CH 70

Chapter 70 – You Have Really Changed

The night grew darker, with the crescent moon hanging high.

After seeing Xu Ruru home, Wei Hua didn’t go back to the house arranged by Grandpa Wei for him. Instead, he called Wei Chen and asked for his home address. Then he hailed a taxi and headed towards Wei Chen’s house.

When Wei Hua arrived at Wei Chen’s house, Wei Chen and Chen Li had already finished bathing. Wei Chen was teaching Chen Li how to recognize characters. Chen Li was studying diligently, with a sharp mind. In no time, he could independently write a 500-word composition.

Although the world depicted in Chen Li’s compositions seemed absurd, sometimes giving Wei Chen an eerie feeling, with goosebumps all over his body, Wei Chen was willing to accept it as Chen Li’s inner world. He made an effort to explore it with Chen Li, even though Chen Li never spoke. Chen Li’s gaze conveyed a lot to Wei Chen.

“He’s studying?” Wei Hua raised his eyebrows upon seeing Chen Li sitting on the sofa, earnestly reading a book.

Wei Chen nodded. “Do you need something?”

“I just got back, haven’t found a place to stay yet. I came here to spend the night,” Wei Hua lied with his eyes wide open.

“Luggage,” Wei Chen pierced through his lie without mercy.

Wei Hua wore a dejected expression. “Alright, alright, I came here specifically to find you. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, and I missed you. I couldn’t sleep without being under the same roof as you.” He started to babble.

Wei Chen stared at him with cold eyes.

Wei Hua had a thick skin and didn’t feel much. He walked straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and started shouting, “Achen, why don’t you have a single bottle of beer in your fridge? I wanted to have a drink and chat with you!”

“There’s a convenience store downstairs,” Wei Chen disregarded Wei Hua’s strange outburst, poured himself a glass of water in the kitchen, and said as he passed by Wei Hua.

It means, if you want to drink, go buy it yourself.

Wei Hua closed the refrigerator door and watched Wei Chen place the glass of water on the coffee table. He then heard Wei Chen’s instructions to Chen Li, “Don’t put the book too close to your eyes. I’ve put the water on the table, remember to drink it.”

Although Wei Hua already knew that Wei Chen would be different when he was with Chen Li, he was still shocked when he saw it this time. Wei Chen’s tone just now really sounded like an old lady!

“I’ll go downstairs to buy beer,” Wei Hua regained his scattered thoughts, said to Wei Chen, and put his shoes back on before leaving.

Wei Chen watched Wei Hua’s figure and seemed to have a slight smile in his eyes.

Wei Hua was a few years older than Wei Chen. He was the son of Wei Chen’s uncle, but his uncle died early, so Grandpa Wei brought Wei Hua back to the Wei family to raise him.

Wei Hua was tough and never felt like a guest in someone else’s home. Only Grandpa Wei could control him in the entire family, and in front of Grandpa Wei, he was like a mouse encountering a cat.

In his past life, Wei Chen didn’t like Wei Hua. Wei Hua hadn’t done anything to provoke Wei Chen, but Wei Chen simply couldn’t like him, for some reason…

Most likely, in his past life, he couldn’t stand how freely Wei Hua could laugh.

While Wei Chen was reminiscing, Wei Hua came back upstairs carrying a bag of beer, happily approaching Wei Chen and saying, “Come on, Achen, we won’t get drunk or sleep tonight.”

“Let’s go to the balcony,” Wei Chen suggested.

“Sure.”

Although the balcony with the best view had been transformed into Chen Li’s studio by Wei Chen, when Wei Chen bought this house, he was attracted by the surrounding scenery. No matter which direction, beautiful views could be seen.

Of course, all of this was in vain during the night.

However, the balcony that connected to the living room was exposed to the wind. As soon as the two stepped outside, a gentle night breeze brushed past, dissipating the summer heat.

“The view here is nice, you have a good eye,” Wei Hua said and popped open a can of beer, enjoying the pleasant feeling of the night breeze on his face.

As expected, Wei Chen didn’t respond.

“Achen,” Wei Hua leaned in front of Wei Chen and asked, “Why are you still so cold?”

“Am I?” Wei Chen asked.

“Yes! How can you say you aren’t!” Like finding an outlet to vent his complaints, Wei Hua’s mouth rattled off like a machine gun, “I talk to you ten times, and you only reply with one sentence, no, not even a sentence, just a few words. Why are you so reluctant to speak?”

Wei Chen quietly watched Wei Hua, not interrupting him.

“But, this time I came back and felt that you’ve changed.” Wei Hua turned his head to look at Wei Chen, his expression becoming extremely serious, “You’ve really changed.”

Wei Chen held the beer in his hand and said, “Perhaps.” His gaze fell upon the dark night in the distance, seeming distant.

“Is it because of him?” Wei Hua shifted his gaze to the living room, where Chen Li was still diligently reading. But he also remembered Wei Chen’s instructions, flipping the pages of the book with one hand and taking a sip of water from the glass with the other.

Wei Chen remained silent.

Wei Hua had almost found the answer in his heart and didn’t ask further. “But I feel that your attitude towards me has also changed a lot, and it makes me happy, Achen.”

