Flying Ash - Chap 59
On the day he was discharged from the hospital, it was snowing in S City. The first thing Zhou Jinheng did when he walked out of the hospital was to take pictures.
A few days ago, he took his Weibo back, flipped through the comments casually and was so angry that he almost threw down his phone again. Yi Hui said that he would not cut an apple for him if he dropped his phone and all the photos left on the phone would be deleted, so Zhou Jinheng calmed down instantly, put down the phone and said innocently: “I didn’t want to drop it. I just wanted to see if it was as strong as before it was repaired.”
Perhaps it was the effect of lying down for more than a month, but Zhou Jinheng became more and more lively in the few days before being discharged from the hospital. He carried a saltwater bag upstairs and downstairs every day. The laser scar removal effect was remarkable, and the scars on his face and hand disappeared almost completely before he was discharged.
One day, Yi Hui went to attend a lecture on fine arts. He persuaded and reassured the patient the best he could. After listening to the two-hour lecture, he walked outside and saw a red sports car parked at the gates. Zhou Jinheng didn’t even change his hospital attire. He came to pick him up with a coat over his pajamas. On the way, looking quite proud, he told Yi Hui how he cleverly evaded the eyes of doctors and nurses and slipped out of the hospital.
At the moment, too, the agent asked him to make a post on Weibo to comfort the fans. He posted a photo of it snowing, with the words: It’s maomao xiaoxue (furry little snow) again. The fans looked confused and forcibly understood it as telling them “I’m out of the hospital”. In the comments, there were all kinds of gongs, drums and firecrackers and some fans cried and shouted: “HengHeng doesn’t want us to worry, that’s why he’s so calm and casual!”
Yi Hui blushed when he saw the words “maomao xiaoxue”. This was the reply he gave when Dora-Hum-Hum sent him a photo of it snowing in S City.
When he was still stupid, he liked to repeat words, like eat eat, bath bath, kiss kiss, hug hug… Now that he was sensible, he naturally felt ashamed.
Intentionally or not, Zhou Jinheng was always repeating words in front of him these days, as if he couldn’t speak properly. Just now, when learning that Jiang Xuemei would be discharged from the hospital next week, he immediately said, “I will be free next week, drive drive Auntie back.”
Yi Hui was so embarrassed that he almost threw his car keys out the window.
He didn’t throw away the keys but no one drove the car either. S City was so far from the small southern town that it would be insane trying to drive there.
Three people got on the plane. Two hours later, they got off the plane and took a bus to the town. On the way, Yi Hui swiped through the pictures in Zhou Jinheng’s super topic, all proving that Zhou Jinheng had recovered from his serious illness and his appearance had reached a new peak.
Some fans speculated that Jiang Xuemei was Zhou Jinheng’s mother’s sister or something, and simply ignored Yi Hui, who was wearing a mask. As soon as Yi Hui breathed a sigh of relief, he scrolled down and saw Zhou Jinheng’s comment below in large font: Remove the word “sister”.
The super topic was boiling over because of this comment and it was estimated that it would be on the hot search again. Xiao Lin called to ask him if he was going crazy again and said that he wanted to change his Weibo password to prevent him from logging on by himself. Zhou Jinheng said, “Can’t I post comments on my own Weibo? Besides, they all think I’m engaged, so this time think of it as an early warning for the wedding.”
Without saying a word, Xiao Lin hung up the phone and hurriedly contacted the public relations team.
Yi Hui hadn’t noticed before that Zhou Jinheng was a man who ignored the overall situation. He bitterly persuaded him to be mature and not to make it difficult for Xiao Lin. Zhou Jinheng let out an ”oh” and seemed unhappy.
After a while, Yi Hui’s phone vibrated. He clicked on Weibo and saw a new message from Dora-Hum-Hum: Didn’t you say that you like everything about me?
He turned to look at the man who sent the message. Zhou Jinheng propped his head by the window with one hand, twisted his neck and looked outside, looking lost and begging to be coaxed. Yi Hui couldn’t help laughing, thinking secretly that he was so naive when he fell in love.
Falling in love… Yes, they were in love now. They would show their good sides to each other and they were not afraid to expose their shortcomings. After missing so much time, every minute and every second was precious.
When they arrived at the small town station, he saw Jiang Yimang jumping up and down at the exit of the station and waving her hand from a distance. Yi Hui took a deep breath of the familiar air and the last bit of haze that pressed on his heart also dissipated with the wind.
