DLRAS Chapter 116

Chapter 116: What about my Wengang?

At first, Chen Wengang didn’t even know where he wanted to go.

He simply couldn’t stand being in that familiar place anymore—opening the wardrobe, half of it filled with Huo Niansheng’s clothes, ties, and socks; opening the cabinet, finding his lighters, watches, fountain pens, and used glasses…

Following the car ahead, he wound his way onto the elevated highway, circling aimlessly, until he realized he was driving toward the suburbs. Chen Wengang steadied himself, thought for a moment, and turned onto the road leading to the hillside villa.

It was very late when he neared his destination. A group of drag racers sped past him, but Chen Wengang remained indifferent, merely slowing his pace and watching the rowdy youths disappear in a roar of engines. He drove until he reached the chain-link fence, but he couldn’t go any further; his license plate wasn’t registered in the security system. At this hour, the security guards weren’t on duty, and the staff were likely asleep.

Chen Wengang went to check the time, only to realize he wasn’t wearing his watch. He pulled out his phone, only to find it had run out of power. It took him a long moment to remember the car’s display; the glowing screen had just ticked past 0:00.

It was December 24th. It was almost Christmas Eve. Only then did he realize why the streets had been so lively earlier.

Chen Wengang left the car outside. Fortunately, he had entered his fingerprint before, so he used the code to open the small gate and walked up slowly. The ivy crawled thick and eerie, climbing high above the walls; the villa stood like a castle submerged in boundless darkness.

He opened the door and stepped inside. This place, too, held too many memories, but he had another reason for coming. Chen Wengang paused in the living room for a moment before heading up the spiral staircase. He remembered he should check the safe Huo Niansheng had shown him, wondering if there might be any clues left behind. As the days passed, even he began to doubt if Huo Niansheng had truly committed a crime.

As his hand reached for the study door, he found it slightly ajar.

Chen Wengang’s first reaction was that the housekeeper was in there tidying up. But what employee would be so dedicated, working for an absent employer in the middle of the night?

There were a few soft rustling sounds from within. Downstairs, he hadn’t noticed the lights on because the curtains upstairs were drawn tight. Now, he saw a soft glow. A tall man stood there, holding a stack of documents. The man looked up and fixed his eyes on Chen Wengang.

After a long time apart, Huo Niansheng didn’t look bedraggled; he was still in his suit and tie, his hair neatly combed, his eyes and brows radiating that familiar, dashing charm.

Chen Wengang choked back a sob, feeling as if he were in a dream.

Huo Niansheng froze in place, but his body moved before his mind could catch up. He strode over and pulled him into an embrace. “I’m back.”

Chen Wengang felt as if his throat were stuffed with cotton; subconsciously, he hooked his hands tightly around Huo Niansheng’s back, his heart rate spiking to an extreme. His mind was also a mess, unable to think; he only felt a burning ache behind his eyes, as if a seed were rapidly sprouting, struggling to break through his chest.

Huo Niansheng lowered his head, raining kisses on his forehead and eyes, repeating again, “Wengang, I’m back.”

This time, Chen Wengang heard something different in his voice. He dared not think, yet while the Huo Niansheng before him was identical to the one who had left, there was something slightly different—he couldn’t put his finger on it, a fleeting sense of incongruity that felt like an illusion.

“When did you get back?” Chen Wengang looked up at him, the lights reflecting as two specks in his pupils.

“Just today.”

“Why didn’t you tell me…”

“I called you, but your phone was always off.”

“I…” Chen Wengang understood, “I didn’t charge my phone all day; it shut down automatically.”

“I flew back and crossed the border. Huo Zhenfei’s secretary came to pick me up. I didn’t want to be bothered by reporters, so I came here first,” Huo Niansheng said. “I still have to cooperate with an investigation after returning, but I just wanted to see you first. It’s just that you didn’t pick up the phone, and for a moment, I couldn’t find where you were.”

Chen Wengang bowed his head, leaning against his chest, and murmured, “As long as you’re back. Whatever else is going on, I’ll go with you.”

The ecstatic reunion or tearful breakdown he had envisioned didn’t explode. In the end, it was just this faint, simple sentence.

The two walked toward the bedroom upstairs, one following the other. Huo Niansheng explained, “I was in the same taxi as an assistant sent by the local branch. He had been bribed by my second uncle. They wanted to hijack the car with a gun—they likely wanted me to disappear to make it easier to frame me for money laundering. When we reached the outskirts, I tried to disarm him, but the driver suddenly fought back and crashed into the bridge railing.

“The car ended up on the bridge, but the two of us fell into the river. That man was swept away by the current; he’s likely dead. I was lucky enough to swim to the shore, grab onto some tree roots, and climb up. Then I went back to get my identification and called the police.

“But I might have hit my head when I fell. My mind went completely blank. I acted on instinct, thinking there might be others bribed, so after reporting it to the police, I left on my own. My wallet and passport were on me, so I didn’t care about the other luggage and just tried to find a way back to the country. Fortunately, it was just intermittent memory loss. After a few days, I slowly started to remember, and I knew you must have been worried sick…”

For every word Huo Niansheng said, Chen Wengang felt an extra layer of lingering fear. Huo Niansheng spoke lightly, but Chen Wengang couldn’t imagine the scene. If a single detail had gone wrong, it would have been another eternal separation.

Reaching the bedroom, Chen Wengang pushed the door open. Huo Niansheng followed close behind, and with a click, the door locked.

The sound was chilling; Chen Wengang’s heart skipped a beat.

