Morbid Addiction

 Guan Anlin spent nearly 20 days in the hospital before his body gradually recovered from his injury. Later, when he was able to get out of bed on his own, Chen Yuncheng no longer stayed in the hospital all the time, but went back to the trade market from time to time to handle the work in the store, and came to accompany him at night.

       Because Chen Yuncheng stayed in the hospital with Guan Anlin for such a long time, Ning Junyan could only go home alone when he wasn’t working the night shift. And so as the time goes by, Guan Anlin became more and more disliked. When he checked on Guan Anlin in the morning, he looked at him with a cold gaze.

       Guan Anlin was scared and felt wronged, thinking that he didn’t do it on purpose, and besides, he also wanted to be discharged from the hospital early.

       That afternoon, Chen Yuncheng rushed back from the market before dinner to the hospital. As soon as he walked to the door of the ward, he saw the door of the ward open from the inside, and a man and a woman came out. Among them, the young woman was Yu Jie’s daughter Yu Mingli.

       Yu Mingli had met Chen Yuncheng once at Shu Rong’s place before, and Chen Yuncheng actually leave a deep impression on her. At this moment, she stopped and nodded at Chen Yuncheng.

       Although what Yu Jie did could not be blamed on his daughter, Chen Yuncheng still had a hard time liking Yu Mingli, so he just nodded, stepped aside to open the door, and saw Yu Mingli leaving with the middle-aged man in a suit.

       Then Chen Yuncheng went into the ward and saw Guan Anlin sitting by the bed, looking at something. He then asked Guan Anlin, “Yu Jie’s daughter is here to see you?”

       Guan Anlin raised his head, “Yes.”

       Chen Yuncheng asked, “For what?”

       Guan Anlin handed him the paper in his hand, Chen Yuncheng took it and saw that it was a printed Letter of Understanding1, written in Guan Anlin’s style, to show that he believed that Yu Jie did not do it on purpose, accepted the compensation, and expressed his understanding for Yu Jie’s behaviour. However, there was no signature in the lower right corner.

       After Chen Yuncheng finished reading, he looked up at Guan Anlin and saw that Guan Anlin was already lying down on the hospital bed with his arms resting behind his head lazily, so he asked, “How much is she going to compensate you?”

       Guan Anlin said, “Three hundred thousand2.”

       Chen Yuncheng slapped the letter of understanding on Guan Anlin’s face, “Are they crazy?!”

       Guan Anlin stretched out his hand to take it off, laughed out loud, and said, “I said the same thing, and then I told her to go back and get three million3$435k4, and to delete the sentence of believing that Yu Jie didn’t do it on purpose, and I would sign the understanding for them.”

       “Don’t sign,” Chen Yuncheng couldn’t help being angry when he thought of this matter, “Don’t sign for any amount of money, tell them to get out.”

       Guan Anlin folded the paper in his hand a few times, and threw it into the drawer of the bedside table, “They definitely won’t give out three million, and I don’t plan to sign it. Even if they can’t sentence Yu Jie to death, let’s let him sit in jail until he’s old!”

       As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the ward was pushed open again, and Ning Junyan walked in from the outside.

       It was already the end of the afternoon. Ning Junyan changed his clothes, stood beside Guan Anlin’s hospital bed, and asked Chen Yuncheng, “Are you coming back with me?”

       “I won’t go back,” Chen Yuncheng said, “I’m still worried about leaving him alone.”

       Guan Anlin suddenly felt that it was difficult to face Ning Junyan, so he turned his eyes away from him, and only said to Chen Yuncheng, “Actually, I don’t have anything to do, so I can do it alone at night.”

       Before Chen Yuncheng could speak, Ning Junyan said coldly, “I hired a nurse for him.”

       After he finished speaking, Ning Jun took two steps forward slowly, looked down at Guan Anlin who was lying on the bed, and said, “He can move around on his own, and he can call the doctor if he has anything to do. The purpose of hiring a nurse is just to prevent unexpected situations.”

