His Honey Chapter 25

Chapter 25

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In the morning, Nie Sangning received a call from Yu Zhinian.

Before going to work, they met at a cafe.

Nie Sangning also saw that short video. For a moment, he overlapped the Yu Zhinian in the image with the wounded Yu Zhinian in his mind from back then. But the nineteen or twenty-year-old Yu Zhinian, and the thirty-something Yu Zhinian, in the end, were not the same. He pushed the door and walked into the cafe where there were not many customers. Yu Zhinian had already arrived. He was wearing a suit, sitting upright, and staring out the window. His temperament was no longer the same as it was back then – Time and experience had given him a more calm and collected demeanour. The time they had a showdown, Yu Zhinian was the one who responded rationally. But the Yu Zhinian in the video seems to be a completely different person. He was already being treated differently by him. With every step closer, Nie Sangning saw a little more clearly that he had long since lost the person in front of him.

Yu Zhinian turned his head, saw him coming, and made a 'please sit' gesture towards him.

Gesturing, he smiled naturally, "Good morning."

No matter how fierce the previous quarrel, to still be smiling and peaceful when you meet again is a necessary skill for a socialite without emotions. Yu Zhinian used it perfectly.

Nie Sangning sat down, and got right to the point, "You asked me out, what's the matter?"

Yu Zhinian did not beat around the bush, "Who told you about the Fangda global management committee? The other party, are they the one who wants to separate Xiao Yichi and I?"

"... I can't tell you this." Why would he bother offending someone he couldn't afford to mess with for someone else's love?

Yu Zhinian had expected this, "Then can you ask the other party if they can meet with me?" If the mountain does not come to me, I will go to the mountain.

"... What if I'm not willing to ask?"

On the negotiation table, Yu Zhinian has never lost. He picked up his coffee and took a sip, then put it down and looked at Nie Sangning with a smile, "I'll make you willing to ask." He was Fangda's youngest senior partner to date, and he was not lacking in ability, shrewdness, or tactfulness.

Your stubbornness or resentment, not only is it not accepted by others, but they may also take serious actions.

Nie Sangning was disheartened.

Yu Zhinian's tone was gentle, "Go ahead and order whatever you want to drink." He got up, "I'm familiar with the owner of the shop, they'll credit it to my account." Buttoning up his jacket, "What I just said, please reply to me before the weekend." After saying that, he stepped away.

During his lunch break, Yu Zhinian received a message from Auntie Pan asking him and Xiao Yichi to come over for dinner, she had learnt a new dish from her little sisters and was planning to show off her skills tonight.

Yu Zhinian paused for a moment with his finger above the input box before replying, "I'm the only one who can come over tonight. Yichi has gone to volunteer again, and just left the day before yesterday."

Auntie Pan called him, "Aiya, he was in such a hurry, did you take the initiative to help him pack up? He was injured last time, did you remind him to bring the necessary medicine?"

"He did."

After hearing this, Auntie Pan was a little relieved, and nagged Yu Zhinian, "Don't always pretend to be cool in front of Yichi, that child is so active, it's time for the stone to bloom. Auntie doesn't believe that you don't have any interest in him, hurry up and give him an explanation, then settle down, understand?"

Such a simple reasoning, if he had listened to it a few days ago, it would have been good. Yu Zhinian closed his eyes for a second before opening them and answering Auntie Pan, "I know, don't worry."

Before dinner, Yu Zhinian picked ripe tomatoes from the vegetable garden and sent them into the kitchen. Auntie Pan looked at the tomatoes, "The tomato Yichi showed you last time was especially shaped like a heart. He was so happy when he saw it and said he wanted to save it for you."

Xiao Yichi tilted his head and smiled at that time, "Praise!"

At that time, it would have been good for him to look at the tomato and praise it to satisfy him.

Yu Zhinian felt a sudden stinging pain in his eyes, and he had to close them.

The auction house's jewellery auction was held as scheduled. The 10.63-carat D-colour/internally flawless Golconda diamond ring was ultimately won by a telephone buyer at an auction price of more than fifteen million dollars.

