Chapter 23: Ji Qingyu is half-asleep...
Ji Qingyu was half asleep, his wrist was a little cold, and a hand was placed on his forehead. He had overestimated his body. The next day, he developed a high fever.
The family doctor arrived early in the morning, prescribed fever reducer, and bandaged his wrist.
Today was a rare beautiful day. A gentle breeze rustled through the treetops, and the lawn and trees outside the window were bathed in a golden hue. He opened the window and gazed at the scenery outside to clear his mind.
Fu Han is gone again, he's disappeared once more. He's always so capricious, doing whatever he wants.
Despite his illness, Ji Qingyu stayed home to recuperate for a few days. He noticed that there was some new equipment in the piano room, many of which were used in their last stage play. Someone had approached him to ask him to compose music for a new stage play. It wasn't a big project, and since he had nothing else to do, he accepted the offer.
Ji Qingyu met with the person in charge at a coffee shop. After listening to the requirements, which were nothing more than asking him to write a few songs with simple melodies, and the offered price was reasonable, the two sides verbally agreed on the terms.
Ji Qingyu stopped by Luo Sheng's house on his way; it was his first time visiting Luo Sheng's home.
Luo Sheng's small house is halfway up the mountain, surrounded by a small garden. When Ji Qingyu went there, Luo Sheng was planting saplings, so Ji Qingyu helped her plant them.
"Uncle, would you like to participate in the stage play project? They are still short of choreographers. You are so professional, can I recommend you to them?" Ji Qingyu used her uninjured hand to fill the pit with soil and flatten the sides of the tree.
"I won't join in the fun. At my age, I'm content with nothing but the occasional indulgence." Luo Sheng had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and he seemed to be in much better spirits.
“But you,” Luo Sheng said, “you’re still young. Don’t be like this old man. Life needs some passion. Look at you, you always look like you’re in a bad mood.”
Ji Qingyu thought to herself, "If I come to help you cut down trees every day, I won't think about those things that make me feel bad."
The two of them quietly planted a row of saplings in one afternoon. Ji Qingyu wiped her sweat and looked at the trees, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.
“Xiaoyu, you should come more often. I think I need you here.” Luo Sheng patted Ji Qingyu’s shoulder. “What happened to your hand? Fu Han didn’t do it, did he? If he dares to do something like that, I’ll help you beat him up.”
"No." Ji Qingyu shook his head reluctantly. Luo Sheng continued to offer Ji Qingyu cigarettes, but Ji Qingyu still refused. For some reason, he felt that his physical strength had become very poor recently, and the smell of cigarettes was particularly pungent.
"Uncle, how did you escape back then?" Ji Qingyu had always been curious about this.
"Me?" Luo Sheng glanced at Ji Qingyu, then poured himself a glass of wine. "I just went to the place I had scouted out on a day when Fu Yunbai was fast asleep, and the servants helped me."
"Oh dear, I promised to quit smoking and drinking," Luo Sheng said, but showed no intention of actually giving up cigarettes. "Qingyu, you're asking me this, are you still planning to leave?"
Birds flew across the forest, and Ji Qingyu sat on a wooden stake. The air in the forest was exceptionally fresh. He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and scratched the pebbles with a small twig. He didn't say anything.
"Alright." Luo Sheng put out his cigarette. "You and Xiao Han still have a chance to turn things around. Are you really not going to reconsider?"
Ji Qingyu shook her head. Who can predict matters of the heart? When you're in love, no one can persuade you to break up. But when you feel you've reached your limit, you don't want to continue anymore, and no amount of persuasion will help.
The two sat for a while longer. As night grew late, Luo Sheng went inside to cook, while Ji Qingyu gazed alone at the vast mountains, her heart filled with desolation.
During dinner, Ji Qingyu poked at the mushroom soup and bread with her fork, and finally spoke up: "Uncle, do you and Fu Han have a good relationship?"
“Okay, he’s not the same when he was a child. He was very clingy. I still prefer him as he was back then. He’s not very affectionate now.” Luo Sheng complained, “You don’t know how cute he was when he was a child. Even Fu Yunbai back then sometimes couldn’t resist his clinginess.”
