CH 54.2

Perhaps it was because he was a little nervous, or perhaps he had something else on his mind, but Jiang Xu had some difficulty falling asleep. He was finally a little sleepy after a long time and had just fallen into a dark and sweet dreamland when there was a sudden, ear-piercing sound beside him.

A few months old baby suddenly cried loudly as if he wanted to overturn the whole high-speed train. For a moment, everyone around him looked sideways. Mother, who was holding the baby in her arms, looked embarrassed and had a bitter apologetic smile on her face. However, the little one didn’t have that much guilt and continued to cry as loud as ever, and it was unknown what had aggravated him.

Although Jiang Xu was used to hearing such cries in the department, his nerves seemed to be extra sensitive at the moment, and the child’s thunderous cries caused his head to ache slightly. He closed his eyes, trying to regain that little sleepiness, but the child seemed to be against him, and the decibel was raised again.

“You coax the child,” an older woman behind the woman was grumpy, “you might not think the baby is making a lot of noise, but we do.”

The mother who was holding the baby lowered her eyes and apologized, “I coaxed him, but I don’t know why he’s crying like this. I’m sorry.”

The older woman saw her apologetic attitude and couldn’t say anything more, so she could only grimace and mutter, “How can you bring up a child like that?”

The mother’s eyes turned red at these words, and she hurriedly patted the child’s back, but the child’s crying was always unreasonable; she had obviously just fed him, and he hadn’t caught a cold, but he just wouldn’t stop crying.

“Can I try?” Shen Fangyu suddenly stood up and walked over to the woman.

“Huh?”

Shen Fangyu swept a glance at Jiang Xu and said to the woman, “I’m an obstetrician.”

The child was crying at the top of his lungs, the woman looked up at Shen Fangyu and then down at the child in her arms with some hesitation.

“You should let him try,” the uncomfortable woman said. “He’s in the carriage and won’t be going anywhere anyway. Besides, the young man doesn’t look like a bad guy.”

“You can let him try,” the uncomfortable woman said, “It’s not like we’re at the station anyway, so you don’t have to worry that he’ll take the baby away from you, everyone is watching. Besides, the young man doesn’t seem like a bad guy.”

“Then …… thank you very much.” The woman let go of her hand with extreme caution, and Shen Fangyu bent down, holding the child’s neck with one hand and the buttocks with the other, taking the child into his arms.

The child looked about six or seven months old and was quite chubby, so Shen Fangyu didn’t have much trouble holding him. He let the child hook his chubby arms around his neck, his half-rolled cuffs revealing clear lines of muscle from the force. He gently rocked the child rhythmically, letting him press against his chest and humming in a low voice.

After a while, the child did quiet down a little, and Shen Fangyu stopped rocking and carried the child to the window at the carriage joint.

The scene outside the window sped by, and a low and steady white noise came from it. The child seemed absorbed by the scenery and stared at it for a while. Shen Fangyu also calmed down and patted the child on the back. When the child was about to cry again, he gently pressed the child’s head against the side of his neck, and he heard a steady breathing sound from his chest not long after.

The rhythmic sound of an adult’s heartbeat and breathing is the best way to put a child to sleep.

He held the baby for a while longer, making sure he was thoroughly asleep, before gently handing him back to the woman.

“Not bad for an obstetrician, you really have the skills.” The older woman complimented him in a low voice, and the mother showed a grateful look.

Shen Fangyu smiled and sat down next to Jiang Xu. Seeing that he was still frowning, he asked, “The noise is gone; still can’t sleep?”

Jiang Xu let out an “mmm” and half opened his eyes to look at Shen Fangyu, “Is the child asleep?”

“Of course,” Shen Fangyu said with a smile, “there’s no child I can’t put to sleep once I hold them.”

Obstetricians and gynecologists didn’t have a side job like putting children to sleep, so Jiang Xu asked, “Who else have you put to sleep?”

“My elder brother’s child.”

“Elder brother?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Xu was a little surprised. “You’re not an only child?”

He was born at a time when family planning was strict, and most of Jiang Xu’s classmates and friends around him were only children.

“Look, you don’t care about me at all. ” Shen Fangyu then changed the subject, saying, “So I have experience, why don’t I put you to sleep?”

Jiang Xu rolled his eyes.

“Let’s try, don’t you dare?”

Jiang Xu, who had fallen for this trick before, saw through Shen Fangyu’s provocative tactics and said, “Don’t provoke me.”

“Then will you take the bait?

Jiang Xu closed his eyes and ignored the noisy Dr. Shen.

Half an hour later, Jiang Xu opened his eyes again, finding himself even more awake, and he took a glance at the darkened landscape outside the window.

