Chapter 19: Ominous Sign!

The taxi bumped slightly on the smooth road.

Jian Mingzhou suddenly opened his eyes and instantly became alert!

…What was he saying!?

In the dimly lit compartment, he couldn’t see the expression on Xie Jing’s side clearly. It was quiet all around. Jian Mingzhou felt sweat starting to break out. Did Xie Jing notice?

It’s okay; as long as he doesn’t bring it up, he can run smoothly…

As I was about to speak, a light cough suddenly came from the front.

“Cough.” The driver pretended to casually make a sound similar to navigation, “Highlighted road section ahead.”

“…”

The whole back seat, “…”

They weren’t going to kiss! This reminder was so unnecessary!

Now he finally understood He Lucheng’s feelings.

In the stifling silence, a very light laugh came from beside him.

The taxi just happened to enter the highlighted road section, and the light suddenly entered the compartment. Jian Mingzhou turned his head and saw the light illuminating Xie Jing’s handsome, smiling face.

“Are you wondering why I’m not talking, uncle?”

“…” Jian Mingzhou.

His heart trembled. This was intentional again! Playing with him!

Xie Jing still had a smile, looking down at him calmly. Jian Mingzhou’s inner turmoil calmed down, and he turned his head gently. “Yes, after all, it’s our last conversation.”

Xie Jing, “…”

It continued until they got out of the car. Jian Mingzhou still maintained a smiling face, even giving the taxi driver a five-star rating. “You’re a good person.”

The driver, who had been eavesdropping all the way, was respectful and fearful. “…Not as good as you said.”

Jian Mingzhou shook his head. “It couldn’t be better.”

The taxi left in a hurry, and Xie Jing followed behind him. When they arrived back at the apartment building, he opened the door.

Both of them were slightly wet, so Jian Mingzhou gave each of them a towel. While wiping his face, he looked at Xie Jing, who was wiping his neck and had broad shoulders.

Although he narrowly caught that sentence in the car, now he had to figure out how to respond.

He wasn’t angry, and his smile was just his protective shield?

In Xie Jing’s view, it was definitely a straightforward joke between people of the same sex. However, because he knew a bit more about BL, there was a subtle embarrassment.

After thinking for a moment, Jian Mingzhou wiped his hair and spoke up, “Xiao Jing, I’m not angry. It’s just that jokes like this shouldn’t be casually made to girls in the future.”

Xie Jing, covering half of his face with a towel, paused and looked over. “I know. I won’t make such jokes to girls.”

Jian Mingzhou felt relieved. Good; he seemed to understand.

Xie Jing added, “Besides, very few people have lips like this.”

“…” Jian Mingzhou returned to his calm and silent gaze. “Okay, go take a shower.”

Xie Jing chuckled and turned the page. “You go first.”

—

The next day, Jian Mingzhou didn’t have to go to work. By the time he got up, Xie Jing had already left.

He had brunch and tidied up a bit.

Wondering whether to do something, he suddenly received a message on his phone from He Yi.

[He Yi]: Brother Mingzhou, it seems Xie Jing caught a cold. But he stubbornly refuses to admit it and insists on continuing training.

Caught a cold? Jian Mingzhou was momentarily stunned.

Was it because he got caught in the rain yesterday, and then Xie Jing let him go first to take a shower when they returned…

He replied with a message and then headed to the school.

Following the familiar route, he found the training ground. On the playground, several groups of students were training separately. The sun was shining brightly, and the sound of whistles echoed.

Jian Mingzhou walked past from one side.

He Yi turned his head and saw him, about to shout, but was stopped by Zhou Xuyang! Zhou Xuyang walked over and said, “Brother Mingzhou.”

Jian Mingzhou asked, “Where’s Xie Jing?”

Zhou Xuyang pointed to the resting area in the distance, where a familiar figure could vaguely be seen. “Not in good condition. The coach asked him to rest.”

Jian Mingzhou’s heart tightened. “Is it serious?”

Zhou Xuyang frowned. “His 200-meter run was 0.2 seconds slower than usual.”