"Really?" Ji Qingyu couldn't imagine it. In his impression, Fu Han was always aloof, never bowing his head, arrogant and fierce, and had nothing to do with the word "clingy".
His phone rang again. Fu Han had been contacting him a lot lately, and he figured it was probably that strange possessiveness acting up again. He answered, and sure enough, the other end asked, "Where are you? It's already 7 p.m.
"I'm with Uncle Luo," Ji Qingyu replied slowly, not wanting to say more to Fu Han, his voice soft and perfunctory.
Luo Sheng looked up at him. Ji Qingyu was dressed very simply today, wearing a white cashmere top and her hair was falling over her shoulders. She was also wearing a wedding ring, perhaps at Fu Han's request.
His expression showed a hint of impatience, as if he noticed Luo Sheng looking at him. Ji Qingyu raised his head and smiled, then slightly bent his finger, making the wedding ring disappear and the bandage on his wrist stand out even more.
Today, Luo Sheng made chicken and mushroom soup. Afraid that Ji Qingyu wouldn't like it, she also cooked plain noodles, cut some coarse wheat bread she made herself, and poured a glass of ice water with soda.
Ji Qingyu seemed uninterested, and he just gave perfunctory replies, not knowing what the other person was saying.
The atmosphere between the two people on the phone was like the gloomy weather before a storm.
A few fine raindrops fell outside the window. Fu Han was silent for a while, then calmly said, "I'm still at the company. I'll go there on my way home after get off work."
"No need, I can sleep at Uncle Luo's tonight. You're busy with work, and it's raining so hard outside, it's not safe for you to come over." His fingers were digging into the rim of the glass, where tiny bubbles were forming in the baking soda.
Luo Sheng reached out and covered Ji Qingyu's hand.
This small wooden cabin, like an isolated island, was caught in the increasingly intense downpour. The television was showing news, some trivial entertainment gossip.
"The copyright dispute between Ji Ran and Fu Han has come to an end. An insider revealed that the two brothers got into a fight at the dinner party, possibly because they were jealous of Fu Han."
"I'll come pick you up and take you home for the night." Fu Han didn't intend to discuss it with Ji Qingyu at all. He heard some sounds of discussion and flipping through documents around him. Someone was asking about something. Fu Han said a few words to the person, his voice turning colder and leaving no room for doubt, "Just wait for me there."
When Luo Sheng looked at Ji Qingyu, she noticed that he looked worried and seemed to have lost weight recently. He looked much better during the stage play. She wondered what had happened to him.
Luo Sheng patted Ji Qingyu's hand: "Qingyu, if you don't want to go back, I'll talk to him properly. He can usually listen to what I say."
Ji Qingyu lowered her gaze and shook her head, tightening her grip on the dishes as if lost in thought. She stood up and said, "Uncle Luo, I'll go wash the dishes."
Luo Sheng sensed that Ji Qingyu seemed lost in thought all day, as if she had something to say but didn't say it.
After dinner, Ji Qingyu nestled on the sofa in Luo Sheng's cottage to review today's cooperation proposal. He was going to read through the script for the stage play.
This stage play is about a love triangle. A female omega falls in love with an older female omega, but the older woman is already married and has a happy marriage with a male alpha.
Ji Qingyu sat on the sofa, unconsciously biting her fingers. This was so immoral, the dramatic tension was off the charts, it was like the difference between an adult and a child compared to Grimm's Fairy Tales.
From his own perspective, he wasn't good at this kind of subject matter, but he had always wanted to give it a try.
Fu Han said he wanted to come, but with such heavy rain, the mountain roads were difficult to traverse, and he didn't want Fu Han to take such a risk. Besides, even if he went back, what would they have to say to each other?
Thinking this, he lowered his head to look at the script. The girl said to the older man, "Teacher, I love you. I know our relationship goes against the world, I know it is not tolerated by the world, but I love you."
Ji Qingyu pressed a few dots on his work tablet with his pen. Luo Sheng sat down next to him without him noticing and poured him a glass of warm water.
Ji Qingyu looked up, somewhat bewildered. Luo Sheng, standing beside him, asked, "What are you looking at so intently?"
