Chapter 76: Bridges to Bridges, Roads to Roads
The sun was setting, leaving a large swath of afterglow in the sky.
As soon as summer arrived in Beicheng, it became hot and humid. Chen Shuo glanced at the bright sky, time was really flying, another winter and spring had passed. At this time last year, Li Ge was still sexually harassing him, his attitude was terrible, and he was very rude to him.
Li Ge was still essentially that high and mighty, promiscuous young master. Forcibly keeping him by his side was only temporary. If it were someone else, Li Ge would still have a terrible attitude, still be rude, and would still use the same tricks he used to coax him to coax others.
Chen Shuo changed lanes and drove out of the dense traffic, pulling over to the side of the road.
“Why are you pulling over?” Li Ge asked.
His emotions were turbulent and hard to dissipate. Chen Shuo lowered the car window, and a wave of hot and humid air instantly hit his face, the smell of summer.
He unbuckled his seatbelt, looked at the rolling traffic outside the window, all heading in their own directions, and asked Li Ge, “When are you planning to get married?”
“…” Li Ge was stunned for a moment, knowing that Chen Shuo hadn’t moved on, and promptly coaxed him, “Aike and I are not real, can we not be jealous? If you don’t believe me, I’ll call her right now and have her come out to meet you.”
Chen Shuo still asked, “When are you planning to get married?”
Marriage was Li Ge’s most annoying topic, he would avoid it if he could, but Chen Shuo was holding on to it. He was a bit annoyed and said helplessly, “I haven’t considered it for now, even if I do get married, it’s to deal with my family, why can’t you understand?”
Confirming that Li Ge had the intention of getting married, Chen Shuo asked the last question, “You’re not planning to come out for the rest of your life, are you?”
“I said our situations are different, why are you always holding on to this?” Li Ge explained, “I have no reaction to women, it’s impossible to do it.”
Chen Shuo said, “Didn’t you say you would listen to me? I can give you time.”
“Fuck, why do you have to force me to come out? If I could, I would have fucking done it long ago, can you not put pressure on me?” Li Ge’s temper flared when he was annoyed, and his voice unconsciously became louder, “Have you ever considered me? My parents raised me for so long, can I give them such a shock? My dad’s friend’s—”
“Enough.” Chen Shuo interrupted Li Ge, “Get out of the car.”
“…” Li Ge’s mouth was half open, the words stuck in his throat, unable to come out. After a while, he asked Chen Shuo, “What do you mean by ‘get out of the car’? Explain yourself.”
The orange in the sky gradually dimmed, the bright light gradually fading, the afterglow as beautiful as a dream, too fleeting to be kept, the night was coming soon.
“Bridges to bridges, roads to roads.” Chen Shuo said, “It means it’s over.”
Li Ge: “…”
Seeing Li Ge sitting still, Chen Shuo urged him, “Get out of the car, I’ll pack your things and send them to you tomorrow, don’t talk nonsense with me anymore.”
Li Ge turned his head and stared at Chen Shuo, trying to read something from his expressionless face, but he couldn’t see through him at all, he couldn’t see through him, he had never been able to see through him.
He couldn’t connect the Chen Shuo in front of him with the Chen Shuo who had proactively kissed and hugged him before going to bed last night, they were like two different people, so strange.
Pedestrians on the street hurried by, all heading in their own directions.
Chen Shuo turned his head and ignored Li Ge, lowering all the car windows, letting the hot and humid air into the car, the traffic was noisy, and the car lights were particularly dazzling in the darkening sky.
He did his best to suppress himself, cutting off all the dark thoughts that would hurt Li Ge, then turned back to look at Li Ge and said, “If you don’t get out of the car, I’ll drive directly to Jiangcheng and help you come out.”
Li Ge: “…”
“Don’t you like to find excitement in the car?” Chen Shuo said cruelly, “Your grandmother is quite old, let her see how much her grandson likes to be fucked by men.”
Li Ge’s face suddenly changed drastically. He lunged at Chen Shuo, grabbed his shirt, and threw a punch at the corner of his mouth, “Say that one more fucking time!”
Meeting Li Ge’s wide-open eyes, Chen Shuo didn’t resist, letting the pain sweep over him, letting the taste of blood spread in his mouth, only when it hurt would he be sober.
He looked directly at Li Ge’s fierce gaze and said, “Keep hitting me, let the people outside see your despicable look of being unable to leave me.”
