Chapter 35#

When Yan Heqing came out of the subway station, it was snowing heavily. There were still three weeks until the New Year. The trees along the street were already hung with small red lanterns, which were lit up and swayed in the snowflakes, looking particularly charming.

Yan Heqing suddenly remembered his childhood.

At that time, there seemed to be a pomegranate tree at home, with lush branches and leaves almost drooping to the ground. In late spring and early summer, the tree would be full of such red lantern-like flowers.

When the weather got hot, his mother would move two rocking chairs under the tree, cook a pot of mint mung bean soup, and lead him and Lin Fengzhi to cool off under the tree.

Then she would hum a song he didn’t know.

It was very gentle, like a trickling stream. He fell asleep in that singing, drinking the refreshing mint mung bean water.

He slept soundly. When he opened his eyes again, the sunset glow covered the yard, and his father came back.

Sometimes he brought back a piece of meat, a few fresh vegetables, a bag of fresh fruit, or a pack of color-changing candy that children loved at that time.

Sometimes it was a very fragrant and sweet small cake, the kind just fried out of the pan on the street. Anxious to bring it back for his mother and them to eat while it was hot, his father always ran until he was sweating profusely.

Yan Heqing once swore to remember it deeply.

But as time passed, those memories as dazzling as rainbow light gradually faded into black and white in his mind.

He couldn’t even remember his parents’ faces.

The only clear thing was that fire, the raging fire.

The woman who had already fainted somehow woke up, hugged the crying him and Lin Fengzhi tightly, and rushed out of the fire.

Without a word.

The woman lay quietly on the ground. Her formerly beautiful face was like the thick black smoke covering the sky, nothing could be seen, nothing was clear.

Only he and Lin Fengzhi survived.

Everything in the house was burned clean, not even a photo was left.

There was a faint light floating in Yan Heqing’s eyes. He withdrew his gaze, opened his umbrella, and like every pedestrian who just got out of the subway and hurried home for dinner, walked forward with the crowd. Near the university town, there were many entrepreneurial college students selling flowers and small gadgets at the subway entrance.

Most of them were roses.

Yan Heqing squatted down and looked for a while before finding a bucket of gladiolus, white and light purple.

Yan Heqing picked one of each. In his unclear memory, his mother often wore beautiful cheongsams, but he forgot the color. Maybe it was white, light purple, or maybe pink, dark green…

After picking the flowers, Yan Heqing paid. The boss wanted to wrap them in newspaper for him, but Yan Heqing had already left with the flowers.

…

Lu Muchi drove downstairs to Yan Heqing’s place. The window on the third floor was dark.

He frowned hard. Why hadn’t he come back so late?

He took out a cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He adjusted the seat to lie down, lowering his field of vision a lot. The rustling snowflakes kept falling, hitting the windshield. His empty fingers curled slightly, tapping the armrest box irritably.

The cigarette burned out bit by bit. Just as Lu Muchi’s patience ran out and he was about to take out his phone to make a call, suddenly, he stopped.

In the windshield covered with a thin layer of snow, a quiet figure gradually approached.

The dim street lamp shone on the thin boy. He held an umbrella in one hand and two flowers in the other. From the sky full of wind and snow, he walked past his car. Lu Muchi turned his face and watched Yan Heqing enter the apartment building.

Lu Muchi maintained his sideways posture and didn’t move for a long time. It wasn’t until the light on the third floor turned on and pain came from his fingers that Lu Muchi looked down. The cigarette had burned to the butt and poked his finger.

On the third floor, Yan Heqing turned on the light, changed his shoes, first took the gladiolus into the kitchen, then took an empty bottle, filled it with water, and inserted the gladiolus into the bottle.

He recognized Lu Muchi’s car, right downstairs.

But he remained calm.

In the original text, Lu Muchi discovered that Lin Fengzhi loved Lu Lin and went crazy for several months, abusing him every day until he almost died.

Now that he came to find him a week later, Yan Heqing couldn’t guess if his inducement of Lu Muchi had worked.

He came out of the kitchen, checked the time, and then looked at the door.

If Lu Muchi came to kick the door, it meant he still treated him as a toy to vent his anger, and his bait was not enough. Conversely… a bright light flashed in Yan Heqing’s eyes. He should harvest the first batch of fish.

