“What?” Liang Ruixi stared at Zhou Yan, his face full of confusion. “Why isn’t it you?!”
Zhou Yan said, “It means I broke up with her too.”
Liang Ruixi: “But weren’t you and Xiao Zhi getting along really well?”
Zhou Yan’s expression suddenly became somewhat complicated, a hint of melancholy, a trace of sadness, and even some helplessness showing on his face. He slightly turned his gaze away, not answering further.
Liang Ruixi instinctively thought that Zhou Yan was also feeling regret for this failed relationship.
His heart felt like a spilled bottle of mixed flavors. One moment he thought that even a man as outstanding as Zhou Yan could get dumped, so perhaps he wasn’t too miserable after all. The next moment, he felt terrible for even having such a thought.
In short, his empathy for Zhou Yan reached its peak at this moment, and he couldn’t help but look at the other party with tender feelings.
They really were a pair of good brothers going through thick and thin together…
The saline drip overhead was almost empty. Zhou Yan glanced up at it and stood up ahead of time, saying, “Where’s your medical card? I’ll go get your medicine.”
“I have it,” Jiang Cheng handed him the card and also stood up. “I need to use the restroom too.”
The two of them left the emergency infusion room together. Zhou Yan asked Jiang Cheng, “Do you two live together?”
“No, he lives with Xiao Xie, that girlfriend of his,” Jiang Cheng scratched his head, pondering. “Uh, but they’ve broken up now, so he should be living alone.”
Zhou Yan flipped through Liang Ruixi’s medical record. “The doctor said his diet is irregular. He might need someone to remind him to eat regularly for a while; otherwise, this won’t do.”
Jiang Cheng sighed. “Ai, he’s always been a bit careless with his daily life. No one really looked after him much growing up, so he probably didn’t develop good habits.”
Zhou Yan said, “I know,” his tone as if he understood everything about Liang Ruixi.
Seeing Zhou Yan looking at him, Jiang Cheng was taken aback. “You want me to remind him?” He shook his head. “No way. He and I opened a bar together. The bar is open from five in the evening to two-thirty in the morning every day. By the time he goes to work during the day, I’m probably still asleep. I usually don’t wake up until two in the afternoon.” By then, two out of three meals would have passed already.
Zhou Yan looked somewhat puzzled, as if deep in thought.
Jiang Cheng didn’t elaborate further. He frowned, pondering what other solutions there might be, but then saw Zhou Yan nod and say, “Then I’ll take him back.”
“En, en, you take him.”
It was Jiang Cheng’s first time interacting with someone like Zhou Yan. Logically, they were the same age, but Zhou Yan’s way of speaking and acting made him seem particularly steady and mature, like someone very reliable.
After using the restroom, Jiang Cheng’s mind cleared up a bit, and he realized that what Zhou Yan had just said was a little strange — his Rui Ge was a twenty-six-year-old adult. Wouldn’t he know how to set reminders on his own phone to eat? Why did Zhou Yan sound like he was talking about a stray kitten or puppy with no one to care for it, and he had no choice but to reluctantly take it in?
Amidst his confusion, the bizarre scene of Zhou Yan feeding Liang Ruixi the steamed bun skin reappeared in Jiang Cheng’s mind… He couldn’t help but shiver and quickly washed his hands before returning to the hospital room.
At this moment, Liang Ruixi’s saline drip finished. Jiang Cheng pressed the call button for the nurse to remove the needle.
When Zhou Yan returned with the medicine, he said to Liang Ruixi, “My place isn’t far from here. It’s quite late tonight. Why don’t you come back to mine and stay the night?”
“This…” Liang Ruixi initially wanted to say, “Wouldn’t that be inconvenient?” But Zhou Yan’s tone had a hint of refusal.
Liang Ruixi subconsciously changed his mind and said, “Alright then.”
It wasn’t mainly about convenience at Zhou Yan’s place, but rather that he felt Zhou Yan was also quite pitiful. After so many years of relationship with Xiao Zhi, his girlfriend was about to marry someone else in the blink of an eye. Who the hell could take that?
Considering they were both heartbroken, they should just huddle together for warmth…
Outside the hospital, Zhou Yan said to Jiang Cheng, “I drove. Want a ride?”
“No, no, no need,” Jiang Cheng waved his hands repeatedly, inexplicably feeling very superfluous between the two of them. “I’ll just grab a taxi. Ah! There’s one right there! I’m off!”
Several empty taxis were parked outside the hospital waiting for passengers. Jiang Cheng waved at the two of them and turned to run off.
Zhou Yan’s car was a Volvo, looking quite new. After Liang Ruixi got in, he asked, “Where do you live? Still over on Century Road?”
After graduating, Zhou Yan had first gone to the procuratorate in the South City, but after less than half a year, he returned to Haicheng and joined the well-known Yintian Law Firm, also renting an apartment on Century Road. Liang Ruixi’s memory was still stuck at that time.
“No, I moved near Linshan Park.” Zhou Yan said.
Linshan Park was also six or seven kilometers away, but Zhou Yan had a car, and for someone who usually drove everywhere, this distance wasn’t too far.
At four in the morning in Haicheng, the elevated highway was completely clear. The car drove for about ten minutes and entered the underground parking garage of Shiyang Plaza.
Liang Ruixi was taken aback. “You live in such a high-end place?”