On Friday night, Nie Sangning called Yu Zhinian, "..."

"The other party said to be patient, he will contact you."

"... Okay, thank you." Yu Zhinian put down the phone and no longer thought much about it. Take appropriate measures as the situation calls for.

He walked to the living room, there were books left behind by Xiao Yichi on the sofa and coffee table. He gathered them up and took them to the study.

Yu Zhinian walked to the side of the bookshelf, put Xiao Yichi's books on it and arranged them. He was about to turn around when his eyes caught a glimpse of something peculiar – a white book that should have been placed on the edge of the bottom shelf was placed in the middle of the shelf. If he wasn't paying attention, he wouldn't have noticed.

Yu Zhinian squatted down and took the book out.

He rubbed the white book cover paper, this book witnessed his bitter and painful past. The question was, why was it in this location?

Yu Zhinian flipped it open and suddenly, something fell out.

His eyes fixed on it, it was a palm-sized Snoopy sticker! Snoopy was winking at him with a silly expression. Yu Zhinian picked it up and turned it over. "Yu Zhinian belongs to Xiao Yichi" was followed by a large exclamation mark, and it was signed: Xiao Yichi.

Heart pounding, Yu Zhinian flipped a page of the book. On the side where the words were written, he tried to gently position Snoopy over them, and it was just the right size to cover the words.

Suddenly, he remembered that he once pushed open the door to his study and saw Xiao Yichi hanging his head lost in thought.

Yu Zhinian stood up, his whole body suddenly spinning.

His Yichi, knew everything.

Yu Zhinian covered his eyes, but the tears could not be stopped and flowed down.

If he said that loving Xiao Yichi requires courage, Xiao Yichi loves him, so why not? Moreover, Xiao Yichi understood everything but still moved forward.

Pure, passionate love.

Pursuing the meaning of love on his own, wanting to strive to obtain the heroic spirit of love, Xiao Yichi has long since succeeded.

Yu Zhinian took the sticker in his hand, turned it over, and kissed Xiao Yichi's name.

A weekend evening, Xiao Yichi's home.

Yu Zhinian sat on the rattan chair on the balcony, lit the cigarette left by Xiao Yichi and took a drag.

Before Xiao Yichi left, he gave him the keys to his home for safekeeping. The old-fashioned drum washing machine was in the middle of a cycle.

Yu Zhinian came over today to clean his house. After that, he would come over to stay here from time to time.

Taking another drag on his cigarette, he leaned back in his rattan chair, watching the giant screen of adverts changing and flickering in the distance, listening to the sound of stir-frying coming out of the kitchen of an unknown family, and smelling the smell of smoke and fire wafting through the air.

Yu Zhinian wanted to leave traces of his life in the home where Xiao Yichi grew up.

Two weeks later, Auntie Mai returned from the outer city. Yu Zhinian and Auntie Pan went to the high-speed railway station to pick her up.

"Aiya, it's good to be back!" Auntie Mai sighed happily. Her daughter Shan Shan had successfully given birth to her second child and her in-laws had taken over the care of her, so she was finally able to come back and relax.

"Come to my house for dinner, Zhinian will cook!" Auntie Pan was happy to see her friend and smiled.

The two of them often chatted on the phone, and Auntie Mai was already up to date with the news that the two children's relationship was progressing well, Xiao Yichi had gone to work as a volunteer, and now Yu Zhinian was looking after the house for him.

Auntie Mai's impression of Yu Zhinian was too good to be true, "Aiya, then I'm really blessed!"

Yu Zhinian drove the car, smiled and said modestly, "It's all home-cooked food, if you have anything in particular that you want to eat, just let me know and I'll do my best."

"This child is so polite! Auntie loves to eat whatever you cook! It's guaranteed to be a clean meal!"

"A'Mai, stop praising him, he's about to float." Auntie Pan covered her mouth and laughed.

"I'm speaking from the heart! This child, Yichi, is lucky to have found someone like Xiao Yu, so good!" Auntie Mai gave a thumbs up.

