“So, is he Mohan?”
Duan Cang’s body grew even stiffer. He looked at Bai Ziyan, not knowing just how much Bai Ziyan actually knew.
But Bai Ziyan’s expression was very calm, and Duan Cang couldn’t read anything from it. Unsure of what to do, he merely gave a sound of acknowledgment, “Yes.”
He was well aware of the principle that saying more leads to more mistakes, so after admitting it, he temporarily halted his words. His complexion was somewhat gloomy, as if recalling some nauseating memory that ruined his mood, and then he viciously swallowed a large bite of ice cream.
In reality, his mind was racing, quickly deducing what Bai Ziyan might have figured out.
Even if Duan Cang felt that he had never seen Mohan as a lover, or even felt that he wasn’t worthy of being Bai Ziyan’s substitute and was only fit to be an amusing plaything, it was not like that in the eyes of others.
The fact was, whether he claimed he couldn’t let go of Bai Ziyan, or that he was unwilling to accept defeat, no matter how he put it, he had found a substitute who looked similar to Bai Ziyan.
And Bai Ziyan was someone with severe emotional mysophobia. If Bai Ziyan found out that he had sought out Mohan to act as a substitute, an insurmountable rift would form between them.
It wasn’t that Duan Cang hadn’t known this back then, but in the early days of dating Mohan, out of a ridiculous sense of youthful arrogance, he fantasized that one day when Bai Ziyan returned to the country and saw traces of his intimate contact with Mohan, he would set aside his pride to ask him to stay. At that time, he would be able to vent the unwillingness he felt from when his confession was rejected.
Therefore, in the early days of his relationship with Mohan, although their relationship was only known to a few of his closest brothers, due to his petty schemes, he had still left behind some traces.
In the later stages, as he matured and came to understand the development of Bai Ziyan’s business abroad, he gradually realized how childish he had been back then.
As a result, the traces of his relationship with Mohan became increasingly scarce. Even those who had recently joined their circle of friends didn’t know about Mohan at all; they only knew that Duan Cang had waited for Bai Ziyan for ten years.
But after all, he had left behind too many traces in the beginning. Even with intentional cleanup, there were still some remnants.
Just like this photograph, stabbing him in the back at a time like this.
Duan Cang couldn’t help but vent his anger onto Mohan.
If it hadn’t been for him insisting on dragging him to take a picture back then, things wouldn’t be this awkward now.
Biting down fiercely on another large chunk of ice cream, Duan Cang finally spoke. Without needing to pretend, the hatred and resentment in his voice spilled out.
“Yes, this is Mohan.”
“For a long time after you left, I…”
Duan Cang looked at Bai Ziyan, hesitating to speak, but finally gritted his teeth and said, “My mental state wasn’t very good, and I was somewhat in a trance. Mohan took advantage of my vulnerability at that time to slip in.”
For someone who had always been proud and liked to take the initiative, admitting that he was in a terrible state after his crush left was truly an embarrassing thing.
His hand holding the cone trembled slightly, the veins on the back of his hand popping out. How could the fragile cone withstand such a forceful grip? It instantly shattered, and the icy coldness of the ice cream seeped through the paper sleeve, stinging his palm.
Duan Cang simply swallowed the ice cream in one gulp, then tossed the paper wrapper into the trash can.
Duan Cang didn’t look at Bai Ziyan, merely saying, “He looks very much like you, especially when he smiles. I don’t know where he heard about the history between you and me, but he imitated your expressions and movements, and then appeared in front of me when I was having an episode.”
“This photo was taken at that time.”
Having said this, Duan Cang stopped speaking and turned his face away, refusing to look at Bai Ziyan.
He wasn’t worried that these lies of his would be exposed, because he knew Bai Ziyan’s personality deeply. Bai Ziyan would give one hundred percent trust to his acknowledged close friends, lovers, and subordinates.
Moreover, for Duan Cang, fabricating his experiences from that time was simply too easy.
After all, so many years had already passed since then.
Sure enough, Bai Ziyan’s hand fell gently on his shoulder. He didn’t say a single word, yet just like every other time, it made Duan Cang’s heart calm down.
He knew that Bai Ziyan believed him.
It wasn’t in vain that he had laid down his pride to weave this story.
At the same time, he felt somewhat guilty, feeling that he shouldn’t use lies to deceive Bai Ziyan, who trusted him so much.
But on second thought, this was also for the sake of their future. He swore that he would never lie to Bai Ziyan again.
“Ziyan, the ice cream has melted. Don’t eat this one, I’ll buy you another.”
The summer day was hot, and as Bai Ziyan listened to him speak just now, that ice cream gradually softened and collapsed, no longer retaining its previously beautiful shape.
Bai Ziyan, however, turned away to dodge and playfully teased him with a smile, “How can I do that? This is the ‘love’ ice cream A-Cang bought for me.”
Duan Cang tilted his head to look and sure enough, he saw that the tip of the ice cream had melted into a somewhat abstract, upside-down peach heart shape.
Duan Cang couldn’t help but laugh dumbly, “I…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he heard Bai Ziyan’s cell phone ring.
Bai Ziyan’s hands were stained with melted ice cream, and he was currently wiping them with a tissue, so he turned around and let Duan Cang help take the phone out.
