Flying Ash - Chap 60
Extra 1
Zhou Jinheng wanted to give Yi Hui an unforgettable marriage proposal.
Not the kind of unforgettable that Yi Hui once gave him, but the kind of unforgettable that would be full of happiness and beauty, so that even if he wanted to cry remembering it, he would throw himself into his arms and cry with a smile.
He had no experience, so he talked to the people around him about it first, hoping they would give him some advice.
Xiao Lin reacted the fastest, stood up and left: “I’ll go and get the public relations department ready first.”
Zhou Jinheng grabbed his collar: “You’ve been running to the public relations department so often recently, have you gotten along with a girl over there?”
It was a joke, but Xiao Lin was embarrassed, scratched the back of his head shyly and said, “Not yet, I pursued her unilaterally, she hasn’t agreed yet.”
He was talking about Miss Liu, the second-in-command of the public relations department, who had been in the company since she graduated from university. She dealt with Zhou Jinheng’s several public opinion storms before, so the big boss usually called her Elder Liu. Zhou Jinheng thought about it; Elder Liu was quite suitable for Xiao Lin.
“Then imagine, if you propose to Elder Liu, what would you prepare?” Zhou Jinheng asked Xiao Lin.
Xiao Lin looked at the sky and pondered; maybe he was still too far away from a proposal, so he couldn’t think of anything for a long time.
The agent next to him said to Xiao Lin: “Don’t think about it. Whatever you come up with, he won’t use it. He pestered me for the whole afternoon yesterday. I even thought of such a brilliant idea as planning a kidnapping and proposing in the middle of the kidnapping. He still thinks it’s not creative enough.” Then he patted Zhou Jinheng on the shoulder, “And you, how about just letting Xiao Lin lie down and sleep, maybe he can dream of a ‘Good idea’ that no one has ever dreamed of before.”
Zhou Jinheng sneered softly; the agent suddenly thought of something again and smiled: “You say, which one of us is in the same situation as you? There is no common ground and our suggestions are of no reference value.”
Zhou Jinheng was in a crisis but felt that he had a point, so he said with a black face, “I’m just asking if you guys would like to help.”
“Who said there is no common ground?” Xiao Lin disagreed, “The targets are both several years older than us, so it is more difficult to make a move. Isn’t this a common denominator?”
After Xiao Lin made a point, Zhou Jinheng finally found the crux.
In the past, Yi Hui was physically older than him, but mentally he was still a child. As the head of the family, he had enough confidence both in his face and his prestige. It was different now. Yi Hui became smarter, had the ability to be discernible as an adult and his mind was more mature than before. He could no longer mix in the things that used to be mixed in with just a little coaxing and he was no longer in charge of the family’s affairs.
As the saying goes, one mountain can’t tolerate two tigers, and Zhou Jinheng felt that he was losing control.
This worry was not groundless. For example, Zhou Jinheng finally had a half-month vacation after filming. He originally wanted to stick with Yi Hui from morning to night. If they didn’t want to go out, they would play games at home. If they stayed at home for too long, they would travel and find a scenic place along the way for him to propose.
His calculations were nice, but unexpectedly, he didn’t see Yi Hui when he woke up on the first morning of the holiday. There was a note left on the table in the living room that said – my sister-in-law and I went to Disney. You can eat by yourself in the evening.
Zhou Jinheng wanted to follow. He was halfway through dressing up and almost at the door when he remembered that his sister-in-law/his senior in showbiz was quite vicious every time he saw him. He took a step back, kicked off his sneakers, changed into his slippers, and listlessly walked back to the house.
It was rare for Yi Hui to go out to play. In the past, he had always refused to take him out; and now he wanted to join with a thick face, as if this was not the case.
Besides, Yi Hui didn’t ask him to go with him at all; he might be still unhappy with him because of the past.
With one point of helplessness, two points of irritation, three points of confusion and four points of depression, Zhou Jinheng obediently stayed at home and waited for Yi Hui to come back. He was so anxious that he could not help but bother Yi Hui and smoke two cigarettes. After he sent the photo of the cigarette butts at lunch time, Yi Hui didn’t jump, but only replied with two words – smoke less.
Although he got Yi Hui back and he knew it was a good thing for Yi Hui to have his own life no longer revolving around him, Zhou Jinheng still felt that in this situation where he was ignored time and time again, his status was not guaranteed.
