Chapter 77
At the police station, when Shi Ye heard that in a fit of anger the thief had thrown away all his condoms, his whole world collapsed on the spot.
Why did you throw away my condoms?!
Shi Ye: glare—
The thief turned his head and saw him staring at him darkly and ominously: ……
Thief: retreat—
Shi Ye: glare—
Fortunately, there had not been anything especially valuable left in the room.
Shi Ye touched the ring in his trouser pocket, and the heart that had been hanging in the air finally settled safely back down.
Thankfully, he had kept the proposal ring on him the whole time and had never let it leave his person.
If he had left it in the hotel, it would have been stolen too.
Sure enough, even heaven was helping him in the matter of marrying Xia Fengsheng.
Beside him, Xia Fengsheng was listening to the officer’s instructions and signing the paperwork.
Shi Ye rubbed the ring through his pocket.
In truth, he had bought the ring long ago, back in the summer seven years earlier.
The very first time Xia Fengsheng proposed to him.
At the time, the two of them had been standing by the sea in that small city. Xia Fengsheng had asked if he was willing to marry him, his eyes brimming with love for him.
He had said yes.
That night, after going back, he had been too excited to sleep. In the middle of the night, he had climbed out of bed, switched on the light, and sat at the desk designing the ring.
They were only two silver bands, but Shi Ye came up with hundreds of possible styles.
After painstaking thought, he finally picked one from among all the sketches.
The next day, he had eagerly taken it to show Xia Fengsheng.
Though he had talent in dance and composing, Shi Ye’s drawing was truly awful.
Before showing it to Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye had even bought a huge pile of snacks and candy to go find Little Xingxing.
He had hoped Little Xingxing could trace over his rough drawing and make a refined, cleaned-up version from it.
Who would have thought Little Xingxing would eat his snacks and then turn cold, slapping the table the moment he saw him.
And so the somewhat ugly ring sketch still ended up in Xia Fengsheng’s hands.
Eighteen-year-old Xia Fengsheng blinked at the drawing and thought Shi Ye had drawn an infinity symbol.
In fact, that was exactly how Shi Ye had designed it—when the two rings were put together, they formed an infinity symbol.
It represented eternity and recurrence.
Endless love and connection.
After returning to the capital city in his senior year of high school, Shi Ye contacted a famous craftsman and had the rings made for him.
At night before sleep, he would lie in bed, hold the rings up in the air, look at them again and again, touch them again and again.
He had originally planned to put it on Xia Fengsheng’s finger the next time they met.
But…
The next time, they broke up.
And so, the two rings stayed with Shi Ye for seven years.
Usually, Shi Ye was very good at romance. His life was full of ritual and feeling.
But when it came to proposing to Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye had no idea how to seize the right moment.
Like a child learning to walk, he stumbled clumsily, completely at a loss.
He wanted to give Xia Fengsheng something even better, yet every time he made a plan, he always felt it could still be better.
In the end, he never came up with a plan he was satisfied with.
Leaning against the wall, he watched the person over there signing papers.
How was he supposed to keep that person by his side forever?
Getting him back seven years later made those seven years they had lost feel like a nightmare he had finally awakened from.
Time passed like a swift white horse slipping through a crack, taking away the seven years of green youth and handsome twenties they should have had.
—
After Xia Fengsheng finished signing, the two of them took a car back to the hotel.
Of all things the thief could have thrown away, he just had to throw away his condoms.
Shi Ye wore a face full of resentment. He had originally planned to try them tonight.
Damn it.
There was a famous bonfire party in town that night, but Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye were not depressed because they had been robbed.
Instead, they felt lucky.
The thief had come while they were not in the room, so they had not been in any physical danger, and none of their valuables had been lost either.
Except for a few boxes of condoms.
In the end, the condoms had carried the burden of it all.
When Xia Fengsheng realized that, in his heart, he actually felt fortunate, even he himself froze for a moment.
At some point, he had started looking at everything around him from the brighter side.
On rainy days, he now thought of the scent of damp earth he liked. Snowy days were no longer the oppressive darkness they used to be.
He and Shi Ye had parted in snowy weather, and seven years later, they had met again in snowy weather.
The winter he had once refused to face had, this year, brought him his own abundant snowfall. When snow landed on his shoulders, all he felt was softness and lightness.
After changing into clothes to go out, the two of them went to the bonfire party.
The place was incredibly lively. Firelight lit up the night, and the burning flames radiated fierce heat.
There was not only bonfire dancing, but also a magic show.
The magician stood on a temporary stage and picked a lucky audience member to come help with the next trick.
Very quickly, he spotted a particularly striking face in the crowd.
Xia Fengsheng watched as the magician came up to him and invited him onto the stage.
Xia Fengsheng hesitated for a moment, but still stepped up.
The magician chatted with him warmly. “Sir, do you know why I invited you up here?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “I don’t.”
The magician lifted both hands as he stood beside him and praised him lavishly. “Because you have a face that drives people crazy. My act needs you.”
The magician said, “Your features blended together are simply God’s masterpiece. You think so too, don’t you?”
Xia Fengsheng smiled.
“Yes.”
He was no longer insecure about his looks. Wrapped in love, he had long ceased to be that child who worried over his own face.
He had heard many people talk about his appearance—good things, bad things, strange things, admiring things.
“Wow, Sheng’er, you’re really handsome.”
“Mr. Xia, you look far too good. I have so many friends who want to meet you.”
“Xia Fengsheng, your eyes are beautiful.”
“Darling, how were you made so well? Every part of you is beautiful.”
Little by little, more and more people had gathered around him. Wherever he went, someone was there with him. The voices of praise and admiration drowned out all the worldly prejudice and malice.
