Ji Ruan had caught a cold.
The moment he opened his eyes in the morning, he knew something was wrong. The top of the mosquito net was spinning even worse than when he had low blood sugar. Ji Ruan closed his eyes to steady himself, but when he opened them again, it didn’t help much. His head was dizzy, and his temples throbbed with pain.
He sucked on a piece of candy and struggled to sit up, leaning against the wall for a while. The dizziness subsided a little, and he slowly got out of bed.
Because of the dizziness, Ji Ruan was careful with every step, but he still missed one, nearly slipping. He clutched the stair railing tightly, his heart racing in panic. Surprisingly, that moment of fright cleared his head a bit.
Han Xiaolin had just gotten up and could already hear Ji Ruan coughing continuously. It was a dry, intermittent cough, sometimes so bad that Ji Ruan had to bend over and support himself on the table.
“Ji Ruan, are you okay?” Han Xiaolin came out of the bathroom, toothpaste foam all over his mouth.
Ji Ruan waved his hand. He had just eaten a throat lozenge and drank a lot of hot water, so his throat finally felt a bit better. Slowly, he said, "Go brush your teeth. You’ve got foam all over your clothes..."
Han Xiaolin looked down and saw a blob of white foam on his black T-shirt. Screaming, he rushed back to the bathroom.
Ji Ruan watched his flustered retreating figure, shook his head with a smile, and picked up his phone to scroll through casually.
President Gu had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. again and sent a message at 5:35 a.m.: [How are you feeling?]
Ji Ruan glanced at the time. It was now 7:00 a.m. Gu Xiuyi had probably just finished his workout and was in the shower. Taking his time, Ji Ruan replied:
[Caught a cold. Are you okay?]
The reply came almost instantly: [I didn’t get caught in the rain yesterday.]
Even if he had, with Gu Xiuyi’s strong constitution, he wouldn’t have caught a cold. He said this only to avoid making the young man feel bad.
Gu Xiuyi, drying his hair with one hand, typed with the other. His wet face looked even more striking, and as a drop of water fell from the tip of his hair onto the screen, his thumb swiped it away instantly:
[I’ll have Xiao Ya bring you some medicine later. Which entrance would be most convenient for you?]
Ji Ruan had to go to the library to choose his courses later, so he thought for a moment before replying: [The main gate. I’ll be at the library around eight.]
[Got it.]
Ji Ruan turned off his phone. He had already finished freshening up and was now leaning against the wall, resting his head, waiting for Han Xiaolin to finish so they could go grab breakfast.
Han Xiaolin dashed out of the bathroom after hurriedly cleaning up, then rushed to change clothes before grabbing his bag and heading over to Ji Ruan. "You doing alright? Do you need to ask for leave?"
Ji Ruan covered his mouth and coughed twice, then smiled. "It's just a cold. Choosing courses is more important—it affects the whole semester."
“That’s true…” Han Xiaolin looked at Ji Ruan’s face and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. “But do you know how awful you look right now?”
Hearing this, Ji Ruan opened his phone’s front camera and took a glance. He did look pretty bad—his lips were pale, and his eyes were dull, like he could faint at any moment.
Ji Ruan couldn’t help but laugh at his own reflection and put on a mask. "It just look scary when I’m sick, but it’s nothing serious. Let’s go, I’m hungry."
Han Xiaolin was still doubtful but couldn’t argue, so he went with Ji Ruan to the cafeteria.
They both ordered a basket of soup dumplings, but despite complaining about how hungry he was, Ji Ruan only ate one. After that, he just rubbed his temples and half-heartedly sipped his soy milk.
A cold really does kill your appetite, and Ji Ruan was experiencing it firsthand. The soup dumplings from the second cafeteria were famous, with students from neighboring universities often asking their Peking University friends to buy them some.
On a good day, Ji Ruan could eat four for breakfast, but today, after managing just one, he couldn’t stomach any more. His stomach felt a bit sour, though the hot soy milk made him feel better.
