Chapter 3: Rubbing His Knees Song Qingshu washed his hands and wiped his mouth…

Song Qingshu washed his hands and wiped his mouth, then walked into the inner room.

He Feng had just put down the wooden basin and placed the towel on the stool. "Hurry up and wash up, then go

to bed." He didn't plan to stay in the room for long. After a day's work, he was drenched in sweat and needed a shower.

Song Qingshu had just taken off his shoes and socks and put his feet in the warm water when the person at the door suddenly turned back and reminded him, "Go straight to bed after you're done. I'll bring the water back."

The young man's feet were also slender and white, with the meridians clearly visible.

His trouser legs were pulled up high, exposing his knees. There was a noticeable bruise where the joints were usually pink.

Song Qingshu looked at him with clear eyes and nodded.

But He Feng didn't just leave. Instead, he walked closer and pointed at the bruise. "How did you get this?"

"I climbed out of the window and fell. It's okay, it's not serious."

He Feng frowned. Although it wasn't serious, the young man's skin was delicate, and the bruises looked even more frightening. The large bruises were interspersed with purple, as if he had suffered some kind of abuse.

Unable to see the exact extent of the injury with his naked eyes, he bent down and reached out to touch the knee bone, not getting close to the purple skin.

Song Qingshu couldn't help but utter a "hmm", tears welling up in his eyes instantly.

He pursed his lips to hold them back.

He Feng didn't show any mercy, and touched the knee bone again, making sure that there was nothing wrong with the bone before withdrawing his hand.

When he looked up, he saw that the young intellectual looked like he had suffered a great injustice, tears were about to fall from his watery eyes, and there seemed to be water droplets on his thick eyelashes, sticking the eyelashes together.

The corners of his mouth were turned down, and the tip of his nose was red on his almost transparent skin. He

looked so pitiful.

He Feng stood up and cast a shadow over Song Qingshu completely. He looked up at him, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye.

Before Song Qingshu could react, the man wiped it away with his rough fingertips.

"Why are you so delicate?" He Feng's voice was a little teasing, but Song Qingshu was not in the mood to joke now.

The man's rough fingertips were covered with calluses, and when they rubbed his knees, it hurt, making the already untouchable wound even more painful.

He was too embarrassed to cry, so he could only grit his teeth and hold it in.

In return for the man's teasing, the tears in his eyes stopped swirling, and the water droplets rolled down in strings.

"What's wrong, don't cry, brother said the wrong thing."

His coaxing at this time would only make Song Qingshu feel more aggrieved, and he turned his head away from him.

Regretful He Feng hurriedly wiped the tears, and when he looked down, he saw the red knees that he had pinched. The purple and red overlapped, and now it looked more like abuse.

He Feng sighed silently, "Don't cry, brother has a strong hand, next time if it hurts, just tell me directly."

Song Qingshu turned his head back, blinking his watery eyes, his eyelashes still glued together, looking innocent and delicate, as if asking, "Is it true?"

"Brother, keep your word."

But he felt he was right. This girl was a spoiled child, so he could just take good care of her. Why did he have to tell her about it and make her cry?

He didn't rush out, but sat down on the bench and pulled out a towel.

Seeing what he was going to do, Song Qingshu bent down to get the towel, but was avoided again.

He pursed his lips, his voice still a little muffled, "I'll do it myself."

"Be good." He Feng took one of his feet and placed it on his knee, wiping the water off it bit by bit with a towel.

Although he was thin, there was still some flesh on his feet, and his toes were round and plump. Because he was embarrassed to curl them up, they looked even more adorable. The soles of his feet were

also soft to the touch.

The white feet formed a sharp contrast with He Feng's tanned hands. Song Qingshu suddenly felt that this was very strange, like a newlywed couple who didn't know each other well.

He Feng's body temperature was high, even higher than his feet after soaking them in warm water, and the warm body temperature was transmitted to his skin through the towel.

He swallowed his saliva and avoided his eyes. After He Feng finished wiping, he immediately put his feet back on the bed.

"I'll come over after I finish my shower and rub safflower oil on you."

"Rubbing the bruise will help it heal faster, otherwise it will hurt more tomorrow."

He seemed to be trying to persuade a child who was afraid of pain, and was about to say something good, but Song Qingshu's weak voice came over and said "good".

He Feng went out with a wooden basin and poured water on a patch of mud in the yard.

A strong voice called out in the yard, "Xiao Hei, come back."

A big black dog quickly ran back from outside the door, wagging its tail and spinning around, with a big bone in its mouth.

He Feng rubbed the dog's head and said nothing.

When Song Qingshu heard Xiao Hei, he thought of the black dog that saved him. It couldn't be such a coincidence.

Outside the door came the sound of the door closing and locking, and the sound of water splashing.

Not long after, He Feng, covered in wetness, entered the main room wearing only shorts. Thinking that Song Qingshu was still in the inner room, he put on an old man's shirt before entering the room.

Song Qingshu took off his slightly dirty pants and placed them beside the bed. Since his shirt was not long enough, he sat on the bed with a thin blanket in his arms and waited for He Feng.

He Feng sat on the edge of the bed, a half-empty bottle of safflower oil in hand.

Seeing Song Qingshu's hands clutching the quilt, he poured some safflower oil onto his hands. "Stay in this room tonight. Tomorrow I'll clean up the east room, and you can sleep over there so you don't feel uncomfortable."

"Well, thank you, Brother He Feng."

He thanked him countless times that night. He Feng looked at his knees, warmed his hands with safflower oil, and then placed them on them, rubbing them slowly.

"You're welcome."

