Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Gu Jinglan stood up, took a plate, and handed it to Qi Yanyu.

Lin Na watched the President's actions, waiting for a while. Why hadn’t the President put food on his plate?

Qi Yanyu looked at the fried mantou (steamed buns) dipped in condensed milk that had been placed before him, followed by crispy fried pork, fried mushrooms, and small fried fish.

Gu Jinglan slowly served Qi Yanyu before finally noticing Lin Na and asking, "Want some?"

'Now you remember me, President?'

"Sure, sure," Lin Na thought to himself. Of course, he wouldn’t trouble Gu Jinglan to serve him and quickly helped himself to some fried mantou and fish while Gu Jinglan wasn’t paying attention. He asked quietly, "Do you know him?"

"No," Qi Yanyu denied.

"The President is quite polite to his juniors," Lin Na said pointedly, though it seemed he only noticed Qi Yanyu and not him. *Does Senior Gu think I’m a sophomore? Do I really look that mature?*

Qi Yanyu and Lin Na started trading jokes about the Premier League again, trading Lingard memes—"In youth, one knew not of Lingard, mistaking Messi and Ronaldo for kings," "The end of the Eastern Han had Zhou Yu, West Ham has Lingard," "Your Lingard, unstoppable legend," "No, it’s *your* Lingard," and so on.

The two kept trading jokes endlessly.

Ying Shaojie was discussing a match with Gu Jinglan, but Gu Jinglan wasn’t really paying attention. After a few attempts, Ying Shaojie remembered Gu Jinglan was from the medical school and turned to Lin Na. "Didn’t you want to switch majors? President Gu here is in Clinical Medicine. You can ask him—are the first-year courses easy to make up for?"

Lin Na quickly said, "Senior, I’m in pharmacy and want to switch to clinical medicine."

"You’re not asking him?" Gu Jinglan glanced suspiciously at Qi Yanyu.

Lin Na said with a pout. "He’s a first-year. He hasn’t even finished his courses yet."

Gu Jinglan understood—this guy was pretending to be a first-year in front of his junior.

Perhaps sensing Gu Jinglan’s thoughts, Qi Yanyu said, "I told him the course load is brutal, but he doesn’t believe me."

"It’s not that I don’t believe you. I just wanted to ask the senior for more details," Lin Na pressed. "Senior, are your second-year courses still heavy?" He was hoping to find a way to make up for first-year courses within half a year in the five-year clinical medicine program.

"From first to third year, there isn’t a single day without a full schedule. Fourth and fifth years are for internships. If you want to make up for first-year courses, you’d probably have to take an extra year." Gu Jinglan was blunt. He glanced at Qi Yanyu again. "He’s also in Clinical Medicine. Ask him—he’ll tell you the same."

Lin Na had already asked Qi Yanyu, and his advice was identical to Gu Jinglan’s.

Lin Na looked crushed again. Meanwhile, Qi Yanyu stared at the bowl full of fried food—none of which he really wanted. He said to Lin Na, "Have some. I’m afraid it’ll go to waste."

But Lin Na wasn’t in the mood to eat.

Qi Yanyu then turned to see what Gu Jinglan was doing. Gu Jinglan, overhearing, naturally took the remaining fried food from Qi Yanyu’s bowl—which wasn’t much. "Did you try everything?"

"I had a bit of each." Qi Yanyu didn’t eat the fried fish, found the mantou dipped in condensed milk too big (half the size of a fist), and only took tiny pieces of the crispy pork and mushrooms.

"Don’t like it?" Gu Jinglan asked.

"It’s fine." Qi Yanyu didn’t say much about it, just took a little more, dipped it in the condiment, and tried to finish most of the bowl.

Gu Jinglan took the uneaten food back from Qi Yanyu’s bowl into his own. "Does your family not let you eat this kind of fried food?"

"Not really."

The fish arrived soon after, plus the rest of their order.

They loaded up the pot with fatty beef, lamb, pork tripe, duck intestine, pig brains, and the like. Gu Jinglan knew Qi Yanyu wouldn’t eat any of it, so he used a slotted spoon to scoop a large piece of boneless fish along with some fatty beef and lamb into Qi Yanyu’s bowl.

Despite his gloom, Lin Na wasn’t about to go hungry when it came time to eat.

He watched as the President put food in Qi Yanyu’s bowl and waited for Gu Jinglan to pass him some food too.

