Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Chen Jinsheng thought the next stop would have been Chu Heng's high school, followed by his university. He never expected that after arriving in the county seat, Chu Heng would bring him to an abandoned building.

The top floor had one wall missing, the space likely intended for a floor-to-ceiling window, but it remained permanently empty after the project was abandoned. Buildings in small towns were generally low-rise, and from here, most of the county seat could be seen. Today was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the moon in the sky was large and round, emitting a jade-like radiance. The outline of the distant mountains took on a graceful silhouette, echoing the soft moonlight.

Chu Heng sat down, his feet dangling over the edge. He patted the space next to him, a relaxed smile on his face. "Have a seat. The view's great from here."

Chen Jinsheng followed suit and sat down. Chu Heng took the flashlight and turned it off, plunging the surroundings into darkness. The faint moonlight cast a pale shadow behind Chu Heng. The winter silence was absolute in this abandoned building, and Chu Heng's light, steady breathing was carried on the cool breeze.

"This abandoned building was still a construction site when I was in high school. It was originally supposed to be a department store, but the boss ran off with the money, and it was left unfinished."

After an unknown amount of time, Chu Heng's voice broke the silence. He turned on the flashlight and shone it into the distance. "That's the only high school in the county. I didn't stay there long, so I won't take you to see it."

He fell silent for a moment before turning off the flashlight again. "You can probably tell, my family background wasn't very good."

Not just "not very good"—compared to Chen Jinsheng's upbringing, it was worlds apart. Before meeting Chen Jinsheng, Chu Heng had never imagined that someone's house could be inlaid with gold and jade, that the car they drove could be worth an entire school building, and that contracts worth hundreds of millions could be discussed casually over laughter.

Similarly, just a few days ago, Chen Jinsheng couldn't have imagined that Chu Heng's past would be like this.

Even without knowing the details, you could sense the hardship.

"You guessed it, didn't you?"

"...What?"

"About my mom."

Chen Jinsheng remained silent for a long time before softly acknowledging with an "Mm."

Only now did he finally confirm that Chu Heng had done it on purpose. When Chen Jinsheng was still sitting awkwardly on the newspaper in the east room, Chu Heng had already found a large plastic sheet and a wooden ladder, as well as a sickle and broom. This showed that he was very familiar with those dilapidated houses and the items inside, or that he had already searched through the rooms.

It was nearly dusk then, and their phone batteries were dead from over a day of traveling. Normally, the first thing Chu Heng should have done upon arriving home was to charge his phone or find other sources of light. But he didn't. Instead, he did the pointless work of weeding the yard.

Chu Heng had intentionally let him search for candles, allowing him to explore every corner of those small rooms. He had intentionally let him enter the main room, where he would see the iron ring on the kang bed.

Before entering the village, Chen Jinsheng had searched for "Zhenquan Village" on his phone. One of the results was a news article from years ago.

The G City police had broken up multiple human trafficking cases in Zhenquan Village.

But at the time, he hadn't thought that Chu Heng's mother was one of the victims.

"When I was little, I was full of confusion about this world." After hearing his response, Chu Heng paused only briefly before continuing. He didn't elaborate on what he had just said. For someone as smart as Chen Jinsheng, hearing one sentence was enough to guess the whole story.

"I didn't understand why my mom stayed in that room from morning till night. I didn't understand why she never smiled. I didn't understand why she didn't like me. I didn't understand why she never praised me, hugged me, or fed me like the other kids' moms in the village."

Chu Heng's tone was calm. "For a while, I tried to please her. Once, when I came back from gathering firewood, I caught a sparrow to give to her. She strangled the sparrow and tried to swing the axe at me—the one I had accidentally brought inside—"

Chen Jinsheng's breath hitched, and he instinctively reached out to grab Chu Heng's hand resting on the concrete floor.

Chu Heng didn't seem to notice and continued, "My dad stopped her in time. He threw me out of the room and beat my mom for the entire afternoon."

For a long time, Chu Heng lived in a state of fear and guilt. He was afraid of his mom, who had tried to swing an axe at him. He was afraid of his dad, who beat his mom. He was afraid of his grandma, who always cursed his mom with vicious words. And he was afraid of his grandpa, who always looked at the female volunteer teachers with lecherous eyes.

He didn't dare get close to his mom. He felt that he must have done something wrong for his mom to hate him and get angry. If he hadn't brought that axe inside, his mom wouldn't have had the chance to swing it at him, and his dad wouldn't have gotten angry. He felt it was all his fault.

Similar incidents happened frequently, but Chu Heng didn't elaborate further.

