Antidote - - - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“You forgot to take your key?” Chen Qing asked surprisingly in the car.

“I have never ever,” Cheng Ke frowned, “had to bring keys with me when I go out.”

“Huh?” Chen Qing stunned, “Your area must have good security for you not to lock your door…”

Jiang Yuduo slapped his hand on Chen Qing’s forehead, blocking all the words that were going to come out of his mouth, he then said to him: “Get in the car first.”

Cheng Ke opened the door and got on the back seat. He had been standing in the wind for a while and was about to be blown away. He felt like all he was waiting for was Jiang Yuduo’s words.

However, after the car had just gone for a while, he started to feel a little dizzy and nauseous, he then quickly opened the window.

He didn’t feel anything when Xu Ding said he wanted to take him home before.

Right now, he still didn’t know whether it was because of the wind or the alcohol, but he did feel a little uncomfortable.

“Did you drink?” Chen Qing asked from the front.

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke answered.

“Great, you reek of alcohol, and I totally can’t tell it at all,” Chen Qing looked back,

“Are you a God of wine?”

“Take care of driving safely.” Cheng Ke said.

“Drive your car.” Jiang Yuduo didn’t look back.

Usually, drinking a few glasses of wine wouldn’t affect him. Today, however, was an exception, and it was mostly because he drank on an empty stomach.

Cheng Ke sighed, he called Xu Ding out to get drinks, but perhaps this month was a bit too long for him. He forgot that if he said drinking, it’d be drinking wine, excluding eating.

He didn’t remember until it had passed meal time and Xu Ding hadn’t come to pick him up.

When he wanted to reheat the leftover from lunch, Xu Ding was already at his apartment gate.

He then had to give up on eating and headed straight out. Moreover, he was ashamed to tell Xu Ding that he didn’t have his dinner yet.

Generally speaking, he had no friends. But on a more honest note, he only had Xu Ding as a friend. He really didn’t want Xu Ding to have an impression of him as an idiot that goes drinking on an empty stomach.

As a result, he did go drinking with Xu Ding on an empty stomach for two hours and only had a piece of cake. As Xu Ding’s face said “You can eat more,” he was not embarrassed to take another piece.

If he had known that he had to wander in the street for so long without a key, he would have eaten three to five more pieces.

Annoying.

A little dizzy, Cheng Ke put his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face with his hands.

Chen Qing drove to Jiang Yuduo’s place. Cheng Ke was a little nervous when he got out of the car, fearing that he would collapse on the floor due to dizziness.

Luckily, he was able to stand.

After entering the room, the muscles on his body, that had been tight because of the cold, suddenly relaxed, and a little dizziness followed. Cheng Ke almost smashed himself into the sofa.

Meow, who was sitting on the sofa, was so frightened by getting hit, that it jumped off the sofa and went under the cabinet.

“What should we do?” Chen Qing standing beside asked, “Is he sleeping on the sofa tonight?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Yuduo answered.

Cheng Ke was surprised to hear it, “What?”

“Didn’t you forget your key?” Chen Qing said.

“Jiang Yuduo has it, isn’t it?” Cheng Ke asked.

“The key is at his sister’s place.” Chen Qing said.

“Ah?” Cheng Ke looked at Jiang Yuduo

“Didn’t you… tell me not to enter your house casually, I also took out my things,”

Jiang Yuduo said, “I then returned the keys to Lu Qian.”

Cheng Ke felt that Jiang Yuduo’s logic was very touching. “Is the key poisonous? Do you have to enter my room when holding it? Couldn’t you just hold the key without entering my room?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Yuduo nodded.

“Then, can you go ask your sister for the key?” Cheng Ke sighed Jiang Yuduo didn’t speak. He picked up the phone and looked at it. Chen Qing also took out his phone and looked at it: “It’s almost 12 o’clock, no, I can’t go.”

“Why?” Cheng Ke asked.

“She’ll scold you to death,” Chen Qing said, “We’re not going, it’s not that we don’t want to, but we just simply don’t dare to go.”

Chen Qing’s phone rang and he went to the bedroom to answer it.

“Maybe you…” Jiang Yuduo pointed to the sofa, “I will go there tomorrow morning and get the key for you.”

