KMYB | Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The beds in the hospital were all very small, only long enough for an average-height adult man. At 192 centimeters, Zhou Zeqi was suffering just lying on it.

"No need, you sleep." Zhou Zeqi reached out and grabbed Xi Shui, hauling him right into the middle of the bed.

Xi Shui looked at the drip of medicine falling bit by bit and said softly, "Zhou Zeqi, are you shy?"

?

Zhou Zeqi slowly tightened his grip on Xi Shui's hand. Lifting his eyelids, his dark eyes were sharp as a newly honed blade. "Who's shy?"

Being stared at like that by Zhou Zeqi, Xi Shui couldn't make a sound.

One of his hands had an IV needle in it. The nurse had said it had been hard enough to get it in.

He couldn't move around carelessly.

His other hand was held in Zhou Zeqi's.

Xi Shui struggled a little, and from the hand Zhou Zeqi was holding, one little finger managed to wriggle free.

He hooked up his pinky and pointed it at Zhou Zeqi.

"…"

–

When Xi Shui woke again, it was already broad daylight. Lin Xiaojin beside him was still snoring away, his blanket even having slipped onto the floor.

Their drips were finished. White adhesive dressings were stuck on the backs of their hands, and everyone who had been in the infusion room with them the night before had already left. A new group of faces had replaced them, and when they saw Xi Shui wake up, they all stared at him wide-eyed.

Xi Shui instinctively looked beside his bed. Zhou Zeqi was already gone, he still had a ball game today.

A nurse wheeled a treatment cart in. Seeing that Xi Shui was awake, she lowered her voice and said, "Your friend already paid all your fees for you. You can leave anytime."

"Okay." Xi Shui nodded.

He glanced at Lin Xiaojin and felt they might not be able to leave just yet.

Lying in bed, Xi Shui rubbed at his hollow, starving stomach. So hungry.

The ball game at the gym was still going on.

Sneakers screeched against the floor of the court, and the basketball was in a player's hands. When it was thrown up, it traced a nearly perfect parabola through the air.

For a university tournament, the players were all top students from each school. It was nothing like what Wu Fengyi had imagined, and not as easy as he had claimed, but they couldn't afford to lose. Their school, Beijing Sports, had originally been an old, prestigious university of physical education in the capital. No matter what, they couldn't lose face like this.

Zhou Zeqi had practically not slept all night. He downed an entire bottle of ice water in one go, then crushed the empty bottle and tossed it into the trash can not far away.

Wu Fengyi came up from behind, his mouth split into a huge grin. "Coach says he's going to punish you."

Zhou Zeqi watched the basketball passing between multiple hands, narrowing his eyes slightly. Sweat slid from his temple, then along his smooth jawline, dripping onto the rubber floor.

"Say something," Wu Fengyi continued.

"I left the team without permission. Of course I deserve punishment. What am I supposed to say?" Zhou Zeqi glanced at him, his tone cool and flat.

Wu Fengyi straddled down beside him. "Ten credits docked! Not percentage points, real ten credits!"

Zhou Zeqi picked up another bottle of water and twisted open the cap. "Then I still have the most credits. It's not like I can't afford it."

Wu Fengyi: "…"

The final match didn't end until after six in the evening. Beijing Sports won first place without question. Zhou Zeqi played with no restraint, pressing forward step by step, driving hard and fast. His teammates kept up with his rhythm too, crushing the opponent until they could hardly breathe, with no power to fight back at all.

Zhou Zeqi walked down from the podium, took the medal off his neck, and stuffed it into the coach's arms. "I'm not going to the team dinner."

The coach was a teacher at their sports university. Seeing Zhou Zeqi be so uncooperative for the first time, he asked, "Bad mood these past two days?"

"No." Zhou Zeqi took the water Wu Fengyi tossed over. "I have a boyfriend."

"Then bring your boyfriend along and eat with everyone," the teacher said as he strained onto his toes and hooked an arm around Zhou Zeqi's shoulder, hanging off him like a giant ape. "You also ran off to see your boyfriend last night, didn't you? Don't you know you can't leave the training camp without permission? I'll punish you, make an example of you. Let's see who dares to sneak off in the future."