But Gu Jinglan seemed to have forgotten about him entirely.

This made Lin Na wonder—was there some unspoken rule in their clinical medicine program about brotherly bonds between upperclassmen and underclassmen? Or was this a majors-only dining club?

Qi Yanyu dipped the fish in sauce. It was boneless but piping hot, so he blew on it a few times before eating. Gu Jinglan had chosen the juiciest, most tender cut of fish belly for him.

Gu Jinglan watched him eat the fish, genuinely curious about his preferences.

“Want some shrimp as well?”

“Are there shrimp balls?”

“I think so.” Gu Jinglan went fishing for some in the pot.

Qi Yanyu focused on his fish and vegetables in his bowl. He and Lin Na had a silent agreement—when eating, they didn’t talk, concentrating instead on enjoying their food.

Ying Shaoye asked Gu Jinglan, “What’re you having?”

“Shrimp balls.”

“If there’s none left, we’ll get another order,” Ying Shaoye said, but he still helped Gu Jinglan scoop some out and eventually found some.

Later, Gu Jinglan picked up the tab—he had ordered six servings of shrimp balls himself.

Qi Yanyu was still deboning his fish as he ate.

“Found a bone?” Gu Jinglan asked.

“Just one.”

When Gu Jinglan scooped more fish for him, he first set it on his own plate, removed the bones, and then transferred it to Qi Yanyu’s dish.

Qi Yanyu quickly glanced around and saw Lin Na still engrossed in his own food. He thought to himself, *Hold up—why’s he taking care of me like I’m his girlfriend?*

Ying Shaoye brought up old stories about competing with Gu Jinglan for the position of President, saying Gu Jinglan had always been cold and intimidating—or in modern terms, “acting like hot shit.”

Listening to his department head, Qi Yanyu silently agreed, nodding inwardly. He added mentally, *He still acts like hot shit now—nothing’s changed.*

Ying Shaoye laughed. “But he’s the real deal. He shut me down hard.”

Gu Jinglan thought to himself that he knew how to handle different people with competition and management tactics, but he was clueless how to handle Qi Yanyu.

*Is “handle” even the right term?* Gu Jinglan pondered, wondering what phrasing would be more appropriate.

Before he could settle on an answer, Ying Shaoye called for a toast. Midway through the meal, their student council always loved this kinda tradition.

“Raise a glass to Gu.”

“Cut the formalities—let’s eat,” Gu Jinglan said. Private gatherings didn’t need to adopt domestic table-drinking customs.

“Fine, then Yi Na and I will drink with you,” Ying Shaoye said, then noticed Qi Yanyu and added, “Oh, did you two connect last time? Come on, raise a glass to the President.” He remembered Qi Yanyu hadn’t toasted Gu Jinglan before.

“He doesn’t drink,” Gu Jinglan said, shooting Qi Yanyu a small smile as he informed Ying Shaoye.

"Wait, how’d you know he can’t drink?" Ying Shaojie thought the two had chatted openly during their meal.

"Didn't the Student Union have a gathering before midterms?" Gu Jinglan had an excellent memory. "I paid attention—your whole department can hold their liquor. The ones who can, I remember." But he didn’t call out Qi Yanyu for skipping his toast.

Back then, every member of the Academic Department had come to toast him—except Qi Yanyu. Gu Jinglan had wondered why he didn’t come, but then he spotted him with Lin Na.

Yi Na lit up when drinking came up. A tough northerner, she was bold and could drink anyone under the table. "See? I told you—our Academic Dept. can keep up with External Relations or Publicity, no problem. Haha."

Qi Yanyu wasn’t sure if Gu Jinglan was being honest. At the icebreaker, Gu Jinglan and Xia Yiyi were all chummy—had he seen him throw up after drinking?

He was a lightweight—one and a half beers, and he’d be puking.

"President, how’d you know? You catch him puking last time or something?" Lin Na grinned.

Qi Yanyu frowned. Had Gu Jinglan really seen him? Or was he bluffing?

Once Gu Jinglan called off the toasts, Qi Yanyu wanted juice and asked Lin Na where it was.

Gu Jinglan overheard. "Any juice left?" he asked.

The juice was on the opposite side of the table. Gao Lu handed it over, and Gu Jinglan took it to pour into Qi Yanyu’s glass.

Lin Na’s jaw dropped.

