editor: Storm
Qiao Yichen pursed his lips and tried not to smile. He sat on the edge of the bed and lifted the quilt, taking the initiative to knead and massage his bare back. He was very good and attentive.
Lin Dongyang asked after a while, “Don’t you have anything to do today?”
Qiao Yichen replied, “Our class still has some things to report this afternoon. So I told my mother that I can’t go to the company, which means I can stay with you for a while at noon, but I won’t be free in the afternoon.”
Lin Dongyang hummed in agreement and then said “We can just go back together in the afternoon. I also have to pack my clothes because I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Qiao Yichen paused the massage, “Can’t it be a bit later?”
“Holiday tickets aren’t easy to buy. Oh by the way, let me tell you something,” Lin Dongyang sat up, stretched to relieve the sore feeling, and then picked up his phone and sent a message to Qiao Yichen’s phone. He forgot the past pain once the wound had healed and said, “This is my home address, I will take you back to meet your future gonggong and popo later.”
Qiao Yichen patiently corrected him, “Shouldn’t it be yuefu and yuemu?”
In the afternoon, the two returned to school, but Qiao Yichen had class and didn’t have time to help him pack. Lin Dongyang casually stuffed some clothes into his backpack. His summer clothes were thin and didn’t occupy much space. As for his daily necessities, there was no shortage of them at home. In the spirit of simplicity he left out whatever he could, so there was more than enough space in his bag after packing.
The next day, when waiting at the train station, Lin Dongyang saw Qiao Yichen’s eyes drooping slightly. He looked reluctant to say goodbye. When the waiting hall announced that they were starting to inspect tickets at the counter, Qiao Yichen’s heart ached, and he finally couldn’t help but say, “Remember to tell me when you get home,” Although it was only a short separation, in the eyes of the other party it seemed as if they would never see each other again.
“I’ll be sure to report to you.” Lin Dongyang carried his backpack on one shoulder and walked towards the ticket counter with his ticket in hand. After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped, turned around and said in a soothing and casual tone, “I’m leaving, remember to miss me.”
Both of them looked at each other and smiled, tacitly understanding one another.
Lin Dongyang’s hometown wasn’t far from Anling City, so it only took two and a half hours to reach the destination. After getting off the train, he took a bus for ten stops, and then walked about two hundred meters until he saw a six-story building facing the road. Although it was built on the side of the road, it was in a suburb so it wasn’t as noisy on a daily basis as the turbulent traffic of the city.
Lin Dongyang stood in front of his house with his bag, and knocked on the door twice. He waited for a moment but didn’t hear any movement from inside. He took off his backpack, dug out the spare key for his old house, and opened the door to enter.
Sure enough, his parents weren’t at home. He went into his room. It was still neat and tidy even after a semester of not coming back. A desk, a lamp, a book stand that held all his books from elementary school to high school, and all the knick-knacks he used to display, remained the same. Even the bedding was laid out.
He threw his backpack on the desk, and then laid on the bed with open arms as he reported to Qiao Yichen that he had arrived home safe and sound. The bedding smelled like sunlight and it was as if he could still feel the warmth stored in the cotton wool. It was so comfortable that he nearly fell asleep.
Qiao Yichen didn’t reply, so Lin Dongyang closed his eyes and recuperated for a while. Then he got up and left his comfort nest to prepare to go downstairs. He couldn’t stay for too long in an environment that was so quiet. In the past, after he finished his homework, he would turn around and play with the neighbor’s children who were of a similar age to him. For this reason, his mother taught him more than once not to cause trouble.
Lin Dongyang’s family lived on the third floor, and when he went down to the second floor, he met his neighbor Auntie Wu, who was coming back from outside and was about to enter her house. He politely took the initiative to greet her. Auntie Wu stopped what she was doing and said happily, “Aiyo, Yangyang is back for the holidays. This young man has grown more handsome again, it’s the same every year. Auntie almost didn’t recognize you, come into the house and have a seat.”
Lin Dongyang waved his hands hurriedly. “No need, no need, I was just about to go out to buy something.”
