Chapter 45

Chen Qing then realized that today was his wedding day, and this would be his home from now on.

He sat back on the edge of the bed, somewhat flustered, looking embarrassed and nervous, his breathing slowing down considerably.

Zhou Yuan sensed his nervousness and took his hand to sit with him on the edge of the bed: "Your things were delivered a couple of days ago, do you want to unpack them now?"

It's good to shift your focus sometimes, Chen Qing nodded.

Zhou Yuan brought in the box that was in another room. He had seen this wooden box before; it used to be placed by Chen Qing's bedside.

He didn't let Chen Qing do it; instead, he made him sit on the bed and opened Chen Qing's box himself.

Grandma Sun packed the box very neatly. On top were Chen Qing's everyday clothes, in the middle were his personal clothing, and at the bottom were some of Chen Qing's trinkets.

Zhou Yuan took all of Chen Qing's clothes out of the box. His own wardrobe was large, but he didn't have many clothes; there were only a few scattered pieces.

But Chen Qing didn't have many clothes, and even if they were all put in, they would only take up less than a third of the space. Zhou Yuan thought that he would have to buy Chen Qing a lot of clothes in the future, and he could also build a few cabinets in that room to store Chen Qing's clothes.

After tidying up his outer garments, all that was left were some undergarments, which Zhou Yuan was about to reach for.

Chen Qing blushed, walked to Zhou Yuan's side, and pressed down on Zhou Yuan's hand that was holding his clothes: "I can do it myself."

Zhou Yuan put it down, but didn't leave. Instead, he stayed by his side and said, "I noticed that your clothes were always on the bedside table."

With a flushed face, Chen Qing hurriedly put the small clothes into the closet before saying, "It's because the previous closet was too small to fit them." He used to live in Meng Tao's room, which contained many of Meng Tao's old things. He was too embarrassed to squeeze his own things in, so he put them all by the bedside.

After packing up the baby clothes, all that was left were Chen Qing's daily necessities: a sewing kit, a few unfinished handkerchiefs, a few purses, and some miscellaneous trinkets.

Zhou Yuan seemed very interested in these things and asked him about them one by one. Since it was too inconvenient to squat on the ground, Zhou Yuan put all the things in the box on the bed.

Underneath the thick quilt was a large pile of red dates and peanuts. Chen Qing sat up half-heartedly at night, not daring to press down on them. Zhou Yuan seemed to have also noticed the red dates and peanuts under the bed, so he simply lifted them up and swept them to the innermost part of the bed.

After doing all that, Zhou Yuan pressed his shoulder and made him sit on the bed. After thinking for a moment, he bent down and helped him take off his shoes.

He held Chen Qing's feet in his hands and realized that Chen Qing's feet were also small. Because they were not exposed to sunlight for many years, his feet were so white that they were translucent.

Chen Qing tried to pull his foot back, but Zhou Yuan held it tightly.

"You, you shouldn't do this, it's dirty." Chen Qing couldn't pull his foot back, his voice trembling.

Zhou Yuan lifted his feet and helped him sit on the bed. The two were very close, their breaths mingling.

Chen Qing sat a little further into the bed, looking at the bed full of his little things, feeling a little embarrassed.

Besides what we just saw, there were many scraps of cloth, some of which were leftovers from when we made clothes for Zhou Yuan.

He counted them one by one, and there were many other things Zhou Yuan had bought for him, such as hairbands and bracelets, which he had never been able to use. Finally, there were a few purses on the bed.

Chen Qing's own purse was originally embroidered with a goose pattern, but Sun Lao Er took it when the Sun family came last time, so Chen Qing cut it up. The purse he uses now is very plain, with only an orchid on it.

"I made these. They were originally for Li Xin, but he thought the color was too dark, so I kept them." Chen Qing picked up two indigo-blue purses, while Zhou Yuan's gaze fell on another purse that was almost buried under the quilt.

Although he didn't understand needlework, he could tell that the embroidery on these purses was different from the other one.

