Yue Zhishi would never avoid his gaze, and this time was no different. He blinked slowly, his expression relaxed, "I'm not scared. You're not a bad person, how could you lead me astray?"

"Everyone wishes I could be more like you."

Song Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth. He felt the answer was reasonable, something he could have guessed, but for a moment, he was at a loss for words.

"It's cold outside, let's go in."

......

Yue Zhishi had thought Song Yu was just joking, but he really didn't go to class, staying in his room all afternoon without coming out. After dinner, Yue Zhishi did his homework on the coffee table in the living room, but he found it hard to concentrate today. He kept thinking about Song Yu's wrist, so he took out his phone to search Baidu. He originally just searched [what to do for a slightly sore wrist], but as he kept reading, the search results somehow escalated from a soft tissue injury to a comminuted wrist fracture.

Yue Zhishi sat up in a panic, hastily wrapping himself in a thick knitted cardigan. "Um... Auntie Rong, is there any trash to take out? Let me do it for you."

"Why are you being so good?" Lin Rong took a small bag out of the trash can. "Just this."

Yue Zhishi grabbed it and ran off.

Cotton Candy watched him leave from behind the sofa, wagging its tail.

He came running back home in a hurry not long after. When he returned, Cotton Candy greeted him at the entrance. Lin Rong was busy doing yoga and told him she had cut some fruit and left it on his desk. Yue Zhishi acknowledged her, but afraid of being seen, he hid the medicine he had bought in his clothes and scurried upstairs.

Putting down the medicine, he saw the plate of sliced pears and green apples Lin Rong had prepared. Yue Zhishi sat down, eating the fruit while studying the instruction manual.

"Compound pain relief patch... promotes blood circulation and removes blood stasis..."

'He should put one of these on to stop the pain.' Yue Zhishi glanced at the time. Song Yu was probably still doing his homework. It would be too disruptive to go over directly, but what if he went to sleep later?

He thought of a plan that would kill two birds with one stone.

Song Yu was in the middle of a test paper when he heard a knock. He got up to open the door and was surprised to see Yue Zhishi, who was even wearing a backpack.

"Brother Song Yu, can I do my homework with you?" Yue Zhishi asked with a look of anticipation.

"Why?"

"There's a problem I don't know how to do..." Just as he finished speaking, Cotton Candy also toddled over to Yue Zhishi's feet and hugged his calf. He looked up again and asked, "Can I?"

In the end, Song Yu agreed. Yue Zhishi came in, completely satisfied. He saw Orange sitting primly on Song Yu's bed, leisurely playing with a cat teaser ball with its paws, and couldn't help but feel a little envious.

"Get a chair yourself."

Besides study materials and stationery, Yue Zhishi's desk was also covered with many art supplies he had saved up to buy. Song Yu's desk was a size larger than his, but had far fewer things on it, looking exceptionally tidy. While Song Yu got up to get a book from the bookshelf, Yue Zhishi moved a chair from the balcony and placed it in front of the desk, even moving it a little closer on purpose, leaving only a few centimeters between them.

"Brother Song Yu, you really didn't go to class this afternoon."

"Mhm." Song Yu pulled a book from the bookshelf.

Yue Zhishi asked again, "Didn't your teacher look for you?"

"I took sick leave."

"Isn't that lying?" Yue Zhishi said in a small voice.

"Fighting, skipping class, lying." Song Yu turned around, tilting his head with a deadpan expression. "Am I bad enough now?"

Yue Zhishi actually considered this question quite seriously, but another part of his brain was marveling at how nice those glasses looked. He wanted to get a pair too.

Seeing Yue Zhishi spacing out, Song Yu gave up on getting any effective response from him. "Didn't you say there was a problem you didn't know? Which one?" He also sat down, pushing up the glasses on his nose. "I'll give you fifteen minutes, then I'm going to bed."

Yue Zhishi glanced at the desk. "But aren't you still working on your test paper..."

"Only the last question is left."

Having no other choice, Yue Zhishi had to bite the bullet and randomly find a question to ask, afraid that Song Yu would see through his act. Fortunately, Song Yu didn't say anything and took the problem to look at it seriously.

