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Chapter 134: He raised his head, and the person in front of him was Huo Niansheng.
Chen Wengang sometimes calculates the days, and the results always surprise him. Time flies like a white colt passing a gap, and before you know it, seven years have passed.
Seven years are enough for a child to grow from birth to elementary school, enough for a person’s cells to complete a full cycle of metabolism, and enough for a marriage or love to reach inevitable fatigue and pain. It is said that even the most loving couples face a seven-year itch.
Even between him and Huo Niansheng, there would be quarrels.
To be precise, in the past two years, conflicts have become more frequent.
Over the years, Chen Wengang has always lived with Halley in the hillside villa.
Huo Niansheng never mentioned asking him to move out, and Chen Wengang tacitly avoided the topic. One reason was for Halley—when they chatted back then, his words became a prophecy. He couldn’t bear to take it away, nor could he bear to be separated from it.
On the other hand, Chen Wengang realized that he had also come to rely on this reclusive lifestyle.
No need to interact with people, no need for polite conversation, no need to care about the eyes and expressions of strangers.
In the mountains, time seems to stand still, and life in the bustling city becomes vague and unreal. To him, it was like another distant world.
He was like a solitary and stubborn traveler, even if thirsty and hungry, he would rather avoid one town after another, walking alone in the wilderness.
Of course, being too solitary isn’t a solution. Perhaps Huo Niansheng feared that Chen Wengang would develop new problems from holding everything in. So, from time to time, he would go to great lengths to drag Chen Wengang out. He took him to new restaurants, watched new movies and exhibitions.
They also went to amusement parks, horse ranches, shopping malls, and other places.
Huo Niansheng once rented out a yacht club, leaving the whole beach to themselves, as if they were the only two people left in the world.
They met many people, encountered many things, and gradually filled with many memories, both good and bad—too many to count.
They had moments of hugging, kissing, and intimacy, but inevitably also moments of quarrels, cold wars, and indifference.
Another autumn came, and with each autumn rain, it got colder.
Especially in the mountains, the temperature dropped faster than in the city.
Chen Wengang wrapped himself in a thin blanket, as usual, while reading in the study. Halley suddenly stood up, wagging its tail, and headed to the door.
At the same time, Chen Wengang also recognized the familiar footsteps. He put down his book, and the next moment, Huo Niansheng pushed the door open and came in.
Chen Wengang looked up, his eyes following Huo Niansheng. Huo Niansheng came in but went straight behind him. He bent down, wrapping his arms around both Chen Wengang and the chair back, kissing his ear intermittently.
Chen Wengang got the hint and smiled, standing up to help him take off his coat and undo his tie.
They didn’t say anything, just kissed.
Huo Niansheng had been busy with something recently, and they hadn’t seen each other for three or four days. Chen Wengang sent Halley out to play on its own. He kissed Huo Niansheng’s brow bone, his fingers tracing over his eye corners and eyebrows. They switched positions, and Huo Niansheng held him on his lap.
The thin blanket fell to the ground.
There was some noise in the study, but after a long while, it returned to silence.
Chen Wengang went to open the curtains. It was still bright outside, no sun in sight, and thin clouds diffusing white light.
He returned to the sofa, and Huo Niansheng got up, taking something out and teasingly waving it in front of Chen Wengang.
In his hand was an open box, inside which lay a ring on black velvet.
It gleamed silver.
Chen Wengang’s heart skipped a beat. He glanced down, saw clearly, but reacted very calmly.
Huo Niansheng seemed unaware and said to himself, “Try it on and see how the design is.”
Chen Wengang didn’t speak for a moment. He lowered his eyes, his gaze not on the ring but on the hands in front of him—
Broad palms, dry palms, and long and strong fingers, with thin calluses between them. Every feature made these hands appear tough and reliable. He knew Huo Niansheng’s hands so well. These hands had cooked for him, changed his bandages, patted his back, stroked his hair and cheeks, and touched every inch of his body. They had comforted him and given him pleasure.
Staring at them, Chen Wengang briefly spaced out.
He thought of the last time he saw Huo Niansheng. Between them, well, it wasn’t a quarrel. Quite the opposite, it was in bed, in the heat of the moment, when Huo Niansheng held him and asked if he wanted to be together with him.
What does “be together” mean?
In what sense?
Don’t they count as being together now?
Chen Wengang had struggled to find the right words for a long time but couldn’t adequately answer the question.
