Chapter 132

Chapter 132

That day, Captain Xiao returned from outside and handed a cloth bag to Yu He: "I found the pangolin you were looking for."

Opening the cloth bag, inside was a pangolin with scars on its abdomen, very much resembling the one Yu He had released back into the wild with the rescue center.

The reappearance of the released pangolin in the market further indicated that there were issues with the pangolin protection association.

But Yu He had almost forgotten about the pangolin matter recently.

He and Fu Yunzheng were stuck at the Wenhua Hotel, unable to return to their country. Although their food, clothing, and other expenses were not affected, they still felt uneasy deep down, unable to relax completely.

Huang Shaohang had been running a fever for several consecutive days, vomiting as soon as he took antipyretics. After seeing his medical report, Yu He found out that Huang Shaohang had a severe case of gastritis. It wasn’t just his stomach; his other organs weren’t in good condition either. He wondered how Huang had abused his body over the years, as none of his internal organs were healthy.

Despite his condition, Huang would leave with injuries during the day and be busy with something for the entire day. His whereabouts at night were unpredictable. Regardless of the time, as soon as he returned, he would seek out Yu He for a chat, talking until Yu He was dozing off.

They would repeatedly talk about matters from their high school days.

Even if they calculated it generously, they were only classmates for a year. Even if they stretched out and detailed everything from that year, how long could they possibly talk? Moreover, time had passed, and Yu He genuinely couldn’t remember many things.

But every time Yu He said he couldn’t remember, Huang Shaohang would slightly lower his eyes, the light in his pupils dimming in an instant, followed by a very soft ‘oh’.

Regarding this, Yu He had six points to say: ...

He was just speechless.

Was it so strange that he couldn’t remember what he brought for Huang Shaohang on a particular ordinary morning or what they ate together?

It is indeed unusual that Huang Shaohang remembers everything in such meticulous detail.

Is the mutton soup from that breakfast stall really that delicious? Delicious enough for Huang Shaohang to remember, after five or six years, that he had scooped the cilantro from his bowl into Yu He’s?

It’s just that the moments Huang Shaohang can’t forget, Yu He experienced many times with many different people during his three years in high school.

Yu He has many friends, but for Huang Shaohang, there is only Yu He.

Nevertheless, since he is staying at someone else’s place, Yu He feels obliged to chat with Huang Shaohang.

If Huang Shaohang wants to reminisce about his youth, Yu He will accompany him down memory lane.

This keeps Yu He incredibly busy, staying up late to chat about high school with Huang Shaohang, and during the day, discussing “Trickster Three” and the hidden mastermind, Old Ma, with Fu Yunzheng and the others.

The investigation into Old Ma is not progressing smoothly. This person holds a prestigious position within the Chinese community in Northern Myanmar, yet not many have actually seen him.

Only some older individuals have met him.

They say that more than twenty years ago, when Chinatown was first established, Old Ma often appeared to mediate conflicts. Those who have seen him described him as a middle-aged man with a round face, in his forties or fifties. But as he aged, he gradually withdrew from public view.

With this timeline, Old Ma must be over seventy years old by now.

Fu Yunzheng has racked his brain but cannot recall ever offending an elderly person of this age. However, thirty years ago, the Fu family’s business was still in Northern Myanmar; it is possible that his father or grandfather had offended someone.

Yu He knows even less about who Old Ma might be; Old Ma was building Chinatown in Northern Myanmar even before he was born.

Today, Yu He finally has a day to himself. Yesterday, Ah Kun was released from the police station and brought Xiao Shuan back home, lightening Yu He’s burden.

Otherwise, Yu He would have to look after the child during the day.

Xiao Shuan is very shy and introverted, but once he warms up to Yu He, he talks a lot, always chattering away in Burmese, occasionally throwing in a few English words.

It’s like decoding a secret message for Yu He; each time he has to guess for a long time.

After a few days of this, even someone as talkative as Yu He is tired of speaking.

He has completely put the pangolin matter out of his mind.

Yu He’s processor is single-core; he performs best when focused on one thing at a time. When too many things are happening around him, he feels mentally exhausted.

It feels particularly mentally exhausting.

*

Tonight, Huang Shaohang returned at eleven o’clock.