Cheng Ke was dumbfounded for a long time. He didn’t have any strict requirements for his sleeping environment, but it was still a bit unacceptable to sleep on the sofa in the house of someone he wasn’t very familiar with. Finally, he leaned back and closed his eyes: “Forget it, I’ll go to the hotel and get a room.”

“Okay,” Jiang Yuduo pointed out the window, “ There is one over there…”

“I’ll go ahead,” Chen Qing came out from the bedroom, “I’ll go back to the store. The manager is checking and I’m on duty today.”

Jiang Yuduo waved at him.

“Is he planning to go to a hotel?” Chen Qing asked as he walked to the door.

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke closed his eyes and answered.

“He’s poor, but still a show off,” Chen Qing said, “There is a motel at the intersection, it’s quite clean.”

“Why do you care about whether it’s a hotel or a motel?” Jiang Yuduo said, “Just shut up and go.”

“I’m leaving, I’ll pick you up to remove your brace tomorrow,” Chen Qing opened the door, before going he added, “You should go get him a bucket, for some reason I feel like he’s going to throw up.”

After the door closed, Cheng Ke still kept his eyes shut, but he could hear Jiang Yuduo come up to him, seemingly looking at him.

He opened his eyes and saw that Jiang Yuduo was actually bending over to look at him. He rubbed his face. “I’m not going to puke, I’m just… a little thirsty, can I have some water?”

“Sure.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Thank you.” Cheng Ke said.

After speaking, the two of them looked at each other again. About five seconds later, Jiang Yuduo said, “Go and serve yourself, what are you waiting for?”

“…Sorry.” Cheng Ke stood up and went to get water. It was just because he wasn’t used to it. Although he wouldn’t ask someone to pour water for him when he was okay; he would usually call the housekeeper in such a situation.

Jiang Yuduo leaned against the table, picked up Meow, who jumped to the table, and rubbed its fur in his arms, looking at Cheng Ke who was standing in front of the water cooler.

“There’s only one cup.” He said.

“Yeah, I also have one.” Cheng Ke picked up his cup, “Do you use a beer cup to drink water?”

“Why, do you want me to find a wine glass for you to drink in?” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke didn’t speak. He holds the cup and bends over to look at the water machine. Maybe it was because of the dizziness, but he had to use the wall to support himself.

“Do you even know how to use it?” Jiang Yuduo asked, “Red is hot water and blue is cold water. The water comes out when you push it.”

Cheng Ke put his hands against the wall and turned around, saying each word: “I.

know.”

Jiang Yuduo smiled. “I thought you usually drank bottled water. When I was at your place, all I could see was a bunch of bottles.”

“The water filter wasn’t installed back then.” Cheng Ke poured out half a glass of water and drank it all.

“You installed it?” Jiang Yuduo frowned, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Do I have to tell you?” Cheng Ke stared at him.

“I said it before, you have to tell me everything you touched in that room.” Jiang Yuduo said.

(T/N: By ‘touched’, he means changed/moved.)

“You don’t need to be a genius to install the water filter,” Cheng Ke said, “Just place it under the sink and connect it with the sink faucet.”

“Oh.” Jiang Yuduo nodded, and Cheng Ke’s serious explanation made him want to laugh.

“Fuck, are you playing with me?” Cheng Ke said.

“No,” Jiang Yuduo said, “I haven’t used those things before, so I don’t know how to install them.”

“I don’t know it either, but that didn’t change anything,” Cheng Ke walked over to the sofa and sat down, “If you don’t drink hot water, it’s convenient to use that.”

“Yeah.” Jiang Yuduo put Meow down and went into the bedroom to get clothes and take a shower. Although there were braces on his arms and legs, it didn’t affect his activities anymore. The main reason he had to shower was because he was sweating today. It felt too uncomfortable not to take a shower.

“I’m leaving,” Cheng Ke seemed a little awkward. He glanced at the clothes he held and stood up. “I was just a little dizzy.”

“I’m not kicking you out,” Jiang Yuduo said, “You won’t faint again, right?”

“I’m not dizzy anymore.” Cheng Ke nodded, “Call me tomorrow when you have the key, I’ll come and get it.”

