Chapter 68 Agree
Lu Jiayi applied for a job at the bar where Cheng Che worked, and the boss gave him a one-month probation period.
At first, he tried to use work time to talk to Cheng Che, but since his last visit to the scumbag's house, Cheng Che's attitude towards him had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and after breaking up with the scumbag, Cheng Che was even colder. During the week at the bar, he only heard Cheng Che's necessary communications with clients, and the rest of the time he was completely silent.
Lu Jiayi knew about Cheng Che's breakup entirely from Yang Mingxi. That night, he was so happy that he treated everyone in the company to a barbecue, saying that his spring had come and he was going to win over his senior.
Lu Jiayi's first move was to follow Cheng Che everywhere. He originally wanted to interview at every place where Cheng Che worked, but he was afraid that if he followed too closely, Cheng Che would be annoyed, so he chose the place where Cheng Che worked the longest.
The second trick was to recreate the scene. He hired a few ruffians to wait at the back door of the bar, and then beat up Cheng Che in front of him when Cheng Che was off work. Cheng Che was so vengeful that he would definitely take action. Lu Jiayi could then pretend to be pitiful and ask Cheng Che to send him home, and then let him stay overnight.
This was what Lu Jiayi had originally planned, but he didn't expect Cheng Che to fight so desperately, beating those thugs so hard that they wanted to call the police, which scared Lu Jiayi.
After everything was over, he saw Cheng Che leaning weakly against the black graffiti wall. He stretched out his swollen hand to pick up the broken mobile phone next to him, staring at the black screen for a long time, as if he really had no strength left. He leaned there with his eyes closed. He had no expression on his face and didn't make any sound, but Lu Jiayi felt that he was crying.
Lu Jiayi's eyes suddenly became sore, but he didn't dare to go over and ask him what was wrong. Cheng Che was so cold that he seemed to be about to break, but he didn't let anyone get close to him.
After a long time, he stood up and walked away without looking back, just like that night a few years ago.
Lu Jiayi was stunned for a long time before he hurriedly followed. He could no longer let Cheng Che go alone like he did a few years ago, but he only dared to follow him from a distance. He was afraid that Cheng Che would say "get away" to him like he did two days ago. He had never seen Cheng Che be so irritating.
At the dormitory door, Lu Jiayi vaguely heard the students around him saying something about Li Shen coming back and Cheng Che and Li Zimai arguing. He subconsciously thought that the scumbag was forcing his senior again, so he rushed forward, but was pushed away by someone at the stairs and almost fell.
After coming to his senses, he saw that the tall figure carried the unconscious Cheng Che into the car. The boys in the dormitory were all crazy, some were watching the show, some were cheering, and some were worried. Only Lu Jiayi was standing there in a daze.
Yang Mingxi quickly followed him out. Lu Jiayi stopped him and asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Was that a senior just now?"
Yang Mingxi was almost scared to death. He knew that Cheng Che would get into trouble sooner or later if he continued like this. He didn't expect that he would collapse in the dormitory, and his face hit the ground with blood splattering. Yang Mingxi had never seen such a bloody scene and was almost scared to death. Fortunately, Li Zimai was outside the dormitory and didn't leave. He broke down the door and rushed in, picked up Cheng Che and ran downstairs.
Yang Mingxi just realized that today was Cheng Che's birthday. When he came back and saw the cake in the dormitory, he was still wondering who sent it. Li Zimai came in from the balcony and said, "It's Cheche's birthday. You can blow out the candles with him tonight."
Yang Mingxi hadn't seen Li Zimai for so long that he was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to say. His two roommates were in a relationship, and now it's broken up. Which side should he stand on?
Seeing Li Zimai about to leave, Yang Mingxi called out to him tremblingly, "Don't you want to come together?"
Li Zimai forced a laugh, his voice a little hoarse, "Does he want to see me now?"
Yang Mingxi was speechless. Cheng Che hadn't mentioned Li Zimai at all in the past month. No, he hadn't spoken much at all. He was concentrating on working and studying, with no distractions. If you didn't know him, you would think he was going to win the Nobel Prize.
"I'm leaving now. Don't tell him I bought it, or he might drop it later."
Yang Mingxi called out to him, "Brother Che hasn't been in good shape lately. He stays up late and gets up early every day. I'm worried..."
