Chapter 97: X Sows Maple Trees
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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“Buy a bouquet of flowers.”
On the evening of the next day, the sky was painted with orange, yellow, and purple clouds.
The flower shop owner turned around and saw a wheelchair rolling into the shop, with a man wrapped in bandages sitting on it.
There was a portable laptop on his knees, and he seemed to have just been typing code, making the most of his spare time to work.
“Hello, I’d like to buy a bouquet of flowers.” X repeated.
“Ah, sure,” the flower shop owner greeted a wheelchair-bound customer for the first time. “What kind of flowers would you like to buy?”
X stopped typing on his laptop, lifted his head, and let his gaze drift over the colorful flower arrangements. Seeing that he hadn’t made up his mind, the flower shop owner asked:
“Is… is it for someone? Who are you buying it for?”
X tilted his head for a second, then replied:
“My fiancée.”
The flower shop owner said, “For a fiancée, how about roses? These red roses just arrived this morning, they’re very beautiful…”
X looked at the full pot of roses, bright red, which he didn’t particularly like. He shifted his gaze and saw sunflowers, lilies, carnations…
Suddenly, a touch of purple caught X’s eye.
“What flower is that?”
The flower shop owner turned back and said, “Oh, that’s hydrangeas, purple hydrangeas.” She picked up a bouquet. “Do you like this kind of flower?”
X nodded slightly.
For some reason, this flower… gave him a faint sense of familiarity. He saw a flower language card attached to the bouquet the shop owner picked up:
Purple hydrangeas: Guardian.
“Do you want me to wrap it up for you? Do you need to write a card?”
“No need.”
—Guardianship isn’t supposed to be written on a card.
The flower shop owner handed over the wrapped bouquet. “Here you go, take care. Welcome back anytime.”
X held a large bunch of purple hydrangeas, closed his laptop, and wheeled out of the flower shop.
He glanced at his watch, 17:30.
It was one hour before his date with Chu Feng at 18:30.
Wheeling back to the hotel, X returned to his room and imported the code he had written into the Dream City game system for testing.
Buzz buzz, his phone vibrated.
X looked down. It was a message from his main WeChat account, [Regulator X]. Chu Feng sent a new message:
“Is the Platonic City Code from last time close to being cracked?”
X: “Yeah. It’s in the final testing phase.”
He was fixing the [Platonic City] issue for Chu Feng. Last time, he hadn’t finished developing the glass orb prop for Chu Feng, which resulted in this side effect.
With the Dream City’s fifth anniversary conference approaching, there were countless commercial hacker attacks. X’s developed glass orb isolation prop was very useful, maximizing the protection of players and avoiding character deaths.
It could be said that this prop was crucial for Dream City to overcome this hacker crisis, and the headquarters were urging X’s progress every day.
X thought, this prop was probably his final contribution to the Dream City company.
One of the main reasons he joined this gaming company was because the company promised to arrange treatment with the world’s top doctors for him for free.
Recently, the medical center contacted him, and he finally made an appointment with a world-class neurosurgeon. Soon, he would be able to schedule a craniotomy to remove the fragments from his brain.
On the other hand, world-class burn specialists also contacted him. His skin cells had been cultivated, ready for transplantation at any time.
By completing these two surgeries this year, X felt he would be close to recovering to a normal state. By the end of the year, he planned to resign from the gaming company.
Being a regulator all this time meant his work hours were typical of a 007 agent, always ready to rush in whenever players encountered danger, 24/7, no days off. Before, when X had amnesia, this high-intensity work had filled his life, but now…
He wanted to continue developing with Chu Feng and hoped to have more personal time in the future.
***
“Thank you.”
On the other end of the internet cable, Chu Feng expressed his gratitude to X, who was diligently decoding the Platonic City Code. He was opening the [Little Xie Illustrated Handbook] in Dream City, checking the mood value of each Little Xie.
Affected by the Platonic City, the mood of the character Little Xie dropped significantly. Chu Feng had no choice but to chat with him one-on-one to comfort him.
After the chat, Chu Feng reopened the Little Xie Illustrated Handbook and arranged the characters’ mood values from high to low:
Lowest mood: 17-year-old – High school bully – Nighttime Explorer, mood value: 42
Chu Feng furrowed his brows. The mood values of the other Little Xies he chatted with increased by +50, but this one couldn’t even reach the passing score.
