TA • Chapter 14

"You even forgot to take your keys?" Chen Qing asked in surprise from the car.

"I’ve gone this many years," Cheng Ke frowned, "without ever having the concept of needing to take my keys when I leave home."

"Oh," Chen Qing blinked. "Your neighborhood must have pretty good security, then, you don’t even need to lock…"

Jiang Yuduo reached back and slapped Chen Qing on the forehead, knocking the rest of his words back down his throat. He said, "Get in the car first."

Cheng Ke opened the back door and got in. He had been walking against the wind for ages, and he was practically blown through to the bone. He felt like he had been waiting for nothing but that sentence from Jiang Yuduo.

But once the car started moving, he began to feel a little dizzy and nauseous, so he hurriedly cracked the window open again.

Earlier, when Xu Ding had called a designated driver to take him home, he had not felt much. Now, he did not know whether the alcohol was finally hitting him or the wind had gotten to him, but he was starting to feel a little awful.

"You drank?" Chen Qing asked from the front.

"Mm." Cheng Ke answered.

"Pretty hardcore. You reek of booze, but there’s not a single sign of it on your face," Chen Qing said as he glanced back. "Did you spill it on yourself or something?"

"Safe driving is a responsibility we must keep in mind," Cheng Ke said.

"Just drive your car," Jiang Yuduo said without turning around.

Normally, drinking this little would not have affected him so much. Today, the main reason was that he had been drinking on an empty stomach.

Cheng Ke sighed. He had called Xu Ding out for drinks, but maybe this month and a bit had been too long for him. He had already forgotten that for the people he used to hang out with, drinking was just drinking, it didn’t include eating.

It wasn’t until after dinner time, when Xu Ding still had not come to pick him up, that he remembered.

By the time he wanted to heat up the breakfast foods he had been nibbling on since morning and finish them, Xu Ding had already arrived at the neighborhood gate.

He had no choice but to give up on eating and head out immediately. He also felt too embarrassed to tell Xu Ding that he had not eaten dinner.

Strictly speaking, he no longer had any friends. Loosely speaking, Xu Ding was basically his only friend. He really did not want to leave Xu Ding with the stupid impression of someone who invited people out for drinks and then forgot to eat.

And so he spent two hours drinking on an empty stomach with Xu Ding, eating only one small piece of cake in between. Since he was still dealing with Xu Ding’s comment, "You can really eat now," he had not felt comfortable taking a second piece either.

If he had known that not taking his keys would mean wandering around the street for so long, he would have eaten three or five pieces no matter what.

So annoying.

Cheng Ke rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face with both hands. He was a little dizzy.

Chen Qing drove the car to Jiang Yuduo’s place. When Cheng Ke got out, he was still a little nervous, worried he might get so dizzy his legs turned to jelly and he ended up dropping straight to his knees.

Luckily, he was standing quite steadily.

Once he got inside, the muscles that had been stiff the whole time because of the cold finally loosened all at once. Plus he was a little dizzy, so Cheng Ke practically threw himself into the sofa.

Miao, who had been sitting on the sofa, was so startled by the impact that it jumped straight down and darted under the cabinet.

"What’s the deal?" Chen Qing asked from the side. "He sleeping on the sofa tonight?"

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo answered.

Cheng Ke listened and blinked. "What?"

"Didn’t you forget your keys?" Chen Qing said.

"Doesn’t Jiang Yuduo have a key?" Cheng Ke asked.

"He already gave it back to his sister," Chen Qing said.

"Huh?" Cheng Ke looked at Jiang Yuduo.

"You didn’t… tell me not to just walk into your place? I took my stuff out too," Jiang Yuduo said, "so I gave the key back to Lu Qian."

Cheng Ke felt that Jiang Yuduo’s logic was incredibly moving. "Is the key poisoned or something? If you have it, you have to go into my room? If you don’t go into my room, then you can’t have the key?"

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded.

"So now you still have to go ask your sister for the key?" Cheng Ke sighed.

Jiang Yuduo said nothing. He picked up his phone and glanced at it, and Chen Qing also pulled out his own phone to check. "It’s almost midnight. No, can’t go now."

"Why?" Cheng Ke asked.

"We’d get yelled at to death," Chen Qing said. "Anyway, neither of us is going. Not that we can’t go, we just don’t dare…"

Chen Qing’s phone rang. He went into the bedroom to take the call.

