Home/ The Selfish Gene/ Chapter 63
The topics between Jian Xing and Ji Chenfeng are mostly focused on the pet hospital and their college life. I can only listen to it, and it’s difficult for me to get in. Plus, those who don’t drink always eat faster than those who drink. They haven’t finished a bottle of wine yet, but I have already finished my meal.
“Go take a shower.” Ji Chenfeng handed me the bag that Jian Xing brought, “There is a waterproof sticker inside, you can put it on yourself.”
Although I always regard Jian Xing as my imaginary enemy, I also know that this suspicion is meaningless.
It is impossible for me to stick to Ji Chenfeng all the time and hinder his normal interactions with others, let alone play dirty tricks like before and mess with his work. I have to accept that he has other friends and other ties in this world. I am still a big tree that he can rely on at any time, but he is not a dodder, and his life doesn’t need to revolve around me all the time.
Taking the bag, I took a change of clothes and went into the bathroom. After taking off my shirt, I found that it was difficult to apply the waterproof patch with one hand.
Oh, there’s nothing we can do about it.
“Chenfeng, can you come in for a minute? I can’t reach it.” I poked my head out of the bathroom and apologized for interrupting the conversation between Ji Chenfeng and Jian Xing.
“Wait a minute.” Ji Chenfeng greeted Jian Xing and stood up to walk towards me.
I held a waterproof sticker and sat on the washing machine. When he came in, I handed the waterproof sticker to him.
“Because I have to take a shower, did you specifically ask him to deliver the waterproof stickers?” I asked softly as I glanced at the slightly open bathroom door.
“Hmm.” Ji Chenfeng tore off the covering film and carefully covered my wound with a square waterproof sticker, “You can’t buy this kind in ordinary pharmacies.”
Being so close, I could smell the faint smell of alcohol on him. I wanted him to drink less, and the words reached my lips. Suddenly, I remembered his surprising performance when he was drunk last time. After hesitating for a moment, I swallowed the words out of selfish motives.
It’s good to get drunk, maybe I can take advantage of it.
“Alright, just take it off after washing.” After putting it on, Ji Chenfeng asked me to call him if I needed anything, and then went out.
I wanted to wash all the unwashed things from yesterday, so I stayed in the bathroom for an extra long time. After washing, when I got dressed and went out, I found that Ji Chenfeng and the others had already taken off all the dishes on the table and replaced them with watermelons.
“Did you quit smoking? When did you learn to smoke?” Jian Xing held a package of shredded squid in his hand, taking one out and chewing it in his mouth as he spoke.
I wiped my hair and sat next to them. Jian Xing tilted the bag of shredded squid in his hand towards me. I thanked him and took two out of it.
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.
“We were talking about quitting smoking.” Jian Xing said, “I said that my lungs are not good now and I still smoke. But this man said that he quit smoking. Is quitting smoking so easy? In the past, I remember that I gave him a cigarette but he said that he didn’t smoke at that time. However, after a few years, he not only learned to smoke, but even quit smoking.” His words had a strong sense of “the world has changed, and people’s hearts are not the same as before, even Ji Chenfeng has learned bad things” tone.
After finishing the shredded squid, I picked up the watermelon on the table and started nibbling on it, feeling a bit surprised when I heard this.
Didn’t Ji Chenfeng smoke before?
On my birthday last year, I remember asking him who he learned to smoke from. He said he learned it from a special person. At the time, I thought it was Zhou Jiyu, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that I had never seen Zhou Jiyu smoke, and I didn’t smell the smoke on him either.
If it wasn’t Zhou Jiyu, who exactly was this “special person”? When did someone appear again out of nowhere?
“Because Sang Nian doesn’t like it.”
Spitting out the watermelon seeds, I heard Ji Chenfeng’s slightly hoarse and dragging voice and looked towards him. He held his cheek with one hand, but there was no trace of drunkenness on his face. When he noticed me looking at him, he slightly raised his eyelids to look at me.
There is no way he would look at me with such a look when he was awake, with a hint of teasing, as if… he was seducing me.
“He’s always like this. If he says he doesn’t like it anymore, then he doesn’t like it.” Ji Chenfeng looked away, picked up the glass, and drank the wine in one gulp.
