When Fu Ge came out of the alley, his lips were swollen, pink and hidden under the mask, and so numb he could barely feel them.
He stared at Qi Han angrily as he walked, really suspecting that if he weren’t extraordinarily lucky, his lips would be kissed away by this man.
Qi Han was not ashamed at all, raised his hand to help him straighten his mask, and asked, knowing the answer: ”Why are you staring at me so aggrieved? Who bullied you?”
Fu Ge, angry and ashamed, shoved him away, ”Can’t you behave yourself? You are already twenty-four years old, why are you still acting like an adolescent?”
Qi Han chuckled lightly, sticking to his ear from behind, with a lazy smile in his tone.
“Since my little husband has accompanied me through my long adolescence, he should know that I’m much more restrained now. Besides, if it wasn’t for you to seduce me, how could I mess around like this? Gege can’t put all the blame on me alone.”
Such brazenness was simply heinous.
Fu Ge smiled angrily, ”You are shameless, what did I do to seduce you!”
“What do you say?” Qi Han’s smile was gentlemanly, but what he said in Fu Ge’s ear was the words of a rascal: ”The little cat gets horny when his back is touched. Meowing like a she-cat, if I was really a tomcat, I would lose all my nine lives to you.”
Fu Ge frowned, turned around in frustration and pressed his head to Qi Han’s shoulder as if he was too shy to see anyone, begging: ”Shall I call you gege? Good gege, restrain your divine power…”
*
When Fu Ge first got out of the carriage, he had felt that the girl standing at the door of the bed and breakfast looked familiar, but he didn’t expect to really meet an acquaintance when he entered the door.
“Zhuo Ma!” His eyes lit up in surprise, and he couldn’t help but step forward and give the female Alpha a hug, ”It’s really you! My big beautiful girl now becomes the boss.”
Zhuo Ma was equally surprised, hugging him for a while before reacting, ”OMG! Xiao Ge! The wish I made on the snowy mountain last night has actually come true!”
Qi Han gritted his teeth, wrapped his arm around Fu Ge and pulled him back, pretending to be enthusiastic and patting Zhuo Ma on the shoulder: ”I haven’t had a chance to thank you yet. Thank you for taking care of my husband last time, thank you!”
Zhuo Ma didn’t have much impression of his face. It was only with these domineering pheromones that she recalled who he was and couldn’t help looking at him from head to toe in surprise: ”My friend, you seem to have been reborn, and your aura has completely changed.”
The last time they met was the fake honeymoon a few months ago. Qi Han mistakenly thought that Fu Ge and Zhuo Ma were together, and watched his love leave with her but still desperately begged if he could take pictures of them.
The half-dead, depressed look was naturally different from the current spring breeze.
Zhuo Ma looked at the young Beta sensitively and saw the same diamond rings on the fingers of the two of them. Her eyes reddened, and she couldn’t speak for a long time.
This was the boy she used to like for five years.
Although her feelings had faded now, she still felt sore.
“Come on, beautiful girl,” Fu Ge couldn’t bear to see her like this, so he stood on tiptoe and stroked her long dark hair, and gave her all the barley candies in his pocket. ”We got married last week, can we give you the wedding candy?”
Zhuo Ma curled her lips in tears, ”What, this is our specialty here, you obviously bought it just now, don’t fool me!”
Fu Ge coaxed her with a smile: ”This is my favourite candy. I couldn’t even bear to eat it when I bought it. I’ll give you all the candy, can you forget me, this bastard, okay?”
Zhuo Ma blinked her wet red eyes and smiled suddenly: ”Actually, my unbearable love has faded long ago, but I can’t help but worry. You, after going round and round for so long, you are still with him…”
She glanced at Qi Han and said in a muffled voice: ”Your wish… has it come true? I made a wish on the snowy mountain yesterday, wishing for you to get the things you want…”
Fu Ge was stunned for two seconds, then suddenly smiled, took Qi Han’s hand and shook it: ”He was the persistent one, and I gave up.”
Zhuo Ma stared at Qi Han reluctantly and asked Fu Ge straightforwardly: ”Are you happy now?”