In the small car, the atmosphere instantly became tense, and then fell into a dead silence.
Li Ge stared at the inscrutable Chen Shuo, his eyes slowly turning red, but he didn’t let go of him, as if once he let go, it would really be bridges to bridges, roads to roads.
He wanted to let go, wanted to leave immediately, wanted to kick away the Chen Shuo who was making his heart ache. No one could make him so uncomfortable, so embarrassed, so full of grievances.
“Are you going to cry?” Chen Shuo endured his heartache and mocked Li Ge, “Crying to me is useless, there’s no candy for you.”
Li Ge knew he was despicable, if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a pathetic state today.
In the past, no matter how Chen Shuo called him despicable, he didn’t care, treating it as a little fun between a couple. But last night and now, he found that he did care, it was so fucking uncomfortable, his chest was tight and painful, so uncomfortable that his nose became sour and he couldn’t hold it in, as if in Chen Shuo’s eyes, he was just a despicable person who could be fucked casually, without any dignity.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come out, he just didn’t dare to.
“You’re a fucking mad dog,” Li Ge released Chen Shuo, lowered his head, and fiercely wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, cursing through gritted teeth, “You’re a fucking mad dog, don’t take yourself so seriously.”
The air was extremely hot and humid. Chen Shuo turned his head to look at the traffic outside the window, then looked up at the darkening sky. The sound of a door opening came, followed by the sound of a car door being slammed shut.
In the rearview mirror, Li Ge’s departing figure became more and more distant, and soon disappeared into the crowd.
Fortunately, he had stopped, fortunately, he was on the street. Chen Shuo raised the car window, leaned against the seat to support himself, then closed his eyes, trying his best to sink his consciousness into his own quiet world, to prevent himself from chasing after him.
Li Ge could deal with marriage, he could deal with having another child, he wouldn’t stay in his life forever, he would leave him one day.
People were born to be lonely, there was nothing to be sad about.
Night fell, and the entire city of Beicheng was lit up by brilliant lights, the main road a river of light.
Under a streetlight, the black Mercedes remained motionless for a long time. It was unknown how much time had passed before it slowly merged into the traffic, drifting with the flow in the river of light.
Inside a certain bar.
Fei Fan, with a headache, called Qiao An for help, “Brother Qiao, hurry up and come to the old place, Li Ge is drunk and going crazy, I can’t handle him alone.”
Qiao An on the other end of the phone was helpless, “I’m not free, look at the time, call a designated driver to help.”
“You really have to come,” Fei Fan explained anxiously, “he’s not right, he was fine at first, but as soon as he got drunk, he started crying to me, calling himself a despicable person.”
Qiao An: “…I’ll try to get there as soon as possible.”
Fei Fan put away his phone and, turning his head, saw Li Ge drinking again, “gurgle, gurgle,” and even drinking straight from the bottle, how scary, if he kept drinking, something bad would really happen.
He quickly snatched the bottle away and dragged Li Ge, persuading, “Stop drinking, if I had known you were like this, I wouldn’t have come out with you, you’re harming me.”
“Fuck, give it to me…”
“Give you a feather, get up!” Fei Fan himself was a big man of 1.8 meters, but unfortunately, he couldn’t handle the drunk Li Ge. He had just tried to help him up when he was pushed onto the sofa by Li Ge, and then a terrifying scene happened. Fortunately, he dodged quickly, and Li Ge only kissed his face.
“Wife…” Li Ge was confused and painfully lay on Fei Fan’s chest, so wronged that his nose became sour, “You fucking mad dog…”
“Fuck, who is it?” Unable to listen to his friend’s grievances, Fei Fan forcefully pushed Li Ge up and shook him hard, “Sober up! I’m Fei Fan! Get up and go home!”
Li Ge was dazed. After seeing clearly that it was Fei Fan, he shrank back into the sofa and started to feel wronged by himself.
He wasn’t going home, how embarrassing would that be? Unless Chen Shuo personally came to pick him up, apologized to him, said a few nice words to coax him, and then kissed him.
“It’s getting late, if you want to sleep here, I’m not going to stop you.” Fei Fan looked at his watch and reminded Li Ge, “It’s almost eleven, get up!”
“I want my wife…” Li Ge fumbled in his pocket for his phone, wanting to call Chen Shuo, wanting to tell him that his head was dizzy and he was very uncomfortable.
Fei Fan had a terrible headache and sat down to ask, “Which one is your wife? She’s quite something, making you half-dead.” Seeing that Li Ge was looking for something, he picked up the phone on the coffee table and handed it to him, “Sober up and get up.”
