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Chapter 78: I’ll stay with you until it’s over.
After this meal, it was already past three in the afternoon, and it was about time to head back to the city to avoid traffic jams.
Chen Wengang glanced at Jiang Cai when he went to Luo Suwei’s room.
Luo Suwei was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, using gestures to indicate that Jiang Wanxia had gone out with the lawyer again.
He handed Jiang Cai a business card: “If you need anything, you can call me.”
This weekend had been completely turned upside down.
Luo Suwei calmly observed the entire process. The drama of recognizing relatives in a wealthy family might not be common, but she was indeed a woman who had seen the world—disappearance and searching for relatives, ethical disputes, family dramas—all played out regardless of wealth or status, and it was no different in any other family.
Jiang Cai was filled with negative emotions. She threatened, “I have legs; I can run on my own. You can’t keep me locked up forever.”
Chen Wengang said, “I don’t intend to keep you locked up. I’m not in cahoots with them either. Your mother even wanted to use me before, but I’m offering you help because you’re still a minor. When you come of age, you’ll be responsible for yourself.”
Jiang Cai gestured to throw his business card into the trash can. “I don’t need your help right now.”
Chen Wengang raised his hands in surrender. “Well, you can find Eden then. But she’s very busy with work, so be sure to remember to be grateful when you trouble her.”
After some thought, he added, “Also, just reaching eighteen physically doesn’t mean you can control your life. If you don’t like how things are going now, you need to become independent first to have freedom.”
He wanted to add that being stubborn wouldn’t solve anything, but he didn’t say it in the end.
No matter how unreasonable her biological mother was, she still had the capital to be stubborn in front of her. But things might not be the same when she goes to the Huo family.
Under the arch of the Romanesque door, the Huo family’s cars departed in groups of two or three.
The driver opened the car door for Huo Niansheng and asked where he intended to go.
Huo Niansheng gestured for Chen Wengang to go in first: “Yunding Tower.”
Chen Wengang had no objections. On the way back, he lowered his head to send messages and explained to Uncle Lin that he wouldn’t be going home today either.
Suddenly, he heard Huo Niansheng jokingly ask, “Dealing with a big family, isn’t it more interesting to have some alone time?”
Chen Wengang snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at him.
Huo Niansheng was also looking down at his phone, casually asking this question.
“At dinner, I almost thought your third uncle was going to say ‘a sister-in-law is like a mother’,” Chen Wengang chuckled, “and then try to push Jiang Cai onto me.” It was obvious that the other party thought he had some connection with Jiang Wanxia and her daughter, wanting to bind them together.
What a bridge. In plain terms, if Jiang Cai messed up, they wanted him to be the guarantor.
Huo Niansheng still didn’t raise his head. “Don’t mind it, it’s a common problem among old people. They all think they can manipulate situations.”
Chen Wengang smiled. He didn’t really care much about the third uncle Huo either.
Glancing at the driver, he spoke softly, “What do you think of your second uncle?”
Huo Niansheng raised an eyebrow. “His personality is quite similar to Huo Jingsheng’s—bold yet cowardly. But overall, he’s a bit more cunning. Some of his business dealings aren’t entirely legitimate, so I suggest you keep your distance from Huo Yingfei. Even if he tries to flirt with you, ignore him.”
“Nonsense.”
“Isn’t it true?”
Chen Wengang fell silent and casually looked out the window.
After a while, Huo Niansheng leaned over again, nonchalantly asking, “What do you want to eat tonight?”
Chen Wengang pushed him away. “Why are you thinking about dinner again?” Glancing at the time, he realized they had been on the road for quite some time. “Just grab something to eat.”
Yunding Tower was located in the central business district (CBD), a bustling area. However, the surrounding atmosphere wasn’t as lively. The nearest shopping district and large supermarkets were a twenty-minute walk away. Huo Niansheng instructed the driver to stop, and they ordered two bowls of fried sauce noodles at a small shop beneath the office building.