Chu Feng clicked on the 17-year-old – [Nighttime Explorer] – Xie Shiyu and selected [View Details].
Initial mood value: 40
Chatting with Chu Feng: +2
Current value: 42
Chu Feng:…
This increase was too little.
Moreover, the initial mood value was too low, only 40.
In theory, the 17-year-old Little Xie, as a minor, couldn’t plant trees regardless of whether there was a Platonic City or not, so his mood wouldn’t decrease because of this.
Chu Feng tapped on the 17-year-old Little Xie in the encyclopedia, exporting the current status of Little Xie. He was curled up into a ball inside the glass orb, looking very obedient.
If 17-year-old Little Xie was unhappy because he was isolated in the [glass orb]…
According to the original development, this Little Xie would have been left in the old school building and eventually died in a landslide. Now with the [glass orb], he didn’t need to die, so he should be happier.
After thinking it over, Chu Feng realized the only strange thing was that this Little Xie followed a fixed trajectory every night, even when trapped in the glass orb, rolling around with it without a clear destination.
Chu Feng summoned the system spirit, a small spirit flapping its wings at the bottom right corner of the phone screen, with a dialogue box above its head:
“Master, do you have any orders?”
“Convert the nighttime trajectory of this 17-year-old Little Xie into a lossless image and send it to me.”
System: “No problem.”
Chu Feng: “Also, help me check why this guy has such a low mood value?”
“Is it the 17-year-old high school bully – Nighttime Explorer?” The system spirit pulled up the mood changes of this character over the past six months:
“This guy’s mood has always been like this, mostly fluctuating between 40-50, basically never exceeding the passing score of 60.”
Chu Feng furrowed his brows.
System spirit: “So… it should be that this character inherently has a bad mood.”
—17 years old, the character corresponding to the real-life Xie Shiyu wasn’t in a good mood.
System spirit: “Master, do you remember something?”
Chu Feng didn’t say anything. It was twelve years ago when he was seventeen. Asking him to remember if there was a night twelve years ago when Xie Shiyu was in a bad mood was too vague a condition.
“Nothing important.” Chu Feng clicked the system spirit twice to dismiss it. “I’ll call you if there’s anything else.”
***
After exiting the Dream City game, Chu Feng sat alone at the bedside.
He carefully examined the image of the nighttime trajectory of the [17-year-old Little Xie] sent by the system.
This trajectory was based on the roads in his Dream City, starting from the high school campus, along the path behind the campus to the main road of the city, then heading west…
Chu Feng stared at this trajectory, and suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He opened the map app, searched for his and Xie Shiyu’s high school, pulled up the traffic map around the school, and then slowly superimposed it on this trajectory…
Soon, Chu Feng noticed several places where the trajectory overlapped with the map, and he marked them on the picture with a drawing pen.
He needed to find time to go back to his high school years and see what seventeen-year-old Xie Shiyu was doing back then.
***
17:50, X’s computer system popped up a notification:
The repaired [glass orb] prop had passed the test successfully!
X calmly sent this message to the work group.
Just need the security department to do a final check, and it can be officially distributed to all players. He could send it to Chu Feng tomorrow morning.
Buzz buzz buzz… Soon, the work group exploded with excitement. The headquarters immediately called him to express their gratitude:
“This work was excellent and very helpful! By the way, X, there’s a night event for the fifth anniversary offline tonight. Would you like to come and say a few words? You’re also very popular among the players…”
X: “Sorry, I have plans tonight.”
Interacting with players and maintaining popularity wasn’t part of his job description. X didn’t take on tasks outside his scope of work. Once he did, they would keep coming.
After hanging up the phone, X stood up from the wheelchair and began to change clothes.
Today’s wheelchair time was already sufficient. He could switch to walking time in the evening.
X changed into new bandages and put on the new clothes he bought at the mall in the morning: a white casual suit jacket.
X didn’t often wear white, nor did he particularly like it. However, for some reason, today when he walked into the mall, he instantly spotted this outfit.
18:10
X draped the white suit jacket over himself, picked up the bouquet of purple hydrangeas, and confidently left the room, heading to the revolving restaurant to wait for his date with Chu Feng.
***
18:15
Chu Feng temporarily set aside his doubts about the [17-year-old Little Xie] in Dream City. He drove and arrived downstairs at the Golden Orchid Star Hotel.