"Or you could…" Jiang Yuduo pointed at the sofa. "I’ll go get the key for you first thing tomorrow morning."

Cheng Ke was stunned for a long while. He did not have very strict requirements when it came to sleeping arrangements, but sleeping on the sofa in a stranger’s house was still a little hard to accept. In the end, he leaned back and closed his eyes. "Forget it, I’ll go get a hotel room."

"Oh," Jiang Yuduo pointed out the window again. "There’s a…"

"I’m heading out first," Chen Qing said as he came out of the bedroom. "I’m going back to the shop. My manager’s checking up on us. I’m on duty today."

Jiang Yuduo waved at him.

"He’s going to stay in a hotel?" Chen Qing asked as he walked toward the door.

"Mm." Cheng Ke answered with his eyes closed.

"So particular," Chen Qing said. "There’s a guesthouse at the intersection. It’s pretty clean."

"You call a guesthouse a hotel?" Jiang Yuduo said. "Hurry up and shut up, then get lost."

"I’m going," Chen Qing said, opening the door. Before leaving, he added, "Tomorrow I’ll come pick you up to get the board off. Get him a bucket, will you? I feel like he’s about to puke."

After the door closed, Cheng Ke still had his eyes shut, but he could hear Jiang Yuduo walking over to him. It sounded like he was looking at him.

He opened his eyes and saw Jiang Yuduo indeed bending over to look at him. He rubbed his face. "I don’t want to puke. I’m just… a little thirsty. Got any water?"

"Yeah," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Thanks," Cheng Ke said.

After that, the two of them just stared at each other. About five seconds later, Jiang Yuduo said, "Go pour it yourself. Who are you waiting for to serve you?"

"…Sorry." Cheng Ke stood up and walked over to the water dispenser. He really was used to it. It wasn’t as if he always asked someone to pour water for him, but in a situation like this he would normally call the housekeeper.

Jiang Yuduo leaned against the side of the table, scooped up Miao after it jumped onto the table, and rubbed its fur while watching Cheng Ke stand in front of the dispenser.

"There’s only one cup," he said.

"Mm, and I only have one cup too," Cheng Ke said, picking up Jiang Yuduo’s cup. "You drink water out of a beer glass?"

"What, you want me to find you a wine glass to drink water from?" Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke said nothing. Holding the cup, he bent down to look at the dispenser. Maybe because he was dizzy, he even had to brace one hand against the wall when he bent over.

"Do you know how to use it?" Jiang Yuduo asked. "Red is hot water, blue is cold water. Push it in and the water comes out."

Cheng Ke held the wall and turned his head back. Word by word, he said, "I know how to use it."

Jiang Yuduo smiled. "I thought you only drank bottled water on ordinary days. Last time I went to your place, I saw a whole bunch of bottles."

"The direct-drinking machine hadn’t been installed yet then," Cheng Ke said, filling a cup and tipping his head back to drink more than half of it down.

"You installed a direct-drinking machine?" Jiang Yuduo raised a brow. "Why didn’t you tell me?"

"That needs to be mentioned too?" Cheng Ke stared at him.

"I said it. Anything in that room gets touched, you have to tell me," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Installing a direct-drinking machine doesn’t mean moving anything," Cheng Ke said. "It goes under the sink, and you hook the faucet up through the hole above the sink edge."

"Oh." Jiang Yuduo nodded. The earnest way Cheng Ke explained it made him want to laugh a little.

"Are you fucking with me?" Cheng Ke said.

"No," Jiang Yuduo said. "I’ve never used that thing before, so I don’t know how it’s installed."

"I don’t know either. Anyway, nothing else was moved," Cheng Ke walked back to the sofa and sat down. "If you don’t drink hot water, then that thing is pretty convenient."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo set the cat down, went into the bedroom to get a change of clothes, and prepared to take a shower. Although he still had splints on both his arms and legs, it no longer affected his movement much. Mainly, he had broken out in a sweat today, and not showering was unbearable.

"I’m leaving," Cheng Ke said, seeming a little awkward. He glanced at the clothes in Jiang Yuduo’s hands and stood up. "I was just a little dizzy earlier."

"I didn’t kick you out," Jiang Yuduo said. "You can leave after you’re not dizzy anymore."

