Chapter 10: The inevitable disaster of imposition 3
Finally, I dragged Hongze out of the Nie Building. The sun shone on me, and there was only white light in my vision, which made me a little dizzy. We finally walked out of the dim room.
"Hongze, let's go home."
Hongze on my shoulder snorted softly. I don't know if he was responding to me or because of the pain. No matter which one it was, I was very happy. As long as Hongze woke up, it would be fine.
Tears welled up in my eyes again, and I fell to the ground, sitting in the sun, sitting at the door of the Nie Building. I hugged Hongze with one hand and cried, "Hongze, wake up! Don't scare me, stop making trouble, okay? I'm sorry... I'm sorry, it's all because of me. If it weren't for me, if it weren't for me, you would have left long ago. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Hongze, what should I do? If it was Jiheng... Yes, Jiheng, the imperial edict, Jiheng gave me the imperial edict."
I freed one hand with great difficulty and took out the imperial edict that Jiheng had left for me. Just as I knocked on it, Hongze groaned, twisted his body and bumped into my elbow. My hand shook, and the imperial edict slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground, sliding a long way on the smooth floor.
Just as I was about to get up to pick it up, Hongze groaned again: "Ling... Lingmiao..."
I couldn't care about anything else anymore and cried, "I'm here. I'm here. Don't scare me."
"You... don't be afraid. I'm not hurt... cough cough..." Hongze tried hard to open his eyes, and he was so weak that he could only speak in a whisper so soft that I could hardly hear him. "I just regret... Am I your... your family now? We're married..."
"Yes, yes, yes! You are my most important family member, and you always will be. Do whatever you want! As long as you are happy! Don't say anything, don't say anything, I'll go find Jiheng."
I hugged Hongze in confusion, wanting to pat his back to calm him down, but I was afraid that I would use too much strength, so I could only hug him tightly.
"Don't call... don't call him, he will laugh at me." Hongze raised his hand with difficulty, gently hooked my sleeve, and tried hard to force a smile on his face.
His weak smile made me feel even worse. The hand that was hooked on my sleeve was weightless, as if what I saw was just an illusion. I reached out and held Hongze's hand, so hard that my knuckles turned white, sobbing, "Don't scream... Listen, listen to you. Don't scream."
"I... want to eat steak." Hongze grinned, revealing his blood-stained teeth, and smiled.
The blood-red teeth pierced my heart, and tears were about to blur my vision. I wiped them on my sleeves and said, "Eat! Eat ten, twenty, as much as you want, just eat as much as you want..."
Hongze shook my hand like a spoiled child and whispered, "I don't want to eat what you cook. I want to eat what's in the restaurant..."
“You’re not cooking what I cook. That’s wrong, that’s wrong… You’re not eating what I cook. You’re eating at a restaurant. Let’s eat at Ling Jiao’s restaurant. Let’s go tomorrow. Let’s go tomorrow… No, today. Let’s go later. Let’s go later…” I was crying and couldn’t speak anymore. I held Hongze’s hand even tighter.
"I also have to take Xiao Koi and Xiao Li to school." Hong Ze twisted his body and adjusted his posture.
I stiffened my body unconsciously, wanting him to lie more comfortably, and tried to relax myself, promising: "I will definitely take him with me, as long as you...as long as you get better, you can take Linglong with you if you want."
"Without Linglong, the stinky cat always ignores me and bullies the little koi." Hongze turned his head and muttered, "I won't give it food when I go home today."
"Okay, if you say you won't give it to me, then I won't." I nodded, not thinking about what Hongze said at all, and agreed blindly.
"Not tomorrow either." Hongze looked up at me like a successful cat.
"Okay, I won't give it to you. You can give it to me whenever you want..."
Before I finished speaking, Hongze interrupted me: "I don't want to wash, I don't want to wash the bathtub."
"If you don't want to wash it, then don't wash it. I don't want you to wash it. I will wash it for you every day from now on. If you want to get better, you have to look at me." I wiped my tears on my sleeves again, and agreed to all of Hongze's requests without thinking, just hoping that he would get better.
Hongze nodded with satisfaction and continued, "You can't ignore me every night when you translate documents. You have to talk to me until I think it's done!"
"Translate the documents? No problem, whatever you say is what it is. Please get better soon, I beg you, Hongze, please get better." I couldn't control my emotions and burst into tears while lying on Hongze.
"Okay, whatever I say is what it is. You are not allowed to lecture me in the future, do you hear me?" Hongze patted my head gently with his big hand, comforting me, and spoke in a cheerful voice.
"Well, I won't teach you a lesson." I lowered my head and said in a muffled voice.
"Then get me a bigger bathtub. The one at home is too small, and my legs are all sticking out. I've already picked one, and as long as you go ..."
