Chapter 132: This Is Too Generous!
Wen Ling slept until he woke up naturally. When he opened his eyes, his whole body felt warm.
His face was pressed against Cheng Ge’s chest, his head rising and falling rhythmically with Cheng Ge’s breathing.
Wen Ling found it fun, so he closed his eyes again to feel the rhythm, listening to Cheng Ge’s heartbeat. There was no moment that made him feel more secure than this.
Gradually, Wen Ling’s hands began to wander over Cheng Ge’s body. Afraid of waking him, he used only the lightest of touches.
However, he overlooked the fact that tickling can be just as hard to endure.
In just a few strokes, he had scratched Cheng Ge awake.
“Stop it.” Cheng Ge pressed down on Wen Ling’s hand. He wasn’t fully awake yet, his voice was still husky, and he gave a lazy laugh.
Seeing that Cheng Ge was awake, Wen Ling stopped his movements and curled his body to hug Cheng Ge’s waist.
Wen Ling laughed along. “How is it that your voice sounds so nice but makes my ears feel so itchy?”
Cheng Ge didn’t respond, treating it as Wen Ling’s way of covering up his guilt for waking him—part flattery, part “shifting the blame.”
Cheng Ge pinched Wen Ling’s face. “Are you getting up? If not, lie here for a while longer.”
“I’m not getting up,” Wen Ling rested his chin on Cheng Ge’s chest and let out an “ai-ya.” “I’m wide awake now after you pinched me.”
“Then I’ll sleep a bit more.” Cheng Ge laughed, ignoring Wen Ling’s attempts to pick a fight. He kept one arm around Wen Ling’s waist, covered his eyes with the other, and closed them.
He wasn’t going to get drawn into an argument.
Wen Ling wasn’t having it. He tried to pry Cheng Ge’s hand away and tickled him. “Talk to me!”
Cheng Ge couldn’t withstand that tactic. His heart felt itchy, and suppressing his laughter, he stared at Wen Ling.
Only then was Wen Ling satisfied. He stared back at Cheng Ge, then moved his face toward Cheng Ge’s lips, prompting him for a kiss.
This behavior of Wen Ling offering himself up like this was quite a novel experience.
Only after he had been kissed into a state of blissful contentment did Wen Ling settle down, holding Cheng Ge quietly, with most of his body weight leaning on Cheng Ge’s upper half.
“I don’t know how to catch fish,” Wen Ling said suddenly.
Cheng Ge didn’t follow his train of thought. He blinked, sensing Wen Ling had something on his mind, so he gave a soft “mn” to show he was listening.
“I can’t climb trees either. I can only use a stick to knock things down, so all the fruit broke when it hit the ground,” Wen Ling’s voice was muffled, carrying an obvious note of sadness. “I could only let Cheng Ge eat damaged fruit.”
Wen Ling was finally sharing his heart. Cheng Ge simply stroked his back rhythmically to comfort him, not interrupting.
“I even got lost. I don’t know how to do anything…”
“The day before yesterday was the Winter Solstice. Originally… originally I was going to give you a gift. I wanted to make a cake with you, and tell you ‘Happy Birthday,’ but it’s all gone now…”
Wen Ling buried his face in the crook of Cheng Ge’s neck, his voice trembling and choked with sobs. “I didn’t even get to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to you. You were in so much pain… you weren’t happy at all.”
“I gave you the worst birthday ever…”
Wen Ling hadn’t wanted to cry. He felt he should. But the thought that he had messed everything up made him feel so miserable.
“No, don’t think like that, Xiao Wen.” Cheng Ge was frantic, hurriedly wiping away Wen Ling’s tears.
“Just having you with me makes me very happy. I don’t need anything else. The fact that we are both safe is the best gift I could ask for.”
No wonder Wen Ling had looked so sad during dinner; he must have heard Grandpa mention the Winter Solstice and remembered all of this.