As soon as the words were spoken, a candy was stuffed into her mouth. The little Beta came up to her, smiling with eyes as clear as starlight: ”Silly girl, what do you think?”
They didn’t stay at the bed and breakfast for long. No one could expect two Alphas that had once been rivals to get along amicably. Qi Han and Zhuo Ma began to spar pheromones without even realising it.
Before leaving, Zhuo Ma reluctantly grabbed Fu Ge’s hand: ”You didn’t have much fun last time you came. This time I will be your tour guide and let you have a good time.”
The little Beta didn’t think for too long; after taking a look at Qi Han, he smiled and refused, ”Don’t want to trouble my big beautiful girl. This time, I want to accompany my husband.”
Qi Han was distracted at the time; the situation dictated that the ”love rival” was in front of him. His head was full of the painful experiences of the last honeymoon, and then he suddenly heard these words.
His whole being was stunned before his brain could react.
This was the first time Fu Ge had called him that, and he had done so openly in front of outsiders. (the word Fu Ge uses here is 老公 (laogong), which is a more informal/intimate way than 先生 (xiansheng) that was used before)
In such a natural, intimate and habitual tone, calling him husband in front of his love rival…
It was truly lethal.
Qi Han’s Adam’s apple rolled slowly.
As soon as he stepped out of the door, he suddenly grasped Fu Ge’s wrist, and stammered as he spoke: ”Gege, gege, you just… I seemed to have auditory hallucinations…”
It seemed that that unrealistic title was an illusion that he dreamed about day and night.
Obviously, on the wedding night, he had used a lot of methods to force Fu Ge to call him that, softly and obediently, and now the little Beta just said that.
So naturally, indulgently and recklessly, as if… as if…
Qi Han realised that Fu Ge was coaxing him awkwardly.
He was using this kind of naive method, similar to a primary school student trying to make up after a fight, to dispel the lingering black and sour haze in his heart.
“One minute you’re calling me shameless, and now you’re offering to call me husband.” He gained an inch and wanted a foot, cupped Fu Ge’s chin and turned his face, ”Good baby, you are about to kill me…”
“Of course I have to accompany you on the honeymoon.” The little Beta squinted his eyes, laughing, and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. ”Husband.”
*
Round and round we go back to the beginning; to the place where their love began at eighteen, where it swelled, where it was proclaimed without fear, where so many firsts for two teenagers in the throes of love were recorded.
The first time they travelled by train, the first time they embraced in front of people, the first horse race for your beloved, the first time to pray at the top of the showy mountain…
The love that had not been contaminated by the nightmare was as pure as the snow in the sunset, and Litang was the glittering brilliance of the snow preserved in a bottle.
Fu Ge couldn’t bear it to become a taboo place in Qi Han’s heart that he would never dare to set foot in again. He wanted to do his best to repair this messy picture.
As it was at the beginning, romantic and reverent.
The first stop was the same local restaurant.
They sat where they had sitten last time. Fu Ge grabbed the menu and ordered a full table of dishes in one breath, such as beef tongue salad, roasted lamb and curry potatoes, braised yellow fish fillets and a pot of warm butter tea.
“Don’t eat too much mixed food, be careful of stomach discomfort.” Qi Han instructed him while helping him cut the beef. The little Beta nodded hurriedly, swallowing fragrant bites.
After taking two bites, he suddenly said, ”Ah Han, do you want to hear the story of the talented painter tearfully peeling potatoes?”
With a pop, the small cup in Qi Han’s hand fell on the table, and the spilled butter tea quickly spread in a winding curve.
Qi Han stared at him in a daze.
He instantly understood Fu Ge’s intention.
“Gege, are you going to desensitise me?”
The little Beta smiled softly, ”I remember the last time we came, it was from here that everything fell apart.”
Qi Han took a deep breath, lowered his eyes and took out a tissue to wipe the tea on the table, but his hands were shaking and his voice was hoarse. Even an embarrassing smile was hard to squeeze out.
“Let’s order two more dishes,” he said. ”I need to eat more to stand the pressure.”
Fu Ge let out a laugh and fell on his shoulder,”Big fool, I’m here, you don’t need to eat to stay calm.”