“Okay, come to Auntie’s home when you have time.”
Lin Dongyang repeatedly agreed, and exchanged some courtesies.
Auntie Wu was an old neighbor, her son Xiao Zhi was Lin Dongyang’s childhood playmate. Lin Dongyang’s family lived in the house above them and the two boys were similar in age, so they naturally played together. However, since the two of them had gone to college and left home, Lin Dongyang in the north and him in the south, they had less contact with each other and, as expected, their relationship had naturally faded.
Relationships between people always require effort to maintain. If you were careless, either you would lose me, or I would lose you.
Auntie Li went into her house, followed by a short-legged little flower dog, whose fur was randomly mixed with black, white and yellow. At this time it was stuck at the entrance of the stairs to the second floor, panting as it tried to climb up, making progress with great difficulty. Lin Dongyang remembered that during the Lunar New Year, it was still a little pup who was breastfeeding. Auntie Li gave it a convenient and easy to remember name, directly calling it ‘Huahua’ because of the color of its fur.
Lin Dongyang used the international calling technique of clicking his tongue.
Huahua shook its tail. Although there was a flattering intention, it was still vigilantly keeping its distance. This was the only corridor, and Lin Dongyang had to go down. When he didn’t move, Huahua stood still and wagged its tail, and when he took a step forward, Huahua moved back several steps. However, because Huahua’s legs were too short to step on the stairs, its laborious work of climbing up the stairs was lost with a few tumbles. After rolling back down to the starting point, it stopped, and its low bench-like body quickly turned over and continued wagging its tail in its signature style.
Lin Dongyang found it interesting, and he wanted to share it with Qiao Yichen, with an added note: [Neighbor’s little flower dog, Chinese pastoral bench dog]
Qiao Yichen still didn’t reply and Lin Dongyang didn’t continue to message him after he sent it. While walking around the food market, he bought a pound of beef and green vegetables, and then he went to the supermarket next door to buy a package of ham. He was not in a hurry to return.
The little flower dog was no longer in the corridor. Lin Dongyang held the package of specially bought ham and when he got to the second floor he looked in through the anti-mosquito screen door of Auntie Wu’s house. The dog had a keen sense of hearing and Lin Dongyang had only been poking around for two seconds when he saw Huahua’s figure waddling over.
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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At 6pm in the afternoon, mother Lin finally returned home to see her son, and excitedly asked about his well-being. One moment she said that he was thin, the next she asked if he was hot, and then without waiting for his reply, she asked if he was hungry. A fragment of an old mother’s heart.
Every time he came back, he had to go through this kind of cutscene. Lin Dongyang was accustomed to answering what was asked. It was a warm scene of a loving mother and a filial son.
“Mom, let’s cook beef tonight. I’ve already bought it.”
“Okay~ your mom will cook whatever you want to eat. I don’t know if the food at school is to your liking?”
Lin Dongyang insisted on helping as an assistant, standing by the sink to wash the green vegetables. Mother Lin unwrapped the beef and blanched it, looking at her sensible son happily for a while. But when her eyes fell on the ring her son was wearing, those smiling crescent eyes couldn’t help but widen.
“Son, are you seeing someone?” Nowadays, young people, both men and women, like to keep up with the trends, and there are more people wearing jewelry. Tang Jing wouldn’t be so sure if the ring was on another finger, but because it was on the ring finger, for her this confirmed the relationship. Thinking back to the phone call she made to her son during the May Day holiday, she was able to confirm the result very cleverly.
Lin Dongyang nodded in a way that could almost be called shy.
Mother Lin got a positive answer, but she didn’t lecture him about not falling in love in school and so on, instead it was like her heart had settled. “It’s okay, remember to bring the person home for us to meet later. It also saves me from your second-aunt nagging in my ears everyday about giving me a daughter-in-law when she has nothing else to do. My ears have grown calluses from hearing it. I said there was no rush, but your father is afraid of brushing off the goodwill of relatives.”
“Dad is just like that, he likes to save face. You’ve been with him for twenty three years, but you still don’t know him well ah?” Lin Dongyang then said, “By the way, when will my dad be back?”
