𝕮⃟𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 24

𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘：My Dragon
𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗥：我的龙 (Butterfly Mage)

° ° °

Halfway through the meal, Ruan Xin received a call from Fei Zheng, and then left in a hurry. Nan HuaiLin sat alone in the booth, eating and wondering what Ruan Xin’s “selfishness” really was.

However, his understanding of Ruan Xin was limited, therefore he couldn’t figure out the key to it, so he didn’t waste any more of his brain cells pondering over it.

He tried to eat all the food for two people, but couldn’t finish it because he was full. Originally, he wanted to pack it, but then he remembered, he was rich now so he could just waste it. He called the waiter to settle the bill, and left, dignified and feeling a little triumphant.

Since it was not very far from home, Nan HuaiLin planned to walk back to burn off the calories.

It was not long before nightfall. The day’s residual heat was still lingering and the night breeze already tasted of summer.

Wangfujing Street was busy with activity and hustle.

But the bustle of the people made Nan HuaiLin feel very quiet, from the inside out.

In the past, he was poor and exhausted, but now, his work has finally taken off. He no longer felt apprehensive and restless, instead he was full of hope for the future.

He was quietly happy in the peace.

However, he had no friends to share his feelings with just then. The only people he could think of at that moment were his parents.

For the sake of his youthful love, he was stubborn and rebellious, and broke his parents’ hearts. He hadn’t regretted his decision at first. As he looked back now, he realized that if he hadn’t been so aggressive, or been just a little more obedient, then his parents wouldn’t have been so angry with him for so long. They still hadn’t completely forgiven him.

When he saw an unoccupied bench nearby, Nan HuaiLin went over and sat down. He put on his headphones, and dialed his mother’s phone number.

It didn’t ring for long before the other side answered.

“Mum,” Nan HuaiLin called out in his native dialect. “Have you had dinner yet?”

“I just finished eating.” His mom’s soft voice came from the other side. “I’m watching TV with your father.”

Nan HuaiLin heard the TV, and the sound of his dad coughing.

“Is dad smoking again?” Nan HuaiLin asked.

“Mn. What can I do if he doesn’t listen?” His mom sighed helplessly.

Nan HuaiLin was silent for a few seconds. “How are you and Dad doing?”

His mother said, “The same as always. Quite well.”

Nan HuaiLin said, “I’ve been telling you to go to the hospital regularly for medical checkups, but you have never gone, right?”

His mother said, “It’s better to spend money on nutritional supplements, because at least you’re eating them.”

Nan HuaiLin knew that it was useless to talk about it, so he didn’t bother trying, but talked about something else instead, “Mom, I got my salary today, 250,000. I transferred 100,000 to your card, I guess it will arrive tomorrow. You and father can spend it however you want, you can go out together for a trip or something. You said you wanted to go to Sanya to see the South Sea Goddess of Mercy. This is the right season to go, it should not be too hot. “

There was silence for a long time before she replied, “Do you usually eat well?”

“Yes,” his eyes suddenly warmed up. “I have gained weight.”

“No matter how busy you are at work, you must eat your meals on time, or your stomach will break down.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Dad’s voice suddenly came over, “He is not a three-year-old child, can he still starve himself? Don’t worry about it!”

His mother asked, “Do you want to talk to your son?”

After a short silence, his father said, “Ask him how he is doing with that Shi.1“

“Your father asked you…”

“I heard him.” Nan HuaiLin interrupted his mother’s repetition, and after a moment of silence, he told them honestly, “I broke up with him.”

His mother might have put him on speakerphone, and as soon as he said that, his father immediately cursed loudly over there, “I told you that Shi was not a good person! That son of a bitch! He has ruined my son’s future and his life. If I see him, I will kill him!”

Nan HuaiLin’s nose was sore and he looked up at the sky, trying to keep the tears from flowing.

He heard the sound of a door closing, and it was his mother who had entered the other room with the phone.

“Lin Lin, tell mom, why did you split up?”

Nan HuaiLin sniffled and said softly, “After being together for a long time, our feelings had faded, so naturally we broke up.”

There was silence for a while before she said, “It’s good to split up, it’s good to split up.” There was more silence, before his mother said, “Lin Lin, can you… Can you come back to the right path?”

Nan HuaiLin knew what his mother meant, and after two seconds of silence, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

His mother sighed and said, “Got it.”

After a long silence, the phone was hung up.

The original intention was to make his parents happy for him, but he didn’t expect it to end up with both sides being upset; he should have known better than to make this call.

