Aftermath
Huo Cheng shook his head. He knew that no matter what, his father would probably never discuss the matter. Even if he were to ask, he would not be able to get the truth out of him.
Turning the lighter over in his hand, he said, “I’ll find out on my own.”
He made sure to send her home before dusk. Shen Wanying had told Jiang Yu that Huo Cheng was not feeling well, so she stayed out all afternoon. Upon her return, Jiang Yu asked her, “How is Huo Cheng’s health?”
Shen Wanying lied smoothly: “Better.”
“Will it affect the game tomorrow?” Jiang Yu asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Shen Wanying had only made up the story on the fly; she hadn’t expected Huo Cheng to actually fall ill the next day and miss the second day of the competition entirely.
Tian Yu felt sick. Abstaining from the elimination rounds was the same as being eliminated from the tournament outright; it meant their opponent won without a fight. Was he doomed to lose to Chen Jingming again?
Since Huo Cheng was ill, and all the messages Tian Yu sent him went unanswered. He could only pester Shen Wanying for answers. After class, Shen Wanying saw that he had sent her a dozen messages. She could only reply with a helpless【President, the competition is in your hands now. ^_^】
Tian Yu was devastated. It’s too hard, life is really too hard.
♥
Huo Cheng not only missed the competition, he didn’t even show up to Monday’s class.
Shen Wanying looked at his empty seat, a little worried.
“Shen Wanying, come with me to the office.” Mr Song called out after he finished his class. As class president, the teacher often asked her for help with things, so this was not unusual.
♥
“It’s like this,” Mr Song poured a glass of water and sat at his desk. “Huo Cheng is sick, you know that, right?”
Shen Wanying nodded. “I know.”
“He seems to be seriously ill, and he’s still running a fever today. His parents called me this morning and asked for two more days off. I thought, since you are the class president and have a good relationship with Huo Cheng, that you should go and see him on behalf of your classmates, and take him these materials that were distributed today.”
The school had issued a lot of new study materials and test papers that day. They were specially tailored to their mid-term exams, and so were quite important. Shen Wanying nodded. “Okay, Mr Song, I’ll go over during lunch break.”
“Alright. I’ll give you a leave slip, then.” The school was rather strict, and you couldn’t leave the school grounds at noon without a notice of leave.
“Okay. Thank you, Mr. Song.”
“Don’t mention it. You can take a taxi, I’ll take the fare out of the class fund. See if you can buy some fruits or something to take with you.” As he spoke, it occurred to him that Shen Wanying might not be able to carry everything on her own. “Why don’t you ask Zhao Yimeng to accompany you?”
“It’s okay. I’m taking a taxi after all, I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Alright then, you take care of yourself. Go early and come back early.”
“Okay.”
After class ended at noon, Shen Wanying did not eat in the cafeteria, but gathered her things and left. There was a supermarket and a kiosk at the entrance of the school, so she bought a crate of milk and took a taxi to Huo Cheng’s house.
♥
She had been to the villa many times, but it was her first time at the old Huo residence. When the car pulled up to the entrance, she climbed out, bag on her back and milk in hand. The gate of the villa was open and there were workers doing maintenance work in the garden. Shen Wanying walked up to the door and said a simple “Hello.”
She was dressed in the same school uniform as Huo Cheng, and had an elegant and distinguished air. At a glance, the workers felt she must be the treasured daughter of some wealthy family and stood on ceremony with her. “Hello, Miss. Who are you looking for?”
“I’m Huo Cheng’s classmate,” she told them, wearing her usual, practiced smile. “I heard he was ill and came to visit.”
A worker put down the tools in his hand and went in to call someone. Soon, Huo Yanni emerged. She recognised Shen Wanying, and welcomed her in with a smile. “Shen Wanying, it’s rare for you to make a special trip.”
“Just doing my duty,” Shen Wanying responded, smile firmly in place. “The teacher asked me to bring Huo Cheng the materials he missed out on in class.”
“Huo Cheng is in his room, I’ll take you up there.”
“Okay. Thank you, Auntie Huo.”
Huo Yanni had to admit that although she didn’t want the Huo family to join with the Shen family, this Shen Wanying was such a pleasant person. She was pretty, had good bearing and was well-educated. No wonder the old man liked her.
“Auntie Huo, how is Huo Cheng?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Huo Yanni told her, “but when he came back from the competition the day before yesterday, he didn’t look well, and he didn’t eat dinner at night. He suddenly developed a fever in the middle of the night. Thankfully we found out early. If not, who knows how much worse it would have become.”
