Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 6: Getting an IV

Lu Qi had joined two big departments. Every day, just going to a meeting already took up half his day. Including his tutoring on the weekends and school lessons, he has very limited free time.

Huo Ming Chen sent him a text in the afternoon. No response. He tried calling. No one picked up. He wanted to find Lu Qi, but he couldn’t even reach him. It made Huo Ming Chen so mad that the entire day, he wore a frown on his face. Fang Qi and Cheng Tian Yao made sure they kept a distance away from Huo Ming Chen,

“What is this? His face is deathly white.”

“Maybe it’s his time of the month.”

Huo Ming Chen was too lazy to give a damn. In a relationship between two men, it is easy to get injured, especially for the one on the bottom. As much as Lu Qi had cleaned him up yesterday, he still started burning with a low fever.

Those who are sick are more prone to be sentimental and over analyze, especially now that he can’t find his partner. He couldn’t stop feeling irritated. And when it came to the period for evening self-study, it was not Lu Qi who came to inspect them.

Fang Qi stared at the sickly face of Huo Ming Chen, and remembered that he did not return last night to the dorm. Something snapped in his brain, and he was so shocked that he felt like his soul was leaving his body.

“You two wouldn’t have….. no wait… Isn’t this too fast???”

Huo Ming Chen moodily tugged on his shirt collar, feeling light headed, and responded back softly,

“What do you mean it’s too fast. Just go read your books.”

Lu Qi was inspecting the other classroom right next door. He passed by Huo Ming Chen’s classroom and slowed down his footsteps. From the clear glass windows, he could see Huo Ming Chen, pale faced with scrunched up eyebrows, lying down on his desk. It did not look like he was sleeping, more like…… he was sick.

The student inspector for Huo Ming Chen’s classroom was just standing next to him, wanting but not brave enough to wake Huo Ming Chen.

Lu Qi had seen that face before, so he walked right in and pulled the student inspector to the side and said quietly,

“Today the president (of the department) isn’t here. Switch classrooms with me. You go to economics and I’ll take care of the finance classroom.”

The two of them were a part of the same department, and they have seen each other in passing. Doing a favor for Lu Qi didn’t seem like a problem, so after considering it a bit, the student inspector agreed. He patted Lu Qi’s shoulder and said,

“Then I’ll leave this up to you. Remember to keep them from sleeping or playing on their phones. During the last inspection the department head had said that we can’t just let it go.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be vigilant.”

After the other student had left, Lu Qi walked right next to Huo Ming Chen and touched Huo Ming Chen’s forehead with the back of his hand to test the temperature. He found that it was burning a little hot, and he wanted to wake up Huo Ming Chen. He did not expect that his eyes would meet with the dark eyes of Huo Ming Chen instead.

Who knew when Huo Ming Chen woke up. Huo Ming Chen expressionlessly stood up and said in an unfriendly tone, as if he was a wounded lion, ready to fight,

“What do you want?”

He looked very hot tempered, and his heart was already boiling with anger. He wanted to beat up the person right in front of him.

Lu Qi looked at him, and calmly described the situation,

“You have a fever.”

“What the fuck does it matter to you?”

Huo Ming Chen was angry, and he hated that emotionless face of Lu Qi even more. The two of them were locked in this tense atmosphere, and other students in the classroom were already looking over to see what was going on. Some unnamed bootlicker wanted to impress himself in front of Huo Ming Chen, saw the situation at hand and said to Lu Qi,

“Ah ah ah, are you inspecting our classroom? I don’t think it was you that was just walking around. Huh, so the department of student affairs can just casually switch their jobs when……”

He did not even finish before Huo Ming Chen turned around and glared at him,

“You fucker, you want to die huh, do you believe that I will sew your mouth shut?!”

He immediately shut up, too embarrassed to say anything else.

At this point, the other student inspector could not pretend that nothing was happening. He swallowed dryly and came down from the teacher’s platform, and was going to try and somehow peacefully resolve this high tense situation. But he was stopped when Lu Qi suddenly grabbed the rumored devil Huo Ming Chen,

 

“Sorry, he has a fever. I am going to take him to the infirmary. Please help me record his absence.”

Then he forcefully pushed Huo Ming Chen out of the classroom.

