WSSAPF chapter 14

Time seemed to freeze there. The rain had stopped, and the wind no longer blew. The trees, which had been shaking, were now motionless in the still air. It was quiet around; Li Zhuoyao could only hear the breathing of the two.

This silence increased his tension twofold because Zhou Chulan, sitting in the car, didn’t respond for a long time.

Li Zhuoyao couldn’t see the expression on his face. Hesitating, he took a step closer.

“Can we be together?” he repeated.

“Are you joking about being in a relationship with me? Li Zhuoyao, don’t joke.”

“I’m not joking; I’m serious.”

“What do you like about me?” He raised his eyes.

“Everything.” Li Zhuoyao answered almost without hesitation. He knew clearly that he loved him. Everything about Zhou Chulan was like mist evaporating from alcohol. Once immersed, he couldn’t extricate himself. He loved his full-bodied arrogance, loved his insincere words, loved the restrained heart beneath the indifferent appearance. They had just experienced an almost crazy kiss; the warmth from Zhou Chulan’s lips still lingered on his own, and he touched the slightly swollen lips; they were still warm.

“Everything? Including the fact that I’m a poor bumpkin from a mountain valley, a rustic villager, a released convict who has committed murder?” Zhou Chulan sneered, a hint of mockery at the corner of his mouth.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” He looked up at Li Zhuoyao, his eyes curved, the smile still there.

Li Zhuoyao struggled to move his lips, wanting to reveal everything in his heart, he really wanted to tell Zhou Chulan that in my heart, Li Zhuoyao, you are a special person. Talented and brilliant, although it’s in such a small place, the pearl is covered in dust, but it still can’t hide its own brilliance. Even the words “killed someone” and “been to jail” cannot change the way I feel. But these two words are like daggers standing between them, with sharp blades, always reminding them of the painful truth. The truth is painful, like cutting the skin.

“Zhou Chulan…” After a while, Li Zhuoyao found that he couldn’t say anything other than calling out this name.

Zhou Chulan quietly watched Li Zhuoyao’s reaction. He was extremely relieved to find that his insignificant expectations had faded away, which was great.

The relationship between him and Li Zhuoyao was nothing more than a fleeting encounter of ambiguous strangers from each other’s worlds. An occasional encounter, even if it was a glimpse, will part ways in an instant. He couldn’t believe the confession of someone saying they’re willing to love him regardless of everything? Especially when he presented his scarred and ugly appearance in front of the other person. He couldn’t believe it because only Buddhas love all living beings unconditionally, only gods will love mankind without any conditions.

And Li Zhuoyao was just an amnesiac mortal.

“In a few months, you will finish shooting and leave here, back to your own world. As for me, this is how my life will be. So, Li Zhuoyao, don’t be confused. I’ll treat what you just said as if you never said it.”

“But we just…” 

“Nothing happened.”

Nothing happened? But Zhou Chulan’s hot body and lips vividly reminded him that this was not a dream. The almost crazy entanglement of the kiss, profound as if it were carved on the cross of Jesus, Li Zhuoyao couldn’t treat all this as “nothing happened.” He felt uncomfortable, as if he were a moth rushing into the flame, his wings stinging from the flame, but his body stiffening in the lamp oil, unable to move.

The phone suddenly rang at this moment. Li Zhuoyao looked down and saw it was Gao Jun’s call. After thinking for two seconds, he still answered.

“Hello?” He tried hard to maintain his usual tone, making his voice not tremble.

“Why haven’t you returned to the hotel? You just experienced such heavy rain; nothing happened, right?”

“No, I stayed in the villa waiting for the rain to stop. I’ll be back soon.”

After a brief chat with Gao Jun, Li Zhuoyao hung up the phone. He stood still in a daze, while Zhou Chulan sat in the car and honked the horn.

“Let’s go back. I’ll drive, and you can sit in the passenger seat.” His expression was as calm as usual, as if nothing had happened, just like he said earlier.

