The Early Spring - Chapter 93

Chapter 93 - Schemes 

Shang Zhitao took care of Luan Nian at his house for three consecutive days. The third day was Saturday, and she had an appointment with her teacher for a French lesson. Getting out of bed, she heard that Luan Nian was up as well, so she knocked and stood at his bedroom door to ask him, “Luke, how are you feeling? Do you feel a bit better today?”

“Getting better.” Those two words were ambiguous; he didn't explicitly say whether he was actually better or not.

Shang Zhitao nodded. “If you’re getting better, does that mean the stone is about to pass? Didn't they say it hurts the most right before it comes out?”

“Presumably. It varies from person to person.” Luan Nian opened the door, his complexion slightly pale.

Shang Zhitao thought he looked truly pitiful and said, “Your complexion really looks terrible. Should I stew a chicken for you to nourish your body?” Over the past few days, she had shown off the few dishes she had learned one after another, and the flavors were all hard to describe. Yet Luan Nian forced himself to eat all of it, showing a rare sense of empathy, unable to bear brushing off her good intentions. At times, he also wondered: oil, salt, soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, and oyster sauce—weren't those the only few seasonings? She just couldn't seem to figure them out. Either she put too much of one, or forgot to add another; in short, it was never tasty. Hearing her say she wanted to stew a chicken now, he shook his head: “I want to eat something else.”

“What else?”

“Seafood, I suppose.” Fearing Shang Zhitao would persist, he pulled out his phone to call a friend: “Can you deliver a meal for me?” Then he started ordering dishes. Shang Zhitao heard abalone, lobster, and sea cucumber, and followed right behind him: “You don’t seem to...” Shang Zhitao wanted to say that he wasn't fully recovered yet and shouldn't be eating those things.

“Shh.” Luan Nian placed his index finger in front of his lips, hushing her to keep quiet. After placing the order, he sat back down on the sofa, looking like a sickly person.

Shang Zhitao sat down beside him to discuss his condition: “The doctor said that day that at the fastest it would take one or two days, and at the slowest three or four days. It ought to be coming out soon.”

“Mm.”

“So today should be about right.” She pointed her finger toward his lower abdomen. “Do you feel anything?”

The spot she pointed at was a bit sensitive. Luan Nian lowered his head to glance at it—he and Shang Zhitao weren't looking at the exact same spot at all—and gave a cough. “No.”

“Oh.”

A moment later, Shang Zhitao asked him again, “Does it still hurt?”

“Intermittent pain, I guess.”

“Then do you think you can stay by yourself? I think you look much better than you did that day. I can take Luke with me now. I made plans with someone for the weekend.”

“Plans with who? That guy who teaches ice hockey?” Luan Nian asked her.

“How do you know I have a friend who teaches ice hockey?”

Luan Nian raised an eyebrow. Was it hard to find out? What couldn't one overhear in the company pantry? Lumi’s loud mouth couldn't wait to make sure the whole world knew.

They were talking about Wan Jun. Initially, Shang Zhitao and Wan Jun kept in contact every day, and Shang Zhitao’s mindset was positive and proactive. She didn't dislike Wan Jun. Sun Yu had told her that if she kept turning him down, it made it look like she was stringing him along. Although Shang Zhitao insisted on splitting costs evenly and sent back gifts of equal value whenever Wan Jun gave her something, the time consumed was also an intangible asset.

Shang Zhitao had considered slowly beginning a romantic relationship with Wan Jun; one had to try different possibilities. It was during Wan Jun’s first visit to her apartment, when he saw Luke and showed a look of disgust, saying to Shang Zhitao: “I don’t like dogs. If we start dating, we’ll definitely have to give the dog away.”

That was a living creature—give him away just like that? I had Luke before I even knew you, who the hell do you think you are? She blocked his contact that very day.

She had told Lumi about this story, and Lumi had slapped her shoulder and praised her: “Beautifully done! Today he tells you to give away the dog, tomorrow he’ll tell you to give away your parents, and in the end, everything has to go his way. Blocking him was the right move.”

