The Stranger’s Homeward Journey

Shen Mucheng arrived at the sight of Luo Shaoheng still staring at him in a daze, so he asked, “What are you looking at?

“Looking at you ah.” Luo Shaoheng smiled.

From “Kiss you” to “Miss you”, now the phrase “Looking at you” was really nothing. In contrast to Shen Yun’s constipated expression, Shen Mucheng just nodded indifferently. He took the umbrella in Shen Yun’s hand, then wrapped one arm around Luo Shaoheng’s shoulder, “Let’s go.“

“Okay.” Luo Shaoheng squeezed with him under the umbrella as they walked towards the car.

The umbrella in Shen Mucheng’s hand was smoothly tilted towards Luo Shaoheng, as if it was the most natural thing to do. When Luo Shaoheng found out shortly after, he pushed it back slightly.

“The umbrella is so big, you guys really don’t need to do that.” Shen Yun, who was behind, secretly rolled his eyes. Feeling that he should not tag along and become a lightbulb, he pulled the luggage resignedly after complaining, then opened another umbrella and followed.

Back to Shen Mucheng’s apartment, Shen Yun took Luo Shaoheng’s luggage to the guest room on the second floor. He was very shocked at the fact that his boss let Luo Shaoheng stay on the second floor. Others were prohibited to enter the second floor without the boss’ permission except for the cleaning aunty that came to clean regularly. While for Luo Shaoheng, Boss did not even think about it and directly let him live in the guest room of the second floor, he was unable to suppress his surprise.

The next time Miss He came, she would probably kick up a fuss, right? He felt immensely comfortable just imagining the scene.

After putting the luggage down, he turned around and saw Luo Shaoheng surveying the room, so he went over and asked, “Mr. Luo, this is your room, feel free to tell me if there’s anything you wish to add.”

Luo Shaoheng withdrew his gaze. “I don’t need anything more for the time being. Sorry for troubling you.”

“It’s not troubling, Mr. Luo, please don’t say that.” Shen Yun quickly replied, this was a part of his job.

“Just call me by my name.” Luo Shaoheng felt it was quite awkward to keep calling him Mr.

“This… ” Shen Yun hesitated, “Then I’ll call you Young Master Luo.”

1It’s less formal than “Mr.” in chinese

“As you wish.” Luo Shaoheng laughed. Remembering that Shen Mucheng went to the study room after receiving a phone call as soon as he arrived downstairs, he asked, “Is Shen Mucheng very busy? I heard Shen Yu say that you guys only returned because of an urgent matter.”

“He’s been quite busy recently.” Shen Yun looked at the door and intentionally revealed, “Boss has not had a good rest for several days.”

Last time in Switzerland, no matter how much Luo Shaoheng inquired about Shen Mucheng’s affairs, Shen Yun shut his mouth tight. Yet, now he took the initiative to tell him about it, so Luo Shaoheng was a little surprised. However, he did not ask more, only nodded in acknowledgement.

In fact, Shen Yun’s thought process was very simple; although he wasn’t clear exactly what relationship they currently have, at least to Boss, Luo Shaoheng was obviously different from others. Perhaps, Luo Shaoheng could somewhat help remind Boss to pay attention to his health. After all, the car accident left a lot of after-effects.

Shen Yun didn’t reveal too much information. Once he saw that Luo Shaoheng understood, he said, “Then I’ll go downstairs first. Please call me anytime you need me, Young Master Luo.”

“Okay.” Luo Shaoheng sent him out and came back to pack his things.

The suitcase he brought was very big, with two layers inside, one for clothes and one for his own collection of treasures that he had kept for years, all related to Shen Mucheng.

He took the photo albums, DVD, small wooden cards, sketchbooks, etc. One by one, he carefully put them in the cabinet next to the bed then placed the clothes in the closet.

When Shen Mucheng came over and saw him folding clothes, he first knocked on the door then came in. “Do you need help?”

