Chen Guangda truly was his biological father.

His nephew had a stomach flu, vomiting and having diarrhea, but his own son hadn't caught it. During the day, he had boasted wildly about this, planting one shining flag after another on the ground. If Chen Chao didn't come down with a fever, it would have been a disservice to all the flags his dad had planted for him.

That evening, Chen Chao first felt unwell, with a headache. By bedtime, he started to feel a burning discomfort in his stomach, and couldn't fall asleep no matter how he lay down. He tossed and turned in bed for a long time, unable to suppress the discomfort. He felt chills and then hot flashes. In the end, he sat up and turned on the light.

By this time, everyone downstairs was already asleep, and it was quiet everywhere. His little brother could never get used to the nights in the countryside when he stayed at Grandma Chen's house, finding it too quiet and scary. But Chen Chao adapted very well. In fact, when he first returned to the city, he found it hard to get used to how brightly lit it still was outside past nine at night.

Chen Chao wanted to go downstairs to his little brother's place to get some medicine, but he was too lazy to bother. His muscles ached all over. Chen Chao sat on the edge of the bed, head down, thinking about the few sentences his dad had muttered during the day about his good health, and for a moment, he found it all very ridiculous.

The burning sensation in his stomach was constant, and the urge to vomit rose to his throat. Later, Chen Chao went to the bathroom and threw up, then rinsed his mouth and came back to lie down. He felt a little better than before. He checked his temperature with the back of his hand and felt he didn't have a fever anymore.

He slept for less than half an hour, but never soundly; his stomach was still upset. When the fever returned, Chen Chao found it difficult to breathe while lying down and had to sit up again. Chen Chao's expression was awful, partly from the discomfort and partly from the irritability of not being able to sleep well.

Tossing and turning like that, sleeping for a while then waking up, he struggled through half the night. He went to the bathroom to throw up several times, until there was nothing left to vomit but bile. His esophagus and throat burned from the irritation of the bile. Chen Chao rinsed his mouth over and over. Each time after vomiting, he would feel some relief for a while. All he wanted now was to sleep.

After returning from the bathroom, he turned off the light and was just about to lie down when he heard a soft "clack" sound from outside the window, followed by another one a few seconds later.

Chen Chao glanced toward the window, but he couldn't see anything from his angle.

There was another sound from outside the window. Chen Chao got up, put on his slippers, and walked over to open it.

Across from him, Miao Jiayan was just about to throw another small pebble. Seeing the window pushed open, he stopped his hand.

Struck by the cold wind from outside, Chen Chao's expression grew even worse. With a fever, being hit by a blast of cold wind, he felt a chill that pierced right through him.

"What's wrong, Brother Chao?" Miao Jiayan frowned slightly, looking a little worried, and asked in a hushed voice.

Chen Chao's voice was hoarse from vomiting. He cleared his throat and said, "I caught it from my little brother."

"You have a fever?" Miao Jiayan asked.

"Don't know." Chen Chao wrapped his pajamas tighter around himself. "Probably."

"Did you take any medicine then?" Miao Jiayan was also a little cold, his voice trembling from it.

"Haven't taken any, don't want to go downstairs," Chen Chao said.

Talking like this with the window open, their voices low, seemed to instantly pull them back in time. It imperceptibly dispelled much of the faint awkwardness between them. Under the night sky and in the cold wind, everything felt so familiar.

"I have medicine here. I'll throw it to you, can you catch it?" Miao Jiayan asked.

"Can't catch it, you can't throw it that far." Chen Chao was having trouble standing. He said, "I won't take any. We'll see tomorrow morning."

"That's not good, is it?" Miao Jiayan hesitated, but was also clearly worried. He paused, then asked, "Is the downstairs door locked?"

"What for? You're going to bring it to me?" Chen Chao refused, "Don't come over. It's too cold."

If it had been the Miao Jiayan of the past, he would probably have already been sitting in Chen Chao's room by now.

But tonight, he could only stay in his own room, watching Chen Chao's light turn on and off. He hesitated for a long while before finally getting up to ask at the window.

Chen Chao told him not to come, so Miao Jiayan didn't dare to go.

Chen Chao didn't live here anymore. They hadn't seen each other for a year and a half. Upon meeting again, Miao Jiayan no longer had the standing to casually come and knock on his door.

But after Chen Chao got up and struggled twice more, Miao Jiayan came over after all.

As he reached for the door, Grandpa Chen, standing in his room, asked warily, "Who?"

Miao Jiayan said in a small voice from the window, "It's me, Grandpa Chen. I'm going upstairs to find Brother Chao."

Grandpa Chen said, "Oh, it's Xiao Miao'er. Go on up, the door's unlocked."

Miao Jiayan opened the door and went upstairs lightly and quietly. When he got upstairs, Chen Chao was still in the bathroom, standing by the sink and rinsing his mouth.

Miao Jiayan didn't go over directly. After going upstairs, he first made a sound from a distance, calling out, "Brother Chao."

Chen Chao didn't hear him, so Miao Jiayan moved a little closer and called out again, immediately adding, "It's me, Miao Jiayan, don't be startled."

With his fever, Chen Chao's reactions were a beat slow. He heard the second part of the sentence before he even had a chance to be startled. Chen Chao asked in surprise with his hoarse voice, "You're not asleep yet?"

"No, you should take the medicine... I saw you tossing and turning." Miao Jiayan said softly, holding a thermos and a plastic bag with medicine looped around his wrist.

Miao Jiayan had also caught this strain of viral flu before, having just recovered a few days ago.

He brought a box of fever-reducing medicine and a box of instant powder mix.

