Puppet Notes (Wearing Book) - 76

 

| PN | Red Light | 76

Shen Yuxi listened gently, and from the surface, it was impossible to guess what he was thinking inside.

Qi Chao looked at Shen Yuxi’s pale face, and abruptly said, “Brother Shen, can I touch your forehead?”

Touch his forehead?

Shen Yuxi paused with his fingertips, not understanding at first. He looked up at Qi Chao, and after a few seconds, he gently nodded.

Feeling Qi Chao’s hand resting on his forehead, Shen Yuxi’s fingers on the table trembled slightly, and his eyelashes slowly lowered.

This was the first time he had someone touch his forehead.

Shen Yuxi felt a bit uncomfortable but not repulsed.

Qi Chao, unaware of Shen Yuxi’s thoughts, felt the warmth of his forehead and withdrew his hand, frowning slightly. “Brother Shen, do you have a fever?”

“No, I rarely get sick ever since I was young.”

Shen Yuxi’s tone was as gentle as usual. He raised his head slightly, his peach blossom eyes looking somewhat confused, not understanding why Qi Chao would come to this conclusion.

Shen Yuxi rarely fell ill in the past.

In a place like Ganfen District, getting sick often meant death.

"Your forehead is so hot; it’s impossible not to have a fever," Qi Chao said, taking Shen Yuxi's hand and placing it on his own forehead. His deep brown eyes were filled with concern. "Feel it yourself. Is it hot?"

Shen Yuxi didn’t think his forehead felt particularly hot. He glanced at Qi Chao holding his hand and, after a few seconds, he slightly nodded and said softly, "It is a bit high."

This was a lie. He didn’t feel his forehead’s temperature was abnormal; rather, the hand holding his was extremely hot.

"Brother Shen, you should lie down on the bed."

Qi Chao, not knowing what Shen Yuxi was thinking, quickly helped him onto the bed.

On the surface, Shen Yuxi's behavior seemed normal, making it hard to tell he was ill. If Qi Chao hadn’t been suspicious and casually checked, no one might have known if Shen Yuxi had a fever.

"Alright."

Seeing Qi Chao’s anxious expression, Shen Yuxi paused, nodded in agreement, and lay down on the bed in the study.

Qi Chao tucked him in and then started moving in and out of the room, taking his temperature and looking for medicine. On Blue Star, a fever was usually treated by taking some medicine and resting.

"38 degrees Celsius," Qi Chao said, looking at the thermometer. "Fortunately, it’s not very high."

Shen Yuxi cooperated while lying on the bed. Whether it was taking his temperature or drinking the medicine, he had no objections. After taking the medicine, he looked at Qi Chao with a hint of apology. “I’m sorry for causing trouble. You probably have other things to do.”

“Don’t apologize when you’re sick. Just rest peacefully, understand?” 

Qi Chao didn’t understand why Shen Yuxi was still so polite even while sick. He said softly to Shen Yuxi, not noticing his slightly stunned expression, and got up to draw the curtains.

The room instantly grew much darker.

“Sleep for now. I’ll go set up today’s tasks for them and come back to check on you later.”

Qi Chao looked down at him.

In the dim room, Shen Yuxi’s beautiful eyes remained fixed on Qi Chao, showing no emotion, just a simple gaze.

Unable to resist, Qi Chao reached out and ruffled Shen Yuxi’s hair, thinking to himself that Shen Yuxi’s expression really resembled that of a child.

After patting his head, Qi Chao felt a bit awkward. Shen Yuxi was older than him, and he might not like being patted on the head. Thinking this, Qi Chao quickly withdrew his hand, pocketed it, and forced a smile.

He quietly said he was leaving and turned to exit the room.

Once the door was closed, Shen Yuxi glanced at the tightly shut door. He reached out from under the covers and touched his own hair.

He thought he might really be sick today; otherwise, he wouldn’t have spaced out so many times in front of Qi Chao.

If Qi Chao were his alone, he would have reason to keep him there and wouldn’t have to worry about spacing out in front of him.

Shen Yuxi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he slowly closed his eyes. He thought to himself that he needed to act quickly. His patience was running thin.

On the other side, Qi Chao arrived in the study room, where the four puppets were seated and studying. Just as Qi Chao approached Li Bai, Moss entered the room, clutching his doll and nodding at Qi Chao.