When he left, he was in a gloomy and depressed mood, and when he came back, he was relaxed and happy. He almost bounced hand in hand with Jiang Yimang while walking on the road.
They ate lunch at Aunt Qiu’s house. Aunt Qiu prepared a large table of dishes for their homecoming feast. She didn’t find it strange to see one more person. She just looked at Zhou Jinheng twice and asked, “This handsome guy looks very familiar. Do you often come to our town to play?”
Zhou Jinheng, who had been here many times and often stayed for days, was not shy: “Yes, there are mountains and water here, and I want to settle here.”
He was more familiar with this place than with his own home. After eating, Yi Hui was going to see the big geese. Zhou Jinheng led the way and showed Yi Hui how to take a shortcut outside the backyard fence. It was indeed closer than walking through the gate.
Yi Hui looked at him suspiciously: “How come you even know this?”
Zhou Jinheng put his hands in his pockets and looked around: “Intuition.”
After feeding the geese and returning to the Jiang family’s house, Zhou Jinheng walked to Yi Hui’s room without anyone showing the way. Yi Hui asked him, “Intuition again?”
Zhou Jinheng nodded: “This house is not big and there are not many rooms. It’s easy to guess.”
Yi Hui opened the window by the bed to let the sunlight into the dusty room, and asked, “You’re so awesome, should I give you a reward?”
Since he took the initiative to mention it, Zhou Jinheng did not mind at all, opened his arms and said, “Give your husband a hug.”
Yi Hui didn’t like him being so shameless, climbed off the bed and turned sideways to go out. He twisted his foot and tripped over the leg of the table. When he fell on his back, Zhou Jinheng stretched out his arm to help him, and the two fell on the bed together.
Under him was the bed, and over his body was Zhou Jinheng with the sunlight falling on his black pupils through the strands of hair on his forehead. Yi Hui swallowed in a panic with a ”gulp” sound, and the charming atmosphere that had just started brewing suddenly disappeared.
Zhou Jinheng pretended to be understanding and said, “So that’s it……”
Yi Hui was afraid that he would really have the urge to do something here, just like how last week Zhou Jinheng claimed his reward at home, so he took the initiative to get up and kiss him, saying quickly: “This is the reward.”
Zhou Jinheng laughed out loud, obviously very satisfied with the reward, but he didn’t plan to get up and said, “I want something else.”
Yi Hui was so embarrassed that he became angry: “Do you have to keep pushing!”
Zhou Jinheng didn’t care: “This is called taking advantage.”
Yi Hui thought he was going to make some excessive demands but unexpectedly he said a bunch of inexplicable things.
“Don’t build the fence yourself in the future, you’ll stab your hand.”
“Don’t care too much about those geese, I will be jealous.”
“Don’t leave your scarf in the car, it will be picked up by a bad guy.”
“Also, don’t hate me… I love you.”
The New Year was approaching; Zhou Jinheng just returned to work after injury and only had a few sets of photos to shoot.
The company looked for a few more new dramas. Zhou Jinheng took the time to read the scripts during the gaps between work. He occasionally took a video and sent it to Yi Hui to see, and asked him if this scale was ok.
After bringing Jiang Xuemei home, Yi Hui stayed in the town. As soon as Zhou Jinheng got on the plane, he remembered where the phrase “Don’t hate me” came from. When Zhou Jinheng was in a coma, he said, “If you don’t wake up, I will hate you for the rest of my life.”
Unexpectedly, Zhou Jinheng heard it.
This made Yi Hui a little nervous; he didn’t know if he could also hear the conversation between the two of them on the day Fang Yuqing came.
Chatting with Zhou Jinheng, he was a bit distracted. After dealing with several “en”, “good” and “oh”, Zhou Jinheng, who couldn’t see him, flung a video at him, saying with a sullen face: “You want to see me kissing someone else?”
Yi Hui shook his head again and again: “I don’t.”
Zhou Jinheng smiled again: “Then I won’t take that role.”
Yi Hui stopped him and told him not to be so hasty: “The main thing is the script and the characters. I… I just said that casually.”
Zhou Jinheng leaned in front of the camera, as if observing carefully: “Really?”
“Really.” Yi Hui nodded against his will.
“Then I have to decline those scripts too,” Zhou Jinheng threw a thick stack of scripts aside, “The emotional line is too complicated and the human relations are too scummy, which is not conducive to establishing the image of a good man at home.”
