Chapter 133: Cheng Ge, Look at Their Mouths
Cheng Ge could sense the kind of hospitality that was simply impossible to refuse.
“Ye-ye, you should eat more too.” Cheng Ge saw that Grandpa was just watching them with a beaming smile without moving his own chopsticks much, so he urged the old man to eat as well.
“Ye-ye, eat more,” Wen Ling echoed, mimicking Cheng Ge’s exact tone.
Grandpa’s face was full of smiles. “Good, good. I’ll eat, we’ll all eat together.”
Cheng Ge smiled and nodded, and Wen Ling followed suit with an identical nod.
Grandpa took a few bites of his wontons, but his eyes kept drifting back to the two youngsters.
As Cheng Ge noticed the gaze, he gave Grandpa a small smile. Promptly, Wen Ling offered the old man a shallow, identical smile of his own.
Grandpa’s eyes crinkled into a grin, the wrinkles around them appearing kind and gentle rather than aged.
“Why are you two like a pair of repeaters? Even your movements while eating are exactly the same. Now that I look at you, Wen-zai really does seem a bit like our Xiao Cheng.”
“Huh?” Cheng Ge looked up at his smiling grandfather.
He glanced over at Wen Ling, who was currently munching on a steamed bun, and couldn’t help but let his own eyes crinkle into a smile as well.
Cheng Ge chewed the bun, took a sip of soy milk, and swallowed everything.
“We’re roommates. Habits tend to rub off on each other when you live together.”
Grandpa nodded understandingly. “Well, I suppose living together would make you start to look alike.”
“Right, right,” Cheng Ge agreed.
Cheng Ge said that out loud, but in his head, he had already called Wen Ling a “little copycat” twice.
One of Wen Ling’s favorite daily games was mimicking everything Cheng Ge did.
Aside from finding it amusing and wanting Cheng Ge’s attention, the other reason was that Wen Ling felt it made them “in sync,” which made them look like a perfect match.
But truth be told, Cheng Ge couldn’t really blame Wen Ling for the way he ate—Cheng Ge had taught him that himself.
It had started a long, long time ago, back when they were still at the villa.
At that time, Wen Ling’s stomach was so ruined that medicine could barely touch it. Even eating slightly too fast would cause him pain.
Yet, Wen Ling always ate incredibly quickly, as if it were a habit ingrained since childhood.
Cheng Ge would have barely taken two bites of rice before Wen Ling had already stuffed his mouth full.
His cheeks would bulge and move as he swallowed after only a few chews, as if he were terrified he wouldn’t get to eat if he were too slow.
Shortly after finishing, he would droop his eyelids and tell Cheng Ge his stomach hurt, asking for a massage.
Back then, Cheng Ge had been so annoyed with him. He kept telling Wen Ling to eat slower, but the guy stubbornly refused to listen, only seeking him out once the pain started.
That wouldn’t have been so bad, but seeing Wen Ling curled up with a furrowed brow in his arms was just plain distressing; it drove Cheng Ge crazy.
The most frustrating part was trying to communicate with him.
Cheng Ge would ask, “Where does it hurt?” and Wen Ling would just say, “It just hurts.” When asked, “Where does it feel best when I press?” Wen Ling would answer, “It all feels good.”
This made it difficult for Cheng Ge to know where to start or which spots would provide the quickest relief. He could only lower his head and study Wen Ling’s expressions.
He mostly watched Wen Ling’s eyebrows.
At the time, Cheng Ge still couldn’t read Wen Ling’s expressions or eyes very well. He could only tell if his brow was relaxed or knitted, and used that to determine where to massage his abdomen.
After doing it enough times, Cheng Ge became an expert at soothing Wen Ling, usually getting him to fall into a deep sleep within ten minutes.
Cheng Ge hadn’t been happy about it; to save himself from being a permanent servant to this “Little Emperor,” he started researching Wen Ling’s ideal meal portions, the proper speed for eating, and what foods were easiest to digest and gentlest on the stomach.
Once the health regimen was on track, everything else became easier. As long as Cheng Ge was the one looking after him, Wen Ling was willing to listen.
Except for the eating speed. Even under Cheng Ge’s watchful eye, the bowl would be empty in a flash.
“Why don’t you just mimic the way I eat? I take a bite, you take a bite. I chew a certain number of times, you chew a certain number of times.”
Cheng Ge had said that himself back then, even as he wondered if he was going crazy, worrying like this just to raise a favorability score.
At the time, he was convinced it was purely for the mission.
Wen Ling had thought it was a fun game and started copying him. Over time, it became a habit.
In fact, if one were to look for the origin of Wen Ling being a “copycat,” this incident was the root of it.
That was just how Wen Ling was; he learned many things from Cheng Ge.
Initially, Wen Ling’s awareness of his own body had been clumsy and vague. In the very beginning, he hadn’t even realized when he was in pain.
