Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 75
Chapter 75
When Li Wenxun and the others came to visit Shao Qun, they started to doubt whether they had heard him right on the phone. He said that he was stabbed in his stomach, not in his head. Otherwise, why was he smiling like an idiot?
They also immediately saw Li Chengxiu sitting with his back to them. He turned around and gave them a quick glance.
When Li Wenxun got closer, he noticed that Li Chengxiu was peeling apples, and a tiny fluffy ball was nestling in his lap. When he looked closer, he realized it was a sleeping dog.
Shao Qun’s eyes seemed to be glued to Li Chengxiu’s body. When he realized that his friends seemed unresponsive, he just said: “Come on in.”
Li Wenxun sat down on Shao Qun’s bed, lifted his quilt and looked at the wound: “Oh, it would have been so much better, if the knife went in just a few inches lower.”
Shao Qun laughed and scolded him: “Fuck you for cursing me like that!” He then looked at Li Chengxiu with warmth and affection, “Chengxiu, my lower half is completely unaffected.”
Zhou Li said “fuck” and pretended to vomit.
Li Chengxiu put the apple he was peeling on the plate, carefully picked up Teacup and looked around for a good place to put it down. Finally, he said,”You guys talk…I’ll go out.”
Zhou Li thought that the little fluffball in Li Chengxiu’s hand seemed very interesting, so he stretched out his arm and said: “Give it to me!”
Li Chengxiu warily glanced at him and put Teacup in his pocket. The puppy barked, moved around and then calmed down again.
“Don’t go!” Shao Qun quickly grabbed Li Chengxiu, “Don’t go. Just sit here. You are my wifey, so there is nothing you can’t listen to.”
Shao Qun had recovered quite well in the past few days. However, there was another problem now. If he couldn’t see Li Chengxiu even for a couple of minutes, he would start making trouble. Like a little child, he would alarm the whole building in the middle of the night, because Li Chengxiu left for a bit to go to the bathroom and wasn’t sitting next to Shao Qun’s bed.
Since Li Chengxiu had to take care of the dog and of this adult child, he was very busy.
Li Chengxiu sighed. He really wanted a short break, so he said, “I’ll go to the bathroom and come back later.”
Shao Qun had no choice but to let him go. He muttered, “They still haven’t repaired the bathroom in this damn ward! Is this what they call fucking premium service? To think that you have to go outside to look for a bathroom…”
Li Chengxiu ignored his ranting and left.
Shao Qun finally reluctantly noticed that people around him seemed nauseated.
Li Wenxun waited for Li Chengxiu to close the door, when he solemnly said: “Shao Qun, this is the kind of fucker you are. How come I didn’t realize earlier that you were the lovey-dovey type! Was your head kicked in by an ass?”
Shao Qun nonchalantly retorted, “You know shit! My wifey is so good, you have no idea. You can be envious all you want!”
Zhou Li rolled his eyes.
Shao Qun bragged: “When I did the stabbing, I went for the waist, so I wouldn’t hurt any internal organs. It looked very scary with all the blood. But it’s actually nothing.”
Li Wenxun gave him a thumbs up and said sarcastically: “You have nerve. You fucking have the nerve. You’re so great and smart – even if you had stabbed yourself in the kidney, you would still have a spare one. Ain’t that marvelous?”
Shao Qun snorted: “I was pretty precise.”
Ke Yisheng, who had been silent all this time, asked, “Shao Qun, how did you get your sister off your back in the end?”
Shao Qun lightly said: “Made a child.” The child wasn’t his, of course. But the less people knew about it, the better. Even if these were his close friends, he was not willing to divulge. So far, Shao Qun had only told Li Chengxiu and the doctor who took his sperm. The doctor promised to keep it a secret, besides he didn’t really know what it was for.
Zhou Li sat on his bed and said, “Bro, you’ve really taken a dark path. What if there is no return?”
Shao Qun said with a wry smile: “In order to take this path, I have fallen on my face and bruised it so hard that there is no way for me to ever look back.”
Zhou Li shook his head: “This world feels too fucking unreal right now. I hope that at least Mars is still the same.”
While they were chatting, Shao Qun was continuously looking at his watch. After a long time he finally couldn’t help it: “Why hasn’t Li Chengxiu come back yet?”
One couldn’t blame him for being nervous. He really felt insecure.
Li Chengxiu didn’t say anything to him. For some reason, he just stayed and took care of him without making any substantial promises. And Shao Qun didn’t even dare to ask.
Now every minute and every second of his life was so blissful and beautiful, and he was so happy. Even if Li Chengxiu was just taking care of him for the time that he was sick, Shao Qun was already very grateful. He was afraid that if he asked anything, he would get an answer like “I’ll leave when you get better”, so he didn’t raise the topic at all. He could only take it one day at a time. So when he didn’t see Li Chengxiu, he worried that he had changed his mind and just left.
