After the long "eight years ago", Li Li's crying gradually stopped, exhausted. He leaned on Xia Mian, the hand that was holding Xia Mian fell to his side, Xia Mian stretched out his hand to hold it, but without too much force, the hand slipped down softly.
"Li Li?"
Xia Mian touched his forehead, it was burning hot.
"I'll take you to the hospital." Xia Mian said, wanting to hug Li Li even tighter, but when he put his hands together, he suddenly didn't know how to use more force.
Li Liqiang cheered up, shook his head and said, "It's okay. I took the medicine, and the fever is a side effect of the medicine."
The severe early pregnancy reaction lasted for more than half a month, and Li Li was almost skinny. Xia Mian carried him into the room and put him on the bed: "I'll get the thermometer."
"Don't go." As soon as he pulled his hand away, Li Li grabbed him, showing a very dependent look, "You hug me again."
He said "don't go", Xia Mian was not willing to let go. He carried Li Li back into his arms and asked him where he kept the thermometer.
After taking his temperature, it turned out to be a low-grade fever. Xia Mian poured him a cup of Wen Bai Kai, tilted the cup to his lips, and asked him to replenish water.
Li Li supported his arm, took a sip from the rim of the cup, and didn't touch it again. He said: "Is it okay to drink it after cooling it? The temperature of the water is higher than the body temperature. I will feel sick after drinking it."
Xia Mian looked at him, paused for a while before taking the cup away. He poured another glass of cold water, and Li Li barely drank a couple of sips, but didn't touch it again.
"Have you had dinner?" Xia Mian asked, "What do you want to eat, I'll make it for you."
Li Li put his arms around his back, all body language was asking Xia Mian to hug him: "I'm not hungry, you smell really good, I'm a little sleepy, can you hug me and sleep for a while?"
Xia Mian said, "Okay."
He lay on his side on the bed, Li Li breathed evenly against his chest, and soon fell asleep.
Xia Mian wrapped him with his arms and a thin cotton quilt, and he exposed his head and a small part of his neck. He slept peacefully and quietly, and his breathing was so small that he could only hear it when he touched his lips.
Xia Mian put his hand around the back of Li Li's neck, touching the scar on his gland. It was no longer Xia Mian's thorn in his flesh, it became a tattoo of love, engraved on Li Li's body surface and Xia Mian's bone marrow. Once Xia Mian realized it would hurt, but he fully accepted the pain.
He lowered his head, kissed the scar with his lips, and then lightly pressed the tip of his nose against Li Li's skin surface, smelling the faint sweetness from memory.
In an instant, the heart that had been hanging in the air since receiving the phone call from his cousin fell to the ground. Xia Mian kissed Li Li's glands carefully and tightly, obsessing over this faint sweetness like an addiction.
Li Li was in a deep sleep and moved his neck subconsciously, but he was not awakened by Xia Mian's movements.
Soon, Xia Mian also became sleepy.
Li Li's weak pheromone is like a hypnotic. Xia Mian fell asleep for an hour, half dreaming and half awake, his consciousness was chaotic, and he was dreaming strange dreams. All of a sudden, he was awakened by a feeling of uneasiness crawling up his spine. The lights in the room were not turned off. He saw Li Li's sleeping face clearly at a glance, and felt the warmth in his arms and the weight in his arms. The shock subsided a little.
He raised his hand to cover the rough panting from his mouth.
It was the first time he knew that there was such a strong sadness in this world.
As the night deepened, the continuous spring rain outside the window became more and more urgent.
Xia Mian released Li Li gently, got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water.
He remembered that Li Li went into the kitchen to boil boiled eggs without having dinner. The small saucepan was bubbling and steaming, and he opened the kitchen window to let the sound of the rain and the cool breeze help him calm down.
"Xia Mian?"
Li Li's call came from the room, "Xia Mian, where are you?"
"I'm in the kitchen." Xia Mian responded to him and walked back to the room, "What's wrong?"
Li Li sat up from the bed and looked down for the slippers beside the bed. When he saw Xia Mian, he breathed a long sigh of relief, stretched out his hand and said, "I can't smell you, and I suddenly feel very flustered. I thought you were gone, so...you can hug me again."
This is the third time he asked Xia Mian to "hug him" tonight.
He had never opened his arms for a hug before. Not eight years ago, and not when we reunited. Most of his dependence and longing for Xia Mian are hidden in sight, hidden in the details that he always dodges and suppresses.
Xia Mian hugged him and asked in a low voice, "Is it better?"
Li Li leaned on his shoulder, his whole body stretched out, softening into a ball of cotton: "Mmm..."
"I boiled white water eggs for you, can you have some?"
Li Li nodded and said, "I can eat what you cook."