"Whoa. Since when does the President baby you? You got dirt on him?"

Qi Yanyu thought it was because he’d saved him. Gu Jinglan probably saw him as a life-saver and had been repaying him ever since.

He’d rather they square things up and move on.

But even so, right now, all he wanted was something sweet.

He lifted the glass and sipped.

Gu Jinglan eyed the juice carton. Was this his favorite?

Gu Jinglan, Ying Shaojie, and Yi Na outdrank everyone, finishing four or five crates of beer.

The group scattered as they walked back to their dorms.

Soon, only Gu Jinglan and Qi Yanyu were left heading west.

Gu Jinglan had been tailing him for ages. Only after parting ways with Ying Shaojie and Yi Na at the east campus did Gu Jinglan finally catch up to Qi Yanyu.

"Leg all better now?"

At the dinner table, Qi Yanyu had seen Gu Jinglan drink far more than Ying Shaojie and Yi Na combined.

"Mostly." Qi Yanyu side-eyed him—was he even drunk?—

Gu Jinglan scooped him up.

"!!"

"Relax. No one’s watching—it’s pitch-black."

Qi Yanyu couldn’t see his face but figured he was buzzed. But in reality, Gu Jinglan never showed signs of drunkenness. Drunk or sober, his face stayed ice-cold.

But Gu Jinglan carried a strong whiff of alcohol. Earlier on the way back, he had been walking behind Qi Yanyu, smoking as he went with Yi Na and the others, his clothes carrying a mix of cigarette smoke and the faint sweetness of the ladies' cigarettes Yi Na smoked.

When the night breeze blew, he caught a faint whiff of laundry detergent or body wash from Gu Jinglan.

Qi Yanyu could hear Gu Jinglan's heartbeat—steady, unhurried, a firm and even rhythm.

Unlike his own, which raced uncontrollably at the slightest touch, his face burning in a messy flush.

Gu Jinglan carried him along the darker side of the path back, swiped the access card, and entered the dormitory building.

So damn embarrassing. At least there were no acquaintances along the way.

Back in the dorm, Huang Shaoze and Qi Yuanhan were nowhere to be seen—probably off at the library lab turning in assignments.

Gu Jinglan set him down on the bed, crouched to look at him. His face was pale, his expression not pained like when he was sick, but rather a bit dazed. Then a hand reached over, fingers working at his buttons.

"What are you doing?!" Qi Yanyu's eyes widened slightly.

Gu Jinglan's dark eyes were bright with concern. "Are all your injuries healed?"

Qi Yanyu flustered, "They're healed. No more medicine." He clutched his buttons.

But Gu Jinglan just fixed him with those deep eyes and asked, "It's been days. Have the scars faded? I had someone bring scar ointment from Germany."

"Are you... wasted?" Hadn't he told him last time to back off? After that, Gu Jinglan had rarely been the one to apply medicine for him—mostly Qi Yuanhan, occasionally Huang Shaoze.

Qi Yanyu protested, but Gu Jinglan tugged his shirt open anyway.

Gu Jinglan lowered his gaze, his eyes tracing over his shoulders and stomach. Qi Yanyu studied Gu Jinglan's eyes—his lashes were delicate, his gaze gentle—before he looked up again. "Why did you tell me to stay away last time?"

Lately in class, Qi Yanyu had stopped sitting with their usual crew, 413. Sometimes, if Qi Yanyu arrived early, 413 would come over and sit with him.

But then Qi Yanyu started showing up right before class, sitting alone in the back.

He’d been coming back late too, slipping in after curfew. Once inside, he’d either shower and crash or just crawl into bed and fake sleep.

He could tell Qi Yanyu was faking—he wasn’t sleeping in his usual balled-up way.

"..." What was he supposed to say? 'I’m done chasing you, so stop messing with me'?

Gu Jinglan, maybe thinking he was in pain, checked his breathing, then naturally took hold of Qi Yanyu's left hand.

Qi Yanyu jerked his hand back. "I'm going to shower."

"Your hand’s still wrapped up. How’s that gonna work?"

"Sponge bath."

"Can your hand even handle water? How you gonna wring a towel? What kind of 'dry wash' is that?"

"I can." Qi Yanyu thought, *Are you wasted? I’m trying to dodge you—how dense are you?*

Qi Yanyu made a break for it, scrambling up to head for the shower.

