MNL Chapter 112

Chapter 112 Rainy Night – He really left.

Xu Jing was an extreme perfectionist, sometimes his OCD would kick in and he wouldn’t even spare himself. Ever since this project started, Shen Yan had been using work as an excuse to run to the company every now and then. Xu Jing, relying on his strong self-control, turned a blind eye even though his first love was constantly parading in front of him, his eyes only on the half-designed drawings and the still flawed models.

But since Xia Zhixing came back, things had started to go a little awry. Every day after work, three cars would be parked right on time in front of the company, a low-key Cayenne on the left, a high-profile Lamborghini on the right, and a Porsche parked not far away watching the show.

Even Xu Jing, with his slow temper, couldn’t take it anymore one day, and directly cursed in front of the two, “Are you sick?”

One of them took off his sunglasses and said with a smile, “Let’s go, I’ll take you home.”

The other remained silent, just looking at Xu Jing with an indescribable look in his eyes.

Xu Jing felt inexplicably flustered by the gaze, as if he was the one who had done something wrong. He swallowed the harsh words he hadn’t finished saying and turned to leave.

This continued for more than half a month. One day it was raining outside, and Xu Jing left work two hours later than usual. As soon as he walked out of the company, he saw the unwavering iron triangle outside the door, forming a very beautiful scenery. Everyone who passed by turned their heads to admire them.

Xu Jing’s brain, which had been working for an afternoon, ached even more.

Unfortunately, his car had been sent for repairs that day. So, under the watchful eyes of the two fiercely competing gazes, Xu Jing didn’t hesitate to walk past them towards the Porsche.

Shen Yan: “…”

Xia Zhixing: “…”

Song Jinchen was lazily lying on the car seat playing games. In between yawns, he saw the handsome young man walking towards him in the distance, and instantly put down his casually crossed long legs, revealing a charming smile.

In fact, the four of them had already eaten together once last week, but the scene was very awkward.

At that time, Xia Zhixing called Xu Jing and said that he was back, and asked Xu Jing to treat him to a meal. After all, they had known each other for so long, Xu Jing would naturally not refuse this request. So, the two went to a Western restaurant, but unexpectedly, Shen Yan and Song Jinchen were at the next table.

The four of them looked at each other, and their inner monologues could have been turned into a situation comedy.

To make matters worse, there was someone who didn’t mind watching the fun.

Song Jinchen completely ignored the wonderful expressions on the three handsome faces and said with a smile, “Since everyone knows each other, let’s eat together?”

Xia Zhixing never expected that Song Jinchen and Shen Yan were actually friends. He thought to himself: Eat, eat, eat your ass, go back to America and eat your white people food.

Xu Jing refused without looking up, “No need.”

Song Jinchen suddenly became hard of hearing, “Okay, then we’ll go to your table.”

Xu Jing: “…”

There’s a kind of inexplicable magnetic field between people. Even so, Xu Jing’s first impression of Song Jinchen wasn’t bad, and he could even be considered one of the people he knew who ranked near the top.

Seeing that Xu Jing was wearing thin clothes, Song Jinchen turned up the heat and asked, “Going home?”

“Yeah, World Trade Center.”

“Okay, looks like I’m honored to be able to do the honors today.”

The Porsche slowly drove past, and Zhou Jinchen lowered the car window, blowing a whistle at the two men on the street with a smug look, “Goodbye, handsome guys.”

Shen Yan and Xia Zhixing looked at each other, then got into their respective cars without looking back.

On the way, Zhou Jinchen asked curiously, “Did Shen Yan mention me to you?”

Xu Jing said calmly, “No.”

Song Jinchen clicked his tongue and said, “I knew this kid wasn’t honest, but he often mentions you to me, especially in his dreams.”

Hearing this, Xu Jing’s expression froze for a moment.

Seeing this, Song Jinchen immediately laughed and said, “Don’t get me wrong, although his face is indeed to my liking, I don’t have any thoughts about him in that way. It’s just that he had a high fever before, and he kept calling your name. Every time it was like that, and I got a headache from listening to it, so I stuffed his mouth with a towel.”

“…”

Although that scene was hard to imagine, the main point of this sentence was very clear.

Xu Jing thought for a while, but couldn’t help asking, “Is he always sick?”

“Yeah, his health was especially bad in the past few years. He was in the hospital every other day, taking medicine like it was food. His face was as white as a ghost, and he was so thin that he looked like a skeleton. He could have starred in a horror movie without any filters. This is all-” Song Jinchen was about to continue speaking when his phone rang, and a message was sent.

