TA • Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything else. He lay on the sofa with his eyes closed, his head resting on one arm, looking as if he had fallen asleep.

But Cheng Ke only had to look at the furrow between his brows and the constantly fluttering lashes to know he wasn’t asleep at all, and probably didn’t feel very well.

A beautiful thing?

Cheng Ke didn’t know what Chen Zong Hufa was talking about, but a quick search on his phone for "dizziness beauty" turned up Ménière’s disease.

Although Chen Qing had only guessed and hadn’t gone to the hospital to get checked, Cheng Ke still read through the introduction to the illness.

Sudden onset, and when an attack came on, the patient didn’t dare open his eyes and couldn’t roll over… needed to lie still, couldn’t get agitated, should eat a light, low-salt diet… avoid cigarettes, alcohol, tea…

He felt that if this really was that condition, Jiang Yuduo had probably only managed the lying still part, and even that was because he couldn’t move.

The cat climbed onto Jiang Yuduo’s chest. Jiang Yuduo didn’t move, only frowned harder. Cheng Ke hurriedly reached out, lifted the cat off him, and put it aside.

But the cat quickly tried to climb back up again. Cheng Ke took it away once more, and the cat stubbornly jumped onto Jiang Yuduo again. In the end, Cheng Ke had no choice but to grab it and place it on his own lap.

"Does Meow have a cage?" Cheng Ke asked.

Jiang Yuduo gave a grunt. No one knew what that was supposed to mean.

Cheng Ke stood up and wandered around the apartment, found a reusable shopping bag, put the cat in it, and hung it on the back of a chair. Even he didn’t know why he was doing this, probably because he was too bored.

But strangely enough, after being put inside, the cat only pressed its paws against the opening and peeked out twice before curling up at the bottom and refusing to move.

Cheng Ke sat back down beside the sofa and kept watching Jiang Yuduo.

It felt pretty strange.

He had never looked after a sick person like this before, and besides, he and Jiang Yuduo weren’t even familiar enough for this. Sitting there in silence like this, no matter how he looked at it, it felt awkward.

But seeing Jiang Yuduo looking so pitiful, completely unlike his usual arrogant bully self, Cheng Ke wanted to sigh again, especially after Jiang Yuduo had said, "Thanks."

He had never had any serious illnesses, just the occasional cold or something. Even if he was a useless lump at home, he could always call someone whenever he needed, and whatever he wanted to eat would be made for him right away. He wouldn’t feel helpless.

Right, helpless.

For some reason, Jiang Yuduo’s "thanks" and his refusal to go to the hospital both made Cheng Ke feel that the person in front of him was very helpless.

Then again, maybe he was just being oversensitive. Cheng Ke smiled. His state of mind was different now, and even now, he still hadn’t fully adjusted to the earthshaking changes in his life.

The door was knocked on very lightly a few times. It should have been Chen Qing.

Cheng Ke stood up and was about to go open it when Jiang Yuduo, still frowning and covered in sweat, said, "Look first."

"Huh?" Cheng Ke froze for a moment before reacting. "Oh."

He really couldn’t figure Jiang Yuduo out, and he also couldn’t see what danger there could be in his life besides other thugs and punks.

Still, he followed Jiang Yuduo’s instructions and leaned over to look through the peephole first.

"It’s Chen Qing," he confirmed it was the chief protector outside, and as he reached for the door, he added, "He’s alone."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo responded.

As soon as the door opened a crack, Chen Qing squeezed in through the gap. Cheng Ke had always thought Chen Qing was pretty thin, but he hadn’t expected him to take up so little space.

"Third Brother," Chen Qing said anxiously, as if he hadn’t even seen Cheng Ke, and rushed straight to the sofa. "I’m here. How is it?"

"Dizzy," Jiang Yuduo said.

"How long has it been?" Chen Qing turned to look at Cheng Ke.

"Uh…" Cheng Ke hurriedly pulled out his phone. "It started around when I called you, maybe about forty minutes?"

"Then it’ll still take a while." Chen Qing went into the bathroom, wrung out a wet towel, and wiped the sweat off Jiang Yuduo’s face. Then he stood beside the sofa and looked down at Jiang Yuduo.

