CH 43

Ning Junyan’s supper was very simple. He ordered takeout, and the plastic bags were still unopened. They were placed in his small quiet office.

Chen Yuncheng returned to the office with him and sat on the chair opposite his desk, watching him unpack the bag and open the disposable lunch box. Inside was fried rice with a few kimchis added on top.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Chen Yuncheng asked him.

Ning Junyan let out an “En”, picked up the plastic spoon, and looked up at Chen Yuncheng, “Have you eaten yet?”

Chen Yuncheng said, “I have eaten, go ahead.”

Ning Junyan ate quickly and quietly.

Chen Yuncheng propped his chin with one hand, leaned on the edge of the desk and looked at him. After a while, he said, “I saw Zhou Yan today.”

Ning Junyan paused.

Chen Yuncheng said again, “You go ahead and eat, I just want to chat casually.”

Ning Junyan continued to eat.

Chen Yuncheng said, “I heard from Jiajia that the police came to look for them twice today, and there seemed to be a police presence in the corridor. I’m very afraid that Zhou Yan has gotten into some trouble.”

Ning Junyan suddenly said, “You didn’t call the police when you saw him?”

Chen Yuncheng brushed back the hair on his forehead with his gauze-wrapped hand, “I want to take him to surrender.”

Ning Junyan’s tone was almost emotionless, “Don’t you actually know in your heart what he’s done?”

Chen Yuncheng looked over at him, “What are you trying to say?”

However, Ning Junyan didn’t continue immediately. He took a spoonful of fried rice and put it into his mouth, chewed it slowly and swallowed it, then took a sip of water from the mineral water bottle before saying, “Did his stepfather’s death really have nothing to do with him?”

Chen Yuncheng’s intense unease, apart from seeing the police in the hospital, stemmed from Zhou Yan’s stepfather’s unexplained murder case, but he was unwilling to face it or admit it and subconsciously said, “He’s not that type of person.”

Ning Junyan said, “Why can’t he be such a person?” After he finished speaking, he said nothing more and continued to eat his bowl of fried rice.

Chen Yuncheng looked at Ning Junyan and didn’t speak for a long time. He recalled that when he was young, Ning Junyan had never liked Zhou Yan.

When Zhou Yan was first brought back by the foster father, there was no spare room, so Chen Yuncheng arranged a spring bed in his room that the foster father picked up from the scrap yard and let him sleep on it.

On the first night, Zhou Yan seemed a little excited and wanted to talk to Chen Yuncheng all the time.

Chen Yuncheng lay down and chatted with Zhou Yan. Ning Junyan, who was sleeping next to him, did not make a sound from beginning to end. Later, when Chen Yuncheng turned to look at Ning Junyan, he found that Ning Junyan’s eyes were open. He was looking in Zhou Yan’s direction and his eyes were cold and quenched with a bit of sinisterness.

Ning Junyan as an adult would no longer have such eyes, but at that time, it was a sign of Ning Junyan’s extreme dislike for a person.

Chen Yuncheng did not like this kind of look in Ning Junyan’s eyes and raised his hand to cover his eyes.

Ning Junyan lay still, and he didn’t move even when Chen Yuncheng blocked his view. After a long time, he blinked his eyes and his eyelashes swept across Chen Yuncheng’s hand.

Zhou Yan was still talking.

However, Chen Yuncheng didn’t listen much as he was teasing Ning Junyan. He slowly moved away the hand covering Ning Junyan’s eyes, revealing only one of his eyes, and then locked eyes with him.

When Ning Junyan’s line of sight was completely occupied by Chen Yuncheng, his eyes suddenly became clean and pure, and the curvature of the corners of his eyes was soft.

After looking at him for a while, Chen Yuncheng dropped his hand, allowing both of Ning Junyan’s eyes to be exposed, and then looked at him with a smile. Ning Junyan looked at him for a long time and reached over to grab Chen Yuncheng’s hand, covering his eyes again, unwilling to continue looking at him.

Now that Chen Yuncheng thought about it, he was the only person Ning Junyan cared about.

After Ning Junyan finished eating the bowl of fried rice, he put the spoon in the lunch box, covered it with the lid, and then tied the outside plastic bag tightly again.

Chen Yuncheng asked him, “Don’t you feel anything for Zhou Yan at all?”

Ning Junyan said, “No.”

Because of his answer, Chen Yuncheng suddenly felt uncomfortable. He couldn’t tell whether it was because of Zhou Yan or Ning Junyan, but at the same time, he also felt that he was a little pretentious. He reached out and picked up his empty lunch box from Ning Junyan’s desk, went to the door and threw it into the trash can. When he turned around, he said to Ning Junyan, “You are too cold.” He wanted to say “too cold-blooded”, but he couldn’t bear to say such heavy words to Ning Junyan.

Ning Junyan sat behind his desk, looked up at Chen Yuncheng, and said, “Maybe, do you want to warm me up?”

Chen Yuncheng was stunned for a moment. He suspected that he had misunderstood what Ning Junyan’s meant and asked, “What?”

Ning Junyan was very calm, “You can warm me up.”

Chen Yuncheng realised he had understood correctly; although Ning Junyan had a decent demeanour, what he said was simply immodest. At that moment, Chen Yuncheng felt ashamed and annoyed; he stretched out his hand to open the office door and walked out, “I’m leaving first.”