Yi Hui: “…”
It was rare to have free time, so the two talked about the kidnapping and wounding incident that would be heard in court at the beginning of the next year.
Zhou Jinheng said, “If you don’t want to appear in court, just stay at home and I will come back to tell you the result.”
Yi Hui really didn’t want to go, didn’t want to see the three gangsters, nor did he want to see the two masterminds behind the scenes, especially the one surnamed Fang.
Seeing that he was hesitant, Zhou Jinheng simply gave him an idea: “Don’t go. Even if you are not there, those people will be punished as they deserve.”
After the New Year, Yi Hui still got on the plane to S City.
He was present but did not go in. He heard that the trial went smoothly. Several defendants confessed and also agreed with the facts described by the plaintiff’s lawyer. Only when being asked about the motive for the crime, Fang Yuqing’s reasons were staggering.
He said: “He robbed me of my things, and I didn’t like him.”
After listening to this phrase, Yi Hui didn’t know how Zhou Jinheng, who was regarded as a “thing”, felt. At least on the surface, he didn’t look like anything was wrong at all. He focused on whether the sentence handed down in court was reasonable and he discussed with the lawyer for a long time whether to proceed with the appeal.
Another plaintiff, Tang Wenxi, did not appear in court because of his physical condition. Yi Hui just talked with him on the phone yesterday. He was making a lot of noise about changing his major to fashion design. He didn’t care about the case at all. Hearing that Yi Hui said that the nature of the case was bad, the only thing he was interested in was: “Is there any compensation? Just in time for me to switch departments and become a tailor!”
So when he saw Yang Chengxuan outside the court, Yi Hui felt a little pitiful for the first time.
Yang Chengxuan walked out of the crowd and lit a cigarette by the wall. Yi Hui didn’t see him for more than a month and now he looked even more haggard. The cigarette burned between his index and middle fingers, and his vitality seemed to be leaving his body with the smoke.
Yi Hui gave Yang Chengxuan the jacket that Tang Wenxi had sewn with his own hands, as well as the purple shining butterfly: “This is what he originally planned to give you, and the property will be returned to its rightful owner.”
Yang Chengxuan shook the jacket and suddenly smiled when he saw “good luck” made of sequins. When he looked at the butterfly that was still bright and beautiful even when it was made into a specimen, the corners of his mouth turned down again, and his expression gradually became painful and distorted.
“Thank you, thank you.” He still insisted on thanking Yi Hui, then sandwiched the two things in his arms, turned and left.
On the way back, Zhou Jinheng asked them what they had talked about, and Yi Hui said, “I let him know what he missed.”
Zhou Jinheng couldn’t help but start to panic again, and silently took Yi Hui to pick up the flowers in the shop. The owner of the flower garden joked, “This is the one you are afraid of ah.” Zhou Jinheng made a silent gesture behind his back.
After they took the flowers, a few freshly picked roses were bought along the way.
After getting home, Yi Hui placed two pots of white flowers. Zhou Jinheng looked everywhere for a vase to place roses. Auntie brought several vases. He didn’t think they would work. This one was not high enough and the neck of that one was too wide. He finally found a suitable one but he was afraid that tap water would not be good enough for them to last for a few days. He took two large pots of water and dragged them to the balcony to settle, intending to use them to raise flowers.
Yi Hui could not bear to see him with this rare look and said, “Do you like roses?”
Zhou Jinheng was waiting for him to ask this. He took the watering can to spray water on the petals, and replied, “I like them, because you gave them to me.”
Yi Hui’s face flushed suddenly; he hesitated for a long time and said, “You, you eavesdropped.”
Zhou Jinheng spread out his hands and said, “I listened honestly.”
Thinking that he was like a fighting cock that day, holding his tail up to show off to the enemy, Yi Hui was so ashamed that he wanted to find a hole in the ground to drill in: “I, I just blurted it, I was afraid of him, I was afraid of you…”
Zhou Jinheng walked over and hugged him from behind, with his arms around his waist and his chin against his shoulder: “Why are you afraid of me? Don’t be afraid, there is nothing to be afraid of. I said that everyone who hurts you will pay the price.”
Yi Hui tilted his head but did not manage to dodge. Under the smile of Auntie, Zhou Jinheng pressed his lips to his hot ear.
“I said that I will never miss an appointment with you from now on.”
Yi Hui couldn’t remember when he said this. In order to drive him away as soon as possible, he responded in a low voice: “En.”
As a freelancer, Yi Hui could work from anywhere.
