Chapter 41: This One Time - Xixi's Translations

Xixi11-14 minutes 15.08.2022

After the two bowls of chicken noodle soup had been eaten, whether it was salty or bland, only Chubby hadn’t tasted it. After they finished eating, he waited for his parents to take him downstairs for a walk.

As they walked, Chen Yuchuan took a few little videos of Chubby and posted them in the family group chat.

After seeing it, Man Yunxin directly video called him. It was evening on her side, and she was standing in a room with a huge floor-to-ceiling window behind her, revealing a red sunset blooming over the seascape.

Chen Yuchuan waved to Man Yunxin, saying that it was so beautiful there. He praised her for a long time, which made her smile continuously.

After he was done praising her, he turned the camera lens to Lu Yang and Chubby, and then turned it back to himself to tell her that Lu Yang had made chicken noodle soup that morning, and it tasted just right and was very delicious.

When he said that it was just right, Lu Yang looked back at him, and Chen Yuchuan whistled at Lu Yang with his neck raised, looking like a hooligan.

He turned the camera to Lu Yang again. Lu Yang was walking by the road with one hand in his trouser pocket, while holding Chubby’s leash in the other.

The weather was just right, neither cold nor hot. The street was like a long shadow under the bright morning sun.

Lu Xianfeng also came to join in the fun. Man Yunxin and Lu Xianfeng talked to Chubby for a long time, and Chen Yuchuan would answer for Chubby.

“Chubby, did your parents take good care of you? Is your stomach doing better?” Lu Xianfeng approached the camera with a coffee cup, his face filling the whole frame.

“Dad, his stomach is better.” Chen Yuchuan zoomed in on Chubby and did a 360 degree shot. “Mom and dad, look. He looks fine, right? He’s been eating and drinking pretty well these days.”

Chubby pranced a few times. Lu Xianfeng took a sip of his coffee. “Take good care of Chubby.”

“I know, Dad.” Chen Yuchuan looked at Lu Xianfeng drinking coffee and said, “I’m going to try to learn to make coffee, and I’ll make it for you when you come back.”

Lu Xianfeng raised his voice, obviously not believing him. “It’s not like I haven’t drunk the coffee you brewed before. Can the coffee you brew even be drinkable?”

“I’m going to learn from others this time.” Chen Yuchuan was afraid that Lu Xianfeng would not believe him, so he bragged about it for a long time. In the end, Lu Xianfeng really believed him and said that he would try it.

Before they hung up, Chen Yuchuan asked them, “Mom and Dad, when are you coming back?”

“We’re having such a good time,” Lu Xianfeng said, “We won’t come back for a while.”

After Lu Xianfeng finished speaking, he turned, shoulder sweeping across the screen before he soon moved out of sight, leaving the sounds of his footsteps and the click of the coffee cup when it was placed on the table.

Man Yunxin said a few words to Chen Yuchuan before hanging up the video.

Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin had been on vacation for a long time this time. Chen Yuchuan already called them several times previously and asked them when they would come back. They always said that they were having a good time on the island and would be back in a few more days.

He put away his mobile phone and quickly followed Lu Yang. Puting his hand in Lu Yang’s pocket, he hooked his finger and said, “This time, our parents have been out playing, and even after so many days have passed, they still haven’t returned yet.”

“I guess they want to play for a few more days,” Lu Yang said.

Chen Yuchuan thought of the sunset beach in the background at the start of the video chat. It looked really beautiful. He couldn’t help but say, “The environment on the island seems really good. After a while, when we’re both free, let’s go play for a few days?”

Lu Yang said yes, and Chen Yuchuan asked again, “When are we going to get married?”

Lu Yang thought about it and said, “After the beginning of the year.”

Later, as Lu Yang was driving Chen Yuchuan to work, he remembered the coffee thing and asked him, “Why do you suddenly want to learn how to make coffee?”

“I want to make it for you,” Chen Yuchuan replied. “My coffee brewing wasn’t good before. But I’ll study hard and make coffee for you in the future.”

Lu Yang’s expression became much brighter. His index finger holding the steering wheel lifted and dropped, tapping the steering wheel lightly, and the corners of his mouth curved up.

Chen Yuchuan glanced at Lu Yang’s small movement, and his heart trembled involuntarily.

Many things could not be fully seen until it had passed. It turned out that his Lu Yang was also a person who was so easy to satisfy.

Chen Yuchuan turned sideways and asked, “Yang ge, I still want to learn this and that for you, do you still think I’m accommodating you and letting you go?”

He didn’t wait for Lu Yang to answer, and instead, directly answered his own question. “Actually, it is accommodating. It’s two people living together accommodating each other. That’s it. It could be you or me, but I am never reluctant to adapt and to become better than before. Although I must boast that it’s because my Yang ge is very good.”

Chen Yuchuan said it well, but before he could learn how to make coffee, he caught a bad cold.

With the start of the new year, the weather became changeable. In one moment, it was warm and in the next, cold. Chen Yuchuan had a fever for several days, and Lu Yang took care of him.

In the end, after Chen Yuchuan got better, he still ended up infecting Lu Yang. Lu Yang didn’t have a fever and had no other symptoms, but his cough was so bad that sometimes his face would even flush from coughing so much.

“I shouldn’t have caught a cold, and now I went and infected you. Does your chest hurt when you cough?” Chen Yuchuan touched Lu Yang’s chest through his clothes and pressed his fingers down lightly.

