Evening Stars Chapter 35 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 35.1
In the recent days of cold snap, Teacher Xu had stayed too long in a room without heating and caught a chill. His fever had climbed to 38.9°C.
Fang Shiyou stripped off his outer clothes and pants, tucked him into bed, and covered him with a blanket. He had an ear thermometer on hand, so he took his temperature, then listened to his heart and lungs. Fang Shiyou wanted to do a blood test to check for any viral infection, but since he wasn't trained to draw blood himself, he had to find a nurse on duty to help.
But as soon as he stood up, Teacher Xu, in his drowsy state, sensed that he was about to leave and rasped softly, “Dr. Fang……”
“Mm.” Fang Shiyou sat back down, leaned closer, and asked quietly, “What is it?”
“Where are you going?” Xu Nanheng's eyes were slightly open, looking at him with an emotion he couldn't quite name.
“I'm going to find someone to come in and draw your blood,” Fang Shiyou said.
Hearing that, Xu Nanheng thought of the needle and frowned. “No blood test.”
Fang Shiyou brushed the back of his finger along his cheek. “Afraid of pain?”
“Mhm.”
With a look in his eyes that betrayed his vulnerability, he admitted his fear of pain and even went so far as to wheedle, “I'll just take medicine.”
In truth, the village rarely saw outsiders, so the chance of influenza was low. Fang Shiyou's finger slid from his cheek to his chin and gave it a light pinch. “Alright, then. I'll go get you something to bring the fever down.”
Xu Nanheng looked at him faintly, his thoughts sluggish from the fever, and murmured, “Don't go.”
Fang Shiyou sighed, bracing one hand on the pillow beside him as he leaned over completely. Teacher Xu's face was pale and weak with illness, and his unfocused and fragile eyes were so different from usual that Fang Shiyou found himself staring for a while.
His voice seemed to carry a kind of spell, spinning threads of consciousness that bound Fang Shiyou in place. When he said ‘Don't go,’ Fang Shiyou almost wanted to answer, ‘I'm not going anywhere.’
But he couldn't. Fang Shiyou said helplessly, “It'll be quick. I'll be back in two minutes.”
As he spoke, Fang Shiyou took off his watch and handed it to him. “Time me, alright? If I'm late, you can deal with me however you want.”
“If you're late by one second, then in the future, you'll lose a minute in bed with me,” Xu Nanheng said with a faint smile.
Fang Shiyou pressed his lips together. “Alright.”
He couldn't tell if Teacher Xu was delirious from the fever, just joking with him, or serious, but in any case, his words had gotten to him. Dr. Fangu didn't bother going to the pharmacy. For a clinician, looking for medicine there was like searching for a single screw in a five-hundred-square-meter warehouse. He went straight to his own office instead, where he kept some common medication.
He grabbed the fever reducer and two bottles of mineral water, taking only a minute and a half round trip. When he came back, Teacher Xu hadn't timed him at all. He was lying on his side with his eyes closed. The wristwatch, with its metal strap, rested in his palm. A few strands of his fringe had fallen over the watch face.
The sight made Fang Shiyou's throat go dry. He swallowed, set the medicine down, poured one 500ml bottle of water into the electric kettle to boil, and unscrewed the other. He poured half a cup, which he would mix with a little hot water later so the medicine could be taken immediately.
While waiting, Dr. Fang just sat there, thinking of nothing. To let Xu Nanheng sleep properly, only a desk lamp was on in the on-call room. Listening to the kettle slowly coming to a boil, he felt an incomparable warmth.
It wasn't a physical warmth, but a feeling of deep peace and security. Fang Shiyou's upbringing had been simple but fortunate. His mother had passed away too early, but his father hadn't remarried over the decades, devoting himself to their two-person family. The elders in the family had always cared for him. He had never gone hungry or cold as a child. For parent-teacher meetings, either his aunt or uncle would go, and the teachers and classmates he met had always been kind.
