244. Bad News【44/170】
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Lin Nan kept her head down, obediently munching on what looked like Indian-style fried rice.
She glanced up at Chen Yao, who was sprawled on the floor acting pitiful after she’d kicked him down, grunting in annoyance. Seriously, this guy was still pretending to be a sad sack on the ground!
“I’m done. The rest is all yours,” Lin Nan declared as she stood up and plopped the half bowl of fried rice onto Chen Yao’s table, humming to herself as she spun around and sashayed into her room.
Only then did Chen Yao grumble and crawl back up.
Sure, he got kicked, but was it really all that bad?
He rubbed his cheek, having existential doubts about whether Lin Nan’s kick had ruined his charm.
But then he reflected: her kicking finesse was pretty impressive! That foot shot up high without so much as a sway—quick and powerful—he barely had time to react before he found himself flat on the floor.
That foot was stunning.
He wasn’t mad at all; his thoughts were now consumed by that image of Lin Nan’s raised foot.
He even wondered if he might have to switch sides from the “leg lovers” club to the “foot fanatics” faction.
After finishing his meal, Chen Yao dutifully washed the frying pan like a good boy and tossed the bowls in the dishwasher. Then, he grabbed his laptop and plopped down in the living room.
He had a thing for making videos online, but throughout school, recording his voice in the dorm felt too embarrassing, so his content switched from LOL tutorials to daily vlogs.
Luckily, Lin Nan’s cross-dressing video from the summer boosted his follower count considerably. Otherwise, with the current quality of his videos, he’d definitely be losing followers like wet rice grains slipping through fingers.
He glanced over at Lin Nan in her room, hugged his laptop, and opened up the already edited video, mumbling his script into the mic.
Chen Yao was just ten minutes into his voice recording session when he noticed Lin Nan had given up on her room and was poking her head out like a curious meerkat, her eyes sparkling with intrigue.
Half an hour later, he suddenly realized Lin Nan had stationed herself right beside him, her chin propped in her hands, eyes fixed on him like he was the latest viral sensation.
The voice recording was going nowhere now, as Chen Yao sighed and glanced down at the girl next to him. “What’s up?”
“Let me watch!”
“You don’t have anything better to do? Go play on your computer!”
“I’m a bit under the weather and don’t feel like gaming, so let me see what you’re up to!”
Chen Yao’s lip twitched as he playfully pressed his hand down on Lin Nan’s head, ruffling her hair like a playful gremlin.
Her pose had no way of dodging that! She crashed into the sofa, and after surviving Chen Yao’s assault, she sprang up to tackle him.
But Chen Yao was already prepared! He dodged, and Lin Nan flopped right back onto the sofa.
Her hair was now a complete disaster; it looked like a bird’s nest that had seen better days.
“Are you insane?!” she shouted, glaring at Chen Yao with all the fury of a thousand suns, her voice reaching a screech that could shatter glass.
“I’m busy. No time for your nonsense!” Chen Yao plopped down on the opposite side of the sofa with his laptop.
“Come play games with me!”
“Nope, I haven’t updated my channel in a week. I’ll get roasted alive if I don’t post something soon!” Chen Yao melancholically deleted half of the audio he’d recorded.
He believed the toughest part of video-making was the voiceovers. Even with a script, it was easy to trip over words. If there were minor mistakes, they could be fixed in post-production, but if the blunders piled up, he’d have to start all over again.
Just as he was ready to hurl his laptop out of frustration, there was a knock at the door. Chen Yao paused, staring at Lin Nan. “Is your relative here for a visit?”
“This is your house, you know?”
“Nobody comes at this hour!”
When he opened the door, a group of people wrapped up like burritos in raincoats and masks greeted him—the community volunteers.
“Is anyone at home sick?”
Chen Yao hastily snatched a mask from the shoe rack and responded, peering at the indistinguishable age of one volunteer. “No fever here, we’ve barely left the house.”
“Please fill out this form. A travel pass will be sent to you in a few days; only one person per household can go out each day.” The volunteer passed him the form, then spotted Lin Nan peeking from behind him, chuckling, “Is this a family reunion or a lockdown?”
“Yeah, timing’s not great, huh? Is this the new normal? We don’t even have that many cases around here—why the lockdown?”
Chen Yao chatted casually as he took the form, and when he turned, Lin Nan handed him a pen.
He shot her a glare. “Go inside! What are you doing hanging around without a mask?”
Lin Nan pouted, glanced at the information needed on the form, and retreated to the bedroom to send him her ID number.
“You know? There was a case confirmed next door in Building F today,” the volunteer mentioned casually.
Chen Yao went icy cold, realizing the pandemic was suddenly way too close for comfort.
He leaned over the shoe rack, filling out their info on the form. “So, does that mean we’ve got four confirmed cases now?”
“Five! Someone from a hot zone just came back and tested positive.”
“Wait, seriously…?!” He handed the form to the volunteer, his brow furrowing deeply. “How long is this going to last?”
“One to two months, probably.”
After a quick conversation, Chen Yao shut the door, anxiously rubbing his temples.
He wasn’t too worried about his parents—they always took precautions—but who knew if Lin Nan had mingled with any returnees at her grandpa’s place.
That place was rural, with plenty of folks there for early visits, and hardly anyone wore masks back then.
“Did they leave?” Hearing the door shut, Lin Nan came out, clearly picking up on Chen Yao’s brooding expression. “What’s going on? Bad news?”
“Yeah, five confirmed cases. Did you touch anyone who returned from the city while you were out in the countryside?” Chen Yao plopped down on the sofa, gulping water like he was trying to wash away the anxiety. “Especially relatives from high-risk areas?”
Lin Nan thought hard and finally shook her head. “I don’t really know… my uncle handled the relatives, and I usually stayed up on the second floor too scared to come down.”
Just then, her phone rang.
It was her mother calling.
“Hello! Lin Nan, your aunt’s husband has tested positive!”
The phone went on speaker, and before Lin Nan could process it, Chen Yao snatched the phone away, urgently asking, “So did Lin Nan have contact with him?”
“Not that I know of. He did visit during the New Year, but Lin Nan didn’t see him.”
“What about your uncle? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine too.”
“Thank goodness…” Chen Yao let out a breath of relief, returning the phone to Lin Nan.
While he knew the chances of Lin Nan being affected were slim, he still felt a surge of anxiety that made her think he was reacting a bit over the top.
