LHKE Ch49

“Good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?”

Lu Changting returned home, took off his suit jacket and hung it on the coat rack, loosening his tie as he walked towards the living room.

Shen Li was sitting on the sofa, a pile of quarterly profit and loss statements spread out in front of him. He looked up at Lu Changting and said, “The bad news first.”

“The bad news is, I have to go on a business trip again.” Lu Changting poured himself a glass of water and sat down next to Shen Li, leaning tiredly against the soft cushion of the sofa. “This weekend, to City N. There’s a problem with a project there that needs my personal attention.”

Shen Li asked, “How many days will you be gone? When are you leaving?”

“Friday night by high-speed train. Not sure how many days.” Lu Changting hugged him from the side and chuckled, “Aren’t you curious about the good news at all?”

Shen Li cooperated and asked, “What’s the good news?”

Lu Changting took two entrance tickets from his briefcase and handed them to him. “VIP front row seats for the premiere of ‘Vast Mountains and Rivers’.”

Shen Li was a bit surprised to see the premiere tickets for He Ting’s new movie. “How did you think of getting me tickets to the premiere?”

Such tickets can’t be bought with money alone, especially not front row seats. Lu Changting didn’t have much interaction with the entertainment industry, so he must have gone to some effort to get such good seats.

“I saw you watching the trailer the other day and thought you might want to go.” Lu Changting frowned slightly. “Don’t you like him a lot?”

Shen Li reached out and lightly smoothed the frown on his brow. “Yes, I do like He Ting.”

“So you want me to go watch the premiere of his movie with someone else?”

“I originally planned to go with you.” Lu Changting’s tone was somewhat apologetic. “But I have to go on a business trip this weekend…”

“Then who should I invite?” Shen Li pretended to think deeply. “Jiang Chifeng, Du Heng, Brother Changxu, Changyin, Changge…”

Shen Li listed a bunch of names. Lu Changting listened without much reaction, speaking magnanimously, “Anyone is fine.”

Shen Li looked at him and suddenly smiled. “Hey, handsome.”

“I’m not used to you being this generous.”

It felt like his partner was going on a business trip, working hard to support the family, while he was out having fun with others. The more generous Lu Changting was, the more Shen Li felt he shouldn’t.

Lu Changting held his hand, their fingers intertwined, the ring on his ring finger particularly noticeable. “You can only watch his movies if you like him.” He paused, raising his eyebrows slightly. “If you like me, you’ll have to watch movies with me for a lifetime.”

Shen Li smiled and hugged him, leaning his head on his shoulder. “Then we’ll go together when you get back.”

“I’ll give the tickets to Xiao Yao and Jing Yu.”

Jing Yu was good friends with He Ting, and Xiao Yao was Jing Yu’s partner, so giving the tickets to them was the perfect choice.

Shen Li added, “I like He Ting because I like ‘Cloudless Joy’, I like Fengjiang, so I love the house and its crow.”

“In the end, it’s because I like you.”

Because I like you, I can empathize with such a secret love, I can like and feel for the boy in the movie who can’t get what he wants.

Lu Changting understood his unspoken words, turning his head to kiss the corner of his lips.

“I have one more piece of good news.”

“Mm?”

Lu Changting looked at him, his eyes gentle. “Fang Zhi and Fengjiang are together.”

Shen Li was a bit stunned, not understanding what he meant.

“Yan Ruhui and He Ting,” Lu Changting said slowly, “they’re together.”

Shen Li blinked in surprise. “Wasn’t He Ting with Fan Jingling…”

“On the night of the engagement party, I spoke up for He Ting,” Lu Changting said. “Xiao Yao probably did the same because of Jing Yu, also speaking on He Ting’s behalf.”

“The result was that Fan Jingling let He Ting off the hook and even gave him several good opportunities.”

Shen Li let out a sigh of relief, as if a small stone that had been weighing on his heart for a long time had been lightly kicked away by Lu Changting. “You never told me about this.”

Although it was a small stone, it wasn’t heavy and didn’t affect his mood much, but whenever he thought about He Ting’s bright future, he couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful. At that time, he had even thought about asking Lu Changting for help, but he never opened his mouth and didn’t expect Lu Changting to proactively help He Ting behind the scenes.

