Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 68
Chapter 68
Li Chengxiu was busy until lunchtime. His co-workers would usually go to nearby restaurants to eat. Since there were many large and small companies in the area, the restaurants around would turn into staff canteens at noon.
The company gave Li Chengxiu a lunch subsidy, but he still usually brought his own food, so he could pocket the extra 400 RMB[10] a month. During lunch, everyone in the office was gone, and it was extremely quiet. Li Chengxiu untied his plastic bag and gave a worried look to his deformed and mushy meal that got squeezed in the subway.
There was suddenly somebody knocking on the door behind him.
Li Chengxiu was surprised. He looked back and saw Shao Qun smiling at him. His clothes were still wet from this morning.
Their company was small and not very formal. It was not surprising that there were some idle people who could come in willy nilly just by saying a couple of words to the uncle, guarding the entrance.
Li Chengxiu wondered why Shao Qun came again at noon. Could it be that he never even left??
As he walked in, Shao Qun said, “I knew you definitely wouldn’t go out to eat.” Then he put the plastic bag he was holding onto the table in front of him, “I just went to buy you a hot meal.”
Li Chengxiu glanced at him, then turned his face away, and said softly, “I brought lunch with me.”
Shao Qun glanced at his metal lunch box that was visibly leaking, reached out to pick it up and pushed the things he brought with him to the front, “Your stuff is cold. You should eat something hot. It was raining in the morning, so you should have some ginger soup to warm up. Otherwise, you’ll catch a cold again.”
Li Chengxiu stood up and tried to grab his own lunch box back. Shao Qun refused to give it to him. Instead he pressed his shoulder and made him sit back down, “Ok. How about you eat what I brought you, and I will eat what you brought? Would that be fine? Then nothing’s wasted.”
Li Chengxiu said, “I don’t need…”
Shao Qun didn’t wait for him to finish. He had already sat down across the table from Li Chengxiu, picked up the lunch box and took a big mouthful.There was suddenly no trace of Shao Qun’s usual elegant look left – he held onto the lunchbox, eating mouthful after mouthful, as if he had been starving for a long time.
Li Chengxiu was stunned. The dishes he brought with him were very simple – one portion of stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs and one portion of shredded potatoes. These were also all leftovers. The shredded potatoes didn’t even look good anymore. No normal person would enjoy this kind of meal so much.
Shao Qun raised his head to meet Li Chengxiu’s questioning eyes and showed a crooked smile, “You have no idea how much I wanted to eat your cooking.” Seeing Shao Qun in front of him with that smile, Li Chengxiu’s heart trembled, and he lowered his head.
Shao Qun lined up the lunch boxes he brought in front of Li Chengxiu, put the chopsticks and spoons in front of him, and continued eating: “After you left, I couldn’t sleep or eat… It was basically impossible for me to eat what other people cooked. I missed you during meals, and I missed you when I went to sleep. I couldn’t bear it. I was so desperate that I resorted to doing all those despicable things. And now…”
Shao Qun suddenly paused, put down his chopsticks, looked at Li Chengxiu carefully with bright eyes and said nervously: “I’m not making excuses for myself. I really acted like a jerk back then. But I missed you so much…” Shao Qun couldn’t go on, when he saw Li Chengxiu’s eyelashes slightly trembling, while he kept his head down.
He sighed and said softly, “Chengxiu, let’s eat.”
Li Chengxiu looked at the food he brought. After Shao Qun had eaten from it, there was only half of it left. He couldn’t skip lunch, so he resisted the feeling of inexplicable sadness and started eating. Shao Qun breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that and quietly looked at Li Chengxiu’s face. From his angle, he could see that he had long slightly curled eyelashes, a somewhat round nose, red lips, particularly fair skin, and bangs that just about covered his eyebrows. This made him look so delicate and docile.
Only those who had really experienced it could know that a person who looks so soft might actually have a very hard heart.
Due to a sudden impulse, Shao Qun reached out and touched Li Chengxiu’s right ear.
Li Chengxiu raised his head in surprise.
Shao Qun said softly, “Go to the hospital for a checkup when you have time. Maybe it can still be cured.”
Li Chengxiu paused and shook his head.
He often forgot that his right ear was damaged. Unless the sound was very quiet or it was very noisy around, his hearing didn’t differ so much from a normal person. Maybe he didn’t hear so clearly but he still could hear, so he was already used to his condition.
Shao Qun couldn’t help asking, “Who did it?”
Li Chengxiu thought for a while, then shook his head again. It all happened so long ago. Now that he thought about it, it didn’t even upset him anymore. So what’s the point of remembering the culprit?
“I’m sorry.” Shao Qun looked at him sadly, “No matter who did it, it’s probably somehow related to me…Chengxiu, I’m sorry for so many things. In fact, I know very well that I should just get off your back. But I can’t live without you… Unless I die or become a vegetable, I won’t be able to forget you.”