       Guan Anlin felt a sense of oppression, and quickly said to Chen Yuncheng, “I think it’s completely okay, you should go home quickly, and you should also have a good rest.”

       Chen Yuncheng suddenly heard Ning Junyan say, “Let’s have dinner with my parents tonight.” He looked up in surprise.

       There was no expression on Ning Junyan’s face, he only said, “I’ve already made an appointment.”

       Chen Yuncheng took a deep breath and said to Guan Anlin, “Call me if you need anything.”

       He stayed in the ward for a while and waited for the nurse to call Guan Anlin for dinner before leaving with Ning Junyan.

       They went to the underground parking lot to pick up the car, Chen Yuncheng got into the passenger seat and suddenly felt a little nervous. He said to Ning Junyan, “Why didn’t you say so in advance, I could at least change my clothes.”

       Ning Junyan started the car and glanced at him, “It’s finally. Originally, it was my mother who called me, so I made an impromptu appointment.”

       “The dinner…what are you planning to say?”

       Ning Junyan said, “You can say whatever you want, anyway, I’m here, so what are you afraid of?”

       When he heard this, Chen Yuncheng couldn’t help but lower his head and smiled.

       The dinner appointment was outside, and Ning Junyan booked a small private room in a Chinese restaurant. Inside was a small round table, but only four seats were reserved.

       When they arrived, Shu Rong and Ning Zhanghong had already arrived.

       When Chen Yuncheng saw Ning Zhanghong, he asked him how his body was recovering recently. Ning Zhanghong was also very polite, shook hands with Chen Yuncheng, and said that there was nothing wrong with his health.

       His complexion did look much better than before.

       Shu Rong stood by and did not speak.

       Chen Yuncheng took the initiative to greet her, “Auntie.”

       She nodded and said, “Hello.”

       The four sat down and waited for the food to be served. At this time, the waiters came in and out, and no one in the private room spoke. The atmosphere seemed somewhat awkward, so Ning Zhanghong took the initiative to ask Ning Junyan a few things about work.

       When the dishes were almost served, the waiter withdrew and closed the door of the private room, and the room became quiet again.

       Ning Junyan asked Shu Rong, “Did Yu Mingli bring her lawyer to you this morning?”

       Chen Yuncheng put down his chopsticks and looked up at Shu Rong.

       Shu Rong still looked the same as usual, with exquisite makeup, and her hair carefully tidied and combed behind her head. She looked at Ning Junyan and said, “Yes.”

       “You already knew that Wang Yongcheng had been arrested, didn’t you?” Ning Junyan asked again.

       Shu Rong replied, “The police notified me very early.”

       At this moment, Chen Yuncheng suddenly said, “My brother tracked him down and secretly filmed him, and then told the police.” He didn’t care too much about Shu Rong’s attitude towards him, but when he thought of the way Shu Rong looked at Guan Anlin, made him feel uncomfortable in his heart.

       Shu Rong’s eyes turned to Chen Yuncheng, and said slowly, “I heard about it.”

       After she finished speaking, Ning Zhanghong said, “Thank him for us.”

       “Is this the attitude of you expressing gratitude?” Ning Junyan leaned back in his chair. Today, he ordered a table of dishes, but now most of them had not been touched. It seems that no one was in the mood to eat. The person is still lying in the hospital, you guys don’t even have the sincerity to visit, just a few empty words of thanks and that’s it?”

       Shu Rong frowned and looked at Ning Junyan.

       Ning Junyan continued without waiting for her to speak, “Yu Mingli came to you to talk about compensation? How much does she want to compensate you on behalf of Yu Jie?”

       Shu Rong said, “She is willing to assist us with the rent we lost on behalf of her father.”

       Ning Junyan nodded, “This is also what Guan Anlin almost lost his life in exchange for.”