Fang Qi: Shocked Dog Face.jpg1 

Lu Qi held on to Huo Ming Chen so tightly that Huo Ming Chen could not escape. He twisted his hand to grab Lu Qi’s wrist and coldly threatened,

“Let go, or believe me I will incapacitate your arm!”

Lu Qi paused as he heard the threat and turned around, scrunching up his eyebrows.

Then……

“Go ahead then.”

The lightly snapped back response made Huo Ming Chen really want to punch his face.

Lu Qi did not believe that Huo Ming Chen would actually do it.

“You!”

Huo Ming Chen’s eyes widened. He was already boiling with anger to the point he could not speak. But just like Lu Qi predicted, after a few breaths of air, Huo Ming Chen loosened his grasp. Even after that, there was no movement.

At this time, students were studying in their classrooms, so the hallway was deathly quiet and empty. When Lu Qi spoke, it echoed down the hall,

“If I were you, I would not try to harm my own body. If there were any problems, I would make sure that I was not sick first.”

He continued to pull Huo Ming Chen with him as he walked down the stairs, but this time, he was much gentler.

Huo Ming Chen felt a bit better, but only a little bit. He gritted his teeth and glared at Lu Qi’s back,

“Lu Qi, you think you are the boss now huh. You don’t answer my phone calls or respond to my texts. You think you are in control now?”

“Today the student council had a two hour meeting, the department of student affairs had another two hour meeting, and right after that, I had my classes. When they were done I had to rush to inspect the classrooms for the evening self-study period.”

Lu Qi spoke as he patted his pant pockets,

“I also did not charge my phone yesterday, so my phone has been out of battery.”

Huo Ming Chen said nothing, with the words “I don’t believe you” written all over his face. He pulled out Lu Qi’s phone to examine it. After he confirmed that it was really out of battery, his expression relaxed. He was silent for a moment.

“…….Don’t do this ever again.”

His voice had a weird hoarseness to it.

Lu Qi felt that it was a little funny as it was not up to humans to control whether his phone has battery or not, but he was too lazy to explain. Huo Ming Chen’s eyes looked like if he said anything, he would retort with another response. And that would mean he would also be beaten up. Lu Qi did not want a beating.

“Can we go to the infirmary now?”

Someone casually replied,

“Of course, I never said I wasn’t going to go.”

“……”

The infirmary only had one doctor on duty and it was an old woman around fifty years old who had a thick pair of glasses. Her eyesight did not seem very good. She checked Huo Ming Chen’s temperature and found that it was a bit high,

“Young man, I can give you an IV. Your fever should go down quickly after.”

Huo Ming Chen hated getting an IV administration , and once he heard that, he wanted to reject the offer. Lu Qi however was faster than him,

“That’s perfect. We will be in your care then.”

Huo Mingchen gave a ‘tsk’.

“It’s not a big deal. You can even sleep during the IV.”

“Don’t make yourself so miserable. It will make your fever go away faster.”

Lu Qi sat next to him, and borrowed a phone charger from the elderly doctor. He rested his eyes as he charged his phone. Huo Ming Chen did not want to disturb him, but just being by himself getting the IV was boring. He couldn’t help himself,

“Why did you join so many departments? Isn’t it such a hassle?”

Huo Ming Chen did not join anything which is not to say he was lazy. He just didn’t see the point of any of them.

“It’s fine. Adding to the experience of being at a university is pretty nice.”

Since he can’t even rest, he decided to turn on his phone instead. He glanced at the sixty missed calls and paused for a moment. Then he scrolled to his games. Seeing that, Huo Ming Chen kicked him and scowled, feeling that it was unfair,

“My tongue is bitter.”

Lu Qi seemed too addicted to his phone game and patted his pockets without looking. He took out a grape flavored hard candy and dropped it onto Huo Ming Chen’s hand,

“Eat.”

“……”

This was not what Huo Ming Chen predicted as a romantic experience. He unwillingly tore the wrapper open with his teeth. The moment the candy entered his mouth, there was a strong grape flavor that overtook the bitterness from the medicine.

He made faces with his mouth, and hovered by Lu Qi’s ear,

“Actually kissing you is sweeter than eating candy.”

“……”

Lu Qi finally had a reaction to that. He lifted his eyes and scanned the room for the elderly doctor who was busy working. He turned and asked,

“Is kissing me sweeter, or is me kissing you sweeter?”

