CH 16

“Buzz…”

“Bzzt—Bzzt——……”

The laser printer spat out another identical photo, it was a photo of Lu Yong and Shen Wenqiu.

Lu Yong tucked the photo aside; he wanted to keep one for himself and had gained Shen Wenqiu’s permission. He actually wanted a picture of Shen Wenqiu alone too, but it was too obvious, so he hesitated and decided to give it up.

Being able to get this group photo relieved some of his past regrets.

……

When taking high school graduation photos, everyone lined up on the steps downstairs in the front of the school. The teacher simply arranged the students in order of their height. Shen Wenqiu was in the third row. He was taller and was standing in the fourth row from the back.

It didn’t matter if the position was slightly adjusted, so Lu Yong snuck up to stand right behind Shen Wenqiu. He was so terrified of being caught that he held his breath.

Nonetheless, he was discovered.

One of Shen Wenqiu’s classmates softly elbowed him, smacked his lips, and muttered, “Lu Yong is behind you.”

Shen Wenqiu was still chatting and laughing with others when his smile suddenly froze. He turned to look back at him hesitantly and met Lu Yong’s gaze, and he looked away so fast that it appeared as if he found it repulsive to look at him, his eyes couldn’t settle down. Shen Wenqiu lowered his eyelashes, whispered to the people around him, and switched to another position without saying a word. He dealt with it quickly and without delay.

Lu Yong froze on the spot, he could follow him around like a sticky candy, but it would just embarrass and upset Shen Wenqiu more. He felt very guilty in his heart. It was a rare day, and Xiao Baa was still laughing, but his good mood was ruined by his selfish and innocent thoughts, so he didn’t move anymore.

Finally, the graduation photo was taken. One was standing higher than the other, and they were standing diagonally to each other with a person separating in the middle. Lu Yong was too tall, standing among a group of chicks-like boys, a bit taller than anyone else. He looked like he’d just crawled out of a coal mine. He remembered feeling so uneasy that he wanted to cry, but looking at the images, he appeared to be too rigid and hostile, he seemed angry. If the picture was enlarged and shown to a child, it might scare the child to cry.

Shen Wenqiu also didn’t take the shot properly. When the photographer took the photograph, he was looking down and had no idea what he was doing or thinking. In any case, his face was not captured in the photograph.

Their three years of youth in high school ended here in a mess.

This has always been a source of regret for Lu Yong.

With his prosthetic right hand, he held the photo.

It was as light as a feather, he couldn’t feel any physical weight, but it felt like a heavy stone in his heart. After ten years, Shen Wenqiu took the initiative to take a group photo, this meant that he was willing to make up right?

It was good enough to be able to be friends.

He was already very content with being friends.

KNOCK— KNOCK—

Someone was knocking on the door, “Can I come in? I’m not disturbing you, am I? I’m here to get a document.”

Ding Nian stood at the door.

Shen Wenqiu turned to him and said politely, “Hello.”

Ding Nian replied with a gentle smile, “Hello.”

Lu Yong briefly introduced him to Shen Wenqiu, “This is the chief researcher of our company’s scientific research group, Ding Nian, Teacher Ding.”

Then Shen Wenqiu was introduced to Ding Nian, “This is my… my friend, Shen Wenqiu.”

There was a thought-provoking pause here.

Lu Yong believed he was boldly testing Shen Wenqiu’s relationship boundaries, and that if he wasn’t denied, it would be a tacit understanding of their friendship. But in Teacher Ding’s ears, it had another ambiguous meaning.

He understood. He understood.

Ding Nian said, “President Lu, remember to hold the discussion meeting on time later.”

Shen Wenqiu watched “the” Teacher Ding leave, saw his white hair, and then looked back at Lu Yong’s head, “You are in good health, and your hair is dark and black.”

He was in a strange state. It was as if his sixteen-year-old self had not yet been stripped away, and his body was taken over, while the twenty-eight-year-old self was sitting on the sidelines. He raised his hand high and touched Lu Yong’s hair, his thoughts driving the nerves in his arms without the permission of his brain.