As he turned, Huo Niansheng pulled him forward, pressed him against the door, and kissed him with the ferocity of a storm. Chen Wengang was defenseless, pinned to the door panel. Huo Niansheng was like a wild beast that had suddenly snapped, holding him in a tight, suffocating grip. “I finally…” The rest of his words were swallowed up. Chen Wengang felt as if he were being crushed into Huo Niansheng’s body; Huo Niansheng’s strength was so great it felt like he was being shattered, or tortured. Chen Wengang both craved him and feared this sudden, violent intensity, instinctively trying to struggle.

Suddenly, he was lifted off the ground. Huo Niansheng carried him and threw him onto the bed.

Without even taking off his coat, he pressed down on top of him. With his limbs firmly pinned, Chen Wengang had nowhere to run. Huo Niansheng roughly ripped open his clothes, pulled out his belt, and threw it to the floor. Chen Wengang retreated to the edge of the bed, only to be grabbed by the ankle and dragged back.

Huo Niansheng asked dangerously, “Where are you going?”

Chen Wengang stopped hiding, helplessly holding his hand, his posture one of complete surrender.

Huo Niansheng’s heart finally softened, pulling him into his arms. “Don’t be afraid. I just missed you. Let me touch you, okay?”

He slowed his movements, touching him gradually, just as he had once promised—from his neck to his calves, conquering him as gently as a spring breeze. Finally, he swept back Chen Wengang’s hair, his lips brushing against his cheek with such tenderness, a softness like a fleeting spring breeze.

Chen Wengang stared at Huo Niansheng, his eyes reddening bit by bit.

He asked, “Did you know everything?”

Huo Niansheng looked into his eyes. “When I crawled out of the water, I almost thought I had just escaped from the boat… but looking closer, I thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t a shipwreck.’ For a moment, I couldn’t remember how I fell into the river, nor did I realize where I was. But at that moment, all I could think of was you. I thought of how much you had suffered, how much you had endured…”

“You…”

“See, hitting one’s head isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Forgetting the current affairs actually cleared space for the past.” Huo Niansheng hugged him. “So I didn’t tell anyone. I needed time to digest it myself, to piece things together one by one and figure out what was going on.”

After he finished speaking, the person beneath him remained still for a long time, his head lowered against his chest. Huo Niansheng looked down and lifted the other’s face.

Chen Wengang’s eyes were filled with a layer of mist. He clung to Huo Niansheng’s neck, shivering in his arms like a leaf in the wind.

Huo Niansheng couldn’t bear to see him like this. “It’s alright, it’s alright. Everything is in the past, it’s okay now. Aren’t I still here?”

Chen Wengang shook his head, a sense of guilt making it hard to breathe. “I… I’m sorry.”

His tears finally streamed down his cheeks. “Niansheng, I regret it… I regret not treating you better when you were still here… I didn’t know how to cherish what I had… I never dared to look back on the fact that you left with such great regret…”

Huo Niansheng’s own eyes were red as he covered his mouth. “You couldn’t possibly regret it more than I do. I don’t know how much I regretted it. I regretted that I only found out after you were gone. I regretted boarding that boat. I didn’t care about death, but when it came to it, you were the only thing I couldn’t let go. All I could think about was, ‘What will happen to my Wengang? There will be no one left to take care of him, and he doesn’t know how to take care of himself. He won’t even step out the door. He still has decades of life ahead of him, alone—how is he going to live?'”

Chen Wengang sobbed uncontrollably in his arms, like a child who had suffered a great grievance. Huo Niansheng had told him he could cry in front of him, and he poured out the sorrow of both his lifetimes without reservation.

They held each other tightly, the mattress softly cushioning their weight. Huo Niansheng braced himself with one arm, his other wrapped around Chen Wengang’s waist. Chen Wengang clung to his neck, weeping bitterly, his tears soaking into the space between Huo Niansheng’s neck and shoulder.

Huo Niansheng was equally heartbroken, patting his back rhythmically. “Wengang, darling, don’t cry…”

The scorching tears slowly turned cold on his skin, pooling into a chilly dampness, as if permanently branding him.

Chen Wengang finally cried himself to exhaustion. His brain felt lightheaded from lack of oxygen, his throat hoarse and unable to form words. Huo Niansheng pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his tears. The handkerchief soaked through, so he grabbed a pillowcase to wipe them away, finally carrying Chen Wengang to the bathroom to wash his face.

Chen Wengang refused to leave Huo Niansheng for even a moment; he wished he could turn into a vine and grow onto him forever.

After much turmoil, they lay back in bed, whispering in the stillness of the deep night.

Huo Niansheng stroked his hair, pouring out his heart tenderly, “I should have remembered sooner… All these years, I always felt like I was waiting for someone, but I wasn’t sure what they were like. Even when others tried to get close to me, none of them felt right. No wonder people say, ‘Once you have seen the best, nothing else compares’… It wasn’t until I met you that I suddenly knew what I wanted. I knew right then that I had to win you over.”

Chen Wengang spoke in a raspy voice, yet he managed to laugh. “I don’t believe you. You didn’t remember anything, so how did you fall for me at first sight?”

Huo Niansheng said softly, “It’s true. The first time I saw you trying on clothes in the mall, I fell in love immediately.”

Chen Wengang turned over slightly. Huo Niansheng leaned over him, their lips meeting. They had kissed many times before—sometimes fiercely, sometimes gently—but this time, there were no more secrets between them, burying all the confusion and uncertainty.

Chen Wengang remembered that he had passed away on a Christmas Eve in a previous year.

From now on, he could remember it this way: on this Christmas Eve, he had been lucky enough to find his long-lost lover.

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Author’s Note:

Finally, I can reveal it: Yes, Lao Huo is also a reincarnator. It’s just that he was missing a part of his memory before. From the very beginning of this lifetime, the person by Wengang’s side has always been that same Huo Niansheng who went through thick and thin with him before.

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