Chapter 186 184. Sick Su Peng
The apartment was in a rather secluded location. By the time An Han came back, twenty minutes had already passed.
She bought a set meal that cost a little over twenty yuan. Considering that Su Peng was sick, she also bought an extra stewed soup, bringing the total to thirty yuan.
“So expensive…”
On campus, a dinner like this would’ve cost just over twenty.
After going up and down the stairs so many times, An Han was already breathing heavily.
Come to think of it, Su Peng looked quite sturdy and healthy, yet he had ended up with the flu. Meanwhile, she herself was skinny, but it had been so long since she last got sick that she couldn’t even remember when it was.
When she reached the door to Su Peng’s room, An Han stopped, suddenly feeling that she was being a bit too attentive.
Deliver the food and then go back to her room to rest?
After steadying her chest, which was rising and falling from the exertion, An Han pushed open the half-closed door, poked her head inside, and saw Su Peng leaning against the headboard with his eyes closed.
“Time to eat.”
“Mm.”
Judging by his appearance, he didn’t look sick at all, which made An Han strongly suspect that he might be deliberately acting pitiful to gain her sympathy.
She left the dripping umbrella outside, walked in, and placed the dinner on the computer desk.
Su Peng dragged his weak body over and sat down at the desk. He opened the food packaging, but just as he picked up his chopsticks, he saw An Han half-crouching beside him, her bright eyes fixed intently on him.
“What is it?” he chuckled. “You didn’t eat dinner either?”
“I ate on the way back.”
An Han leaned in closer, her small face tense, her tone serious. “I suspect you’re lying to me.”
“Lying about what?”
He always looked gentle on the outside, but he was actually scheming—she had to stay on guard!
She reached out and pressed the back of her hand against Su Peng’s forehead. The next second, she pulled it back abruptly, shocked. “So hot! What’s your temperature?”
“38.5?”
“That’s a high fever! Why aren’t you hospitalized?”
“Usually it’s only hospitalization above 39. I’m in good shape, I’ll be fine.” As Su Peng spoke, he coughed hard a few times, then continued explaining, “I went to the hospital this afternoon. The doctor said to take medicine for two days and see how it goes.”
An Han actually couldn’t tell how sick Su Peng was. At most, he just looked tired—but for a college student, that kind of fatigue was probably from staying up late.
“Mm… then I should go, right? It’s contagious~”
She stood up as if to leave, but when she reached the door, she turned back and asked, “Why didn’t you stay in the dorm? Let your roommates take care of you?”
“Didn’t want to infect them.”
“And you’re not afraid of infecting me…”
“How would I know you’d come looking for me?”
Fair enough. After all, when Su Peng had taken the initiative to find her these past few days, she’d acted impatient every time.
Even though they attended classes in the same classroom, they actually didn’t interact that much. From Monday to Wednesday, Su Peng had been fairly enthusiastic, but in the past two days, because of his illness, he hadn’t even appeared in front of An Han.
After filling the kettle and placing it on the base to boil, An Han sat down on the bed and watched Su Peng eat in big mouthfuls.
This meeting with Su Peng seemed more pleasant than when they usually spent time together.
That inexplicable urge to perform, that constant desire to chatter—it was almost like the saying “a brief separation makes the reunion sweeter.”
She stared blankly at Su Peng’s profile as he ate, but after only a few bites, he set his chopsticks down and turned to her. “Why didn’t you buy a scarf or earmuffs? Your face is frozen red.”
“It’s not that cold yet. Wearing those feels weird, and I’m too lazy to buy them,” An Han explained. “Besides, it’s mainly because it rained today and the temperature dropped a lot. Normally it’s fine.”
She lowered her head to look at her hands and continued unconsciously, “Food outside the school is so expensive. Your dinner alone cost thirty. Usually you should try ordering from places on campus, but they don’t deliver upstairs—you always have to go down to pick it up.”
“My hair’s gotten a bit too long lately. The counselor said my hairstyle looks kind of messy. I’m wondering if I should cut it shorter… Long Xing likes short-haired girls. He says girls who look a bit cool are cuter…”
Su Peng caught her meaning and smiled gently. “I like both. Long hair or short hair is fine.”
“Who asked you?” An Han shot him a look. “Hurry up and finish your food. The water’s ready too. I’m going back to shower and play games.”
“I can’t eat anymore.”
“Why can’t you eat? I ran downstairs in the rain to buy it for you, okay?”
She stood up and paced back and forth in the room, complaining, “You have no idea—someone added me out of nowhere the other day and even confessed to me.”
“It was obviously copied from the internet. So cheesy and disgusting.”
“If I ever find out who that person is, I’m dragging Long-ge along to beat him up!”
“Remember to bring me along,” Su Peng said with a smile, rarely interrupting.
An Han suddenly turned to look at him. “It wasn’t your alt account, was it?”
“No.”
“That’s good then… anyway, I scolded that person pretty badly.” An Han muttered as she walked toward the door. “I’m leaving now. Call me if you need anything.”
“Alright.”
Just as she pushed the door open, An Han turned back and reminded him, “You’re sick, so you need to eat properly. Finish your meal.”
“Got it.”
“Your blanket’s too thin. I’ll bring my thick one over later. Cover yourself well at night and sweat it out—it’ll be better, but it might smell a bit like mothballs.”
Su Peng felt like An Han had turned into a chatterbox and nodded with a wry smile.
An Han trotted out of the room, and before long returned carrying her thick blanket. She opened the transparent plastic packaging and spread the blanket directly over Su Peng’s bed.
“Alright, I’m really leaving this time.”
Watching her push the door shut behind her, Su Peng coughed hard a few times, his voice hoarse and dull. His waist bent unconsciously, as if he were about to cough his lungs out.
He coughed for a full half minute before spitting out the phlegm in his mouth. Rubbing his nose, he forced himself up, cleaned up the dinner he hadn’t even finished halfway, took his medicine, and collapsed tiredly onto the bed.
Not long after lying down, the dizziness brought on by the high fever flooded his body, making him overwhelmingly sleepy. But the intermittent coughing made him jerk up on the bed like a shrimp, his chest aching from the frequent fits, leaving him completely unable to fall asleep.
Meanwhile, An Han sat on the bed in the neighboring room, listening to the sounds coming through the thin wall, her worry growing by the second.
Did I seriously get infected just by staying with Su Peng for over ten minutes?!
The flu can’t be that contagious, right?
Someone with as good a constitution as Su Peng is half-dead from it—if I get infected, won’t I be even worse?
Next time I go into Su Peng’s room, I have to wear a mask…
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