Chapter 58, Confession

At that moment, Chen Shuze called.

"Feng Ran, I don't know what you're thinking right now, nor do I know who you're with. He Chuan said you're not very active and don't have a regular partner. Are you still like before? You're not young anymore, and it's not a good idea to keep going on like that. I'm not blaming you, so don't be angry. Actually, you always say no, and I know you might be afraid I'll force you to promise something, but I'm not. I just want to... Hello? Feng Ran? Are you listening?" He

held the phone to his ear, and Feng Ran didn't hear a word Chen Shuze said.

His face was pale, and his voice was trembling. "Cat, Xiaobai is missing." He was almost incoherent. "I just went out for a while. The doors and windows of the house were all fine, but I couldn't find him."

Chen Shuze was silent on the other end. "Don't worry, did he run away when the door was opened or closed?"

"I don't know. The lights in the hallway haven't been working lately, so it's very dim... Even if he ran out, he wouldn't be able to see."

"Wait a minute."

Chen Shuze arrived in five minutes.

Meanwhile, Feng Ran was still searching for the cat, anxiously trying to figure out how to explain it to He Chuan.

He asked Chen Shuze if He Chuan would kill him, but Chen Shuze shook his head, insisting the cat was at home.

Feng Ran had already searched the common areas and his own room. Chen Shuze pointed to He Chuan's room and said, "Can I come in?" "

Yes, but I've looked, and it's not there."

He Chuan had few things, and his room was tidy, with no sign of the cat.

Feng Ran found some cat food and decided to try his luck outside. "I'll go out for a minute,"

he said. Chen Shuze answered, already in He Chuan's room.

It was dark and windy outside, and stray cats were out and about. Feng Ran scattered the food, attracting one or two kittens, but no Xiaobai.

Feng Ran was filled with worry.

Five minutes later, the phone rang. Chen Shuze said, "I found it."

"Where did you find it?"

The cat's paw hooked into Chen Shuze's pants and stretched. Feng Ran flicked its head with his finger, and its claws immediately swung, trying to grab his hand.

"He Chuan's closet."

"His closet door was closed. And I checked, and it wasn't." Feng Ran was incredulous. "What happened?"

Chen Shuze spread his hands. "I don't know. I heard Xiaobai scratching at the door from inside, and as soon as I opened it, it jumped out. Maybe you were just unlucky. After all, it's so black, the same color as He Chuan's clothes. If it tried to disguise itself, you wouldn't have been able to spot it."

Feng Ran slammed his head on the sofa. He didn't care if the timing was right and called He Chuan.

He Chuan, who happened to be awake, heard this and said thoughtfully, "The closet door was open when I left."

"Huh? My dear brother," Feng Ran said, "Why didn't you close the closet door? And you mean to say a cat got into your closet, closed the door, and locked itself in all night?"

"Maybe it was a coincidence. Did you come back from drinking?" He Chuan caught another detail. "You and Chen Shuze went there? You..."

Feng Ran coughed, and He Chuan fell silent.

A whole night of exhausting farce ended with just a "coincidence."

Feng Ran sat there blankly, his brain overloaded.

Chen Shuze found him very amused, reached out and touched his head twice, and said, "Not really."

Feng Ran came back to his senses: "Come to think of it, why did you come here shortly after I called? You didn't leave?"

"Yeah," he admitted generously, "I just wanted to see who asked you out."

"Then what? Who did you see?"

"No, why are you back? Did you get stood up?"

Feng Ran thought, it was a little worse than being stood up.

Chen Shuze didn't ask any more questions, but instead said, "Now you have time to come out with me."

Feng Ran really had no reason to refuse, and said, "I can come out, but there's one condition. Don't talk about work."

Chen Shuze took him to a very secluded bar. Located in the suburbs, the place was sparsely populated and quiet. As he entered, he leaned over to Feng Ran and whispered, "It's new, you won't see anyone you know."

Feng Ran's heart skipped a beat, a mixture of trepidation and relief. Luckily, the boy had found Ren He. If it had been Chen Shuze, he'd be utterly mortified.

He reached out and wrapped his arm around Chen Shuze's waist, tightening his grip. The man in his arms stiffened for a moment. He whispered, "How can you be so considerate?"

"I could be more considerate. Don't you know me best?" Chen Shuze whispered in his ear, his breath tickling and burning his

earlobe. Feng Ran smiled and let go.

Chen Shuze had been a skilled drinker in his youth, but to avoid suspicion, Feng Ran rarely went out drinking with him.

After three rounds of drinks, Chen Shuze suddenly said, "My parents adopted a child, and from now on, they probably won't care about me at all."

Feng Ran said, "Adopted a child? Why?"

"They were extremely disappointed in me," Chen Shuze smiled with relief. "When I graduated, they arranged a blind date for me, but I didn't go, and I completely offended the girl's family. Then I took the initiative to study abroad, and they reluctantly agreed, thinking that I would change after I came back. But they didn't. After so many years, their patience must have run out. I'm not a qualified son."

Feng Ran said, "It's not that there is only one criterion, it's just that I didn't get married."

"You know, I came out to them," Chen Shuze's eyes flashed, "Do you know when?"

Feng Ran turned his head away. He didn't know at first, but after Chen Shuze said that, he had to know.

He came out today, not wanting to reminisce about these old things that were buried deep in his memory like mud.

Chen Shuze noticed it, was silent for a few seconds, and said: "Did you get together with anyone later?"

"Of course."

"What about love?"

Feng Ran found this funny: "What else? If you didn't like each other, how could you be together?"

"Why would you break up if you liked each other?"