"How long does the dizziness usually last?" Cheng Ke walked over and asked softly.

"Not sure," Chen Qing said. "Sometimes it’s over in half an hour, sometimes he can’t move for hours."

"Oh." Cheng Ke nodded. So how did you know it would still take a while? But he didn’t want to press, since it was Chen Qing after all.

After those few sentences, the room fell quiet again.

Jiang Yuduo couldn’t speak. He and Chen Qing had nothing to say. In fact, Cheng Ke was starting to want to leave. He and Jiang Yuduo weren’t close enough for him to sit around serving at the bedside, and since Chen Qing was already here, it was obvious that Chen Qing was very familiar with this problem of Jiang Yuduo’s.

But this stillness left him with no opening to speak. Anything he said now would feel a little abrupt.

"You two," Jiang Yuduo said with great difficulty, "don’t sit here holding a memorial service."

"What?" Cheng Ke glanced at Chen Qing.

"A funeral viewing?" Jiang Yuduo opened his eyes a slit, then quickly closed them again.

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Chen Qing snapped back to himself and shouted.

"Fuck." Jiang Yuduo was probably startled. His hand even trembled a little as he clenched his teeth and cursed.

"That Ji… Ke…" Chen Qing turned to look at Cheng Ke, his face showing that he was trying hard to search for a certain name in his head.

"Cheng Ke," Cheng Ke helped him out. "If you really can’t get it right, then just Ji family, Ji family it is. Don’t bother trying so hard."

"You can leave now," Chen Qing said.

"…Okay." Cheng Ke felt that for Chen Qing and Jiang Yuduo to be this close, they must share the same way of talking.

He picked up his coat. As he walked toward the door, Chen Qing seemed to suddenly return to life in a miracle and said, "Thanks for your trouble. Thank you."

"You’re welcome," Cheng Ke said.

"Breakfast should be…" Chen Qing walked to the table and very neatly packed up the basically untouched breakfast into a bag. "You haven’t eaten yet, right? Take it with you. Heat it up when you get home. Then you won’t even need to cook lunch."

"No need." Cheng Ke hurriedly said. He really didn’t want to eat any of it, especially not that box of custard buns.

"Why not?" Chen Qing asked.

"Why what?" Cheng Ke said.

"You haven’t even eaten breakfast, so why not take it?" Chen Qing said.

"I…" Cheng Ke once again fell into the difficulty of not being able to come up with an excuse.

"Take it and go. If you don’t want it, throw it out after you leave," Jiang Yuduo said hoarsely, his voice full of pain. "Stop shoving it around here, I’m about to rise from the dead."

Cheng Ke took the two bags of food from Chen Qing and carried them out the door.

But he didn’t throw them away at the entrance. He was a little hungry, so he decided not to waste them. Even if he didn’t eat the custard buns, there were plenty of other things.

Just as he was about to reach the ground floor, he saw a Land Rover parked by the stairwell entrance with its engine still running from far away.

The last three digits on the license plate were 888.

Both of Cheng Yi’s cars ended in 888. Cheng Ke had never understood why a young person could be so superstitious.

Maybe it was the family atmosphere, with his mom chanting Amitabha every day…

When he reached the car and saw the driver open the front passenger door, Cheng Yi get out, he suddenly pulled his thoughts back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, looking at Cheng Yi.

"You didn’t contact me, and you didn’t go back to get your things," Cheng Yi said. "I could only help bring them over. They’re all things you use every day. I was afraid it’d be inconvenient for you."

"I’m asking how you knew I was here?" Cheng Ke asked again.

"You’re my brother," Cheng Yi said. "How could I not know where you are?"

The driver killed the engine, got out, and walked over too. With a blank expression, he gave Cheng Ke a casual nod. "Young Master."

Cheng Ke didn’t make a sound and didn’t look at him.

The driver’s name was He Yuan. He had followed Cheng Yi for several years. He couldn’t really be considered Cheng Yi’s confidant, because Cheng Yi had no confidants. He trusted no one. But He Yuan knew Cheng Yi very well and could always stay on his side. Whatever attitude Cheng Yi couldn’t show himself, He Yuan showed for him.