Ten minutes before the appointment, he glanced at WeChat. His blind date partner – the Elite Returnee, was already waiting in the revolving restaurant.
Chu Feng parked the car, walked to the elevator entrance, and waited for the elevator on the -1st floor…
Buzz buzz, his phone vibrated.
“Hello.”
Chu Feng answered the phone, and on the other end came:
“Hello, Chief Chu, this is the handwriting identification center. The handwriting you sent earlier has been compared.”
Chu Feng gripped the phone tightly.
Last time, when he took X to the hotel, he took X’s credit card signature bill and sent it to compare with Xie Shiyu’s previous handwriting.
“And… what are the results?”
Identification center: “The similarity of the handwriting is as high as 99.3%, basically confirming it’s the same person.”
***
“The same… person.” Chu Feng:
“Are you sure?”
The personnel from the identification center paused for a moment and stated, “From the handwriting alone, yes, but Chief Chu, as you know, the legal effectiveness of handwriting identification is limited. To truly determine if it’s the same person, we suggest you do a DNA test.”
Chu Feng: “Hmm, got it.”
Identification center personnel: “Okay, I’ll send the detailed identification results to your email later. Please check it carefully.”
[Handwriting Identification Report]
The light in the -1st floor underground garage was dim, and Chu Feng adjusted the brightness of the screen to the maximum.
In the email, the PDF report clearly stated the identification results:
Similarity as high as 99.3%.
Chu Feng stared at this number for a long time.
The overly bright screen was a bit glaring, his eyes were dry, almost teary.
He stood alone in place until the light on the phone screen gradually dimmed.
This handwriting identification report fully illustrated that his feeling that X resembled Xie Shiyu was not just a subjective feeling but had scientific basis.
His blood gradually heated up, Chu Feng held the phone as if holding onto all his hopes.
The wedding ring on his left ring finger, shining quietly in the darkness.
***
Ding dong—
The elevator arrived at the -1st floor, the door opened, and Chu Feng stepped in, looking at the touch screen keypad.
If X really was Xie Shiyu… then there was no need to meet tonight’s blind date partner at all. The most urgent thing now was to find a way to verify the DNA as soon as possible.
He remembered, X’s room was… 8807. Since he was already here, might as well go.
Chu Feng didn’t press 99th floor – revolving restaurant but directly pressed 88th floor.
The elevator closed slowly—
When there was only a gap left, suddenly from outside came:
“Hey—wait—!”
Chu Feng pressed the door open button, the elevator’s closed door hesitated for a moment, then reopened, and the person outside ran in:
“Thank you thank you… eh? Isn’t this Chief Chu? Oh! It’s really Chief Chu, what a coincidence!”
Chu Feng scratched his head, seeing that it was Jin, the head of the Haihua Group.
Chief Jin: “I happen to be hosting a dinner here. I also wanted to invite you, but your secretary said you had an appointment tonight. I didn’t expect to meet you here at the hotel!”
Chu Feng smiled politely. He remembered that Chief Jin from the Haihua Group seemed to have wanted to invite him to dinner last time, but he declined.
“Chief Chu, how have you been recently? Are you still busy? Do you have time to come over to my place for a while?”
Today, he just happened to run into Chief Chu in the elevator, so Chief Jin asked casually.
Chu Feng: “No, I have an appointment tonight.”
Chief Jin made a couple of sounds, discreetly looking at the touch screen keypad of the elevator. Chu Feng was going to the 88th floor.
He keenly sensed that something was off. The 88th floor was all hotel rooms. Chief Chu undoubtedly had properties in this city, so this room shouldn’t be his.
Then it must belong to someone else.
Chief Jin immediately harbored a gossiping heart. Could it be that Chief Chu had a lover?
From what he knew, Chief Chu’s current company used to belong to his late husband. After the plane crash two years ago, Chief Chu had never had anyone by his side. He always wore the wedding ring from his deceased husband on his left ring finger.
Once during a business negotiation, Chief Jin had deliberately observed Chief Chu’s wedding ring. The diamond on it was a bit small.
At their level, the jewelry they wore had to be of a certain standard. Chief Jin’s own wedding ring was specially designed by a French jewelry designer. But Chief Chu’s ring… looked very ordinary.
Such a cheap ring was no longer suitable for Chief Chu’s current status and position. But Chief Jin found that regardless of the occasion, Chu Feng had never taken off that ring.