He put down the phone and smoked another one. Auntie came out of the kitchen and saw him puffing out the window, laughing at him as if he was an older left-behind child.
His wife left him and went out to play, wasn’t he just a left-behind husband?
He waited and waited, it was getting dark and he estimated that Yi Hui would be back soon. Zhou Jinheng personally drove out to buy Yi Hui’s favorite dessert and brought along a six-pound watermelon..
Last night, Yi Hui was lying in his arms, talking in his sleep, and said he wanted to eat it. Zhou Jinheng kept it in mind and didn’t dare to delay a day. When he went home, he prepared the fruit knife and spoons, and waited for his wife to come back to cut it. If Yi Hui wanted, he could feed him spoonful by spoonful.
Auntie laughed at him again: “Mr. Zhou really spoils Mr. Yi.”
Zhou Jinheng smiled, not ashamed at all.
His baby had suffered so much and he deserved to be pampered hard in the palm of his hand. It couldn’t be overdone.
There was sweet soup simmering in the pot, and the watermelon was frozen in the fridge. Everything was ready. He didn’t expect to receive a call from Yi Hui who said that he was going back to his town and was already on his way to the airport.
Zhou Jinheng instantly hung his head: “Did you plan to go there in the morning and only tell me now?”
“No, it was decided just now.” Yi Hui said on the phone, “Yimang is going to school soon, and I have to help her pack her luggage.”
Zhou Jinheng almost gritted his teeth: “She is so big, can’t she pack it up by herself? Does she need you to run all the way back?”
Yi Hui said, “You are such a big guy, don’t you know how to pack? When did I not help you pack up when you went to the filming set?”
With Auntie next to him, Zhou Jinheng was embarrassed to say, “I was doing it on purpose”. He endured the urge to toss his mobile phone and run away, and said with effort: “Then you… go early and return early.”
Jiang Yimang received an admission notice from a university in the capital in early July, and the school officially started in September.
At this moment, it was mid-August and the heat was at its height. ① Xiao Hui Xia posted two fingers dyed with touch-me-nots on Weibo, which attracted countless comments about the beauty of his hands.
There was only one person called Dora-Hum-Hum whose mood was different; there was a clear “sour grapes” vibe in his comment: Be careful, you can’t wash them off.
① Xiao Hui Xia answered with a very deliberate expression of horror: Can I really not wash them off? [Doraemon surprised]
Dora-Hum-Hum replied: You can wash them off when you go home.
① Xiao Hui Xia: I’m at home now [Doraemon smiles]
That home was a different home. Far away in S City, Zhou Jinheng couldn’t find a reason to call him back so soon. He quit Weibo and started looking for an air ticket to the south.
After thinking for a while, he didn’t buy it. First, Yi Hui said he would come back soon. Although he didn’t know how fast this “soon” was, if Yi Hui happened to be back when he went there, wouldn’t it be embarrassing to miss each other; second, this vacation was not just a casual vacation and the site for the proposal had not been set up yet.
The location was finally selected at the restaurant that Yi Hui liked.
Strictly speaking, this place belonged to Yi Hui. When Zhou Jinheng bought the restaurant, he wrote Yi Hui’s name on the deed, but Yi Hui rarely went there. Everyone in the restaurant knew they were a couple. At Zhou Jinheng’s request, they quickly familiarised themselves with the “big boss” and the “second boss”.
The second boss said that the big boss likes “blingbling” things, so the restaurant closed for a day and everyone from the waiters to the chefs rolled up their sleeves to decorate.
The glass dome was sprinkled with sequins and there were dazzling ribbons on the tables and on the ground. When the owner of the restaurant next door passed by, he looked in and was almost blinded, and asked if there was a sacred ceremony going on here.
Zhou Jinheng said, “I’m redecorating to how the big boss likes it.”
The people who were busy in the room laughed when they heard this, and said: “That’s right, our big boss likes this.”
After tossing from dawn to dark, the second boss was finally satisfied.
Dinner was eaten at the restaurant next door; their own place was really no go. Zhou Jinheng ordered nearly twenty dishes with a wave of his hand, and all the employees sat around a large round table, laughing and eating.
Only Zhou Jinheng felt a little lonely in the excitement. After he greeted everyone with a glass of wine, his smile gradually faded and he sighed suddenly.
The back kitchen uncle asked, “The second boss is still worried about the proposal?”
Zhou Jinheng neither confirmed nor denied, holding his chin in thought and letting them continue to eat.
