DJPWNK 74

In Jiang Xu’s bedroom, two doctors stood side by side at the head of the bed, repeatedly searching for information about Dr Albert and the surgery on the internet.

It had been three days since the surgery, and there was no news from Country S. Perhaps due to Dr Albert’s high-profile status, there were widespread doubts from people around the world about whether the surgery had failed and if the patient was still alive. Eventually, it had escalated into questioning the credibility of Country S itself.

The news continued to escalate, but the government of Country S remained silent on the relevant issues, and Dr Albert had deactivated all his social media accounts, as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth.

There were rumors that Dr Albert had been arrested for bringing shame to the country, while others said he had fled abroad, unable to face the consequences of the failed surgery. However, the spokesperson of Country S ignored the requests of doctors worldwide to explain the situation and remained silent on the matter.

“I want to go to Country S to find Dr Albert,” Shen Fangyu said, putting down his tablet suddenly.

“Can you find him?” Jiang Xu asked.

“I’m not sure,” Shen Fangyu said. “But he gave me a relatively private address before, saying that I could visit him anytime if I had the chance, as long as he hadn’t left the country. So maybe there’s hope.”

Ever since Dr Albert announced that he was going to do this surgery, Shen Fangyu had been actively keeping in touch with him.

Conceited people probably liked to talk to sociable people, and Shen Fangyu was good at coaxing others. In just a few days, Dr Albert claimed that Shen Fangyu was his soulmate, even though they had only had a few phone calls and email exchanges after an academic salon.

And at the happiest moments, Dr Albert had even given Shen Fangyu the address of his villa in the suburbs of Country S, welcoming him to visit anytime.

After the incident with the surgery, Shen Fangyu had not been able to reach Dr Albert by phone, and his emails had gone unanswered. Inquiring with other colleagues who knew Albert had yielded no results. After careful consideration, Shen Fangyu decided to go to Country S.

“I have already obtained a visa to go to Country S. I told Director Cui today, and she approved my five-day leave,” he said to Jiang Xu, putting his arm around his shoulder. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Jiang Xu was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly realized that ever since they started living together, he and Shen Fangyu had never been apart for so long. Even with the armed robbery incident in Country M before, Shen Fangyu had returned within three days.

He remained silent for a while, then said to Shen Fangyu, “I’ll be fine. If you can’t find him in five days, you can continue looking for seven days, or half a month. Just take care of yourself. If there’s any problem with Director Cui, I’ll cover for you.”

“It’s okay, Director Cui said that if things don’t go smoothly, I can ask for an extension of a few days, even if it means deducting a few days’ pay. Don’t worry too much,” Shen Fangyu assured Jiang Xu while looking into his eyes. “At the latest, I’ll be back in seven days.”

Jiang Xu lowered his eyelashes and nodded. After a moment, he said, “Let me know when you book your ticket, I’ll take you to the airport.”

“There are fewer flights to that side, and the timing is not good either,” Shen Fangyu said. “I’ll ask Zhang Cheng to drive me. You’re not feeling well, so don’t tire yourself out. The airport is too far, and driving there is too tiring.”

Jiang Xu leaned against Shen Fangyu’s neck and murmured softly, “Mmm.”

However, whether it was because Shen Fangyu’s previous experience of going abroad had left him with lingering fears, or because Dr Albert’s failure had been unsettling him, he had been sleeping uneasily for the past few days.

As winter deepened, the days also grew darker.

On the day he had to leave, Shen Fangyu woke up before dawn. He moved quietly, even changing his clothes outside the bedroom.

He had told Jiang Xu in advance that he had to catch an early morning flight and would leave very early, so Jiang Xu could sleep well and didn’t need to see him off. But when Jiang Xu woke up and felt the empty bed, he still instinctively got up.

He opened his eyes and hurriedly put on his coat as he rushed out of the bedroom, coincidentally running into Shen Fangyu who was carrying his luggage and preparing to leave.

Because he was worried that the light from the gap in the door would disturb Jiang Xu’s sleep, Shen Fangyu hadn’t even turned on the living room lights.

The morning light was faint, and the living room was slightly dark. The two of them silently looked at each other under the dimly lit sky, their shadows overlapping on the ground.

Jiang Xu came out in a hurry, dressed thinly, and his slippers seemed to be on the wrong feet. The person was rendered thin by the contrast of light and shadow, and his protruding abdomen was especially clear.