As soon as her husband was mentioned, Tang Jin’s amiable tone immediately shifted 360 degrees. She waved her spatula around, looking like a big kid who was throwing a tantrum, “Don’t wait for him, let’s eat first when it’s done.”
Lin Dongyang smiled. His father and mother probably had a small argument today, but the old husband and wife would quarrel at the head of the bed and reconcile at the end of the bed. If his mother really hated it, how would she be able to stand him until now?
That evening, Tang Jin told Lin Zhengbei that their son had a partner, and the mysterious second-aunt also seemed to smell the gossip and finally showed up, just in time for lunch.
When Lin Zhengbei saw that there was beef on the table again, he couldn’t help but snap. “Why is it beef again? What kind of family eats beef every day?”
“Son, I don’t want to eat beef anymore.” Tang Jing regretted it now. She was a primary school teacher, and the primary school wasn’t on summer vacation yet, so she had to go to class during the day. But because her son was at home these days, she would come back to eat at noon. It had been five days in a row now but they still couldn’t escape from having beef for every meal. Even if it was a luxurious delicacy, they would still be tired of eating it.
At first when Lin Dongyang took the initiative to ask if he could cook, Tang Jing even praised that her son had become more sensible. After all, he used to just sit and wait for the meal, and then put down his chopstick after the meal and slip away.
“What’s wrong? Does it taste bad? It shouldn’t ah. My skills should have improved.” Lin Dongyang asked with the confusion unique to a primary school student.
“… Delicious,” Tang Jing couldn’t bear to damage his self-motivation, so she abruptly picked the largest piece of beef and chucked it into Lin Zhengbei’s bowl, saying thoughtfully, “Come on, there’s a lot of meat here. Our son made it, so you should eat more.”
The corner of Lin Zhengbei’s mouth twitched, as he ate it without complaint. But, he wasn’t reconciled. One piece wasn’t enough, so he put two more pieces into Tang Jing’s bowl, in order to show his ‘care’, “You too, eat more, it’s not easy for our son to finally cook for us.”
At that moment, there was a knock on the front door, and Lin Dongyang got up to open it. He was surprised when he saw who the visitor was, “Second aunt, come in and sit down.”
“Yangyang is back, are your parents at home?” The woman who was called second-aunt was wearing a colorful chiffon shirt, and the flowing material looked as cool as the summer breeze. She was the well-known red string matchmaker in this area, and everyone who knew her would eagerly call her: Wang Hongpo.
His second-aunt was a full-time housewife and had been busy at home with her children since she had given birth. Because she was idle, she wanted to find something to do, so she embarked on this road of no return. She was passionate about her profession, and from the beginning of her career to the present, she had set up no less than a hundred successful couples. Only her nephew made her waste a lot of words and still showed no sign of progress.
“Aiyo, you’re in the middle of lunch ah. You see, I’m in a hurry.” Her plump body walked through the door.
“What happened? Sit down and eat something,” Tang Jing smiled brightly and got up to go into the kitchen to bring out some utensils.
“Don’t bother, it’s not like you don’t know me.” The second aunt rolled her eyes magnificently. She had been working hard for her nephew, both inside and out. Every time she entered through this door she only had to think with her toes to know what color ink was in his stomach. “That’s right, recently I haven’t been going to square dancing because I’ve been meeting up with a best friend. And after a little chatting, I found out that she has a daughter, who is a similar age to Yangyang, and she just graduated from college. You see how well matched it is.”
Lin Dongyang smacked his lips together, he knew that his second-aunt would come and talk about this crap. He closed the front door to the house and walked over to interject, “Second-aunt, I already have someone I like.”
“Ai~ from school ah,” Wang Hongpo was obviously taken aback, she hadn’t known about this matter at all before she had come over. Wouldn’t this mean that she had made the trip in vain?! So, reluctantly, she launched three deadly questions, “What does she look like? Is she tall or not? Is she fat or thin ah?”
Lin Dongyang answered her seriously and firmly, “The person I like has gone and grown inside my heart. I don’t want anyone but them.”
