Yandai Xie Jie No. 10 Chapter 29

Act 29: Gnas.h.i.+ng One's Teeth…

Liang Ze: Two bags of white potato chips.

Hai Hong: Oh, Okay.

Liang Ze: Ah right, and a hammock, mid-size, just one.

Hai Hong: Wait for me for a bit.

Liang Ze: Ok.

Hai Hong: It seems we're out of the mid-size hammock.

Liang Ze: That's good.

Hai Hong: Ah?

Liang Ze: Oh, ha ha, that's too bad!

Hai Hong: Why are you buying so much cat food recently?

Liang Ze: Recently, there are many stray cats appearing around my apartment complex.

Hai Hong: That's unfortunate.

Liang Ze: It's a good thing!

Hai Hong: …

Liang Ze: Ikkyu, come here and let me pet you, your dad is going now~

Liang Ze carried a big bag and left the store, it was only now that Hang Hang looked up from his laptop. The fallen leaves filled up the desolate yard. Liang Ze stepped on those leaves as he slowly drifted away.

Every day Liang Ze just silently showed up at the store, which would even move someone with a heart of steel, and Hang Hang was someone who is very sentimental. Hang Hang knew it very well that while Liang Ze seemed to be coming here every day to buy some supplies and to see Ikkyu, Liang Ze's eyes from time to time would take a glance at him once or twice.

He seemed to have lost some weight. One can see it with naked eyes. Liang Ze does not have the habit of wearing a belt; therefore, his trousers seemed to be hanging loose around his hips.

Yesterday was a long, sleepless night; he had been tossing around on his bed, unable to sleep. Suddenly, he heard the sound of Long Long and Ikkyu mating in the living room.

He turned on the light, then took a look at "those" pictures, carefully observed their kissing scene.

Can we actually get back together?

Hang Hang asked himself.

It was more than six months since Liang Ze walked out of his life. Actually, it was only the first two months during his trip that he was really away from Liang Ze. The rest of the time Liang Ze would try various ways to try to get close to him.

Yes, Liang Ze had said, "I want to be with you."

There is no such thing as to pardon all faults and to forgive everything; if there is, it is just some facade excuses of two anxious hearts.

Whether Hang Hang should give them a second chance.

Or, they would keep stepping on the same rake.

This has nothing to do with determination, it is about reality.

If the outcome is still the same as before, it would be better to not start it at all.

However, who can tell the future?

A straight man… Hang Hang does not want to deal with this type, especially with the same straight man.

But… He really could not let go.

"Hang Hang, Liang Ze wants a mid-size hammock for his chinchilla, but we're out of stock." Hai Hong came out with two of the foster care dogs, intending to take them for a walk.

"Uh." Hang Hang came back to his senses and nodded, "the mid-size is out of stock, I see."

"Ah, right." Hai Hong opened the door to the shop, and the two dogs cheered excitedly as they rushed out, pulling the leashes in her hand. She turned to look back at Hang Hang; he was having an enigmatic expression on.

The wind chime still chimed for a while after Hai Hong left. Hang Hang kept staring at the swaying wind chime until it came to a stop, and the store became terribly quiet.

Hang Hang wanted to find something to do to kill time, and as he stood up, he spotted a keychain lying on the left side of the shelf. It looked really familiar to Hang Hang; it belonged to Liang Ze.

He forgot to take the keys?

As that thought popped into him, Hang Hang heard the wind chime ringing at the front door. A familiar figure stood at the doorway with a very embarra.s.sed look on his face, with a grapefruit in his hand.

"That…I forgot my keys here. I noticed it was not with me when I looked into my pocket for change to pay for the grapefruit…" Liang Ze said it first.

Hang Hang looked at him, touched his nose, yet did not say anything.

"Then, I saw Hai Hong walking out the door and asked her about it. She told me to go to the store to take a look."

"Here it is." Hang Hang took the keychain and walked over.

Hang Hang handed the keys to him, but he did not expect Liang Ze to suddenly seize his hand and squeeze it tightly.

Hang Hang thought Liang Ze would say something; Liang Ze actually really wanted to say something, he opened his mouth, and then paused and closed it. Qi Ji had told him, if Hang Hang doesn't pay attention to him, he should keep his mouth shut. But the question here is, Hang Hang did speak to him, he had said, "here it is." Liang Ze was still confused on whether he should start talking now or to wait it out; yet, his reflexes acted quicker than his thinking as he grabbed Hang Hang's hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Liang Ze panicked. He knew that he had screwed up, and he just wanted to leave here quickly before Hang Hang started to cuss him out.

"Liang Ze!"

Seeing Liang Ze turn to leave, Hang Hang quickly grabbed onto his arm. Through the cotton sweater, he could feel Liang Ze's body temperature.

Liang Ze turned back and looked at Hang Hang. He did not know what was awaiting him.

