Chapter 24

Chapter 24

We played on Jiang beach until six o’clock, and the wind started to get cold. Sister had been dragged out for a walk early in the morning and had been playing until now, so her exercise was excessive. Not wanting to move, we decided to take Sister to take a bath first, drop her off, and then go to eat. Xie Kun could pick her up after the bath later.

“There’s a young man in that shop that Sister really likes. She wants him to bathe her every time, unless he’s not there, otherwise she doesn’t want anyone else,” Jiang Chen said while driving, chatting with Ling Sheng: “This is probably the only willful thing Sister does.”

Sister had been walked all day and was too tired to move in the car, resting her head on Ling Sheng’s lap, almost falling asleep.

When they arrived, Sister got out of the car and saw the familiar place. Without them needing to lead her, she ran straight inside.

Jiang Chen and Ling Sheng quickly followed with her little pink bag.

“Sister, it’s you, are you here for a bath?”

Sister pounced on a man, enthusiastically wanting to lick his face. The man laughed and dodged her tongue, but his hands still wrapped around Sister.

“Xia Ge.” Jiang Chen walked in with the dog leash and called out with a smile.

The man heard his voice, holding Sister, turned around, a smile still on his face, but his gaze froze when he saw Ling Sheng next to Jiang Chen.

Ling Sheng was also stunned. They looked at each other for three seconds before Ling Sheng spoke: “Xiao Xia, long time no see.”

Jiang Chen stood there, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them, and said in surprise, “You guys know each other?”

Wu Xia let go of Sister, ignoring Sister pouncing on him again, looked at Ling Sheng, his eyes even a little wet: “Long time no see, Sheng Ge.”

Jiang Chen looked at Wu Xia’s appearance and suddenly felt something was not right.

Their dinner for two became three.

Jiang Chen and Ling Sheng sat on one side, Wu Xia sat opposite them, he hunched slightly, looking a little timid, but his eyes were full of eagerness when he looked at Ling Sheng: “Sheng Ge, why didn’t you contact me when you came back to Jiang City?”

Ling Sheng smiled, the smile a little bitter: “I thought you wouldn’t want to see me.”

“How could that be? I’ve been wondering if you’re doing well in Jing City, whether your stomach still hurts, whether you’re eating on time, I… I’ve always been concerned about you.” Wu Xia’s voice gradually lowered as he spoke, but his eyes remained on Ling Sheng.

He knew Ling Sheng’s stomach was bad, knew he didn’t eat regularly. The way he looked at Ling Sheng didn’t seem like an old friend, but more like… an old flame.

Jiang Chen sat on the side, feeling like an outsider.

At this moment, the food was served. The first dish was pan-fried mushrooms. As soon as the waiter put the dish on the table, before Jiang Chen could even touch it, Wu Xia immediately pushed the dish towards Ling Sheng: “Sheng Ge, you like to eat this.”

He even knew Ling Sheng’s preferences.

Ling Sheng noticed that Jiang Chen’s expression wasn’t good, so he pushed the dish to the middle: “Xiao Chen also likes it, let’s put it in the middle and eat together.”

Wu Xia “Mmm”ed and said, “Eat together.”

This meal was very uncomfortable. Wu Xia came to this pet shop a year ago to work as a groomer. He has a good personality and pets like him, so he gets along well with everyone around him. Xie Kun is also a regular customer of this shop and has a membership card, so Jiang Chen is naturally familiar with him.

Wu Xia is usually a bit shy, and he talks to animals more than he talks to people. He’s not good at sales, but he’s gentle, beautiful, and patient, and he looks a bit shy when he smiles. Many female customers, especially older aunties, like him very much.

This was the first time he had seen Wu Xia say so much, and his attitude was… eager, even a bit ingratiating.

In the end, when they left, Wu Xia reluctantly watched them get into the car. After the car door closed, he came over and knocked on the car window. Ling Sheng was sitting in the passenger seat, but the driver’s seat was right in front of the store door, so he knocked on Jiang Chen’s window.

Jiang Chen lowered the window. Wu Xia’s hand clung to the car window, his gaze passing over Jiang Chen, looking at Ling Sheng: “Sheng Ge, can we still WeChat? Can I call you?”

Jiang Chen was stuck in the middle, full of anger. Perhaps Wu Xia was oblivious, or perhaps his gaze had not left Ling Sheng all evening, so he didn’t notice Jiang Chen’s expression.

Ling Sheng hesitated for a moment and said, “I thought you had already deleted me.”

“No, I changed my WeChat. I wanted to add you before, but I was afraid you wouldn’t add me,” Wu Xia shook his head eagerly, his head almost reaching into the car. Jiang Chen could only lean back.

Ling Sheng sighed: “Okay, but I’m usually busy with work, so I might not be able to reply very quickly.”

“It’s okay, just reply when you see it,” Wu Xia looked at him pleadingly, tears almost welling up in his eyes.

“Okay.”

After receiving Ling Sheng’s reply, Wu Xia finally let go and watched Jiang Chen close the car window with eager eyes.

After the car drove away, Jiang Chen asked him stiffly, “How long have you known each other?”

Ling Sheng answered straightforwardly: “We dated for a while.”

Jiang Chen was even more depressed by his straightforward confirmation, and his hand gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter.

Just dated for a while? Wu Xia looked like he still liked Ling Sheng, and not just a little bit. He looked like he was thinking of rekindling his old flame with Ling Sheng!

