DREB CHAPTER 88

That night, even after taking his medicine, Li Yan slept lightly and restlessly.

By morning, as the light of dawn filtered through the mottled glass, he caught a faint scent in the air—a mix of wet earth after rain and a bitter orange aroma from pheromones he couldn’t ignore.

He was surprised to realize that Lu Lianning had stayed there all night. It seemed impossible, yet shortly after, he heard footsteps leaving the door.

At first, Lu Lianning didn’t come often—just twice a month. Then gradually, it became three times, until eventually, he was there once a week.

Li Yan never opened the door for him, leaving Lu Lianning to stand outside alone, talking about things Li Yan didn’t want to hear.

But as time went on, there were moments when Li Yan couldn’t help but respond.

One day, Lu Lianning stood at the door, saying, “It’s been almost three months. Why do you let Lu Zerui in, but not me?”

Li Yan ignored him, so Lu Lianning kept talking to himself. By now, he seemed to have gotten better at it.

“Are you still angry? Do you hate me?” His tone softened, then he shifted topics. “But haven’t I been trying? Haven’t I been getting better?”

At this, Li Yan spoke as if deliberately trying to provoke Lu Lianning while carefully avoiding any mention of Chen Yaxin. “But Lin Sheng is already good without needing to change,” Li Yan replied coolly.

As expected, this agitated Lu Lianning. Frustrated but unwilling to direct his anger at Li Yan, he finally blurted, “I never even mentioned Lin Sheng! Why are you bringing him up!”

Only after saying this did he seem to realize what he was doing, as though he was yelling at Li Yan again.

Sure enough, Li Yan refused to engage any further from inside the house.

Standing by the door, Lu Lianning asked in a strained tone, “Does Lin Sheng’s pheromones smell nice? Cedar? Or agarwood?”

“I didn’t choose to smell like fruit. What can I do? It’s not like I had a choice!”

When Li Yan still didn’t respond, Lu Lianning stormed off, frustrated with himself.

This had become a regular cycle. Whenever he felt defeated, his bad mood would flare up. Yet he couldn’t show it in front of Li Yan, so he’d run away to process his feelings alone, only to return and bother Li Yan again once he had calmed down.

Sometimes, Li Yan didn’t even know how to feel about him.

One day, Li Yan remembered that Lu Zerui was coming over the next day. He realized he hadn’t prepared anything for the meal. With the sun already setting, he rushed out to buy groceries.

By the time Lu Lianning arrived, it was already dark. The lights in Li Yan’s house were on, but no one was inside. He called out a few times and pressed his ear to the door, but there was only silence.

His heart jolted, and an unexplainable panic rose. He anxiously called for Li Yan and pounded on the door. It was hard to tell if he had used too much force or if the door was simply that flimsy, but Lu Lianning felt as though he had barely applied any pressure before it gave way and fell inward.

The wooden door crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

Lu Lianning stared at the empty house, then down at the broken door at his feet. He stepped back into the yard, took a deep breath, and called Lin Cheng, asking him to send someone to fix the door.

“No, no need for a new one. Just fix the door.”

“It’s on the ground.”

“Don’t bother making it too sturdy. Leave the crack in the middle. There is no need to repair it. Just put it back as it was.”

“Hurry.”

He was about to add that Li Yan could return at any moment and they needed to reinstall the door quickly, but just then, Li Yan arrived.

The phone was still connected, and Lin Cheng was calling out in confusion, “Hello? Hello?” Lu Lianning turned and saw Li Yan returning with bags of meat, vegetables, and even a fish he’d bought. For a long moment, he couldn’t say a word.

He wondered if Li Yan would believe him if he claimed the door had already fallen before he got there. But seeing Li Yan standing in front of him, he could only stand frozen.

He had been coming here for almost three months, and this was the first time he’d really faced Li Yan.

He looked so thin.

And what was he wearing? The weather wasn’t even warm, yet he was in such a light coat.

Trying to look pitiable in front of Li Yan was foolish. No matter how pathetic he was, he could never seem more pitiable than Li Yan.

He’d stopped trying to appear perfect and polished around Li Yan. No matter how well put together he was, it didn’t seem to matter—Li Yan didn’t even want to look at him.

