Divorced

“Today is Chinese New Year, and there are many things to do at home. You just stay home. Don’t go out and certainly don’t go and see that Chen Yuchuan again.”

Lu Xianfeng was sitting on the sofa with Man Yunxin sitting next to him. They’ve been watching a music program. When Lu Xianfeng said this, she tugged at him and said, “It’s Chinese New Year. Let’s talk about this later.”

Lu Yang and Chen Yuchuan had been together for over three years, but Lu Xianfeng still blamed Chen Yuchuan for Lu Yang’s leg injury.

Every year, during the Chinese New Year, Lu Yang would go and accompany Chen Yuchuan after having lunch or dinner with his parents.

Lu Yang was looking at a picture that Chen Yuchuan had just sent him. It was a photo of Chen Yuchuan with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his thin fingers and arms coated with flours. There was also flour all over the basin.

Lu Yang typed in a message and finally responded to Lu Xianfeng, “Dad, we’ve been together for three years. If you’ll just accept Xiao Chuan’er, we can both accompany you at home for the New Year.”

Lu Xianfeng said in a raised voice, “What do you mean? If we don’t accept him, you won’t come back for the New Year?”

“I will still celebrate New Year at home, like now, but I can only do lunch or dinner,” Lu Yang said.

“What’s so good about a little ruffian like him?” Lu Xianfeng said more and more angrily.

“Dad, don’t talk about him like that,” Lu Yang said seriously. “To me, he’s good everywhere.”

“Good? I gave him five millions to leave you, and after he accepted it, he should have left you. But what happened? He took it as a red envelope and went on vacation. Later, when he saw me, he even had the audacity to smile at me so mischievously. He’s a ruffian through and through.”

Remembering this, Lu Yang wanted to laugh, but seeing Lu Xianfeng’s ugly face, he could only hold back his smile and said, “That money was spent on his own family anyway. He took me on vacation, and there were no other outsiders.”

“What family? If you don’t want someone of equal status, at least choose someone with a gentler temperament. Even if you have opted to study for a few more years, it would be more reasonable.”

“Aren’t we quite complementary like this? And, Xiao Chuan’er is also quite reasonable.”

No matter what Lu Xianfeng said, Lu Yang always had reasons to refute.

“You’re just being rebellious. Even if your parents don’t agree, you won’t listen.”

Lu Yang knew that his father was so angry that, not knowing what else to say, he was now even resorting to accusing him of being rebellious. Yet, he still patiently explained, “Dad, I’m not a rebellious teen anymore. I’m 25 years old. I know what I want. I’ve been with Xiao Chuan’er for over three years. I’ve always been serious about him.”

“You’re becoming more and more like Chen Yuchuan. You would have never talked to us like that before,” Lu Xianfeng said.

Lu Yang smiled. “Am I?”

He’d heard that after a couple have lived together for a while, they will become more and more like each other. Lu Yang thought that this was a wonderful thing. They would have a little bit of their own characteristics melting into the other’s body, so that they reflected each other.

He attributed this to another form of belonging. He was now contaminated by Chen Yuchuan, and of course, Chen Yuchuan by him.

After dinner, Lu Yang returned to his home where he lived with Chen Yuchuan.

But before leaving, he told his parents in no uncertain terms, “Mom, Dad, this is the last year we’re celebrating New Years separately.”

Lu Xianfeng was overjoyed. “You finally got it.”

“Yes, I got it.” Lu Yang continued to put on his coat. “Next year, I’ll bring Xiao Chuan’er with me for New Year. It’s not good for families to be separated.”

When he got back home, he found Chen Yuchuan and Cui Xiujun making dumplings in the kitchen.

Cui Xiujun was rolling out the dumpling wrappers, while Chen Yuchuan was wrapping the dumpling filling with his fingers. A small piece of dough came apart in his hands, and even after he’d finished pinching the edges together, there was still a little bit of dumpling filling on the outside.

On the side were dumplings he’d finished, all of them arranged crookedly and wrapped in all kinds of strange shapes and sizes.

Chen Yuchuan wasn’t very good at this kind of work. When making dumplings, his cheeks would bulge, and his face and hair would become covered with white flour. If you look closely, you can even see that the tip of his nose was sweating.

“Lu Yang, you’re back. Did you finish your New Year dinner with your parents?” Cui Xiujun asked him, putting down his rolling pin.

“I did, Auntie.” Lu Yang rolled up his sleeves and walked to the faucet to wash his hands. “I’ll wrap it with you.”

Chen Yuchuan was still carefully wrapping the dumplings in his hand, but he took two steps to Lu Yang’s side and nudged him. “Isn’t it good? I made it for you. I put some coins in it. After eating these dumplings, you will have a safe and smooth next year.”

He wasn’t as thin as he had been when they first met each other. He stood next to Lu Yang’s arm, speaking in a proud tone.

Lu Yang turned off the faucet, dried his hands, and rubbed his thumb on Chen Yuchuan’s cheek. He carefully wiped off the white flour on his face and nose, and then on the corner of his mouth.

“You eat it yourself.”