Growing up this way, Fang Shiyou felt content. He even thought living like this for a lifetime would be fine. In a few decades, when his elders passed away, he'd be like his uncle, carrying a bucket and a fishing rod every day to Jishuitan or Qinghe Dam.
The water boiled, and the kettle clicked off automatically. At that moment, Xu Nanheng stirred in bed. Feeling the watch in his hand, he held it up and peered at the hour and minute hands for a while before asking, “Dr. Fang, how late were you?”
“……” Fang Shiyou wanted to protest. “I've already been back. The water's boiled.”
“Really?” Xu Nanheng squinted, studying him with that unique, scrutinizing look of a teacher.
Unbeknownst to him, lying there sick like this, the expression made him look irresistibly cute. Fang Shiyou looked down and smiled, then met his eyes sincerely. “Really. I'm not lying, Teacher Xu.”
“Alright then.”
Fang Shiyou cooled the water to lukewarm, picked out a pill, and walked to the bed. He wrapped his arm around Xu Nanheng's shoulders, holding him close, and fed him the medicine.
Teacher Xu's cheeks were flushed from the fever, his head resting on Fang Shiyou's collarbone. Fang Shiyou's jaw was pressed against Teacher Xu's forehead, which was burning hot. At this point, feeling a little dizzy was normal. After the water moistened his throat, Xu Nanheng wanted to talk to him.
“Dr. Fang.”
“Yeah, Teacher Xu.”
Then they fell silent, but just being called that once made Fang Shiyou happy. He wasn't in a hurry and just sat there at the head of the bed, holding Xu Nanheng.
“Dr. Fang, you should go out. Don't let me infect you.”
“It's fine. Your Dr. Fang is made of iron.”
Xu Nanheng forcefully lifted his head, attempting to continue exerting the oppressive power of a people's teacher, but failed.
Because as he lifted his head, Fang Shiyou leaned down and kissed him.
“Tsk.” Xu Nanheng tried to find a word to scold him, and he searched for a while before finally saying, “Go stand outside.”
“……” Fang Shiyou was stunned, realizing he was delirious from the fever.
He held Xu Nanheng close, letting him rest against him like that for a while to help the half-glass of water he'd just drunk settle. Fang Shiyou slowly said into his ear, “Teacher Xu, when we're old, let's find a spot to fish every day, alright?”
“No need,” the young master said. “There are fish in my courtyard pond.”
“……” Dr. Fang was momentarily at a loss for words.
The young master continued, “But there's this stinky cat that comes every day to steal the fish. Stealing my fish is one thing, but it even beats up my Pang'er.”
“Who's Pang'er?” Fang Shiyou asked.
“My WeChat profile picture.”
“Oh, Pang'er.”
“Pangpang.” Xu Nanheng coughed. “That stinky lihua (Dragon Li) comes to steal the fish. How could Pang'er just let it steal? He fights it, but he can't win. He got bitten on the head, which made him furious.”
Teacher Xu spoke very slowly, like someone lounging in a deck chair under the shade of a tree in a summer alleyway. And with a filter applied, it felt like a slow-life art film. Of course, that filter was probably just Fang Shiyou's own imagination.
He gently patted Xu Nanheng's arm, trying to soothe him to sleep. “Our Pangpang has been seriously wronged.”
“You bet. My mom peels shrimp for him. A grown male tabby, and he can't even eat the shells. I admire that.”
“Tabby?” Fang Shiyou didn't know much about cats. “Sounds fierce. Can't he beat the stinky lihua?”
Xu Nanheng laughed, genuinely amused, his shoulders shaking. He sank further into Fang Shiyou's embrace. “Dr. Fang, that stinky lihua is the Bruce Lee of cats. That useless little fatty of mine, do you know why he doesn't catch fish himself? Because he simply can't catch any.”
Fang Shiyou burst out laughing. Feeling his chest vibrate, he stopped laughing, worried it might be uncomfortable for Xu Nanheng.
“That's quite a thing to say.”
“It's all true.”
“Alright, when we get back to Beijing, we'll get revenge for Pangpang.”
