At the end of the day, Qi Wang carried Yu Nian back to the room.

He still hadn’t responded to Yu Nian’s confession. Instead, Yu Nian cried for a while, as if using up all his strength. He staggered even when walking, stumbled on the stairs, but luckily Qi Wang, with quick reflexes, caught him.

In the end, Qi Wang simply carried him.

He took Yu Nian into the room, took off his coat, and gently placed him on the bed.

Yu Nian rolled over and crawled under the covers, revealing a pale face, hair slightly damp and sticking to his forehead, eyes red as he looked at Qi Wang.

He clutched the blanket, as if not planning to come out.

Qi Wang didn’t say anything to him. He went to the bathroom, fetched hot water, soaked a towel, and wiped his face, hands, and even unbuttoned his collar, wiping his body clean slowly.

Where his fingers touched, the warm towel brought a shiver, and Yu Nian’s body trembled unusually.

After wiping him clean, Qi Wang took a shower himself.

When he came out, he went straight to bed, turned off the light, and lay down.

Throughout, he didn’t say a word.

He could faintly hear sobbing from the bed next to him, but besides staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t do anything else.

The next morning, when Xiao Gu and the others were getting ready to leave, they received a text message from Yu Nian.

Yu Nian said he was sick and wouldn’t go out that day.

Xiao Gu exclaimed with concern and asked Qi Wang, who had just come downstairs, “What’s wrong with Yu Nian? Is it serious? Should we take him to see a doctor?”

Qi Wang lowered his eyelashes. “It shouldn’t be too serious, just a little cold. He wants to sleep for a while.”

He had called Yu Nian to wake up earlier, but Yu Nian had hidden under the covers, telling him so.

He suspected Yu Nian was faking being sick.

But he also knew that if he stayed in the room with him, it would only be more awkward, so he came out.

But even though he came out, he didn’t go with Xiao Gu and the others.

They went to the mining park, so he just randomly found a coffee shop to sit in.

This coffee shop was located on the mountain, with an outdoor terrace extending out. There were rarely people sitting outside in winter, the plants had turned grey, but the sky was clear as if washed by water, so he was the only one here.

He sat in the cold wind of early winter, finishing a cup of Americano, and smoked several cigarettes. The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts.

He sat from noon until evening, watching the time reach seven in the evening before returning to the inn.

Back in the room, he first asked the innkeeper and learned that Yu Nian hadn’t left the room all day, nor had he come down to eat. He frowned, feeling uneasy.

He quickly walked up the stairs, pushed open the door, and then pulled back Yu Nian’s blanket.

Yu Nian had been curled up in the blanket all day, huddled like a shrimp.

He had been stifled all day, his face flushed, his hair damp and sticking to his face.

There was a box of milk and a piece of chocolate on the bedside table, apparently the only thing he had eaten the whole day.

Qi Wang reached out to touch his forehead, which was burning.

Without further ado, he lifted all the covers, picked up Yu Nian, skillfully put on his coat and shoes for him.

“You have a fever, I’m taking you to see a doctor,” he said succinctly.

Yu Nian was feverish, still half asleep, leaning weakly against Qi Wang’s shoulder, seemingly unwilling, he turned his head slightly, not wanting Qi Wang to hold him.

But Qi Wang didn’t care at all. He simply picked him up and walked downstairs quickly.

When they reached the last few steps, they met Xiao Gu and the others who had just returned.

Chu Hejun looked at Yu Nian in Qi Wang’s arms in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

“He has a fever,” Qi Wang said coldly, not stopping. “I’m taking him to see a doctor.”

He had already hailed a taxi, and as soon as they left the inn, he stuffed Yu Nian into it and headed straight to the nearest clinic.

Fortunately, the clinic wasn’t busy, and they were seen quickly. The doctor took Yu Nian’s temperature and it was 39.6°C.

The doctor exclaimed, “Why is the fever so high?”

Yu Nian was still leaning against Qi Wang, slightly more awake now but unwilling to speak, like a life-sized doll, letting people handle him however they pleased.

The doctor examined Yu Nian and found a bacterial infection, along with symptoms of loss of appetite and weakness, so he prescribed some medication and started an IV drip for him.

