“I don’t feel very good. I should find another small hotel to stay in.”
Lu Yong heard Shen Wenqiu say this suddenly.
Lu Yong was stunned for a while, and thought to himself, Does Shen Wenqiu not want to live in the same room with him? It seemed that they were a little too close, and it wasn’t like before when the two of them were just friends and were ignorant, so it was reasonable that Shen Wenqiu would avoid him.
However, Lu Yong still refused, “No.”
Shen Wenqiu’s mental state was so bad—even though Shen Wenqiu looked completely normal on the surface, who knew if he would suddenly be depressed? He had to take Shen Wenqiu with him all the time as much as possible.
Shen Wenqiu didn’t expect to be rejected so easily. There was almost no pause in the middle—Lu Yong even frowned with a non-negotiable tone.
Lu Yong swiped the room card, opened the door, and entered the room without any hesitation. Shen Wenqiu unknowingly followed him in first, muttering as he walked, “People like me don’t deserve to stay in such a nice hotel.”
Lu Yong stopped his step. He just took off his coat, hung it on his left arm, and hooked his right hand’s finger on the bow tie. Without continuing to pull the tie, he listened and said, “Then let’s give the room back. I will accompany you to stay at a small hotel. “
It was said that it was easy to change from a frugal life to luxurious life, but it wasn’t easy to be frugal when you had lived a luxurious life. But why didn’t he feel it in Lu Yong? He also didn’t see Lu Yong acting deliberately either.
Shen Wenqiu said angrily, “It’s fine if you want to sit in a second-class seat. But why do you have to accompany me to stay in a small hotel? You’re a proper President Lu, you must have the extravagance, right? Otherwise, what will people think of you?”
Lu Yong said, “I don’t mind. Your medicine is with me, and I have to watch you.”
Shen Wenqiu didn’t insist, Lu Yong’s cell phone rang, and Lu Yong answered the phone, “Hello? Hi… yes, we have arrived at the hotel.”
Shen Wenqiu said, “…you still dare to live in the same room with me. Did you really not take what I said before seriously?”
After changing their clothes, the two of them went to a reception banquet. The banquet was attended by people from relevant government departments and the bosses of other old local factories. The conversation was half serious and half gossip.
Someone in the seat persuaded Lu Yong to drink, but Lu Yong said with a smile that he didn’t know how to drink, and the other party insisted on persuading him to drink.
Shen Wenqiu thought about it—as a secretary, shouldn’t he help the boss by drinking for him? So, he took the wine and drank it. The incident happened suddenly, and Lu Yong didn’t make it in time to stop him. He was willing to drink by himself, he had no other way but to drink a cup as well. As soon as he drank, his face turned red, which made people believe that he really couldn’t drink.
Then came this peculiar scene. President Lu, who was tall and looked very social, didn’t drink much alcohol. The gentle secretary beside him was playing games and those who lost would need to drink, which he made all the men at the table drink till they collapsed.
Shen Wenqiu had a very high tolerance. If not for Lu Yong holding him around, he could drink more.
It was Lu Yong’s first time seeing him like this. He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even hold him back.
The meal didn’t end until after eleven o’clock.
Shen Wenqiu was so drunk that he could not walk steadily. Lu Yong helped him walk, and Shen Wenqiu was almost hanging on Lu Yong.
Shen Wenqiu stank of alcohol, but Lu Yong didn’t mind it and dragged and carried him back to the hotel room.
He put Shen Wenqiu on the bed first.
Shen Wenqiu drank until his cheeks turned abnormally red. He closed his eyes tightly and looked a little unhappy. He didn’t know whether he was asleep or awake. He didn’t move after he laid down.
Lu Yong first helped him take off his shoes and moved both of his feet onto the bed. He then went to the bathroom, poured some hot water, soaked a warm towel, and prepared to wipe Shen Wenqiu’s face and neck.
As soon as he came out, he heard a small sob.
Lu Yong was dumbfounded.
Didn’t he just walk away for a minute? What happened?
Shen Wenqiu was turned over on his side, huddled into a ball, and was sobbing and crying. His crying made him seem like he was afraid of being discovered but couldn’t help it anyway.