The night was deep, and draped in starlight, he hurried along, taking a moment in the elevator to smooth down his hair in front of the mirror.

As always, he knocked on the door to Fu Yunzheng’s room.

Fu Yunzheng opened the door, his expression neutral as he looked at the young man before him: “Yu He is next door.”

Huang Shaohang smiled at Fu Yunzheng, “I’m sorry to disturb you, President Fu.”

Fu Yunzheng said, “It’s fine.”

The smile on Huang Shaohang’s face didn’t change a bit: “President Fu, you don’t mind me always coming to chat with Brother Yu, do you?”

Fu Yunzheng responded calmly, “Why would I? It’s quite normal to reminisce about the past when meeting an old classmate in a foreign land.”

Huang Shaohang clenched his fist, holding back before finally responding, “Before we reunited, it was the past. Who can say for sure that there won’t be a future?”

Fu Yunzheng was unperturbed: “Everyone has their own pursuits. What I sought after is already in my hands. As for what you’re pursuing... I wish you the best in achieving it.”

In terms of retorting without changing one's expression, Huang Shaohang was clearly no match for Fu Yunzheng. With just a few polite words, Fu Yunzheng managed to leave Huang Shaohang feeling incredibly frustrated—

Talking about reminiscing the past and wishing him well, it was clear that he didn’t see Huang Shaohang as a threat, and didn’t believe he could actually take Yu He away from him.

Huang Shaohang’s anger surged.

He wasn’t usually a person quick to anger. Whether it was the him from the past or the him from the present, he rarely lost his temper. But whenever he thought about missing out on Yu He, Huang Shaohang couldn’t control his emotions.

Right in front of Fu Yunzheng, Huang Shaohang knocked on Yu He’s door.

In a short while, Yu He opened the door.

Even though Huang Shaohang was standing right in front of him, the first thing Yu He did upon opening the door was to look towards Fu Yunzheng’s room.

Initially, Yu He glanced over nonchalantly, but he couldn’t help but smile the moment he saw Fu Yunzheng.

Just that one glance was enough to make Huang Shaohang feel like he had fallen into an ice pit, and all his joy faded away.

Yu He asked Fu Yunzheng, “Did our noise disturb your sleep?”

Fu Yunzheng replied, “I haven’t gone to bed yet.”

Yu He said, “Well, you should get some sleep. It’s really late.”

Fu Yunzheng gave a slight nod and closed his room door.

Yu He yawned and said to Huang Shaohang, “Come on in.”

This was Huang Shaohang’s first time entering Yu He’s room.

Yu He didn’t use to live here; he usually slept with Fu Yunzheng.

Even a single bed couldn’t stop Yu He from joining Fu Yunzheng; he didn’t find it cramped. In fact, the two of them squeezed together felt quite secure.

They could be extremely close to each other.

Huang Shaohang asked, “Why did you move back to your own room? Is it because I’ve been coming over to chat and disturbing President Fu’s rest?”

Yu He yawned again, “There’s a pangolin in my room; I just rescued it and need to keep an eye on it.”

Huang Shaohang was surprised, “You have a pangolin in your room?”

Yu He responded, “Yeah. Are you scared? If you are, you can go to your own room.”

Huang Shaohang smiled, “I’m not scared. I just find it interesting. Why do you care so much about pangolins?”

Yu He explained, “I just happened to come across it. It seems rather silly. It’s a protected species, but it doesn’t have the claws and fangs of a tiger, nor can it act cute to win people’s hearts like a panda. Plus, it’s very hard to breed in captivity. Without increased protection efforts, it probably would have gone extinct long ago.”

Sensing the presence of strangers, the pangolin on the floor curled up into a ball. Huang Shaohang squatted down and poked it a few times, but it just curled up tighter, showing no intention of fighting back.

“Brother Yu,” Huang Shaohang looked up at Yu He, “it seems like you have a soft spot for little creatures that can’t defend themselves.”

Yu He also squatted down, “It has quite a strong self-defense mechanism. Look how sharp its scales are. Apart from humans, it hardly has any natural predators.”

Yu He told Huang Shaohang the story of how he came across the pangolin and then said, “This pangolin reappeared in the market just a few days after I released it. I don’t even know where to send it now. If I send it to a rescue center, it might get taken away and sold again after they release it. Are there people just waiting to pick them up at the release sites?”

