After two consecutive weddings, even someone as high energy as Yuan Mian was utterly exhausted.
On the night the weddings ended, he collapsed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. The next morning, when the alarm rang at dawn, he was dragged awake but still felt overwhelmingly drowsy, lying facedown on the bed, barely able to open his eyes.
Beside him came the soft sounds of someone hastily getting up.
Hu Guangtong had gotten up to wash.
After a while, he returned from the bathroom and a kiss landed on Yuan Mian’s forehead.
“Time to get up, Mianmian.”
Another kiss followed, the same words repeated gently. “Time to get up, Mianmian.”
“Do you still want kisses?”
Well then. Yuan Mian opened his eyes with ill humor. He was sleepy and being teased at the same time, a small sulk brewing between his brows.
When he finally opened his eyes properly, Hu Guangtong was gone again.
What a handsome guy.
Yuan Mian said, “You really are a refreshingly handsome man with a lot of charm.” It was a sincere assessment.
Hu Guangtong nodded in wholehearted agreement, not the least bit modest. “If my newlywed spouse thought I was ugly, then I’d really be done for~”
With that drawn out tone, Yuan Mian pushed him. “Don’t imitate Grandpa when you talk.”
Hu Guangtong laughed, then took the opportunity to pull Yuan Mian out from under the covers. His tastes clearly leaned toward all things gentle and healing yet his biceps were full and firm and his arms carried a very real strength.
The two of them went to the bathroom together.
Hu Guangtong kept an eye on his beautiful wife, making sure he stood steady on his heels, then went to the walk in closet to change clothes and picked out a watch that was simple and understated.
When he turned around again, he saw that someone else had overtaken him, already washed up, already changed, now waiting for him instead.
“So impressive. Clean, efficient, swift and decisive.”
“If I knew how to cook, I’d even fry you a dish on the side,” Yuan Mian said. He circled Hu Guangtong once more as he spoke, openly sizing him up. As he looked, his brows lifted slightly. Maybe it was because they were newlyweds or maybe because his original feelings had never changed but with a bit of dressing up, Hu Guangtong looked even more handsome.
He wanted to circle him again but Hu Guangtong reached out and caught him, pulling him close.
Sunlight streamed in warmly and their kiss carried a hint of mint.
Hu Guangtong asked, “Still tired? We’ll go out for a bit this morning and once we’re back, you can sleep some more.”
“What’s there to be, ” The sentence wasn’t finished before another kiss stole it away.
Kissing someone you love was always joyful and full of subtle pleasure. The flow of time, usually so uniform, seemed to change whenever it happened.
But it wasn’t a deep kiss.
Just light breaths and gentle touches, stopping at exactly the right point, smiles brimming, perfectly measured.
As they were kissing, a voice rose from downstairs:
“I can hear you talking! You’re awake, why aren’t you coming down yet!”
Grandpa was calling.
The two of them exchanged a look. There was helplessness in it but also a kind of obedient resignation. They hurriedly nudged and ushered each other along.
As newlyweds, it would have been natural for them to want to enjoy their private world together but Yuan Mian and Hu Guangtong had discussed it early on and decided to bring Grandpa over to live with them. They had no intention of sending the old man away in the future.
First, the house was large enough. Wanting time alone as a couple wouldn’t really be affected.
Second, both of them had very little remaining family. They hoped to cherish the time they could spend with loved ones. Hu Guangtong’s mother had once been deeply shaken by the death of her own mother and later passed away due to illness. For Grandpa, he had lost his wife and then his daughter. Now, reunited with his grandson and grandson in law as a family of three, all of them felt it couldn’t be better.
The family of three ate breakfast together.
After the meal, Yuan Mian and Hu Guangtong went together to a private cemetery in the city to pay their respects.
The cemetery had staff responsible for daily upkeep and cleaning but Yuan Mian still did everything himself, carefully wiping down his parents’ gravestones. Because it was a family plot, his eldest brother was buried there as well.
Hu Guangtong stayed with him.
After they finished their work, they placed the bouquet Hu Guangtong had prepared in advance. Yuan Mian said, “That’s everything. The wedding was huge, hundreds of tables for the banquet. I don’t even know where all those people came from.”
