Chapter 74: Our Wen Ling
“Kiss me a few more times.” Wen Ling wasn’t angry at all, still tugging at Cheng Ge’s clothes to take an inch after being given a yard.
Probably because he had just woken up, Cheng Ge’s awkward emotions hadn’t surfaced yet. He followed Wen Ling’s request and kissed his face all over, until the person was satisfied.
By the time Cheng Ge and Wen Ling woke up, the movie had long since ended. After another round of dawdling, it was already evening.
Leaving the private screening room, Cheng Ge prepared to call a taxi to the snack street.
“Wait for me here for a moment. I need to go somewhere.”
“Where to? Let’s go together.”
“No. You can’t come.”
Cheng Ge laughed. It was the first time he’d seen Wen Ling proactively say they shouldn’t go together. “I can’t come?”
Wen Ling nodded. “Mm.”
“Okay then. Is it far? Is it out of the way?” If it was too far or too out of the way, Cheng Ge had to follow. How could he be at ease?
“Not far. Just nearby. Um… it should only take twenty minutes.”
“Then go. Keep in touch.”
“Okay,” Wen Ling said and left.
He said twenty minutes, but Wen Ling took nearly thirty. If Cheng Ge hadn’t been constantly receiving voice replies and the location hadn’t consistently shown Wen Ling in a handicraft shop, Cheng Ge would have definitely gone looking for him.
Wen Ling got out of the car and jogged over to Cheng Ge. “I’m back.”
“I know.” Cheng Ge glanced at his phone. The taxi he’d called had also arrived. He grabbed Wen Ling’s wrist. “Let’s go.”
The snack street was near the school and usually had a lot of foot traffic. However, it was still early, so many vendors were just setting up; it wasn’t too crowded yet.
Cheng Ge used to think Wen Ling didn’t like snacks, but he later found that Wen Ling actually quite enjoyed them.
The things Cheng Ge liked were a bit different from Wen Ling’s. Cheng Ge’s palate leaned toward salty, and he liked adding some chili. Wen Ling’s palate leaned toward sweet, and he could hardly eat anything spicy.
The two of them bought and ate as they walked. Whenever Cheng Ge saw a sweet snack, he would ask Wen Ling if he wanted it.
“I’ll have two jianbing guozi, add bacon and chicken cutlet.”
“Do you want it spicy?”
“One spicy, one not. For the non-spicy one, add some seaweed and extra salad dressing. Oh, make the non-spicy one first.”
“Coming right up. That’ll be twenty-three yuan total.”
“Okay.”
Cheng Ge scanned the code to pay, but his sleeve was tugged by Wen Ling. “I’ll pay.”
It was just twenty-something yuan; Cheng Ge didn’t mind. He even joked, “Did you do something to feel guilty about?”
He was given a strange glare by Wen Ling.
Before, Cheng Ge had felt awkward about spending Wen Ling’s money and didn’t want to owe him anything. Later, he didn’t mind so much, but he was still used to covering the expenses. So usually, taxi rides or shopping were paid for by Cheng Ge.
Today, Wen Ling was actually savvy enough to “know the ways of the world” and fight for the bill. Cheng Ge found it novel.
“Here, non-spicy.” The vendor packed Wen Ling’s portion. Cheng Ge took it and stuffed it into Wen Ling’s hand. “Eat.”
Wen Ling ate slowly, and he couldn’t eat quickly anyway—his stomach couldn’t take it. So if there was food, Cheng Ge would let Wen Ling eat first.
“You eat.” Wen Ling held the jianbing guozi up to Cheng Ge.
Since who knows when, Wen Ling had developed a habit of letting Cheng Ge have the first bite. Although Cheng Ge usually wouldn’t eat it, Wen Ling would still tirelessly offer.
Cheng Ge leaned back slightly and laughed. “You eat it yourself. I have mine coming.”
“Okay then.” Wen Ling didn’t insist.
Once Cheng Ge got his own jianbing guozi, the two continued further down the street.
Cheng Ge: “Want some fermented bean curd chicken wings?”
Wen Ling: “Yes.”
Cheng Ge: “Fried dumplings?”
Wen Ling shook his head.
“Milk tea?”
“I want sweet soup.”
“Mung bean sweet soup?”
“Mm.” Wen Ling nodded.
Cheng Ge brought Wen Ling to a sweet soup stall and bought two bowls of coconut milk mung bean sweet soup.
