Chapter 39

Xia Xingcheng began to fear the night due to unceasing insomnia.

Before he lay in bed, he began to wonder what he'd do if he couldn't go back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. He worried whether this prolonged lack of sleep would increasingly worsen the state of his mind.

Xia Xingcheng knew that this was actually a kind of psychological self-suggestion, but he still couldn't get rid of this anxiety.

After taking a bath, Xia Xingcheng crouched down by the bed in his bathrobe and played soothing music on his laptop. He didn't know how effective it would be, but he at least wanted to give it a try.

No sooner had the music played than Xia Xingcheng heard someone knocking on his door. He went over to open the door and saw Xiao Tang standing outside.

Carrying items in both hands, Xiao Tang followed him into the room and said, "Xing ge, I brought you a cup of hot milk."

Xia Xingcheng turned to look at him. "Where did you get hot milk?"

Xiao Tang put his things on the TV cabinet and handed the thermos cup to Xia Xingcheng, "I asked the hotel to heat it up for me."

Xia Xingcheng reached out and took the cup. He looked down at it for a moment, then looked back up at Xiao Tang, "Why give me hot milk?"

Xiao Tang smiled. "They say it helps you fall asleep."

Xia Xingcheng has hired Xiao Tang for such a long time, so he naturally knew that Xiao Tang wasn't this quick-witted. He hasn't told Xiao Tang about his insomnia at all, and since Xiao Tang wasn't even able to spot that, how would he know to prepare hot milk for him. The only one who knew that he had insomnia was Yang Youming.

"Did Ming ge ask you to bring me hot milk?" Xia Xingcheng slowly unscrewed the lid of the thermos cup, and a stream of hot air floated up to his face.

Xiao Tang laughed somewhat shamelessly. "Ming ge asked me to send it and he also told me not to say a thing."

Xia Xingcheng stared at the faintly rippling surface of the milk in the thermos cup, lost in thought. Then he took a small sip and found that the temperature was just right. While drinking milk, he walked over to the TV cabinet to look at the other things that Xiao Tang had brought.

He found that Xiao Tang had also brought a diffuser and a small bottle of lavender essential oil. Xia Xingcheng turned and asked Xiao Tang, "Ming ge asked you to bring all this?"

Xiao Tang nodded, "Yun jie called me directly and told me to go to her and send it over to you." Xiao Tang hesitated before he continued, "Xing ge, don't tell Ming ge that I told you."

Xia Xingcheng said, "I know. Go and rest up first."

Xiao Tang left, and Xia Xingcheng was once again the only one in the room.

A little less than half of the milk remained in the thermos cup. He went to the bay window and sat down, sipping at the milk, somewhat reluctant to finish it all. The milk had a touch of sweetness which could only be tasted on the tip of the tongue. Despite himself, Xia Xingcheng felt that the sweetness went all the way down his throat to the depths of his body.

After drinking the milk, Xia Xingcheng moved closer to the light to read the diffuser's instruction manual, then went to the bathroom to fill it with water. Placing it on his nightstand, he poured a few drops of the lavender essential oil then plugged it in and pressed the switch.

The diffuser made a barely detectable noise, and after a while it sprayed out lavender-scented mist.

Sitting on the floor by his nightstand, Xia Xingcheng watched the diffuser in a daze. His life had always been relatively rough, and he had never owned these exquisite gadgets at home. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't even use them.

But at this time, he didn't want to do anything. Once in a while, he would stretch out his hand over the mist and feel the mist soak the hollow of his palm. He withdrew his hand and approached the source of the mist nose-first, wanting to seek out the lavender scent.

•••

Yu Haiyang was moving out. He wasn't just moving out but also being transferred back to his original workplace at the end of summer. His job here was only supposed to be a short transfer.

Before Yu Haiyang left, Mama Fang cooked a meal for the married couple. Considering that Mama Fang was still recuperating, Yu Haiyang firmly refused at first, but Mama Fang had already gone out early in the morning to buy a lot of food, so Yu Haiyang and Xu Jia helped Mama Fang cook dinner in the kitchen that afternoon.

