. In short, they would become a completely different person. Shi Lu thought she was talking nonsense, but since this gossipy woman was always around, constantly offering her summaries, he didn't bother to think too much about it, and even enjoyed showing off his "unusual" concern for Le Xi in front of Yan Shuang.
Two days after the surgery, Lexi was able to sit up and eat and drink on her own. On the third day, she began to try to walk. Her recovery was very good. She was discharged from the hospital a week later, rested at home for a few days, and then welcomed the start of university.
Xingzhi College, under the School of Journalism at L University, is a secondary college of L University and the college where Le Xi was admitted. It's a notoriously problematic college on campus, with exorbitant tuition fees and relatively low entrance scores. The students admitted are almost exclusively from extremely wealthy families. This is evident from the luxury cars parked outside the dormitories and the students' attire. Every year, Xingzhi College's freshmen cause several "sensational" incidents that shake the entire university. For example, in the previous year, a female student, after being criticized by her teacher during a PE class, smashed the teacher's head with a basketball and then boasted: "This school's basketball courts were all built with my family's donations! What are you so arrogant about, you lousy teacher? Tomorrow I'll tell my great-uncle's cousin to fire you!" While the incident resulted in this foolish student being placed on probation for insulting a teacher, it clearly demonstrated the arrogant attitude of Xingzhi College students.
Schlu didn't want to use these things to discourage Lexi, because Lexi had told him that she had gone through many twists and turns, even hardships, to get the opportunity to go to university. But something still hit Lexi hard: Schlu was actually a teacher at the school, and would be their university English teacher.
"You don't know, do you? I used to be one of the four most talented students in the School of Journalism. Foreign languages are just one of my strengths; my real trump card is documentary literature! But the school is short of foreign language talents, so they entrusted this glorious and arduous task to me," Shi Lu said shamelessly.
"You're just bragging. Someone like you calling yourself one of the Four Great Talents! I didn't know that Lu Zhishen in Water Margin was one of the Four Great Talents!" Yan Shuang sneered from the side.
"Lu Zhishen punches Zhen Guanxi, ah ya ya!" Xiao Xiao danced around, imitating Bruce Lee's strange shouts, and struck a pose towards Shi Lu, "Hua Hua, Hua Hua, is this how it's done?"
"Yes, yes, yes! That's it!" Yan Shuang clapped and cheered from the side. This made Le Xi laugh until her stomach hurt, while Shi Lu had a face full of black lines.
"Xiaoxiao, a girl should be more ladylike. Who told you to do such rude things?!" Shi Lu raised his voice and reprimanded her in a serious tone.
"When they told me the story, they said, 'That's how it's written in the book!'" Xiaoxiao said, feeling wronged. "Who said girls are rude for doing these things? I'm going to protect Niu Niu in the future. Xiao Yanba said it's called lace! Isn't lace the pretty trim on a dress?"
"Yan, Shuang!! How did you raise this child? Is this how you treat people? Do you want everyone to be into BL?!" Shi Lu looked at Le Xi, who was already dumbfounded, and his face turned red instantly. He roared almost frantically.
Yan Shuang continued clapping: "Chrysanthemums bloom along the path, their beauty is shared across the land!"
Shi Lu helped Le Xi with his enrollment procedures and asked an acquaintance to help him get a day student status. Shi Lu originally wanted him to be exempted from the military training course, but Le Xi insisted on participating in the military training.
“Your health isn’t good, so let’s skip the repairs. I’m afraid you can’t handle it,” Shi Lu said to Le Xi.
"Didn't I have surgery? The doctor said I can be like a normal person now!" Le Xi said with a smile, raising her right arm in a Popeye pose, showing off her muscles. "Besides, military training is part of university life, it would be such a waste to skip it!"
"But……"
"Hey, I've noticed you're being so long-winded," Le Xi interrupted Shi Lu, waving the freshman orientation guide in front of him. "I'll do my best, okay? We'll talk about it if you really can't handle it anymore, alright?"
Shi Lu couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he could only shake his head and smile helplessly: This child, after the surgery, is like a hyperactive child with excess energy. He wants to try everything and is full of curiosity about everything.
This year's freshmen are indeed quite unconventional. Some drove themselves to register, while others brought nannies. But that's not all; the most ridiculous thing is the military training. Many students went to great lengths to avoid it. According to regulations, students must have a health certificate from a Grade II Class A hospital to be exempt from military training. However, on the day of training, about a quarter of the hundred or so freshmen at Xingzhi College obtained these hospital certificates. These certificates were incredibly varied. Acute gastroenteritis, appendicitis, duodenitis, and so on—that was relatively mild. The most laughable was a student who obtained a certificate from an infectious disease hospital, almost scaring everyone to death.
However, the school had no good way to prevent this, so when military training began, very few freshmen from Xingzhi College participated. This greatly annoyed the instructors, making Le Xi and her classmates' military training extremely arduous.