18 – Lie
Shen Yu was panicked.
As he entered the elevator, his hand, trembling, reached out to press the ground floor button.
It was the first time in half a year that Shen Yu experienced such a strong impulse. He wished he could directly pick up Tang Li, go down the stairs, and run to the hospital.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t.
His handicapped legs only allowed him to sit in a wheelchair, anxiously hugging Tang Li, and moving to Uncle Zhang’s parking place at an unpleasant speed.
Fortunately, Uncle Zhang moved fast enough to find Shen Yu in a short time.
Uncle Zhang looked at the Tang Li, who had his whole head buried deep in Shen Yu’s clothes. After half a second’s amazement, he quickly rushed to Shen Yu’s side, ready to push Shen Yu’s wheelchair.
“Wait!” Shen Yu shouted, “Uncle Zhang, take Chestnut to the car first.”
Uncle Zhang did not say anything. He stooped and stretched out his hands, trying to take Tang Li out of Shen Yu’s arms. But the next moment, he saw Tang Li hugging Shen Yu’s waist tighter and burying his head into Shen Yu’s chest.
“Don’t want…”
Tang Li’s voice is soft and waxy. It sounds pitiful, weak and helpless.
Shen Yu frowned, a little angry and helpless. He patted Tang Li on the back and said in a warm voice, “Chestnut be obedient, get in the car with Uncle Zhang first. I’ll be there in a moment. Let’s go to the hospital and have a look.”
Who knows why, but when he said that, Tang Li became more resistant.
“I don’t want to!”
“Tang Li.” Shen Yu shouted out the full name of the little villain in anger, but he did not give in to his anger. Instead, he rubbed the little villain’s unkempt hair with a little effort and said, “Be obedient.”
“I don’t want to be obedient.” Tang Li said in a solemn muffled voice.
Shen Yu: “…”
He looked up at Uncle Zhang standing in front of him, only to see that Uncle Zhang also wore a helpless expression.
Shen Yu was raising a child for the first time in his life. He really didn’t know what to do when the child was acting up.
His mind was stirring into a slurry, so for couple seconds, he could only sit in stalemate with the villain. He had no choice but to let Uncle Zhang push his wheelchair to the parking space.
Feeling Shen Yu’s compromise, the tense Tang Li gradually relaxed in Shen Yu’s arms and hung two small hands around Shen Yu’s neck.
After a while, the little villain’s head slowly turned up…
Soon, it arched, landing in the socket of Shen Yu’s neck. The warm air from Tang Li’s breathing sprinkled on Shen Yu’s skin, making it feel unusually hot.
Shen Yu shrank his neck in subconsciously.
He raised his hand to pull off the little octopus clinging to his body, but when his hand touched the back of Tang Li, which was still shaking a little, he stilled.
Ah…
Forget it…
The boy seldom gets sick, so what if he acts spoiled.
Shen Yu had some self-abandoning thoughts.
Uncle Zhang pushed Shen Yu’s wheelchair to the front of the car and stopped. Then he opened the back door and pulled out the ramp tools. He easily pushed Shen Yu into the car with Tang Li in his arms.
“Go to the nearest hospital.” Shen Yu ordered.
“Understood.” Uncle Zhang started the car.
Fortunately, the nearest hospital is less than 20 minutes away from here. After entering the destination in the navigation, Uncle Zhang drove away from the underground parking lot of the community.
On the way, Shen Yu kept quietly comforting Tang Li, who was still wrapped in his arms. At last, he felt that Tang Li’s body was no longer trembling like before.
At the moment, however, the little villain still tightly clung to Shen Yu’s neck with his small hands, without the slightest intention of letting go.
Now the weather is getting colder and so they are both wearing thick clothes. After clinging together like this, Shen Yu felt a thin layer of sweat covering his chest and neck. The condition of Tang Li is similar. Sweat dampened the hair that covered his temples.
Shen Yu held Tang Li’s back with one hand, then extended the other hand, and somewhat struggled to pull out a tissue paper from the small table next to him.
“Chestnut.” Shen Yu said, “Turn your face around.”
Tang Li hesitated for a while before he reluctantly raised his head and looked pitifully at Shen Yu.
Shen Yu lifted his lips and smiled, wiping the sweat off Tang Li’s face with the tissue.
During this period, Tang Li raised his head obediently and allowed Shen Yu’s fingertips to caress his face. The bright obsidian like eyes seemed to carry an unusual mood. He looked directly at Shen Yu, as if he was trying to engrave Shen Yu’s appearance in his heart.
Originally, Shen Yu was worried about Tang Li. However, he felt a little weird after remembering something.
He knows that Tang Li’s physical health has always been very good, even after going to school, the little villain can maintain the frequency of two private lessons every weekend.
The retired Olympic coach was strict and challenged Tang Li’s physical limit in almost every class. More than once, he told Shen Yu that Tang Li’s strength was outstanding enough to be compared to an full grown adult man.
How could such a healthy child suddenly fall ill just when the girl was ready to talk to Shen Yu?
The more Shen Yu thought about it, the stranger he felt, and suddenly, he recalled what Tang Li had said to him in the elevator. Everything became clear in an instant.
“There’s no outsiders here, so don’t pretend.” Shen Yu casually threw the used tissue paper on the small table, pinched Tang Li’s face. With some complaints in his heart and small amount of blame in his voice Shen Yu said, “Letting me worry so much, does your little conscience not hurt?”
After that, Shen Yu wanted to rip the little octopus off his body.
Since the villain has no problems, he should stop using Shen Yu as his personal seat.