"Besides that, I also didn't understand why there were fewer and fewer female teachers at the elementary school. Why did those teachers always come full of enthusiasm, only to leave in a hurry not long after, always urging the students to leave the village before they left?"

Back then, little Chu Heng's favorite thing to do was sit at the door and look at the stars, wondering what lay beyond the mountains. Was it like the teachers said—was everything outside the mountains better than in the village? If they went outside, would his mom become gentle and kind? Would his dad become loving and caring?

It wasn't until Chu Heng left the village to attend middle school in the town and read many newspapers that he understood what his dad meant when he said, "You were bought by me," while beating his mom.

His mom had been trafficked.

During a holiday break, Chu Heng told his mom that he would find a way to earn a lot of money, buy her back from his dad, and take her to live in the town, which was a thousand times better than the village. At the time, Chu Heng naively thought a hundred yuan would be enough because that was the price his dad had paid for his mom.

"You know, that was the first time my mom smiled at me." A faint smile touched Chu Heng's lips.

Chen Jinsheng felt a tightness in his chest. It took him a long time to find his voice again. "And then?"

"A hundred yuan wasn't enough. My dad wanted ten thousand."

Ten thousand yuan—an unimaginably huge sum for a teenager like Chu Heng.

No wonder he couldn't even spare five yuan for a graduation photo.

"How long did it take you to save up?"

"I earned six hundred yuan in my first year of middle school." Chu Heng didn't answer directly, his voice turning slightly somber. "One day, I didn't hide it well, and it fell out. Coincidentally, someone in the class had lost money, and they accused me of stealing. It was all taken away."

"Didn't the teacher...?" Investigate properly?

Chen Jinsheng couldn't finish the question. Between a student who struggled to pay tuition but suddenly had six hundred yuan and a student who could reasonably lose six hundred yuan at once, it was obvious who the teacher would side with.

Chen Jinsheng suddenly remembered a highly shared and commented-on article he had seen online when searching for Chu Heng after being released from prison. It said Chu Heng had been a thief during his student days. This was indeed one of Chu Heng's scandals. At the time, Chen Jinsheng thought it was just the usual dirty tactic used in the entertainment industry to smear someone and didn't pay it much mind.

He knew Chu Heng's character very well. Although Chu Heng loved money, he earned it through proper means and would never steal or rob for it.

But he never imagined that this incident had actually happened, and the truth behind it was so cruel.

That was why Chu Heng never publicly responded to this scandal. Explaining it would be no different from reopening old wounds for him.

Realizing he had lost his composure, Chu Heng adjusted his tone. "I earned more in my second year of middle school, about one or two thousand. In my third year, my mom asked me to study hard and get into high school. She said she could wait another year."

From the time Chu Heng made his promise until his third year of middle school, his mom had already waited three years, and saving ten thousand yuan still seemed far away. But this was the first time his mom had ever asked him for anything, and Chu Heng couldn't refuse.

After he got into the county high school, the town awarded him a few hundred yuan as a reward. Combined with the money he had earned from odd jobs over three years, he had about four thousand yuan. Chu Heng kept eight hundred for tuition and gave the rest to his dad in exchange for his mom no longer being shackled in the room.

There were many competitions in high school with prize money. Chen Jinsheng could guess that Chu Heng wouldn't have missed any opportunity to earn money back then, so he must have studied desperately to participate in competitions. Chen Jinsheng thought somewhat optimistically that Chu Heng was smart; perhaps by his first year of high school, he had saved enough to bring his mom to live with him.

Chu Heng did bring his mom to live with him during high school, but in a rather tragic way.

"...I made my mom wait too long." Chu Heng fell silent for a long time before continuing. "She ran away. My dad organized the villagers to chase her. That night was very dark, and while trying to hide, my mom fell down the mountain and broke her back."

No one had the patience to care for a paralyzed and unkempt person, so Chu Heng easily brought his mom to the county seat. He rented a small room near the school and used all his savings for her medical treatment and medicine.

After his dad found out he had money, he would come to the county seat to demand it. If Chu Heng refused, he would cause a scene at the school. The money quickly ran out, so in his second year of high school, Chu Heng dropped out.

He went to work at a construction site—the very abandoned building they were sitting in now.

"I mixed with the other workers and learned to smoke, drink, and tell dirty jokes."

After more than fifty years, Chu Heng had almost forgotten that state of numbness. Now, he could only recall the last bit of hope and drive he had back then to create a new life for his mom.

