Chapter 40: Slight Illness (Part 1)

  From the moment she woke up in the morning, Gu Huanlin felt a tickle in her throat and some pain in her vocal cords. After arriving at school, it was one sneeze after another. In the end, she finally reluctantly accepted the reality that she had caught a cold.

  "Cough, cough......" Gu Huanli's coughing broke the silence after the preparatory bell, and her violent coughing made her originally slender body look even thinner.

  Mo Tianbo beside her slightly furrowed his brow, stretched out his hand and gently patted her back, saying in a low voice, "Huanli, do you want me to take you to the infirmary to let the school doctor take a look?"

  Gu Huanli shook her head, then raised her hand to check the temperature on her forehead, and it seemed that she really had a fever. She let out a bitter laugh - yesterday, she had only walked in the snowy ground for a while, and then blown some cold wind in the cemetery, but overnight, how come the chill on her body hadn't dissipated, instead getting even more seriously ill?

  She covered her mouth and coughed a few more times, then lay down on the table in exhaustion. Mo Tianbo sighed and continued to gently pat her back, but he didn't dare persuade her to go to the infirmary again either.

  In front of the podium, art teacher Cassidy put down his painting board and smiled, but his smile was chilling. "Mo Tianbo! Gu Huanli! Which one of you is not feeling well? Why do you both look like that?"

  Gu Huanli raised her head, Mo Tianbo stopped his hand, and both of their expressions froze at the same time.

  The classroom fell silent for a few seconds, then erupted into thunderous laughter.

  Cassidy smiled and scanned everyone's face seriously, finally falling on Gu Huanli. "Since you two haven't had enough trouble, go continue making trouble in the corridor!"

  He watched them walk out with their heads hung low, then pushed himself up from the podium with both hands. "Today, we're going to draw Fantasyland. Since it's a bit complicated, you'll need to finish it in two sessions."

  After completing his homework, Cassidy picked up a pencil and directly sketched the outline of the distant view on the canvas, with bold and expressive strokes. Immediately afterwards, he took up an oil painting brush, dipped it in paint, and began to color. He used golden yellow to depict the sunlit parts of the church walls, purple to depict the shaded parts of the church, and sky blue to depict the sky.

  "Today, I'll stop painting here for now." Cassidy threw down her oil paintbrush and leaned quietly against the window to read a book comfortably.

  Everyone was used to his indifferent attitude and even more delighted that he didn't have the bad habit of pointing fingers everywhere, so one art class was a thousand times more enjoyable than enduring several math or English classes.

  Of course, this joy would never descend upon the two people who were facing the wall in contemplation. However, Mo Tianbo still dragged Gu Huanli to the infirmary.

  The beautiful school doctor was about to treat Gu Huanli, when the door was pushed open with great force. "Huanli?" The person who walked in was Su Lianyu, who had rushed to the infirmary after receiving the news.

  "Eh?" Gu Huan's face showed a hint of embarrassment.

  Su Lingyu didn't have time for these, walked over and stretched out her hand to check Si Huan's forehead temperature, "Si Huan, how serious is her illness? Should we send her to the hospital emergency room immediately?"

  "It's...it's nothing!" Gu Huanli smiled wryly and shook her head, "Teacher Su, I just have a sore throat, it's all because my home is too dry. Don't believe me? Ask Doctor Ding!"

  "Really?" Su Lianyu turned her head to look at Ding Sihua, her eyes filled with worry.

  "Just a visual inspection, the throat is slightly red and swollen; haven't had time to listen to heart sounds and lung sounds yet." Ding Sihuan smiled wryly as he raised the stethoscope hanging on his chest.

  "Teacher Su, even if we take Huanli home to see a doctor, there's still plenty of time. Why not let Doctor Ding check on Huanli first?" Mo Tianbo's clear and calm eyes became slightly heavy, but it was only for an instant.

  Su Lianyu thought for a moment, looking at Mo Tianbo, and a warm smile appeared on her lips. "Mo Tianbo, you're very good to your classmates, being so helpful and loving. Now you can go back, after all, as a boy, it's not very convenient for you to stay here."

  Mo Tianbo smiled and shook his head, "It doesn't matter about this one minute. Besides, Mr. Collins had me and Huanli face the wall, actually it was also to have me send Huanli to the infirmary."

  "Alright, you two can rest assured." After finishing the auscultation, Ding Sihuan pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and smiled, "From the results of the auscultation, there is no abnormal sound, but the bilateral lung sounds are coarse. Mostly dry cough, no shortness of breath, body temperature is currently 37.5 degrees, it should be a low-grade fever caused by a cold. I'll prescribe some Chinese medicine to stop the cough and reduce inflammation, as well as an ice pack. If the fever doesn't subside, we might need to administer an IV drip."

  Su Lingyu nodded and whispered a few words of comfort in Gu Huanli's ear, then turned to Ding Sihuan and said, "I'll go help Huanli ask for leave first, the ice pack is up to you."

  "This is within my duty, how can it be troublesome!"

  "Huangli, why don't you take a nap in the infirmary before Teacher gets back?" Su Lianyu instructed, and then turned to leave.