Taking it out and looking at it, this phone turned out to be his work phone.
Bai Ziyan had to have Duan Cang help hold the ice cream while he answered the call. However, Duan Cang failed to catch it steadily, and the ice cream smashed onto the ground, the heart shape on its tip shattering to pieces.
Bai Ziyan picked up the call, casting a slightly pitying glance at the ice cream, but as he listened, his expression turned serious.
Hanging up the phone, Bai Ziyan had to say apologetically to Duan Cang, “Sorry, I have to head back first, there’s an urgent matter to deal with.”
“It’s fine, we were planning to head back anyway.” Duan Cang expressed his understanding quite gentlemanly. He wanted to drive Bai Ziyan back, but the Bai family’s car had already arrived in front of Bai Ziyan.
It seemed the matter was truly urgent.
Duan Cang thus had no choice but to watch Bai Ziyan leave.
He turned to look at the noisy amusement park, and seeing the photo on the photo booth again, his anger surged up once more.
He ripped the photo down and forcefully crumpled it into a ball, crumpling even the hard, resilient outer casing until it cracked.
He viciously threw the photo to the ground and stomped his foot right onto Mohan’s smiling face in the picture.
Mohan, very well.
Truly lingering like a ghost that refuses to disperse, causing trouble for him even when he wasn’t here!
Duan Cang took two deep breaths and kicked the paper wad toward the trash can. His aim was good, and the paper wad flew accurately inside.
Only after doing all this did he let out a sigh of relief. Yet, with the distant amusement park so noisy and bustling, and only him standing alone in the shadows, looking as desolately cold as if separated by an entire world, he felt a bit of discomfort in his heart.
The feeling of being abandoned halfway through a date wasn’t pleasant, even though he knew Bai Ziyan hadn’t done it on purpose and had even specifically turned back to explain with a guilty expression under such urgent circumstances.
But Duan Cang still irritably lit a cigarette.
When dating Mohan in the past, this kind of situation had never happened. No matter how busy he was, Mohan would always obediently push aside everything for him, so…
So he was the one who always left first, not even offering a single word of explanation.
Duan Cang’s expression was somewhat dazed. He stood there in silence for a long while before walking toward where his car was parked.
Before leaving, he walked past the smashed ice cream on the ground. That peach heart was long unrecognizable; the ice cream had already melted into a sticky, greasy liquid, looking somewhat disgusting.
The sweetness that had just been suppressed by the coldness now belatedly surged back up, and the smell of artificial flavoring made Duan Cang frown in disgust.
Duan Cang got into the car irritably, yet somehow he thought of Mohan again.
Not long after they had gotten together, Mohan had bought two sundaes and handed him a chocolate-flavored one.
He took a bite, and the taste of the cheap artificial flavoring made him unavoidably frown.
“Buy less of this kind of ice cream with artificial flavors, it tastes awful.”
But he still finished eating it at the time.
He knew very well that taming a little plaything by his side was the same principle as taming a horse; one needed to give a slap and then a sweet date. Mohan had seen that this shop’s ice cream was very popular recently, so he had braved the scorching sun and queued for half an hour to buy the two sundaes. The slap had been given, so the sweet date had to be given as well.
After all, he and Mohan hadn’t been dating for long. If Mohan ran away, he couldn’t just tie the person back up, nor could he find another person similar to Bai Ziyan to tie down.
He was the heir to the Duan Corporation, not a bandit; he disdained using such violent methods.
This matter just crossed his mind once and he forgot about it, but he hadn’t expected Mohan to take it to heart.
Thus, the next time, he got to eat ice cream that Mohan made from frozen fruits.
The first time Duan Cang saw that box of green grape ice cream, he secretly shook his head. Mohan simply didn’t know that as the heir of the Duan family, if he wanted to eat any kind of ice cream, all it took was a phone call and someone would naturally deliver it to him.
However, seeing that Mohan had put thought into it, he still took a bite.
It unexpectedly suited his taste.
He didn’t like the taste of milk and had never told Mohan, so he didn’t know how Mohan had discovered it. This box of ice cream didn’t carry a hint of milk flavor, yet it was extremely soft and dense, with no ice crystals. One bite, and his mouth was filled with the fresh fragrance of fruit.
Later, seeing that he liked it, Mohan would occasionally make it for him, but not too often, taking care to be considerate of his stomach.
At that time, their relationship was good, so he would pull Mohan into his arms and threaten to kiss him if he didn’t make ice cream.
Mohan couldn’t withstand teasing; he would blush at the slightest tease, his neck turning completely red along with his face, yet he would still keep a straight face and say no.
Duan Cang’s hands gripping the steering wheel tightened.
He hadn’t expected so much time had passed.
Then, his face darkened.
Was Mohan truly going to throw a tantrum over a long-haired beast this time? Not a word for two months—he was really turning the world upside down!
Duan Cang stepped on the gas pedal until the engine roared. With a gloomy face, he sped all the way, driving to his front door. Looking at the pitch-black windows and remembering the lights that always stayed on for him when Mohan was there, he cursed irritably.
“You’d better really be dead out there.”
Duan Cang took out his phone and dialed Mohan’s number.
A female voice came from the receiver.
[The number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later.]