Intoxicated

When the aunt placed breakfast on the table, Kangtong drowsily came down from the upper floor. When he saw Lian Jue seated in front of the dining table, his steps visibly quickened.

Hearing footsteps, Lian Jue lifted his head from the tablet and raised an eye at Kangtong. “Don’t run.”

Kangtong obediently slowed down and walked towards him then he moved the chair and sat down next to Lian Jue. He’d been calling Lian Jue ‘uncle’ for over two years, and even though he was a bit unused to it he was starting to correct himself. Red-faced, he greeted Lian Jue in a low voice, “Good morning, dad.”

“Morning.” Lian Jue turned away, looking back down at the finance and economics section of the morning newspaper, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a sip of coffee.

He was wearing a thick dark blue casual shirt, and his hair was untidy. It rested gently on his forehead as if he’d just woken up.

In a move he had learned from Lian Jue, Kangtong held his cup with both hands, sipping on hot milk. However, he refused to look away from Lian Jue, staring at Lian Jue like his gaze was stuck to Lian Jue’s body like glue. “Did you come back last night?”

“En.”

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At first, he was nervously twisting the straps of his schoolbag, but after Lian Jue said a few words to him, he was unable to

control the excitement in his heart which showed quickly on his face.

Driving the car, Lian Jue stayed silent, breaking it only to ask, “what’s your current school like ?”

Kangtong hugged his schoolbag. Shoulders drooping, he said a little uncomfortably, “The classmates don’t seem to want to play with me. Lu Mingming had his birthday last week. I wrote him a card to congratulate him and wish him a happy birthday, but he got angry and didn’t invite me to his birthday party…”

His lips flattened, “I wasn’t able to attend his birthday party, but…… all the other classmates were invited, and no one told me.”

Lian Jue raised his eyes, using the rearview mirror to look at the dejected child next to him. He gently said, “The next time your classmate celebrates their birthdays, let Auntie or Uncle Liu pick gifts for you.”

Kangtong pursed his lips, making a melancholy sound of agreement.

Lian Jue parked his car in front of Kangtong’s school., “I’ll pick you up after school in the afternoon,” he said.

Kangtong paused in the middle of taking off his seatbelt, He stared at Lian Jue in a daze, “Don’t you need to work today?” He asked cautiously.

“En.” Lian Jue used his hands to help Kangtong unbuckle his seatbelt.“We’re not eating dinner at home today.”

Kangtong lowered his head to the ground. He pinched the straps of his schoolbag and twisted it with his fingers. “…..Are we going to Grandpa’s house?” He asked bluntly.

He had heard from the aunt that after completing the adoption procedures he had to visit his grandfather to learn the rest of the family tree, but as he hadn’t met his grandfather yet, the thought made him a little nervous.

Lian Jue said nothing to deny it, but his brows furrowed together. “Don’t call him grandpa,” he rectified Kangtong.

“But aren’t I calling you dad?” Kangtong said, looking at Lian Jue somewhat perplexedly. It was clear he didn’t understand what Lian Jue meant.

Lian Jue grunted. It was clear that he had no plans on explaining it to Kangtong, saying instead, “Go to school.”

Kangtong slowly picked up his schoolbag, pushing the door of the car open. “Goodbye, Dad.”

Lian Jue’s eyes trailed after Kangtong. The boy was dawdling towards the private school, picking up his pace only when a female teacher urged him to hurry.

As soon as he looked away, his phone vibrated. Tapping it open, he saw a message on the screen.

—Chief Lian, Mr. Shen has already checked out.

Lian Jue dialed the phone number. “Follow him closely.” He said when the other person picked up. “Watch where he’s been and the people he’s met.”

“Yes, Chief Lian.”

“Li An Road?” The taxi driver was taken aback upon hearing the address, turning his head with uncertainty. “Haven’t heard of it. Is it an address to the city? I’m getting off work in an hour, I’m not driving long distances.”

Shen Tingwei’s head was aching again. “Where is this place?” He asked hoarsely, bracing his swollen temples.

“No……” With no reasoning behind it, Shen Tingwei felt like he was losing his mind. “I mean, what city is this?”

The driver gave him an unfathomable look. “Yi City.”

The hand pressing against his temples paused. All of a sudden, Shen Tingwei’s head rose. “…what?”

The driver shot another quick glance towards the door of the hotel, where Shen Tingwei had gotten into the taxi. Forcing disappointment into spirit, the driver had a sudden flash of insight. With brows furrowed, he said:

“Did you drink too much? I’m telling you in advance, the carwash fee is included in the fare if you throw up in my car.”

Shen Tingwei’s entire face turned pale. Turning a deaf ear to the driver’s warning, he quickly pushed the door of the cab open and got out of the car.

Everything was spinning in front of his eyes. His body was sore and in pain. The scent of wine that he had previously washed away with the bath was making a comeback, and his body temperature was rising like a torch once again.

Bracing himself against a tree on the side of the road, Shen Tingwei retched uncontrollably over its trunk.

Yi City.

The remnants of deeply intoxicated desire still lingered in Shen Tingwei’s mind, but he was absolutely sure that he had never heard of this city.

The rain had stopped, the temperature had gone down a little, and in the rain’s wake percolated a cold morning wind that made him tremble. The edges of his clothes fluttered upwards at the wind, exposing a small part of his waist and abdomen.

In fact, he hadn’t vomited anything, but he was still uncomfortable. His clothes were damp and cold with sweat, stuck to his back, becoming like a thin sheet of ice at the slightest puff of wind. The cold air seeped right through his skin to the bone. Shen Tingwei grabbed at the widely open hem of his shirt, fingers bone-white, palms burning hot as he pressed against his dully aching stomach

He rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth. Slowly, he straightened up, but his feet didn’t move a single step.

Shen Tingwei stood still in place, staring blankly at the pedestrians going to and fro in the early morning, and somewhat perplexedly wondered, where should I go next?

Lian Jue went to the company after sending Kangtong off to school.

He would go to Chen Chulian’s place in the evening, so the international video conference that had been scheduled in the evening was changed to morning at the last minute.

For the first time, Lian Jue glanced at his phone twice during the meeting. Lowering his head to return the message, Lian Jue looked up at the overseas project manager on the other end of the video who was halfway through the report and unsure of going on, and said, “Continue.”

The meeting lasted straight through the morning, finally ending at noon. As the people in the conference hall left one after another, Lian Jue leaned back against his chair, closing his eyes and kneading at the bridge of his nose. After resting for a while, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number, heading out of the conference hall.

“How is that person doing?” He asked heavily.

“Mr. Shen is currently still unconscious. The results from the preliminary examination revealed that it’s caused by a fever. You warned us yesterday that he had drank alcohol, so the doctor didn’t give him an injection to reduce his fever, only an oral drug used to reduce fever and inflammation. The medicine has yet to take effect; Mr. Shen’s fever hasn’t gone down. The doctor took a sample of his blood and sent it for a blood test, but the test results won’t come out until later.”

There was a moment of silence on the opposite end of the phone. Then, in a lowered voice, the person said, “Apologies, Chief Lian. We have yet to find Mr. Shen’s identity information.

Lian Jue didn’t say anything. It was a result he had expected. The man had been absolutely thorough in his preparations to climb into Lian Jue’s bed. On the contrary, it would have made him even more suspicious if it really had been that easy to figure out.

He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping absentmindedly on the edge of the table. “I understand,” he said. “Let me know if you have any news.”

“Yes.”