At this moment, he glanced at Chu Feng’s left ring finger: sure enough, there was still a wedding ring on it.
It seemed that Chief Chu coming to the hotel wasn’t to meet a lover, otherwise, he wouldn’t be so careless as to wear the wedding ring from his deceased husband when meeting a new lover.
Chief Jin thought for a moment, estimating that Chief Chu was here for business negotiations.
Business negotiations could be conducted with anyone. Since this was a rare opportunity, Chief Jin quickly said:
“Ah, Chief Chu, my dinner is on the 66th floor, very close by. Would you mind coming over for just five minutes? I’ve been wanting to discuss a new project lately, so I’ve invited some people over for a gathering.”
Chu Feng smiled distantly. He was about to decline, but Chief Jin continued to speak rapidly, introducing his new project:
“My project mainly focuses on cutting-edge DNA technology, using molecular bead extraction to extract trace amounts of DNA. No matter how many years have passed, we can retrieve it all. This technology can amplify into high-purity DNA templates, very effective…”
Ding dong—
Chief Jin hadn’t finished yet, but the elevator had reached his floor, the 66th floor.
Negotiating business was something that couldn’t be forced. He just didn’t want to miss this opportunity to talk to Chief Chu. If Chief Chu wasn’t interested, he couldn’t do anything about it.
Thinking back, Chief Chu’s company indeed hadn’t invested in similar technological projects before. Chief Jin estimated that he didn’t stand a chance. He smiled politely at Chief Chu and was about to leave when suddenly—
Chu Feng asked, “You can retrieve it from how many years ago?”
Chief Jin was momentarily stunned, then quickly realized there was a chance! Seizing the opportunity, he said, “Yes, it’s possible. Technology has advanced greatly. Chief Chu, are you interested in this DNA technology?”
Chu Feng: “Clothing from over ten years ago, and it has been washed. Can you still retrieve from that?”
Chief Jin: “It’s worth a try, very hopeful! To the naked eye, it may seem like the bloodstains or other traces have been washed away, but from a molecular level, it’s impossible to guarantee that every molecule has been washed away. As long as one molecule is left, it can be amplified.
“Chief Chu, I have invited technical personnel to my dinner as well. If you’re free, would you like to come and have a chat?”
***
Chu Feng now just wanted to do DNA testing.
X was a living person, and his DNA could be obtained at any time. If he couldn’t obtain it, he could just be honest with X and ask him to do the test in the end.
However… the biggest difficulty was that he couldn’t get Xie Shiyu’s DNA.
***
“Chief Chu, this way, please.”
The elevator door opened wide, revealing the golden sign of the 66th floor outside, and Chief Jin warmly led the way.
Chu Feng hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward…
***
The melodious violin surrounded the revolving restaurant.
X sat in a seat by the window, he turned his head and saw the drizzle outside. Raindrops splashed on the floor-to-ceiling glass window and slowly rolled down.
The twilight glow was blocked by dark clouds, and from the height of the 99th floor, the entire city could be seen. The towering skyscrapers were shrouded in rain, hazy and damp.
Buzz buzz.
At 6:20 PM, ten minutes before the appointed time, X’s blind date WeChat account received a message:
Chu Feng: [Sorry, I have to work overtime tonight. Recently, the company has taken on a big project, and I really can’t make it. I’m very sorry.]
***
X was very calm. He guessed that Chu Feng might come up with an excuse not to come. He replied:
[It’s okay, I can wait for you.]
[I’m already at the restaurant, let me know when you finish work.]
Buzz buzz—
X had just sent these two messages when his phone vibrated again.
He was somewhat surprised. According to his speculation, Chu Feng wouldn’t reply so quickly to a stranger he was meeting for a blind date. X glanced at the chat page, and indeed, there was nothing there.
—The vibration came from another WeChat account: Big Account – Regulator X.
X opened it and it was also from Chu Feng:
[Hi, are you there?]
[I happen to be passing by the Golden Orchid Hotel, are you still in room 8807?]
Accompanied by a picture: peeking cat.jpg
X: …
With both his big and small accounts in hand, X looked at the two completely different messages sent by the same Chu Feng and chuckled lightly. He replied with a gif using his big account:
A blue-eyed stuffed cat laid on the pillow, wearing rabbit ears, peeking at its owner, suddenly, a human hand reached out and grabbed the rabbit ears of the little cat, with the caption: Gotcha!