Han Xiaolin had a class first thing in the morning, so they had to part ways after leaving the cafeteria. It was drizzling outside, and as he held up his umbrella, he kept glancing back at Ji Ruan. “You’re really okay?”
“If you’re feeling bad, go to the campus clinic!”
“Walk slower… No, wait, actually hurry up. Course selection is important too…”
Ji Ruan couldn’t help but laugh at his fussing. Knowing that if he stayed any longer, Han Xiaolin would be late, he waved his hand and turned to leave first.
The weather had entered that strange period between summer and autumn, where it was cold when it rained and hot when it didn’t. As the fine drizzle fell, Ji Ruan, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, still felt a bit chilly.
After the rain last night, the tree-lined path was covered with fallen sycamore leaves, which clung damply to the ground. The air was thick with the slightly unpleasant smell of decaying leaves, a scent that lingered in the humid atmosphere.
The wind made Ji Ruan’s headache worse, and his stomach wasn’t feeling great either. He pressed down on his mask and quickened his pace.
By the time he reached the main gate, Xiao Ya was already waiting outside. When she saw him, she waved brightly.
Ji Ruan approached, put away his umbrella, and smiled at her through the card scanner at the entrance. "Sister Xiao Ya."
"Hey, Xiao Ruan, are you feeling okay?" Xiao Ya, dressed in an elegant suit, handed him a small bag of medicine. "The boss wanted to deliver the medicine to you himself, but the company is quite busy today, so he sent me instead."
Ji Ruan took the bag with a smile, then coughed twice, wincing as his throat stung. "Thank you, Sister Xiao Ya. If the company is busy, you should hurry back. Don’t let this interfere with your work."
"Oh, this is nothing, it won’t interfere at all." Xiao Ya wanted to take a closer look at Ji Ruan’s complexion, but most of his face was hidden behind the mask. All she could see from his eyes and brows was a faint weariness.
"By the way," Xiao Ya added, following Gu Xiuyi's instructions, "the boss said to take these pills three times a day after meals. If you don't feel better by the end of the day, give him a call, and he’ll come pick you up and take you home."
"Home?" Ji Ruan was looking through the bag of medicine when he heard this and raised his head.
"Yeah," Xiao Ya smiled. "It's Thursday today, and the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday starts over the weekend. The boss said if you're still unwell tomorrow, just take the day off. That way, you can rest for four days straight."
Ji Ruan felt that taking four days off for a minor cold was a bit excessive, but he did need to go home for Mid-Autumn Festival. Aunt Zhao had already mentioned several times over the phone how much she missed him.
He only had a morning class tomorrow, and his original plan was to head back to the villa right after class to catch Aunt Zhao's lunch.
Thinking of this, Ji Ruan didn’t argue and simply smiled. "Got it. Thank you, Sister Xiao Ya. Please thank President Gu for me as well."
"Will do, will do," Xiao Ya glanced at her watch. "Oh, I really have to go now. Take care of yourself, Xiao Ruan."
"Mm," Ji Ruan waved. "Bye, Sister Xiao Ya."
The campus library was just a short distance from the main gate, and it had just opened at 8 o’clock. Now that it was a little after 8, the line at the entrance was steadily moving forward.
When Ji Ruan arrived, he caught the tail end of the rush. After scanning his campus card to enter, he tried to put the card back into his bag, but someone bumped into him, causing the card to fall to the ground.
As he bent down to pick it up, a sharp ringing suddenly echoed in his right ear. Instinctively, he reached out to steady himself on the nearby railing, and his vision went dark for a couple of seconds.
Thankfully, the dizziness and ringing passed quickly—likely just a side effect of his cold.
Once his vision cleared, he saw someone else had picked up his fallen campus card. Ji Ruan looked up and stood upright at the same time as the person who was handling it back.
"Hey, your card." The person in front of Ji Ruan was a tall, handsome guy.
