Chapter 51

Edited by Erin & genesis

Chu Xun calmed down to think: no, when he got up, the door was closed, and his cell phone was on the sofa in the living room. He remembered that as soon as he got home, he was helped to his room by his father to sleep. It can’t be that he ran out to make a phone call and then went back to the room. It would be too difficult for him to have forgotten all of that, right?

Teacher Chu came out of the kitchen and looked at him saying, “Why are you standing around being foolish? Go wash your face, brush your teeth and have breakfast. Today, I made fragrant pork and bamboo shoot shumai

, there’s also silken tofu; pour the sauce yourself.”

Chu Xun frowned, scratched his head, and said to himself, “Why is my mobile phone outside…”

“When you fell on the sofa yesterday it fell out,” said Teacher Chu somewhat disdainfully.

Chu Xun added, “There is a record for a call I don’t remember making. No matter how hard I think I really can’t remember it.”

Teacher Chu went over to take a look. The call log had a call to someone named ‘Lin Yanchen’. He said, “Oh, this one ah. This was by Jiu Jiu. This person’s name is so strange.”

Chu Xun stared blankly, shocked: “Jiu Jiu made the call?”

Jiu Jiu was sitting in his special baby chair, holding a plastic spoon and scooping the corn paste from his small bowl to eat. He had just started to learn how to eat, and the food was everywhere, a circle of corn paste around his mouth.

Whether it was his Dad’s gaze on him or not, Jiu Jiu looked up and smiled brilliantly at his father: “Daddy.”

Teacher Chu was not ashamed, proudly saying: “Yes, isn’t Jiu Jiu clever?”

Chu Xun said, “He definitely just pressed at it randomly.”

“That’s still clever,” said Teacher Chu. “Our Jiu Jiu even knows how to play with phones now.”

Jiu Jiu was very happy to be able to eat the food he liked. He held up the spoon and laughed like a blooming flower. He squatted on his two buttocks: “Yaya.” It was like he was responding to his Grandpa’s praise.

Chu Xun was in a complex mood. He didn’t know whether it was a good or bad thing.

Teacher Chu asked, “What’s the matter? Accidentally called someone you shouldn’t have? Once I found out I hung up.”

Chu Xun all of a sudden couldn’t say whether he should or shouldn’t have hung up the phone: “It’s not that… It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing. I’m just a little strange today.”

It seemed that Jiu Jiu had accidentally helped him take the first step; he didn’t feel as at a loss.

Obbx, Olc Tjcmtfc tjv jigfjvs yffc mjiifv.

Ktfc tf rtbeiv qgbqfgis ajix ab Olc Tjcmtfc jujlc. Lf tbqfv tf vlvc’a atlcx la kjr rbwfbcf tjgjrrlcu tlw jcv yijmxilrafv tlw.

Sc… Lf kbeiv ygert tlr affat jcv kjrt tlr ojmf olgra.

Cc fcalgf cluta tjv qjrrfv, sfa Olc Tjcmtfc ralii gfwfwyfgfv atja gjcvbw jcv ragjcuf mjii ogbw ijra cluta. Ktf nblmf bo atf wjc ktb rqbxf ab atf yjys kjr gfjiis ojwliljg.

Where on earth had he heard it before? He had always been the type of person who always wanted to get to the heart of a matter.

Only to Chu Xun’s tomb did he really dare not go; that is, after losing Chu Xun, Lin Yanchen began to understand some of his father’s practices. In the five or six years after his mother’s death, except for the time when she was buried, his father never visited his mother’s grave to pray or offer sacrifices. He only carefully prepared the sacrifices for him and urged him to go sweep his mother’s grave and pay respects. At that time, he was very angry and thought that his father was too terrible, so he loathed his father even more.

Later, he found that on that day every year, his father didn’t do anything else. On that day, he would specially take time from work. He would prune the branches of a loquat tree in a remote little garden in their old residence very patiently for the entire day, itching to rub every leaf clean.

That tree was personally planted by his father when his mother died.

He could somewhat understand his father’s frame of mind these past two years.

When he was young, he had read “Xiang Ji Xuan Zhi“. There was a line in it: “Within the courtyard stands a loquat tree, planted by my wife the year she died. Now, it stands tall, branches spread and flourishing.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go – he didn’t dare to.

Lin Yanchen thought about the phone call while he fried dumplings.

The dumplings sizzled in the oil.

In his spare time these years, he began to learn how to cook, especially how to make dumplings. All the types of dumplings Chu Xun had made for him, he learned how to make.

Thinking and thinking, Lin Yanchen suddenly recalled it.

——”I didn’t even know he was ill. Where did you hear that he was ill? Is Chu Xun ill?”

Ah, it sounded a lot like Chu Xun’s father’s voice!

Chu Xun’s father had a deep and resounding voice; because he was a teacher, he had a unique way of speaking characteristic to teachers, and the words pronounced very articulated, which was very particular.