#Discuss how to turn proper sentences into the most provocative phrases#

“……”

Huo Ming Chen closed his eyes in silence, and did not dare look at Lu Qi. He was afraid that if he kept looking, he would pull out the IV and kiss Lu Qi right there and then until the world ends.

Two bags of IV, can’t say if it took very long or no time at all. In the blink of an eye, they were almost done. Lu Qi suddenly dusted his butt and stood up.

“I’m going to buy some water, I’ll be right back.”

Huo Ming Chen said,

“Come back quickly.”

 

As soon as Lu Qi stepped out of the infirmary, the doctor came over with the bill. The bill was astronomically high, more than the usual if you were to go to a hospital instead of the school infirmary. The doctor had also prescribed a bunch of miscellaneous medicine. Of course, Prince Huo Ming Chen didn’t care at all, but he kept feeling that there was something wrong when he took out his phone to pay2.

Lu Qi had bought a bottle of water at the school store, and made sure he was like an elderly man, walking as slow as he could back to the infirmary. Huo Ming Chen had just finished paying the bill. He walked right into Lu Qi as he headed outside.

“You……”

His eyes were full of suspicion, feeling like he should be condemning Lu Qi for something, but also had no base to stand on to do so.

Lu Qi passed him the bottle of water,

“Let’s go, I’ll take you back to your dorm to rest up.”

Huo Ming Chen licked his dry lips, inexplicably feeling that his mouth was still a bit bitter,

“Didn’t you help me ask for absence from attendance? We can sleep outside tonight.”

He was hinting very hard.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Lu Qi led Huo Ming Chen towards his dorm, only to find that the evening self-study period had ended. There were students everywhere. He subconsciously released his hand and kept a certain distance away from Huo Ming Chen.

Huo Ming Chen scrunched up his eyebrows and stood still. He was not very happy,

“I am not the plague, what are you hiding for?”

Lu Qi said,

“What if someone saw us holding hands?”

To be honest, the field had boys everywhere that were physically intimate, even more so than them. So, it technically didn’t really mean anything if they were holding hands.

“What if they saw it? Who would be sharp enough to know that we are together at a glance?”

Lu Qi thought Huo Ming Chen was ill, and not a light illness either. He was the one that said their relationship had to be kept secret, he was the one that kept coming on to him, and always bringing with him such a vindictive attitude.

Lu Qi could only obey Huo Ming Chen, and thought to himself there cannot be a human suffering and more miserable than him. He can’t even get one penny out of this, and actually, he was the one paying. This was not finding a sugar daddy, this was finding a lord to serve.

He was going to earn back every penny and more after he graduates and enters the Huo family business.

After walking for a bit, his lord commanded

“This Saturday, go out with me.”

Lu Qi calculated around his schedule. Tutoring was at night, so tomorrow in the morning, it should be fine. He asked,

“Do I get paid for going out with you?”

Technically he was going out with someone which was a job for some people. You also need to show some effort —

Wouldn’t you say so, system?

System: ……

The system just found out now that his particular host is not just your average host. He can find the littlest loophole.

“Fuck, are you obsessed with money?”

Huo Ming Chen thought Lu Qi was mentally ill. He had handed over his credit card, and Lu Qi didn’t want it. Instead, he had to calculate all the little things like this for the tiniest amount of money. But whatever, thinking positively, this was called having a backbone, you can’t just eat for free.

He transferred some money to Lu Qi on his phone and said while smiling fakely,

“Is that enough?”

Lu Qi immediately accepted the transfer,

“That’s enough.”

Because he suddenly found a new way to make money, his heart was pumping fast in excitement, and honestly suggested,

“This Sunday I can also go out with you.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

Huo Ming Chen narrowed his eyes and said,

“I am not going out to be with an escort. Why am I paying you when I am going out to have fun with you. There will be no next time.”

“……”

The author has something to say:
Lu Qi: Keeps feeling like he’s been used for free too many times before……

 

Notes:
*1 the meme the author used: 目瞪狗呆.jpg (example picture below – there are different versions too if you google it). Maybe the equivalent meme in english could be the shocked pikachu face.

 

*2 probably already know, but they all use their phones for everything there. They don’t carry around cash, as they swipe with their phones like WeChat Pay (i guess it’s just the equivalent apple or samsung pay lol).

Thank you for reading, and all your support once again  It motivates me very much to continue when you all enjoy the story like I did haha.