He Falcon Extra 2
Everything was normal that day. After the meeting, he still had a lot of documents waiting for him to sign. He opened the inner pages and checked the contents when the strange tinnitus returned.
It seemed like there was some voice trying to tell him something, but when he tried to listen carefully, he couldn't make out anything.
He Gu couldn't sleep at night.
He has always suffered from insomnia, but it was particularly severe today. He got up, took two tranquilizers, and fell asleep again. In his dream, he seemed to be experiencing something very sad, so sad that his heart was aching.
But when he woke up the next day, he still hadn't forgotten anything. Looking at his tired eyes in the mirror, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have forgotten something.
What have we forgotten?
Is it Lin Jiang?
He opened the drawer and found it full of photos of Lin Jiang. Although he was abroad, Lin Jiang was still under his control.
Once this project is finished and he has the ability to compete with his family, he will have the leverage to continue his relationship with Lin Jiang.
Stroking Lin Jiang's photo and looking at his familiar smile, I felt a long-lost sense of peace.
Let's wait a little longer, and everything will be resolved satisfactorily.
During the day, he is decisive and efficient, pushing forward the project.
He suffers from insomnia and headaches at night and always needs medication to fall asleep.
Lin Jiang is the best medicine. Whenever I have insomnia, just looking at Lin Jiang's photo brings me a rare sense of peace.
He had many people in China who would send Lin Jiang's latest situation to his phone every day, so it could be said that he knew him very well.
Lin Jiang was initially a starter, but he was substituted after a loss in a game. His condition also started to change. He would often train in the training room late at night and became less talkative.
He Gu opened his phone, pondered repeatedly, but ultimately couldn't bring himself to send a greeting.
The project hasn't even succeeded yet, so what does he have to offer Lin Jiang for the future?
Let's wait a little longer, just a little longer...
He closed his phone, only to find himself sleepless all night again. It was as if a voice inside him was urging him on, and he dared not stop working day and night.
As the project progressed, the cash flow ran into problems, and every second meant losses and a slow death.
That day must have been the most desperate moment for He Gu. He had no choice but to call home and humbly ask them to invest.
His family is well-off and supports his career, but the condition is: "Are you sure you and that guy named Jiang have broken up? Haven't been in contact with each other?"
He Gu nodded numbly. "We've completely broken up. We haven't been in contact for over a year. Didn't you have someone check my phone?"
His mother smiled, seemingly pleased with him, and her gentle tone returned: "Mom knows you're a good boy. You never let me down. Do a good job on this project. Your father and your uncle have high hopes for you. I will always be proud of you as my son..."
After hanging up the phone, He Gu laughed self-deprecatingly.
He hadn't been home for a year. His mother, a woman who was exquisite from head to toe, didn't care at all about how he was doing outside; all she cared about was her own glory.
...Is it a monster?
Only a monster could be so cold-blooded.
Unsurprisingly, he suffered from insomnia again that day, and his head was so throbbing that he wanted to commit suicide. The first thing he did when he opened his eyes the next day was to make an appointment with a psychologist and calmly describe his symptoms to him.
He knew that if he continued like this, he would run into problems sooner or later, but he couldn't afford to get sick. Even if he did get sick, he had to stay awake and finish what he wanted to do.
The project quickly recovered its losses after the funds arrived, which is good news.
There was a lot of news about Lin Jiang coming from China. It seemed that he and Alike had a falling out and argued in the training room. Everyone was taking Alike's side. That day was the first time Lin Jiang had violated the rules by leaving the team.
Public opinion began to turn against Lin Jiang, with various accusations of him "acting like a big shot" and "bullying newcomers" spreading. Most of Alike's fans are relatively young and easily swayed by such accusations.
They stirred up a storm, saying that Lin Jiangde was unworthy of his position and demanding that KUG give up his starting spot to Alike.
Lin Jiang did not respond to a single word, letting public opinion surround him. After two consecutive losses, his starting position was given to Alike under public pressure.
Things seem to be getting out of control. Lin Jiang lost his starting position after only one year of rotation, and it will be very difficult for him to get back up.
He Gu didn't have a deep understanding of what was happening on the field, but he could sense that something was changing. He carefully dialed the number he hadn't called in two years and thought about many things in those few dozen seconds.
He wanted to tell him that his project abroad had been successful, that he no longer had to live in his mother's shadow, and that he would be free to choose what he liked.
When I called, the phone was switched off.
The message went unanswered for three days, like a stone sinking into the sea.
He Gu called Ji Zhi Ge, a friend of Lin Jiang and with whom he had business dealings, and learned from him that Lin Jiang now only answers private numbers.
“The online public opinion was too unfavorable to him. He received a lot of random phone calls every day, and he didn’t have time to breathe. So Lao Mao suggested that he get a private number, which only a few of us would know about.”