Zhou Zeqi pried the coach off him. "Who's the chicken?"

The coach said, "You're really not bringing your boyfriend?"

Zhou Zeqi paused. "He's sick these past two days. We'll talk about it when we have time."

After saying that, Zhou Zeqi shot Wu Fengyi a look. Wu Fengyi immediately rushed over, wrapped an arm around the coach, and led him in another direction while saying, "Your polo shirt looks pretty nice, hey, it's still that Tubi Nanbowan one!"

"Get lost, get lost. Stop talking nonsense to me. Don't think I don't know you ran off last night too. I'm not punishing you because you didn't stay away the whole night…"

–

Xi Shui was making congee.

Li Wanzhi had said takeout wasn't good, that the congee from delivery came with thickening agents added, so he had to make it himself.

Xi Shui didn't know how to cook. Following Li Wanzhi's instructions, he bought rice, bought an apron, and bought a pot too. He put his phone on the cutting board and turned on speakerphone.

"The rice is soft already, but there seems to be a bit too much water…" Xi Shui stirred the congee in the pot with a spoon. It was a miserable little handful of rice with most of the pot full of water, so clear you could see the bottom. Even a beggar would curse at the sight of it.

Li Wanzhi said not to worry from the other end. "Let me check the recipe, Xiaoxi, don't worry."

Xi Shui stared at the congee. "I'm not worried." He had only eaten an apple and an egg today, and he had thrown away all the bread in the fridge because he was afraid he'd end up in the hospital again if he ate it.

The doorbell rang.

"Mom, I'll go open the door first. Bye. Just message me on WeChat if you find it." Xi Shui dried his hands, hung up, and ran to open the door.

Zhou Zeqi was carrying a big bag of fruit and vegetables. After Xi Shui opened the door, he walked straight in. Hearing the kitchen hood running, he asked, "You can cook?"

Xi Shui held up the spoon and nodded hard. "Mm-hm, I'm making congee!"

"Do you want to eat together?" Xi Shui invited him warmly.

Then he took Zhou Zeqi to look at the congee he had made.

That pot was just a tiny milk pot for cooking instant noodles, only the size of a palm.

Zhou Zeqi snatched the spoon from Xi Shui's hand and tapped it against the pot. Two crisp sounds rang out. When he scooped it up, there were only a few grains of rice in the spoon.

"Are you feeding chickens?" Zhou Zeqi turned back to look at Xi Shui, and in passing noticed the pink bear apron on him. "Your equipment is pretty complete."

Xi Shui was dragged into the living room, and Zhou Zeqi told him to watch TV.

Xi Shui didn't even know why he had ended up sitting on the sofa watching TV while the kitchen was taken over by Zhou Zeqi. The sound of chopping soon rang out, and it really did sound like a chef at work.

After watching for a while, Xi Shui ran back into the kitchen.

Zhou Zeqi had sweat all over the back of his neck from the heat. Even though the air conditioning in the room was set very low, the kitchen was still like a steamer.

Xi Shui dragged a little stool over and sat against the wall without making a sound.

"What vegetables did you buy?" Xi Shui couldn't hold it in.

Zhou Zeqi heard him. "Why did you run in again?"

Xi Shui rested his face on his hand. "I was afraid you'd be bored."

"Why do you know how to cook? Lin Xiaojin and the others can't cook at all…" Xi Shui looked at the beautifully cut potato shreds on the cutting board, curious.

"Because nobody in my family knows how to cook."

No one in the Zhou family knew how to cook, so they hired chefs. But everyone in the family had different tastes. His parents liked Western food, while Zhou Zeqi and Zhou Zezhi liked Chinese food. So Zhou Zeqi and Zhou Zezhi drew rock-paper-scissors, and whoever lost had to learn to cook.

Zhou Zezhi won, so to this day she only knew how to make instant noodles. Back in China, she cooked instant noodles. Now abroad, she still cooked instant noodles.