Chen Qing also noticed him looking at the purse, so he said, "Did I tell you before? Before I came to Luohe Village, I was taken back by an old man."

Zhou Yuan picked up the purse, and the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

Chen Qing also chimed in: "This was the gift she gave me when she got engaged to me. Later, after I took care of her funeral arrangements, I kept this purse as a memento."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Zhou Yuan, but Zhou Yuan seemed not to be listening to him at all. Chen Qing blinked: "Zhou Yuan?"

He thought it was Zhou Yuan who minded, and his heart sank. By that calculation, this was already his third marriage...

As if suddenly remembering something, Zhou Yuan quickly went to the wardrobe that had just been closed and took out the things he had brought from his hometown. He put all of his grandmother's clothes into the cenotaph for his grandmother, keeping only one as a memento.

Chen Qing followed behind him: "What's wrong?"

He rummaged through the pile of things for a while before finally finding a purse. Chen Qing stood there, stunned.

The two purses are almost identical.

He stared blankly at Zhou Yuan: "This..."

Zhou Yuan put the two purses together, then hugged Chen Qing tightly: "It's you?"

When he returned home, the villagers said that his grandmother had passed away, leaving only a bare grave mound. They said that the husband his grandmother had prepared to buy for her was the one who would be buried with her.

When I returned to the dilapidated house, cobwebs had covered the entire front door, and when I pushed the door open, I was greeted by the smell of dust.

Unlike Luohe Village, his hometown has no mountains or rivers; when the wind blows, it almost blows the whole house off.

The things in the house had been blown into a mess by the wind. Zhou Yuan went into his grandmother's room and opened the cabinet.

Inside were my grandmother's clothes, neatly folded.

Later, when he was preparing to leave his hometown, he took these clothes from his grandmother. While packing, he found a purse wrapped in one of the clothes. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time and quickly forgot about it.

Unexpectedly, this purse was a pair with the one in Chen Qing's hand.

He hugged Chen Qing very tightly, and Chen Qing felt a little breathless, but he didn't say anything, he just patted Zhou Yuan's back lightly.

“When I was packing my things to go there, I heard someone say that my grandmother had passed away.” Chen Qinghui hugged him. “Because my grandmother had given a deposit, I told the manager that I wanted to do something for her.”

“But there was so little I could do.” Chen Qing’s voice choked with emotion. “I didn’t have any money back then, so I could only hastily dig a hole and set off a string of firecrackers.”

Zhou Yuan slowly released him, cupped his face in his large hands, and said, "You've done very well."

His voice was hoarse, and he kissed Chen Qing on the forehead again: "So you were always meant to be mine."

If his grandmother hadn't passed away unexpectedly, Chen Qing would have been waiting for him to return to his home.

After all the twists and turns, what's meant to be his should be his.

Chen Qing rubbed his eyes, sighing that it all seemed like a circle; after all these years, they had ended up back where they started.

Zhou Yuan pulled him back to the bedside. At this moment, neither of them was in the mood to pack Chen Qing's things anymore. Zhou Yuan stuffed them all back into the box and then pressed Chen Qing down onto the bed.

Chen Qing had just shed tears, and his eyes were still red. He was still a little shy and didn't dare to look Zhou Yuan in the eye.

Zhou Yuan was overwhelmed with emotions, almost to the point of overflowing. He looked at Chen Qing and slowly leaned down.

This wasn't their first kiss, but Zhou Yuan was much more eager than the first time. Chen Qing was a little out of breath, and his hands, unsure of what to do, could only pull at his hair.

Zhou Yuan slowed down a little, his emotions rising, and the effects of the alcohol seemed to return. He kissed Chen Qing's forehead, eyes, and ears one kiss after another, saying over and over again, "Mine, mine."

Their bridal chamber was decorated by Li Xin, and the red gauze curtains on the bed were a wedding gift from Li Xin to them.

Aside from a minor mishap at the beginning, Chen Qing's wedding night could be described as perfect.