Lu Yong’s hair was black and hard, and it felt prickly and poked his palm.

Both of them froze.

Shen Wenqiu regained his composure first, retracing his hand as if it had received an electric shock, “S-Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Lu Yong responded, holding back to ease the awkward atmosphere, and as his face distorted, he said, “Actually, I applied black hair dye.”

Shen Wenqiu hurriedly examined his hands; his palms were clean, and he raised his head in confusion.

It seemed that his joke flopped. Lu Yong stiffened his head and said word by word, “I’m kidding…”

Shen Wenqiu was taken aback again, seeing him look worried, silly, and cute, he then laughed, “Why are you still not able to lie at all like before?”

Lu Yong responded solemnly: “I’m not lying; I’m joking. There isn’t anything to learn about lying.”

He amused Shen Wenqiu the more serious he became, and Shen Wenqiu almost burst out laughing.

Lu Yong still had to deal with work. Shen Wenqiu spent the afternoon in his office, he looked through their company’s yearbook while the air conditioner blew, he ate fruits and didn’t walk around simply.

Lu Yong had hoped that bringing him to work would be more reassuring than keeping him at home, but it only seemed to make him more restless. He wouldn’t be able to visit Shen Wenqiu easily if he left him at home, but he was close by in the company. He only had to take a few steps to see Shen Wenqiu, which made his heart itch all the time.

Rationally, he knew that Shen Wenqiu would not run around; he’d get lost in this industrial park in the middle of nowhere if he went out on his own. And he can’t walk around their factory because some areas are quite dangerous. What if he gets injured?

Hence during the discussion meeting, Lu Yong was absent-minded, which rarely happened.

Someone asked, “President Lu, what do you have in mind?”

Lu Yong said distractedly, “…too dangerous, right?”

The researchers on the conference table took his viewpoint very seriously, and debated it thoroughly, “Dangerous? Which part of the  processing are you referring to?”

“What additional safety measures do you believe should be included?”

“Are you referring to the environment? Well, I also think it would be safer to add some additional  insurance measures.”

“Blablabla……”

Lu Yong came to his senses slowly, cold sweat was about to come out, his face was solemn, silent, pretending to be nonchalant, and trying to hear the progress of the meeting from their conversation. In his hand, Ding Nian held a ballpoint pen. He was tapping the tabletop intermittently when he looked at him with his phoenix eyes 1  and said, “President Lu, you appear to be in poor health today. Is it because the previous issue has resurfaced? The illness appears to be worsening.”

“You should return to your room and rest for a while. I’ll be the one to preside over this meeting, and I’ll write a summary report of the recommendations for you to read later.”

Lu Yong couldn’t sit still, and left the meeting room with a sullen face. He then went back to his office to find Shen Wenqiu.

This distance was not too far, not too close. He really wanted to put Shen Wenqiu in his pocket and bring him wherever he went. Even so, he was still afraid that he would lose him if he made one mistake.

Shen Wenqiu was playing with a handheld game console and reached a critical point, so when Lu Yong entered the door, he didn’t raise his head. After a few seconds, he pressed pause and looked up at him confusedly, “What’s the matter? Your meeting finished so soon? “

Lu Yong told him, “Not yet. I have something I forgot to tell you. Some areas of the park are quite dangerous. Just stay here and play. Don’t walk around.”

Shen Wenqiu smiled, “What? I’m not a disobedient puppy. It’s so hot outside, why would I wander off?”

Lu Yong still felt uneasy, “Yeah, but I still have to say something.”

Shen Wenqiu waved his hand and lowered his head to continue the game, and said impatiently like a child,”Okay, Okay, I know. You hurry up to continue the meeting, and I will continue playing the game.”

Lu Yong was driven away by him.

Shen Wenqiu pretended to still be playing. When the footsteps were getting farther and farther until he could not hear it anymore, he put down the game console and exhaled a long breath from his nose. Lu Yong looked stupid, but his sense were quite keen. Did he discover his intention to leave?

