Chapter 24
The small brass key feels heavy in the hand, giving it a sense of weight.
Zhou Wangchuan propped himself up on one knee on the edge of the bed and leaned over to touch Shang Mu's forehead. The dazed man subconsciously rubbed his palm. Tracing the shape of his jaw with his fingertips, Zhou Wangchuan felt that he had lost weight.
After tucking the quilt in, Zhou Wangchuan tiptoed out of the bedroom.
He stood at the study door, gazing at the two-meter-long desk with two identical drawers beneath it. He then looked toward the bedroom. Shang Mu, wrapped in a blanket, was soundly asleep, his face exposed. His curved eyelashes drooped on his eyelids, a quiet and well-behaved expression.
Zhou Wangchuan opened his palm. The brass key had become warm. He rubbed the teeth marks with his fingertips, hesitating and thinking.
Shang Mu gave him a key to his heart.
The drawer held Shang Mu's secrets, and he shouldn't have snooped into them, just like the weekly live broadcasts. He already knew they were in love, and that was enough.
Zhou Wangchuan made up his mind and put the key back into his pocket.
He came to the kitchen and thought the refrigerator would be empty, but unexpectedly, the fresh-keeping layer was filled with various meats and vegetables.
Thirty large, white, sterilized eggs, a large, neatly packed box of spareribs, fresh tomatoes, pumpkin, and bok choy—all vibrant and healthy—and a small bag of handmade noodles—just enough for a meal for two. The scallions, cilantro, ginger, and garlic were all fresh and clean.
Zhou Wangchuan looked at the label of the meat and vegetables and saw that the production date was yesterday.
He looked at the ingredients in the refrigerator and couldn't help but chuckle. It turned out that Shang Mu had already ordered the dishes in advance when he heard that he was coming back last night.
Zhou Wangchuan unpacked the ingredients, washed and diced the tomatoes, washed and tore the bok choy into slices, and chopped the scallions. He heated the oil in a wok, added the tomatoes, and stir-fried until the sand was removed. He then added a bowl of water and brought it to a boil. The red broth bubbled and bubbled, filling the kitchen with a sweet and sour aroma.
The addition of bright green bok choy gave the soup a more vibrant and fragrant flavor. Zhou Wangchuan added the noodles, glanced at his watch, and started counting.
There were rustling footsteps behind him, and then someone hugged him from behind. Shang Mu's dazed voice was in his ears: "Well, where have you been..."
Zhou Wangchuan held his hand and asked, "You've only slept for half an hour, why are you up already? Did the noise from the kitchen wake you up?"
Shang Mu buried his head in his neck and shook it, saying sullenly, "It's cold when you're not here."
He staggered and couldn't stand steadily, so Zhou Wangchuan turned around and hugged him around the waist.
He was wearing teddy bear pajamas, with the hood covering his soft dark brown hair. The hood had two cute calf horns on top, and with his dazed expression, he looked like a confused calf.
Zhou Wangchuan felt something in his heart, bent down, put one arm around his knees, and the other around his lower back, picked him up and placed him on the marble countertop, then turned off the gas stove.
Shang Mu reacted slowly and put his hands on the table. Zhou Wangchuan gently pushed his legs apart, came in front of him, put his arms around his waist, and kissed his lips.
"Hmm..." Shang Mu subconsciously wrapped her long, flexible legs around his waist, then retreated mid-kiss. "I have a cold, it's contagious."
"No." Zhou Wangchuan smiled, hugged him tighter, and kissed him again.
It was their first kiss after more than twenty days of separation. They were both cautious, a little apprehensive about home. Yet, they were still testing each other, pressing their lips and tongues together bit by bit. Gradually, their breaths became intertwined, their saliva intertwined.
Shang Mu had a fever, and soon his cheeks turned red. He panted rapidly and fell limply on Zhou Wangchuan's chest. He was carried to the dining table and sat down.
Soon, two bowls of steaming hot noodle soup were served. The fragrant, sweet and sour broth was filled with emerald green bok choy, a runny, soft-boiled egg nestled in the middle, and a few chopped green onions sprinkled on top.
Shang Mu habitually reached out for the porcelain jar of chili oil on the table, but Zhou Wangchuan grabbed his wrist and squeezed it.
"Don't you have a stomachache? You can't eat spicy food these days."
Shang Mu said "oh" and ate the clear soup noodles obediently.
He particularly liked eating oily and spicy food, and whenever Zhou Wangchuan stopped him, he would throw a tantrum. But perhaps it was the warmth of reunion after a long separation, or perhaps it was because he was sick and weak, but he didn't say anything.
Seeing him like this, Zhou Wangchuan felt so soft-hearted that he said, "I'll make you something delicious in a few days."
Shang Mu nodded, and the small horns on the hood of his pajamas trembled with his movement.
After a half-hour rest after dinner, Zhou Wangchuan prepared some antipyretic and stomach medicine for Shang Mu to take. Soon, the effects of the medicine made him drowsy, and he was tucked into the warm bed again.
"Stay with me." Shang Mu felt dizzy, and he forced himself to keep his eyes open and grabbed Zhou Wangchuan's sleeve.
"Be good, go to sleep."
Zhou Wangchuan sat next to him at the head of the bed, helped him tidy up his hair at the temples, then put his arm around his shoulders and patted his back rhythmically.
Shang Mu lay facing him and soon fell asleep.
Zhou Wangchuan felt for the key in his pocket again.
He went from hesitant to determined, and then became hesitant again.
