Chapter 114 Long Time No See
That brief encounter, that short-lived connection, was followed by another separation.
Although I can't see them in person, I always hear about their recent situation from other people, sometimes in a joking way, sometimes in a sarcastic way.
"Your arch-rival got a bigger story this time, Captain Xie."
"Your arch-nemesis got promoted, how can you still sleep soundly?"
"Your arch-nemesis broke the military record for long-range sniping. We can't lose. Should we apply for an assassination record?"
Xie Xingchen was happy to listen.
If no one mentions it, Lin Yao has truly faded completely from my life.
As Xie Xingchen estimated the time, near the end of his senior year, he began to cultivate an image of being infatuated with someone else, posting sarcastic or cheesy things on his status every few days.
It was mainly for old men to see, and they even convinced Cheng Boyan.
He rushed to the military camp that very night with his luggage, holding his phone and demanding, "Who's this Alpha you're talking about? Huh? You scumbag."
I had a fight with an Alpha, and he called me a dog who couldn't control his pheromones. It was so exciting, I loved it!
Why do some people speak in less than two words, either calling me an idiot or a piece of trash?
[This is really strange. I feel happy when I see him. Aren't pheromones supposed to be mutually repelling between Alphas? What's going on?]
Don't worry, he hasn't added me as a friend. Dude, he just has a crush on me.
The comments were all the same: "You call this a crush? That's outrageous..."
Everyone around Xie Xingchen knew that he had fallen for an Alpha. They searched the military for a long time but couldn't find the match. So, the gossip during their leisure time turned to who Xie Xingchen was secretly in love with.
Xie Xingchen looked at his brother whom he hadn't seen in a long time and couldn't stop laughing: "Where am I a jerk?"
"You're not a scumbag? You say you'll investigate separately, but you openly show affection for others behind my back." Cheng Boyan insulted him mercilessly, raising his hand to choke him and prevent him from moving.
“It’s Lin Yao.” Xie Xingchen grabbed his wrist and slammed him onto the sofa. “Take another look.”
"I could watch you a million times and you'd still be crushing on an Alpha. Lin Yao is an Omega. Others might not know, but I do." Cheng Boyan said, speechless.
"Wasn't Lin Yao an Alpha before his second differentiation? You idiot," Xie Xingchen cursed at him.
Cheng Boyan: ""
He felt speechless, having traveled a long way only to be subjected to such a public display of affection.
Xie Xingchen looked down at him with disdain: "Are you an idiot?"
Cheng Boyan lowered his head and bit his cigarette: "Speechless, but if I was fooled, your dad will definitely believe it."
“Xin, he keeps asking me lately who I like.” Xie Xingchen leaned against the table and slowly lit a cigarette. “I told him that since Alphas are mutually exclusive and they don’t pay attention to me anyway, I’ll just keep my crush to myself for now.”
"That was a really ruthless move of yours, using the information gap of someone in the know to deceive people." Cheng Boyan relaxed. "He must have thought that you two had never spoken again, so he felt comfortable letting you get involved with his connections."
Xie Xingchen hummed in agreement: "I've found several of the original lab workers and some experimental records they kept without permission. The blood plague was their doing, irrefutable evidence. But the experiments didn't stop at the fire that year; I need to find a new base. I've also made contact with a few people in the military who are close to my dad, and things are progressing fairly smoothly so far. Enough about me, how are you doing?"
Cheng Boyan grunted, "I've been quite busy lately. The application for the military research institute has been approved. The rest of us are scattered all over the place."
"Where is He Li? Where did he go?" Xie Xingchen asked.
"He... passed the military region's news department's review and really became a war correspondent. I never would have imagined that such a cowardly person would actually go to the front lines when I was a freshman." Cheng Boyan lowered his eyes. "He's not afraid of death."
Xie Xingchen laughed: "You're worried about people? If you're worried, just say so."
"With that blockhead of his, how could he possibly understand?" Cheng Boyan mimicked He Li's tone. "Anyone who stays in the lab is a coward, of course."
