Chapter 40

This cold hit hard. First Wen Fu's head and throat started hurting, and before half a day had passed, he was already sitting in Lin's Convenience Store doing homework and sneezing between lines.

Fei Bolin looked at him warily. 'You've got a cold.'

Wen Fu sniffed. 'No I don't.'

'You do.'

'I don't.'

Sniff.

'You definitely do.'

'I don't—'

Wen Fu sneezed.

Fei Bolin narrowed his eyes at him.

Wen Fu stopped talking.

Fei Bolin pulled a few dozen yuan from his wallet. On his way out to buy groceries, he also bought cold medicine for Wen Fu.

When he got back with the medicine, Wen Fu was still sitting behind the register sniffing, head down the whole time, waiting for Fei Bolin to say something like, 'I told you not to sleep hugging that piggy bank.'

A shadow fell over him. After waiting a long time and still not hearing anything, Wen Fu was just about to look up when Fei Bolin slowly bent down and brought his face right in front of his.

...

Wen Fu blinked.

Fei Bolin blinked.

Wen Fu blinked again.

Fei Bolin said, 'I thought you were nodding off.'

Wen Fu shook his head and tipped his neck back.

'Then why was your head hanging so low if you weren't sleepy?' Fei Bolin straightened up and reached out to feel his forehead. 'You feeling awful?'

Wen Fu didn't answer.

Not getting the scolding he'd expected, he was obviously a little lost. He just looked at Fei Bolin with that listless face.

'Come on.' Fei Bolin reached for the back of his head and ruffled Wen Fu's fluffy hair along the way. 'Let's go home and eat. Take your medicine after, then sleep a bit and you'll be fine.'

Since Wen Fu was sick today, Fei Bolin made lunch pretty light. He stir-fried sliced meat with shiitake mushrooms, made tofu ball soup, cooked a vegetable dish, and with the last bit of minced meat, steamed Wen Fu a small bowl of egg custard too.

When Wen Fu finished his last bite of rice, Fei Bolin was sitting beside him saying lazily, 'Vegetables, egg, meat, carbs... good.'

'Good what?' Wen Fu asked in a voice that had somehow turned hoarse without him noticing.

'Good that you ate every one of them.' Hearing how rough his voice suddenly sounded, Fei Bolin held back a laugh and explained, 'From now on, check your meals like this every day. If anything's missing, remember to have me make it up for you.'

Wen Fu repeated from memory, 'Vegetables, egg, meat, and carbs?'

'Mm.' Fei Bolin lowered his head and smiled to himself before repeating, 'Vegetables, egg, meat, and carbs.'

Wen Fu nodded, then silently mouthed it one more time. He looked like he was committing it to memory for real.

In the time it took for that, Fei Bolin somehow produced a bowl of cold medicine he'd already mixed up. 'Drink it.'

As usual, Wen Fu leaned in and sniffed it first. He picked it up and took a sip, found out it was sweet, and then drank the rest down in a few quick gulps.

The second he set the bowl down, Fei Bolin placed a footbath basin in front of him.

Wen Fu: ?

Fei Bolin went to the kitchen and poured in scalding hot water. 'Soak your feet before you sleep.'

Wen Fu didn't get it, but he still obediently rolled up his pant legs and took off his socks. 'Why?'

'Mm, I don't know either.' Fei Bolin set down the kettle and sat on the sofa, watching Wen Fu put his feet in. 'My mom taught me that. If you've got a cold, soak your feet. Ease them in slowly. Don't burn yourself.'

Wen Fu soaked them for twenty minutes. Fei Bolin kept him company while reading a book, and by the time they poured the water out and got into bed for a nap, Wen Fu had edged over onto Fei Bolin's pillow, his eyes full of things he wanted to say and didn't.

Fei Bolin yawned. 'If you've got something to say, say it.'

'Boge,' Wen Fu said, as always calling him that first, 'you're not gonna scold me?'

