A Dog Out of Nowhere Chapter 40

At this moment the firecracker sounds outside were still at their most intense. Fortunately the neighbors had already finished theirs. Once the doors and windows of the room were closed, the noise became much quieter.

The ears that had been shaken for quite a while suddenly quieted down, leaving a somewhat empty feeling.

But the smell of gunpowder could still be sensed seeping in through the gap, carrying the unique atmosphere of the New Year.

The no-longer-so-ear-splitting sounds mixed with that smell, making the not-so-big space seem very quiet.

Fang Chi had probably drunk too much. Lying on the bed, he kept holding up that little drawing and looking at it, and who knew whether his arm was sore.

It probably wasn’t sore yet. After all, he trained in rock climbing, so his arm and hand strength were solid.

Sun Wenqu sat down at the table, casually took a piece of card paper, switched on the desk lamp, lowered his head, and began to draw.

He had pondered for quite a while when drawing Fang Chi, but when Fang Chi told him to draw himself, he suddenly didn’t quite know how to start. He took a small mirror out of the drawer and placed it on the table to look at himself.

Too handsome.

How could he be this handsome?

Fang Chi didn’t understand this kind of thing. Sun Wenqu didn’t take very long to draw himself. It was so-so, but fooling an amateur like Fang Chi wouldn’t be a problem.

He wrote his name and the date at the lower right corner of the drawing, then got up and went to the bed and handed it to Fang Chi. “Here.”

“So… fast?” Fang Chi was still holding up that drawing and looking at it. After taking this one he held both up together to look, speaking a little unclearly. “You draw yourself more… handsome than when you draw me.”

“What does that have to do with who I’m drawing?” Sun Wenqu lay down on the bed, side by side with him, and pointed at the drawing. “I’m just more handsome than you.”

“Oh.” Fang Chi responded, put both drawings back into the red envelope and tucked it into his pocket, then turned his head to look at him, his eyes a little unfocused. “How big a red envelope did you give me?”

“Count it yourself.” Sun Wenqu said.

“Then I’ll count it tomorrow. Right now I can’t count clearly,” Fang Chi narrowed his eyes. “Look at me, am I cross-eyed? I see things with a bit of… double image.”

“And you still won’t admit you drank too much?” Sun Wenqu stared at his eyes for a while. “Not cross-eyed.”

“I’m not denying it,” Fang Chi chuckled twice. “Right now I’m dizzy. If I close my eyes I could fall asleep immediately.”

This kind of situation was quite rare. Sun Wenqu kept looking at Fang Chi, but Fang Chi didn’t avoid his gaze. Though a little muddled, he looked back at him quite openly, probably something that only happened when he had drunk too much.

“Let me tell you,” Sun Wenqu rested on his arm. “The first time I saw you, I thought this little liar had pretty nice eyes, quite deep. Too bad you were a liar.”

“Really?” Fang Chi laughed. “My grandpa says in our whole family… only my eyes are like this, like my great-grandfather.”

“Then you’re pretty good at choosing. Your nose does look like your mom’s though,” Sun Wenqu said.

“Sons all look like their moms,” Fang Chi rolled over and lay facing him on his side. “You probably look like your mom too. Your mom should be very pretty.”

“My mom…” Sun Wenqu curled his mouth. “Mm. Pretty.”

“Why that tone,” Fang Chi reached out and touched the little bone showing from his collar. “Hey, I only dare ask because I’m drunk, are you… not on good terms with your family?”

“Mm.” Sun Wenqu smiled. “Not very good… very bad.”

“Why?” Fang Chi’s voice carried a nasal tone, sounding like he was about to fall asleep.

“My dad thinks I’m useless,” Sun Wenqu said.

“No way? What counts as useful then?” Fang Chi blinked dizzily. “Your handwriting is good, your drawings are good, you can play the erhu, you can make pottery… qin, chess, calligraphy, painting… you can play chess, right?”