However, as soon as he grabbed Tang Li’s arm, he was startled by the sudden whitening face of Tang Li.
Before Shen Yu could respond, Tang Li, who was still in his arms, had squeezed his head back into Shen Yu’s neck and spoke with great pain, “My stomach hurts, I didn’t pretend.”
Shen Yu couldn’t help but doubt, “Really?”
Tang Li continued to hug Shen Yu’s neck and nodded hard after a long silence.
Although Shen Yu did not fully believe Tang Li’s words in his heart, after some consideration, he chose not to say anything.
When he arrived at the hospital, Tang Li was still unwilling to be taken off by Uncle Zhang. Before Uncle Zhang’s hand touched him, he saw the little villain shaking his head vigorously and drilling further into Shen Yu’s bosom.
Uncle Zhang helplessly looked at Shen Yu: “Sir…”
“I’ll hold him.” Shen Yu said with a bitter laugh, “You’ll have to work hard. Since the wheelchair has two people, the speed will decrease.”
Uncle Zhang understood what Shen Yu meant and pushed his wheelchair to the hospital.
An hour later, the doctor gave Tang Li a very comprehensive physical examination but did not find any problems. Even Shen Yu thought that food poisoning was just a false alarm.
After hearing what the doctor said, Shen Yu was completely relieved.
Shen Yu was pushed back to the door of Tang Li’s room by Uncle Zhang. He gestured to Uncle Zhang, indicating that Uncle Zhang should wait outside, and then he alone controlled the wheelchair to enter the room.
In the luxurious single room, Tang Li lay quietly in bed.
The villain was still wearing his school uniform, which was now slightly disheveled, and his back was facing Shen Yu. He seemed to be asleep. Even if Shen Yu did not deliberately dampen the sound when he opened the door, Tang Li did not awaken.
Shen Yu rolled to the hospital bed and gently looked at Tang Li’s back.
The ward was quiet enough to hear the needle drop so even breathing of the villain sounded excessively loud.
Shen Yu called out, “Chestnut.”
There was no movement on the other side.
Shen Yu said again, “Tang Li.”
As if the other party could not hear his voice, the little villain remained motionless.
Shen Yu rubbed his forehead, took a deep breath, and rolled the wheelchair around the hospital bed so that he was directly facing Tang Li.
Tang Li buried half of his face in the quilt, showing only his small straight nose and his thick long eyelashes casting a faint shadow over tightly closed eyes. At first glance, he looked like a porcelain doll.
Shen Yu looked down at Tang Li for a long time.
Then, suddenly, he reached his hand out to the quilt. After a while of groping, he quickly grasped Tang Li’s hand.
Seemingly asleep, Tang Li was shocked by him and started shaking, but he failed to stop Shen Yu’s next movement. The hand was easily pulled out of bed by Shen Yu.
“Shen Yu!”
In the panic, the little villain shouted anxiously, and there was a clear alert look in his eyes. Where did it look like he had just woken up?
Shen Yu had long guessed that the child was pretending to be asleep. He was not surprised. Instead, he pulled Tang Li’s small hand with his own hands, wanting to see the little villain’s palm.
Tang Li seemed to be very reluctant to show Shen Yu his palm. His face, which was slightly ugly, turned pale for a moment. He struggled to get up from bed and tried to pull his hand back.
Unfortunately, Shen Yu held on too tightly.
After half a day’s struggle, he still couldn’t make Shen Yu let go.
Shen Yu was upset by Tang Li’s guilty act. He clapped twice on the back of the villain’s hand and said quietly, “Don’t move.”
After that, the villain really dared not to move.
Shen Yu spoke with a firm tone, “Open your hand and let me see it.”
Tang Li clenched his jaw and did not move. The anxious phoenix eyes appeared sad and pitiful in the room’s yellow light. After a while, he said in a weak voice, “Shen Yu, you’re hurting my hand.”
“Really?” Shen Yu raised his lips and laughed coldly. “If you do what I say, I’ll release your hand.”
Tang Li hesitated and refused to move.
In fact, Shen Yu can forcibly open Tang Li’s hand, of course he thought he could.
However, Tang Li’s small hand clenched into a fist with so much strength that nobody could tell where it came from. No matter how hard Shen Yu tried, he could not break open the five fragile and slender fingers.
In the end, it was Shen Yu who was exhausted and panting after some ups and downs.
Two people stared, one big and one small, for half a day. Finally, Shen Yu chose to give up first. He cast aside Tang Li’s hand with a cold face and without saying a word, he manipulated the wheelchair and turned to leave the room.
Tang Li, who was initially relieved, was suddenly panicked. He reached out to pull Shen Yu’s clothes and yelled, “Don’t go! You can see it, just don’t go!”
Shen Yu grabbed Tang Li’s hand and spread it out while the other party was not paying attention.
In the next second, a fine wound came into view.
It was wounds from his own fingernails.
Shen Yu retorted: “Pretending to be sick, why do you hurt yourself in this way? Your acting is as good as it is bad. Besides, Grandpa Shen won’t let us go.”
Tang Li hung his head and said, “If I act like this, you won’t have to go to Grandpa Shen’s for a long time.”
Shen Yu was stunned.
It has to be said that the 10-year-old villain’s thinking is more comprehensive and far-reaching than his own.
For a moment, all the fire filling Shen Yu’s stomach disappeared without trace. He was somewhat moved and sighed, wrapping the injured hand of Tang Li in his palm.
“Why did you continue to pretend to be ill when I asked you in the car?”
Hearing this, Tang Li’s beautiful face filled with guilt, and an almost undetectable blush. He moved his lips and said, “I just wanted you to hold me more…”