Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Hurrying over, Gu Jinglan crouched down and reached out to support Qi Yanyu’s face, now bluish-purple from oxygen deprivation. The man was about to pass out and naturally couldn’t open his mouth on his own. Gu Jinglan had to pinch Qi Yanyu’s cheeks with his fingers, but unable to pry his teeth apart, he had to wedge his fingers in to prop open his mouth slightly, opening his airway just enough to insert the inhaler’s nozzle before pressing down on the pump.

Qi Yanyu was extremely prideful. Gu Jinglan helped him up, but the man couldn’t walk. Hooking an arm under his shoulders, Gu Jinglan secured his chest with the other hand and carried him out. The bathroom was on the third floor, and just a few meters outside was a small rooftop garden with flower beds surrounded by a stretch of lawn. Gu Jinglan dragged him to an ornamental bench half-hidden by overgrown grass and sat him down.

The night breeze carried away the heavy scent of tobacco clinging to him.

It was unclear how much time had passed before Qi Yanyu came to slightly, his eyelids fluttering weakly as he still slumped over.

Seeing color finally return to his face, Gu Jinglan remarked casually, "I thought you were going to die."

"...You’re the one who’s going to die," came the mumbled retort.

Later, back in the lab, Gu Jinglan entered first, followed by Qi Yanyu a minute later. The professor had been looking for them the whole time.

The professor asked Qi Yanyu to repeat the experiment a few more times to ensure every student understood. The lab instructor wasn’t very familiar with this student who had taken a year off but refused to repeat a grade.

So, Gu Jinglan watched as Qi Yanyu repeated the experiment several more times, though without the same intensity as before.

His presence had weakened, his body noticeably more subdued, a faint pallor of illness lingering on his face.

Class finally ended at nine. Some students returned to their dorms, others went to the campus supermarket for snacks and drinks, and a few headed out to the food street by the west gate for late-night snacks.

Qi Yuanhan and Huang Shaoze, still hungry after dinner, left campus to grab food. Only Gu Jinglan and Qi Yanyu walked back to the dorm.

As soon as Qi Yanyu entered the room, he quickened his pace toward the bed and collapsed onto it, face-planting in his usual sleeping position.

Gu Jinglan watched, worried he might suffocate himself.

After a while, he glanced over again—Qi Yanyu hadn’t moved, his back barely moving, as if he weren’t breathing at all.

Worried he might be crashing, Gu Jinglan asked, "You okay?" but got no response.

Setting down the basin holding his lab coat, he walked over. Because of the bunk bed’s structure—bed below, storage above—Gu Jinglan had to stoop as he reached in, turning Qi Yanyu’s shoulder.

The man’s eyes were closed, his expression either pained or just worn out. After struggling to breathe earlier and enduring the rest of the lab session, he must have been wiped out.

Qi Yanyu’s phone, set to silent, vibrated nonstop by his bedside.

Gu Jinglan saw the caller ID read "Eldest Brother." Without thinking, he picked up. "Hello?"

The person on the other end immediately recognized it wasn’t the phone’s owner—Qi Yanyu never said hello first—and chuckled. "Hello there. Where’s Qi Yanyu?"

Gu Jinglan looked at Qi Yanyu on the bed, who mouthed silently the word "sleep."

"I’m his roommate. He’s asleep."

Qi Muyao on the other end asked, "Class just ended. Did he skip? Sleeping this early?"

He knew Qi Yanyu’s schedule well.

Gu Jinglan put the call on speaker. He looked at Qi Yanyu again, who reached out for the phone. Handing it over, Gu Jinglan watched in disbelief as Qi Yanyu immediately hung up.

Qi Yanyu then turned off the phone. Sprawled at an angle on the bed—face buried in the pillow, legs still dangling off the edge—he flipped onto his stomach, completely pressed into the mattress.

This sleeping position was terrible for someone with asthma, Gu Jinglan thought. Not his problem. The guy wouldn’t even go to the hospital and had just hung up on someone. So Gu Jinglan went to shower. After his shower, he found texts from his roommates asking what he wanted to eat and if "His Highness (mockingly)" wanted lamb organ soup (a Chinese delicacy).

gu jinglan sent a reply message and saw that the person was still lying face down, asleep.