“…”

He didn’t quite understand the time concept of track and field students.

After exchanging greetings with the two, Jian Mingzhou walked towards Xie Jing. The latter was sitting on the ground with both hands on his knees, resting his head.

A shadow fell in front of him, and when Xie Jing looked up, he seemed to be a bit stunned. “Uncle, why are you here?”

“I heard you caught a cold.”

As the words fell, the two locked eyes, and the phrase from yesterday crossed their minds: They would miss the competition the next day because they caught a cold in the rain…

The atmosphere became a bit difficult to describe for a moment, and Xie Jing spoke first: “Did He Yi snitch on me?”

Jian Mingzhou, recalling He Yi’s WeChat message about “inborn stubbornness,” rephrased it: “He said you’re resilient and never give up.”

“He overglorified it, uncle.”

“…”

Xie Jing coughed lightly again as he spoke.

Jian Mingzhou looked at his expression. With the sun falling, his neck was slightly sweaty, showing a bit of a flush. It was hard to tell if it was from the heat or a fever.

He leaned back against a wall, and Xie Jing blinked as he looked up. “Feels a bit hot, but your body temperature is naturally high. Let me take you to the infirmary to check your temperature.”

Xie Jing wanted to refuse, but Jian Mingzhou looked at him with determination. “In youth comics, those resolute, mentally strong protagonists end up unable to participate in competitions because they trained while sick.”

As they approached the infirmary, Xie Jing said, “Uncle, if you want to persuade me, I’ll listen. Just don’t suddenly activate your lingual skills again.”

“…” Jian Mingzhou.

In the infirmary, there was no one inside.

The clean and tidy infirmary had a faint smell of medicine. On one side was a desk and a medicine cabinet, and on the other side, a bed curtain was half-open, revealing a few beds behind it.

Jian Mingzhou found a thermometer and lifted Xie Jing’s arm. “Let’s measure your temperature first.”

As the thermometer touched his arm, Xie Jing’s arm twitched slightly.

“?” Jian Mingzhou looked up, a bit curious. After all, Xie Jing seemed invulnerable. “Xiao Jing, are you afraid of itching?”

“It’s cold,” Xie Jing said, holding the thermometer. “Places that aren’t usually touched are more sensitive.”

“Oh, where else?” Jian Mingzhou asked casually, then suddenly realized that the question seemed a bit…

The space fell silent for two seconds, and he was about to change the topic.

Suddenly, Xie Jing laughed, “Ears.”

…

After measuring the temperature, it showed 37.2 degrees.

Xie Jing had a naturally high body temperature, and this reading didn’t count as a fever.

Jian Mingzhou breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the absent doctor, and registered a bit. He found some common cold medicine and handed it to Xie Jing. “Take this after you eat and rest for a while.”

Xie Jing tilted his head and drank the medicine, humming, “Okay.” After drinking, he licked his lips and asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t have much to do today. I’ll stay here with you.”

“Thanks,  uncle.”

After Xie Jing finished speaking, he lay down inside.

Jian Mingzhou waited outside, idly looking around: the clean and tidy infirmary, a classic scene from the campus comics…

A thought crossed his mind, and he pulled out his phone for material.

The infirmary was on the first floor, with a wide-open window facing outside. Just as he was about to take a picture of the window, a figure suddenly leaped out.

Wearing a white coat, agilely perched on the window frame.

At the same time, Jian Mingzhou pressed the shutter.

Click! The two locked eyes in the photo are both silent. In the stagnant scene, it was unclear who was more shocked.

After a moment, Jian Mingzhou deleted the photo, pretended as if nothing had happened, and put down his phone.

On the other side, everything returned to normal. The person jumped up like an eagle and landed gracefully.

Then he stood up, patted his clothes, clap clap.

Jian Mingzhou looked at the nameplate on his chest: School Infirmary, Duan Jingfang.

It turns out to be the school doctor.

The school doctor appears to be in his early thirties, quite resembling the typical infirmary teacher in manga. His facial features are well-proportioned and mature, and he wears a pair of frameless glasses. There’s a bit of stubble on his chin, but it doesn’t make him look messy.