Li Wenxun patted Shao Qun’s head: “We came all this way here. Wouldn’t you like to spend some time with us first?”
Shao Qun glanced at him reluctantly, resisting the urge to get out of bed and go looking for Li Chengxiu. He politely continued to talk to the guys.
When his friends felt that they had teased Shao Qun enough and left, he couldn’t bear it anymore. Quickly, he pressed the button by his bedside.
After a while, a young blushing nurse came in, and Shao Qun anxiously asked her to look for someone.
When Li Chengxiu finally came back, he seemed to be in a good mood.
Shao Qun impatiently asked, “Chengxiu, where have you been?”
Li Chengxiu said, “Just walked around.”
“Is it annoying for you to be stuck here with me all day? Let me go on a walk with you!”
Li Chengxiu frowned, “Your injury hasn’t healed. You shouldn’t move.”
“The wounds have scabbed over already! Why would I worry about such a small inconvenience…I’m afraid you’re bored…”
Li Chengxiu shook his head: “It’s okay. I’m not bored.”
It has just been him and a wall for more than ten year. What could even bore him at this point?
Li Chengxiu started playing with Teacup, lowered his head and stopped talking.
Li Chengxiu’s nails were always cut a little short. They looked particularly beautiful and delicate. So Shao Qun looked at the dog with some jealousy.
Shao Qun’s heart beat like a drum, when he nervously asked, “Chengxiu, when I’m discharged from the hospital, let’s move back to Shenzhen.”
Li Chengxiu’s movements stopped, he raised his eyes and looked at Shao Qun in confusion, nodded and then shook his head again: “Not living together.”
Shao Qun said happily: “Ok, we won’t live together. But can we still be neighbors?”
Li Chengxiu said softly, “As you wish.”
Shao Qun then asked, “Chengxiu, would you like to come work for my company?”
Li Chengxiu looked at him with hesitation.
Shao Qun grabbed his hand and kissed it: “I can’t wait to be able to see you every minute of every day.”
Li Chengxiu nodded.
Whether he agreed or disagreed, the end result would still be the same. So why waste his breath?
Shao Qun was overjoyed and wished that he could immediately jump out of bed and take his wifey into a new life.
In fact, Shao Qun had actually completely recovered at that point and could be safely discharged. But in order to let Li Chengxiu take care of him a little longer, he stayed in the hospital for extra two weeks. Poor Xiao Zhou had to visit Shao Qun in the hospital every day and bring his work to him. He would never smile when he saw Li Chengxiu.
After the discharge procedures, the shrewd and capable assistant Zhou had already found a suitable apartment for Li Chengxiu. The place was very close to Shao Qun’s company – basically, just across the street. It was a small single apartment with all the necessary facilities but the decorations were relatively simple. It was also an older house. It was unclear if the choice of this particular place was due to Xiao Zhou’s unintentional actions or Shao Qun’s detailed understanding. Li Chengxiu was just relieved that Shao Qun didn’t arrange some kind of mansion for him.
When Li Chengxiu moved in with little Teacup, he was not surprised at all to see that Shao Qun was living right next door to him.
Li Chengxiu settled the place for Teacup and then began to unpack his own luggage.
Right at that moment, Shao Qun knocked on the door and came in.
His injury was healed, so he spent his days hanging around Li Chengxiu.
With obvious excitement on his face, he handed him a thin file bag: “Chengxiu, I have good news for you!”
Li Chengxiu suspiciously took the bag, opened it, and saw something that looked like a lab result sheet from the hospital. He didn’t understand what it was about.
Shao Qun said softly, “It’s a boy.”
Li Chengxiu looked at him in surprise. A strange light flashed in his eyes, when he finally reacted to what Shao Qun had just said.
Shao Qun’s eyes were full of warmth: “I can’t wait for her to have a B-ultrasound[3]. The surrogate did a chromosome test in advance. It’s a boy. And the due date is April next year.”
Li Chengxiu looked at the piece of paper with excitement, and finally could decipher the information on it.
Just eight months later, in April next year, Li Chengxiu will be able to see his son. His hands slightly trembled, and an unspeakably huge expectation rose in his heart.
He never thought that one day he would actually have an offspring.
Li Chengxiu’s joy and complicated emotions couldn’t be described in words, when he thought about a new innocent defenseless life in this world, who would wholeheartedly rely on him, whom he will raise and whom he will see grow up with his own eyes.