"I’m not dizzy anymore." Cheng Ke nodded. "Tomorrow, when you get the key, call me. I’ll come get it."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo smiled.

Cheng Ke opened the door and went out. He closed it very softly, and his departing footsteps were light too.

Jiang Yuduo took his phone and went to the window, peering through the gap in the curtain to see if Cheng Ke would remember within a minute that staying in a hotel required an ID card.

After Cheng Ke left, he walked a few steps down the road, bent over and coughed twice, then pulled up his coat collar and zipped it all the way up before walking forward quickly.

A minute passed, and he still did not turn back.

Jiang Yuduo sighed and dialed Cheng Ke’s number.

"What is it?" Cheng Ke answered.

"Did you bring your ID card?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"No," Cheng Ke said. "Why would I bring my ID card? I just came out to drink with a friend."

"…Have you never stayed in a hotel before?" Jiang Yuduo sighed.

"I have!" Cheng Ke sounded irritated. "Do you really think everyone except you is fucking stupid?"

"Wasn’t it always other people who opened rooms for you?" Jiang Yuduo said. "How are you going to register without an ID?"

There was a sudden silence on Cheng Ke’s end. Two seconds later, the call was hung up.

Jiang Yuduo stood by the window without moving, still looking outside. After a long while, he finally saw Cheng Ke hunch his shoulders and come jogging back against the wind.

But when he reached the other side of the street, he stopped again, as if he was hesitating.

The young master really cared about face.

Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. Just as he was wondering whether he should call him over, Cheng Ke suddenly tilted his head slightly to the right. When Jiang Yuduo followed the direction of that movement, a shadow slipped into the passage diagonally across the street.

Again!

That person actually still had something to do with Cheng Ke?

Jiang Yuduo’s brows tightened at once as he stared at Cheng Ke.

Cheng Ke stood there for a few more seconds, then lowered his head and crossed the street. Soon after, there was a knock at the door.

Jiang Yuduo did not move. He kept staring toward the passage from the window for a while longer before slowly walking to the door and opening it.

"Sorry," Cheng Ke said outside, sounding a little awkward. "Let me stay here for the night."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded and let him in.

Cheng Ke was still a little dizzy, and he was extremely grateful for that lingering dizziness, because it allowed him to ignore the awkwardness of the situation.

He should have known not to go to some hotel. He could have just slept here from the start. Now that he had gone out and come back, the atmosphere had completely changed.

"You… don’t need to worry about me," Cheng Ke said, sitting on the sofa and casually scooping up the sleeping Miao to put it on his lap and rub its fur. "Aren’t you going to shower? Go ahead."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded, picked up his clothes, but still did not go into the bathroom. He remained standing in the living room, looking at him.

Cheng Ke glanced at him, then only when he saw the splints on his arms and legs did he suddenly understand. "Do you want me to help…"

"No need," Jiang Yuduo replied quickly. "Of course, if you really want to help, I don’t mind…"

"I don’t want to, not even a little bit." Cheng Ke said.

"Anyway, I’ve already seen it." Jiang Yuduo took his clothes and went into the bathroom.

Cheng Ke was utterly speechless. He leaned back on the sofa and sighed, closing his eyes while rubbing Miao’s fur.

Maybe because Miao was still a kitten, its fur was very soft. It felt nice against his palm. Especially when its tail swept back and forth over his wrist, it made him gradually relax a little.

By the time Jiang Yuduo finished showering and came out, he was almost asleep.

"If you need to wash up, just use mine," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Hm?" Cheng Ke opened his eyes. Mixed with sleepiness and drunk dizziness, there was a bit of double vision when he looked at Jiang Yuduo. After focusing several times, he finally made out Jiang Yuduo standing in front of him wearing only underwear. "Thanks."

At least he was wearing underwear, not naked.

Maybe because the environment was different, Cheng Ke could not be as candid as Jiang Yuduo. From childhood to now, he had never even gone shirtless at home. Except in specific situations, he could not accept appearing like this in front of people he was not familiar with.

Jiang Yuduo walked slowly up to him and stopped. Cheng Ke’s field of vision immediately contained nothing but his underwear, so he hurriedly leaned back and looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"Miao," Jiang Yuduo scooped Miao up from his lap. "I’m taking it to sleep with me."