"Take the things upstairs," Cheng Yi said.

He Yuan opened the trunk. The back seats had been folded down, with several large boxes stacked there. No one knew what was inside, but the things that weren’t packed in boxes were obvious at a glance.

His computer, his sand painting table, the leftover sand, and the chair he liked best…

For some reason, when Cheng Ke saw these things, he was suddenly flooded with a sense of embarrassment and shame, as if his clothes had been ripped off and he was being displayed on the street.

These things were in his bedroom and study. Taken alone, each item was ordinary, something people could see. But these things belonged to him, and once that relationship existed, seeing them displayed like this felt completely different.

Cheng Yi had gone into his room. No, not just Cheng Yi, He Yuan had definitely gone in too. Cheng Yi wouldn’t personally move the things, and there might have been others as well.

These people had walked around his room, looked around, picked up his things one by one…

"I don’t want them," Cheng Ke said.

"Can you be a little more realistic?" Cheng Yi looked at him and said quietly, "You’re going to need these things. You can’t possibly buy everything all over again, can you? How much would that cost? You can’t still be like before, completely ignoring money, right?"

Cheng Ke didn’t say anything, only frowned at him.

"I know you don’t like me going into your room," Cheng Yi said. "I haven’t gone in all these years, have I? You left like this and didn’t contact anyone. What was I supposed to do? If I didn’t go in and move the things for you, were you expecting Dad to help you pack them?"

"I’ll say this one more time," Cheng Ke said, "I don’t want these things, and I don’t need anyone to bring them over for me. When I left, that was how things were, and that’s how they’ll stay."

Cheng Yi looked at him, the gaze in his eyes gradually turning cold. After a while, he smiled again. "Then at least take the computer. You don’t even want something so personal anymore?"

"I’m not you," Cheng Ke said, narrowing his eyes as he smiled too. "There’s nothing private in my computer that needs to be kept secret."

The smile at the corner of Cheng Yi’s mouth vanished. He stared at him for a while, then turned and waved at He Yuan. "Take it to the dump."

He Yuan closed the trunk and opened the front passenger door for Cheng Yi.

Cheng Ke turned and walked into the building.

"Cheng Ke," Cheng Yi called after him. "At this age, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you be so promising. I hope you can hang in there. Don’t make me see you come back to beg Dad to let you move home."

Cheng Ke didn’t look back, and he didn’t stop walking either. After entering the building, he didn’t even go press the elevator. He directly pushed open the door to the fire stairwell and went in.

He didn’t know how Cheng Yi had found out that he lived here, but he probably didn’t know which floor yet. The security downstairs was strict. Without his permission, they wouldn’t tell a stranger his apartment number.

Although he didn’t know why Cheng Yi couldn’t be allowed to know exactly which floor he lived on, and even if he did know, so what… he still chose the stairs.

Maybe he had caught Jiang Yuduo’s condition?

Was madness really that contagious…

The fire stairwell felt a little stuffy. The cleaners came by every few days, but even so, the air still carried the dusty smell of cement.

He turned his head. Though there was a window, looking out of it only showed the side of another building, a wall of gray stretching from the ground up to the sky when he looked down or up.

He withdrew his gaze. Even in the dim light, everything was the same gray.

Cheng Ke sighed and walked up step by step.

This was the first time in his life he had climbed fifteen floors on foot, and he was still carrying two bags of breakfast.

It was pretty tiring. His knees felt a little sore, but he didn’t stop halfway. He was afraid that if he stopped, he wouldn’t want to move again.

Why not take the elevator?

No idea. What if Cheng Yi was still outside waiting to see the numbers on the elevator display?

He laughed. What a lunatic.

When he reached the door, he let out a breath. Finally, he was here. But after taking out his key, he suddenly felt all the strength leave his body.

It should have been as simple as sticking the key into the lock and turning it once. Then he could go in, collapse onto the sofa and rest, heat up the food in the bags, and sleep after eating. But he leaned against the door and no longer wanted to move.

He didn’t even want to lift his hand.

