The two had dinner at Liang Muqiu’s favourite private restaurant.
This restaurant implemented a membership system and had to be booked in advance. The courtyard was filled with lush spring flowers and the lights on the fountain were hazy and charming. Liang Muqiu sat by the window and stared at the small fruits on the trees outside the window while feeling that something always seemed odd.
He liked this restaurant a lot.
But why did Cen Nan, who had just returned to China, know what he liked and was even catering to his preferences?
He picked up a fried mushroom and stared suspiciously at Cen Nan’s face as if glaring a hole through him.
“How did you find this store?” Liang Muqiu asked. “I thought you weren’t familiar with Bincheng.”
Cen Nan calmly replied, “Ren Qihan recommended it to me so I also signed up for their membership programme.”
Liang Muqiu still felt that something wasn’t adding up.
From the moment Cen Nan appeared opposite his house, he suspected that Cen Nan had been planning this for a long time. He had done everything deliberately.
However, he had no proof and could only continue to eat in frustration.
Fortunately, today’s dishes were to his liking. The restaurant had just revamped and launched the spring menu and their dessert at the end of the meal gratified him both physically and mentally.
The dessert was just average for Cen Nan but his eyes were filled with tenderness as he gazed at Liang Muqiu.
Back in high school, he often went to buy Liang Muqiu pastries. Chestnut cake, glutinous rice cakes, and strawberry puff pastries and after bringing them back, he had to cover Liang Muqiu during their evening study and keep a lookout for any teachers that might appear by the window.
The students in the classroom were either doing their work, peeking at their mobile phones or passing around small notes.
Only he was solving math problems while peeking sideways at Liang Muqiu, who was hiding behind a book and stealing mouthfuls of cake. It was like a small hamster stuffing his pouch with food. There were some cake crumbs on his lips that were rolled into his mouth with a lick of his tongue.
So innocent and ignorant, but also full of pure temptation.
It directly resulted in Cen Nan, who was eighteen years old, being full of yellow waste.
His mathematical equations weren’t solved and Liang Muqiu’s name appeared on the paper instead.
This was his sweetheart.
Cen Nan stared at Liang Muqiu on the opposite side, sighed slightly in his heart and adjusted his posture. His eyes were even a little melancholic.
He still didn’t know how long it would take before he could hold Liang Muqiu in his arms again.
Maybe his eyes were too aggressive but Liang Muqiu raised his head from the cake, the spoon still resting on his lips and asked, “What’s wrong, is there something on my face?”
Cen Nan shook his head and smiled, his temperament that of a gentle scum. “No, I just wanted to look at you.”
After dinner, Cen Nan drove Liang Muqiu to watch a movie.
Liang Muqiu originally thought they were heading to the nearest cinema, but Cen Nan drove straight past it and they got further and further away.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
Cen Nan replied, “You’ll know when we get there.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Liang Muqiu sucked on the straw of his milk tea, glanced around the area and gave a noncommittal “Mm”.
Of course, he liked it.
When he and Cen Nan went to college, they often went to the drive-in theatre. During the cold winter month, the two people would nestle inside the car to watch the movie. Cen Nan’s down jacket was draped over the two like a quilt and the hands underneath were also clasped together. Liang Muqiu had to stuff Cen Nan’s mouth with snacks.
Thinking back on it, Liang Muqiu’s teeth also felt sore. He didn’t know why he was so in love in the first place.
Seven years later, the drive-in theatre had also upgraded and was much better than the environment back in those days.
He took a sip of milk tea and asked, “What’s on today?”
Cen Nan unfastened the seat belts for himself and Liang Muqiu, and replied, “Old movie, Roman Holiday.”
It’s really an old movie.
The noble princess went to Rome and fell in love with an unknown reporter. From the moment they met, it was destined to be an absurd and complex relationship. And this love affair only existed for one day. After dawn, the two of them returned to their set life path.
Liang Muqiu had seen the movie more than once but he didn’t mind watching it again. He always liked to re-visit black and white films.