He cried so much that Lu Yong felt that his heart was about to break… even though he knew intellectually that Shen Wenqiu was probably in a drunken frenzy.
It was not surprising what drunk people would do.
Lu Yong walked over, sat beside the bed, put his hand on Shen Wenqiu’s shoulder, and wanted to turn the person over and ask him carefully.
But Shen Wenqiu, like a calf, held his power against him and refused to face him, “Don’t touch me.”
Lu Yong asked, “Why are you crying?”
Shen Wenqiu said, “I just want to cry. I’ll cry when I want to cry. It’s none of your business.”
Lu Yong sighed. After drinking wine, Shen Wenqiu couldn’t take medicine tonight. So it was better to coax him to sleep first.
Lu Yong said in a tone like coaxing a baby, “Wipe your face, okay? Wipe your face and hands before we go to bed. Otherwise, it will be very dirty.”
Shen Wenqiu cried and yelled at him, “What’s so dirty about this? I’ve slept by the road before. I’m not afraid to get dirty.”
Lu Yong roughly wiped his face with his hand, Shen Wenqiu pushed his hand. “Hng……!”
Lu Yong asked him again, “We’re going to bed. Do you want to take off your clothes yourself, or should I take them off for you?”
Shen Wenqiu didn’t speak, and only lay down for two minutes. He then took a deep breath, sat up, and said numbly, “I’ll take it off by myself.”
After he said that, he began to tug at his clothes viciously, as if he wanted to tear them apart, taking off one piece after another. Lu Yong took out the pyjamas from his suitcase and turned around to find that he was almost completely stripped. He quickly shouted, “Stop taking it off, it’s alright, let’s change into your pyjamas.”
Shen Wenqiu had only a pair of underwear on his body at this time, and he put on his pyjamas in front of Lu Yong. Lu Yong just took a glance at him—he was too embarrassed to look closely at the white-skinned body, he just felt that Shen Wenqiu was thin, so thin that his heart ached.
He had raised him for two months, but Lu Yong hadn’t seen much meat grow back on him.
Shen Wenqiu didn’t seem to cry anymore, and Lu Yong helped him put on a quilt.
The muddy orange light of the wall lamp enveloped Shen Wenqiu’s face. He had just trimmed his hair short and made it refreshing a while ago. At this time, it was spread out because he was lying on his back, and his eyes were blank because of being drunk. He looked so ignorant and childish, which was very cute.
Lu Yong’s heart was pounding, and he couldn’t help but lean down. He came back to his senses before he got close. Finally, he just reached out and touched his forehead, “Xiao Baa, don’t drink so much wine next time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t drink it.”
Shen Wenqiu nodded with a headache and cried, “…Oh.”
They hadn’t slept in the same room in years.
Lu Yong couldn’t help feeling fidgety when he thought that Shen Wenqiu was sleeping in the same room close at hand.
He should go to bed too.
Lu Yong took off his clothes. Since Shen Wenqiu was in the same room, even if he wasn’t looking at him, he was embarrassed to be naked, and he still wore his vest and pyjama pants. He was planning to remove the prosthesis, sterilise, and place it well.
After that, a soft cry was heard again.
Lu Yong sighed helplessly, sat back by Shen Wenqiu’s bed, and asked, “What are you actually crying for?”
Shen Wenqiu said in a daze, “I don’t know either…”
Lu Yong turned on the light again, wrapped the person in a quilt like a silkworm baby, lay down on his side, and hugged him from outside the quilt.
Lu Yong wiped his tears and whispered, “What’s the matter? Can you tell me secretly?”
Shen Wenqiu cried for a while, and then said incoherently, “Is that scarf still there?”
Lu Yong asked, “Which one?”
Shen Wenqiu said simply, “The one with diamond grid pattern.”
Shen Wenqiu said it so vaguely, but Lu Yong reacted in an instant. He replied, “Yes, it’s at my old house, I’m keeping it well.”
Shen Wenqiu leaned against the pillow and wept silently, sniffing, “I didn’t step on that scarf and make it dirty on purpose.”