Cheng Ke said nothing. Watching him carry the cat into the bedroom, he finally let out a breath of relief.

But Jiang Yuduo did not close the bedroom door. He just lay down on the bed. That was probably a habit too. Cheng Ke stood up, planning to wash up and sleep.

Only after going into the bathroom did he remember what Jiang Yuduo had said earlier. There were two towels, and a toothbrush stuck in a rinse cup.

He had no choice but to come back out. The bedroom light was already off, so he called softly in that direction, "Jiang Yuduo?"

"Mm?" Jiang Yuduo answered.

"What did you say I should use for washing up?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Mine," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Your towel?" Cheng Ke asked in surprise.

"Mm, the one on the left is for wiping your face," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Your toothbrush?" Cheng Ke continued, still surprised.

"I’m telling you, Young Master," Jiang Yuduo sighed, "in a situation like this, let’s not bother with brushing your teeth, all right?"

Cheng Ke went back to the bathroom, thinking he’d just wash his face and dry it with tissue.

In a situation like this, washing his face with hot water would already be enough.

But he opened both switches on the faucet and waited for a while, and still no hot water came out. Under these circumstances, he really did not want to ask Jiang Yuduo why anymore, so he just washed his face with cold water.

By the time he returned to the living room, the alcohol had been washed clean away, and he felt refreshed, with the bizarre illusion that he could go out for a morning run right now.

He lay down on the sofa, only to find that from this angle he could see the bedroom just right. Because the door had not been closed, he could see the bed and the person on it at a glance.

Cheng Ke sighed and sat up again, then turned over and lay down the other way.

"The bedding is on the chair," Jiang Yuduo said from the bedroom.

"Oh." Cheng Ke then noticed the blanket and pillow on the chair beside him. "Thanks."

"…You’re welcome," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke dragged the pillow and blanket over. The pillow was a pretty good size, just right for the sofa, but the blanket was a little difficult. No matter how he arranged it, it kept sliding to the floor.

In the end, Cheng Ke stuffed half the blanket under himself and forced himself to sleep on the lumpy mess.

After all that fuss, he no longer felt sleepy, even though he was exhausted.

The room was very quiet. At this hour, with the moonlight outside, it was especially quiet. Under these circumstances, people who could not sleep tended to think of endless things.

Cheng Ke closed his eyes.

Today had actually been okay. When he drank with Xu Ding, he had said quite a lot. He had not felt it before, but now he realized Xu Ding was a very suitable listener.

He did not casually voice opinions, did not point out what was right or wrong about Cheng Ke, did not judge his behavior, and definitely would not get worked up and join in cursing, he just listened.

But what exactly had he said? Now he could not remember it very clearly.

Maybe he had talked about childhood, about adulthood, about his parents, and about his younger brother. After all, his life was so monotonous, and even his friends were the kind who scattered with the first breeze, so those were basically the only things he had to talk about.

Maybe there had also been frustration, dissatisfaction.

Had there been?

Maybe only confusion.

About why things had ended up like this. He had seen everything, yet understood nothing. He had heard everything, yet understood nothing.

So in the end, all he had was confusion.

If he had not left home, he might still be living the same life after one fierce argument, continuing as before, with nothing to think about and nothing to worry about. None of the things he was saying or thinking now would exist.

He had lived twenty-seven years, and in the end he had worn everything away. Even the most ordinary, most useless life would no longer accept him.

Jiang Yuduo curled up under the blanket, propping his phone against Miao’s belly as he read a novel. He kept reading until the novel was about to charge for access, then tapped out and checked the time.

Two in the morning. Probably another sleepless night.

He shoved the phone under his pillow, poked his head out from under the blanket, and took in a breath of slightly cool air. Then he pulled Miao out and placed it on the pillow too, but Miao was not very willing and burrowed back under the blanket.

"You know you smell like a cat, right? And there’s fur too," Jiang Yuduo said softly as he lifted the blanket. "You just smothered my face full of fur in there…"

Miao ignored him, curled up with its tail in its arms, and went right to sleep.

"You…" Jiang Yuduo was still about to lecture it when a very low sound came from the living room.

He was startled at once, and his hand had already reached for the knife under the pillow before he remembered Cheng Ke was sleeping on the sofa.

He stopped moving and listened again, then heard what seemed to be Cheng Ke sniffing.