“I can play weiqi,” Sun Wenqu looked at him.

“Then qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, pottery, you’re good at all of them and that’s still useless?” Fang Chi clicked his tongue. “If I had a son like that I’d be happy to the sky.”

“Dream on,” Sun Wenqu laughed.

“…True,” Fang Chi’s eyelids were fighting sleep, but at this moment Sun Wenqu could still see his gaze suddenly dim. “True.”

Sun Wenqu frowned and hooked a finger under his chin. “Hey, I meant you dreaming of having a son like me is dreaming.”

“What kind of son, I’d still be dreaming,” Fang Chi sighed softly.

Sun Wenqu didn’t speak. His finger still lightly hooked at Fang Chi’s chin.

Fang Chi half-closed his eyes as if asleep, but after a while opened them a little again. “You… why didn’t you write ‘may fortune come and sons be born’ later? On that couplet.”

“You’re already like this over a random sentence,” Sun Wenqu clicked his tongue. “If I’d really written it you’d cry after seeing it.”

“Listen to that,” Fang Chi closed his eyes and smiled. “I haven’t cried since elementary school.”

Sun Wenqu looked at him without speaking.

Fang Chi also didn’t move. Just when Sun Wenqu thought he had fallen asleep, his eyes opened again. “Hey.”

“Mm?” Sun Wenqu answered. “If you’re sleepy then sleep.”

“Does your family know about your thing?” Fang Chi asked.

“What thing?” Sun Wenqu put his hand behind his back and scratched through Chief Huang’s fur again and again.

“Like… you… liking men… that thing,” Fang Chi said with difficulty.

“They know,” Sun Wenqu said.

“How did they react?” Fang Chi closed his eyes again. “Man I’m dizzy to death.”

Sun Wenqu paused before saying, “No reaction.”

Fang Chi smiled and rolled over onto his back.

Sun Wenqu didn’t move, just kept looking at Fang Chi’s side profile.

Fang Chi’s side profile was very beautiful, clear but not abrupt. Eyes, bridge of the nose, mouth, chin, forming a very perfect outline.

After staying silent for a while, Sun Wenqu figured he had fallen asleep and wanted to get up to cover him with the blanket. Just as he sat up, Fang Chi muttered something.

“Mm?” Sun Wenqu turned his face to look at him.

Fang Chi opened his eyes and looked at him but didn’t speak.

“What did you say?” Sun Wenqu leaned closer.

“I said you look especially good when you’re making pottery,” Fang Chi said.

“Oh.” Sun Wenqu answered.

The silence that followed while their gazes met felt vaguely familiar.

Sun Wenqu still remembered.

Last time after such silence, he got punched, and the bruise at the corner of his eye took several days to fade.

But this time something was slightly different, Fang Chi’s gaze. Maybe the alcohol had given courage to a coward; he actually didn’t avoid it out of habit.

“You…” Sun Wenqu cleared his throat. Although at this moment he did have some thoughts, facing the conflicted and drunk Fang Chi, those thoughts didn’t feel appropriate.

He was just about to tell Fang Chi to sleep properly when Fang Chi suddenly lifted his arm and hooked it over his shoulder.

The movement was sudden, especially since Fang Chi was strong. He hooked his shoulder and dragged him toward himself. Sun Wenqu, already sitting sideways without support, was pulled straight down onto the bed.

Chief Huang jumped out of the blanket and sprang onto the table.

Sun Wenqu was a little startled and for a moment couldn’t find anything to say or any suitable reaction.

Fang Chi didn’t give him time or opportunity. At the moment he fell onto the bed, Fang Chi had already turned over and straddled him, pressing down on him.

Then he lowered his head and kissed his mouth.

Fang Chi’s kiss was straightforward and simple, without extra steps. As soon as their lips pressed together, the tip of his tongue pushed in through his teeth.

Quite domineering.

That was Sun Wenqu’s first reaction.

