Chapter 88

Chapter 88

In the university infirmary, Qi Yanyu was rolling up his pant leg—just a few scrapes, superficial stuff. The young man in front of him was applying antiseptic red liquid with a cotton swab.

"Your head as well."

"What?"

A hand reached out to check his forehead, then the back of his head. "Get checked for a concussion."

"Hospitals need ID now." Qi Yanyu rubbed his face, his tone slightly displeased.

Nowadays, medical visits required ID registration. If Qi Muyao caught wind, it'd be trouble.

As soon as he rubbed his face, Gu Jinglan moved his hand away and scanned his face closely. "Did you get into a fight?"

"…" He paused, then replied nonchalantly, "Who’d I even fight? I slipped. Didn’t see the steps and tripped."

Qi Yanyu sat on the worn-out wooden bed outside, legs dangling, head lowered. One hand held his student ID, while the other—previously rubbing his face—now rested on the edge of the bed after being pushed away.

Inside the infirmary, the doctor was dealing with a rowdy group who had come in after a soccer game—one of whom might've torn a tendon. The place was buzzing.

"Who could you have fought at school?"

Gu Jinglan dipped a fresh swab into the antiseptic and dabbed it onto Qi Yanyu’s wrist where it rested on the bed.

Looking at the scrapes, bruises, and what seemed like nail marks, Gu Jinglan listened for a moment to the noisy ward inside. If not for that, he would’ve dragged Qi Yanyu in to check under his pants—was this from falling or getting beaten?

"Was it someone from outside the school?"

Gu Jinglan had a sharp eye. Qi Yanyu let out a frustrated laugh, then realized he shouldn't be laughing—he ought to look miserable instead.

But seeing Gu Jinglan made him inexplicably happy again. He said, "I want to sleep in the dorm tonight."

He might still have to meet Jiang Tiyan later. At the thought, Qi Yanyu lowered his head again, fidgeting with his student ID in his hand.

"Then sleep in the dorm. It's not like I'm stopping you."

"Hehe, look at you, Little Gu, being all reasonable."

Whenever he grinned like that, Gu Jinglan wanted to kiss him—shut him up and hear those little whimpers.

So after finishing with the antiseptic, he pulled Qi Yanyu outside into the dim evening, where you could barely see five feet ahead, and kissed him a few times.

Qi Yanyu’s bad mood came and went quickly. Back in the dorm, he leisurely took off his jacket, changed into fresh pants, and collapsed onto the bed.

With the dorm to themselves, Gu Jinglan set down their backpacks and books and asked the young master what he wanted to eat. Qi Yanyu murmured, “I’ll just eat you.”

Gu Jinglan stood by the bed watching his lazy expression, then playfully pinched his lips with his long fingers. Qi Yanyu bolted upright, but Gu Jinglan wouldn’t let him sit up, forcing something into his mouth instead.

"You've never had mine before..." Qi Yanyu yelled.

"Then try mine first. You'll get yours next time."

Ah, but this was Room 413.

When it was pulled out of his mouth, Qi Yanyu’s eyes were watery, looking like a bully put in his place.

Gu Jinglan willingly lowered his head to kiss Qi Yanyu’s drool-smeared lips, then asked with a chuckle, “Whatcha eating?”

“Eat…” Qi Yanyu almost blurted out “eat your junk,” but bit it back. How could he say something so dirty? But wait—was that even a curse? More like dumbassery.

Soon the takeout arrived. Gu Jinglan had probably ordered from the new place at the Yintai mall nearby. When he brought it up to Room 413, the dorm was still empty except for the two of them.

Qi Yanyu was deep into Temple Run while Gu Jinglan unpacked the takeout on his desk and dragged over a chair to eat beside him.

“You eat first,” the brat grumbled, surprisingly considerate.

Gu Jinglan had ordered four dishes, two desserts, and a soup. He deliberately fished out a piece of chili and held it out. The brat opened his mouth without hesitation.

“Whoa, patricide much?!”

Gu Jinglan nuzzled into Qi Yanyu’s neck as he hauled him into his lap. His eyes stayed fixed on the game in Qi Yanyu’s hands, but his fingers wandered across the brat’s chest.

“Eat your food. Why are you messing around?”

“Play your game. Why do you care?” Gu Jinglan mimicked his voice perfectly, tossing back the same smartass tone.

Qi Yanyu kept running through temples—he’d eat after he beat this level.

Gu Jinglan wasn’t rushing his meal either. He was too busy messing with him instead.

The brat opened his mouth, then shut it again. “…Stop it.”

“Why do you care? Play your damn game.” Gu Jinglan’s fingers, cold as marble, pressed against his dry skin, sending a weird tingle through him.

“I want some dessert,” the brat grumbled. “…Feed me.”

Gu Jinglan obliged, no complaints. He scooped up a spoonful of yogurt pudding—wobbly and soaked in that weirdly bland yogurt—and slid it into the brat’s mouth.

The brat chewed happily. He was about to clinch this level—so far, so good, barely died once.

“Qi Yanyu, what’re you gonna do after graduation?”

“Be a doctor. What else?”

“Seriously?” Gu Jinglan played dumb, keeping his cool while thinking ahead. “If we both become doctors, our shifts might not line up. We’ll be so swamped we won’t see each other all week. That okay with you?”