He had always thought that no matter what Cheng Yi did, it would no longer affect him. But in reality, Cheng Yi had once again dragged him back to what he had felt more than a month ago.

He felt completely defeated, just like the day he had first come out of the house.

"Fuck." Cheng Ke pressed his forehead against the door and cursed under his breath.

It took several minutes before he finally opened the door and went inside.

At a time like this, he should force himself to perk up. No matter how unsatisfying this new life was, it had already begun. Whether he lived well or badly was up to him.

Insert the gas card, then heat up the already cold food… How was he supposed to heat it? He didn’t know. Then eat, and after eating, sleep for a while, and after getting up…

Go to hell.

Cheng Ke lay down on the sofa and closed his eyes. Forget it. Screw inserting a card, heating anything, eating anything. Just sleep.

What new life.

Was he kidding?

Cheng Ke felt that in his current state, sleeping until tomorrow afternoon shouldn’t be a problem.

But he had misjudged it. He didn’t fall asleep for even a second. He just kept his eyes closed and forced himself to endure, while the back of his head and his back went numb and sore. In the end, he had no choice but to sit up.

He glanced at his phone. He had held out for two hours. That counted as pretty tough.

He casually opened his contacts, scrolled around a bit, and finally tapped Xu Ding’s name.

"Want to go out for a couple drinks tonight?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Tonight?" Xu Ding paused. "Sure, where?"

"No idea. Better near me. I’m too lazy to go running around, and I’d have to take a cab," Cheng Ke said. "You pick a place."

"Okay," Xu Ding said. "I’ll pick you up. I’ll call you when I get to the neighborhood gate."

"Mm." Cheng Ke paused. "Did you tell…"

Halfway through the sentence, he stopped himself. Xu Ding wasn’t that kind of person, and Xu Ding also didn’t know which building his rented place was in.

"Xiao Yi knows where you live?" Xu Ding was very sharp and immediately asked.

"He was waiting for me downstairs just now," Cheng Ke said, a little embarrassed. "I didn’t mean anything by it. I just don’t know how he found me downstairs."

"If I wanted to check, I could find out too," Xu Ding said with a smile. "You and Xiao Yi really don’t look like brothers at all."

"…Really." Cheng Ke sighed.

After hanging up, Cheng Ke looked up how to heat food and ultimately chose the microwave, because the symbol on the takeout box said PP5, meaning it could go in the microwave.

He stuffed a few boxes of food into the microwave at random, somewhat surprised that he actually knew such basic life knowledge. He didn’t even remember where he had learned it from.

This was the first time he had used this microwave today. He had originally wanted to find the manual and read it first, but after looking at the buttons, he found that this microwave was very friendly to useless people, because every button had words on it.

He studied it for a while and chose "steam buns."

It was really too friendly.

The heated food was steaming hot, neither dried out nor burnt, and not exploded either…

Cheng Ke turned on the TV and sat on the sofa eating slowly.

He hadn’t been to Fulu’s morning tea in a long time, but he still remembered the taste. Eating it gave him the illusion of suddenly falling into a memory, even though he didn’t really have much to remember.

Maybe it was only memory of flavor, like this chicken foot, this shrimp dumpling, this custard bun…

Cheng Ke looked at the custard bun in his hand. It was already bitten halfway through, or rather, this was the third one he had eaten.

"…Your damn father." He put down the half-eaten custard bun.

Actually, he wasn’t being pretentious. The only reason he didn’t say things like this while eating was out of upbringing. If he really had to say it, it wouldn’t make him unable to eat. The key was, he had seen it.

Once this kind of direct imagination became linked to the food in his hand, it was different.

Thinking of Jiang Yuduo, he sighed. He didn’t know how Jiang Yuduo was now. Maybe he was still dizzy, or maybe Chen Qing had annoyed him into sobriety.

"What else did Sister Qian say she wanted to buy?" Jiang Yuduo asked, looking at the things on the shelf.

"Sesame paste, sweet bean paste," Chen Qing said, pushing the cart. "And one more kind of sauce? Doubanjiang?"