It was Cheng Ge who had told him, point by point, teaching him until Wen Ling truly understood when and where he hurt.
Then he would go to Cheng Ge and talk about his pain, secretly hoping Cheng Ge would come to look after him, hold him, or kiss him.
Now, just as Cheng Ge feared Wen Ling being in pain, Wen Ling feared Cheng Ge being in pain. Neither wanted the other to suffer.
It wasn’t just their eating and behavior habits; by now, they even loved in much the same way.
Just like now—after finishing the meal, Wen Ling helped Ye-ye with the dishes and brought him hot water.
Wen Ling knew that if Cheng Ge’s leg weren’t injured, he would definitely be doing these things for his grandfather.
Ye-ye, of course, wouldn’t actually let the children do the work. He kept telling Wen-zai and Xiao Cheng to go out and get some sun. So Wen Ling just stood by and helped Ye-ye put the clean dishes onto the rack to dry.
Cheng Ge took a rare moment of leisure to watch the silhouettes of Wen Ling and his grandfather. The sunlight streamed in, illuminating the old man and the young one, warming Cheng Ge’s heart.
Once the dishes were done, Ye-ye still had to feed the chickens. This was a job Wen Ling truly couldn’t handle; he said the chickens kept staring at him and he was afraid they would peck him.
“Look, he’s staring at us again.” Wen Ling pointed at a chicken, calling it “cross-eyed.”
Cheng Ge handed the chicken feed to Ye-ye and told him to be careful. Then he turned to look at the frowning Wen Ling and couldn’t help but laugh.
His lips were permanently curved up; it was rare to see Wen Ling afraid of anything.
“Don’t frown, Xiao Wen.” Cheng Ge said with a laugh. “Ye-ye says chickens don’t usually peck people, and even if they do, it doesn’t hurt. Don’t be afraid.”
Wen Ling pulled Cheng Ge’s wheelchair a bit further away. “It’s not that I’m afraid of it hurting.”
“Huh?” Cheng Ge didn’t understand.
“Cheng Ge, look at their mouths.”
Cheng Ge squinted and looked, but couldn’t see anything unusual. “What?”
“I think they have poop on them,” Wen Ling answered with total seriousness.
Cheng Ge: “…”
Cheng Ge had nothing to say to that; Xiao Wen was indeed a bit of a germaphobe.
While Ye-ye was busy with the chickens, Cheng Ge and Wen Ling helped him dry the plum vegetables and sausages. Once they were finished, the two went inside to rest.
Before long, Ye-ye came in holding his old mobile phone and knocked on the door. “Xiao Cheng! Someone’s looking for you. He says he’s your classmate, something like… Huang Dong-dong, I think.”
“Huh?” Cheng Ge’s brain did a quick lap before he remembered he had left Ye-ye’s number.
Cheng Ge hurriedly took the phone, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Wang Lei, Wang Lei. He’s my classmate.”
“Cheng Ge!” The speakerphone was on, and the voice was ear-splittingly loud.
“How are you and Wen Ling? Are you guys okay?”
Wen Ling scooted closer to listen. Cheng Ge answered while turning the volume down.
“We’re fine. Both of us are okay, don’t worry.”
Wang Lei: “I was scared to death! What exactly happened?”
Cheng Ge: “Nothing much. We were basically kidnapped, but everything is fine now.”
Wang Lei: “Kidnapped?! Where are you now?”
Cheng Ge: “I’m at my Ye-ye’s house.”
“What?” Zhang Fan’s voice was full of surprise. “You have a Ye-ye?”
“Huh?” Cheng Ge stole a glance at his grandfather. Ye-ye was looking at him with a mix of curiosity and concern; he probably hadn’t caught the exact words.
“Of course I do. You didn’t know?” Cheng Ge turned the volume down even more as he waited for Wang Lei’s response.
“We had no idea. No one in the dorm knew. You never mentioned him. Even during the long holidays or for New Year’s, you never went home.”
“I see.” Cheng Ge realized that the original host likely didn’t like talking about his family and rarely returned home.
The two talked for a bit, and Cheng Ge asked Wang Lei to express-mail their phones to them as soon as possible. There were too many things they needed their phones for now.
“When are you coming back to school?” Wang Lei asked.
Cheng Ge traced a circle on his thigh and shared a few looks with Wen Ling. “We’ll see,” he said. “Nothing’s certain yet.”
After hanging up, the room went quiet for a moment. Ye-ye asked worriedly, “What did that Huang Lei Wang Lei classmate say?”
Cheng Ge blinked. “…Huh?”
“Your classmate, Huang Lei Wang Lei. What did he say? Is something wrong?”
Cheng Ge finally realized what had happened and couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “No, Ye-ye. It’s just Wang Lei. Two characters, not four.”
Cheng Ge made a silent vow never to confirm a name by repeating it twice again…
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