“It’s not pain in the chest, it’s pain in the lungs,” Lu Yang said.

Chen Yuchuan didn’t care where Lu Yang hurt, only that he was hurting, so he cooked lung-moistening soup for him every day.

In the six months before the divorce, Chen Yuchuan had signed up for a chef training course. He went to it several times. After the course was over, he went again and asked the teacher to teach him how to make lung-moistening soup.

Cooking wasn’t something that could be done in one or two classes. Chen Yuchuan cooked it for Lu Yang a few times. Although the taste wasn’t too bad, he really couldn’t say how good it was.

Later, Chen Yuchuan showed Lu Yang the notes he’d taken in class. The words Chen Yuchuan wrote were like a compliment for him, and so Lu Yang took his notebook and looked at it for a long time. Then, word by word, he made himself a copy.

In the end, Lu Yang took the notes he’d written and, under the careful supervision of Chen Yuchuan, he carefully cooked the lung-moistening soup for himself for several days.

Luckily, he got better within a week.

After Lu Yang got better, Chen Yuchuan breathed a sigh of relief. He touched Lu Yang’s chest and said, “I’m so awesome.”

Lu Yang asked him, “Who is awesome?

Chen Yuchuan blinked, “You’re awesome, you’re awesome. You’re the best. You’re the best in the world…”

Afterward, Lu Yang became increasingly more busy with work. One day, he accidentally left some important meeting documents at home and sent Xiao Lei back to pick it up.

Chen Yuchuan searched the study for a long time before he finally found them. When Xiao Lei took the documents from him, he saw that he was wearing the same ring as Lu Yang’s. He blurted out, “Have you and Lu Yang gotten remarried?”

After he said this, he added anxiously, “I was always carrying President Lu’s bag for him, and I accidentally saw the divorce certificate in his bag, so I knew it.”

Chen Yuchuan spread out his left hand, and turned the ring on his hand for Xiao Lei to see. “Yep, we’re back to being legal now.”

“At that time, I felt that President Lu’s state wasn’t very good. At first, I just thought that you both got into a big fight, because he seemed absent-minded and in poor state.”

Xiao Lei’s words changed a little. In the end, he talked about the incident in which Chen Yuchuan drove three hours to find Lu Yang. He said, “President Lu heard that you drove out to find him in the middle of the night, and told me to drive back. But I called you and you said that you’re already driving back, and so we didn’t leave. At that time, City B happened to be very chilly, heavy with rain and snow, and so President Lu fell ill the next day and had to be hospitalized for several days. He forbade me to tell you, but at the time, I felt like he really wanted you to know.”

The first rain at the beginning of the year was always a bit urgent, constantly leaving people unprepared.

Later that evening, Lu Yang came home a little drenched. When he got home, Chen Yuchuan was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

“Yang ge, go take a shower first,” Chen Yuchuan said, standing at the kitchen doorway.

Lu Yang entered the kitchen for a look before heading to the bathroom. He’d just taken off his clothes and was about to take a shower when he heard footsteps outside the door. Chen Yuchuan opened the bathroom door and walked in.

“Lu Yang, let me help you shower.” Chen Yuchuan’s voice was calm, without a trace of lust.

“Come here.” Lu Yang waved at Chen Yuchuan.

As he walked, Chen Yuchuan took off his clothes, and so by the time he reached Lu Yang’s side, he was naked.

He turned on the shower and held the showerhead in his hand. Once the water was hot enough, he sprayed the water toward Lu Yang’s neck.

“Is the water temperature okay?”

“Yes.”

“Was it raining hard when you got back?”

“Not too hard.”

“Lower your head, I’ll wash your hair.” Chen Yuchuan raised the shower head a little and waited until Lu Yang lowered his head before running the water over his hair.

Once Lu Yang’s hair was thoroughly wet, Chen Yuchun squeezed some shampoo onto his hair and held the shower in one hand while massaging Lu Yang’s hair with the other.

By the time he’d finished lathering Lu Yang’s head and was moving onto his body, his hands were covered with shower gel foam. When he got to Lu Yang’s chest, he traced the scar with his fingers.

He couldn’t erase the scar, but he could feel Lu Yang’s heartbeat through his chest. His heartbeat had always been hot and strong.

“Lu Yang, that night when I drove three hours to find you, only to find you gone, you were planning to drive back, didn’t you?”

Lu Yang guessed that Xiao Lei had told him. “Xiao Lei told you. What did he say?”

“It doesn’t matter who said it.” Chen Yuchuan removed his finger from Lu Yang’s chest and applied the shower gel to his back. “Was that right? Were you ready to come back?”

“I was ready to come back.” Lu Yang turned around, turning his back to Chen Yuchuan. “But when Xiao Lei called you, you were already on your way back.”

“It would have taken you 8 hours to drive back.” Chen Yuchuan washed away the foam on Lu Yang’s body. “Xiao Lei said that you fell ill later. I kept sending you messages, but you didn’t reply. Was it because you were afraid that I would know?”

Lu Yang turned around again. With his wet palm, he held Chen Yuchuan’s chin and kissed him on the nose. “It’s just a minor problem. It’s not that serious.”

After he’d finished washing Lu Yang, he stood and raised his arms. “Yang ge, help me wash.”

Lu Yang took the shower head from Chen Yuchuan’s hand, and Chen Yuchuan said again, “I won’t make trouble anymore in the future. This one time was enough. I don’t want to run away anymore. I won’t do it again…”