T/N: And we’re done!
Huge appreciation to all my ko-fi supporters (particularly Rebecca for helping push us through the finish line this week) and lovely readers for supporting WY and QJR on their journey!! Hope you got your fill of dog food and vinegar.
Thank you!
-k
P.S. You can find links to all my ongoing and completed projects here. Readers are also welcome to dive into my new modern day, entertainment BL project here! 🎉
Luo Haoxin thought for a while and replied, “About half a month.”
“It’s so long!” Yu Heng’s expression was very unhappy when he heard this answer.
“If you’re afraid of affecting the one-year deadline, you can postpone it for another half a month.”
Hearing him say this, Yu Heng’s fur suddenly exploded like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
In Luo Haoxin’s tone it was as if he wanted Luo Haoxin to stay by his side. He lowered his face and said reluctantly, “It’s only half a month, just come back to me when the time is up.”
That afternoon, Luo Haoxin flew to the southwest. Yu Heng didn’t send him off, but when he was working in the office in the afternoon, he was always absent-minded. When he returned to the villa in the evening and saw the empty room, a strange uncomfortable feeling suddenly came up.
Yu Heng opened WeChat, and Luo Haoxin sent him a message when he left, but he never sent him any messages again. He had no idea when he arrived or what he was doing now.
There was an indescribable irritability in Yu Heng’s chest. He paced back and forth in the villa. Several times he couldn’t help but want to call Luo Haoxin to ask, but he didn’t know what to think and put down his phone again.
Luo Haoxin didn’t contact him, so as his sponsor, it was naturally even more impossible for him to take the initiative to reach out. He would lose face.
Yu Heng endured it for three days. During these three days, Luo Haoxin didn’t call him a single message or a phone call. On the fourth day, he finally reached his limit, and called Luo Haoxin.
Just as soon as the call was connected, he suddenly realized that his behavior was a little abnormal, and immediately hung up the phone. A few minutes later, Luo Haoxin called.
“What’s the matter?” The man’s voice was gentle.
When Yu Heng heard his voice, most of the irritability in his heart disappeared in an instant, but his face was still cold.
“I just dialed the wrong number. It’s nothing. Why did you call?”
“If it’s nothing, I’ll hang up.”
“Wait, where are you now? What are you doing over there? I’m warning you, when you’re with me, don’t delusionally think that you have anything to do with other men.”
Luo Haoxin smiled, not expecting Yu Heng to have such thoughts.
“Don’t worry, I will maintain the spirit of the contract, and I will not do anything that violates the contract within this year.”
Yu Heng’s expression improved at his words, and after asking a few questions about Luo Haoxin’s current situation, he hung up.
Luo Haoxin put down his phone and sighed helplessly. He walked out from the bedroom and into the living room. Mother Luo was making leek pancakes. When she saw him coming out, she immediately smiled. “Whose call was that just now? So nervous?”
“From a partner.” Luo Haoxin said this. That’s right, isn’t his current relationship with Yu Heng a partnership?
“You’re in your thirties, shouldn’t it be time to think about your lifelong events?”
Luo Haoxin smiled reluctantly, looking at the black-and-white photo of his father hanging on the wall, with no emotion in his black eyes.
He has never told his family about his sexuality. His mother worked hard for so many years to raise him and his siblings. All of them are married and have children, and he is the only one who is still single. He knows that his mother must have noticed his abnormality.
“Mom, my career isn’t stable. I don’t have time to think about these things now.”
She sighed, wiping off the flour on her hands, and took off her apron.
“Son, mom is already very satisfied with what you have achieved today. None of your younger siblings are as promising as you. Mom doesn’t have any extravagant expectations for you, I just hope you can find someone you really like and live peacefully in the future.”
Luo Haoxin nodded and helped her put the leek pancakes into the refrigerator. After closing the refrigerator door, he heard his mother’s voice again.
“The times are different now, mom knows this. If you really like a person, bring them back and show me. Whether it’s a man or a woman, mom doesn’t mind.”
Hearing the last sentence, Luo Haoxin’s expression stiffened, and he subconsciously denied it. “Mom, what are you talking about? I’m not thinking about these things at all. My whole focus now is work.”
