Fever Break - Chapter 14

Shen Yixi really means what he says. Lu Wuke didn’t say a word and he just walked over. He had just finished playing basketball, and his T-shirt was soaked with sweat. As he walked against the wind, his shirt clung to his body, outlining the contours of his abs.

Lu Wuke didn’t expect him to come to her; he was tall and long-legged, and before she could think of leaving, he strolled leisurely to stand in front of her.

The air was thick with a mix of tobacco and hormones.

The physiological differences between men and women were magnified at this moment.

There was a trash can nearby, and he casually tossed his half-finished soda into it, making a dull thud. He didn’t immediately pick up the ball but turned to look at her instead.

Lu Wuke stood still, meeting his probing gaze. Shen Yixi lowered his eyes, meeting her eyes.

Lu Wuke was the first to look away, then she heard him let out a laugh that sounded like a scoff.

She simply turned her head to look towards the convenience store, wanting to see if Ah Shi had come out yet.

Shen Yixi followed her gaze and asked, “Waiting for someone?”

Lu Wuke finally spoke, trying to find an excuse to leave: “Yeah, I’m leaving.”

He seemed to seize this moment, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes, smiling: “Didn’t you say you sprained your ankle and not waiting for someone to pick you up?”

Lu Wuke: “…”

Shen Yixi looked at her as if he were watching a show, not exposing her lie. He put a cigarette in his mouth, and when he went to pull out his lighter, he seemed to think of something. Suddenly lifting his eyelids to look at her, he noticed she was staring at the cigarette in his mouth.

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly: “Don’t worry, I won’t smoke you.”

At first glance, it sounded like a gentle remark, but it was anything but serious.

He meant that occasion where her eyes turned red when he found her out smoking and choking.

Lu Wuke averted her gaze.

Of course, she understood what he meant.

Shen Yixi didn’t mind letting her know, openly showing that he was teasing her, chuckling softly in his chest.

He asked her, “What’s your name?”

Lu Wuke didn’t really want to tell him, looking down at her toes, saying nothing.

Shen Yixi stared at the top of her head and chuckled.

Just then, Ah Shi from the convenience store, who had been absent for a while, squeezed out from inside and started shouting Lu Wuke’s name before even seeing her.

Lu Wuke: “…”

Ah Shi had a loud voice; it would be hard for Shen Yixi not to hear. Lu Wuke pretended to be dead, ignoring Ah Shi.

Shen Yixi was not someone to be trifled with; trying to fool him was not that easy, especially since he had seen her with Ah Shi before.

He glanced over at Ah Shi, smirked, “Lu Wuke?”

Lu Wuke’s lowered eyelashes trembled slightly.

Shen Yixi had a cigarette in his mouth, unlit, with his hands in his pockets, looking down at her casually.

“Does it mean there is nothing blocking the way*?”

They were close enough that Lu Wuke could even hear the magnetic quality of his voice, which was bothThe two were close enough that she could hear the magnetic tremor in his voice. The boy spoke in a lazy, unserious tone.

Finally, Lu Wuke was willing to respond, looking up at him: “What do you want my name for?”

He looked at her openly and asked back, “What do you think I want it for?”

Lu Wuke played dumb on purpose: “I don’t know.”

“Really don’t know?” Shen Yixi squinted at her, “Then should I tell you?”

She fell silent again. Seeing her like this, Shen Yixi chuckled, glancing at the small shop where Ah Shi was peeking over, unsure whether to come over. He bent down and dunked the basketball.

The boy’s hands were large, with distinct knuckles, and he easily gripped the basketball.

He threatened her, saying, “If I saw you again next time, I might really say something. You’d better stay away from me.”

Lu Wuke looked at him and turned her gaze away.

Shen Yixi chuckled, said nothing more, and turned to walk through the campus with an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

Lu Wuke glanced at his back.

=

After Ah Shi returned to the dorm, she bombarded Lu Wuke with questions, and Lu Wuke, upon coming back, was also nagged by her all the way, to the point that her ears were almost calloused.

Lu Wuke sat down at her desk, while Ah Shi perched on hers, as if interrogating her: “Lu Wuke, be honest, what did Shen Yixi want with you?”

There were only the two of them in the dorm, and Ah Shi’s voice was loud enough to make Lu Wuke’s ears itch.

Lu Wuke raised her hand to pinch her own ear: “You’re so annoying, can you talk about other things?”

Ah Shi had already asked this question no less than ten times, and Lu Wuke’s answer each time was the same three words: “it’s nothing”.

Ah Shi didn’t believe her: “Don’t try to fool me. With someone like Shen Yixi approaching you, how could it possibly be nothing?”

She switched to a serious tone: “A lone man and a lone woman chatting in broad daylight**, and you actually say it’s nothing at all?”

Every time Lu Wuke heard her speak like that, she couldn’t help but laugh, and he couldn’t hold back his laughter this time either.

She picked up the milk on the table and inserted a straw, saying, “It’s really nothing.”

Ah Shi seemed a bit shaken: “Really nothing?”

Lu Wuke repeated her words exactly: “Really nothing.”

Ah Shi clicked her tongue, feeling quite puzzled: “That’s not Shen Yixi’s style.”

Lu Wuke fell silent, slowly sipping her milk through the straw.

“Forget it, forget it, I won’t think about it anymore. The thoughts of these guys are even harder to guess than those of girls,” she jumped down from Lu Wuke’s desk, “I thought you might finally end your single life, what a letdown.”