Ning Junyan got up and chased after him, grabbed his hand in the corridor and stopped him.

Chen Yuncheng said, “What else do you want to say?”

Ning Junyan asked him, “Why are you angry?”

Chen Yuncheng’s anger still persisted, “I’m talking to you in earnest.”

Ning Junyan nodded, “If you want to tell me about Zhou Yan, then go ahead, and I will listen to you.”

Chen Yuncheng was pulled back into his office by him.

The door to the office closed once more.

This time Ning Junyan kept pulling Chen Yuncheng to his chair, and he didn’t let go of Chen Yuncheng’s hand even after he sat down.

Chen Yuncheng asked him, “What are you doing?”

Ning Junyan replied, “Looking at the wound on your hand.”

Chen Yuncheng did not say anything.

Ning Junyan looked up at him and asked softly, “May I?”

Chen Yuncheng had always been amenable to coaxing but not coercion. He couldn’t refuse Ning Junyan with such an attitude, so he could only say, “Go ahead.”

Ning Junyan lowered his head and carefully unwrapped the gauze on his hand. The shallow scratches on his palm looked like they were almost healed, and the slightly serious one was the shard that got in his right hand at that time. Although the wound was a little deep, it was a short one and now it had formed a thin scab of blood.

“The left hand can be left unbandaged,” Ning Junyan said, and then he reached out to open the drawer on the side of the desk.

When the drawer was opened, it hit Chen Yuncheng’s leg. Chen Yuncheng turned sideways and wanted to take half a step back.

But Ning Junyan suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled Chen Yuncheng in front of him, wrapped an arm around his waist and made him sit on his lap with his back to him.

Chen Yuncheng was startled and wanted to get up quickly.

Ning Junyan was very strong. His arm tightened around his waist, and he put his face against his back and said, “I have no ill will towards Zhou Yan.”

Chen Yuncheng said anxiously, “Let me get up first!”

Ning Junyan’s tall nose lightly rubbed against the protruding spine of Chen Yuncheng’s back and said, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t agree to you lending money for his son for medical treatment.”

When he heard Ning Junyan suddenly mention money, Chen Yuncheng slowed down his struggle and said, “I will definitely pay you back the money.”

However, Ning Junyan did not continue the topic of money but said, “I don’t like Zhou Yan, but I’m just afraid that if you put so much effort into him, you will end up being disappointed.”

Chen Yuncheng could feel that Ning Junyan was still pressed against his back when he spoke. Even though he was still separated by his thick winter clothes, Chen Yuncheng still felt his entire back tingling slightly from the breath of his words.

At this point, Ning Junyan reached out and pulled the drawer completely open, just in front of Chen Yuncheng’s knees, and he said to Chen Yuncheng, “Don’t move. Wait for me to take care of your wound.”

Chen Yuncheng insisted, “Let me get up.”

Ning Junyan spoke in a gentle tone, “It will be done soon. Bear with me.”

He took out the iodine spray and dressing from the drawer and sat Chen Yuncheng sideways on his lap. He first held Chen Yuncheng’s left hand, disinfected it with the spray, and then wiped it clean with cotton. After that, he tore off the small dressing and only stuck it to the deepest wound on his hand.

When he was doing this, Chen Yuncheng didn’t struggle to get up, he could only move his body forward as much as possible, almost sitting on Ning Junyan’s knee. Both being grown men, Chen Yuncheng felt that the current situation was already awkward, and he did not want to encounter a situation that would make him even more awkward.

Ning Junyan said, “Try not to touch the water as much as possible. There are disposable gloves in the drawer at home.”

Chen Yuncheng subconsciously said, “Why didn’t you say it earlier?”

Ning Junyan didn’t speak but just smiled.

At this time, the door of the office room was suddenly knocked twice sharply from outside.

Chen Yuncheng immediately stood up from Ning Junyan’s lap.

But the people outside were obviously more impatient. Before Ning Junyan could reply, he unscrewed the door, poked his head in and said, “Xiao Ning?”

“Director Yu?” Ning Junyan sat in his chair and looked over towards the person by the door.

It was the director of their department, surnamed Yu, who was nearly sixty years old. He stood at the door with a stiff movement. He obviously saw Chen Yuncheng get up from Ning Junyan’s lap. He didn’t react for a while, and his gaze fell straight on Chen Yuncheng.

Chen Yuncheng felt that he had never been so embarrassed in his twenty-eight years of life.

Ning Junyan’s attitude was quite calm, and he asked, “Is there something wrong?”

Director Yu came back to his senses and said in an unnatural tone, “Oh, that what, are you on duty today?”

Ning Junyan got up and walked in front of Chen Yuncheng to block Director Yu’s sight, “Yes.”

Director Yu scratched his thinning hair, “Then what, did you see my watch in the duty room?”

Ning Junyan heard the words and walked towards him, “I’ll accompany you to find it.”

When they left the office, Ning Jun extended his hand and closed the door.

Chen Yuncheng sat down on Ning Junyan’s chair, leaned on the table, raised his arms and hugged his head.

The author has something to say:

There are not many scenes for Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan’s problem has not been resolved because Chen Yuncheng was flirting with Ning Junyan most of the time in the story.

Regarding the content of the hospital, because I am not professional, there must be bugs1. If it is not very serious, just take it with a grain of salt ha