Chapter 62.1 - Love Song on Ice (19.1)
Ch62.1 – Love Song on Ice (19.1)
After putting his coat back on, Dong Ge left the infirmary and sat down next to He Changsheng.
The harsh white lights shone down from above, washing out their faces.
Upon becoming aware of the figure by his side, He Changsheng perked himself up, “Are your injuries alright……”
Before he could finish his question, Dong Ge pulled up the hood of He Changsheng’s down jacket to cover his head, then pressed it down almost forcefully to make him lean against his own shoulder.
He Changsheng was a little confused. He started to struggle. “Dong Ge……”
Dong Ge’s voice had a hint of warmth, unlike its usual coldness, “My injuries are nothing. See, I can still hug qianbei.”
He Changsheng didn’t struggle anymore, obediently leaning against Dong Ge’s shoulder.
The police officers working overtime that passed by couldn’t help but give them an extra look, but the two didn’t care about others’ gazes.
Dong Ge called out to him in a soft voice, “Qianbei.”
Leaning against someone three and a half years his junior and smelling the light scent of ice on his body, He Changsheng actually felt unexpectedly reassured.
He Changsheng’s voice was hoarse, “Dong Ge, Lou-ge didn’t used to be like this.”
Before the police arrived, they had already heard the whole story from the gangsters who were scared out of their wits.
They had already suffered so much, so how would they dare to continue to hide it? Bitter tears flowing down their faces, they recounted the whole story systematically and in full detail, exposing everything.
He Changsheng asked Dong Ge, “He once saved me from the hands of others. How did he become like this now?”
Dong Ge said nothing.
Whether it was Dong Ge or Chi Xiaochi, both had experienced this kind of feeling where they were in so much pain they could only ask “why”. At this kind of time, adding oil and vinegar and dropping stones down the well, would only hurt He Changsheng.
Hence, he remained silent, just stroking the back of He Changsheng’s neck through the layer of soft down, like he was comforting a helpless kitten.
The two teens were sitting side by side, both supporting one another, both thinking a lot.
Meanwhile, as soon as he hugged He Changsheng, a layer of goosebumps covered Chi Xiaochi’s body.
061 was a little worried about him. “Don’t force yourself.”
Chi Xiaochi said in a relaxed tone, “It’s okay, I’m just coaxing a child, no? Hugging them in your arms is the best way.”
061, “……” Sigh.
He transferred part of his consciousness to Chi Xiaochi’s jacket and lightly held his entire body in an embrace from behind.
Probably because the heating was on too high, Chi Xiaochi felt like his entire body was comfortably warm, so warm that it almost made him want to just fall asleep.
Madam Dong slept very early and Dong Ge was afraid of worrying her, so he didn’t call her, simply sending a text to clarify the situation and asking her not to worry.
When Madam Dong woke up the next day, she almost went crazy when she saw the news. Dragging Mister Dong with her, she rushed lightning-fast to the police station, just in time to see Dong Feihong, who had finished giving his statement, walk out of the police station, a child in each hand.
Madam Dong lunged over, pulling Dong Ge towards her and touching his face, touching his arms, carefully inspecting him from head to toe.
Dong Ge was a little unused to this, struggling and flushing from shame. “Mom, Mom, I’m really fine. It’s just that I won’t be able to do sit-ups for a while.”
After confirming that her family’s little boy was more or less fine, Madam Dong gave him a no-nonsense swat on/over the head. “Sit-ups, your head. For as long as you have that injury, you’re just going to sit for me, if you “up” once I’ll smack you once.”
Madam Dong, Mister Dong and Dong Ge were in one taxi, while Dong Feihong and He Changsheng sat in the other.
After the car started to move, as He Changsheng fastened his seatbelt, he asked, “Uncle, how did you know we were in this KTV?”
The hand Dong Feihong was using to fasten his seatbelt stiffened slightly.
061 obviously couldn’t say that at that time, he had been so worried Chi Xiaochi would get hurt if he went back that he had directly loaded “Dong Feihong” into the vicinity. Even the car had only been moved over after the event.