Lin Jiang opened a private account, but he wasn't on that account.
He Gu got the number, stared at it for a long time, but still didn't have the courage to dial it. He called the witty guy instead, hoping to find out about Lin Jiang's recent situation from him.
The witty guy, a good friend of Lin Jiang, spoke bluntly: "To be honest, Young Master He, I think you really ruined Lin Jiang's life by signing Alike this time."
He Gu frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled. "Why?"
"I'm being blunt, please don't mind, I'll just say it directly. I really don't know what you're thinking, but we all feel that this signing is a deliberate attempt to suppress Lin Jiang and promote Alike. When you signed the contract, it was agreed that Lin Jiang would be the only starting player, and then you immediately signed Alike, who is also your cousin. What could Lin Jiang do? He couldn't afford to break ties with you, so he had no choice but to agree."
"At first, the person in charge said that he would rotate the team so that Lin Jiang could learn more. Lin Jiang has been teaching him wholeheartedly. Moreover, you should know your cousin's temper. No one in the team dares to mess with him. How could Lin Jiang get any favors from him? He only agreed to teach him because of you. But look at the final result. After Alike learned the skills, the online public opinion quickly turned against Lin Jiang and took away his starting position."
"He signed a five-year contract with KUG, but the team dropped him from the starting lineup. This was a huge blow to him."
"To put it bluntly, we all feel that you are exploiting Lin Jiang for personal gain."
"Moreover, in the last two matches, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like the top laner is targeting Lin Jiang, and the draft is also strange. I always feel like the team is deliberately benching him as a starter."
He Gu rubbed his temples vigorously, wondering why things had turned out this way.
That wasn't his intention. He just wanted to appease his mother so that the project wouldn't be hindered. Besides, Lin Jiang wasn't one to be bullied; he had his own way of surviving.
But He Gu forgot that Alike was signed on his own, and Lin Jiang had to give him some face.
Suddenly, I felt very sad. At night, I had a splitting headache. I found Lin Jiang's private number and hesitated for a long time before finally dialing it.
The phone rang for a long time but was not answered. It wasn't until the next day when he asked the person who made the arrangements that he learned that Lin Jiang had been sick and hospitalized that day.
This illness lasted for more than half a month, and it didn't improve until the end of the Spring Split.
From that day on, Lin Jiang never competed again. He seemed to have accepted his fate, or perhaps he was silently waiting for death to come.
Looking at Lin Jiang's recent photos, he seems like a completely different person.
He Gu felt increasingly uncomfortable the more he looked at it.
Let's wait a little longer. His project is only one month away from success. We've waited two years already, it's only one month, nothing will go wrong.
That month felt like an eternity, and the moment the project succeeded, he immediately called Lin Jiang.
It was broad daylight that day, but Lin Jiang answered the phone as if he had just woken up, his voice low and husky: "Hello, who is it?"
Having not heard his voice for two whole years, He Gu felt a pang of homesickness, clutching the phone tightly. "It's me. Are you sick?"
The other end fell silent, lacking the expected excitement, and was as indifferent as if they had met a stranger: "No, I went to bed late last night and haven't woken up yet."
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Jiang was still sleeping, and He Gu couldn't imagine why.
Lin Jiang's whereabouts from yesterday had not yet been sent to his phone, so he had no idea what Lin Jiang had done yesterday.
The phone was gripped tightly, then released. "You went out? With whom? Did you drink? Didn't I tell you not to go out drinking with other people..."
There seemed to be a chuckle on the other end, a hint of self-deprecation in it, "Young Master He only calls once every two years, just to ask about this? I'm truly flattered."
The sound of a window opening came from the phone, mixed with the faint "click" of a lighter being lit. A cigarette butt was lit, flickering on and off. He felt as if something was stuck in his throat, making all the blood in his body flow backward.
Lin Jiang was actually smoking.
What exactly happened during the two years I was away?
He suddenly realized that the people he had arranged could only see the surface, and he actually knew nothing about Lin Jiang's feelings and thoughts.
It turns out that he didn't know Lin Jiang very well.
“Lin Jiang,” he said, tasting a bitter flavor as he spoke his name, “My project was a success, and I’ll be returning to China tomorrow.”
"Really? Congratulations!"
Lin Jiang's answer was too casual, and He Gu couldn't sense his emotions at all. He wasn't like this before; he used to always respond to everything Lin Jiang said.
"I'm going back to China and I won't leave again, Lin Jiang. I will stay with you forever, and no one can separate us."
Silence fell again on the phone. Lin Jiang seemed conflicted. He took several puffs of his cigarette before asking, "Are you sure?"
He Gu was certain, absolutely certain, that he had come abroad so that one day he could finally confront his family completely. "Lin Jiang, please wait for me a little longer, okay?"