  Five seconds before the bell rang, Cassidy returned to the front of the classroom with a smile and said "dismissed", then bowed slightly to the students and walked out of the classroom as soon as the bell sounded.

  "Mr. Collins..." Mo Tianbo looked up at him with some hesitation.

  Cassidy looked at him with a faint smile and said softly, "Thanks for your hard work, thank you for taking care of Gu Huanli."

  "This is what I should do." Mo Tianbo replied.

  Just then, Gu Huanli, who had just taken a short nap in the infirmary and had begged Su Lianyu to leave, walked towards the art office with a sullen face, muttering to himself, "Ah, today is simply my unlucky day!"

  "Report." Gu Huanli reluctantly shouted at the door.

  A simple "come in" seems to carry a hint of cold and murderous aura.

  "Mr. Collins, I've reflected on it." Gu Huanli lowered her head and pretended to be obedient, but she was secretly seething with anger. Why did they have to make such a big deal out of everything? Just because of a small cough, they had to make it known to the whole world!

  "Uh-huh."

  Gu Huanli stood by the door, saying in a low voice, "If there's nothing else, Mr. Collins... goodbye." Her hand was already on the doorknob, waiting for the old man's nod of approval, and as soon as she got it, she quickly took her leave and pulled open the door to escape to the playground.

  "My lovely miss." Suddenly, a very intimate call floated over by the window.

  "Halt!" Kaid Rylan's arm flashed in a swift cross, shaking off the goosebumps on his skin. "You're not my private tutor Cassidy now! Remember, at school, you're just Mr. Collins! So stop being so mushy and call me Mr. Collins!"

  "In the lower classes, I'm just a substitute teacher, Miss knows that." Cassidy sat casually by the window, holding a thread-bound book. He had been studying Chinese diligently recently, so as not to be ridiculed for being a clumsy angel who didn't understand history or culture and had a generation gap. "The young master's profound meaning, doesn't Miss understand? Besides, I can still handle being an art teacher for primary school students. What, hasn't Miss finished throwing a tantrum?"

  "Huh? My brother caring about me is one thing, you coming to our school to stir up trouble is another! " Gu Huanli shouted a few sentences with her neck stretched out, and couldn't help but let out a light cough. "I'm also an adult, can't I take care of myself?"

  Cassidy glanced out the window, a hint of displeasure flashing in her blue eyes. "Miss Su has already excused you from gym class today."

  Damn it! How can she completely ignore her words?! Oh my god, why does she have an angel with a brain circuit that is completely different from normal people as her soul guardian?! And besides, what's the reason for not letting her attend physical education class?! You know, recently she has been seriously learning to play tennis!

  "What...what is it?" Gu Huanli stuttered, turning her face away and tightly grasping the corner of her shirt.

  Cassidy's long white fingers slowly turned over the pages of the book and asked back, "What does Miss say?"

  Fine, this time she finally didn't ignore her, but why did she have to come up with such a rhetorical question? If she knew the answer, would she still ask?! She wanted to open her mouth to explain, but couldn't afford to provoke the person in front of her, after all, she still needed his help later. Besides, she didn't want to be pierced by his serious gaze again. Couldn't she just pretend to be stupid? If he really stared at her for 24 hours, wouldn't she be dead?!

  If it weren't for prioritizing her brother's orders, ahhhhhhhh, she would definitely use every means to cause trouble. Why, why are other people's private tutors gentle, virtuous, rich in love and sympathy, but Gu Huanli's private tutor is such an annoying fool - Cassidy!

  Gu Huanli sat down on the sofa with a sullen expression, "Do you have to take time off? I'm not even seriously ill. This isn't like you, making such a big deal out of it."

  "Really?" Cassidy looked down at the book and replied very easily, "As long as you won't regret it, I'd be happy to escort Miss to gym class."

  "Alright, alright," she said, and then regretted it. Her brother's concern for her, as well as Cassidy's care for her, were all clear in her mind.

  It's just...

  She won't be staying here for much longer. Although she wasn't particularly close with her classmates, after being together for over three years, there were still feelings in her heart. So, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with everyone and engrave the beautiful memories of her childhood in her mind.

  Gu Huanli looked at Cassidy with a hint of pleading, her voice low and melancholic. "Cassidy, you too had a childhood, you too had companions that you'll never forget. So, please don't be so strict and stingy."

  "Yes, normal people definitely can."

  "Hey, hey, you mean I'm abnormal?!" Gu Huanli's tone suddenly rose by an octave.

  "Miss says she's an adult, but still looks like a little girl in elementary school, really has no right to say she's normal."

  Bingo, hit the red heart!

  Ten rings, ten rings, Cassidy's player scored the best score of the whole game.

  Thunderous applause, earth-shaking cheers...

  Gu Huanli was like a deflated balloon, yet she still pouted her mouth with great reluctance, her voice dropping two octaves as she muttered to herself, "In my opinion, it's clear that you're not satisfied with what I said about the fallen angel topic in front of you yesterday, and you didn't dare argue with me, so instead you're taking it out on me. You're so petty, such a big bully, heartless, hateful...".