Chu Feng: […]
X replied in a playful manner:
[No overtime tonight? giggles]
Chu Feng: [??]
Click—
X took a screenshot of the chat records of Chu Feng’s messages to his blind date account and then forwarded it to Chu Feng using his Regulator X account, adding a gif:
Peeking cat, Let me see what you’re up to.jpg
Chu Feng: […]
[Um…]
[That… overseas returnee, is it you?]
X: [Yes.]
Chu Feng: [You…! Why didn’t you tell me from the beginning?]
X pretended to be innocent: [When I added you for the blind date, I was afraid you would feel embarrassed, so I wanted to wait until we met in person for you to recognize me.]
Now utterly embarrassed, Chu Feng: […]
X: [Where are you now?]
Chu Feng: [66th floor, discussing business]
[Don’t wait for me for now, go back to your room and rest. Let’s go to the revolving restaurant together another day.]
X was about to reply that it was okay, he could continue waiting.
He didn’t mind waiting; on the contrary, waiting was an essential part of hunting, and the longer the wait, the more delicious the prey.
Before he could send the message, buzz buzz, another WeChat message from Chu Feng popped up:
[I’m a bit tied up right now. After I finish discussing business, I’ll come to your room to find you.]
—
I, will, come, to, your, room, to, find, you
X sat in the revolving restaurant and silently read this sentence three times in his heart.
He glanced at the clock. It was now 6:40 PM.
He didn’t know how many hours Chu Feng would be discussing business. When he arrived at his room… he didn’t know what time it would be at night.
In an instant, they went from a candlelit dinner in the revolving restaurant to spending the night together in a hotel room.
X looked at the chat records and blinked.
He deleted each word of the message he hadn’t sent out from the chat box one by one and finally sent out a single cheerful word:
[Okay.]
***
Room number 8807
X sat on the sofa in the living room, boredly watching TV, feeling like time was passing extremely slowly.
On average, every three seconds, he glanced at the time. The hour hand moved from 6 o’clock and he kept watching until 10 o’clock at night.
It was still quiet at the door.
X was staying in the presidential suite of the hotel, with a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom. He looked around each area, they all seemed tidy, clean, and tasteful.
10:30 PM
X stood up, changed the water in the vase in the living room, put in the bouquet of purple hydrangeas he bought, and added some ambiance to the room.
At this point, he had a vague intuition that if nothing unexpected happened, Chu Feng might stay here tonight.
X didn’t know what made Chu Feng suddenly take the initiative, but he thought, perhaps Chu Feng had found some clues…
Ding dong—
Finally, at 10:41 PM, the doorbell rang.
X hesitated for a second, then quickly sat in the wheelchair and slid to the door, opening it—
A wave of wine aroma hit him, followed by a person.
Chu Feng had a drink, his face tinged with a slight flush. He smiled at X and floated in…
Before he could float a step, he was blocked by X’s wheelchair. Stumbling, his body swayed, and X immediately reached out, holding Chu Feng’s waist to steady him:
“You’re drunk.”
Chu Feng smiled and shook his head, climbing up from X’s embrace:
“Not drunk, just had a couple of drinks.”
X spun his wheelchair and helped Chu Feng onto the sofa. He felt that Chu Feng was very happy tonight, as if he had accomplished something.
Chu Feng seemed half-drunk, which was unusual for a CEO of his status. No one could force him to drink in business situations. When he did drink, others would usually match his intake voluntarily; it shouldn’t be possible for someone else to get him drunk.
X thought for a moment and asked:
“Did you eat before drinking?”
Chu Feng leaned against the sofa, resembling a tired kitten.
He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar, not answering. Glancing over the living room, Chu Feng suddenly saw a touch of purple.
He turned his head, staring at the purple hydrangeas in the vase on the table:
“Did you buy these flowers?”
To X, this seemed like a typical change of topic. It seemed that this guy really drank on an empty stomach, which was not only bad for his stomach but also made him very susceptible to getting drunk.
In business dinners, people usually didn’t eat much before drinking. Although X hadn’t been involved in China’s business scene after losing his memory, he seemed to vaguely know.
“I’ll make something for you to eat.”
X wheeled himself into the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, there were some basic ingredients inside.
***
The water in the pot was boiling, and X was adding noodles.
Chu Feng sat on the sofa, his eyes still fixed on the bouquet of purple hydrangeas.
