Divorced

Chen Yuchuan always had strength in his body, a strength that would never be extinguished, bursting and flamboyant.

But everyone had moments of weaknesses, fatigue, and complacency.

His strength required that someone stand firmly beside him, and no matter how much he exerted force, that person would stand steadfastly next to him. In the past, this person was Lu Yang.

The cigarette in Qi Yun’s office completely wiped out Chen Yuchuan’s energy.

Looking further back, it was more accurately what Lu Yang had said before he left:

Divorcing was the right thing to do.

When Lu Yang said this, he wanted to be the same as he was before. He wanted to immediately rush up to Lu Yang and threaten to break up with him.

Because, with those words, in addition to the half past year, he also denied everything in the previous 16 years.

Chen Yuchuan had been with Lu Yang since he was 18 years old. At the age of 18, he was still thinking about how to solve his three meals a day, and nothing was certain.

After 18 years old, Lu Yang’s name was branded everywhere on his body. In these 16 years, he was already scalded from skin to meat to bone.

So what would Chen Yuchuan be like with Lu Yang? What was the real him?

That wasn’t something Lu Yang could decide, unless he tore off all the marks he’d placed on Chen Yuchuan’s body and then melted him and reshaped him anew.

Now, without Lu Yang by his side, Chen Yuchuan was like a balloon drifting in the sky, continuously leaking air, deflated and negligent.

He stayed home the entire weekend. He had already released Lu Yang’s phone number and WeChat from the blacklist.

On Friday afternoon, Lu Yang sent a message saying that he would pick Chubby up at 3 in the afternoon on the weekend.

On Saturday, Chen Yuchuan got up at noon, had an afternoon meal, and went back to bed.

On Saturday night, Hua Song called him. He had almost never had contact with Hua Song alone, and so he was a little puzzled. However, Hua Song only asked him if he had time the next day and invited him to go to his small, solo concert.

However, Chen Yuchuan refused. He didn’t want to go out, didn’t want to move, and didn’t want to listen to any concerts.

On Sunday, Lu Yang arrived on time at 3 pm. The TV was on and Chen Yuchuan was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting on one arm like it was a pillow and the blanket pulled over his body. Hewas extremely lazy and fatigue, not wanting to move, to talk, to open his eyes.

“I’m here to pick up Chubby.” Lu Yang started knocking on the door, and when no one answered, he took out his key and opened the door by himself. When he entered, the first thing he saw was Chen Yuchuan showing his profile to the door.

Without opening his eyes, Chen Yuchuan opened his mouth, only to discover that his throat was dry and sour. He swallowed and called out to Chubby. “Come here and give Dad a hug. Go with your mother, and I’ll pick you up next week.”

Chubby ran to the sofa and barked a few times at Chen Yuchuan.

Chen Yuchuan pushed himself up on his elbows, shook the blanket on his body and stretched out a hand from underneath the blanket. His hand felt in the air a few times before finally locating Chubby. After patting him, he retracted his arms back into the blanket and said in Chubby’s general direction, “Go with your mother. Dad won’t see you off.”

Lu Yang strode over to the sofa, bent down, and placed his hand on Chen Yuchuan’s forehead. The moment his hand made contact, his face twisted.

“You have a fever. Don’t you know it yourself?”

Chen Yuchuan only knew that he was exhausted and didn’t want to move at all. He thought that he was just lazy and had no idea that he was feverish. No wonder he felt a little cold and his head was dizzy.

Lu Yang moved his hand away from Chen Yuchuan’s forehead and slid it down to his face, only to discover that his face was also hot.

Chen Yuchuan frowned and lightly patted Lu Yang’s hand away. Then, pulling the blanket up to cover half of his chin, he murmured. “Okay, yes. I know now.”

Lu Yang let out a soft sigh. He walked over to the cabinet by the TV, took out the medicine box, and located the antipyretic and cold medicine.

With his eyes closed, Chen Yuchuan could hear Lu Yang’s footsteps. First, he determined that Lu Yang must have found the medicine, then he entered the kitchen and began to boil water.

He wanted to say, “Lu Yang, don’t worry about me. I can do all this by myself. Anyway, I’m on my own now.” But he really didn’t want to talk at all, and so he just continued to lie down and made himself more comfortable.

His physique had always been very good, and he rarely had a fever or caught a cold.

Chubby was lying on the carpet next to the sofa, looking at him. Then, he stood up and ran into the kitchen to see his mother.

Once the water was boiled, the kettle began to screech. Feeling that the sound was particularly harsh, Chen Yuchuan pulled the blanket over his ears. Fortunately, Lu Yang quickly turned the stove off.

As he waited for Lu Yang to deliver the medicine and the warm water, Chen Yuchuan nearly fell asleep.

“Get up and take some medicine.”

Half asleep, Chen Yuchuan heard Lu Yang’s voice near his ears. Judging by the sound that was neither too close nor too far, he determined that Lu Yang must be squatting by the sofa.

It wasn’t until Lu Yang had called out to him three times did Chen Yuchuan finally let out a nasally “mmmn.”

At first, Lu Yang thought that Chen Yuchuan would follow his typical behavior and say that he didn’t want to take medicine. To his surprise, Chen Yuchuan quickly sat up from the sofa, still covered with the blanket. Wrapping the blanket tighter around his neck with one hand, he grabbed the pills on the coffee table with the other hand. Then, raising his head, he swallowed the pills and followed it with drinking down a whole cup of warm water.