He forced a smile, “If there was any medicine in this world that could make me forget you immediately, I would drink it, even if it was poisonous. This way, you could save your heart, and I could save mine.”
Seeing that Li Chengxiu didn’t lift his eyes, Shao Qun looked at him almost insanely and murmured: “I’m talking nonsense. I’d rather I forget myself…but I wouldn’t want to forget you.”
Shao Qun’s wish to peacefully eat and chat with Li Chengxiu like before didn’t come true after all. Even such simple sweetness was a hope without merit. Shao Qun felt that he had dug this pit and then buried himself in it. But he was now a cheap bitch for whatever toxin that attracted him to Li Chengxiu. He was ready to do all kinds of shameful and outrageous things just to stay by his side.
Shao Qun loitered around after eating, but when people started coming back from lunch, he couldn’t stay any longer, so he got up to leave. Before leaving, he said to Li Chengxiu, “I’ll pick you up after work. The rain won’t stop for a while, so don’t run around by yourself.”
As soon as he was gone, Li Chengxiu almost collapsed in his chair.
It seemed that every minute he spent with Shao Qun, he was on guard to prevent Shao Qun from taking advantage of the situation. Such a gentle, considerate, dedicated Shao Qun who lied with the truth was hard to resist. Li Chengxiu reminded himself over and over again to not even think about whether his promises were true or not. As long as he kept himself closed off, he was safe. But subconsciously, he was still repeatedly guessing which of Shao Qun’s words were genuine and which were not, what Shao Qun was thinking when showing a certain expression. It was exhausting.
Li Chengxiu knew now that as long as Shao Qun was around, he would never have a peaceful day. Maybe his best bet was disappearing completely by going to the most remote place possible where no one could find him and spending the rest of his life there undisturbed.
This was Li Chengxiu’s last resort if he really got desperate. Now he only hoped that Shao Qun would burn out after a while, and he could be rid of him as soon as possible.
When Li Chengxiu got off work, Shao Qun anxiously ran to the office to pick him up directly, for fear that he would run away on his own.
It was raining today, so people left early, and only Li Chengxiu and a young female accountant were still left in the office. The moment Shao Qun entered the office, the girl looked at him directly, and Shao Qun also inadvertently glanced at her. She immediately blushed.
Shao Qun was quite satisfied that Li Chengxiu’s most contacted colleague was a chubby young girl with no outstanding features. He wasn’t quite sure whether Li Chengxiu was attractive to women or not. All he could say was that in his eyes Li Chengxiu was very appealing, and his body would burn hot when he only looked at him. So Shao Qun assumed that Li Chengxiu could easily provoke other people too. He had just managed to get rid of that Li Shuo guy, when the second idiot appeared out of nowhere! Shao Qun was afraid that Li Chengxiu would start attracting even more rivals.
Thinking about it, Shao Qun took the initiative to go up and greet the girl, “Hello, I’m Li Chengxiu’s older brother. He often forgets to eat when he is busy, so please remind him whenever you can”
Dumbfounded, the girl nodded. Li Chengxiu said “goodbye” to her and walked out of the office first. Shao Qun followed behind him, as he anxiously asked, “How many people work in your office?”
Li Chengxiu answered casually, “Five.”
“Oh, are there more men or women among them?”
Li Chengxiu frowned and didn’t respond.
Shao Qun continued to mutter, “Don’t get too close to your colleagues. You are here to make money, not to make friends! It’s not good to be close to your colleagues.”
The two walked out of the building, and seeing that the rain outside really hadn’t stopped, Li Chengxiu sighed.
Shao Qun said with a smile: “See, I didn’t lie to you. It’s raining very hard, so you can’t wait for the bus. Even if you wait, you might not be able to squeeze onto one. Who knows what time you’d get home then! The dog would be very hungry.”
As he said that, he hugged Li Chengxiu’s shoulders and walked towards the emergency exit. The office building was old and had no underground parking lot. Shao Qun held an umbrella over Li Chengxiu to protect him from the rain and led him towards his car.
Shao Qun happily looked at the pouring rain and started the car while saying: “At this time, there are probably traffic jams on the road. How about we find a place to eat first?”
Li Chengxiu frowned and said, “Teacup will be hungry…”
Shao Qun waved his hand, “It’s alright! You give that pup a lot of food every day, so it won’t be hungry for a while. But by the time you get home and finish cooking, you will be hungry!”
Li Chengxiu was rendered speechless by Shao Qun’s rhetoric.
Shao Qun took Li Chengxiu to a Sichuan restaurant, and the two of them ate hot pot. After a while, both of them managed to warm up.
Shao Qun’s face was beaming, and he seemed to be in a very good mood, “Chengxiu, let’s go downstairs to watch a movie after we’ve finished eating. A famous blockbuster has just been released.”
Li Chengxiu shook his head, “I want to go home.”
“It’s just an hour or so… We need this time anyway until the traffic clears up…”
Li Chengxiu said firmly, “Then I’ll go back by myself.”
