Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 6

Jiang Yishan’s nose bled more as he talked. He didn’t understand what had happened. He was coughing so hard that he couldn’t stand up. He felt dizzy, so he lowered his head as he wiped his nose, but doing so made him smear the blood everywhere.

Qin Shaocheng stepped forward and picked him up.

Jiang Yishan’s brain couldn’t keep up with what was happening until Qin Shaocheng put him on the bed and stuffed him into the quilt. When Qin Shaocheng was about to leave, he hurriedly grabbed his clothes and cried, “Don’t go, Shaocheng… Don’t go…”

“Let go first.”

“Don’t go. Don’t leave me…” Jiang Yishan’s voice broke as he held Qin Shaocheng to death. He cried and begged, “I know I was wrong. I know you’re disappointed with me. Don’t go, will you?”

Qin Shaocheng was distressed to see him like this. “I’m going to get a towel.”

Jiang Yishan laid in bed and could not hear anything. He was exhausted, and his body hurt everywhere. He held Qin Shaocheng’s hand and cried, begging him not to go before falling asleep.

With the fever, confusion, mental strain, and how tired Jiang Yishan felt, his body could no longer take it.

While half asleep and half awake, he recalled the years from when he was only eighteen until he was twenty-four. He thought of his youth and success, of his short-lived fame, and of him, who is now no more but a lost dog.

He wondered what he would do if he were to live his life all over again.

When Jiang Yishan woke up, he felt that everything that had happened was merely a dream. He looked out the window and saw the sun shining, and at this moment, it felt like he was separated from the rest of the world.

There was no one in the room. He laid in bed for a while and didn’t hear Qin Shaocheng’s voice. The whole room was so eerily quiet it made him terrified. He was eager to get up from bed, but he didn’t have any strength to lift himself up.

The consequences of taking a cold shower last night were soon revealed. His body ached in different places and his headaches came in bursts. It took him half a day to get out of bed.

There was no one in the house.

He dragged his feeble legs to the study, pushed open the door and saw only a few books on the bookshelf and a desk that was soon gathering dust. He finally believed that Qin Shaocheng was going to leave. He had already prepared in advance.

The key to the door lock wasn’t changed because it didn’t matter. It had been four years, and no one would wait for that long.

Qin Shaocheng had really given up on him.

Jiang Yishan went to the chair in the study and sat down, hunched over. The glare of the sun made him dark and desperate.

He thought of the Qin Shaocheng of the past, who used to be so gentle, then he thought of the present Qin Shaocheng, who was now indifferent. After the seventh day of the month, Jiang Yishan would no longer have Qin Shaocheng, who both loved and hated him, by his side.

He had lost him.

Jiang Yishan finally understood the bittersweetness and emptiness of waking up from Nanke’s dream. [1]

Jiang Yishan’s heart felt so heavy that he couldn’t breathe. He covered his eyes, but he couldn’t stop crying. He didn’t want to be useless, but he was so sad. At least, there was no one else in the room; no one would be disgusted by his tears.

And so, he cried and cried.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Yishan turned his head in disbelief.

Qin Shaocheng stood at the door of his study, wearing an overcoat and holding a newly bought medicine in his hand.

Jiang Yishan had been crying so hard that he couldn’t hold back his tears. “Didn’t you leave? I thought you had changed the date of your flight…” [2]

Qin Shaosheng said coldly, “It’s bad luck to change the date during Chinese New Year.”

Jiang Yishan narrowed his eyes.

Qin Shaocheng hung his overcoat on the hanger and said, “Come out for dinner and take some medicine afterwards.”

Jiang Yishan didn’t fight again this time. He followed Qin Shaosheng, and after breakfast he took the medicine obediently. Throughout the whole process, his head hung low and his eyes were red and swollen. After that, Qin Shaocheng told him to go lie down on the bed.

Qin Shaocheng opened his cell phone and looked at the time. “If the fever does not subside by afternoon, I will take you to the hospital.”