Zhou Han steps forward, passes Su Yi Cheng and An Ran, and directly walks over to the front of the hospital bed. He looks at the child on the bed. His brows wrinkle in displeasure.
Then he expressionlessly says, “What did the doctor say.” His tranquil voice did not have a bit of emotion, completely void of the tenseness and fear that one would have for their child.
“Sorry, I didn’t know that he was allergic to seafood.” An Ran speaks up. This situation was her fault. At first the child was sitting quietly and playing with his Transformers, and she gave him whatever to eat. Naturally it was out of good will, but she did not expect things to turn out into this kind of outcome. Thankfully the child is okay, otherwise she would really feel guilty.
Zhou Han doesn’t say anything. He just kept his eyes on the child on the bed, reaches out, a bit unnaturally, and lightly strokes his face. The child seemed to know that his father was here, and dazedly opens his eyes, clearly seeing that the person before his eyes was his own father. His expression seemed to flash brightly, but after the surprise, he looks at the man. He still seemed to be a little afraid, and can only hear him timidly call out, “D-dad.
Zhou Han takes withdraws his hand, and looks at him. His face was already expressionless, and with a strict tone he says, “Why didn’t you listen to me, didn’t I say before, you can’t eat seafood?”
The child’s face immediately turns bleak. He restrains his brows, and says to Zhou Han in a voice so low it was hard to hear, “S-sorry!”
Zhou Han doesn’t say anything. He glances at him, stands up, and turns to look at both An Ran and Su Yi Cheng. His expression was still indifferent expressionless, and says, “Thank you to both of you for sending my child here. If there’s nothing else, please leave first. I can take care of things here.”
“Um, please don’t blame the child. It was my bad, I gave him the seafood noodles.” Looking at his manner, An Ran was afraid that he would blame the child, in fact what would a little child know? They are merely gluttonous, only want to have fun, but those things are not wrong, they are simply a child’s nature. If you had to blame someone, it should be the adult who did not see properly.
Zhou Han doesn’t look at her, and only coldly and ruthlessly say, “It's not anyone else's fault, it was him who wasn’t able to resist, now that it’s come to this, that is what he brought upon himself. This time will be a lesson for him, see if he will do this in the future.”
“Actually----“ An Ran still wanted to say something, but was interrupted by him, “If there’s nothing else you may leave, the doctor must have already said, the child needs to rest now.”
He says so, and An Ran doesn’t say any more, can only shut her mouth, glances at Su Yi Cheng, and only sees Su Yi Cheng smile to placate her, shaking his head.
Just before leaving, An Ran nevertheless couldn’t help but to repeat the words that the doctor just now had said, “Because of the seriousness of the allergy, the child’s stomach is still quite irritated, for the next few days it would be best to eat milder foods, also, the child needs to stay in the hospital for a few days for observation.”
“Thanks, I know.” Zhou Han says coldly. He doesn’t look at them, and just turns to look at the child on the bed.
An Ran turns around again to glance at the child. Finally she turns to leave with Su Yi Cheng.
Along the hospital aisle, Su Yi Cheng with An Ran, with Ye Zi Wen the three of them, walk side by side down the aisle. The atmosphere was a little weird, all three do not say a word.
An Ran was still thinking about the child. That man didn’t look like a qualified father. He seemed too strict with the child, and the child seemed to be very afraid of him. She had some worries that the man wouldn’t take good care of the child.
Contrastly, Ye Zi Wen kept on looking at Su yi Cheng from time to time, wanting to say something several times, but ultimately hesitated and wasn’t able to say anything.
The three people reach the parking lot, Ye Zi Wen and Su Yi Cheng had each driven here. Ye Zi Wen stood beside his own car, and asks the two people, “Are you still going to come with me for the drinking party?” If they hurry back, they may catch the end of it.
Su Yi Cheng glances at An Ran, shakes his head, and says, “Can’t, An Ran’s a bit tired today, we’re just going to go home. If you’re going back to the drinking party help me say sorry to Uncle Xiao.”
Ye Zi Wen nods, doesn’t say any more, opens the car door and gets in. When the car started and passed by Su Yi Cheng and them, it slowly came to a stop. Looking at Su Yi Cheng, Ye Zi Wen ultimately still couldn’t help but ask, “Are you still hung over what happened that year?”
Su Yi Cheng looks at him. Only after a while does he open to say, “No.”
Ye Zi Wen looks at him, faintly sighs and shakes his head. He doesn’t say anything, and drives on.
