Plague (11): Tender moments

Wen Yi rarely had a day off, so after dinner, Tan Xiao didn’t go out either. The two of them turned on the air conditioning and played games in the side room all afternoon. Since Tan Xiao worked part-time online, Wen Yi converted the unoccupied side room for him and bought better gaming and streaming equipment.

Although he couldn’t do offline part-time jobs, Tan Xiao earned several times more from his online part-time work than before. These days, he stayed at home, and aside from feeling a bit restless, his career was developing quite well.

Before he knew it, the room had darkened. Tan Xiao stretched lazily and glanced at the full moon appearing in the sky: “I just played a game for a while, and it’s already dark.”

It was dark, and the food in his stomach had long been digested. It was time to prepare dinner.

Lunch was prepared by Wen Yi, but for dinner, Tan Xiao wanted something lighter, so he took out the dumplings he had made yesterday from the freezer.

When he opened the fridge drawer, he turned to Wen Yi and asked, “Dear, how about we have dumplings for dinner tonight? There are five flavors: three fresh, corn and meat, cabbage and meat, chives, and some sauerkraut and meat. Which one do you like? How many do you think you can eat?”

Wen Yi was wiping the table and preparing the bowls and chopsticks: “I can eat any of them, probably around twenty.”

“Then I’ll get you four of each.”

Tan Xiao was now eighteen years old, at an age where he could still grow another two or three centimeters, and he could eat thirty dumplings in one go.

He originally planned to take six of each for himself, but after thinking it over, it seemed that chives had some special effect, so he put half of the others back and replaced them all with chives. The strong taste didn’t matter; he would brush his teeth early and use mouthwash more often.

The mouthwash that Dr. Wen always kept at home was a succulent grape flavor, which smelled a lot like a fruit tea that Tan Xiao really liked; he particularly enjoyed it.

While he was counting the dumplings, Wen Yi had already turned on the gas stove and boiled a large pot of water, just waiting for Tan Xiao’s dumplings to be cooked.

Seeing these obviously handmade dumplings, Wen Yi asked him, “Did you buy these from the nearby dumpling shop?”

Tan Xiao shook his head, “No, I made them myself yesterday. You’ve been working overtime and not coming back for lunch these past few days, so I thought I’d make something simple for myself.”

Actually, the spread of infectious diseases didn’t affect takeout, but Tan Xiao couldn’t help but think, what if the takeout restaurant or the delivery person was sick? So he might as well go through the trouble and make it himself.

These past few days, Wen Yi had been working a lot of overtime. He didn’t want to order takeout, and he was tired of eating fast food, so he might as well just cook something for himself. When he was alone, he naturally didn’t have the time or inclination to make a full meal with four dishes and a soup. If he was not in the mood for noodles, he would make some dumplings. He alternated between rice noodles, noodles, and dumplings.

Wen Yi took the dumplings from Tan Xiao’s hands and gently stirred them in the pot with a spatula to prevent them from sticking together. “These dumplings are really well made. How many did you make? Aren’t you tired?”

Tan Xiao’s cooking skills weren’t that great, but he had helped his parents make dumplings since he was a child. With a casual pinch, he could make a perfectly round, plump dumpling with frills, which looked better than those made with a mold.

“Fifty each, a total of two hundred and fifty, and it didn’t take much effort. The meat filling was ground with a meat grinder. Just the two of us eating one meal, and we’ve already eaten one-fifth of it. I think we can finish it quickly.”

He didn’t have his boyfriend to keep him company and couldn’t go out. If he kept live streaming, it always felt like working every day. Occasionally, he wanted to do something interesting to pass the time. The dough was rolled out with flour by himself, and the filling was also prepared by himself.

While making dumplings, he also shot a vlog. Originally, he planned to edit and post it today, but since Wen Yi had a day off, he put that aside. The video could be edited anytime, but spending time with his boyfriend was more important.

He couldn’t help but complain, “Time flies so fast. Yesterday, when I was making dumplings, I still had a lot of time left after finishing. It felt like time was slowing down. But today is different; it feels much shorter than usual.”

Wen Yi smiled at him, “I feel the same way. Happy times always seem to pass by so quickly.”

Watching the dumplings boiling and bubbling in the pot, he chatted and timed them, then picked a small green onion from the flowerpot on the balcony and chopped it vigorously with a cleaver.

He took the beechwood spatula from Wen Yi’s hand and continued stirring: “Let me do it. You go sit in the living room and behave. Your hand hasn’t healed for long, the cast was just removed two days ago, right? You should use it less. The dumplings will be ready soon.”

Yesterday, he was quite reckless. Fortunately, Wen Yi had recovered well, and the stitches from the surgery had been removed a couple of days ago. Otherwise, with all the commotion yesterday, he was really worried that Wen Yi’s wound would split open.

Wen Yi obediently returned to the living room. There were three light sources in the living room. He pressed a few switches and adjusted the white light to a soft warm yellow glow.