Fei Bolin had already closed his eyes, but at that he opened them again. 'Scold you for what?'

Wen Fu slowly put the words together, then said them just as slowly. 'I slept hugging the piggy bank, so I got sick.'

Because he got sick, Fei Bolin had to run out and buy medicine for him, and even boil hot water so he could soak his feet.

Back when he was with his adoptive father, if something like this happened—like getting caught stealing and delaying his adoptive father's gambling, or getting taken to the police station and making him come pick him up—Wen Fu usually wouldn't get scolded afterward either. The man would just go straight to hitting him, all while cursing him out with stuff like, 'I told you to steal from that place, not this one.'

So that was what this was about.

'It's okay.' Fei Bolin closed his eyes again, reassured. 'You just liked that piggy bank too much, so you wanted to sleep holding it.'

He turned over, patted along Wen Fu's back, made sure the blanket was tucked in properly, then added, 'And being sick already feels awful. I really can't blame you for that too.'

Besides, he'd already given Wen Fu plenty of sarcastic grief about it in his ear last night.

—'I'm not sleepy.'

—'I can watch.'

Thinking back to the way he'd said it then, Fei Bolin couldn't help the little lift at the corner of his mouth.

How come being around someone younger than him made him seem to get childish too?

Still, he really hadn't taken the whole cold thing to heart at all.

He'd already seen it coming. Once it happened, repeating the scolding all over again would've meant nothing.

For kids, some kinds of suffering still come with a kind of happiness.

But the fact that Wen Fu would actually reflect on himself one day really was no small thing.

—Getting Wen Fu to this point really hadn't been easy for him either.

Fei Bolin sighed to himself in silent emotion.

He patted Wen Fu. 'Go to sleep already.'

Wen Fu opened his eyes wide. 'It's really okay?'

'Really.'

'Then can I still sleep hugging the piggy bank tonight?'

—This little cat's specialty was never learning his lesson.

Fei Bolin opened his eyes again, very slowly.

'What do you think?'

...

Wen Fu went quiet for a second, then wisely chose to shut up and sleep.

When he woke up that afternoon, his head didn't hurt anymore, but Wen Fu's throat was completely wrecked.

By now it was already December, the dead of winter. The last few days had been sunny, and before that it still hadn't hit the coldest stretch yet. With Wen Fu sick today, Fei Bolin buried himself in the wardrobe and dug out a pair of long johns for him.

He'd bought them himself for winter the past two years, but the weather hadn't turned that cold and he'd happened to grow too fast, so he'd never gotten the chance to wear them.

Wen Fu had never worn long johns before. Or rather, he hadn't worn them since he was four.

In all those years with his adoptive father, no matter spring, summer, fall, or winter, he only had two thin pairs of pants to rotate through, and he didn't even know where the man had gotten them from.

Nobody cared whether he was hot or cold, so Wen Fu naturally never learned how to add or shed layers.

All year round, he only had two sets of clothes and wore them no matter the season. In summer he wore stuff thicker than the weather called for, and in winter it was just one thin layer. He'd thought he'd already gotten used to fickle weather, like he'd trained up a body of steel. But when Fei Bolin found him those long johns and he put them on, Wen Fu still felt it clearly—this was way more comfortable.

'Very good.' Head lowered, he listened to Fei Bolin's instructions and tucked the long johns into his socks, while imitating Fei Bolin's tone from lunch.

Little cat mimicry.

Fei Bolin had no idea what he meant. 'What's very good?'

Wen Fu thought about it. Really, he couldn't even say exactly what was very good. He just felt like everything was.

He was good. Fei Bolin was good too.

Being alive was good. Getting to meet Fei Bolin was good.

-

That evening, before they went to self-study, Fei Bolin first hauled Wen Fu over to a clinic near their home.

This was the clinic Fei Bolin had gone to every time he got sick growing up. The doctor inside was in his fifties, a very experienced middle-aged man.