“Damn it.” Shen Wenqiu cursed in a low tone, scolding himself. He threw the game console aside, laid down on Lu Yong’s sofa, and took a nap in his clothes.

He couldn’t sleep at that moment.

Shen Wenqiu thought to himself, I’m really like Lu Yong’s pet dog now, not even living like a human, what a scumbag. Lu Yong is so nice, even if he no longer likes me, he’s still so nice and concerned about me.

He slept until Lu Yong got off work. Lu Yong woke him up, loaded him into the car, and took him home.

Shen Wenqiu made a rare request, “I want to go to the supermarket.”

Lu Yong said, “Okay.” He didn’t ask anything else.

Shen Wenqiu added, “There are no vegetables left in the refrigerator, let’s go buy them.”

Lu Yong immediately changed his plan, “Then let’s go to the fresh supermarket.”

Shen Wenqiu personally purchased the ingredients. He didn’t choose many, so he put the ingredients in the basket that could make two-person pickled vegetables and oxtail vermicelli. Lu Yong also filled up his basket with some ingredients. Before buying, he had to ask Shen Wenqiu’s permission of what he wanted to eat before taking the ingredients.

But because they were late today, they ate dinner outside.

The next day, Lu Yong got up early to hear a noise in the living room. He opened the door and looked around, dumbfounded.

The living room had been cleaned. The scattered trash on the coffee table had disappeared, and the crumpled-up blanket on the sofa had been neatly folded. It took on an entirely new appearance.

Shen Wenqiu was standing in the kitchen barefoot, cooking. He appeared to have taken a shower, as he was dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants that hung loosely on his body. His slightly longer hair was tied up in a bun, exposing the slender back of his neck. When he lowered his head, he always gave the impression of a flowery branch sinking, as if it was about to break.

Shen Wenqiu turned around as the fragrance floated out of the pot and said, “It’s still very early. 

Did I wake you up?”

Lu Yong walked over and looked at the pot, “Why are you cooking big dishes early in the morning?”

Shen Wenqiu said casually, “I want to eat it. Wait, it’s been simmered for half an hour. You go wash up and change clothes. When you come out, it’ll be almost ready to eat.”

Lu Yong hesitantly asked, “Did you not sleep all night?”

Shen Wenqiu said, “No, I went to bed as soon as I came back last night, and I slept well. I slept for several hours at noon yesterday, so I woke up early in the morning. I was bored, so I cleaned the living room because I had made it so dirty.”

After thinking for a while, he continued, “I’m sorry, I’ve made a mess out of your house when I’m just someone who leeched off of you.”

“It doesn’t matter…” Lu Yong looked at him for a moment before nodding and said, “It’s good if you can start a normal life.”

Lu Yong cleaned up himself before he went to sit down at the dining table.

Shen Wenqiu put on anti-scalding gloves and brought the meat to the table with the pot, carefully positioning the dishes and chopsticks.

Lu Yong complimented, “It’s delicious.”

Shen Wenqiu said nostalgically,”I know right? This is the only dish I know how to prepare. It is my dad’s specialty. When I was young, he would cook it for me personally during the holidays. I like it very much.”

Both men had a huge appetite and devoured the entire pot of food.

Lu Yong got up to clean up the pots and chopsticks, Shen Wenqiu said, “Let me clean up. I have something to tell you.”

When Lu Yong sat down, he felt anxious, as though anticipating some unseen struggle.

Obviously everything was developing in a good direction, Shen Wenqiu hesitated to say something but stopped, as if he was building up something. Lu Yong vaguely foresaw the outcome, and suddenly stood up and said, “It’s quite late, I have to go to work, or just wait until I come back.”

Shen Wenqiu closed his eyes, his fingers almost carved into his palm, but he didn’t feel any pain. Before Lu Yong left, he hurriedly said, “I have to leave.”

Every dust-like spirit will burn out, fall to the earth, and then silently vanish one day.

There was no one in the room, and it was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

“Thank you for taking me in all this time. Dayong.”

“I’m going back.”

slanted eyes