[Shen Yan]: Keep your mouth shut.

Song Jinchen looked around, wondering if this person had installed a bug in his car.

The voice suddenly stopped, and Xu Jing, who hadn’t heard the rest of the story, asked, “What?”

Song Jinchen, not noticing anything unusual, withdrew his gaze and changed the subject, saying seriously, “It’s still his own problem. Let me tell you this, although Shen Yan looks like he’s in good shape, with eight-pack abs, nine heads tall, wide shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs, he’s still young and taking so much medicine. Those medicines have a lot of side effects on the kidneys, so his physical condition is definitely not good. Listen to my advice, don’t choose him, no matter how wronged you feel, you can’t wrong your own sex life.”

Xu Jing: “…”

“I think that Xia Zhixing is not bad, young and energetic, strong and healthy, looks like he has a lot of stamina.”

They weren’t discussing Shen Yan’s illness, how did they suddenly start talking about this?

Xu Jing’s temple twitched, and he was a little speechless, “You’re quite good at analyzing.”

Zhou Jinchen laughed, “Of course, I’m a professional. But I’m quite curious, one is your white moonlight, your first love after a long separation, the other is your red rose, accompanying you with deep affection in a foreign land, what exactly are you thinking?”

Xu Jing didn’t answer, nor did he hesitate, but replied, “We’re almost there, stop here, thank you.”

“…”

Using him and then leaving, these two really are a match made in heaven.

Zhou Jinchen pretended to sigh and said, “Okay.”

After Xu Jing got out of the car, Zhou Jinchen turned on the car’s music, and the explosive rock music, combined with the million-dollar sound system, instantly made the inside of the car feel like a concert venue.

Zhou Jinchen lit a cigarette and continued his inner monologue, so it’s not as honest as Xia Zhixing, who actually transferred him 500,000, although he wouldn’t even bother to pick up 500,000 if it fell on the ground.

Thinking about it, the person in the driver’s seat stepped on the accelerator while humming a song. He was going to find that red-haired kid to race!

—

In fact, Xu Huaiyang and Qin Xin had bought a house for Xu Jing in the city center on the day he was born. Later, for various reasons, the house was left idle. But last week, Xu Jing suddenly proposed to move there, which surprised the couple. They always felt that Xu Jing had become a little different since he came back this time.

The house was unusually quiet, and the drizzle outside was dense, like fine velvet floating on the window glass. Occasionally, a few drops would fall, sounding like ringing bells.

Xu Jing originally wanted to sit on the sofa for a while, but he fell asleep without knowing when. When he woke up, it was already dark outside, but he had left a light on before he fell asleep.

So many years had passed, but his fear of the dark hadn’t diminished at all. It was funny to think about it, because the apartment he lived in when he was in college would always have power outages due to the weather, and almost always at night.

Xia Zhixing didn’t know that Xu Jing was afraid of the dark at first, until that time when a typhoon hit the northwest and destroyed all the power lines within a hundred miles. He was bored and wanted to go find Xu Jing to play, but he accidentally saw the usually calm and composed man curled up in a corner, trembling all over.

Xia Zhixing was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he thought that Xu Jing had a serious illness that he hadn’t told him about. Later, when he found out the reason, he didn’t seem to take it seriously on the surface, but the next day he bought dozens of small night lights and put them in Xu Jing’s apartment. Every time there was a power outage, only Xu Jing’s place was brightly lit, as bright as day.

Xu Jing came back to his senses. Although his nyctophobia hadn’t improved, he hadn’t been completely unsuccessful after being self-reliant for so long. At least his cooking skills had improved a lot.

He also felt a little hungry now. Xu Jing walked towards the kitchen, originally wondering what to eat, but when he opened the refrigerator, he found that the only staple foods inside were a package of udon noodles and frozen dumplings.

“…”

Although the supermarket was just downstairs and to the right, Xu Jing was too lazy to make a trip. After thawing the udon noodles, he skillfully tied on his apron and began to prepare the vegetables he needed.

He didn’t know when he started to like this feeling of being busy in the kitchen, the pots and pans, the firewood, rice, oil, and salt. The atmosphere of life in this corner was so strong that it could temporarily package him as a normal person.

After cutting the side dishes, the hot water in the pot was almost boiling. Xu Jing was about to put the noodles in when the doorbell rang.

Because he had just moved here not long ago, even Yan Zhe didn’t know the address. Xu Jing found it a little strange, and without taking off his apron, he went to open the door with the udon noodles he had just torn open in his hand.