Before Yang Mingxi could finish his words, Cheng Che came back. He glanced at Li Zimai, then at the birthday cake on the table, and remained silent.
Yang Mingxi immediately ran away and waited outside the dormitory.
After a while, Li Zi came out with white cream stains on his shoes. Yang Mingxi looked into the dormitory and saw that the beautiful cake was lying pitifully on the floor. The words "Happy Birthday" were buried in the melted cream and had lost their shape.
Yang Mingxi didn't know what to say. She didn't know why they had to break up and become so embarrassed when they both obviously liked each other and were obviously both feeling miserable.
Li Zimai apologized calmly: "I'm sorry for dirtying your place."
"No, it's okay, I'll just clean it up."
Yang Mingxi entered the dormitory and saw Cheng Che cleaning the floor. His movements were very slow and his expression was expressionless, but Yang Mingxi inexplicably felt that he was so sad that he was about to die.
"...Che, Brother Che...let me do it."
Yang Mingxi helped him wipe the floor. She glanced up at him inadvertently and asked quickly, "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
Cheng Che's face was very pale, and his lips were a little purple. He shook his head and said it was okay, then stood up and closed the dormitory door with slow and heavy steps.
When Yang Mingxi heard the sound again, it was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground with a "bang". It fell to the ground without any support. It was not known whether the blood came out of the nose or mouth, staining the pretty face red.
For the first time, Yang Mingxi realized that humans are such fragile and tiny creatures, and it seems that they can disappear from this world at any time.
When Yang Mingxi rushed to the hospital, Cheng Che was already receiving an IV drip in the general ward. The blood on his face had been wiped clean, but his swollen cheekbones and cracked mouth corners were still oozing blood, which looked scary.
Yang Mingxi glanced at Li Zimai. There was a large patch of blood on the chest of his light-colored coat, and his cuffs were also stained with blood. Yang Mingxi seemed to be able to see the whole process of how he hugged Cheng Che and how he wiped the blood off Cheng Che.
They didn't speak.
The doctor came in and asked some questions. Yang Mingxi told the doctor about Cheng Che's recent condition and anxiously asked Cheng Che if it was serious. Li Zimai didn't say a word during the whole process. He just stood there, looking at the unconscious Cheng Che.
"...Brother Che..."
"...Go outside and talk."
Yang Mingxi followed him out and saw him close the door of the ward very lightly and slowly, his half-clenched palm resting on the handle, refusing to let go.
"Don't worry, the doctor just said that fortunately we brought him here in time. We'll have another checkup tomorrow and he should be fine."
Yang Mingxi nervously comforted him. The doctor had clearly used the serious word "sudden death". Cheng Che was less than 20 years old, but he received a serious warning from the doctor about "sudden death from overwork".
Li Zimai finally spoke, his voice filled with a sadness and distress that Yang Mingxi had never heard before. He asked Yang Mingxi, but also seemed to be asking himself, "...does he want to stop living?"
Yang Mingxi's eyes suddenly became sore. "No! Definitely not! Brother Che is just too tired recently. You know he has been working very hard."
After a long while, Li Zimai seemed to have calmed down. He told Yang Mingxi to talk to Cheng Che more often, take him to eat and rest more often, and not let him work alone everywhere. He explained everything in detail. Yang Mingxi interrupted him and asked uncertainly, "I will, but Li Shen, how about you..."
Why don't you accompany him in person?
Li Zimai said: "He doesn't want to see me anymore."
When he handed the birthday cake to Cheng Che, Cheng Che said with red eyes: "Why are you doing this, Li Zimai, why are you doing this? The more you do this, the more disgusted I am with myself, disgusted with my birth, disgusted with being the son of the Cheng Li family. You will only make me more embarrassed each time... Do you know that?"
His Che Che will never look back. He did one wrong thing and lost him forever. He never thought that his existence would make Cheng Che so sad. It’s not that Cheng Che doesn’t love Li Zimai anymore, but that he can’t afford to love Li Zimai anymore.
In the hospital that was open all night, there were messy footsteps and deliberately low voices coming and going. The sounds were accompanied by a cold wind, exactly the same as the unpleasant dust on the construction site.
