10.3 – Wen Ruoyi, let's break up
translator: xiin
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
When Xue Ling got up the next day, he felt a little dizzy. The system told him that he had been crying for a long time last night, tiring out his body too much and causing him to collapse with a fever. Xue Ling could only spurn this body for a while before helplessly getting up to find some medicine.
Then he went through the house and found that all the medicine he had was expired.
Xue Ling felt wronged and pouted. He had originally planned to have the system just cure him, but the system notified him that Wen Ruoyi was actually waiting outside his door.
He seemed to have come by in the middle of the night, but because he didn’t want to disturb Xue Ling, he never knocked on the door.
Xue Ling changed his clothes, gathered up his wallet, and prepared to go out and buy medicine.
This was such a good opportunity to stimulate the man by acting pitiful while sick. How could he give it up?~
Wen Ruoyi also didn't know what he was doing. He knew that he was acting abnormally - getting up in the middle of the night to turn on the computer, and then tossing and turning after listening to Ning Simu's song. He finally gave up on sleeping and ran over to Ning Simu's apartment door in the middle of the night. When he arrived, he was worried that he would disturb the other party at such an hour, and ended up standing at the door the whole time…
In the morning, the aunt who lived in the apartment opposite gave him strange glances when she went out to buy groceries…
Just when Wen Ruoyi was determined to knock on the door, the door opened with a creak.
The teenager wore a mask, and his hair was a little messy, looking like he had just woken up. When he opened the door and found someone there, he looked up, and that pair of fox eyes widened a little, the corners slightly uptilted. It was unknown if it was because he had only just woken up, but his eyes seemed lined in red. Half of his face was hidden, but it did not prevent Wen Ruoyi's heart from beating wildly in his chest at this moment.
Seeing him, the teenager frowned. Although he could only see half his face, Wen Ruoyi could still sense the avoidance and disdain emanating from him.
Was he angry because he had ignored the matter of him being hated on? Wen Ruoyi thought so subconsciously, and opened his mouth to say, "Twilight, where are you going?" He had always called him Simu before, but for some reason, he wanted to be a little closer to him and chose to use a nickname instead.
Who would've thought that calling him that way would not win him a smile? Ning Simu only reached out to push Wen Ruoyi aside, slammed the door behind him, and headed out.
Wen Ruoyi was somewhat surprised, and wondered what happened to cause his temper to reach this point. He reached out to pull him back, but was tossed aside instead. "Don't touch me." The teenager’s voice was hoarse, and it sounded quite bad. Wen Ruoying noticed something wrong, and caught him in his arms despite the teenager's resistance. He gathered Ning Simu against him, then reached out and touched his head, feeling the burning heat against his hand.
“You have a fever.” Wen Ruoyi was very certain that he had gotten sick. He tugged at him, wanting to search his pockets for the key. "What are you doing? If you're sick, you should stay at home. What are you coming out for? Hurry up and go back in."
Xue Ling struggled, and replied with dissatisfaction, "The medicine is out of date. I need to go out and buy more."
When Wen Ruoyi saw that he was willing acknowledge him, he let out a relieved breath and said, "I'll go buy it for you. You should go back to your room first, change your clothes and get back into bed."
Xue Ling pursed his lips, and did not reply.
Seeing that he wasn't struggling, Wen Ruoyi took the key to his apartment out of his pocket, pushed open the door, urged him to change his clothes, removed his coat, and drove him into bed before finally going out to buy some medicine for his cold.
The weather was currently in the midst of transitioning between autumn and winter, and many people were catching colds due to the change in weather. Wen Ruoyi attributed Xue Ling's bad temper as a side effect of his cold, and rushed back after hurriedly buying some things. As he passed the market, he thought that there might not be anything suitable for someone with a cold to eat, so he also bought some groceries before returning back to Ning Simu's apartment.
When he had gone out just now, he had taken Ning Simu's key with him. Now that he was returning, he casually used it to open the door.
He first went to check in on Xue Ling, and discovered that he had fallen asleep. Wen Ruoyi put away the things he had bought, and then began to cook breakfast for Xue Ling. By the time Xue Ling woke up again, the congee had already been stewed to the point of being soft and thick, and was perfect for eating.
