The Promise Sealed with Our Lips

Shi Yan asked He Nuo to ride his bicycle home at noon the next day, then go to school directly by himself in the late afternoon instead of picking him up. He had already arranged to meet with w.a.n.g Feng for lunch before going to his house for a consultation with his mother. Shi Yan narrated He Nuo’s medical history to w.a.n.g Mama once, but he knew that it was overly simplistic so there was no way for w.a.n.g Mama to correctly deduce which kind of nephritis it was, or whether or not it was even nephritis in the first place. w.a.n.g Mama tried her best to use layman terms to explain and a.n.a.lyse He Nuo’s condition, then suggested that it would be best for him to go to the hospital for some check-ups and tests.

She couldn’t diagnose anything, but w.a.n.g Mama reminded Shi Yan that according to his current symptoms, He Nuo was still urinating blood. But hematuria can be cla.s.sified into two types: those that can be seen under a microscope and those that can be seen with the naked eye. It was more serious in the past, so you could see the blood with your naked eye, but after he had consumed a large amount of anti-inflammatories, the red blood cells that’s discharged had decreased so you couldn’t see an obvious red colour. But the pain at the start and end of every urination session is likely due to the discharge of red blood cells. So, He Nuo definitely needed to avoid getting cold and wet, because his immune system is currently very weak. Even a slight cold, flu or respiratory infection could trigger his hematuria.

w.a.n.g Mama then talked about some other areas that required attention: diet, exercise and lifestyle. It was very important for him to pay attention to his nutrition, keep warm and improve his immune system. Shi Yan listed several kinds of health care products in detail, and asked if they were suitable. More or less, because they were all beneficial for boosting one’s immunity.

After they took their leave, Shi Yan and w.a.n.g Feng made a trip down to Shi Yan’s place before they went to school, so they were almost late for their cla.s.ses. After his cla.s.ses ended, he went to look for He Nuo. He took out a small bottle and inserted a straw in it, “Drink this.”

He Nuo looked at it but didn’t take it, “This again, I don’t want to drink it. I don’t like sweet things, it’s nauseating.”

“And medicine isn’t nauseating? Do you want to eat medicine for the rest of your life?” Shi Yan spoke in a very strong tone.

He Nuo could tell at a glance that he was unhappy, so he accepted the drink and quickly downed it.

“You don’t like to drink it? Then don’t cough behind me everyday.”

He Nuo laughed and didn’t argue with him.When he looked at He Nuo eyes that took up a large surface area on his face because how of skinny he is, Shi Yan couldn’t harden his heart and instead advised, “This is good for your body, you need to drink it everyday from now onwards.”

“Every day?” He Nuo’s face turned sullen.

On the contrary, the dark clouds looming above Shi Yan dispersed and had turned sunny instead, “Yes, and you need to continue drinking Apollo too.”

When he sent He Nuo to his doorstep after school, Shi Yan then took out another small bottle, “Drink this Apollo before you eat, then you’ll be able to absorb nutrients better.”

On Sat.u.r.day morning, Shi Yan arranged to meet with He Nuo and asked him not to pee after he got up but to leave his house earlier to meet him instead. Even though He Nuo didn’t understand what was going on, he still arrived earlier than their appointed time. When they reached the entrance of the hospital, He Nuo didn’t want to go in again, but Shi Yan wouldn’t give him the chance to back out or hesitate. He took a small cup that was in front of the laboratory’s window and asked He Nuo to pee into it, then brought him somewhere to p.r.i.c.k his ears for a blood test. He pa.s.sed a laboratory test slip that w.a.n.g Feng’s mother had prepared for him yesterday to a medical staff before they left — w.a.n.g Feng’s mother wrote the laboratory test slip under her own patients’ names, so the slip will be sent to w.a.n.g Mama.

These basic tests are unable to diagnose the exact disease, but it managed to determine the existence of red blood cells in his urine. The causes for his frequent slight fevers had also been found — inflammation within his body. So w.a.n.g Mama recommended their latest drug: norfloxacin, as the first step to treating his current hematuria.