Xia Fengsheng was like the fire burning in the distance—unceasing, alive forever.
“I like the way I look very much.”
As Xia Fengsheng performed the magic act onstage, Shi Ye deliberately stood toward the back, making sure not to block anyone’s view as he recorded Xia Fengsheng in that moment.
Vivid, dazzling.
That was his lover.
After attending the bonfire party, the two of them returned to the hotel.
He had intended to use the condoms tonight, but the thief had thrown them away, so that was ruined.
After washing up, Shi Ye came out of the bathroom looking wilted, toweling his hair as he walked toward the bedroom. But the moment he reached the doorway, he froze.
Xia Fengsheng was sitting naked against the headboard, flipping through a magazine.
The moment he saw Shi Ye come in, he tossed the magazine aside.
Shi Ye stood rooted in place.
“What?” Xia Fengsheng raised a brow. “Just because there are no condoms, you’re not doing it anymore? It’s not like I can get pregnant.”
Shi Ye got instantly hard.
He tore off his bathrobe and hurried onto the bed.
Deep into the night, all was silent. The sound of waves crashing was shut out beyond the window.
Inside the room, there was only the sticky, wet sound of bodies moving together.
Recently, compared to going hard and wild, Shi Ye preferred pushing all the way in and then lying on top of Xia Fengsheng to grind against him.
After only a few minutes of that, Xia Fengsheng’s body would start spasming uncontrollably.
Looking at the person beneath him trembling and convulsing without stop, Shi Ye turned his face toward him and sealed his lips with his tongue.
“Mmh…”
For a moment, Xia Fengsheng was so overwhelmed with pleasure that he forgot to breathe.
In a low voice, Shi Ye asked him, “Do you love me?”
If Xia Fengsheng did not answer, Shi Ye would slam into him hard once.
“Ugh…” Xia Fengsheng gritted his teeth, drenched in sweat all over.
It was only after who knew how long that he managed to get a breath and say, “I do.”
—
After staying in Hawaii for about a week, the two of them flew on to Switzerland.
Switzerland’s famous landscapes were like oil paintings from the West.
After landing, the two of them boarded the famous local red train. As the train rolled out of the station, it felt as though they had stepped into a fairy tale world. The scenery beyond the huge glass windows was so beautiful it looked fake.
The train kept moving forward, and all the scenery looked like shifting paintings—grasslands and forests, lakes, and, in the distance, the Alps serving as the perfect backdrop.
Comfortable sunlight. Lush green scenery glittering like emerald jewels.
Xia Fengsheng sat opposite him as Shi Ye pulled out his camera.
“Let’s take a picture.”
Xia Fengsheng said, “Sure. I’ll hold a book.”
While Xia Fengsheng picked up the book, Shi Ye adjusted the camera settings.
Once Xia Fengsheng had posed on the seat across from him, Shi Ye raised the camera. But the moment he looked at Xia Fengsheng through the viewfinder, his eyes widened.
On Xia Fengsheng’s left ring finger, the hand holding the book, was a silver band.
Shi Ye went still, then quickly reached into his pocket.
One of the rings was missing.
When he did not take the photo for a long while, Xia Fengsheng closed the book and looked at him with smiling eyes. “What’s wrong, mister?”
Shi Ye looked at the ring on his hand, emotion surging up until his eyes turned red.
Xia Fengsheng smiled, scooted over, and leaned close against him.
“What’s wrong?”
Shi Ye’s voice was hoarse and sour. “Why did you put it on yourself?”
He had not even proposed yet.
Actually, Xia Fengsheng had already seen the ring back in Hawaii.
After the bonfire party, the two of them had gone back and made a mess of each other all night. After falling asleep in each other’s arms, Xia Fengsheng had gotten up in the middle of the night, thirsty.
Recently, he had been drinking sweet water all the time. Even when it was plain water, he would drop a piece of sugar into it.
The sugar box was very small, and he always kept one in his coat pocket.
He had gone back into the room to get the sugar box, but by accident he had picked up Shi Ye’s clothes instead.
When he spread open his palm, inside were two rings that fit together into an infinity symbol.
Their wedding rings from when they were eighteen.
He smiled as he looked at Shi Ye’s face wet with tears, then raised a hand and gently wiped them away.
Shi Ye, you asked why I put on the ring myself.
Because I am happy.
From the moment you stepped without hesitation into my gray, dim life, my world began to have color.
When he was little, Xia Fengsheng had never looked forward to tomorrow.
He only lived in the present, in each second of the present.
Because every second felt unbearable, he never looked forward to the future, never looked forward to tomorrow.
Until, at that tender age, he met Shi Ye.
For the first time, he reached out toward what he longed for, and held on tightly.
Watching Shi Ye’s eyes turn red from crying in an instant, Xia Fengsheng laughed so hard he bent forward and back.
Shi Ye, being with you truly makes me very happy.
So I put on the ring.
That ring that symbolizes eternity.
Thank you for your reckless persistence toward me, for letting us meet again seven years later.
I had thought we would never see each other again for the rest of our lives.
But that winter, the moment I opened the dorm room door, what I felt was not only shock, but also bitterness.
Because I had given up on love, I had no face to meet you.
But your appearance made me feel reborn.
You say you love me, but even if you did not say it, I would still know.
Love is the sight of your tear-filled eyes when you look at me.
Thank you for making me begin to look forward to tomorrow.
Puppy, your husband loves you.
Xia Fengsheng kissed Shi Ye’s swollen red eyes.
From now on, in every tomorrow we have, we must meet each other.
[End of Main Story]
