EWH 40

It had really been a long time since Xu Wanhe last went to that rice noodle shop.

At least ten years.

The last time he had gone, he had just turned twenty. Now, he was already over thirty.

To be honest, Xu Wanhe had always felt a strong aversion to that shop. In the past, even just passing by it would leave a sour feeling in his chest.

But now, in order to secure Yang Moshou before Mo Mo could make a move, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go.

Since Yang Moshou needed to clock out, Xu Wanhe waited for him in the car for a while.

There were only two people in the car.
The driver’s phone rang, and after saying just a few words, he hurriedly glanced back at the boss sitting in the back seat, deep in thought.

“Xu-ge, Xiao Hu already bought the fireworks. But if we set them off during the day, no one will be able to see them.
How about we wait until night?”

Xu Wanhe was chewing on a lychee.
When he heard that, he let out a grunt from his throat, which counted as agreement.

The driver got the message, said a few more things, and then hung up the call.

He sensibly reached over to take the lychee peels and casually made small talk.

“Xu-ge, where are you heading later?”

“That rice noodle place next to the hospital.”

The driver also took the lychee pit while he was at it. “Oh, that place? It’s pretty famous, but there are always too many people. The environment’s not great either…”

That comment seemed to remind Xu Wanhe of something.

“Get our guys to clear the place out for me. I’ve got something to say to Xiao Yang, and I’m not yelling over a crowd just to talk.”

The driver responded right away.
He tossed the lychee skins out the car window and started calling some of the nearby guys.

Just as they were wrapping that up, Yang Moshou finished clocking out and came out of the hospital.

Xu Wanhe watched as he jogged over under the blazing sun, panting a little by the time he got in the car, with a fine layer of sweat on his forehead.

The air conditioning in the car was blasting, but Xu Wanhe’s body always ran hot. Yang Moshou was even warmer, like a little furnace. And somehow, Xu Wanhe still wanted to lean closer.

He casually scooted a bit in his direction. “Want to get lychees first or eat?”

Yang Moshou noticed him leaning in. His face stayed cool, but inside, he was thrilled. “Let’s eat. We’ll get the lychees after.”

Since the rice noodle shop was super close to the hospital, and Yang Moshou usually walked there, the ride only took five minutes.

There were about a dozen people hanging around the entrance, iron rods in hand and cigarettes dangling from their mouths.
Some squatted, some stood leaning against the wall. All of them were covered in tattoos with shaved heads, obviously part of Xu Wanhe’s crew.

Although the scene was a bit low-class, it was at least intimidating enough.
Just standing there at the entrance was enough to scare off most of the customers.

Even if a few brave ones tried to push their way in, the women would get scared and leave, and the men would get harassed into backing off. Either way, the place was pretty much cleared out.

As soon as Xu Wanhe’s car pulled up, the men scattered.

Xu Wanhe led Yang Moshou inside. The place was completely empty, nice and spacious.

Yang Moshou looked puzzled. “What’s going on today… Usually this place has lines out the door during meal time.”

Xu Wanhe casually picked a spot and sat down.

“You’re too fussy. Isn’t it better with fewer people? Besides, back when I used to come here, it was never that crowded.”

Yang Moshou did not say anything else.
He sat down and started looking through the menu.

Xu Wanhe leaned back in the wooden chair and glanced up.

The old ceiling fan was still there, coated in greasy grime, filthy as hell, probably hadn’t been used in ages.

The newly installed Gree air conditioner blew out a soft, steady breeze. Way more comfortable than before.

Xu Wanhe felt a bit sentimental.
He thought, people were kind of the same.

Times change, and something new always comes in to replace the old.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Watching Yang Moshou with his little droopy eyelids, quietly ordering food, Xu Wanhe really could not remember how he had fallen for this guy.

It was completely inexplicable.

But love itself was an inexplicable thing.

No logic, no reason. It was chemical. Irrational.

Like falling for someone at first sight.
Like your heart giving in all of a sudden.

Xu Wanhe took a drag and felt all kinds of things stir up inside.

It was good not to have died for someone else.
Good to have woken up.
Good thing he got to meet this person.

Even though this little doctor was such a dumbass, greedy, and sly in that sneaky way,

he still… ended up catching Xu Wanhe’s eye.

Good or bad, nobody had any right to say anything about it.

Whatever.
Fuck it.
He just liked him.
He just fucking liked him.

Because there were no other customers, the rice noodles came out pretty fast, but Xu Wanhe had no appetite at all.

All he could think about was how to bring up what he wanted to say to Yang Moshou.

“Hey… um… Xiao Yang…”

Yang Moshou could not care less whether he ate or not. He just kept his head down, wolfing down his food.