Tick-tock.

In the quiet room, it was the sound of minutes turning. From 9:30 to 11:00, that peeling iron door remained quiet.

Yan Heqing lowered his eyes, then turned and went into the bathroom.

Steaming water mist enveloped the small bathroom. Yan Heqing closed his eyes and raised his head. Water splashes kept falling on his face. Being too close, there was a slight pain.

Slender and distinct fingers brushed over his left ear, where there were several scars that would never disappear.

The fingers fell to his left shoulder. That bowl-sized red scar was uneven, like touching a rough towel.

Yan Heqing forgot the feeling at that time. It seemed very painful, but he couldn’t cry. If he cried, Yan Shengbing would be angrier and beat him harder.

Hot water slid down from his shoulder, flowed down his straight long legs, and flowed over a winding and ugly long scar.

Yan Heqing suddenly turned off the shower, grabbed a towel to wipe his hair, opened the shower curtain and went out.

Changing into soft and clean loungewear, he came out of the bathroom, took a biology book, didn’t sit on the sofa, but went to bed, sitting by the window and reading seriously.

Downstairs, the moment Lu Muchi saw Yan Heqing walking with an umbrella, he felt very peaceful. He hadn’t felt this way for a long time.

Thinking that Yan Heqing might like him, he had already opened the car door and stepped out with one leg. But seeing that lit window, he hesitated. If Yan Heqing really liked him… what should he do?

Agree?

Lu Muchi’s eyes darkened slightly. Absolutely impossible. Even if Lin Fengzhi liked his uncle, the one he liked was still Lin Fengzhi. Yan Heqing…

He admitted that he did have some interest in him, but that was all. It didn’t mean anything.

Lu Muchi gritted his teeth and was about to close the car door.

Suddenly, a looming shadow appeared at the window and approached.

Through the sheer curtain, the blurred silhouette lowered its head.

Some people were stunning even in their shadows. Lu Muchi had already imagined what Yan Heqing looked like at this moment.

He remembered that in Yan Heqing’s shabby and small room, the bed was placed by the window.

That is to say, Yan Heqing was sitting on the bed now.

What was he doing?

Trimming nails?

Playing with his phone?

At this time, Yan Heqing’s shadow moved again, raising both hands and turning a page of a book.

So he was reading.

What book was he reading?

Textbook, novel, or reference book?

Lu Muchi was unconsciously attracted for a long time until a snowflake drifted into his eye. He cursed in a low voice, rubbed his eyes, and sat back in the driver’s seat.

He closed the door. The car was filled with smoke. He just looked at the window on the third floor like this until the light went out.

——

After reading a section, Yan Heqing closed the curtains, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

Sleeping soundly, his head suddenly vibrated. Yan Heqing opened his eyes abruptly and sat up. The room was very dark and quiet. It wasn’t an earthquake. After relaxing for a while, he looked down. It was the phone next to the pillow vibrating crazily.

Yan Heqing took out his phone. It was past one in the morning. Incoming call, Lin Fengzhi.

Lin Fengzhi was too excited to sleep. His room was brightly lit. Wearing thin pajamas, he stepped barefoot on the hot floor, walking back and forth for a long time, but still couldn’t control his excitement.

From returning home yesterday, he had been excited until now.

Although it was slightly different from his plan, it wasn’t Lu Lin himself who sent him back, but it was Lu Lin’s car! It was his first time sitting in Lu Lin’s car! His second brother was right. He just had to pester. His first step was very successful.

“Brother, I’m very excited now.” The call connected. Lin Fengzhi simply sat on the floor hugging his knees, his eyes full of smiles, “But I don’t know who to tell, so I can only find you.”

The room was very cold. Yan Heqing took his coat and put it on. He lifted a corner of the curtain. The snow was getting heavier and heavier. The ledge outside the window had accumulated a thick layer of snow. No wonder it was terribly cold. He looked down again. Lu Muchi’s car was gone.

Dropping the curtain, Yan Heqing spoke, his voice a little hoarse, “What’s wrong?”

Lin Fengzhi’s cheeks were burning hot. He pursed his lips, but the corners of his mouth still turned up vigorously, “I’ll only tell you. Actually, I have someone I like very much. He sent me home yesterday!” Licking the corner of his mouth, his smile dropped slightly, “Rounding up, he sent me. He sent a car to take me back.”

