Black Lotus

“Okay, thank you, Mrs. Lu, I’ll go verify tomorrow.”

After Father Wen turned off the computer, there was a sigh in the room.

He looked at the crayon painting on the study room’s wall. It was drawn by Wen Niannan when he was four and showed three little people holding hands and smiling. Tears started to form in his eyes.

He lifted his foot and walked over, and then gently touched the little man standing in the center, “You’re always so stubborn, just like your mother. Why do you protect others around you when you are hurt all over?”

Ever since his wife’s death, he has not been caring much about Wen Niannan. The impact brought upon him by his wife’s sudden death was huge. The two grew up together and walked into the marriage hall together, but just a few years after the marriage, she died of a heart attack.

He started to use his job to ease his pain. Every day, he left very early and returned very late, making him indifferent to his family matters.

But he never thought about how the impact on Wen Niannan was no less than his. And his intentional estrangement made him think that his father hated him too, and he started to become sensitive and introverted.

When he found out, it was already too late. The kid who ran over wishing for a hug from him every time he came back has disappeared. He was a lot more quiet and sensible, as if he had suddenly grown up. The relationship between them also seemed to have changed.

Father Wen raised his hand to cover his heavy expression. That child was thinner again, his vitality was getting worse, and that white bandage under the hat…

Knock, knock… Someone knocked on the door.

Wen Niannan was pulled back from his memories. He raised his hand to wipe the corner of his eyes and stood up, replying, “Please come in.”

Wen Niannan put the photo away back in its place and sat on the bed. But after a while, no one came in. He stood up and walked to the door himself, only to find Gu Yansheng standing there.

“Mom asked me to tell you to go downstairs for dinner.”

“Oh…okay.”

After closing the door, Wen Niannan walked slowly towards the staircase.

Out of the blue, Gu Yansheng suddenly approached him and held his hand – holding a bit too tight though, it was hurting a little.

“You? What are you?”

“Put away your imagination, I’m just pretending to my mom that we are normal husbands. Isn’t this what you want?”

Hearing his sarcastic words, a flash of sadness flashed in his eyes. He pulled his hand and tried to break free.

“How dare you! Behave!” He said while increasing the strength of his grip, leaving more red marks on the held wrist.

Wen Niannan suddenly used a surprising force and pulled away from Gu Yansheng’s hand.

Gu Yansheng looked at his hand and raised his head in astonishment to look at the person in front of him. His face sank and was about to hit him.

“Sir, the old lady asked you two to come down quickly.” The voice of Aunt Lan came from downstairs.”

Gu Yansheng looked at the trembling person beside him and said impatiently, “Follow me down, don’t cause trouble.”

But Wen Niannan walked right past him, and Gu Yansheng could only follow with a cold face.

Seeing that both of them had come down, Lu Yun didn’t say anything. Aunt Lan then brought the soup for Wen Niannan after they had all seated.

“Where’s Yuanfeng? Why isn’t he back yet?”

Lu Yun glanced at Gu Yansheng and said slowly, “He called just now, he went back to his house, he’ll be back later.”

Wen Niannan felt full after just a few bites, but he didn’t want to refute her mother’s kindness, so he tried to eat some more.

Gu Yansheng saw that the expression on Wen Niannan’s face was a little weird, then he glanced at the soup in the bowl and the porridge on the side. His eyes showed a meaningful look.

“A Sheng.”

“Mm?”

“Tomorrow, you’re going to a concert with Nian Nian. The musician that he likes will be doing a performance in M City tomorrow. Yuanfeng gave me two tickets, you two will be going together.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“I don’t want to go.”

The two voices sounded in unison, but they both refused.

When Gu Yansheng heard that Wen Niannan was also refusing to go, his face turned ugly and said unhappily, “You don’t want to go?”

How the hell would he say no? What is he up to?

Wen Niannan didn’t reply and just calmly drank his soup.

Lu Yun didn’t expect that both of them would reject at the same time. She knew Gu Yansheng would do so, but definitely not Wen Niannan.

“Nian Nian, that is Nation F’s most famous pianist, Phil, didn’t you tell me you really liked him?”

“Mom, I don’t want to go, I want to rest at home.”

“Oh, sorry I wasn’t thinking of you. Your body hasn’t fully recovered yet, it might not be best for you to go around. It’s better to have a good rest at home.”

Gu Yansheng had his head down on the side and didn’t say anything. Some complicated emotions could be seen in his eyes.

Translated by: UnderTheMoon

Edited by: Summit