“Ok.” Jiang Yuduo smiled

Cheng Ke opened the door, walked out and gently closed it. The sounds of his leaving footsteps were also light.

Jiang Yuduo took his phone to the window and looked out the window curtains to see how soon Cheng Ke would remember that he needed an ID card to stay in a hotel.

Cheng Ke walked out the door. After a few steps down the road, he bent over and coughed twice. He raised the collar of his jacket again, zipped it up, and walked forward.

He didn’t look back even for a moment.

Jiang Yuduo sighed and called for Cheng Ke.

“What’s wrong?” Cheng Ke answered his phone.

“Did you bring your ID?”Jiang Yuduo asked.

“No.” Cheng Ke answered, “Why do I need my ID? I’m just going out to have drinks with a friend.”

“…Have you ever stayed in a hotel?” Jiang Yuduo sighed.

“Yes, I have!!!” Cheng Ke sounds annoyed, “Do you really think that, besides you, everyone else is a fucking idiot?”

“Do you always have someone else get a room for you?” Jiang Yuduo asked, “How can you get one without an ID?”

Cheng Ke, on the other side of the line, went quiet and hung up after 2 seconds.

Jiang Yuduo quietly stood by the window and looked outside. After a long time, he saw Cheng Ke jogging to a turn at a corner with his face hiding inside his jacket’s collar.

But when he was about to cross the street, he stopped, seeming to hesitate.

The young master really wanted to preserve his pride.

Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue, wondering if he should call him back or not. Cheng Ke suddenly tilted his head to the right. Jiang Yuduo also looked toward the direction Cheng Ke was looking at, and he saw a figure slipped into the shadow on the opposite passage.

Again!

Does this person know Cheng Ke?

Jiang Yuduo’s eyebrows furrowed tightly, staring at Cheng Ke.

A few seconds later, Cheng Ke bowed his head and crossed the street. Then, there was a knock on the door.

Jiang Yuduo didn’t move. He stood by the window and stared at the passage for a while and went to get the door.

“Sorry.” Cheng Ke awkwardly stood outside, “I’ll stay with you tonight.”

“Okay.” Jiang Yuduo nodded and let him in.

To be honest, Cheng Ke was still dizzy. He was very grateful for the little dizziness he had left so that he could ignore the awkwardness right now.

If he knew this would happen, he wouldn’t have gone to a hotel. He could just sleep here for the night. Now that he went out and ran back, the atmosphere changed.

“You don’t have to mind me,” Cheng Ke sat on the sofa, casually picking up Meow, who was sleeping and placed it on his lap to pet. “Weren’t you planning to take a shower? Just go.”

“‘Kay.” Jiang Yuduo nodded, picked up his clothes, but didn’t go to the bathroom.

He just stood there and looked at him.

Cheng Ke glanced at him, and when he saw the braces on his arms and legs, he suddenly realized something. “Do you want me to help…”

“No need,” Jiang Yuduo quickly replied, “But, of course, if you want to help, I won’t-”

“I didn’t think about that at all.” Cheng Ke said.

“You’ve seen it anyway.” Jiang Yuduo took his clothes into the bathroom.

Cheng Ke was speechless. He leaned on the sofa and sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing Meow’s fur.

I don’t know if it’s because Meow is still a kitten, but its fur is very soft. Meow felt very comfortable under his palm, especially when Meow’s tail swept back and forth on his wrist, it can make people relax a little bit.

When Jiang Yuduo finished bathing, he was about to fall asleep

“If you want to wash your face, just use mine.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Huh?” Cheng Ke opened his eyes, sleepiness combined with dizziness from getting drunk had made his vision blurry when he looked at Jiang Yuduo. After a few blinks, he could see that Jiang Yuduo was standing in front of him, with only his underwear on. “Thank you.”

Thankfully, he was wearing his underwear, so he wasn’t completely naked.

Perhaps because of the different circumstances, Cheng Ke couldn’t be as laid back as Jiang Yuduo was. Ever since he was a child, he never experienced being shirtless at home. Except for certain occasions, he couldn’t appear with such an image in front of strangers.

Jiang Yuduo slowly walked in front of him and stopped. Cheng Ke’s vision suddenly focused only on his underwear. He leaned back and looked at him. “What are you doing?