To be honest, no matter what reason Fang Chi had for doing this, under such a situation Sun Wenqu didn’t plan to refuse.

What Li Bowen said was right, three years.

He met Fang Chi’s tongue and tentatively tangled with it.

But Fang Chi’s response was far more intense than he had imagined, leaving him a little unable to react.

Before the battle between lips and teeth had even sorted itself out, Fang Chi’s hand suddenly slipped inside his clothes.

Fang Chi’s palm was slightly rough. When it brushed across his skin it felt like a clear electric current, making Sun Wenqu’s breath tighten suddenly. He raised his hand, reached around behind Fang Chi, lifted his shirt, and fiercely grabbed a few handfuls of his firm back.

Fang Chi seemed to pause. After rubbing hard at his waist twice, his lips moved from the corner of his mouth to kiss along to his neck, and finally he buried his face in the hollow of his shoulder.

Sun Wenqu suddenly felt a bit dizzy, as if the alcohol that hadn’t fully struck earlier had exploded all at once, burning through his body and making him want to vent fiercely with Fang Chi.

But Fang Chi’s movements slowly stopped.

Sun Wenqu touched him a couple more times, wondering what was going on, when Fang Chi murmured something indistinctly beside his ear.

“What?” Sun Wenqu asked.

Fang Chi made no sound.

“Hey?” Sun Wenqu felt the fire he had just ignited suddenly lose its fuel. He turned his head to look at Fang Chi, only to hear low snoring.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Sun Wenqu’s fire instantly went out. He pushed Fang Chi. “You’re really something, Fang Little Chi!”

Fang Chi grunted and didn’t wake.

“Seriously?” Sun Wenqu spread his arm on the bed, half laughing, half crying. “Your d*mn…”

Fang Chi had really drunk too much.

He had fallen asleep lying on top of him, and quite solidly too. Sun Wenqu couldn’t push him off even after two tries.

“You’re really heavy,” Sun Wenqu sighed. “You’re crushing your dad to death.”

Sun Wenqu had also drunk quite a bit. After being stirred up and then forcibly cooled down, he had no strength left, feeling soft all over and very sleepy.

After lying there gathering strength for about two minutes, he grabbed Fang Chi’s arm and pushed again. Only then did Fang Chi reluctantly frown and roll over, getting off him.

Sun Wenqu sat up, grabbed the blanket and threw it over him, not knowing what he should do next.

He stared at Fang Chi for a while, reached into the blanket and touched him a couple more times, then finally sighed, grabbed a pillow, pulled half the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

What the h*ll kind of situation is this…

After drinking alcohol it’s easy to feel cold. Fang Chi felt like he was running across snowy ground, the wind howling. He struggled forward against the snowstorm.

After struggling for what felt like an entire scene, he finally found a fireplace. Very warm, and soft too. He hurried over and hugged it tightly.

Comfortable.

Finally he slept warmly.

That night he didn’t sleep very soundly. The sounds of people staying up for the New Year rang out from time to time. Fang Chi felt like he woke and slept repeatedly all night, but never completely woke.

His only thought was how sleepy he was, how cold he was, hold the fireplace tight.

When he was finally blown awake by the neighbor’s firecrackers, the sky was already fully bright, and golden sunlight was streaming through the curtain.

He unwillingly yawned, then stared at a section of neck in front of his eyes for a long time.

Only when he saw the small black anchor did he suddenly become fully awake.

He had tightly hugged Sun Wenqu all night while sleeping.

In his hazy mind he vaguely felt that earlier there should have been something else.

What was it…

It was…

Fang Chi quietly got out of bed, quietly covered him with the blanket, quietly put on his coat, quietly opened the door, went out, and closed it. Only then did Sun Wenqu roll over and move his arm that had been locked all night.

He had never known what Fang Chi’s sleeping posture was like. This night he understood deeply, wild and domineering. Once he hugged someone he wouldn’t let go, like catching a thief. If the police didn’t come he wouldn’t loosen his grip.

