DREB CHAPTER 96

“From now on, can we go have beef ramen together?” Li Yan asked.

Lu Lianning was still trying to steady his emotions. His eyes were red as he said hoarsely, “Yes.”

“Will you come with me to watch basketball games too?” Li Yan asked again.

“Yes, together.”

“Then, can you stop speaking so loudly to me from now on?” Li Yan asked thoughtfully.

Lu Lianning answered softly, “I’ll keep it super quiet.”

Li Yan slowly extended his hand, revealing two rings made of red thread in his palm.

He reached for Lu Lianning’s hand and slipped one ring onto his finger.

With eyes still red, Lu Lianning looked down at the ring. He thought about the questions Li Yan had asked, as though being together could’ve been as easy as doing those simple things. Yet, he had spent a decade fumbling, unable to figure it out.

The next morning, the skies had cleared.

Lu Lianning opened the car door and suggested that Li Yan go back inside while he returned home to freshen up and change.

When he got back to City A, he planned to remodel the house, even demolishing the room that held so many painful memories for Li Yan.

After a shower, he looked again at the red ring on his finger, lifting his hand repeatedly as if wanting to take it off to examine it, yet each time, he let it stay.

The entire night felt surreal; so much so, that the next morning, he even showed the ring to the butler, asking him what was on his finger.

The butler replied, “My old eyes might be failing me, but that looks like a ring.”

Lu Lianning lay back with his hands folded on his chest, as if asleep, but his heart beat too fast. Everything felt fine, except for the pounding in his chest that wouldn’t let him drift off.

He tackled some work backlog and then took Lu Zerui to Wujingwan Town that weekend.

This time, Lu Lianning didn’t think Lu Zerui’s bright red scarf was anything special. Even though Lu Zerui deliberately swung it around a couple of times, Lu Lianning paid him no attention.

When the father and son arrived at Li Yan’s place, no one was home. They had woken up at dawn, traveling early so that by the time they arrived, it was only 8:30 AM. But still, Li Yan was nowhere to be found.

Neither the father nor the son was too worried at first. However, they hadn’t expected to wait the entire day—Li Yan didn’t return at noon, and even as the sun began to set in the afternoon, he still hadn’t come back.

Had Li Yan not been here last night?

Lu Lianning blinked, sensing something was wrong. Could Li Yan have changed his mind and decided he didn’t want him anymore? After giving him the ring, had he run away, as he had before—acting kind just to lower his guard, only to discard him completely?

As Lu Lianning’s thoughts spiraled, his face grew gloomier, fully immersed in the role of someone abandoned after being led on. Seeing this, Lu Zerui couldn’t hold back any longer.

“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t come looking for him, he wouldn’t have left and stayed away!” Lu Zerui shouted at him.

“Why don’t you admit you’re the one always pestering him? You think you’re such a sweet, well-behaved kid?” Lu Lianning snapped back with a sneer.

“He left because he hates you!”

After waiting so long, Lu Zerui finally burst into tears, yelling at the cold-faced Lu Lianning, “It’s all your fault! All your fault!”

Already furious and feeling insecure, Lu Lianning’s chest heaved violently. Li Yan had lifted him up only to let him fall so many times before. Now, Lu Zerui’s accusations had pushed him to the edge, making him so angry he wanted to smack the misbehaving child. But before he could even raise his hand, Lu Zerui was already glaring at him with tear-filled eyes, his face streaked with tears.

His eyes looked just like Li Yan’s, now stubbornly crying with a stern expression.

For a long moment, Lu Lianning was unable to move.

There was a hole in his heart, and Lu Zerui’s words seemed to blow icy wind straight into it, as if determined to make it as cold as possible.

As the sky turned crimson, filled with red clouds, Lu Lianning finally saw a figure appear in the distance at the end of the road.

Li Yan had returned at last.

He was carrying a bouquet of flowers in his left arm and dragging a scythe with his right, its blade scraping the ground with an unsettling sound.

Still wrapped in despair, Lu Lianning thought Li Yan couldn’t bear to be entangled with the father and son any longer. Instead of taking his own life, Li Yan would kill Lu Lianning, then show up at his funeral with flowers.

He stared at Li Yan, who looked exhausted, with dirt smudges on his knees and an overall disheveled appearance.

Li Yan stopped in front of Lu Lianning and let the scythe fall to the ground with a loud thud.

He pushed the bouquet into Lu Lianning’s arms. “Happy birthday.”

Lu Lianning froze in shock. He had forgotten his own birthday, but Li Yan still remembered.

Li Yan patted his head and said, “I made it on time this year, didn’t I?”

Holding the flowers tightly, Lu Lianning stared at Li Yan, as if he had lost the ability to speak.

Misunderstanding the silence, Li Yan recalled a time when Lu Lianning had mentioned never receiving anything nice from him and assumed the flowers weren’t enough.

Li Yan explained, “These aren’t just any flowers. They’re the best in all of Wujingwan Town.”

So, this wasn’t just any ordinary Li Yan—this was the very best Li Yan from Wujingwan Town.

It turned out his heart wasn’t made of stone, but of a radiant, sparkling diamond—one that had been removed and placed into Lu Lianning’s hand.

It turned out he was truly that lucky.

Lu Lianning’s excitement made his hands tremble, causing some petals to fall. He stared at Li Yan in a trance and murmured, “So this is the best Li Yan from Wujingwan Town…”

He didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud, but Li Yan heard him clearly.

A blush rose on Li Yan’s cheeks as a gentle breeze swept by. He lowered his head, a bright smile spreading across his face.

It felt as though they had always been meant to be this way.

Li Yan had navigated the twists and turns of fate, appearing rough around the edges. Yet, the struggles slipped away from him like dust, leaving no trace.

In the tranquility of the sunset, he offered his young lover a bouquet, received sweet words in return, and smiled bashfully.

As if he had been happy for a long time already.

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Translator’s note:
Thank you to everyone who made it this far! I’ve loved reading your comments and theories along the way. There are a few extras, and I’ll be posting those as well.

Thank you again for all your support! ❤️