| BYSG | My Good Brother | 25
In addition to the blisters on his lips, there was also a bit of an ulcer inside his mouth.
There was no helping it—Shen Yu had bought some very sweet and delicious sugar tangerines. They were small, and one could be finished in two bites.
Once he started, he couldn’t stop.
Fortunately, Shen Yu didn’t have an 8 a.m. class today, so he hadn’t gotten up yet and hadn’t seen how embarrassed he looked.
Cheng Mofei quickly grabbed a disposable mask and put it on before heading out. He didn’t invite Shen Yu to eat in the cafeteria at lunch and just had some century egg and lean meat porridge before heading to his duty.
He also bought some medicine, but it wasn’t working very fast.
The mask stayed glued to his face the entire day.
However, though he could avoid it for a while, he couldn’t avoid it forever.
In the evening, they would still meet in the dormitory.
His mouth couldn’t heal that quickly either.
Due to matters related to the orientation party, Shen Yu didn’t return until late.
Having not seen Cheng Mofei all day, Shen Yu immediately focused his gaze on him as soon as he entered the dormitory.
Then, Shen Yu furrowed his brows and quickly walked over.
"Are you sick?" Shen Yu's voice carried an unmistakable concern.
Cheng Mofei was still wearing the mask, sitting at his spot and typing away on the keyboard, handling some work.
When he heard Shen Yu's voice, he subconsciously curled his fingers, his nails lightly scratching the smooth keycaps.
Beside him, Xiao Xiong kindly answered on his behalf: "He's not sick, just has a blister on his lip. Probably from eating too many tangerines last night."
Cheng Mofei immediately shot him a glare and said with annoyance, "Go play your game."
He should have kept all the tangerines for himself last night.
Without saying another word, Shen Yu raised his hand and pulled off Cheng Mofei’s mask.
Having just come back from outside, Shen Yu's fingers were slightly cold. As they brushed across Cheng Mofei’s warm cheek, the sensation was particularly striking.
Cheng Mofei’s expression instantly shifted from fierce to guilty. He obediently shrank back, not daring to put the mask back on.
As expected, there was a blister on his lip, right near the corner of his mouth. It was swollen in a way that was both laughable and pitiful.
In addition, his lips had become dry and cracked from the heat.
Last night, when he noticed Cheng Mofei finishing an entire bag of sugar tangerines, Shen Yu had a vague sense that something might be wrong. He hadn’t expected it to lead to such a severe case of heat buildup.
Next time, he’d see if Cheng Mofei would dare finish off a whole bag of tangerines so quickly again.
Under Shen Yu’s unwavering gaze, Cheng Mofei was unable to hold eye contact for long. After a few seconds, he turned his gaze away.
He didn’t want Shen Yu to know about this.
It was embarrassing.
And the tangerines had been bought for him by Shen Yu—he didn’t want Shen Yu to feel guilty.
But Shen Yu wasn’t at fault, and neither were the tangerines. It was his own fault for not being able to stop himself from eating too many.
Would Shen Yu stop buying him sugar tangerines in the future?
It wasn’t like Cheng Mofei was trying to take advantage of Shen Yu; it wasn’t that he couldn’t buy his own tangerines. He just liked receiving gifts, that was all.
Cheng Mofei kept a close watch on Shen Yu’s expression, but he couldn’t read anything from it.
Finally, Shen Yu pulled his hand back, turned, and returned to his spot.
Cheng Mofei had just relaxed when he saw Shen Yu open the bag he had brought back earlier. He pulled something out and handed it over, saying, “I also got you a cup of hot rock candy pear. It’ll help clear your heat.”
Tangerines cause heat, but pears can cool it down.
Shen Yu had prepared himself beforehand, but he didn’t expect Cheng Mofei already be dealing with the heat.
Surprised and touched, Cheng Mofei took the cup of rock candy pear. The warmth from the cup spread into his palm, and his heart felt warmed as well. He immediately opened it and took a big gulp.
It was the sweet taste of rock candy and pear, simmered together—it wasn’t at all greasy.
“It’s delicious,” Cheng Mofei said, his voice a bit muffled.
Because of the heat, he hadn’t eaten much today, and he was feeling a little hungry. Suddenly drinking the warm, sweet rock candy pear made his mood instantly lift.
Shen Yu smiled, then turned around and found a small spoon to hand to Cheng Mofei, reminding him, "Make sure to eat the pear inside too."
"Okay."
Cheng Mofei obediently finished it all.
From then on, every evening after Shen Yu’s rehearsal, he would bring Cheng Mofei a cup of hot rock candy pear.
