Who is the bait? I hope Zichuan can reunite with his family...
Wen Zichuan slept until noon the next day. He opened his eyes and sniffed. Although his nose was blocked, he could faintly smell a fragrance.
"What a nice smell." He lifted the quilt and walked to the kitchen. "Brother Zhou, are you cooking?"
Cheng Sizhou cracked the egg skillfully and put it into the soup pot. "We don't have much food at home, so let's make a bowl of noodles. If you want to eat, you can have some. If you don't want to eat, it's okay."
"I want to eat." Wen Zichuan sat down at the dining table obediently. Although his stomach was still uncomfortable, the doctor said that noodles are stomach-nourishing food, so it should be okay to eat less.
Looking at Cheng Sizhou's busy figure, he suddenly regretted the first night he arrived at Yangliu'an. Out of caution towards strangers and not wanting to owe anyone a favor, he didn't eat a single bite of the bowl of noodles.
Think about it, the noodles cooked by Brother Zhou are so rare. You may not be able to eat them even if you want to in the future.
"Eat it while it's hot." Cheng Sizhou brought him a porcelain bowl. The bowl contained translucent noodles, a soft poached egg and some emerald green vegetables.
Wen Zichuan picked up his chopsticks and blew on the noodles: "Don't you want to eat with us?"
Cheng Sizhou really had no appetite, so he said, "I've already eaten."
Wen Zichuan was so sleepy that he didn't think about what he said. He happily took a few mouthfuls of noodles and asked him with a smile, "So, does this mean we're back together now?"
Cheng Sizhou looked away and said, "Not really."
Wen Zichuan stopped smiling and stirred the noodles with his chopsticks: "Okay, I didn't work hard enough, but I won't give up."
"Stop doing stupid things like this and focus on yourself, isn't it better?"
"Focus on myself and follow my heart, but all I want is to be with you! You told me to follow my heart, so I also want to ask you, what about your heart? If you don't care about me, why do you change my clothes, take my temperature, feed me medicine, and take care of me all night long?"
"In the situation last night, even if it was someone else..."
"You are not allowed to change anyone!" Cheng Sizhou was interrupted by Wen Zichuan before he finished speaking, "I know you are kind-hearted and selfless, but you are not allowed to..."
He raised his face and swallowed a ball of noodles, using swallowing to suppress the sourness in his throat.
It was a rare occasion for the two of them to sit down and eat together. Wen Zichuan didn't want to cry, and didn't want Cheng Sizhou to see him crying and sick. So he ate big mouthfuls of noodles, trying to block the flow of food, but it choked on his trachea and he started coughing.
"What are you doing!?" Cheng Sizhou grabbed his hand holding the chopsticks.
"Let go!" Wen Zichuan struggled. "Aren't you worried about me? I finally understand. If I'm doing well, you'll never pay attention to me. Only when I'm not doing well will you sympathize with me and pity me."
"You can say whatever you want, but don't hurt yourself."
"Cheng Sizhou, you won't even allow me to hurt myself, so what if I die one day? If I die, will you remember me forever?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
When Cheng Sizhou was at his most depressed, he almost always thought that he could end everything by ending his own life.
But if a person lives in this world and has the confidence to continue living, there must be a bond that cannot be broken. Even if it does not exist in the form of "love", it can be a "debt" or a "responsibility".
"Don't you want to buy a big villa and a big sports car? You haven't earned enough money yet, so why talk about life and death?" He had no choice but to resort to provocation.
Wen Zichuan widened his eyes. He didn't expect Cheng Sizhou to say that.
He thought that Brother Zhou came from a wealthy family and was never short of money, so he was willing to engage in an unpopular and unprofitable job. Talking about material things with him seemed a bit superficial no matter how you looked at it.
Only by working hard to make money and buy a house and a car can I create the illusion of being "equally matched" and comfort his true feelings of being displaced.
As for the state of mind and decency that can only be cultivated from a wealthy upbringing, these are the deepest and most difficult to cross chasm between them. He knew that he could not cross it no matter what, so he had to lower his position again and again, and then ask him to show mercy and give it to him generously.
"In the future, when I make money and buy a big villa and a big sports car, will you... come with me?" Wen Zichuan wished he could print out Xia Qingshu's wedding photo and hang it in front of him, saying that it would be like the two of them, whether they went abroad or to a place where no one knew them, they would stay together for the rest of their lives.
"By then, you'll be a big star. Big stars are very busy, so you don't have to have me follow you."
"No matter how big a star you are, it's just work. You have to have a life outside of work, right? I just hope that I can see you every day when I come home, and that you can simply cook me a bowl of noodles. That would be enough."
"I'm still cooking noodles. Go find your assistant. I won't serve you."
When he said this, Cheng Sizhou's expression changed obviously. Wen Zichuan was not sure whether he was smiling, so he moved closer like a dove: "Okay, okay, then it's my turn to serve you. Can I serve you?"
He quickly finished the remaining noodles and drank up all the soup. "I'll go wash the dishes now. Did you wash the pot? I'll help."
"Okay, you haven't recovered yet, why are you making such a fuss?" Cheng Sizhou "grabbed" the dishes from his hands and washed them himself.
Wen Zichuan had a moment of leisure and walked around the house as if he was patrolling his territory.
After a while, he poked his head into the kitchen and said, "Brother Zhou, I think the furnishings here are similar to those in Yangliu'an."
Cheng Sizhou continued washing dishes and ignored him.
After a while, he went to the bedroom and found that the clothes that were wet last night had been washed, dried, and folded into tofu blocks. He then poked his head into the kitchen again and asked, "Brother Zhou, did you wash my clothes for me?"
