Chapter 58 - Cornflower (1/2)

Chapter 58: Cornflower

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

(Unedited)

Neither of them was interested in holding a wedding, so after getting the marriage documents, they flew back to China and began Lu Shang’s recovery training.

Lu Shang’s rehabilitation period lasted for one and a half years. Apart from indoor training which were guided by a coach. Li Sui accompanied him as Lu Shang trained by climbing the hill every day. There was a country park around five kilometers away from the Lu house. There was a healthy hiking trail in the country park and it was a good place to train.

At first, Lu Shang could only climb half a kilometer of the trail, it was obvious that at the end of the trail, he found it difficult to even raise his feet. Whenever Lu Shang reached the steeper part of the trail, Li Sui would keep close behind him. Li Sui was afraid that Lu Shang might accidentally fall. Fortunately, Lu Shang had strong willpower, he seemed to be fine except for some panting after a long hike.

“How do you feel? If you feel any discomfort, don’t hide it.”

Lu Shang stared at his own palm and gasped, “I’m just a little hot and somewhat itchy…”

Li Sui laughed and said, “Itchy? Maybe because your body hasn’t exercised for a long time. Just take it slowly.”

“Is this what strength feels like?” Li Sui clenched his hand into a fist, he seemed to be surprised.

“Yes…” Li Sui looked at Lu Shang’s face, he felt happy but at the same time a bit sad. Lu Shang had been suffering from illness for so many years. For him, “feeling uncomfortable” was the norm. Now, his body was slowly recovering, he could feel the strength in his hands and feet again, and he was suddenly full of energy almost every day. It was natural for him to find that incredible.

Li Sui stared at the ring on Lu Shang’s ring finger, he reached for it and said, “Come with me for a walk in the woods.”

It was dusk, so many elders were playing chess in the park, the two of them strolled through the hiking trail while holding hands, that attracted a lot of people’s attention.

A little girl carrying a basket past by them, Lu Shang saw a bouquet of cornflower in the basket and stopped, “What day is today?”

“The 7th of June.”

After Li Sui replied Lu Shang, he himself immediately remembered as well, “We should go pay our respects to the ancestors?”

Lu Shang smiled lightly, “Hmn. This year, I need to take you to meet my parents.”

Since Lu Shang said “meet his parents”, Li Sui naturally dared not be late. He got up very early and changed into a formal suit, they drove to the flower market together.

The flowers were carefully selected by Lu Shang himself every year, this year was no different, Lu Shang bought a bouquet of blue cornflowers that were all blooming beautifully.

“Why Cornflowers?” Li Sui helped Lu Shang get the bouquet into the car.

“Do you want to know? It’s a little long.”

T/N, Yes, this chapter is so long ToT

Li Sui nodded.

“As you have heard, my father was a soldier and went on missions while hiding his heart condition.” Lu Shang said slowly, “In one of those missions, besides him and several other military personnel, there was also a German army doctor from Red Cross.”

“A German army doctor?”

“Hmn. My father’s physical fitness was quite good, he was much better than me. Most of the time, he was no different from a healthy person, and he hid his condition very well. But during one of the missions, the army doctor found out about his condition. Instead of reporting it, the doctor gave him a lot of support and treatment.”

“The original plan of that mission was to go across a mountain, then ambush the enemy at night. Unfortunately, there were heavy rains, so the only bridge leading to the other side collapsed. They changed their route, but that new route involved going through a minefield. Originally, the plan was feasible, since they had a map listing out where the landmines were, but unexpected there was a mole and the map got swapped out.”

“That’s dangerous.” Li Sui asked.

“Yes, since the map was swapped out, it means that the marked points were inaccurate, it would be very dangerous for them to cross. They were all soldiers and commands were everything. They didn’t want to miss this opportunity to attack the enemy, so they decided to send a person to demine the place1.”

Li Sui said, “They wanted to send your father?”

Lu Shang nodded, “My father was often alone since he wanted to hide his condition, so he was suspected of being the mole. After their superiors gave the order, he decided to obey and took on the task. He also knew that there was a very slim chance of survival, so before leaving, he went to bid farewell to the doctor, he also gave the doctor a Cornflower as a token of thanks, which was Germany’s national flower.”

Lu Shang paused for a while before continuing, “But unexpectedly, before leaving, the doctor injected him with some anesthesia. He changed into my father’s military uniform, and went for him.”

Li Sui was slightly shocked.

“When my father woke up and hurried to find the doctor, it was too late. His lower half was blown to bits, leaving only a charred body behind. It was said that inside the doctor’s burnt palm, the small Cornflower was still in good condition.”

“After the mission was successfully completed, the mole was found. They came back and was met with high praises. My father was awarded the position of senior officer by his superiors for his outstanding contribution, but he refused. He left the army and started a company with some of his comrades2.”

After hearing the full story, Li Sui didn’t know what he was feeling in his heart, “That army doctor…”

Lu Shang smiled lightly, “You want to ask, did they have a thing?”