Like a mother who can’t wait to marry off her daughter.

Lu Wuke finally sent this great Buddha away: “Worry about yourself.”

“I’ve been in a relationship since high school, what do I need to worry about?” Ah Shi said, “If I keep worrying, my mom might just chant the Great Compassion Mantra*** to calm me down.”

Lu Wuke was quite indifferent: “I bet your mom wants to let you do that even right now.”

“You’re right about that. During those days at home, she was constantly trying to persuade me to visit the temple with her.”

After saying that, as if suddenly remembering something, she stepped back to ask her.

“Do you want to watch a horror movie together tonight?”

Lu Wuke heard those two words and didn’t even think: “No.”

“If you don’t want to, then I’ll just watch it by myself.”

=

The school anniversary is on October 10th, and the school has given a day off, so the students haven’t even fully returned from the National Day holiday before they get another day off.

During those days, Lu Wuke didn’t encounter Shen Yixi again.

On the morning of the anniversary, before dawn, Lu Wuke was woken up by a call from a senior sister, urging all of them to quickly get ready and head to the backstage of the school auditorium.

Before going on stage, there were a bunch of tedious tasks waiting for them, like changing costumes and putting on stage makeup, which took them several hours. The school had somehow found a dozen third-rate makeup artists, all from the same place, with the same words printed on the back of their clothes. They didn’t care much; whether the person was fair or tan, they just slapped on the same shade of foundation, making them look like they were covered in flour. The makeup sponge, the size of a palm, was worn down and dirty.

Seeing this situation, the senior sister felt it was unreliable and decided to use her own makeup to help them out. While doing Lu Wuke’s makeup, the senior sister kept praising her for having good skin, joking that the foundation could make her face look dark. Since she was performing a solo dance, her makeup and hairstyle were different from the others, so the senior sister didn’t give her a complicated style and helped her braid her hair.

After three or four hours of busy work, by the time Lu Wuke finished her makeup and styling, people had already started to fill the auditorium. The campus outside the auditorium was even livelier, with crowds of people, a stark contrast to the usual rush of students heading to class.

After spending the night outside, Shen Yixi and Qi Siming felt this liveliness even more as they leaned against the corridor of the teaching building. The number of people on campus was clearly more than usual, bustling like a market.

In the past couple of days, Shen Yixi hasn’t been at school; there’s been a bit of a situation at home, so he flew over to the capital for two days and just got back last night.

Shen Yixi looked at the crowd and asked Qi Siming, “What day is today?”

People like them usually wouldn’t even know what day of the week it is or what classes they have, so Shen Yixi’s sudden question really caught Qi Siming off guard.

After recalling a text he received last night from a girl at the art school inviting him to watch her performance today, he suddenly remembered that today is the school’s own festival.

He slapped his forehead: “School anniversary, today is the tenth day of the month, how could I forget this?”

But even if he remembered, it wouldn’t matter much to them; having been at this school for two years, they hadn’t participated in any cultural or entertainment activities, and they had barely set foot in the auditorium, at most just tagging along for a holiday.

“School anniversary?”

So when Shen Yixi asked this, Qi Siming was genuinely taken aback. Usually, Shen Yixi showed no interest in such things and wouldn’t ask about them.

He was surprised for a moment, then replied, “Yeah, it’s today. What’s up?”

Shen Yixi didn’t answer him immediately; he seemed to be pondering something.

After a while, he asked, “Is there a performance?”

“No, bro,” Qi Siming said, “Your last girlfriend from the dance department has been in the dance studio every day after class preparing for the anniversary performance. You really didn’t know?”

There was one thing Qi Siming didn’t say: it was clear that he hadn’t taken it seriously at all.

Shen Yixi seemed to think for a moment: “I really didn’t know.”

Qi Siming asked him, “Why are you asking about this? Are you going?”

Shen Yixi shot him a glance: “Why not?”

“Why not?” Qi Siming elongated his tone. “How could you want to go?”

But he was genuinely curious why Shen Yixi suddenly wanted to attend such a boring and time-wasting event today. Even the girl Qi Siming wanted to hook up with had asked him out last night, and he didn’t want to go, let alone Shen Yixi.

He clicked his tongue and leaned closer to Shen Yixi: “Hey, Yige, do you have a new girl? Which department is it this time?”

Shen Yixi glanced at him and asked, “Want to know?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want to know!”

Shen Yixi chuckled and kicked his leg, “If you want to know, then damn it, lead the way.”

“The auditorium?”

“What else?”

“Damn, are we really going?” Qi Siming was shocked.

Shen Yixi narrowed his eyes, “Do you think I’m joking?”

“Who would dare?” But Qi Siming had never seen him like this and was genuinely curious, getting into the spirit of it. “But what exactly are you planning to do?”

Shen Yixi casually shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled downstairs.

Thinking about it, a certain fish he had his eye on hadn’t been seen lately. Calculating, it had been two days since he last saw the fish.

It was really good at hiding.

He chuckled, and his tone was clearly not serious.

“Go catch her.”

1. 1. It refers to Lu Wuke name which means road without bump/obstacle.

1. 1. often used in a gossipy context to speculate about the nature of the relationship between the man and woman.

1. 1. ‘Great Compassion Mantra’ (大悲咒 Dàbēi zhòu). Read more.

T/N: I really have mixed feelings about our ML in these early  chapters ^•-•^

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