It Seems There is Light

Hospitalization

Although Shi An was very light but carrying him while running at the fastest speed was still very tiring.

Shi An was in so much pain that his body tried to curl up every now and then, shaking violently and struggling restlessly.

Yan Liang’s physique was bigger and taller than his. He carried him steadily at first, but Shi An was always a boy of his age, and soon he was a bit overwhelmed.

Shi An was in pain and couldn’t help but curl up, Yan Liang swayed slightly because of his movements.

Yan Liang was so scared that his brain went blank, and when Shi An trembled, his brain followed a buzz.

He could barely lift his feet when he ran out of the school, his throat hurt spasmodically with a faint smell of blood.

His feet were so weak that he wanted to kneel in place, but he didn’t dare stop.

Because the person on his back hurt so much, his thin body was trembling constantly, and the hands around his neck were so cold.

Yan Liang’s all senses were almost blocked, only knowing how to run forward.

He ran out of the school gate and suddenly stumbled. His legs were already weak. This trip made him almost fall out with inertia.

He was so tired, his knees were already overwhelmed, and he even wanted to fall straight down for good, at least to rest for a while.

But Shi An was still on his back.

He gritted his teeth and bent his body. Steadily stabilizing his figure and maintaining this posture, he stiffened for a while before he managed to straighten up.

The pause reopened his blocked senses, and he soon felt a wet heat coming from his shoulder.

The warmth continued to spread, blotting out the material of his shoulder, which was soaked through.

Yan Liang slowly opened his eyes. The light signs hanging out on both sides of the street reflected the colorful colors in front of him.

Shi An was crying.

Before, Shi An had been shaking and Yan Liang thought he was in terrible pain, but now he realized that he was actually… crying.

Shi An was probably afraid of being discovered by him, stifling his cries, and even his gasps were swallowed back by him. He was so uncomfortable that he couldn’t breathe, like a child who had suffered a lot of grievances. His chest heaving violently, as if he was going to cry his last breath in the next moment.

In the end, Shi An seemed like he couldn’t hold back any longer, and a soft choke was heard in Yan Liang’s ears.

How could it…hurt like this.

Yan Liang’s heart fluttered violently. He gritted his teeth and continued to run forward desperately.

By the time they got into a cab, both boys were slumped in the back seat.

The driver heard that they were going to the hospital and drove the car faster.

There were few pedestrians in the winter nights in the south, and the car leapt into the night like a wild beast.

Yan Liang had enough rest. He reached out his hand to get Shi An next to him and put the person on his lap.

Shi An tilted his head and couldn’t see his expression clearly. He could only see the eyelashes trembling from the side.

He clenched his hand into a fist and pressed it against his left abdomen very hard. Yan Liang reached out and gently broke his fist away, unbuttoning his school jacket to reveal his thin shirt.

Yan Liang put his warm palm on his left abdomen and rubbed it gently.

Yan Liang did it carefully, and Shi An seemed to be trembling less.

His palm continued to swirl and massage Shi An, his palm constantly transferring heat to Shi An.

Yan Liang remembered Shi An lying on his shoulder crying so hard that he couldn’t breathe, the corner of his heart collapsed violently. He touched Shi An’s face with his other hand.

The cheeks were cold and full of tear stains.

He touched it again, Shi An seemed to have his eyes closed, his long eyelashes hanging down, wet.

Yan Liang sighed softly and wiped his tears away.

Shi An seldom cried, he could hold it in as long as he could, as if trying to swallow back the whimpers and excessive panting.

People were especially vulnerable when they were sick. The few times Shi An actually cried were during sickness. When he was sick and confused, he couldn’t stop whimpering and his tears fell like crushed grapes.

Although Shi An didn’t like letting others see him crying, his crying was especially painful.

In the past, every time Shi An cried, Yan Liang was so distressed that he kept coaxing him as if he were a three-year-old child, but the more Yan Liang coaxed him, the more he cried.

In the end, Yan Liang looked at those red eyes that were soggy because of crying, and he always somehow felt like a beast.

It was already half an hour after Shi An got the infusion.

Yan Liang sat next to the hospital bed, so tired that both legs were trembling slightly, clenching his fist and pounding it for a while.

