Chapter 12
Tang An's memories came to an abrupt end.
The waiter wearing white gloves rudely slammed a plate of salad on the table.
The sauce splashed everywhere, and a few pieces of vegetable leaves were accurately stuck on Su He's face.
The other person's gentle smile froze instantly.
Tang An frowned and looked over. He saw Chi Ying had put on a waiter's uniform and was grinning with a fake smile that deserved a beating. "Dear guests, I will serve you two your meal now."
Tang An: “…”
This madman.
Chi Ying served dishes one after another, his movements full of deliberate impatience.
Su He took the tissue Tang An handed him and wiped his cheek. He glanced at Chi Ying's tall figure and unconcealable aura inquiringly, frowning slightly: "This person... seems familiar?"
After Chi Ying finished serving the last dish, he suddenly leaned over to Su He and said in a very uncivilized way, "You idiot."
Su He: "..."
Tang An's temples were throbbing: "Chi Ying!"
Chi Ying ignored him and put his big hand directly on the back of Tang An's neck. He squeezed it hard with unquestionable possessiveness and said in a low voice: "Hurry home after eating."
The force transmitted from the fingertips almost left a mark on Tang An's skin.
After saying that, he walked away like a victorious general, leaving behind a mess on the table and stagnant air.
Tang An was so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground: "Sorry, senior, he..."
Su He had regained his composure and waved his hand gently, but a hint of understanding flashed across his eyes: "Is it Chi Ying? You... haven't separated yet?"
"Yeah." Tang An admitted it reluctantly.
It's no wonder Su He knew that Chi Ying, who had always been low-key in his junior year, was provoked by someone and suddenly said that he didn't want to continue the secret relationship. He even chose a day to confess his feelings in front of everyone in the college.
At that time, Su He was also among the onlookers applauding and blessing.
Su He picked up the teacup, stroking the wall with his fingertips. His smile remained gentle, but his words were filled with subtle and ambiguous meanings: "I always thought you liked me, but then Chi Ying confessed to you, and I realized that you two had been together since freshman year."
Tang An: “???”
Su He did not miss the surprise in the other person's eyes. He joked, "Tang An, you have a pair of eyes that can speak. You can't hide anything."
"Is that so?" Tang Yan touched his nose awkwardly. "How embarrassing! I thought I hid it well."
Su He picked up the tea and took a sip, his lowered eyes hiding his emotions.
"I thought we should wait a little longer..." His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
"What?" Tang An didn't hear clearly.
Su He's hand holding the cup trembled slightly, then he raised his eyes, still with that gentle look as jade, and changed the subject: "Nothing, just a feeling. It's been seven years, it's really not easy."
"Oh, don't mention it." Tang An quickly took a piece of millet cake to cover up. "No matter how good the relationship is, it can't withstand the daily necessities of life. We got tired of each other. We were about to get a divorce some time ago, and then suddenly..."
He paused and changed his tone.
"Then Ji Ying suddenly lost his temper and regretted his decision, hugging my thighs and crying that he loved me to death and couldn't live without me."
Chi Ying, who was eavesdropping through headphones, slammed the table and said, "Bullshit!"
The manager, who was huddled in the corner like a mushroom, shuddered with fear.
Chi Ying bit the cucumber viciously, as if it were Tang An's neck, and turned to accuse the manager: "Did you hear that? You're lying with your eyes open! It's obviously him, Tang An... He hugged me this morning, tearfully saying, 'Chi Ying, I don't hate you, I love you so much'!"
He pinched his throat and exaggeratedly imitated Tang An's expression and tone.
manager:"……"
Chi Ying looked deeply troubled and helplessly spread his hands: "See? This is the bad thing about my wife. She's too clingy and loves me so much that she can't help herself. Don't look for a partner like this in the future."
The manager's forehead was sweating, and he nodded rapidly: "Yes, yes, yes..."
He was also unlucky. When he was slacking off in the office, the door was suddenly kicked open from the outside, and a handsome man with a noble look rushed in so rudely.
Just as the manager was about to show off his power, the boss called and reminded him that the guy in front of him was a major shareholder of the restaurant and he couldn't afford to offend him. As long as the request was not too excessive, he should try his best to satisfy him.
Cos waiter, OK, satisfied.
Hiding a bug in a bowl, OK, satisfied.