He knew that in that drawer was proof of Shang Mu's love for him. His intellect clearly told him that he couldn't pry into other people's privacy, even if that person was his closest lover.
But emotionally...
He had no way to resist such temptation.
What could be better than the person you love also loving you?
And in that drawer, such evidence is now treasured.
Zhou Wangchuan lowered his head, gently stroked the face of the sleeping person, left the bedroom very quietly, and went to the study.
The key turned in the lock with a click, and the drawer was pulled open, revealing what was inside.
Zhou Wangchuan's face was first surprised, then turned into an expression of unexpected yet reasonable understanding.
The drawer is full of roses.
Not a fresh, living rose, but a specimen-like, ever-fading rose.
Each rose is flattened into a painting on a flat surface, and then sandwiched between two extremely thin glass sheets. Each "specimen" is only a few millimeters thick.
Zhou Wangchuan picked up the top piece.
There is a small label on the lower right corner of the glass.
"August 12th, watch a movie and get a free gift. The movie is boring, but the midnight snack is delicious, the grilled squid is great, and the kiss is even better."
He picked up the second piece.
"July 20th, dinner for free. The wine is terrible, but the kiss is good."
The third piece.
"On June 18th, I apologized and sent it to you after I pissed me off. I reluctantly forgave you."
"June 1st, Children's Day. Childish, but the ice cream cone is nice, and the kiss is nice too."
"May 1st, Labor Day gift. Satisfaction, reward for working people."
"On April 23, he was hospitalized. Functional condolences, impure emotions, unsatisfactory."
Zhou Wangchuan discovered that the rose specimens were arranged in reverse chronological order. Given Shang Mu's lazy nature, he probably just added new specimens to the pile whenever he found one.
There were seventy-eight rose specimens in total, and the drawer was so heavy that it bent downward under the weight.
Each rose is trimmed to the same length, leaving a few centimeters of stem below the flower, making the branch look top-heavy and cute.
Zhou Wangchuan looked at all of them, leaving only the last three specimens.
The third from the last.
"On February 3rd, the first day of the Lunar New Year, they delivered it to the school gate. Why did they deliver it? I don't know. Why did they collect it? I don't know either."
The second to last one.
"On June 28th, I delivered it to the school gate. My hand was scratched by a brick, and it was still painful even after bandaging it. He said that smelling the flowers would relieve the pain. I felt like he was lying and just wanted to find an excuse to give me flowers. I reluctantly accepted them, and after a week, they were about to wither, so I kept them."
The last piece.
"On the evening of June 12th, Senior Zhou from the school hospital sent me this before he got off work. I don't know why he sent it, but it was the first time I received a rose with its thorns cut off. Why did they do that? I don't know. It was a novelty, so I kept it."
In addition to the rose specimens, there were two red envelopes in the drawer. The red envelopes had a cute rabbit on the cover. They were the red envelopes that Zhou Wangchuan's parents had given to Shang Mu when he brought him home for the New Year.
There was a note attached to the red envelope.
"When I visit someone's house for the Lunar New Year, I always feel a little strange when they give me red envelopes. If I open them, does that justify my status? (...?) So I keep them."
Zhou Wangchuan smiled silently.
At the bottom of the drawer, there is a vinyl record of "Young And Beautiful".
Zhou Wangchuan remembered Shang Mu’s cell phone ringtone, which was this song.
Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful......
Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul...
Zhou Wangchuan stroked the record cover and looked at the roses that had been made into specimens.
The face will age, just like the rose will wither.
So Shang Mu let the rose stay at its peak bloom, freezing its beauty.
Zhou Wangchuan understood everything.
There was the rustling sound of people getting up and footsteps coming from next door again, and then the study door was pushed open. Shang Mu stood at the door with a tuft of curly hair, and there was silent accusation in his eyes.
Zhou Wangchuan looked at him, thinking about the roses, the notes, the record, and suddenly it dawned on him—Shang Mu hadn't been woken by someone else; it was simply a conditioned reflex built up over the years. Every time his partner left for half an hour, he would wake up, like a car on autopilot, navigating its way home.
"Baby, come here." Zhou Wangchuan said.
Shang Mu walked over slowly and skillfully hooked his legs around the armrest. Zhou Wangchuan helped him lie on his legs.
"Baby." Zhou Wangchuan called him softly and asked, "Didn't I tell you I love you?"
Shang Mu paused, glanced at him, and nodded aggrievedly.
"Now you know." Zhou Wangchuan lowered his head and kissed his lips, "I love you."
Shang Mu saw the undisguised affection in his eyes, saw the key inserted in the drawer lock, saw the vinyl record on the table, and knew that he had solved the mystery.
Shang Mu thought of another thing.
The medicine prescribed by Zhou Wangchuan was really effective. In just half an hour, his fever was no longer severe, and the stomachache that had been tormenting him for the past few days was also relieved a lot, so his mind began to become more active.
After so many days without experiencing brutal pain, the insignificant medication during the live broadcast could not satisfy his needs.
And now, he and Zhou Wangchuan have put aside their past grudges and love each other more than ever.
Shang Mu grasped Zhou Wangchuan's hand, balled it into a fist, and pressed it against his stomach. Feeling that warm hand against that vulnerable part, he felt a long-lost sense of satisfaction.
He looked into Zhou Wangchuan's eyes. He knew Zhou Wangchuan's feelings. They knew each other so well. So he knew that any request he made at this moment would not be rejected.
Including...this requirement.
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