CH 60.2

Mother Shen said a few more words. Then she heard Shen Xuelan call her and explained with a few sentences, “You have a good relationship with Qizhao. If there is anything unusual about that child, you should pay more attention.”

Shen Yuhuai’s eyes sank slightly and his mind was uncertain.

Zhang Yazhi had a good relationship with his mother. They occasionally met at parties and went out to play. His mother went through a period of psychological trauma when she was young. During that time, the Shen family had a steady stream of psychologists coming in and out. Fortunately, his mother quickly emerged from this shadow. It wasn’t difficult for Shen Yuhuai to imagine Zhang Yazhi’s purpose behind asking his mother this question. He suddenly remembered that when he went to the Chen house, Zhang Yazhi seemed to be chatting with him but she actually kept mentioning Chen Qizhao. It was as if she wanted to learn something about Chen Qizhao from him.

Shen Xuelan’s mouth was a bit dry after she finished talking about work. Mother Shen said a few words before beckoning for Shen Yuhuai to come over for tea and to talk.

The moment the words were about to come out, she saw Shen Yuhuai standing up from the recliner and leaving with the book.

Shen Xuelan was a bit puzzled. “Did he just come over to read a book?”

“Maybe he is tired. He drove back and forth today and also went to the Chen house.”

Father Shen said, “I heard that the child of the Chen family has a fever. Hey, there have been many things going on with Old Chen’s side this time. You should pay more attention. If Shiming needs help…”

“I asked. Chen Shiming doesn’t seem to have any problems.” Shen Xuelan was thoughtful. “However, he should be making a big move soon. I feel like this incident has sounded the alarm for him. It seems that due to this incident, their family plans to go for a physical examination the day after tomorrow.”

—

The night was getting deeper. By the time Chen Qizhao woke up, the whole room was dark.

He was panting heavily. As he closed his eyes, he seemed to still see Chen Shiming sleeping peacefully on the light gray sofa, tearing at his brain like a nightmare. Bursts of pain radiated from his head and for a while, he couldn’t tell if it was the aftermath of the fever or pain caused by nightmares.

The room was quiet, so quiet that the only sound was the wind coming in through the crack in the window.

Chen Qizhao’s back was pressed against the bed. Once he woke up, he tried to recall the heavy dream but found that it was a bit fragmented.

In his previous life, he liked to dream very much. It was fine if it was a nightmare or a sweet dream, as long as he could dream of his family. At the very least, he could see the living people in his dreams.

However, the dreams went on for a long time. Sometimes when he woke up, he was horrified to find that the faces of his relatives in his dream were gradually blurring. He seemed to forget after every dream, gradually forgetting what the people should look like as he dreamed. What his parents looked like when he was young, what Chen Shiming was like when he was young… this type of panic seemed to have been carried over from his previous life to the present. After his rebirth, he often had nightmares or dreams of hospitals, dreams of the apartment… the scene of Chen Shiming’s suicide repeated, as if reminding him of something.

The sound of dripping rain was clearly audible in his dream. Once he pushed open the door and walked into the apartment, he saw Chen Shiming sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed and his head tilted sideways, as if falling asleep to the sound of rain. There were several copies of his favorite financial newspapers and the remote control of the TV was within his reach… the only difference was that there was a half empty glass of water on the table and white pills scattered on the rug.

What was that day like? He called the police and the ambulance, but by the time they arrived, they said that the person could no longer be saved.

Chen Shiming seemed to have been fully prepared. He also sent a message to the nurse in advance so that she didn’t come over… without leaving a suicide note, he fell asleep quietly in the rain, choosing the day of Zhang Yazhi’s death.

Chen Qizhao couldn’t understand why Chen Shiming committed suicide so many years after his accident. He was used to seeing Chen Shiming, who was high-spirited in the business world, and he had also seen Chen Shiming, who accepted his paralysis in silence… a proud person who accepted the fact that the Chen family had gone bankrupt and he was paralyzed, who was like a sick dog. However, the more Chen Qizhao thought about his previous life and looked at Chen Shiming now, a certain sense of clear separation made Chen Qizhao feel at a loss.

Chen Qizhao himself had no pride. His absurd experience in his early years made him long tempered by reality. He admitted that he was a waste and had low expectations for himself. He had no dignity as he crawled around in the business world and yearned for opportunities. In the end, he could sacrifice anything to achieve his goals… Therefore, he couldn’t understand the mentality of Chen Shiming, who was once so proud, after losing his dignity. He even felt that as long as he quarreled with Chen Shiming a bit less, he could make the other person a bit more comfortable.

Later, once this person was gone, he regretted it again. He regretted that he didn’t quarrel with Chen Shiming a few more times.

—As long as the person was still alive in front of himself and could have more expectations in life.

The sound of rain in the dream was getting further and further away. Chen Qizhao woke up from the dream and realized that it wasn’t raining outside. It was that the wind was a bit strong.

He reached out to grab the phone that had fallen under the bed. Once he found his phone, he found that it had lost power, so he grabbed the charger and plugged in the phone to charge it.

He stared at the crack in the leaky window for a while before saying, “A long life is a good thing. A short life is too cheap for you, Lin Shizong. Don’t you agree?”

Chen Qizhao didn’t know if Lin Shizong had lived a long life in prison in his previous life after he died.

