Chapter 121 They are all more important than me
“I was afraid they would make things difficult for you and not pay you... It’s good that they didn’t make things difficult for you.”
Afraid of disturbing her roommate, Mu Yan made the phone call to Lu Chong from the balcony. Perhaps because of the wind, Mu Yan felt a little sore in her nose for no reason.
He asked Lu Chong why he wouldn't accept the money he offered. Lu Chong smiled and asked if he could use the money to treat him to braised pork ribs at the noodle shop behind the school.
His slightly distorted voice came through the phone, and Mu Yan felt her ears burning. Without thinking, she said "okay."
That noodle shop has delicious noodles with generous portions, and you can get extra noodles for free. Mu Yan would go there for a meal every time he got his part-time job pay, and he would also add a fried egg.
"Would the young master also crave those cheap, run-of-the-mill noodle shops behind the school, just like me?" Mu Yan wondered absentmindedly as he saw Lu Chong waiting for him downstairs at the dormitory.
In City A, which is located in the subtropics, even in winter, the camphor trees are lush and green. Lu Chong stood under the camphor tree waiting for him, holding a bunch of beautiful flowers.
Perhaps it was because Lu Chong was so famously handsome, or perhaps it was because the bouquet was so beautiful, that many passersby turned their gazes toward them.
He arrived really early; we were supposed to meet at 5:30, but Mu Yan came down five minutes early...
Lu Chong handed the bouquet to Mu Yan. The flowers smelled wonderful, and everyone loves beautiful things. Mu Yan subconsciously lowered his head and gently smelled them.
"Given to me?" Mu Yan looked up and asked a very stupid question, "Why...why give it to me...?"
Lu Chong didn't speak immediately, but just looked at him and smiled. Sunlight shone on his face through the gaps in the leaves. After two or three seconds, Mu Yan realized that he had asked a stupid question.
"A classmate I know sells flowers at school and asked me to support them." After a while, Lu Chong smiled and gave a seemingly unconvincing reason, "I thought the flowers were very pretty and would suit you well, so I brought them over for you."
Mu Yan and Lu Chong officially got together that winter was almost over, when the magnolias were just beginning to bloom.
Spring seemed to come early that year. It seemed like he hadn't worn the scarf and down jacket that Lu Chong had given him much before spring arrived.
Then, in the blink of an eye, several more years have passed.
Mu Yan had always thought that Lu Chong would be the first to want to leave, but she never expected that she would be the one who insisted on leaving later.
"This roast duck is quite good, have another piece," Xie Chen put a piece of roast duck into Mu Yan's bowl. "Yan Yan, why are you a little distracted? Are you feeling unwell?"
Mu Yan snapped out of her daze and picked up a piece of roast duck for Xie Chen, saying, "You eat too... I'm not feeling unwell."
“That means you have something on your mind,” Xie Chen said, looking at him. “Did you soften a little after what Lu Chong said just now?”
“No,” Mu Yan shook his head, “I just thought his expression was a little unpleasant just now…”
Xie Chen lowered his eyes, his gaze darkening.
Mu Yan wasn't easily swayed, but this was his first time meeting Lu Chong in Country A. He wasn't a careless person, and he could tell that Lu Chong's complexion hadn't been good lately, and he had indeed lost some weight.
But they were no longer lovers. Taking care of oneself and not getting sick was something every adult should do, and Mu Yan didn't feel the need to care about him.
Mu Yan was almost full. He looked at the two remaining roast duck skins on the table, reached out and took them, wrapped one for Xie Chen and one for himself, and then told Xie Chen that he was going out for a bit to wash his hands in the restroom.
He was indeed feeling a bit upset about what Lu Chong had done today, and wanted to wash his face and calm down by himself.
...
There was an irregular patch of crimson blood on the sink. Lu Chong paused for a moment, and for some reason, his first reaction was not to clean the blood off the sink, but to look up at his somewhat unfamiliar self in the mirror.
It's still the same face, and you can't quite pinpoint what's changed, but the youthful vigor of a few years ago is long gone.
Why did you mess everything up?
She met Mu Yan at such a good time in the beginning. If she had investigated Mu Yan's family affairs earlier, she could have spent money to solve the problem before her mother's illness worsened.
Mu Yan liked him from the beginning; he was Mu Yan's favorite.
Lu Chong turned on the tap, and the blood-stained water swirled away from the drain, leaving only a faint, unpleasant smell of blood in the air.
His daily routine has been very regular lately, so it's unlikely to be a stomach hemorrhage. Lu Chong silently finished cleaning the sink, then sent Lu Zhi a message saying he had something to do and told her to go home first, as he planned to go to the hospital to get checked out later.
Lu Zhi scolded him, saying he couldn't be so stupid as to get harassed by reporters. Lu Chong admitted it and told her to be careful not to come looking for him.
After Lu Zhi agreed, Lu Chong turned on the tap and washed his face again.