Fortunately, the firewalls of the CCTV in this small town weren’t strong enough. In his survey of the roads from the ice rink to the KTV, 061 had found seventeen usable surveillance cameras. He then made up an entire series of videos of the car being driven, covering all the surveillance cameras on the journey to avoid the police finding problems afterwards.
He buckled his seatbelt with a “click”. With a calm bearing, he said, “Dong Ge’s mother was worried that Dong Ge wouldn’t be safe coming home so late, so she told me to stay up for you two. I was also a little uneasy, so I decided that I might as well go out and look for you guys. ……Dong Ge lost his phone once before. Afterwards, I connected my phone to Dong Ge’s, so I would be able to locate his phone.”
He Changsheng had just been asking casually, and hearing this answer, he couldn’t find any faults with it, so he nodded obediently and said, “En.”
But 061 started to worry.
Given Chi Xiaochi’s attentiveness, it was impossible for him to not have noticed his slip-up.
And what made him even more worried was, up until Lou Sifan woke up in the hospital, Chi Xiaochi hadn’t asked Dong Feihong how he had found them.
Lou Sifan stayed unconscious for more than a day.
When he woke up in unbearable pain, but everyone said to him: take a good rest, your injury isn’t serious, it’ll heal.
But when Lou Sifan, burning with anxiety, asked if this would affect his skating, if this would leave behind any lasting effects, everyone would speak evasively, avoiding the subject.
Lou Sifan started to panic.
What made him even more panicked was, He Changsheng hadn’t come to visit him.
The third day after entering the hospital, Lou Sifan’s coach came.
His coach, who’d always had an explosive temper, unexpectedly didn’t point at his nose and severely scold him, instead sitting quietly for a while, chatting with him a little about what he’d seen over the New Year, then talking a bit about suitable places for vacationing and recuperation. He was so calm that he made Lou Sifan want to bang his head against the wall.
Lou Sifan’s heart had been hanging in his throat for the past few days, so strung-out that his eyes were red. He was incredibly nervous, and now he was met with such a situation, how could he possibly still stay in control?
He grabbed his coach and asked, “What’s the matter with me, Coach? None of them are telling me the truth. You’re here now, tell me……”
Coach, scold me ah, why aren’t you scolding me?
The coach had come at Lou Sifan’s parents’ behest to tell him the news. Looking at this student who had once been his greatest pride, he could only let out a long, long sigh. “……You have a comminuted fracture in your knee. If you rest well for a year, you might still have another chance to get back on the ice.”
Lou Sifan was completely dumbfounded.
It wasn’t until his coach left his hospital ward and met with his parents outside did he finally hear noise coming from inside the hospital ward.
Lou Sifan grabbed his hair, screams falling from his mouth one after another, the sounds heartrending, sounding like he was retching.
The Lou family came into the ward one after another, surrounding Lou Sifan, but no matter how much they tried to comfort him, to the current Lou Sifan, it was of no use.
Gradually, his strength was exhausted. He was no longer able to cry out, leaving only sorrowful weeping.
He Changsheng, who had come to visit that very day by coincidence, stood outside the ward that had been thrown into a mess, watching quietly for a while before placing his fruit basket at the door and then turning away.
……He now knew about Lou Sifan’s feelings, but now that things had already developed to this extent, He Changsheng could no longer give this once best friend of his any respect or tenderness.
Never meeting again, was already the best choice.
The nature of this matter of hiring people to injure someone was incredibly vile. First, because it had been planned for a long time, and second, because of the severity of the consequences.
But to the Lou family, this matter was exceptionally awkward:
Lou Siyun’s subordinates were ordered to beat Dong Ge up, to destroy his leg, but in the end, the surging waters flooded the Dragon King’s temple, they got the wrong person, and Lou Sifan became the one getting beat up.
So in response to this matter, should the Lou family pursue the case or not?
As it turned out, the Lou family’s opinions didn’t matter at all.
Skinny monkey and Blondie were both arrested, and as for those people who had failed to beat up the correct person and rather ended up being soloed, in order to wipe themselves clean, they could only push all the responsibility upwards, saying they had been told to, they had been forced.
……Mutual sabotage, with .
Neither Dong Ge nor He Changsheng planned on continuing to mix in this muddy water.
Their mental strength was limited, so they really couldn’t continue to waste it on such matters.