The early morning sky was quiet, the air was fresh, and a little light filtered in from the balcony. Occasionally, they could hear a few clear bird songs, gently stirring their sensitive nerves.

So the person rushing to leave couldn’t resist setting down his luggage, speeding up his steps to embrace his lover who was seeing him off.

And Jiang Xu, who usually liked keeping time, did not urge him to leave.

The longer Shen Fangyu stayed, the more reluctant he was for him to leave. The embrace of a lover was the most irresistible tenderness.

But unfortunately, once the sun began to rise in the east, the pause button couldn’t be pressed anymore.

The light outside the window gradually illuminated the room, and when the lengthening shadows became distinct, Shen Fangyu slowly let go of Jiang Xu, whispering in his ear, “Go back to sleep for a while longer, I have to go.”

Jiang Xu lowered his head and glanced at Shen Fangyu’s open coat.

No wonder he felt the body temperature more clearly.

He stood in front of the porch, carefully buttoning up Shen Fangyu’s overcoat one by one, then put his hands on his shoulder and tiptoed lightly to kiss his forehead.

“Have a safe trip.”

With the words “have a safe trip”, Shen Fangyu crossed the sea, and even when the plane landed in country S, his heart was still hot, like boiling water.

The snow fell on his head In country S, and he tightened his scarf. He first went to the hospital where Dr Albert was located according to the address on the piece of paper, but learned that Dr Albert had already resigned, and when he inquired about the condition of the patient, the hospital refused to disclose any information.

Shen Fangyu came out of the hospital and went to Dr Albert’s suburban address according to the paper, but the door of the red villa was closed and would not be opened no matter how he knocked.

He asked door by door in the neighborhood all day, and finally got a message from a gardener in a nearby household: “Three people came here two days ago.”

The gardener was a part-time worker who had just started working here recently, and he said he hadn’t paid much attention to what the owner of this house looked like before, so he didn’t know if the three people he saw before were the owners of this house.

Dr Albert had said that his suburban villa was occasionally used for leisure and socializing on weekends.

Apparently, Dr Albert’s house in the city had been vandalized in various ways, with insults written all over the walls.

This suburban villa was relatively lucky because Dr Albert didn’t come here often, it was secluded, and the neighbors nearby were not very clear about his name and appearance, so it had not been touched by radical people.

Although the information provided by the gardener was not very specific, it was the only clue that Shen Fangyu could get at the moment. He took immediate action, rented a room nearby that could observe the gate of the villa, and kept watch on the villa day and night without rest.

When Jiang Xu called him from the balcony, Shen Fangyu was squatting and nibbling on a sandwich while keeping watch.

As soon as he saw Jiang Xu on the video, the corners of his lips unconsciously curled up, teasingly saying, “You used to say I should become a debt collector, and now I’m almost one.”

Jiang Xu knew that Shen Fangyu was joking with him. He “tch-ed” and when he looked at the obvious dark circles under Shen Fangyu’s eyes, and he couldn’t really laugh.

But Shen Fangyu, as if not caring much, asked, “Are you doing well? Have you been feeling unwell recently?”

Jiang Xu didn’t respond. He paused for a moment and suddenly asked, “Did you call my parents?”

On the day Shen Fangyu left, Mother Jiang called to say that the couple had taken a vacation and wanted to come and see him. At the moment, he had just finished dinner with his family, and his parents were watching TV in the living room. He specifically went to the balcony to make this phone call.

Although they didn’t mention Shen Fangyu on the phone, Mother Jiang and Father Jiang, who knew that he and Shen Fangyu lived together, didn’t seem surprised at all when they came, and didn’t even ask about Shen Fangyu.

Considering the coincidence of their timing, Jiang Xu could probably guess what Shen Fangyu had said.

Sure enough, Shen Fangyu replied with a “Hmm” and said to him, “I told your parents that I’m going on a trip, and if they have time, they should take care of you a bit.”

“I’m not a child anymore,” Jiang Xu said.

“But you have a child in your stomach,” Shen Fangyu cajoled him. “You take care of her, and someone has to take care of you too.”

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered and half-jokingly complained, “When I was talking to your parents on the phone, your father scolded me again, saying you’re pregnant, why do I have to go out, it’s like he wanted to put the label of ‘scum’ on my head.”

“And your mother… she seems to know about Dr Albert’s situation, she’s been asking me what’s going on, whether your surgery is risky or not.”