"Whatever. She runs a sauce shop. She buys a pile of sauces every time," Jiang Yuduo said, casually picking up a few jars of sauce. "Let’s just take a few jars."

"Did you tell her I was coming over to freeload a meal?" Chen Qing asked.

"I told her," Jiang Yuduo said, walking toward the cashier. "Don’t tell her about what happened today."

"Mm, don’t worry," Chen Qing said. "But was this attack because you didn’t rest well? I keep feeling like you’ve been short on sleep lately."

"Maybe," Jiang Yuduo said. "There’s no real pattern. Anyway, once it passes, it’s fine. Could be you pissed me off too."

"Ji family guy must have been scared out of his wits. He probably had never seen a scene like that before," Chen Qing said.

"Cut the crap. When you showed up, you looked like you were going to a funeral. I was almost afraid you’d burst into tears in front of him." Jiang Yuduo picked up two boxes of mints by the cashier. After the dizzy spell passed, his throat was much better, but it still felt a little uncomfortable.

"Well, I clenched my teeth and held on without crying, didn’t I," Chen Qing said. Then he thought about it. "…I didn’t even want to cry."

Freeloading meals at Lu Xi’s place was a pretty comfortable thing. No one had to worry about anything. Jiang Yuduo only needed to sprawl on the sofa with Chen Qing and the four dogs for an hour of TV, and then he could eat.

After eating, he could keep sprawling on the sofa and chatting nonsense.

At Lu Xi’s place, he was the most relaxed, and he didn’t keep thinking about whether anyone outside was following him.

He had originally planned to go back after dinner, but after relaxing there for two hours, he still didn’t want to move.

It wasn’t until Lu Xi kicked them both out that he got up and went downstairs with Chen Qing.

"I’m off tomorrow," Chen Qing said after getting into the car. "I’ll go with you to take the brace off? Didn’t the doctor say it could be removed?"

Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything.

He didn’t want to take it off.

Suddenly, he had an uneasy feeling. He turned his head and looked at the streaks of light flashing past outside the car window.

"Should I come pick you up tomorrow?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo responded.

As they were almost home, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out, and the screen showed Cheng·Idiot·Ke.

"Who is it?" Chen Qing asked.

"Ji… Cheng Ke." He answered the call. "Hello?"

"You’re not home?" Cheng Ke’s voice came through, sounding strangely dejected for some reason.

"I’m almost home," Jiang Yuduo said. "What happened to you now?"

"Now?" Cheng Ke paused. "Forget it."

"Hm?" Jiang Yuduo was a little baffled. "What?"

Cheng Ke hung up.

"What’s wrong with him?" Jiang Yuduo looked at the phone.

"How would I know?" Chen Qing asked.

Jiang Yuduo frowned and put the phone back in his pocket.

The car turned into a side street. Habitually, he swept his eyes over the sidewalks on both sides and didn’t see anything suspicious, but he did see Cheng Ke.

"Is that Ji family guy?" Chen Qing pointed to the sidewalk on the right.

"Yeah," Jiang Yuduo said, reaching out to honk the horn. "Pull over."

Cheng Ke was walking slowly toward them in the opposite direction, strolling along the curb, and didn’t react at all to the sound of the horn.

Chen Qing pulled over by the roadside. The headlights shone on Cheng Ke’s face, but he merely raised a hand to shield himself and kept walking.

"Hey, if I didn’t know this guy, I would’ve robbed him today," Chen Qing honked again. "His vigilance isn’t even as good as the kid next door to you."

"I’ll take you out to rob people later and fulfill your lifelong dream. If you don’t help me rob one tonight, just watch how I beat the shit out of you," Jiang Yuduo said as he opened the car door and grabbed Cheng Ke, who had just walked to the side of the car. "What, is this young master sleepwalking?"

Only then did Cheng Ke suddenly jerk his arm and lift his head.

Jiang Yuduo smelled alcohol on him. "You’re drunk out of your mind, aren’t you?"

"No." Cheng Ke said.

"What are you looking for me for?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

Cheng Ke held onto the car door and looked at him, as if making a decision. After a long while, he clenched his teeth and said, "I forgot to bring my keys when I went out."