CH 85

There weren’t many people in Cabin 2, and those inside all either had a cold or a fever.

The space shuttle was an enclosed area, after all. Even if everyone were issued masks, it wasn’t possible to keep people from coughing or sneezing, and those with weaker immune systems would easily get infected. Once feeling the slightest discomfort, they would start to get suspicious, which would cause the doctors to panic as well. This was why the captain of the flight decided on the fly to cordon out an area for those unwell in addition to those who had actually been infected. 

Because the scale of the viral outbreak was a bit larger than expected, both Helan and De Carma were keeping a close eye on it. As such, most of the doctors and nurses on board were focused on the quarantine cabin, afraid that there would be a major incident before the shuttle even touched down. On the other hand, there was only one nurse on duty in Cabin 2.

There were two who were running high fevers. After being put through a round of screening for the viral infection, they were now vomiting and having diarrhoea in the aftermath of their fright. They were slumped in their seats with green faces, and the nurse had to administer them nausea-relieving injections.

When Gu Yan entered the cabin, the nurse was holding the needle in her hand, asking him fiercely, “Do you feel like vomiting?” She looked as though if he said yes, that needle was going to go straight into him.

“No, thank you,” Gu Yan replied. 

“Great.” The nurse exhaled in relief. “There is medicine for fever, flu, and cough, as well as painkillers in the seats. There is warm water prepared at the back that you can help yourself to. If you’re really feeling uncomfortable, you can just rest at a seat first and I’ll attend to you in a while.”

Gu Yan shook his head. “I can do it on my own.”

He didn’t check, randomly finding a nearby seat to sit down at. The excessively high fever was really quite unbearable; it was already quite impressive that he was able to send those two messages. He leaned back into the seat, resting for a while before opening his eyes to go through the medicine boxes in front of him.

There were many medications in the box, most of them commonly seen on the market. Gu Yan went through them one by one, reading the side effects stated on the back of each.

He couldn’t be bothered to get water, so picked a home-use injection, tearing off the packaging and directly giving himself a shot.

“That injection has pretty strong side effects.” Just as he was about to rest his eyes for a while, he heard a voice drift over from beside him.

Gu Yan turned over and saw the freckled redhead from earlier was sitting on the same row as him, with no more than a narrow aisle between their seats.

“You should eat that medicine,” the freckled redhead said. “I’m in the retail pharmaceutical industry, so I’m quite knowledgeable about this. After the shot, people usually feel really energised… well, energised isn’t the right way to put it, rather, they would obviously be very tired yet also super lucid. Then, two hours later, they’d feel super sleepy; it works even better than a sleeping pill does.” 

Gu Yan replied tersely, “It’s fine.”

The freckled redhead curled his lip. “True, you’ve already taken the shot anyway. It could cause adverse effects if you take anything else. Look, I ate this medicine. It hasn’t even been twenty minutes and I’m already feeling much better.”

He did look quite a bit more refreshed than before. His countenance no longer looked as flushed, and after drinking some water, his lips didn’t look as chapped either.

“Yeah,” Gu Yan said indifferently. “You looked like you were about to pass out in the testing room.” 

The freckled redhead shrugged. “Actually, that wasn’t it. I just didn’t really want to talk to that black-haired guy. You wouldn’t know, but just now in the regular cabin, he was sitting next to me. And he’s one of those who would drag their words and stare straight into the pupils when looking at someone. It’s really unnerving. I kept feeling that he’s a little pushy, and not a nice person to be around.”

Gu Yan didn’t have the energy to chat nor had any interest in that black-haired man, so he merely nodded his head to show that he had heard him.

However, this freckled redhead seemed to have suffered a lot just now and was filled with a bellyful of complaints that he needed to vent. With his fever having gone down a little, he was in better spirits and ranted for ten minutes straight. “…I’ve really never seen such a show-off before, like, he’s doing all he can to flaunt how incredible he is, how great his life is, how he has crossed at least half of the universe, travelling, eating, drinking, and having fun at all the big and small stellar systems in the alliance, occasionally doing a job here and there… god knows, I sat next to him for two hours but it felt like I had watched his entire fucking life.”

After the freckled redhead finished roasting him, he raised his head to find that Gu Yan really didn’t look well. So he said judiciously, “Is the drug kicking in? That simultaneous sleepiness and alertness is quite unbearable right? Man… if only you were less quick to inject yourself, I could’ve reminded you in time.” 

Although he liked to complain, he still had a good heart and actually stood up to go to the back and get some hot water for Gu Yan, placing it in front of him. “Drink a bit of this, you’ll feel a little better after.”

“Ktjcxr,” rjlv Xe Tjc.

Ktf ogfmxifv gfvtfjv kjr rqba-bc gfujgvlcu atf rlvf foofmar. Mbg atf ktbif oiluta, fnfc joafg atf rqjmf rteaaif vbmxfv ja Gf Jjgwj’r qbga, Xe Tjc kjrc’a jyif ab mjamt j klcx.

