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Chapter 140: Why were you crying in your dream?
Chen Wengang returned to the dining area, and after a while, Pan Zhengyang also returned to his seat, behaving as if nothing had happened, and sat back opposite him.
Around nine o’clock, the dinner party dispersed.
Everyone went home separately. Chen Wengang walked down the steps and stood next to the stone lion, looking around. Pan Zhengyang caught up with him from behind, asking how he was going home and saying his driver would be here soon, offering to give him a ride.
At that moment, a bark came from across the street.
It was Huo Niansheng walking his dog, standing on the other side of the crosswalk.
Halley had been walking beside him, but at this moment, the street was still lively, with cars coming and going. Suddenly, a group of skateboarders rushed through the red light, startling Halley, who barked in alarm.
Huo Niansheng simply picked it up and started walking towards them with the dog in his arms.
Pan Zhengyang stopped about half a meter away. “Is that… your friend?” he asked.
Chen Wengang smiled, his eyes reflecting the neon lights. “He’s my boyfriend.”
There was a moment of silence from Pan Zhengyang.
Chen Wengang pointed to the side of the street. “Mr. Pan, isn’t that your driver over there?”
As he spoke, Huo Niansheng had crossed the street and arrived in front of them. Pan Zhengyang shook hands with him out of courtesy.
Huo Niansheng took the business card he offered.
Without even looking at it, he stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans.
Pan Zhengyang looked him over. Huo Niansheng was dressed very casually, with his hair slightly tousled today, and even a bit messy. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, the kind commonly seen in night markets, with a red heart printed on it.
The cotton fabric was comfortable but not stiff, relying entirely on his figure to pull it off.
Just an ordinary handsome man, Pan Zhengyang thought.
The driver slowly pulled the car forward again. Pan Zhengyang cleared his throat and bid farewell to Chen Wengang and the others.
Chen Wengang held Halley and sat in the front passenger seat, fastening his seatbelt.
Huo Niansheng started the engine, and Chen Wengang casually turned on the small lamp. He held the dog with one hand and looked at Huo Niansheng’s phone, watching a video of two people giving Halley a shot, the doctor holding its neck and slowly pushing the needle in, while the nurse comforted it.
In fact, it was very well-behaved, neither struggling nor trembling, quietly allowing itself to be manipulated, without even making a sound.
“You see, it’s not afraid of—”
“Just now, that Mr. Pan—”
They both spoke at the same time. Chen Wengang reacted and turned to look at him. “What?”
Huo Niansheng smiled meaningfully. “I mean him. He looks pretty rich, doesn’t he?”
Chen Wengang also smiled. “Don’t you have an Hermes belt yourself? What’s wrong? Feeling inferior? Next time, you wear it too.”
Huo Niansheng looked at the road ahead, his lips quirking up slightly.
The traffic light turned red, and the car stopped. Chen Wengang squeezed the hand on the gear lever.
Huo Niansheng didn’t say anything more.
Later that night, when he got home, Chen Wengang found a message on his phone.
At the beginning of the dinner, everyone exchanged contact information. Chen Wengang and Pan Zhengyang also added each other as friends.
This message was from Pan Zhengyang, asking him, “Have you arrived home?”
Chen Wengang pretended not to see it and didn’t reply.
But Pan Zhengyang didn’t give up. After a week, he called Chen Wengang, inviting him to go to a bar. The name he mentioned was a well-known local gay bar, making his intentions clear. Chen Wengang politely declined, “Sorry, not very convenient.”
Pan Zhengyang persisted, lowering his voice on the phone. “Will your boyfriend let you go out and play?”
Chen Wengang simply said, “Mr. Pan, I have a family and a home. We’re even married—”
Pan Zhengyang couldn’t help but laugh. “When did the country introduce marriage policies? Why haven’t I heard about it?”
There was no response from the other end of the phone. Pan Zhengyang couldn’t see Chen Wengang’s expression, so he could only guess.
“Besides, I didn’t ask you to break up. Don’t misunderstand. I’m just inviting you to hang out,” Pan Zhengyang continued. “Actually, for people like us… especially someone as young as you, it’s good to broaden your horizons, meet some friends. Don’t treat it as a bad thing.”
“Thank you, but I’m really busy,” Chen Wengang interrupted him. “Since you don’t have anything urgent, I’ll hang up first.”
His tone was cold and indifferent as he hung up decisively. Usually, Chen Wengang wouldn’t speak like this, but today he wasn’t in the mood.