Nan HuaiLin took a deep breath and exhaled again, before standing up to leave, when his phone suddenly rang.

“Who were you talking to on the phone?” Fei Cheng asked. “Talking for half a day.”

“My mom,” Nan HuaiLin said.

Fei Cheng said, “Oh,” and asked, “When are you coming back?”

Nan HuaiLin said, “I’m on my way home.”

“Then walk faster,” Fei Cheng said. “I’m waiting for you.”

Nan HuaiLin asked in passing, “Why are you waiting for me?”

“Just…” Fei Cheng paused, “I’m too bored to be home alone, so I want you to keep me company.”

“Got it,” Nan HuaiLin hooked his lips. “I’m in Wangfujing, I’ll be home in ten minutes.”

“Then I’ll time you,” Fei Cheng said. “And you’ll have to do one thing for me every night for one minute.”

“That’s not funny!” Nan HuaiLin cried. “You’re a bully.”

“I’m starting the clock,” Fei Cheng said. “Hang up.”

Nan HuaiLin picked up his pace.

As he walked, he slowed down again.

He had forgotten that the person he should be most grateful to was his Mr. Rabbit. Fei Cheng had helped him so much in both life and work. He had to give Fei Cheng a gift to express his gratitude. But what should he get for Fei Cheng, who seemed to have everything?

Anyway, it must be something original.

With that in mind, he turned into the department store next door.

After a short while, Fei Cheng called again and asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”

Nan HuaiLin was baffled, “What’s wrong? I’m fine.”

Fei Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, “You said you’d be home in ten minutes, but it’s been fifteen minutes, so I thought something had happened to you and had a lot of bad associations.”

“You’re so funny,” Nan HuaiLin said with a laugh. “Only people in love are so paranoid and nervous.”

“I have a crush on you,” Fei Cheng said, annoyed. “Can you still come back? Do I have to pick you up?”

“I just remembered I need to buy something,” Nan HuaiLin said. “It will be a while before I can go back, so if you are really bored, go downstairs and swim for a while.”

Fei Cheng said, “I don’t want to go alone.”

Nan HuaiLin thought about it, “Then watch a film, I’ll give you a suggestion, ‘The Skin I Live In’, in Chinese it’s called ‘The Skin of My Life’.”

“Okay,” Fei Cheng said reluctantly. “I’ll hang up now.”

After hanging up the phone, Nan HuaiLin shook his head and laughed.

He thought Fei Cheng was a fierce little wolf dog, but he had never thought that he was a clingy little puppy, which was kind of cute.

Nan HuaiLin took his time to shop.

He originally wanted to buy something unusual, but it was too difficult to look around and he did not see anything particularly creative. He quickly changed his strategy and decided to win with the number, but then he fell into the other extreme, see this also want to buy this, see that also want to buy that.

An hour later, Nan HuaiLin came out of the department store with a variety of large and small bags full of flowers and greenery.

On his way home, his cell phone rang again, but he didn’t have empty hands to answer it, so he simply ignored it, as he would be home soon anyway.

After the phone rang three times in a row, Nan HuaiLin arrived at the door, and was about to put the bags in his hand on the ground first, when the door was suddenly pulled open from the inside.

Fei Cheng came out, saw Nan HuaiLin standing at the door and yelled at him, “Why didn’t you answer the phone? I thought you were really in trouble this time!”

For a moment, Nan HuaiLin was confused by his yelling. He held up the bags in both hands and answered, “No hands. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

Fei Cheng stared at him speechlessly for a long time and asked with a frustrated look, “What kind of stuff did you buy so much?”

Nan HuaiLin said, “A gift for you.”

This time Fei Cheng was confused, “All these are… Are they all for me?”

Nan HuaiLin nodded, “Yes, all of them.”

“Why are you buying so many gifts for me all of a sudden?” Fei Cheng was a bit flattered, “Trying to bribe me again?”

Nan HuaiLin smiled and said, “Can we go in and talk? Don’t you think it’s silly to stand in front of your own house and talk?”

“Yes, it’s silly,” Fei Cheng replied and pulled the door open, letting Nan HuaiLin go in first before he followed.

Nan HuaiLin walked into the living room; bent down and put all the bags in his hands on the carpet, and then sat down on the ground. He tilted his face and told Fei Cheng, “I don’t know what you like, so I bought different things. You keep what you like, and what you don’t like is mine.”

Fei Cheng walked across to him and also sat on the carpet. The two rested with a large pile of bags between them.

Without waiting for Fei Cheng to ask, Nan HuaiLin began to introduce his purchases one by one like a treasure.