The two aunts began to boast to each other in a businesslike manner, "Yichi is a good kid too, I like him a lot, he has a good personality and is enthusiastic. This is also Zhinian's good fortune."

If Xiao Yichi had been there, he would have been happy and enthusiastically joined the aunts in their boasting party.

After dinner, Yu Zhinian and Auntie Mai returned to the neighbourhood and went upstairs together.

"I haven't walked up these stairs for a while, I'm really not used to it!" Auntie Mai walked halfway up the stairs and stopped to catch her breath. Yu Zhinian also stopped, "Shall I help you up?"

"No no no, these old bones can still move." Auntie Mai refused to give in. She asked Yu Zhinian, "Are you used to living here?" She had heard Auntie Pan say that Yu Zhinian's own home was in a high-end neighbourhood.

"I'm used to it." Yu Zhinian said with a smile, "The old man upstairs came down and saw me go out, and even complimented me, 'Yichi, how did you grow taller and more handsome? Not bad!'"

"Ha ha ha!" Auntie Mai laughed brightly, her eyes narrowing into a line. "It must be Old Hu from the top floor, his eyes are bad and he blindly recognises people."

Yu Zhinian didn't mind, "It doesn't matter. I once bumped into the old man in the neighbourhood and he even gave me a few roasted groundnuts, which were quite tasty."

"We've lived in this building for decades, only the old guys are left here now, all the young people have moved away. Maybe Yichi is the youngest here."

Auntie Mai returned home and started cleaning up, with Yu Zhinian lending a hand.

As she tidied up, she showed Yu Zhinian an old photo, "This is a photo of our two families in the park." In the photo, Xiao Yichi was holding his father's hand and smiling with his mouth wide open, with no incisors and two big holes in his mouth.

Auntie Mai sighed, "His parents left early. Xiao Yichi has always felt it was his fault. When he wanted to leave, he said he was going to work abroad as a dispatched labourer. Then the internet sprang up. He stayed away for years, and I was worried, so Shan Shan looked it up on the internet for me, and I learnt that he was a war correspondent. He didn't say anything when he called me, so I didn't ask anything. The fact that I could still hear his voice was good." Auntie Mai saw that Yu Zhinian didn't say anything and quickly said, "Old people love to be sentimental, don't mind me."

Yu Zhinian shook his head, "I still want to hear you talk about Yichi more."

"Okay! One day when I'm free, I'll tell you in detail, he's had a lot of embarrassing moments since he was a child." Auntie Mai smiled.

Xiao Yichi had been gone for a month. Yu Zhinian not only got acquainted with his old neighbours, he also got acquainted with Da Shan.

From them, he slowly pieced together what Xiao Yichi was like before he met him.

Both of his parents were warm and generous, and the child was lively and active. Entering puberty, the child was no longer so lively and did not want to study, but spent all day in a daze, thinking about something. After his parents had a traffic accident, the child went away with a strong sense of guilt.

"He told me just before he left, and I could only watch him leave. I was so worried." Recalled Auntie Mai. "When I talked to him, he would always tell me what was good but not what was bad. But when he came back, his whole temperament and spirit were different from what I remembered. Perhaps, he really got over it."

With blood, with tears, with pain, through the hail of bullets in life lived over and over again.

"We ate, lived and practised together on the boat for a month. Yichi didn't have a foundation, but he persevered." In the night stall, Da Shan took a sip of beer and said to Yu Zhinian. "During this process, we were on a mission and one of our brothers died. He had a younger brother who was studying. Later, we realised that Yichi had been sending letters and money to our brother's younger brother. For that alone, we became brothers for life."

In the end, he became a little light, a little warmth, illuminating the road ahead and warming those who travelled forward.

Xiao Yichi had been gone for two months. During this period, Yu Zhinian received information from the commissioner: the opposition shot a hostage, the possibility of the peacekeeping forces being deployed was very high, and there was no definite news of Xiao Yichi yet.

At night, Yu Zhinian walked to the balcony to light a cigarette but eventually gave up.

The physical body and the will must be strong at the same time to face the force majeure with courage.

