Forty-one, My Unparticipated Past

  Forty-one, the past I've never been involved in

  After dinner, Yan Jing burped and said to Chu Xueran, "Uncle, from now on I'll be sleeping in the same room as you, on the same bed. I'm just informing you, not asking for your opinion."

  "Whatever."

  Yan Jing raised an eyebrow at the two words he heard, "Uncle, why are you being so nice to me today? Is it because after I was kidnapped, you suddenly realized that you've deeply fallen in love with me?"

  "Your face is as thick as a city wall plus pigskin plus iron skin plus steel plate."

  "Unequal evening scenery counterattack, Chu Xueyan said again, 'I'm just afraid that someone will come uninvited again at night and climb onto my bed. Uncle, I'm old and can't bear being woken up by you three to five times.'"

  "Great! I've got a bedmate again!" Yan Jing bowed to Chu Xueran, "Thank you again, Uncle, for being willing to sacrifice yourself for me."

  "Don't talk nonsense!"

  Yan Jing's head was hit by a sudden slap.

  At ten o'clock in the evening, Yan Jing and Chu Xueran lay side by side on the bed, wide awake.

  "Uncle, tell me about the young man who used to live with you. I really want to hear it."

  Because of the fear of Chu Xueran's suspicion, Yan Jing had never taken the initiative to mention Yan Se before. However, today, after losing that scarf, Yan Jing suddenly felt very far away from Yan Se, as if Yan Se had never appeared in Yan Jing's life at all.

  This realization made Yan Jing feel scared, and he needed something new and related to Yan Se to replace that scarf. These things were Yan Se's past, even if they had nothing to do with Yan Jing, they would make him feel at ease.

  Chu Xueyan didn't think much of it, Yan Jing was just a young man after all, and it was normal for him to be curious about some things. For the two years since Yan Se's death, Chu Xueyan had never dared to mention Yan Se.

  The pain was like an open wound on Chu Xiran's heart, constantly bleeding and festering. The wound had never healed and would always ache, but if Chu Xiran deliberately ignored it, the pain would be slightly alleviated.

  But now Chu Xueran didn't want to escape anymore. Since the wound had already festered, why not cut away the rotten flesh? This way, the wound still had a chance to heal. Perhaps it was because there was one more person by his side, but Chu Xueran suddenly felt that mentioning Yan Se wasn't as painful as before.

  "His name is Yan Se, and it's similar to yours. At first, I suspected that the younger brother you mentioned was actually Yan Se, so..."

  "What's wrong?"

  Chu Xueyan said with a smile, "So I sent a private detective to investigate your ancestors for eighteen generations."

  Cut, what's the point? Yan Jing had long known that Chu Xueyan was investigating his own affairs. "What's the result?"

  Chu Xueran found it strange. Logically speaking, with Yan Jing's fiery temper, he should have blown up at himself by now. "Aren't you angry?"

  "Don't interrupt. What's the result?"

  Chu Xueyan continued, "The detective also investigated the things you told me. Moreover, the detective found out that you indeed have a younger brother, who is currently studying abroad with the support of Lu Fang."

  Yan Jing sneered, it seemed that Chu Xueyan had really spent a lot of money to investigate him. The detective she hired must have been very expensive, otherwise how could they have found out about something like this? This so-called "brother" was just someone Yan Jing and Lu Fang had casually picked out. Yan Jing had never even met this "brother".

  "Aren't you going to tell me about the romantic things? Why did it turn out to be about me?" Yan Jing rolled over in bed and put his head on Chu Xueran's shoulder, "Come on, say it. I really want to know what that romance is like."

  Chu Xueran's neck was tickled by Yan Jing's breathing, but Chu Xueran didn't move, he didn't want Yan Jing's head to rest uncomfortably.

  "Yan Se and you are of the same age. If he were still alive, he would also be seventeen this year. He was very good-looking, just like you, yet different."

  Yan Jing interrupted Chu Xueran, "You say it, why do you always have to compare me with Yan Se?" Yan Jing was afraid that if Chu Xueran made too many comparisons, he would discover something he shouldn't.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to compare you with Yan Se." Chu Xueran also felt like she was possessed or something, always unable to help but mix up Yan Jing and Yan Se.

  "Alright, you continue then."

  "I was only in my teens then, and had just returned from abroad not long ago. One day I came back from school, and found a little boy crouching at the entrance. It was summer then, but he had a light grey scarf wrapped around his neck. I wanted to help him take off the scarf, but he didn't cry or make any noise, just grasped the scarf tightly in his hand."

  Suddenly, Yan Jing sniffled.

  "What's wrong?"

  "It's just a bit cold." Yan Jing curled up into a ball in her bed.

  Chu Xueyan leaned to one side, holding Yan Jing in his arms. "Perhaps it was that scarf that made Yan's color heat up, and later Yan always feared the heat. The scarf was placed by Yan in the corner of his closet, never taken out again, but Yan also didn't throw it away."

  "Don't always say it's over, say something else." Yan Jing had once promised Yan Se that the two brothers would definitely reunite. Yan Se hadn't moved his scarf, perhaps he hated his brother who didn't keep his word.

  "What do you want to hear?" Chu Xueran felt that tonight's Yan Jing was too abnormal.

  "You've lived together for so many years, there must have been a lot of interesting things that happened, tell me about them."

  "Uh-huh, as long as you're willing to listen."

  Chu Xueran continued, "One summer evening, the power went out. Without air conditioning, Yan Se was so hot that he couldn't sleep. I told him to calm his mind and he would naturally feel cooler, and if he just wanted to sleep for a bit, he could fall asleep. Then Yan Se really did go to sleep, but before he fell asleep, he said to me that if he didn't wake up after several hours, I should remember to touch him and see if he had really cooled down completely."

  Yan Jing was amused, "And then?"

  Then it struck me.

  "......" Yan Jing urged, "Is there anything else?"

  "Of course. I remember one time, I accompanied Yan Se to an amusement park to play, and before that, we needed to withdraw money from the ATM. Unfortunately, there was no money in the ATM. I told Yan Se that we need to find another ATM. As a result, Yan Se thought that someone inside the ATM was suffocating from lack of oxygen and insisted on calling emergency services to rescue the person."

  "What's next?"

  "Then there was no then." Chu Xueran patted Yan Jing's back, "Sleep. You need to recharge your energy, otherwise you'll be tired tomorrow."

  "Mmm." Yan Jing's face wore a smile as he slowly drifted off to sleep.