The light and shadow in the cabin were warm and bright, as was Luo Sheng's. Perhaps because Fu Han forced her to undergo regular treatments, Luo Sheng's complexion had improved considerably.
"Uncle, I want a divorce." Ji Qingyu turned to the last page of the script; the two of them hadn't reached a good conclusion. The girl died in the end, and the teacher didn't get a divorce either.
"Qingyu, you need to think this through carefully and make all the necessary arrangements," Luo Sheng said. "Sometimes, you think that if you give your all, you will get a good result, but in reality, it only hurts yourself and others in the end. It's better to cut your losses in time and get out as soon as possible."
"You came here today to ask for my opinion, right?" Luo Sheng said. "Don't worry, even though I have many problems in my life after I ran away, I don't regret it."
Before Luo Sheng could finish speaking, the white light outside the window shone brightly.
The torrential rain continued unabated. There was a knock on the door of the wooden house, and a person stood outside. A black umbrella was placed over the door. He lowered his head and walked into the small wooden house, bringing with him a damp chill.
Ji Qingyu curled her fingers slightly and slowly moved away from him. The cigarette in Luo Sheng's hand was still burning. Fu Han nodded to Luo Sheng, and the next second he reached out to grab Ji Qingyu's forearm.
"Come on, come back with me."
Ji Qingyu glanced back at Luo Sheng, who smiled at him. Love must exist in the world, but people always think that the moment of love will last forever. But how long can that flame of passion burn?
Ji Qingyu was unaware of this; all he could feel was a lingering pain. If he could, he would rather he had never met Fu Han at eighteen, so he could live peacefully on his own.
"Fu Han." Ji Qingyu was pulled away. The black umbrella was a bit crowded, so the two of them had to stand very close together. Ji Qingyu lagged behind Fu Han by half a step and called out "alpha" woodenly. In the rainy night, he could only see Fu Han's broad back. Fu Han did not turn around or respond.
Fu Han's palms were warm, and being held like that brought comfort to Ji Qingyu. She looked down at their clasped hands.
After a few years of stunned silence, perhaps because of Luo Sheng, Ji Qingyu finally mustered up her courage, opened her mouth, and continued speaking to herself: "Fu Han, listen to me, you actually married a troublemaker. I, is it unnecessary for us to continue? You've already established a relationship with the Ji family, so whether I'm there or not doesn't really make much difference."
The sneakers made a soft rustling sound as they stepped on the grass. Ji Qingyu lowered her head, swallowed slightly, and her Adam's apple bobbed. Fu Han slowed his pace for two seconds, then continued walking forward as if he hadn't heard her.
Ji Qingyu thought her voice was too soft, so she raised her voice and repeated herself, trying to persuade Fu Han to turn back from his wrong path again.
“Right now, I’m at home, and neither of us is comfortable. We’re always arguing. Otherwise, for your own sake, let’s find some time… to get a divorce.” Ji Qingyu’s voice trailed off as he spoke, and he didn’t know why, but he felt a little guilty.
The damp chill in the air spread once again, and the light from the small house behind him grew farther and farther away. Ji Qingyu didn't expect Fu Han to stop so suddenly. He was looking down at Fu Han's shadow when he bumped into Fu Han's back. His nose stung, and tears streamed down his face from the pain.
He covered his face with his hands, tears welling up in his eyes.
Fu Han turned around, expressionless, grabbed Ji Qingyu's forearm, and threw her to the car door.
The car doors were soaked with rainwater, Ji Qingyu's back was completely wet, and Fu Han's umbrella was still covering her head, with water droplets hitting the car roof with a dull thud.
Fu Han lowered his eyes and uttered the longest sentence he had uttered since their meeting that day: "Ji Qingyu, you want a divorce after you've played me? How can you be so naive? You think you can just come and go as you please?"
Ji Qingyu didn't know why she was so perceptive. Fu Han's expression was as unreadable as steel, but his hand at his side was trembling.
Ji Qingyu's heart was suddenly gripped with uncertainty, and his hand trembled in sync with Fu Han's. He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
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