Heartache
The morning sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a warm, slanted shadow around the people inside.
"..."
Gu Jiansheng struggled to open his eyes, feeling as if a chisel was rhythmically striking his temples. The pain, however, did not effectively pull him out of the swamp of confusion. After struggling for a long time, he finally managed to scrape together vague and fragmented memories from his muddled mind.
'I'll go in your place...'
Words that had become distant and ethereal in my memory because of alcohol resurfaced.
Gu Jiansheng suddenly sat up.
No.
It must just be a dream.
Zhou Lexing had no idea where He Huaizhi had chosen, nor should he have known. This was the reason why Gu Jiansheng chose to take such a risky move.
'That warehouse... soon...'
Gu Jiansheng covered his head. As he stood up, more fragments flooded his mind, but because he was already on the verge of getting drunk, he didn't hear them clearly at all.
Despite his headache and dizziness, Gu Jiansheng quickly looked around and found himself lying in the master bedroom, with no warmth in the empty space next to him.
He hurriedly got up and ran out of the room.
"Huh? You're awake?"
Gu Jiansheng paused as he ran downstairs, slowly exhaling the pent-up frustration in his heart.
"Da Gang," Gu Jiansheng looked at Li Da Gang, who was sitting on the sofa downstairs eating steamed buns, his legs still a little unsteady from the shock, "Where's Le Xing?"
Li Dagang looked at his pale face, remained silent for a while, and then said, "Don't you know?"
"...What do you know?"
Gu Jiansheng gripped the stair railing so tightly his hands turned white, and his eyes glazed over.
Li Dagang: "Um... that guy surnamed He contacted us a while ago and asked us to pass on a message to Brother Le, asking him to come over. Brother Le called us yesterday, so we mentioned it. He left this morning and should be almost at the village by now, right?"
Li Dagang glanced at his watch.
Gu Jiansheng's mind went blank for a moment. He looked at the steamed bun in Li Dagang's hand, then at the sunlight streaming in from outside the door, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What time is it now?"
Li Dagang: "It's almost two o'clock. Brother Le asked me to stay and take care of you for two days. I saw you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't wake you. You've never drunk alcohol before, have you?"
Judging from Gu Jiansheng's behavior last night, he clearly had no concept of his own alcohol tolerance and was easily coaxed. After a few words from Brother Le, he would obediently drink. Sometimes, Brother Le would take a sip, and Gu Jiansheng would follow suit, without any regard for his own limits.
Gu Jiansheng's mind was buzzing, and he walked downstairs almost like a wandering soul.
Seeing his condition, Li Dagang asked worriedly, "Are you alright? I bought you some porridge, would you like to drink it now?"
As soon as Li Dagang finished speaking, Gu Jiansheng tripped and tumbled down the stairs.
Holy crap!
Li Dagang immediately jumped up and rushed over to help.
Fortunately, Gu Jiansheng had already reached the lower steps; otherwise, it would have been hard to say whether he would have been alright.
If he bumps his head, he won't be able to explain it to Zhou Lexing.
"You," Li Dagang started to say something, but seeing that Gu Jiansheng didn't seem to have recovered, he swallowed back his words and advised, "Why don't you go back and lie down? You're like this..."
Gu Jiansheng was in a daze and didn't hear what Li Dagang was saying at all.
He had only one thought in his mind.
Lexing is about to be taken away.
Lexing is about to be taken away.
Lexing is about to be taken away.
'Don't worry, that warehouse... it'll be here soon...'
Why did Le Xing know that the location in He Huaizhi's letter was in the warehouse?
In that instant, Gu Jiansheng recalled the differences Zhou Lexing had shown in their past interactions, his forward-thinking words, and the reason why He Huaizhi suddenly chose to travel far away when he first visited Zhoujia Village…
Gu Jiansheng's temples throbbed, but he couldn't care less at that moment. He staggered to his feet and made a phone call.
The person on the other end of the phone had been waiting for the past few days, so the call was answered quickly.
“Tell Qiu Ming,” Gu Jiansheng’s voice was hoarse, filled with suppressed pain, “if anything happens to Lexing, the deal is off.”
After Gu Jiansheng finished speaking, he hung up the phone and then went out.
Li Dagang stood to the side with a solemn expression. Even if he was oblivious, he could tell that something was wrong with Gu Jiansheng. But seeing that Gu Jiansheng was about to leave, he still spoke up.
Aren't you going to change your clothes?
Li Dagang spoke, but did not stop him.
Gu Jiansheng didn't care about such details at all. He grabbed his wallet from the entrance and ran out.
The blinding sunlight outside drenched Gu Jiansheng, causing him to squint instinctively. His mind was still a complete mess, and he could only manage to pull out a thin thread. He struggled and tried to come up with a more appropriate way to prevent Zhou Lexing from getting to He Huaizhi's side first.
Before Gu Jiansheng could recover from this slightly bewildered pain, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He stared in astonishment and helplessness at the figure standing not far away.
The other person noticed his gaze and looked up at him.
The two were some distance apart, but in Gu Jiansheng's vision, which was gradually becoming blurred by the mist, the other person seemed to be smiling.
"woke up?"