Xie Xingchen laughed uncontrollably: "That's something he would say."
“I ran into Lin Yao last week. He hasn’t been back to school for the past six months. He’s changed a lot.”
Cheng Boyan ran his fingers across his face and gestured, "Wearing a mask, only his eyes are showing. No wonder no one in the military suspects he's an Omega. He's even more Alpha than an Alpha. And he speaks even more concisely. He's really cool."
Xie Xingchen thought of their brief meeting through the aircraft and lowered his eyes, saying, "We didn't even get a chance to speak during our joint operations."
Cheng Boyan thought to himself, "How did Xie Xingchen manage to stay so aloof, after years of no contact, and not even a hint of affection left?"
But she still reassured him, "Just wait a little longer, it will be soon."
Xie Xingchen flicked his cigarette ash, wondering how much longer he would have to wait.
Even he himself didn't know the answer.
The separation was longer and harder to bear than he had imagined, and he was now not even sure if Lin Yao was still waiting for him.
Time has blurred our feelings and memories; the brief sweetness of the past has faded, becoming those innocent years.
"Lin Yao, do you have any suitors?" Xie Xingchen asked.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I said no," Cheng Boyan sighed. "But he wasn't really interested in dating anyway, so he wouldn't cheat on you. But, did you two break up before?"
Xie Xingchen took almost a minute to calm down before whispering, "No, I don't know either."
They had been dating for a short time, and then separated for almost four years. He was truly uncertain about the future.
But there was no time for sentimentality; after that came the busyness of finishing up graduation and frequent wars.
After that busy period, the military high command issued another order to establish a joint special training group. Each military region and department would select outstanding young officers to form a reserve training instructor team with a three-month term, to train outstanding freshmen from various military academies.
When Xie Xingchen heard the news, she was eating at home and didn't even lift her eyelids: "I'm not going. My ex-boyfriend is there. It would be too awkward."
Without a doubt, Lin Yao is among them; he's an outstanding young officer, and there's no one better than him.
Meeting someone but not being able to speak is even more unbearable than not meeting them at all.
Xie Hengzhi, however, asked with great interest, "You don't like him now, so what if you run into him?"
Xie Xingchen suddenly looked up and instantly understood what he was up to: testing whether she had really broken off her relationship with Lin Yao.
Four years have passed, and he's still wary of me. What an old man.
"If you don't want to go, that's fine. Just find an excuse to cancel," Yun Qing said softly. "Son, who exactly is that Alpha you like? We're not that old-fashioned. If the family is suitable, we can bring him back to meet us."
"It's not suitable. I've already told you, they don't like me," Xie Xingchen said lazily. "That lousy training is something I really don't want to go to."
"You have to obey the military's mandatory orders." Xie Hengzhi narrowed his eyes. "You only dated for a few days before breaking up, what's so awkward about that?"
Xie Xingchen remained silent, lowering his head to eat, and mumbled, "I'll think about it."
For several nights in a row, Xie Xingchen dreamed of Lin Yao. In his dream, Lin Yao looked particularly cold. He was already cold-hearted, and when he had no expression, even his eyes showed a sense of weariness.
"Xie Xingchen, you're too slow. I don't want to wait any longer," Lin Yao said. "Stop investigating. Let's just leave it at that."
"Yao Yao..." Xie Xingchen could not utter a single word except for calling his name.
Lin Yao said cruelly, "I gave you a chance back then, letting you make a third wish. Since you couldn't tell me to wait for you, then I haven't broken my promise."
"Yes." Xie Xingchen reached out to hug him, but his arm fell back down in mid-air. "I'm sorry."
“You’ve said sorry too many times, I don’t want to hear it anymore,” Lin Yao said. “You’ve also invested several years of your life, so I’ll be generous and let’s call it even.”
Xie Xingchen felt his heart being gripped and then released, making it hard to breathe.