“What? Still can’t sleep, huh?” Shen Fangyu caught his expression and extended his arm, “I told you to try.”

Jiang Xu’s temples throbbed and hurt a little.

‘…… Forget it,’ he thought, ‘just try it.’

Jiang Xu’s face was expressionless as he inclined his head to lean into Shen Fangyu’s chest.

“You-“

His arms suddenly sank with Jiang Xu’s weight, and Shen Fangyu, who had been talking before, suddenly went silent as if the pause button had been pressed.

“Just trying.” Jiang Xu said.

His chest was warm, and Shen Fangyu was stunned for a moment before he gradually regained his senses and carefully lifted the guardrail between them.

He stiffly lifted his hand and wrapped it around Jiang Xu, patting him gently on the back.

“Your heartbeat is so loud.” Jiang Xu commented with his eyes closed.

“Then you …… lean up a bit?” Shen Fangyu gulped, “Maybe your ear is pressed against the heart sound auscultation area.”

Jiang Xu moved up and leaned against the side of his neck, the soft tail of his hair sweeping against Shen Fangyu’s jaw. Shen Fangyu felt a fire burning from his chest to the side of his neck, and it was now spreading above his neck.

“Are you tachycardic,” Jiang Xu gave Shen Fangyu a diagnosis regarding the heartbeat he heard earlier, and even have him some medical advice, “Go back and get an EKG when you have time.”

“Um …… okay.” Shen Fangyu said perfunctorily, “Maybe it’s a bit hot.”

Jiang Xu didn’t speak anymore, but Shen Fangyu’s mind was in chaos. The touch on the side of his chest and neck inexplicably reminded him of those broken dreams again.

He took a deep breath and looked down at Jiang Xu.

At this moment, the man was not a hallucination and was leaning against his arms with an unguarded expression. He looked a little tired, but looked inexplicably somehow seductive. His breath was falling on Shen Fangyu’s neck, which was gradually turning red. If Jiang Xui had opened his eyes at this moment, he might have seen the thin sweat on his temples and the unsettled look on his face.

After that time when he entered without knocking and offended Jiang Xu, he kept restraining himself from thinking about those mind-blowing memories even though he didn’t deliberately distance himself from him

He didn’t want to upset Jiang Xu over such things again.

Originally, he thought he had become immune to Jiang Xu’s inexplicable attractiveness, but now those repressed things seemed to be making a comeback with even greater intensity.

Shen Fangyu suddenly admired Liu Xiahui a little bit, as he was able to hold a person of the opposite sex without any disturbance. He was just holding Jiang Xu, who was also a male, how come he had so many messy thoughts?

*According to legend, Liu Xiahui, a native of Lu, stayed at a lodge outside the gate of the capital after a long journey. It was very cold at that time, and a woman came to the lodge suddenly. Liu Xiahui was afraid that she would freeze to death, so he let her sit in his arms and covered her with clothes, and nothing happened the whole night.

He has never been a flirtatious person before, and Jiang Xu has never flirted with him before.

Shen Fangyu couldn’t understand why he, who has been a straight man for so many years, would have so many thoughts about Jiang Xu.

Maybe Jiang Xu was right, he should really go to the hospital and have a check-up, but not for his heart, he had to go to the andrology department.

Jiang Xu obviously didn’t know that Shen Fangyu had so many twists and turns in his mind. Shen Fangyu was dressed very thinly, and his body was a little warm, but it was just right to sleep against.

For some reason, he felt that Shen Fangyu’s breathing was a little heavy, but the sound was so hypnotic that it made him feel sleepy in no time.

Half-asleep, he smelled the faint scent of pine wood on Shen Fangyu’s body, with a gentle sweetness at the end, like the morning after a lingering session, giving a sense of relaxation and soothing peace of mind.

He wondered If this was the scent he relied on to lull the young child to sleep.

Shen Fangyu liked to use perfume, and he also liked to light incense at home, but because the scents he used were very light, Jiang Xu had a bit of rhinitis and had never smelled anything.

But he smelled it today, probably because he was so close.

The soft scent wrapped around him, and the youthful breath was like blue wind chimes blooming on the grass after the first rain, the flowers swaying slightly when the wind blew.

No, Jiang Xu vaguely realized, this didn’t seem to be the first time he had smelled Shen Fangyu’s scent.

Last time, they seemed to be close to each other as well, and the scent seemed stronger than now. The wild and ambiguous atmosphere seemed to be mixed with the thick aroma of wine.

However, he didn’t have time to think clearly about those matters, having fallen into a dark dreamland where blue wind chimes opened up, cascading and swaying with the wind, before finally transforming into a boy’s blue school uniform.

Jiang Xu vaguely felt it was familiar.