Pay Attention To Me

Chapter 71.2

On Sunday, the students from Class 1 also came to the hospital.

Chen YingYing bought a big bouquet on behalf of the whole class. The fresh orange balloon flowers, which matched the brightness of this summer day, changed the look of the pure white hospital room completely, giving it vitality.

Zhang Ke, only representing himself, had bought a bunch of yellow and white chrysanthemums. "Che Ge, since you've been gone, I've finally learned how hard it is to try to find homework to copy."

(t/n: the word he uses for 'gone' can also mean 'died'. chrysanthemums are linked to meaning both life and death.)

After hearing this, Chen YingYing dragged him out and beat him up. "Gone, what gone! Why did you buy chrysanthemums! Don't you have common sense!"

This noisy, wild group of people was still acting the same as usual.

Yin Che took both bouquets and arranged them in a vase beside the bed. The many varieties of flowers mixed together, making the chrysanthemums also appear full of life.

Yang YiLe had organized this week's homework and class notes and brought them along. "The final exams will be in two weeks...... I hope you can make use of these."

Zhang Ke said, "YiLe, you just aren't very sensible. If it were me and I fell ill before the exams, I would definitely remain 'ill' until after the exams ended."

Guo ZhiXiong agreed, "That's right. Che Ge, there are only a dozen days left anyway, so you should just not go back to school at all. As long as you have big guts, you can be set free for summer vacation starting today."

Chen YingYing said, "You two, you don't like to study, but don't you dare drag other people onto your path, alright? Che Ge, don't listen to them, you already didn't complete the finals from the first year of school.

If you don't take them again in the second year, you might not be able to take the entrance exam for a strong university. You better just come take the exams, it doesn't matter if you fail, Laoshi will understand."

Yin Che quirked his lips. "Mhm."

Han Meng, who hadn't spoken this whole time, suddenly opened his mouth, "It's fine. If you don't want to come, then don't come. Take your time. Being happy is the most important thing."

Chen YingYing replied, "It's just the exams, that's all. Do you have to go so far as to not feel happy over it?"

Han Meng said, "That's not what I meant."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"I......" Han Meng didn't know how to put it to words.

"Ah, I get it, could it be related to Jiang Yao?" Chen YingYing suddenly asked coldly.

Han Meng jumped in shock. "How did you know? Che Ge, I didn't bring it up! Don't slaughter the innocent!"

"......"

Chen YingYing commented, "Isn't it too obvious anyway? Jiang Yao applied for a seat change."

Han Meng let out a sigh, "And you even mentioned that."

Chen YingYing replied, "What 'even'...... Che Ge, have you two quarreled or not? Do you need me to help mediate things?"

The two of them usually had plenty of cold wars, but they typically reconciled with each other in less than half a day. No matter how much they quarreled, the two deskmates would cling together, but, this time, Jiang Yao had suddenly asked Lao Wu to change seats and then Yin Che had gone to the hospital.

If it weren't for the fact that neither of the two appeared injured, Chen YingYing would've suspected that the two of them went out and fought each other that one night.

"No need." Yin Che paused for a while and then asked, "Who is my deskmate now?"

Guo ZhiXiong offered him a simple smile. "Me."

Yin Che thought back, Guo ZhiXiong had been sitting in the back row alone previously because the class size was odd. So now, Jiang Yao would have no deskmate.

"Che Ge, let's take care of each other in the future. If I provoke you in any way, please tell me directly and don't get fresh with me."
(t/n: he uses an expression that can either mean 'fight' or 'grope/get fresh with')

Yin Che: "......"

Zhang Ke said, "Would Che Ge ever get fresh with you? Your thoughts show how full of yourself you are."

Guo ZhiXiong replied, "I just wanted to say don't hit me! I used the wrong expression!"

More Class 1 students came and went and the entire room was bustling and lively for most of the day.

-

After that Sunday, going into the weekdays, it wasn't lively like that anymore.

Doctor Feng had said that he had to be isolated for his recuperation, so he couldn't go out and get in touch with too many people for the time being.

Yin Che was forced to stay in his room, studying in the morning and doing homework problems, then taking a nap in the afternoon. Just like that, a whole day passed quickly.

Maybe because he'd slept too much during the day, but that night he suffered from insomnia, his thoughts chaotic, full of scenes he didn't want to look back on.

Lying in bed with eyes closed, in the dead of night, his sense of hearing seemed to be particularly sensitive. He could faintly hear the sound of the nurses doing their rounds outside the room, the buzz of cars passing by outside the hospital, the roar of a motorcycle engine......

Yin Che suddenly opened his eyes.

About five minutes later, there was the sound of footsteps outside his room.

Even though it was the middle of the night, occasionally doctors and nurses would hurry past. But the sound of these footsteps was different, very heavy and very slow, as if the feet were in shackles and each and every step was difficult.

The sound of the footsteps stopped at the door of the room.

The door was unlocked and would open at a mere push, but that person stayed outside and never came in.

Yin Che heard a nurse ask outside the door, "Tongxue, what are you doing here?"

He couldn't hear the man's answer clearly. He'd pulled the quilt over his head to block out all sounds.

What a nightmare.

-

The next morning, when the nurse came by for his routine examination, there was no one at the door of the room.  There had just been left behind at the door a crumpled slip of paper. The handwriting on the note wasn't very decent, but the strokes clearly and neatly spelled out:

'I'm sorry......please pay attention to me, okay? I beg you.'

—
The translator has something to say:
The title finally appeared! I didn't have context for the title when I first translated it, so I just based it off the cover, which looks like someone poking a bunny to say 'pay attention to me'.

The phrase can also mean something like 'give me a break' or 'care about me a bit'. If I could go back, I'd probably translate the title as 'give me a break' based on this context 😅