He looked at the person in front of him—calm, aloof, and understanding—but far removed from the Lin Yao who rang in his alarm every morning, saying, "Xie Xingchen, Lin Yao likes you even more today than yesterday."
"But I don't want to just let things go like this."
Lin Yao looked at him and said, slowly and deliberately, "Xie Xingchen, we are separated by thousands of miles, I can't wait any longer."
Xie Xingchen suddenly woke up, his heart stopping.
Although he knew it was a dream, the conversation felt incredibly real. He covered his face, knowing that this was not the best time to meet, and knowing that Xie Hengzhi might have spies in the training camp, but he still couldn't bear it.
"Yaoyao, I'm sorry, I can't take it anymore." Xie Xingchen's fingers traced the photos in the album, that youthful yet rebellious face. "Let me be selfish just this once, and see you, okay?"
Lin Yao was restless all day.
Since last night, his heart had been aching terribly. Duan Zheng went with him to the training base, and only after they landed did he feel the palpitations subside a little.
"Brother Yao, Brother Yao, Brother Yao! Look how successful I am! I'm here too! I'm the instructor for the news department!"
As soon as Lin Yao got off the aircraft, a dark figure pounced on him, nudging his head like a puppy. "You look so handsome in your military uniform. I missed you so much."
"You're going to be an instructor?" Lin Yao teased. "You're not here to mislead the students, are you?"
"Of course not!" He Li was overjoyed to see Duan Zheng following behind. "Cheng Boyan is on his way too. This is practically a class reunion for us from Chongqing. We're just missing Xie Gou."
Upon hearing the name, Lin Yao paused for a few seconds, then whispered, "He won't come."
Knowing it was a test, he still showed up. That was foolish, not like Xie Xingchen.
"Have you had breakfast? I brought you soy milk." He Li took out a soft cup and a straw from his backpack. "Here you go."
"Is the other cup for me?" Duan Zheng reached out to take it quite naturally.
He Li retreated awkwardly, saying, "I didn't know you were here. This is for Cheng Boyan. Please give me a hug."
Duan Zheng: "........."
Several new recruits nearby were covering their mouths and chuckling, not daring to speak loudly.
Lin Yao chuckled and was about to insert the straw when he suddenly heard a loud gust of wind behind him, like an aircraft landing.
"Has Boyan arrived?" He casually turned his head, looked at the person getting off the aircraft, and froze.
The man was dressed in a solemn military uniform, and looked tall and imposing. His waist was tightly bound by a belt, and when he walked over, he exuded an extremely strong sense of oppression.
Many people arrived one after another, making a lot of noise, but Lin Yao couldn't hear anything clearly, his ears were ringing from the sound of the propellers.
It felt like a dream from last night, and the person from the dream suddenly appeared before my eyes.
He couldn't speak, nor did he dare to admit it.
They were restrained even in their dreams last night, afraid of revealing the slightest flaw and ruining all their efforts.
At that moment, the person drew closer and closer, stopping right in front of him. He Li, standing beside him, shouted, "Weren't you not coming? Why the surprise attack?!"
"I still wanted to come, so I did." Xie Xingchen's gaze was fixed on Lin Yao. He reached out and took the straw from Lin Yao's hand, turned it around, and neatly inserted it into the soy milk cup. He said in a low voice, "The straw is upside down."
As he withdrew his hand, his fingers inadvertently brushed against the back of his hand, and Lin Yao was so nervous that he almost spilled the soy milk by gripping his fingers so tightly.
It's not a dream.
I've imagined countless scenarios of our possible reunion, but it will never be today, at this moment, or right now.
"Long time no see, you've gotten dumber." Xie Xingchen held the soy milk steady for him before restraining himself from taking it back.
Lin Yaocai felt his icy limbs gradually warming up. A thousand words were stuck in his chest, but he didn't know which one would be appropriate for their current relationship.
So, after going around in circles, we ended up back to the words we used when we first met at fifteen.
"Xie Xingchen, are you looking for death?"
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