Yan Xun didn’t say anything else, but the way he emphasized her age made it clear what he was hinting at.
After all, Chu Tingyun had once said he liked Yan Xun best when he was eighteen, and now here was another ex-girlfriend who had been eighteen.
“Yan Xun… this is just a coincidence.”
Of course, Chu Tingyun didn’t have any sort of unhealthy obsession with people who were eighteen.
Through their previous conversations, they had started learning how to communicate and explain things to each other, so this time Chu Tingyun explained quickly and clearly.
“I met her at the ice rink, and we became friends because of our shared hobby. A few months later, she confessed to me at the rink. There were a lot of people watching that day…”
The phrase “a lot of people” helped Yan Xun understand the earlier metaphor about the dessert.
Chu Tingyun continued:
“I was really busy with work at the time and agreed too hastily, so I didn’t know how to face her. Tang Shiyu couldn’t stand it and called me an emotionally abusive jerk. In the end, she broke up with me.”
It was a simple story, easily summed up in a few sentences.
“…”
An emotionally abusive jerk?
Yan Xun couldn’t quite associate that label with Chu Tingyun. He was taken aback for a moment, then softly hummed in acknowledgment.
Chu Tingyun asked him: “Still angry?”
Yan Xun shook his head. He took a soft breath before speaking:
“Actually, I’m really not angry with you.”
Upon further reflection, Yan Xun realized that Chu Tingyun being more attached to his amnesiac self wasn’t entirely unfounded. Even though they were the same person, anyone would naturally prefer the version of themselves that was more sincere, passionate, and open-hearted.
However, after regaining his memories, all the painful events they had experienced were deeply etched into his mind. Even though all the misunderstandings had been cleared up, he could never quite return to the way he felt when he first woke up in the hospital and saw Chu Tingyun.
All the past heartbreak, the hurt they had caused each other, and the so-called “maturity” made it difficult for Yan Xun to be as vulnerable and open with Chu Tingyun as he had been at eighteen. He couldn’t cry helplessly in Chu Tingyun’s arms like a child anymore.
But now, Yan Xun wanted to be a little more honest.
Because when the other person makes a conscious effort to change for him, he should do the same. At the very least, when he’s with the person he loves, he should show his best side.
Yan Xun lowered his gaze and said softly:
“Chu Tingyun, even if you did like her once, even if you had past relationships, it doesn’t mean you did something wrong, or that you’ve wronged me. You came into this world earlier than I did, so naturally, you would have experiences that I wasn’t part of. That’s just normal.”
But humans are emotional creatures, and in most cases, language becomes the vehicle for emotion, which is why those jealous words had spilled from Yan Xun’s mouth earlier, even though he didn’t quite feel like himself.
He pressed his lips together for a moment before continuing:
“Even though I understand all that, it’s still hard to control how I feel. So I wasn’t really angry with you just now—I was angry with myself. Because I felt so terribly uncomfortable, and I was very jealous of that girl who shared a common hobby with you…”
As Yan Xun said this, he suddenly noticed that Chu Tingyun had moved closer and closer, to the point that he was practically pressed against him.
“?”
Yan Xun pushed the other person away a bit; after all, this was a public place, and it was really a bit inappropriate.
“…Chu Tingyun, were you listening to what I was saying?”
“I was.”
The man’s expression really didn’t look like he had been paying much attention, so Yan Xun was suspicious:
“What did you hear, then?”
Chu Tingyun confidently replied, “You said you love me so much it hurts, can’t live without me.”
Yan Xun: “…”
Chu Tingyun, you really know how to translate.
When he had said those things earlier, Yan Xun had taken quite some time to build up his courage, but with Chu Tingyun’s interruption like that, there was nothing left to say—it had all been summed up.
Yan Xun turned his head and averted his gaze, forcibly changing the topic.
“Let’s go, weren’t we going to the ice rink?”
He pulled the man along, but now it was Chu Tingyun who wasn’t moving.
“?”
Yan Xun turned back and gave him a questioning look.
Chu Tingyun stared at him intently and said, “How about we come back another time?”
Yan Xun was puzzled, “Why?”
The other replied seriously, “Xun Xun, I really want to go home and sleep with you right now.”
Yan Xun: “…”
At that moment, Yan Xun suddenly felt that if he had stayed in his amnesiac state forever, maybe it wouldn’t have been such a good thing after all.
