CHAPTER 41
When they arrived back to the base, Tong Yao rushed off the van. A male staff
behind her naively asked: "Didn't you say your relative's here, where is she?"
Tong Yao stood next to the van, turned her head to face him, and replied in a
composed manner: "Between my legs."
The staff looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
At the same time, the tall man, with his jacket on, walked off the van. He took
a glance at the girl who was standing there waiting for the front door to open with
arms akimbo and backpack on her shoulders. He softly coughed a few times and
spoke in a low and hoarse voice: "Can't you be more civilized?"
Tong Yao simply countered: "No." Then she strode into the base when the door
opened-- --She went back to her room to shower and changed before coming
downstairs with her comfortable pajama on. As she had expected, the base was
empty. All the staff had left since most of the team had gone to the event tonight,
including the housekeeper who would sometimes cook dinner for them to save them
from eating take out all the time.
Tong Yao checked the time and was thinking of going back upstairs to order take
out and lazeabout in her bed…...Among all the congratulatory messages for her first
victory, she received a text message from Xiao Rui. The team manager told her to
make sure Lu Sicheng had taken his medicine.
[ZGDX-Smiling: ...He's a big guy, can't he take his own medicine?]
[ZGDX-Xiao Rui: He won't take it if you leave it to him. Be more considerate. If he
dies, we won't have a captain.]
[ZGDX-Smiling: Promote that sycophantic Little Fatty.]
[ZGDX-Xiao Rui: Then when you fight with Lu Yue, there won't be anyone who can
help you. Little Fatty can't keep Lu Yue under control. Lately he's been so nice to
Lu Yue since he feels guilty, even helping him get food at the dinner table.]
[ZGDX-Smiling: ........Where's the medicine?]
Can't let the captain die.
If he dies, Lu Yue would be the king here.
Tong Yao figured that she should be drinking some hot brown sugar tea[1] as well.
She went in the kitchen to boil some water and, under the direction of Xiao Rui,
located the medicine box and retrieve some cold pills. She started to feel pressure
on her stomach again.
Enduring the discomfort, Tong Yao held the hot water cup and medicine in hands
and went upstairs. Lu Sicheng's room door was ajar…...With one hand holding the
cup and the other the medicine, Tong Yao kicked open the door and walked in the
room shared by Lu Sicheng and Little Fatty-- --
This was the second time that she had entered Lu Sicheng's room.
Last time she was in a rush and didn't really see the inside of the room clearly.
Today, she could take her time to look around-- --The room was very clean, with
what looked like an expensive carpet on the floor. There were slippers near the
door. Tong Yao hesitated for a while then took off her slippers and walked onto
the carpet barefoot. She looked around, the bedding was black. There was a
small coffee table with a laptop and a few books on it. Next to the coffee table
was a beanbag...
The bed closer to the door must be Little Fatty's. On his bed, he had placed
various stuffed toys on it, a crocodile, Captain America's shield, a piggy…...
probably from his fans. The bed deep in the room on the contrary, didn't have
any decoration at all. At the moment, Lu Sicheng was lying on that bed, with
his back facing Tong Yao, still wearing his team uniform.
"Mr. Captain, time to take medicine."
Tong Yao walked over with medicine in hand.
The man didn't respond
Tong Yao circled around to his front.
She put the cup and medicine on the table and squatted down next to the bed
holding her knees, watching silently at the face that seemed to be in a deep
slumber. She thought to herself: Lu Sicheng does look very handsome. His
features looked like those used in plastic surgery advertisements. Though it
looks a bit mean when all the features were put together, he's still a rather good
look guy.
Tong Yao had a poor vocabulary and couldn't really put her feelings into words.
But she knew that when she fixed her eyes on the tip of his slightly pinkish nose
and the corners of his eyes, she couldn't move her eyes away-- --
Until the man who she thought was sound asleep suddenly opened his eyes
without making any noise.
[1]: It's believed in China that hot sweet tea can relieve cramps.
Tong Yao was caught off guard as her eyes met Lu Sicheng's dark brown
pupils. She lost her footing and fell back onto the soft carpet.
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Lu Sicheng coughed a couple times before speaking: "What are you sneaking
around in my room for?"
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao blinked and felt somewhat mousy under the gaze of those calm eyes.
She was speechless for a short while before remembering what she was there
for in the first place. Tong Yao hurriedly turned to pick up the water cup and
medicine: "I'm here to deliver the medicine. Rui Ge told me to make sure you
take the medicine before going to sleep."
Tong Yao sat on the carpet cross legged next to the bed and handed the water
cup to Lu Sicheng. She read the direction on the back of the medicine package,
then took out the pills according to the directions and gave to Lu Sicheng.
Lu Sicheng sat up half way and took the medicine: "The water is too hot."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Get me another one."
Tong Yao: "You know something?"
Lu Sicheng: "?"
Tong Yao: "You know most women suffer menstrual pains during a few days of
each month. The pain is like someone whipping you with a whip dipped in hot
chili oil a hundred times-- --If you multiply the pain three times that would be the
pain at childbirth, you do know that labor is quite painful, yes? Specifically, how
painful is it? It's like pulling your upper lip up and over your whole head, something
like that."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Tong Yao: "During those few days of the month, even if Godzilla invades the
Earth I would punch him back to the ocean. Simply because he has disturbed
me, unable to keep it quiet."
Tong Yao: "So, drink water, take the medicine, and don't make trouble."