He looked calmly out the window, outwardly composed, but inwardly he was going crazy thinking about Lin Jiang.
He raised his glass and toasted Lin Jiang across the distance, wishing them a smooth and successful future.
The plane was delayed, and He Gu sat in the waiting area reviewing Lin Jiang's movements from yesterday.
In the photo, Lin Jiang looks somewhat dejected, leaning against a railing with a cigarette between his fingers. The person talking to him is Yu Ming, a secret admirer who can't be seen in public.
At first, Lin Jiang didn't react to him, but later, he laughed at something. His face had a unique charm under the light, which made Yu Ming across from him start to feel dazed.
He Gu crumpled the photo, thinking about Lin Jiang's attitude towards Yu Ming, and then about Lin Jiang's tone of voice on the phone.
It seemed that something was changing silently. He keenly sensed that Lin Jiang didn't seem to like him as much as before, and that he didn't seem to need him as much as he used to.
The plane was delayed by a full three hours. He didn't tell Lin Jiang. He dragged his luggage out of the airport and saw Lin Jiang leaning against the railing in the night, waiting for a long time. There were cigarette butts all over the ground. When he saw him come out, he wasn't surprised. He just put out his cigarette and said to him as usual, "Let's go. The car is parked outside."
He Gu was inexplicably disappointed. He had expected Lin Jiang to give him some kind of response, but Lin Jiang didn't react at all.
Once in the car, he tentatively asked Lin Jiang, "Have you been waiting long?"
Lin Jiang didn't answer him, started the car, and after a long time replied, "It's okay, I'm used to it."
Even with the window open, the heavy smell of smoke still wafted from him. He Gu looked at him through the rearview mirror and asked, "When did you learn to smoke?"
Lin Jiang replied, "I forgot."
He Gu's heart sank lower and lower. Lin Jiang took everything related to him lightly, as if he no longer needed to be involved in Lin Jiang's life.
Lin Jiang took him home, put his luggage away, and showed no intention of staying. "I'm going back."
“Lin Jiang,” He Gu stepped forward and grabbed him, “we haven’t seen each other for two years.”
The person in front of me paused for a moment, then smiled. "Yes, it's been two years. You're still the same as before."
He Gu knew that this was not a compliment.
He knew there was a problem between him and Lin Jiang, but he didn't know what the problem was.
The news of his return to China quickly reached the ears of KUG's senior management. He had not been back to China for two years, and there were many things that needed to be reported to him. He Gu took time out of his busy schedule to attend this meeting.
Manager Chen was the biggest contributor in this incident, and everyone praised him for keeping Lin Jiang. Only He Gu remained silent, feeling an indescribable sense of frustration whenever he thought about that contract.
As they passed the training room on their way out, everyone was looking out, but Lin Jiang remained motionless.
He was wearing headphones, exuding a detached and aloof air. Zeng Yuan tugged at his arm to remind him that he had arrived, but Lin Jiang didn't even lift his eyelids, simply giving a curt "hmm."
He Gu was still the center of attention, with everyone fawning over him, except for Lin Jiang, who seemed to be fleeing from him.
After that meeting, He Gu didn't see Lin Jiang for two months. Alike was much more enthusiastic than him, always the first to greet him, calling out warmly, "Brother! You're here!"
He Gu would deliberately linger a few minutes longer for Lin Jiang, but Lin Jiang never took another step towards him.
There's a problem between them.
He Gu knew.
He called on a friend in China with whom he had a fairly good relationship and asked him to help analyze where the problem lay.
My friend is a player, always surrounded by men and women. He jokingly told him, "When you're in a relationship, you have to provide him with something, right? Money? He doesn't lack that. Emotions? You don't provide those either. You can't even give him a proper title. So, Mr. He, you're constantly draining his emotions, he's bound to get tired, and it's normal for him to be a little cold towards you."
He Gu took a sip of wine. "Then what should I do?"
"I think you should have a serious talk with him. There's been a two-year gap between you two, and you should try to make up for it."
"But don't blame me for not warning you, Young Master He, if even a good person like Lin Jiang can't stand you, then you might really be destined to grow old alone..."
He Gu was not afraid of being alone, but when Lin Jiang came, he suddenly became a little scared.
That day, after leaving the bar, he went straight to the apartment building to wait for him. He waited until late at night, feeling disheartened, before finally seeing Lin Jiang get out of the car, drunk.
There were several people accompanying him, all from various teams. He recognized one of them, a man named Yu Ming, who had previously had a crush on Lin Jiang.
The chill of the night air was nothing compared to the coldness in He Gu's heart.
He stood in the darkness, watching Lin Jiang drink himself into a stupor and be carried off the car by Yu Ming.
Lin Jiang has a decent alcohol tolerance. The last time he got drunk was three years ago when he was drunk and I took him home.