While the clinic was still open, Fei Bolin hurried to have him take a look at Wen Fu's throat and ask whether he needed medicine.

The doctor told Wen Fu to open up. 'Ah—'

Wen Fu tipped his head back. 'Ah—'

The second he made a sound, the doctor asked, 'Got an erhu tucked in your mouth?'

Fei Bolin smiled. 'Please just take a look.'

The man pressed down Wen Fu's tongue and checked. 'Nothing major. I'll prescribe some licorice tablets and anti-inflammatories for him to take at home.'

The clinic dispensed medicine one dose at a time, each one wrapped in a little paper packet with a few pills inside. The doctor gave him two days' worth. 'Three times a day, after meals. Stop when you're better. No need to finish it all.'

Once they got to the classroom, Fei Bolin figured dinner still hadn't finished digesting yet, which made it the perfect time to take medicine without upsetting his stomach, so he hurried Wen Fu into taking the first dose.

There still weren't many people in class yet. In their group it was just the two of them. Fei Bolin took his own cup to get half a cup of hot water—not because he hadn't prepared one for Wen Fu, but because Wen Fu always forgot to bring his—and carried it back to stand in front of him. 'Hurry up and take your medicine.'

Wen Fu opened the paper packet. Inside were three dingy gray licorice tablets, one green sugar-coated pill, and one capsule.

The licorice tablets gave off a brutally aggressive smell.

It was the first time Fei Bolin had ever seen that kind of expression on Wen Fu's face—like he was almost resisting the idea of putting something in his mouth.

Wen Fu turned his head and stared at the left side of the packet for a while like he was sizing up some kind of monster, then turned and looked at the right side. His nose was full of that bitter, stabbing licorice smell.

Fei Bolin reached out and pressed a hand on top of his head. 'Quit moving around. Take your medicine properly.'

'Oh.'

Wen Fu sat up straight, took the cup from Fei Bolin, pinched the capsule and put it as far back on his tongue as he could, then hurriedly drank water. He tipped his head back, but it didn't go down. Another gulp, and finally he swallowed it.

Then he took the sugar-coated pill. One sip of water and down it went.

Last came the licorice tablets.

Wen Fu put all three licorice tablets into his mouth.

'Blegh—'

One little cat let out a thoroughly rude gagging sound.

Without a word, Fei Bolin used a tissue to pick up the pills Wen Fu had spat onto the floor, then silently opened the second packet and pushed it in front of him.

Wen Fu hesitated, then pinched the three licorice tablets from the second packet and put them in his mouth. He frowned hard and took a sip of water, still looking like he was about to gag again.

And just before he did, inspiration struck and he shot Fei Bolin a glance.

One hand braced on the desk, Fei Bolin smiled at him gently. 'If you dare spit them out again, I'll mix them into your rice and make you eat them that way.'

Wen Fu: ...

If anyone else said that, maybe it'd be a scare tactic. But if Fei Bolin said it, he meant it.

Especially this Fei Bolin right in front of him, looking at him with that calm little smile.

Wen Fu's throat bobbed once, and he forced the foul-smelling licorice tablets down.

Right after that, he slumped into a half-dead expression.

Sure enough, once life got too comfortable, even a little bitterness felt like it might kill you when it came back.

Wen Fu collapsed onto the desk. The taste in his mouth still hadn't gone away when someone suddenly stuffed a lollipop between his lips.

The medicinal taste that had been blasting straight to the top of his head was quickly covered by a creamy candy smell, and little by little, the light came back to Wen Fu's eyes.

Then he looked at Fei Bolin again. Sunlight outside was streaming through the clear window glass and falling behind him, leaving the glow around Fei Bolin's shoulders bright and soft.

Resting his chin on one hand, he sat beside Wen Fu, while his other hand still idly swung an unopened candy. He looked sideways at Wen Fu, who was lying on the desk sucking his lollipop, with a half-smile. 'If you take your medicine properly, you get a reward.'