Gu Jinglan carried his own chair into the shower room, then came back out and picked up Qi Yanyu—who was staring in bewilderment at this series of actions—and carried him inside.

After fetching two clean sets of clothes from Qi Yanyu's wardrobe, Gu Jinglan closed the door behind him.

This was veering dangerously into 'that kind of movie' territory, but Qi Yanyu wondered: *Is he seriously about to wash me?*

"I can do it myself."

"Do what yourself?"

"I can bathe myself!"

Gu Jinglan filled the basin with hot water, rinsed the towel twice in it, wrung out the scalding towel, and immediately wiped Qi Yanyu's sickly pale face.

As the searingly hot towel swept over his face, Qi Yanyu’s heartbeat quickened slightly. When the towel lifted from his eyes, he looked at Gu Jinglan—tall and statuesque, with jet-black hair and an icy demeanor—truly handsome.

Seeing Qi Yanyu still wearing his pants, Gu Jinglan crouched to undo them, but Qi Yanyu grabbed the waistband. "Pants... no need to take them off."

"Wait, you’re male?" Gu Jinglan questioned.

"...Obviously," Qi Yanyu muttered.

"Then what's there to worry about?"

Qi Yanyu feared he might react. "Just... don’t."

Gu Jinglan observed his exposed upper body—his hips weren’t as slender as a woman’s, just lean and thin. His fair skin was marred with bruises, evoking sadomasochistic undertones.

"How are you going to wash without taking off your pants?"

"My legs... don’t need washing."

"Qi Yanyu... you’re not... small down there, are you?" Gu Jinglan wasn’t mocking him; tipsy but earnest, he glanced downward.

Goddammit, Gu Jinglan.

Provoked, Qi Yanyu decided to take off his pants himself. Gu Jinglan watched as he finally relented, noting his symmetrical features—dark hair, fair skin, pretty in an understated way.

As Qi Yanyu took off his pants, Gu Jinglan saw the spotless bandages still wrapped around his knees.

His legs were hairless, straight and pale, making the mottled bruises starkly visible.

The hot towel glided over Qi Yanyu’s chest and back, carefully avoiding the deep rope burns on his shoulders.

Gu Jinglan wiped his pale, soft arms, wondering how someone so slight had managed to save him.

Hazy fragments of memory surfaced—being carried on Qi Yanyu’s back, his labored breaths deafeningly loud compared to his own.

The towel, neatly folded into a square, gently brushed behind Qi Yanyu’s ears. His lashes lowered, then fluttered temptingly upward, sneaking peeks at Gu Jinglan when he wasn’t looking.

Gu Jinglan avoided the bandages, smoothing the towel over Qi Yanyu’s abdomen and thighs.

In the bathroom mirror, Qi Yanyu saw Gu Jinglan’s dazzlingly gorgeous face, his expression dead serious and focused.

To an outsider, it might look like they were filming a porn shoot. To those who knew, it was just another day in their usual antics.

"Is the towel too hot?" Gu Jinglan often spoke in backward phrasing.

"Burning. It’s scalding my skin off."

Startled, Gu Jinglan yanked the towel away. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

The towel was searing, yet Gu Jinglan barely felt it in his hands.

Qi Yanyu had an incredibly high tolerance for pain, so much so that he didn’t make a sound at all.

"Do you have nerves of steel?" Qi Yanyu only muttered the complaint after being caught by Gu Jinglan.

Gu Jinglan placed the towel in cold water, turned the faucet on and off in a flash, unsure if any water had even come out.

"Are you mute?" Gu Jinglan dipped the towel in this barely cold water a few times before wiping it along the back of Qi Yanyu's hand to test the temperature. "You don’t speak when you’re in pain, you don’t make a sound even when you have an asthma attack—what exactly goes through your mind?"

"Let’s take this one thing at a time."

This time, he wanted to see just how far Gu Jinglan would go in taking care of him.

Would he wipe his entire body?

Would he even clean places like his butt or feet?

"I’m entitled to some medical privacy," Qi Yanyu said slowly, with a hint of defiance. "And I *do* complain when it hurts, alright?"

Qi Yanyu was close enough to Gu Jinglan to catch a faint scent—whether it was laundry detergent or shampoo, he couldn’t tell—mixed with the scent of tobacco and alcohol clinging to him.

Was he drunk when he decided to clean me up?