After asking this sentence, he himself froze in surprise at the words that naturally came out of his mouth. In his memory, he had never treated anyone like this.

Towards this, however, Luo Shaoheng was not much surprised. He casually waved his hand and said, “No, I’ve already finished tidying up.”

Shen Mucheng nodded and stood next to him.

In order to tidy things up, Luo Shaoheng took off his down jacket, revealing the padded sweater he was wearing underneath. He gained some weight after his stay at home during New Years, but his overall figure was still thin. He was squatted on the ground with a bowed head, the curvature of his backbone could be seen despite wearing a sweater.

Shen Mucheng looked at his back and suddenly wanted to reach over and caress it.

Just as his hand was about to touch, Luo Shaoheng was finished and looked up, only to see a hand. “What’s wrong?”

As soon as his sentence reached its end, Shen Mucheng’s hand got closer, lifted his fringe then landed on his forehead.

“The fever went down long ago.” Luo Shaoheng laughed, but didn’t move either.

“En.” Shen Mucheng withdrew his hand and pulled him up, “Let’s go eat.”

“Okay.”

They went to a private restaurant called “Yue”. Luo Shaoheng went in and froze at first sight. The decoration style inside was too familiar, much more than the restaurant in Switzerland.

He looked at the stone tables and rocking chairs in the courtyard in a trance, his thoughts drifted far away due to the familiar scene in front of him.

The only sound in the quiet art room was the rustle of the pencil tip on paper. Luo Shaoheng sketched out a scene in his mind, and a simple design of a restaurant slowly emerged under his pencil. After modifying a few errors, he changed his pencil and redrew the lines, solidifying the original faint lines. The bar, tables, chairs and potted plants in the hall slowly became clear and detailed.

After clipping the finished drawing to another easel, he immersed himself in drawing once again. He began to sketch the courtyard scene, drawing the sketches of the promenade, swing, stone table and so on.

When Shen Mucheng came back, he saw him outlining the drawing earnestly. Next to him was a half-eaten box of instant noodles, denoting that he didn’t go out again that day, just relying on instant noodles to satiate his hunger.

Brows furrowed, Shen Mucheng reached out to hold the elegant hand flying on the paper. “Enough.”

Luo Shaoheng was totally oblivious to what was going on when he was drawing, so he didn’t even notice Shen Mucheng’s arrival. After his hand was held, he simply stopped drawing and looked up to ask him, “When did you come back?”

“Just now.”

“Just in time, quickly take a look.” Luo Shaoheng held his hand and pulled it down, indicating to him to look at the masterpiece he created today.

Shen Mucheng didn’t move a muscle and pointed to the noodles next to him with his chin. “You’re eating this today?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty tasty.” Luo Shaoheng, who was still immersed in the drawing, didn’t notice his expression. He hadn’t eaten instant noodles for quite a long time, so he felt that it tasted pretty good.

“Is it.” No emotion could be detected in Shen Mucheng’s voice, “Then you’ll eat this for the rest of the month.”

The implication was that he wouldn’t be cooking for the rest of the month. When Luo Shaoheng belatedly realised this, he quickly hugged his waist. “No, no, no, I think the food you cook is much better than the noodles. I just ate it today because you’re not here. Actually, it’s not at all delicious.”

Shen Mucheng lightly grunted, not persuaded by this cheap act of materialism. It wasn’t the first time that Luo Shaoheng had spent the whole day in the art room without eating or sleeping, Shen Mucheng worried that he would fall sick if he continued to let him be. If he was out for business and not at home for one day, only god knows what Luo Shaoheng would be eating.

When Luo Shaoheng saw that his expression was still cold, he stood up and kissed him on the face, coaxing, “Don’t be stern-faced, I promise to eat on time next time.”

Shen Mucheng knew it was useless to talk more and changed the topic, “What are you drawing?”

As soon as he talked about it, Luo Shaoheng got energised and showed him the two drawings he had finished. “Look, I designed a small restaurant.