Shang Zhitao didn't actually think Wan Jun would make her give away her parents, but simply felt that his inability to accept Luke was very hard for her to swallow.

Luan Nian turned his head to look at her, with Luke sitting right in front of them. Luan Nian’s expression was focused, as if wearing a pair of X-ray glasses, wanting to see right through Shang Zhitao.

“Shang Zhitao.”

“Mm?”

“You said that day that you’re in your twenties and want to take a risk.”

“Yes.”

“Are you willing to take another risk? With me.”

From the moment they parted at Victoria Harbour, Luan Nian felt that he had lost something. What Shang Zhitao gave him happened to be the exact piece missing from his life, a piece far too precious. He couldn't find it back. Luan Nian had always known that he was actually terrible. He hadn't understood it before, but now he wanted to try a new possibility.

Shang Zhitao looked at Luan Nian. That day at Under Bridge Spicy Crab, when he walked into that shabby restaurant, it was like descending from heaven into the mortal realm. In that moment, she had thought something more would happen between them. Yet Victoria Harbour was so beautiful, and he hadn't taken her hand. She had made her peace with it and wanted to move forward. Meeting men and working hard to go on dates during this period were all efforts to break out of that state.

She couldn't turn back again.

“No.” She smiled and said to Luan Nian, “That doesn’t count as taking a risk; it’s just walking down an old path again. I don’t like that.” She stood up and said to Luke, “Let's go, time to go home.”

Holding Luke on his leash, she walked outside. The spring sunshine was so lovely, and Luke squatted his eyes in sheer happiness, thinking that Shang Zhitao was taking him for a walk and would head back after. When Shang Zhitao reached the entrance, the security captain greeted her: “Walking the dog, Miss Shang?”

Shang Zhitao stopped and asked him, “Do you know if anyone in this residential community makes fresh meat dog food?”

“I do. Someone stood right here handing out promotional flyers before the New Year.”

So Luan Nian had taken the promotional flyer and hadn't thrown it away? Was he planning to raise another dog, or was it someone else he knew who kept a dog? What on earth was he thinking? Shang Zhitao led Luke back, wanting to verify it.

Luan Nian opened the door, and she asked straight out, “Do you still have that promotional flyer for the fresh meat dog food?”

Luan Nian pointed toward the shoe cabinet. She opened it to look, and there it lay, plain as day inside.

“Why did you keep this? You don’t even have a dog.”

“In case Luke came over...”

Shang Zhitao grabbed his collar and kissed him. She didn't want to hear him speak; he was always saying things he didn't mean, making her feel miserable. She felt that Luan Nian was actually a man worth examining closely. His mouth was always saying the harshest words, yet his actions were tender. For instance, he said he didn't like Luke, yet he bought so much food for Luke and treated him so well; for instance, he said she was stupid and that he couldn't be bothered to teach her, yet he had been teaching her continuously for five years without ever stopping, even after their relationship ended; for instance, he said he didn't like her, yet he cared for her and protected her. He had the worst mouth, but also a gentle heart. Shang Zhitao finally understood.

Her kiss was far too eager, her teeth biting into his lips, wishing she could bite off this mouth of his that couldn't speak properly. Yet mid-effort, her heart ached; the tip of her tongue replaced her teeth, softness replacing sharpness. It made Luan Nian’s hard heart surge with wild joy.

Her hands holding his collar refused to let go, nor would she allow him to retreat. He was the one who had invited her to take a risk together, and here she was. Lips pressed against his, her senses could hardly remain clear, her hot breath burning: “Is this my adventure?”

Luan Nian pushed her against the wall, pressing his body up, his hand sliding into her shirt with a touch of aggression: “Don’t back down.” The roughness of his palm ground heavily over her jade-like skin, his teeth biting into her neck before pressing the tip of his tongue against it. Shang Zhitao let out a soft gasp, arching her body to accommodate him, her chest heaving, separated by his hand and then pushed back against the wall once more. A dull ache hit her back, making Shang Zhitao groan quietly, but Luan Nian blocked her lips.

