Ch 28

Without even realizing it, he held Ding Xuerun’s hand to his lips and blew it.

Ding Xuerun was stunned for a few moments before looking up at him. He noticed Lou Cheng very seriously caressing his fingers, and the heat that was blowing on his skin was warm and itchy.  He stood still, just staring at Lou Cheng until a small smile appeared on his lips.

Lou Cheng saw him smile and glared at him: “You still smiling? We’re going to the hospital!”

He had just taken a shower, and his hair was still wet, so the water dripped down on the back of Ding Xuerun’s hand.

Lou Cheng wiped it off with his thumb.

“Lou Cheng, my hand is fine,” Ding Xuerun raised his face and smiled at him, “It’s not a burn, it’s frostbite, haven’t you seen it?”

Lou Cheng was clearly startled, and his normally wheat-colored cheeks reddened and grumbled. “I’m not sure if this is the case with frostbite. Do you want to go to the hospital because it seems to be serious?” He said this while holding Ding Xuerun’s hand and carefully looking down at his fingers. He remembered the strange sensation he felt when he saw Ding Xuerun apply hand cream to himself before.

His expression became distressed, but he didn’t notice it; only Ding Xuerun, who was staring at him, did.

He smiled as he pursed his lips: “It’s okay. I used to it while growing up. It will disappear in a matter of days, sometimes in a few weeks, and sometimes in a month. The hands will not swell after it has disappeared.”

Many people have frostbite and their hands will become thicker. But, he won’t.

Lou Cheng cautiously touched his fingers: “So…does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt, just itchy.”

Lou Cheng gave a low “um” and touched it lightly. Ding Xuerun pulled his hand back: “Don’t touch it, it feels itchy.”

Lou Cheng took a box from the handbag Ding Xuerun had given him. It contained several boxes, all of which were beautifully packaged and specially wrapped in printed wrapping paper. Lou Cheng seems to have seen this paper wrap on Ding Xuerun’s book, and he seems to enjoy the feeling of purchasing this type of sloppy stationery.

When he was unpackaging the gift, Ding Xuerun asked him, “Have you finished your homework for the winter vacation?” 

“We have homework for the winter vacation? I don’t know.”

“Yes,” Ding Xuerun said helplessly, “I also helped you put all the papers in your schoolbag. Haven’t you opened your schoolbag since the holiday?”

Lou Cheng was a little embarrassed, and scratched his head: “I can’t do it… I haven’t done my homework for a long time.” He doesn’t bother copying homework because the teacher doesn’t care about him.

He didn’t want to continue on the topic of learning, and decisively changed the topic: “This candy looks so beautiful, and it’s delicious too! How did you make it?”

Ding Xuerun roughly talked about the production method, what boiled sugar, how many grams of sesame seeds, and how many grams of dried osmanthus flowers were used as raw materials. Lou Cheng didn’t understand anyway, so he would only praise him for being great, saying: “Runrun is so smart.” 

In the afternoon, Lou Cheng wanted to take Ding Xuerun to see Xi Linmen Candy Factory, but after eating the candy produced by that factory, Lou Cheng felt the taste was ordinary and decided to change the formula again.

He counted, Ding Xuerun’s birthday is approaching anyway, Lou Cheng reasoned, he can take him there as a birthday present on that day.

Ding Xuerun also has something to do in the afternoon. He’s going to work as a volunteer at the sunflower home care center for the disabled. Except for holidays, he goes almost every week.

Lou Xuan pushed his motorcycle out of the community with him and asked where he was going. Ding Xuerun said, “Over there on Qingquan Road.”

“That’s very close to me.” The other side belongs to a city village that was not developed until a few years ago, and the land price is very low. Lou Cheng’s father noticed that he rode his motorcycle on the highway all the time and thought it was unsafe, so he purchased a hundred mu of land and built a motorcycle track comparable to that of a professional motorcycle. Because of the large size of the area, half of it was left empty. The lawn later was transplanted from abroad to create a golf course with a large green. [T/N: mu is a unit of land area]

Lou Hongye sometimes invites some bosses over to play golf.