As a result, as soon as he opened the door, he met Shen Yan, who was carrying two large bags.

Obviously, both of them were very surprised, but compared to that, Xu Jing’s appearance was even more surprising to Shen Yan.

The water was still boiling, and the pot lid was banging. Xu Jing didn’t have time to ask questions and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

Shen Yan came in very consciously.

Xu Jing thought while turning off the heat that Zhou Jinchen must have told Shen Yan his address, but how did Shen Yan find the specific location?

Walking out of the kitchen, Xu Jing found that Shen Yan had already placed the two large bags he was carrying on the coffee table.

Xu Jing then realized that the logo on the two large bags was from the supermarket he had just wanted to go to. One bag contained all kinds of fresh ingredients, bok choy, celery, beef, ribs… all kinds of vegetables, meat, and seasonings, and the other bag contained seasonal fresh fruits and beautifully packaged snacks.

Xu Jing looked at Shen Yan in confusion.

Shen Yan’s eyelashes and hair were covered with water, and most of his black wool coat was also wet from the rain. He took the initiative to speak, “I was passing by, so I came in to take a look.”

What a terrible explanation, did he look that stupid?

Xu Jing’s voice became a little cold, “You saw it? Then you can leave now.”

“I saw it.” Shen Yan stood in place, his voice low, “But I didn’t see enough.”

Xu Jing: “…”

Shen Yan asked again, “Can I have dinner here?”

Xu Jing was about to say that there wasn’t any for him, but when he looked down, there were enough ingredients in those two bags for them to eat for half a month.

“…”

He really came prepared.

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and the wind was picking up again. Looking at Shen Yan’s appearance, Xu Jing remembered what Zhou Jinchen had said in the car, and in the end, he couldn’t bear to drive him out. He turned on the air conditioner in the living room and went back to the bedroom. When he came out, he had a set of clothes in his hand.

“Never worn, don’t mind putting them on.”

Shen Yan’s expression at this moment was very straightforward, almost written in three words: How could I?

Xu Jing’s mood inexplicably improved a little, but before that, he had already sat down on the sofa with his back to Shen Yan.

A series of footsteps sounded, and there was movement in the bedroom, which gradually subsided.

Five minutes later, Shen Yan walked out of the room.

Xu Jing turned his head and almost lost his mind.

This black tight-fitting turtleneck sweater was bought for him by Qin Xin last winter. In fact, he had tried it on once, but he always felt a little strange, so he had kept it in the closet and hadn’t worn it. He didn’t expect Shen Yan to look like this in it, it was like he was wearing clothes, but also like he wasn’t.

What was obvious was that Shen Yan’s figure was even more perfect than in high school. Every muscle on his body was just right, and the lines were very beautiful. All of these were completely exposed to Xu Jing’s eyes under the set off of this tight-fitting clothes.

Shen Yan adjusted his sleeves and said, “It seems a little tight.”

Xu Jing blurted out, “It’s not tight.”

Shen Yan paused and raised his head, “Huh?”

Xu Jing was a little guilty and asked back, “Are you going to wear it or not?”

“I’m wearing it.” Shen Yan replied quickly, then glanced at the kitchen and asked, “Were you going to cook udon noodles just now?”

Xu Jing was afraid that Shen Yan would overthink, so he immediately explained, “This is all I have at home. Oh, and a bag of frozen dumplings.”

“Then cook them together, like before, I’ll do it.”

Xu Jing’s lips moved, he turned his head and said, “Whatever.”

The kitchen was filled with the sound of clanging again, but it strangely matched the sound of the rain outside the window.

Shen Yan was bathed in the warm light of the kitchen. He was focused on cutting vegetables, his head slightly lowered, and the light reflected on his deep and three-dimensional profile. From his forehead to his nose bridge, to his lips and chin, every arc was clear and beautiful. His tall figure occupied the corner of the kitchen, but it wasn’t awkward, but gentle and moving.

Xu Jing turned on the TV, originally wanting to use it to distract himself, but his gaze still turned towards that side from time to time.

This scene made him feel unfamiliar, but also… very familiar, as if he had experienced it just yesterday, as if the scene that had appeared countless times in his dreams was reproduced before his eyes, and the part of his heart that had been empty for many years was completely filled by this scene.

Xu Jing wiped his face, trying to calm himself down. At this time, a song came from the TV. The ethereal and transparent female voice directly hit his heart. Xu Jing found it a little familiar and turned to look at the international channel on the TV, and found that it was indeed Jiang Pei.

