Fortunately, Lu Yuyao’s fever broke.
Jiang Ling looked at the normal temperature shown on the thermometer and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was her first time taking care of a patient, so she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.
Lu Yuyao seemed to have fallen asleep.
The two were sitting together, and Lu Yuyao’s head had tilted at some point, coming to rest on Jiang Ling’s shoulder.
Her warm breath fanned against Jiang Ling’s neck, making it feel itchy.
Now that she could finally relax, Jiang Ling felt a wave of discomfort.
She carefully checked her phone.
It was already 8:00 PM.
She looked back down at Lu Yuyao, who was leaning against her shoulder with steady breathing.
Finally, after some hesitation, she decided to carry Lu Yuyao back to the bedroom.
Sleeping on the sofa wasn’t ideal; what if she caught another cold?
Jiang Ling moved gently, shifting her posture to lift the girl’s slender legs and back.
She walked upstairs quietly.
In her sleep, Lu Yuyao seemed to be dreaming of something, as she wrapped her arms around Jiang Ling’s neck and let out an occasional soft moan.
Drawing from her previous experience, Jiang Ling laid Lu Yuyao on the bed and tucked her in.
The girl’s hair was damp and matted against her head because she had sweated quite a bit from the fever.
Jiang Ling gently brushed the strands away, then went to get a towel to lightly wipe Lu Yuyao’s face and arms.
She decided to leave the areas covered by clothes alone.
Jiang Ling’s face was also excessively red, as if she were the one with a fever.
Thinking back to the moment she had measured Lu Yuyao’s temperature, her mouth went dry.
After wiping the sweat off the girl, she left the bedroom.
Before leaving, she glanced at Lu Yuyao’s desk.
It was a mess, covered in various items: a computer, a tablet, and a stylus-like device lying there haphazardly.
‘Is Yuyao learning how to draw?’
Lu Yuyao had always been a clean and organized person.
Combined with her distracted behavior during meals over the past few days, Jiang Ling was now certain that something was bothering her.
Jiang Ling sighed, feeling that the matter wasn’t as simple as Lu Yuyao had claimed — that she could handle it herself.
‘I’ll find a time to ask her again.’
Taking care of a patient was physically exhausting, especially carrying Lu Yuyao upstairs.
After that single trip, she was worn out.
It turned out those beautiful girls who looked like they had thin arms and legs were actually quite heavy once you actually picked them up.
Jiang Ling confirmed this fact once again.
She didn’t have much of an appetite, so she just grabbed some snacks to tide her over.
Lu Yuyao loved to hoard snacks.
Although neither of them ate them often, Lu Yuyao would always buy some whenever they went to the supermarket, filling the snack cabinet in the living room to the brim.
She was like a little squirrel preparing for winter.
After taking a shower, Jiang Ling returned to her bedroom.
She dried her hair while plugging in her phone.
She hadn’t noticed earlier, but her phone had died and shut down at some point.
It only powered back on once it started charging.
‘I should buy a better phone once I make money from writing novels.’
This phone was becoming less and less durable.
Even after a full charge, the battery drained quickly, and it wasn’t worth replacing the battery.
The model seemed to be quite old.
Jiang Ling shook her head and smiled.
Her novel had just started, yet she was already fantasizing about what to do after she made money.
After the phone turned on, it lagged for a moment.
Then, a series of messages from Fang Chenxi popped up.
Jiang Ling covered her forehead.
She had forgotten all about her.
Drying her hair and placing the towel on the desk, Jiang Ling opened WeChat.
She saw a plethora of angry emojis from Fang Chenxi.
It wasn’t until she replied that she was busy and would talk later that Fang Chenxi stopped sending them.
Jiang Ling’s mouth twitched.
The dozens of messages were almost all complaining about how she had betrayed their friendship, saying she had secretly joined Ji Qingyan’s club…
Fang Chenxi was throwing a tantrum again.
However, it was just a minor squabble this time.
She understood, as the two girls had a history of conflict.
Jiang Ling was slowly figuring out how to quiet Fang Chenxi down.
She just needed to be cold and ignore her.
Once Fang Chenxi began to wonder if she had gone too far, a few words of comfort would make her behave.
As for betraying their friendship? It wasn’t like she had cut ties with Fang Chenxi, so where did this “betrayal” come from?
After taking the time to reply to a few of Fang Chenxi’s messages, Jiang Ling lay on the bed.
At some point, Boss Xi had also sent her a message.
She clicked it and found a photo of a landscape.
The place in the photo was very familiar to Jiang Ling.
Behind the teaching building of Tianhua Middle School, there was a patch of grass — or rather, a garden.
However, only a few wildflowers grew sparsely on the grass.
The most iconic feature was a fountain-like structure in the center.
Jiang Ling recognized it at a glance.
Jiang Ling instinctively thought Boss Xi was stalking her, but then she slapped her forehead.
She had almost forgotten that Boss Xi was also a student at Tianhua Middle School.
Jiang Ling sat bolt upright, blaming herself for only just remembering such an important detail.
If Boss Xi was also from Tianhua Middle School, wasn’t there a high chance she might be exposed?
But after thinking it over, Jiang Ling realized she had never revealed any personal information in their chats.
Even if they were in the same high school, the probability of Boss Xi recognizing her was extremely low.
Jiang Ling felt relieved once more.
After thinking for a moment, she chatted with Boss Xi for a while, asking caring questions like how she liked the new high school.
Boss Xi replied quickly, and Jiang Ling felt that she was being more talkative than before.
**[The new high school is great. I don’t have any trouble adjusting.]**
There was also an emoji attached.
Previously, Boss Xi only replied with a few words, but this time, she actually used an emoji.
Jiang Ling felt quite gratified.
After all, she was still just a child…
Thinking about how Boss Xi was just a high schooler while she herself had been calling her “Sister” all day, she wanted to die even more.
After chatting for a bit, Jiang Ling learned more about Boss Xi.
Her family was originally local to Lotus City, but they had moved elsewhere for certain reasons.
It wasn’t until she started high school that she convinced her family to let her return to Lotus City for her studies.
‘This sounds so familiar.’
Jiang Ling frowned, feeling as though she had heard this story somewhere before.
However, she didn’t dwell on it and sent a praising emoji.
Doing something like that as a high schooler certainly required a lot of courage.
But from the sound of it, Boss Xi’s family was definitely wealthy and influential.
Work time was over.
After ending her chat with Boss Xi, Jiang Ling closed her eyes and leaned against the headboard, fantasizing about the wonderful days ahead when she would make a lot of money.
She felt like she could write a few more words now.
***
The next morning, Jiang Ling made a point to wake up earlier than usual.
She planned to check on Lu Yuyao first, although she had observed her condition before going to sleep and figured there shouldn’t be any problems.
Perhaps because she had just woken up, Jiang Ling didn’t knock.
She pushed the door open and walked right in.
Then, her squinting eyes flew wide, her pupils trembling.
The good news: Lu Yuyao was fine and didn’t look like she had a fever.
The bad news: Lu Yuyao was wearing nothing but her underwear as she stood in front of the mirror, preparing to change.
The girl’s snow-white body looked even more fair, smooth, and radiant under the morning sunlight.
Jiang Ling couldn’t pull her gaze away.
However, she looked away a second later because Lu Yuyao’s school uniform came flying at her, landing right on her face.
It carried the girl’s fresh scent and a faint smell of laundry detergent.
Lu Yuyao’s face was flushed red, but it was certainly not from being sick.
“You’re still looking!”