"Thank you." Ji Ruan reached out to take it, but the card didn’t budge—the guy wasn’t letting go.
“?” Ji Ruan frowned in confusion.
The crowd from the library's opening rush had dispersed, and only a few students were passing by now.
The guy holding the card looked at Ji Ruan for a moment before finally letting go. “Are you Ji Ruan?”
Ji Ruan paused, then slipped the card into his bag. “Do you know me?”
The guy smiled. “Of course, you’re pretty famous.”
Not really wanting to be a campus celebrity, Ji Ruan shifted his gaze. “Is that so…”
The guy didn’t seem to notice Ji Ruan’s reluctance and extended his hand with a smile. “Hi, I’m Bai Ange.”
The name sounded familiar. Ji Ruan's eyelashes fluttered as he suddenly remembered the conversation his roommates had at the hotpot restaurant. The current campus heartthrob at their university was supposedly named Bai Ange.
Ji Ruan glanced up at the person in front of him. He was tall and undeniably handsome, matching the description of the rumored campus heartthrob.
Noticing Ji Ruan’s hesitation, Bai Ange grinned and said, “So, you’ve heard of me too, huh?”
The cold air from the library’s AC was making Ji Ruan’s headache worse. His smile faded slightly as he politely responded, “You’re quite well-known.”
Bai Ange’s eyebrows relaxed, and he waved his phone playfully. “So, can one famous person befriend another? I have a feeling we’d get along really well.”
Ji Ruan wasn’t interested.
Bai Ange’s deep-set eyes, with their dark irises, were different from Gu Xiuyi’s usual indifferent gaze. Bai Ange stared with intense focus, his direct and unyielding gaze giving off an oppressive feeling that didn’t allow the other person any room to breathe. Despite his approachable, senior-like appearance, his eyes conveyed a strange sense of dissonance. Ji Ruan found the way Bai Ange looked at him uncomfortable, a feeling that stirred an instinctive aversion.
“Sorry,” Ji Ruan took half a step back and used the hand with the ring to adjust his hair. “My husband doesn’t really like it when I get along too well with others.”
Bai Ange fell silent for a moment, his gaze lingering on the ring. He stood there, wordlessly observing Ji Ruan.
The person in front of him had light, long eyebrows, lacking the sharp peaks typically seen in other guys. Instead, they resembled a soft crescent moon. However, his expression was rather listless, and he appeared somewhat unwell, with a slight redness around his eyes.
Bai Ange smiled. “You look even better than the rumors say, and your personality is more interesting too.”
Ji Ruan pulled the corners of his mouth into a faint smile, not bothering to question how Bai Ange could tell he was better looking than the rumors, considering he was wearing a mask.
Since their conversation began, Bai Ange hadn’t diverted his attention to anything else around them. Ji Ruan wasn’t sure if this was just his way of interacting with people or if he was behaving this way only toward him.
A sudden twinge of pain shot through the nerves behind Ji Ruan’s ear, intensifying his headache. He frowned slightly in discomfort.
"Ange," a female voice called out from not far away, "why are you still here?"
Ji Ruan followed the voice and saw a girl with long, flowing hair, wearing a modified light purple qipao. She had an elegant aura—it was Cheng Zizhang.
Ji Ruan subtly let out a breath of relief and smiled, his eyes curving. "Senior Sister Zizhang."
Cheng Zizhang was his direct upperclassman. They had met during orientation, and since they often had classes in the same building, they’d run into each other frequently and become friendly enough to greet each other in passing.
Cheng Zizhang seemed a bit surprised to see him as well. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled. "Xiao Ruan, you’re here too?"
She nudged Bai Ange's elbow playfully. "You two know each other?"
Before Bai Ange could answer, Ji Ruan quickly responded, "My campus card fell just now, and this senior kindly helped me pick it up."
Cheng Zizhang didn’t seem too concerned, having just casually asked the question. Suddenly remembering something, she turned to Ji Ruan and said, "By the way, Xiao Ruan, isn’t today your course selection day?"