There was a restaurant by the street with a display window at the entrance, selling various flavors of crayfish, especially fitting for the summer. The bright red crayfish swimming in spicy oil were so enticing, making one’s appetite open up even after just having a meal.
Chen Wengang suddenly felt inspired, “Let’s get some more to take home.”
Huo Niansheng halted his steps, following his gaze.
Neon lights danced on their faces in various colors.
This was something Huo Niansheng rarely indulged in. He imagined the feeling of peeling the oily crayfish shells with his hands. Feeling as if his clothes were being tugged, Chen Wengang urged him, “If we don’t eat them now, summer will be over…”
If they could go to a street food stall for barbecue, then having crayfish wasn’t a big deal either.
When they got home, Chen Wengang carried two pounds, one with five-spice flavor and the other with garlic flavor. He placed the crayfish by the entrance before changing clothes.
The central air conditioning maintained a comfortable temperature, making one feel the familiar sentiment of “there’s no place like home” at such moments.
Huo Niansheng poured a glass of red wine at the bar and brought two tall glasses over, placing them on the coffee table. Red wine with crayfish was quite unique. With food and drinks, they were just missing a bit of entertainment. Chen Wengang crawled on the floor and reached out to turn on the home theater system. He liked the carpet in the living room; sometimes, when Huo Niansheng wasn’t around, he would even curl up on it by the window and take a nap.
The two of them didn’t sit on the sofa but stayed on the floor, watching the movie and peeling crayfish shells.
The screen displayed a French art film. Chen Wengang glanced at it before focusing on peeling a crayfish’s head. He was skilled at it, eating two by himself and feeding one to Huo Niansheng.
As his fingers warmed up, Huo Niansheng also took his hand, slowly sucking the flavor clean from his fingers.
The movie’s plot became intertwined with the aroma of the crayfish. In the takeaway box, only a pile of shells remained. Chen Wengang sorted them by type and threw them into the trash can.
“I’ve made an appointment with a doctor,” Huo Niansheng said as he watched Chen Wengang’s movements, then suddenly added, “I’ll take you to see them tomorrow.”
“Me?” Chen Wengang paused, surprised, and chuckled, “What illness do I have that needs seeing?”
Huo Niansheng coaxed him gently, “You see, you’ve been having trouble sleeping, right? I’ve found a reputable doctor who can help you with that.”
Chen Wengang understood now. He pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and surprisingly didn’t immediately agree.
Huo Niansheng thought he might be avoiding medical treatment due to past experiences, feeling a bit confused. He had taken Chen Wengang to see numerous doctors before. It wasn’t that they were incompetent or ineffective, but traditional Chinese medicine—besides being sour or bitter, it was as if each prescription reached new heights of unpleasantness. Back then, he had taken the medicine without blinking, but with time, he had come to reconsider.
However, Huo Niansheng spoke casually about it. The doctors he had found were all nationally renowned experts in traditional Chinese medicine, and Chen Wengang couldn’t deny their reputation. He just asked one more question, “Which doctor? Do they have to prescribe medicine?”
Fortunately, Huo Niansheng said, “There’s no need to take so much medicine if you’re perfectly fine. This doctor specializes in acupuncture.”
Chen Wengang agreed, feeling relieved after some thought. He searched his memory to recall which doctor it was.
***
When he met the old doctor, whose hair was snowy white and his spirit lively, he greeted him warmly, “Your surname is Chen? Mine too, so we’re practically family.”
Chen Wengang remembered him, feeling a sense of familiarity as the doctor placed his hand on his pulse.
In his previous life, this Mr. Chen had greeted him with the same words when they first met.
The old man was well-known, retiring from the hospital only to be rehired later. He didn’t officially retire until he was in his eighties, and even then, he continued to see patients at home, provided they could persuade him to do so.