Luo Shaoheng’s drawings were very detailed, whether it was the rock garden and lake in the courtyard, the stone tables and rocking chairs, or the bar and wine racks, beams and ornaments in the hall, even the patterns on the vases in the corners were very clear, it was obvious that he had put in a lot of effort.

“What is this?” Shen Mucheng asked knowingly.

“Restaurant, this is the hall, this is the courtyard.” Luo Shaoheng introduced briefly. “Didn’t we agree last night? We’ll open a restaurant in the future, the chef will cook for the guests, you’ll cook for me!”

“Did we?” Shen Mucheng asked back with a blank expression as if he had no impression of it at all.

“Yes!” Luo Shaoheng saw that he did not remember and felt anxious, “We clearly agreed ah, you will not forget, right?”

Shen Mucheng frowned and thought for a moment, “When? Where?”

“Last night, in bed–” Luo Shaoheng shut up abruptly, he realised that he was being fooled when he saw the smirk blasted on Shen Mucheng’s face. He then snatched the drawing from his hand, turned and said, “Fine. If you don’t remember it, I’ll open one myself! Don’t you dare come and join the fun.”

Shen Mucheng lightly laughed, and hugged him from behind. He lowered his head and kissed his ear. “Did you really say that last night? I only remember you saying ……”

What followed after was said very softly, audible to only the two of them. Luo Shaoheng heard the words and his face immediately turned red, breaking away from him: “Why are you so shameless, how can you even say such things…” His remaining words were engulfed in Shen Mucheng’s mouth.

Shen Mucheng lightly squeezed his waist, kissing and sucking his lips, his tongue wantonly stirring in his mouth. He only released Luo Shaoheng after seeing him pant and gasp for air. He used his thumb to gently rub the red lower lip that he sucked and laughed in a low tone. “I’ll listen to you.”

Luo Shaoheng opened his mouth to bite his finger, then licked it, and said unclearly, “…… that’s more like it.”

……

After passing through the courtyard, Luo Shaoheng stood at the entrance of the hall, the strength in his body seemed to be taken away, his feet could no longer take a step forward.

The images that had become blurry as time passed became incredibly clear at this moment, those intimate kisses and hugs still retained their heat and made his heart thump when he recalled them. The picture of his own work was suddenly physically presented before his eyes, all this made him feel unbelievably shocked. 

Even though there were slight differences, the general layout of both the courtyard and the hall had not changed much. He even felt that he knew the placement of the items inside without having to look inside.

–This is Shen Mucheng’s restaurant.

There was no need for a reason; for Luo Shaoheng knew it in his heart. It was just like the coconut milk jelly last time.

Shen Mucheng noticed that he didn’t follow, so he turned around and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“No, I just think this restaurant is very unique.” Luo Shaoheng followed and commented, as if casually, “The owner of this store has good taste.” After saying this he laughed at himself; it was his own design, his comment was basically the same as praising himself.

“You like it?” Shen Mucheng asked.

“I like it a lot.” Luo Shaoheng replied affirmatively.

Because of his words, Shen Mucheng’s eyebrows relaxed a bit and he was in a good mood.

The two went to the private room with the waiter. As Luo Shaoheng expected, the layout of the private room was similar to the picture he once drew, even the position of the paintings on the wall were the same.

Seeing this, his mood was similar to when he ate the wine coconut milk jelly in Switzerland. Although he was happy, he felt disappointed at the same time.

Why could Shen Mucheng remember these things they had sketched, but not remember him? Was it that he was not as important as these things?

Even though he knew that this was impossible, Luo Shaoheng still couldn’t stop dwelling on this absurd idea. Despite trying hard to force smiles during the meal, he could not hide the subtle despondence in his eyes.

The two once loved each other the most, but now he was the only one who could remember the past.

Young Master Luo = Luo-shao. It’s less formal than “Mr.” in chinese