Chapter Fifty-Six: Are You Stupid?

After Luo Yixia entered the room, she put her things down and asked, “Do you want some instant noodles? I bought some.”

“Alright,” came the reply.

Luo Yixia picked up the instant noodles and went outside to fill them with hot water. As she walked back, she called out, “Song Chengyi… hurry… come here…”

Hearing her voice from inside the room, Song Chengyi quickly came out. He saw Luo Yixia struggling to walk with a bowl of instant noodles in her hands.

“It’s hot… so hot…”

Song Chengyi took both bowls from her, freeing Luo Yixia’s hands, who immediately pressed them to her earlobes.

“It’s burning me…”

Song Chengyi noticed her fingertips were red from the heat. He carried the noodles back into the room.

He pulled Luo Yixia’s hand toward him. “Let me see.”

“It’s fine, nothing serious,” Luo Yixia replied, not paying much mind, still pressing her hands to her earlobes.

Song Chengyi grew a little annoyed. “Are you foolish? Couldn’t you just make them one at a time? Or call me to carry them? And if it’s burning you, why not just drop them?”

Luo Yixia was inexplicably scolded by Song Chengyi and was stunned into silence.

Seeing her dazed look, his irritation only grew. He tugged her fingers over again to check them, but found they had improved.

Only then did he let go.

Luo Yixia trailed behind Song Chengyi like a child who’d done something wrong. The previously relaxed atmosphere tensed again in an instant. Luo Yixia couldn’t even figure out why.

Wasn’t she just making instant noodles? Why was he angry again? And she was the one who got burned—why was he so upset over something so trivial?

While eating, Song Chengyi stayed silent, his face expressionless. Luo Yixia snuck a few glances at him, wanting to speak, but not knowing what to say.

When they finished eating, Song Chengyi took Luo Yixia’s container and threw it away. Dinner had been unappetizing, and she’d barely eaten; now, eating noodles, she somehow managed to offend Song Chengyi again, leaving herself anxious and unable to eat much. It was just instant noodles, yet they tasted dry and flavorless.

“It’s late. Time to sleep,” Song Chengyi said after returning, then headed straight into the partitioned area. Though it was called a separate space, it was merely a wooden board standing between two beds.

Song Chengyi went inside, and Luo Yixia had no choice but to obediently climb into her own bed. Wasn’t he the one who said it was good to move around after dinner? He was a doctor—how could he not know such basic knowledge? Luo Yixia brooded silently.

After turning off the light, the room was plunged into darkness. Wrapped in her quilt, Luo Yixia shivered a little—nights here were still chilly. She tossed and turned several times, but sleep wouldn’t come. She should have been tired, but her mind was filled with thoughts of Song Chengyi; she didn’t want him angry, she wanted things to be good between them.

“Are you asleep?” Luo Yixia turned to face the partition.

“Mm,” came a faint reply.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Go to sleep,” he answered, his voice lazy.

Luo Yixia said nothing more. She thought perhaps she just wasn’t used to the bed—the hard floor was nothing like a real bed, and she couldn’t understand why tradition demanded sleeping on the floor. The memory of her soft, wide bed at home made her feel a pang of longing.

“Achoo.” Luo Yixia sneezed at just the right moment.

So cold, she thought, wrapping herself tighter in the quilt. But it didn’t help much; after sneezing twice more, she worried about disturbing Song Chengyi and ended up covering her mouth, making only the tiniest sound.