After feeling both pulses, the diagnosis was liver qi stagnation affecting the emotions.
Mr. Chen asked Chen Wengang to sit on the bed and retrieved a box of disposable acupuncture needles, labeling it, “This box is for your personal use from now on.”
Before he could give any instructions, Huo Niansheng had already begun helping him remove his clothes.
Chen Wengang swatted his hand away, giving him a playful glare, and then proceeded to take off his shirt himself.
He lay on the bed as Huo Niansheng watched Mr. Chen administer the acupuncture. His slender shoulders were covered by a thin layer of muscle, his butterfly bone protruding with each movement, then relaxing as the needles partially entered his fair skin, trembling slightly as he breathed.
All this gave Huo Niansheng an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Finally, Mr. Chen pressed a moxibustion box onto his lower back. “Alright, I’ll remove the needles in a while. When you’re at home, you can also use moxibustion on your Mingmen acupoint, right here. It stores prenatal energy, nourishing the kidneys and strengthening the essence.”
The room was filled with the scent of burning mugwort, which was not unpleasant. The old room had a yellowish hue, with sunlight streaming through the glass windows, casting shadows on the ground, and illuminating half of Chen Wengang’s shoulder.
Chen Wengang felt a bit dazed himself. In his past life, he had actually only been here once. Most of the time, it was Mr. Chen who had been busy, shuttling back and forth, being politely escorted by the bodyguards to the villa halfway up the mountain, where he would administer acupuncture in his dimly lit room.
Huo Niansheng stood up, one hand in his pocket, staring down at the needles on his body as if studying them.
Suddenly, Chen Wengang asked, “Are you going to keep waiting here? It’s pretty boring. You can go out and take a walk.”
Huo Niansheng smiled and said, “It’s okay, I won’t get bored. I’ll stay with you until it’s over.” With that, he sat back down.
It was a cheap red plastic chair, not particularly comfortable to sit on.
After the acupuncture session was over, they received the doctor’s instructions, scheduled the next appointment, and were even given the moxibustion box as a gift, along with a box of moxa sticks, with the doctor saying that the quality of those purchased outside wasn’t as good.
Huo Niansheng drove the car over. “How do you feel?”
Chen Wengang checked himself, “Much more relaxed, that’s for sure.”
He examined the box of moxa sticks on the passenger seat and suddenly remembered, “Should we go buy a lighter?”
There was a convenience store on the street. Hearing this, Huo Niansheng parked the car by the roadside. “Let’s go.”
As Chen Wengang got out of the car, he suddenly realized where they had walked to. It was the convenience store where he had worked in his past life.
As if unfamiliar eyes and a faint sense of pain pierced him together, his relaxed body and nerves suddenly felt as heavy as stones.
Through the glass door, it felt like stepping into an unknown parallel world.
But that was a distant memory from a past life. Chen Wengang shook himself out of it and pushed the door open, walking inside.
It was all in his head; nothing bad happened.
He didn’t see any familiar colleagues, but the owner was the same. Back then, he had agreed to work there out of sympathy, which had caused some trouble for the business. Chen Wengang hesitated in front of the shelves, grabbing two boxes of beautifully packaged chocolates. “I’ll take these, please.”
The owner, oblivious, took them and scanned the barcodes.
Back in the car, Huo Niansheng continued driving forward.
The road along the riverbank wasn’t wide, and there weren’t many cars. Yet Huo Niansheng didn’t accelerate, slowly cruising along the roadside as if searching for something.
Chen Wengang glanced at him.
After gazing into the distance for a while, Huo Niansheng asked, “Isn’t there an abandoned bridge around here somewhere?”
Chen Wengang’s heart skipped a beat. He pointed in the direction behind the car. “It’s in the other direction; we’ve already passed it.”
Huo Niansheng nodded. “Ah,” he said, “I see. I must have remembered wrong.”
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I wonder when they’ll figure out they both know the past, or in HNS’s case, almost