The Decade of Deep Love

There had been no fireworks at festivals in downtown Beijing for several years. Wenxu Jiang stood in the living room alone, feeling the world unprecedentedly quiet, as if he was suddenly left alone by the whole world. He found that he had done one of the stupidest things in the world—he got his most cherished treasure lost.

Wenxu Jiang did not know where Zhishu He would go or whether he had made any new intimate friends these years. What he knew about He was only the phone number lying in Jiang’s address list, and now the phone of He was off.

In a trance, Wenxu Jiang even wondered whether Zhishu He had already been with the doctor. For the first time, he was frightened by that idea and rejected to make associations with them two deliberately. Wenxu Jiang was clear that if someone dare touch Zhishu He, he would even kill him with a kitchen knife.

Unconsciously, New Year was coming. January 1, 2015. It should be the 15th year that Wenxu Jiang and Zhishu He had been together. They loved and stumbled all the way, and it was hard to say whether it was the 15th year of love or of acquaintance. It had also no answer if it was just a relationship or had been the short life of a man.

Wenxu Jiang kept smoking all night. At dawn, he rose to his feet, and his body, tall and strong, staggered for a moment. He looked at the wristwatch. It was ten past seven.

He called the property management and asked if they could check the latest monitor of their housing estate. People from the opposite side told him that the record within a week was accessible.

Wenxu Jiang’s shirt of high end was crumpled. He did not change it, but put on his coat directly and went out.

Wenxu Jiang knew that the monitor of the housing estate could only be a proof for Zhishu He’s leaving. He might as well call Mr. Lee and asked the police for help. But his subconsciousness was so mysterious that he was forced to have a check.

Although only a week’s time, what should be known would always appear by coincidence.

For instance, Zui Shen appeared in the monitor.

Wenxu Jiang felt a tremble in his heart. He finally knew that he had made an irreparable mistake. At first, Wenxu Jiang thought Zui Shen knew how to behave in such a delicate situation, whom he needn’t remind of anything. However, he did not expect Zui Shen to have come to Zhishu He.

He was also angry with himself at giving an outsider a chance to hurt Zhishu He, who was too soft and gentle to fight back and regarded complaining as a contemptible behavior, and might even repress the anger to numbness. Wenxu Jiang had been aware that he went too far. But now he decided to get onto the right track with Zhishu He, thinking that it would not influence their relationship as long as he did not admit the loving affairs in front of Zhishu He, without expecting to be tripped up by a toy in the end.

Zhishu He was the baseline of Wenxu Jiang, whom no one could touch.

*

The moment Zui Shen opened the door and looked at the man in front of him, his gaunt face came alive. With his labial angles curved in a docile way, he said, “Brother Jiang, you finally come. I miss you so much!”

When you fell in love with someone, you would be glad at a mere sight of him. The grievance dissipated in a moment and it was sure that the indifference from Jiang’s eyes and sharp coldness from expressions would be ignored.

Wenxu Jiang came in, looking coldly at Zui Shen close the door and then look for shoes for Jiang.

“You went to find Zhishu He?” The sentence without a hint of emotion, unexpectedly, shocked Zui Shen into a shiver like a thunder.

Zui Shen had thought it would be all right. After all, it had been a few days and everything went well. Zhishu He would have already told Jiang if he wanted to.

Wenxu Jiang walked over to Zui Shen step by step and said, “I warned you last time in France and do you think you are capable now. How dare you forced Zhishu He away?”

Wenxu Jiang kicked in the belly of Zui Shen without any sign, wearing a clearly murderous look, “If I can’t find Zhishu He, you’re gonna die.”

He turned around to go out but stumbled over a box of truck Zui Shen had cleared away, out of which a jewelry box tumbled to the front of Jiang, and a worn ring rolled out.

It caught Wenxu Jiang’s sight and he stopped and stared at it for a while.