“Okay, I’m not trying to force you. As long as you’re happy.”
Watching his mother enter the back of the kitchen, back hunched, her figure seemed so small in front of him, and he was a bit uncomfortable.
He didn’t know when his mother found out. Maybe it was because he had never been in a relationship with a girl for so many years, or maybe it was because during the New Years and holidays, whenever a relative wanted to show him a blind date, he politely refused. But Luo Haoxin also knew in his heart that even if his mother could accept it, two men being together was not so simple.
What’s more, he and Yu Heng are in an unspeakable relationship now. His own love life is in a mess, how can he possibly satisfy his mother’s wish?
Thinking of Yu Heng, Luo Haoxin remembered the previous phone call. Maybe it was his delusion, but he felt that Yu Heng cared about him in his heart. Could it be that he didn’t contact each other these days, so Yu Heng cared more about him? Isn’t he a guy who doesn’t talk about feelings?
Luo Haoxin didn’t understand, and he didn’t think about it. In the remaining days, he was busy discussing cooperation with the local government, and went to the new school building he donated before to have a look. What surprised him was that there were several more teachers, all of whom were unfamiliar faces he had never seen before.
He greeted the old dean and went outside the classroom to listen to a class. He had nothing to do, and it was rare he had free time, so he listened to the fifth grade math class with relish. The lecturer was a handsome male college student. When the class was about to end, he finally realized that there was a man outside the classroom. As soon as the class bell rang, he walked over to Luo Haoxin with the lesson plan and book in hand.
“May I ask if you are President Luo?”
Luo Haoxin smiled politely and briefly introduced himself.
“My name is Gu Zhen. It’s really nice to meet President Luo. What does President Luo think about my teaching?”
“I don’t know anything about teaching, but it was quite interesting to listen to. You speak well.”
The young man smiled shyly at the words of praise.
“Do you have any plans for the evening, President Luo? Why don’t we have a light meal at school?”
“No, I have to go to other towns for inspection tomorrow, and don’t have time.”
It wasn’t that Luo Haoxin didn’t notice the subtle emotions in his eyes. As a fellow gay, his radar is always very sensitive. But since he had promised Yu Heng, he couldn’t do anything, not to mention that he was still a young college student, and he didn’t want to delay others.
Over the next few days, Luo Haoxin took his assistant to the next town for inspection and talked with the township governments about poverty alleviation cooperation projects. When they were returning on the last day, it rained heavily and the road had not been repaired. They encountered a landslide while driving on the mountain road, and the car’s wheels got stuck in the muddy road.
Driving wasn’t possible, so Luo Haoxin and his assistant had to get out of the car with an umbrella, avoiding the slippery gravel as they trudged down the mountain with great difficulty.
This once in a century torrential downpour quickly made the local news, and because of the landslide overturned van transporting goods and killed people, it also made headlines on CCTV1 major Chinese broadcasting station. Equivalent of BBC for UK.
When Yu Heng saw the news, he was drinking tea at Qi Jinran’s house. He counted the days, and estimated that Luo Haoxin would be back tomorrow. He couldn’t help feeling anticipation, until he saw the TV news broadcast.
His hand holding the teacup shook, and hot tea splashed on the back of his hand. But He couldn’t feel the pain as indescribable panic spread across his chest.
Qi Jinran seemed to see what he was thinking. “You said before that Luo Haoxin returned to his hometown in the southwest, right? Don’t worry, they shouldn’t be so unlucky to encounter a landslide.”
Yu Heng nodded reluctantly and went to call Luo Haoxin’s phone from the balcony. He dialed several times, but the other side was always turned off. Growing increasingly worried, he opened the glass door leading to the living room and walked out.
“Yu Heng, what are you going to do?” Qi Jinran asked him from behind.
Yu Heng was stunned, and replied in a daze, “I…I just want to go and see.”
“Go to see Luo Haoxin?” Qi Jinran asked bluntly.
“Yu Heng, you’d better think about it before you go. Luo Haoxin is a very serious and persistent person once something begins. If you aren’t serious, don’t casually start something.”