“It’s Meow,” Jiang Yuduo lifted Meow from his lap, “I want to sleep with Meow.”

Cheng Ke didn’t speak, he was relieved when he watched him enter the bedroom with Meow in his arms.

However, Jiang Yuduo didn’t close the bedroom door and lay down on the bed. This was probably also a habit. Cheng Ke stood up, thought about washing his face and going straight to sleep.

After entering the bathroom, he suddenly understood what Jiang Yuduo had said before. Two towels and a toothbrush were poking from a mouthwash cup.

He had to go back out again. The light in the bedroom was already off, but he whispered toward the other side, “Jiang Yuduo?”

“What?” Jiang Yuduo replied.

“What did you say I should use for washing my face?” Cheng Ke asked.

“Use mine.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Your towel?” Cheng Ke was surprised.

“Yeah, the one on the left is for face washing.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Your toothbrush?” Cheng Ke continued to be surprised.

“Really, Young Master,” Jiang Yuduo sighed, “You still want to brush your teeth in this situation?”

Cheng Ke went back into the bathroom, thinking about washing his face and then drying it with a tissue. In this situation, washing his face with hot water would be fine.

However, when he turned both faucet knobs and waited for a while, he didn’t see hot water coming out. He really didn’t want to ask Jiang Yuduo why anymore, so he washed his face with cold water.

When he returned to the living room, he felt completely rejuvenated. He felt so refreshed that he thought that he could go out for an early morning jog now.

He laid down on the sofa and noticed that he could see the bedroom from this angle. Because the door was ajar, with a glance, he could see the bed and the person on it.

Cheng Ke sighed, sat up again, and lay down on the other side.

“The blankets and pillows are on the chair.” Jiang Yuduo said from the bedroom.

“Ah,” Cheng Ke saw a blanket and pillow on the chair next to him, “ Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke pulled the pillow and the quilt over. The pillow size was good enough to fit on the sofa, but the blanket was a bit difficult, and kept slipping to the ground no matter what.

Finally, Cheng Ke tucked half of the blanket under his body and forced himself to fall asleep.

After lying down for a while, he still wasn’t sleepy, even though he was very tired.

The room was very quiet. At that time, with the moonlight outside, it was especially quiet. People who couldn’t fall asleep can easily find themselves drowning in many thoughts.

Cheng Ke closed his eyes.

Today actually wasn’t bad. He said a lot of things while drinking with Xu Ding. He didn’t see it before, but now, he found out that Xu Ding was a very good listener.

He wouldn’t express his opinions casually, point out his rights or wrongs, nor judge his behavior; he wouldn’t even scold him. All he did was listen.

But then, he couldn’t clearly remember what he said.

Maybe he talked about how things were when he was a child, talked about growing up, talked about his parents, and talked about his younger brother. After all, his life was so monotonous, even his friends are all scattered when the breeze blows. That was all that could be said.

Maybe there were also his worries, his dissatisfactions.

Was there?

Maybe he dreamt it up.

Why did things turn out like this? He saw everything, but couldn’t understand. He heard everything, but nothing was understood.

In the end, it was all a blur.

If he hadn’t left home, he might’ve just waited for everything to pass. Then, he would continue living a life where he didn’t need to think or worry about anything.

A situation where one says this and does that, like right now, probably wouldn’t have happened either.

In his 27 years of living, he had finally lost everything. And now, even the most mundane of life couldn’t tolerate him.

Jiang Yuduo curled under his blanket and leaned his phone on Meow’s belly to read a novel. He kept seeing that the novel was being charged, he then quit and glanced at the time.

2 o’clock, perhaps tonight would be a sleepless night.

He tucked his phone under his pillow, stuck his head out of the blanket and took a breath of cool air. He then took Meow out and put Meow on the pillow, but he was reluctant and went back into the blanket.

“You smell, do you know that there is fur also-” Jiang Yuduo said in a low voice, opening the blanket, “I just took one breath and now my nose is full of your fur…”

Meow ignored him, hugged its tail, and fell asleep.

“You…” Jiang Yuduo wanted to teach Meow a lesson, but a very low voice came from the living room.

He was startled, his hand then went under his pillow to grab his knife before remembering that Cheng Ke was asleep on the sofa.