"What?" I finally felt something was wrong and said suspiciously, "You want me to buy you a bathtub now?"
"Not now, tomorrow will do, the sooner the better. The sooner the better, I'm afraid you..." At this point, Hongze's voice stopped abruptly.
"Are you afraid of me?" I stood up and looked at Hongze lying on the ground. He no longer looked sick, his face was rosy and he looked more energetic than anyone else. "Are you afraid that I will go back on my word? You have one minute to explain, otherwise I will cancel everything I promised you."
"Hey, how did you find out so quickly? I thought I could tease you for a few more days." Hongze looked at me with regret while lying on the ground, "What a pity! I wanted to play with you for a few more days..."
I interrupted him mercilessly and angrily rebuked him: "Is it fun? Is it so fun to watch me cry? Tell me, what's going on? I'm getting angry."
"I confess, the steak cannot be cancelled!" Hongze jumped up and excitedly ran around me twice, "My family cannot be cancelled either!"
"Let me think about it. You speak first." I sat on the ground, not getting up, just looking up at him.
"Okay..." Hongze said hesitantly, "Actually, this matter is very simple. I used a sleight of hand. What I gave him was not my weak spot."
I asked in confusion, "But I saw you pull it out with my own eyes."
"No, you didn't see it with your own eyes. You just saw me pulling it out, and then you saw a scale on my hand and blood spurting out of my neck. My blood attracted your attention. What I had in my hand was just the first scale I replaced that year, so you had this visual error. In fact, I did touch my reverse scale, but I didn't pull it out. I covered it with blood." Hongze looked at me with a very proud look, as if I should praise him.
"So you're okay?" Although Hongze said it seriously, the image of him with blood spurting from his neck and rolling on the ground kept lingering in my mind, so I asked doubtfully.
Hongze said calmly: "Yes, I'm fine. But your chairman may be in trouble."
"He...what happened to him?" After hesitating for a while, I still could n't bear it and wanted to find out about the chairman's situation.
"He, probably got possessed by a ghost. Forget it, let's not talk about him." Hongze waved his hand, pulled me up from the ground, and dragged me for several steps. "I answered seriously, so I must eat the steak I just promised!"
"Who said that ? There's neither steak nor bathtub. You can choose between me making you steak or cleaning your bathtub."
"Eh? Why is that? Doesn't that mean I can only choose steak? That's not fair! Those are the scales I have collected for many years, and they are the first ones I replaced. They are so precious!"
"What's unfair about this? I shed so many tears in vain, and this is your compensation. Do you think those things are free?"
"Humph! I hate money the most in this world, and you the second most!"
"Yes, yes, I hate you the most too!"
"No! I am your most important family member, you said so yourself! You also said that you want to marry me..."
Hongze's words made my face turn red instantly. I quickly interrupted him and stopped him from saying anything: "Stop, stop, stop! Who said that? It wasn't me. You got the wrong person!"
"How can you deny it?"
Hongze, who had been dragging me forward, suddenly turned around, his eyes wide open. He held my shoulders, lowered his head, and put his forehead against mine. The distance was so close that I held my breath unconsciously.
He said in a deep voice: "Fu Lingmiao, I solemnly call your name. I hope you can listen to my voice carefully. Although I can't be the kind of family member who is connected with you by blood, I hope to be the kind of family member who supports each other because of love. When you are sad, I will be by your side; when you are happy, I will be by your side; as long as you need me, I will always be by your side."
He paused for a moment and continued, "Fu Lingmiao, you can lose your temper with me without restraint, I swear I will never leave because of this. You can rely on me boldly and feel relieved. It would be great if you can't live without me, because I can't live without you. We rely on each other, trust each other, and support each other. You say we are a family, but I hope we are more than just a family. I hope I can be the person who always stands by your side, the person who always stands in front of you. I hope I can be your lover."
Hongze's long speech contained so much. I listened quietly, tears falling from my eyes and dripping into my mouth, which only felt sweet.
"Yeah." I looked into Hongze's eyes steadily, and in his eyes I saw the vast sea of stars.
"What?" Hongze blinked and looked at me, curling his lips. "I said a lot and thought about it for a long time, and you just said 'hmm'?"
Seeing Hongze like this, I couldn't help laughing: "I said good, very good, very good, excellent."
"Ahhh! No, you...you're too perfunctory!" Hongze raised the corner of his mouth, pulled up my hand, aligned our palms, slowly intertwined our fingers, held my hand tightly, and then said, "I want to eat steak. Only steak can comfort my broken heart! We're not going to eat what you cook today. We're going to celebrate and eat in a restaurant."
I also raised my lips and held Hongze's hand tightly, interlocking our fingers. The warmth of my palms went straight to my heart. The warm sunlight sprinkled on Hongze's body, as if he was coated with a layer of gold, shining brightly.