Because it is a completely private stadium as well as a racing track, even the locals have no idea what it is, so it is listed as a mining limited company on the map.

And the Qingquan Road Ding Xuerun’s said was right there. Lou Cheng passes by there every day and remembers it.

“How do you usually get there?” He looked at Ding Xuerun, who was very well-behaved with his schoolbag on his back.

“Take the bus.”

Lou Cheng was taken aback and exclaimed, “Do you really take the bus that far? How long do you have to take? Take a taxi.”

“I’ll take the subway and then transfer to the bus. It won’t take a long time.”

“No, no, you still sick.”

“It’s just frostbite.” He put his hand in his pocket.

“No! It’s only the sixth day of the new year, the school hasn’t started yet, but I just heard on the news that the subway station is overcrowded!  You’re so short and skinny, you’ll be squeezed into a pancake.” Lou Cheng wanted to take him there because it was really close. However, the rule that his motorcycle does not carry people… has never made an exception.

When Yue Yun wanted to ride on his motorcycle, Lou Cheng didn’t dare to say no; instead, he simply said “dangerous,” and then he refused to let Yue Yun ride on his motorcycle because he took such good care of it.

The motorcycle is his wife, don’t even think about riding it; it won’t be touched by anyone, and whoever does touches it makes him nervous.

He hesitated for a long time and sat on the motorcycle without moving.

Ding Xuerun saw him didn’t say anything, so he waved goodbye to him: “Lou Cheng, I have to go quickly.”

“Stop.” Lou Cheng banged the accelerator, “You come back.”

Ding Xuerun turned his head and saw Lou Cheng’s face full of seriousness. In the end, he seemed to have made a particularly important decision. He gritted his teeth and said: “You wait here, I’ll go back and change my motorcycle.” 

The red mVAgUStA he’s riding now is his new love, the two-wheeled Ferrari. In addition, he has some small-engine 250cc motorcycles in his garage that he purchased specifically to compete in crrc races. He doesn’t cherish them so much, but no one has ever touched them.

“It’s only 100.000 yuan of Kawasaki; it has no right to be my wife! Runrun, just sit down; it’s not a big deal, at least just this time.”

He rode his motorcycle back, and in about five minutes, he changed into a black Kawasaki that wasn’t quite as cool, but still cool to take gaze away from passers-by.

Lou Cheng stopped the motorcycle in front of Ding Xuerun, who was standing on the ground with his long legs slightly bent. He handed Ding Xuerun his motorcycle helmet, saying, “It’s cold when riding, you put it on.”

“Then what about you?”

“Do I look like someone who is afraid of the cold?” Lou Cheng raised his chin, moved to the front, and made room for Ding Xuerun, “Come up.” 

Lou Cheng was nervous as Ding Xuerun took his seat. He was nervous because it was his first time taking someone on his motorcycle. He’d never taken anyone on his a motorcycle before

“Are you seated?” Lou Cheng lowered his head to check, and told him in a deep voice, “Put your feet here, and you have to hold my waist tightly when you ride on a motorcycle, or you’ll be thrown off, understand?”

Ding Xuerun nodded and said yes, and then he put on the helmet Lou Cheng had just given him.

“What are you doing?” Lou Cheng looked back at him. Ding Xuerun has never worn a helmet before, but he understands how to use one when he sees the structure. “If it’s cold, I’ll lean on your back, I won’t be very cold because you are blocking the wind,” he said through the glass as he fastened Lou Cheng’s helmet belt.

Lou Cheng was a little bit stunned, the lake rippled slightly, as if someone had dropped a stone on it

He responded slowly, feeling that the air in the helmet was insufficient. Why did he start to get a little hot?

Lou Cheng pretended that nothing had happened, turned around, and banged on the accelerator without looking back to warm up Kawasaki. The voice came through the helmet, and the tone became darker: “Your gloves are fingerless, it will definitely be cold. Put your hand in my pocket so that it won’t get cold.”

