Chapter 23: Endless Longing
One day at noon, he picked a flower and ran home excitedly, only to find that Mu Jia Shu had gone for his nap again. He was like a little pig, unable to be woken. Wei Xun thought for a moment and decided to put the flower on his head.
After much effort, he managed to clip it behind the ear. Mu Jia Shu might have felt an itch in his dream and irritably shook his head, and the flower fell.
Wei Xun was so angry he wanted to hit him. But although he was young and his IQ wasn’t high, it was enough for him to realize that if he touched a single hair on this kid’s head, his dad would probably skin him alive. Thus, he could only patiently pick up the flower again and tuck it onto his head.
Then Mu Jia Shu rolled over.
It fell again…
And again.
And again!
…
Finally, Wei Xun came up with a brilliant idea—he used bubble gum to stick the flower to Mu Jia Shu’s head. After admiring his own cleverness for a while, he left with great satisfaction.
Of course, the ending to this was already set. Although he didn’t wake Mu Jia Shu, let alone hit him, he still received a kick to the chest from Wei Shaocheng.
Remarkably, Mu Jia Shu, who had rarely cried since he was little, suddenly burst into loud wailing.
He hadn’t even cried just now when Jiang Shu was forced to cut off that patch of hair stuck with bubble gum.
Even Wei Shaocheng was startled. Mu Jia Shu climbed off the bed and ran toward the prone Wei Xun, sobbing and stumbling. He hugged Wei Xun’s head with his short arms. He still smelled of milk, and he didn’t know his own strength—he nearly smothered Wei Xun to death.
But because of this, Wei Xun escaped further punishment.
In the blink of an eye, so many years had passed. That brother who smelled of milk had grown into a tall young man. He was calm and composed in the face of trouble and would no longer shed tears foolishly. He was the most outstanding in everything he did, gradually attracting the gaze of many, including Wei Xun’s own.
Wei Xun didn’t have any other expectations. He just wanted to be able to always accompany Xiao Shu until both were grey-haired, still living next door to each other, visiting for no reason, playing chess, and going out for walks with canes.
So he could never figure out: how could this person just be gone?
He had never done anything to wrong others. He had been held in the palm of everyone’s hand since he was little. He was younger than himself; why wasn’t it Wei Xun who died?
This hospital was where Xiao Shu had finally left. Actually, he was already gone when they carried him out of the house, but no one could believe it and insisted on taking him to the hospital.
Halfway there, the ambulance hit a traffic jam and couldn’t move a step. Wei Xun carried him on his back and rushed out of the car.
He had run the entire second half of the way with Mu Jia Shu on his back. But when he reached the hospital, the doctor could only helplessly tell him that the patient was confirmed dead.
He didn’t know if it was because the run was too exhausting, but he collapsed on the ground on the spot, and several people couldn’t even pull him up. He sat on the ground covering his face, hearing his mother’s cries. He wanted to say something, but tears had already surged out first.
That was his closest sibling since childhood, the person he had loved for so many years. He had personally watched Mu Jia Shu grow from such a small child, and just like that, he was gone, never to be seen again.
For a long time after that, he hardly knew how he made it through. If it weren’t for his parents still being around, Wei Xun felt he couldn’t have lived another minute.
So he had to get this matter of Mu Jia Shu clear. Until it was clear, he couldn’t have a single day of peace.
Something tugged at his trouser leg. Wei Xun looked down and found a dirty stray dog circling his leg, barking softly.
“Do you know how much these pants cost?” He wiped his face and talked to the dog. “Selling your whole family to a dog meat restaurant wouldn’t be enough to pay for them.”
The little silly dog didn’t know what it had heard, but it made a happy sound in its throat.
Wei Xun had nothing to say to a fool. He gave a snort and walked to a small stall by the street, buying two bottles of crudely packaged military Erguotou. After thinking for a moment, he also bought a grilled sausage and a bottle of mineral water.
He squatted down. The grilled sausage was fragrant in his hand. The little dog was already impatient, putting its paws on Wei Xun’s knee, wagging its tail frantically in an attempt to bite the sausage in his hand.
“Shh, it’s hot!” Wei Xun’s hand dodged, and the dog missed, barking in frustration.
Wei Xun kept it away, using the mineral water to rinse the freshly grilled sausage until he felt it wasn’t so scalding. Then he placed it on a relatively clean patch of ground. “Hey, there’s some mineral water left. You want a drink… are you eating so fast you’re not afraid of choking?”