Huo Niansheng was lying sick in bed.
Huo Niansheng usually exercised diligently and had a strong physique. Throughout the year, he rarely fell ill. Occasionally, he would catch a cold, but when he did, it came on fiercely, and within half a day, his temperature would shoot up to forty degrees Celsius. Chen Wengang called the family doctor overnight to give him a fever-reducing injection.
When Pan Zhengyang called, he hadn’t slept for a day and a night. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, wiping Huo Niansheng’s palms with alcohol.
At a time like this, someone was still trying to flirt with him. Chen Wengang’s head was buzzing, so he deleted Pan Zhengyang’s contact and continued to take care of Huo Niansheng.
The person in bed had closed his eyes, but he obviously couldn’t sleep well. His breathing was hoarse, his cheeks flushed, and his lips dry.
Chen Wengang reached into the blanket and felt that he was sweating a lot, so he pulled it back slightly.
He gently touched Huo Niansheng’s sweaty hair, and the other tilted his head, revealing a distinct jawline.
In Chen Wengang’s memory, he rarely saw Huo Niansheng so vulnerable.
In his previous life, Chen Wengang was often ill, and Huo Niansheng always took care of him. Surgery after surgery, various treatments, intubation, vomiting, dressing changes, and bathing… To him, this person was as reliable as a mountain, always standing there, as if it would never collapse.
But Chen Wengang had experienced it, and he knew that he was just flesh and blood.
His hands wandered on the bed, smoothing out the wrinkles on the pillow and the sheets.
By daybreak, when Huo Niansheng woke up, Chen Wengang had fallen asleep leaning on the bedside.
Halley lay quietly at the foot of the bed, watching them. It had behaved itself these past few days, not once making trouble to go out and play.
Huo Niansheng lifted the covers, and as soon as he moved, Chen Wengang woke up. His eyelids were a bit swollen, and he instinctively reached out to touch his forehead.
Huo Niansheng pulled him up.
Chen Wengang took the thermometer from the bedside table and took his temperature. It had gone down a bit, to thirty-seven point eight degrees Celsius.
The doctor said it was a heat-induced cold, so he took some medicine, and Chen Wengang went to the kitchen to cook silver apricot, winter melon, and coix seed porridge. He found honeysuckle, forsythia, and coix seeds in the cupboard, but there was no fish mint. He sent the neighbor’s child to buy some, added salt, cooked it, and brought it to the bedside when it was done.
Huo Niansheng looked at it and smiled. “Not bad. It seems that when I get old in the future, I can rely on you to take care of me.”
Chen Wengang tested the temperature. “Try it. I’m not good at cooking, but regardless of taste, just take it as medicine.”
Huo Niansheng looked at him for a while, then suddenly smiled a little deeper and bit down on the spoon.
Chen Wengang wasn’t bad at taking care of people. On the contrary, he was too skilled, and Huo Niansheng hadn’t even told him whether he was used to feeding children, like a professional habit. He not only fed him but also praised him with every spoonful. After pulling and tugging, finally, the bowl of porridge was finished. Chen Wengang washed the bowl and boiled some water with mint and honey, poured it into a glass teapot, and placed it at the bedside to cool.
Huo Niansheng patted the space beside him and called him, “Don’t rush, come up here.”
Chen Wengang took off his slippers and got into bed, with both arms hanging around his shoulders.
Huo Niansheng leaned against the head of the bed and touched his hair. His palm was also warm.
He asked, “What were you crying about in your dream?”
Chen Wengang widened his eyes. “Me?”
He was stunned, as if he really couldn’t turn the corner. Huo Niansheng used his thumb to stroke the bags under his eyes. There were still traces of red in Chen Wengang’s eyes, and his eyelids were slightly swollen, even the bags under his eyes were swollen. When he touched them, he realized that the skin on his face was dry and tight.
But if it weren’t for Huo Niansheng’s question, he actually didn’t remember having a sad dream just now.
Now that he thought about it, in the dream, he was guarding by the coffin, begging the cold person to look at him again.
Huo Niansheng asked Chen Wengang to stay away, so as not to infect him, but Chen Wengang refused to let go. “It’s fine.”
Huo Niansheng patted his arm. “Just a cold, not like I’m dying.”
Chen Wengang grabbed his wrist and bit it, scolding him for being a jinx.
Huo Niansheng smiled generously and raised his arm, letting him bite.
After a moment, Chen Wengang breathed a sigh of relief and smiled lightly.