Jian Mingzhou couldn’t help but glance at the window behind him and ask, “How did you…”

Duan Jingfang, elegant and smiling, interrupted, “When God closes a door for me, he will open a window…”

Jian Mingzhou pursed his lips and said, “I closed the door.”

Duan Jingfang remained silent.

“The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.” He quickly found another excuse for taking a shortcut and skipped this topic. “So, hello, what illness do you have?”

His sarcastic comments about Xie Jing resting after the torrent of complaints were swallowed back.

Jian Mingzhou pointed inside, speaking in a hushed tone, “A student caught a cold and is sleeping. I am the guardian.”

The school doctor made a sound, “Oh…”

The two had nothing else to say.

The school doctor turned and sat at his desk.

Jian Mingzhou watched as he took out paper and pen, focusing on writing, so he didn’t disturb his work and sat on the other side, taking out his phone to pass the time.

Half a minute later, a small shadow fell in front of him.

Jian Mingzhou looked up to see the school doctor walking over and handing him a paper with grid lines drawn neatly on it.

He gave a puzzled look.

The school doctor said with a sigh, “Got nothing to do? Let’s play Gomoku.”

Jian Mingzhou: …

Three minutes later, they were both sitting at the table.

Jian Mingzhou took a ballpoint pen and played the simplest game of Gomoku. The opponent played well, and the game path was as steep as the paths he had taken himself.

He gradually became engrossed…

When a pile of paper accumulated on the table, there was finally some movement next to him.

Jian Mingzhou turned his head to see Xie Jing opening the curtain and walking out.

Xie Jing, who had just taken a nap, had a lazy frown on his face, as if he were still a bit grumpy.

His gaze fell, and he seemed momentarily stunned by the incomprehensible scene in front of him. Then he walked to the table, glanced at the stack of paper on the table, and said, “Uncle…”

“Shh.” The school doctor interrupted, “Silence while watching the game.”

Jian Mingzhou looked up in shock and said, This is your patient! At least ask him how he’s feeling!

He interrupted, “Show it to Xiaojing first.”

The school doctor had to reluctantly stand up, look at Xie Jing, and say, “Hmm, a healthy and strong young man, no major problems.” He pulled down Xie Jing’s eyelid, saying, “nothing serious.”

Xie Jing looked at him expressionlessly.

Jian Mingzhou glanced sideways: a healthy and strong young man, one punch for one school doctor.

After checking, Duan Jingfang gave him some medicine, waved his hand, and sent the two out.

Out of the infirmary, the two walked side by side in the corridor.

Xie Jing, carrying a bag of medicine, looked ahead and said, “Uncle, did you play Gomoku with that weird school doctor for forty minutes?”

He frowned again. “Is he really a school doctor?”

“Probably. The way he lifted your eyelids seemed quite professional.”

“…”

However, Jian Mingzhou also felt that the other person was a mysterious type. But maybe it was because Duan Jingfang gave him too many manga vibes that he surprisingly accepted them quite well.

After all, many BL manga protagonists are infirmary teachers.

He walked through the corridor, looking at the bright light at the exit. “Occasionally, there are these fascinating infirmary teachers in comics…”

Xie Jing turned his head toward him.

He suddenly pulled back his thoughts and said, “…Doctor Strange.”

Xie Jing seemed to be unable to help but smile, turned his head, and said, “Not so strange.”

Jian Mingzhou temporarily restrained his mouth and spoke cautiously, “Hmm.”

After a few steps, they exited the corridor. The dazzling sunlight outside fell on the red track and green field in front of them for a moment.

The trees on the side of the field rustled, bringing up the cheers in his heart:

I almost had a slip of the tongue again.

How did he, such a cautious person, become like this recently? Could it be because he was getting closer to Xie Jing, gradually letting go of his guard, and relaxing…

No, not entirely.

It seemed to start with the Lusen incident.

Jian Mingzhou thought, pressing his chest. This is really an ominous sign.