An Ran watches him. Although she doesn’t really know what Ye Zi Wen meant by the things that year, but she knows that the relationship between Su Yi Cheng and that Zhou Han was not that simple. Or possibly, something had happened between them back then.
After a while, Su Yi Cheng slowly returns back to earth. He turns his head and wears a warm smile, and says, “Let’s go.”
An Ran stares at him. She suddenly felt that she was so far from him, doesn’t understand, his thoughts and mood that he doesn’t speak of, she will never figure him out. He was an expert at disguising his expressions, he can have a sad expression in one second, but also change into an eternal warm smile the next moment, she can’t even see if his mood right now was good or bad.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing her motionless and not answering, Su Yi Cheng asks.
An Ran returns back to earth, and gives him a weak smile, shaking her head, excusing, “Nothing, just thinking, that child should be okay.”
Su Yi Cheng pats his shoulder, smiles, and consoles her, “Relax, didn’t the doctor say a good rest is needed and it’ll be okay. Children recover quickly, don’t worry about it.”
An Ran nods, smiles at him. She opens the door and gets into it.
Su Yi Cheng goes around the head of the car and gets on the other side, then he starts the car and leaves.
In the car, An Ran indistinctly watches the passing nightscape out the window. The time was actually not too late. Tonight, she was actually really tired. She leans against the back of the seat, her dizzy eyes were somewhat heavy. In the midst of the daze she falls asleep.
Su Yi Cheng glances at his passenger. He adjusts the seat for her, so she can half lie down and sleep in a more comfortable position, and turns on the radio. It gives off a gentle song, very soothing, can make one tranquil.
In her drowsiness, An Ran was apparently cold. In her subconsciousness she instinctually wraps her hand around herself, her entire body became compact.
Upon seeing this, Su Yi Cheng switches to the side lane, stops, and takes off his suit jacket to cover An Ran’s body.
Her body suddenly felt heavy. An Ran dazedly opens her eyes, seeing clearly Su Yi Cheng before her eyes, the corner of her mouth turns up, “I fell asleep?”
Su Yi Cheng smiles at her, nods, and says, “Go back to sleep, we’re not there yet, I’ll tell you when we’re there.”
An Ran nods, and once again closes her eyes slowly. Not long after, she falls asleep again.
Su Yi Cheng places a soft kiss on her forehead, then turns around and starts the car to leave.
An Ran doesn’t know when she had reached home, how she got up there by herself, because when she opened her eyes again, she discovered that she was already in the room of their apartment. The lights in the room was not turned on, only the dim dusky moonlight lit the room through the windows. Turning her head, Su Yi Cheng was not there at all. She reaches out and tries to feel for the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was 5 minutes past 1 am. She frowns. She doesn’t know where Su Yi Cheng would go at this time?
She presses the bedside lamp, and lifts the quilt. She was still wearing the clothes from last night, however now they were clearly wrinkled.
She opens the door to leave. The living room was also dusky, no light, and was still illuminated the sprinkle of faint moonlight through the balcony, dusky.
An Ran subconsciously goes towards the studio to look. She doesn’t know if the door was open or closed, because even from the cracks beneath the door, she can’t see any light.
She was doubtful, but at the same time she wasn’t sure where Su Yi Cheng would go this late in the night?
Suddenly she heard a noise from the kitchen. She turns on the light in the living room, looks towards the light, only to see Su Yi Cheng sitting on the high stool in front of the counter, smiling as he was looking at her.
“Why weren’t the lights on?” An Ran frowns and walks over to him. She hadn’t yet reached to his side, but she could smell the alcohol emanating from his body. She looks at what was beside him, only to see that he was still holding a wine cup in his hand, and on top of the counter was a half drunken bottle of wine.
She stands in front of him, An Ran looks at him, with a serious expression, frowning. She looks at the wine cup in his hand, and looks again at the bottle of wine that only had one third remaining. She says, “Why did you drink so much, don’t you know that your stomach isn’t well?”
Su Yi Cheng smiles at her, reaches out to pull on her hand, and asked, “Why did you get up?”
An Ran was a little angry. She pulls her hand out of his grip, and with one hand takes the wine cup from his hand. She sternly says, “Su Yi Cheng, don’t you try to change topic! It’s the middle of the night, drinking this much wine, do you not want your stomach?”