“It’s enough if he likes you.” Jian Xing also picked up his glass and drank it all.
He was just about to reach for the wine bottle, but I stopped him and said, “I’ll do it.” After that, I refilled a glass for each of them.
At first, I could still eat watermelon and listen to their chatter, interjecting from time to time, but later I may have run out of energy and started to feel sleepy unconsciously.
How long will it take to drink?
Yawning, I lay down next to Ji Chenfeng. I just wanted to close my eyes and rest for a while, but accidentally fell asleep. I don’t know how long it had been when I woke up again, and Jian Xing was finally leaving.
“He seems to be a nice person, but you didn’t tell me in advance that you two have reconciled. I was really surprised today…” Jian Xing stood up and whispered in a drunken voice.
“There is no reconciliation.” Ji Chenfeng also stood up.
I remained motionless and continued to pretend to sleep.
“You haven’t reconciled yet?” Jian Xing walked towards the door, “You’re almost there, you obviously like him very much…”
Quietly opening the door, Ji Chenfeng walked Jian Xing to the door and said: “It’s not enough.”
What’s not enough?
After bidding farewell to Jian Xing, Ji Chenfeng locked the door and walked back. I immediately closed my eyes.
Ji Chenfeng cleared the table as the sound of plates and wine glasses colliding echoed in my ears. After a while, the footsteps faded away, and the sound of water came from the kitchen.
This time, I opened my eyes completely and sat up from the ground.
He can still wash dishes and clear the table. Isn’t he drunk? No, he looked a little drunk when I came out of the shower…
Just as I was thinking this, there was the sound of glassware falling on the ground. I was startled and quickly stood up to check, only to find that Ji Chenfeng’s hand slipped and a cup had fallen on the ground.
He wanted to pick out the fragments, but after trying several times, he missed the target. I was scared to see him like this, afraid that he would hurt his hand.
“Stop picking it up. I’ll do it. You go and stay outside.” I held his wrist, gently pulled him up from the ground, and pushed him out of the kitchen.
He was very cooperative throughout the process and remained silent. After I finished dealing with the broken glass and washed the bowls in the sink, I went out to take a look and saw him asleep on the low table.
Of course it was impossible to leave him alone to sleep like this all night. I walked over and pushed his shoulder gently, trying to wake him up.
“Doctor Ji, Ji Chenfeng, go in and sleep…”
He frowned and opened his eyes in a daze. Although he was reluctant, he still stood up obediently under my coaxing.
It could be seen that this was not the first time that he and Jian Xing drank together. The strange thing was that Jian Xing didn’t seem to know that his drinking capacity was actually not very good.
I used to think it was amazing, how could someone get so drunk without being obvious? Not making a fuss, being able to converse smoothly, and not even forgetting to tidy up the wine bottles he had finished drinking.
If it wasn’t that I had experience, I might have been deceived by him.
“You have to take a shower before you can sleep.” He broke free from my grip and suddenly turned around and walked towards the bathroom.
I hurriedly followed him: “Let me help you…”
It’s not that I want to take advantage, it’s mainly because I’m afraid that he will fall and have an accident.
“Bang!” Ji Chenfeng turned a deaf ear and blocked me directly outside the bathroom.
Staring at the closed wooden door in front of me, I turned the handle and found that it was still locked.
After a while, the sound of water came from inside. After listening for a moment against the door and making sure it was okay, I turned around and went into the bedroom to get him some clean clothes.
There is only one wardrobe in total, which is easy to find. Ji Chenfeng’s drawers are just like his own, neat and organized. Socks and underwear are placed in categories. T-shirts are neatly folded and even arranged in colors from light to dark.
Opening the second drawer, this layer is full of pants, also stacked according to color and texture, so neat and pleasing to the eye.
I became very interested in Ji Chenfeng’s wardrobe, and then opened the top door.
The scene inside the cabinet was beyond my expectations. Compared to the first two drawers that were neatly organized, it looks a lot messier.
The coats and jackets that should have been hung on the hangers were randomly stuffed in the corner, the scarves were tangled on them, the shirts were crumpled like a ball of pickled vegetables, and the dark red tie fell off the moment I opened the cabinet door, like a dying tongue.
