Chapter 42: Conclusion - Xixi's Translations

Xixi15-19 minutes 15.08.2022

Spring arrived in March, bringing a light and warm breeze.

March had always been Chen Yuchuan’s favorite time of the year, because when he was 18, it was March when he met Lu Yang.

They were still very young when they got together, and at that time, they weren’t wise enough to seriously think about the long road ahead.

Many years had passed since then, and this was their 17th year together.

This past year, they had separated and reconciled, and although their separation didn’t last very long and was nothing compared to the 16 years they had been together, it had changed them to some extent.

Of course, that little change made them more resolute than before, and it also brought the satisfaction of time.

The end of March was Lu Yang’s birthday. Chen Yuchuan wasn’t very good at giving gifts, nor was he good at doing romantic things. In the past, he and Lu Yang would celebrate their birthdays and wedding anniversary by having a meal together at a restaurant they both liked, drink a little wine, and then walk home together, hand in hand.

That section of the road was neither long nor short, and the walk was usually pretty quick. The night wind would blow away the scent of alcohol, and the moon would be overhead.

This time, Chen Yuchuan started to prepare for Lu Yang’s birthday two weeks in advance, but he just didn’t know what to get.

During the period before Lu Yang’s birthday, Lu Yang would often work overtime. For several days, Chen Yuchuan kept asking him, “What gift should I give you?”

Every time, Lu Yang would reply, “Anything will do.”

“A tie?”

“Okay.”

“A watch?”

“Okay.”

“Flowers?”

“Okay.”

Finally, Lu Yang said, “For my birthday, I’ll take a few days off to rest. Let’s go to my parents and take a vacation with them.”

Chen Yuchuan had wanted to go for a long time, and so he hurriedly responded, “Okay. I’ll take care of my work in advance.”

Just like that, the matter of going on vacation was finally settled.

Chen Yuchuan and Lu Yang went again to his psychiatrist. Now that his insomnia had greatly improved, the dosage was gradually being reduced, which made him feel a lot more relaxed. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, those medicines constantly reminded him that he was a patient.

He also took the time to learn how to make coffee from Guang Haobo for a few days, and every morning, he would make a similar one for Lu Yang.

This eventually devolved into a fight. The reason was that Chen Yuchuan had been calling Guang Haobo every morning for advice when making coffee for Lu Yang. He wanted Lu Yang’s morning coffee to be the best one.

But Lu Yang nitpicked at it. Either the water temperature was wrong, the coffee was too weak, the taste wasn’t good, or so on.

Before going to work, Chen Yuchuan threw out a sentence, “Then I won’t rush to make one for you next time.”

But after he said this, he was only able to endure for one morning before rushing over to Lu Yang’s office during the noon break. Xiao Lei saw him coming from the distance and judged that he was here for a fight.

Chen Yuchuan slammed the office door shut, leaned backward against Lu Yang’s desk, raised one leg to block Lu Yang’s office chair, and angrily asked him what was wrong with the coffee that morning.

In the end, Lu Yang said, “Do you have to learn it from him?”

“Then shall I learn it from you?” Chen Yuchuan shot back.

Lu Yang responded, “Why can’t you learn it from me? Can’t I also make coffee?”

Chen Yuchuan was momentarily stunned. Then realization dawned, and he laughed at himself for a long time.

Of course, he could learn it from Lu Yang, whatever he likes.

During that time period, he still hadn’t thought of a good birthday gift for Lu Yang. Finally, he went to Ling Qun and the others and discussed it with them. Of course, he had already told them about his remarriage to Lu Yang.

Ling Qun asked him if he would have a wedding this time, and Chen Yuchuan nodded and said yes.

But when Ling Qun asked him when the wedding would be held, Chen Yuchuan couldn’t say, because he and Lu Yang hadn’t set a specific time yet.

He only said, “It should be very soon. I’ll tell you later.”

Ling Qun had been drinking and so his mouth was too fast for his brain. He smiled and said, “You’re getting married and you’ve sent us verbal invitations, but you still don’t even know when the wedding is going to be held? I’ll tell you. You don’t know, but I know that Lu Yang is actually…”

Hua Boxue, who was sitting between Ling Qin and Chen Yuchuan, put his wine glass down just in time to cover Ling Qun’s mouth.

But Chen Yuchuan wasn’t a fool. Although Ling Qun stopped halfway, he could guess what he was saying based on what he’d heard so far. This, combined with how busy Lu Yang had been recently.

Chen Yuchuan crossed his arms, leaned his long legs on the sofa behind him, raised his chin at Hua Boxue and Ling Qun and asked with a smile, “Tell me, what’s going on? Lu Yang and you both have a private plan? And I wasn’t in on it?”

Ling Qun slapped away Hua Boxue’s hand and denied it with a dry laugh. “No, really. What can we hide from you? We have nothing to hide from you.”

Of course, Chen Yuchuan didn’t believe him. In the end, he had two more drinks with Ling Qun, and the topic of conversation changed a few times. By the time the get-together was over, though, he had managed to pry Ling Qun’s mouth open.