In any case, he didn’t say much more and directly dragged Chu Tingyun to the changing room with large strides. They had to change into training clothes and gear first. Chu Tingyun had ordered a performance costume for himself, while Yan Xun wore something more suitable for beginners.
After doing some warm-ups, Chu Tingyun took Yan Xun onto the ice.
Actually, there are a lot of fun sports—horseback riding, shooting, skiing, bungee jumping, rock climbing, skydiving, etc.—most of which are easy to pick up or provide great excitement and thrills on the first try.
But Yan Xun had to choose figure skating.
On the first day, there wasn’t much to experience—it was just a matter of falling, getting back up, and falling again, very monotonous. For a beginner, being able to learn how to glide on the ice in such a short time was already pretty good, let alone any technical skills.
As for the beautiful jumps in competition videos, those were completely out of the question.
Bang!
Sure enough, Yan Xun, who had never skated before, fell right away, but he quickly got back up.
Yan Xun understood that this sport was all about falling; a few more times and he’d get the hang of it.
“Chu Tingyun, did you fall like this when you first started?”
“Of course not like this—I fell much more gracefully than you.”
Compared to Yan Xun’s stiff, awkward falls, Chu Tingyun was completely relaxed and natural. He was like a fish returned to the sea, gliding freely across the vast ice rink.
After about half an hour, Yan Xun had fallen about enough times. He was starting to be able to maintain balance and glide for long distances, looking fairly stable.
But just then, Chu Tingyun skated a circle around him and gave him a push. Sure enough, Yan Xun lost his balance and fell with a thud again.
“Chu Tingyun…!”
Yan Xun lay on the ice, just about to prop himself up with his elbows, when he looked up and met Chu Tingyun’s gaze.
The man was crouching on the ice just in front of his head, bending down and asking him:
“Yan Xun, did you decide to take up figure skating because of those videotapes at home?”
“…”
Yan Xun had found those tapes a short while ago while organizing the study.
The footage was very blurry, and it was all in Russian.
Most of the time, the screen showed only the ice and a boy, while the voiceover was an especially harsh, scolding female voice.
Yan Xun had used translation software to listen to it sentence by sentence. She talked a lot about figure skating terminology, but the most frequent and repeated words were just a few simple commands.
“Get up!”
“Do it again!”
“Don’t cry!”
“…”
Later, the child’s voice lost its childish tone, and the stifled, painful sobs disappeared too.
The empty training rink slowly turned into a competition rink with an audience and judges, and that harsh female voice became weaker, and eventually disappeared.
All the recordings abruptly ended when the boy stepped onto a low podium.
“…”
After a moment of silence, Yan Xun asked:
“Am I not allowed to watch?”
“…You can watch.”
Chu Tingyun didn’t seem to mind:
“But those videotapes are too blurry, the quality isn’t great. It’s not as good as watching live.”
“…”
Yan Xun was stunned for a moment, and then he heard music begin to play.
“Black Swan.”
This was the piece Chu Tingyun had chosen for his last competition as a teenager.
He stood up and slowly skated back about 20 meters, crouching down with his arms extended, mimicking the wings of a swan.
The black feathered mesh design on the upper part of his costume was adorned with snow-colored crystals, sparkling under the lights, making him truly look like a black swan draped in snow.
At the time, for the best effect, Chu Tingyun had even been sent by his mother to learn ballet for a while, to ensure that his body movements perfectly matched the music.
…But that was more than ten years ago.
Years without professional training, along with the increase in height, age, and the decline in physical fitness, made it hard for Chu Tingyun to perform the high-difficulty moves he had once executed in competitions.
After lowering the difficulty, Chu Tingyun performed the single jumps in the first half perfectly.
Yan Xun didn’t know much about figure skating, nor did he know the professional names for each move. He just watched with simple admiration.
The man’s long legs lifted, his waist twisting down, spinning rapidly, his limbs extending from the extreme stretch to contraction, finally turning into a squat spin.
The blades cut elegant arcs across the ice, and just as the music reached its climax, he prepared to jump.
1A+1eu+2S.
The difficulty had been reduced, but the loud sound of the landing still revealed Chu Tingyun’s slight instability, though he quickly regained his balance and moved into the next combination jump.
The toepick of his right skate struck the ice, and in the next instant, his entire body soared into the air.
3Lz+3Lo.
The second combination jump wasn’t lowered in difficulty. Even in his prime as a teenager, it had taken a lot of effort for Chu Tingyun.
