Flying Ash - Chap 58
At dawn, Zhou Jinheng, who moved and spoke far more than his instructed share yesterday, was only allowed to say a hundred words today. He craned his neck to see Yi Hui sitting on the edge of the bed playing with his cell phone, and ached to say something.
Yi Hui clicked on the screenshot sent by Jiang Yimang again, and then scrolled down. Zhou Jinheng was curious about what he was looking at, stretched his neck and tried to look. Yi Hui noticed, sent him a sharp glance, and Zhou Jinheng laid back helplessly.
When it was time to speak, Zhou Jinheng cherished his words like gold: “It doesn’t hurt anymore, I hope I can be approved to talk more.”
Yi Hui broke off a piece of orange and stuffed it into Zhou Jinheng’s mouth: “You said it hurt last night, did it heal that soon?”
Zhou Jinheng would not speak if he could use body language, so he nodded and said, “A few more pieces, and an apple.”
Yi Hui was puzzled that he was suddenly so obedient to take the initiative to ask for food. Before lunch, Yi Hui helped Zhou Jinheng get out of bed and go to the toilet for the fifth time today. Then it just dawned on Yi Hui that this guy clearly did it on purpose.
The bathroom in the ward was narrow. Yi Hui did not feel comfortable for him to be inside alone, so the two would have to squeeze together. Besides, Zhou Jinheng was so unstable on his feet that his body kept falling on Yi Hui all the time, his face rubbing against his neck, his lips touching his earlobe, making Yi Hui blush so much that the nurse asked whether he had a fever.
Of course, Yi Hui couldn’t let this kind of smart-*ss behavior go unchallenged. He didn’t give Zhou Jinheng too much water for lunch. In the afternoon, Zhou Jinheng pointed to his mouth and when he didn’t get the fruit, his mouth turned pitiful, as if he would start crying in the next second.
Yi Hui didn’t know if he was acting, but he just found it so funny that he hid behind his mobile phone and laughed.
Originally, the ban would be implemented at least until the next time the bandage was removed and the medicine was changed. Unexpectedly, Yang Chengxuan’s visit in the evening disrupted the plan.
The first sentence when he entered the door was like thunder. Instead of asking for advice, Yang Chengxuan said in a meaningful tone: “I’m taking him to the United States.”
Yi Hui hurriedly asked, “What’s the point of going to United States? Did he agree?”
Yang Chengxuan only answered the first question: “Cure his disease, and study when he is cured. I’ll be with him.”
“That disease can be cured in China.” Zhou Jinheng said, “Tossing one back and forth is not conducive to treatment and recuperation.”
This was exactly what Yi Hui wanted to say. He looked at Yang Chengxuan, hoping he would give a valid reason for doing what he planned. Yang Chengxuan was silent for a long time before saying, “I can’t leave him behind anymore.”
Zhou Jinheng sneered: “Finally figured it out?”
Yang Chengxuan neither confirmed nor denied, but added, “Can’t leave him behind.”
At the sight of his sluggish appearance, Yi Hui’s heart suddenly surged and he stood up: “One moment, you let him go; one moment, you tie him to your side; you call him to come and tell him to leave, what do you take him for?”
“I didn’t expect, I didn’t expect him to…” Yang Chengxuan grabbed a handful of his messy hair, “If I knew it would be like this, I would definitely not…”
Yi Hui answered: “You would definitely not leave him, you would definitely not let him become like this?”
Yang Chengxuan nodded.
“No, if you had to start over, you would still do it. He had a place in your heart, but he was not important enough. Any obstacle can make you abandon him and choose what is more beneficial to you. Now that he has forgotten you, he can live without ties, but you want him to remember. You are not doing it for him, you just want to feel better about yourself.”
As Yang Chengxuan listened to Yi Hui’s words, his complexion turned pale, as if he was under the influence of some great stimulation.
He avoided this topic and insisted on taking Tang Wenxi away. Zhou Jinheng sat up with Yi Hui’s help, leaned back against the head of the bed and said, “He is a human being. To take him away, you must first obtain his consent and the consent of his family. Also, have you considered the situation in your family? Are you sure that your parents will accept him? If you plan to hide, conceal, and delay day by day, I advise you to stop thinking about it as soon as possible. You can afford to play, but he can’t afford it. You can already see the results. Do you still want to watch him give up hope again and seek death?”
Yang Chengxuan choked and opened his mouth, unable to say anything.
After he left, Yi Hui bent over to make the bed and withdrew the pillow and the blanket that had just been moved to Zhou Jinheng’s bed yesterday from the sofa bed. He didn’t say a word during the whole process and didn’t give a look to the patient lying on the bed.