Qi Chao wasn’t surprised; after all, he had invited Moss to sit in. He had expected Moss to arrive a bit later, but it seemed he came quite early.

“You’re all very punctual today,” Qi Chao said to the children. Concerned about Shen Yuxi’s illness, Qi Chao didn’t smile as he usually would. His gaze fell on the children in the room. 

When he saw Agu slumped over the table, struggling to keep his eyes open, Qi Chao paused.

“Agu, are you very tired?”

Qi Chao remembered that Agu had gone to bed at 2 a.m. This level of fatigue was understandable.

However, Qi Chao thought, it couldn’t be helped. Both Li Bai and Agu were studying, but while Li Bai, who wasn’t good with words, finished by 9 p.m., Agu had to stay up until 2 a.m.

If he fell behind even more, he’d have more to catch up on.

Qi Chao, who hadn’t finished high school but had seen the moonlight at 3 a.m., knew that sometimes sleep could be sacrificed. He smiled at Agu. “Hang in there, and try to finish up early today.”

“Try to finish up early today?” 

Agu, being clever, immediately understood the underlying implication of Qi Chao’s words and was instantly disheartened.

He hadn’t slept at all the previous night! Just thinking about how Lan Luo and Li Bai had beaten him from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. under the pretense of a duel left Agu feeling exhausted.

Behind him, Li Bai and Lan Luo were still watching him, as if warning him not to reveal what happened yesterday.

Agu wouldn’t say anything; he wasn’t foolish. If he did, Li Bai and Lan Luo would likely come and beat him up again.

Agu wanted to sleep. His emerald-green eyes looked a bit pitiful. His arm was broken, everyone disliked him, and he couldn’t sleep; he had to study and be punished by the puppets. He just wanted to relax. 

Why was he treated like this?

Agu felt very distressed. He looked up at Qi Chao, bit his lip, and said, “Uncle, I’m sorry.”

This apology was sincere. Agu felt that if he hadn’t knocked Qi Chao out back then, he wouldn’t be burdened with studying so much, wouldn’t be unable to sleep, and wouldn’t have been beaten up by two puppets at 3 a.m.

Qi Chao looked into Agu’s eyes and knew this apology was genuine. After a pause, he said, “Actually, the one you should apologize to the most isn’t me, but your father.”

“I’m less angry now that I see you’ve stayed up two nights, studying so many books that it gives you a headache. I even remembered how you shivered at the sound of bamboo sticks,” Qi Chao smiled, remembering the scene, then rubbed Agu’s head and became a bit more serious. “But your father is different.”

“Brother Shen is very upset and even got sick because of it.”

Qi Chao had never interceded for the puppets or tried to make Shen Yuxi forgive them. In his view, Shen Yuxi had every right to be angry and to decide when to forgive them.

“If Agu truly feels he’s done something wrong, then he should sincerely apologize to Brother Shen,” Qi Chao said, pausing before continuing, “However, Brother Shen is sleeping right now. If you want to apologize, you should wait until he wakes up.”

Father is sick?

Agu and Chi Yao looked up at Qi Chao immediately upon hearing this. 

Moss, who was holding a doll, also lifted his head and then glanced at Agu and Chi Yao.

Moss thought that he might have been too lenient.

After saying this, Qi Chao got up and continued to teach them, guiding them through the Blue Star text “Disciples’ Rules.”

He noticed that Agu and Chi Yao seemed a bit distracted but chose not to comment. Children needed time to reflect on things themselves.

Perhaps due to the impact of Qi Chao’s words, Agu appeared quite disheartened. Despite being exhausted, he had kept humming his self-composed songs over the past few days, but now he was simply reciting his lessons without any sign of passion.

Qi Chao observed this for a while, assigned memorization and writing tasks to the children, and then left them to study on their own. This was the first time Qi Chao hadn’t kept Agu behind individually.

He pocketed his hands and went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for Shen Yuxi, wondering how long it would take for Shen Yuxi and the children to reconcile.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuxi, knowing Qi Chao’s character, anticipated that he would come to deliver food. With this in mind, he got up at about the right time and changed into a fresh shirt.

