CH 32

Chapter 32

If it wasn't for the fact that Lu Qi'an tended to get angry at every turn, preventing Fu Jia from figuring out the reason behind his temper, Fu Jia definitely would’ve rushed over right now to involuntarily hug him. 

Fortunately, Lu Qi’an didn’t refuse. He pushed the first-aid kid in his hands back into the cabinet, then walked up to Fu Jia with his arms open. 

They were already standing so closely that they were almost stuck together, but Fu Jia still couldn’t help but take half a step forward and let his whole person fall into Lu Qi’an. 

Lu Qi'an was almost hit by him, leaned back a bit, then raised his arms to hug Fu Jia.

Fu Jia also tightened his hold and buried his face on his shoulder.

When he woke up this afternoon, the room was covered in darkness as if it was deep into nighttime. He looked around in all four directions but didn’t see any light.

At that moment, an extreme sense of fear rose in his heart as if he had returned to the past, lying in some dark and cramped room. Whenever he awakened from his dreams and opened his eyes, he would see a room filled with black. This heavy darkness choked his neck, pressed down on his chest, and took away his breath. 

Once he escaped that sort of life, Fu Jia never wanted to go back. Even just thinking of the possibility terrified him. 

Lu Qi'an patted him on the back: "Do you feel discomfort anywhere?”

Fu Jia shook his head, brushing his fluffy hair back and forth against Lu Qi'an's neck. Lu Qi’an raised his hand to help him smooth out the top of his head, then touched his forehead: “Raise your head, let me check if you have a fever.”

Fu Jia continued to shake his head, taking the initiative to rub against Lu Qi'an's hand with his forehead, and said: “No.”

Lu Qi’an couldn’t feel at ease and carefully used the palm of his hand to test his temperature. Deciding that it was a bit hot, he said: “Let me use a thermometer to check.”

Fu Jia grasped his hand and said: “I really don’t have one. It’s because you just came back from outside that your hands are too cold. Let me warm it up for you and it’ll be fine.”

He placed Lu Qi'an's hand between his hands, gently rubbed each of his fingers, and inquired: "You haven't told me where you went yet."

Lu Qi'an's palms were itchy after being touched by him, but he didn't stop him, letting him touch as much as he wanted. "I went to the hospital to resolve today’s situation."

Fu Jia was stunned, and his hand movements also stopped: "Resolved?"

"En," Lu Qi'an grabbed this chance to pull his hand out, "Both seniors have taken responsibility for their mistakes. One voluntarily transferred to another school, and the other will find an opportunity to apologize to you.”

Lu Qi’an said everything in a relaxed and natural tone. Fu Jia nodded sluggishly, somewhat believing him, but somewhat lacking the confidence to believe him. 

The joy in his heart had already sprouted a flower, but he still pretended to be cool and collected externally, and said: “Actually…I was also at fault for this matter. I was too impulsive.”

Lu Qi’an was a bit surprised, not expecting him to apologize. Over this matter, Fu Jia had lost his temper big time and even said extreme words like, ‘You don’t care whether I die or not.’

Lu Qi'an contemplated for a while, and instead of comforting him, he said, "Next time, take this as a warning.”

No matter which side was at fault for today’s matter, Fu Jia’s tendency to be impulsive whenever anything happened must be corrected. Even if he didn’t wrong others, getting injured in a fight was wronging himself.# 

Fu Jia hummed obediently and hugged his arms around Lu Qi'an's neck, wanting to bury his face in his shoulder again.

Lu Qi'an leaned backwards, blocked his shoulder to push him away, and said: “Wait, I need to wash up first.”

Fu Jia’s body was warm, but Lu Qi’an was chilled to ice by the cold rain outside, and his coat was also somewhat damp. It was fine to hug him once, but he was worried that Fu Jia would catch a cold if they continued to hug. 

Fu Jia refused to let him go and said: "Then I'll stay by you and watch you take a bath."

“No,” Lu Qi’an adamantly refused, “You go eat first. Since Auntie Miao already came, she should’ve also prepared dinner for you.”

Aunt Miao really did prepare a dinner for two. Before cooking, she even asked Fu Jia what he liked to eat, and whether he had anything he couldn’t eat. Acting as a professional who deserved her high salary, she didn’t show surprise at encountering unfamiliar faces at her employer’s home, didn’t ask Fu Jia for his background, and left quietly once she finished her work. 

Fu Jia carefully studied Lu Qi'an's tone and felt that the ‘no’ was very firm. There shouldn’t be any room for negotiation, so he reluctantly let go: “Fine, but I’m not hungry yet. I’ll wait for you to finish showering so that we can eat together.”

Lu Qi’an agreed.

Fu Jia sat back on the sofa, watching Lu Qi’an go into the master bedroom and closing the door. Fu Jia didn't avert his gaze and continued to stare at the door of the master bedroom.

Consequently, when Lu Qi'an finished showering and walked out of the bedroom, he was met with Fu Jia’s glistening eyes as soon as he opened the door.

Lu Qi’an felt a little helpless.

He didn’t walk towards Fu Jia, but to the dining area instead: “It's getting late, hurry up and eat dinner. We still have to make a trip to the school later.”

He sat at the dining table, turned off the rice cooker’s heat preservation switch, then picked up a bowl and filled it with rice.