“You can’t take medicine on an empty stomach. Drink the congee first.” Xue Ling was still confused from sleep, and his pair of fox eyes had a mesmerizing bright sheen. But it was only for a moment as he quickly recovered and refused to look at Wen Ruoyi again. He simply accepted the bowl of congee from his hands, and after drinking it quietly, he prepared to eat the medicine that had been handed over.
Wen Ruoyi was still busy lecturing him to the side. "Don’t take your youth for granted. You shouldn't be staying up late if your body isn't in good health. You aren't sleeping well, and you didn't even tell me when you got sick. In that case, what use is it to have me as a boyfriend?" He reached out his hand to rub Xue Ling's head. He was still a little feverish, and so he unhappily added another sentence, "Other children know that they will get candy when they cry. How can you be so silly, keeping everything bottled up in your heart?"
His original intention had been to bring up the matter of Ning Simu being flamed online. If Ning Simu had come to find him, the matter would probably have been resolved by now, and he would not have to have suffered like this. Seeing it made Wen Ruoyi's heart ache.
“You seem to be very used to caring for people.” Xue Ling finished taking the medicine. Having been lectured by him, he did not intend to admit any wrongdoing, and only spoke out this phrase in a cold manner.
Wen Ruoying was stunned. He did not know why he would suddenly bring this up, but when he wanted to turn the topic around, he was suddenly at a loss for words.
It was true that he knew how to take care of others. Mu Sichao had still been a child when he arrived abroad. His uncle had been very busy, and had no time to take care of him, so he asked a friend who had a son one year older than Mu Sichao to help take care of him. Wen Ruoyi did not have a younger brother, and he treated Mu Sichao like one, teaching him English and guiding his personality and development. After so many years, some of Mu Sichao's traits could be attributed to him.
However, the child he had worked so hard to raise had now been stolen away by a pig, and Wen Ruoyi was still uncertain regarding how he felt about that. Only, as soon as Ning Simu fell ill, he began to take care of him out of habit. Now that this matter had been exposed by the other party, the scene became rather awkward.
The man had already gone through many identities, some of which had been even more embarrassing than his current one, but at the end of the day, he had done nothing wrong, like falling in love with other people before Xue Ling arrived into the world. But this time, the situation was special. Wen Ruoyi thought about it for a long time, but still did not know where to start. He only subconsciously helped prop Xue Ling up with a pillow when he wanted to sit up.
Xue Ling's fever still hadn't receded. His face was a little red and his lips were pale, making him look rather haggard. "Wen Ruoyi."
It was the first time that Ning Simu had called him by his full name. Wen Ruoyi suddenly gathered his wits together, and for some reason, he suddenly felt a little frightened.
“Let’s break up.”
The teenager was sitting on the bed, still wearing the jacket he had casually thrown on this morning. The redness in his eyes was even more evident because he had just woken up, and his short, curly hair was in a mess, making him appear somewhat lovely. But his expression was not good at all. Because he was sick, his lips were tinged white, his face was slightly red, and his eyes were watery and pitiful, as if he was about to cry.
Nevertheless, his gaze as he looked at Wen Ruoyi was cold and indifferent. And then, he opened his mouth and said to him. “Let’s break up.”
This sentence echoed in Wen Ruoyi's ear several times before he suddenly woke up from his trance. He stared at Ning Simu in disbelief, his gaze sharp. Although this relationship had begun at his suggestion, and the two of them had entered the relationship with the attitude of 'giving it a try', he knew that this youngster more or less depended on him a little. In the past, it had been evident from the gaze that he used to look at him.
Now that he thought about it, Wen Ruoyi carefully looked at the youngster's eyes. His moist eyes looked pitiful, but in fact it was particularly clear. His gaze even carried a hint of indifference, and it was precisely this slight indifference that made Wen Ruoyi's heart tremble violently. He didn't know why, but it hurt quite a bit.
“Why?” Wen Ruoyi was somewhat anxious as he asked this. "Is it because of the haters from before? I've already talked to management and told them to make those people stop messing around. Relax, I won't let you be involved like that again."