Lu Sicheng was silent for awhile, then he put the pills into his mouth, quietly
sipped water a couple times to send the pills down his throat. Tong Yao sat
on the floor and looked up to make sure he had really swallowed the pills, then
she said in satisfaction: "Drink some more. A sick person needs to drink more
hot water."
Lu Sicheng drank another mouthful-- --So cooperative, Tong Yao wasn't sure
whether it was because he had been shaken by Tong Yao's vivid description.
She hoped so.
Tong Yao stood up to retrieve the water cup. Holding the half empty cup and
medicine next to the bed, she asked the man who was ready to go back to
sleep: "It's not good to take medicine on an empty stomach. I'll order delivery,
what do you want to eat?"
Lu Sicheng was silent inside the covers, then said after a few seconds:
"I want to die."
".....It's not like you can't die, but it's not the time yet." Tong Yao heartlessly
said: "If you want to die, you have to die after Lu Yue. Now, what do you want to
eat? Braised Chicken Rice? Hot and Spicy Pot? Japanese food? Or Korean food?"
Just by thinking of those greasy food made Lu Sicheng sick: "You have such a
good appetite even with menstrual pain?"
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "What's with you eating Japanese food while having a stomach ache?"
Tong Yao: "I'm asking you. I personally want to have porridge."
Lu Sicheng: "Oh. I want that too."
Tong Yao: "I'm thinking of plain porridge with brown sugar."
"Go ahead and order delivery. Our kitchen has brown sugar. You can add it to
the porridge once it's delivered here."
Lu Sicheng coughed and sniffled as he spoke…...Tong Yao sat down on the
edge of his bed to order take out on her phone. Lu Sicheng didn't lie back
down either, but leaned against the head of the bed and watched Tong Yao
work on her phone over her shoulder. She kept clicking on her phone screen
but didn't really order anything. Finally, he had to ask: "What's wrong?"
"All of these porridge places don't sell plain porridge. The only one that has it
doesn't have good reviews." Tong Yao put down her cell phone: "Never mind,
I'll cook porridge myself. I don't really like the porridge from the stores anyway,
who knows what they put in there."
Lu Sicheng replied with another "oh."
Tong Yao got up and rubbed her stomach. She picked up the blanket to pull
over Lu Sicheng's shoulders: "You sleep for a while, I'll call you when it's done."
She bent down, her face covered by shadow, and her short hair with a faint
scent of shampoo brushed over Lu Sicheng's nose tip. She seemed to notice
and raised her hand to pull her hair behind her ears-- --
Half of her pale face was exposed under the dim light of the room. Her eyes
were cast down, the eyelashes projected a small area of shadows under her
eyes, and the contour of the side of her face was quite soft.
Lu Sicheng didn't say anything, but his dark brown pupils turned even darker-- --
He kept his silence as Tong Yao straightened herself after tucking him in under
the blanket. Tong Yao turned to walk out of the room with the cup and medicine.
She stood at the doorway to get her slippers on while balancing the cup and
medicine in her hands.
After putting on the slippers, she childishly stamped her feet a few times, then
walked out of the room to go downstairs. Soon, the footsteps disappeared at
the other end of the hallway.
...
Tong Yao went downstairs, put down the cup and medicine, and prepared to
cook porridge. She bent over to get enough rice for two and when she stood up,
she felt sore on her back and waist. She almost forgot about this other symptom
she usually would suffer in addition to the stomach cramps.
Now she felt like she had been punched by someone and her health bar was
almost empty!
"It hurts, hurts, hurts..."
Tong Yao used one hand to hold on to the counter and the other hand to cover
her stomach. She bent over to calm the surging pain while mumbling all the
curses she could think of. She tried to remember whether the medicine box had
any pain killers and started to miss her bed…....
She saw through the corner of her eyes the inner pot of the rice cooker which
was sitting on the floor. She stopped groaning and remembered that there was
a sick person upstairs. She murmured: "There's only the weak and the sick left
in the base." She released the hand which was rubbing her stomach to pick up
the inner pot-- --
Not just Lu Sicheng, but she was also very hungry. They had been busy the
whole morning and hadn't even had lunch yet.
She set the pot with the rice in the sink. As she was about to turn on the faucet,
she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to check and saw the man who was
supposed to be lying in bed was walking over-- --
He was still wearing the team uniform, but had a jacket draped over his shoulders.
He was walking slowly down the stairs.
"What's going on? Did you forget something? Or do you want to drink some water?
You can send me a WeChat message and I can bring it over to you..."
Lu Sicheng came to the kitchen and, under the gaze of a babbling Tong Yao,
reached over Tong Yao's shoulder to turn on the faucet of the sink.
Tong Yao: "?"
Lu Sicheng: "Step aside."
Tong Yao: "? ? ?"
Tong Yao subconsciously moved away and watched the man take her position,
who began to wash the rice. He proficiently swished the rice, poured out the
water and repeated the process two more times. Then he poured in enough
water to cook the porridge. He put the inner pot into the rice cooker, put the lid
on, and turned it on-- --
The whole process was smoothly conducted.
Tong Yao could only watch with question marks plastered over her face.
"When Godzilla invades the earth, a woman shouldn't touch cold water." After
he was done with the rice cooker, he took a look at her and coughed a couple
of times, then used his hoarse voice to say: "Call me when it's done. I'm going
up now."
After he spoke, he raised his big hand to pat Tong Yao's head who was standing
dumbfounded next to the counter. He turned around, walked by her without
looking at her again, and went upstairs.