Brother, Don’t Delete Me! 56

Chapter 56: Remembrance

The cemetery was in the suburbs, some distance from where they lived. There were few cars on the road early on a weekend morning, and the car was quiet.

After driving for a while, Huai Dan glanced at the boy in the passenger seat and found that, contrary to his expectation of him being sleepy, Luo Jing looked wide awake.

He was holding a bouquet of flowers, his posture unusually straight—Huai Dan had initially told him to put it in the back seat, but Luo Jing insisted on holding it himself, so he let him.

“Why don’t you sleep for a while?” Huai Dan asked casually, looking at the straight road ahead.

“I’m not sleepy,” Luo Jing replied, then paused and asked, “Brother, did you always come here alone before?”

“Mm,” Huai Dan replied.

It was a simple question, but Luo Jing felt like he had glimpsed the man’s past years of visiting alone.

Dressed in black, perhaps holding a black umbrella when it rained, slowly walking alone to his parents’ graves, placing the flowers, then standing there silently for a while, his eyes lowered, before finally turning to leave.

In short, looking very lonely.

Recalling what Luo Feng had told him earlier, Luo Jing felt even sadder.

Unconsciously, he stared at Huai Dan for a long time, until the other person finally spoke, “What do you want to say?”

Luo Jing: “?”

“You’ve been staring at me,” Huai Dan said, his tone neither light nor heavy.

Luo Jing: “…”

He quickly looked away.

But after a short silence, Luo Jing spoke again: “Brother, have these past few years been hard for you?”

Huai Dan didn’t answer immediately, seemingly surprised by his question.

He paused, but what came to mind wasn’t the hardships of the past few years, but his previous visits to the cemetery.

It would be a lie to say he felt nothing. Every time, he still felt a sense of oppression.

There were usually no cars on the road to the cemetery, and no one there after he arrived. Occasionally, he would feel like he was the only person left in the world.

Although, in a sense, it was almost true.

But this time was different.

And maybe… things would be different in the future too.

Huai Dan thought for a moment, then replied with a faint smile, “Thanks to you, it hasn’t been too hard.”

Luo Jing: “?”

But Huai Dan didn’t explain further.

After a while, Luo Jing spoke again: “By the way, brother, do you have any plans after we visit your parents?”

“No,” Huai Dan said, driving past an intersection, and the gate of the cemetery appeared not far away. “Why?”

“My sister asked if we wanted to have dinner together today,” Luo Jing said.

Having delegated the responsibility of managing her annoying brother to someone else, Luo Feng had enjoyed a few carefree days, until her conscience finally kicked in, and she remembered to check on Luo Jing.

Or perhaps it was the trending topic that had appeared last night and was still high on the list that reminded her she had a brother.

“Sure.” Huai Dan parked the car in the cemetery’s parking lot and turned off the engine.

Luo Jing quietly followed behind Huai Dan, holding the flowers, and they finally stopped in front of two tombstones.

The two tombstones were next to each other, without any separation.

On the left tombstone was Huai Dan’s father. Unlike the image of a shrewd businessman Luo Jing had imagined, Huai Fu was smiling faintly in the black and white photo, wearing glasses, looking gentle and refined, more like a scholar than a businessman.

On the right was Huai Dan’s mother. Her long hair was tied in a simple bun, and she looked gentle and peaceful, a faint smile on her lips, as if looking at them tenderly.

They looked very well-matched.

Luo Jing placed the flowers in front of the tombstones, then stepped back to stand beside Huai Dan. After a while, he discreetly glanced up at him.

Huai Dan, unusually, didn’t notice his gaze, but was looking down at the two photos on the tombstones. Looking closely, one could detect a faint sadness in his eyes.

Perhaps he was overthinking it, but Luo Jing felt that Huai Dan looked a bit vulnerable at this moment, different from usual.

Luo Jing lowered his eyes, feeling a bit sad too.

Huai Dan shouldn’t be like this.

He thought.

He should have many people around him, many people who liked him and loved him.

Not like now, looking a bit lonely.

“Let’s go,” a voice suddenly said above him, pulling Luo Jing out of his thoughts.

He looked up, a bit dazed: “We’re done?”

“Mm.” Huai Dan nodded, looking at his expression and finding it amusing. “Or do you have something to say to them? Do you need me to excuse myself?”

“…” He could tell Huai Dan was joking, so Luo Jing’s face flushed slightly, and he instinctively replied, “No, maybe next time.”

Huai Dan chuckled: “Okay, next time.”

Luo Jing: “…?”

Something felt off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Luo Feng’s dinner invitation was for noon, at the same Chinese restaurant as before. After visiting Huai Fu and Huai Mu, they immediately headed there.

They hadn’t had time for breakfast, and Huai Dan was worried Luo Jing would be hungry, so he had the restaurant prepare some snacks in the private room beforehand.

