Chapter 73 is missing
"Why haven't you come back yet?"
Li Zimai opened his eyes and received a call from Cheng Che. He was stunned for a few seconds, as if he was trying to react. When he didn't get a reply from the other end, he asked again: "Aren't you coming back? I cooked dinner and I don't want to eat alone."
The voice coming from the phone seemed to reappear in Li Zimai's brain over and over again. Li Zimai had a headache, always feeling that he had forgotten something. He subconsciously coaxed Cheng Che, "Baby, wait for me, I'll be back soon."
Li Zimai shook his head and forced himself to wake up, only then he noticed that he had fallen asleep on the desk. Outside the window was the hustle and bustle of night traffic and the flickering neon lights. It was a prosperous summer night in Beijing.
When he got in the driver's seat, Li Zimai suddenly couldn't remember where he lived. He called Cheng Che to ask where he was. Cheng Che answered him in the tone of an idiot: "Are you stupid from working overtime? I'm at home, come back soon."
Where is home? Tell me, where is home?
After a while, Li Zimai saw Cheng Che busy in the kitchen as usual. He stood in the entrance and called out "Cheche". Cheng Che looked back at him, slowly took off his apron, walked over to hug him, and said perfunctorily: "Welcome home."
He let go of Li Zimai and said helplessly, "When will these weird rituals of yours stop? You have to do this every day, don't you get tired of it... Um..."
Before he could finish his words, Cheng Che had already blocked his mouth and kissed him repeatedly, with great force and depth. Cheng Che was out of breath and mumbled, "...What's wrong...You speak first..."
Li Zimai didn't know whether his myopia had worsened or whether staying up late and working overtime had caused problems with his retina. He always felt that he couldn't see Cheng Che's face clearly. It was clearly Cheng Che's voice, Cheng Che's tone, and Cheng Che's body temperature, but he just couldn't see Cheng Che's face clearly.
"What's wrong? Is things not going well in the studio?"
Cheng Che raised his head from his arms, looked up at him, and comforted him: "It's okay, even if we can't win the bid this time, we still have a chance, don't be sad."
"...are u there."
Li Zimai asked him, even though Cheng Che was right in front of him, he still wanted to ask him, "Where are you?"
Cheng Che pinched his face and said distressedly: "Are you really stupid? Are you too tired?"
Li Zimai held his hand and refused to let him go. With red eyes, she said, "I had a dream. In the dream, you broke up with me. You didn't want me anymore. No matter how much I begged you, you wouldn't come back..."
Cheng Che coaxed him, "I shouldn't have quarreled with you last time, and shouldn't have been so cold to you. Please don't remember it, okay? I won't leave you. I love Li Zimai the most."
Yes, you love me the most, you obviously only love me.
The Cheng Che who left me was just a dream of mine. My Cheche will never leave me and will never make me sad.
He watched Cheng Che busy himself in the kitchen. The kitchen was no longer the kitchen island of his previous apartment. Li Zimai remembered that the refrigerator was in the dining room and that the lamp was clearly round. But now everything was different. He asked Cheng Che, "Have we moved yet?"
Cheng Che looked back at him and said, "Why move? We have always lived here since you graduated from university."
What do you mean by "I graduated from college"? Isn't it that we graduated from college?
Cheng Che pulled him to sit down and muttered, "You've really become stupid from working overtime."
After dinner, they snuggled on the sofa and watched a movie. It was Li Zimai's favorite Marvel movie. Cheng Che didn't like these fighting and killing movies. He liked watching documentaries and movies based on true stories with themes of murder and arson. Li Zimai was afraid that he would become more and more withdrawn, so he took him to watch some positive movies about saving the world.
Cheng Che doesn't like it but always has to compromise and accompany him. He also asks what the Cosmic Cube is, why Captain America is fighting Iron Man, and whether the Avengers will break up. Li Zimai replies: "Captain America and Iron Man are a couple. It's normal for couples to quarrel. The family will not break up."
Cheng Che said "Oh", then reacted and scolded him for speaking nonsense. Li Zimai then hugged him while laughing.
