The living room was empty.
Lu Xingmian liked to be on the balcony, therefore Lu Shiran went to check but the balcony was empty. Lu Shiran quickly searched every room in the house but couldn’t find Lu Xingmian anywhere. He tried to call but it went unanswered.
For a moment, Lu Shiran’s mind almost stopped working. It was very likely Lu Xingmian had run away. He had driven Lu Xingmian away with his anger and he was filled with regret. He shouldn’t have stayed in the study for so long and left Lu Xingmian alone in the living room. What happened today was his fault. Lu Xingmian had wanted a happy date, and he had ruined it. The mere thought of Lu Xingmian rushing out of the fire filled him with panic and fear. He was terrified of losing Lu Xingmian and couldn’t bear the slightest possibility of it.
Zheng Minyou was at home when he heard a sudden, urgent, and heavy knocking at his door. He was a little confused about who would be looking for him at this hour only to see Lu Shiran standing there when he opened the door. Zheng Minyou was stunned. It was already rare for Lu Shiran to seek him out, but it was even rarer to see this kind of expression on his face. Lu Shiran’s eyes looked terrifying.
“Is Lu Xingmian here?” Lu Shiran asked.
“Huh?” Zheng Minyou was bewildered. “Why would he be here? He’s not here.”
“Are you sure?” Lu Shiran asked.
Zheng Minyou stepped back and invite him to come in and look for himself. “He’s really not.”
Lu Shiran quickly searched the apartment. Aside from Zheng Minyou, there was no one else there. Seeing his expression, Zheng Minyou understood. “Did you two have a fight?”
“I made him angry.” Lu Shiran said.
Zheng Minyou thought about Lu Xingmian’s soft, incredibly gentle nature and how much he adored Lu Shiran. For Lu Shiran to have made him so angry that he would leave home, he must have done something truly unforgivable. Zheng Minyou called Lu Xingmian but couldn’t get through either. “What did you do to make him so mad?”
Lu Shiran didn’t say anything and just turned to leave to continue his search. Zheng Minyou quickly grabbed his jacket. “I’ll help you look.” He had rarely seen Lu Shiran so tense. This must be serious.
After leaving Zheng Minyou’s place, Lu Shiran suddenly realized a problem. He had no idea where to look for Lu Xingmian. Once Lu Xingmian was out of his sight, he was like a kite with a broken string that was impossible to track. There was one more place Lu Xingmian might go.
On the way to Yancheng University, Lu Shiran called Assistant Chen and told him to use his connections to find Lu Xingmian. Lu Shiran searched all over Yancheng University but didn’t find him. He kept trying to call but Lu Xingmian’s phone was still unreachable.
Losing contact with Lu Xingmian so suddenly sent Lu Shiran into a full-blown panic. The countless messages he sent went unanswered. Zheng Minyou called to tell Lu Shiran that Wang Yichuan and their other friends were also helping to look for him. He told him not to worry since Yancheng wasn’t that big, they would surely find him soon.
After searching the area around his neighborhood, Lu Shiran called Lu Yu. He could tell from the conversation that it was even more unlikely that Lu Xingmian would have gone to him. His luxury car turned and sped toward Yan Jiao, driving straight to where Lu Xingmian used to live. The room was just as it had been and was covered in a thick layer of dust. There were no signs that anyone had been there at all.
Lu Xingmian had not returned.
Lu Shiran knew it was impossible for Lu Xingmian to come back here but he still held on to a glimmer of hope. What if, by some chance, he had? Even for a one-in-ten-thousand chance, he had to check. As he went downstairs, he ran into the grandmother from downstairs, who was coming back from her square dance. She was very happy to see him.
“Xiao Lu’s brother? Have you two come back?” She asked, already aware that he was not Lu Xingmian’s biological brother but his boyfriend.
Lu Shiran greeted her and asked, “Grandma, have you seen Lu Xingmian?”
Grandma Xie said, “No. No one’s been living upstairs since you moved out. Didn’t Xiao Lu come back with you?”
Lu Shiran got back in his car while staring blankly ahead. If Lu Xingmian wasn’t here, where could he be? Where would he go? The messages he sent were never answered, the call was still unreachable, and Zheng Minyou and the others hadn’t heard anything from Lu Xingmian either. Lu Shiran gripped the steering wheel. It was so late. Where on earth was Lu Xingmian? Just then, Assistant Chen’s call came in.
Lu Xingmian was walking aimlessly on the streets and still feeling very aggrieved. He had tried to comfort Lu Shiran and apologize all evening, but Lu Shiran was still angry. Did he not like him anymore? If he didn’t, he didn’t need to say anything; he would leave on his own.
After leaving the apartment complex, he got on a random bus. Now he was sitting on the street. He looked at his phone; it was past 11 PM which means he had been out for several hours. He didn’t know where he could go but he knew he didn’t want to go back. Lu Shiran was still angry and he still felt aggrieved.
There were many WeChat messages on his phone and a lot of missed calls from Lu Shiran. He assumed Lu Shiran was calling to yell at him again, so he had simply switched to airplane mode. He could be angry too.
Having nowhere else to go, he thought about finding Song Yihan and the others, hoping they would let him stay for a night. But just as he was about to send the message, Lu Xingmian deleted it.
He didn’t want to bother anyone or make his friends worry. It would be better to just find a hotel for the night.
Lu Xingmian decided he wouldn’t talk to Lu Shiran tonight. After all, Lu Shiran had left him alone in the living room, ignored him, and had been mad at him all night.
He knew that Lu Shiran would definitely be angry about him running away, but he couldn’t care less right now. Lu Shiran had been angry all night anyway.