       Shu Rong was used to being reserved, so she couldn’t speak for a while, so Ning Zhanghong said to Chen Yuncheng on his behalf, “Yuncheng, thank you for what happened this time. We will visit him in the hospital tomorrow. If there is anything you need, please feel free to mention it.”

       Chen Yuncheng shook his head when he heard the words, “Uncle and aunt, I didn’t come here today to ask you to thank you.”

       Shu Rong looked at him, “Then what else do you want?”

       Chen Yuncheng shook his head again, “Auntie, have you considered your relationship with Junyan?”

       “We are mother and son, what other relationship do we need?”

       Chen Yuncheng said, “It’s not enough to be mother and child by blood. Emotions are a two-way street. If you don’t have feelings for him, how can you expect him to have feelings for you?”

       Shu Rong seemed a little angry, “How can I feel nothing for him?”

       Chen Yuncheng thought for a while and said, “I believe you have feelings for him, but feelings need to be expressed and given, not just unilaterally asked for. Those requests you made to him are a sign of your love for yourself, not a sign of love for him!”

       He rarely said these things to others, and he never felt that he knew more than others, so after he finished speaking, he looked at Ning Junyan with some uncertainty.

       Ning Junyan held his hand, right on the dining table, without avoiding anyone.

       Both Shu Rong and Ning Zhanghong looked at their interlocked hands.

       Chen Yuncheng felt the warmth of Ning Junyan’s palm and felt the strength to continue, “I didn’t come to see you today to ask you to thank me or my brother, or even ask you to accept me and Ning Junyan. I just want to tell you, if you really love Junyan, then treat him better, and let him feel your love for him, don’t say things like breaking off the relationship so easily, every affection doesn’t come easily and others can’t even ask for it if they want to.

       As he said this, Chen Yuncheng paused briefly, took a deep breath and continued, “If you are not going to love him, then I regret pushing him away back then. Give him back to me, and I will love him.”

       After he finished the last few words, Ning Junyan’s grip on his hand steeply tightened.

       Both Shu Rong and Ning Zhanghong were in a daze for a moment. It had been more than ten years, and the almost completely forgotten image suddenly reappeared in front of their eyes. Ning Junyan who was holding Chen Yun Cheng tightly and wouldn’t let go, and Ning Junyan who was pushed away by Chen Yuncheng with great force.

       In the past so many years, the person Ning Junyan wanted to hug the most was still the same person, and it hadn’t changed from beginning to end.

       Shu Rong and Ning Zhanghong left before the entire table had been finished.

       Chen Yuncheng insisted on packing the food, and Ning Junyan stayed with him to watch the waiter pack the food in the same box.

       Ning Junyan said, “We can’t finish the food even if we pack it back.”

       Chen Yuncheng complained to him, “Who told you to order so many?”

       Ning Junyan told him, “It’s a side dish in the private room.” He didn’t have the patience to order dishes one by one himself.

       Chen Yuncheng said, “Bring it to the hospital tomorrow for Guan Anlin to eat.”

       They each carried a few plastic bags out of the restaurant, walked to the parking lot and put all the plastic bags containing the food boxes in the back row.

       When Chen Yuncheng wanted to open the passenger door to get in the car, Ning Junyan put his hands on the door, trapping him between his arms.

       “What’s the matter?” Chen Yuncheng turned around to face him.

       Ning Junyan moved closer to his forehead and said, “Say that sentence from today again.”

       Chen Yuncheng pretended not to understand, “Which sentence?”

       “The one you told my mother.”

       Chen Yuncheng suddenly felt embarrassed, the distance between the two of them was too close, he lowered his gaze to look at Ning Junyan’s lips, and whispered, “The one about asking her to give you back to me?”

       Ning Junyan let out an “En” and urged him, “There’s more.”

       Chen Yuncheng said, “I will love you.”

       Ning Junyan was satisfied, and pecked his lips, “Let’s hurry back, I will love you so much.”

The author has something to say:
I think I can finish it in chapter 100!