He had been trying all kind of methods he could think of. He even went to his sister-in-law asking for help, but they were all in vain. If it was not for that call from Qi Ji a month ago, he would have driven himself crazy. Throughout his life, he had never been so disturbed, had never been so lost, and had never been so sad.

"Let's have dinner together." Hang Hang said calmly. He looked at Liang Ze's eyes, looked deep into them, and he saw a glimpse of excitement flash across those eyes.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Hang Hang nodded. The moment Liang Ze gripped his hand, he was completely knocked out. Maybe, he realized it a bit too late, that arrow of love had been inserted deep in his heart, but only now did he fully understand how deep it was.

"Really?" Liang Ze heard himself asking again.

"Um, sit down and wait for a bit, we will head out to eat when Hai Hong gets back."

Hang Hang saw the ripe grapefruit roll on the ground as Liang Ze rushed to him vigorously, and brazenly embraced him. 'Bear Hug,' Hang Hang suddenly thought of those words.

Liang Ze's body scent flooded Hang Hang's nose, yet Hang Hang did not push Liang Ze away. He just let Liang Ze hold onto him as he breathed in deeply, breathing in Liang Ze's scent. A scent that is very familiar to him.

"You dropped the grapefruit." Hang Hang looked past Liang Ze's shoulder, staring at the gold grapefruit that had stopped rolling.

"Did you finish the grapefruit tea I gave you?" Liang Ze caressed Hang Hang's face. He found his voice somewhat off tune, as if he had never been this excited his entire life. The emotion was too intense. Even compared to a few days ago, when the Hundred Flowers Award announced that his novel "Undefeatable Bloom" won the National Award for Outstanding Novel, when he was being surrounded by journalists and reporters, he did not have this… How should he explain it, like the feeling of being reborn, yeah that feeling.

"I've finished them." Hang Hang's fingertips softly touched Liang Ze's back.

"Didn't you say they will last more than two years…?"

"Ha Ha."

"I'll buy more for you, ok?"

"99 Yuan ($15) for one can, you don't feel bad?"

"f.u.c.k…"

"Let go of me, a customer might come in."

"Don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid if I let go, you'll disappear, and then I would find out it was all just a dream."

"You, this Idiot."

"Ha. Ha Ha…"

When Hai Hong came back with the two dogs, she pushed the door open to see Hang Hang sitting at the cas.h.i.+er counter sorting out something, and Liang Ze sitting on the bench and holding onto a large grapefruit.

"Hai Hong, look after the shop, I'm going out to eat with Liang Ze."

Hai Hong looked at the two of them and found the atmosphere somewhat delicate; she nodded and put the two dogs back into their own cages and did not say anything.

"Where do you want to go?" Liang Ze asked as he followed Hang Hang out of the pet shop, watching the sun quickly set in the horizon.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Up to you."

"Then let's go to the shop we pa.s.sed by that day."

"The one in Tiananmen Square?"

"Yeah."

"I have never tried that place, is it good?" Liang Ze walked side by side with Hang Hang, feeling like he was walking on a soft cloud.

"Let's try it out then, I think it's very good."

"OK!"

Because it was during peek time for dinner when Hang Hang and Liang Ze got to the restaurant, there were no more seats. The two of them looked at each other. Liang Ze wanted to ask to go to a different place, but he was afraid that Hang Hang really wanted to eat here. As for Hang Hang, he wanted to ask if Liang Ze was really hungry, because if he is, then he can pick a different restaurant; however, Liang Ze did not say anything, so he did not know what to ask. They both realized that this was the first time ever that they could not frankly say anything to each other.

Just like that, they stood there waiting for a long time with many more people waiting in line. Finally it was Liang Ze who said it first, "There's a restaurant on Gong w.a.n.g Fu. I've pa.s.sed by there many times but never go in…"

"Is it expensive?" Hang Hang found himself too deeply affected by Liang Ze, he had turned into a non-romantic person.

"It's a bit expensive."

"Can we still get a table without a reservation in advance?"

"So what? The boat restaurant next door also has a long waiting time for a table."

"Hehe, it's Friday."

"How about…"

"Hm?"

"Come to my house. I'll call the Hunan restaurant downstairs to deliver the food up, how's that?"

After making his invitation, Liang Ze coughed a bit. He did not know if he was being too sudden.

Hang Hang looked at Liang Ze's face and found Liang Ze's hand squeezing the grapefruit tightly, "Don't squeeze it anymore, the skin is about to break." He stood up after saying that.

Liang Ze looked up at Hang Hang with a confused expression. He did not know why he had stood up.

"Let's go, didn't you invite me to your house? I also want to take a look at the stray cats in your yard."