But now he sits next to Li Zimai and can discuss things with him with great interest. Li Zimai asked him, "When did you start liking Marvel?"
Cheng Che rolled his eyes at him and said, "Haven't I always liked him?"
No, Cheng Che didn’t always like me.
Li Zimai suddenly realized something. He pulled out his arm that was being pressed by the other party and shouted "Cheche" in a trembling voice.
Cheng Che's face immediately turned cold, and he said in a cold tone, "Do you still want to mention that dead man? You still remember him after he's dead, so do you have to wait for me to die before you remember me?"
"...Who did you say died?"
He finally saw "Cheng Che's" face clearly. He was not Che Che at all. Li Zimai didn't recognize him at all. He had the same voice as Che Che, but a completely unfamiliar face. He said in a vicious tone that Cheng Che never used: "I said Cheng Che was dead, and he had been dead for many years. Didn't you fail to save him? It's your fault. Why didn't you die with him? You still want me to pretend to be your Che Che! I don't even want to be your Che Che!"
He even pulled Li Zimai's neck and broke the peace locket Cheng Che had given him. "You've treasured this broken thing for so many years. If it can keep you safe, why didn't you keep its original owner safe?"
Li Zimai couldn't utter a sound. Something was gripping his throat tightly. The near-death suffocation made him subconsciously want to escape, but the vicious person continued, "Why did you break up with your Cheche when you loved him? It's because you didn't love him enough. You gave up on him, and that's why he died. He was alone and pitiful, with no one to love him, and that's why he died."
No, no, how could Cheche not be loved? It is obvious that Li Zimai loves Cheng Che the most in this world, how could Cheche not be loved?
The vicious man changed again, becoming Cheng Che's appearance. His beautiful face was dotted with red. He said with tears in his eyes, "...Li Zimai, it hurts."
Li Zimai woke up from a nightmare. He couldn't count how many times he had had this dream. In the dream, Cheche was crying and saying it hurt and was uncomfortable. He could only watch helplessly, unable to speak, and couldn't even say "Cheche".
The palpitations after the hangover and nightmare made him cover his head for a long time. He subconsciously touched the peace locket, but it was gone. The peace locket that he had worn on him for so long was gone. The only tangible gift that Cheng Che left him was gone.
Bei Yiqing was watching the morning news in the living room. It was talking about the shooting incident involving international students in Italy. His father had just called and asked him to return to school later. Bei Yiqing thought he had to see how Li Zimai reacted before deciding whether to stay.
What Bei Yiqing didn't expect was that he, a grown man, was completely ignored while sitting on the sofa. The other party rushed out wearing the same clothes he had worn yesterday and smelled of alcohol. He started rummaging around and even lifted up the carpet.
Bei Yiqing pointed to his trouser pocket, "There."
Li Zimai took out the peace locket from his trouser pocket and found that there was a crack on it and the rope was broken. An inexplicable uneasiness and panic rose in his body, as if something irreversible had happened.
Bei Yiqing explained, "You drank too much yesterday, and when you got in the car, something accidentally got caught on the door, and it got torn off."
Li Zimai looked at him coldly, "Did you encounter it?"
"No, I didn't touch it. How could I dare to touch it?"
The fact is that Bei Yiqing didn't even notice this little thing. It was Li Zimai who said that the thing fell and turned upside down in the car. Bei Yiqing had no choice but to ask the designated driver to drive back. When he opened the door, he saw that the red peace locket was stuck in the gap of the door and was dragged all the way.
Bei Yiqing didn't know what to feel. If this thing had fallen a little more to the side into the snow, it would have been impossible to find it. But it was stuck there, and many cracks were left on it from being dropped and rubbed, but it just wouldn't fall down, just like the owner who gave it to it, and it refused to let Li Zimai go.
"Cheng Che gave it to you?"
Bei Yiqing asked tentatively, "I see you treasure it so much that you hold it in your hand even when you're drunk and won't let go. It must be a gift from Cheng Che."