“Hold this for a second.” Cheng Ge wanted to carry both bowls of soup to a nearby table at once, so he planned to have Wen Ling help hold his unfinished jianbing guozi.
Cheng Ge heard Wen Ling say okay, then watched as Wen Ling lowered his head and took a bite of his jianbing guozi—a very large bite, making Wen Ling’s cheeks bulge.
Cheng Ge was stunned. “?”
Seeing Cheng Ge’s eyes round as he stared at him, Wen Ling, with bulging cheeks, evaluated slurringly, “It’s a bit spicy.”
“I… what did I just say?”
Wen Ling’s cheeks moved. “You said to give me a taste.”
“It’s so spicy.” Wen Ling gradually started to frown.
For a moment, Cheng Ge didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh. Finally, looking at Wen Ling’s dead-serious look, he laughed.
If he didn’t know Wen Ling well, Cheng Ge would have suspected Wen Ling was coveting his jianbing guozi.
“So spicy. How can you be like this?” Wen Ling accused, his small face scrunched up, looking aggrieved. He felt Cheng Ge had intentionally tricked him into eating something spicy.
And was even laughing at him.
Cheng Ge felt he was more wronged than Dou E, but seeing Wen Ling’s whole head turning red, he didn’t have the heart to explain. He held the bowl of sweet soup and let Wen Ling gulp it down.
Wen Ling drank too fast and choked. Cheng Ge patted Wen Ling’s back while explaining, “I just told you to hold it for me, not to eat it for me.”
Wen Ling looked at Cheng Ge suspiciously, his eyes turned a bit watery from the spice, the rims of his eyes and the corners of his eyes all red. He looked incredibly pitiful.
“Okay then.”
Looking at him, Cheng Ge’s heart felt sour and soft. Clearly, he was the one being wronged, but in the end, it seemed like he was the one who did something wrong.
Difficult, truly a sin.
After the sweet soup, they were mostly full. The two browsed a bit longer before heading back to school.
Once the weekend was over, Cheng Ge became busy again—even busier than before. The basketball tournament had entered the campus finals, and training sessions had increased.
Wen Ling and Cheng Ge often couldn’t see each other, and they frequently couldn’t eat dinner together. Sometimes Wen Ling went to watch Cheng Ge play basketball, but Cheng Ge couldn’t pay him any attention.
Disappointment and unhappiness were present, but Wen Ling never thought about making a scene with Cheng Ge. After all, he could feel that Cheng Ge cared about him—cared about him most of all.
That was Wen Ling: as long as he was liked and protected by Cheng Ge, he wouldn’t make a scene. He was incredibly well-behaved, loving and pitying Cheng Ge to no end. But when he felt that love was diminishing, when he couldn’t grasp onto things, he would become completely irrational.
He just wanted to tether the person to his side, kissing and hugging every day, sticking together. Those were the most comfortable days. Unfortunately, Cheng Ge was usually unwilling to do that.
On the basketball court, a match had just ended. The captain was analyzing the previous game with Cheng Ge and a few others.
“Everyone’s performance in these few games was fine. Keep it up. Come on, fighting!”
The few of them did a high-five and then dispersed.
They were so hungry from playing that Wang Lei and Cheng Ge simply bought a tub of instant noodles each from the vending machine and sat on the floor to eat.
Wang Lei slurped a large mouthful of noodles and asked, “How come Xiao Wen didn’t come? He used to bring you food all the time.”
Cheng Ge swallowed the noodles in his mouth. “Ah, I told him not to come. It’s noisy.”
“You actually think people are noisy now?! How can you be like that? Our Wen Ling is so quiet!”
Cheng Ge was numbed by Wang Lei’s loud voice and moved a bit further away, explaining, “I meant the competition is noisy. He doesn’t like noise.”
Cheng Ge’s team had been on a roll lately, advancing all the way, attracting many spectators. The cheering and shouting were very loud. Plus, after a game, Cheng Ge always smelled of sweat—even he found it repulsive, so he didn’t want Wen Ling to come and stick to him.
“Also, don’t say ‘our.’ When did he become yours?”
Wang Lei retorted, “Is he yours then?”
Translator’s Note: Jianbing guozi (煎饼果子) is a delicious Chinese crepe, a very popular street food. “More wronged than Dou E” (窦娥冤) is a classic Chinese idiom referring to a play about a woman, Dou E, who was wrongfully executed. It’s used to describe someone who has been extremely falsely accused.
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