When the person in question said this, as a matchmaker, she naturally couldn’t continue to advise them, but, as a relative, of course, it was necessary for her to carefully check the ‘three-criteria’. Hence Wang Hongpo still didn’t suppress her occupational disease, and asked seriously, “Does she have a big b*ttocks? Is it good for childbirth?”
Lin Dongyang’s brain short-circuited for a moment and he let out a confused ‘ah?’. Then he laughed breathlessly, and stammered as he replied, “Hahahaha… I guess- guess it’s not good for childbirth.”
Second-aunt was confused by his laughter, “Child, why are you laughing? The person this second-aunt wants to introduce you to has big breasts and a big b*ttocks. After giving birth to a child, the milk will certainly be sufficient.” It was like she was selling a product, and kept talking about how good the person she wanted to introduce was. But her words simply went in Lin Dongyang’s left ear and out his right ear. He was obviously not interested.
Tang Jing interjected at the right time to rescue Lin Dongyang, “The child is already an adult, let him handle such matters on his own.”
It was rare for Lin Zhengbei to not blindly intervene for the sake of his face this time. It was like he hadn’t eaten for several days as he kept his head down and continued eating, and there was no room for him to speak.
“I just hope… Ai.” Finally Wang Hongpo left with a heart full of regret. Seeing that there were no longer any outsiders around, Mother Lin was finally able to ask some personal questions. She put some vegetables into her bowl but didn’t eat them, resting her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl as she asked, “Are you two living together?”
Lin Dongyang and Lin Zhengbei choked at the same time, and their coughs sounded one after another.
“Mom… If you ask such a question, how can I answer ah?”
Tang Jing frowned. “Why can’t you answer? Is it not that you did it but just that you don’t know how to answer?”
Lin Dongyang lowered his head in shame with a guilty conscience, ready to be taught a lesson. Unexpectedly, Tang Jing said some meaningful and heartfelt words with a threatening tone, “Be nice to others. If you don’t take responsibility, mom will break your little brat legs.”
That night, Lin Dongyang told Qiao Yichen about the day’s events. Although it was a holiday, Qiao Yichen was even busier than when he was in school. All the messages that he sent during the day never got a reply, as if he was really too busy to even look at his mobile phone, which made Lin Dongyang complain about him. So the two of them only chatted at night.
Lin Dongyang talked about his second-aunt coming over to his house to introduce him to a blind date, and how she said that the girl’s breasts and b*ttocks were big. Lin Dongyang deliberately paused at the climax and instead of telling the truth, he said that he was very interested, and that he wanted to meet the girl. In the end, he deliberately angered Qiao Yichen in order to get revenge on him for not replying to his messages.
Sure enough, Qiao Yichen, who was far away in another city, couldn’t sit still. Even the speed at which he replied to the message increased several times from before, and he kept saying, “You can’t! Out of the question! Not allowed! Don’t you dare!”
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Qiao Yichen was already scrambling to call him before the message could even be sent.
“Now you’re willing to talk to me on the phone? Busy man.” Even through the distant electric signal Lin Dongyang couldn’t conceal his smug tone, as if causing Qiao Yichen to be anxious made him happy.
“You’re trying to piss me off on purpose, aren’t you? Don’t you dare say that again in front of me,” After a week, Qiao Yichen’s voice sounded deeper than before, perhaps it was because he was carrying some anger at the moment.
“I said, I want to meet the girl.” Lin Dongyang was not willing to back down.
“Do you not know who you belong to?” Qiao Yichen was anxious, yet there was nothing he could do to the other party. So, Qiao Yichen dug out the address that Lin Dongyang left him before leaving and read it word by word, as if he wanted to go through the mobile phone and hold Lin Dongyang down, beat him, and force him to be well-behaved.