Bang!
As expected, he didn’t land it smoothly and fell hard.
Yan Xun waited for a few seconds and, seeing that Chu Tingyun wasn’t getting up to continue, rushed over immediately,
“Chu Tingyun!”
He knelt beside the man, not daring to help him up right away because he thought Chu Tingyun might be seriously injured, maybe with a broken bone or something.
“You…”
“How was it, Xun Xun?”
Chu Tingyun lay on the ice, smiling instead:
“Didn’t I fall more gracefully than you just now?”
“…”
Yan Xun felt a lump in his throat. He reached out to touch Chu Tingyun’s chest, abdomen, and limbs, making sure there were no issues with his bones.
Only after that did Yan Xun speak:
“Chu Tingyun, don’t use the fake injury trick again in the future, or I might really lose it and pull down your pants and spank you.”
“Hmm?”
Chu Tingyun winced slightly:
“I wasn’t faking it. I really did fall. If you don’t believe me, you can pull down my pants and check.”
“…”
Yan Xun really didn’t want to argue with him, but that loud thud from earlier was indeed real.
“Then let’s go take a rest.”
He bent down and reached out, intending to help Chu Tingyun up. But at that moment, the man suddenly grabbed his collar.
“Where’s my gift?”
“…What?”
“Our wedding anniversary, Xun Xun. I worked so hard to prepare this figure skating performance for you and even fell. Shouldn’t I get a gift in return?”
“…”
Yan Xun was silent for two seconds before saying:
“I’ll give it to you when we get home.”
Chu Tingyun refused to give up. “Why not give it to me here?”
Yan Xun replied, “I didn’t bring it with me.”
Chu Tingyun said confidently, “You did.”
“…???”
Yan Xun was stunned. In that moment, his shocked expression seemed to say, “How did you know?”
By then, Chu Tingyun’s hand had already swiftly reached Yan Xun’s chest. Through the layer of his training clothes, he clearly felt a small square box inside the hidden pocket.
“Chu Tingyun… When did you notice?”
Chu Tingyun looked triumphant. “When you were changing.”
Yan Xun: “…”
What do you mean, ‘watching’? Clearly, you were spying!
He pulled Chu Tingyun’s hand down, planning to pick him up and carry him out.
“You’ll get it when we get home.”
Chu Tingyun clung to him stubbornly, “Why?”
“…”
Seeing that Chu Tingyun insisted on asking, Yan Xun stayed silent for a while before turning his face away.
“That Miss Tang… didn’t she confess to you at an ice rink back then?”
Yan Xun had initially planned to give it to him at the rink, but he didn’t expect to run into Tang Shiyu today.
“…”
This answer left Chu Tingyun dumbfounded for quite a while. Then, his lips slowly curled upward, and in the end, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Hahaha!”
Chu Tingyun wrapped his arms around Yan Xun’s neck and couldn’t resist planting a loud kiss on his face.
“Xun Xun, you’re just too cute!”
“…”
Yan Xun felt both embarrassed and angry, trying to dodge, but then heard Chu Tingyun say:
“But that ice rink where she confessed to me closed down ages ago. I think it was torn down years back.”
Yan Xun was a bit taken aback. He had thought they met at this rink. Chu Tingyun reached out and scratched his little husband’s chin, as if teasing a kitten.
“Can you give it to me now, hm?”
“…”
Yan Xun didn’t speak. Instead, he put Chu Tingyun down, unzipped his jacket, and took out the small jewelry box from the inner pocket.
Chu Tingyun was just about to reach for it, but then Yan Xun suddenly knelt on one knee in front of him and opened the box.
Inside was a new pair of wedding rings.
The design looked similar to their old wedding rings, but the texture was much more refined. Instead of names engraved on the inside, there were their overlapping fingerprints.
Yan Xun said to him,
“Chu Tingyun, let’s hold a new wedding.”
“…”
Chu Tingyun stood still for a long time. Just when Yan Xun thought he might have some reservations or wasn’t too thrilled about being the one on the receiving end of a kneeling proposal, he saw Chu Tingyun take a deep breath and say, with what seemed like a hint of regret,
“I’ve made a mistake, Yan Xun.”
“?!”
“I should have waited for you to give it to me at home. Then I could have…”
“…”
Chu Tingyun, the second half of your sentence wouldn’t make it past censorship.
