Morning Longing for Warmth – Chapter 51
by Little PandaRumors
I’ll come find you
Shortly after Shiyi left, Wei Hui fell ill and was taken to Su Ziyan’s hospital by Pei Tian. She was brought in time, and nothing serious happened. While examining her, Su Ziyan shook his head and said, “Seeing you like this, I somewhat regret letting you date.”
Wei Hui smiled: “I don’t regret it.”
Su Ziyan glanced sideways at her cold face now wearing a faint smile, her gaze gentle. Wei Hui, who previously only gave people a sharp and cutting impression, now spoke very calmly, saying she didn’t regret it.
He sighed: “Alright, the person isn’t even here, what are you showing off for?”
Wei Hui lowered her eyes and coughed twice, not responding to him. Su Ziyan asked: “Really not going to tell her?”
“It’s nothing serious, better not say anything.” She had fallen ill right after Shiyi left. If Shiyi knew, she would definitely return regardless of everything else and stay by her side without leaving a step. On certain matters, Shiyi was just as stubborn as her and wouldn’t listen to advice. If it weren’t for Su Ziyan’s countless promises to watch over her for two years without incident, she wouldn’t have felt at ease leaving.
She held back from sending Shiyi news of her illness, only asking how things were on her end. The reply didn’t come until the next day, saying everything was fine.
Receiving this message, Wei Hui frowned slightly. Although Shiyi had been talking less and less, she would never be like this with her. Could something else be wrong?
Just as she was lost in thought and about to make a call, she received a long essay-like message, full of concerned reminders and Shiyi’s reluctance to part. Seeing the familiar nagging, she felt relieved and replied to each of her questions one by one.
They were in different time zones, and it was midnight on Shiyi’s end. Before she could put down her phone, there was a knock at the door, and then Du Yueming came in carrying white porridge. Seeing Shiyi holding her phone, she said irritably: “You’re looking at your phone while having a fever, aren’t you afraid of going blind!”
Shiyi smiled. That afternoon after arriving, she had developed a high fever. Only after being taken to the hospital for examination did they learn it was a physical reaction to the change in environment. Du Yueming muttered that she’d never seen someone adapt so poorly so quickly. But since the illness was real, she had no choice but to busy herself helping. Now in the middle of the night, knowing Shiyi was awake, she personally went out to buy porridge, running two streets before finding any. While setting down the porridge, she said: “You should thank me for my kindness, I haven’t even taken care of my parents this well.”
After speaking, she lowered her head and pursed her lips: “Now that I think about it, why do I feel like such an unfilial child?”
Shiyi’s eyebrows lifted: “Yueming, thank you.”
Du Yueming got goosebumps hearing such sincere thanks. She was someone who yielded to gentleness but not to force. When Shiyi didn’t talk, she could still tease her a bit, but now with her speaking like this, she couldn’t keep her composure.
“What thanks, just get better quickly. I came here to study, not to be a nurse.”
“Also, want me to contact your Third Miss?”
Shiyi immediately raised her head: “No.”
She slowly said: “I’m fine, the fever has already gone down, I can go to school tomorrow. Better not tell her.”
Du Yueming clicked her tongue: “Girlfriend of the Year.”
Shiyi ignored her teasing and said: “You should head back, it’s late.”
“No way to go back.” Du Yueming leaned against another hospital bed: “The school gates are closed. Let’s return together tomorrow, tonight we’ll make do here.”
Seeing her tired appearance, Shiyi nodded: “That’s fine.”
After all, they had been on a long flight and hadn’t had time to rest after arriving. Shiyi was fine, having slept while getting her IV drip. Du Yueming, usually full of energy, only now felt drowsy. She fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. Listening to the soft breathing beside her, Shiyi turned to face the window, looking up at the moon in the sky. Just the first day here, and she already missed Wei Hui.
She squeezed her phone. She had already carefully read through Wei Hui’s recent message once, and now in the quiet of night, she read it over two more times. Only when sleepiness overtook her did she close her eyes to rest, the screen still bright, displaying Wei Hui’s name and her message: Take good care of yourself.
Shiyi woke early the next day. Du Yueming was still sleeping, hugging her blanket. After the nurse examined her and said she was fine and could be discharged, she got up and finished packing her belongings before Du Yueming groggily opened her eyes and asked: “You’re awake?”
Shiyi nodded: “Yes, you should pack up too, we should go.”
Du Yueming got up while yawning and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Half an hour later, both were ready and left the hospital.
They had already visited the school yesterday. Shiyi was still unsure of the directions, but Du Yueming seemed to know her way around. She was naturally playful and loved wandering, and she had friends who had graduated from Weiss, so this area wasn’t unfamiliar to her at all. She led Shiyi back to their school dormitory, where they shared a room with a pair of Western twins. Shiyi couldn’t understand their regular speech at all, and of course, they couldn’t understand the Mandarin that Du Yueming and Shiyi spoke. So all four had to gesture extensively whenever they talked. Shiyi was fine with it as she didn’t talk much, but Du Yueming felt like she was suffocating.
She truly felt that Du Yuexian sending her here to study was a form of punishment. She had a naturally playful personality, but everyone who came here for advanced studies was hardworking and diligent. After all, Weiss had high standards and wasn’t cheap – nobody wanted to waste money, so once admitted, they studied seriously. As a result, she had no one to play with, and worse, she had difficulty communicating with most people. Weiss’s students came from all over the world, and her foreign language skills weren’t good. She would gesture wildly for ages and people still wouldn’t understand what she meant. So within a month at Weiss, Du Yueming had deflated, often clinging to Shiyi’s arm crying: “It’s over, it’s over, I’m depressed, I’m really depressed!”