A smile still hangs on his face, and was not at all displeased by her strict tone. Once again he reaches out to pull on her hand, and plays with it on the hollow of his palm. Her hands were really small, soft and supple. Touching it, felt really nice. He pulls on both her hands, shakes his head at her, and soberly says, “Didn’t drink that much.” His capacity for liquor wasn’t that bad. Even if he did drink that much, he would still be clear-headed, have his rationality. His capacity for liquor was trained for that after all those political dining occasions. As to the bleeding stomach, that was merely because he had mixed alcohol, several different alcohols had irritated his stomach, so it caused the recurrence of his stomach illness.
“Didn’t drink that much!” An Ran points at wine that did not have much remaining, “Would you like to drink an entire bottle, would that then be a lot?”
Su Yi Cheng laughs and shakes his head. He pulls her to sit on his lap. His alcohol soaked self buries himself into the nest of her shoulder, and mumbles, “Don’t worry, my capacity for liquor is very good, not drunk.”
“Not drunk! What if you actually were drunk, would it be like last time to hospitalization?” An Ran was really angry, angry that he didn’t understand how to treasure his own health. Obviously it was because he drank so much that it caused his stomach illness to recur, and now he isn’t accepting the lesson at all.
Su Yi Cheng stiffly smiles and draws her in. Clearly he couldn’t help but be glad and secretly delighted getting lectured by her, at the very least he knew that she was very worried about him. This feeling of worrying someone was truly quite good.
“Su Yi Cheng!” An Ran pushes him away, then cups both her hands to his face. Staring into his eyes, she seriously and gravely says, “I’m not joking around, and did not even have the intention to praise you! Stop smiling so mischievously!”
Su Yi Cheng held back his smile. He studies her appearance, and seriously and solemnly nods, “I know. I’ll listen to my wife, if my wife says don’t drink, then from now on I really won’t drink.”
“You’re definitely not listening to me, I told you not to drink tonight, but you, once you got home you started to hide alone and drink a lot.” An Ran angrily jabs his shoulder, and says, “Tell me, is this how you listen to me?” That was clearly just paying lip service.
The smile on Su Yi Cheng’s face turns even more joyous. The wine that he had drank this night, not only did it not ease him, it made him even more depressed, but was swept clean by her. Su Yi Cheng looks at her, earnestly looks at her, then strongly nods his head, “I won’t next time.”
An Ran looks at him for a while. Finally she sighs, and says, “I’m just scared that your stomach will act up again. You scared me to death, moreover the doctor also said, stomach illnesses are the hardest to nurse back. You’re not cherishing yourself.”
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng grabs her and hugs her, drawing her close to his chest. He softly whispers into her ears, “Sorry, I made you worry. I won’t do it again.”
An Ran, still in his embrace, leaning against his chest. Only after a long while does she stuffily says, “Why’d you drink tonight?”
Su Yi Cheng held her. His hands lightly stroke up and down her hair. He faintly says, “Remembered some things.” Some things he thought that he would never ever recall again, but how can things stay forever. The earth is round, even if two people have never met now, there is a chance that they will in the future.
An Ran cautiously asks, “Was it because of that man?” That man they met in the hospital, ever since he stepped into the hospital room, she can clearly feel the heavy tide bubbling between them. She doesn’t know what happened between them, but she can see the expression the trio’s face. It was apparent that whatever it was wasn’t something for them to be delighted over. Besides, when they left the hospital, what Ye Zi Wen said to him, ‘Are you still hung over what happened that year?’ those words, all of this proves that that year, something unpleasant must have happened between him and that man.
Silent for a while, Su Yi Cheng then slowly nods, and answers, “Yes.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?” An Ran asks. Even though she can’t truly help him, but there are some things that perhaps would feel better after talking about it. She may not be able to give him any good opinions or a solution, but she is a very good listener.
Su Yi Cheng doesn’t say anything, and only hugs her tighter.
Calmly waiting for him, An Ran had asked uncertainly. Although they were husband and wife, she wasn’t sure if they would candidly share each other’s past, happy or unhappy.
Suddenly, Su Yi Cheng lets go of her. He stares into her eyes, the corner of his mouth slightly rises, and says, “It’s late, let’s go rest.”
Her chest suddenly felt like something had pressed onto it. An Ran couldn’t say what kind of feeling it is, but it was clear, it was a feeling she doesn’t like, even hates.
An Ran smiles, doesn’t want him to see through her thoughts. She withdraws from his embrace, smiles and nods. She looks down at her own clothes, and says, “Ok. Really is late. I’ll go shower first.” After saying that she turns her head and walks over to the master bedroom.
Su Yi Cheng can see that she has misunderstood. It actually wasn’t because he couldn’t tell her, it’s just that some things, to him, he doesn’t know where to start.