Jiang Xu looked back at his parents who were talking in the living room, then looked out over the balcony at the bustling lights outside. After pausing for a moment, he said to Shen Fangyu, “They scolded me too just now.”

“They scolded you?” Shen Fangyu was stunned for a moment, and said with distress, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked them to come over.”

“Because… I told them that we’re together now.”

Upon hearing Jiang Xu’s words, Shen Fangyu was taken aback for a moment and asked in surprise, “You… why are you saying it now?”

“When they brought it up, I just told them,” Jiang Xu looked calm, “They scolded me for a while, but now they’ve accepted it.”

Perhaps with the shocking news of their son being pregnant, accepting a boyfriend didn’t seem so difficult anymore.

“They said they want to treat you to a meal, remember to contact them when you come back.”

“Like a Hongmen Banquet,” Jiang Xu joked with a relaxed tone, and Shen Fangyu’s heart, which had been clenched, relaxed as well. He jokingly said to Jiang Xu, “Should I bring Zhang Liang to the feast?”

“No need for Zhang Liang,” Jiang Xu’s hand rested on the balcony railing, tapping it absentmindedly, “ only Jiang Xu.”

The Hongmen Banquet is often used as a metaphor for a situation where one is lured into a trap or a scheme disguised as a friendly gathering. The banquet was held at Hongmen, a strategic location, and was used as a pretext for Xiang Yu (a prominent military leader) to plot against Liu Bang (future founding emperor if the Han dynasty), but the latter was warned of the plot by his advisor Zhang Liang( a strategist and statesman, known for his intelligence and cunning), and managed to escape the ambush, leading to significant historical consequences. Shen Fangyu was implying that he would benefit from having Zhang Liang’s wisdom and strategic prowess during that meal.

“Okay, then I’ll bring Jiang Xu.”

Shen Fangyu looked at Jiang Xu in the video, who was earnestly promoting himself, and felt a scratch in his heart. Unable to resist a smile creeping up on his lips, he said, “Jiang Xu is my Zhang Liang, I implore Advisor Jiang to send regards to our parents.”

Jiang Xu retorted, “Who are your parents?”

Shen Fangyu smiled and didn’t say anything, just stared at him intently.

Jiang Xu turned his head away for a moment, then looked up at the hazy moon in the sky and suddenly asked, “Can you see the moon where you are?”

“Yeah, I can,” Shen Fangyu lifted his head and looked at the crescent moon in the sky. “They say the moon is rounder in foreign countries, but I don’t think it’s that round.”

The time difference of seven to eight hours may not be long, but it’s long enough for one to see a moon just rising while the other sees a moon about to disappear.

And Jiang Xu thought that the generation gap between him and Shen Fangyu might be even wider than the time difference.

For example, at this moment, he was thinking of “the moon being the same even when far apart”, while the patriotic Professor Shen casually satirized the idolization of foreigners.

So Dr. Jiang had no option but be a little more explicit and open up a bit. He pursed his lips and said, “I had a dream last night. I dreamt that Xiaoxiao could speak and asked where you went.”

Shen Fangyu smiled lightly and teased him as if he didn’t understand, “Xiaoxiao can send dreams too? Tell her to send me a dream directly and ask me then.”

Jiang Xu, who had lost his patience, finally gave him a sideways glance.

Seeing that Jiang Xu was about to lose his temper, Shen Fangyu finally became serious, his eyes showing a hint of a smile, and he said softly, “Put the phone closer to your ear, I have a secret to tell you.”

Jiang Xu half-believingly put the phone to his ear and then heard a sentence from the other end, “I miss you too.”

Because it was so close, these words sounded like whispers in his ear, low and clear, with a gentle magnetism.

Jiang Xu’s ears turned hot, his heartbeat missed a beat, and he belatedly realized that Shen Fangyu had seen through his thoughts with the teasing word “too.”

With a blank expression on his face, Jiang Xu said, “I don’t miss you,” and then ruthlessly hung up on Dr. Shen’s call.

Shen Fangyu smiled as he put away his phone, took a sip of mineral water, and took a bite of his sandwich. His gaze fell from the moon and he looked down at Dr Albert’s villa.

But when he looked, his gaze suddenly froze.

Under the cover of the early morning darkness, with tree shadows looming, a black car slowly drove into Dr Albert’s villa.