At that time, Huo Niansheng sensed his hesitation. He waited patiently, but perhaps Chen Wengang’s silence lasted too long, and he showed a slightly self-mocking smile. Huo Niansheng told him not to worry about it, joking that men’s words in bed aren’t reliable, and that they should just sleep.
In the past two years, apart from the most trivial gossip tabloids, most reporters didn’t care much about following Huo Niansheng’s affairs—because there wasn’t much fresh material. He was willing to be with someone disfigured, so be it. The laughs had already been laughed.
Huo Niansheng has been dragging his feet for so many years, his lifelong matters unresolved. The so-called arranged marriages have been paraded in front of the public several times, always based on rumors. Even his most speculated “close female friend” came forward to clarify that they were just longtime friends.
In the end, everyone lost patience, and most people believed that Huo Niansheng was indeed not the type to get married. Psychologists analyzed that this actually reflected the impact of the original family on a person, where children would consciously or unconsciously emulate their parents’ behavior patterns…
Today, Huo Niansheng came with a ring, still smiling as usual, but his actions carried an unusual significance.
Chen Wengang snapped back to reality, feeling as if he were standing on the edge of a tall building, a wave of dizziness making him try to evade the situation.
Huo Niansheng walked around to the front, grabbed his left hand, picked up the ring, and slipped it onto his ring finger, pushing it all the way to the base.
As if burned, Chen Wengang quickly pulled it off, gently placing the silver circle back into Huo Niansheng’s palm.
He found an excuse, “I’m left-handed. It’s inconvenient to wear something on this hand.”
Huo Niansheng pulled up his right hand and forcibly put it on, “Then wear it on this side; it’s the same.”
Chen Wengang’s gaze returned to his own hand. The skin on his hand also had corrosion marks, leaving rough scars. The right hand was more severely damaged than the left. He had undergone skin graft surgery, but with just one or two surgeries, not all the scars could be covered.
Having suffered too much, he didn’t continue the surgeries, leaving it as it was.
Chen Wengang flattened his right hand, extending it in front of him and admiring it for a few seconds.
He imagined he wasn’t in the study, with the bleak daylight outside, but on the lawn in the courtyard, just after a birthday party. The sky had turned dark, the guests who had played wildly had dispersed, and the servants had cleaned up the leftover food and garbage, taken away the tables, and turned off the stage speakers. The lawn had become quiet and spacious. Colorful lights flickered above, on and off, with a gentle breeze blowing. He looked up, and the person in front of him was Huo Niansheng—a slightly younger version of Huo Niansheng.
Huo Niansheng put the ring on his hand, confessed to him, and asked if he wanted to be with him.
If it were then, Chen Wengang could have answered the question without hesitation.
He also imagined them having a picnic by the seaside, laughing and joking with Huo Niansheng, laying out a tablecloth under the parasol, taking apples, Coke, dried squid, and sandwiches from the food basket; he imagined them dancing at the graduation ball, happily pulling Huo Niansheng into the dance floor under the teasing glances of others; he imagined them bickering through life until they both turned gray and old.
The boundary between imagination and reality gradually blurred. The golden beach withered, the curtain of the ball faded, and they had far from gone that far. In front of him was only Huo Niansheng’s face, gazing at Chen Wengang with a deep, complex, silent look.
Chen Wengang once again took off the ring, saying, “Keep it for someone else.”
Huo Niansheng, nonchalant but assertive, pressed his hand down and said, “It won’t fit anyone else. Besides, who else do I have?”
Chen Wengang stubbornly said, “It doesn’t fit me either.”
Huo Niansheng squatted in front of him, “It’s just a little gift. Tell me where it doesn’t fit.”
Chen Wengang was silent, smiling faintly, “Someone else gave me a ring before. Guess who he ended up marrying.”
Huo Niansheng’s expression turned cold. He reached out, touching the top of his head.
Chen Wengang continued, “Let’s be open about it. I know you have no complaints about me… but don’t tie yourself to me for life. You have money and power; you can find someone better out there. With my current condition, bearing this face, and still having the energy to think about those romantic vows and promises, I find myself ridiculous. I’m living day by day; whether these things exist or not makes no difference to me. I’m sorry, it’s my issue.”
Huo Niansheng closed his eyes for a moment, then smiled again, “Alright, alright, then let’s drop it.”