After hearing Zhou Zeqi explain, Xi Shui laughed several times. "Then that's so unlucky for you."

"?"

The last soup.

After Zhou Zeqi added the water and waited for the soup to come to a boil, he turned around and looked down at Xi Shui, who was gloating. "I don't think I'm unlucky. If I couldn't cook, then right now you'd be eating that congee so bland even chickens would嫌 it plain."

"That barely counts as rice soup."

Xi Shui wasn't discouraged at all. "You can teach me."

"Why should I teach you?" Zhou Zeqi wiped sweat from the side of his face, washed his hands, and said with a half-smile, "If I teach you, what use would I still have?"

Xi Shui didn't understand the deeper meaning in Zhou Zeqi's words. He shook his head and said very seriously, "If you teach me, I can make it for you to eat."

Zhou Zeqi's teeth itched a little.

He didn't know why Xi Shui could say these things so calmly. Looking at him, Zhou Zeqi felt that the other man might not even really understand what the things he was saying actually meant.

But that was fine.

Since Xi Shui said it, he had to do it.

Zhou Zeqi would be waiting.

Before eating, Xi Shui went to weigh himself.

Maybe because he was sick, maybe because he hadn't eaten much these past two days, Xi Shui looked at the 59kg on the scale and didn't feel very surprised. Unlike before, when losing 0.1 would make him jump up happily.

Xi Shui returned to the dining room, and Zhou Zeqi had already set the dishes on the table.

It was a very simple four-dish, one-soup meal, two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes. One was asparagus with beef, one was minced meat steamed egg custard, the vegetables were baby bok choy and a serving of salad, and the soup was winter melon with sliced meat. Everything was very light, and Xi Shui let out a quiet breath of relief.

Seeing that Xi Shui still hadn't moved, Zhou Zeqi asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Xi Shui took the chopsticks and bowl Zhou Zeqi handed over. "I'm calculating calories."

"Why do you need to calculate calories?"

"I'm afraid of getting fat."

"If you eat normally, plus your exercise load, you won't get fat. Your worry is unnecessary."

Xi Shui scooped a small bowl of soup to let it cool. "But sometimes I'm heavy, and sometimes I'm light."

Zhou Zeqi took a bottle of mineral water from the fridge, as familiar as if he were in his own home. He lightly hooked Xi Shui's chin with a teasing finger and sat down across from him. "What you should be paying attention to is your body shape, not the few catties on the scale. Salt and carbs will both make your weight go up temporarily."

Xi Shui lowered his head, looking dispirited. "I know, but I can't help it."

Xi Shui compared his bowl with Zhou Zeqi's. His was an ordinary small bowl, only half a bowl of rice. Zhou Zeqi had a sea bowl, and the rice was piled up high.

"You eat so much." Xi Shui looked surprised.

"I burn more than I take in. Eat whatever you want."

Xi Shui thought about it. "Oh, right."

"Then can I get more rice?" Xi Shui asked Zhou Zeqi.

"No. Your stomach is too weak. Small, frequent meals suit you better."

Xi Shui wasn't unhappy at all. He thought just having rice to eat was already something to be happy about.

He hadn't eaten a normal meal like this in a long time. His happiness practically spilled out from his brows and eyes, and Xi Shui counted the last few grains of rice as he ate them, reluctant to let a single one go.

After the meal, Xi Shui set down his chopsticks and looked at Zhou Zeqi across from him. "From now on, eat with me every day."

Zhou Zeqi lifted his eyes. "Why?"

"Because eating with you makes me really happy," Xi Shui said bluntly. "Aren't you happy?"

There was a protective glow in Zhou Zeqi's eyes. His voice was slow and low. "Happy."

"Good!"

Xi Shui suddenly stood up. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

"Going to bed this early?" It wasn't even nine yet.

"No." Xi Shui shook his head. His face slowly turned red, and his voice grew very small. "We haven't kissed for two days. Wait for me to come back after I brush my teeth, I want to kiss you."

——————–

Author's note:

Xiaoxi: I'll be right back