Yan Heqing’s eyelashes drooped slightly. He gathered his coat with one hand, leaned against the headboard, and buried his slightly pointed chin into the soft collar, “Is that so?”

“Yeah!” Lin Fengzhi’s eyes curved, “But don’t ask me who he is. I can’t tell you for now. Anyway, he is a very, very good person. As long as I can be with him, I will be the happiest person in the world!”

Yan Heqing coughed low.

Only then did Lin Fengzhi notice, “Is your cough not better yet?”

“It’s better.” Yan Heqing’s gaze was distant, “The temperature dropped, seems like I caught a little cold.”

“Did the temperature drop?” Lin Fengzhi looked down at his thin pajamas. He didn’t go out today, so he didn’t know. He remembered that Yan Heqing had a cage that could provide warmth at home, “Turn on the heater, or buy an air conditioner tomorrow. But I don’t like the wind from the air conditioner very much, it has a smell.”

Yan Heqing didn’t comment. After a long while, he asked indifferently: “If the person you like very much likes someone else, what would you do?”

Just hearing the question made Lin Fengzhi bristle. He stood up abruptly and said somewhat childishly: “No! He only belongs to me!”

Yan Heqing smiled. He coughed a few more times, lifted the quilt and got out of bed, “It’s very late, go to sleep quickly.”

Lin Fengzhi still wanted to chat, but since Yan Heqing said so, he nodded, “Okay, good night and sweet dreams!”

Hanging up the phone, Yan Heqing went to the kitchen to boil a pot of water. After it boiled, he poured it into a cup, added some cold water, found a few heat-clearing tablets and a cold medicine tablet, put them in his mouth and swallowed them in one gulp.

Yan Heqing got up late the next day. His head was a bit heavy, and his throat was also a bit sore.

He took medicine in the middle of the night, but still couldn’t suppress the cold.

Although he had no appetite, he still cooked a little porridge, added nothing, and ate a bowl of plain porridge.

He got on the scale to check his weight, 119.

It slowly increased by two catties again.

After reading cytology for a while, he took another cold medicine tablet, changed into his coat and went out.

The weather was cold. He dressed particularly warmly today. The snow had stopped, but the whole world was white, covered by white snow.

The daylight wasn’t very bright. There were no pedestrians, only traces of two car wheels rolling over on the road.

It was still early. Yan Heqing walked slower, gently breathing the air after the snow.

Very cool, and also a very clean smell.

Yan Heqing liked this smell. He took out the earphones from his bag, put them in his ears, and stayed on the song he played for Lu Lin the day before yesterday. He didn’t like listening to songs, so he switched back to Russian words and memorized them silently in his heart.

He walked unhurriedly to the subway station.

The university was on holiday, and it was early. The subway today was unexpectedly empty, and the air was fresh, alleviating some of Yan Heqing’s discomfort.

Almost all seats were empty. Yan Heqing sat down today. The words in the earphones were somewhat hypnotic. He rarely closed his eyes for a nap and opened them only when the subway was about to arrive.

Even in the cold winter, the children in the welfare institute still wanted to go to the playground to play. The only place they could move around was the welfare institute, and they yearned for the outside world.

With Yan Heqing’s guarantee, Aunt Zhang agreed to let him take the children on the 3rd floor to the playground to build snowmen.

Xu Qiaoyin took a box of drawing models for them, so the snowmen had noses and eyes.

Children’s imagination is always infinite. The snowmen built were strange in shape. A little girl asked Yan Heqing, “Brother Yan, is this snowman I built correct?”

Yan Heqing picked up a few branches broken by the snow to make the snowman’s hands. Hearing the little girl’s words, he squatted down and looked seriously at the snowman built by the little girl. The eyes were green, the mouth was black, and a small branch was inserted on the top of the head.

Yan Heqing’s eyes curved. He turned his face and said to the child: “Everyone’s snowman is different, and they are all correct. The snowman you built is very cute.”

The little girl immediately jumped for joy and ran to call her friends to see the snowman she built.

Yan Heqing stood up and gave the branches to the children who needed them. Then he found a small piece of land himself, squatted down, balled up clean snow, and made a small snowman.