Fu Jia quickly followed and sat across from him: "Why do we have to go to school?"

Lu Qi'an put the bowl full of rice in front of him, passed the chopsticks over, and said: “Eat first, then we’ll talk.”

Fu Jia happily held the bowl and chopsticks he was handed and nodded. Where they’re going or why they’re going wasn’t important to him, the important thing was staying together with Lu Qi’an. Just this was enough. 

Auntie Miao’s meals were all ordinary Chinese home cooking, nothing fancy. Fu Jia had always thought that Lu Qi’an preferred western cuisine, because that’s what Lu Wanqing ate. But looking at it now, even though they were all one Lu family, Lu Wanqing liked to eat western cuisine, but Lu Qi'an didn’t. 

Just like how Lu Wanqing didn’t like Fu Jia, Lu Qi’an liked him regardless.

Thinking of this, Fu Jia’s heart felt unbearably sweet. He took one bite from Auntie Miao’s dishes and felt that he had eaten the most delicious thing he’s ever had in his whole life. 

Auntie Miao’s skill was more than ten thousand times better than the school cafeteria. 

One of the reasons why Lu Qi'an continued to employ Aunt Miao was because of her good culinary skills. Auntie Miao's salary was the highest in the industry, and her own ability also represented the highest level in the industry. If the food she cooked wasn’t as good as the school cafeteria, Lu Qi'an would immediately fire her.

Fu Jia ate happily for a while, then suddenly thought of a question: “Why did Auntie Miao immediately leave after cooking?”

Lu Qi’an was taught by his father since he was a child to ‘keep quiet when eating, keep silent when sleeping’.# But when Fu Jia asked him aloud, he halted his chopsticks without objection, and answered: “I asked her to work on staggered time with me.”

Fu Jia nodded, remembering how it went when he stayed overnight at Lu Qi'an's place. Auntie Miao came over at the crack of dawn, but she didn’t disturb Lu Qi’an, and left as soon as she made breakfast. Fu Jia continued to ask: “Why do you stagger the time? What if you were delayed by something, or came home late? Wouldn’t the food be cold by then?”

Lu Qi'an lowered his eyes and said: "I don't like eating with other people."

It didn’t matter if the food was cold. Compared to eating with others, eating cold food was easier for him to accept. 

Fu Jia glanced at his own bowl: "But..."

“You’re the exception,” Lu Qi’an interrupted him.

Fu Jia was like someone who had been hit by cotton candy; his tickled face made him want to laugh. He couldn't help biting his chopsticks, and whispered: “So it turns out I’m the exception…”

As he pondered carefully, Liu-laoshi’s slight smile suddenly flashed in his mind.

That’s not right, Lu Qi'an also ate with Liu-laoshi. He nervously asked: "Is Liu-laoshi also an exception?”

Lu Qi’an nodded.

Fu Jia’s happy mood immediately diminished.

When Fu Jia heard him bring up the scarf, he was a little embarrassed, and very regretful that he revealed the story of the scarf back when he was spaced out, so he rushed to say: “That thing’s not important anymore.”

Lu Qi'an looked up at him: “I took the scarf back with me and put it in the cabinet by the door. The next time Auntie Miao comes, I’ll ask her to help clean it.”

At that time, as soon as he saw the surveillance footage, he immediately went to the classroom to search for the scarf. No one knew where the scarf came from, so the students piled it in a corner with other unwanted items to be collected by the janitor. Lu Qi'an bent down, used his hands without hesitation to rummage through the pile of things, and found the awfully dirtied scarf that had been trampled on.

He took the scarf to the washroom and rinsed the surface dirt off with water, then put it in a ziplock bag and took it to the hospital, and then took it back to the apartment.

Fu Jia was both happy and dejected: “Thank you for helping me find it, but... let me handle my own things.” It was something he wanted to give Lu Qi’an, so he didn’t want others to do it for him. But…so what if he washed the scarf? This was something to present to Lu Qi’an, but it had been trampled on by others, and taken apart by someone he hated. He would never present it as a gift to Lu Qi’an again. 

Lu Qi’an nodded: “It’s yours, so you should decide what to do with it.”

Because he brought up the scarf, Fu Jia's mood went from sunny to cloudy, and afterwards he simply focused on eating silently. This invisibly sped up the pace of their dinner.

Fu Jia ate fast, but his appetite was larger than Lu Qi'an's, so the time between the two of them putting down their chopsticks wasn’t too far apart. Fu Jia took the initiative to stand up, wanting to tidy up, but was stopped by Lu Qi'an: "Go get changed, we’ll head to the school later."

Fu Jia sat in place and asked: “Why are you going to school?” 

Fu Jia's mood was no longer as good as before, and his thoughts began to turn negative. He thought Lu Qi’an was either sending him to the dormitory to rest, or sending him to be disciplined by teachers. 

Lu Qi'an wiped his hands with a tissue and stood up: “To help you carry your luggage. From now on, you’ll live with me in this apartment. You can sleep in the guest room, but if you don’t think the guest room is big enough, you can also stay in the master bedroom.”

Fu Jia’s breathing and heart rate accelerated together. 

His lips moved, but he was somewhat speechless. It was like someone had yanked the curtains open while he was sitting in the dark, and the sun was so blinding that it took him time to adapt.

Immediately afterwards, the first words that came out of Fu Jia's mouth were: "Can I?"