And in front of him, the real boyfriend!

“How long is ‘a while’?”

“About three months.”

He had only been dating Ling Sheng for a little over a month.

“Oh,” Jiang Chen stared at the countdown numbers on the red light ahead, trying to make his tone sound generous: “That was all in the past, I don’t care.”

Ling Sheng stared out the window in a daze, and only “Mmm”ed when he heard this.

Jiang Chen turned his head to look at him, organized his words for a long time, and added: “You are my boyfriend now, the present is the most important thing.”

Ling Sheng’s phone vibrated, and when he opened it, it was a friend request from Wu Xia. He clicked accept, and they immediately sent a dog greeting sticker.

Jiang Chen noticed out of the corner of his eye that he smiled, and when he lowered his eyes, he saw that he was chatting with someone on WeChat. He was very familiar with that profile picture, it was Wu Xia’s.

Awakened by the sound of the horn behind him, Jiang Chen realized that the light had already turned green. After driving the car out, he saw that Ling Sheng had been chatting with Wu Xia on WeChat, and he felt even more uncomfortable.

When they arrived at Ling Sheng’s apartment complex downstairs, Jiang Chen saw that he was still replying to WeChat. He waited for a few minutes, and Ling Sheng didn’t even lift his head. After reminding himself several times to be generous, he reminded: “We’re here.”

Ling Sheng then raised his head from his phone, looked at his boyfriend’s face full of jealousy and forbearance, smiled: “Then I’ll go back?”

“Mmm, rest early.”

His boyfriend turned his head away proudly.

Ling Sheng reached out and opened the car door, but was pulled back. Jiang Chen unbuckled his seat belt, and his hand holding his arm was stronger than usual: “Goodbye kiss.”

Ling Sheng closed the car door.

When the kiss ended, Jiang Chen reluctantly kissed his nose and chin, just not letting go.

“I’m going back.”

“Mmm.”

Just not letting go.

“Then let go of me.”

Jiang Chen raised his head to look at him, holding back his anger. When he saw Ling Sheng’s smiling eyes, he knew that he had seen through his thoughts and had been waiting for him to speak. He immediately threw away all his generosity: “What were you chatting about just now, all the way?”

Ling Sheng’s hand was in his pants pocket, and at this moment it vibrated, and they both felt it. Ling Sheng was about to take it out, but Jiang Chen pressed his hand down first: “You’ve already broken up, there’s not that much to talk about.”

The phone vibrated again.

Jiang Chen saw his hand reaching up, leaned over and kissed him again. When they kissed just now, Ling Sheng would lean over, but now Jiang Chen completely pinned him to the seat. It was just that this posture was really awkward, and after a while, Jiang Chen had to let go of him.

“If you want to see, see for yourself.”

Ling Sheng’s attitude was open, but the more open he was, the more petty Jiang Chen felt he was, so he got up and sat back, awkwardly saying, “I don’t want to see, that’s your privacy.”

Ling Sheng didn’t say anything, took out his phone from his pants pocket, opened Wu Xia’s WeChat, and handed it to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen turned his face away. He didn’t suspect Ling Sheng, nor did he want to check his WeChat. He just didn’t have much security in this relationship. Their relationship was not public. No one knew they were together, so in the eyes of outsiders, Ling Sheng was free, and anyone could pursue him. Even if Ling Sheng decided to end their relationship one day, no one would know.

“Wu Xia and I met in Jing City before, about two years ago. At that time, I had just ended a relationship and wanted to get a dog. He happened to be working at a pet shop, so we had contact.”

Ling Sheng’s voice was calm, without much fluctuation.

“He is a very gentle person, especially when treating animals. At first, I didn’t think that way, I just thought he was a good person and knew a lot about raising pets, so I consulted him about some pet situations and slowly became familiar with him. One time, I went to the store with a colleague, and he accidentally found out about my sexuality.”

Ling Sheng didn’t deliberately hide his sexuality, but he didn’t think it was something that needed to be publicized, but a few close colleagues knew. That day, he just made a joke, and Wu Xia, who was standing behind the door looking for something, happened to find out.

Later, when he went to the store again, Wu Xia looked at him differently. Ling Sheng was someone who didn’t like to cause trouble, so he went to the store less often, but Wu Xia took the initiative to send him WeChat messages, saying that there were newly born kittens in the store recently, and asked if he wanted to come and see them.

That day, Wu Xia confessed his sexuality to him.

He is an introverted person, his parents died early, and he has no relatives in his family. He was raised by his grandmother. Later, his grandmother died when he was seventeen. His family had no money for school, and his grades were average, so he dropped out of school to work. Without a diploma or skills, he couldn’t do anything else, but he liked animals since he was a child, so he found a pet shop to work at and learned pet grooming. When he was eighteen, he came to Jing City with his fellow villagers, changed a few jobs because he was too introverted to do well, and still felt that he liked to be in contact with animals, so he went back to his old job.

“I have no thoughts about girls since I was a child. When I was a teenager, I found out that I was… was gay, and I didn’t dare to let people know.” He didn’t even dare to make friends. He was shy with girls, and even more afraid of revealing himself to boys. After all, in his hometown, homosexuality was not accepted. Wu Xia looked at him, his face full of excitement: “Sheng Ge, we are both, can we, continue to be friends?”