When the rushing water stopped, Lu Chong had already composed himself. When he turned around, he saw Mu Yan standing at the bathroom door, having been there for who knows how long.
For a moment, Lu Chong's mind went blank. He didn't know how much he had seen, and he just stood there, stunned.
Nothing was said there.
"Stomach bleeding, did you drink again? Didn't you already go home? Why do you need to drink so much for social occasions?" Mu Yan said, looking at him.
Lu Chong's tense nerves relaxed almost immediately. He was so nervous that he forgot that it was just vomiting blood. He had been hospitalized for stomach bleeding before he and Mu Yan broke up.
"...I didn't drink much," Lu Chong replied after a moment's hesitation.
"Don't you know your own body?" Mu Yan asked calmly. "Where's your sister?"
Lu Chong lowered his eyes, avoiding his gaze: "I told her to go back first."
“You’re an adult now. There’s no need to abuse your body like this. Your sister is your most important family member. There’s no need to hide your illness from her. Family members should be more trustworthy to you than outsiders like me, and the same goes for me,” Mu Yan said calmly. “I won’t reconcile with you just because of this.”
Lu Chong's face turned even paler. He opened his mouth, as if to argue, but said nothing.
"I can take you to the hospital today, but if there's a next time, I won't even care if you drink until you have a stomach hemorrhage and collapse on the roadside."
“No need, go and be with your family,” Lu Chong said, looking down. “They are all more important than me, including that brother you just recognized. Go and be with them, don’t worry about me.”
Mu Yan glanced at him, then immediately turned and walked out of the restroom.
The moment Lu Chong finished speaking, he immediately regretted it. He reached out to grab Mu Yan, but Mu Yan was walking very fast. He missed his target, ran a few steps, and finally managed to hug Mu Yan from behind.
So this is what it feels like...
Mu Yan's frame is much smaller than his, and he can wrap his whole body around him. Mu Yan's bones are a bit hard, and his body temperature is slightly cooler than his own, but he should warm up after hugging him for a while.
Mu Yan pushed him hard, shoving him away.
Lu Chong staggered back two steps, a sweet, metallic taste rising in his throat. He hesitated for only a second before vomiting bright red blood.
"How could there be so much blood?" Mu Yan was stunned. "Would a normal stomach hemorrhage produce this much blood?"
In an instant, scenes from those heartbreaking romance movies where the protagonists vomit blood due to stomach or esophageal cancer flashed through Mu Yan's mind. Her face paled, and she couldn't bring herself to ignore him.
An hour later, Mu Yan sat in a chair at the hospital, waiting for Lu Chong to bring out the report.
"Let me see."
Mu Yan practically snatched the report from his hand. After all, he wasn't a native English speaker, and faced with a bunch of technical terms, he couldn't quite grasp the meaning of them.
Stress-induced ulcers and gastric mucosal ischemia.
"It's not cancer, is it?" Mu Yan murmured. Before Lu Chong could say no, he picked up his phone to translate it, and after comparing the results for a long time, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Chong watched as Mu Yan spent several minutes looking up words, his heart pounding in his chest. Only when Mu Yan finally put down his phone and looked much more relaxed did he realize that his palms were almost completely sweaty.
"Thank you for coming to the hospital with me today," Lu Chong apologized to him in a very soft voice, "I just... didn't mean to make you angry."
Seeing that Mu Yan ignored him, Lu Chong had no choice but to change the subject: "How is Tangyuan?"
"Do you need to be hospitalized?" Mu Yan ignored his attempt to make small talk.
The doctor said he needed to have a gastroscopy. Lu Chong didn't want Mu Yan to see him looking disheveled, so he nodded and said he had already called his assistant to come and accompany him.
"I'll go out with you, I'll call you a car, okay?"
Mu Yan shook his head. He had hands and feet, while Lu Chong was a patient no matter what.
"I'll accompany you until your assistant arrives," Mu Yan said.
Lu Chong seemed very happy. He stood there for a while, feeling dizzy and disoriented, before remembering to help Mu Yan find a seat.
The hospital was bustling with people. Just as the two had walked past, the sound of someone beating a thief suddenly rang out. A shifty-eyed young man was pinned to the ground. In crowded places, such petty theft is not uncommon.
Mu Yan was getting used to it. He hadn't brought any valuables with him, and subconsciously checked to make sure his phone was still there.
Lu Chong subconsciously raised his wrist, which was empty of any watch, and then, as if remembering something, reached into his pocket.
Mu Yan turned her head and glanced at him: "Where's the ring you were wearing?"
Mu Yan was always quite observant. During the meal, he remembered that Lu Chong was wearing a ring on his left hand, a ring that Lu Chong had been wearing ever since he picked him up to go to Country A.
Lu Chong took the ring out of his pocket and put it back on.
"There were too many people there just now, so we put it away."
Mu Yan glanced at the ring. The ring didn't look very valuable. The ring setting was rose gold, and the inlaid jade didn't look expensive either. It looked like the cheapest Xiuyan jade sold to middle school students in stationery stores.
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