Feng Ran was stunned. He liked Shen Zhi, right? Although he was attracted by her beauty from the beginning, but in the end... he still liked her. Shen Zhi had too many shortcomings, and he had said such decisive words and done such unforgivable things. But he still missed him occasionally.

If this was not love, then his more than ten years of love affairs were in vain.

As for Shen Zhi, needless to say, this love was probably deeper and stronger than his.

But but.

He pondered for a moment and said: "It's not suitable."

Chen Shuze countered: "Suitable or not, it's just an excuse. In the end, you still don't like her."

Feng Ran wanted to say that he did like her. But I'm afraid it's more hatred, fear, and boredom. That tiny bit of affection has long been wrapped up in layers, like a spring silkworm spinning silk until death, tightly sealed in the depths of my heart, no chance of shining through.

Finally, he said, "Maybe. Talking about this is boring."

Chen Shuze said, "Then talk about something interesting. How about coming home with me later?"

Feng Ran was overjoyed: "Your invitation is too direct."

"Yes, do you like it?"

After thinking for a while, he replied: "It's okay."

That night he went to Chen Shuze's house and stayed until noon the next day.

Neither of them got up. He was woken up by He Chuan's call.

He picked up the phone and said lazily: "Hello? He Chuan?"

He Chuan's tone was very serious: "Where are you?"

Feng Ran was startled, thinking that the cat was gone, and said: "I'm here, what's wrong? Xiaobai is gone again?"

He Chuan said: "The cat is here, where are you?"

"With Chen Shuze. You-" Feng Ran wanted to ask why you came back so soon.

Before he could finish, He Chuan hung up the phone. Feng Ran

was confused.

He lay there for a while with his eyes open, feeling not sleepy at all. The phone call made him uneasy. He Chuan's tone was too fierce, as if he had committed a serious crime. He moved his body, suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and wanted to leave. It seemed that if he stayed here for a moment longer, his sin would be even greater.

He got up, left two notes for Chen Shuze, and left quickly.

When he got home, He Chuan was there. Sitting on the sofa, he looked at him with eyes as sharp as knives. Feng Ran anticipated that an interrogation was about to come, so he dodged and hid in the kitchen and opened a can of beer.

After a while, he drank a lot of beer and got braver, so he opened the door and walked out.

"You just..." He Chuan whispered, "He just did that to you, you..."

Feng Ran understood everything without saying it clearly, and said, "We agreed last time, you can't control me anymore."

He Chuan said, "I'm just thinking about you."

"Don't." Feng Ran said a word, turned around and carried Xiaobai into the house.

Ever since they got a cat at home, they rarely closed the door of their room to let it move freely. What's more, now that the cat has learned to open the door, there is no point in closing it.

He Chuan watched Feng Ran pull out a chair and sit down, with his back to him, and turned on the computer to play games.

The flickering light of the screen illuminated half the room. A red dot moved on the monitor. Xiaobai pounced on it to catch it, shaking the screen and leaving shallow scratches with his claws. Feng Ran threw away the mouse to stop him and shouted "Bad cat".

Yesterday, He Chuan received a call from his father, saying that Shen Zhi was missing.

He didn't know what his father meant by saying this to him at the time. He didn't expect the other party to say the next sentence: "Are you with that Feng Ran?"

He flatly denied it: "No."

He Xun said: "You'd better not mess with that kid. How is your mother?"

"She's fine."

"You're so old now, don't let her worry about you all the time. Just listen to what she says and don't always go against her," He Xun nagging, "The last time I asked you to meet that little girl, you didn't go. What are you thinking about all day?"

He Chuan said nothing.

He Xun said in a somewhat anxious tone: "I didn't want to care about you at first, but now you are too ungrateful! The phone number was given to me by that kid from the Shen family. Look at what you are like! You haven't had a proper job or married since graduation. Are you worthy of me, your mother, and your grandfather?"

He Chuan stood up and walked out of the ward and said, "Yes."

He Xun laughed out of anger: "You really have the nerve to say that."

He Chuan said, "I am worthy of my grandfather and myself. But you, you are sorry for everyone - grandparents, my mother, Shen Zhi's mother, Shen Zhi."

He Chuan finished speaking in one breath, hung up the phone, and turned it off.

Back in the ward, his mother had woken up. He walked over and added a cup of hot water.

The cup of water was just placed on the table when it was overturned to the ground.

He Chuan stood there with a frown.

The mother demanded, "Who did you call? Was it your dad?"

"Yes."

"Did I tell you not to contact him? Don't contact him! Why won't you listen?" The woman clenched her fists, her messy hair falling to hide her bloodshot eyes. "Why?!"

The nurse who had come to take care of him was frightened and hid at the door of the ward, not daring to enter.

He Chuan whispered soothingly, "Calm down, Mom."

The woman shrieked, "Get out! Get out!"

He Chuan left.

When he arrived home that morning, the kitchen was deserted, the kitchen empty, and no one was around. Only the cat was there.

"He Chuan! Check on your cat! This is outrageous!" Feng Ran turned and shouted at him angrily.

He watched silently as the man and the cat played. The person he had thought about day and night for so many years was so vivid and real, turning back at his call, within reach. He couldn't bear to leave this scene, he couldn't bear to leave everything. But no matter how reluctant he was, it was time for him to leave.

"Your cat"—that's what he said. Since it's his cat, why call it Feng Xiaobai?

He Chuan thought, he is always so selfish, selfishly changing other people's lives, selfishly, leaving himself in other people's lives, making it impossible for him to forget.

He grabbed his phone, and a new message came on it, sent by Feng Qing.

It was destined that the time had come for him to say goodbye, and this was destined to be the ending for him and his friends.

[Author's words]

Please give me some starfish (^-^) Thanks

-

He Chuan: Be consistent with the outside world.

Chen Zhi: Here it comes.