Huang Shaohang asked, “What’s the name of the rescue center?”

Yu He said, "I'd suggest the Puyang Rescue Association."

Huang Shaohang nodded, caressing the scales of the pangolin: "Alright, I've noted it down. I'll send someone to investigate this matter tomorrow."

"You've troubled yourself too much on my behalf," Yu He squatted down, bracing himself with one hand on his knee, and looked up at Huang Shaohang, "You've already helped me so much. If it weren't for you stepping in to negotiate with Guai Zi San, I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for Fu Yunzhen."

Huang Shaohang sat cross-legged on the ground: "What’s this? It’s just how things are around here in Northern Myanmar, connections lead to connections. If you trust me enough, hand over the pangolin when you're done playing with it, and I'll have someone release it back to the mountains."

Yu He hurriedly placed the pangolin into Huang Shaohang’s arms: “Please release it quickly. I took it out to the yard for a walk this afternoon, looking for anthills for three hours. The ants swarmed us, and it didn’t even get to eat its fill.”

Huang Shaohang couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Yu He's words: “What do you mean by 'swarmed by ants'?"

"They completely turned us over. Let me put it this way, if you can find a single ant in the yard today, I'll consider myself the loser."

"And what if you lose?"

"If I lose, I'll call you 'Brother Hang'."

Huang Shaohang smiled at Yu He, lifting the pangolin in his hands: “You don’t have to call me 'Brother Hang'. If you lose, just accompany me to the mountains and release it together.”

What kind of wager is this?

Yu He thought Huang Shaohang was joking with him.

Even if they didn't bet, if Huang Shaohang invited Yu He to go, could Yu He really refuse?

"Sure," Yu He casually agreed, also sitting down, leaning back halfway on the sofa: “Go ahead and search.”

Huang Shaohang put down the pangolin he was holding, gave Yu He a deep look, stood up, and left.

Yu He didn't expect this young man to be so straightforward and called out after him, "Hey! Are you really going?"

Huang Shaohang, with his back to Yu He, waved his hand: "Tomorrow morning, my car will be waiting for you downstairs."

Forty minutes later, there was another knock on Yu He's door.

Yu He opened the door to find Huang Shaohang standing outside, brimming with a triumphant and satisfied aura despite appearing weather-beaten and exuding chilliness.

Huang Shaohang clasped his hands together, extending them towards Yu He.

“I found one!”

He opened his clasped hand to reveal a small black ant held inside.

A rare spark of triumphant elation crossed Huang Shaohang’s face as he asked Yu He, “Brother Yu, does this mean I’ve won?”

The tiny black ant crawled softly in the palm of his hand, its minuscule form making the old scar traversing Huang Shaohang’s right palm appear even more prominent.

Huang Shaohang cradled the small ant with utmost care, as if he were holding a precious heart in his hands.

Yu He reached out to pick up the small ant from Huang Shaohang’s palm, “All this trouble for such a little creature? You’ve been wrestling with it for forty minutes down there?”

The moment Yu He’s fingertip touched the ant in Huang Shaohang’s palm, Huang Shaohang, who hadn’t felt itchy even with the ant in his hand, suddenly experienced a strange tingling sensation.

The itchiness spread from his palm through his veins, reaching every limb and bone in his body.

It was a sensation he had never felt before.

Huang Shaohang’s breath hitched, his legs grew weak, and his desire to embrace Yu He, to caress him, to kiss him, peaked at that moment.

He wished he could transform into a snake, to wrap around Yu He, to envelope him, or to crawl at Yu He’s feet, block his path, hiss threateningly, and forbid Yu He from going to that detestable Fu Yunzhen.

But he couldn’t do that; it would scare Brother Yu.

Brother Yu had always only liked to help the meek and easily bullied weaker beings; he wouldn’t like a poisonous snake.

Nobody would like a poisonous snake.

Huang Shaohang lowered his eyes, his crow-black lashes concealing the madness in his eyes.

He wanted to say: Brother Yu, love me, please.

But he didn’t dare.

All he could do was cautiously yearn for a victory, a win that would grant him some alone time with Yu He.