There was a child in the ward who kept crying and choking, while the family kept coaxing him by the side.

Yan Liang was afraid that they would disturb Shi An, so he jumped on the bed to cover his ears but found that Shi An showed no sign of waking up.

Probably because of suffering from the pain for too long and crying too hard, Shi An almost collapsed and fell asleep completely after receiving the treatment.

A small lamp was turned on by the bed. Yan Liang saw his red eyes clearly and raised his hand to touch Shi An’s eyelids, feeling that his eyes were a bit swollen from crying.

Yan Liang put his palms over his eyes and gently massaged them for a while, and then wiped his face with some warm water.

When Shi An was awake, his face often had a look of rejection. It did not look very approachable.

In fact, he had a small face, soft facial lines, and looked younger than his peers. After closing his eyes, he looked well-behaved and docile, like a small animal resting in a ball. His long, curly eyelashes rising and falling quietly with his breathing, casting a faint shadow under his eyes.

Yan Liang touched his eyelids that didn’t seem to be swollen anymore before he leaned back in his chair and stared somewhere in the void.

Now that it was quiet, he was shocked to realize how scared he had just been.

This near out-of-control panic seemed to have exceeded the maximum limit of what should be done with a friend.

In fact, he was so anxious, and not without reason.

When he was about seven or eight years old, Shi An had fallen ill.

He remembered those days when Shi An had been having high fever for a few days, but he was still in good spirits, so everyone didn’t take it seriously. He even took fever reducers for a few days.

After three or four days, on one particular night, Shi An’s fever suddenly subdued. His forehead felt cold, Jiang Yuan took his temperature and it had actually dropped to thirty-five degrees.

At three o’clock in the morning, Jiang Yuan, who was over 60 years old, carried Shi An, who was unconscious, running outside while crying.

At that time, Yan Liang was half asleep and half awake. He faintly heard the panic on the street. He got up from bed and realized that Qingjiu Alley had been lit up at some point, and he heard someone shouting Shi An’s name.

Yan Liang rushed downstairs and opened the door, just in time to see someone running past him with Shi An in his arms.

For a long time after that, Shi An’s white, slender wrist that was hanging helplessly would often appear in his dreams.

In his dreams, he relived the endless and utter fear over and over again.

He didn’t remember much about that night, but the feeling of cold hands and feet and the heart beating like a drum was still fresh in his mind.

But he didn’t tell Shi An about these things.

From the time he received the phone call from Shen Qiaoqiao, the burning in his heart never stopped.

Especially when listening to the girl on the other end of the phone, sobbing as she said that Shi An had an accident. He was so scared that his hands and feet were cold.

For so many years, he had already considered Shi An as his own family.

Even when the doctor asked him what his relationship with the patient was, he blurted out, “I’m his brother.”

If Shi An had become more than a friend in his heart, then there was an explanation for the almost uncharacteristic anxiety he displayed.

Then it didn’t seem too much that he was too nervous.

The child in the adjacent bed had finally fallen asleep and the air in the ward was quiet again.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but when he turned his head to look at Shi An again, he met the pair of amber eyes directly.

Shi An was awake at some point, looking at him slightly sideways, his moist eyes glowing in the soft light.

The grinding pain was gone, and Shi An felt that he had won the entire world.

He still had a little strength to move. His body was weak, but it was a hundred times more comfortable than the pain that had made him nearly faint.

Shi An looked at Yan Liang’s dark pupils, and the grievance that had just faded back up again.

I’m uncomfortable.

He said to Yan Liang from the bottom of his heart.

Although the pain is gone, it is still very uncomfortable.

The feeling of being cared for by Yan Liang was addictive.

It was sour and soft, sweet and astringent, precious and disappointing.

Shi An struggled to turn over with all his strength, turning his back to Yan Liang and wrapping himself into a small ball under the white quilt, revealing only the top half of his hair.

Yan Liang: “…”

He saw Shi An waking up, but before he could be happy, the person in front of him had rolled over and shrunken into a dumpling.

“…” Yan Liang reached out and patted the top of Shi An’s soft, fluffy hair, “…Xiao An, why do you always dislike me so much? It seems like I’m bullying you every time.”