Li Sui turned his head away a little as Lu Shang looked out of the window, “He’s probably the only one who knows the answer to that question… We’ve arrived.”

Lu Shang walked up the stairs and turned back to see Li Sui wearing a sad face. It seemed that Li Sui had not yet recovered from the sadness of the story, Lu Shang asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Sui held Lu Shang’s hand tightly and said with a smile, “Fortunately, we were born in a time of peace.”

” I don’t think we should compare ourselves with them. I’m different from him. He’s healthier than me.” Lu Shang looked at Li Sui and laughed, “But I’m luckier than him.”

Li Sui smiled back.

The two of them climbed up the stairs hand in hand. When they reached the top, they ran into Meng XinYou.

“It’s you?” Her gaze went past Li Sui and fixed on Lu Shang. She was a little confused. After a while, the shine in her eyes turned dim. She turned back to Li Sui and said, “Have you also come to visit old Lu’s grave?”

Li Sui nodded.

Meng XinYou did not shy away and said directly, “He looks just like Lu Shang. You’ve been looking for someone like this for a long time, haven’t you?”

Both Lu Shang and Li Sui were stunned. Li Sui understood, Meng XinYou did not recognize Lu Shang at all. That wasn’t too surprising, given that Lu Shang had been doing a lot of rehabilitation exercises for months. Compared with the past him, he was looking much healthier. Plus, he was wearing his leisure clothes, so it was a little hard to tell that they were the same person.

Li Sui did not argued and nodded a bit.

Meng XinYou sighed, “You really did love him a lot. He has been gone for so long, but you still can’t forget him.”

“How have you been lately? I haven’t thanked you for what happened in the shareholders’ meeting before,” Li Sui said.

Meng XinYou looked blissful as she said, “That’s nothing. And I’m a mother now.”

“Really? Congratulations,” Li Sui felt happy for her from the bottom of his heart.

The two of them had brief exchanges, while Lu Shang went to the grave first on his own.

Maybe it was just Li Sui’s imagination, but he found the smile of the man in the picture much kinder than before.

“You don’t have to worry about my heart condition anymore,” Lu Shang placed the flowers on the tombstone and sat down on the ground. “I’m married. I’ve brought him here to meet you. Whether you like it or not, I’m with him for life.”

“Dad, you used to say that people like us should keep to ourselves and not drag others down with us. I didn’t do as you said, but I’m still doing pretty good now, aren’t I?”

There were footsteps behind Lu Shang. Li Sui knelt down beside Lu Shang and held his hand, their rings touched, Li Sui turned to the man in the photo and said, “I will take good care of Lu Shang. You can rest assured, as long as I breathe, he will never starve. If I wronged him in anyway, you can come to haunt me anytime.”

It was a pious and solemn speech, at least Li Sui thought it was, but Lu Shang laughed all of a sudden instead.

“What are you laughing at?”

Lu Shang didn’t cease laughing, he said to the tombstone, “Did you hear that just now? You can haunt him anytime.”

Up on the mountain, a timely light breeze blew past them. Lu Shang stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, “Let’s go.”

“So soon?” Li Sui quickly followed behind him, “Say, when will you go to my hometown to see my mother?”

……

The shadows of the two men faded away from the graveyard. In front of the tombstone, the blue cornflowers swayed gently in the wind, as if someone was smiling and nodding at them3.

Half a year later, at the front gate of the prison.

A skinny old man walked out with a bag. Li Sui looked at him twice, he exchanged a look with Lu Shang, who was in the car. After getting an affirmative response, Li Sui took a deep breath and walked forward to carry the man’s bag for him.

“You are…” The old man’s turbid eyes stared at Li Sui, and after a moment, the man’s expression changed, “You are…”

Li Sui did not answer his question, he only said, “Get in the car, we should get something to eat first, then you should get a hot bath.”

“Son…?” The old man looked at Li Sui with tears in his eyes, his hands were trembling violently.

Li Sui didn’t hurry him, he just stood beside the car door and let the man look at him all he wanted. Li Sui was tall and handsome, and he had a strong temperament. When compared to the old man in front of Li Sui, no one could see a trace of their father and son relationship.

Nearly twenty years had passed, while Li Sui didn’t have any deep memories about this man, he didn’t enjoy seeing the desolation in his eyes.

When the car started moving, the old man finally calmed down and asked, “Were you the one who helped reduce my sentence?”

Li Sui glanced at Lu Shang, “It’s not me, it’s my spouse.”

The old man was shocked, “Your spouse? Why didn’t she come with you?

Before Li Sui answered, the old man responded and said, “Oh… It’s better that she doesn’t.”

Lu Shang who was driving turned his head back and asked Li Sui, “Should we go to the school first or eat first?”

“Go to the school first, we should deal with the paper works first.”

The old man didn’t understand, “Where are we going?”