Listening to people showing their affection, OK, satisfied.
The manager is willing to do anything just to pray that the other party won't cause any trouble.
Amitabha.
…
Tang An's voice came through clearly again, with a subtle hint of inquiry: "...Senior, there's something I want to ask you... It's about the monster Zi Buyu."
Chi Ying raised his eyebrows and asked unhappily, "Why are you asking him this?"
After all, that was a private matter between him and Tang An.
Su He's voice was soft, like the spring breeze in March, moistening everything silently: "Why are you suddenly interested in this kind of thing? When I talked about this with you before, you said I was feudal and superstitious."
Chi Ying repeated in a sarcastic tone: "Before, I talked to you about these things."
Tang An laughed out loud: "I didn't expect that Senior still remembered these things."
Chi Ying angrily bit off the cucumber butt: "Fuck you!"
Tang An continued, "When I was little, my brother never came to see me in my dreams, so I didn't really believe in the idea that people still have souls after they die. Not to mention the stories my senior told me. They sounded too far-fetched."
Chi Ying: "Also~ tell~ the~ story~"
The manager who was forced to listen to everything: "..."
Su He's tone was filled with a subtle sense of melancholy: "Yeah, it's too vague. If it were me, I wouldn't believe it either."
He added, "But now you ask...what made you interested?"
Tang An chose his words carefully: "You once told me a story about an animal transforming into a human form... But is it possible, the other way around? Can a human... transform into an animal?"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
There seemed to be silence over there, and after a while, a low laugh could be heard: "Humans are the most intelligent creatures in the world. Carp leaps over the Dragon Gate, and dragons seek to seal their mouths. They work so hard, all hoping to become dragons. But the dragon, so noble in the eyes of all creatures, is nothing more than a vicious beast that covets the human skin."
Chi Ying was stunned.
Su He's smile was filled with mockery: "It's absurd and ridiculous that humans have not become gods but have degenerated into lower animals."
"Xiao'an." His voice suddenly became cold and distant. "I'm surprised you're interested in this, but if the source of this interest is someone who's caught in such a ridiculous predicament..."
Every word clearly and coldly struck the hearts of the two men.
"Take my advice. Don't struggle in vain. Respect the fate of others. Follow the law of cause and effect. This is his destined fate..."
Chi Ying and Tang An's expressions instantly turned extremely ugly.
Su He's last words, like a cold verdict, echoed in the ears of the two.
“—No one can save me.”
Su He's figure disappeared from the restaurant door for a long time, and Tang An still maintained that posture, as if frozen in the dim light.
It was not until Chi Ying pulled up the chair opposite and sat down, with a fresh breath and the familiar scent of agarwood, that he seemed to have pressed the restart button. He blinked slowly and pulled himself out of the heavy silence.
The man had changed back into his haute couture shirt and trousers, and was casually combing his slightly damp hair with his fingers. Tang An's gaze involuntarily stopped on his hands.
The bones are distinct, slender and powerful, like a pianist or sculptor's treasure.
His heart suddenly tightened, and he almost didn't dare to think that such a pair of hands would one day become... hairy dog paws that could only dig holes.
Why can’t it be saved?
Su He's last words were like an ice-hardened needle, piercing the deepest part of his heart.
The other person wasn't a mean person, but there was clearly a deeper, disturbing implication hidden in his words.
Chi Ying obviously didn't feel the heaviness of this. With his hair combed a little messy but still handsome, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers to call the waiter, and asked for a new set of knife and fork. Then, he took the pasta in front of Tang An, which had only been touched a few times, and started to mow it down without any hesitation.
The old ox plowed the fields for the entire morning without any food. In the afternoon, it listened to people chatting for more than an hour and only ate two cucumbers. It was almost starving to death.
Although Young Master Chi was starving, his dining etiquette was still ingrained in him. He rolled up the noodles with his fork smoothly and put them into his mouth at a frequency that seemed slow, but his efficiency was amazing. In just a few breaths, half of the mountain of pasta on the plate was gone.
He chewed it gracefully, and only after swallowing did he frown and comment, "It's too salty. This restaurant's signature dish isn't that. Come with me next time and let the chef make you something better."
Tang An watched him devour the food like a whirlwind, feeling truly worried that this starving soul would choke to death. He silently poured a glass of iced lemonade and pushed it towards Chi Ying: "Eating something so salty so fast? Aren't you afraid of getting thirsty in the middle of the night and having to use the toilet to fill it up?"