Zhou Jinheng knew that what he had just said had caused some bad memories. He cursed Yang Chengxuan in his heart, but he didn’t dare to make a mistake. When Yi Hui made the bed and got up to pour water, he cautiously called out: “HuiHui?”
Yi Hui ignored him, poured the water and brought it up to his mouth. Zhou Jinheng didn’t have time to stop him, so he raised his hand to grab the cup. As a result, Yi Hui didn’t drink a mouthful, and the hot water spilled all over Zhou Jinheng’s hands.
Although it was the water poured out of the thermos flask and it was hot enough to scald one’s mouth, it would not scald the skin. Yi Hui was just anxious to cover up his abnormality, not expecting to create such a situation, and hurriedly took a towel to wipe Zhou Jinheng’s hands.
He lowered his head and wiped them carefully, and when he was wiping the third finger, a tear fell on the back of Zhou Jinheng’s hand.
Zhou Jinheng, who pretended to cry earlier but made him cry for real now, panicked. He grasped Yi Hui’s hand and dragged him into his arms: “What’s the matter, why are you crying?”
“Bad guy.” Yi Hui’s eyes were red and his voice was full of tears, “You are all bad guys.”
Zhou Jinheng was stunned.
He was no stranger to the term ”bad guy”. In the past, the little fool would call him a bad guy when he was teased by him. Yi Hui didn’t know any curse words. He thought that “bad guy” was the most cruel curse in the world, but whenever Zhou Jinheng indifferently admitted that he was a bad guy, Yi Hui was dumbfounded and stuttered, “Bad guys… are going to be beaten.”
It had been a long time since he heard such childish scolding. Zhou Jinheng’s heart and soul trembled, and he couldn’t help but say, “Let me hear it again?”
Yi Hui knew how embarrassing it was to blurt out these words without thinking. He snorted and turned his head, but Zhou Jinheng pinched his chin and turned it back.
“I am a bad guy, the worst, the worst guy in the world.” Zhou Jinheng looked at him intently; the joy floating on the surface of his eyes faded, leaving behind the sadness that was so strong that it could not be dispelled, “It’s all my fault. You can beat me and scold me. Do as you wish… as long as you are happy.”
This time it was Yi Hui’s turn to be startled.
Yes, he would be sad when he thought about the past, so why wouldn’t Zhou Jinheng be sad? Regret and remorse are the most useless and torturous things in this world. Zhou Jinheng’s pain could not be hidden, he saw it all with his own eyes.
After freeing up his hand, Yi Hui didn’t hit him. He wiped the last tear from the corner of his eye and said in a muffled voice: “You are not a bad guy.”
Zhou Jinheng was amused by his fickleness: “You were scolding me hard just now, but don’t think so anymore?”
“You know how to change,” Yi Hui muttered, pouting, “you are different from him.”
After rolling his Adam’s apple a few times, Zhou Jinheng dragged Yi Hui into his arms again.
“Hey, your injury…”
“Okay, I won’t be a bad guy first.” Zhou Jinheng took a deep breath, and his eyes became sharp and cold while Yi Hui couldn’t see him. “I will first deal with all the bad guys who have hurt you one by one, and then you will give me a verdict and decide whether you want to hit me, okay?”
Yi Hui didn’t take it to heart, thinking he was just talking nonsense.
When the police called and said that they found the other mastermind who hired the gangsters and that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute him, Yi Hui stayed out for a long time and returned to the ward to see Zhou Jinheng eating apples as if nothing happened. He wanted to talk and swallowed his words several times.
Zhou Jinheng had a lot of connections and it was not unusual for him to get things done without leaving the room. It’s just that Yi Hui still couldn’t believe that he would be willing to do something to Fang Yuqing.
He called his brother, and Cheng Feichi said solemnly, “What’s the matter? He used power for personal gain and did not act impartially? Or did he bully you again and make you unhappy?”
“No, no, I just saw that the case was handled so quickly, and I thought you were secretly helping.”
Cheng Feichi smiled on the other end of the phone, and his tone relaxed: “I wanted to intervene but the man he found was very efficient and solved it in less than two days. Let him deal with the trouble he caused by himself, leave him to deal with it.”
His brother was kind-hearted, and only when he mentioned Zhou Jinheng, his words were full of barbs. Even though he had sacrificed his life to save him, he was still wary and dissatisfied with him.
Knowing that Zhou Jinheng had behaved badly in the past and that years of grudges were hard to dispel, Yi Hui was not in a hurry. He thought the days would still be long in the future. They could interact more and get along well.
He returned to the ward briskly. He wanted to cut another apple to replenish Zhou Jinheng’s body, but the bed was empty, and he didn’t know where he had gone.
An hour later in front of the cosmetic surgery department, Yi Hui picked up Zhou Jinheng and went back.
It was a rare moment when Zhou Jinheng felt guilty: “How did you know I was here?”