Once the lighting was set, Tan Xiao brought over two large bowls. These bowls were a pair, in a light green cream color, part of a couple’s dinnerware set.

After all, he had worked hard to make them himself, so Tan Xiao also brought over two small plates—one with a slightly spicy chili sauce and the other with fragrant vinegar.

He pulled the chili oil plate towards himself: “You seem to not be able to eat spicy food today, so just dip it in some vinegar.”

Wen Yi had no intention of opposing him, picked up a plump corn-filled dumpling, and after boiling it, the dumpling skin became semi-transparent, clearly revealing the filling inside.

Tan Xiao didn’t move his chopsticks, watching Wen Yi eagerly, waiting for his feedback: “Do you think it’s good?”

“Delicious, especially delicious!” Wen Yi’s eyes curved into crescent moons as he gave a thumbs-up. “These are the best dumplings I’ve ever had.”

Hehe, Tan Xiao also picked one up, the taste still reminiscent of familiar memories: “They’re not particularly special, just the ones I made myself, with fresh and solid ingredients.”

His words were humble, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift.

Wen Yi pulled his chair closer to Tan Xiao: “The dumplings you make are the best in my heart, every filling is delicious.”

“As long as you like it, I’ll cook you a box for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

The infectious disease department in the hospital was currently under strict lockdown, and no one was allowed to enter casually. Even Wen Yi’s boyfriend, who was usually chatty, would be stopped outside. Otherwise, he would have considered wearing protective gear to deliver food to Wen Yi.

Usually, after finishing dinner together, the two would go for a walk in the small garden downstairs to aid digestion. However, now everyone was terrified of the insects, and the shops on the street were forced to close after 8 PM. The once-bustling park by the lake was now devoid of people taking evening strolls.

Mainly, now that they regularly sprayed for mosquitoes outside every day, every time Tan Xiao went downstairs to take out the trash, even with a mask on, he could vaguely smell the insecticide in the air.

The leaves of the various flowers, plants, and trees planted in the community had turned yellow and withered a lot in the past two days due to the poison, and all the petals had fallen to the ground. Every time he went for a walk, it felt like he was inhaling poison into his lungs.

After finishing the dumplings, there were only two bowls. Tan Xiao was too lazy to use the dishwasher and could rinse them off in five minutes.

While washing the dishes, he complained to Wen Yi, “We’re not going out for the next few days. We’ll wait until the situation improves. Let’s just relax at home and digest.”

Wen Yi blinked: “Are you talking about the way we digested yesterday?”

Tan Xiao’s face instantly turned red: “You have to work tomorrow. We can’t stay up too late. You start work at 8, so you need to get enough sleep.”

Although he liked it very much, this kind of thing should not be done without moderation. It was not like tomorrow was the end of the world, and he had to love even if he died.

Wen Yi glanced at the clock on the wall in the living room: “When I came back yesterday, it was already past 12, but now it’s only 7.”

His eyes were affectionate: “It’s still early, we have 5 more hours.”

Tan Xiao shook the water off the dishes: “No, you’re still a doctor. You just ate, you can’t do intense exercise, otherwise, it won’t be good for your stomach.”

Yesterday, he had only a small bowl of porridge, but today he ate a full 30 dumplings.

He cleared his throat lightly, “At least wait another half hour.”

Although intense exercise was out of the question, kissing above the neck was fine. After using a lot of mouthwash, today’s kiss smelled sweetly of juicy grapes.

With more laughter, progress came faster. Today, he successfully learned to breathe, and today’s kiss lasted a full half hour. He thought that with a bit more practice, he might even master the advanced skill of tying a cherry stem with his tongue.

The next morning, Tan Xiao prepared a bowl of red bean porridge to nourish Qi and blood for Dr. Wen as breakfast. He fried twenty dumplings and an egg, packing them into a clean lunchbox.

There was a microwave in the hospital for the doctors to use, so they could heat it up and enjoy delicious fried dumplings for lunch.

Although more and more people were being hospitalized due to the illness, the numbers were still increasing.

As long as one didn’t come into direct contact with patients, didn’t get infected through blood, and wasn’t bitten by mosquitoes carrying the disease, they wouldn’t get sick! In such a large city, not every area had mosquitoes that bit patients.

In the eyes of most residents, those who got sick were just unlucky, and at this stage, everyone was still relatively optimistic.

After exchanging a cool, white peach mint kiss, Tan Xiao, dressed in a trench coat and wearing a mask, sent Wen Yi, who was dressed in protective gear, to the hospital for work.

“Doctor Wen, do your best at work. I’ll wait for you to come home.”

At this moment, he didn’t know that from tonight on, he would no longer be able to wait for Doctor Wen to come home after work.

The collective players’ game page emitted a red light symbolizing danger, a silent notification informing them that the plague had entered the second stage in this instance.