Chapter 334 The Bullied Him (14)
by 棠棠Chapter 334 The Bullied Him (14)
Another soap opera wrapped up, and Song Chuyi had polished off his cola.
Zhong An, tied to the cross, felt his limbs starting to go numb.
Song Chuyi started another episode and went to grab himself some Sprite during the commercial break.
When he returned, Zhong An had already freed himself from the cross and was sitting in the spot where Song Chuyi had been sitting.
And he was munching on his chips!
Song Chuyi: !!!
He quickly walked over and grabbed the barbecue chips.
"If you want chips, go grab some yourself from the store."
Zhong An took the chips back without a word.
"No."
He said no.
On this day of celebration, as the "weak" one, he actually refused Song Chuyi, the "strong" one.
Yet he seemed oblivious.
The rules had already broken down by now.
Song Chuyi plopped down angrily, "Fine, don’t go then, hmph!"
"Can you at least get me a subscription?"
"The ads are way too long."
This time, Zhong An complied.
After shelling out 9.9 for a subscription, there were indeed no more ads.
Song Chuyi snacked on sunflower seeds while watching with Zhong An, chiming in now and then.
Time seemed to drag on, and the surroundings remained dark.
The cross had vanished.
When the next episode ended, Song Chuyi stretched and glanced at Zhong An.
"So, do you love me now?"
Zhong An snapped out of the weird storyline and looked at Song Chuyi.
"After all the heart-wrenching drama, how could there still be love?"
He was referring to the previous plot.
Song Chuyi shook his head.
"I don’t get it either."
He always found humans to be strange.
They fall in love whether they're liked, used, or even hurt.
After being in the human world for so long, he still doesn't get why they fall in love.
Zhong An paused for a moment, then looked ahead.
As if lost in thought, he began to speak slowly.
"My father was an abusive gambler, my mom was meek, and I had a little brother."
"Everyone said I was smart and pushed me to study hard."
"I did, even skipping grades to get into college."
"They told me college would be a breeze."
"But in college, my dormmates shut me out, and the professors were tough on me. I didn't get it."
He couldn't grasp their malice and envied those with perfect lives.
"They said money mattered, so I aimed to make some."
"Once I had enough, they said money wasn't everything."
"I just don't get it."
"I don't know what really matters. Do you?"
He turned to Song Chuyi, his eyes clouded with dark mist.
"I know!" Song Chuyi grinned. "Happiness is what counts!"
He took his hand firmly.
"Do you know what it means to be happy?"
Zhong An shook his head slowly.
"Show me."
He clasped Song Chuyi's hand tightly.
"Teach me how."
"I'm quick to learn. I can do it."
Song Chuyi shook his head gently, patting his hand like soothing a child.
"It's not something you can teach."
"Happiness is something you've got to find for yourself."
"So, here's the thing..."
He leaned in and wrapped him in a gentle hug.
As he did, he whispered, "Your rules are shattered."
He kissed him just below the ear.
"Welcome to my happy place."
A beam of white light shot out from Song Chuyi's forehead, swiftly consuming the black mist.
All at once, the sky lit up, the white light nearly blinding Zhong An.
Amid the blinding white light, Zhong An thought he saw a tree.
A... coffee tree? Could it be?
————
As a child, Zhong An got a gift from his parents.
It was a mysterious seed.
He planted it in an empty mineral water bottle and placed it beside his desk.
He studied daily, hoping it would please his parents.
Studying became his sole focus, and over time, he forgot about the seed in the bottle.
Then, one day, it sprouted.
A tiny, delicate sprout.
For the first time, young Zhong An felt the awe of life.
For the first time, he skipped studying to sneak out and collect bottles, sold them at the recycling station for ten yuan, enough for a small flower pot.
He scooped up some soil from the riverbank and carefully placed the sprouted seed into the flower pot.
He began watering it daily, watching it grow little by little.
As he grew older, the seedling reached the height of his palm.
He skipped grades and got into university.
On enrollment day, he took it with him to university.
He set it on his dorm desk, and every day when he returned from the library, he would look at it.
Over time, his dorm mates started to ostracize him.
They drenched his bed, trashed his books, and threw his clean clothes into the toilet.
He kept studying every day.
Then one day, returning from the library, he found the small tree missing.
He asked them, they mocked and belittled him, they looked down on his small tree.
He searched for a long time, and finally found it at the waste treatment plant.
But it had already withered.
The once tender sprout had withered, its small branches scarred.
He looked at the withered little tree, and his heart felt like it died in that instant.
Zhong An felt his beating heart stop in that moment, his blood seemed to turn cold in that instant.
He felt like crying, but couldn't.
He didn’t even know how to cry, only blinking his eyes.
Blinking felt sour, even difficult.
Suddenly, the withered little tree was surrounded by a white light.
Slowly, it started to sprout and grow branches.
It grew.
It became a large tree.
A... coffee tree.
Tears filled his eyes in that moment, and Zhong An didn't even understand why he was crying.
He hadn’t cried even in his heartbreak and despair, so why was he crying now that his tree had revived?
He didn't understand, he only knew that tears kept falling, hitting the ground and even his hands.
He cried uncontrollably, almost breaking down.
Tears blurred his vision, obscuring the coffee tree.
The white light gently settled before him, and someone hugged him.
The familiar scent of wood filled his nostrils, and Zhong An pulled the person close, holding them tightly.
"Do you love me yet?"
Song Chuyi’s voice broke the silence.
Zhong An lowered his head and kissed Song Chuyi's lips.
"Love."
His voice was hoarse, tears streaming down Song Chuyi’s face.
"I love you, A'Chu."
He sobbed uncontrollably but still kissed him.
He kissed fiercely.
Tears mingled with their kiss, sweet yet faintly salty.
But kissing alone wasn’t enough.
He craved something more intimate, more intense.
The harder he cried, the more fervent his actions grew.
In the soft glow, their bodies merged, nearly inseparable.
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