“What?”

Xu Wanhe had just opened his mouth to speak, but a fly suddenly buzzed over, circling around him over and over.

“Fuck!”

Xu Wanhe got annoyed as hell and started swatting at it.

Yang Moshou curled his lip and crunched on cucumber strips with his molars.

After finally chasing the fly off, Xu Wanhe paused and spoke with a low voice.

“So here’s the thing… I wanna ask you something…”

The fly came back again, buzzing in circles around him.

“Fuck your mother!”

Yang Moshou lifted his eyelids a little.

“You are really something. You cannot even let a fly off the hook.”

Xu Wanhe’s frustration boiled over.
He turned and shouted at the owner.

“Fuck, your shop’s hygiene is fucking disgusting! No wonder after all these years this place is still a dump!”

The owner had already been brooding over why business was so bad this afternoon.
Hearing someone pick a fight, he grabbed his crutch and was ready to argue back.
But the moment he saw it was Xu Wanhe, he froze on the spot.

It took him a while to remember who he was.

That black-skinned kid was one of his earliest customers back when the shop had just opened.

In the beginning, the owner did not have much of an impression of Xu Wanhe.
If anything, he remembered Tang Ziyan more clearly. After all, he had been a fair-skinned, good-looking young man.
The owner just remembered he always came in with a skinny, dark-skinned guy.

He only found out later they were gangsters. That was because one time they got into a fight right in the shop.

A bunch of punks had barged in, not even bothering to order food, and went straight for the two of them.

It was only after that brawl that the owner started remembering Xu Wanhe.

In his memory, this kid was especially fierce, charging right into the fight and taking on several guys at once. A few tables got flipped. Someone smashed beer bottles over his head, but even bleeding, he still grabbed one guy by the hair and slammed him so hard that he broke the corner of the counter.

As for that quiet, delicate-looking boy, he had picked up a sharp knife and followed right behind Xu Wanhe, stabbing the ones who got kicked down.

They fought for a good ten minutes before leaving like nothing had happened, and after that, they never came back.

The owner had spent ages waiting for them to return and pay for the damages.
But once they left, they never showed up again.

Since there were no other customers in the shop now and nothing else to do, the owner shuffled over to make conversation.

“Hey… you are… I remember you.
It has been… more than ten years since you last came?”

Xu Wanhe lifted his eyes and looked at the old man beside him. “You are still alive and kicking, huh?”

The old man chuckled and dragged over a stool.

“Ah, you have filled out a lot. Back then you were so skinny, you looked like a damn twig.”

Then he glanced at the person sitting next to him.

“So Xiao Yang is that kid you used to bring here to eat? Man… I did not even recognize him. Still fair-skinned, sure… but somehow he grew up looking different. Not as good-looking anymore.”

Xu Wanhe was instantly displeased.

He had just gotten all proud thinking it was handsome guy with handsome guy, a perfect match. And now, less than half a day later, Xiao Yang had been denied right in front of him.

What a damn disgrace.

He turned to look at Yang Moshou, only to see that little bastard sweating all over while stuffing his face.

When he caught Xu Wanhe looking, he even gave him a big thumbs up.

“Delicious!”

Xu Wanhe felt even more fed up.

But he did not want to just swallow the insult, so he turned to the old owner with a cold sneer.

“You call that not good-looking? Forget it.
I do not even want to waste my breath arguing with you. What the hell do you know, fuck. You are so old already, I do not want to make it too ugly. Just hurry up and go find a pair of reading glasses in the back kitchen.”

Still feeling pissed, he flicked his cigarette away, pointed at Xiao Yang, and snapped,

“Hey, I am not letting that slide. How the hell is he not good-looking? You ever look at yourself in the mirror, huh? And you have the nerve to criticize someone else…”

Yang Moshou wiped the sweat off his forehead, thinking about ordering some herbal tea. He looked around and, seeing none had come, called out to the owner.

“One more glass of herbal tea.”

The owner was still a little shaken from Xu Wanhe’s scolding but managed to answer.

“Four yuan a glass.”

“Wasn’t it three fifty before?”

“The price went up,” the owner said flatly, his face looking just as sour. “Just raised it today.”

“Oh… alright, I’ll take one.”

The boss turned around to get the tea but glanced back at Xu Wanhe on the way.

“What happened to your ear? Kinda ruins your look.”

Then he walked off.

Xu Wanhe clenched his fists, barely held himself back from swinging on the old bastard.

He was beyond pissed.

Forget confessing. What the hell was there to confess in this mood?

He was about ready to explode from anger.

Maybe it was better to wait until tonight.