Cheng Sizhou drained the water from the dishes and asked, "Do you think there's anyone else living here?"
Wen Zichuan stood there with a silly grin, watching him clean up the stove, wash the rag and prepare to wipe the table, then followed him closely.
Cheng Sizhou was helpless: "Don't you feel uncomfortable? You sweated all over last night?"
Wen Zichuan shook his head: "Much better. If you think I'm fine, I'll go take a shower."
"Change into your own clothes after washing."
"I know. I don't have a habit of taking other people's clothes."
After finally watching that clingy guy go into the bathroom, Cheng Sizhou took the time to take antidepressants. Usually, he would go to sleep for a while after taking the medicine, especially after staying up all night and his heart started to act up.
If he fell asleep, what would Zichuan do?
Should I accompany him to take a nap, or leave quietly like last time?
Cheng Sizhou forced himself to suppress his tiredness and stared at the bathroom exit. The moment the bathroom door opened, he quickly looked away.
"Brother Zhou." Wen Zichuan, with a rosy face, came over to rub against him, "Look, I'm clean. Can you hug me?"
Reason tells Cheng Sizhou that he should answer "no", but he knows how pretty and cute Zichuan is when he just took a shower, so how can he say no to him again?
He had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep silent.
Wen Zichuan saw that his facial muscles were locked, and knew that he had made another request that he could not meet.
However, he was not discouraged. He would never be discouraged with Cheng Sizhou. He just needed time, time to make himself better, and time for Cheng Sizhou to slowly accept him.
"Okay, it was just a joke." Wen Zichuan said with a gloomy expression, "But I have to go. Su Zhuo can only arrange half a day, and the recording schedule can't be changed. Everyone will just have to wait for me in the studio for a whole morning."
"What about your throat...?" Cheng Sizhou thought that he could at least rest for a day.
"It's okay, I'm much better now. I'll use this emergency throat lozenge later. It's super effective." Wen Zichuan smiled at him, but didn't seem very happy. "Thank you for your care, and thank you for cooking noodles."
Cheng Sizhou shook his head and said, "Nothing." He was already used to Zichuan's departure, and only if Zichuan left him completely could he manage his career and life without any constraints.
The same scene seemed to be replayed countless times. He stood in the living room like a wooden stake, watching Zichuan put his belongings into his pocket, change his shoes, open the door and leave. Everything he left behind quickly cooled and solidified into ice.
With a click, Wen Zichuan pushed the door open and stepped out with one foot. But then he seemed to think of something and quickly ran back, hugging Cheng Sizhou. "Wait for me, I will definitely take you away, definitely."
Cheng Sizhou clenched his fists, suppressing the urge to hug back. "Go ahead, work hard, and in the future, countless people will love you, and you will have unlimited... choices and freedom."
After Wen Zichuan left, Cheng Sizhou took a short rest and then contacted Zhou Han.
The situation on Zhou Han's side is not ideal. The car accident and cliff fall incident at Longji Mountain has been determined to be an accident. In the absence of key evidence or effective clues, the higher authorities do not agree to investigate it together with the girl's kidnapping case.
"I used some personal connections," Zhou Han said helplessly. "The team member who stayed in Beiling Village with Wen Duo and Lin Hanzhen for three years does work at the Cultural Relics Management Office now, but his family is poor. His wife was laid off early on, and they had four daughters in order to have a son. I heard that he borrowed so much money that his relatives and friends no longer have any contact with him."
"It's not him," Cheng Sizhou mused, "I think I should know who it is."
"If he's truly a powerless grassroots official, he wouldn't be so omnipotent, right?" Zhou Han's guess was essentially the same. "If Wang Jian was arranging for the porcelain shipment to lure Mr. Jiang into the scheme, then his goal wasn't fully achieved, because Mr. Jiang is still alive."
"So, he was the first one to visit Master on the morning he was transferred from Huaili Hospital." Cheng Sizhou closed his eyes and let his thoughts run wild. Once he linked the real culprit behind the scenes to that man, it turned out that everything had a traceable path.
"Can those porcelain fragments serve as key evidence to identify him?" Zhou Han asked.
"That shouldn't be possible," Cheng Sizhou said. "In fact, the idea that there were sacrificial vessels mixed in was just a guess by Senior Brother Yu and me from the beginning. After the Beiling Village ancient tomb was robbed, there was no information proving what kind of tomb it was, or whether a large number of sacrificial vessels could be unearthed. Besides, Mutao Town is located in the inland hinterland, at the junction of the north and the south, and has never had a feudal regime or kingship in history. Using broken porcelain fragments as evidence would not only yield no results, but would also alert the enemy."
It would take time for Zhou Han to understand something too professional, but he heard Cheng Sizhou's firm tone and didn't seem unprepared.
"You have a plan? What are you going to do?"
"It was Wen Duo who reminded me. That person asked Wang Jian to transport the goods in order to conceal the secret of the porcelain, but the secret was discovered by the master, so he wanted to deal with the person who discovered the secret."
"Since Wen Duo has reminded you, why don't we push Wen Duo out? Back then, anyone in the institute who could see the information must have known him. If Wen Duo comes to the fore, once that person knows he's investigating, it's impossible for him to remain silent. As long as he moves, I'm sure I can find the key evidence."
"No, I promised him not to disclose his identity to anyone and to ensure his safety."
"Because he's Wen Zichuan's father? But I heard that Wen Duo abandoned his wife and children for more than 20 years, and Teacher Wen doesn't seem to have any feelings for him."
"Let me be the bait." Before hanging up the phone, Cheng Sizhou said softly, "If possible, I hope Zichuan can be reunited with his family."
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