Ding Xuerun responded by wrapping his arm around Lou Cheng’s back, reaching into his pocket, gently placing his hand in it, and hugging him tightly.

Lou Cheng was too nervous. Ding Xuerun’s entire body was pressing against his back, his head gently leaning against him. The two people’s legs were also folded together, and Ding Xuerun’s hand was separated from his abdominal muscles by a layer of a sweater——

This is an intimate hugging gesture that causes Lou Cheng to cry bitterly and swear that he will never ride with other people again. It turns out that riding with others is extremely painful! He’s nearly on fire! Ding Xuerun, where did you put your leg?

He typically rides a high volume of mVAgUStA, which is both cool and prevalent on the road. Perhaps because he switched to a cheaper motorcycle today, or because he was carrying people, Lou Cheng doesn’t dare ride too fast, preferring to be warm and gentle, so as not to make Ding Xuerun afraid.

Riding a motorcycle is roughly equivalent to taking the bus. It also takes more than an hour. “Runrun, where are you going to get off?” Lou Cheng asked as he approached Qingquan Road.

He received no response. Lou Cheng moved slightly, but Ding Xuerun hugged him so tightly that his arms seemed to grow on his body.

Lou Cheng thought that he was probably asleep, and couldn’t help but mutter: “Is it so warm that you fall asleep…”

He removed his helmet with his left hand, lowered his head, and casually bit off his right hand’s leather gloves before putting his hand into his pocket, intending to take out Ding Xuerun’s hand.

Ding Xuerun seemed to wake up the moment he put his hand in, raising his head in a daze and rubbing his chin on his shoulder like a milk cat. Lou Cheng was stunned, his lips brushing against his snow-white cheeks as he turned his head away.

Ding Xuerun’s skin is as soft as ice cream in the cold air.

Lou Cheng’s eyes widened, his heart beat like a drum, and he was almost unable to stand up in a panic. The motorcycle beneath him shook, jolting him awake!

Ding Xuerun’s chin quickly left his shoulder, but he does not appear to be fully awake. His forehead was against his back, and his voice was very confused: “Lou Cheng, have we arrived yet?”

“Not yet… If you want to sleep, just lean back for a while,” Lou Cheng touched his warm fingers in his pocket, and said in a low voice, “Where to get off?”

“In front of The gate community.” His voice was lazy.

Lou Cheng absent-mindedly “Oh” said: “What are you doing there?Do you have relatives living there?”

“No, there is a center for the disabled in the community. I’m going to volunteer.”

“Oh, volunteer.” Lou Cheng thought to himself. Xiao Ding is a good boy who is also very kind. There are a lot of talented students at their school, but only a few of them do volunteer work. He is sweet and adorable.

Lou Cheng put on his helmet again. He was hesitant to take his hand out of his pocket, so he held the car’s handle in the other hand, riding very slowly to the community’s gate, he said: “Runrun, here, are you still sleepy?”

Ding Xuerun shook his head and realized he shouldn’t be able to see it, so he took his hand out of his pocket and said that he wasn’t sleepy. He placed his hands on Lou Cheng’s shoulder, planted one foot on the ground, and stepped out of the motorcycle with the other leg.

“Thank you, Lou Cheng.”

“No problem,” Lou Cheng was wearing a helmet and could not see his expression. He pointed casually, “I’m right there, at the crossroads in front. There is a fenced-up park, where I ride my motorcycle.”

Ding Xuerun didn’t know what he was mean with that, so he hummed and said, “Thank you, then I’ll go.”

Lou Cheng squeezed the handle of the motorcycle so tightly that his hand sweat almost permeated his leather gloves: “Runrun!” He stopped Ding Xuerun, with long legs on the ground, “Um…how long will you be a volunteer? I’ll take you back, anyway, um… it’s very close.”

He found himself a great reason.