Ji Ruan nodded.
"Then you’d better hurry," Cheng Zizhang gestured upstairs. "I just came from there, and almost all the computers are taken."
"Really?" Ji Ruan adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag and waved to Cheng Zizhang. "In that case, I’ll head up now. See you later, Senior Sister."
Finally free from Bai Ange, Ji Ruan hurried up the stairs to the second floor. Just as Cheng Zizhang had said, the room was packed, with almost no empty computers in sight.
After waiting in line for a while, Ji Ruan managed to grab one of the leftover elective courses that wasn’t too demanding.
Because of the time he had lost talking to Bai Ange, Ji Ruan was almost late for class. He had to run a bit before finally making it to the classroom.
Luckily, this was a cross-disciplinary public course, and the massive lecture hall was packed with students. The professor at the front didn’t seem to pay much attention to what was going on in the back rows.
Han Xiaolin had saved him a seat in the last row. Ji Ruan carefully bent over and sat down, letting out a long sigh of relief.
“What took you so long? How does it take that long to choose a course?” Han Xiaolin asked, casually playing on his phone, which was openly placed on the desk.
"Don’t even ask," Ji Ruan wiped the sweat from his brow. "Did they call roll yet?"
Even though the temperature wasn't high, Ji Ruan was sweating. The blast of air from the air conditioner behind him gave him goosebumps.
Han Xiaolin handed him a tissue. "Yeah, they did. I answered for you."
"Thanks." Ji Ruan took off his mask and weakly wiped the sweat with the tissue.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Han Xiaolin leaned in and whispered, "You look worse than you did this morning."
"I'm fine."
Ji Ruan rummaged through his bag, pulled out a thermos, and discreetly took some medicine, bending slightly to avoid the teacher's gaze. Gu Xiuyi had given him some common cold medicine, but Ji Ruan wasn’t sure if it would help.
"I just ran into Bai Ange at the library," Ji Ruan said, starting to cough.
"Bai Ange?!" Han Xiaolin patted Ji Ruan's back and widened his eyes. "Does he know you? What did you guys talk about?"
Ji Ruan took another sip of hot water and slumped over the desk. "He said he wanted to be friends with me."
"Whoa!" Han Xiaolin clutched his chest in shock. "Isn't that just hitting on you? So, he really is into guys?"
Ji Ruan tugged at the corners of his lips. "Who knows."
The phrase "be friends" was pretty clever. Why assume that just because two guys want to be friends, one of them must be into men?
Ji Ruan didn’t care about other people’s sexual orientation. It was just that his first impression of Bai Ange wasn't great, and he didn’t want any further interaction.
Han Xiaolin slumped down onto the desk alongside him. "So, did you guys add each other as friends?"
Ji Ruan shook his head. "I told him that Gu Xiuyi doesn't like me making new friends."
Han Xiaolin immediately burst out laughing. "Classic you."
Ji Ruan smiled faintly too, then half-closed his eyes without saying another word.
The air conditioner behind him had dried off his sweat but also made his headache worse. After lying down for a while, Ji Ruan started coughing intermittently.
Eventually, his body began to feel cold, but his ears were burning, and he was getting increasingly dizzy, with bouts of ringing in his ears.
Ji Ruan silently sensed something was wrong. He touched his forehead but felt too numb to tell.
He tapped Han Xiaolin’s arm.
Han Xiaolin turned around. "What's up?"
When Ji Ruan spoke, his voice was weak, as if he couldn’t muster the energy. "Do you think I have a fever?"
Han Xiaolin immediately reached out, his expression turning serious. "You're burning up, and it's not mild either."
Ji Ruan closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
"I told you something was off, but you didn’t believe me." Han Xiaolin sounded a bit anxious. "What now? Should we go to the infirmary?"
Ji Ruan glanced at his phone—there were still thirty minutes left before class ended. "Right now?"