When Cheng Ge had realized two days ago was the Winter Solstice, he hadn’t felt sad either. He only felt the profound luck of having survived.
After all, a birthday wasn’t important. Only Xiao Wen was.
“But if I hadn’t insisted on going to the bathroom with you, I wouldn’t have been caught, and you wouldn’t have been caught! Then none of this would have happened!” Wen Ling’s emotions suddenly spiked, filled with pain and self-reproach.
“I don’t know how to do anything, and I even caught a fever. I’m just a burden…”
Wen Ling tried to bury himself against Cheng Ge’s shoulder, crying about being a burden and saying Cheng Ge must be disgusted with him.
Cheng Ge’s head was spinning; he felt both pained and anxious, his brain struggling to keep up.
On one hand, he was worried Wen Ling would suffocate himself, so he coaxed him to lift his head.
On the other hand, he was trying to organize his words. He had never expected Wen Ling to think this way. He had originally only teased Wen Ling about living as “wildmen” for a few days; he hadn’t realized it would make Wen Ling feel so incompetent.
“Who told you that? Who taught you to talk about yourself like that?”
Actually, Cheng Ge was a little angry. Where did all this talk of being a “burden” come from? Was that where Wen Ling was spending all his mental energy?
Wen Ling thought Cheng Ge was genuinely angry and disgusted with him. He felt incredibly wronged, his lips pouting. “…I… I thought of it myself.”
After saying that, he felt a bit scared and hugged Cheng Ge even tighter.
Cheng Ge wanted to sit up and talk to him properly, but Wen Ling was pinning him down so tightly he couldn’t move.
Worried that Wen Ling would really suffocate himself, Cheng Ge could only shout at random, “My leg! My leg hurts! Xiao Wen, get up first, you’re pressing on my leg.”
“Oh! Sorry, Cheng Ge!” That gave Wen Ling a fright. Thinking he’d caused more trouble, he scrambled up and didn’t dare touch Cheng Ge again.
Wen Ling stared at Cheng Ge’s leg, looking frantic, his face streaked with tears. “Where does it hit? Does it hurt a lot?”
As soon as the quilt was lifted, the cold air rushed in. The sensation triggered Wen Ling’s sensitive nose, and he let out two consecutive sneezes.
Cheng Ge sat up and leaned forward to pull Wen Ling back to him. He wrapped the blanket tightly around the boy.
Wen Ling was afraid of accidentally bumping Cheng Ge’s leg again and tried to pull away. “Don’t… I’ll hit your leg.”
“No, you won’t. It’s fine. Just stay close to me.” Cheng Ge stroked Wen Ling’s back, letting him lean against his shoulder. “Is your nose still itchy?”
Wen Ling shook his head, then said, “Not anymore.”
Cheng Ge smoothed Wen Ling’s hair, his voice gentle yet firm. “Listen to me, Xiao Wen.”
“None of this was your fault, understand? If we follow your logic, then if I had gone to the bathroom alone, I would have just been caught right then and there. I probably would have been a discarded corpse long ago. There wouldn’t have been any of the rest of this, right?”
“You said you can’t catch fish or climb trees, but didn’t you still find a way to get food? You didn’t let me go hungry, did you?”
“Besides, I’m not even as capable as you.”
Cheng Ge took a deep breath. “If we’re talking about being useless, then I’m the most useless one, right? I had to lie on a grass mat all day long. I was the real burden, wasn’t I?”
“If I hadn’t been, you wouldn’t have had to go out in the wind and catch a fever. I’m even the reason you almost got lost. Do you think I was a burden?”
Wen Ling grew anxious. “No, it wasn’t like that. How can you think that? You did it to protect me…”
“But I was still a burden, wasn’t I?”
Wen Ling couldn’t stand hearing Cheng Ge talk about himself like that. His heart felt as if it were being squeezed. He tugged at Cheng Ge’s clothes. “No! Don’t think like that, Cheng Ge.”