No matter how sad and uncomfortable Shi An was, he could bear it in front of others, but when he was in front of Yan Liang, he couldn’t bear it.

Yan Liang poked the white dumpling with his finger again: “Turn around, turn around, let me have a look.”

Yan Liang’s low-pitched, granular voice sounded really good. There was a tingling in Shi An’s heart.

Only when he was sick or sad, would Yan Liang call him Xiao An.

When he got well, it was the socialist brotherhood again.

“…” Shi An finally turned back around. He nodded his head before saying in a light voice, “It’s been hard for you.” 1

Yan Liang couldn’t help but puff up his face to hold in his laughter.

Shi An still had his usual cold look, with no ups and downs between his tones.

But now he was lying on the bed, with the quilt wrapped around the tip of his nose, revealing only a pair of soft, watery eyes, and his long eyelashes were like a small fan.

Because he didn’t have the strength to speak, his voice was soft, but he didn’t even know it, so he put on the same expression as before. It was really…really funny.

Yan Liang had seen Shi An looking like this many times before, but he still wanted to laugh.

He coughed and held back his laughter, nodding seriously as he said, “It’s not hard,” he reached out and pulled down the quilt to reveal Shi An’s nose, “Isn’t your head stuffy?”

His tone was too much like coaxing a child. Shi An unconsciously puffed up his face, hooted and rolled over again, curling up into a small dumpling again.

Yan Liang: “…”

“Okay, no more playing around. Let me ask you,” Yan Liang lowered his voice and pretended to be serious, “Have you been eating carelessly these days?”

The dumpling moved and the voice came out in a muffled voice: “No.”

“Tell the truth.” Yan Liang held back the laughter and reached out to rub his hair, “Doctor said that you have been eating irregularly for a long time and have eaten irritating food, so that’s why you hurt like this.”

Yan Liang was afraid that he would press his hand that was infused with fluids, so he forcibly turned the dumpling over: “You lie down properly. If you turn over, your hand will be swollen.”

Shi An, who was sick, seemed to have more emotional ups and downs than usual. He opened his amber eyes and stared at Yan Liang with discontent.

Shi An’s eyes were slightly raised, and this expression appeared on this face, much like a pout.

“What did you eat, en?” Yan Liang came closer to him and slightly narrowed his peach blossom eyes, “Or you didn’t eat properly?”

Shi An was a little guilty; his eyes drifted away from his gaze.

“…I ate spicy food yesterday for lunch… I didn’t know that beef was spicy, but it was very spicy,” Shi An said while turning his head slightly, “But I didn’t want to waste it, so I ate it all. ”

When he said ‘ate it all’, Shi An’s tone was a bit proud.

Yan Liang: “…”

Yan Liang was almost laughing angrily at him: “Why are you always like this… In the future, if you have a girlfriend, I have to check it for you. I have to find someone who can control you, so as to save myself from going to the hospital every day.”

Shi An’s heart thumped, the knuckles gripping the corner of the quilt tightened. He said weakly, “You go back, I’m sleepy and want to sleep.”

He pulled the quilt over his head: “You help me hide it from my grandmother. I lied to her this morning, saying that I was not unwell.”

Yan Liang was both angry and amused. He reached out and pulled the quilt down to reveal Shi An’s head: “Don’t sleep with your head covered, what a bad habit… Okay, you sleep, I’ll watch here, I’ll leave when you fall asleep.”

He leaned back on the back of the chair and watched as Shi An obediently closed his eyes.

Shi An’s lips were still slightly pursed, looking unhappy and seemingly a bit aggrieved.

Yan Liang vaguely felt that the source of Shi An’s emotions was related to him, but couldn’t quite understand why.

He could feel that what he couldn’t understand came from Shi An’s affection, and it was inextricably linked to the intangible thing in his own heart.

The answer was clear, but it was like having a fishbone stuck in the throat.2

辛苦你了- it’s the same as thank you so much ; to say to someone who has completed a task or favor that you asked him or her to do (to express appreciation for the “hard work” he/she did)

very upset and needing to express one’s displeasure