After putting down the glass of water, Chen Yuchuan didn’t look at Lu Yang. He simply sniffed, stood up still wrapped in the blanket, and began to walk to the bedroom, saying, “Okay, I’ve finished the medicine and drank the warm water. I’ll burn the fever off in a while. You can go back now. I’ll just go to my room to sleep and I’ll be fine when I wake up.”

In his bedroom, Chen Yuchuan closed the door. The cold medicine was the kind to induce sleep, and Chen Yuchuan had hardly slept well these past few days. As a result, he fell asleep shortly after lying down.

When he finally woke up, the room was completely dark. The curtains were drawn tightly, but he could still hear the slight sound of the wind gently blowing against the glass windows.

Lying in bed, he stared at the heavy darkness in front of him for several minutes before he finally remembered what happened right before he went to sleep.

He had a fever, and when Lu Yang came to pick up Chubby, he boiled water for him and gave him medicine.

The medicine box should be inside the drawer on the right side of the TV stand. From the sounds of it, it was in the second drawer, because the screws on the first drawer were a little loose. When you pulled it out, it would create a harsh screeching sound. Therefore, he rarely used that drawer himself.

Last month, he’d told Lu Yang that he had time, they should go to a furniture store together to get a new cabinet.

He’d told Lu Yang that the color of the cabinet was too dark now, and he wanted a beige one.

When Chen Yuchuan got out of bed, he touched his forehead. After taking the medicine, the fever had subsided. Now, his forehead was even a little cold. He’d been sweating in his sleep, and so he felt sticky and uncomfortable.

He’d just touched the lamp and was just about to press on the switch to turn it on, when the bedroom door suddenly opened, letting a block of light from the living room inside. Chen Yuchuan saw the shadow of Lu Yang’s figure outlined by that bright light.

Since Lu Yang’s back was to the light, Chen Yuchuan couldn’t see his expression clearly.

“Lu Yang, why haven’t you left yet?” Chen Yuchuan asked.

Lu Yang didn’t answer. He walked over to the bed and touched Chen Yuchuan’s forehead, then he quickly removed his hand and said, “Come out and eat.”

After Lu Yang finished speaking, he turned around and walked out.

Chen Yuchuan didn’t say anything this time. Although the fever had subsided, he didn’t feel much better. He was still top-heavy, and he was starving.

First, he took a shower, and after rinsing off the sweat on his body, he felt much refreshed.

The three dishes and two bowls of porridge on the table were still steaming hot, and Lu Yang sat in the position he used to sit.

Seeing this, Chen Yuchuan felt a little dazed, as if this was no different from the usual weekend routine. He pulled out the chair opposite Lu Yang and sat down. Then he picked up the bowl of porridge and a spoon and began to drink the porridge.

Lu Yang ate very gently. He made no sound at all when drinking the porridge, and only occasionally would there be the sounds of his spoon knocking against the edge of the bowl.

Chen Yuchuan raised his head and drank a small bowl. Feeling that his stomach was not so empty before he said, “Lu Yang, I’ll give you the ‘Best Ex-Husband’ award. You can take care of me and even cook for me when I’m sick. You really are a good man…”

Lu Yang didn’t answer Chen Yuchuan’s words at all, and lowered his head to continue eating the porridge in his bowl.

Chen Yuchuan didn’t continue the topic and instead finished his remaining half bowl of porridge. Then he stretched his neck and glanced at the kitchen.

When Lu Yang said, “There’s more,” Chen Yuchuan took his bowl into the kitchen and went to refill it. The porridge was too hot, and he couldn’t eat it even after stirring it with a spoon for a long time. In the end, he simply pushed the bowl aside so that it could cool down naturally.

He was quiet for two seconds, then he opened his mouth and said, “Brother Yang…”

When Chen Yuchuan called out Brother Yang, he did so very seriously. He was no longer angry, not like in the past few days. His words no longer carried thorns, as if the moment he saw Lu Yang, he would want to stab him.

The impulse to stab people had passed, and he still had to walk back calmly, no matter what his identity and their relationship were.

Chen Yuchuan really wanted to have a good chat with Lu Yang now, although he still hadn’t figured anything out.

“Brother Yang, although saying this now is a bit like…taking off your pants and farting. It’s superfluous, but I still want to ask. What do you think I should be like? Like you said, whenever I get angry, I won’t hide it and can still burst out fire three meters high, right? So, that makes it right for us to divorce?”

Lu Yang put down his spoon, wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin, and straightened his body.

The light over the dining table was slightly bluish, and it covered them with a layer of gray blues.

Instead of directly answering Chen Yuchuan’s question, Lu Yang asked, “What if it’s not the right thing to do? If getting a divorce is wrong, what are you going to do? Remarry me?”

The things Chen Yuchuan wanted to ask became disrupted by these words. If getting a divorce was the wrong thing to do, could they remarry?

But before he could figure it out, his phone on the sofa rang, interrupting their conversation.

He walked to the sofa and picked up his mobile phone to answer the call. It was the manager of the resort, Jian Yongyan.

Jian Yongyan waited for Chen Yuchuan to answer the phone, and then he hurriedly said, “President Chen, there was an accident in the resort on the mountain, and a large part of Area B under construction had collapsed.”

Chen Yuchuan quickly asked, “Is anyone injured?”

“No one was injured.”

“Make absolutely sure no one was injured. Call the police immediately. I’ll head over right now.”

Lu Yang received the call almost at the same time. Chen Yuchuan picked up the car key on the coffee table and threw it directly to Lu Yang. “Brother Yang, you drive…”