MNL Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Budding Thoughts

Having said that, Shen Yan immediately stepped forward to place the thermos container down. He picked up the water cup and carefully tested the temperature with the back of his hand before handing it to Xu Jing.

Xu Jing looked at Shen Yan, and asked strangely, “Why are you here now?”

Shen Yan, while taking off the bag from his left shoulder and opening the thermos, said, “Worrying about a certain injured person in the hospital.”

A rich aroma spread through the air. Having not eaten anything for over ten hours, Xu Jing’s stomach embarrassingly growled at that moment.

“…”

Catching the hint of a smile on Shen Yan’s lips, Xu Jing turned his head away, slightly embarrassed.

“Want to try?” Shen Yan sat on a stool nearby, temptingly holding a spoon to Xu Jing’s mouth, and said, “Come on.”

Xu Jing briefly struggled between saving face and appeasing his stomach, ultimately leaning forward.

Scallions and wolfberries floated on the milky white broth. The ribs and lotus roots had been stewed until tender. Xu Jing knew with one taste that it had taken a lot of time and effort.

“You… made this all afternoon?”

Shen Yan gave a faint hum in agreement, then scooped up another spoonful and offered it.

Xu Jing paused. He still wasn’t used to being fed, so he reached out to take the thermos container, “I can do it myself.”

Shen Yan’s gaze lingered on Xu Jing’s hand, and he stated directly, “No.”

“Why?”

Shen Yan didn’t answer, but simply met his gaze. After a moment of stalemate, Xu Jing realized that Shen Yan wasn’t going to give in. Plus, his stomach was terribly empty, so he couldn’t be bothered with further pretense. He withdrew his hand, moved his lips, and signaled for Shen Yan to continue.

Xu Jing had been independent since he was a child. When faced with trouble, he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Qin Xin and Xu Huaiyang. Therefore, many gestures that would seem normal to others were unacceptable to him. To put it bluntly, he was detached and unaccustomed to intimacy.

But now, he actually felt a hint of unprecedented joy and nervousness.

“Shen Yan.”

Shen Yan hummed in response.

“Did you end up in the hospital because of me?”

Shen Yan’s hand clearly paused, and his gaze seemed to deepen. He replied, “Who else would it be for?”

Xu Jing quietly stared at the person in front of him.

The last time Yan Zhe had gotten into trouble, Shen Yan had only helped to take him to the hospital entrance and then left. It was obvious that he didn’t want to go inside, probably because of something in the past. People’s memories are always selective; many details and painful feelings are gradually forgotten or faded, but they still exist. So, even the strongest person would be afraid to step into a place that had left them with a shadow. But now, Shen Yan had actually broken his principles, like a tightly closed door that had been impenetrable for years, but had now quietly left a crack open for him.

Such an exception made Xu Jing feel somewhat flustered.

“Why?”

“Hmm?” Shen Yan’s hand paused in feeding the soup, and he looked up at Xu Jing. Their eyes met for a long moment, and then he suddenly smiled, “Since when have you liked asking ‘why’ so much?”

Xu Jing was taken aback by the question. His confused brain actually started to think about the reason following Shen Yan’s words. Meanwhile, Shen Yan continued his movements in an orderly fashion, first blowing on the spoonful of soup, but also maintaining a measured distance between his lips and the spoon, pausing slightly when he brought it to Xu Jing’s mouth to let him feel the temperature first, and then continuing to extend it inwards when it was right.

The only sound in the ward was the clinking of the spoon against the thermos container, which was quite melodic. Until, after drinking the last mouthful, Xu Jing suddenly grabbed Shen Yan’s wrist in mid-air and asked, “Have you ever been in love before?”

“…”

“What?”

No matter how clever Shen Yan was, he couldn’t have imagined that the person in front of him had been silent for so long only to ask such a question. Xu Jing didn’t get an answer, so he asked again, “Have you?”

Shen Yan was just about to answer, but after hearing that Xu Jing’s tone was a little off, something occurred to him, and he said, “Why are you asking this?”

Then he became thoughtful, “Could it be—”

Xu Jing immediately denied it, “No!”

Shen Yan moved even closer, his voice carrying a warm breath, “But I haven’t said what it is yet.”

Xu Jing felt a little itchy. Regaining his senses, he pushed Shen Yan away with his elbow, his gaze falling on a corner elsewhere, leaving the “feeder” Shen Yan with a cold profile, “If you’re not going to answer, then forget it. I was just asking. You can go.”

Even a dog would wag its tail when you feed it.

Shen Yan was amused by Xu Jing’s reaction, but he didn’t mind. Instead, he placed the thermos container on the table next to him, leaned back, and said, “I have.”

Xu Jing’s heart immediately sank, but his expression remained calm as he gave a faint ‘oh’.

“But it was a little different from others.”

He had actually expected this. That person was probably the girl who had appeared at Shen Yan’s door before. But what did that have to do with him? Xu Jing thought self-deprecatingly, and casually replied, “How different?”

The smile in Shen Yan’s eyes deepened, and he casually uttered two words.