He push the seat backwards and leaned on it, not bothering about Cen Nan. He watched the movie while comfortably sipping on the milk tea. If it wasn’t for his appearance, he would be a salted grandfather fish.
Although he already knew the ending of the film, Liang Muqiu still sighed a little when the princess said that her favourite city was Rome.
What she loved was not Rome, but the man she met in Rome.
But she couldn’t say it out loud.
So she could only say that she liked Rome.
The unspoken love and shaking heart were hidden under a calm pretence.
When he saw the princess shaking hands with all the reporters to touch hands with the person she loved, he didn’t know why but he glanced sideways at Cen Nan who was also looking at him. Their eyes met and he didn’t know why but his back went numb even though there was nothing special.
Liang Muqiu shifted his eyes but found it difficult to focus on Audrey Hepburn's stunning face.
He was once asked where he wanted to go for travelling.
He was working absent-mindedly and blurted out, “Chicago.”
The colleague smiled and asked him, “Why do you want to go there?”
He was stunned for a while and laughed as he said some perfunctory words.
But in his heart, he knew why.
Because Cen Nan was in Chicago.
In a strange city on the other side of the ocean was his lover.
To the extent that when he spoke, it was this place that he uttered.
At the peak of his agony, he even hated it and wondered why it took away his lover.
But he knew clearly that it was not the fault of any place, it was the fault of Cen Nan himself.
But now, Cen Nan had come back, back to his side and the word ‘Chicago’ quickly lost its might and became an empty city on the map.
Liang Muqiu tightened his hold on the cup of milk tea and glanced at Cen Nan again.
In the dimly lit car, Cen Nan’s silhouette was carved like a sculpture, every line impeccable.
This person was obviously by his side, but maybe because they had been separated for too long, he always felt like everything was unreal, an illusion. He went to university and came to the drive-in theatre with Cen Nan. And when dawn broke, this theatre, this car, and Cen Nan would all disappear.
Liang Muqiu’s eyelashes trembled and the calm mood that lasted all evening disappeared and he even felt a little sore.
He still couldn’t face Cen Nan calmly.
The cracks of the past seven years couldn’t be repaired overnight, nor could he allow Cen Nan to put down their old grievances and mend their previous relationship immediately.
As long as he was unable to forgive Cen Nan and accept the fact that he had been abandoned, he would face countless such moments.
Even if he got together with Cen Nan again, his heart would still be unsettled. He can’t let go of Cen Nan, and he can’t let go of himself.
This realisation made Liang Muqiu breathe heavily.
Feeling uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart, he lowered the window and opened a crack to let himself breathe.
Cen Nan noticed his movements and looked over.
Liang Muqiu pretended not to notice. With one hand on his chin, he absently mindedly watched the last part of the film.
But after a few seconds, he heard Cen Nan ask, “Is the milk tea good?”
Liang Muqiu frowned and didn’t want to talk much, so he pushed out two words, “It’s okay.”
Cen Nan asked warmly and politely, “Can I have a taste?”
Liang Muqiu was stunned and felt that this request was baffling. The milk tea was cold and he drank only a little.
He didn’t know if Cen Nan was throwing a tantrum or what, but he didn’t bother and just let out a sloppy “Hm” and passed the milk tea over.
Cen Nan took it and placed it in the cup holder, but didn’t drink it.
The movie ended and the closing song started playing.
“Guess I could find somebody too,
But I don’t want anyone but you.……”
“Maybe I can find someone new, but I don’t want anyone but you.”
Cen Nan leaned forward and leaned across the middle. He gently pinched Liang Muqiu’s chin with one hand and in front of his shocked eyes, kissed him gently.
The movie ended.
The cars around them were leaving one after the other. Only the time in this car seemed to freeze.
Liang Muqiu even forgot to blink and stared at Cen Nan’s closed eyes and eyelashes.
He didn’t know how long it took for Cen Nan to release him but he didn’t retreat. The two were so close that they could hear each other’s breathing.
Cen Nan stared at Liang Muqiu’s soft and moist lips and whispered, “It tastes like white peach.”
