Chapter 03

“Siwei?”

The dream and reality overlapped. Jiang Siwei opened his eyes dazedly. The aftereffects of yesterday’s journey were clearly reflected in the aches and pains and weakness in every part of his body.

“Sister…” He opened his lips and his voice was hoarse.

“You have a fever. I made some congee. You should eat a few bites first, and then take the medicine later.” Lou Jia took off the towel on his forehead. “Can you sit up by yourself?”

Jiang Siwei felt his head heavy, and the movement of nodding seemed to use up all his strength. When he struggled to sit up, he felt dizzy, and his body fell forward.

Lou Jia quickly raised her hand to stop him, and her hot cheeks touched the cool side of his neck.

Jiang Siwei rubbed his head in a daze and with a sense of comfort. Lou Jia was suddenly struck by lightning, from head to toe. She pushed him away with some stiffness in her movements: “Jiang Siwei.”

“… Hmm?“ He mumbled in a daze, his eyelids equally heavy, his long eyelashes lightly raised, his eyes red, clearly a consequence of a high fever, but it made people feel soft for a moment.

”Sit up straight.” Lou Jia held him by the shoulder with one hand and took the towel she had just changed and wiped his face twice with it with the other hand.

Jiang Siwei’s face hurt from being rubbed by her, and he was awake even though he wasn’t sober. He nodded and said in a hoarse voice, “I want to brush my teeth first.”

“Don’t be picky. You can’t even sit still. Don’t fall in the toilet.” Although she said that, Lou Jia still asked him to wait, and went back into the house to get a mouthwash. “Just use it.”

Jiang Siwei tore open the mouthwash and took the cup and basin that Lou Jia handed him. He gargled his mouth and didn’t eat much for breakfast.

“Lie down for a while longer. Take this medicine in half an hour. I’ve written how to take it on the box. I have a class later, so I’ll come back to see you after class.” Lou Jia took away the bowl, basin, cup and everything else. ‘What do you want to eat for lunch? I’ll ask the maid to cook something special for you.’

Jiang Siwei said it was fine, but then thought about it and said, ‘I also want to eat the egg noodles with vegetables from last night.’

Lou Jia looked at him and smiled. ”You haven’t gotten tired of eating it after all these years.”

“I haven’t eaten it in a long time.“ Jiang Siwei also looked at her, ‘I ate it for the first time in years last night. I don’t like it when someone else makes it.’

Lou Jia looked away without any reaction: ‘Okay, I’ll make it for you at noon.’

”If you’re busy, it’s okay. I’m not very hungry either,“ Jiang Siwei said affectionately.

”You have to eat even if you’re busy. I still have the time to make noodles.” Lou Jia didn’t waste any time with him and left with his things.

Jiang Siwei stared at the back of the person until it disappeared from view before he looked away. He picked up the pillbox by the bed, the writing on it was beautiful and familiar.

He raised his hand and rubbed his finger on it, grabbed the pillbox and lay down.

Lou Jia came to the dormitory after class and saw that Jiang Siwei was sleeping soundly, so he didn’t bother him. He went to the cafeteria to cook some noodles before calling him.

When he touched him, he realized that Jiang Siwei’s temperature was still dangerously high.

She was afraid that he would faint from the fever, so she pushed him on the shoulder.

Jiang Siwei fell asleep, forgot to take his medicine, and kicked the quilt when it was hot and cold when it was cold.

Lou Jia called him a few times before he opened his eyes. He was still in a daze, thinking he was in a dream, clutching Lou Jia’s hand. The high fever made him delirious and his emotions were fragile.

His eyes were open, and tears were running down his cheeks. His beautiful, peach-colored eyes were silently streaming tears, which made people feel both soft and sour.

“You’re still the same as when you were a child. You cry whenever you have a fever.” Lou Jia used one hand to wet a towel and gently wiped away his tears, and then chuckled, “You’re still saying you’re grown up.”

Jiang Siwei never said a word, and continued to silently cry.

Lou Jia didn’t wipe his tears anymore, and sat by the bed, not knowing what to think.

After a while, Jiang Siwei stopped crying, and his thoughts slowly returned.

He realized what he had just done, and felt a bit embarrassed. He didn’t know how to face Lou Jia, so he simply closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Lou Jia didn’t notice at first, and when Jiang Siwei rolled over, she realized that he had fallen asleep again. She gently pushed him on the shoulder and said, “Don’t sleep anymore, get up and eat.”

Jiang Siwei pretended to be really asleep, mumbled in a daze, but didn’t open his eyes.

Lou Jia didn’t say anything else, saw the pillbox by the bed, reached out to take it and prepared to take out a few more pills.

She was so angry that she slapped him directly: “Jiang Siwei!”

There is no way to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.

But a slap can.

Jiang Siwei frowned and snorted in pain, rolled over and looked at Lou Jia, still pretending to be just waking up: “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you take your morning medicine?” Lou Jia shook the pillbox in her hand.

“…I fell asleep.” Jiang Siwei propped himself up on the bed with his hands and slowly sat up, “I didn’t mean to skip it. I set an alarm too. I guess I slept too deeply and didn’t hear it.”

Lou Jia was so angry with him that he threw the pill box back on the bed and said, “Get up and eat.”

Jiang Siwei dared not make a sound, even when he was so dizzy that he almost fell over when sitting down, he did not dare to ask for help.

After eating, Jiang Siwei was not sleepy, but the high fever still made him dizzy. He drank some water and then lay back down.

Lou Jia was afraid that Jiang Siwei would forget to take his medicine again, so she simply moved a stool to the bedside and planned to wait until he finished taking his medicine before going back.

The afternoon rain seemed to have gotten heavier, and the sound of it falling on the ground was very clear.

Jiang Siwei stared at the upper bunk bed, where many names were written, three characters, two characters, four characters, crisscrossing in a messy manner.

It was probably the traces left by the previous volunteer teachers.

“How did you come to think of teaching here?“ he suddenly asked.

”I saw it and came here,” Lou Jia’s answer was simple, without any grandiose gimmicks.

She studied languages in college, and after her senior year she continued to study for three years at her university. She just graduated this year, and she didn’t want to take the civil service exam or go abroad. Fortunately, her family had the means to support her, and her parents were open-minded enough.

In the last semester of her graduate studies, Lou Jia saw an advertisement from the school and made two phone calls, one to register and the other to tell her parents about her plans.

After graduation, her classmates went to big factories and famous schools, but she came to the mountains.

“How long did you apply for it?” Jiang Siwei asked again.

“One year.”

“Do you plan to stay here in the future?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.“ Lou Jia is a person who gets by. ‘What about you? Didn’t you say you were going abroad? Why did you come back?’

”It’s too far away.“ Jiang Siwei looked at her, ‘It’s far from you…’

Lou Jia looked into his dark eyes, and the feeling of being scared came back. She unconsciously poked the protrusion on the armrest of the chair with her finger.

”It’s too far from you.” Jiang Siwei said quietly.