“Take these medications home after the drip, and once he has an appetite, give him dinner,” the doctor said.

Qi Wang thanked him quietly and helped Yu Nian to the IV room.

There was no one else in the IV room, just Yu Nian receiving the drip.

Qi Wang consulted with the nurse, ordered some takeout, consisting of easily digestible porridge and snacks, which arrived quickly.

He opened the box, placed a spoon in Yu Nian’s hand, and said softly, “Even if you don’t have an appetite, eat a little.”

Yu Nian hesitated as he looked at the pumpkin porridge in the bowl, blinked hesitantly, and had been silent the whole way until now. It was only at this moment that he whispered, “Thank you.”

He scooped up a spoonful of pumpkin porridge and put it in his mouth.

The clinic was filled with cold white tiles and bright white lights, everything cold and glaringly white.

It felt like a strain on his eyes, making them hurt inexplicably.

After the IV drip, Qi Wang took Yu Nian back. The others had already taken the bus back, and the restaurant would be open for regular business the next day.

Qi Wang had just discussed with Song Yunchun and both Yu Nian and him would take another day off. Tomorrow night, he would take Yu Nian back again.

“Is Yu Nian seriously ill?” Song Yunchun’s voice sounded concerned. “I can rent a car to bring him back. The medical conditions there are average, will he get proper treatment there?”

Qi Wang glanced at Yu Nian, who seemed much better after the IV drip, sitting wrapped in a blanket after washing up, but still a little listless.

“It should be fine,” he said. “The fever has gone down, and he’s got medication. He should be fine by tomorrow.”

Song Yunchun breathed a sigh of relief. “If you need anything, let me know. If you need anything, just call me.”

Qi Wang murmured in agreement.

After hanging up the phone, the room fell silent again.

Qi Wang loosened his collar, not avoiding Yu Nian, and took off his shirt as usual to take a shower.

After coming out, he sat on the edge of Yu Nian’s bed and took his temperature again.

36.7°C, no fever.

“Sleep well, you should be fine tomorrow,” he said.

He helped Yu Nian tuck in the covers, got up to leave, but as he turned around, Yu Nian grabbed his wrist.

The room was dimly lit by the incandescent light, casting shadows of the two.

Yu Nian held onto Qi Wang’s arm, slid down to his wrist, and gently held his hand.

His fingertips lightly touched the scar on Qi Wang’s hand.

“Do you really not like me at all?” He still couldn’t give up. Because of his illness, his voice was hoarse and soft.

Qi Wang’s fingers curled for a moment.

He didn’t say anything.

After a long time, he turned to look at Yu Nian. “We’re not compatible.”

It was not about not liking him but about being incompatible.

Yu Nian gripped Qi Wang’s fingers tighter, struggling to support himself, subconsciously leaning forward.

“Where are we not compatible?” He stared at Qi Wang intently. “Is it because I’m a boy, or because of my personality, causing you too much trouble?”

He panicked, starting to pick out his own faults.

But Qi Wang shook his head.

Qi Wang turned around, pondered for two seconds, then sat down beside Yu Nian again, causing the mattress to sink gently.

He was not someone who could handle emotional issues.

Many people had expressed their admiration for him, but he never had the patience for it. Besides straightforward rejection, he had nothing else.

But Yu Nian was different.

He didn’t want Yu Nian to be sad.

He looked at Yu Nian, as if looking at a fleeting illusion in his life.

He said, “Why do you like me? You don’t even know me.”

Seeing Yu Nian about to speak, he shook his head, stopping him from speaking.

“I know you want to say you’ve been with me for months, but before that, how did I grow up, what experiences did I have, and why did I drop out of school?”

Yu Nian was taken aback.

He really didn’t know.

It was also the first time he had heard Qi Wang say the words “dropped out of school.”

Qi Wang paused. “Song Yunchun didn’t tell you, did she? I was ordered to drop out of school, got into a conflict with someone before the college entrance examination, fought, it was serious, and the school suspended me.”

He said it casually.

During this period, he had always appeared silent and gentle in front of Yu Nian, but when he said these words, he exuded a coldness from his bones, completely different from his usual self.

Yu Nian couldn’t help but be stunned.