He closed the box, put it away, and tucked it back into his pocket. The jewelry box was a bit large, not really suitable for pants pockets, and visibly protruding against the fabric. When Huo Niansheng came, he probably had it hidden in his coat pocket.
Chen Wengang saw it, feeling unbearable. A sense of loss surged in his heart, but he felt surrounded by a heavy fog.
People can easily sense when they’ve done something wrong, but knowing what the right thing to do is truly not easy.
Huo Niansheng didn’t show any obvious signs of displeasure, just chatted with him a bit more before getting up to return to the city.
Halley ran up the stairs, then followed Huo Niansheng back down in confusion. Huo Niansheng bent down to pet it, telling it he was leaving. Halley perked its ears, its tail no longer wagging, looking up at his hurriedly departing figure.
It heard Chen Wengang call it from the second floor, shook off its spirits, and ran back upstairs.
Chen Wengang slowly squatted down, holding its black-and-yellow head in his hands.
There was a stabbing pain in his neck. He reached out to touch it, seemingly still feeling the bite mark from Huo Niansheng earlier. Huo Niansheng had held his legs in the crook of his arm, the sensation and warmth he left still lingering faintly, yet he had already walked out of Chen Wengang’s sight.
After a while, a servant came to ask what Chen Wengang wanted for dinner.
In the villa, several employees had come and gone. The one he had become most familiar with, a servant named Xiaoping, had left—she got into college, and Chen Wengang had congratulated her. When she left, she took with her the only time he had ever confided his feelings to someone.
After Huo Niansheng took the ring away, Chen Wengang never saw it again and didn’t know how he dealt with it.
But later, Huo Zhenfei also called Chen Wengang to ask what he really thought and what Huo Niansheng thought.
It seems that after Huo Niansheng turned thirty-five, his cousin gradually adopted a resigned attitude—whether he got married or not, had children or not, even if he followed the example of ancient times by living separately from his wife and children, the family could only accept it, deciding to let things take their course. The problem is, while Huo Niansheng might be fine with it, in Huo Zhenfei’s eyes, he was stuck at this obstacle named Chen Wengang and couldn’t move past it no matter what.
Huo Zhenfei asked Chen Wengang, didn’t he find their relationship of cat and mouse strange?
Chen Wengang didn’t get angry; he just asked Huo Zhenfei if he didn’t feel like a meddlesome patriarch in a TV drama.
The two couldn’t see each other’s expressions, only communicating through their voices.
But perhaps as they grew older, the smell of gunpowder wasn’t as strong as it seemed.
Over the years, whether actively or passively, Chen Wengang has gained a better understanding of Huo Niansheng’s family relationships.
In this conversation, he was calm and communicated with Huo Zhenfei. For the first time, Chen Wengang voluntarily told Huo Zhenfei that although he sometimes didn’t approve of his behavior and attitude, he could still understand it, which at least showed that Huo Zhenfei was standing on Huo Niansheng’s side. This cousin of his, no matter how well or poorly he was doing, clearly considered Huo Niansheng as part of the family, which was why he kept meddling in his affairs time and time again. Actually, it was better this way, at least better than Huo Niansheng being forever alone with no one to care or inquire about him. If everyone with the surname Huo only found amusement in his misfortune, Chen Wengang would feel cold and unjust for him.
After listening, Huo Zhenfei’s temper also subsided.
His voice sounded a bit hoarse and tired, as if he had been talking too much during the day.
He told Chen Wengang that he understood what he meant. Huo Zhenfei admitted that he shouldn’t have and didn’t want to interfere too much in his younger cousin’s private life. It was just because he was too anxious that he urged Chen Wengang to seriously consider it. The turmoil of the past few years has been exhausting for everyone watching. After all, Huo Niansheng was now approaching forty. When men reach this age, as long as they are still doing well, they usually should have reached a stage of successful careers and stable family life, so having this kind of aspiration is a natural instinct.
Huo Zhenfei added that even if Huo Niansheng had a strong personality and didn’t pursue the establishment of a traditional family in the conventional sense, Chen Wengang had already occupied a large part of his life. This was undeniable. At this point, it’s not as simple as letting go; anyone could see that it’s not that easy. Being neither able to advance nor retreat was the most uncomfortable feeling—maybe not for Huo Niansheng, but at least that’s what he thought.
Chen Wengang remained silent for a long time.
In the end, both sides had said what they wanted to say, and they politely hung up the phone.
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