Hearing Qiao Yichen say his home address, Lin Dongyang was a little intimidated, afraid that he would really run over to teach him a lesson, so he immediately started flattering Qiao Yichen, “I lied to you, I didn’t agree. I said that I have someone I like, and that the person I like has gone and grown inside my heart, I don’t want anyone but that person. Are you satisfied?” Only the sound of shallow breathing could be heard in his ears as Lin Dongyang continued where he left off, “I said that in front of my parents, and my mom even said that you have to be nice to me or she will break your legs!”
Maybe the flattering words pleased Qiao Yichen, because the slight resentment that had been provoked vanished afterwards.
Whether there was something to talk about or not, the two people didn’t want to hang up, so they just chatted idly. It wasn’t until 11 o’clock in the evening, the latest time Qiao Yichen should stay up till, that Lin Dongyang mentioned he should rest early.
Qiao Yichen hmmed, and then there was a long silence, as if he had really fallen asleep.
“I miss you so much, I really want to see you.” Lin Dongyang didn’t care about being shy, so before he hung up he said these lingering words, but these words suffocated both of their hearts.
Qiao Yichen suddenly smiled and said, “Wait for me.” His voice was a little indulgent, but also a little determined.
At nearly 2am in the morning, the sleepiness that the semi-insomniac Lin Dongyang had finally managed to accumulate was dispersed by the ringing of his mobile phone. The caller ID displayed the very person who had caused him to lose a lot of sleep. He was surprised for a moment before he connected the call. “Why aren’t you asleep in the middle of the night?”
Qiao Yichen laughed softly and through the phone you could hear his pampering and joyful tone, “Come to the window.”
It was as if the words ‘wait for me’ that had been bothering him for so long finally had an answer. Lin Dongyang was surprised, and he didn’t even have time to put on his slippers before he ran barefoot to the window and looked down.
At this time, even the street lights on the street were turned off. A car was parked downstairs, and there was a tall and thin figure standing in front of the headlights, holding his mobile phone and tilting his head up as he waved at him. In an instant, Lin Dongyang understood what a beautiful smile was, the bright headlights weren’t as dazzling as the curved corner of his mouth.
Obviously, there was no wind or sand, but Lin Dongyang’s eyes still became so hot without warning. He had just casually said that he wanted to see him, but he had actually come over in the middle of the night. He was right down there, right in front of him.
Qiao Yichen looked up at the third-floor window and gawked at him, “How am I supposed to get in if you don’t open the door for me ah?”
Lin Dongyang scolded him with red eyes, “Idiot.” Afraid of waking his parents, he carefully opened the front door, and as soon as he stepped into the corridor, he rushed downstairs, as if he had been released from prison.
Qiao Yichen had driven for two or three hours in the early morning. His eyes, which weren’t particularly fond of staying up late, were a bit sore, and his hands were a bit cold, but after seeing the person in front of him, he felt like it was all worth it. “I followed the navigation around in circles for a long time before I was able to find this building. I had to ask the security guard at the gate of your community, and I was almost not allowed in.”
Lin Dongyang suppressed the hoarseness in his voice, and held Qiao Yichen’s hands against his chest to warm them up, even though it wasn’t that chilly this summer. “Call me if you’re not allowed in, I’ll go pick you up.”
“Why are you crying?”
“How is that possible?! What does it look like for a grown man to cry?!” Lin Dongyang sniffed quickly, and turned his face away. Qiao Yichen pulled out his hands that were being held, and touched the corner of his eyes, the warmth had not yet been blown away by the cool breeze of the night. “Then what’s in the corner of your eyes?”
“It’s happiness! It’s touching! Can’t I? You really are– you don’t say anything in advance when you’re coming. It made me so excited.” Like a cat with its fur sticking up, Lin Dongyang growled towards Qiao Yichen, but his voice grew smaller and smaller until he finally finished murmuring these words in a muffled voice. Then he grabbed Qiao Yichen and headed upstairs.
The room was pitch-black, so Lin Dongyang had to fumble around his own house like a thief. Just now he had run downstairs in a hurry, and forgot to turn on the light. Qiao Yichen just kept silent as he was dragged into a little dark room. The atmosphere made it seem like he was actually participating in the shady business of abducting people.