After lying back down under the covers, Shen Yuxi unfastened the buttons in front of his collarbone and then closed his eyes with a sense of relief.

When Qi Chao returned to the room, he found that Shen Yuxi was still asleep. He gently woke him up, placed a small table on the bed that he had found downstairs, and helped Shen Yuxi sit up.

Catching a glimpse of Shen Yuxi’s delicate collarbone by accident, Qi Chao felt a sudden jolt of discomfort and quickly averted his gaze. He ran his hand through his hair and sat down on a nearby chair.

“Brother Shen, how are you feeling now?”

Qi Chao shifted the topic.

“I’m better,” Shen Yuxi replied, smiling slightly. His lips had gained a bit more color, and he looked much better than before.

Seeing this, Qi Chao also smiled. He refrained from mentioning the children and instead made small talk, joking about other things.

Shen Yuxi understood that Qi Chao was trying to cheer him up.

In reality, Shen Yuxi wasn’t upset. From the beginning, he had known that no one was truly trustworthy, including his puppets. He was always destined to be alone.

As he looked at the warm white porridge and glanced at Qi Chao, who was chatting and joking, Shen Yuxi thought to himself that he probably wouldn’t ever fully trust this person.

However, if he could keep Qi Chao by his side for a lifetime, even without trust, he would have no chance to betray him.

Qi Chao wasn’t aware of Shen Yuxi’s thoughts. Seeing that time was getting late and noticing Shen Yuxi’s tired expression, he stopped the conversation, said a few words, and left the room with the dishes.

Meanwhile, Chi Yao was hiding in a tree outside the window, watching the closed window. 

Although she couldn’t hear the conversation between Qi Chao and her father, she knew her father was sick.

Below the tree, Agu was resting against the trunk, seemingly unconcerned. However, Chi Yao knew that if Agu truly didn’t care, he wouldn’t have followed her to this place.

Chi Yao and Agu knew that their father wouldn’t allow them into his room, so they could only stand outside the window.

Time passed quickly, and once Shen Yuxi recovered, he took on the task of teaching the puppets. He had no objections to the legal books Qi Chao had ordered. Each day, he worked with Qi Chao to explore how to help the puppets better understand these complex concepts.

However, during his teaching, Shen Yuxi never acknowledged Chi Yao and Agu, and on the day Qi Chao was leaving, he didn’t speak to them at all.

Qi Chao observed the two children behind Shen Yuxi and realized that it would take a long time for them to earn Shen Yuxi’s forgiveness. He went over and gently rubbed the heads of both of them.

When Chi Yao and Agu looked up at Qi Chao, he smiled and handed his precious bamboo stick to Shen Yuxi. "Brother Shen, we need to have video discussions every day to exchange learning insights. The education of the children must not be neglected. This bamboo stick is very useful for Agu."

Agu, who had been smiling, shivered instinctively at the sight of the bamboo stick.

Shen Yuxi didn’t glance at Agu. Instead, he smiled warmly at Qi Chao. "I understand."

After exchanging a few more words, Moss opened a spatial vortex and led Qi Chao and the two puppets away. 

Before entering the vortex, Li Bai glanced back at Agu and Chi Yao.

For the past few nights, Li Bai had been challenging Agu and Chi Yao to duels. Many times, the matches ended in a draw, and they rarely went all out to avoid their father discovering them.

Li Bai thought to himself that he needed to become stronger and, next time they met, he aimed to disarm Agu and Chi Yao in their duel.

Back in the room, Moss left promptly. Although only a few days had passed, it felt like a long time to Lan Luo and Li Bai, who sat on the sofa staring blankly at the projection screen without turning on the animation.

Qi Chao quickly went to the basement, driven largely by the need to check on the mother stone in the fish tank.

Over the past few days without any energy replenishment, the mother stone in the fish tank remained dull and gray. The adjacent red crystal of the Double Mirrors was still dim and lacked luster.

Qi Chao closed his eyes and released his mental energy. Green orbs of light surged into his sea of consciousness, flocking towards the fish tank and encircling the three mother stones. 

Gradually, this energy merged into the stones.

As time passed, the red crystals in the two mother stones showed a fleeting surge of red light, flowing like water, before settling back into a calm state, almost as if it were an illusion.

Previous TOC Next