As Huai Dan expected, he hadn’t eaten much last night, so by the time they were halfway there, Luo Jing was starving. Learning that Huai Dan had already ordered some snacks, his eyes lit up.

Luo Feng had set the time for noon, and when they arrived at the restaurant, it was still before 11 a.m. Luo Jing, hungry and excited, pushed open the door to the private room and saw an uninvited guest eating his food.

“You’re here so early?” Seeing them, Ye Lin put down the half-eaten mung bean cake, took a sip of tea, and said, “Come in, what are you standing there for… Did you order these? It’s my first time trying their snacks, and they’re quite good, I have to say.”

Luo Jing: “…”

Huai Dan: “…”

“What’s wrong?” Seeing their strange expressions, Ye Lin looked at the mung bean cake he had just picked up, then put it down hesitantly. “Did I… eat the wrong thing?”

“Mm,” Huai Dan nodded with a straight face.

Luo Jing, recovering, looked at the snack plate with a hint of despair, then, seeing that there were still some left, breathed a sigh of relief, walked over and sat next to Ye Lin, took a snack, and greeted him politely, “Brother Lin, why are you here?”

He always seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Your sister said she had a dinner appointment with you here today, so I came,” Ye Lin said. Seeing Luo Jing also start eating, he knew Huai Dan was just scaring him, so he reached for another snack.

The moment he raised his hand, Luo Jing stared at it, and Huai Dan stared at him.

The latter’s gaze seemed to carry a hint of coldness and menace.

Ye Lin: “…”

He casually withdrew his hand.

He understood.

Luo Jing didn’t notice the undercurrent between the two. He was starving and needed to eat something, so he took a sesame cake.

Ye Lin sat beside him, watching him eat with a benevolent look, and poured him a cup of tea: “Your brother doesn’t feed you?”

Luo Jing almost choked: “No, how could that be…”

Ye Lin looked at him, about to say something more, when he heard two knocks on the table.

He instinctively looked over and saw Huai Dan standing there, looking down at him.

His eyes clearly said: Get up.

Ye Lin: “…”

When Luo Feng entered, she saw her brother and Huai Dan sitting together. Luo Jing was looking at his phone, and Huai Dan was pouring tea, first for himself, then, glancing at Luo Jing’s cup, for him as well.

And Ye Lin was sitting opposite them, looking slightly resentful.

Luo Feng walked over and sat down at the only empty seat: “You’re all here so early, have you ordered yet?”

“We’ve ordered,” Luo Jing replied. “You can see if you want to add anything.”

Luo Feng nodded, took a sip of water after sitting down, then asked Luo Jing, “Do you like that celebrity?”

Ye Lin: “…”

“Clang!”

Luo Jing’s phone accidentally slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.

He froze, then quickly ducked under the table to pick it up.

When he came back up, his hair was a bit messy, and his face was slightly flushed from the lack of oxygen.

“Why are you so nervous?” Seeing him like this, a gossipy look appeared on Luo Feng’s face. “Our family is very open-minded. It’s okay if you really like him. I can have him come visit you when he’s not working…”

She spoke with the air of a feudal lord, making Luo Jing’s scalp tingle.

Luo Jing instinctively glanced at Huai Dan, who wasn’t looking at him, but down at the table, his expression indifferent, as if he hadn’t heard anything.

Luo Jing: “…”

“What’s okay about that?” Luo Jing looked at his sister, slightly exasperated. “Why do you always ask this every time we meet?”

It was the same restaurant as last time. Luo Jing suspected he had a bad relationship with this place and was already considering blacklisting it.

“It’s still trending online, quite popular, I have to show some concern,” Luo Feng said. “I was just kidding, why are you so agitated?”

Luo Jing: “…”

“I…” He was about to say something when he was interrupted by a male voice beside him.

Huai Dan put his teacup down on the table, making a soft sound, then turned to Luo Jing and asked calmly, “Do you like him?”

Luo Feng, thinking Huai Dan was also curious, instantly felt like she had found an ally and looked at him, wanting to exchange gossipy glances, but found that he wasn’t looking at her, but at her brother.

He seemed very interested in the answer to this question.

Ye Lin, sitting opposite them, his eyes practically shining from behind his teacup.

Such an exciting scene, his friend so uncharacteristically flustered.

He glanced at Luo Feng, who was completely oblivious, and felt a surge of admiration.

She was amazing, how could she always manage to hit the nail on the head without knowing anything, as accurate as a metal detector used for minesweeping?

Luo Jing was about to answer instinctively, but seeing Huai Dan’s expression, he paused.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and even Luo Feng started to feel something was wrong, when Luo Jing finally spoke.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone ambiguous, as if he was genuinely asking a question.

“What do you think, brother?”

Sometimes, Luo Jing felt he was also quite mischievous.