“I just park here,” Zhou Yan said, leading Liang Ruixi out of the car. The two of them exited through the back door of the parking garage, walked through a small alley, and entered a somewhat dilapidated old residential area.
The damp asphalt road in the residential area had a peculiar texture under the streetlights, and the sound of footsteps on it mixed with the earthy scent of spring mud, feeling soft.
This place was a little different from what Liang Ruixi had imagined Zhou Yan’s residence to be, but perhaps due to the dizziness from his illness, Liang Ruixi didn’t have the energy to look around much. He watched Zhou Yan enter the dark doorway of a building and quickly followed.
A voice-activated sensor light illuminated the stairwell.
“It’s quite late, and mostly elderly people live in this building, so walk quietly.” Zhou Yan reminded him.
Liang Ruixi softened his steps and followed Zhou Yan up to the second floor, walking to the last apartment in the corridor. He watched Zhou Yan take out his key and open the door.
“Come in.” Zhou Yan said softly.
The lights inside were off, and a scent of jasmine wafted towards him. Liang Ruixi twitched his nose and said blankly, “Why does your place smell so nice?”
Zhou Yan paused, and then the lights came on.
Liang Ruixi saw that the inside of the apartment was completely clean and tidy, unlike the outside, and the decor didn’t look like an old house at all. Instead, it was a minimalist… what was that style called? Right, wabi-sabi. Zhou Yan had mentioned this high-sounding word to him several times back in university before he finally remembered it.
The apartment looked to be about forty-odd square meters, but it was small yet complete. The bedroom door was open, and standing in the living room, the layout of the room was immediately clear.
The living room seemed to be used by Zhou Yan as a study. Some files were placed on the natural wood coffee table, and several stacks of professional books were piled on the rug on one side. But even this casual arrangement didn’t look messy, because there were hardly any other miscellaneous items in the room, making the overall impression very clean and tidy.
Zhou Yan was like this back in university too. Despite both of them being rough guys, his bed was always the most neatly made, and his desk always had the fewest items on it. Zhou Yan liked to read, and every month he would regularly order some books online to the dormitory, keeping them in three large boxes under his bed. But even when reading, he rarely underlined or took notes, and he gave them all away clean when he graduated. So, seeing this environment, Liang Ruixi was very certain that this was the kind of place Zhou Yan would live.
“You rent this place? How much is it?” Liang Ruixi asked curiously.
“En, six thousand,” Zhou Yan said as he went into the kitchen to pour a glass of hot water while Liang Ruixi looked around. He handed it to Liang Ruixi to warm his hands.
Taking a sip of the hot water, Liang Ruixi clicked his tongue. As expected of a downtown location, even this small apartment was more expensive than the two-bedroom apartment he rented.
A rustling sound came from the bedroom. Liang Ruixi didn’t know what Zhou Yan was rummaging for inside, so he poked his head in at the doorway and asked, “Um, did Xiao Zhi break up with you?”
Zhou Yan paused, recalling the conclusion Xiao Zhi had reached on the phone when they were discussing who was to blame for the breakup, and remained silent.
Liang Ruixi took his silence as confirmation and asked, “Was it because of the long-distance relationship?”
Zhou Yan continued rummaging in the closet. “Does that matter?”
“Of course, it matters.”
He had heard that Xiao Zhi and Zhou Yan were childhood sweethearts and that their families also had business dealings. Although they both studied at F University, compared to living in a small corner in Haicheng and working hard with Zhou Yan, going back to her hometown to live in a big house with the support of her parents was definitely a better option.
Many university couples break up after graduation for similar reasons. Liang Ruixi had heard plenty of such gossip while working at his company.
“Why do you want to develop your career in Haicheng? Isn’t the South City pretty good too? Don’t you plan to go back in the future?”
“We’ll talk about the future later.” Zhou Yan didn’t seem too willing to discuss this topic. He stood up and handed Liang Ruixi a set of pajamas, his gaze sweeping downwards. “You’re still bare-bottom, aren’t you?”
Liang Ruixi was embarrassed. “Uh… yeah.”
Then Zhou Yan tossed something else over. Liang Ruixi looked and realized it was a pair of underwear. He felt his face heat up.
Zhou Yan said, “Don’t worry, they’re new.”
Liang Ruixi: “……”
While Zhou Yan was washing up, Liang Ruixi quickly put on the underwear and pajamas in the bedroom. Then, looking at the only bed, he said awkwardly, “So, we’re sharing a bed?”
“Back in university, you used to crawl into my bed every day. The dorm beds weren’t even a meter wide back then, and you didn’t mind it being crowded. Isn’t this bed big enough?” Zhou Yan’s voice came from the bathroom, mingled with the sound of running water, it was faint and indistinct.
Indeed, the bed was a full 1.8 meters wide. But the two of them hadn’t seen each other for so long, and to share a bed right away made Liang Ruixi feel a bit awkward.
Just as he was adjusting his mindset, Zhou Yan finished washing up and returned, also saying, “I’ve prepared a towel for you, it’s on the bathroom sink.” As he spoke, he looked Liang Ruixi up and down with a look of disdain. “So skinny, you could even fit three of you on this bed.”
Liang Ruixi: “……”
The author has something to say:
[Little Interlude]
Jiang Cheng: I can’t handle it, he’s too wild. I can’t raise him.
Zhou Yan: Then I’ll take him back, I’ll raise him.
Liang Ruixi: Meow~