No matter how he thought about it, he felt that he had to ask someone who knew Yi Hui well; a well-informed party might hit the spot. Forget Jiang Yimang, the little girl did not know anything about this stuff, but in addition to Jiang Yimang, the only ones left were…… his brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
When he returned home after dinner, the hour hand of the clock just pointed at nine o’clock. It was not too late. Zhou Jinheng walked back and forth in the room with his mobile phone in his hand, and pressed a number that he had never called before.
After ringing twice, the opposite side picked up: “Hello?”
The voice was full of energy, so he shouldn’t have been asleep yet. Zhou Jinheng was a little relieved, and said respectfully: “Hello, Senior Ye, this is Zhou…”
“Don’t know you.”
Ye Qin interrupted him to hang up. Zhou Jinheng hurriedly said, “I am calling you because I want to discuss with you something about HuiHui.”
The other end was silent for a few seconds, but finally did not hang up: “If you have something to say, just say it.”
Zhou Jinheng didn’t dare to delay and said straightforwardly: “That’s right, HuiHui will be back in a while, and I plan to propose to him.”
“Bullsh*t!” Ye Qin suddenly raised his voice, “I disagree!”
Zhou Jinheng said stiffly on the phone: “As long as he agrees it’s good.”
Ye Qin’s hair was on fire for a long time. Later, his brother-in-law joined to coax him. The phone was turned hands-free, and Cheng Feichi’s cold voice came from the earpiece: “You won’t make him sad again in the future?”
Zhou Jinheng replied solemnly: “No, I promise.”
After a few moments of silence, Cheng Feichi said, “Treat him well. If there is another time I won’t let you off easily.”
Things finally made some good progress.
With Ye Qin’s reluctant cooperation, Zhou Jinheng learned many of Yi Hui’s preferences. In addition to the blue fatty, he also liked Peter Pan; that day in Disney they stood in line to play Peter Pan Sky Adventure three times.
Zhou Jinheng originally planned to hide the ring in the pocket of the Doraemon doll, but now he had a better idea. He was thinking about having Xiao Lin wear a green hat and drop the ring from the sky.
Xiao Lin was afraid of heights, and when he heard the plan, he went straight into Elder Liu’s arms to cry. Zhou Jinheng laughed at him for being cowardly. He picked up the hat and put it on his head. When he looked in the mirror, he felt unlucky and took it off with a black face. (green hat means being cheated on)
He was looking forward to a good evening. It was not easy to have a video chat with Yi Hui. The picture was shaking for a long time and he couldn’t see his face. A few geese quacked and pinched the camera, and occasionally a white hand flashed here and there.
Zhou Jinheng couldn’t see anyone, so he said impatiently: “Get them away, I want to see you.”
Yi Hui was very happy, and his laughter never stopped: “Why are you even jealous of geese?”
With this said, Zhou Jinheng inexplicably felt that the green hat was still pinned on his head, and his face became even more unsightly: “Am I no better than a goose?”
“I haven’t seen them for a long time.” Yi Hui’s face still didn’t appear on the screen. His favourite chunky goose was nibbling the phone, with two big nostrils facing the camera, “If I feed them more when I have time, I hope they’ll remember me a little longer.”
Zhou Jinheng became even more sour: “They will remember, but aren’t you afraid that I will forget you?”
As if frightened by this “threat”, the screen shook a few times, and Yi Hui finally turned to face the screen and looked at Zhou Jinheng critically.
Zhou Jinheng regretted saying that right after speaking. As soon as he was about to say that he was talking nonsense, Yi Hui suddenly grinned at the camera: “You won’t.”
Zhou Jinheng was taken aback when he saw his smiling face: “Wha, what?”
The little fool who used to shrink in fear disappeared, leaving only the confident young man in front of him.
Yi Hui smiled even more brightly: “You won’t forget me.”
Sooner or later you have to pay back your debts. There was a time when Zhou Jinheng ate the little fool named Yi Hui to death, and now the little smart guy named Yi Hui ate him to death. In addition to sighing that the times changed, Zhou Jinheng did not know what else to think.
He couldn’t even ask “will you come back tomorrow”. He intended to give him maximal freedom, let him go wherever he liked and be with whom he liked to be with. Overcoming his stinky habit of ordering people around, Zhou Jinheng felt he could hold on a little longer.
