CTS 15

Old Zhang drove quickly but steadily, and before long, they arrived at the pharmacy.
Shen Mo got out to buy the medicine.
When he returned to the car, he felt a dull ache in his stomach. It took him a while to realize he had been so focused on taking care of Ji Mingxuan that he had completely forgotten to eat lunch.

By the time they got back home, it was already dark. Shen Mo grabbed a quick bite, then cooked another pot of porridge for Ji Mingxuan and fed him the medicine he had just bought.

Because they had not gone to a doctor, Shen Mo remained on edge the whole time, staying by Ji Mingxuan’s bedside and checking his temperature every half hour.

Thankfully, the fever gradually subsided.

By the middle of the night, Shen Mo was completely exhausted and fell asleep leaning against the bed.

As soon as he drifted off, he began to dream.

In the dream, the snow had just stopped falling. The streets were blanketed in white, and everyone was hurrying along with their heads down. The snow had not yet melted, and ice had formed in places, making it hard to walk.

But someone was holding Shen Mo’s hand, walking with him through the streets.

Instead of feeling tired, Shen Mo felt an indescribable happiness as he chatted with the person beside him.

“I got pushed around by my coworkers again today.”

“I think I still like painting more.”

They were all things he would never normally admit aloud. Strangely, the person walking beside him stayed silent the whole time.

Shen Mo turned his head and asked,
“Zhou Yang, why aren’t you saying anything?”

The person stopped walking and said,
“I am not Zhou Yang.”

Shen Mo looked closely and saw a tall, handsome man standing there.
It was Ji Mingxuan.

“Mr. Ji…”

Ji Mingxuan let out a cold laugh and shook off his hand. Shen Mo stumbled and fell straight into the icy snow.

His heart gave a painful jolt. He woke with a start, hearing Ji Mingxuan’s voice saying,
“How do you even manage to roll off the bed while sleeping?”

Ji Mingxuan switched on the bedside lamp as he spoke.

Shen Mo was still caught in the lingering haze of the dream. He stared at Ji Mingxuan for a moment, dazed, before finally realizing that he had really fallen off the bed. He slowly climbed back up, his expression still somewhat blank.

Ji Mingxuan lifted the blanket and said,
“Come here.”

Carrying the chill from the floor, Shen Mo slipped under the covers. Ji Mingxuan’s body was so warm it made Shen Mo feel almost uncomfortable. He instinctively shifted away a little.

But Ji Mingxuan pulled him back.

With one arm wrapped around Shen Mo, Ji Mingxuan said, “Don’t move. Do you want to fall off again?”

Shen Mo did not dare to move anymore.
He was tired but no longer sleepy.
He asked, “Did I wake you up, Mr. Ji?”

“I slept the whole day. I had enough.”

“Are you feeling better?”

Ji Mingxuan lowered his head until their foreheads touched and said, “I am fine now.”

All Shen Mo could feel was heat radiating off him. He could not tell if the fever had really broken. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “You should still go to the hospital, just to be safe.”

Ji Mingxuan immediately showed a look of disgust. “No.”

Shen Mo had not expected him to hate hospitals so much. He remembered that three years ago, when he had been hospitalized, Ji Mingxuan had often visited him.

After Shen Mo recovered and was discharged, there was a stretch of nearly six months where his life was a complete blur.
Sometimes, he would sit by the window, watching the traffic go by, and lose an entire day just like that. He hardly remembered anything from that period, except being evicted when he could no longer pay his rent. It was Ji Mingxuan who had taken him back to the villa and helped him get his life back on track by arranging a job for him.

That was why, when Ji Mingxuan later proposed the agreement, Shen Mo had agreed. He could barely even remember the exact details of the agreement anymore, only that in order to make Zhou Yang give up completely, he and Ji Mingxuan had to pretend to be lovers in public.

At the time, Ji Mingxuan had not said when the agreement would end, and Shen Mo had never asked. But tonight, for some reason, he suddenly thought of it again.

If Ji An’an and Zhou Yang truly ended up together for life, then what would happen to him and Ji Mingxuan?