Chen Yuchuan’s face collapsed, “Lu Yang, what do you mean? Are you despising me? I’m willing to give you all the food, and you don’t want any of it…”

They quarreled for a while, and Cui Xiujun looked on with a smile.

But in the end, in front of his mother, Chen Yuchuan wasn’t too rambunctious. He finally grabbed Lu Yang’s hand, scratched his wrist, and rubbed the flour on his hand onto Lu Yang’s hand.

When eating dumplings, all three of them ate coin dumplings. Lu Yang knew that Chen Yuchuan was looking for these coin dumplings on purpose. As he was serving dumplings, he dragged on for a long time, before finally managing to fish out one for his mother, one for Lu Yang, and one for himself.

When Lu Yang ate the coin dumpling, Chen Yuchuan raised his eyebrows at him proudly.

Cui Xiujun didn’t live with them, and so after they finished eating dumplings, she gave them each a red envelope for the New Year and said that she was going back to rest.

It was only after ten when Lu Yang and Chen Yuchuan got back from sending her home. They snuggled together on the sofa and watched the Spring Festival Gala.

After watching a reunion sketch, Chen Yuchuan asked Lu Yang, “Yang ge, did your parents give you a hard time again?”

Lu Yang looked at Chen Yuchuan, and was just about to say no, when Chen Yuchuan pursed his lips and continued, “Actually, it’s fine. Anyway, we’re together every day. It’s not bad to be separated a little for this day. We’ll have a lot of time in the future. After a long time, they will definitely accept me.”

Chen Yuchuan was a little cautious when he said this. Actually, Lu Yang knew that he really wanted to get his parents approval. In recent years, whenever he followed Lu Yang home, although Lu Xianfeng wouldn’t even give him a good face, he kept smiling and laughing. So after that, Lu Yang no longer took him back as much. He didn’t want to see Chen Yuchuan upset, and so he thought that he would take him back once he’d resolved the problem with his parents.

Someone had told Lu Yang before that he didn’t understand why Lu Yang would stay so long with Chen Yuchuan.

It wasn’t difficult to understand. Emotional matters were inherently complicated. Love was love. After a few years of love, it did not decrease but increased instead. This was another kind of luck.

These three years were considered their breaking-in period. Their personalities were very different, and naturally, there would be many conflicts. But whether good or bad, awkward or easy, they inexplicably fit.

Whether it was the anger in the noise or the warmth in the sourness, every time Lu Yang thought of the Chen Yuchuan in that moment, there was always a smile on the corner of his mouth.

To others, Chen Yuchuan seemed like a person with a quick temper. When he became mad, he would smell like gunpowder, blowing up or stabbing others at any time.

But to Lu Yang, Chen Yuchuan, who loved to get angry, actually had a soft belly, which was a side that he wouldn’t show to the outside world, but would only expose to Lu Yang.

In the past three years, Lu Yang had figured out a set of methods to effectively deal with Chen Yuchuan’s frequent temper. Sometimes, the moment he got close, he could easily feel Chen Yuchuan’s emotions. Before Chen Yuchuan could reach his explosion point, Lu Yang would touch his soft spot twice, and he would immediately put away his irritability, turn his head, and smile at him.

Like that, Chen Yuchuan seemed to have lost his temper.

And Lu Yang also knew that Chen Yuchuan was always on the offensive, like a reckless little wolf, but his mind was sensitive and soft.

It was that sensitive and soft side that often faced Lu Yang.

For the people he cared about, Chen Yuchuan would not hesitate to peel off the hard outer shell of his body that was wrapped around his soft and bright, red heartbeat.

Lu Yang couldn’t refuse.

“Xiao Chuan’er…” Lu Yang hooked his arm around Chen Yuchuan’s neck, lightly pinched his ear, and said, “How long have we been together?”

“Three years and eight months,” Chen Yuchuan calculated.

“It’s been a long time,” Lu Yang said.

“It’s been a long time.”

Lu Yang retracted his hand and took a small, black box out from his pocket. He opened it and held it up to Chen Yuchuan.

There were two plain, silver rings inside the box. Chen Yuchuan wasn’t expecting Lu Yang to have these rings on him, and he didn’t even know when Lu Yang had bought the rings.

He stared at the rings for a long time. Finally, he picked up one of the rings and held it to the light above his head. The silver ring gleamed under the light.

Pretending to be relaxed, Chen Yuchuan said, “This ring is pretty good-looking.”

He put the ring directly on his finger, but when he realized that the size was slightly bigger, he took it off again.

Lu Yang took the other ring out from the box and said, “That’s mine. This is yours.”

Lu Yang slipped the ring on Chen Yuchuan’s ring finger and turned it. “Xiao Chuan’er, Happy New Year. We have completed three years with love, and now it’s nearly four years. Would you like to try marrying me?”

Feeling the cold ring around his finger, Chen Yuchuan wasn’t used to it. It wasn’t until the ring had become warmer did he feel better.

He curled his fingers that were still held in Lu Yang’s hand. “Yang ge, I’m not eighteen anymore, and it won’t be easy to fool me. If you want to tie the knot, then do it seriously. I don’t want to just try.”