LRAPTC Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Business Trip (1)

Actually, there wasn’t anything particularly urgent, but when Ji Yuanan saw Shen Jue about to leave, his body reacted before his mind, reaching out to grab Shen Jue’s hand. He didn’t want Shen Jue to leave so soon; both his body and heart felt that way. That was what Ji Yuanan was thinking at that moment.

Shen Jue stopped when he heard Ji Yuanan speak, waiting quietly for him to continue. Ji Yuanan finally realized what he had done and quickly retracted his hand.

“I have a business trip the day after tomorrow,” Ji Yuanan managed to say. Although all he was thinking was ‘don’t go, I don’t want to let Shen Jue leave,’ he did indeed have a business trip the day after tomorrow, so it couldn’t be considered a lie to Shen Jue.

After a few seconds of silence, when Ji Yuanan didn’t say anything more, Shen Jue realized that Ji Yuanan had probably finished speaking. Shen Jue then said, “Okay, I understand. I’ll go back first. Get some rest.” With that, he turned and left.

Ji Yuanan watched Shen Jue walk away. Shen Jue thoughtfully closed the door, and he could no longer see Shen Jue at all.

On the day of the business trip, Ji Yuanan woke up just as the sky was beginning to lighten. After washing up, he ran into Shen Jue, who was slowly coming in from outside. Shen Jue had just woken up, still wearing his pajamas, and looked somewhat tired. Because he didn’t have the energy to maintain an expression, he appeared indifferent. He nodded to Ji Yuanan as a greeting.

A few hours later, Ji Yuanan was about to board a plane to leave the city. He looked at Shen Jue, thinking about how he wouldn’t be able to see him for a long time, which he found a little unbearable.

But Shen Jue, as usual, went downstairs for breakfast after washing up, only saying “goodbye” to Ji Yuanan before he left. Then, he gave him a rare hug. Ji Yuanan hugged him back tightly, and Shen Jue could only reassure him, “I’ll take good care of your flowers. I’ll send you photos regularly to show you how they’re growing, I promise.”

Ji Yuanan wasn’t worried at all; he had always known that Shen Jue took good care of the plants. He had once seen from the corner of the French window that the pile of forget-me-not seeds had sprouted at some point. He was just a little reluctant to part with Shen Jue, and he wondered if Shen Jue felt the same way, but no matter how he looked, he couldn’t see any lingering affection in Shen Jue’s eyes.

The sticky notes on the refrigerator were no longer updated. On the first day, Shen Jue wandered into the kitchen, and when he didn’t see the familiar note as usual, he didn’t react for a few seconds before using the ingredients in the refrigerator to make himself a sandwich.

In the days after Ji Yuanan left, the forget-me-not seedlings grew bigger, and Shen Jue took some close-up shots and sent them to Ji Yuanan.

Like a signal, Ji Yuanan immediately made a video call. Shen Jue, though surprised, answered it.

Ji Yuanan’s figure immediately appeared on the phone screen. He had probably just finished working and hadn’t had time to take off his glasses.

“Shen Jue, have you eaten yet?” Ji Yuanan asked from the other end of the phone. His voice, processed and re-entering Shen Jue’s ears, sounded a little deeper than usual.

Shen Jue stared at the screen, adjusting the camera’s direction, and softly hummed in agreement. The scene changed constantly as Shen Jue moved, finally stopping on the pot of forget-me-nots. Shen Jue asked, “Do you want to see these forget-me-nots?”

“I feel like they’ve grown a little more.”

Ji Yuanan was silent for a while, not making a sound. Shen Jue was worried that Ji Yuanan couldn’t hear him and asked, “Ji Yuanan, can you hear me there?”

“…I can hear you.” This time, Ji Yuanan finally spoke. Shen Jue held up his phone and continued to ask, “Or do you want to see something else?”

Ji Yuanan didn’t answer, but instead asked him, “What did you have for dinner tonight?”

Shen Jue was about to take a few steps back to get all the flowers in the frame when he absentmindedly replied, “Fried rice with egg.” Just as he finished speaking, a rhythmic knock sounded on Ji Yuanan’s side. After a quick “sorry,” the call was hastily ended. Thus, their first video call ended so abruptly.

The phone automatically returned to the chat interface. Shen Jue looked at the displayed call duration, three and a half minutes. It was too short; they hadn’t had time to say a few words. Shen Jue hadn’t even figured out the purpose of Ji Yuanan’s video call.

In the first few seconds of the call, Shen Jue had just sent Ji Yuanan some pictures, so Shen Jue naturally assumed that Ji Yuanan called for those flowers, but in those short few minutes, Ji Yuanan didn’t mention them at all, as if he didn’t want Shen Jue to realize his true intention.

Thinking of this, Shen Jue felt that he finally understood Ji Yuanan’s purpose, and took a few more group photos of the flowers, sending them all to Ji Yuanan.

After sending them, Shen Jue put on a coat and went out. He had been going to the beach every night recently. In the night, everyone couldn’t see each other clearly, so it didn’t matter how many people there were. Shen Jue liked it a lot.

Tonight, Shen Jue was stopped before he had even walked half of his usual route. He looked over in response, and in the distance, Yu Zhuo was waving his sketchbook at him. Then, he quickly rushed to Shen Jue’s side.

“What a coincidence! I was planning to come out today to find some inspiration, I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

They simply found a place to sit down. Yu Zhuo propped up his legs, opened his sketchbook, and began to draw carefully. While drawing, he said, “After I came here, I thought the sea here was very beautiful, very peaceful, and I always wanted to draw it. Do you remember the exhibition hall before? I really liked that location.”

Shen Jue turned his head and followed up the topic, “Then have you thought about staying here?”

Yu Zhuo shook his head, not stopping the movements of his hands. “Besides my hometown, you should know that I won’t stay in any place for long.”

After saying this, the two suddenly fell silent. The surrounding noise drowned out the sound of the pencil touching the paper. Yu Zhuo quietly sketched the rough outline and finally put down his pencil, curiously asking Shen Jue, “I really wanted to ask just now, Jue, that friend of yours, Ji Yuanan, I didn’t see him, didn’t he come with you tonight?”

[Author’s words]

I’ve always been very unconfident about writing, so I’m very surprised that someone would see this far and leave so many comments. Thank you very much. I’m not good with words and don’t know what to say, but I’ve read every comment carefully.