Chapter 27: Taking Care
Opening his eyes, Lou Ting fixed his gaze on the empty and freshly painted white ceiling, which, if stared at for too long, would make one feel a bit dizzy.
He…
Lou Ting’s brows slightly furrowed. The events that had just happened didn’t fully present themselves in his mind, but rather, there was a sense of stagnation.
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“Gal usw yoyjl? Gal usw bwdtau?”
—This voice?
Lou Ting raised his head abruptly and saw He Yunzhou standing by his bedside, vaguely holding something in his hand.
Lou Ting: “You…”
“Don’t talk for now.” He Yunzhou noticed his hoarse voice and handed him a cup of warm water. “Moisten your throat first.”
As Lou Ting reached for the water, he glanced at something on the back of his hand. “What is this?”
“It’s for the intravenous drip.” He Yunzhou explained, “Do you feel uncomfortable?”
Lou Ting shook his head and took only a few sips of the warm water before intending to set it aside.
He Yunzhou saw this and said, “Finish it all.”
Lou Ting had already moved the water cup aside, but upon hearing He Yunzhou’s words, he hesitated for a moment. However, instead of putting it back in his hand, he continued to try to place it on the table.
He Yunzhou didn’t even let him do it and took the cup from him, holding it to his lips.
Lou Ting: “…”
Lou Ting pursed his lips. He refused to drink water at any temperature above ice-cold, but from He Yunzhou’s expression, it seemed like he wouldn’t accept anything other than this lukewarm water.
After some thought, he said, “I want to drink cold water.”
He Yunzhou: “You look like ice-cold water.”
Lou Ting: “…”
Not sure if it’s an illusion, Lou Ting inexplicably feels that He Yunzhou seems a bit fierce today.
Lou Ting knows that He Yunzhou is doing this for his own good by making him drink warm water, but… he feels helpless. He reluctantly takes the water cup and sips it slowly, little by little.
Originally, he wanted to pretend and find an opportunity to dispose of the water, but He Yunzhou kept watching him. Lou Ting couldn’t find the chance even after drinking half of the cup. He bit the rim of the cup and mumbled, “I can’t drink anymore.”
Seeing this, He Yunzhou has no choice but to take the water cup back. However, he can’t give him ice-cold water.
Lou Ting looks at him and suddenly feels that something is not right. “Why don’t you sit down?”
He Yunzhou points to the IV bag hanging on Lou Ting’s left side and says, “The infusion is still ongoing. It was originally hung on this side of the wardrobe. It’s okay when there’s enough medication, but when it’s running low, it won’t work.”
Worried about blood pooling, He Yunzhou couldn’t find a suitable place, so he simply stands there, acting as a temporary support.
Lou Ting suggests, “Please, have a seat.” There’s not much medication left, and he’s not feeling too uncomfortable now. They can just remove the needle.
He Yunzhou ignores the suggestion and asks, “Are you hungry? I had someone cook porridge for you.”
Lou Ting shakes his head, “I don’t want to eat.”
“How about some dried small fish?”
“Huh?”
Lou Ting didn’t immediately understand, but He Yunzhou thought he wanted to eat but was too embarrassed to say it, so he took out a piece of dried small fish and stuffed it into his mouth.
Lou Ting instinctively bites down on it.
It’s crispy on the outside and slightly soft on the inside. The fish head has been removed, and the fish bones are crispy enough to swallow.
Lou Ting finishes a piece in one bite, and the taste is quite good.
However… this is like a snack for kids.
Lou Ting teases him, “Childish.”
“I bought it for the little fox. You liked it in animal form, so I’m quite sure you’ll like in human form.”
He Yunzhou continued giving him small dried fish and asked, “What happened today? You had a fever, and you didn’t even realize it.”
If it weren’t for He Yunzhou’s arrival, nobody would have noticed Lou Ting’s fever. Those people even insisted on dragging Lou Ting to do a livestream.