Zui Shen’s face was pale out of pain. At the sight of the ring, his face turned gray with fear, and said nearly in a begging tone, “... Brother Jiang... I can explain.”

The first time he went to bed with Wenxu Jiang was due to Jiang’s drunk, so Jiang woke up late. Zui Shen woke up early because he felt ill for drinking too much. At that time, he did not know that Wenxu Jiang had a lover. When he liked Wenxu Jiang secretly, he had already been curious about the worn and worthless ring on Jiang’s finger, so he took it off while the man was fast asleep. However, he held it in his hand for a while and unconsciously fell asleep.

When he woke up again with nobody aside, the ring was still in his hand. It had been two days since Wenxu Jiang found him again, and Jiang asked directly about the ring. At that time, Wenxu Jiang was really horrible, his eyes red with fierceness, as if having lost something precious. Zui Shen was frightened, so he did not dare to tell the truth but give an evasive answer that probably it was lost.

Wenxu Jiang did not care about the countless strange combination of coincidences behind a ring now. The plain silver ring, pricking his eye sockets, was carved for a few months by Zhishu He, who also wore it on Jiang’s hand in earnest. Now it was mixed up with a pile of garbage that would soon be abandoned.

He felt a lasting ache in his heart.

Wenxu Jiang bent down and picked it up. He blew the dust off the ring gingerly, and wore it seriously on his ring finger.

He felt a strange calmness in his heart. The soul wandering for a long time without a place to settle seemed to have an end-result. He even had no mood to argue with Zui Shen anymore.

“For the sake of the years you’ve been with me, I will forget it this time. Don’t let me see you again.”

Wenxu Jiang said that and then turned around to leave, but was simply hugged by the one behind him.

Crying softly and innocently, Zui Shen begged, “Jiang... Please don’t leave me... I was wrong. I will never do that again. As long as you’re willing to come to see me, you can have anyone in your heart... It’s ok that you don’t want him to suffer. I can do anything with you and I really love you...” Zui Shen choked with sobs when the tone was actually similar to that of Zhishu He, which made Wenxu Jiang’s heart softened.

He pushed Zui Shen away, turned around to stroke his hair and said, “Don’t spoil yourself. I have someone in my heart. I was naive in the past and made some mistakes, but you’re still young, and you will meet someone you like more.”

Seeing Wenxu Jiang turn around and leave decisively, Zui Shen lost his last hope.

Sitting on a bench in the park, Wenxu Jiang was gently stroking the ring on his finger, and thought of the missing ring of Zhishu He that he noticed at the dinner the day before yesterday. He knew that Zui Shen must have made something to Zhishu He with his thing.

His ring was got back, but Zhishu He could not wait for it and left.

The ringing of his mobile phone interrupted Wenxu Jiang’s thoughts. He answered the phone, and it was Jingwen Zhang, “Hello?”

“I will get married next Monday. I’m calling to invite you to come to my wedding party with your partner.” Being filled with happiness, Jingwen smiled, not aware of Jiang’s bleak cold tone.

“Zhishu left... I don’t know where he went.”

“You quarreled with him?” Jingwen was silent for a moment, and then asked, “He left alone? Is anyone along with him?”

Wenxu Jiang and Jingwen Zhang had been good friends for many years, and they could share anything to each other, “He was very close with a doctor days before, a man who seemed interested in Zhishu.”

“Doctor? Jingwen wondered how Zhishu He could make friends with a doctor since he rarely went out.

Wenxu Jiang gave out a cool hum, “But he’s certainly not an ordinary doctor. He drives a Ferrari and what he sends to Zhishu are all valuable, such as an orchid which is worth more than two million. He’s probably still young, about in his early thirties.”

Originally Jingwen Zhang wanted to laugh at Wenxu Jiang that he got angry with Zhishu He last time might be due to the jealousy from the loving crisis awareness. But Zhang was shocked on a second thought.

“Loving cars and flowers, a young doctor... Isn’t that Ziyu Ai? He is an expert of leukemia!”