"Before the construction site boss ran off with the money—" Chen Jinsheng never thought asking a question could be so difficult, his voice barely a whisper squeezed from his throat. "Did he pay the wages?"

After what felt like an eternity, Chu Heng's voice finally broke the silence, calm and quiet. "No."

The moonlight was cold as water, lengthening the two shadows on the ground. The night wind swept away all sound. It took Chu Heng a moment to realize he was being held.

Chen Jinsheng held him tightly, his warm chest rising and falling against Chu Heng’s, the steady, powerful beat of his heart passing between them. Chu Heng froze for a while before raising a hand to pat him, adopting a light tone: “It’s fine. Luckily, I got my mom’s looks, so I’m decent-looking. Not long after, I was scouted. Even though the company wasn’t great, I still earned a few thousand a month.”

Bullshit.

Chen Jinsheng closed his eyes.

Chu Heng’s former agent was no good, often running prostitution rings on the side.

“And besides, I met you in the end, didn’t I?” Chu Heng said.

Chen Jinsheng tightened his arms, holding him even closer: “That night, why did you come?”

“Ah,” Chu Heng said. “My mom fell ill.”

If not for his mother’s sudden severe illness, Chu Heng would have rather returned to the construction site to carry bricks than become part of his agent’s pimping scheme.

“I got lucky. You picked me.”

Chen Jinsheng felt a surge of gratitude that he hadn’t refused his associate’s invitation that night as he usually did. If he hadn’t gone, would Chu Heng have chosen someone else? Would he have been taken advantage of? Would he have suffered even more?

Chen Jinsheng dared not dwell on the answers to these questions. He asked, “What about your mom…”

“She didn’t make it. Later, the police solved a human trafficking case, and my mom’s family came and took her remains back.”

After that, a mudslide struck his hometown, killing his father, grandfather, and grandmother—perhaps punishment for their wrongdoings.

Having been through a kind of death, Chu Heng had come to terms with it. Life and death are fated, wealth and honor lie with heaven. So, when speaking of these things, his tone wasn’t all that heavy. He relaxed against Chen Jinsheng, resting his head on his broad shoulder, gazing at the distant moon, and said softly: “Chen Jinsheng.”

“Now you know what kind of person I am. By the time I was a teenager, I was already addicted to smoking, had picked up drinking, and was with you back then just for the money. That good-boy act of not smoking or drinking was just a facade because my agent said that’s what big shots like you go for.

“I’m not filial, and I don’t meet Aunt Mu’s expectations for a daughter-in-law.”

As if anticipating Chen Jinsheng’s response, he straightened up and covered Chen Jinsheng’s mouth, looking at him as he said: “I am an unfortunate person, always bringing misfortune to those around me. Being with me means enduring online gossip, dealing with others’ open and hidden attacks, and putting up with forced pairings like me and He Mingshuang. I can be with you in bed every day, spend every moment with you, but I may not be able to give you the emotional response you’re looking for.

“Even so, is your answer still the same?”

This was the third time Chen Jinsheng had heard Chu Heng ask him this.

He looked at Chu Heng. The moonlight made his face appear handsome and clear, just like when he was young.

Chen Jinsheng slowly pulled down the hand covering his mouth. “Chu Heng.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m already in my forties.”

“Hmm… I know that.”

“Maybe in a few years, I’ll slowly grow old. Wrinkles will appear on my face, my hair will turn white, and my health won’t be as good. I don’t have that much time left, so I know very clearly what I want most.”

People are greedy by nature, and Chen Jinsheng was no exception.

He wanted more than one thing. Occasionally, he even thought about returning to his former life of wealth and glory. But he knew very clearly what he wanted most. The most brilliant and dazzling period of his life was already in the past. He never looked back. Now, he just needed to seize his remaining time to pursue the one wish he most wanted to fulfill.

His feelings for Chu Heng were too complex—admiration, pity, love, unwillingness to let his efforts sink, the stubbornness of grasping at the last lifeline, and perhaps even resentment he wasn’t fully aware of.

In short,

“I must have you.”

The moonlight shone coldly on the unfinished building, every speck of dust in the air visible, slowly settling with the fading cold wind.

“…Fool,” Chu Heng cursed him. “Did all the shrewdness from your first thirty-five years get eaten by dogs?”

Chen Jinsheng laughed, then said, “Maybe.”

Chu Heng stared at him without blinking, finally collapsing back against him as if defeated: “I know.”

After a pause, he added: “I can promise one more thing.”

Chen Jinsheng held him. “What?”

“I won’t cheat.”

In this lifetime, there will only ever be you.