“This is a magnetic levitation cloud lamp, you can put it on the bedside, as a night light.”

“These cheese sandwich wafer cookies are recommended by many people online. I have eaten them, they are really delicious.”

“This flower and fruit tea is also particularly good, I often drink it to nourish the stomach.”

“I thought this T-shirt was very good-looking, so I bought it, I do not know if it fits you.”

“And this, it looks like an ordinary cup, right? Actually it’s not, it’s filled with condoms, isn’t it very creative? It’s still a custom limited edition.”

Fei Cheng suddenly took all the bags to himself, “You don’t open them, don’t open them. They’re not a gift for me, if you open all of them, I want to open them myself.”

Nan HuaiLin, “… Oh, then you can open them yourself, if you don’t like them, then return them to me.”

“You think so? A gift sent out is like splashed out water2, there is no reason to return it.” Fei Cheng smiled, “You bought quite a lot of things, food, drink, clothing and everything.”

“I just bought them blindly,” Nan HuaiLin said.

Fei Cheng looked at him, “You haven’t said why you want to give me a gift.”

Nan HuaiLin suddenly became a little embarrassed and said with his head bowed, “I just want to thank you for helping me.”

Fei Cheng was so happy.

This is the success of the goodwill performance ah.

He tried to restrain himself from laughing like a fool.

“Then you open the gifts to play,” Nan HuaiLin stood up, “I have to pack my bags to go, for the early morning flight tomorrow to Hengdian.”

Fei Cheng also stood up nimbly and followed Nan HuaiLin towards his bedroom, “I’ll watch you pack.”

“Why does that sound so weird?” Nan HuaiLin smiled and said, “It’s like the supervisor is watching me work and will whip me if I don’t do a good job.”

Fei Cheng said, “I’m afraid you’ll get bored.”

“I think you’re the one who’s bored,” Nan HuaiLin said. “Have you finished watching the film?”

“I don’t like thrillers,” Fei Cheng said. “I thought it was a porno by the name.”

He sounded disappointed, and Nan HuaiLin laughed, “I didn’t think you liked porn.”

Fei Cheng said, “I prefer acting.”

Nan HuaiLin, “…”

Fei Cheng sighed, “Too bad there’s no one to act with me.”

Nan HuaiLin dragged his suitcase out of the corner and said with a smile, “If you go to a Gay bar and hang around, people who want to act with you will line up, believe it or not.”

Fei Cheng sat casually on Nan HuaiLin’s bed and said with a serious face, “I am a very conservative man, sex must be built on the basis of love.”

Nan HuaiLin looked at him in surprise, “I really don’t see how you are conservative.”

Fei Cheng put his hand on his chest, “You have to feel it in your heart.”

Nan HuaiLin felt that the topic was getting off track and it was dangerous to continue talking about it, so he changed the subject to something else, “By the way, the audition for ‘Chasing New Dreams’ was passed by six men and six women, right?”

Fei Cheng nodded, “Yes.”

“So who is going to play which role and how were they assigned?” Nan HuaiLin asked. “Do we have to audition again?”

“No, the company will take care of the assignment.”

“So when will the shooting start?” Nan HuaiLin asked again.

Fei Cheng said, “When you come back.”

Nan HuaiLin turned his head to look at Fei Cheng.

Was it his illusion?

The tone of Fei Cheng’s voice when he said this sounded a little… affectionate?

Fei Cheng looked into his eyes, smiled slightly and said, “Little Lin-zi, I’ll wait for you to come back.”

Nan HuaiLin’s eyes were shaken by his handsome smile and he turned back to face the closet and said, not very confidently, “Don’t call me Xiao Lin-zi3, I’m still a year older than you.”

Fei Cheng came over and leaned against the closet facing Nan HuaiLin and said with a smile, “What do you want me to call you? Brother4?”

Nan HuaiLin didn’t dare to look at him. He lowered his head and folded his clothes carelessly, and after a long time, said nervously, “It’s better if you call me Xiao Lin-zi.”

Fei Cheng couldn’t help but raise his hand to rub his hair and said with a smile, “You’re made of sugar, aren’t you? You’re too sweet.”

Nan HuaiLin glanced at him, “You are made of oil, right? You’re too greasy.”

Fei Cheng laughed out loud, and Nan HuaiLin couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

The moon outside the window was curved and seemed to be laughing too.

•••
The author has something to say:

Cheng Cheng: I feel dizzy when I see you lately.

Nan Nan: Why?

Cheng Cheng: Because love makes people dizzy.

–One Hundred Cheesy Pick-Up Line