Seeing that she was about to leave, Su Yi Cheng suddenly gets up from the high stool, then ferociously scoops An Ran up into the air.
“Ah! —— “
Being lifted up so suddenly An Ran cried out instinctively. Her arms subconsciously wraps around his shoulders, staring at him in shock. She asks, “You, what are you doing?” Suddenly carrying her like this, it’s good that she doesn’t have a heart disease, otherwise she’d certainly get a heart attack from him.
Su Yi Cheng looks at her, the corner of his mouth hanging a big smile, and says, “I also haven’t showered yet.”
Hearing that, An Ran was stunned. Looking into his eyes she seemed to make out some sort of thoughts and mood. Her body subconsciously backs out. She has a bad premonition, not only that it was a very strong premonition, so strong that she was a little afraid. The scene from several days earlier started to play in her mind again.
Forcing a smile, An Ran tries to reason with him, “How about you wash first? I suddenly remembered that I’m actually not that tired yet, also I haven’t finished my blueprint yet, why don’t you wash up first, then I’ll go back to designing, how about that?”
Su Yi Cheng smiles, the corner of his mouth widens even more, then shakes his head, and says, “The nation advocates the conservation of water.”
“Then?” Conserving water, but then they can’t not shower!
Su Yi Cheng still smiles, not only his smile becomes even stranger, “I am the people’s public servant, it’s only natural that I follow the nation’s call.”
“So you’re not going to shower?” An Ran foolishly asks. Suddenly she thought what if there were some people who do not shower for that reason, then isn’t this advocacy too unreasonable!
Su Yi Cheng suddenly felt defeated. When did he give that kind of suggestion? He clearly did not mean to imply that!
Seeing him not speak, An Ran thought that she had guessed correctly. Seeing that he was still in the mood for discussion, she asks, “Well, I’m not the people’s servant, so about the showering matter, can I not act on the nation’s call? Of course, I will still save water, for example using the water to wash food for watering plants, pouring the water from washing clothes for the toilet.”
Su Yi Cheng stared at her blankly. He couldn’t help but be sceptical about whether or not she was pretending to be naïve on purpose. He was just holding her wordlessly. He carries her towards their room, then carries her into the bathroom, opening the glass door to the shower, and brings her in.
An Ran quickly makes it clear, “I, I can wash by myself, you, you can leave.”
Su Yi Cheng smiles evilly, turns on the shower, and the warm water immediately sprinkles on top of their heads. The clothes on the pair’s body was immediately drenched, not slipping by like the hair on the their heads.
When An Ran was about to shout in panic, she can only hear Su Yi Cheng’s demonic voice whisper into her ears, “When I said I will answer to the nation’s call to save water, I meant that we should shower together. I am the people’s public servant, and you the people’s servant’s wife, don’t you think we should practice what we preach and answer to the nation’s call, en?”
An Ran wanted to cry, just what is this, absurd, this is absolutely preposterous! If two people showering together really can save water then that’s okay, but last time they were in the bath together they were in there close together for more than an hour, how in the word are they saving water, clearly they were wasting the nation’s natural resource! Some say that government officials are only for show, making proposals, bringing up many suggestions, but actually implementing them very rarely.
Then recalling that, she was about to protest, and was about to open up, his tongue in a flash nimbly slips inside, tangling her. Once again she didn’t have the chance to talk, her mouth was blocked up tightly. Apart from kissing, she couldn’t do anything else.
Then, in the fervour, it wasn’t clear who was taking off whose clothes. Mixing in the faint smell of wine, and that sound of running water, made an ambiguous atmosphere in the shower, the temperature hot, then mixing with the sound of the water, was also the low roar of a man, and the sounds of a woman. In the bathroom, was the scene of a charming spring time.
When the emerged from the bathroom, An Ran was already exhausted from head to toe and didn’t want to move, also she couldn’t move. Still in his embrace she let him place her on the bed. She felt him lie down beside her, and embraces her from behind. The two’s body were inseparably close, not even a small crack was between them.
An Ran was so weary that she doesn’t even want to move, her eyelids only fighting against the heaviness. She dazedly gives in to her eyelid’s weight and closes her eyes. When An Ran was about to fall asleep, Su Yi Cheng from behind suddenly faintly starts to say, “His name is Zhou Han. That year he was the one who with Ling Ran had betrayed me, and was formerly my best friend. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you just then, it’s just for a while I didn't know how I should start.”
An Ran suddenly opens her eyes. That sleepiness instantly disappeared into nothing. He said that man was the one who Ling Ran had betrayed with, but he heroically seemed more pitiful.