Xia Mian peeled two hard-boiled eggs, cut them in half and put them in a small bowl, and asked Li Li to eat them with a spoon. He asked Li Li, "Do you want me to feed you?" Li Li laughed lightly and said, "Only babies need to be fed."
Accompanying a person with a severe early pregnancy reaction to eat is tantamount to torture for the person who loves him.
Li Li felt like throwing up after taking the first bite. He covered his mouth and retched, his eyes were wet and red, and he waited for a long time before trying to eat the second bite.
Xia Mian brought his bowl over, picked out all the egg yolks, and asked him not to touch the egg yolks again: "Only eat egg whites, egg whites are tasteless."
Li Li said "OK".
Li Li ate two egg whites for almost half an hour. All Xia Mian could do was to repeatedly ask "Can I eat it?", "Can I have another bite?" Li Li insisted on eating, but he didn't spit it out. He said to Xia Mian with tears in his mouth when he retched, "Thank you, my stomach feels very comfortable after eating."
Xia Mian was speechless, he cupped Li Li's face and kissed him. This kiss has nothing to do with sexual desire, nor is it encroachment or plunder, it's just his heart-wrenching treasure on a spring rainy night.
Throughout the night, he let Li Li sleep peacefully in his arms.
The next morning Xia Mian woke up first, woke up Li Li after washing up, and took his temperature once.
"How do you feel today?" Xia Mian said, "I'll take you to the hospital, and I want to hear what the doctor has to say."
Li Li huddled in the place where Xia Mian had been lying, using his own body temperature to maintain Xia Mian's body temperature. His voice was slightly nasal when he got up in the morning: "I checked yesterday, and I will wait until a week later when I go next time."
Xia Mian said, "I'll accompany you, it's different."
Li Li lay still, hesitated for a while, and said to him, "I don't really want to go for two days in a row."
"Why?"
Li Li rubbed his cheeks back and forth against the pillow, breathing in the pheromone left by Xia Mian: "The hospital smells like disinfectant, but at home, your smell is very obvious, and I will feel more at ease when I smell it. I want to spend more time at home." Wait a while."
Li Li had been treated in the hospital for a year and a half. What was with him at that time
It is the smell of disinfectant, it is "Yang Yang".
Xia Mian touched his face with his hands, looked at him for a while, and said in a low voice: "I have been with you in the hospital, you will not miss my smell."
Li Li also looked at Xia Mian. He felt that Xia Mian's hand was dry and warm, and the touch was very light.
He said, "Okay, let's go together."
In the first trimester, there are some checks that really don’t need to be done too frequently. After Li Li and Xia Mian arrived at the hospital, the doctor skipped a lot of checks for him. Some precautions, such as avoiding sex life in the first trimester, not eating spicy and greasy food, high sugar and high sodium, not being too tired, etc.
While the spring rain was still falling, Xia Mian and Li Li shared an umbrella and walked out of the hospital lobby.
Like other people who came to the obstetrics department of the hospital in pairs, they came and returned together. Xia Mian under the umbrella held Li Li with his free hand, and they held hands tightly, neither of them would be cold.
After returning to Li Li's house, Xia Mian cooked a meal that was so light that it had almost no taste, and accompanied Li Li to eat and grind it bite by bite.
Li Li had to take three kinds of medicine after meals, some three times a day, some two times a day. Xia Mian set the alarm clocks on the mobile phone to remind every eight hours and every twelve hours, and asked Li Li to take the pills with water on the hour.
"I'm going to the company." Xia Mian said, "I'll be back in the evening. Is there anything you want to eat? I'll bring it to you when I come back."
Xia Mian's mobile phone is overcrowded with work-related calls and messages. When he returned to China early, the remaining affairs abroad became a mess, and he had to solve them sooner or later.
Li Li thought for a while: "Bring me some strawberries."
Xia Mian nodded, got up from the sofa and left.
"Wait a minute..." Li Li called out to him again, chasing forward and grabbing his sleeve. He sat on the sofa and looked up at Xia Mian. This was the most skillful way he used to express his emotions to Xia Mian. He didn't say anything, he just hooked Xia Mian with the "reluctant" in his eyes.
"Give me your coat."
Li Li said, "I hung the formal suit you left behind in the closet, and it was ironed very flat. You wear the one in the closet to go out, and leave this one for me."
Xia Mian said "OK", turned around, and took off his coat to him.
Xia Mian's coat was too big for Li Li. Li Li put the coat on his body, pulled up the collar and took a deep breath between his nose, showing a very reassuring smile: "It smells like you."
Through the cover of his clothes, his voice was muffled like a whisper, "It's like you're hugging me."
Later, it became Xia Mian's habit to leave a coat for Li Li before going out.