Yi Hui squinted at him: “You still want to walk further?”
Zhou Jinheng closed his mouth and did not dare to speak.
After returning to the ward and lying down, Zhou Jinheng waited for the peeled apple for a long time and still didn’t get it. He reached his palm in front of Yi Hui and asked: “Take a look, did the scar fade?”
Yi Hui glanced: “No.”
Zhou Jinheng pulled his hand back in frustration: “It may take a few more treatments. If it doesn’t work, I will change to a specialised cosmetic hospital.”
Yi Hui didn’t know who he was telling this to.
He couldn’t feel rest assured. He went to Weibo to search for Zhou Jinheng, and an entry called “Zhou Jinheng is disfigured” appeared among the headlines. His heart clenched and he clicked in to see. In addition to distressed fans, there were also passers-by gloating. There was a popular vote called “Can Zhou Jinheng still receive a role after he is disfigured”. Yi Hui did not hesitate to press “will be able to”. When he looked at the results, the votes for “only in bad movies” reached more than 80% of the total votes.
To say that he was not heartbroken would be a lie.
No one knows better than him how difficult Zhou Jinheng’s path was. If he really couldn’t get a good role because of the scars on his face and the back of his hand, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life.
“The doctor said that my skin is so good that it would be almost invisible.” Zhou Jinheng asked Yi Hui again, “What does ‘almost’ invisible mean? Can you see it when I kiss you?”
The topic changed suddenly, and Yi Hui, who was still in a daze, let out an “ah”.
“It’s really bad. From now on, I will only kiss you at night.” Zhou Jinheng sighed and raised his hand to block the scarred half of his face, “Or like this, so you can’t see it.”
Thinking that his behaviour was the same as covering his ears while stealing a bell, Yi Hui felt his mind spinning and tentatively asked, “Are you removing the scar for me?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
Zhou Jinheng said confidently: “Don’t you dislike ugly guys?”
Yi Hui was confused: “Where are you ugly?”
Zhou Jinheng touched his face, a little embarrassed: “Anyway, it doesn’t look as good as before. My whole body is like that, just the face is still good enough. If it is ruined, what else do I have… to keep you.”
It sounded a bit defeated and a bit pitiful.
It took Yi Hui a long time to answer: “Do you think that I like you because of your face?”
“Otherwise, what else do I have…” Halfway through speaking, Zhou Jinheng suddenly reacted and looked at Yi Hui with wide eyes, “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Yi Hui turned away.
Zhou Jinheng jumped out of bed regardless, grasped his shoulders and turned him to face him: “Say it again.”
Yi Hui bit his lip and said nothing.
Zhou Jinheng pestered him: “Will you say it again… HuiHui, say it again, just one more time, en? Okay?”
Yi Hui thought that only now did he look like a boy of his age should look like. He was impulsive, impatient, curious and coquettish, and vowed not to stop until he achieved his goal.
But no one knew that Yi Hui was most afraid of hearing him ask “okay”.
At the entrance of the Jiang family’s courtyard, Zhou Jinheng begged Yi Hui to treat him as a Dora-Hum-Hum, even if for a lifetime, trembling and asking him “okay”; in the dim room, Zhou Jinheng, who was burning and talking in his sleep, pulled him and begged him not to go, and asked him hoarsely, “okay”; in the icy refrigerator truck, Zhou Jinheng, who was dying, said that he would never lie to him again, would only have him alone in his heart, and asked him urgently, “okay.”
Even though most of the time Yi Hui had to hold back from answering, how could he not feel, how could his heart not tremble?
Zhou Jinheng seemed reckless and awkward, but in fact he was smarter and more cunning than anyone else. He knew what to do to shake his unwavering heart. He understood what could melt the frozen snow-capped mountains to allow the gurgling spring water flow along the sheer slope, irrigate every plant that still had a breath of life along the way and let them shine again in the light of the rising sun.
Yi Hui remembered that chat. After Zhou Jinheng replied to Jiang Yimang, “He is not stupid, he is just too kind”, he added another sentence – I like him, I like everything about him.
He was not afraid, he just liked him so much that every time he heard this question, he didn’t know what to do.
Zhou Jinheng was still asking, with eagerness, pleading and longing in his voice.
After taking a deep breath, Yi Hui pushed away Zhou Jinheng’s hands on his shoulders, then put his arms around his neck, raised his face and leaned in to kiss the scar on his face.
His lips rolled over the slightly raised line, the corner of his mouth rubbing against the tall bridge of his nose and finally his kiss landed on the eyes that haunted his dreams for two lifetimes, the trembling thick eyelashes making his skin numb and itchy.
After kissing, he stepped back a little, and while the man being kissed was still in a daze, Yi Hui smiled: “Still very handsome, I like you.”
I like everything about you.