So when the year started, he returned to the small town for a month, and returned to S City when the spring flowers were blooming. Before Zhou Jinheng joined the crew, the two of them rearranged their home together.
It was called rearranging, but in fact, very little was moved. They mainly cleaned up the bed, repositioned some of the items in the studio and then dragged out the pile of things that had been stored in the attic for a long time to take out the useful ones and continue to use them and put away the useless ones and keep them.
The Doraemon doll that Yi Hui liked the most was tightly wrapped in a sealed bag, and it was still smelling nice when it was taken out. Zhou Jinheng took credit and said that he had washed it by himself. Yi Hui took it seriously and put the doll on Zhou Jinheng’s pillow and said, “Then it will sleep here tonight.”
Zhou Jinheng’s face blackened immediately.
When Yi Hui came back from a trip downstairs and saw the Doraemon’s bum facing the sky on the cupboard at the head of the bed, Zhou Jinheng’s expression did not change as he said calmly: “He knew that there can be no third person in this bed, so he packed up and left.”
Yi Hui was not as naive, turned the doll over and set it right, then went to pack things.
They were busy from morning to mid-afternoon. When the sun was slanting to the west, Zhou Jinheng held up the painting and Yi Hui stood opposite to direct it as they hung the painting called “Sunrise” on the sunny wall of the bedroom.
After hanging it up, Zhou Jinheng retreated to Yi Hui’s side; the two stood side by side and looked at the painting, and then spoke at the same time.
“You…”
“You…”
Zhou Jinheng: “You say it first.”
Yi Hui asked, “How did you recognize me at that time? I was obviously very cautious, the only trace left was this painting.”
Zhou Jinheng smiled, pretending to be silly, and said, “It was fate.”
Yi Hui glared at him: “Say it properly.”
The current Yi Hui was no longer the silly and easy-to-fool Yi Hui he used to be. Zhou Jinheng scratched the back of his head and said, “I investigated Jiang Yihui. His medical history recorded that he had suicidal tendencies.”
This reason sounded relatively closer to the truth, but Yi Hui still felt that something was wrong: “Just relying on this?”
“En.” Zhou Jinheng’s face was full of sincerity, “What else?”
From a scientific point of view, Yi Hui couldn’t think of other possibilities, so he simply gave up: “What did you want to ask me just now?”
After escaping the interrogation, Zhou Jinheng smiled more brightly and pointed at the painting on the opposite wall: “I want to ask why you want to hang this one.”
Yi Hui’s eyes rolled: “Because I won the award for it and got a big bonus.”
Zhou Jinheng: “…”
God is fair. After people become smart, not only are they not as easy to fool as before, but the risk of getting a tooth for a tooth also increases greatly.
On the first night they returned home, the two went to bed after cleaning up the house.
After not sleeping in this bed for a long time, Yi Hui thought he might have felt as if it was a new place and had insomnia, but he slept soundly all night until dawn. When he woke up, he was still curled up in that warm embrace, pressed against the strong chest. This feeling made Yi Hui want to close his eyes and sleep again.
The chirping of birds outside the window stopped him.
He looked up, and the painting that had just been hung on the wall was bathed in the morning light. The man in the painting seemed to be outlined in warm yellow, making him look less lonely and stern, adding a bit of warmth and softness to the figure shrouded in the clear light.
Zhou Jinheng woke up next and said “Good morning, HuiHui” into Yi Hui’s ear. Seeing him stare at the painting intently, he was dissatisfied: “The deity is here, why are you still looking at the painting?”
Yi Hui turned to look at him, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said in a slightly lazy voice of someone who just woke up: “It’s sunrise.”
Zhou Jinheng was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and went to touch his face as if under some kind of vague guidance. When he was about to touch it, his fingers paused, as if to check whether what was in front of him was real or not.
He once thought that he was omnipotent and could control everything. Later, he took a tumble and was dragged into the boundless inferno, injuries all over his body, only to know how ridiculously wrong he was.
Fortunately, the earth keeps turning and the cold winter will eventually pass. After the long night, he would hold his lost treasure in the palm of his hand again.
With his fingertips touching the soft skin, Zhou Jinheng felt more at ease than ever before.
How could I not recognize you?
The whole world was dark and chaotic, full of pungent, bloody smells; he alone was clean, pure, and shining.
He came to dispel all the violence and evil, so that he could not help but reach out, want to touch, want to embrace, want to possess, and want to cherish.
He finally understood the meaning of the painting.
——You are my sunrise.