After he left Ling Qun’s bar, he made a video call to Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin, and directly asked them if the reason they hadn’t come back yet was because they were preparing his and Lu Yang’s wedding on the island.

Initially, Lu Xianfeng wanted to hide it, but he finally admitted, “I’m preparing a wedding for you.”

Over the years, Lu Xianfeng had always thought that the reason they never held a wedding was because of the cruel words he’d thrown at them.

He said, “You didn’t have a wedding, and we also refused to accept you then, too. Now that you have both gotten married again, we can remedy it with a wedding. Do it properly this time.”

Chen Yuchuan listened to Lu Xianfeng’s seemingly casual explanation, and his heart ached.

After the tunnel accident, when Lu Yang was hospitalized for over a month, Lu Xianfeng had never said a word of blame to him.

During that month, he could clearly see that Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin had aged significantly, wrought by the sudden suffering of having to deal with such a huge change. They felt powerless, afraid of losing their only son.

At that time, he couldn’t bear to look at Lu Yang’s wound, and he also didn’t dare meet Lu Xianfeng’s eyes. And on the contrary, Man Yunxin often comforted him.

He moved the camera away and wiped his eyes. After looking at the camera again, he smiled at Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin. “Dad, it wasn’t because of your objections that we never held a wedding. We were just too lazy. For so many years, I have Lu Yang, and I also have you both as parents, and that’s already good enough…”

Lu Xianfeng couldn’t stand Chen Yuchuan’s sudden emotion, and left after saying a few words.

Chen Yuchuan laughed and talked with Man Yunxin instead. “Mom, don’t tell Lu Yang that I’ve found out. Just pretend that I don’t know.”

————-

The flight to the island was booked for the day before Lu Yang’s birthday, and it was night when they arrived at the hotel where Lu Xianfeng and Man Yunxin were staying.

Everything was arranged by Lu Yang, and Chen Yuchuan pretended not to know anything and simply followed his rhythm.

But on the morning of Lu Yang’s birthday, Chen Yuchuan woke him up before dawn.

The moment Lu Yang opened his eyes, he lowered his head and kissed him on the eyes, saying, “Happy Birthday, Yang ge.”

Lu Yang shifted, hugging his waist and wanting to pull him back to sleep.

But he struggled and pulled Lu Yang’s arm to force him to get up.

“Yang ge, I want to see the sunrise.”

He took off his pajamas and opened the closet. After picking out two suits, he put them on the bed and said, “I want to take some nice photos later. Let’s dress formally.”

Lu Yang saw that the two suits that he’d pulled were the wedding clothes that he’d had flown in ahead of time. He raised his hand to block it and said, “Xiao Chuan’er, let’s change to another suit.”

“I think this one looks good,” Chen Yuchuan insisted, and directly picked up his own set to wear.

Lu Yang was at a loss. It wasn’t like he could force the clothes off of Chen Yuchuan’s body.

Chen Yuchuan sat on the edge of the bed, and the hem of his white shirt fell along his body with every movement, covering his legs from time to time.

When he lifted his legs to wear the pants, Lu Yang’s eyes fell on the long bruise along the inner side of his thigh.

That had happened when Chen Yuchuan came to his office to ask him about the coffee, and it ended up being grounded out by the corner of the desk.

At noon that day, Lu Yang had been a bit ruthless and hadn’t paid enough attention. He only found out about it when Chen Yuchuan was taking a shower that night.

He waited until Chen Yuchuan had put on his pants before turning his gaze away. He turned around and picked up the other suit. It didn’t matter if he wore the suit now. He had also prepared two spare suits.

Chen Yuchuan had noticed Lu Yang’s eyes on him a while ago. He walked barefoot to Lu Yang’s side, and leaned against his shoulder. “Yang, ge, where are you looking at?”

Lu Yang wrapped one hand around Chen Yuchuan’s waist and pulled him into his arms, while the other hand rubbed that place where the corner of the table had broken Chen Yuchuan’s skin.

Lu Yang only used a little bit of force, but Chen YUchuan felt a twinge of pain. He raised his head and bit Lu Yang’s lower lip.

But then he thought about what was going to happen later, and so he quickly let go. He captured Lu Yang’s wrist, unwilling to let him continue. He pressed his lips together and said, “Lu Yang, we can’t do it now. Let’s wait until evening.”

A bit later, when Chen Yuchuan took Lu Yang out to the beach, the sun hung on the sea, casting light on the long, beautiful winding coast, the soft golden sand, and the path full of flowers on both sides.

In front of them were a group of friends holding flowers. When they saw them, they burst into a chorus of shouts and whistles. Facing them in the distance was Lu Xianfeng, formally dressed.

Man Yunxin sat in front of a grand piano, and when her hands fell, notes rose with the waves.

Lu Yang realized that he’d been deceived by Chen Yuchuan.

“Xiao Chuan’er, when did you prepare this?”