Did he catch a cold?

That couldn’t be. The blanket was pretty thick. He had been feeling hot under it, so he had thrown it to Cheng Ke.

Just as he was thinking, Cheng Ke sniffed again. This time Jiang Yuduo heard it clearly, and he also heard Cheng Ke taking a tissue from the tissue box.

"Don’t wipe your snot on my blanket," Jiang Yuduo said.

The sound from outside disappeared. After a while, he heard Cheng Ke sniff again. "I didn’t."

Jiang Yuduo had only said it offhand. He was suffering from insomnia and bored out of his mind, but he had never expected Cheng Ke to answer. Even if someone was awake and blowing their nose, normal people would usually be too groggy to hear him.

And Cheng Ke’s voice was very nasally. If he had caught a cold, it must have been a really bad one…

Jiang Yuduo sat up, pulled back the blanket, got out of bed, and walked into the living room.

The living room curtains were drawn, and it was dark. He could only see Cheng Ke wrapped into a cylinder lying on the sofa.

"Did you catch a cold?" he asked.

"Fuck!" Cheng Ke suddenly sprang up from the sofa. "Why did you come out?"

"I’m afraid you’ll die of illness in my place," Jiang Yuduo said. "Are you cold? The heat in the living room isn’t great. If you’re cold… then sleep on the bed."

Cheng Ke turned his head to look at him.

Jiang Yuduo could not see his expression, but he could guess it, so he added, "I’ll sleep on the sofa."

"I’m not catching a cold," Cheng Ke said.

"If you’re not, then why does your voice sound like that?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"I just…" Cheng Ke hesitated. "Caught a bit of a cold."

Jiang Yuduo stood there for a while, then reached out and turned on the living room light.

The instant the light came on, Cheng Ke raised an arm to block his eyes. "Fuck your grandfather, turn it off!"

Jiang Yuduo looked at him, stunned for a moment, but still switched the light off again. Only after a long pause did he speak. "You cried?"

"I cried my ass, you fucking glutinous rice ball!" Cheng Ke said impatiently. "Go to sleep."

"You got a problem with my glutinous rice balls?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"I fucking…" Cheng Ke was furious. He grabbed the blanket and yanked it up, probably meaning to jump off the sofa.

Jiang Yuduo took a step back. He could now get the splints off, but with Cheng Ke’s fighting ability, if they actually came to blows, he would immediately need another month in a splint.

But Cheng Ke failed to leap off the sofa and beat him up. The blanket must have been wrapped too perfectly, because no matter how hard he pulled, he could not get it free.

In the end, he could only roll halfway across the sofa before finally tugging loose the blanket pinned under his body.

"You’re sleeping in a candle wrap," Jiang Yuduo said, unable to hold back a laugh.

"Fuck," Cheng Ke stood up from the sofa. After standing there for a while, he sat back down and laughed too, looking down. "Your blanket is too big. No matter how I cover it, it keeps touching the floor."

"Is the floor going to snatch your blanket away from you?" Jiang Yuduo said. "What’s wrong with it touching the floor?"

"I was afraid it’d get dirty," Cheng Ke said.

"It wasn’t a clean blanket to begin with. Chen Qing used it last time too," Jiang Yuduo said.

"…I suddenly don’t want to cover myself with it anymore," Cheng Ke said, looking up at him.

"You didn’t even take your clothes off. Why care whether it’s dirty or not?" Jiang Yuduo sighed.

"Fair enough." Cheng Ke smiled.

Neither of them spoke. After a while, Cheng Ke asked softly, "You heard me crying?"

"No," Jiang Yuduo said. "I guessed. I only realized after I turned the light on."

Cheng Ke said nothing. He felt around on himself, took out a cigarette, and put it between his lips. "Give me a light."

Jiang Yuduo took the lighter from the table and threw it to him.

Cheng Ke flicked it on. In the flickering light, he was dazed for a moment before lighting the cigarette. "Have you ever seen someone more useless than me?"

"Plenty," Jiang Yuduo said.

"…That answer makes it kind of hard for me to keep going," Cheng Ke said with a laugh.

"Never seen one," Jiang Yuduo changed his answer. "You’re the most useless person I’ve ever seen."

"Are you also having trouble sleeping?" Cheng Ke took a drag. "Want to talk?"