Chi Ying was just about to take a big mouthful of noodles when she heard this. She looked up at him in confusion, her cheeks puffed up. "Why would I drink toilet water?"
Tang An ignored him and glanced at his watch. It was almost seven o'clock. He stood up, picked up the thin coat draped over the back of the chair, put it on neatly, and said in a calm voice, "We'll talk about it when we get home."
Seeing him about to leave, Chi Ying quickly grabbed two golden slices of bread from the small lunch basket, stuffed one into her mouth, and followed him with a vague voice with her cheeks puffed out: "Um... Wei Sen?"
Tang An walked out with big strides, and Chi Ying followed him closely with a piece of bread in his mouth, like a persistent large dog.
"Hurry up!"
"Why can't I drink drinking water? Plain water? Airlifted Alpine glacier water???"
Tang An's forehead jumped.
Very good, Ji Ying is starting to act like a jerk again.
Walking to the car, he opened the passenger door and without saying a word, pushed Ji Ying, who was still whimpering in protest, in. He slammed the door shut with a force that revealed a subtle hint of annoyance.
Chi Ying glared at him in the rearview mirror. After Tang An got into the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt, he slowly swallowed the bread and spoke in a chilly tone, "Tsk, you saved all the nice things for Su He, didn't you? Coming to me is like drinking toilet water... What's so great about Su He? He's just a guy who plays a little violin. I passed the tenth grade violin exam when I was nine, and I didn't speak in such a refined and elegant manner like him."
Tang An paused as he fastened his seatbelt: "What do you mean by ancient-style young man?"
Chi Ying deliberately lowered her voice, imitating Su He's cold yet slightly mysterious tone, repeating in a sarcastic tone: "Humans are the most intelligent creatures in the world. Carp leaps over the dragon gate. Floating dragons seek to silence their mouths. The ultimate goal is to cultivate and become dragons. And the dragon, so noble in the eyes of all creatures, is nothing more than a beast that covets the human skin."
Not to mention, apart from that deliberate sour taste, his imitation was really quite realistic, with clear pronunciation and every word correct.
Tang An didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Su He and I haven't been in touch for a long time. Since graduating from college, I haven't spoken to him more than ten sentences. Occasionally, I'll like and comment on his posts on WeChat Moments, but that's it."
Chi Ying's lips curled up suspiciously, but his voice remained stiff and pretended to be indifferent: "So what? You just followed me when I asked you out."
Tang An held the steering wheel expressionlessly: "If it weren't for you..."
Chi Ying's eyes lit up and turned to him like a searchlight, and her tone suddenly changed: "For me? Why for me? Oh, it's so hard to guess, is it because..."
He deliberately dragged out his tone, his face full of the expression "Admit that you care about me."
Tang An could no longer endure it. He raised his hand and covered Chi Ying's face, which was full of mischief. He felt the flutter of his eyelashes with his palm and growled through gritted teeth, "Su and his family are in a special situation!"
He took a deep breath and withdrew his hand, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
"He's from an ethnic minority, and his parents are also quite prominent. I heard his father is one of the most prominent high priests in the area."
Chi Ying suddenly realized: "Minority ethnic group? No wonder she looks like a vixen."
Tang An was speechless: "...Are you sick?"
Chi Ying took out her phone and said, "Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Buyi, Korean, Manchu... Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazakh, Dai, Li..."
He said a lot without blushing or breathing hard.
An elderly man is looking at his mobile phone on the Tangan subway.
Chi Ying: "So what tribe is he from?"
Tang An: “…”
Ji Ying: "What does silence mean?"
Tang An: “…I don’t know.”
Chi Ying frowned and said, "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about."
Tang An pinched his mouth: "If you can't speak, don't speak."
Tang An really didn't know that Su He was speaking in a language he couldn't understand. When he asked him later, he said that he couldn't understand and that was because the time was not right.
Not only that, Su He also told him that his family had lived at the foot of the sacred mountain for generations in order to protect the mountain.
"I wanted to invite you to..."
In my memory, Su He's handsome face was a little blurry in the sunset.
"But the sacred mountain has been withered for many years. Perhaps we have to wait until the snow covers the entire mountain again..."
His voice was as soft as a sigh.
"You can come now."
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