She turns her body, but her body was being held tightly by him, so she couldn’t even turn.
“Su Yi Cheng…..” An Ran calls out worriedly.
From behind he lets out a low chuckle, leans against her back and shakes his head, says, “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. All of this, I’ve already put to rest long ago. The reason why I drank, was only because meeting him again after all these years, this kind of unexplainable depressing feeling came up. It isn’t because I couldn’t let go.” As it turns out speaking out about some things wasn’t that hard. After talking about it, his entire person felt light.
An Ran doesn’t say anything. Actually it was because she doesn’t really know what to say. She indeed is more suited to listen. She clearly does not have the skill for comforting. She wanted to say something but hesitated a few times. Finally extending her hand, she slowly covers the hand that was encircling her waist, holding it like he was.
From behind Su yi Cheng chuckles, then brings her closer to his embrace, and quietly says, “Alright, go to sleep.”
An Ran nods, her ten fingers were still entwined against his, and it was as if his words had a hypnotising effect, as she slowly and peacefully closes her eyes. Then her consciousness gradually dims away, and she really entered dreamland.
Su Yi Cheng circled around her in fact he wasn’t sleepy at all, and was becoming more and more awake. In the darkness he stares at the ceiling above him. That child seemed to be 5-6 years old, he called Zhou Han father, then what about the mother? Was it Ling Ran?
In his embrace An Ran’s breathing was slowly becoming level. Tonight was truly tiring for her, accompanying her stiffly smiling the entire night, that child suddenly getting an allergic reaction from seafood did not scare her any less, and just now she was tossed around by him for quite a while, so she should be rightfully tired.
Stretching over her stiff body he turns her over, and extracts his hands from her waist. Then he slightly raises her head, so she could use his arm as a pillow. He chuckles, mocking at himself and shaking his head. He shuts his eyes, and falls asleep with her.
When they woke up again the sun was already bright and clear. Today was unexpected, Su Yi Cheng surprisingly did not get up to do his morning exercise, right now he was still lying by her side sleeping soundly.
An Ran moves aside a little to look at the alarm clock by the bedside cabinet. 7:35. She turns to look at the Su Yi Cheng who was fast asleep. She doesn’t know what he was dreaming about or thinking about, the wrinkles on his forehead looked like the word 川 which she didn’t like. She reaches out to smoothen it for him, then looks at him again for a while. Then she carefully turns over and lifts up the quilt to get out of bed.
But when she lifted up the quilt, An Ran was surprised. She lowered her head to look at herself under the quilt, then again her face was hit with a big red flush. Heavens, she wasn’t wearing anything at all!
Then she remembered everything last night, the two were originally discussing about saving water, finally going into the bathroom, during that period of time, neither of them had even thought of going to the wardrobe to grab pyjamas to change into!
She turns to look at the Su Yi Cheng who was fast asleep. Certain that his eyes were still shut, still lying down, she carefully gets off the bed, and as fast as lightning she goes over to the wardrobe, as if she was worried the person on the bed would waken midway, An Ran grabbed a pair of clothes from the wardrobe, at the same time turning her head to take a look at the person on the bed, and with great difficulty grabs the outfit she had planned to wear today, and rushes into the bathroom.
Only she didn’t discover, that face that appeared solemn, when she got out of the bed to grab a change of clothes, from time to time the corner of his mouth faintly carried a smile.
Waiting until An Ran was changed and washed and emerged from the washroom, Su Yi Cheng still had not awakened, still maintaining the posture from before. An Ran neatly grabs the clothes that he had planned to wear today from the wardrobe, then places it aside on the bed. This way, he can see it when he wakes up.
After doing all of this, An Ran then slowly retreats from the bedroom.
Su Yi Cheng from the moment she left the room and closed the door, the Su Yi Cheng on the bed suddenly opens his eyes, looks at the clothes at the head of the bed. A faint smile forms on his face.
When Su Yi Cheng was all dressed up, and was all washed up, when he left the bedroom, An Ran was making breakfast at the time. Seeing him come out, she specially turns to smile at him and say, “It’ll be ready soon.”
Su Yi Cheng nods, like her former appearance, he sits down before the counter and waits, waits a little while for the breakfast that she had prepared for him today.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
Wassup! I'm back. Another big thanks to Joe for helping me out with this chapter! Definitely learning a lot from him :)
Next Chapter
Wassup! I'm back. Another big thanks to Joe for helping me out with this chapter! Definitely learning a lot from him :)
