It was one month later when Wang Ran saw Qin Cang again. She was scolded by her boss after not completing her article in a week.
Wang Ran told her boss that she could write other articles just fine, but could not for this particular one. Although the ending of this story was considered to be beautiful, the process to get to the ending was what caused her near mental breakdown.
She actually did not have to write the story so perceptually. She just needed to explain the objective facts clearly from an objective standpoint as a media person on this pair of homosexual couple under HIV.
But she could not bear it. She did not want to describe Qin Cang and Yang Yiqian’s story in such a rational language. It was too cruel for them.
When she came to Qin Cang’s house, there was no cameraman this time. She carried a big bag containing many things, saying with a bright smile, “Mr. Qin, I brought many yummy and interesting things. Some of them are my favourite, so I brought you them. Please do not judge.”
Qin Cang smiled and accepted the bag. “I won’t judge. I am actually very happy to see you. Come in, no need to take off your shoes.”
Wang Ran nodded and surveyed his house. The home was very clean. Simple yet homey. There were several pots of thriving and happy green plants in the living room.
He poured her a glass of water and led her to sit down on the sofa. There were a few small plushies on the sofa. She chirped, “Mr. Qin likes these as well?”
He said smiling, “These are prizes Yiqian won from the claw machine. These took him a whole day to get.”
“Oh, I see.” She gasped and avoided touching the stuffed toy, picking up her cup of water. “I can never get anything from those machines.”
Qin Cang smiled, indicating he was on the same boat.
“Oh right, where is Mr. Yang? Is he working?”
“Yes, he is at the office right now. Something came up.”
“Oh? Is it serious?”
He smiled lightly and shook his head. “I am not sure. He did not want me to worry so he did not go into the details. If you ask me, I think it is his parents putting pressure on him to force him back.”
She asked anxiously, “You two have been together for so many years and Mr. Yang’s parents are still against it?”
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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Wang Ran frowned, feeling sad and melancholy, not knowing how to comfort Qin Cang.
He smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I am fine.”
Wang Ran sighed wistfully and took a gulp of water to calm her mind. She changed to other topics and shared Qin Cang about some current popular events.
Her sweet voice and cheerful tone was the embodiment of the bright sunshine that a girl of her age should have.
She asked what books he read and what music he listened to, which he answered truthfully. Giving her a new topic to talk endlessly about. He smiled as he listened to her.
“By the way, Mr Qin. Have you ever been to a music festival?”
“Music festival? Never.”
She explained, “There’s a music festival that will be held in our city. It is going to be fun and lively. There are many singers and artists that will be performing. Does that sound like something Mr. Qin would want to do? You can bring Mr. Yang as well, we can go together!”
“No thanks.” The smile on Qin Cang’s face did not vanish. He blinked with his long eyelashes, as they half covered his brown pupils. “There are too many people for that kind of large-scale activity. I will only cause others to panic.”
“Mr. Qin, that is not true! You are just an HIV infected patient, and the transmission method are from mother to child, blood and sex. There should be no issue during your typical everyday life and interaction with others. You have the right to be in the public, just as the same as others.”
He looked at her sincere eyes and felt very touched by them. He breathed out unobtrusively and said, “Yang Yiqian might not be free.”
“Don’t worry, I will take you! I have a few amazing friends who will not cause a racket.”
She showed a Duchenne smile, happily decearled, “We can protect you in place of Mr. Yang.”
With her being so enthusiastic and excited, it was very hard for Qin Cang to refuse as he said yes.
In the evening when Yang Yiqian returned, Qin Cang informed the other man of the plan. Yang Yiqian hesitated and understood Qin Cang considered his busy work and did not want to trouble him, so he said it was fine to go without him.
Wang Ran hurriedly booked a ticket for Qin Cang after learning that. On a clear day, Qin Cang went to the music festival with Wang Ran and her friends.
The event was really lively and very crowded, as everyone was almost on top of each other.
It was an open stage with a very large platform and several large viewing screens. Although it was still daytime, the numerous lights on the stage began to shine all around. Wang Ran took care of Qin Cang from time to time, checking on his mood and to which he replied “Fine” with a smile.
When the light beamed down, the singers came on stage one after another. Many people in the audience held their phones to record as they sang and danced together. The crowd moved together and expressed themselves to their heart content.
Qin Cang was also infected by this lively atmosphere. He had not felt so energetic for a long time. It felt he had returned to his younger self, full of vitality and high spirits.