Just as he was feeling uneasy, he suddenly heard Song Yu speak.

"You just went out."

His tone held not a hint of a question, as if he was completely certain.

Yue Zhishi's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

Song Yu didn't look up, still looking at the problem he'd been given. He said very casually, "You smell of the cold."

The scent of winter.

It was a subtle way to put it. Yue Zhishi lowered his head and sniffed his collar, but he couldn't smell anything special. He did, however, immediately catch the faint scent of shower gel on Song Yu. It was very pleasant, the same reassuring scent as his blankets.

But Song Yu didn't give him much time to study the scent and started explaining the problem directly.

The little Pomeranian jumped onto Yue Zhishi's lap, nestled in his arms with its little head peeking out, and listened to the brother explain the problem with him.

After a quick glance at the question, Yue Zhishi realized he probably knew how to solve it. But as he continued to listen, he understood that Song Yu was explaining an alternative solution, one that saved many steps compared to the conventional method taught by the teacher in class. What was originally just an excuse turned into him listening with rapt attention, to the point where he even forgot about delivering the medicine.

"Got it?"

Yue Zhishi hummed in agreement and took back his notebook. Afraid he would forget, he quickly organized the solution and wrote it down. After long-term academic training, the process of solving problems seemed to be engraved in his body. Following his mental inertia, he started on the next question, which was a somewhat complicated proof problem. Yue Zhishi tried to analyze the information given in the question, but he didn't expect that in such a short time, Song Yu had already finished the last question on his test paper.

He took off his glasses, placed them on the desk, and got into bed without a word.

When he lifted the covers, the orange cat seemed to have a premonition and jumped off the bed with a meow. Yue Zhishi also made a questioning sound, his tone tinged with confusion.

"You're done asking questions. Go back and do your homework. I'm going to sleep."

"I-I have another question, wait a second..." Yue Zhishi flipped through his notebook noisily. Song Yu knew he was just making excuses. He reached for the sleep mask on the nightstand and put it on, looking as if he was about to fall asleep immediately.

"Don't go to sleep, Brother." Seeing that he could no longer keep up the pretense, Yue Zhishi picked up the dog and his bulging backpack, ran to Song Yu's bedside, and sat down on the floor with a plop. He unzipped his backpack and dumped out all the large and small medicine boxes inside.

Song Yu frowned and turned over in annoyance. "Aren't you cold? What are you fussing about?" After speaking, he pulled a beige throw pillow from the bed and tossed it at Yue Zhishi.

"I'm not cold." Yue Zhishi deftly placed the pillow on the wooden floor, sat on it cross-legged, and Cotton Candy cozily burrowed into his arms again. "Brother Song Yu, I bought medicine. Let me see your hand."

"No need, I'm fine." Song Yu refused coldly.

"It'll help." Seeing that asking was fruitless, Yue Zhishi got up and half-knelt, carefully lifting a corner of the blanket to find Song Yu's hand. He ended up with Song Yu's palm covering his face. "Go back to sleep."

Yue Zhishi took the opportunity to grab his hand. Afraid of hurting his wrist, he only held the front part of his fingers. After confirming that Song Yu wasn't struggling, he gently held his wrist. "Does it hurt? I'll put a pain relief patch on for you, and it won't hurt anymore."

Song Yu's tone was a little impatient, but he didn't pull his hand away as Yue Zhishi had imagined. "No need to put one on, it's too ugly."

"But this is really useful. I bought the expensive kind. The auntie at the pharmacy said it stops hurting once you put it on." Yue Zhishi looked at his wrist. The bruise on it was more obvious than it had been during the day, and the wrist bone was a little swollen, very similar to the symptoms of a soft tissue injury he read about online.

"I said I don't need it."

Sensing that Song Yu was very resistant to the plaster patch, Yue Zhishi tried to negotiate again, "Then how about this gel? The auntie said this can also relieve bruises and pain..."

"I just want to sleep right now." Song Yu interrupted his sales pitch.