He lay on the sofa, his clothes disheveled, completely unguarded in front of her, as if she could have him immediately.
That was the first time He Gu had felt such a strong sense of loss of control. He stood by the sofa and just looked at him, and an abyss kept eroding his reason.
Not everyone in this world can be like him, able to stop themselves from losing control in time.
So he could only warn Lin Jiang: "You can't drink in front of anyone other than me, understand?"
At that time, Lin Jiang still liked him very much. He nodded, drunkenly got up from the sofa, and then rushed over to hug him. "Ahu, I only trust you."
Three years later, Lin Jiang got drunk again, but this time everything had changed.
He stood calmly in the darkness, watching Yu Ming help Lin Jiang walk over.
Lin Jiang was drunk, but not too drunk. He looked up and recognized him, and simply said, "You're here."
He Gu didn't know when the changes started. He had only been gone for two years, but Lin Jiang had learned to smoke, to drink with others, and his gaze towards him was no longer as intense. He would even smile at people other than him... It seemed that Lin Jiang really didn't need him.
That night was very cold, really cold.
He took him from Yu Ming, his voice chillingly cold: "Thank you for your trouble, but if there's a next time, I hope you can give me a call and I'll come pick him up."
Yu Ming was stunned for a long time, then looked at him with some disappointment: "Are you Lin Jiang's boyfriend?"
He Gu nodded. "I guess so."
Yu Ming opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. He was a secret admirer who couldn't be seen in the light of day, and even a rebuttal seemed like a luxury.
He Gu helped Lin Jiang into the elevator, and the two fell into a deathly silence once again.
They used to talk about everything, but now they have nothing to say to each other, all in just two years. He doesn't know why Lin Jiang has changed so much.
He took Lin Jiang back to the apartment. He remembered the password; it was his birthday. When Lin Jiang set it, he told him, "I set the password to your birthday because I was afraid you'd forget things and wouldn't know how to log in."
With a "beep," the door opened. He knew that Lin Jiang still cared about him, but there were problems between them that needed to be fixed.
He placed Lin Jiang on the sofa, sat at the end of the sofa himself, considered it carefully for a long time, and then told him, "Let's start over. I don't want to test each other anymore."
He had made up his mind. No matter what Lin Jiang became, no matter if he still loved him as before, he wanted him. He wanted to start over with him.
Lin Jiang had his eyes closed, but He Gu knew he wasn't asleep.
He gets headaches and can't sleep when he drinks too much, just like him, suffering from insomnia night after night.
He looked at Lin Jiang, expecting his reply, and after a long wait, he finally received the sentence: "He Hu, you really haven't changed at all."
Lin Jiang closed his eyes, looking somewhat tired: "You're still the same as before, using feelings as bargaining chips, as if the more I like you, the more you can win against me in this relationship. That day, you had two hours to message me to let me know the flight was delayed, but you still made me wait for several hours. What were you trying to prove? That I still value you a lot?"
"You called me the day before and said you wanted to start over with me. I mustered up a lot of courage to go to the airport to pick you up, but I never expected it would end up like this."
"This relationship is making me tired, so let's end it here and not continue. Let's part ways amicably."
He Gu clenched his fists nervously. He was aware of his flaws, but he didn't know how to stop them.
At times like these, a demon would grow in his heart, causing the scales to tip and driving him mad as he desperately wanted to prove that Lin Jiang's love for him was real.
His body felt like a bottomless void, impossible to fill. He knew he would eventually drain Lin Jiang dry, but he couldn't bear to let Lin Jiang leave.
Some people's love can nourish a city, while others' love needs to constantly devour those around them to sustain itself.
After leaving the apartment, He Gu remained dejected for a long time.
His mother called to invite him to a family dinner. He dressed in a suit and tie, and as soon as he entered the door, he was met with his mother's scolding: "Such an important banquet, look at what you're wearing! Didn't I say black is more formal? Who bought you such a frivolous tie? Your assistant's taste is getting worse and worse..."
He loosened his tight tie slightly, looked up, and interrupted her: "Mom, I always dress like this when I'm abroad, and I'll dress like this from now on."
Perhaps the project's success gave him immense confidence, or perhaps he wanted to prove something; at this moment, his courage was unmatched.
Of course, all he got was a slap.
Then there was the woman's angry voice: "You're becoming more and more ill-mannered. Now that the overseas project is going well, you think you're out of my control, is that it?"
He laughed and replied, "Yes, once the project was up and running, I was indeed out of your control."
That day, he saw a terrifying, earth-shattering fear in his mother's eyes. Strangely, it was something he had always wanted to see, but when he actually saw it, it was nothing special.
Because he looks so much like his mother.
He wondered if, one day, when Lin Jiang was out of his control, he would also be as angry as this woman, losing his mind.
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