Lu Yong, “Okay…”
Shen Wenqiu seemed to know clearly what he was doing, yet not at the same time and said some things he never said, “Actually, I came back to find you just to apologise and say sorry to you. I shouldn’t have insulted you like that.”
Lu Yong had a lot of words in his chest, but in the end, there were only three words that came out, “It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter, Xiao Baa.”
He didn’t blame Shen Wenqiu. Anyone who was suddenly confessed to by his brother would find it difficult to accept.
In fact, he had a hunch that he would be rejected before he said it.
Even if he really didn’t accept him, he wasn’t surprised—he just wanted to line up in Shen Wenqiu’s heart. However, he didn’t expect to be swept out of the game directly.
Shen Wenqiu heard Lu Yong say, “It doesn’t matter” with his own ears, and his nose got sore for no reason. He cried even more fiercely.
Lu Yong was at a loss.
Shen Wenqiu continued, “At that time, I thought you and your father depended on each other in your family, and you didn’t have any other relatives. Your father expects so much from you. It’s not good for you to be…be… homosexual.”
At the end of the day, he was still ashamed and it was hard to talk about it.
“We were initially such close friends…”
Lu Yong took the tissue by the bed and stuffed it toward him, “I understand. I’m not angry, I won’t be angry with you, Xiao Baa.”
He thought he could appease Shen Wenqiu and didn’t expect it to backfire. “I’m the most annoyed to you when you are like this! Why aren’t you angry? What makes you think that you shouldn’t be angry? I already treated you like that, so you should be angry with me and scold me! It’s me who did something wrong. I want to break off our relationship, I humiliate you, I gave you the silent treatment, I reaped what I sow. I deserve it, I deserve it! Scold me!”
Lu Yong was stunned for a while after being scolded. He stammered half a sentence as if trying to console him, “…I can’t bear to scold you.”
Shen Wenqiu’s breathing was unsteady like an angry little animal, wheezing.
Lu Yong stretched out his hand and put it on his face. He was getting hot due to the wine, and he had a burning hallucination on his palm.
Shen Wenqiu was still crying non-stop, and said with a sense of guilt, “You, do you really want to do this? Why are you so nice to someone who once dumped you? You don’t really have to think that you have any responsibility for me. It’s me who reappeared in front of you without authorization.”
Lu Yong thought to himself, How is it responsibility? He just couldn’t help his soft-heartedness whenever he saw Shen Wenqiu, “I don’t mind.”
Shen Wenqiu said, “But I do mind. If it wasn’t because I had no other choice, I really didn’t want to find you.”
How embarrassing to be seen in the ugliest state by the person you like—even the last bit of decency was gone.
Lu Yong smiled wryly. Yes, if Shen Wenqiu hadn’t become a rotten person and had nowhere to go, how would he have defected to him?
Shen Wenqiu continued saying and then went back to the topic, “Actually, I wanted to die for a long time, but I was always thinking about you, thinking about the excessive things I said to you back then. I-I just wanted to apologise to you. I thought we could always be good friends.”
Lu Yong’s mouth was dry, “We can be good friends again now. Don’t think about dying anymore. Xiao Baa, I will accompany you.”
Shen Wenqiu didn’t say yes or no.
Lu Yong listened to his voice, and Shen Wenqiu gradually stopped crying. He thought that Shen Wenqiu was going to sleep and heard him suddenly ask, “Did you really like me before?”
Lu Yong’s heart sank for a second, “…Yes.”
Shen Wenqiu slightly leaned towards him, because he had put on clean pyjamas, the alcohol smell was not so strong anymore. The fragrance of softener mixed with the faint alcohol smell, he seemed innocent and confused as he asked directly, “Then when I said I would let you sleep with me for 800 yuan—why didn’t you want it?”
“Dayong, you are so kind to me. I don’t know how to repay you.”
“I don’t want the money anymore, and it’s not considered prostitution. Don’t you want to resolve your regrets in high school? Or is it because I’m old and you think I’m different? So that’s why you rejected me?”