Shao Qun’s heart also made a leap. He bent down and hugged Li Chengxiu from behind. He pressed his nose to his neck, sniffed the warm scent and said into his ear, “We will soon have a son. I really want to see him as soon as possible”
Li Chengxiu put the lab results close to his chest. For a moment, he felt that such a huge joy really needed to be shared with another person. And Shao Qun was currently the most suitable person. Li Chengxiu couldn’t help saying: “Me too…”
Shao Qun felt his heart suddenly tremble.
This was the first time that Li Chengxiu had openly said that he wanted this child.
When he found out about the baby, he was so angry, and he hated Shao Qun for what he did, but in the end Li Chengxiu’s heart softened because of this child. As Shao Qun expected, Li Chengxiu had finally begun to sincerely look forward to the birth of their son.
He finally got his wish and could bind Li Chengxiu to his side.
Shao Qun hugged him tightly, desperately wishing to become one with him. He couldn’t help but say,”Chengxiu, I love you…”
Li Chengxiu trembled and closed his eyes.
The next day, Li Chengxiu went to report to Shao Qun’s company. He refused to take Shao Qun’s car, since it was only a ten-minute walk from where he lived now.
Perhaps Shao Qun had prepared everyone in advance for his arrival, but his new colleagues were very warm and friendly towards him.
In addition to this, his salary level and benefits were very average, and there was no preferential treatment that would make him uncomfortable. Li Chengxiu felt that Shao Qun had really changed this time. He learned to consider Li Chengxiu’s feelings. Even in such trivial matters, he avoided hurting Li Chengxiu’s self-esteem.
Li Chengxiu felt that the current way of them getting along was better than he had imagined, and the big stone pressing onto his heart suddenly became much lighter.
The life of two neighbors and colleagues had officially begun.
During the working day at the company, Shao Qun didn’t put Li Chengxiu in any embarrassing situations, except occasionally eating at the same table with him at lunch. Shao Qun had significantly reduced his after-work socialization. Most of the time, he would come home directly and then knock on Li Chengxiu’s door saying that he’s hungry.
Li Chengxiu gradually got used to this kind of life. He would prepare breakfast for two people in the morning. After both of them finished eating, they went to work separately – Shao Qun would take his car, and Li Chengxiu would go on foot. When Li Chengxiu came back in the evening, Shao Qun would also come over, and the two of them would eat together. If Shao Qun wasn’t there, Li Chengxiu ate together with Teacup.
Shao Qun never entered his place casually ever again. When he saw Li Chengxiu getting close with his colleagues, he would get angry but he didn’t dare to even make a peep on the subject. Although Teacup bullied Shao Qun in various cruel ways when he came over, he kept his mouth shut.
Li Chengxiu thought that his life was really good now.
A few months later, Shao Qun brought over another mysterious file.
Li Chengxiu opened it up and saw a couple of ultrasound pictures in full color. There was a blurry image in the middle, and it was easy to recognize that it was a curled up fetus.
Li Chengxiu’s face turned slightly red with joy, and he repeatedly outlined the fetus on the picture with his finger.
Shao Qun looked at Li Chengxiu’s excited face, and he really couldn’t wait to jump him.
It has been three or four months since he and Li Chengxiu had been neighbors and colleagues, but all he could do for now was hug his waist, hold hands and occasionally kiss him on the face. His beloved was so close to him, right at his fingertips, but he didn’t dare to make a move. Was there anything in this world more frustrating than that?
Shao Qun took the opportunity to hug him: “The hospital said that next month they can make a video. You’ll be able to see him moving, turning over, kicking his legs and so on…”
Li Chengxiu was pleasantly surprised: “Really…? Everything’s so advanced… nowadays…”
Shao Qun was stunned when he saw Li Chengxiu’s sincere joy.
Li Chengxiu would only smile at him when he brought news about the child. The rest of the time, his face showed rarely anything other than indifference.
Although Li Chengxiu’s usual attitude towards Shao Qun was not deliberately cold, the feeling of caution and detachment was palpable.
He knew that Li Chengxiu was wary of him and could not forget the abuse. Shao Qun tried hard to make him reopen his heart. Taking even one step in the right direction took a long time and a lot of effort. But Shao Qun wasn’t going to give up.
He didn’t know when Li Chengxiu would gift him a sincere smile, let go of his grudges and accept him again. All he knew was that he would just keep working hard and waiting.
Shao Qun cuddled on the sofa with Li Chengxiu in his arms. The two seemed like an ordinary couple, looking at the ultrasound photos together and happily discussing their soon-to-be-born child.
Teacup curiously patted the photo with its paws and wanted to bite it, which made the puppy’s old enemy Shao Qun laugh.
At that moment, Shao Qun felt that all the filthy thoughts in his heart had disappeared.
He felt that such happiness was enough for him to savor for a long time – just being able to stay next to this person like this, just being able to calmly talk to him and share common joys.