"aren't you afraid of suffocating to death?"

there was no response from the person. after a while, the other two returned, first distributing the four packed bowls of lamb tripe soup. seeing that "the crown prince" was asleep, they didn’t wake him.

just as room 413 was about to start their late-night snack, someone knocked on the dorm door. thinking it was their neighbors coming to scrounge food, huang shaoze, who had just thrown out the trash in the bathroom and was closest to the door, ran to open it and was completely surprised. "teacher, what are you doing here?"

"is everyone in your dorm here? that qi... qi yanyu, is he in the dorm?" at the door stood their counselor and a young male teacher they didn’t recognize—probably a freshman counselor.

"yes, yes, everyone’s here," huang shaoze quickly replied.

qi yuanhan was stunned. why were teachers inspecting their dorm? luckily, he had just returned and hadn’t had time to launch dota 2 yet.

the female counselor and the male teacher seemed to have come specifically to check on bed 3. he was there, just asleep.

the male teacher came over and turned him onto his back, face up. the two teachers spoke softly, concerned. "qi yanyu, are you feeling unwell?"

the female counselor even reached out to touch qi yanyu’s forehead—no fever. observing his complexion, it was pale, though that might just be his naturally pale complexion.

the person replied, "no, i was just really tired when i got back and fell asleep."

qi yuanhan watched, dumbfounded, while huang shaoze listened in equal disbelief.

qi yuanhan wanted to say: what's going on?

this was the first time he realized that "the crown prince" actually had teachers assigned specifically to look after him. the world was already unfair, but he never expected it to be this insanely unfair—

"if you feel unwell, just let the teachers know. i’ve added you on wechat—remember?"

when had they ever seen the female counselor this gentle? even when asking for leave, they had to beg her for an excuse note!

"mm-hmm."

"you didn’t go out today, right?"

"teacher, i’m really tired."

"then sleep. we won’t disturb you."

after observing his condition and deciding he didn’t seem particularly unwell—certainly not enough to disrupt his daily routine—the teachers stayed in their room for a while longer, offering a few more words of advice and concern before finally leaving.

once the two teachers were gone, qi yuanhan’s mouth twisted. "what's his deal?"

gu jinglan figured privately that it was because qi yanyu hadn’t answered that call in time, prompting the counselor to come check on him.

he didn’t mention what had happened that night. huang shaoze and qi yuanhan were left scratching their heads, especially the latter, who was annoyed. with "the crown prince" asleep and unable to be questioned, the group lifted the lids of their takeout boxes and continued drinking their lamb tripe soup.

the dorm soon returned to its usual noisy state. qi yuanhan half-assed his homework for half an hour before wanting to play a few rounds of games.

having finished his soup and hand-washed his lab coat, gu jinglan glanced at the person still lying motionless in that same position and said, "keep it down. i'm hitting the sack early tonight." even he was surprised by his own words—since when had he become so compassionate?

"oh," qi yuanhan drawled, shooting another glance at "the crown prince," who remained in that same messy sleeping position. he sneered inwardly: can't even sleep properly.

he tried to exchange a knowing look with gu jinglan to share a laugh at qi yanyu’s expense, but gu jinglan had already turned back to his contest project.

that night, when lights out came, gu jinglan didn’t go to bed immediately after working for a while, which made qi yuanhan complain, since he hadn’t started gaming. "weren't you the one who said you were sleeping early? if i’d known, i would’ve just started a game."

huang shaoze finally had a chance to get into bed at midnight. "following you around playing dota all the time—I almost forgot how to tie off an artery in today’s lab."

qi yuanhan fired back, "blame yourself. you wanted to play just as much."

gu jinglan brought his laptop to bed. thinking his "brother gu" (a term of respect among male friends) was going to sleep, qi yuanhan quietly scrolled through his phone before bed.

the person on bed 1 typed softly and moved his fingers over the touchpad, silent and without even turning on a light. later, when huang shaoze got up in the middle of the night, he was startled. "brother gu, weren't you going to sleep early? why didn’t you even turn on a light?"

"forgot," the other replied. but even after huang shaoze got back in bed, he still didn’t turn it on.