Her shirt was too much in the way. Luan Nian disliked it and used great force, sending buttons popping across the floor. It frightened Luke on the side so much that he bounded up, staring at them in a daze, completely unable to comprehend what they were doing.

Amid the sound of buttons hitting the floor, Shang Zhitao faced the wall, her back pressed against his burning chest, crumbling completely under the movements of his fingertips.

“Luan Nian...” She called his name, wanting him to enter.

The doorbell rang heedlessly, making the two of them startle like birds startled by the twang of a bow string. Shang Zhitao held her breath, her movements frozen. She turned around to gasp for air in his embrace, constantly feeling like that breath was suspended in her chest and couldn't be released. She was a bit reproachful toward him for provoking her, having already forgotten that she was the one who kissed him first. Tearing off her mask of self-restraint and politeness, she acted coy for the first time in over half a year: “Luan Nian...”

That soft call of his name nearly took his life. He bent down and scooped her up into his arms to head upstairs. Shang Zhitao hurriedly patted his chest: “The doorbell!”

“To hell with it!”

Luan Nian hated the doorbell. Right now, he only wanted to let his brother run wild and take risks inside Shang Zhitao’s body. Tossing Shang Zhitao onto the bed, her shirt disheveled, half of a snow-white, delicate shoulder was exposed. Luan Nian’s gaze looked as if he wanted to devour her. Shang Zhitao suddenly cringed back toward the headboard, but his hand grabbed her ankle, pulling her beneath him at last.

Thrusting into the deepest place, Shang Zhitao’s toes curled up, her eyes misty as she called out his name: “Luan Nian.”

“I’m here,” he responded to her, his voice trembling due to the fierce movements. He knew her body intimately, knowing where she was most sensitive. Wherever she was sensitive, that was where he targeted. The dampness grew increasingly thick, and Shang Zhitao crumbled completely amidst a sea of bright light.

Thoroughly fulfilled.

Catching his breath, Luan Nian picked up his phone and saw five or six missed calls, as well as a flurry of messages: “Didn’t you order seafood? Where are you?”

“Told the delivery driver to leave it at your doorstep. Get it yourself.”

Luan Nian took a shower, threw on some clothing at random, and went downstairs to fetch the seafood boxes—a full five boxes of live seafood. Entering the house, he began preparing the soup base, wanting to have a seafood hotpot.

Behind him stood Shang Zhitao, having come to a sudden realization: “Luan Nian, your stone... did it pass?”

With his back to her, Luan Nian’s expression shifted slightly before he spoke after a moment: “Don’t know. But it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

He hadn't foreseen that one day he would turn the tables and play the sympathy card to his advantage. Initially, the reason was very simple: he wanted to stay with her a little longer. Staying a little longer, greed took root. He wanted to take a risk with her.

Luan Nian felt that the thirty-plus years he had lived in the past hadn't necessarily possessed any real color. It was only after meeting Shang Zhitao that he began to accept the diversity of human nature, began to see the ordinary warmth of everyday life that most people lived, and began to understand human weaknesses and genuine human desires. The night scenery at Victoria Harbour had been beautiful, and he should have said something romantic, yet he had been selfish enough to push her away. Looking back on it in later days, he realized his own absurdity.

Luan Nian had never been an upright person; he would use any means necessary to achieve his goals. He had stolen her key, and he had faked being sick. A man should be adaptable, so he didn't feel embarrassed. It was just that faking an illness today was different from stealing a key back then. Back then, he only liked her body—perhaps he liked her as a person too, but not deeply. At this moment, however, he wanted to be with her and properly take a risk together, to see if there could be anything different between them.

There was no good or bad, right or wrong in matters of emotion; it was simply a matter of where two people wanted to head. This time, Luan Nian turned his steering wheel around and drove toward Shang Zhitao.

Shang Zhitao wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, her tone nagging yet touched with gentleness: “Passing the stone is a good thing; keeping it secret was wrong of you. How did you get to be so scheming?”

Luan Nian cleaned the seafood while saying, “What man is actually a good person?”