The weather was very cold, yet the big road of Ping'an Avenue was still filled with a lot of cars. As the two of them went back to Imperial College, night had fallen. After ordering their food, they walked into the yard in Liang Ze's apartment complex. Hang Hang saw a group of stray cats taking shelter under a small shed in the corner. Liang Ze walked over and imitated some meow meow sounds. These cats opened their big eyes, staring at Hang Hang, not daring to move. Liang Ze went closer as he took out a bag of cat food, opened it, and poured it into a carton. The cats began to swarm. Hang Hang also went closer; the cats watched him as they chomped on their food.

"How did you come to feed these stray cats?"

"They're so pitiful; they don't even have a warm place to stay in this cold winter, yet from time to time they have to deal with the naughty kids in this neighborhood."

"Haha…"

"Let's go upstairs." Liang Ze sprinkled in some more cat food, and then straightened up.

When Liang Ze opened the door, Hang Hang felt like he was entering a haunted house. It was even scarier than before: the table was full of garbage, trashed papers were everywhere on the floor, the chandelier had six burnt out lightbulbs out of ten, and the scariest part was the window; it was covered not just by white paper, but there were red papers as well… It was like he had entered a cult-like altar =.=

"Ack. This…quite chaotic…have a seat, I'll clean this place up a bit."

"Is Small Leaf's family doing well?" This was definitely Hang Hang's first concern. Liang Ze had turned into this mess, does he still remember to take care of his chinchillas?

"Good, really good, they're in the bedroom, you can go in and see them."

Hang Hang nodded and as he was about to enter, he heard Liang Ze's voice shout out, "Ah! f.u.c.k!"

Hang Hang thought something had happened in the living room. He turned around and was surprised to see Liang Ze rus.h.i.+ng over to him. Instinctively, Hang Hang turned his head to look into the bedroom. Oh. The bedroom window still had that big sign of "I Love the Shop Owner" hanging on it. Even though the light was not plugged in, Hang Hang was not so blind as to not see it.

Liang Ze hung his head and went back to the living room.

Hang Hang sat down at the desk and on the desk were Small Leaf and that X chinchilla, and a very chubby baby chinchilla; when they saw him, they stopped their activities and went over to greet him. They still remembered him. Small Leaf's baby had grown quite big with beautiful, soft gray hair and a youthful spirit. Hang Hang asked, "Does the baby have a name?"

Liang Ze's voice came from the living room, "Adachi Yos.h.i.+mitsu!"

"…"

As he played with the chinchillas, Hang Hang kept hearing banging and clattering sounds. The bedroom was very messy as well; at first glance it looked really messy, but after having calmed down and becoming used to the room, the chaos in the room became even more apparent. Quilts were piled up in a heap on the bed, clothes were being thrown everywhere on the floor, and the ashtray was full of nasty cigarette b.u.t.ts and ash.

You dare to call this a house?

Hang Hang could not sit around and look anymore, so he stood up, folded the clothes, stacked the quilts, and emptied the ashtray.

"Shuaige, don't bother yourself with these trivial things!" Liang Ze shouted from the living room when he saw this.

"The vacuum." Hang Hang only replied with those words.

They finished cleaning up just in time for the food to be delivered at their door. Liang Ze paid for them and then set out the food on the table. Hang Hang was putting the dirty clothes into the was.h.i.+ng machine.

"Shuaige, let's eat…"

"How can you live in such a pigsty!" Hang Hang said this sentence helplessly. After saying that, he felt like he shouldn't have said it; he knew Liang Ze was living his life like a pig. He knew that a long time ago. He knew that Liang Ze was fighting with other people, he knew Liang Ze was unhappy, he knew that Liang Ze had come bawling his eyes out to Zhong Yue Wen. He knew it all along. He heard Liang Ze calling for him downstairs, he received every rose from Liang Ze, he received thick letters full of words from Liang Ze, he saw Liang Ze set up the parasol right in front of his shop, he saw the police come to take Liang Ze away in the police car…Liang Ze is a pig, and Hang Hang knows this very well.

"Without you, I'm even worse than a pig, just barely getting through the day with full effort." Liang Ze was smiling, but Hang Hang heard every word, and through the expression on Liang Ze's face, Hang Hang depicted that he was crying.

"Stupid."

"Don't scold, the more you scold me the stupider I become." Liang Ze scratched his head.

Hang Hang saw that on the display rack in the living room, there was a new trophy sitting next to the old ones, "Is that the Hundred Flowers Award?"

"Uh…you know about it?"

"I would be a hermit if I don't know anything about it. It was all over the news. It's impossible for me to not know!"

"Hahaha…you don't have to envy me. What is mine is also yours." Liang Ze found himself become even more relaxed now.

"Please no, don't give me that brain of yours, I can't stand the by-products." Hang Hang shook his head.

"By-products?"

"Brain Imbalance!"

"Shuaige…you're so cruel…" Liang Ze made a crying face.

Hang Hang laughed heartily.

Proofread: Kazuha