The familiar voice was light and casual, like countless peaceful mornings, without scheming, bloodshed, or loss.
"..."
Gu Jiansheng opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a moment. However, his feet moved faster than his brain, instinctively moving closer to the person.
The distance has been shortened.
The other person's slightly long hair was blown by the wind, falling down, and then he smoothed it back up with his well-defined knuckles, revealing his handsome features and the straightforward tolerance and patience in his eyes.
"You, you didn't leave..."
Seeing Gu Jiansheng's terrified expression, Zhou Lexing smiled helplessly and finally opened his arms to him.
"come over."
This sound inexplicably brought the tears that had gathered in Gu Jiansheng's eyes to fall. He immediately ran over without hesitation and buried himself in the other person's warm embrace.
Zhou Lexing's body swayed slightly from the impact, and he bent down slightly to pull the person into his arms.
"Are you sad?" Zhou Lexing stroked the tuft of hair on Gu Jiansheng's head, a faint sigh in his voice. "Does it hurt?"
Gu Jiansheng responded vaguely, and the wet touch slid down Zhou Lexing's neck.
Zhou Lexing said helplessly, "My heart aches terribly when I think about how you risked your life to find that guy surnamed He."
"Jian Sheng, please have some pity on me too."
.
Gu Jiansheng's eyes were red, and the tip of his nose was also red. He had been crying so hard that he was a little short of breath, and his mind was blank. The culprit was feeding him porridge.
"So, he knew about it too?"
Gu Jiansheng pointed to Li Dagang, who was fidgeting and shifting his position restlessly beside him, his voice still hoarse.
Zhou Lexing smiled and no longer hid it: "Yes."
"Dagang, you should go back now. You've worked hard today. I'll treat you to dinner later."
Hearing this, Li Dagang breathed a sigh of relief: "It's alright, Brother Le, just let me know if you need anything."
He readily got up, lowered his eyes, and walked out. When he reached the entrance, he couldn't help but look back again: "...Brother Le, no matter what happens, don't always bear it all alone."
Zhou Lexing was taken aback, realizing that Gu Jiansheng must have leaked a lot of information after discovering his absence, and then nodded solemnly: "Don't worry. Go back."
Li Dagang then turned and left, the door behind him slowly closing, separating the two intimate figures inside.
.
"……sorry."
With no one else in the room, Zhou Lexing listened to Gu Jiansheng's solemn apology with his head bowed, without saying a word. For a moment, the room fell silent.
Gu Jiansheng lowered his head.
He admitted that he had despicable intentions, hoping to arouse Zhou Lexing's concern and hidden love for him through this method. However, after just switching places with Zhou Lexing and experiencing things from her perspective, Gu Jiansheng lost the confidence he had previously had in constantly deceiving himself to achieve his dark goals.
He really was awful.
Is he really worthy of Zhou Lexing?
As Gu Jiansheng was thinking, he felt a warm, dry, soft touch on his forehead that quickly disappeared.
Zhou Lexing lowered his head and kissed him, his tone helpless: "When you act like this, I really start to doubt whether you like me or not."
Gu Jiansheng's mind went blank again.
Seeing that Gu Jiansheng was just staring at him blankly, Zhou Lexing's smile gradually faded: "...I really misunderstood?"
So what he did...
Gu Jiansheng quickly shook his head, but the repeated changes and the sudden, indirect confession left him speechless, only able to repeat softly, "I like it, I like it very much..."
Seeing the rare look of bewilderment on his face, Zhou Lexing felt her heart melt: "What a coincidence, I like it too."
Gu Jiansheng blinked, his mouth slightly open, seemingly still digesting this unexpected windfall.
He thought...
He thought that even if the letter didn't make Zhou Lexing dislike him, it would at least make Zhou Lexing disappointed in him. He never expected that the confession he longed for would happen here.
Zhou Lexing ruffled his hair, his smile unchanged: "What? Are you dumbfounded?"
As Zhou Lexing spoke, he thought of what had happened before and realized that he couldn't let it go unpunished, so he brought the topic back: "What are your thoughts on He Huaizhi's matter? Are you really planning to go to such a dangerous place by yourself? We live in a society governed by law now, and you should learn to protect yourself using legal means."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jiansheng's wildly beating heart finally calmed down. He pursed his lips, stared at Zhou Lexing for a long while, and finally said, "The law is useless."
Zhou Lexing naturally noticed the calmness with which Gu Jiansheng spoke these words, as if he were stating a perfectly clear fact.
“He Huaizhi,” Gu Jiansheng thought for a moment and chose a relatively tactful way of putting it, “is different.”
Zhou Lexing's brow twitched, and the plot of the book quickly flashed through his mind: "...Where is it different?"
Gu Jiansheng observed Zhou Lexing's expression and hesitated before asking, "Do you believe in fate?"
Zhou Lexing thought of the words in the letter and realized that this question most likely involved the extent to which Gu Jiansheng had confessed. After thinking for a moment, he did not answer this question of right and wrong, but instead asked Gu Jiansheng: "Then do you believe in rebirth?"
Gu Jiansheng's eyes widened instantly, and with his reddened eye sockets and nose, he looked just like a frightened rabbit.
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