“I’m sorry, I stole the wedding you’d originally planned and pushed it a few days earlier. The weather is perfect today, so let’s get married.”

“Then let’s tie the knot,” Lu Yang replied firmly.

Ling Qun came over with a tray, on which were placed two corsages with the word “groom” written on them. Standing beside them, he said, “You two newcomers, hurry up and put on the corsages.”

Chen Yuchuan picked up a corsage from the tray and faced Lu Yang. “Yang ge, you know I don’t like troublesome things, so I didn’t invite a host or bring a cameraman.”

“No need for that,” Lu Yang said, picking up the other corsage.

Chen Yuchuan straightened Lu Yang’s perfect straight tie, and as he pinned the corsage on him, he muttered, “I chose this pair of corsages on purpose. Ling Qun took me to several flower shops, and there were orchids, bell flowers, phalaenopsis, lilies, and gerbera, but my aesthetics are just like this. I like bright colors, and weddings have to be red, so in the end, I simply chose red roses.”

Chen Yuchuan finished pinning the rose corsage on Lu Yang and leaned down to kiss the area of his chest where the corsage was pinned.

Lu Yang pinned the corsage on Chen Yuchuan and said, “Red roses are very beautiful. The color is gorgeous and the wedding must be red.”

The sun rose higher, and the waves were covered with a layer of dazzling sparkles. The sparkling waves extended from the sea to the bottom of Chen Yuchuan’s eyes, which were particularly bright.

The light, salty sea breeze blew over, ruffling Chen Yuchuan’s hair, which were not fixed with hairspray. A few strands of hair fell over his forehead, covering his eyes a little.

Lu Yang raised his hands and fixed Chen Yuchuan’s messy hair. By the time he was done, the same layer of light also adorned Lu Yang’s eyes.

Ranging in their ears were unbroke applauses and blessings. At first, the crowd was filled with people they knew, but later, there were many more people they didn’t know.

They walked forward through the flower arch with Lu Yang’s arm around Chen Yuchuan’s back.

At the end of the path, Chen Yuchuan hugged Lu Xianfeng hard. Then he ran over to Man Yunxin and hugged her. “Thank you, mom and dad.”

Lu Xianfeng coughed. “Stop hugging us. Let’s move on to the next step.”

Lu Yang thanked the guests and then turned to ask Chen Yuchuan, “What’s the next step? Tell me.”

Chen Yuchuan didn’t plan out many complicated steps. He just wanted everything to be simple and comfortable.

He took Lu Yang’s hand and said, “Lu Yang, I didn’t have a wedding with you when I was young, and now that I think about it, it’s a little regretful. Although we’ve been together for 17 years, I still very much wanted to give you my wedding vows.”

But after he said this, he completely blanked out on the first sentence of the vows. He whispered, “Damn it. Lu Yang, I practiced the vows several times, but I seemed to have forgotten them. I haven’t recited anything from memory since I was a child. Let me think about it first.”

When the people around overheard Chen Yuchuan’s words, they burst out into laughter. A few people beside them even started booing. “Chen Yuchuan, how can you forget your vows?”

Chen Yuchuan raised his hand and waved at the person who was laughing at him. Then he touched his pocket. “I was afraid that I would forget, so I made a cheat sheet ahead of time. You wait, I…”

He trailed off, patting his pockets for a long time. But his pockets were empty.

Chen Yuchuan gritted his teeth and groped all the pockets inside and out in disbelief, but still nothing.

This was really evil.

He turned his head to look at Ling Qun and the others, “Can you guys be useful now? Didn’t we agree before that someone would help remind me?”

Obviously, he chose the wrong person for help, because that person kept booing, saying, “It’s alright. Just think about it slowly. There’s no video anyway.”

Chen Yuchuan said a few choice words back to them, who all said they couldn’t help.

Lu Yang smiled and watched Chen Yuchuan fight with them for a while. Finally, he grabbed Chen Yuchuan’s wrist and pulled him to his side. “If they won’t, then I will. I’ll say the vows, and you can repeat after me.”

Chen Yuchuan said, “Okay, you say it, and I’ll repeat after you…”

They stood face to face, and Lu Yang said, “I, Lu Yang, take Mr. Chen Yuchuan as my legally wedded husband.”

“I, Chen Yuchuan, take Mr. Lu Yang as my legally wedded husband.”

“To have and to hold from this day forward.”

“To have and to hold from this day forward.”

“For better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, I will love you and cherish you until death do us part.”

Chen Yuchuan had heard these vows countless times at weddings he’d attended. At first, he could hold his emotions back. He repeated Lu Yang sentence by sentence, word by word, but when he got to the last part, his eyes turned red all of a sudden, and he had to lower his head and rubbed his sore eyes.

Lu Yang stretched out his hand to hold Chen Yuchuan’s face and rubbed his cheek with his fingers. “You haven’t finished the last sentence yet.”

Chen Yuchuan slowly adjusted his breathing, looked up at Lu Yang, and smiled. Repeating the last vow, he said, “For better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, I will love you and cherish you until death do us part…”