LWDC Chapter 188

Chapter 188 – Happy Birthday

“Huh?”

Ning Fei was genuinely shocked this time. It took his brain a couple of seconds to process Duan Yunhong’s words: “Huh?!?!?!?!”

— Duan Yunhong… wants to join the Bureau?!

“Actually, I wanted to say something else, or to be more blunt,” Duan Yunhong stared at him, holding him tightly, not allowing him to escape in the slightest. “But you warned me before not to make the situation too awkward. I thought that was implying that I shouldn’t say it yet, that you weren’t ready. Fine, I’ll change my approach. You don’t have to listen to what you don’t want to hear, and you don’t have to answer me immediately.”

As he said this, Duan Yunhong’s gaze fell on the brooch again.

“If you’re willing to let me join the Bureau, then you can give this brooch with my location to your Space-Time Administration Bureau. As long as the Bureau gets it, they’ll definitely locate me, track me, and then send someone to deal with me. But you don’t have to worry about any of that. I’ll handle the rest myself. I’ll find a way to become a debt collector, so you don’t have to be stuck in the middle.”

“But… why?” Ning Fei was dumbfounded. Many thoughts were exploding in his mind, but he refused to think, only asking, “Why do you want to go… why let me decide…”

“You know why, don’t you? You actually understand.”

Duan Yunhong pulled him back into his embrace. In fact, he was a little afraid to see Ning Fei’s reaction at this moment. He was a little afraid that Ning Fei would jump up and throw the brooch away, and then say that it was absolutely impossible to drag him into the Bureau. That would mean that they hadn’t made anything clear, and before everything had even started, they were already heading towards a breakup.

“I thought you had already seen through my thoughts,” Duan Yunhong hugged Ning Fei tightly, as if as long as he spoke, as long as the other person listened. “If we separate again this time, I can’t predict when we’ll meet next. Your original world, my original world, we’ve both been through them all. This time, you went to other worlds to do missions before coming here. Where can I find you next time? Or just wait for you to remember me, or until you’ve completely forgotten me?”

“…You were just saying to let me decide, and now you’re urging me to make progress. You’re contradicting yourself,” Ning Fei couldn’t see his face, so he could only speak muffledly, tugging at the back of his shirt with his hand. “Let go a little, I can’t breathe!”

“Okay, then I won’t rush you. If you don’t want to, then we’ll just keep it like this. It’ll still be whenever you want to find me, whenever you want to call for me, you can use it again.” Duan Yunhong had to loosen his grip on Ning Fei a little to allow him to look up. As soon as he met Ning Fei’s gaze, Duan Yunhong couldn’t help but smooth things over a bit: “You can change your mind whenever you want. But there’s no rush, you can think it over carefully, you can think for a long, long time, you don’t have to make a decision so quickly.”

“It’s rare to see you looking so uncertain,” Ning Fei didn’t really know how to respond to this situation, but seeing Duan Yunhong so agitated, Ning Fei became the calmer one first. They couldn’t both be agitated and talking nonsense here, could they? Then this topic would never end!

“Even I can’t be sure of everything, right? Otherwise, how could I fall for your tricks every time, with each trick being different?” As Duan Yunhong said this, he raised his hand and touched Ning Fei’s face with the back of his fingers. “Don’t just talk about me, your face is burning red, do you even know that?”

Ning Fei pushed his hand away: “It’s because you were smothering me just now.”

“If you say so…” Duan Yunhong chuckled, and proactively placed Ning Fei’s hand on his shirt button. “Alright, I’ve said what I wanted to say. Now, let’s move on to the next topic, let me give you the gift you ordered.”

“Oh right, have I formally said it yet? Happy birthday.”

…

Dawn.

Duan Yunhong turned over in his half-sleep, half-wake state. The unobstructed movement and the coolness that came from somewhere woke him up completely.

Opening his eyes, he saw that there was already light from the sky coming in from the window. It wasn’t very bright yet, but it was enough for Duan Yunhong to see a person leaning against the window behind the gauze curtain.

The cold wind of dawn passed through the gaps in the gauze curtain, blowing to the bedside. This was the source of the faint coolness that Duan Yunhong felt for no reason.

“…What are you doing there?”

His eyes, not completely awake, faced the light, causing him to instinctively furrow his brow. His voice was also hoarse and almost inaudible: “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I woke up, couldn’t sleep, got up to have a cigarette. Never mind me,” Ning Fei turned around and glanced at him through the gauze curtain. “Did I blow on you? Then I’ll close the other layer of curtains too, you go to sleep.”

After speaking, he really closed the thick curtains as well, and the room immediately became dim.

But after a short while, there was another “whoosh” sound, and the curtains were reopened.

“Can’t you find a warmer place to smoke?” Duan Yunhong said, reaching out to close the open window a little. “You have to be in the cold wind? Aren’t you the one who’s cold?”

“Boss Duan, take a good look, I’m wearing a mink coat,” Ning Fei patted his jacket. “I’m about to look like a polar bear performing smoking, and you’re still asking me if I’m cold? Take care of yourself.”

“I’m alright,” Duan Yunhong replied, and then actually hugged Ning Fei from behind, resting his head on Ning Fei’s shoulder, like he was holding a huge plush toy.

