Thanks to Liu Huamei’s “kind intentions”, Chen Qianqing slept with Lu Zhengfei on the same bed that night.
Both Chen Qianqing and Lu Zhengfei would actually sleep in the same bed quite often in the past, but ever since Chen Qianqing broke his leg, and his insomnia worsened, the two started to sleep separately.
As soon as Chen Qianqing was done with his shower, he got on bed and got ready to sleep.
Lu Zhengfei followed behind him, and also got on the bed. When he laid down beside Chen Qianqing, Chen Qianqing had already closed his eyes, and his breaths were even; it seemed like he had already fallen asleep.
Lu Zhengfei knew that Chen Qianqing had a hard time sleeping, so he did not bother him when he saw that he had already fallen asleep. All he did was observe the young man sleeping beside him beneath the dim illumination of the nightlight.
He was only twenty-one years old, so a sense of childish innocence could still be made out from the curvatures of his face. It seemed like the frown between his brows would only smoothen out when he slept, and under the lights, his fair skin appeared even more pale.
Lu Zhengfei knew that Chen Qianqing did not have feelings for him.
As he looked at him, a strange feeling started to fill Lu Zhengfei’s heart. He hesitated for a moment, and still decided not to kiss Chen Qianqing. Instead, he moved his hand over to turn the lamp off without making a single sound.
Everything turned dark, and Lu Zhengfei entered into slumber.
But there was no way Chen Qianqing would be able to fall asleep this easily. After sensing that the Lu Zhengfei beside him had stopped moving, he opened his eyes quietly to stare at the light fixture above him that he could only barely make out in the darkness.
Since Lu Zhengfei had violated him for the first time, Chen Qianqing would not be able to sleep at all if Lu Zhengfei were to be anywhere near him. No matter how tired he was, he just could not sleep.
Chen Qianqing could guess that this may be some sort of mental illness, but he did not have any intentions of telling Lu Zhengfei this.
Lu Zhengfei was laying right beside him, letting out the soft sounds of his breaths. Lu Zhengfei was a good sleeper, he would rarely turn whenever he had already fallen asleep.
But Chen Qianqing just could not sleep. He turned over and looked at the little droplets of rain that were still coming down outside of the floor-to-ceiling window. From the burned out expression from his face, it was clear to anyone how bad a state his mind was in at this moment.
After a long, sleepless night, Chen Qianqing managed some light sleep in every now and again when the sun was about to rise.
Lu Zhengfei opened his eyes, and was welcomed by the hazy view of his sleep for a moment before he turned to look at Chen Qianqing. He thought that Chen Qianqing would still be asleep, but he instead was met with Chen Qianqing’s bright and clear gaze.
Lu Zhengfei asked: “When did you wake up?”
Chen Qianqing yaned: “Just now.”
Lu Zhengfei acknowledged his reply, and started again: “What would you like to eat for breakfast?”
Chen Qianqing responded lazily: “Let’s see what my mom will make. Take a shower first, I’d like to stay in bed for a little longer.”
To that, Lu Zhengfei climbed out of bed and went out of the room as soon as he put his clothes on, not saying anything more to Chen Qianqing.
Chen Qianqing watched the figure of Lu Zhengfei’s back as he left, and stayed in bed for another ten minutes before finally getting up.
Liu Huamei was the first to wake up, and breakfast was already ready. They were going to have her special made eight treasures porridge and some mustard greens, as well as the mantous and buns that were made the day before.
After Chen Qianqing finished his shower, he went to sit right opposite of Lu Zhengfei at the dinner table. Lazily, he picked up a bun and chomped down on it. He was never a morning person, so he did not even feel like speaking at all.
So, Liu Huamei chatted with Lu Zhengfei instead to lessen the awkward atmospohere.
Liu Huamei said: “Qianqing, it might take your dad two days before he can make it back, could you see if you can take your friend out for a stroll?”
Chen Qianqing said: “Go where?”——He was not familiar with this city either. And moreover, it was the first day of National Day today, it would probably be very crowded anywhere they went.
Liu Huamei said: “Go to the places youngsters like you like to go, how would an old woman like me know where the two of you would like to go?”
Lu Zhengfei chimed in timidly: “No need to trouble, auntie……”
Liu Huamei glared at Chen Qianqing: “This is how this child always is, he’s not sensible at all……”
As the three were speaking, the phone suddenly rang.
As she continued to nag at Chen Qianqing, she got up to grab the phone. She had just taken the call when she turned around to Chen Qianqing again: “Qianqing, it’s for you!”
Chen Qianqing was stunned, but he still went to take the phone from Liu Huamei.
Chen Qianqing picked up the phone and heard the gentle voice of a girl coming from the receiver: “You’re home, Qianqing?”
The instant he heard that voice, Chen Qianqing’s body went stiff.
“Hello, Qianqing?” The voice of that girl was very familiar to Chen Qianqing. After a moment of silence, he called out her name: “Yuan Zhitao.”
When that girl called Yuan Zhitao heard Chen Qianqing’s voice, the joy in her voice deepened further, but she still pretended to complain: “Why didn’t you tell me you changed your number? Would I not be able to contact you forever if auntie didn’t tell me you were coming home on National Day?”
Chen Qianqing had only stayed silent on the phone, he did not know what to say. He knew that if this was the real Chen Qianqing, then he would have been happy to hear this voice, and even be excited about it.
Yuan Zhitao and Chen Qianqing could be considered childhood friends. They have been classmates since kindergarten, and would go on to the same elementary school, junior high, and high school. It was only during their university days that they separated.