X: “Do you like these flowers?”
“…Yeah. Sort of.”
Chu Feng looked at the flowers and noticed a white suit jacket hanging on X’s coat rack, presumably what X had prepared to wear for tonight’s date.
Chu Feng remembered when he was 24, Xie Shiyu waited for him in the rain with flowers, also wearing a white suit and purple hydrangeas.
***
Ten minutes later, X cooked a bowl of steaming hot plain noodles.
Chu Feng glanced at it. Like many plain noodles, there was a hint of green on top: vegetables, and a touch of orange, probably an egg.
He didn’t like eating eggs made by others; they weren’t tasty. Chu Feng only liked the runny eggs made by Xie Shiyu, only he could make them taste that way.
But according to social etiquette, regardless of whether the fried egg was good or not, guests should show that it was delicious.
Chu Feng mentally prepared himself.
“Taste it.”
X brought the bowl of noodles to Chu Feng.
Chu Feng stared at the noodles in front of him. Sure enough, there was a fried egg lying golden on top of the noodles.
But…
Chu Feng blinked and stared carefully at the fried egg, looking at it three times:
This fried egg, one side was fried crispy and crunchy, any longer and it would be burnt.
The other side, however, remained slightly runny, the heat was controlled just right, any longer and it would be fully cooked. The yolk wasn’t golden but presented a light orange color, biting into it would release the golden egg yolk inside…
A runny egg.
Chu Feng was stunned for three seconds, then suddenly grabbed X’s wrist:
“You… you can make this kind of fried egg?”
X was puzzled:
“Is… there something wrong with this fried egg?”
Chu Feng was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled:
“Nothing. Few people can make fried eggs taste this good.”
Chu Feng picked up the runny egg, took a bite, and tasted the familiar flavor, exactly the same.
“Is it delicious?” X was a little surprised, “The other Regulators don’t like this kind of fried egg.”
Every time he fried such eggs, Regulators ABCD would start complaining.
Chu Feng: “I really like it.”
***
X was taken aback for a moment. He suddenly realized that when Chu Feng said he liked it, it might not just be about the fried egg.
“Here.”
When Chu Feng finished eating, X gestured to the corner of his mouth:
“You’ve got some.”
“Really…” Chu Feng immediately grabbed a tissue and wiped it off from the right corner of his mouth, “Anything else?”
X leaned closer to Chu Feng, because of sitting in the wheelchair, he was at the same height as Chu Feng. Leaning in, he held Chu Feng’s wrist and gently moved it to the left corner of his mouth:
“Here.”
Chu Feng wiped it off a couple of times, suddenly feeling that the distance between him and X was a bit too ambiguous.
But he didn’t distance himself from X like he did in the game. He turned his head, looked at X, their eyes met, Chu Feng smiled, and asked softly:
“Actually, there’s nothing on there, right?”
X: “What do you think?”
He leaned a little closer to Chu Feng, almost close enough to kiss, but he didn’t move, just breathed each other’s breath.
X spoke, his deep voice husky and charming:
“It’s late, are you staying tonight?”
Chu Feng casually glanced at the clock: “How long do you want me to stay?”
X: “How about until dawn?”
Chu Feng chuckled softly. His gaze shifted slightly downward, looking at X in the wheelchair, his tone slightly playful:
“Can you hold out until dawn?”
X smiled: “Why don’t you try and find out?”
Suddenly, Chu Feng felt a shadow cast over him, and he was about to look up—
X stood up from the wheelchair in a flash, holding his legs, and directly lifted Chu Feng up!
Chu Feng: “…Is your leg healed??”
“Tonight’s a special exemption.” X smiled, lowered his head, and lightly kissed the corner of Chu Feng’s mouth, gently asking:
“To the bathroom, or the bedroom? Or maybe, the floor-to-ceiling window?”
Chu Feng was held in X’s arms, enveloped in familiar, real warmth.
In the living room, there were purple hydrangeas in the vase, a white suit jacket on the coat rack, and outside the floor-to-ceiling window, raindrops pattered on the glass, reflecting the city’s night lights.
Like the rainy night with flowers in the past.
A sense of height overlap swept through his heart, Chu Feng leaned against X’s broad chest and quietly reached out, encircling X’s waist:
“As you wish.”
***
Better not to be too intense for the first time, to avoid scaring the person away.
X carried Chu Feng into the bedroom in a conventional manner.