Unfortunately the police never came all night.

Sun Wenqu clicked his tongue, took off the clothes and pants he was still wearing and threw them on the floor, wrapped himself in the blanket, buried his face in the pillow, and closed his eyes.

“How much New Year money did you get?” Hu Ying stopped Fang Chi in the courtyard and asked with a smiling face.

“Whatever you got, I got,” Fang Chi smiled, took out the red envelope from his pocket, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill. “Wish me a happy New Year and I’ll give you some too.”

“Happy New Year, Brother Little Chi,” Hu Ying immediately said with a smile.

“Good girl.” Fang Chi put the money into her hand.

“You’re still the best. Brother Little Hui is stingy as can be,” Hu Ying said while glancing at the red envelope in his hand. Her eyes suddenly widened. “Is this a red envelope you’re giving someone, or one someone gave you? That’s so much!”

“Hm?” Fang Chi lowered his head to look. Only when he saw the thick stack of money inside the red envelope did he suddenly come back to his senses, this was the red envelope Sun Wenqu had given him yesterday.

At this thickness it was at least over two thousand. His family didn’t give red envelopes this big. He quickly stuffed the envelope back into his pocket. “This is… all my red envelopes put together.”

“That’s satisfying,” Hu Ying laughed, then looked upstairs again. “Brother Sun isn’t up yet?”

“Don’t know… probably not,” Fang Chi also glanced upstairs. The curtains were still drawn. “He drank quite a bit yesterday too, probably still sleeping.”

“Oh…” Hu Ying hooked her arm around his. “This Brother Sun, how old is he?”

“Probably… almost 30,” Fang Chi said. “Why?”

“Ah? Then he’s an uncle,” Hu Ying thought about it and laughed again. “I think he’s really handsome.”

Fang Chi clicked his tongue. “What are you thinking about all day?”

“Thinking about handsome guys,” Hu Ying let go of his arm and ran into the kitchen laughing. “Grandpa, I want something to eat!”

He is pretty handsome.

Fang Chi rubbed his nose and whistled. Xiaozi ran from the backyard through the living room. He shouted toward the kitchen, “Grandpa, I’m going out for a bit.”

“Go ahead, go ahead. Come back for lunch,” Grandpa said from the kitchen. “Your favorite big dumplings, all meat.”

“Mm.” Fang Chi answered and ran out of the courtyard with Xiaozi.

The village road was covered with red firecracker scraps. Against the snow underneath they looked bright and festive. A group of kids ran along the road laughing and shouting, occasionally stopping to light a couple of firecrackers.

Fang Chi pulled his hat down, put on his earphones, turned up the music, and ran along the road out of the village.

The back mountain was very quiet. At this time no one from the village would go up the mountain, and there was no auntie hiking group either. The whole mountain and the small path below it had only Fang Chi.

And one happily bouncing dog.

Fang Chi liked this feeling very much, alone, familiar scenery, familiar air, no one to disturb him, and he wouldn’t think about too many messy things.

Only running.

Lifting his legs, striding forward, running ahead.

In his ears was music, and his own breathing.

Running forward, the cold wind brushed his face and neck, making him clear-headed and calm.

Before long Fang Chi ran into the mountains along the road. The mountain path was uneven, but the dirt ground had more elasticity and felt very comfortable to run on.

He knew this mountain very well. When he was little, Grandpa would bring him up here, cutting firewood, picking mushrooms. In summer he would soak in the farthest and least visited pool, swimming, diving from high rocks.

The foundation for his rock climbing training had more or less been laid back then.

He kept running deeper into the mountain. When there was no path, he climbed upward.

He liked listening to his breathing and feeling sweat slide down his face and back.

He really had grown up wild.

After going to the county town he never adapted well, always wanting to run home. Just when he had finally gotten somewhat used to it, he went to the city for high school.