“I’ll drive my car myself.” The familiar honk brought some clarity to Li Zhuoyao’s thoughts. He took a deep breath, casually said this, lowered his head, and walked forward, preparing to open the car door. Having just been rejected after confessing and being told that “nothing happened,” he didn’t want to accept Zhou Chulan’s care anymore, resisting it forcefully.

“This car almost cost you your life, and you dare to drive?”

“…” Li Zhuoyao realized that he indeed had some reservations about this black Sedan. It would probably take him a few days to overcome it. It would be dangerous to drive this car again right away.

“…What about your motorcycle?” He pointed to the motorcycle parked not far away.

“You don’t need to worry about that. Get in the car; it’s getting late.”

Although Li Zhuoyao understood that Zhou Chulan said this to urge him to leave quickly, the words “you don’t need to worry about that” were like a hidden thorn on a bramble, quietly piercing his heart. He silently opened the car door, sat down, unfastened and fastened the seatbelt several times, feeling mentally tangled. Suddenly, a figure approached. Zhou Chulan leaned over, pulled Li Zhuoyao’s seatbelt, and with a single pull, the seatbelt came out very long. His strong arm wrapped around Li Zhuoyao’s upper body, and with a “click,” he locked the seatbelt into place. In these brief seconds, Zhou Chulan’s body was very close to Li Zhuoyao, and the familiar scent of ginger made him nervous. His muscles tensed, he dared not even breathe, but the body of the person in front of him, even if it was closer in the future, they would gradually drift apart.

The car quickly arrived at the hotel entrance. Gao Jun stood by the flower bed at the entrance, smoking, and Xie Jun was there too, anxiously looking at the road. Seeing Li Zhuoyao’s car approaching from a distance, he quickly waved his arms.

“Boss!” Xie Jun sighed in relief. Just now, it suddenly rained heavily on the mountain, and his right eyelid had been twitching a lot. He had sent WeChat messages to Li Zhuoyao, but hadn’t received a reply and didn’t dare to call and urge him. Because he knew his boss well, due to the nature of his work, Li Zhuoyao privately disliked making phone calls, and Xie Jun usually communicated with him through messages. When he heard from Gao Jun that Li Zhuoyao went up the mountain in the rain, he was extremely worried and waited at the entrance early.

First, he saw the black Sedan coming from a distance and felt joyful. However, when the car approached, he found that the driver was a stranger, and Li Zhuoyao was sitting in the passenger seat. The man had an extremely striking face, a robust figure, and a pair of deep eyes like a profound pool, immediately attracting attention. Even Li Zhuoyao sitting next to him seemed inferior.

Seeing Li Zhuoyao and the man getting out of the car, Xie Jun quickly greeted them.

“Boss, you finally came back,” he looked at Li Zhuoyao, but his eyes inconspicuously glanced towards the other man.

“I’m Zhou Chulan, a… villager here.” Zhou Chulan answered indifferently, then looked at Li Zhuoyao. “I’ll go back now.” Then he turned and left.

“Who was that guy? Why was he driving your car? And he’s even more handsome than you, this is too much!” Gao Jun said.

“A friend… I met on the mountain.”

“Oh? You went all the way up there to make friends?” Gao Jun blinked, a mischievous smile on his face. Li Zhuoyao weakly made a joke with him, not wanting others to detect his disappointment.

“I’m glad you’re finally back safely boss,” Xie Jun said. Li Zhuoyao casually glanced at Xie Jun’s eyes. Xie Jun seemed to have something on his mind, looking elsewhere, unfocused, with a hint of innate stubbornness in his eyes.

When he didn’t have any special emotions, it was this gaze. Li Zhuoyao was very familiar with it. When he met Xie Jun, who worked part-time in the university cafeteria, he was moved by this seemingly familiar stubborn gaze, which prompted him to support him financially.

But at this moment, Zhou Chulan’s face suddenly flashed in front of Li Zhuoyao’s eyes. The faces of these two men began to overlap in his mind, especially the eyes. He had never associated these two people before.