If He Yunzhou hadn’t mentioned it, Lou Ting would have thought that this was a normal occurrence of psychic turmoil. Thinking about it, when he transformed into his beast form before, there was some relief, but this time he didn’t passively transform, indicating that the causes of the two incidents were probably different.
Lou Ting replied, “I might have accidentally caught a cold.”
He Yunzhou had only asked casually and saw that Lou Ting didn’t want to elaborate, so he didn’t press further. He just reminded, “Next time you sleep, remember to lock the door.”
Regardless of whether he’s sick or not, those people mysteriously entering and causing trouble were worrisome. If He Yunzhou hadn’t noticed something was off and rushed upstairs, things might have escalated.
Feeling like an adult being told by a three-year-old, Lou Ting’s face flushed inexplicably, and he muttered, “I always lock the door when I sleep.”
He Yunzhou followed up, “Then why didn’t you lock it today?”
Lou Ting seemed surprised by this question. Why didn’t he lock the door?
When he had no roommates, he would lock the door. If he had a roommate, they had a key, so locking the door wouldn’t make a difference. Thus, he always kept the door locked regardless of the circumstances.
But the reason he didn’t lock it this time…
Lou Ting quickly glanced at He Yunzhou, cleared his throat, and said, “I was afraid my roommate wouldn’t be able to get in.”
“Roommate?” He Yunzhou raised an eyebrow. “You mean Yu Yimeng? Doesn’t he have a key? Or is it that you are the only one with a key for the entire dorm?”
Lou Ting avoided eye contact and replied, “Yeah, I’m the only one with a key.”
He Yunzhou seemed to be pondering something and playfully said, “I thought it was because you were waiting for me and deliberately left the door unlocked.”
Lou Ting: “…”
After He Yunzhou finished speaking, Lou Ting’s face instantly turned red.
Lou Ting felt his face heating up too. He quickly mumbled, “I’m a bit tired. I’ll go to sleep first,” and pulled the blanket over his head.
He Yunzhou hadn’t even had a chance to say anything, and Lou Ting had already hidden himself away.
Luckily, the infusion was already finished, so He Yunzhou said, “Come out for a moment. I’ll remove the needle, and then you can sleep.”
Under the blanket, there were slight movements, with Lou Ting shifting left and right. Instead of coming out, he extended the hand with the adhesive tape.
The smile on He Yunzhou’s face was hard to contain. He cleared his throat to hide the trace of amusement in his voice and solemnly removed the tape, saying, “Go to sleep. If you get hungry later, there’s porridge in the thermos.”
Lou Ting still didn’t come out; a muffled sound came from beneath the blanket, “Mm.”
—
Early in the morning, Lou Ting didn’t see the black panther around. The dormitory was empty, with only him. So he decided to head to the training room in advance to practice dancing.
As Lou Ting stepped into the training room, Le Chengzhe approached him.
“Lou Ting, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Can you forgive me?” Le Chengzhe said without waiting for Lou Ting to speak. “I didn’t know you were sick; otherwise, I would never have asked you to do a livestream. I thought you were just sleeping and wanted to wake you up to play with us. I really apologize.”
“It’s fine.” Lou Ting couldn’t be bothered to dwell on yesterday’s matter. In the end, it was just an attempt to ride on his popularity, which backfired.
They didn’t gain anything from it, so there was no need to make a fuss about it.
“You can carry on with your work.” With others around, Lou Ting gave up on the idea of dancing and instead decided to head to the cafeteria to order some Chinese-style breakfast. He scrolled through Weibo while eating.
During his browsing, he came across the official Weibo account of “Youth Returns.” They had posted several tweets related to livestream interactions, likely an attempt to increase the show’s popularity, and there was also a lottery involved.
Le Chengzhe’s team had the lowest popularity, considering that other teams had small fresh meat and acclaimed actors with their fandoms supporting them. But their team was different; they were generally lukewarm, and Yan Zigang was the most popular member in the entire dance group.
Since Yan Zigang wasn’t participating in the livestream, their attention shifted to Lou Ting.
