She brewed cold medicine on the cupboard and swallowed it along with two capsules. Liu Yinuo suddenly remembered she hadn’t taken her medicine yet, so she had to silently turn on the desk lamp and sit up in bed.
She felt like she hadn’t slept well and had caught a chill, running a fever all day. Her head was foggy, and she couldn’t go to school at all.
The bedroom felt a bit stuffy. After turning off the lights and lying down on the bed, Liu Yinuo couldn’t help but think:
‘What bad luck. The sudden drop in temperature yesterday, plus staying up late the night before…’
‘When I’m not around, what will happen at school? I’m really worried.’
‘Tomorrow is Saturday. I promised to protect her yesterday, but I broke my promise today. If I can’t go to school tomorrow, will I still be able to see her?’
‘Will something happen to her today? Will Qin Haiyue bully her? If I’m not by her side, will she end up with Qin Haiyue and Lin Ziyan?’
‘I feel like Lin Ziyan’s attitude towards her seems a bit off. Was she showing concern for her yesterday morning?’
For some reason, Liu Yinuo’s eyes dimmed.
Thinking about this kind of thing made her inexplicably irritable.
‘Ye Xingmian being taken away by someone else…’
She closed her eyes. Her cellphone was on the pillow beside her. After taking the medicine, she lay down in bed, her mind restless, unable to sleep.
‘I’ll play on my phone to pass the time.’
Thinking this, she turned over and picked up her phone. The brightness was a bit glaring.
She squinted, turned it down a bit, and was about to unlock the screen when she saw Ye Xingmian’s message in the notification bar.
“Huh?”
This was unexpected. As far as she knew, Ye Xingmian didn’t have easy access to her phone at home. Still, she felt a bit surprised. After unlocking the screen, it jumped directly to the chat page.
After silently reading the other’s message, her eyes lit up slightly.
‘Is this… concern for me?’
‘It seems like the first time. Is this the reward for all my efforts? Has she finally figured things out? She actually wants to come to my house!’
After thinking, Liu Yinuo started typing on the virtual keyboard.
“Sorry, I was eating dinner just now and didn’t see the message. You want to come to my house? Of course you can! How could it be a bother?”
“Don’t overthink it. Do you need me to pick you up? My house is a bit far from yours, it might be inconvenient to walk.”
She didn’t wait long for a reply. Liu Yinuo even imagined the other girl waiting by her phone for a long time, eagerly looking forward to it.
“Yeah, thanks, Class Monitor, but no need.”
That was within expectations. After all, in her impression, Ye Xingmian always looked like she didn’t want to trouble others, so speaking like that fit her style.
But Liu Yinuo couldn’t give up just like that.
“Really no need? What if Lin Ziyan won’t let you come? Or what if something unexpected happens?”
“It shouldn’t, right? My younger sister has been quite agreeable lately. I just talked to her, and she agreed…”
Liu Yinuo frowned, feeling something off.
‘Lin Ziyan agreed to Ye Xingmian coming to my house? Has she changed her ways?’
‘But since she didn’t stop Ye Xingmian, it should be fine, right?’
‘After all, given that girl’s current situation, she posed no threat to me.’
Thinking this, she typed a line:
“Yeah, it should be fine. Okay, so what time will you come tomorrow? I’ll prepare in advance.”
Normally, she should receive a reply quickly.
She waited for a while.
But as time passed, she felt something was off.
One minute…
Two minutes…
Five minutes…
She turned over and stared intently at her phone.
‘Are you still there?’
She typed this line to send, but after pondering, she thought it would make her seem too impatient.
‘I’ll wait a bit longer. What if something suddenly happened on the other end?’
Thinking this, she waited another five minutes.
Still no reply.
She bit her lip and sent that message, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea, receiving no response.
Even the online icon in the upper left corner went out.
‘Did something happen to her?’
She couldn’t help but worry.
‘Should I still go to the Lin family tomorrow?’
‘But should I really go? Ye Xingmian said she didn’t need me to.’
‘If I go, wouldn’t it seem like I don’t trust her?’
She was a bit conflicted.
That unanswered question became a thorn in her heart.
This matter lodged itself in her heart like a thorn, making it hard to sleep.
Tossing and turning with worry, she still couldn’t feel sleepy.
Her body felt a bit uncomfortable, a bit hot.
She had taken her medicine on time.
She felt around in the dark and pulled out the thermometer from the drawer. After measuring under the night light, she turned on the desk lamp to check the reading.
37.9°C – low-grade fever…
Her expression immediately turned grim.
‘Why did the fever come back? Was it because of staying up late? Or did I catch another chill?’
Feeling something was off, she suddenly got up from bed.
‘But letting the fever continue like this isn’t good. What if it suddenly turns into a high fever in the middle of the night?’ She took out a fever reducer from the drawer, brewed it, and drank it.
She drank too much water, and her stomach felt bloated. But it was so cold, she had no choice but to put on clothes and go to the restroom.
When she finally felt her way back to bed in the dark, she checked her phone and saw it was already past midnight.
‘So tired…’
But her mind was strangely excited and a bit anxious.
Ye Xingmian still hadn’t replied. She thought about watching some videos before sleeping.
Watching videos, time unknowingly passed until 1:30 AM.
Finally, drowsiness set in.
She yawned. It seemed she wouldn’t get an answer tonight.
‘This isn’t good…’
‘Sleeping so late, will I even wake up tomorrow?’
‘So what should I do? Go or not?’
Her mood was both heavy and oppressive, and she felt that sleeping like this would lead to nightmares.
But there was no other choice. She’d deal with it when the time came.
Thinking this, she slowly closed her eyes.
***
(Earlier)
Just as she was about to reply to Liu Yinuo, her phone suddenly shut down.
Ye Xingmian froze on the spot.
She didn’t believe it and tried restarting the phone twice, but it didn’t work. Each time it restarted, it only lasted a few seconds before the screen went black, until eventually it wouldn’t turn on at all.
‘This is bad.’
‘Disappearing mid-conversation is bound to be annoying, right?’
‘But…’
She didn’t want to, either.
She had originally wanted to say that if nothing unexpected happened, she would arrive before 9:00 AM.
If she couldn’t make it by then, the latest would be before noon. They would set a time limit, and if she hadn’t arrived by then, it meant something unexpected had happened, and Liu Yinuo could come to her rescue.
But her phone suddenly died, and she couldn’t say anything else…
Her mood soured.
But when it came to unexpected situations, it probably wasn’t that likely, right?
After all, as far as things stood now, the only variable—Lin Ziyan—seemed to have given up on stopping her.
So what other unexpected thing could happen?
It couldn’t be that Qin Haiyue found this place and came to block her doorstep, could it?
That was a bit too surreal and unlikely.
But once she thought about it, she suddenly felt it wasn’t impossible.
She started to worry a bit.
‘Forget it, I’ll go to sleep early since it’s still early.’
‘Get up early tomorrow. Even if something happens, at least I can…’