The Alpha hugged his waist, his dark eyes full of doting, and while no one looked over he took a deep breath, pressing his nose to Fu Ge’s dimple. ”Let’s start, little princess, let’s clear out all the knots in my heart.”
Whether it was to heal his childhood or to heal his present, the man in front of him was giving him 90% of his courage, and the remaining 10% came from the heart watered and slowly nourished by love.
*
It was noon when they got off the train, and it was almost dusk when they came out of the restaurant. Fu Ge took Qi Han to an old road.
Last time there, Qi Han was holding the parts of the drone by himself, picking and dropping them in embarrassment, and his hands were frozen red by the winter wind.
“You remember this road…” He laughed helplessly; his eyes were red and swollen, and his heart was sour: ”Did gege plan long ago to bring me over here?”
The little Beta smiled without saying a word, grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers, the heat of their bodies spreading directly to each other’s hearts.
Fu Ge raised his mobile phone to take a selfie of the two of them together, and then gave Qi Han the mobile phone, coaxing him, ”Here, little crybaby, write your own note.”
Qi Han thought for a while and typed the line that was not much different from his memory: In the winter of the sixth year, someone warmed up my hands.
This time it was true.
In the two days that followed, every dark memory was replayed.
Only what had happened five months ago was strong arsenic for the two of them, and now everything was thick, sweet honey.
They checked into the same hotel, and Fu Ge slept in Qi Han’s arms while Qi Han didn’t even dare to close his eyes.
The two followed the original route and went hand in hand to the Eye of Genie, and used a drone to take pictures of this bright gemstone-like pool of water.
When the sun set, Qi Han set up a tent at the foot of the mountain, and the two of them ate a pot of hot haggis noodle soup by the smokeless stove.
After night fell, he held the little Beta in his lap and read him a poignant story about love in a German picture book in a magnetic voice.
Fu Ge held his fingers and slept as comfortably and safely as a baby in swaddling clothes.
They did everything they had planned last time but hadn’t had time to implement. The last stop was at the foot of the sacred mountain of Zhaga. Fu Ge rode a bay stallion and won first place.
He took the navy blue khata, rode back in the last ray of light on the horizon and threw out the khata the moment he passed Qi Han’s side.
With the navy blue ribbon immediately put around his neck, the Alpha got on the horse in a smooth motion, and they rushed together to the familiar low mountain.
The mountain where Fu Ge had left him behind.
The same mountain where Qi Han almost died of allergy.
The night wind whistled in their ears, and the horseshoes echoed in the wind. Fu Ge clamped the horse’s belly and galloped boldly to the top of the mountain.
He said: ”I came here before, after you were taken away, and dug up a lot of blood-stained snow.”
The place where the horse’s hooves trod lightly was covered with thick snow, and under the snow were traces of Qi Han’s desperate struggle that night. When Fu Ge thought about it now, he was still suffocating and his heart felt as if a knife was twisted in it.
“Even if you never mention it, I can guess how much pain you must have been in at that time. I don’t know how to help you forget about that night. The only thing I can think about is to replace it with better and deeper memories.”
He turned around as he said that, his moist eyes filled with water and light, and raised his soft trembling hand to Qi Han’s shoulder, his docile and obedient gaze flowing into Qi Han’s heart like a flood of spring water.
“Open my collar…” The little Beta was like a cloud blown away by the wind, with a blushing face and shy eyes, like a flower revealing its delicate pink and white core.
Qi Han’s eyes darkened and his breathing became heavy and chaotic. ”Shy like this, what are you wearing inside?”
He pushed open the collar, revealing the corner of an ill-fitting wide shirt. Qi Han’s voice was tight: ”My shirt… the one I sleep in. When did you steal it?”
Fu Ge was blushing hard and had no time to answer his questions. His sweaty palms lay on Qi Han’s shoulders, and his body was soft like clay.
“Never mind.” With trembling fingers, he took Qi Han’s hand and put it under the collar of his shirt, saying carefully:
“I wear a lot of clothes. I’m not afraid of the cold. I’m not afraid of pain. I also prepared antipyretics, it doesn’t matter if I have a fever…”
The kitten raised his wet eyes and begged his owner: ”Ah Han, hold me here… I’ll help you forget all your previous nightmares.”