Biting into a bun, Lou Ting couldn’t help shaking his head in understanding but annoyance at the same time. He could see their perspective, but it was still irritating.
Continuing to scroll, he stumbled upon the incident where he threw a temper during yesterday’s livestream, and it had become a small trending topic.
Not many people had posted about it, only one marketing account that had captured the moment when he appeared on the livestream, and they had shared a video on Weibo.
EntertainmentFrontline_FengBrotherV: [This is unbelievable! With just a bit of popularity, he becomes all arrogant without considering his own position? Ge Yi and Le Chengzhe may be something, but they are his seniors, right? What’s he doing? He even threw a temper during a simple livestream. Oh right, I heard this was a surprise planned by the production team. If that’s the case, he’s gotten too arrogant, not even giving face to the production team?]
According to the usual pattern, there should be quite a few comments criticizing him under this post, stirred up by the marketing account’s provocation. However, since it didn’t trend, it seemed that the real explosive point was still debatable.
Lou Ting opened the comments section and took a glance.
【Why should a handsome guy like him give face to the production team? Can’t he keep that handsome face for himself?】
【I don’t know if Lou Ting gave face or not, but the production team clearly didn’t give you face! Look at this announcement carefully. The director personally posted on Weibo saying Lou Ting is sick. Can’t you see he’s ill? His face is so red, obviously running a fever! Those trash marketing accounts should perish!】
【Take Lou Ting away! No discussion. Moreover, Lou Ting debuted earlier than those two; he is the senior! They barged into a senior’s room just for the sake of popularity; how ridiculous!】
…
The fans below were voicing their complaints, but their attacks were directed at the marketing account rather than Lou Ting.
Lou Ting had only checked the official account of the show and hadn’t opened the director’s Weibo. Following the guidance from the comments, he eventually found Fang Huandong’s Weibo.
Fang Huandong_V: “Lou Ting is unwell and unable to participate in tonight’s livestream.”
It was a dry notification, almost as if deliberately taking a stand against the marketing account.
With an official statement, fans would definitely believe the official version. As a result, the marketing account became the one getting criticized.
“Lou Ting! There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Yu Senze poked his head in from outside and looked around before spotting Lou Ting and rushing over with a large bag in his arms.
The bag almost covered the entire table. Lou Ting finished the remaining buns in three bites and asked, “What’s in that bag?”
Yu Senze said, “Anti-zerg Weapon!”
Lou Ting: “???”
Yu Senze chuckled as he showed him how to use it. “When you go back to your dorm, place this device in front of your door and press this red button. Your whole room will be protected, and it can even withstand attacks from the Zerg Clan for a while.”
Being able to resist the Insect Clan was indeed impressive, but… Lou Ting said, “I don’t need it.”
“Who said that? Look at yesterday. If we had this thing, they could have yelled outside all they wanted, but they wouldn’t have been able to get in,” Yu Senze mentioned that he was livestreaming with his team members yesterday, so he didn’t have time to check other things. However, he found out about Lou Ting being used by those teammates to boost their popularity, which made him angry. He ended up ordering this device online overnight.
Yu Senze said, “Take it back, place it at your door, and if someone enters and activates the attack mode, the anesthetic inside will fly out. It would leave them incapacitated even if they don’t sleep for a whole day.”
Feeling cared for was nice, but Lou Ting felt amused and exasperated, saying, “I really don’t need it.” After all, if a real fight broke out, he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.
“Why not?” Yu Senze asked, “Give me a reason, and if it’s reasonable, I won’t insist on you using it.”
Lou Ting was momentarily speechless. “…Well, I-“
“There’s no need for it. He won’t use this,” He Yunzhou entered from behind, carrying a cup of hot milk. He placed the milk next to Lou Ting and said, “Drink it all.”
Lou Ting smiled at He Yunzhou’s intervention and then looked back at Yu Senze, “I trust him, so I don’t need it.”
**********
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Thanks for the update
Thanks for the chapter! LOL