There was clearly no dust or unbearable smell of smoke here, but Cheng Che was trapped in the fog and couldn't escape.
"Are you really dating that Li guy? Are you a pervert? How could I give birth to a psychopath like you! It's a good thing your mother died early, otherwise she would be pissed off by you!"
"I just asked him for money. He came to me on his own. At first I was wondering if your classmate had too much money to burn. Now I understand, you two are perverts!"
"You're my son, so of course he has to respect me. You gave him all the money, so why doesn't he give me some money for cigarettes?!"
"I'm telling you! I'll ask him how much money he wants based on how many days you've been with him. If you want to have sex with a guy, just do it. Just wait and see how I mess with you!"
"You're crazy! Don't let your grandma know! You're going to piss people off to death! You're disgusting!"
"You want to kill me? Come on, I'm in my sixties, why should I be afraid of death? But you, you just started college and you want to go to jail. You killed your own father. Let's see how you will be drowned in spit in the future!"
Why doesn’t Cheng Lijia just die?
Cheng Che had always thought since he was little, if only a car could hit Cheng Lijia and kill him, so he wouldn't have to bear the guilt of killing Cheng Lijia and wouldn't have to hurt his grandmother. But Cheng Lijia was still alive and well, his body couldn't be drained by smoking or drinking, and he couldn't die.
He is like a cancer that has been clinging to Cheng Che. His grandmother wants him to take care of this cancer and watch it destroy his life bit by bit.
The dream that night was particularly clear. Cheng Che dreamed of the morning of the fifth day of the New Year, when he had a quarrel with his mother. The last thing his mother said to him was tears in her eyes. She said sorry in a self-blaming voice, sorry for making Cheng Che's childhood so sad.
Cheng Che clearly wanted to apologize, to comfort her and thank her for bringing him into this world, but Cheng Che was too young at the time and didn't understand. He wanted to use the most profound and severe words to hurt everyone in the family. He said, "Why did you give birth to me? I don't want to live in this family. I'm disgusting."
The mother never spoke again. She lay on the road with blood all over her face, as if it was the heaviest punishment for Cheng Che. She wanted Cheng Che to always remember this day and how he lost her.
When he woke up again, he could hear the sound of dripping liquid in his ears and the smell of disinfectant filled the air. Cheng Che's hand was held tightly, and he saw Li Zimai sleeping on the side of the bed, with blood stains on his sleeves that had not been cleaned yet.
Time seemed to have returned to not long ago, when Li Zimai was still guarding Cheng Che's bedside, refusing to let go of his hand no matter how late it was. At that time, Cheng Che was already afraid. He was afraid that Li Zimai was too good, afraid that he would lose Li Zimai like he lost his mother.
"...Are you awake?"
Cheng Che pulled his hand away, avoided his gaze, and remained silent.
No one wants to disrupt the undercurrent beneath the calm, something is about to be completely broken.
After the examination the next day, Li Zimai left. It was Yang Mingxi who took care of Cheng Che in the hospital and watched him on the IV drip. Cheng Che didn't want to trouble others, but Yang Mingxi insisted that he had the responsibility as a roommate, and that there was nothing to do in school these days, so he could skip the class of one of his most hated teachers with a clear conscience.
Yang Mingxi got some soup from somewhere, but he put it in an insulated box and brought it to Cheng Che every day. Cheng Che didn't ask any questions.
On the day of discharge, Cheng Che changed his clothes. Li Zimai knocked on the door and came in. Like when they first met, she smiled at him and said, "Don't work so many jobs anymore. You can't make enough money. No matter how great you are, you can't stand this kind of hardship."
Cheng Che could tell something was missing from this "Brother Che" outfit. He saw Li Zimai pull out the two rings strung together on a black chain from his jacket pocket, place them on the bedside table, and say to Cheng Che, "...I agree. Let's break up."
His voice was shaking, but he pretended to be calm as he said goodbye to Cheng Che, "Here's the list. Don't worry about paying the money back. Take care of your health first."
He didn't look at Cheng Che's face the whole time, but just talked to himself. He seemed not to want to hear Cheng Che's voice, so he couldn't wait to say goodbye.
Cheng Che called him from behind and said, "Li Zimai...thank you."
Their unrequited love ended just like that.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