Shi Yan would bring ginseng Royal Jelly and Apollo’s oral liquid for He Nuo everyday. It’s not that he couldn’t give him a few boxes at one go for his own consumption at home, but Shi Yan could sense the status that He Nuo held in his family and had considered that if He Nuo’s family discovered the tonics they might cause unnecessary trouble for him again. So he would only only give him these two to He Nuo in advance on Sundays. Shi Yan wasn’t overthinking things. Although He Nuo had never been discovered to be consuming such high-quality tonics in front of his family, he was still careful to not let them see as he subconsciously didn’t want them to know about it.

In school, Shi Yan absolutely did not allow He Nuo to drink tap or cold water anymore, and had even limited his liquid intake. Now He Nuo’s no. 1 was completely normal, and the pain at the start and end of it had been resolved. Without this physical torture, He Nuo immediately became more spirited. But Shi Yan no longer asked him to go and play in the snow with him, and had told him to not leave the teaching building aside from going to the toilet in this cold weather.

Apart from mornings, Shi Yan and He Nuo would go to school and leave school together in the afternoons and at nights. Sometimes, Shi Yan would pick the He Nuo who was walking to school in the mornings. The blood in his urine was resolved, but his cough didn’t seem to get any better. No matter how many times Shi Yan changed his medication for him, they had no obvious effects in alleviating his cough. When it was slight, it meant that it was a rare bright and sunny winter day, but if the northern winds were slightly stronger, then his cough would become more serious too. In the warm cla.s.sroom, if the door didn’t suddenly open and let a cold air flow gush in, He Nuo’s violent coughs wouldn’t be triggered. So Shi Yan told He Nuo to wear a mask the moment cla.s.ses ended, then he wouldn’t be too badly affected by the cold air brought in by students who would leave and enter the cla.s.sroom.

In the beginning, He Nuo was reluctant to do such a weird thing. But Shi Yan would visit him during their breaks and asked him not to leave his seat. Instead, Shi Yan walked straight up to the seat in front of him to sit down, because Yu Yao was too lazy to leave after cla.s.s and she wasn’t willing to give up her seat for Shi Yan either. Shi Yan came directly from his cla.s.sroom and never left the building, so him coming over to sit down didn’t have much of an impact on He Nuo. But when a student who had left the teaching building returned and pa.s.sed by He Nuo, he ended up coughing until his face went pale. Shi Yan’s immediately glared at him and said with a voice full of anger, “Can’t you go the other way round? Don’t you know what would trigger his coughs?”

He Nuo didn’t know if he should cry or laugh — that guy’s seat was situated at the back of his row, so it was perfectly reasonable for him pa.s.s by him. How could this tyrant blame him with such an absurd reason? That student anxiously nodded as he apologised, and kept saying ‘sorry’; He Nuo mumbled incoherently as he shook his head and waved his hand to him to motion that it was okay, that it was his own fault; on the other hand he was pushing Shi Yan to chase this Daye away. Shi Yan used the same tone of rebuke with him, “Didn’t I ask you to wear a mask? Do you have no ears?! You better put it on quickly next time!”

After cla.s.ses ended, He Nuo took his mask out and hesitated for a moment before he took the scarf out too and wrapped it around his neck. He pulled it up high to cover half his face before he went to the toilet. When he returned, he didn’t take the mask off again. Yu Yao couldn’t help but laugh and turned sideways to look at him. He Nuo tried to cover up his embarra.s.sment, “What are you looking at, can’t you recognise me anymore?”

“I was just thinking that that playboy’s not so bad as a friend, he treats his friends much better than his girlfriends.”

When He Nuo heard this, he felt all warm and fuzzy inside. His reaction towards Shi Yan’s goodwill had changed from his resistance in the beginning, to a sense of guilt and indebtedness afterwards, then finally to his joyful acceptance of it now. He Nuo regards Shi Yan as his best friend, and aside from his family, Shi Yan was currently the most important person in his life. He Nuo had already opened up his heart to accept Shi Yan, so he no longer hesitated to accept Shi Yan’s care because He Nuo knew that if Shi Yan was sick, he would treat him the same way too.