Yu Zhinian ate well, exercised seriously, and organised his work as efficiently as possible to not stay up late; when he felt uncomfortable, he made an appointment to see Xilin.

Don't think too much, don't think blindly.

But it had been three months since Xiao Yichi left. When Da Shan saw him, he wanted to ask but stopped several times.

One night, when Yu Zhinian came back, Auntie Mai heard the movement of the iron gate and opened the door. She hesitated, "Zhinian... tell me honestly, did Yichi go... to work?"

There was no movement for months. Now was not the time when messaging was inconvenient as it was in the past.

Yu Zhinian pacified Auntie Mai, "... He will be back soon."

Auntie Mai understood. She lowered her head, but quickly raised it again and smiled, "The braised pork elbow you learned from me is ready to be mastered, so when he comes back, make it for him to try and surprise him!"

"Okay." Yu Zhinian agreed.

Several interns came to the law firm, and one of them was a girl who knew six languages.

Yu Zhinian finished signing the documents and asked Nan Jing, "How well does the intern who speaks six languages speak Spanish?"

"She should be all right. I heard that she participated in a foreign affairs event yesterday with her colleagues from the public relations department, and her performance was quite impressive."

"Mhmm." Yu Zhinian instructed, "Ask her when she's free for me, I'd like to ask her for a Spanish lesson."

"Okay."

Xiao Yichi had been gone for four months. The construction work for the branch of the Wan Nian Art Gallery was progressing well.

During the day, Yu Zhinian went to the airport to see Tang Wancheng off.

It was already the end of the year, and Tang Wancheng sent her best wishes, "The next time I come, I hope it's to attend your and Yichi's wedding."

Yu Zhinian smiled, "I'll try my best."

Since learning that Xiao Yichi liked Yu Zhinian, Tang Wancheng had been secretly observing this Lawyer Yu. After the video of Yu Zhinian and Xiao Yichi spread, a lot of people were eager to make a move – Xiao Yichi looked so ordinary yet he could be Yu Zhinian's partner, so it would be a shame if they didn't give it a try. In the Fangya Ji group of wives and ladies alone, several groups of nephews were eager to try.

But Yu Zhinian was not moved, and he wasn't heard to have visited any of those pleasure spots, as if he had become an immortal and no longer needed the mortal world.

A competent man can manage his desires properly, even someone as discerning and prudent as Tang Wancheng has to be impressed.

At night, Yu Zhinian drove to the riverside.

After the sky darkened, his body became increasingly cold. He got out of the car, and the breath he exhaled turned into a white mist. On the grass at the riverfront, a couple braved the cold to watch a video to learn how to dance, laughing as they learned. Yu Zhinian remembered the empty gallery showroom, where he and Xiao Yichi slowly danced in circles.

Slowly, the corners of his eyes reddened.

Yichi, come back soon.

In the early hours of the morning, Yu Zhinian got up to drink water, returned to his room and glanced at his cell phone, there was a new email – the sender: Qiu Lanshi.

Lawyer Yu, hello. I am Qiu Lanshi, a friend of Yichi's, and the "other party" you wanted to meet. The following is the content of the emails that Yichi and I have sent back and forth, please read them first.

"Yichi, Uncle Min told me that you have your own plans and are not going to come to the imperial capital. I guess the real reason is the same as the reason you didn't reply to my last email. I respect your choice. Even if you are in this city, I will do my best when you need help. I hear that you have made a lawyer friend in this city with whom you have a good relationship and that this lawyer, Mr. Yu, will be a senior partner at Fangda in the near future. Have you ever thought that this lawyer has a desire to continue to be promoted? As far as I know, to get into Fangda's global management committee, if one has a recommendation from Uncle Min's level, everything is guaranteed.

I happened to hear that he approached you to make friends with someone of high standing and that he might back out for fear of something going wrong. Yichi, please don't befriend him easily, let alone fall in love with him, that Lawyer Yu, is not worth it."