“Tsk… if you want to sleep, can’t you go back to bed? You’re so heavy,” Ning Fei wanted to push him away, but he pressed his hand against his forehead and couldn’t move him. “I’ll go back to sleep after I finish my cigarette, don’t make it seem like I’m about to run away. Am I that cowardly?”

“Hard to say.”

“Hey!”

“You only smoke when you’re stressed, and you only like to smoke in the middle of the night when you have something on your mind,” Duan Yunhong held him tightly. “Good, that means you’ve taken my words to heart.”

“You’re really good at patting yourself on the back,” Ning Fei couldn’t tear off this “dog-skin plaster,” so he simply didn’t bother moving, and continued to lean against the window to smoke the rest of his cigarette. “Do I have to be kept up at night because of you? I just can’t sleep, I’m just emptying my mind.”

Duan Yunhong closed his eyes and suddenly asked, “Will you discuss it with Yu Zhou?”

“…Huh?” Ning Fei asked, puzzled. “It’s a completely unrelated matter, what would I discuss with him? I’m not a little baby who needs someone to take care of everything. You’re the one who likes to bring him up.”

“He seems to like interfering in your affairs, especially the important ones, he wants to take charge,” Duan Yunhong seemed to be napping, but his voice was clear. “Even if he doesn’t interfere, don’t let his thoughts influence you. He’s him, you’re you, don’t let his messed up views on love sway your thoughts.”

Ning Fei found it funny and teased, “Oh, so you know his views on love?”

“I wouldn’t say everything, but seeing how he treats Yue Fengping… no, how he controls the so-called ‘lovers’ in this kind of world, you can get a glimpse of it,” Duan Yunhong said. “But he can control them however he wants, it’s none of my business. It’s just that his tune of ‘people with long lifespans are all bastards, not worth investing feelings in,’ don’t take it too seriously.”

“What he said isn’t wrong, why shouldn’t I take it seriously just because you said so?”

“It might be true for him, but it’s not true for you,” Duan Yunhong said. “He’s him, you’re you. Can a relationship that can only last for a certain amount of time, where you can’t reveal your true identity, be considered a good match for you? Probably not, right? He treats it like a single-player game, knowing when he opens it that he’ll probably reach the end in a few hours, so he dares to indulge himself in the virtual world. That’s not rationality and restraint, that’s just being a coward.”

“Don’t drag us into this for no reason,” Ning Fei tilted his head to glance at him, slowly exhaling smoke. “Besides, you should know very well that I don’t like hearing people chirping about him. I’ll let it go this time, but I won’t be so polite next time.”

Duan Yunhong knew that this topic should be stopped, but he couldn’t help but ask, “How will you be impolite?”

“Like this,” Ning Fei pinched the cigarette butt, looking like he was about to poke it on Duan Yunhong’s face. Duan Yunhong didn’t dodge or avoid it, and Ning Fei stopped just three or four centimeters away at the very end.

He turned the cigarette butt around and pressed it into the ashtray, calmly adding, “I’ll brand your handsome face.”

“Anyway, even if it’s scarred, you’ll be the one looking at it, I won’t,” Duan Yunhong was also calm. “If you’re afraid that something will happen in the future, you can just come after me, I’m not afraid of your revenge anyway. I’ll take responsibility for the path I chose.”

“Crazy,” Ning Fei scoffed. “If you really become a member of the Bureau, why would I chase after you? Do I not want to live anymore?”

“Then you can report me,” Duan Yunhong said. “Aren’t you the best at figuring out how to deal with colleagues you don’t get along with? And as long as you run into a mission world and stagger your time with me, what can I do to you?”

“Alright, stop trying to persuade me in circles. Go back to sleep, I’m also…” Ning Fei wanted to push him away again, but when he raised his hand, he suddenly remembered that he had just used that hand to hold the cigarette. Duan Yunhong probably hated the smell, so he put his hand down again.

Duan Yunhong took the initiative to grab that hand and put it on his face, and then said, “The sun is coming out, let’s watch the sunrise before going to sleep.”

Yes, the sun had already emerged from the clouds on the horizon, emitting golden light. It wasn’t very warm yet, but it was very dazzling. At this moment, the heart that had been suffocated by the darkness and morning mist seemed to brighten up as well.

Ning Fei scratched his face with his other hand. “Watching the sunset and watching the sunrise, how romantic, President Duan.”

“Isn’t this the opportunity you gave me?” Duan Yunhong said. “I just don’t know about the future… never mind, I won’t say it, lest you think I’m being as long-winded as an old man.”

“Good that you know,” Ning Fei put down his hand and leaned closer to Duan Yunhong. “The sun doesn’t speak, but the sun rises every day to illuminate the world, learn from it, Boss Duan.”

Duan Yunhong tilted his head to kiss him. “When the sun rises, can we also do something that’s done when the sun sets? Can you be silent here? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be good to wake up the other guests around us.”

“Now? You really have the energy…” Ning Fei raised his eyebrows slightly, noncommittal, and only said, “I just finished smoking…”

“It’s okay, I’m not a clean freak,” Duan Yunhong chuckled, remembering that this person had said he was a clean freak several times, and added another sentence.

“At least, not with you.”

——————–

President Duan willing to join the Bureau = ?

Ning Fei agreeing to him joining = ?