“Mm.” Xu Nanheng nodded. “Just wait. When I get back, I'll have it neutered.”
“……” Fang Shiyou swallowed.
This teacher really didn't hold back.
The two of them sat in the humble room, holding each other and talking. Outside, the bleak wind raged, just like every winter night before. Once winter came, the night wind on the Southern Tibetan Plateau was relentless.
Dr. Fang thought Xu Nanheng might be a little homesick. A sick person was vulnerable both physically and mentally, craving a comfortable and safe environment. Fang Shiyou could only hold him, trying to let this embrace give him a certain sense of security and help him to relax.
Once the medicine took effect, Xu Nanheng fell asleep. Fang Shiyou gently laid him flat. As he did, Xu Nanheng unconsciously reached for the Doraemon blanket Fang Shiyou had left on the bed. He had brought it back from the county last time, then left it behind during a rescue operation. After the rescue, he went straight back to the county for debriefing and then participated in the medical outreach, so the blanket had stayed at the small hospital.
Xu Nanheng grasped a corner of the blanket, rubbing it with his fingers a few times before falling completely asleep.
The blanket felt soft and fluffy, and it was also imbued with Fang Shiyou's scent. He often slept hugging it close to his chest.
He hadn't expected Teacher Xu to do the same. After watching him for a while, he unconsciously smiled. He lowered his hand, brushed it against Xu Nanheng's hair, silently whispered goodnight, and went out, turning off the light.
Fang Shiyou was also quite homesick. Although he and his father were in Tibet, sometimes the longing wasn't for the ‘home’ in ideology, but for a familiar place, familiar scents, familiar climate, and even the old man downstairs who shouted ‘Aoooo’ in the early morning and then started practicing tai chi.
He sat down on the steps in front of the hospital entrance and lit a cigarette.
Then he looked up at the stars. He remembered the first time he had met Xu Nanheng by the side of National Highway 109. It was also under a sky full of stars. That night had been especially bright, as if the entire world was covered in stars.
The first order of business in the early morning was to go to the on-call room and take Xu Nanheng's temperature. When he pushed the door open, Xu Nanheng had just woken up and was clearly disoriented.
Fang Shiyou walked over and asked half-jokingly, “Do you still remember who I am?”
Teacher Xu lifted his eyes to look at him. “Who are you again?”
“Your husband.” Fang Shiyou stood at the bedside.
“Oh.” Xu Nanheng smiled. “I remember now.”
Fang Shiyou picked up the ear thermometer on the desk and measured his temperature. He was still running a fever at 37.9°C.
“Lie down for another day. How are you feeling?”
“Much better than yesterday,” Xu Nanheng said, propping himself up. “Did I babble a bunch of stuff to you last night while I was delirious?”
Fang Shiyou picked up the water bottle from the floor and poured it into the kettle. “Yeah, you complained to me about that stinky lihua that beat up Pangpang.”
“Damn.” Teacher Xu gripped the blanket, surprised that he had actually spent the night tattling about a cat. For a moment, it felt embarrassingly childish.
Fang Shiyou pressed the kettle button, turned, and leaned slightly against the desk, arms crossed, smiling at him. “Principal Sonam just contacted me, asking how you were. She said Dolkar noticed you weren't looking well after school last night and was worried you might be sick.”
“Really?” Xu Nanheng glanced at his phone. There was no message from Principal Sonam, meaning she had skipped over him and gone straight to Fang Shiyou. “So they really treat you as my guardian.”
“Why not? I think it's quite good.” Fang Shiyou, like a magician, produced the Choco Pie from his pocket that he'd gotten from Professor Gu's office and handed it to him.
Xu Nanheng took it but didn't unwrap it. “I don't want to hold you up. You're a doctor. You have work to do.”
“It's fine. If I really were busy, I wouldn't have time to check my phone anyway,” Fang Shiyou said. “Pour yourself some water from the kettle when it's boiled. The cool mineral water's over there. I'm heading to the office. I'll call you for lunch.”