He chatted with Huo Niansheng and said, “You know, my mother passed away a long time ago.”
Huo Niansheng responded, asking, “And then?”
Chen Wengang said, “And then we had to buy a burial plot and erect a tombstone. At that time, I was still young and didn’t remember much. I didn’t even have an impression of what she looked like. What I remember is that a few years later, on Qingming Festival, my father took me to the cemetery to pay respects. The tombstone hadn’t been erected in the first two years. The year we went, it had just been completed. By then, I knew quite a few characters, and I suddenly noticed that there were two names engraved on the tombstone, one for my mother and one for my father. My mother’s name was outlined in gold, while his was not outlined and remained red. The person who erected the tombstone only engraved my name.”
Huo Niansheng said, “Well, that’s good. It shows their deep affection.”
Chen Wengang said, “I understand, but it still didn’t leave a place for me.”
Huo Niansheng smiled, “Of course, they’re buried together as husband and wife. What about you?”
Chen Wengang remained silent.
Halley saw them chatting and trotted over, jumping up with its paws on the bed, eager to join.
Chen Wengang changed his posture, pressing against Huo Niansheng’s thigh, and reached out to pat Halley.
It immediately lay down as if playing dead, exposing its belly.
Chen Wengang almost leaned over half of his body, using a finger to stroke Halley’s belly.
From the back of his head, Huo Niansheng could sense his thoughts and emotions. He said, “Alright, you’ve lived two lifetimes. Try to be more open-minded. You still have me. In the future, we’ll be like this too. Otherwise, we won’t even buy a burial plot. We’ll cremate together and bury our ashes in the same tree pit, plant a pine tree on top, and keep it green all year round. Even if someone cuts it down, they won’t be able to tell who is who.”
Chen Wengang played with the dog on his lap, still not saying anything.
Huo Niansheng scratched the back of his neck. “I’m talking to you, okay?”
Chen Wengang chuckled.
He specifically took leave to take care of the patient at home. Huo Niansheng had a good physical foundation, and after a few days, he was fine.
Chen Wengang changed his mind. They had agreed to go to the neighboring city for a trip, driving themselves, which could be done over a weekend.
But this plan was delayed by a week because of Chen Wengang’s elementary school classmate, Cheng Bo, who kept urging them to attend a class reunion.
At first, Chen Wengang agreed out of respect for his teacher. Cheng Bo said that this year they even invited their first-grade homeroom teacher, whom they hadn’t seen in over ten years. Now in their sixties, retired and living at home, many classmates reminisced in the group chat, and all said they must come.
But on the day of the reunion, they still didn’t see the teacher. The teacher had worsened his lumbar disc herniation and had surgery, so he was hospitalized.
And that wasn’t all. The day didn’t go smoothly, with one mishap after another.
The majority of the group agreed to meet near the school, but when they encountered bad weather, with sudden heavy rain, several people didn’t bring umbrellas. They had to find shelter along the way, arriving late.
After finally gathering everyone, those who drove divided up the passengers and set off for Lingyun Pavilion. But when they arrived, they were all stopped in the lobby, being told that due to their half-hour delay, the reserved room had been canceled because other customers had reserved it.
Cheng Bo had found this place, a private garden built by a wealthy businessman during the Qing Dynasty. It was a typical classical garden architecture, with black tiles and green bricks, quiet and elegant. It was said that this family had held high office in the past, but later, their descendants fell on hard times and sold the garden. Now it had been developed into a high-end club, usually only serving members, most of whom were either rich or influential.
This time, Cheng Bo took on the responsibility. A few male classmates in the group chat had been boasting for a long time, praising him for finally making something of himself. They entrusted him with this high-end place to broaden their horizons.
Now it seemed like they might not be able to make it. Cheng Bo was a bit anxious, squeezing to the front to negotiate with the receptionist, “You can’t treat guests like this. Don’t you understand that the customer is God? Can’t you find any available rooms? Can you please arrange something for me?”
The receptionist was polite and not anxious, smiling with all eight teeth showing. “I’m sorry, but the room you booked is indeed not available. If you consider upgrading, other rooms can still be arranged, but they’re a bit more expensive.”
After hesitating for a moment, Cheng Bo asked, “Can you show me what kind of rooms are available?”
The receptionist checked the computer. “We have Shuiyun Room, Peach Blossom Paradise, Peony Pavilion… these are still available for reservation. Based on the number of people, one room, with a minimum spending of one hundred thousand. Do you want me to register for you?”
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