The screen was dazzling. Li Ge couldn’t find Chen Shuo and anxiously threw the phone to Fei Fan, repeatedly muttering “wife,” signaling Fei Fan to help him call Chen Shuo.
Fei Fan immediately found the phone number noted as “Wife” in the call log and, out of curiosity, helped Li Ge dial it, but after waiting for a long time, no one answered.
“It’s so late, he must be sleeping, get up.”
“I’m not…” Unable to see Chen Shuo, Li Ge was so sad that he didn’t know what to do. He really wanted to see Chen Shuo. Why was the dog so heartless, he was really a good-for-nothing, “You fucking…”
“Sigh, alright, I’ll help you call again.” Actually, Fei Fan was curious himself. His friend had been with this partner for so long, but he had been hiding it from them, how outrageous.
Returning to his deserted home alone, Chen Shuo sat on the sofa, doing nothing. The cut cauliflower and marinated beef were still on the countertop, the rice wasn’t cooked, and the soup wasn’t made, because there was no one to eat it.
Li Ge’s second call came. Chen Shuo looked at the “Xiao Bao’er” on the screen and told himself it was over, answering would only bring more pain, so he should block him.
He couldn’t accept Li Ge marrying a woman, even if it was fake.
Until another call from an unknown number came, Chen Shuo began to worry about Li Ge’s safety, not sure where he was at this moment, or if something had happened to him.
He immediately answered the unknown call, “Hello?”
“Hello?” Fei Fan on the other end of the bar didn’t recognize Chen Shuo’s voice at first and asked, “Are you Li Ge’s wife? He’s passed out drunk and has been calling your name. If you’re free, please come over quickly.”
Chen Shuo immediately recognized Fei Fan’s voice and wanted to hang up, but then he thought of Li Ge’s wound from last night, which had just been stitched up. The doctor had specifically told him to avoid certain foods, but he had gone out to get drunk without listening, which made him even angrier and want to hang up.
“It’s not convenient, goodbye.” He said.
“Hey, how can you be like this! He’s in a very bad state right now, he might have alcohol poisoning, I can’t handle him alone.” Fei Fan directly gave the name of the bar and the private room number, “You’d better come over quickly, he’s drinking because of you. If something really happens to him, I’ll definitely find you, and I won’t let you off either.”
These young masters were all the same. Chen Shuo was too lazy to deal with him and was about to hang up when he vaguely heard Li Ge’s painful groans, pitifully calling him “wife.”
“Did you hear that? He’s calling you!”
Fei Fan hung up the phone and complained on Li Ge’s behalf, “What kind of wife did you find? He’s even blocked you. If he really comes, I’ll help you teach him a lesson.”
Just as he finished speaking, he saw his friend bury his face in the sofa and start crying, which was both magical and ridiculous. He must have drunk too much, all sorts of behavior were coming out. He had to record this on his phone.
“Alright, what’s there to cry about? If this wife doesn’t work out, just find another one. With our Mr. Li’s conditions, are you afraid you won’t find a partner?” Fei Fan advised while recording, “I’m recording you, you can see what you’re like later.”
Being blocked by Chen Shuo was Li Ge’s pain, the last straw that broke the camel’s back. All his grievances erupted at once, and he hated Chen Shuo so much that he wanted to kill him, for making his heart ache so much.
There was no rush hour at night. Chen Shuo drove as fast as he could. When he arrived at the bar’s private room, Li Ge was still crying, huddled on the sofa, looking pitiful.
Fei Fan was stunned, “Assistant Chen?”
Chen Shuo didn’t pay attention to Fei Fan and went straight to Li Ge. His face was stained with tears, and he smelled of alcohol, he didn’t know how much he had drunk. He had just helped Li Ge up when Li Ge hugged him and buried his face in his embrace, “Wife…”
He appropriately patted Li Ge’s back, “I’ll take you back.”
Smelling the familiar and pleasant scent, Li Ge rubbed against him stickily. He missed his wife so much that he cupped Chen Shuo’s head and kissed his lips forcefully.
Fei Fan was stunned on the spot. Qiao An rushed in and pushed open the door, also stunned.
Chen Shuo had no interest in being intimate in front of others and quickly pushed Li Ge away, but Li Ge immediately started crying, apologizing to him, “Wife, I was wrong…”
Chen Shuo: “…”