Pinching the tie, I put it to the tip of my nose and took a sniff, smelling a faint smell of menthol tobacco.
It’s already summer, but these clothes look like they’re from winter. Why haven’t they been washed after so long?
And… I pulled out the tie and put it under the light to take a closer look. Why does this tie look familiar?
Ties, shirts, coats, and scarves were all dug out of the closet and thrown onto the bed. After looking at it carefully and recalling for a while, I finally determined that these are my clothes.
To say I wasn’t shocked would be a lie. For so many years, I have had others take care of my food, clothing, and daily life. I don’t know exactly how many coats and ties I have. There are always new ones given to me every season. If I hadn’t discovered these things in Ji Chenfeng’s closet today, I might never have remembered that I owned them.
Could this be the secret in Ji Chenfeng’s bedroom?
Some people, on the surface, tell me to leave quickly and not disturb their lives, but secretly they keep hiding my clothes and miss me…
Stuffing the things back into Ji Chenfeng’s wardrobe as they were, I took a pair of clean home clothes and underwear to the bathroom. Knowing that he couldn’t hear me, I kept waiting outside the door.
Ten minutes later, Ji Chenfeng opened the bathroom door with water dripping from his body. I quickly went up to him and gave him the clothes. He looked at me for a long while before taking the clothes in my hand and slamming the door again.
When he came out again, he was already dressed and wearing his cochlear implant. He seemed to be even more drunk after taking a shower. He simply ignored what I said and went back to the bedroom while holding on to the wall.
I watched him carefully and followed him into the bedroom. I thought he would lie down and sleep like a good baby, but he opened the closet and took out my clothes one by one, spreading them on the bed.
All the clothes were spread in a way that they formed a medium-sized circle. He admired his masterpiece for a while, then stepped into the “circle” and lay down. He held the corner of my tie in his hand and put it on the tip of his nose, curling up like a baby.
I tried to take the tie out of his hand, but just as I moved, he closed his eyes tightly, frowned and tightened his grip.
Like a bird building a nest, he stuffs his bed with my clothes and sleep peacefully in my scent.
‘You obviously like him very much.’— What Jian Xing said when he left flashed in my mind. I thought he was joking, but it turns out to be true.
As I caressed Ji Chenfeng’s face with my fingers, my mood gradually turned from joyful to sad. I’m happy that he likes me like this, but sad because…he likes me in this way.
If he were a cheerful guy like Zheng Jieyuan, he might not have to work so hard.
But now, I will not give him to others. Unless I die, no one can take him away.
“Why do you say ‘it’s not enough’? Is there anything I haven’t done enough?”
Ji Chenfeng half-opened his eyes and looked ahead without focus. I just asked casually, not expecting to wake him up. I didn’t expect him to answer properly, after all, he was so drunk.
Surprisingly, after being silent for a few seconds, he actually gave a decent answer.
“Not scared enough…”
Not scared? Cheng Tao smashed my car window before and was caught on the spot. I wanted to let it go, but he insisted on sending the person to the police station. The reason was that if he could not make the child afraid, he would become even more overbearing and eventually lose control, evolving into a cancer in this city.
So Ji Chenfeng now thinks that the punishment given to me is not enough for me to learn a lesson, right?
How can I let him know that I am scared? So scared that I will never do anything excessive in my life…..
“Then…who did you learn to smoke from?” I pinched his earlobe and asked another question that puzzled me.
Ji Chenfeng was stunned for longer this time. He brought the tie in his hand closer to his nose, burying half of his face in it.
“Sang Nian.” He said vaguely before closing his eyes again.
This is an answer I never expected.
Me? He learned to smoke from me? What, how could it be? I only came in contact with him last year. Before that, he should have only seen me once in front of the hospital bed… right?
Wait, I thought of another possibility.
What if he found out early on that I was following him?
Subway stations, cafes… I thought I hid it well, but in fact he had seen everything.
This can explain why he has always been convinced that I am following him since the reunion, and has shown a very indifferent attitude towards my investigation of the people around him.
Because in his opinion, I have a long history of criminal records and bad deeds. I did this three years ago, and he noticed it, so of course he wouldn’t be surprised by it anymore.
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