LHKE Ch46

In the evening, the sky was still bright, with a streak of sunset red staining half of the horizon.

As soon as Du Heng entered, he was greeted by the rich aroma of hotpot. The pot was split in half, one side filled with spicy beef tallow broth and the other with a white bone broth. The steam and fragrant scent rose from the bubbling soups, and the table was covered with ingredients, showcasing the host’s enthusiasm.

“Heng Ge,” Shen Li came out of the kitchen holding a plate of red sugar glutinous rice cakes, still steaming from being freshly fried. The cakes were drenched in thick syrup. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Du Heng felt a bit awkward as he sat down. It was his first time at Lu Changting’s home, and he hadn’t seen Lu Changting for many years, so he wasn’t sure what to talk about.

The meat slices went into the pot first. Lu Changting opened a bottle of whiskey, poured it over some ice cubes and soda water, and filled a glass for Du Heng.

Du Heng liked whiskey. Shen Li had specially arranged for Le An to send over several bottles of the best whiskey and a case of beer from the bar. Everyone clinked glasses, and Du Heng took a sip, feeling the warmth spread through him. “Refreshing.”

The awkwardness and discomfort of their reunion seemed to dissolve with that first drink. Du Heng put a piece of tripe into the hot pot and casually began to talk about his resignation.

“The company brought in a new product PD, and he’s been making trouble for me every day,” Du Heng said, picking up some meat. “A fresh graduate who doesn’t understand programming and is a workaholic, always pushing our tech department to work overtime.”

“He even had me fix his computer,” Du Heng added, pausing before continuing, “I fixed it three times in one week.”

Shen Li frowned. “That’s really exhausting.”

Lu Changting listened quietly, placing a shrimp dumpling into Shen Li’s bowl.

“And the intern I mentioned before. I was taking care of her because she was young and a girl,” Du Heng continued, taking another drink. “But you know my personality—I’m not good at comforting people or talking, I’m quite boring.”

“She… ended up with the general manager, so I don’t need to take care of her anymore.”

Du Heng didn’t elaborate further; there was nothing good to say. The general manager was married with children, but that was her chosen path. Du Heng still walked his own path.

“If I have to explain, I’d say it’s just not worth it, so I resigned and came back.”

Many things in life ultimately revolve around emotions.

Shen Li clinked glasses with him in consolation. The strong alcohol burned his throat, with the ice cubes only slightly mellowing the bitterness.

Lu Changting clinked glasses with Du Heng too, but instead of offering words of comfort, he said, “If you want to continue working in games, I can invest in you.”

Du Heng remembered the young man who used to lean against the railing, always smiling, and asked him teasingly, “What about your bar?”

Lu Changting looked at Shen Li, his eyes soft with a smile, like a beam of light breaking through the clouds. “It’s here.”

Though it was a playful response, Du Heng thought Lu Changting knew Shen Li’s initial intention for opening the bar and understood Shen Li’s feelings over the years. He spoke with a touch of emotion, “You’re really making me envious.”

Shen Li raised his glass to toast Du Heng, skillfully shifting the topic.

As the day turned to night, they chatted from the setting sun to the moon rising high, leaving behind a few stacked empty plates on the table. The hotpot’s greasy splatters had solidified, and the ice in their glasses had mostly melted. Shen Li had had a bit too much to drink; his speech was slurred, his eyes were slightly red, and his demeanor was relaxed. Lu Changting, not wanting him to be seen in such a state, gently guided him back to the room.

When Lu Changting came back downstairs, Du Heng was busy pouring himself more drink. The hotpot had made him sweat, and as he poured, some of the liquor spilled. He clumsily grabbed some tissues to clean up the spilled drink, almost knocking over the bottle.

Lu Changting sat beside him, showing a bit of drunkenness but keeping a steady hand as he poured more drinks. He took out a cigarette from his pack, lit it with a lighter, and the smoke mixed with the smell of whiskey and hotpot.

“You… hic,” Du Heng burped and lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag to ease his drunkenness. “You drink a lot, huh?”

Lu Changting smiled, shedding his usual composed demeanor, and seemed to have reclaimed some of his youthful spirit. A glass of whiskey diluted with soda water, following this method, he could drink ten of Du Hengs.

Du Heng, slurring his words, said, “Shen Li is still clingy when he’s drunk.”

But Shen Li rarely got drunk; he was always aware of his limits. He would stop drinking just before reaching the point of complete intoxication.

Today, he was genuinely happy. Most of the drinks were poured by Lu Changting, and Shen Li didn’t keep track of how much he drank. He kept drinking until he was drunk.

Lu Changting asked, “Was he like this before?”

