Even Lin Yizhou was a bit stunned by this situation.
Even though he always thought he had walked into loneliness and immersed himself in the virtual world, he was now at a loss and confused.
At that moment, Su Ziling seemed to realize her action was too intimate. Her body involuntarily tensed, and her expression became unnatural.
But she quickly adjusted, silently stepping back, as if that ambiguous and close distance had never existed.
“Doesn’t feel like 37.5 degrees.”
Her expression remained unchanged as she said calmly.
“Do you have a thermometer at home? Let me take your temperature first.”
“That’s not necessary, right?” Hearing Su Ziling’s words, Lin Yizhou snapped back to reality. He still maintained that carefree demeanor, as if he weren’t sick at all. “I have a lot of stuff in my house that’s not convenient for others to see. I don’t want to get a verbal lashing from you.”
At the end, he added,
“Besides… aren’t you, a girl, afraid to just walk into a guy’s room?”
He said this in a subtle way to dissuade Su Ziling.
But for some reason, she laughed.
“I appreciate your concern, but I’m quite at ease with you.”
“Why?” Lin Yizhou was even more puzzled. “I’m still a man, and the head of the weirdos. Aren’t you afraid I’ll lock you up in the basement?”
To that, Su Ziling just gave him a look.
“As far as I know, most otaku like you are cowards who have the heart but not the guts.”
“…”
The corner of Lin Yizhou’s mouth twitched. He wanted to retort, but his body had no strength to argue.
Not only did he feel nauseous and want to vomit, but his head was also spinning.
When he measured his temperature that morning, it was indeed 39 degrees, and he hadn’t slept all day because he was grinding dailies in Fang Shen.
He was probably running an even higher fever now.
But he couldn’t reveal that in front of Su Ziling. He could only wave his hand weakly and say,
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
Lin Yizhou was about to close the door when a crisp, pleasant voice sounded behind them.
“Hey, hey, hey?”
They both turned to look. Su Lili stood there at a loss, offering an awkward but polite smile.
“Ahem… Lili is bad for disturbing you two lovebirds. I’ll be going now. Right away.”
With that, the little girl tried to slip away, but Su Ziling grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up, demanding,
“You didn’t sneak off to school again, did you?”
Based on Su Lili’s habits, she probably went to school to look for Lin Yizhou, didn’t find him, heard he had taken sick leave, and then came here.
Of course, that was just Su Ziling’s guess, but it was probably close to the truth.
“Hehe~” Suspended in the air, Su Lili tapped her forehead and put on an adorable expression, but when she saw Su Ziling wasn’t reacting, she shouted to Lin Yizhou nearby, “Dad, save me!!”
“Sigh…”
Already feverish, Lin Yizhou felt drained by this noisy scene. He wanted to just shut the door.
But he noticed the bouquet of carnations in the little girl’s hand and couldn’t bring himself to do it. He let out a helpless sigh.
“Come in.”
Led by Lin Yizhou, the group of two adults and one child entered the house.
It was a large apartment—three bedrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The decor wasn’t luxurious but very plain.
To Su Ziling’s surprise, the place wasn’t messy or dirty. The only thing worth noting was the pile of drink bottles near the computer desk.
At that level, a quick tidy-up would make it clean.
But thinking about it, the stereotype of otaku living in filth was just that—a stereotype.
Su Ziling had worked as a cleaner and had seen rooms much messier than this.
“Wow… so this is Dad’s room? It’s huge…” Su Lili looked around and muttered, “There really are a lot of girls without clothes on.”
“Ahem!” Lin Yizhou, already feeling unwell, almost choked at that. “Those posters on the wall are swimsuit posters, and those figures are summer special editions—they’re all normal figures.”
“Alright,” Su Ziling interrupted him and handed over the thermometer she had found. “Take your temperature again. I’ll heat up some lunch for you in the meantime.”
“Thanks.”
Lin Yizhou sat on the sofa. Su Lili, holding the carnations, ran over and presented them to him with both hands.
“Dad, these flowers are for you! Hope you get well soon.”
Seeing the carnations offered to him, Lin Yizhou was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
“It’s just a fever. You’re making it seem like I’m a terminal patient.”
“That’s because that’s what you do every time you visit Mom.”
“…”
Lin Yizhou, who had been smiling, froze for a moment. He keenly caught the trace of sadness and tension in Su Lili’s eyes.
Maybe she was afraid that if he got sick, something might happen to him, so she imitated what her future self would do.
Thinking this, Lin Yizhou reached out and gently patted Su Lili’s head.
She didn’t avoid it; instead, she actively leaned into it, looking comfortable.
Su Lili’s hair was very smooth, and it was a pleasure to touch.
After enjoying it for a moment, he took out the mercury thermometer from under his arm and checked it.
39.7 degrees…
His fever hadn’t gone down.
Unnoticed, he gently shook the thermometer. The mercury, which had been at 39.7, dropped to 37.8. Then he said to Su Ziling, who was nearby,
“37.8 degrees. See, it’s nothing.”
“Is that so?”
Su Ziling was currently organizing the odds and ends on the stove. Although there was a kitchen, Lin Yizhou clearly wasn’t the type to cook, so the stove was cluttered with delivery boxes.
“Just heat up some rice for me, and then you can send this little one back. Don’t worry too much about me.”
“Is that right?”
Su Ziling turned and looked at Lin Yizhou’s condition. She felt a vague unease she couldn’t quite articulate.
If he really only had a low fever, he shouldn’t be in such a state.
Was she overthinking?
Or was it an illusion caused by his malnutrition and listless dead-fish eyes?
“Report!”
Just as Su Ziling was puzzled, Su Lili suddenly snapped a sharp salute and pointed at Lin Yizhou.
“I saw Dad secretly shake the thermometer!”
At that moment, Lin Yizhou felt a crushing stare bearing down on him.