It felt like home was getting farther and farther away.

If he really went to study at a university in another place in the future, home would be even farther away. Getting back once might take crossing thousands of mountains and rivers.

Seeing Sun Wenqu would probably be very difficult too.

…What am I even thinking about?

Whenever Fang Chi came into the mountains to run, he wouldn’t come out for several hours. But today was the first day of the New Year, so he couldn’t stay too long. He still had to go back for the big meat-filled dumplings at noon.

Before two hours had passed, he ran out again.

It felt good enough, running and climbing until he was covered in sweat. His whole body felt relaxed.

When he ran with Xiaozi to the path leading out of the mountain, Xiaozi suddenly barked a few times toward the front, then dashed forward.

Fang Chi looked ahead too.

Someone was standing there.

It was Sun Wenqu.

“Why did you run here!” Fang Chi paused for a moment. When the wind blew past he quickly ran a few more steps to Sun Wenqu and pulled off his earphones.

“To wait for you,” Sun Wenqu said. He was bundled up quite thickly, hat, scarf, gloves, mask all on, but he still hunched his neck in the wind.

“Why wait for me?” Fang Chi stared at him. Sun Wenqu’s ears and eyes were red from the cold. He frowned. “How long have you been here?”

“Half an hour maybe.” Sun Wenqu sniffed.

“You needed me for something?” Fang Chi was very surprised. “Then call my phone.”

“Where is your phone?” Sun Wenqu said.

“In my pocket…” Fang Chi reached into his pocket but didn’t find it. “I didn’t bring it? Where did I leave it?”

“You’re asking me?” Sun Wenqu clicked his tongue. “How would I know? Want me to sniff around and find it for you?”

“Maybe I left it in the living room,” Fang Chi scratched his head and stepped to the windward side to block the wind for him a bit. “Did you need me for something?”

“No,” Sun Wenqu noticed what he was doing and shifted forward too, trying to overlap with him as much as possible. “I just came to check.”

“Check what?” Fang Chi asked.

“To see whether something happened to you.” Sun Wenqu’s voice lowered a lot when he said this, as if he didn’t really want Fang Chi to hear it.

“What could… happen to me?” Fang Chi suddenly felt awkward.

“Who knows. Twist an ankle, fall flat on your face, slip and land on your butt, get carried off by wolves,” Sun Wenqu said. “Who knows.”

Fang Chi laughed at his string of guesses. After laughing for a while he fell back into awkwardness again and cleared his throat. “I’m fine.”

“Going back?” Sun Wenqu tugged at his scarf. “I want to eat dumplings.”

“Mm. Going back.” Fang Chi glanced at him and turned to walk back.

Sun Wenqu’s outfit today wasn’t a mishmash. A black down jacket, fitted casual pants with a pair of boots. The hat and scarf were a matching set, gray with subtle patterns. He also wasn’t wearing that big-bloody-mouth mask from the other day, just an ordinary black mask. The whole outfit looked very comfortable.

Especially calming.

Sun Wenqu often gave people that kind of feeling.

Fang Chi thought about it and turned to glance back again. Sun Wenqu was walking properly behind him with his head lowered.

“Can you block the wind?” Fang Chi asked.

“No,” Sun Wenqu said from inside the mask. “If you had your second uncle’s body shape maybe you could block a little.”

“Then why walk like this?” Fang Chi said.

“Block a little anyway. My ears hurt,” Sun Wenqu sighed.

“Then…” Fang Chi hesitated, took the earphones from around his neck, turned around and put them over Sun Wenqu’s ears. “How about this?”

“Mm.” Sun Wenqu smiled. “Why’s there no sound?”

“I turned it off. Do you want to listen?” Fang Chi took out the player.

“No. I don’t listen to your little cr*ppy songs,” Sun Wenqu said.

“They’re not all cr*ppy songs,” Fang Chi smiled. “There’s also the little cr*ppy tune you played.”