Ktlr fzagfwf ojaluef ogbw cffvlcu gfra, sfa rbwftbk yflcu klvf jkjxf, kjr rb ecyfjgjyif atja atf vlralcuelrtfv Ojksfg Xe, ktb jigfjvs tjv tlr ojmf ogbhfc bnfg wbra bo atf alwf, gfrfwyifv j wbylif ogffhfg ktfc tf uba boo atf rqjmf rteaaif. 

When he landed at De Carma, it was not yet 4 p.m. local time.

There was another round of quick screening at the port. When Gu Yan went through the detection gate, he got stuck another time and was stalled for another ten minutes. Only after did he sit in his space podcar.

In his current state, there wasn’t any need for him to return to Southcross Law Firm; there was nothing else for him to do except for getting hounded by Fizz and the rest asking about his health. As such, the destination for the autopilot system was directly set for the city garden.

The space podcar automatically drove him to the front door of his house then parked itself in the garage. 

He arrived much earlier than what he had told Yan Suizhi. It wasn’t yet after-work hours, so even if Yan Suizhi didn’t have to pull overtime, he wasn’t able to come back yet. There was not a soul in sight when Gu Yan stepped through the door.

But the house still carried the remnants of Yan Suizhi’s presence in the morning—a scarf was kept in the cabinet by the door.

Gu Yan poured himself a glass of warm water. When he was done he didn’t forget to stuff the cup into the decontaminating cabinet. Then, he changed into indoor slippers and walked towards the staircase.

He initially planned to go straight to his bedroom on the second floor to rest. Now that an hour had passed since the injection, he had finally entered the drowsiness stage of the side effects. But as he lifted his feet to go up the stairs, he paused. There was a simple suitcase that stood next to the staircase, in a corner of the living room. 

It was Yan Suizhi’s luggage. He was around and had even paid for it when it was bought. When not on a business trip, the luggage would normally be kept in the cabinet on the ground floor. So now, it being placed here could only mean one thing—

Yan Suizhi was done packing his luggage, and was ready to move out any moment now.

It could be tonight, or it could be tomorrow.

He could be waiting for this landlord of his to come back, greeting him before he left. 

Gu Yan stood at the landing of the staircase for some time. He didn’t know if it was the fever that caused him to be unable to hide his mood, but just for a split second, he even wanted to… directly unpack the luggage, return the contents it held to the loft, and keep the luggage in a cabinet.

But in the end, he didn’t do a thing.

It wasn’t the first year that he had known Yan Suizhi. This guy, no matter what it was, disliked when others meddled in his business, and he disliked having others change his decisions for him even more. Nor was there anyone with the qualifications to change his decisions for him.

Gu Yan stared at that luggage in silence for a while, but eventually moved his feet to head up the stairs. His gaze swept over the stairs leading to the third floor, only lingering for a brief moment before he entered his bedroom. 

—

When leaving the law firm that night, Yan Suizhi hitched a ride from Ms Fizz as per their usual arrangement.

Ever since running into Hobbes last night, Ms Fizz drove the car like a spy, stopping and starting every few moments, checking every mirror when entering the iron gates of the city garden, and making sure that there weren’t any signs of that old chum’s prying eyes. Only then did she pull up in front of Gu Yan’s house.

“What time did you say Gu’s flight was?” Before he got out of the car, Fizz asked, as if suddenly thinking of something. 

Yan Suizhi went through his messages. “He dropped me a message at 1 p.m. after the second round of negotiations ended. It’ll probably take him three hours to get from the negotiation table to the port, so the flight probably departed around 4 p.m. He still hasn’t replied to the message I sent at 4:30 p.m.; maybe he was catching up on sleep in the space shuttle and didn’t see it. So taking all these into account he’ll probably arrive at the port around eight or nine and reach home around 10 p.m.”

Fizz’s expression turned subtly odd. “Uh…”

Yan Suizhi raised his eyes from the smart device and saw the way she was looking at him weirdly. He raised his eyebrows, asking, “What’s with your expression?”

Fizz said, “Nothing much; it’s just unusual to see you speak so much in a go. Actually, I was only asking about what time he got on the space shuttle…” 

Yan Suizhi laughed. “To save you the trouble of asking question after question, I calculated it out for you first, what’s wrong with that?”

Fizz sighed again. “But you’re so clear of the math.”

Yan Suizhi affected solemnity and said, “It’s Teacher Gu, after all. My future depends on him. I made sure to do the math so I can leave a light for him to placate him a bit.”

Fizz pursed her lips. “Stop joking around. Why didn’t I see you remember your future at all when you ticked Hobbes off yesterday?” 

Yan Suizhi smiled. “Ms Fizz, what are you trying to say?”

