BDBE 79

Chapter 79 Color

Chaos, gasps, dizziness.

When he came to his senses, Shen Wanchao found himself lying on the bed, his collar disheveled, his clothes pulled up, and an overly warm hand wandering around his waist.

One after another, kisses, some shallow and some deep, rained down on Shen Wanchao’s head, his lips, cheeks, glasses, forehead, and even the side of his neck.

Shen Wanchao tilted his head back in response, and at the same time, he longed to kiss the person lying on top of him.

They hadn’t been this close in a very, very long time. Shen Wanchao felt that Zhou Hui’s hand was scorching hot, and his body was like a parched forest that hadn’t felt the sweet rain for a long time, ready to ignite a raging fire with just a spark.

That burning hand reached into the unknown depths and grasped Shen Wanchao.

His body tensed up. He suddenly stretched out his arm, hooked Zhou Hui’s neck, and ‎pulled him down before leaning forward to give him a rewarding kiss.

…

A pure white lightning bolt had struck, dark clouds gathered, and a torrential downpour began.

Shen Wanchao saw Zhou Hui raise his hand, glanced at it, and chuckled softly twice before finally standing up.

“That’s enough. We should go home.” Zhou Hui’s voice rang out along with the rushing water from the sink.

Shen Wanchao’s face was flushed red, and he half-covered his eyes with one hand, peeking at him: “I can help you too…”

After washing his hands, Zhou Hui came back. He kissed Shen Wanchao on the cheek, and said, “No need, it’ll calm down in a bit. Do you want me to help you get dressed?”

Zhou Hui pulled a piece of clothing out of the wardrobe and handed it to Shen Wanchao.

Shen Wanchao then realized that he had accidentally dirtied his clothes, and felt even more embarrassed. He sat up and said, “No need, I can do it myself.”

After Shen Wanchao changed his clothes, Zhou Hui also tidied himself up. The two walked to the door together.

Zhou Hui reached out to open the door, but the doorknob didn’t budge.

Zhou Hui: “…”

Shen Wanchao leaned over: “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Hui tried again, but the doorknob remained in place.

Shen Wanchao also witnessed this scene, and at the same time, the words Zhou Ruolin had spoken a few days earlier echoed in both of their minds:

“…The lock on this door has been specially changed. Once locked, it cannot be opened from either side without the key.”

Shen Wanchao: “…Then what do we do?”

Zhou Hui resignedly took out his phone, “Let me call Dad first and ask him where he put the keys.”

When he heard that they were locked in the room, Zhou Ruolin completely disregarded any father-son bond and laughed out loud. Fortunately, Zhou Ruolin wasn’t entirely heartless; after laughing, he agreed to come and open the door for them.

The two had no choice but to sit down and wait for rescue.

Shen Wanchao sat listlessly on the bed; his heels dangled on the ground as he secretly glanced at Zhou Hui.

Zhou Hui was about to sit down on the chair next to him when he suddenly heard someone call his name from behind.

When he turned his head, he saw Shen Wanchao propped up on the bed. His face was flushed as he said softly, “Since we can’t go out now and have ​Read on​nothing else to do… why don’t we continue?”

“Dad will be here soon.” Zhou Hui meant to refuse.

Shen Wanchao simply got up and walked over. He squatted down in front of the chair, and deliberately misinterpreted Zhou Hui’s meaning: “Yes, so let’s hurry up and finish this quickly.”

Click.

The belt was unbuckled.

Zhou Hui sighed. He leaned back, looking at the person squatting in front of him: “What do you want to do?”

Shen Wanchao helped Zhou Hui in the same way that Zhou Hui had helped him earlier.

During this time, he looked up and saw Zhou Hui’s brows, which were furrowed with impatience. He felt a rush of satisfaction and accomplishment.

At this moment, Zhou Hui’s joy and pain were both his own doing.

Hearing Zhou Hui’s breathing become rapid, Shen Wanchao tightened his grip slightly.

At the critical moment, Zhou Hui grabbed Shen Wanchao’s hair [Read on]and pulled him away a little, but it was still a fraction of a second too late.

Shen Wanchao reflexively closed his eyes. He laughed as he raised the back of his hand to wipe his cheek.

He watched Zhou Hui breathe slowly, his face displaying a complex mix of joy, satisfaction, annoyance, and shame.

“Let’s go take a shower.”

The two went to the restroom together.

Zhou Hui seemed a little embarrassed, but after Shen Wanchao washed his face, he insisted on holding him down and rubbing his face with his hands again and again.

Shen Wanchao’s face was red from being rubbed. He protested with a frown, “Enough, enough, you’ve rubbed my skin raw!”

Zhou Hui stopped, and dried the water off his face.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but complain: “Do you remember saying that you would never put anything on your face that costs less than 3,000 yuan?”

Shen Wanchao laughed: “Hehe, is your stuff not even worth three thousand yuan?”

Zhou Hui: “…Stop being silly.”

Just as the two finished getting ready, they heard the sound of the lock disengaging. Zhou Ruolin had come to their rescue.

Upon seeing Shen Wanchao’s face, Zhou Ruolin exclaimed MTM softly, “What’s wrong? Why is your face so red?”

Zhou Hui: “…”

Shen Wanchao, without any embarrassment, pointed to his red cheeks and said, “Zhou Hui washed my face too hard.”