Fifth floor.

Several girls looked out the window silently and quietly. It was white, it must be snowing.

Haven’t seen snow for a long time.

In the clear children’s eyes, there was obvious disappointment.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Can I come in?”

They all recognized Yan Heqing’s voice, turned back and said happily in unison: “Yes!”

Yan Heqing pushed the door open, his left hand raised. In his palm was a white and chubby mini snowman.

The girls’ eyes lit up, looking at the snowman in surprise: “It’s a snowman!”

Yan Heqing held the snowman and went over one by one, letting all the little girls touch it with their hands.

“So cold! Haha.”

“Such white snow.”

“I made a little snowman before too! It’s prettier than the one Brother Yan made.”

Finally, this cute little snowman was placed on the windowsill of the girls’ dormitory.

At noon, Yan Heqing still had no appetite. He simply stuffed a little rice and took another cold medicine tablet. In the afternoon, he mainly washed clothes. The Lu Group donated washing machines and dryers, which was much more convenient. Dirty clothes went in, and they were all washed and dried in one afternoon. Folding the clothes and sending them back to the children’s dormitories respectively, Yan Heqing’s work for today ended.

He waited for Xu Qiaoyin to get off work. Xu Qiaoyin also talked more than yesterday.

“No one followed me when I went out this morning.” She smiled, “They must have seen you send me home yesterday.”

The two walked slowly to the subway. Yan Heqing smiled faintly, “A few more times, it will be more useful.”

Xu Qiaoyin nodded, smiling a lot more, and chatted with Yan Heqing all the way.

Arriving at Xu Qiaoyin’s apartment, Xu Qiaoyin opened the refrigerator. She specially bought durian. The fruit shop owner said it was the king of fruits and young people liked to eat it. She brought it out, “I don’t know if you like it. I can’t finish it alone.”

“I like it.” Yan Heqing took a piece and ate it carefully before leaving.

Xu Qiaoyin wanted Yan Heqing to take the rest away, but afraid that Yan Heqing would feel burdened, she carefully wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator.

When Yan Heqing returned to the community, it was very late again. Lu Muchi waited all night and watched Yan Heqing go upstairs, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The university had been on holiday for a long time. Why did Yan Heqing come home so late every day?

Could he be going on dates?

The more Lu Muchi thought about it, the more irritable he became. He dialed a number.

“My address, come over immediately.”

Before long, a car stopped in front. The door opened, and a middle-aged man of medium height got out. He looked around and quickly ran towards Lu Muchi.

The window rolled down, and the middle-aged man asked diligently: “Young Master Lu, any instructions?”

Lu Muchi handed over his phone. On the screen was Yan Heqing’s admission photo, “Starting tomorrow, follow him and report his tracks to me in detail.”

The middle-aged man looked at the screen. This community was obviously not a place where Lu Muchi would live. He smiled and asked: “Does he live in this community?”

Lu Muchi raised his chin and looked at the lit window on the third floor, “That household.”

At the same time, Yan Heqing let down a corner of the curtain.

He couldn’t see clearly the appearance of the man who came to find Lu Muchi, but he could guess. In the novel, there was a private detective running errands for Lu Muchi.

At that time, it was all about investigating Lin Fengzhi. Lu Muchi never shied away from it. When the private detective came to the villa to report, he was present.

Yan Heqing didn’t care.

With a private detective following him, he would have one less trouble. He didn’t need to find a way to let Lu Muchi discover Xu Qiaoyin’s existence.

A surge of thirst came to his throat again. Yan Heqing coughed low for several times. He walked to the sofa and sat down, drank a few mouthfuls of hot water, and took his phone. The 9th.

Soon.

Yan Heqing picked up the medicine bottle. This time he poured out several anti-inflammatory pills and heat-clearing pills, mixed with a cold medicine pill, and swallowed them all.

The next day, Lu Lin came out of the bathroom after washing up. His phone “dinged”.

He changed his clothes before walking over to pick up the phone.

Clicking on it, it was a WeChat notification.

52 Hertz.

Lu Lin clicked into WeChat. There was no message, just a transfer, 4350.

The transfer note said—First installment, thank you Mr. Lu.

Today is the 10th, the first installment of Yan Heqing’s installment plan.