“Gender.”

Xu Jing immediately choked on his own saliva.

The coughing was deafening. The person on the bed was red-faced, as if about to die. Shen Yan hadn’t expected Xu Jing’s reaction to be so strong. After all, anyone who thought about it for a moment would realize it was a joke. He stepped forward, patting Xu Jing’s back while wondering why he was teasing a patient for no reason.

Xu Jing coughed until his chest hurt, but he still managed to digest what he had just heard. He couldn’t figure it out no matter how he thought about it.

After a while, the extremely tragic coughing gradually subsided. Seeing that Xu Jing had recovered a bit, Shen Yan was about to explain when the door was pushed open.

Qin Xin was still pondering while holding two boxes of medicine. When she looked up, she found another person in the ward.

“Xiao Yan?” Qin Xin blinked in surprise. “Why are you here?”

“Auntie,” Shen Yan quickly withdrew his hand from Xu Jing’s back and explained, “I came to see Xu Jing and give him some tutoring on what he learned today.”

Qin Xin was still bothered by yesterday’s events, so she didn’t notice anything amiss at this time. She nodded, and said with emotion, “It’s really lucky for my Xiao Jing to have a friend like you.”

Xu Jing, who had almost choked to death a minute ago: “…”

Qin Xin placed the medicine on the table, then noticed the thermos container there, and smelled the aroma that filled the air.

Qin Xin was a little surprised, “This is?”

“I saw it on the way and bought it.”

Xu Jing, knowing it was a lie, looked at Shen Yan questioningly, but didn’t deny it.

“Oh, Xiao Yan, you really are…”

Qin Xin was so touched that she didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Alright, you two study first. I still have some things to deal with at Qianfang’s place, so I’ll go over there first.” Qin Xin knew what Xu Jing wanted to ask, so she preemptively said before he could open his mouth, “Just focus on getting better. We adults will handle the rest.”

“Wait—”

After speaking, she left the ward, not giving her son any chance to speak.

“Don’t worry,” Shen Yan said as he picked up his bag from the sofa. “The woman isn’t responsible for this.”

Xu Jing didn’t respond.

“Are you worried that the man will continue to harass her?”

Judging from Xu Jing’s reaction after receiving the phone call last night, he knew that Yu Qianfang was very important to Xu Jing.

Xu Jing gave a soft hum in agreement, inadvertently noticing that Shen Yan had a book in his hand.

To be precise, it was an English book.

“…?” The person who had been expressionless just now suddenly widened his eyes, his tone revealing a strong shock, “You don’t actually want to tutor me in English, do you?”

Shen Yan didn’t answer, but simply confirmed his words with his actions.

Watching Shen Yan set up the table on the hospital bed and place the English book in front of him without explanation, Xu Jing only felt that his whole body hurt even more.

“Your book is cleaner than your face,” Shen Yan casually flipped through a few pages, his tone revealing disdain.

Xu Jing leaned forward a bit, and realized that this book was indeed his, making him even more speechless. Actually, he didn’t completely ignore the class. It’s just that he had already memorized the knowledge points that he understood, and he couldn’t even understand the ones he didn’t, let alone write them down.

Shen Yan turned to the vocabulary list and said, “I’ll read it once, and you repeat it three times.”

“Wait a minute.” Seeing that Shen Yan was entering tutoring mode in less than a second, Xu Jing quickly said as if he was being forced onto the rack, “I can study, but let me ask a few questions first.”

Shen Yan frowned, glanced at the clock on the wall, and then turned his head.

“Okay.”

Xu Jing deliberated for a moment and said, “Why did you hit so hard last night?”

He was really curious about this.

Shen Yan and Aunt Fang didn’t know each other at all. Logically, he should have just helped stop the man, but judging from his reaction last night, Shen Yan clearly wanted to kill the man on the spot.

Shen Yan’s fingers on the book twitched.

“Momentary loss of control.”

“Why did you lose control?” Xu Jing asked immediately.

As if remembering something, Shen Yan’s expression became a little cold, and when he spoke again, his voice was much lower.

“Because he reminded me of someone.”

Xu Jing wasn’t unobservant. On the contrary, his ability to read people was stronger than many others. The Shen Yan he knew was an extremely clear-cut person when it came to love and hate. Although he usually seemed not to care about anything, there was a very clear line in Shen Yan’s heart. He liked what he liked, and hated what he hated. In his heart, he couldn’t tolerate any falsehood.

Suddenly, a sentence without any warmth came, and the surrounding air pressure seemed to drop.

“Want to know more?”

Shen Yan’s gaze was fixed on Xu Jing’s face, as if to see through him. And in the silence, those less calm thoughts kept running out. But at this moment, he got an extremely affirmative answer from Xu Jing.

“Yes.”

There weren’t many intact places on his face, making him look pitiful. But when he said this word, his clear and clean eyes shone so brightly that people couldn’t look away.

An unprecedented feeling surged into Shen Yan’s heart. He felt that some kind of pretense he had been deliberately hiding was beginning to show cracks.