He didn’t move. He just sat on the bed and thought about the things in his previous life, as well as how to make Lin Shizong happy in this life.

After ten minutes, the charged mobile phone turned on automatically.

Several text messages came in. Chen Qizhao’s eyes were attracted to them, so he reached out and unplugged the charge. Some of the text messages were from Xiao Zhou. There was also Chen Shiming’s call. He hadn’t picked up the call and it was already past 8 o’clock in the evening.

He accessed the messages on his VX. He first saw that Zhang Yazhi had sent him a message, so he clicked in to view it.

Zhang Yazhi didn’t come to wake him up. She sent him a VX message and said he could go downstairs to eat after waking up.

Chen Qizhao didn’t have much of an appetite so he didn’t reply to the message. After exiting, he suddenly sat the chat log at the top position. It was a message from Shen Yuhuai. He had been busy thinking and forgot that he didn’t send a message in the afternoon to ask if Shen Yuhuai had arrived at the research institute. He clicked in and saw a message sent by Shen Yuhuai.

The messages had two photos from different angles. It was a pot of good-looking succulents.

Chen Qizhao didn’t know how to grow plants or flowers but he could see from the photos that the pot of succulents was very beautiful. He paused for a moment before suddenly noticing that the glass behind the pot of succulents seemed to be reflecting a camera being held. It seemed that Shen Yuhuai was holding the phone to take the phone. Chen Qizhao paused and enlarged the photo a little bit.

In this way… it seemed like the succulents weren’t as good as his hands.

Chen Qizhao thought this without hesitation.

The irritability that haunted his heart dissipated for some reason. Chen Qizhao saved both photos. Then he saw the time in the chat log and found that the photos were sent an hour ago.

[Zhao: I just woke up.]

He added another sentence after sending it.

[Zhao: The succulents look very good.]

Shen Yuhuai seemed to like raising these flowers and plants. Chen Qizhao recalled the last time he went to Shen Yuhuai’s apartment. There were many plants on the windowsill. The other person hadn’t replied to him yet. Chen Qizhao thought that Shen Yuhuai might be busy, so he exited and planned to reply to other messages. Suddenly, he noticed that the location of his Moments button was lit up with several red flags. He thought that he didn’t seem to post anything recently. What was going on with his Moments? He clicked it and found that the first four were all due to Shen Yuhuai.

Ever since he was almost caught blocking Shen Yuhuai from his Moments last time, Chen Qizhao had deleted some Moments and also changed his Moments to be visible in January.

Why did Shen Yuhuai suddenly like his Moments from a few weeks ago?

Late at night, Yan Kailin had just finished playing two games when he received a message from his Brother Zhao.

[Zhao: If your brother suddenly likes your Moments from weeks ago, what is the reason?]

Yan Kailin was shocked when he saw this and immediately made a voice call. He told the other person, “You should be careful.”

Chen Qizhao found it strange. “?”

“The fact that he is liking your Moments means he has started to go through it. This is a very serious signal.” Yan Kailin taught his experience in a very serious voice. “He is first giving you a warning and then he will make a big move. You should go out less during this time. Perhaps Brother Ming is already waiting for your actions.”

“Isn’t this an exaggeration?”

“No no no, you don’t understand the thoughts in the hearts of these older men. They are very vicious.”

Chen Qizhao, whose mental age was considered to be quite old. “Oh.”

Forget it, he shouldn’t have asked Yan Kailin.

Chen Qizhao was about to hang up when he suddenly thought of something and his hand paused slightly.

“If I look at someone else’s Moments, I wouldn’t like something posted so long ago,” Yan Kailin said earnestly. “Brother, don’t you believe it? Who would be so idle that they would go through your Moments from so long ago but also like it? Unless they have interest in you, there must be some plan… Hello?”

Chen Qizhao hung up the call with Yan Kailin and threw the phone aside.

He lay down and thought for a while. Then he took the phone back to take a look, but Shen Yuhuai still hadn’t replied to him.

He was inexplicably a bit curious about the reason why Shen Yuhuai liked his Moments… just thinking about it, sleepiness surged again and he fell asleep while holding the phone. In his sleep, he didn’t dream of that rainy day. Instead, he saw a large, well-defined hand covering his face. The cold and mint scent made him breathless. The other person’s fingers brushed over his cheek, all the way down his face and finally to his throat.

The feeling of fingertips scraping his skin was prickly and itchy. By the time Chen Qizhao woke up, the sky outside the window was bright.

He sat up and touched his throat. The tingling sensation from his Adam’s apple was clearly felt.

Chen Qizhao tried to scrape it with his own fingers but he didn’t get the same feeling of his dream at all. He inexplicably felt a bit dry. Then he moved slightly and realized something.

He cursed in a low voice and headed straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

Once he went downstairs, Zhang Yazhi saw his wet hair and hurriedly lectured him.

“Why did you take a shower so early in the morning when you have a fever?” Zhang Yazhi asked. “What will you do if you get a fever again?”

Chen Qizhao was a bit absent-minded and just said in response to Zhang Yazhi’s nagging, “It’s okay. My health isn’t so bad.”

Chen Shiming, who was sitting on the other side, glanced at him and noticed he wasn’t in the right state. Chen Shiming said, “Tomorrow morning, Dad and I have time to spare. Pay attention to your diet today and don’t eat and drink after 10 o’clock at night. We will go to the hospital tomorrow for a physical examination.”