Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Lu Ge eagerly headed out to buy small yellow croakers.

Half an hour later, he came back with a heap of fish—fried, steamed, and braised. Ji Mian figured he must have bought out all the small yellow croakers in the area.

"Where’s Qin Yan at?" Lu Ge looked around the ward.

When he left, Qin Yan was still hanging around by the ward door.

Ji Mian said, "I sent him home."

Lu Ge stopped short, his heart soaring, and he kept mumbling nonsense in Ji Mian’s ear: "If Young Master doesn’t want Qin Yan, why keep someone like me around?"

Not insignificant, Ji Mian thought, but he didn’t say anything, just slowly picked out the bones and separated the meat.

Small yellow croakers were cheap—a few fried ones only cost ten yuan, and the main bones weren’t hard to pick.

He managed to polish off four palm-sized fish.

Lu Ge, sticking to his no-waste rule, stubbornly finished off the rest of the fish, leaving his mouth reeking of fish.

Small yellow croakers… the best fish he’d ever had.

Ji Mian started eating and taking his meds religiously.

Whether it was the food or the meds that did the trick, over the next year, his body gradually showed signs of improvement. He put on a bit of weight, and his complexion got a lot better.

During the period when his weight was at its highest, Lu Ge would often laugh for no reason.

Until the second winter, when Ji Mian coughed once in the middle of the night, and then the coughing spiraled out of control, lasting all night.

The next day, he was rushed to the hospital with a high fever, and various complications caused by pneumonia followed one after another.

He stayed in the hospital for four months, and a year’s worth of progress was wiped out in an instant, dealing a heavy blow to the smugly grinning Lu Ge.

Ji Mian’s health took a nosedive.

He couldn’t eat, but not wanting to worry those around him, he forced himself to eat.

But soon after eating, he’d throw it all up.

After several times, Lu Ge, in the Xu family’s bathroom, gently rubbed Ji Mian’s back as he vomited, unable to straighten up.

His palm moved down along Ji Mian’s protruding spine, and finally, he lowered his eyes and said, "Don’t push yourself so hard."

Ji Mian stopped being hard on himself. But the consequences of this compromise were something they both knew well.

He started layering up more and more, even in summer, wearing at least two jackets.

It wasn’t because he was ashamed of his appearance, but Ji Mian was always worried that his exposed arms and wrist bones would scare others.

Lu Ge came to the Xu family more and more frequently, almost spending every weekend there. Later, Yi Lan even cleared out a room for him to stay in on weekends.

This weekend, he arrived early in the morning again.

Lu Ge rarely showed too many other emotions in front of Ji Mian, always arriving with a smile on his face, as frivolous as ever.

Ji Mian woke up unusually early today, and by the time Lu Ge entered, he was already downstairs.

Just as he was about to call someone, a coughing fit surged in his throat, and he frowned, trying hard to suppress it.

"The sun must be rising from the wrong side, the Young Master is up this early?" Lu Ge was quite surprised.

Ji Mian smiled.

He was surprised too. In the two years he’s been in this world, it was the first time he couldn’t sleep in.

It felt like some kind of omen.

The weather was very nice today, and Lu Ge had already set aside Ji Mian’s time the day before.

Since losing the opportunity to feed Ji Mian, taking him out for aimless strolls had become Lu Ge’s second pleasure. In the months after Ji Mian was discharged from the hospital, Lu Ge had taken him almost everywhere nearby. They could only venture so far; any further, and he feared for Ji Mian’s safety.

"Where would the Young Master like to go?"

Under the table, Ji Mian’s hand circled the wrist bone of his other hand, his fingers encircling an empty space.

Ji Mian had a vague premonition, a premonition that his lifeline in this world was coming to an end.

After a while, he said, "I think I’d like to visit that shop."

*

It had been almost two years since Lu Ge last visited that woodcarving shop, but when they arrived, the shopkeeper immediately recognized her former big client and greeted him with a face full of surprise.

Upon closer inspection of the young man carefully led by Lu Ge, she was momentarily stunned.

"No need for that." Lu Ge waved his hand, refusing the other party’s enthusiasm to catch up and introduce new goods.

His chair was still in the corner. The chair was not cheap, and since it was Lu Ge’s, the shopkeeper didn’t dare to move it, and it hadn’t shown much wear after two years.

Smelling the scent of wood again, Ji Mian lowered his eyes, his eyes, hidden under his lashes, were filled with nostalgia.

Lu Ge felt a pang in his heart.

A long time ago, he had vaguely felt that it wasn’t Qin Yan, but someone else he didn’t know, who was treasured by Ji Mian like a precious gem, and even bringing it out to look at would feel painful.

Lu Ge realized for the first time that loyalty could be a burden.

Lu Ge didn’t know that Ji Mian didn’t come here because he couldn’t forget his old feelings.

He came here just to say goodbye.

He had been stuck in the past for too long; it was time to move forward.

Ji Mian smiled.

Brother, he was ready to move forward.

They didn’t linger in the shop for long, because Ji Mian started coughing again.

Leaving the shop and returning to the car, Lu Ge asked the person beside him, "Do you want to come back tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was Sunday, and he still had time.

"No need." Ji Mian slowly shook his head, "This will be the last time."

"Mr. Lu," Ji Mian called out to him.

There was something he really wanted Lu Ge to know.

"You mean a lot to me."

Lu Ge froze for a moment, then suddenly turned his face away, biting his tongue to stifle a laugh. His ears flushed bright red.

After a long while, he turned back, smiling warmly into Ji Mian's eyes, his gaze so intense it seemed to be defiantly addressing another soul from afar: Did you hear that? I mean a lot to him.

It was just bad timing that he met Ji Mian.

How could he blame him when the person before him had such a small heart, capable of holding only one person for a lifetime.

Lu Ge felt a mix of reluctance and contentment.

He had just arrived a bit late; otherwise, that place in this person's heart would surely have been his.

"If I loved him in this life... wouldn’t it be my turn in the next?"

Lu Ge muttered under his breath at first.

Then, as if he had grasped something, he suddenly looked straight at Ji Mian with a determination he’d never shown before: "Hey, Young Master..."

"In the next life, could you love me?"

Ji Mian’s fingers clenched slowly.

After a long pause, he smiled at Lu Ge.

Ji Mian lied.

"Okay."