“No wonder you needed two assistants behind you just to chat with people. One assistant probably couldn’t even recognize everyone.”
“It was exhausting. I’m dead tired. Experiencing it once is more than enough, never getting married again.”
Hu Guangtong listened, occasionally responding with a few words. After finishing here, they went to pay respects at Hu Guangtong’s mother’s grave.
What surprised Yuan Mian was that this time, they didn’t go to the Hu family cemetery that Hu Guangtong had taken him to before. Instead, it was within the same cemetery as Yuan Mian’s parents, in a corner toward the south.
Yuan Mian was full of surprise. “Huh? Here? Then last time…”
Hu Guangtong remained calm. “My dad was there last time.”
Then he added, “The grave is real. The ashes are fake.”
Yes. Hu Guangtong’s father was still alive. Although he was rarely mentioned and although the family was now completely under Hu Guangtong’s control, this person did indeed still exist.
At Hu Guangtong’s wedding, his father had even appeared to host and welcome guests, bringing along his current lover.
A lover, not a wife.
Whether during his mother’s lifetime or after her death, he acknowledged only one woman as his wife, both privately and publicly and that was Hu Guangtong’s mother. After her passing, he stated openly on more than one occasion that he would never remarry in this lifetime.
Many people praised him for his devotion, calling him deeply affectionate, saying he remained wholeheartedly faithful to his first wife. As for this, Hu Guangtong’s response was simple: he was following his mother’s final wishes, burying her alone, in a place where she would never have to see Hu Guangtong’s father again.
“I heard your dad still goes to visit once a week.”
Hu Guangtong nodded but offered no comment. He had always been like this. His emotions were nothing like Yuan Mian’s surging, roaring waves; instead, they were a vast, boundless deep sea.
Hu Guangtong crouched down.
He brushed his hand lightly over the gravestone. “Mom, Mianmian and I are here.”
He didn’t make any formal introductions. Presumably, when he had come alone before, he had already talked about everything that needed to be said.
Then he smiled. “The weather is very nice today.”
“At this moment, I feel very happy.”
Yuan Mian waited, expecting him to say more. He waited a little longer but nothing came.
Despite Hu Guangtong’s gentle and refined demeanor, when he was with Yuan Mian, he was usually quite talkative.
Yuan Mian was a little confused and that confusion lasted right up until Hu Guangtong came over, took his hand and the two of them walked out together.
“That’s it?”
“There’s plenty of time. We’ll come again next time.”
Then Hu Guangtong asked in return, “Do you think I said too little?”
He added, “If you ever bully me, I’ll definitely come complain to Mom.”
Yuan Mian said, “Are you kidding?”
“Your mom and my mom are in the same neighborhood now. If you complain to her and then go complain to my mom too, isn’t that playing dirty?”
It was a bit of a dark joke.
But for the two of them to laugh at it, it meant they had already come a long way, their wounds healed after countless hardships.
Hu Guangtong truly laughed. He turned back, looking at the gravestone growing distant, the vast cemetery, the stairway path surrounded by grass and trees.
Winter felt closer now yet it didn’t feel very cold. He had a sense that the first winter they would welcome together would be a warm one.
He glanced at his watch. Time was getting tight.
Hu Guangtong didn’t dare linger any longer. He tugged Yuan Mian along and started running. “Let’s go. There are still a few contracts waiting for my signature at the company. I’ll drop someone off at home first.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Why don’t you go and keep him company?Chapter 2 · He opened the door and left without looking backChapter 3 · Why Hu Guangtong of all people?Chapter 4 · Have you broken up with Fu Tianle?Chapter 5 · Hello, I am Yuan Mian’s fiancé.Chapter 6 · You liked Hu Guangtong from the beginningChapter 7 · I want to spend the rest of my life with you.Chapter 8 · Have you seen Yuan Mian recently?Chapter 9 · Yuan Mian has already started talking to someone elseChapter 10 · He wasn’t Yuan Mian’s first love?Chapter 11 · Are you comparable to Hu Guangtong?Chapter 12 · Yuan Mian would certainly love Hu GuangtongChapter 13 · They’re going home together for dinnerChapter 14 · Extra 1Chapter 15 · Extra 2Chapter 16 · Extra 3