-

Since he was sick, Wen Fu couldn't bear to wear his new shoes tonight. He didn't even want to carry his schoolbag. He insisted on waiting until tomorrow, when his sweater and new pants were dry, so he could wear everything together.

So through the whole evening self-study session, his greatest source of fun was stretching his legs way out and looking at the pant legs climbing up them.

Fei Bolin was too absorbed in solving problems to notice the weird little thing going on beside him. He just vaguely felt like Wen Fu had spent all night sticking his head out past the desk over and over.

It wasn't until Xie Yining came back from the bathroom once and saw Wen Fu staring at his pant legs with real enthusiasm. She first followed his line of sight down to the floor, didn't manage to see what he was seeing at all, then leaned in and asked, 'What are you looking at?'

Without blinking, Wen Fu said, 'Long johns.'

Fei Bolin, who was doing problems beside him: ?!

Xie Yining: 'Huh?'

If Wen Fu's next sentence was 'I'm wearing Boge's long johns,' this situation was going to become impossible to salvage.

Fei Bolin stopped writing and was just thinking about how to cut this conversation off when he heard Xie Yining ask, 'What happened to your voice?'

Fei Bolin quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Xie Yining's attention shifted to Wen Fu's voice instead. 'Your throat sounds like it's sawing through a shoe sole. You're squeaking when you talk.'

Hearing that, Lu Yuqiu turned around. 'Let me hear.'

Wen Fu: 'Ah—'

Su Haoran whipped around in horror. 'Who brought a duck to class?'

Wen Fu: ...

Fei Bolin: ...

Fei Bolin looked up, took hold of the back of Wen Fu's head, and turned it forward, ending the increasingly chaotic scene. 'Do your work properly. Or put your head down and rest. Stop messing around.'

Xie Yining shot the two of them a strange look, then went back to her seat and muttered to Lu Yuqiu, 'Do you think the class rep and Do-Re-Mi don't really get along?'

'Kinda seems like it.'

'Feels like the class rep doesn't really like Do-Re-Mi...'

'Their personalities really don't seem like a good match...'

From behind them, Fei Bolin flipped through his test paper and said lightly, 'Why don't you two come stand inside my ears and chat?'

Xie Yining: ...

Lu Yuqiu: ...

That evening self-study finally went completely quiet.

-

On the way home after school, Fei Bolin bought Wen Fu a grilled sausage.

Wen Fu had felt bad that morning and hadn't had much appetite, so he'd only eaten two bowls of rice. They still had to go back and watch the store for a while first, and Fei Bolin was worried he'd get hungry, so he also bought him a hot milk tea on the way.

There was only one Bifengtang outside the School Gate of No.1 High School. For add-ins, the milk tea shop only had boba and coconut jelly, so Fei Bolin told the clerk to put in a little of each. Together with the sausage, it came to nine yuan.

As they walked, Wen Fu took one bite of sausage, one sip of milk tea. Halfway through, he suddenly asked, 'Boge?'

Fei Bolin said, 'What is it?'

Wen Fu said, 'Can I take my medicine right now?'

Fei Bolin: ?

Wen Fu said, 'With the milk tea.'

That way it wouldn't taste as bitter, and tomorrow morning he wouldn't have to take it anymore either.

Fei Bolin said, 'No.'

Wen Fu opened his mouth, probably wanting to ask why, but after thinking about it, he decided to use that open mouth to bite the sausage instead.

Fei Bolin could tell what he was thinking, so he explained, 'Medicine isn't like food. You don't take it until you're full. You can only take a set amount at the right time. Not early, and not late. Got it?'

Wen Fu nodded.

After a while, he asked again, 'Then can I save the milk tea for tomorrow when I take the medicine?'

Fei Bolin: ...

Fei Bolin fell silent.

Some little cats really do need to get dealt with sooner or later.