Lu Xingmian was sitting on the side of the road while sulking when his stomach grumbled. He hadn’t eaten anything all evening and had been walking on the streets for so long that he was starving.
He bought a box of takoyaki and sat on the curb to eat it.
Alone with no place to go on a late night like this, he hadn’t even eaten the cake he bought that afternoon and had been scolded by Lu Shiran as well, the more Lu Xingmian thought about it, the more he felt sorry for himself.
He wasn’t sure if there was more wasabi in the takoyaki than usual or something else but Lu Xingmian’s eyes began to sting, and his nose felt sour. Tears started to stream down his face.
He’d take a bite of the takoyaki, then wipe his eyes. He wasn’t crying because of Lu Shiran, he told himself. He was only crying because the wasabi sauce was too spicy.
A beautiful young man sat alone on the street in the middle of the night, crying as he ate takoyaki, looking utterly pitiful.
Two women passing by saw him crying so hard and whispered, “How much wasabi did they put in there for him to cry like this?”
Lu Xingmian cried and cried only to realize the spot he was sitting in was the exact place where Lu Shiran had appeared before and taken him home. But this time, he was all alone.
He was truly hungry, so he just lowered his head and ate his food quietly without even notice a figure approaching him.
A shadow then fell over him. Lu Xingmian slowly looked up to see that the person blocking the light was Lu Shiran. Lu Shiran had actually found him here. With the light behind him, Lu Xingmian couldn’t make out his expression, but he knew that Lu Shiran wasn’t here to apologize.
Lu Xingmian had made up his mind and lowered his head to continue eating.
The moment he saw Lu Xingmian, Lu Shiran’s eyes suddenly turned red. The heart that had been stretched to its limit finally began to steady.
Before finding him, Lu Shiran had a dark thought to lock Lu Xingmian in the house and not let him leave for even a single step.
But after seeing Lu Xingmian, Lu Shiran wanted to bring him all the best things in the world.
Lu Xingmian was sitting on the side of the road while eating takoyaki with his eyes and nose red, and when he looked up at Lu Shiran, his eyes were full of tears. Lu Shiran’s heart ached with regret at that moment.
His “Zai Zai,” his “little one,” must have been tired, hungry, and scared all night. The person who caused all this was none other than the one who had sworn to protect Lu Xingmian.
He crouched down in front of Lu Xingmian and said in the softest voice he had ever used, “Zai Zai, let’s go home. I’ve come to take you home.”
Lu Xingmian took a bite of the takoyaki, sniffled, and remained silent. Both of his eyes and cheeks were red since he had been crying for a long time.
Lu Shiran’s heart felt as if it had been hit by a jackhammer. “I’m sorry, Zai Zai. It’s my fault. I apologize. I was wrong.”
Hearing his apology, Lu Xingmian pursed his lips. He had expected Lu Shiran to come and drag him home to settle the score, not to apologize. But the thought of what happened earlier still made him angry, and tears started to fall again.
Lu Shiran reached out to wipe his tears away. They were hot, scalding his fingertips and aching his heart.
Lu Xingmian pushed his hand away. “Who are you? I don’t know you. Don’t touch me.”
“I’m your boyfriend,” Lu Shiran said softly. “Your boyfriend is here to apologize. Your boyfriend is here to take you home.”
Lu Xingmian replied, “I’m not going back. I don’t have a home, and I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Lu Shiran thought he had a strong mental fortitude but hearing Lu Xingmian say that, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain. This was his just desserts; he deserved this.
“How can you not?” Lu Shiran said gently as he continued to wipe away the tears. “I’m your boyfriend. Our home is in Shanglin Manor. Let’s go home, Zai Zai. When we get home, Laogong will make you something delicious. You must be starving.”
Lu Xingmian turned away to ignore Lu Shiran and ate the last two takoyaki balls. He was truly starving.
Lu Shiran’s voice was a little choked up. “Little ancestor, please don’t torment me anymore.”
“Who’s tormenting you? You’re the one who’s bullying me,” Lu Xingmian said with tears streaming down his face. “You bullied me, and you yelled at me as well. My arm and shoulder still hurt from where you grabbed me. You also left me alone in the living room and ignored me. Lu Shiran, if you don’t love me anymore, just tell me directly. You don’t even have to kick me out; I’ll leave on my own.”
Lu Shiran’s heart twisted. He knelt on the ground and pulled the person he cherished most into his arms, kissing his cheek. “When did I ever say I didn’t love you?”
Lu Xingmian struggled to break free but he couldn’t push the person in front of him away. Lu Xingmian bit Lu Shiran’s shoulder as he cried. He bit down hard in order to let out all the hurt and frustration from the entire night. He cried while he bit. He was like a fierce little beast biting the big beast who had bullied him.
Lu Shiran’s expression remained calm as he gently held him, repeating over and over, “I’m sorry, Zai Zai. I’m sorry.”
After a while, Lu Xingmian finally let go. He saw deep teeth marks on Lu Shiran’s shirt, a testament to how hard he had bitten down.
“If you’re still angry, you can keep biting me,” Lu Shiran said. “Bite me until you’re not mad anymore.”
Lu Xingmian didn’t say anything.
Lu Shiran took Lu Xingmian’s hand and hit himself on the cheek with it. “Or you can hit me. Hit me until you’ve calmed down.”
Lu Xingmian said, “Go away.”
Lu Shiran smiled. “You can’t bring yourself to hit me, right? You feel bad for me. My love, don’t be angry anymore. You can punish me however you want when we get home.”
“Lu Xingmian, I love you.”
Lu Xingmian’s tears hadn’t stopped all night. “Lu Shiran, if you ever dare to yell at me again, I’ll ignore you forever.”
… (=_=;)