Li Zimai didn't want to discuss his personal affairs with him, so he said politely, "Thank you for sending me off yesterday. You can go back first."
Bei Yiqing laughed, "Aren't you going to ask me what Cheng Che's reaction was yesterday?"
Li Zimai didn't say anything. He didn't want to know how Cheng Che would react. He didn't want to be reminded that someone else had sent him back home after he got drunk. His Che Che ignored him.
Bei Yiqing deliberately said, "He didn't react when he saw us in the car yesterday. It seems he really doesn't want you anymore."
"Are you done? Can you leave now?"
Bei Yiqing saw that he looked unhappy and felt that he had to tell him something quickly. "Someone named Yang Mingxi has been calling you, asking what happened to Cheng Che. I didn't quite understand..."
Before he could finish, Li Zimai rushed to the entrance and anxiously poked at his phone. Bei Yiqing saw that his hands were shaking. Those beautiful hands had played the cello for many years, but now they couldn't even hold a phone.
Li Zimai was hurriedly putting on his shoes when he suddenly saw the 45-second call record about "Baby Cheche" on the screen. The time showed 1:37 in the morning. His uneasiness grew infinitely. He sternly asked Bei Yiqing, "Who told you to answer my call?"
Bei Yiqing suddenly lost all his composure. He didn't even dare to say how arrogant he was on the phone. He originally planned to tell Li Zimai everything to let Li Zimai know that his Cheche still cared about him, otherwise she wouldn't call him in the middle of the night to ask where he was. But when he saw Li Zimai's cold face, he couldn't say it.
Later, Li Zimai slammed the door and left, saying to him before leaving: "Don't let me see you again. I don't want to make my mother unhappy."
Yang Mingxi was nervous throughout his classes that morning. He tried to call Cheng Che but couldn't get through. He searched Teacher Zuo's studio, the library, the professional classroom, and Cheng Che's workplace but couldn't find him. Yang Mingxi comforted himself that maybe Cheng Che needed some quiet time. If he still couldn't contact him in the afternoon, he would go find the counselor and then call the police.
A little after nine o'clock, just after the first class, Yang Mingxi heard someone calling him from the back of the classroom, saying that the God of Li was looking for him. Yang Mingxi immediately got angry and ran out to hit the person, but when he saw that face, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Where's Cheche? Why is his phone turned off? He called me last night, didn't he? Did you know that?"
Yang Mingxi saw that Li Zimai hadn't changed his clothes, still reeked of alcohol, and his hair was a mess, as if he was really anxious. He suddenly lost his temper and asked stiffly, "What did you do last night?"
"I drank too much. Teacher Zuo took our competition group to dinner, and Cheche was there too."
Li Zimai cut to the chase and asked anxiously, "Where did he go? What's the matter with calling me?"
Yang Mingxi's anger flared up again. For the first time, he didn't put Li Zimai in the position of a great god. Instead, he scolded him, "I didn't know! He disappeared when I woke up after five o'clock! He cried in front of me yesterday! You know he cried! Cheng Che cried! You idiot, you were with someone else late at night. I dragged him out to find you, and you were with someone else! You deserve to be dumped!"
There were already many people gathered in the corridor. After Yang Mingxi scolded him, he saw that Li Zimai's eyes were frighteningly red. He was speechless for a moment. How could he forget that Li Zimai was suffering more than anyone else?
"...where did he go."
Li Zimai's voice was very hoarse.
Yang Mingxi stopped attending classes and went with Li Zimai to look for Cheng Che. They checked every place Cheng Che often went and asked the counselor if Cheng Che had asked for leave. The counselor said no. They took out the home phone number Cheng Che left and called it, but found that it was not in service.
Li Zimai thought of the broken peace locket, and an inexplicable fear surged up. He dialed the number that hadn't been used in a long time. After dialing three times, the call was finally connected. The man on the other end cursed and yelled, "Disgusting thing! You dare to call me when your grandmother is so angry!"
There was unpleasant funeral music playing on the other end of the phone. It was a dull sound that Li Zimai had never heard before, and it was colder than all the snow that had ever fallen in the capital.
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