Chen Qing felt the gauze curtain in front of him swaying incessantly, so much so that he couldn't focus his eyes. He tried to reach out and grab it, but it was difficult. He seemed to have broken free, and the red gauze curtain was getting closer and closer to him.

Just as he was about to touch it, a strong force grabbed his foot, and the gauze curtain in front of him became very, very far away.

"Zhou, Zhou Yuan," Chen Qing's voice was barely audible.

"Um?"

"No, it won't work."

"knew."

Knowing something is one thing, but doing it is another.

The fluttering gauze curtains couldn't save Chen Qing; his gaze was unfocused, and he no longer knew what the world was like.

The pair of dragon and phoenix candles in the room burned out just before dawn, but the noise inside the room didn't stop until daybreak.

Zhou Yuan quickly put on his clothes, went to the kitchen to boil water, and brought it to Chen Qing to wipe his body. After doing this, he climbed back into bed and hugged Chen Qing. However, Chen Qing couldn't sleep soundly and occasionally let out a soft sob.

Chen Qing rolled over again, seemingly pulling on something, so Zhou Yuan simply let him lie on top of him and continue sleeping.

In ordinary families, it is customary to get up early to pay respects to the parents-in-law upon marriage, but since Zhou Yuan has no parents, this step is naturally omitted.

Chen Qing woke up groggily, but when he tried to get up, he found that he didn't even have the strength to move a finger. He groaned, and Zhou Yuan pressed on his waist, saying that it was still early and he could sleep a little longer.

As soon as Zhou Yuan finished speaking, Chen Qing fell into a deep sleep again.

When he woke up again, it was the morning of the third day, and he was awakened by hunger.

"Zhou Yuan?" Chen Qing's voice was also terribly hoarse, as if boiling water had been poured into his throat, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Zhou Yuan, who was in the main room, heard him and quickly came in: "You're awake?"

Chen Qing's lower body was still numb, and any movement felt like it was about to fall apart.

"Are you hungry? I cooked something to eat." Zhou Yuan looked at his swollen eyelids and lips, and the purplish hickeys on his neck. Zhou Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed.

"What time is it?" Chen Qing asked.

"It's the middle of the morning." Zhou Yuan brought over a bowl of white rice porridge, helped him up, and slowly fed him.

"It's already past 9 AM?" Chen Qing swallowed a mouthful of porridge; he had never gotten up this late before.

"Anyway, there's nothing else to do, you can sleep a little longer. You're not going back to your parents' home until tomorrow," Zhou Yuan said. "Rest a little longer after you eat."

Chen Qing was somewhat puzzled: "The homecoming ceremony is tomorrow? Isn't it three days later?"

Zhou Yuan said with a smile, "Today is April 17th."

"ah?"

Chen Qing was incredulous. He tried to sit up, but his back ached so much he couldn't straighten up: "I slept all day?"

Zhou Yuan scratched his head: "You're too tired, take a rest."

Zhou Yuan had been holding it in for too long, and because Chen Qing had initially laughed out loud without thinking, things got out of control.

"You can't blame me for that. Who told you to laugh out loud?"

Chen Qing then remembered that there had indeed been such an incident that night. He saw the shock and frustration on Zhou Yuan's face, and Chen Qing, who was usually good at hiding his emotions, broke down in an instant and laughed.

The original romantic atmosphere was completely destroyed by Chen Qing's smile, and Zhou Yuan then began his assault that night. Chen Qing was imprisoned in a small bed, with the bed curtains beside him being his lifeline that he could never reach.

Chen Qing lowered his eyes, silent, and a little shy, his cheeks and ears turning red, which took a while to fade.

After finishing a bowl of porridge, he lay back down on the bed, turning his back to Zhou Yuan, not wanting to look at him.

Zhou Yuan added, "Li Xin came to see you yesterday."

Chen Qing covered his head with the blanket; he was truly too ashamed to face anyone now.