He mixed half a cup in the thermos lid. Miao Jiayan said while swirling it, "I don't know if the water is still hot enough, but it should be able to dissolve."

Chen Chao sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a blanket. Wrapped up like that, he looked silly, clearly a sick person, and also quite vulnerable.

Miao Jiayan had thrown a down jacket on over his pajamas and was wearing cotton slippers. He handed over the powder mix he had been swirling for a while. Chen Chao reached a hand out from under the blanket, took it, and drank it.

There were still some undissolved granules at the bottom of the cup. Miao Jiayan poured in a little more water, swirled it, and had him drink it.

"This flu is especially nasty. Don't eat anything you shouldn't for the next few days." Miao Jiayan said to Chen Chao as he screwed the lid back on the thermos. "I'll leave the medicine and water here with you. If you feel unwell, drink some hot water. It'll help."

Chen Chao was drained from the ordeal, his face a sickly pale. He just sat there, his thoughts unknown.

Miao Jiayan watched him finish the medicine and said, "You should get to sleep... I'm heading back."

He turned to leave after saying that, but Chen Chao spoke up, "Stop going back and forth. Just stay here."

"I-I can't..." Miao Jiayan stammered. He looked back but didn't dare to look at Chen Chao. "You should sleep, Brother Chao."

Miao Jiayan really didn't intend to stay long. He opened the door and left. Chen Chao called out but couldn't stop him.

Miao Jiayan was well-practiced at opening and locking the doors between the two courtyards. It was past midnight when he returned to his room, bringing a chill with him. He took off his down jacket and quickly burrowed into his bed. His bed, having been left for so long, was now completely cold. Miao Jiayan wrapped the blanket tightly around himself like a tube, pulling it up to the tip of his nose.

His calves and ankles were ice-cold. Miao Jiayan let out a breath. This winter was really cold.

The next morning, Chen Guangda sauntered into his son's room to wake him up. Seeing that his son's condition wasn't right, Chen Guangda leaned over, stared at Chen Chao's face, and asked, "Son, what's wrong? Why do you look so haggard to Dad?"

Although he knew this had nothing to do with his dad, Chen Chao still didn't feel much like talking to him right now.

"Don't tell me you caught it from your little brother?" Chen Guangda reached out to touch Chen Chao's forehead. "It's fine, no fever."

His hand was ice-cold as he touched his head, so cold that Chen Chao turned his head to avoid it and said, "I'm going to sleep a bit more."

"You really don't seem well. How do you feel?" Chen Guangda plopped down on Chen Chao's bed. "Should Dad get a thermometer to check your temperature in a bit?"

"No need, I took medicine." Chen Chao said with his eyes closed. "Just let me lie here."

"Where'd you get the medicine? Did you get up this morning?" Chen Guangda leaned against his son, not letting him sleep, asking one question after another. "Where'd this big cup come from?"

Chen Chao rolled over to face the wall and mumbled sleepily, "My little brother's."

"I haven't seen him use it," Chen Guangda said.

Chen Chao didn't say anything more and fell asleep again within two minutes.

On New Year's Eve, Miao Jiayan didn't go out to the flower shed. If he went out again today, it would seem like he was deliberately provoking his dad.

He stayed in his room and didn't go downstairs much. Downstairs, the adults and children were celebrating the festival boisterously. Miao Jiayan stayed quietly in his own room, looking across the way from time to time.

He wondered if Chen Chao still had a fever. He had barely slept for the first half of the night.

Miao Jiayan was sitting in his chair, spacing out, when he vaguely heard his Eldest Aunt calling him from downstairs.

"Xiao Yan—" his Eldest Aunt called several times.

Miao Jiayan answered.

"Someone's looking for you, are you coming down?" his Eldest Aunt shouted.

Miao Jiayan didn't know who was looking for him. He went downstairs, and standing on the staircase, he saw it was the younger brother from Chen Chao's uncle's family, saying he was looking for him to hang out.

Miao Jiayan followed him with a bewildered look. The little brother said, "My brother told me to call you over, to have you stay at my place."

The little brother was an extrovert. Before Miao Jiayan could speak, he added on his own, "It's New Year's Eve, who wants to hang out with him? He must be bored."

Chen Chao felt awful. He hadn't eaten anything all morning and wouldn't get up at all. Grandma Chen didn't dare let him eat, afraid he would just throw it up again. Chen Chao had nothing to do but lie there. No one at home bothered him, just letting him sleep.

After bringing Miao Jiayan over, the little brother went off to play games, leaving Miao Jiayan to go upstairs and find Chen Chao by himself.

Miao Jiayan went upstairs. Chen Chao was still asleep. He was probably sleeping uncomfortably, as his expression looked very irritated. Miao Jiayan reached out to check the temperature of his forehead but didn't actually touch him.

"Staying at home waiting for your dad to lose his temper?" Chen Chao said, opening his eyes and seeing Miao Jiayan.

His tone wasn't very good. Miao Jiayan hadn't expected him to be awake. He stood to the side and asked, "Do you still have a fever?"

Chen Chao said, "Don't know."

Only then did Miao Jiayan touch his forehead. The movement was light and cautious. Afterwards, he said, "The fever's gone."

When Chen Chao didn't sleep well, he had little patience. He said to Miao Jiayan, "You just stay here, I'm sleeping. Find something to do yourself."

Miao Jiayan said, "Okay."

Chen Chao closed his eyes to sleep, and Miao Jiayan took the thermos downstairs to fill it with water. When he came back up, Chen Chao seemed to be sound asleep. Miao Jiayan placed the thermos gently on the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.