Gu Jinglan tried to lift him, but Qi Yanyu stood up on his own.

"Your legs hurt—just sit on my lap."

"..." In the past, Qi Yanyu would’ve done so without hesitation. But now...

Qi Yanyu could only say, "I’m not exactly lightweight..."

Gu Jinglan laughed. "How heavy could you be?"

"140 pounds, maybe." Part of him *did* want to sit on Gu Jinglan’s lap... but having refused just a second ago, it was hard to backtrack now.

"If you weigh 140, I’ll run a kilometer naked."

No way, Qi Yanyu thought. A guy like you would attract more male admirers after running naked.

"If I weigh 140, just strip for me once. No need to run." The words tumbled out before he could stop himself, and Qi Yanyu immediately regretted it, backpedaling quickly. "If I weigh 140, you..."

"Besides stripping in front of you, what else?" Gu Jinglan raised an eyebrow, waiting.

No, forget the stripping. Qi Yanyu racked his brain but couldn’t think of another dare.

"No, if I weigh 140, just admit I’m stronger than you." After a beat of hesitation, that was all he could come up with.

Gu Jinglan smiled faintly, his smile like frost thawing in the sun—a rare moment of warmth from someone so aloof.

Even if Qi Yanyu sometimes resented the thought, Gu Jinglan might be all show and no depth.

After Qi Yanyu stood up from the chair, Gu Jinglan sat down and gently took his hand. "Lie down. Let me... clean your back."

But something didn’t feel right.

Despite the odd feeling, Qi Yanyu obediently draped himself over Gu Jinglan’s lap. Gu Jinglan then worked the towel over his back, then moved to his butt and the backs of his thighs.

"Still burning?"

"It's hot."

"Heat helps ward off colds," Gu Jinglan said, asking again, "Can you handle it?"

What does he mean—how hard he’s scrubbing, or how hot the towel is? Qi Yanyu thought randomly and answered just as vaguely, "It’s okay."

"I see you..."

"What?" Qi Yanyu asked, unsure what Gu Jinglan was about to say.

"You don’t look like that AI photo."

"..." Qi Yanyu’s stomach flipped. "What’s different?"

"The person in the AI photo has slightly bent legs, yours are straighter. The photo had a mole on the calf, but you don’t."

"You paid that much attention?" Did he study that AI composite so thoroughly that it’s imprinted in his mind?

"If I didn’t pay attention, how could I clear your reputation and defend you?"

Oh. Qi Yanyu had thought there might be another reason for him scrutinizing it so closely.

The scalding towel wiped below his waist, making Qi Yanyu feel flustered and overheated.

Thankfully, it didn’t last long.

The warm, damp towel draped over his legs.

Qi Yanyu thought it was done, but Gu Jinglan turned him over without needing him to stand up, just pulling him into his lap.

Looking between his legs, Gu Jinglan rinsed the towel again, wrung it dry, all while holding Qi Yanyu the entire time.

Qi Yanyu’s face burned as he said, "I can handle this part..."

He was completely naked, sitting on Gu Jinglan’s lap, and Gu Jinglan’s clothes were slightly damp from where they’d touched his skin.

Gu Jinglan was a good three inches taller than him, with a broader frame. Holding him like this, he was still just as commanding as Qi Yanyu.

"Qi Yanyu."

"Hmm?"

"Come over for dinner this weekend. My aunt got more crabs. Last time, you didn’t take the hairy crabs home."

"I’m... busy." Qi Yanyu lowered his eyes, dodging fast.

Gu Jinglan wiped between his legs with the warm, soft towel, gently and carefully, no teasing, no judgment.

"What do you have to do?" Gu Jinglan asked.

"I’ve got... stuff." But Qi Yanyu couldn’t name anything specific.

Swamped, totally swamped—was he going home this weekend? But he didn’t usually have to go home on weekends.

Gu Jinglan sat on the chair, holding him, bending down to wipe his feet.

Qi Yanyu watched like a hawk as Gu Jinglan cleaned his calves and feet, afraid that if he blinked, he’d wake up from this dream.

Gu Jinglan had the spoiled-rich-kid vibe, but a young master wouldn’t risk his life for him. This wasn’t some spoiled heir—this was someone he owed his life to...

"Hey babes, I added a 'Mid-Autumn Extra' in the author's notes last chapter. If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out~"