The skin beneath his palms was soft. His knees were all bone, but he shivered in pain. He Feng then grasped his calf, his hand so soft it sank into the flesh.

Remembering his own strength, though reluctant, he moved his hand down to grasp his ankle.

His ankle was thin, so He Feng squeezed it perfectly, even leaving a little space.

His legs were stretched straight, unseen by the sun, so delicate and tight that they were already red before the oil even rubbed in.

He Feng could only tell him to bear it. If it hurt, there was no need to hold it in.

He Feng's house is far away and there are few neighbors nearby. When he closed the door just now, he saw that the lights were off and they should have gone to bed long ago.

But Song Qingshu was embarrassed, so he endured it. The occasional muffled groan reminded He Feng how "cruel" he was doing.

After finally rubbing the skin thoroughly and warming it up, He Feng lowered his eyes and let go, turned around and went out to wash his hands.

Song Qingshu wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and wanted to sleep as soon as he covered himself

with the quilt. He Feng turned off the lights when he came in. The bed was not big, but it was big enough for two people.

He Feng carefully turned sideways and looked at the person next to him after hearing the person's gradually steady breathing.

Song Qingshu didn't cover his knees with the quilt when he slept. The quilt covered his upper body and face, and his two long and straight legs like chopsticks were exposed.

The moonlight could reflect those legs, how could they be as white as a porcelain doll?

His body was soft and fragile, red when touched and painful when pinched.

He had noticed it just after applying safflower oil, the young educated youth's ankles were also red.

The red marks on the fair skin flashed through He Feng's mind, and he thought of sitting up to take a look. He moved so fast that he couldn't even think, and put his hand on the person's ankle to gesture.

Too thin. He

needs to be well taken care of.

Worried that he would be cold in the middle of the night, He Feng slowly pulled the quilt down on him, accidentally touching the person's cold skin. He raised his eyebrows and reached out to touch the feet, which were also cold.

The movement of pulling the quilt was a bit rough.

The quilt covered the toes, revealing a furry head.

The hair was disheveled, revealing a bit of white forehead, the eyes were closed, and the eyelashes drooped, very long but not curled.

He Feng looked at it for a long time, his mind in a mess, and he was stunned when he thought of reaching out to touch it to see if it was soft.

What was he thinking?

He came to his senses and lay down to sleep, his mind filled with the sleeping Song Qingshu, his palm-sized face, pale skin, beautiful eyes, long legs, delicate ankles...

every bit of him was beautiful, yet every bit so fragile.

He let his quiet breathing lull him into sleep, and slowly closed his eyes.

...

The roosters were crowing incessantly in the morning. Last night was a little later than usual, but He Feng had been thinking about buying some supplies for the family, so he got up immediately upon waking.

He stood by the bed and saw Song Qingshu huddled in a ball, reaching under the covers.

September wasn't particularly cold, so He Feng only covered his stomach with the quilt, but the warmth he felt in his palms was only warm, not warm.

Not as warm as his hand, he instinctively searched for Song Qingshu's feet under the covers, but they were still a little cold.

He placed a hand over Song Qingshu's feet and warmed them, warming them from the front to the back, gently so as not to wake him.

Song Qingshu's attempt to shift position was stalled, and he kicked impatiently.

It felt like someone was holding his feet and not letting him move. The young man in his sleep was even more annoyed, frowning and mumbling in protest.

He Feng's ears felt numb and he withdrew his hand.

He stood in the inner room and looked at the young educated youth sleeping soundly on the bed, and then looked at his own hand.

The warmth of the young man still remained in his palm.

He Feng suddenly felt like he was possessed. When he was in the army before, he was surrounded by rough men, and he had never been so attentive to anyone.

Why did he rush to coax people, wipe their feet, and warm their feet as soon as Song Qingshu arrived?

He didn't believe in ghosts and gods, but looking at the sickly educated youth with a little blush on his face in the bed, he had doubts for the first time. He

felt that Song Qingshu was like a fox demon that had been cultivated and formed. Just by being there, people couldn't help but show their courtesy, coaxing and pampering him, and it didn't make people feel sad at all.

His sight shifted to Song Qingshu's face again. He was lying on his side, his face sunken into the pillow, his nose wrinkled, his mouth slightly pouting. He didn't look as weak and pale as he looked last night, but instead had a little red.

He looked even more charming now.

Xiao Hei outside the door barked twice, not loudly, but it called He Feng back from his trance.

He saw the safflower oil he had placed beside the bed, and he lifted the corner of the quilt to see the white legs again. The red knees that were rubbed last night looked better, and should be fine.

The cold air came into the quilt, and Song Qingshu stretched his legs uncomfortably, but shrank back because of the cold air, curling himself up like a shrimp.

He Feng was afraid that he would really catch a cold and get sick from the cold, so he quickly covered himself with the quilt.

Coming out from the inner room and opening the door, the early morning sunlight shone on his face. Xiao Hei surrounded him, sniffed him, and stuck out his tongue and wagged his tail.

He Feng closed the door again, "Have you finished chewing the bones last night?"

Xiao Hei was still wagging, and followed He Feng wherever he went, just to beg for food.

He pushed out his bicycle and rubbed Xiao Hei's raised head. "Stay home and watch over the house. I'll feed you when I get back from the market." Xiao Hei

whimpered obediently and walked around the yard. Suddenly, he ran to the chicken coop to scare the chickens. Seeing the chickens inside, they flew up in fright and ran over to scare the ducks.

"Xiao Hei!"

Xiao Hei hurried over and stayed beside his master. "Awoo!"

"Don't make noise, or you won't have any food."

Xiao Hei's huge body trembled with fur, and he whimpered softly, agreeing.