Lu Lianning hung up the phone awkwardly and shoved it into his pocket.

“I…” He barely started speaking when Li Yan walked past him, eyes straight ahead, and went inside the house.

Lu Lianning hurried after him, hesitating at the doorway, unsure if stepping inside would make things worse. But before he could decide, Li Yan spoke.

“Come in.”

At that moment, Lu Lianning had to summon every ounce of self-control not to show how delighted he was.

Following Li Yan’s gaze, he sat down on the low stool in the room, barely able to stretch out his legs.

Li Yan set down the groceries and sat at the table, rubbing his temples in fatigue before asking Lu Lianning, “What do you really want?”

Lu Lianning’s expression faltered before he replied, “I didn’t mean to break your door.”

Feeling as if Lu Lianning was avoiding the question, Li Yan pressed, “You keep sending Lu Zerui to me. Do you not want to take care of him anymore?”

“It was you who wanted the child in the first place. Now you don’t want him? You leave him unattended, carrying loads of cash to come find me. What exactly are you trying to do!” Li Yan’s voice grew more agitated as he spoke.

Lu Lianning frowned deeply at the words. “What do you mean I don’t want him or take care of him? Did he tell you that?” He was furious. “He said he was bringing you a gift. How was I supposed to know he brought money? And now you’re blaming me?”

Li Yan didn’t believe him at all. “He’s still so young; how could he even get his hands on that much cash?” He stood up, grabbed the bag Lu Zerui had left, and shoved it toward Lu Lianning, letting him see for himself.

Lu Lianning struggled to explain that Lu Anling could easily have given Lu Zerui the cash. But he was more upset that Li Yan had misunderstood him. “Is this really what you think of me?”

Li Yan stayed silent.

Lu Lianning stood to leave, but just as he was about to go, Li Yan stopped him. He paused, expecting Li Yan to ask him to stay, but instead, Li Yan handed him the bag of cash and said that if he found taking care of the child too troublesome, he could raise him himself.

Lu Lianning was so furious that he drove around Wujingwan Town several times in an attempt to calm down, but he couldn’t manage it.

Finally, he parked outside a bar and drank alone. When Lin Cheng came by after fixing Li Yan’s door, he found Lu Lianning red-faced from drinking. Lu Lianning insisted that Lin Cheng take him to Li Yan’s place.

Drunk and stumbling, he made his way to Li Yan’s door, pressing his face against it as he always did. But this time, he couldn’t see anything. He had told them not to fix the door, so why had they sealed it so tightly?

Why couldn’t they leave even a single gap!

Feeling miserable, he leaned against the door and began speaking to Li Yan. “You’ve been gone for so many years, but I kept your cat well-fed. And no matter what, Lu Zerui is our child. How could I possibly not care for him?”

“Li Yan, are you looking down on me?” He slid down the door, sitting on the ground, his hand hitting something underneath.

He suddenly felt an urge to carve something into Li Yan’s door.

Maybe he should carve: “A heartless person lives here.”

But instead, he staggered over to Li Yan’s vegetable garden. Kicking a cabbage he knew Li Yan had grown, he stomped on it a few more times for good measure before heading back to his car, where he curled up and finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Lu Zerui arrived and noticed that the largest cabbage in Li Yan’s yard had been knocked over, with large footprints stamped across it.

He asked Li Yan, “Did someone bully you?!”

Glancing at the cabbage, Li Yan’s eyelid twitched as he recalled the drunken Lu Lianning from the night before.

Didn’t this man have a job? How did he have so much free time?

Li Yan denied it. “No one bullied me.”

But Lu Zerui wasn’t convinced. Spotting Lu Lianning’s car still parked outside, he asked, “What’s he doing here?”

Still nursing a hangover, Lu Lianning’s temples throbbed as Lu Zerui banged on the car window. He unlocked the door, and Lu Zerui quickly climbed inside.

Strangely, the boy asked to go home, which caught Li Yan by surprise. Unsure why, Li Yan didn’t question it much and let him go.

Yet the next morning, around 8 AM, Lu Zerui returned, carrying a toy gun as tall as he was.

Wearing Doc Martens and dark green cargo pants, he stood with the long rifle by his side, his small face set with determination. “I will protect mom’s cabbage!”