Shiyi would shake her head and smile at her words. Unlike Du Yueming’s idleness, coming here was like opening a door to a new world for her. What Yuan Shu had taught before was just the tip of the iceberg; only after coming here did she truly encounter what was core. Her daily study time wasn’t even enough, let alone socializing. She usually only chatted briefly with Du Yueming, and gradually, the class began calling her the Ice Beauty.
Beautiful, quiet, though friendly but maintaining appropriate boundaries, never getting too close to anyone. The more she buried herself in her studies, the more interested others became in her. Several men even directly expressed interest in dating her. When Shiyi received these invitations, she would shake her head with a faint smile and politely decline: “Sorry, I have a girlfriend.”
She usually stayed close to Du Yueming, and Du Yueming was also gay, so everyone secretly said they were a couple. Their dormitory roommates, the twin sisters, would intentionally avoid them, leaving the room to them. Shiyi was unaware of this; her daily life consisted only of studying and the dormitory, going back and forth between these two points. She didn’t like communicating with classmates normally, so she was out of the loop, until Du Yueming couldn’t hold back and came to complain: “Since when did I become your girlfriend?”
Shiyi was surprised: “What?”
Du Yueming handed over her phone: “Look, someone messaged me asking if I could leave you so they could take my place.”
Shiyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “What does that mean?”
Du Yueming looked at her dramatically: “No way, you still don’t know everyone thinks we’re a couple?” She had known about this before but hadn’t taken it seriously, thinking Shiyi had just desperately pulled her in as a shield [擋箭牌 | dǎng jiàn pái | someone used as cover for one’s relationship status]. She hadn’t expected this shield would actually take an arrow – someone had actually sent her a provocative message, this was just— “I’m going to fight back.”
“Third Miss isn’t here, I shall defend your honor to the death!”
Shiyi was amused by her, shaking her head: “Let me clarify instead.”
Du Yueming wailed: “No, don’t! I’ve been here for three months nearly dying of boredom, just let me have some fun.”
Shiyi had been uncomfortable with many things since arriving here, and it was Du Yueming who had taken care of her. Her current comfortable study environment was also thanks to Du Yueming’s help, so Shiyi always felt grateful to her. Hearing her say this now, Shiyi could only say: “Alright then, just don’t go overboard.”
Du Yueming winked at her: “OK!”
Just as they finished talking, Shiyi’s phone rang. Du Yueming patted her shoulder: “Go chat with your Third Miss.”
Shiyi lowered her head with a smile. She actually didn’t chat much with Wei Hui – firstly because of the time difference, and secondly because she was afraid of disturbing Wei Hui’s work. So usually she just sent text messages, and would only call when she saw Wei Hui reply that she wasn’t busy. But such opportunities were rare, because she was also very busy.
As soon as the call connected, Shiyi asked: “Did you go for your checkup today?”
Wei Hui reported: “I did, Ziyan said there’s nothing wrong.”
Shiyi breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good. It’s cold lately, wear more clothes…”
She had barely spoken two sentences when she heard light coughing from the other end. Shiyi’s heart tightened: “You caught a cold?”
Wei Hui held back the urge to cough and said: “Mm, caught a cold. It’s nothing, Ziyan already gave me an IV drip.”
She had actually caught the cold two days ago but could still hold it in, trying not to show it when talking to Shiyi on the phone. This morning she started coughing and couldn’t hide it anymore. Shiyi had taken such meticulous care of her for those six months, no one else had ever done that. So after she left, catching an occasional cold was normal, but Wei Hui just didn’t want her to worry. To avoid this topic, Wei Hui asked about her studies. Hearing her slightly hoarse voice, Shiyi’s heart ached, but she strongly suppressed her reluctance to part and the urge to return, responding word by word.
“Everything’s fine here.”
Just before hanging up, she added: “Oh right, I’ve taken a week off next month.”
“It’s your birthday. I want to come back for a visit. The school has already approved it.”
For this one week of leave, she had made up many days of classes, using basically all her evening time for studying. Weiss’s learning pace was particularly fast, and Shiyi already found it somewhat challenging normally. If she fell behind a week of courses, who knew when she could catch up, so she took advantage of her current free time to make up for everything in advance. Wei Hui knew Weiss’s system as she had also graduated from there; the more she understood, the more her heart ached for Shiyi.
Wei Hui lowered her eyes, hearing Du Yueming’s voice through the phone: “I’m so angry!”
Shiyi glanced at Du Yueming who had stormed into the dormitory, and said quietly into the phone: “Wait a moment, I’ll go outside to talk.”
Wei Hui heard footsteps and then silence returned. She laughed softly: “What happened?”
Shiyi briefly explained the school situation, ending with Du Yueming, she laughed: “She might be going stir-crazy, she just went to argue with someone.”
“Argue?” Wei Hui thought about it – this was indeed something Du Yueming would do. After learning the whole story, she couldn’t laugh anymore: “They’re spreading rumors about you two having a relationship?”
After walking out of the dormitory, Shiyi felt more relaxed, perhaps because she would be able to see Wei Hui next month. Her mood was pleasant and she talked more: “They’re just making things up, they like to joke around.”
“That’s not okay either.” Wei Hui said very seriously: “Don’t come back next month.”
Shiyi’s heart skipped a beat, thinking she was angry. Before she could explain, she heard Wei Hui continue: “I’ll come find you.”
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