Fizz, leaning against the car window, clicked her tongue. “Nothing really, actually. I just suddenly felt like it was a bit inconceivable; I never imagined that Gu would have an intern, and even if he did, it would definitely be the kind who would break down in fright at his strictness. Who would’ve thought it’d actually turn out to be someone like you? I keep feeling like the way you interact seems more like… friends? Anyway, it’s just rather intriguing and unexpected, but it’s pretty nice.”

Her pretty red lips broke into a smile. “After this many years of working at Southcross, even if unilaterally, I treat him as a friend. Seeing an intern like you makes me a little happy for him”

The corners of Yan Suizhi’s lips rose. “Don’t be, he probably isn’t.” 

Fizz huffed out a laugh and flapped her hand. “Alright, I’ll be off now. I was just taking the time to talk to you before you leave. After all, it’s hard to say when we’ll next have the chance since you won’t have to hitch a ride anymore after tomorrow.”

Driving that flashy red car, she slowly rounded towards another villa. Yan Suizhi watched it for a while before shifting his gaze away and walking towards Gu Yan’s villa.

As he walked, he projected a hologram from his smart device and glanced first at the message interface. There was still no reply to the message he sent at four. Then, he switched to the web and continued to browse through the news that he didn’t take the time to read earlier.

After entering the passcode, the door automatically swung open with a beep. While scrolling through the news, he habitually changed into indoor slippers at the doorway and shuffled his feet inside. 

Not more than two steps later, he stopped moving. His gaze halted on a certain line on a web page.

It was an article that was recently posted in the afternoon. It stated that 11 infected people were found on the first space shuttle flight from Helan to De Carma, and the flight was delayed by an hour because of the on-board screening.

*At present, all confirmed cases have been sent to a nearby Spring Ivy Hospital, pending further diagnosis and treatment.*

The space shuttle from Helan to De Carma? 

The earliest flight?

As well as that second round of negotiations that gave him a weird feeling before…

For the first time, Yan Suizhi experienced what heart palpitations felt like.

By the time he recovered his wits, he was already standing at the entrance again, about to change into shoes to leave the house again. His smart device, at some unknown point in time, had switched over to the call interface, and the communication request he was sending to Gu Yan already read ‘Connecting…‘ 

When waiting, every second stretched out infinitely. It had clearly only rang twice, yet Yan Suizhi felt as if all of his patience had been whittled in the wait.

It was only when Yan Suizhi was one foot out the door, and his other foot bumped into something, that he vaguely felt that something was amiss.

He lowered his head to look at what he had bumped into, and found out that it was actually Gu Yan’s shoes.

Yan Suizhi would brag that his memory was rather good; to be precise, after a long time of being in this profession, he had honed his memory and observation skills. Whenever necessary, he could retrace the path of his memory bit by bit like pulling a vine, drawing up all the details surrounding any particular occurrence on any one day. This included what was beside his hand at that time, which page he had flipped to, which line his gaze had landed on… 

But at this moment, when he attempted to recall whether this was the pair of shoes that Gu Yan had worn before leaving on the business trip, or whether there was anything else on the doormat when he left the house earlier this morning… he actually felt a hint of uncertainty.

Yan Suizhi stood at the doorway for a while, then turned back into the house and went straight to the second floor.

His steps pulled to a stop at the door of Gu Yan’s room. He wavered for a while before gently pressing down the door handle.

The room door soundlessly opened. Warm hues of light from outside were cast as a long shaft in the room, outlining a silhouette on the downy grey carpet. What was once an empty bed now had a man lying on it, the quilt drawn up to his waist, his arms resting outside it. 

He hadn’t changed out of his dress shirt, and because he was lying on his side, a few wrinkles had been pressed into the shirt, vastly different from the immaculate appearance he showed on most days, making him appear a bit fatigued.

His slender and attractive fingers curled naturally on the fringe of the bed, and the smart device on his little finger was buzzing.

Ordinarily, this vibration wasn’t considered much, only just sufficient for the wearer to notice, but wouldn’t disturb anyone else. But in this quiet atmosphere, it abruptly became a little noisy.

Yan Suizhi stood at the door for a while, then suddenly gave a short laugh in spite of himself. 

He cancelled the communication request on his smart device; the ring on Gu Yan’s finger lagged for two seconds, then soon quieted down.

“Seriously, you…”

Yan Suizhi mumbled and walked to his bedside, bending over to pull up the quilt at his waist, also stuffing in the hand that was exposed in passing.

However, the moment that he touched Gu Yan’s fingers, he frowned—they were scalding. 

Then, Yan Suizhi reached out to feel Gu Yan’s forehead.

Perhaps in contrast to the temperature on the forehead, his fingers seemed very cold. Gu Yan, who had been frowning in his sleep, abruptly shifted, as though awoken by him.