Yu Zhinian noticed that the date of the email was before he and Xiao Yichi dissolved their "bed partner relationship". At that time, he was in Pearl City, preparing for his debriefing at the New York headquarters. A day later, Xiao Yichi replied to the email.

"Lanshi, thank you for the information and reminder. I have actually gotten along with this Lawyer Yu. He may have the desire to continue to be promoted, but I'm sure he won't utilise his feelings for that reason. Because feelings are the most important thing to him. If he really needs it, I will intercede for him with Teacher, just as Teacher secured the job for me, and you are willing to do your best to help me. Maybe you should say I'm naive again, but that's the kind of me you've been unfailingly loyal to, so I guess it's still 'worth it'. You said that you would respect my choice. The imperial capital is full of work, take care of your health."

Qiu Lanshi continued to write to Yu Zhinian below:

It's only been a short time since Yichi and you met, yet he trusts you so much.

I don't buy his reply. I'm sure that you will reveal your true colours. I eventually waited for this opportunity with Nie Sangning, I called him to inform him of your intention to approach Xiao Yichi, but he blew it. It's just that I never expected that you would resign.

What I especially never expected was that Yichi would go back to the Middle East for an adventure. Before he left, he asked Uncle Min to tell me that he and I will be good friends forever. He put me in that position at that time. You may not be able to understand how I feel. Uncle Min said you have declined to join Fangda's global management committee.

I've been following your movements for the past four months or so. I hope that you are worthy of the sincerity that Yichi has given you. If you show any sign of betraying him in the future, I won't spare you.

Finally. You will receive a call from the commissioner soon. He will inform you of the latest news.

Just as Yu Zhinian put down his cell phone, there was a call from the commissioner's private line. A peacekeeping force assisted the local government forces to counterattack successfully, the main opposition leader was seriously injured and arrested, and Adil Zaid committed suicide. Xiao Yichi and other hostages were injured, but their lives are not in danger, and he is currently being sent on a special plane back to China. Because he has in his hands the notes of the interviews conducted with the opposition in the past few months, which are important documents, Yu Zhinian will be contacted again to go to the hospital after the security department has confirmed everything.

Ending the call, Yu Zhinian was so excited that he could hardly breathe.

His Yichi, is coming back.

Twenty-six hours later.

The hospital helipad. The helicopter stabilised and the medical staff quickly came forward to transport the injured to the stretcher.

"Yichi." Yu Zhinian anxiously stepped forward.

Xiao Yichi's face was haggard, his lips were pale, and white gauze was wrapped around his forehead. At the sound of the voice, he slightly opened his eyes.

They entered the elevator.

"I'm here." Yu Zhinian's eyes reddened and his voice trembled.

Xiao Yichi's gaze finally focused on Yu Zhinian, but he couldn't speak yet. He gently moved his hand, and Yu Zhinian immediately held it, "You're back, you've honoured your promise and returned to me."

"Zhinian..." Xiao Yichi called out with difficulty, his voice dry and hoarse.

"I'm here, don't talk, just recover." Yu Zhinian wished he could suffer for him.

They arrived at the independent ward. The medical staff moved with ease, while Yu Zhinian stood aside to watch them examine Xiao Yichi.

"We'll come back tomorrow to give him a detailed full body check." The attending doctor spoke to Yu Zhinian.

"Thank you."

Yu Zhinian stepped forward and approached Xiao Yichi, wanting to touch him but afraid of touching his wounds.

"Don't come so close... ugly..." Xiao Yichi could only speak in a breathless voice.

"Not ugly, not ugly, it's the appearance of a great hero." Yu Zhinian's nose soured again and he softly coaxed him.

It was hard for Xiao Yichi to even smile now.

Yu Zhinian looked at him obsessively, confirming with his eyes over and over again that he had come back, back to him.

He didn't dare to hold Xiao Yichi's hand too hard for fear of hurting him. But he could freely speak words of love to him.

"Yichi, I love you."

Xiao Yichi fixed his gaze on him.

Yu Zhinian recited a love poem in Spanish in his lover's ear –

You are the last rose in my barren wasteland.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: February 25, 2024