“Before, he was like this,” Du Heng, affected by the alcohol, spoke without restraint now that Shen Li was absent. “When he got drunk, he was clingy, but not like he’s clinging to you…”

Du Heng struggled to articulate his thoughts: “He used to say he wanted to find you when he was drunk.”

“You had to comfort him, go along with what he said, and tell him to come find you.” Du Heng raised his glass for a toast, saying happily, “Now you’re together, you can comfort him…”

Lu Changting took a deep breath of his cigarette, feeling a shiver in his heart. The vague traces of the past had finally pieced together a clear picture of the past. He found it hard to believe but also felt a secret pleasure and an indescribable sense of anticipation rising in him. “So… I’m his Xiao Gege?”

Du Heng didn’t sense anything unusual. “If not you, then who else could it be?”

“He’s always been calling you secretly,” Du Heng, still slightly tipsy and emotional, exaggeratedly rubbed his arms as if there were goosebumps, “So cheesy.”

Thinking of how Shen Li had clung to him for a kiss that night, with tears in his eyes, and of his own lingering feelings of rivalry, thinking of Shen Li saying, “I’ve only ever liked you”…

Shen Li had spoken the truth, but Du Heng didn’t believe it.

Lu Changting’s throat was dry as he swallowed a mouthful of spicy alcohol. “Was it him who took me to the infirmary?”

Drunk, Du Heng didn’t notice the subtle difference between a question and a statement. He nodded and, struggling to recall, said, “He came back that day with his school uniform completely wet, looking very dejected.”

“He threw a bag of custard buns at me without saying a word… just the custard buns from the convenience store, the ones you used to love.”

The cigarette between Lu Changting’s fingers burned down to the end, causing a slight burn, but he seemed unaware. He appeared to be lost in thought and murmured, “He bought those for me.”

“I didn’t know at the time,” Du Heng took another swig of alcohol and squinted, “so I ate them.”

“Later I found out… he took you to the infirmary, then went to the convenience store to buy food for you, and when he came back, he saw you thanking Tang Yao…” Under the influence of alcohol, Du Heng spilled everything he could remember, “He even cried.”

“While folding stars.”

Du Heng had seen Shen Li crying while writing notes and didn’t know how to comfort him, so he just handed him a tissue.

Lu Changting threw away the burnt cigarette butt and lit another one. “Stars?”

“Just a big glass jar,” Du Heng gestured with his hand, “filled with lucky stars.”

“The notes for folding stars seem to have writing on them,” Du Heng belatedly realized something was off, “Didn’t he give those to you?”

“He did,” Lu Changting lied, “But I didn’t know there were words inside.”

Du Heng said, “Oh,” and, still drunk, believed it.

“And those ceramic cats,” Lu Changting’s voice dropped, sounding more like he was talking to himself rather than questioning Du Heng, “He also gave those to me.”

Du Heng, feeling a bit dazed, took a while to remember the ceramic cats Lu Changting mentioned.

“You said… birthday gifts, those ceramic cats,” Du Heng nodded, took another drink, and continued, “When we used to play basketball, the water I gave you was actually bought by him.”

“What else?” Lu Changting repeated, asking, “What else am I not aware of?”

Du Heng, guided by his thoughts, answered his questions almost reflexively, but his drunken state made him slow and somewhat incoherent. “He, uh, liked watching you play basketball, at the New Year’s party and… and the sports meet, reciting the script, hmm… because you wanted to open a bar…”

“A lot of things.” Du Heng waved his hand, holding his forehead, and dragged out his words. “…Can’t remember.”

The room fell silent, and Du Heng, feeling drowsy, drifted off to sleep.

Lu Changting turned off the air conditioning in the living room, got up to open the window to disperse the smell of hotpot, and then helped the drunk Du Heng to the guest room before returning to his own room.

Shen Li had been asleep for a while, and he still instinctively wrapped himself up like a cocoon. Lu Changting, moving carefully, pulled him out of the blanket and carried him to the bath.

Due to the alcohol, Shen Li was in a deep sleep. The bath was filled with warm water, and Lu Changting tested the temperature before gently placing him in. His gaze was intense, as if he wanted to imprint Shen Li’s appearance in his heart, making up for the years they had missed.

Shen Li was stubborn.

But Lu Changting didn’t expect that someone could be so stubborn as to love him for so many years and still never reveal even a fraction of it, always maintaining an attitude of “I love you, but you are free”… When all that accumulated love was exposed, it felt like a huge fire burning in his heart.

The water was still warm. Lu Changting lifted Shen Li, dressed him in pajamas, and tucked him in.

He gently touched Shen Li’s face and planted a kiss.