Because of him.

Shen Li leaned in and kissed Lu Changting. “Hey, handsome, you’re meddling again.”

Lu Changting didn’t like to boast, and at that time, he had only mentioned it to Fan Jingling in passing. He didn’t have much personal connection with Fan Jingling, and the latter probably let He Ting go mostly because of Xiao Yao. It wasn’t really his doing.

But he still enjoyed the affectionate hug from his lover.

Lu Changting tightened his embrace, his eyes smiling. “Anything related to you isn’t meddling.”

…

After taking a shower that evening, Shen Li was engrossed in scrolling through Weibo, watching various fan edits of Yan Ruhui and He Ting, completely absorbed in the sweet moments.

Even when Lu Changting came out of the shower, Shen Li was still watching.

Feeling ignored, Lu Changting had no choice but to look at files on his iPad, handling some simple work tasks. The two of them, one leaning against the headboard reading files and the other sitting cross-legged browsing Weibo, occasionally Lu Changting would glance at Shen Li, who was smiling at the videos, and unconsciously he would smile too.

Shen Li had been scrolling Weibo for a long time, and his neck started to ache from staying in the same position for so long. He put down his phone and lay back on the bed, resting his head on Lu Changting’s leg.

“Yan Ruhui and He Ting fell in love because of their roles, right?”

Lu Changting casually replied, “Probably.”

“That’s wonderful.” Lovers finally coming together was truly wonderful.

Shen Li looked at him and chuckled softly, “I remember the first time you watched ‘Cloudless Joy’ with me, you were so unsatisfied with the open ending.”

“That’s because…” Lu Changting paused, unsure how to continue.

Was he supposed to say it was because he was jealous of himself?

He put down the iPad and reached out to touch Shen Li’s eyes.

Shen Li always looked at him with eyes full of sparkling stars, always smiling, and filled with love.

“Because I always misunderstood that you had a little crush on someone else.” Lu Changting’s voice was low. “At that time, I didn’t know that the little crush was me. Just thinking about how hard you had worked to like someone made my heart ache.”

Shen Li held his hand, kissing the ring on his ring finger.

“How can you be so silly, handsome?”

Lu Changting chuckled, “I guess I am quite silly.”

When it comes to matters of the heart, it’s hard to see clearly when you’re in the middle of it. Back then, how could he have dared to think that Shen Li’s little crush was him?

Shen Li drew a heart in his palm, as if it was an unconscious gesture, tracing the shape of the heart over and over, his eyes seriously looking at Lu Changting rather than at his hand. “When did you know that I had a huge crush on a certain someone?”

His palm itched a bit, and Lu Changting looked down at the heart he drew, feeling incredibly tender inside. “The first time you got drunk.”

“The first time I got drunk…” Shen Li hesitated, uncertainly asking, “Was it on your birthday?”

Lu Changting smiled and responded affirmatively.

Shen Li’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. “What exactly happened that night…”

Lu Changting touched his lips.

“When you got drunk, you were very clingy.”

“You wouldn’t let me leave, and when you kissed me, you were fierce. When you cried…” Lu Changting’s fingers lightly brushed his cheek, as if gently wiping away his tears. “You were especially heart-wrenching.”

“You cried and called me ‘handsome,’ saying how much you missed me.” Lu Changting looked at him, his tone complex. “We had only known each other for a short time then. I thought you mistook me for someone else. Later, you kept flirting with me, making me unknowingly fall for you. At that time, your ‘handsome’ really made me jealous.”

Shen Li looked at him, his eyes slightly red.

He had always thought that his secret crush, though bittersweet, was worth it and something he could talk about calmly. But how could it not be painful? Those years, he missed Lu Changting so much, those longings and infatuations tormenting him repeatedly.

Even now, thinking about it made his heart ache.

Shen Li sat up, hugging him.

He straddled his legs, clinging to him intimately, cheek to cheek. “Handsome, all these years… I really missed you.”

“All these years, it was hard on you,” Lu Changting said softly. “From now on, let me take on the hard parts.”

“I want your remaining years to be filled with joy, and I want to always be in your eyes.”