Xue Ling shook his head. He was extremely calm as he sat there, stable and firm. It served to make Wen Ruoyi seem even more flustered and confused. "It's not because of this matter."
“Then…”
“Wen Ruoyi, I really like you. I like that you are very gentle when you talk to me, I like it when you smile at me, as though I am your world. I also know that you are interested in me, but you don't really like me." Xue Ling's expression was blank as he spoke these words, and it looked as though he had truly given up. "But that didn't matter. I could wait until you really began to like me. I feel that I'm good enough to be able to bind you firmly to me, and the day where you begin to appreciate me would eventually come."
“What about now…"
“But the premise for all this is that the person you might fall in love with is me. And not someone that you think of when you see my face. For my man to be looking at another person… I, Ning Simu, might be lacking in love, I might be disappointed, but I really can't be a substitute for you and allow you to find the shadow of someone else's figure in me."
Wen Ruoyi opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but Ning Simu's next sentence blocked anything he could say. "His name is Mu Sichao, right? I saw him when I went to see you yesterday.”
“I'm still quite self-aware. The gaze you use to look at him is different from how you look at me. You like him."
Wen Ruoyi shook his head and said, “I don't.”
“Now that he has someone he likes, and they're going to be together, you're looking for someone as a substitute to fill the gap in your heart, right?" Every word that he spoke was like a knife, and they stabbed straight into Wen Ruoyi's heart. He had really had this intention at first, so he didn't even know how to open his mouth to refute at all. "I may lack love, but I would be better off without this kind of love."
“So. Wen Ruoyi, let’s break up.”
Wen Ruoyi wanted to reach out and hold Xue Ling’s hand, but he dodged it. “If I haven't said it clearly enough, I can say it again."
“No…” Wen Ruoyi did not know how he should explain things to him now. He could only look at him helplessly, then let out a sigh and say, "It’s not what you think, but you won't listen to my explanation now… And you’re still sick, alas…"
Wen Ruoyi had more to say, but Xue Ling disdained the fact that he seemed to still want to argue and debate, and simply drove him out.
Xue Ling got up and moved around a little. He felt a lot better, but he still needed try and garner some sympathy by acting pitiful, so he took a selfie of himself eating medicine and posted it on Weibo.
[ Twilight Darling (v): I've been too tired recently, and got sick. I was even feverish for a while this morning when I woke up… [grievance] [grievance] [grievance] ]
Only after sending out his Weibo message did Xue Ling discover that he had gained thousands of fans overnight. He raised his eyebrows and went to check the song he sent out last night. He found that it had been placed on the front page of the video website, and the comments filled up the screen as it played. Because too many messages had been left, many of them had already been cleared once.
Nevertheless, this was unable to block out the girls' enthusiasm as they sent comments saying they wanted to give birth to Xue Ling's monkeys, or that their ears had already gotten pregnant, one after another without end.
Shortly after his Weibo message was sent out, he received a lot of comments. Many of them sent words of comfort when they saw that he had fallen ill, and the girls who had hated on him in a frenzy two days ago had all done an about face. It was probably because they had been told off by their manager, so they obediently came over to apologize to Xue Ling, saying that they had spoken too much before, and would delete their words.
Xue Ling clicked on the profile of the person who had forwarded his Weibo message and discovered that many of his followers had come from Gentleman's Twilight's re-blog. It seemed that almost as soon as he had sent it out, Wen Ruoyi had already forwarded the message. Judging from the time, Wen Ruoyi probably hadn't returned home yet - he probably saw it on the way.
[ Gentleman's Twilight: You should be good and rest when you're sick and not play with your phone. // Twilight Darling (v): I've been too tired recently, and got sick. I was even feverish for a while this morning when I woke up… [grievance] [grievance] [grievance] ]
Xue Ling pouted. But instead of paying any attention to him, he simply unfollowed him, removed him from the list of mutual followers, and conveniently blocked him as an afterthought.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Having waited for a long time without receiving a response, Wen Ruoyi comforted himself that Ning Simu must just be in a bad mood at the moment. He would wait two days, and after that, he would be ready to listen to his explanation.
He was innocent! He really had not thought to use Ning Simu as a substitute!