He remembered!

Huh? But why did the strange phone call have Chu Xun’s father’s voice and a baby talking?

Lin Yanchen really couldn’t understand it at all.

He smelled a burnt scent.

The dumplings were overcooked. His senses returned and he turned off the fire in a hurry.

At this time, Lin Yanchen’s mobile phone suddenly rang. He took it out to have a look. The phone number shown above was from Y City again; it was the unknown number from last night.

Lin Yanchen wanted to pick up, but he was also trying to turn off the fire. He turned around and accidentally knocked over the box on the table.

He subconsciously went to pick it up, but also felt that it was more important to answer the phone. He picked up the call in a flurry.

There was no sound over the phone.

Lin Yanchen suddenly felt nervous and at a loss: “Hey? Hello?”

He couldn’t hear a response, and he felt an indescribable sense of anxiety: “Say something.”

He heard a couple of words that were as light as a feather from the speaker: “Xiao Lin……”

Lin Yanchen felt that his heart was about to burst. It was like his pause button seemed to have been pressed. He stood in place in a daze, his lower lip trembling, but he couldn’t utter a single word.

Chu Xun continued, “I… I know you will be very angry. Don’t be angry with me first. Let me explain to you first, okay?”

“If you don’t speak, I’ll take it as you tacitly agreeing.”

“I really was diagnosed with a terminal illness at that time. I didn’t want to burden you, so I left and destroyed any method of contact.”

“Later, the doctor said that I would not die. I wanted to find you, but I was still ill, and I didn’t have your contact method… I’ve been recuperating for more than a year. Recently, I went back to work. Yesterday, I learned from my former company that you went to look for me, so I got your cell phone number, and I wanted to call you.”

“I don’t know if you still remember me… Maybe you even have another lover now.”

“That time, it was me who didn’t tell you anything and broke everything off, I’m really sorry.”

“I just wanted to say that. If I disturbed you, I apologize to you again”

“Xiao Lin… Xiao Lin?”

Lin Yanchen pinched himself hard, felt the pain, and confirmed that he was not dreaming.

He was still a little worried that it was some supernatural call, but those didn’t usually happen in the daytime, right?

Lin Yanchen finally found his voice and said hoarsely: “…I don’t have one.”

Chu Xun asked, “What do you not have?”

Lin Yanchen said, “I haven’t found another lover, I only like you.”

Chu Xun was both sad and blushing. He didn’t know what to say: “I’m sorry…”

Lin Yanchen asked, “Where are you now? Where in Y City? Tell me where you live and where you work!”

Chu Xun told him systematically and in full detail, then he doubtfully asked, “Are you going to come to find me? When? In a few days?”

Lin Yanchen said without the slightest hesitation, “Now, I’m going to find you now. You wait for me.”

Chu Xun: “I have to go to work… You’re in city B right; so far away, is there enough time? Don’t you have to go to work?”

Lin Yanchen said, “I’ll ask for leave to find you. You wait for me. I will contact you when I arrive.”

They seemed to have said a lot, but it also seemed like they said nothing.

Xiao Lin is coming to find him!

Chu Xun’s heart pounded, but as soon as he went back, he saw the mirror his mother had put in the living room. He thought that recently, he was really ugly. This ugly, how could he go meet Xiao Lin?

He raised the hem of his clothes again and looked at the scar left by the caesarean section on his stomach. Actually, Director Chen’s skill was very good. He had also used scar medicine, but there was still a mark left.

Go see Lin Yanchen like this? The weather was hotter now and he wore thinner clothing. If he wore lighter clothing, you could still see it, so he went to change into a darker color.

On the other side, Lin Yanchen almost directly rushed out of the door. He walked excitedly back and forth in his home, feeling like he was about to explode. In the corner of the room, a fat white cat who was eating raised its head, looked at him and then continued to eat.

He called his assistant immediately: “Arrange the soonest flight to Y City.”

The assistant informed him of a few times. How could they make such last minute arrangements? Even if they bought an airline, it would take time for the domestic flight application. Lin Yanchen frowned and asked, “What about the high-speed rail?”

The assistant checked. There were several high-speed one-day rails from City B to City Y. The soonest one was in half an hour, and the trip would take six hours.

Lin Yanchen said, “Order that one.”

The assistant hesitated and said, “There are only standing tickets left.”

Lin Yanchen said, “Then order a standing ticket.”

Lin Yanchen was about to leave. He stopped when he passed the liquor cabinet. He saw himself in the mirror. His hair had patches of gray…

One word: ugly.

Could he go see Chu Xun with this ghostly appearance?

Fuck! Where was his hair dye?

Did he buy hair dye before?

Notes:

The part about Lin Yanchen and his father understanding each other more and the loquat tree made me tear up ;-;;; At least our ML will be reappearing soon! 😀