Speaking up to this point, Wei Hua’s face lit up with excitement, and his smile was as unrestrained as Wei Chen remembered. But this time, Wei Chen didn’t feel a hint of jealousy.

“Before I went abroad, I liked hanging around you too. The Wei family has so many brothers, I don’t know why I had a good impression of you, probably fate. I liked playing with you when we were young, of course, you ignored me. As we grew up, although you wouldn’t directly humiliate me like when we were kids, Achen…” Wei Hua took a sip of beer, “But Achen, I can feel that you are distant from me and don’t want to see me.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Chen silently thought to himself: You actually know, I thought you didn’t, that’s why you always try to get close to me for no reason.

“But this time I came back, I found that it seems like you don’t resist me anymore.” Wei Hua’s smile widened, “So today, I’m happy, so happy that I don’t want to get drunk and go home.”

Wei Chen’s heart warmed, filled with gratitude. It was only in this lifetime that he truly knew who Wei Hua, the person who had been good to him all along, was. This person, whom he had resisted in his previous life, was the first one, apart from Chen Li, to visit him in the hospital after his car accident. Wei Hua chattered away, calling him foolish and admitting that he had misjudged people. He realized that Wu Zikang and Chen Qing were not good people and that he had foolishly fallen into their trap.

Later on, Wei Hua’s visits to the hospital became less frequent, but Wei Chen knew that he was busy taking care of matters for the Wei family, completely occupied and stressed.

Wei Chen never knew until his death whether the Wei family had managed to survive and whether Wei Hua was doing well.

The past faded away like smoke, drifting away with the wind.

Coming back to his senses, Wei Chen opened a can of beer and lightly tapped it against the beer can in Wei Hua’s hand. “Cheers.”

“Cheers! I won’t sleep tonight unless I’m drunk!” After downing the remaining half can of beer, Wei Hua opened another bottle for himself.

In the end, Wei Chen drank less than half a bottle of the beer that Wei Hua had brought back, while Wei Hua had consumed the rest and gotten drunk.

Wei Chen had no intention of taking care of the drunkard Wei Hua and simply tossed him into the guest room, leaving him to his own devices.

Chen Li followed Wei Chen inside, looking at Wei Hua lying on the bed, then glanced at Wei Chen.

“He’s drunk, no need to bother with him,” Wei Chen rubbed Chen Li’s head and held his hand as they walked out.

Chen Li obediently let Wei Chen lead him back to his room, he lay down and then looked at Wei Chen, his face innocent and inviting, as if he was offering himself for his enjoyment.

Wei Chen swallowed his saliva and pulled up the thin blanket next to him to cover Chen Li, saying, “Sleep!” His voice had become somewhat hoarse. Chen Li shifted slightly to the side, trying to make space for Wei Chen to sleep together, but in this situation, Wei Chen was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself once he got on the bed.

“You sleep first, I’ll go deal with some documents,” Wei Chen suppressed his desire to touch Chen Li and said.

Chen Li nodded, rolled up the blanket, and closed his eyes obediently, holding the blanket that still carried Wei Chen’s scent.

Wei Chen turned off the lights in the room, leaving the door slightly ajar, and spent the rest of the night on the balcony, enjoying the cold breeze before returning to the room.

As soon as he lay back on the bed, Chen Li rolled into his arms, his hands and feet casually resting on his body, and his face nuzzling against Wei Chen’s chest that was revealed from his pajamas. He slept peacefully.

Wei Chen held Chen Li and slowly emptied his mind, allowing himself to finally fall asleep with difficulty.

The next day, as soon as dawn broke, Wei Chen and Chen Li woke up one after another. Morning runs had become their habit, so after a simple wash, they changed into their sportswear and went to the park in the neighborhood for their morning exercise.

Although it was still early in the morning, the park was already bustling with activity. People were dancing, practicing swordsmanship, jogging, or taking a stroll, creating a lively start to the day.

When the two of them finished their morning exercise and returned home, the sound of running water could be heard from the guest room, indicating that Wei Hua had already woken up and was currently showering. Wei Chen had considerately prepared fresh clothes for Wei Hua, which he had placed on the bedside table.

After about ten minutes, a freshly showered Wei Hua came out of the room. His hair was wet, dripping with water, and he yawned loudly while wearing slippers.

“Morning?”

No one responded to him in the living room, and he didn’t think much of it. He walked over to the dining table, found a seat, and casually grabbed one of the steamed buns that Wei Chen had just brought back from downstairs.

The steamed buns had just come out of the steamer and didn’t feel very hot on the outside, but when Wei Hua took a bite, the piping hot soup inside spilled out, causing him to involuntarily exclaim.

“So hot!” Wei Hua said but couldn’t stop himself. He was wolfing down the food, almost inhaling it. “After being abroad for so long, I find even something as simple as a steamed bun in China to be incredibly delicious!”

After uttering those words, Wei Hua didn’t have time to say anything else. He wholeheartedly focused on devouring the steamed buns.

In no time, he finished off four of them.

After savoring the rich flavors in his mouth, Wei Hua turned his head and said to Wei Chen, “Your dad will arrive in the capital in a few days. He will help me get familiar with the business here. Would you like to meet him?”