Fang Jianyuan sat in the grocery store and read a book at random. He had to find something to do in order to temporarily stop himself from indulging in flights of fancy.

Until it was time to eat, Fang Jianyuan never moved.

Yu Haiyang came out of the kitchen and called him, "Xiao Yuan, time to eat."

Fang Jianyuan put down his pen and went around the counter to close up the shop.

Yu Haiyang went over to help him. As he reached out to pull the wooden door closed, his hands met with Fang Jianyuan's. Fang Jianyuan immediately withdrew his hand and kept his distance from Yu Haiyang. No words left Fang Jianyuan's mouth, and his expression was cold and detached.

Back in the kitchen, the four people sat down for dinner around the square table.

Mama Fang faintly sighed, "Ey, Xiao Yu, you haven't even lived here long but you're about to leave."

Yu Haiyang said, "It's a job transfer, there's nothing I can do either. But Chongfeng isn't far from here, so I can come back to see you both often."

Having heard this, Mama Fang only smiled wordlessly. To her, this was merely polite pleasantries. Even friends and relatives who lived far away didn't necessarily come to visit them once a year, let alone a tenant who'd only stayed here for a short time.

With chopsticks in his hand, Fang Jianyuan appeared to be constantly eating things, but he only picked at a few dishes and sent them into his mouth expressionlessly.

Yu Haiyang's right hand was wrapped in thick gauze, and if he unraveled the bandages, you'd be able to make out the bitemark, so he didn't dare open it until it was completely healed. He held his chopsticks in his left hand and clumsily clipped a piece of fish for Fang Jianyuan. Fang Jianyuan did not look at him and left the piece of fish in his bowl, unwilling to touch it.

Mama Fang said, "Xiao Yuan will start school soon anyway, and he'll go back to Chongfeng."

"I'll leave my home phone number with Xiao Yuan later and he can give me a call if something happens at school," Yu Haiyang said.

As Xu Jia wasn't familiar with the Fang family's mother and son, she refrained from speaking too much and only ate quietly.

Mama Fang, fearing that she was giving off a cold shoulder, said to Yu Haiyang, "Xiao Yu, pick out food for your wife. You both don't have to be so polite with me."

Yu Haiyang sent a slice of pork with bamboo shoots to Xu Jia's bowl.

Xu Jia said, "I don't eat bamboo shoots." She picked the bamboo shoots out of her bowl and put them into Yu Haiyang's. After that, she no longer paid attention to Yu Haiyang. While eating the dishes, she casually chatted with Mama Fang about the situation at home.

It was very inconvenient for Yu Haiyang to use his left hand, but it was as if Xu Jia didn't notice at all. Only Fang Jianyuan occasionally glanced at Yu Haiyang's clumsy posture of holding his chopsticks. He then lowered his line of sight indifferently and ate his meal.

Mama Fang wanted to ask Fang Jianyuan to get beer at first, but she was dissuaded from doing so by Yu Haiyang. Her body hasn't completely recovered from the surgery, and since Yu Haiyang's hand was wounded, there was only Xu Jia and Fang Jianyuan left, and the beer could not be drunk.

"Ey–" sighed Mama Fang. "You're about to leave soon and I can't even drink with you."

Smiling, Yu Haiyang said, "There will be other opportunities in the future."

After dinner, Xu Jia helped Mama Fang clear the table and wash the dishes.

Fang Jianyuan was stopped by Yu Haiyang on the staircase leading to the second floor.

The lights in the stairwell weren't on, and as the distant lights shone through the window, Yu Haiyang said to Fang Jianyuan, "Xiao Yuan, I have to go."

Fang Jianyuan suddenly recalled the night when Yu Haiyang helped him move the fan from the first floor all the way upstairs. It was right here when he said to him, "It's all my fault that my baby is angry."

Tears filled his eyes in an instant.