"It's okay, you can sleep." Yue Zhishi even grabbed the cat and placed it in the crook of Song Yu's arm. "I'll put the medicine on for you. I promise I'll be very gentle, you won't feel a thing."

How could he not feel anything?

The sleep mask blocked his vision, but Song Yu silently opened his eyes. A faint bit of light filtered through the fabric, casting a soft, gentle veil before his eyes. Although he couldn't see, he could perfectly picture Yue Zhishi leaning over the side of the bed.

"I'll squeeze a little out first. It might be a bit cold. I've read the instructions, it has menthol in it."

Yue Zhishi had studied it quite thoroughly, reading the instruction manual more seriously than he read test questions. His hands were very warm. The cool gel he spread over the skin of the wrist wasn't unpleasant.

"Rub it in so it absorbs better," he muttered to himself, his voice very soft as if afraid to disturb him. He held his wrist with both hands, gently massaging the sprained area, from the wrist bone lightly up to the palm.

'Writing must be tiring too,' Yue Zhishi thought, so he gave Song Yu a very clumsy hand massage as a bonus.

Song Yu could almost imagine Yue Zhishi's expression. He must be being very careful right now, but also a little proud, feeling like he was a grown-up who could take care of someone.

This made him unable to resist the urge to tease him.

As Yue Zhishi was massaging, he felt Song Yu's hand flinch. He immediately went into panic mode. "Does it hurt? Was I too rough?" He apologized at once, but Song Yu said, "Are you sure this medicine is okay?"

Hearing Song Yu's words, Yue Zhishi got scared and pulled out the instruction manual again. "No way, is it an allergic reaction..." He nervously checked Song Yu's wrist. "Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Does it itch?"

How interesting. The roles seemed to be reversed. The one who had been sickly and disaster-prone since childhood was now the one taking care of someone.

"Aren't there any precautions?" Song Yu asked unhurriedly.

"Precautions? They're written here." Yue Zhishi held the long piece of paper, carefully checking it, and read them out one by one, "Do not use if allergic to this product. Use with caution if you have an allergic constitution. Please keep this product out of the reach of children. Children must use under adult supervision..."

As he was reading, he suddenly heard a soft laugh.

Yue Zhishi looked up in confusion. "What are you laughing at?"

Even though Song Yu was wearing a sleep mask, the curve of his lips was a little obvious. Perhaps because the mask covered his eyes, the brother at this moment seemed a little different from usual.

"So it doesn't say adults must use under children's supervision, huh." Song Yu's tone was light, carrying an imperceptible trace of teasing.

Yue Zhishi took a moment to react, then realized he was being teased and denied it very decisively, "I'm not a child... right?" ending on a rather indecisive note.

He even wanted to search online for the legal definition of a child.

Song Yu pushed the sleep mask up with his other hand, revealing his eyes. "I'm just teasing you."

Yue Zhishi froze for a moment, the rebukes he had prepared about why he was making fun of others all forgotten.

Since he was just teasing him, that meant Brother Song Yu wasn't really feeling unwell. This point was very important to him.

"My hand is much better. Go back to sleep." Song Yu turned off the bedside lamp and turned over. "Help me turn off the light."

Yue Zhishi put all the medicine boxes on the floor back into his backpack, stood up, and while grabbing his homework, placed the pillow his brother had given him on the chair. He moved quietly as he backed out, stood at the door to turn off the light, and was about to close the door when he suddenly saw Cotton Candy still looking at him and wagging its tail. He ran back and scooped it up.

"Thank you."

He suddenly heard Song Yu, who had his back to him, say this.

Yue Zhishi froze for a moment, standing there foolishly for two seconds while holding the dog, as if he were a small, deflated balloon that had suddenly been filled with air.

"You're welcome!"

Just from the sound of his voice, you could tell Yue Zhishi was smiling happily.

The light cast from outside projected the shape of the door onto the wall. As he tiptoed away, that patch of light continuously shrank, getting smaller and smaller, until it finally became a dazzling narrow slit.

"Goodnight, Brother," he heard Yue Zhishi say.

The door closed completely, and Yue Zhishi took the last sliver of light with him.

Goodnight, Song Yu answered in a low voice.