Shen Wanying had contacted Huo Cheng earlier, and he had told her it was just a cold. She hadn’t realised it was this bad. When Huo Yanni finished speaking, she was even more worried. “Is he better now?”
“The doctor came to see him a few times. His condition keeps going back and forth.” Huo Yanni shook her head as she spoke. “He seemed to be in good health, how did he suddenly become so ill? Did he attract something unclean?” She wondered if she should invite a spiritual master to take a look at the house.
Shen Wanying did not really believe in such superstitious things. She felt the cause of Huo Cheng’s illness was probably psychological; his recent discovery about his mother might have hit him a little too hard.
“Here we are. Go on in, then, I’ll leave you guys to it.” Huo Yanni led Shen Wanying to the front of Huo Cheng’s room, and went downstairs by herself. Shen Wanying thanked her, and knocked on the door.
“Huo Cheng, are you there?”
Huo Cheng was drowsy, having just taken his medicine. When he heard Shen Wanying’s voice, he thought he was dreaming. After a bit, he finally opened his eyes, got up from the bed and opened the door. He was wearing loose pajamas and slippers, his hair mussed with sleep. It was the first time she had seen him so unkempt. She had embarrassed herself in front of him so many times, but seeing him like this just once made up for it.
When Huo Cheng opened the door, she was relieved. “Oh, finally. I thought something had happened to you.”
“I was asleep just now.” Huo Cheng looked at her with some surprise. “Why are you here?”
“I came over to see you on behalf of our classmates, and to bring you some local specialties Mr Song wanted to give to you.”
“…… You can come in first.” He stepped away and let Shen Wanying in. She was still holding the milk she brought him. When Huo Cheng saw it, he tried to take it, but she dodged him. “Look at you, you’re still so weak, it’s better for me to carry it.” He didn’t try again, only told her, “Then you can just put it on the floor.”
“I’ll put it on the table.” She took the milk to his desk and leaned it against a wall. “Go back to bed, don’t stay standing.”
“Mm ……” Huo Cheng walked back to the bed, threw the quilt over himself and leaned against the headboard. “Have you had lunch?”
“I had some bread on the way.”
Frowning, he asked, “Do you want something to eat?”
“No, it’s fine.”
He paused, then picked up the phone to call the housekeeper. “Auntie Liu, please send up some food for me.”
“Okay, Young Master, one moment please.”
Shen Wanying felt a bit bad visiting a sick person and getting a free meal off them. She rubbed the tip of her nose. “Are you feeling better?”
He nodded. “Yes, much better.”
She wasn’t about to believe him so easily. “That’s a lie. You told me earlier that it was just a small cold, but it turned out to be serious.”
“It’s not very serious, I just took medicine and I’m a bit sleepy.”
“Then you should rest if you’re sleepy, don’t worry about me.”
“I’m fine,” He told her. “I’m in much better spirits after seeing you.”
She didn’t know what to say. This guy always managed to effortlessly make her blush with his words.
“Oh yes.” She opened her school bag and took out the study materials. “These are the new practice papers we got in class today. They’re based on the midterm exams. Mr Song asked me to bring them to you.”
“Right…….” So the local specialties the teacher had asked her to bring had been practice papers.
“I’ll put them on your desk for you.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to drink the milk?” Shen Wanying poked at the milk. “This kind is quite tasty, I specially chose this expensive one.”
Huo Cheng let out a laugh. “Thank you. You haven’t eaten, you should drink some milk first.”
She did want to drink some, but held back. “That won’t do. I brought this for a sick person, how can I drink it myself?”
Huo Cheng knew those little thoughts of hers very well, so he told her, “You can pass one to me, then.”
“Okay.” Shen Wanying unpacked the crate and took a carton of milk to Huo Cheng. He inserted the straw and handed it back to Shen Wanying. “Drink.”
He had caught her off guard. Her cheeks reddened then, her heart pounding. Feeling as if she needed to cool down, she took the milk and drank it in large gulps. Finally seeing her drink, Huo Cheng felt relieved.
♥
T/N: Once again, thanks to BrightEyes for helping me with this!! Y’all gonna see this line for a while and you can be thankful for her too bc I am s l o w. She’s been a huge help! And now for me yelling about the chapter – oh my gods, poor Huo Cheng. I would probably also come down with something horrible if I was overloaded with so much overwhelming information. It’s cute how Wanying is the one looking after him this time tho, albeit only for a couple of hours. There’s more to come! Cuteness, I mean. And everything else along with it. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see y’all in the next chapter!
P.S. hello I am SO SORRY to those whose comments I missed!! I’ll be around more I PROMISE. And as for advance chapters, which I feel like I haven’t mentioned for about a chapter or so? Do let us know on the Discord~