Zhou Ruolin immediately looked at his son disapprovingly: “You’ve been married for so many years, don’t you know what gentleness is? Do you think everyone has the same thick skin as you? Our Xiao Wan’s face is precious, if you don’t know how to wash it, then don’t wash it.”

As he spoke, he touched Shen Wanchao’s face tenderly.

Zhou Hui didn’t consider himself particularly thick-skinned, “…I understand.”

Shen Wanchao secretly laughed at him all the way.

Finally, Zhou Hui, unable to bear it any longer, silenced him with a kiss behind Zhou Ruolin’s back.

Shen Wanchao was actually too embarrassed to be affectionate in front of his elders, so he quickly checked to see if Zhou Ruolin stolen content had noticed. He was relieved to see that he hadn’t seen anything, and behaved himself the rest of the way.

Before getting out of the car, Zhou Ruolin stopped the couple and asked, “What are your plans for the summer vacation? You should take the two kids out for a break, right?”

Shen Wanchao and Zhou Hui exchanged a glance, then Shen Wanchao replied, “We’ll probably go north to escape the summer heat, but before that, Zhou Hui and I need to go to Xiaoli City.”

“Xiaoli City?” Zhou Ruolin was confused. “What are you going there for?”

“Xiao Yi’s former orphanage was in Xiaoli City,” Shen Wanchao explained. “We have something we want to take care of.”

Zhou Ruolin understood and, without asking any further questions, let the couple get out of the car and go home.

…

Xiaoli City, Starlight Orphanage.

Despite being long past retirement, Director Li still worried about the children at the orphanage and visited them almost every day.

Over the years, he had seen hundreds of children grow up. He watched them grow from tiny babies into adults who left the orphanage to live their own lives.

Some of the children still kept in touch with the orphanage many years after they left. They would write or call from time to [visit our site]time to tell Director Li that they were living a stable life now. Director Li was gratified by this.

But many children, after leaving, never returned, and not even a single word of news was ever sent back.

Director Li was worried about them but powerless to do anything. He could only deceive himself by thinking that perhaps they had gone to a faraway place and were living a peaceful and prosperous life, but due to various uncontrollable factors, they had not been able to keep in touch.

The children who were carefree and playing in the orphanage today would one day pack their bags and leave, perhaps occasionally replying to letters, or never to be seen again.

At Director Li’s age, his mind was as still as water. Even when he was sad, it was only like the slightest ripple on a dragonfly’s tail, and the ripples would soon return to calm.

As he strolled under the banyan tree at the orphanage, one thought after another would cross his mind, but he would never show it. To the children, he was simply walking with a smile on his face and leaning on his cane.

Today, as Director Li was about to finish his walk, he glanced over and saw someone standing at the gate of the orphanage. He almost dropped his cane.

The cicadas sang in the height of summer.

Lin Hui stood under the shade of a tree, his long hair braided into a plait that hung over his left shoulder. After noticing Director Li’s gaze, he gave an embarrassed, bitter smile. He paused for a moment, and then turned to leave.

“It’s very sunny, would you like to come in and sit down?”

When Director Li’s voice [Read on]rang out, a few children who were playing in the yard under the scorching sun looked up at the gate.

Lin Hui was stunned for a moment. He turned around with a face full of surprise. He hadn’t expected Director Li to invite him.

Two minutes later, Lin Hui and Director Li sat down in the reception room.

Director Li personally poured Lin Hui a cup of tea. Lin Hui, slightly flustered, accepted it with both hands, “Thank you.”

Lin Hui held the tea as he secretly observed Director Li’s reaction. He thought to himself that perhaps the kind old man hadn’t recognized him, which was why he invited him in for a drink.

However, Director Li’s next sentence directly refuted Lin Hui’s guess.

“If I remember correctly, you’re the one who brought Lin Anyi here.”

Lin Hui almost knocked over the cup.

Director Li didn’t give him time to calm down before asking the next question: “So many years have passed, what do you want to do by returning to this old place?”

Lin Hui’s body trembled all over, he slowly lowered his head.

“I think……”

“Whatever you want to do, there’s one thing I want to tell you first.” He was interrupted after saying only two words. “Lin Anyi has left here. You won’t be able to see him. I will not tell you any information about him until he or his current guardians agrees.”

Lin Hui looked up again in surprise. His voice trembled slightly, “His current guardians? Xiao Yi… has he been adopted?”

Director Li didn’t keep him in suspense any longer, and nodded in acknowledgment.

Lin Hui felt a rush of several complex emotions, which caused his expression to become somewhat distorted. He opened his mouth, but then closed it again.

Director Li sighed inwardly, but ultimately softened and said, “They are a very good family, and they treat Lin Anyi very well. You can rest assured.”

Lin Hui lowered his head, clenched the paper cup, and forced a smile: “How can I, the one who abandoned him, have the right to say I’m worried about him?”

The two faced each other without saying another word.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Hui finally got up without touching the tea in the paper cup. He thanked the old director and took his leave.

Director Li followed him to the door of the reception room. As he watched his departing figure, his thoughts drifted back to that late autumn more than a decade ago.

Lin Hui’s back view looked exactly the same as it had back then, even his gait as he left was almost identical. But time was cruel; no matter how much a person seemed to remain the same, they could never go back to the past, nor would they ever have the chance to regret it.

Director Li understood this, and Lin Hui also understood this principle.

Lin Hui’s figure disappeared at the end of the road. Director Li suddenly felt unusually tired and stopped checking on what the children were doing as usual. Instead, he slowly returned to the dormitory building.