Yan Zhe mentioned last time that Jiang Pei had gone to the top music schools abroad a few years ago. Recently, she had just made a comeback and had repeatedly topped the hot search charts, becoming a hot topic for major media. Moreover, her popularity was very high abroad, and some people predicted that she would be the next music queen in the future.

“Jiang Pei asked me about you a few days ago.” Shen Yan’s voice suddenly came from behind him. Xu Jing was watching intently and was startled.

“…What did she say?”

“She asked how you were doing now, whether you were eating well, and if possible, asked me to take a picture of you for her to see.”

Xu Jing’s expression changed, and he suddenly felt a little dazed.

When dealing with that matter back then, he stubbornly isolated everyone around him, treating his relatives, friends, and even himself so harshly and cruelly. Now that he thought about it, it was really too ungrateful and unjust.

Shen Yan stared at him for a while and said, “The noodles are almost cooked, go wash your hands.”

“Okay.”

Shen Yan went to the kitchen to bring the dishes. The TV was broadcasting Jiang Pei’s interview. Xu Jing glanced at it a few more times before turning off the TV.

Originally, he just wanted to eat some udon noodles for dinner, but Shen Yan cooked four more dishes and cut a fruit platter, and brewed some warm tea, filling the dining table full, which looked very rich.

After Xu Jing sat down, Shen Yan first put a piece of braised pork ribs in his bowl, “Try it and see if my cooking skills have regressed.”

Xu Jing tasted it, although he didn’t praise it, his expression was very honest.

Shen Yan then served him a large bowl of udon noodles. It was obviously his home, but it made him seem like a guest. But Xu Jing didn’t reject this feeling at all. After swallowing the noodles, he asked in a low voice, “Are you still taking medicine now?”

Shen Yan’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, and he said, “What medicine?”

Xu Jing looked over intently, “Your friend said your health isn’t very good.”

Shen Yan lowered his eyes and said softly, “I’m already better, I’m not taking it.”

Xu Jing asked again, “Is it because of the sequelae left by the previous surgery?”

“Yeah.”

“Are there any other reasons?”

After a long while, he didn’t hear an answer, but he heard a low laugh. Xu Jing was a little inexplicable and also felt ashamed, because that made it seem like he cared about him.

Shen Yan’s tone rose, and he said patiently, “There are no other reasons, I’m all better now, you don’t have to worry about me.”

Xu Jing was a little annoyed and said in a muffled voice, “Who’s worried, don’t be so sentimental.”

Shen Yan’s eyebrows and eyes stretched out, and his beautiful peach blossom eyes curved into a beautiful arc. Under the lights, his smile looked not much different from a few years ago, but it had an increasingly mature and restrained beauty.

“Classmate, you’re still as cute as before.”

Xu Jing snorted and said, “You’re still as annoying as before.”

“That shows that we haven’t changed at all these years.”

The two’s eyes met in the air, Xu Jing’s eyelashes fluttered, and his heart unconsciously beat a few beats faster.

Looking at the other’s intriguing expression, Xu Jing said unhappily, “Eat, shut up.”

Shen Yan smiled again, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

After dinner, Shen Yan consciously went to wash the dishes. Since he had already bought them, Xu Jing was too lazy to refuse and sorted all the ingredients into the refrigerator. The two walked back and forth, talking, and the room was no longer lifeless.

Shen Yan came out after cleaning the kitchen, and Xu Jing had just finished sorting things out.

The two were standing very close, Shen Yan looked out the window and said, “The rain has stopped.”

Xu Jing nodded and pointed to the bags and asked, “How much money, I’ll transfer it to you.”

Shen Yan looked down at him, “Haven’t you already had dinner with me?”

Because he had been washing dishes, Shen Yan had a little water on his face. At this moment, because of the previous movements, the water droplets slipped across the corners of his lips and flowed into the black tight-fitting clothes, disappearing.

Xu Jing seemed to have thought of something, and inexplicably felt a little dry in his throat, and his body was also feeling hot, so he coughed uncomfortably and said, “Then, goodbye.”

“This clothes, when I–”

Xu Jing interrupted, “It’s yours.” Then he added, “You know I’m a clean freak.”

Shen Yan’s eyes dimmed, and he picked up the half-dry coat that was draped on the sofa.

“Good night.” He said.

Xu Jing’s expression was slightly stunned, and his heartbeat suddenly became a little heavy. Seeing Shen Yan walking out the door, he uncontrollably took a few steps forward.

But the room was still quiet, Xu Jing leaned against the door, watching the black figure disappear little by little before his eyes.

His eyelashes fluttered.

He really left.