Under Clear Skies Chapter 71: Hold Back (1)

Chapter 71: Hold Back (1)

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

That night, Tang Heng fell into a fever. By midnight, his temperature was close to 39 degrees.

His family doctor just happened to be visiting family in Hunan, so he could only contact other doctors overnight. Tang Heng hadn’t seen Fu Liling lose her cool before outsiders like this in years. She forced down a sob and yelled at the doctor, “You could leave any day! Why did you have to leave today? Okay, don’t explain—I need someone to treat my son! Get someone over here! Right now!”

Jiang Ya sat by the bed and shrunk into himself. “Your mom is going overboard,” he whispered to Tang Heng. “She’s acting like you got a stroke…”

Tang Heng squinted his eyes. He didn’t have the energy to reply.

“Ayi,” Jiang Ya said carefully after Fu Liling hung up and entered the room. “How about we take him to the hospital’s emergency room? Don’t worry. I can carry him over.”

“Thank you, Xiao Jiang.” Fu Liling grasped Tang Heng’s hand tightly. “The hospital isn’t clean. There are germs everywhere. I’m worried that my baby will get worse if he goes to the hospital.”   

“True…” Jiang Ya mumbled. “Plus, he just took some fever medicine.”

The fever medicine in their house had expired long ago. After all, Tang Heng’s last fever had been in middle school. They had borrowed some medicine from the granny next door and Tang Heng had just taken it 15 minutes ago.

It was probably just a common cold. He’d be better after the medicine went into effect.

“Mom,” Tang Heng rasped out. “Go sit down for a while. I’ll be okay.”

“How can I sit down?” Fu Liling dabbed at her tears. “I won’t let you join those competitions again. What kind of mess makes people wear short sleeves in winter?!”

Tang Heng was speechless. Jiang Ya shot him a look that said, Serves you right.

“Xiao Jiang,” Fu Liling suddenly said. “The three of you performed together. How come only my baby wore short sleeves?”

“Ah, uh,” Jiang Ya stammered. “Because… because he’s the singer.”

“The singer has to wear short sleeves?”

“Yeah, the singer is the most important. It’s all for the effect…” Jiang Ya shot Tang Heng another look.

Tang Heng decided to close his eyes.

“Crazy, just crazy,” Fu Liling said softly.

“Yeah, look what it did to Tang Heng!”

Actually, Tang Heng didn’t feel that bad. He found the experience quite interesting, probably because he hadn’t gotten a fever in a long, long time. Fu Liling had wrapped him in three layers of blankets and his skin was burning. He wasn’t cold at all. It was great as long as he wasn’t cold. After all, getting cold rain poured over him in winter was torture.

It was fortunate Fu Liling hadn’t been home when he’d run home. Otherwise, how could he explain why he’d come home in only a t-shirt?

“Honey, do you want water?” Fu Liling asked, bending over.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll go get it for you.”

Fu Liling got up to boil water in the kitchen. Jiang Ya reached over and flipped the towel on Tang Heng’s forehead. He sighed. “You two… Ah, what’s it all about?”

Tang Heng closed his eyes. “He told you guys?” he whispered.

“No, he left. Tian Xiaoqin told us.”

“Oh.”

“You two, seriously—do you have to be this dramatic? Xiaoqin was scared silly.”

“Can you stop mentioning that?”   

“Who?”

“Tian Xiaoqin?”   

“Bro, she doesn’t even know your…” Jiang Ya paused and whispered, “Relationship.”

“You mean I was overreacting?”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t get mad. Don’t get mad. That’s not what I meant.” Jiang Ya quickly grabbed the towel and dabbed at Tang Heng’s sweat as if begging for his forgiveness. “My lord, don’t lose your temper.”

Tang Heng loosely clenched his fingers under the heavy blankets. He didn’t have the strength to form a fist right now, but when he thought back to that scene, his body subconsciously wanted to react—it was an instinctive defense mechanism.

He felt horrible. It was like someone had cracked his skull open and dumped in icy water. Li Yuechi’s expression and tone when he’d said No way had been so cold, so definite. His head panged whenever he remembered that scene.

Jiang Ya took the towel off. He rinsed it in the basin of cool water, folded it, and placed it back onto Tang Heng’s forehead.

“Stop thinking about all that,” Jiang Ya said. “Sleep.”

 

Tang Heng really did fall asleep slowly—perhaps because the fever medicine kicked in. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep. He was just in an uncomfortable daze. His throat felt like he’d swallowed a handful of rust. His nose was completely stuffed up, so he had to breathe with his mouth open; his mouth seemed to burn all the way to his throat. Yet, Wuhan was so cold—it was cold fire.

When he woke up again, he was drenched in sweat, but the blankets were still wrapped around his body. The sky outside the window was gray. He couldn’t tell what time it was.

Fu Liling was sleeping on the sofa beside him. Jiang Ya had already left.

“Mom…” Tang Heng’s voice was scarily hoarse. He sounded like a duck. “What time is it?”

“Oh, you’re awake?” Fu Liling got up with a blanket over herself and touched Tang Heng’s forehead. “It’s past eight.”

“It’s still dark outside.”

“A cloudy day. The weather forecast said it’s going to snow.”

“Oh… I want water.”

“Here, drink slowly.” Fu Liling opened the thermos and lifted the bottle to his lips.

Warm water flowed into his throat and Tang Heng felt much better. His nose was still stuffed up, but his head didn’t hurt anymore, at least.

It didn’t hurt anymore, even when he thought of Li Yuechi.

“How can I let you go abroad when you’re like this?” Fu Liling set down the thermos and heaved a sigh. “Who will bring you to the hospital when you have a fever, who will take care of you, who will give you medicine and water… How can I feel rest assured?”

Tang Heng stayed quiet. He was thinking about something entirely different.

Which was: what was the status of him and Li Yuechi now?

 

He really didn’t have experience with fighting his lover. He’d never even fought with his friends like this! But he didn’t feel like it was just a simple fight. It wasn’t like they were unhappy, vented their feelings out by arguing, and now they could make up naturally—it wasn’t like that.

Li Yuechi had lied to him for Tian Xiaoqin. Of course, he’d also used a lie to test Li Yuechi.

He still didn’t know why Li Yuechi didn’t listen to him sing. Did Tian Xiaoqin need comforting so urgently?

Of course, more importantly, was he still dating Li Yuechi right now?

They wouldn’t… break up just like this, right?

This thought made Tang Heng nervous suddenly—so nervous that he wanted to grab his phone and dial Li Yuechi’s number. Break up? No way. He could not accept it. He’d rather bow down his head and apologize. He’d rather this matter just end without a clear answer, instead of agreeing to a breakup.

Tang Heng climbed out from under his blankets. He was only wearing pajama shorts and goosebumps covered his skin instantly. It was too cold. Tang Heng pulled his phone off from charging and darted back under his blankets.

He had a text from Jiang Ya. It was from half an hour ago, saying he and An Yun would come visit at night.

He had a text from An Yun from around the same time as Jiang Ya. She asked if his temperature was down.

He scrolled up more. There was one from Lin Lang after the competition ended. It was from one a.m., seven hours ago.

She only sent words, but her excitement jumped out of the screen:

You guys are amazing!!! First in your group!!!

Was he excited? If he’d heard this news after the competition had ended last night, he’d probably be really excited. But now, seven hours later, his excitement felt outdated. Tang Heng didn’t feel too happy or surprised.

He tiredly set down his phone. His only thought: Li Yuechi hadn’t contacted him.

No calls, no texts, nothing.

How could he hold back so well?