The bedroom light was like a dim twilight, not very bright, not too dark, allowing clear outlines but uncertain colors, just the right amount of ambiguity, with a hint of lingering fragrance, faintly perceptible.
Chu Feng held onto X and softly asked, “Were you ready in advance?”
X smiled, kissed Chu Feng’s earlobe:
“Always prepared.”
***
Reality burned like a scorching fire, coloring the night crimson. Hands, embraces, caresses, and body heat, all temperatures were hotter than in the game.
It had been too long since Chu Feng had experienced the taste of real life. He trembled slightly, unable to bear the fervor that couldn’t be described by code and data, almost unable to endure…
As his hand brushed over his hand, fingers intertwined… Suddenly, between his ring finger and pinky, a metallic object pricked him fiercely.
—A wedding ring.
In an instant, the scenes of the twenty years spent with Xie Shiyu, the vows exchanged at their wedding, all flooded back to him.
Chu Feng immediately snapped back to reality, pushing the person on top of him away abruptly.
“What’s wrong?”
X’s husky voice, different from Xie Shiyu’s, sounded in his ear.
“Sorry…”
Chu Feng reached out, turned on the bedside lamp, and saw X’s bandaged face.
The sudden brightness dispelled the dim and ambiguous atmosphere instantly.
“Sorry.” Chu Feng lowered his head, “Had a bit too much to drink, feeling a bit disoriented.”
Actually, Chu Feng was far from being too drunk to function, but alcohol was the best excuse. There was a more than 90% chance that X was Xie Shiyu, but just in case, reality was the unexpected 10%…
The wedding ring on his ring finger, the eternal diamond like an eye, seemed to be staring at him.
“Sorry, I’m not in the right state tonight…”
Chu Feng picked up his coat from the floor, intending to escape. He didn’t want to be intimate with anyone other than Xie Shiyu…
“Is it because of this?”
X also got up, embracing Chu Feng from behind, his hand gently covering Chu Feng’s hand, touching the wedding ring on his ring finger.
Chu Feng: “Let… go of me.”
X gazed at the person in his arms. The beautiful love of the past now felt like a pair of large hands, firmly restraining Chu Feng, constantly dragging him back into the past, preventing him from embracing a new life and living every day suffocatingly.
A new life didn’t necessarily mean finding a new partner, but Chu Feng clearly hadn’t been able to move on from the shadow of two years ago. He couldn’t adapt to losing his former husband, couldn’t live well alone, so he took care of himself so poorly.
Tonight was like a beautiful accident, a snail poking its head out from under the heavy shell of the past.
But now, this little snail wanted to retreat.
X reached out, holding Chu Feng tightly, trying to hold onto the little antennae of the snail:
“Is it because of this, the wedding ring?”
Chu Feng: “It has… nothing to do with you… uh!”
X lowered his head, contrary to his previous tenderness, forcefully kissing Chu Feng, with an extremely aggressive force.
Chu Feng struggled for a few times, but X’s strength was terrifyingly strong, he was pressed down by X, unable to move.
Gradually, Chu Feng stopped struggling. He closed his eyes, letting himself be swept into the storm of the other’s passion…
During the kiss, X had been silently observing Chu Feng. He confirmed that Chu Feng’s desire to leave wasn’t really because he disliked the kisses and touches, but because he resented the past.
“Shall I take it off for you?”
As the kiss ended, X leaned against Chu Feng’s left ear, his voice hoarse. His hand covered Chu Feng’s ring finger, gently turning the wedding ring.
“…Don’t… touch it…” Chu Feng was about to reject X—
“Chu Feng.”
X leaned against Chu Feng’s ear, his voice very gentle, but his hand unquestionably held onto the wedding ring:
“It’s your promise, not your shackle.”
***
A wedding ring, taken off.
On the ring finger, only a faint trace remained.
Chu Feng saw that X didn’t casually throw his ring aside, but carefully placed it on the bedside table, using a small piece of cloth to pad the bottom of the ring.
X embraced him from behind, warmth, irresistible body temperature.
Chu Feng’s heart was suddenly stirred.
The rejecting hand slowly, let go…
***
The wedding ring quietly emitted a faint light, engraved with the letters of the surname Xie on the silver inner ring:
-X
The wedding ring that was once put on by someone’s hand, now taken off by the same person. It carried a diamond eye, witnessing the ascent of the night in the dark corner.
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