He tried to focus all his attention on this dog, caring for it with meticulous detail. He squatted there watching it eat for a while, then muttered another sentence:
“Actually, you should drink more water before eating. I have to remind you every time, you brat…”
The heartless little dog ran off after finishing. There was no one left to help Young Master Wei dispel his sorrow. The past finally cleared away, and Wei Xun looked ahead vacantly; there was no one there.
He dazed for a while, then sighed in frustration. He sat on the bench by the street and finished the two bottles of Erguotou. Only then did he stand up and walk slowly toward the street.
This wine wasn’t high-quality, but it had a strong kick, being sharp and fierce. Back in the army, the comrades would sometimes secretly gather to drink it. Wei Xun had finished two bottles by himself. Even with his good tolerance, he was a bit dazed now.
He barely maintained his brain’s functioning as he went to a nearby bakery to buy a birthday cake, intending to go to Mu Jia Shu’s grave.
He didn’t know if Xiao Shu would mind him coming over so drunk, but alcohol gives courage to the timid. If he hadn’t gulped down all that wine, he wouldn’t have dared go at all.
He couldn’t look at those rows of dull, heavy tombstones, and he couldn’t look at the photo Mu Jia Shu had on his tombstone. The person he once thought was more precious than the whole world was hidden away in a mound of yellow earth, no different from any other life that had passed.
So he would rather burn spirit money outside the hospital than light a stick of incense at Mu Jia Shu’s grave.
Today, he finally wanted to go. Not for anything else, but just because he really wanted to see him.
Wei Xun still remembered that the photo Mu Jia Shu had on his tombstone wasn’t a specialized black-and-white portrait; Uncle Mu had chosen a candid photo from his life. In the photo, Mu Jia Shu was leaning against a railing by the river, looking ahead with a faint smile, the rushing river water behind him.
He had once heard someone say in passing that every time people passed the tombstone and saw this young, handsome man in the photo, they would feel a deep sense of pity.
Cars and pedestrians came and went on the street. Sunlight reflected off the glass of the skyscrapers, creating a dazzling light. Wei Xun felt it was a bit blinding and shielded his eyes, nearly bumping into someone coming toward him.
Before he could say sorry, the person had already lowered their head and hurried past.
Wei Xun didn’t take it to heart, subconsciously looking back and only seeing a retreating figure.
He froze.
Wei Xun maintained his turned-head posture, staring intently at that back.
It was a young man, tall and upright, wearing a white shirt and black suit trousers. Because the weather was a bit hot, his sleeves were casually rolled up twice, revealing a Patek Philippe men’s watch on his wrist.
The other person kept his back to Wei Xun, completely unaware of his gaze. He walked to a small white car, opened the door, and bent over to get in.
That back… those clothes… that watch… that car!
He—He—He—
The sunlight was as bright as a blade.
Under that intense radiation, everything around him was spinning rapidly, and there was a dizzying feeling in his head. All the noisy sounds receded rapidly like a tide, and the world went quiet.
Quiet as the apocalypse.
Startled by the sound of the car starting, the cake in Wei Xun’s hand suddenly fell to the ground. He burst into a mad run toward that direction.
He dodged pedestrians and vehicles almost by instinct, because at this moment, nothing else existed in his eyes, only that car—only that car that was getting further and further away from him!
Car horns blared, followed by the screeching of brakes. Wei Xun only felt his shoulder being violently yanked, followed by someone rushing up to hug him. He instinctively wanted to shake them off, but the other person wouldn’t let go. The two stumbled for several steps before falling to the ground, rolling twice together before stopping.
The person who had been holding onto Wei Xun tightly let go of him, asking anxiously, “Are you alright? Where are you hurt?”
Someone nearby cried out, “He’s bleeding, call an ambulance!”
A driver stuck his head out and cursed loudly, “What kind of lunatic is this? If you want to die, don’t drag me into it…”
All the sounds mixed together, making it impossible to hear anything clearly. Wei Xun had already been drinking and had just rolled like that; he only felt the sky and ground were shaking, his ears filled with buzzing, and he couldn’t even tell where it hurt.
Fortunately, this place was almost right at the hospital entrance. Doctors arrived very quickly—they just had to come downstairs, not even needing an ambulance.
The one who had pulled Wei Xun was indeed Mu Jia Shu. When Wei Xun told him to go back, he was very uneasy. However, knowing this man was firm in his words and that he had no standing to stop him, he had parked the car nearby and followed quietly behind him.
Consider it a quick reaction; seeing Wei Xun suddenly bolt, he immediately rushed over without hesitation. It was only through his best efforts that he managed to stop Wei Xun before the car hit him, but he was also deeply shaken. At this moment, he still felt some lingering fear.
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