During the break in the middle, the cameraman searched through the audience. His lens caught different handsome men and women on the big screen. The young lovers that were captured smiled shyly before boldy expressed their love by kissing. The field went wild again as the people cheered, their unusual high-spirit was possible from the drug in their system.
The camera moved again. Unexpectedly, it stopped on Qin Cang’s face with Wang Ran beside him. Qin Cang smiled helplessly while Wang Ran’s face went instantly red when she noticed she was on the big screen. The crowd around them were also starting to repeatedly chant “Kiss”.
Qin Cang bowed slightly to apologise before raising his left hand. The camera focused on the back of his hand, to be more specific, the ring around his ring finger. The message was loud and clear, but Qin Cang did give Wang Ran a gentleman hug.
Wang Ran was like a steamed crab. When she was held in Qin Cang’s arms, her heart was beating like a drum, and her eyes did not know where to look. When the camera had already moved to its next target, her eyes were still looking at the ground, not daring to look at Qin Cang.
Wang Ran likes Qin Cang. She could not define what kind of likes, but she liked the contact with Qin Cang very much. Unlike Mr. Yang’s aggressive handsomeness, Qin Cang has a quiet temperament. Although he was more than thirty years old, the bright youthness remained on his face.
However, Wang Ran clearly understood that some people have an impassable boundary, such as Qin Cang. All his body and even the depths of his soul were engraved with a single person’s name, Yang Yiqian.
After the music festival, something unexpected happened.
The segment where Qin Cang and Wang Ran appeared on the big screen was captured by many viewers and was posted on the interweb. The combination of handsome men and beautiful women was always very eye-catching.
Wang Ran’s bashful face in particular, as well as Qin Cang showing his ring and the final hug that ended this paragraph of drama, which made people’s private desires explode. Some began to discuss these two’s relationship one after another. Some people vigorously wrote the two’s stories in their own version, giving fame to Qin Cang and Wang.
At first Qin Cang paid no mind to this, until the development of the situation had changed.
Someone began to break the news to the interweb that Qin Cang was with AIDS. The impact of this news was like a sudden clap of thunder. In a split second, the online communities became to dispute at all corners with different opinions.
Some said Qin Cang was bisexual and only got AIDS due to his messy private life. Many people, especially those who participated at the music festival that day, reacted very ugly.
[Motherfucker. So disgusting. I do not care if he is homosexual, but one with AIDS? Is he trying to pull others down the grave with him?]
[Holy fuck. I was beside his group the other day. Does he not have human decency? To come out even with his AIDS? I better go to the hospital for a check up.]
[In my opinion, can we not just jail the people with AIDS? We need to restrict them!]
[I agree with upstairs, or just establish a database of people with AIDS for transparency. To track their whereabouts at any time.]
[Alas…Although I am not promoting discrimination against people with AIDS, but they should just not come out especially at big gathering! This is untreatable, pretty much just waiting for death!]
[…]
The comments on the interweb became more and more intense. Then someone exposed Qin Cang’s personal information and found out where he went to school and to work, even dragging Yang Yiqian into this ugly mess.
Although some people spoke up for Qin Cang, such as Wang Ran and others, those comments were soon drowned in the angry sea. Many ignorant and blind people openly expressed hard to accept insults, as if pushing Qin Cang onto the execution platform, forcing him to kneel down and admit his crime. They would not be satisfied even if Qin Cang’s skin was peeling off and plucking off his tendons.
All of Qin Cang’s social media accounts had been bombarded by all kinds of private harassment. All the voices were pervasive, each one slowly cut away his skin like experiencing the thousand cuts torture.
Seeing that he became more and more depressed, Yang Yiqian directly took Qin Cang’s phone away, not allowing his lover to see any news and did not allow him to use the computer to surf the interweb either.
Yang Yiqian paid for many marketing large and famous accounts to write articles, the true information related to AIDS, explaining the situation Qin Cang was in. Qin Cang has an HIV infection but not an AIDS patient.
Among them, there was an article with extremely sharp words. The title was [Your Fear Comes from Your Ignorance.] The article went into great detail, from the beginning of AIDS, how the history was developed to the present progress, how AIDS was not as scary as what everyone imagined. It also went into the humanistic care’s perspective, how people with AIDS, especially gay men, was stigmatized and discriminated against.
The article was voluminous, dripped with blood and covered in flesh, which had attracted many people’s attention and repost. People’s attention had been moved to the discussion of this mysterious AIDS. And thus, the abuse and insult on Qin Cang’s side had been gradually alleviated.
Are people so ignorant about these diseases ? How could they say that kind of comments ! Thank you for the chapter 🙂