Day by day, the blister on Cheng Mofei’s lip improved, and his mouth ulcer also healed a lot.
Finally, after one evening class, Cheng Mofei took a detour to Shen Yu’s rehearsal venue, wanting to sneak a look at how his rehearsal was going.
Sun Xinghe’s girlfriend had been trained in folk dance since childhood and was participating in their college’s welcome party, performing a dance number. She practiced every night, and Sun Xinghe often went to watch her.
So, once again, similar to their encounter during military training, Cheng Mofei and Sun Xinghe walked together for a while before parting ways.
This time, it was Cheng Mofei who bought two cups of hot rock candy pear and brought them to Shen Yu.
Shen Yu was the host, and his main focus during rehearsal was practicing his lines and controlling his body language and expressions. His voice had the most work to do, so he needed something warm to soothe his throat.
From a distance, Cheng Mofei saw a group of people gathered together, and among them was Shen Yu. He couldn’t help but quicken his pace.
Shen Yu was surrounded by two girls and one guy, all unfamiliar faces. They looked quite proper and were holding printed scripts, engaged in some conversation. They must have been the other three hosts.
Meng Li wasn’t there.
When Cheng Mofei, wearing a mask, approached, Shen Yu’s gaze lifted from the script and landed with pleasant surprise on the two cups of rock candy pear Cheng Mofei was holding.
It was obvious one was for him.
Shen Yu thought to himself, once he managed to win Cheng Mofei over, he’d be able to enjoy such treatment every day.
Cheng Mofei handed one of the cups to him and asked, “How’s the rehearsal going? What time do you finish?”
Shen Yu reached out to take the cup, replying, “Another fifteen minutes. Which is fine, it’s not too busy.”
At the beginning, being a host wasn’t too exhausting. The main burden was on those performing in the programs, who needed to rehearse together.
It wouldn’t be until the later days, when the full rehearsal for the event started, that things would really get busy.
Another guy suggested, "Let's run through it one more time before we take a break and wait for it to end."
The other three didn’t object.
Seeing this, Cheng Mofei decided not to disturb them further. He took his cup of rock candy pear and sat down by the landscaping area, patiently waiting for Shen Yu to finish so they could head back together.
Shen Yu’s voice was pleasant to listen to. Even reading through the somewhat uninteresting host script made it hard to stop listening.
It was clear that he had already memorized his lines, and he spoke with ease, no longer needing to look at the script in his hand.
Cheng Mofei took a sip of the warm drink and couldn’t help but smile.
Not far away, a few girls who were rehearsing dance routines were taking a break, chatting animatedly about something.
A short-haired girl said to a long-haired girl, "Yi’er, can I borrow your lip balm? My lips are so dry from the wind tonight. They'll definitely peel tomorrow."
The long-haired girl immediately took out a tube of lip balm from her bag and handed it over. "Here, take it."
The short-haired girl took the lip balm, opened it, and applied it to her lips.
Another girl with a ponytail hesitated before asking, "You two are using the same lip balm? Don’t you think... well... I don’t know how to say it..."
The short-haired girl smiled knowingly. "I know what you mean. Don’t worry, Yi and I are best friends, so we don’t mind sharing things like lipstick or lip balm."
The girl with the ponytail sighed in genuine admiration, "I really envy how close you two are."
Cheng Mofei had been keeping his gaze fixed on Shen Yu, but since he was sitting so close to the girls, he couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.
Best friends, huh...
Throughout his life, he had many friends, but none had formed such a fast and deep bond with him as Shen Yu had.
The other two in the dorm had known him longer, yet they didn’t share the same kind of connection he had with Shen Yu.
He could feel that Shen Yu was different from the many friends he had known. It was a feeling that was hard to describe with words.
Perhaps they could become best friends.
Cheng Mofei thought for a moment. He didn’t mind if Shen Yu used the lip balm he had used.
But what about Shen Yu?
Would he mind?
...Would Shen Yu consider him his best friend too?
People are inherently greedy—when you treat someone as your best friend, you want them to see you the same way, or else it creates a sense of imbalance, even leading to internal conflict.
With this thought in mind, as he and Shen Yu walked back together after the rehearsal, they passed by a quieter spot, and Cheng Mofei suddenly spoke up, "My lips feel so dry, it's uncomfortable."
Immediately, Shen Yu became concerned and asked, "Are you still feeling heat? Don’t lick your lips, it’ll make them even drier."
Cheng Mofei shook his head, feigning innocence. "Did you bring lip balm? Could you put some on me? Maybe it’ll help."
He had noticed Shen Yu had it, tucked inside the zippered pocket of his jacket.
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