Qi Wang continued, “I told you I am an orphan, but before I turned thirteen, I wasn’t living in City C. The environment I grew up in was unimaginably terrible, the sky always seemed gray, and no one taught me right from wrong. Later, I went to many places, wandered around, slept under bridges, fought with stray dogs for food. I’ve done everything. It wasn’t until I was caught once and handed over to community supervision that I was sent to an orphanage, started school, and started living a somewhat normal life.”

He lifted his shirt, revealing his scarred arm.

“You’ve always been curious about all the scars on my body,” Qi Wang spread out his hand in front of Yu Nian, countless scars that couldn’t be counted, and there were even more on his body. Yu Nian had seen them on his back and legs.

“This one was from a stray dog bite, this one was from a street fight, someone left it with a stick, and this one, I once hid in an abandoned construction site and got scratched by steel bars…” Qi Wang counted them out one by one for Yu Nian to hear, his voice calm. These scars were painful at the time, but so much time has passed that they’ve become numb.

He saw the shock on Yu Nian’s face, and the pain he couldn’t hide, as if he was grieving for him.

He stopped, turned his face slightly away, avoiding Yu Nian’s gaze.

Actually, there are many more scars, earlier ones, from when he was still a child.

But he didn’t want to tell Yu Nian about them.

He wanted to scare Yu Nian away, but he also didn’t want to see pity in his eyes.

He said to Yu Nian, “Don’t look at me like this. I used to not be a very good person, just an orphan trying to survive, not much different from the street thugs. Later, the welfare home sent me to school, gave me a place to live, books to read, and the people I met were nice to me. They taught me some skills, which was already lucky. This tattoo I did it myself, to cover up the scars, so as not to scare people, but I ended up making it even more disgusting.”

Disgusting.

He said that word calmly.

But that was his summary of his former self.

He felt Yu Nian’s hand gripping his tightly, so tightly that he could feel a slight pain.

He said, “I’m telling you this, not to talk about how unfortunate I am, but to tell you that the two of us are really worlds apart.”

He finally turned his head to look at Yu Nian.

Yu Nian looked confused, with red eyes, looking helpless and pitiful.

He hesitated, tentatively, and finally gently touched Yu Nian’s hair.

So soft, like a kitten.

He said, “I’m just this kind of person, not at all as good as you think. My life has been downhill, with no normal family, not even a normal education. You, with your good family upbringing, are completely different from me. Your family won’t approve of you being with me, and after you really get to know me, you’ll realize that I’m just an ordinary passerby. There are plenty of outstanding guys your age around you, good-looking, from good families, who will like you. They can accompany you as you grow up.”

“But I can’t.”

But I can’t.

Qi Wang said these three words, and his heart trembled along with them.

He wasn’t like Yu Nian, naive and persistent, thinking that love could overcome all obstacles.

His background, his experiences, were like mud on Yu Nian’s feet, only dirtying his pure life.

They weren’t Jack and Rose, even though he had sketched Yu Nian.

Now Yu Nian was indeed infatuated with him, like every young person in love, simple-minded and full of excitement, feeling satisfied just by being close to him.

But one day, he would grow up.

He would realize that he had been mistaken, that the person in front of him wasn’t a shining diamond, but a common speck of dust.

Rather than becoming riddled with holes later on, it would be better not to start at all.

Just like what he had said to Yu Nian on the Ferris wheel.

He raised his hand, as if wanting to touch Yu Nian’s cheek, but when he actually touched it, he pulled back as if he had been burned.

Since he said “worlds apart,” Yu Nian had been crying.

Yu Nian didn’t cry as hysterically as he did yesterday, but he looked even more sad.

He bit his lip tightly, as if afraid of making a sound.

But he couldn’t restrain the sobbing in his throat, like he couldn’t catch his breath, almost like an asthmatic.

Qi Wang couldn’t help but feel sorry.

He didn’t want Yu Nian to be sad, he hoped he would always remain as clear and bright as he was on the day they met, never knowing the darkness of the world.

He hesitated for a long time, but still didn’t follow his heart to gently hug Yu Nian.

He just stood up, tucked him in, and said, “Go to sleep.”

He said, his voice unusually gentle, “You’ll feel better when you wake up tomorrow.”