The white peach milk tea had seventy percent sweetness and wasn’t too cloying.
Liang Muqiu’s hand grabbed the edge of the car seat and loosened it again.
He should be angry.
This bastard, Cen Nan, still didn’t change his wicked ways, said he was going to kiss him and really kissed him. There was no gentlemanly demeanor and the consciousness of a pursuer.
But Liang Muqiu’s face slowly turned red.
He pursed his lips and scolded in an unimposing manner, “Who allowed you to kiss me? Bastard.”
His cursing vocabulary was really poor, repeating the same words over and over again.
It was enough to show that he’d been a good child since young.
Cen Nan had already sat back in his seat, and when Liang Muqiu scolded him, he couldn’t restrain himself from laughing. He didn’t laugh like this often. The corners of his lips were light and casual, but his eyes were searing hot, burning with a deep affection that couldn’t be ignored.
He stretched out his hand, grabbed Liang Muqiu’s hand lightly and apologized insincerely, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold back. I wanted to kiss you the moment I first saw you, it’s been difficult for me to hold back until now.”
Looking at Liang Muqiu’s complex expression, he thought about it and added another sentence.
“I haven’t kissed in seven years. If my kissing skills deteriorated, please forgive me.” He said sincerely.
Liang Muqiu held his breath in his chest and was shocked by the shameless words. It took him a long time before he came back to his senses.
In other words, capitalism is really harmful. Cen Nan was at least an end square back in then but now he had been corroded by capitalism for the past several years and his skin had thickened while his heart blackened more than double.
He looked at Cen Nan sorrowfully and deliberately said, “It’s really bad, I don’t know if it’s your first kiss in seven years but everyone I kissed was better than you.”
However, Cen Nan just smiled and wasn’t angry. He started the car and said, “Then I have to work hard.”
Liang Muqiu was speechless. Working hard? Where to work hard? Did he agree?
He didn’t want to talk to the man anymore. He turned his face and looked at the speeding scenery outside the window.
The wind of summer night blew in through the window and brushed his forehead.
Although he put on an unhappy face, the illusory feeling that Cen Nan wasn’t real had disappeared into the air.
He truly felt that this wasn’t a dream.
Cen Nan wasn’t in Chicago, he was by his side.
In the past seven years, the place Liang Muqiu wanted to go to most was Chicago, while Cen Nan wanted to go to Bincheng the most. ( I’m sorry, I have something going on in the last few days, so the pigeon hasn’t been updated in two days, I will try to make up the updates after I remove the pigeon)
I went to an escape room with my friend the other day and I can confidently say that I’ll die in the first instance if I ever enter an infinite flow novel. It was fun tho, they let us stay inside for longer since there was no one after us so I’m happy that we got to the end and weren’t brought out halfway lol
the writing is so nice this chapter. thanks!
Thank You for the new chapter (´,,•ω•,,)♡
I liked this chapter a lot more than previous once. I really loved the whole vibe of a chapter
Thanks for the chapter!!
The chapter is so sweet but I also enjoyed reading your little corner of sharing snippets of your life. It makes us the readers feel connected to you and I think that’s special, so thank you.
Yeah. I just loved it. Slowly I can outline a translator with youthful smile having best time of her life. Seriously I also wanted to do these kind of things when I entered college but covid made everything impossible and after covid the exam made my and my friends life hell. So, forget having life. Hahaha
Covid also restricted a lot of what I could do with my friends, and we had a lot of plans but none of them ended up happening butttt don’t let that stop you. I hope the covid restrictions are slowly being lifted where you are and you get to go out and have fun! You can always do fun things by yourself even if your friends are too busy, I go out by myself a lot and my friends always ask why I didn’t invite them LMAO
Well covid restrictions had been lifted long ago. But then my finals for high school came well I have exam the day after tomorrow. Then I will prepare for admission for uni which will take another 4 or 5 months. Then I might get some free time. Pray for me. 😄
I’m happy to hear you enjoy reading them!! <3
Thnx for the translation ❤️