After the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, when Dong Ge had completely recovered from his injury, the two took the train back to the provincial city and started to get their matters in order for their upcoming training in Finland.
And three days before Dong Ge was set to leave, Dong Feihong was ready to leave too.
Dong Feihong’s luggage was very simple. All he needed was one suitcase.
After he had finished preparing all the things he needed to prepare, he turned and asked the Chi Xiaochi who had been watching him pack his luggage the entire time, “For the last meal we’re going to have together before I go abroad, what would you like to eat?”
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Anything I want is fine?”
Dong Feihong smiled slightly. “Anything you want is fine.” Whether it was Australian lobster, abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin and fish maw, or the stewed fish they’d had the first time they met, anything was fine.
Chi Xiaochi said, “I want to eat noodles with egg and shredded meat.”
Dong Feihong found this rather unexpected. “Just that?”
Chi Xiaochi, “Just that is very good.”
Dong Feihong met Chi Xiaochi’s clear gaze through his outer shell for a moment. He only felt his heart tingle and go soft. How could he still be able to refuse? “Okay.”
In order to make this seem more official, he made hand-rolled noodles.
The dough that had the scent of wheat was taken out of the white porcelain bowl where it had been left to rise at just the right time and rolled into a paper-thin sheet.
Dong Feihong then chopped up some ham, beef and chicken into thin slices, using a variety of meats to give it a novel flavour.
He turned on the flames. When the water began to boil, he asked Chi Xiaochi, “Do you want to have your egg scrambled or whole?”
Chi Xiaochi had been following closely behind him like a little tail the entire time. His answer came very smoothly, “Whole. A poached egg.”
Dong Feihong nodded. He moved to pull out two fresh eggs from the fridge and directly cracked them into the pot.
After cracking open the second egg, Dong Feihong gave it a closer look. “Ah, a double yolk.”
The person behind him was silent for a moment, before speaking, a smile on his face, “Uncle’s really amazing.”
Dong Feihong couldn’t help but laugh. He replied naturally, “What’s amazing? It’s not like I laid it.”
After he said this, the two’s eyes met.
The teen stared at him with an abnormally serious look in his eyes. His gaze was as if it held a slight current, making Dong Feihong’s cheeks burn faintly.
He thought it was just the steam hitting his face. He reached out a hand and gave Chi Xiaochi a slight push. “Alright, it’s too hot here. Go out and wait, the food will be ready soon.”
When he said soon, he meant soon.
Not even ten minutes later, the noodles with egg and shredded meat were placed on the table.
The noodles were served in a large, wide mouthed bowl. The hand-rolled noodles had been cut into strips of uniform thickness, each as fine as a thread. On the bright, clear soup was sprinkled a handful of dark green scallions. The shredded ham, beef and chicken crowded together in the bowl. Everything was arranged beautifully.
Chi Xiaochi pushed apart the noodles with his chopsticks for a look. In Dong Feihong’s bowl was one egg, while in his own bowl, there was one lying on top, and another buried below.
He scooped up a spoonful of soup and took a sip.
Dong Feihong asked him, “Does it taste good?”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Delicious.”
Dong Feihong nodded. After a happy meal shared by the uncle and nephew pair, Chi Xiaochi washed the dishes, while Dong Feihong continued to pack up the house.
Neither of them took the initiative to bring up their upcoming parting the next day, but in the end, the parting still came.
The next morning, he and He Changsheng sent Dong Feihong to the airport together.
Dong Feihong wore the coat he’d worn to his and Dong Ge’s first meeting. He tenderly ruffled Dong Ge’s head, and said gently, “Uncle fears that he will be very busy after going abroad. I won’t be able to come see you anytime I want anymore.”
Dong Ge nodded slightly, but his eyes bored into Dong Feihong, as if he wanted to brand his image into his eyes.
Dong Feihong pulled out a book from his carry-on bag and pushed it into Dong Ge’s arms. “This is the present Uncle promised to give you. Keep it well.”
It was a beautifully bound and laid-out manga.
The manga was titled 《Dong Ge》.
After handing this present that had already been prepared a long time ago, dragging his luggage behind him, Dong Feihong turned and walked into the airport terminal.