He smirked. “Call me ‘Daddy,’ and I’ll call in a favor with the department head to get us scheduled together.”

Gu Jinglan laughed. “Then I’ll make sure you pull twenty-five overnight shifts a month.”

If their third-year internships landed them at his family’s hospital, thanks to his ties with Kanbei Medical Affiliated Hospital, shift scheduling would be a breeze. They could rotate together—wherever Qi Yanyu went, he’d follow.

“So you’re one of *those* coworkers,” Qi Yanyu muttered, half-focused on Temple Run, half on arguing.

“Or if you make it up to me for a few days, I’ll cut you some slack on nights.”

“How exactly?”

Hell yeah, he was gonna beat this level.

Gu Jinglan noticed and pulled him tighter into his arms, short-circuiting Qi Yanyu’s brain for a second.

At dinner time, the brat opened his mouth, waiting to be fed.

Gu Jinglan obliged, no complaints—not like he hadn’t gotten his earlier.

The troublemaker barely ate a few bites before he was done and needed to lie down.

Gu Jinglan knew he shouldn’t have let him eat dessert early—it always killed his appetite. After feeding him a few bites, the idiot suddenly grinned and said, "I know why Qi Yuanhan and the others haven’t come back to the dorm. There’s a grade meeting!"

"Oh," Gu Jinglan clearly already knew, which was why he’d brought him back—first making him taste something, then teasing him some more. His tone was light as his fingertips pressed against the bruises on Qi Yanyu’s exposed waist. "How’d you fall so badly today?" Especially when he’d just pulled his pants down earlier.

Obviously—he’d tumbled down the steps from the audience seats in the multipurpose room. At least his face wasn’t swollen.

"You’re staying in the dorm tonight. Shower early, or there’ll be no hot water after lights out."

"Oh."

"Oh? You want me to help you shower?" Gu Jinglan pulled that out of nowhere.

"I didn’t say anything," the idiot muttered, still clueless.

"No problem. If you want me to help you shower, then I’ll help you shower."

Before nine, Qi Yanyu had already showered, and his homework was being done by Gu Jinglan. He lay comfortably in his dorm bed early, originally planning to play a couple more rounds of Temple Run, but he fell asleep almost immediately, completely forgetting Jiang Tiyan’s request for him to leave campus by ten.

While working on two assignments at once, Gu Jinglan glanced at the guy already deep in slumber. He couldn’t help but look a little longer, the corner of his lips lifting slightly.

He pinched the guy’s fingers—no reaction. Rubbed his waist—no thrashing. That meant he was truly asleep.

He was so low-maintenance.

Eat, then sleep. A little teasing and he’d laugh like an idiot. Fooling around with him once or twice wouldn’t change a thing.

His temper wasn’t bad either.

His personality was straightforward and generous, able to take a joke.

Pretty much like Snowball, that bunny from *The Secret Life of Pets*.

Like now—rubbing his face wouldn’t make him angry, and kissing him—Gu Jinglan leaned down, pecking his face a few times—didn’t make him the least bit awkward.

"Don’t fuck me… ‘m sleepy…" the guy murmured.

Gu Jinglan was amused. This guy must not have been satisfied yet—even his sleep-talking was so horny.

"Sleep. We’ll see about that tomorrow."

Of course, the guy had no temper at all, just turning over and falling back asleep in exhaustion.

It wasn’t until eleven that Qi Yanyu jolted awake, so startled he nearly dropped his phone, fumbling with it a few times before steadying it.

Qi Yuanhan, who had long returned to the dorm and was forced to pull an all-nighter cramming with Huang Shaoze for finals, was startled by Dorm 3’s sudden noise: "Just a nightmare—go back to sleep. Finals aren’t here yet."

Qi Yanyu frantically checked his phone. Sure enough, Jiang Tiyan had called him several times.

What had Jiang Tiyan said today—was it ten or eleven?

Or was it tomorrow?

Still groggy, he got up, went to the bathroom and splashed his face with water. Then his phone rang again.

"You dead? Or did that pretty-boy fuck you senseless?" A flat, thoroughly annoyed voice—likely the last bit of patience gone.

The dazed guy answered.

"......"

This blind judgment is... scarily accurate.

Qi Yanyu arrived at a local broadcasting building, where staff from Jiang Tiyan's team had to come get him before he could go inside.

This is the last time, he told himself.

He couldn't afford to let these misunderstandings lead to another fight or cold war with Gu Jinglan.

"I'm in a hurry," he mentally rehearsed. "'I'm short on cash,' if that's what you want—though if it came down to my life..." Well, he wasn't willing to give that either.

Guess he did care about staying alive after all.

Following Jiang Tiyan’s staff, he took the elevator and twisted through corridors and side rooms. Qi Yanyu half-suspected they were kidnapping him to extort money from Qi Muyao. If so, maybe kidnapping wasn’t such a bad idea—let Qi Muyao foot the bill.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be a TV studio stage.

Spotlights shone on the stage and the three chairs placed in front of it.

Two popular celebrities sat in two of the chairs.

Only Jiang Tiyan was seated in the ordinary audience area, out of the spotlight. The audience seats were mostly empty, occupied only by crew members like cameramen and script supervisors.

On stage, peppy young women were singing and dancing—probably from that hit show *Girls 101*.

This bastard, putting on his brooding act again.