Yu Heng couldn’t refute this. However, in his mind, even if it was too late to say it, they already started.
With a sense of helplessness, Yu Heng bought the fastest flight, and after several transfers, finally arrived at the town where Luo Haoxin lived.
As a well-known entrepreneur, Luo Haoxin is very famous here. After a few inquiries, he learned where the other party lives, and also that Luo Haoxin was still in the next town and did not come back. When he heard from the villagers that the only road to the next town is the mountain road where that landslide happened, his anxiety instantly soared.
He called Luo Haoxin countless times, but the other party didn’t answer. Unable to bear the welling panic, he simply held an umbrella and a raincoat, and asked a villager to guide him to the mountain road, where he encountered a fire truck. Fortunately, he didn’t see the ambulance, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have the strength to finish walking.
The heavy rain almost completely obstructed his vision. His trousers and shoes were already soaked as he walked through the rain. The farther he walked, the clearer the mist-shrouded emotions in his heart became. Until this moment, he finally understood that it wasn’t Luo Haoxin who got caught, but himself.
“President Luo, we finally found you. Did you guys also walk over?” The villagers greeted the two people who were drenched in water on the opposite side with excitement.
When Luo Haoxin saw him, he greeted Brother Li, and then turned his eyes to the man in the raincoat beside him, stunned.
What is Yu Heng doing here?
Yu Heng stared blankly at the man who suddenly appeared in the rain curtain, carefully looking at Luo Haoxin’s brow bones, the bridge of his nose, and the pale lips wet from the rain.
He stood right in front of him, and nothing happened. Yu Heng’s cold heart seemed to be injected with a warm current at this joyous realization.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“The phone is out of power.” Luo Haoxin couldn’t figure it out. Could it be that Yu Heng flew all the way over because he didn’t answer the phone, just to question him?
“When did you arrive?”
Before Yu Heng could speak, the villagers next to him said first, “Oh, President Luo, this gentleman really cares about you. He asked about your news as soon as he came. Hearing you were stuck on the mountain road, he didn’t listen to any persuasion and insisted on coming to help you. President Luo, you really made a good friend.”
Seeing Yu Heng’s uneasy face, Luo Haoxin suddenly smiled. He touched the rain on his face and walked to Yu Heng.
“Come on, come home with me and change clothes first.”
“What’s so funny?” Yu Heng glared at him.
The smile in Luo Haoxin’s eyes became brighter, and even the assistant beside him could feel his happiness from the bottom of his heart.
“I just didn’t expect to be so valued by President Yu. I’m flattered.”
Yu Heng took a shower after arriving at Luo Haoxin’s home. After changing into Luo Haoxin’s clothes, Luo Haoxin came out of the bathroom, wearing casual clothes and trousers, looking very casual.
“I’ll have to wrong President Yu to stay here tonight.”
“It’s fine, I can tolerate it. I say, you made so much money, why didn’t you make the house bigger? How good would it be to get a townhouse.”
“Mom doesn’t like very big houses, this is just right.”
“I passed the living room just now and saw your dad’s picture on the wall. Did uncle pass away?”
“Well, he passed away very early because of a factory accident.”
Yu Heng frowned. Although Luo Haoxin’s tone was calm, he could sense the sadness underneath.
He always thought that as long as it was an ordinary family, it would be happier than his. But thinking about it now, this isn’t necessarily true.
“My mother went out to buy vegetables and won’t be back in a while. Are you going to take a look in the yard? I planted some trees and roses.”
The heavy rain had stopped, and the weather had finally begun to clear outside the window.
“No need, I want to sleep now.”
Probably because his words were ambiguous, Luo Haoxin’s face froze, and he put his hand on his top button. Before he could move, Yu Heng waved his hand first.
“Don’t get me wrong, I just want to rest. Aren’t you tired from being in the rain for so long and walking for a few hours?”
So, he simply wanted him to accompany him to sleep?
Luo Haoxin blinked. After a long time, he seemed to understand something, and said softly, “Okay.”
While lying on the bed and looking at the back of Yu Heng’s head, Luo Haoxin thought, maybe his mother’s wish… wasn’t that difficult to achieve…
And AMWDT is finished!
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