“Then why do you think like that?”
Wen Ling looked up, his brow furrowed, his eyes barely even round anymore. “I… I just feel like I’m not good…”
“Well, I feel like I’m not good either,” Cheng Ge said.
Wen Ling’s attention shifted entirely to Cheng Ge. He couldn’t understand why Cheng Ge would say such things about himself. It made him so sad.
It was incredibly frustrating.
Wen Ling spoke in a long, drawn-out tone, shaking Cheng Ge as he said, “No, really, you don’t. You’re really, really good.”
He was desperately trying to make Cheng Ge believe him.
“Well, our Xiao Wen is really good too.”
Cheng Ge cupped Wen Ling’s face. “If you can’t stand me thinking that way about myself, it’s the same for me. To me, you are the absolute best. You aren’t allowed to use those words to describe yourself.”
Cheng Ge spoke so seriously, so sincerely, that his eyes reflected only Wen Ling.
Wen Ling’s heart felt scorched, yet also a bit bittersweet.
He leaned in and gave Cheng Ge a forceful hug, burying his face in his chest.
After a moment, Wen Ling looked up, his tone a bit needy. “Then what about your birthday?”
“I didn’t get to give you anything, and I can’t give you anything now. I’m like a pauper.”
It looked like Wen Ling was on the verge of tears again.
Cheng Ge suddenly laughed. He asked with a trace of seriousness, “Aren’t you mine?”
Wen Ling blinked, even more serious than Cheng Ge. He answered loudly, “I am yours!”
Cheng Ge’s smile deepened. “Then aren’t you the best gift I could ever have?”
Wen Ling’s eyes moved, and he froze for a second. Suddenly, he buried his head back into the crook of Cheng Ge’s neck.
He began to nuzzle him frantically.
First, Wen Ling let out an “ah-ya…” sound, and then he said that it seemed he really was Cheng Ge’s best gift.
His voice still had the muffling of someone who had just cried, but the sadness was gone.
He even looked a little embarrassed, which made Cheng Ge’s heart skip.
In the past, Cheng Ge had never understood why Wen Ling always talked about who belonged to whom, or about being wanted or abandoned.
But now, he felt that Wen Ling was his, and he was Wen Ling’s. They belonged to each other.
Their relationship had reached a point that seemed almost pathological.
But as Cheng Ge had said before, if it were Wen Ling, then it didn’t matter.
Wen Ling had been dwelling on this for days. Now that it was out in the open, he stopped overthinking and started acting sweet in Cheng Ge’s arms.
He wanted Cheng Ge to hold him.
Why wasn’t he kissing him?
Cheng Ge didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; Wen Ling was just being needy at random now.
In truth, he hadn’t stopped holding Wen Ling from start to finish, and he had certainly given him plenty of kisses.
But since he was the one who had coaxed him into this state, what could he do? He could only indulge him.
Grandpa returned from town with groceries just as the two had finished their lovey-dovey session and Wen Ling was helping Cheng Ge out of bed.
Normally, an old person living alone would be frugal and reluctant to spend money.
But it was different now that his grandson was here. He’d gone to town with empty hands and returned with bags of all sizes.
Breakfast alone was a huge spread—steamed buns, deep-fried dough sticks, soy milk, and fresh meat wonton soup.
Cheng Ge felt quite embarrassed looking at the table full of food. “Grandpa, this is too generous! We can’t possibly eat all this.”
“This is too generous!” Wen Ling echoed, nodding along with Cheng Ge, which made Grandpa laugh.
“Nonsense. You’re young, it’s good to eat more. You two children need to nourish yourselves,” Grandpa told them to eat with peace of mind. He added cheerfully, “If you really can’t finish, we can feed it to the chickens.”
In any case, nothing would go to waste.
Grandpa picked up a spoon and urged them, “Eat up, eat up. It’s getting cold. It won’t taste good once it’s cold.”
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