He paused and listened again, and heard Cheng Ke sound as if he was sniffling.

Is he sick?

Impossible, the quilt was quite thick. He pushed it to Cheng Ke because he couldn’t stand it.

While thinking about it, Cheng Ke sniffled again. This time, he heard it clearly, and he heard the sound of Cheng Ke pulling tissues from a box.

“Don’t rub your nose on my quilt.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke, who was outside, was still quiet. It took a while to hear him sniffle again.

“I’m not.”

Jiang Yuduo was just saying things randomly, he couldn’t fall asleep and was really bored. He didn’t expect that Cheng Ke would answer. At that moment, he probably was awake when he blew his nose, normal people generally won’t be able to hear him speak if they were still half asleep.

Moreover, the nasal sound in his voice was thick. If it was a cold, it must be very serious…

Jiang Yuduo sat up, lifted his quilt, got out of the bed, and walked to the living room.

The living room was dark with the curtains drawn, only to see Cheng Ke wrapped into a tube lying on the sofa.

“Did you catch a cold?” He asked.

“Dammit!” Cheng Ke was startled on the sofa, “Why did you come here?”

“I was afraid you’d die here,” Jiang Yuduo said, “Is it cold? The heating in the living room doesn’t work. If you’re cold… just sleep on my bed.”

Cheng Ke turned to look at him.

He couldn’t see Cheng Ke’s expression clearly, but he could guess it, so he added,

“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

“I don’t have a cold.” Cheng Ke said.

“You don’t have a cold, but your voice sounds like that?” Jiang Yuduo said.

“I just…” Cheng Ke hesitated, “have a slight cold.”

Jiang Yuduo stood there for a while, then reached out and turned on the light in the living room.

When the light turned on, Cheng Ke raised his arm to cover his eyes: “What the fuck, turn it off!”

Jiang Yuduo looked at him in surprise, but turned the light off, and after a long time he spoke. “Are you crying?”

“I’m crying over your fucking Liu Sha Bao!” Cheng Ke was impatient, “Go to sleep.”

“What’s wrong with my Liu Sha Bao?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Fuck!” Cheng Ke was very angry. He lifted the quilt off, probably trying to jump off the sofa.

Jiang Yuduo took a step back. Although he would soon be able to remove his braces, with Cheng Ke’s strength, he might have to continue to wear it for another month with just one blow.

However, Cheng Ke failed to jump off the sofa and beat him, probably because the quilt was too perfectly rolled, so he could not lift the quilt off after trying twice.

In the end, he had to roll out half a circle on the sofa before pulling out the quilt that was pressed by his body.

“Are you wrapped like a sleeping baby?” Jiang Yu Dax could not help but laugh.

“Fuck,” Cheng Ke stood up from the sofa and sat back down after standing for awhile. He then lowered his head and laughed, “Your quilt is too big, no matter what I do, it’ll slip down to the floor.”

“Can the floor even steal the quilt from you?” Jiang Yuduo said, “What’s wrong with it touching the floor.”

“I’m afraid of getting it dirty.” Cheng Ke said.

“It wasn’t clean in the first place. Chen Qing used it last time.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“…I suddenly don’t want to use it now.” Cheng Ke raised his head and looked at him.

“You don’t have your clothes off anyway, so why do you care whether it’s dirty or not?” Jiang Yuduo sighed.

“…You’re right.” Cheng Ke smiled

Neither of them spoke. After a while, Cheng Ke asked softly: “Did you hear me cry?”

“No,” Jiang Yuduo said, “ I guessed it, but I didn’t know that you were crying until the lights were turned on.”

Cheng Ke didn’t speak, he then felt his body, took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth: “Can I have a light?”

Jiang Yuduo took the lighter on the table and threw it to him.

Cheng Ke pressed the lighter, watched the fire flickering for a moment, then lit a cigarette. “Have you ever met anyone worse than me?”

“A lot.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“…Your answer kinda makes me not want to continue.” Cheng Ke smiled.

“I have never,” Jiang Yuduo changed his answer. “You are the worst among the people I have ever met.”

“You can’t sleep either, right?” Cheng Ke took a cigarette. “Wanna talk?”

解药

(Antidote)

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