In fact, there was another reason; tomorrow was his birthday. He started to be afraid a month ago, and he started to look forward to it half a month ago. Taken together, the former was much larger than the latter. Zhou Jinheng had to extinguish the small flame of expectation and persuade himself to accept the brainwashing package of “HuiHui is not at home because he doesn’t want to feel unhappy” and even prepare himself to have no more birthdays in this life.
Brainwashing seemed to help. On August 21st, Zhou Jinheng got up early and went to inspect the restaurant with great interest.
He heard the manager report that since the restaurant was changed and redecorated, there were more customers and the turnover reached a new peak yesterday. Zhou Jinheng wanted to tell Yi Hui about it, but he was afraid that the arrangement of the proposal scene would be exposed in advance, so he sent him a vague message: Come back and wait to count the money.
Yi Hui was shocked: Have you sold the place?
Zhou Jinheng：……
Take back the praise for his cleverness, he was still stupid. He was the type who would help you count the money if you sold him.
Today, he didn’t know what the little fool was up to. He didn’t answer the phone and only two or three messages were answered.
When Zhou Jinheng returned home after touring the restaurant, he went online to scroll through the birthday videos made for him by fans, and liked them one by one. He originally wanted to spend this birthday in a low-key manner. He didn’t expect it to be a hot search, and the topic was also very strange – Zhou Jinheng has no drama to film at home and likes a cooking video.
Zhou Jinheng, who had just finished filming a movie, looked at it and smiled, thinking that the masses can’t be just watching his likes, right?
However, it would be false to say that it didn’t feel lonely. At any rate, it was his birthday in his zodiac year, and his wife was in the south and didn’t even wish him a happy birthday. After lunch, Zhou Jinheng fell on the bed and took a nap. His dreams were full of cream cakes made by Yi Hui.
In the past there were lots of them but he didn’t eat them; now he wanted to eat them like crazy but could not.
When he woke up in the afternoon, there was a message from Jiang Yimang on his mobile phone: Brother is coming soon, did someone send you red panties for your zodiac year? (1)
Zhou Jinheng became angry when he saw it: No, I’ll buy it myself.
Since he said he would buy it, he would buy it, so he changed his clothes and went out immediately. In Yi Hui’s absence, Zhou Jinheng didn’t even bother to dress up, so he casually took a T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
When he was putting on a mask, he heard movement outside. He thought that Auntie who had gone out to buy groceries was back. He went downstairs saying, “I’m the only one, cook a few less dishes for dinner”. When he saw the man squatting by the edge of the coffee table and putting candles on the cake, he was stunned.
Yi Hui finished inserting the candles and counted them twice, making sure it was twenty-four, then stood up and beckoned to Zhou Jinheng: “What are you doing standing there? Come here.”
Zhou Jinheng walked over like a robot, stared at the obviously hand-made cake for a while, then looked up at Yi Hui: “Why are you back?”
Yi Hui curled his lips and said, “Didn’t you want me to come back?”
“No.” Zhou Jinheng hurriedly denied, “Just… I didn’t expect it.”
Yi Hui picked up the lighter next to the ashtray, and while lighting candles, he said, “Wishing for you to smoke less and lie to me less.” Zhou Jinheng stood beside him and listened to him. He didn’t know if he was really guilty of it, and he didn’t refute it.
When the last candle was lit, Yi Hui’s wrist was suddenly caught.
“I haven’t finished lighting it yet, hey –”
Amidst Yi Hui’s exclamation, Zhou Jinheng pulled him into his arms, bowed slightly, put his chin against his shoulder, and said in his ear: “Let your husband hug hug you.”
Normally Yi Hui would have thought that this guy was teasing him again about his habit of repeating words, but he didn’t at the moment.
Perhaps Zhou Jinheng’s voice was too low, or perhaps the hug was too hard. Yi Hui felt that it was difficult to breathe, but he didn’t want to escape, and wanted to be hugged a little longer.
It turned out that only three days of not seeing each other could produce such abundant feelings.
Zhou Jinheng closed his eyes and breathed out, his joy and worry melting into relief.
This day a year ago he was sentenced to death. He never dreamed that a short year later he would be released by the hand of the person who handed down the verdict.
“I didn’t lie to you…” Zhou Jinheng turned his head and kissed the soft hair on Yi Hui’s temple, “I will never lie to you.”
***************
wearing red during your zodiac year will bring you good luck and give you a good year. You can wear a red belt, red socks, red shoes, or red clothes, and red underwear is highly recommended