Lin Dongyang closed his bedroom door and locked it, which calmed his thumping heart. After all, he had brought a wild man back from outside in the middle of the night. If they were found by his parents, he didn’t know how he would explain, even if he had ten mouths.
Unexpectedly, just after the sound of the door locking had fallen, and before he could turn on the light, Qiao Yichen eagerly hugged him. A loud ‘thud’ was heard when he collided with Lin Dongyang and even the back of his head was in pain.
“Move lightly!” Lin Dongyang gritted his teeth. In the middle of the night, when even a pin drop could be heard, such a loud noise might wake up his parents who were sleeping in the next room.
“Sorry, I didn’t pay attention.” Qiao Yichen earnestly admitted his mistake and quieted down at the same time.
Sure enough, Lin Dongyang heard the sound of the door next to his room opening, and his back immediately stiffened. Mother Lin’s puzzled and questioning voice came from the living room, “Yangyang, what just happened?”
Lin Dongyang was afraid that if he didn’t answer, it might be mistaken for something wrong having happened, and his mother would forcefully break down the door to enter, so he pretended to be half asleep as he replied, “Oh, I just got up to go to the toilet and bumped into the door. I’m fine.”
“Well, that’s good, sleep early,” Mother Lin turned and headed back to her bedroom without the slightest doubt.
After surviving the calamity, Lin Dongyang let out a long sigh. “Don’t mess around tonight. If my mom finds out about this, she’ll definitely pinch your ear and throw you out the door.”
Qiao Yichen smiled, completely ignoring these words as he kept him in the same tight hug he had when they came in earlier. Hearing that the living room was quiet again, Lin Dongyang finally dared to move his limbs that were frozen stiff. He broke away from Qiao Yichen to turn on the light. Then he found some of yesterday’s clothes that needed to be washed and used them to clean the soles of his feet, before he climbed onto the bed, sitting cross-legged as he said, “Just stay in my little bed for the night. I don’t feel comfortable with you driving back this late. I won’t let you go even if you want to.”
Qiao Yichen followed him over and sat on the edge of the bed, “I’m not just staying for the night,” Lin Dongyang looked at him blankly, so Qiao Yichen added, “Didn’t you say that you wanted me to come home with you?”
“You came for real.” Lin Dongyang was shocked. At first, it had been him who said that he would take him home to meet his parents, but now it had happened so suddenly that he didn’t even have the time to organize his words properly. If they really wanted to confess early tomorrow morning, it was a little imminent.
“You lied to me?” Qiao Yichen raised an eyebrow.
“Who would dare? No. It’s just.. are you sure? If you appear in front of my parents so suddenly and if you leave a bad impression, we might both be in trouble.”
Qiao Yichen smiled. “Of course I can’t leave a bad impression. In the morning, accompany me to buy some things your parents like. I have to please my mother-in-law.”
Lin Dongyang nodded. He looked at Qiao Yichen against the light and was entranced as he said in a daze, “I miss you so much.”
“Where are you missing?”
“Everywhere.”
“Missing it inside too?” Qiao Yichen twisted his words, and Lin Dongyang was stunned at how he had suddenly led them into a ditch.
“F*ck! How can you say such a thing? Making people…”
“What?”
Lin Dongyang was shameless, “Making people feel the urge to continue!” He stretched out his hand and pinched Qiao Yichen’s face. Until now there had still been a hazy sense of unreality, “I really didn’t expect you to suddenly appear in front of me, just like a dream.”
“You said you missed me.” Qiao Yichen said softly, “I missed you too, just thinking about you made my heart hurt.”
Thank you for the chapter. My teeth are rotting from all this sweet sweet fluff. 🥹
This is what people said romantic
this is toooo much for me. I am old and jaded. I cant with the fluff!
thanks for the chapter <3
So sweet
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
We need a too sweet emoji! Thanks for the chapter ❤️🤣
too f*cking sweet 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭
So sweet!
Thank you for the chapter!
So much sugar
theyve come so far since the first few chapters when yichen was just an annoying brat, now theyre so cute that i actually got convinced to ship them
Awww they’re so sweet!!! Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️