“I have arranged a job for you, you will be topping up the students’ electricity usage cards. You only need to work three days per week, they will provide you with food and a place to live in. You will have winter and summer holidays as well, the welfare provided are the same as teachers.”

As the old man listened, a little bit of loneliness showed in his eyes. When he started thinking a little bit more though, he also found this treatment natural. Li Sui had already overdone it by helping him get out of prison, he even prepared a life for him. With how the man treated him and his mother before, it was a real wonder that Li Sui was willing to help him. Naturally, Li Sui had no obligations to accompany him, plus he had his own family now.

The place they were dining at was near the school. Li Sui ordered a few dishes and an extra bowl of winter melon and shrimp porridge, he also ordered some omelet egg rolls.

“Don’t add any seasoning in the porridge. Spread the omelet thinly,” After ordering, Li Sui handed the menu back to the waiter.

The old man looked at Li Sui’s polite temperament and he was full of doubts.

Lu Shang parked his car and walked into the restaurant. He sat down beside Li Sui and said with a smile, “Nice to meet you, I am Lu Shang.”

“Nice to meet you too…” The old man squinted at the two men across the table and he sensed that something was odd.

After the food was served, the man finally realized what exactly was odd. His son was too concerned about this man called, Lu Shang. The shrimps’ intestines were not cleaned out, so Li Sui just naturally took the porridge. Then he picked out all the shrimp one by one, cleaned them and gave them back to Lu Shang. He was so meticulous that it was obvious that they weren’t just ordinary friends.

The man then looked at Lu Shang, he was eating with a somewhat familiar, polite temperament. He also accepted Li Sui’s care very naturally, as if they did this every day. During their meal, Li Sui’s mobile phone rang once. Li Sui took the mobile phone out of his own pocket then naturally handed it to Lu Shang. The old man caught a glimpse of the pair of matching rings they were wearing, and he was shocked.

After seeing that, he had a lot of mixed feelings and he didn’t even remember the taste of the food anymore.

After lunch, the two men brought him to the school’s dormitory. Li Sui helped him clean the room while Lu Shang went to get some daily necessities for the man. When everything was done, it was already late in the evening.

“I’m not going to have dinner with you then. This is from Lu Shang. You can take it,” Li Sui handed him a card. “I will come and visit someday.”

“Son,” The old man stopped him.

Turning back, the old man’s eyes were full of complex emotions, “You… Is he your spouse?”

“Yes, we are married.”

The old man seemed to have something to say, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he knew he was not qualified to question him. What kind of life Li Sui had in the past years? What kind of experiences did he encounter? What did he liked? As a father, he did not know the answers to even a single of those questions.

“Father, be a good person in the future,” Li Sui moved his eyes away, his gaze lowered to the ground, “When you have time, go to Mom’s grave and burn some incense.”

The old man looked at him and nodded slowly, “Okay…”

“Then I’m going,” Li Sui finally looked at him and turned to shut the car door.

On the way back, Lu Shang was still the one driving. Li Sui sat beside him, and he was a little lost. He didn’t know what to think. As they were waiting for the green light, Lu Shang reached out his hand to squeeze Li Sui’s palm, and he laughed softly, “Are you sad?”

Li Sui came back from his thoughts, he held Lu Shang’s hand back and brought it to his lips, then he said with the back of Lu Shang’s hand at his mouth, “Lu Shang, you are the best.”

“Don’t overthink things too much. The past is the past,” Lu Shang comforted him. “Your family is my family. No matter what your attitude towards them is, I am always on your side.”

As Li Sui listened, he reached out his arm and grabbed the steering wheel, he drove the car to a quiet street, then pulled the handbrake. He just suddenly pounced on Lu Shang and said, “Let’s have sex.”

It was so sudden that Lu Shang’s forehead hit Li Sui’s chin.

“Sorry, did that hurt?” Li Sui hurriedly look at Lu Shang’s forehead, but before Li Sui’s hand reached it, Lu Shang took the lead and rubbed Li Sui’s chin.

He said, while laughing at him of course, “You are all grown up already, but you still have zero tact. You just pounce on people like a little puppy.”

Li Sui took Lu Shang’s hand away from his chin and looked at Lu Shang’s forehead carefully for a bit. Fortunately, the hit was nothing serious. He did not see any unusual scratches or swelling. After confirming that, he went in and kissed Lu Shang, “I only pounce when I see you. You are my spouse, after all.”

After that, Li Sui hintingly pointed at himself and asked, “Besides, which part of me is small?”

… Lu Lao Ban looked at him and silently swallowed saliva.

Li Sui quickly adjusted the back of the seat, then moved over to Lu Shang’s seat, and he held Lu Shang up face to face on his lap. Then, he encircled Lu Shang in his arms with both arms tightly until he felt content, “I wanted to hug you even when we were eating with my father.”

“I’m afraid the shock would have been too much,” Lu Shang laughed lightly.

Li Sui withdrew a little and said earnestly, “Lu Shang, thank you for all the things that you have done for my father.”