Shao Qun seemed disappointed and quickly said, “No movie then. Let’s just return together.”
After that, Shao Qun started deliberately wasting time. He would defiantly throw the food he ordered into the pot, boil it, then pick it out and discard it. Li Chengxiu couldn’t watch him being so wasteful, so he urged him to leave several times.
The meal took them more than two hours to finish. Seeing that Li Chengxiu’s face didn’t look so good, Shao Qun had no choice but to say that he had finished eating.
It was quite late when they finally got home. Before Li Chengxiu opened the door, he heard a strange ping-pong-like noise coming from the inside. He started suspecting that something wasn’t right, and, sure enough, as soon as he entered, he saw Teacup dragging the toilet paper roll from the bathroom right into the living room, tearing it to shreds and scattering the pieces all over the floor. As soon as the dog saw Shao Qun, it started barking loudly.
Shao Qun entered Li Chengxiu’s apartment and put his shoes on the highest shelf. If he didn’t do that, he’d have to buy new shoes after every visit. Little Teacup hated him very much. When Shao Qun came around, it bit his feet and tried to destroy his shoes, if it could get its teeth on them.
Shao Qun was very annoyed by the dog. He wondered if he had lost his mind when he decided to gift this thing to Li Chengxiu. Now, the dog was against him too, and he didn’t dare touch it.
When Li Chengxiu saw that the dog’s food bowl was empty and the drinking bowl was turned over, he felt distressed. He fed Teacup, while hugging and comforting it with words like “I’m sorry. I came back late. I should have come back earlier.” and so on and so forth. Li Chengxiu was so distracted that he didn’t even care about kicking Shao Qun out of the apartment.
Shao Qun saw Li Chengxiu’s caring expression, while he was looking at the dog, and he turned green from jealousy. So he planned to stick around and show off his virtuousness by cleaning up Teacup’s mess with the broom.
Li Chengxiu finally noticed that Shao Qun was constantly bending down while sweeping the floor, since he was so tall, and the broomstick was so short. That looked so awkward that Li Chengxiu said, “Just go home. I’ll clean up by myself.”
Shao Qun responded, “It’s okay. You feed the dog first. I’ll help you tidy up in the meantime.”
Li Chengxiu wanted to stand up to take over the broom, but as soon as he let go of Teacup, the puppy barked loudly, so Li Chengxiu had no choice but to sit back down.
After Shao Qun finished the sweeping, he poured two cups of hot water, sat down next to Li Chengxiu and looked at him quietly.
Li Chengxiu felt uncomfortable, so he glanced over at him.
Shao Qun came a little closer to Li Chengxiu and suddenly said, “I’m really satisfied with how today went.”
Li Chengxiu frowned and gave him a look.
Shao Qun supported his head with his hands and tenderly gazed at Li Chengxiu, “Chengxiu, that’s all I want. I’ll clean your house, pick you up when it rains, and have a meal with you… If you don’t want to watch a movie, we don’t have to… It’s all fine. I used to think that staying at home wasn’t for me. Even if I got married, I couldn’t imagine someone having control over me coming and going. But now, it’s not a matter of control anymore. As long as you are at home, I’m willing to stay here with you. As long as you want to leave, I want to leave with you. One day you will believe that I, Shao Qun, can change myself entirely just for you alone.”
Li Chengxiu’s eyes moved, and after a long while, he finally softly said: “You can’t change… You can do this for a month, maybe a year. But life is long…and, at the end of the day, you are Shao Qun after all.”
Shao Qun put down his water glass, turned Li Chengxiu’s face towards himself, looked into his eyes and seriously said, “Chengxiu, I never would have imagined to be trapped by one person. But look at me now… You can hate me, you can scold me. Whatever. How you treated me in the past is how I am treating you now. Just let me serve you. You won’t lose anything, if you give me a chance.”
Li Chengxiu moved away, trying to distance himself from Shao Qun.
Shao Qun suddenly couldn’t control himself. He leaned down and lightly touched Li Chengxiu’s lips. Li Chengxiu immediately turned his head and pushed Shao Qun hard, his face full of panic.
Shao Qun backed away, but couldn’t help touching the remaining sensation on his lips with his fingers. He showed a bit of a ruffian smile, “This goodnight kiss makes everything worth it today.”
Li Chengxiu’s face was hot, and he whispered: “Go away…”
Shao Qun said “um” and added, “I’ll leave right now. Can I come over for dinner tomorrow?”
Li Chengxiu turned around and pretended not to hear the question.
Shao Qun was used to this kind of treatment, so he didn’t feel any embarrassment, “You don’t have work tomorrow, so have a good rest.”
He then suddenly leaned over and kissed Li Chengxiu’s forehead. In his sexy voice he whispered right into his ear: “Good night, darling.”
Li Chengxiu didn’t move, until he heard the sound of the closing door. Only then he could finally relax his shoulders.