Then, Chen Qianqing met Lu Zhengfei, and everything fell off track.
Yuan Zhitao was still speaking. She said: “Qianqing, are you busy today? Come out and play with me.”
Chen Qianqing was still silent.
Yuan Zhitao was able to sense the irregularity with Chen Qianqing. She said: “Chen Qianqing, you’re too much, I wasn’t even angry with you after you broke off all contact with me for months, but now you’re even ignoring me?”
Chen Qianqing slowly began: “Sure.”
Yuan Zhitao liked Chen Qianqing, but as for whether Chen Qianqing felt the same or not, that was a mystery. Because, when he started to make his stance clear with her, Lu Zhengfei had already taken Chen Qianqing under his wing. There was absolutely no way that Lu Zhengfei who had such strong possessive desires to allow Chen Qianqing anywhere near a girl who liked him.
But for the young Chen Qianqing, the concept of compromise had never existed within his dictionary.
They were doomed to a tragic end from the start. Perhaps, Chen Qianqing and Lu Zhengfei could have been friends, but there was no way they could ever be lovers.
As for what Yuan Zhitao said after that, Chen Qianqing had no idea. All he knew was that he had hung up the call very stiffly, and turned around to Lu Zhengfei: “Come on, we’re going out to play.”
Liu Huamei felt suspicious of his reaction: “What’s wrong, Qianqing? You don’t look very well.”
Chen Qianqing smiled: “It’s nothing, I just didn’t sleep too well last night.”
Even Liu Huamei could see that something was wrong with Chen Qianqing’s expression, much less Lu Zhengfei. But since Liu Huamei was here, it was not a good idea for him to say anything. He waited for them to get out of the door before he asked: “Qianqing, what’s wrong?”
Chen Qianqing bent over to put on his shoes, and when he heard Lu Zhengfei speak, he lifted his head with a blank face: “Lu Zhengfei.”
Lu Zhengfei hummed in acknowledgement.
“Do you really think we’re suitable together?” Chen Qianqing’s voice was very calm, so calm that it did not seem at all like he was venting his anger; instead, he seemed to be wanting a calm discussion with Lu Zhengfei: “Are we really suitable together?”——This was not just a question for Lu Zhengfei; it was a question for himself.
Lu Zhengfei frowned: “What are you trying to say?”
Chen Qianqing knew that he would never be able to persuade Lu Zhengfei. When he saw the blaze sparking up in Lu Zhengfei’s eyes, he knew that he could only sigh: “Nothing.”
Chen Qianqing smiled, and kept silent.
Yuan Zhitao had propose to meet with Chen Qianqing at the bus station, so that was where they were heading.
Neither of them talked to each other on the way there, and it was when they finally reached their destination where Lu Zhengfei asked: “Qianqing, where are we going?”
Chen Qianqing responded: “We’ll wait for a person.”
Lu Zhengfei was able to catch that abnormal look in Chen Qianqing’s eyes. No matter how much of a fool he could he, he would still be able to figure out that his reaction must have had something to do with that phone call he received.
Ten minutes later, the person they were waiting for finally arrived.
A long-haired girl appeared dressed in a cute bear hoodie with a short mini skirt and white boots, making her appear very young and cute.
As she made her way towards Chen Qianqing and Lu Zhengfei, she called out to him: “Chen Qianqing, come help me with the stuff!”
Lu Zhengfei’s eyes turned cold in an instant.
But it was as if Chen Qianqing did not realize the changes in Lu Zhengfei at all. He walked over to her with a very natural expression and took the things from her hands.
Lu Zhengfei followed behind him and spoke in a light tone: “Qianqing, this is…….?”
Chen Qianqing turned to shoot a glance at Lu Zhengfei, his eyes carrying with them a faint look of sympathy that was hard to detect: “This is Yuan Zhitao, my childhood friend.”
But Lu Zhengfei had only smiled and reached his hand out towards her: “Nice to meet you, I’m Lu Zhengfei, a good friend of Chen Qianqing’s.”
Yuan Zhitao shook hands with Lu Zhengfei and turned her focus back to Chen Qianqing. She harrumphed and started to scold him: “Chen Qianqing, how dare you, why didn’t you contact me when you were at school? And you didn’t even call me when you were coming home.”
Chen Qianqing responded: “I got into a car accident and broke my leg, I was busy with recuperating for several months……I didn’t have the time.”
Yuan Zhitao was surprised: “You got into a car accident? Why didn’t you tell me?! Was it serious?”
Chen Qianqing shook his head: “It was nothing serious, I only broke my leg.”
Lu Zhengfei had been standing beside Chen Qianqing this whole time, so when he saw the interaction between the two, he smiled: “Yeah, Qianqing had only broken his leg because he was too careless, if this goes on, he might even break another one.”
His words had incited a look of surprise from Yuan Zhitao. Of course, it was natural that she did not understand what Lu Zhengfei was trying to imply, so she just thought he had said such a thing because he was angry at Chen Qianqing for being so careless.
Hearing what Lu Zhengfei said, Chen Qianqing did not appear to be unhappy either; instead, he smiled: “Yeah, I’ll definitely be careful next time.”
Yuan Zhitao said: “Let’s go get our tickets then, Qianqing, there’ll definitely be tons of people today.”
Lu Zhengfei had no idea where they were going at all, but hearing what Yuan Zhitao said, the temperature of his gaze towards Chen Qianqing had already reached the freezing point even though his kindly smile was still hung high on his face.
Chen Qianqing pretended to be oblivious to it. He said: “Let’s go.”
And so, the three got on a bus and headed for the amusement park.