CJLTNS Chapter 12

Yu Xin slept deeply. When he finally woke up, it was already evening. He stepped out to the balcony off the living room and saw the orange-red glow of the sunset. The sky was ablaze, the clouds tinged with molten gold as the sun poured over the horizon. The edges of the clouds looked like they had caught fire, shifting in shape and hue, one strand at a time.

Yu Xin stretched with a satisfying yawn. It had been a long time since he’d slept so well. The nausea and fatigue from earlier were completely gone.

He checked his phone—it was already 6:30 PM. He thought about calling Zhao Xun to ask if he wanted to grab dinner together.

Knock knock knock!

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Yu Xin thought it must be Zhao Xun and quickly went to open it. “Ge?”

But when he opened the door, it wasn’t Zhao Xun.

It was Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran was holding a lunch box in her hand. When Yu Xin saw her, he froze for a second—how did she know his address?

“Xiao Yu-ge, you’re not gonna let me in?” Jiang Ran asked playfully.

Yu Xin quickly stepped aside to let her in. “No, it’s not that. I just thought it was a friend of mine.”

Jiang Ran placed the lunch box on the coffee table. “I heard from my brother that you weren’t feeling well, so I thought I’d come check on you.”

When Yu Xin left the police station, he’d given his address—so it must’ve been Jiang Chong who told her where he lived.

Jiang Ran started taking the dishes out of the box while casually motioning for Yu Xin to sit down, acting like she was totally at home.

“Xiao Yu-ge, my brother said your stomach hasn’t been doing well, so I asked our housekeeper to make two light dishes and some soup—it’s good for your body.”

The various containers took up half the table, and the room was instantly filled with the aroma of food. The soup in the thermal container had a faint scent of traditional Chinese medicine, making it smell extra nourishing.

“Don’t listen to your brother—I’m fine.”

Jiang Ran scooped a bowl of soup and shoved it into Yu Xin’s hands. “Xiao Yu-ge, you’ve gotten so much skinnier. You probably didn’t eat well while you were abroad. All those burgers and fries in America—none of it compares to Chinese food.”

Yu Xin had only eaten a bowl of congee that morning—nothing else. His stomach had long been empty, and now the smell of the food was making his mouth water.

He didn’t stand on ceremony. He lifted the bowl and took a sip. As expected, it tasted amazing. The medicinal taste wasn’t overwhelming and didn’t drown out the soup’s natural flavor. The oil had even been skimmed—there was nothing greasy about it.

“Xiao Yu-ge, isn’t it delicious?”

Yu Xin nodded, then picked up another bowl and poured half a bowl of soup for Jiang Ran. “There’s so much food—eat with me.”

Jiang Ran was clearly delighted by his approval, and immediately began boasting about the soup’s health benefits. “Xiao Yu-ge, this soup has astragalus root in it. It’s specifically for improving digestion. You have no idea—my brother’s a cop, he’s always getting injured and ending up in the hospital. That’s why my mom hired a cook who specializes in medicinal cuisine to make him tonic soups all the time.”

Yu Xin didn’t really want to hear anything about the Jiang family. He lowered his head and replied noncommittally, “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Hey, Xiao Yu-ge, you don’t know how much my mom worries. She got totally freaked out six years ago when my brother got seriously injured during a mission. He was in the hospital for half a month before he even woke up. It scared the hell out of all of us. That’s when my mom hired the housekeeper to help him recover.”

Six years ago, Jiang Chong was injured? What a coincidence…

Yu Xin picked up a slice of yam and placed it in his bowl, pretending to sound casual. “Really? When exactly was he injured?”

“Right around when you two broke—”

The word “broke up” was right at the tip of her tongue before Jiang Ran quickly caught herself and changed course. “He was injured in June. I was staying with my grandparents at the time, so I didn’t know anything about it. By the time I came back, he was already discharged from the hospital.”

June. The injury happened in June.

Yu Xin’s hand began to tremble. He could barely hold his chopsticks. He swallowed hard, gripping them tightly, but no matter how much food he chewed, he couldn’t taste a single thing.

“Xiao Yu-ge, you don’t know—back then, it was so tragic. I heard from the doctors that a dagger went straight into his chest. He almost didn’t make it.”

Over the years, Jiang Chong had been injured many times, but none had been as terrifying as that incident. When Jiang Ran returned from their grandparents’ place, she saw that Jiang Chong had lost a lot of weight after being discharged, and their parents were visibly worn out from worry.

At the age of eleven, Jiang Ran matured for the first time. She stopped throwing tantrums or crying to go out and play. Instead, she stayed by Jiang Chong’s side every day, praying he would recover soon.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t want to answer the phone back then—he couldn’t. He couldn’t answer, and he couldn’t come home.

Suddenly, a heavy weight settled on Yu Xin’s chest, like something immense was pressing down on him, suffocating him. Every breath became more difficult, every heartbeat came with a strange, indescribable heaviness.

Jiang Ran kept talking, but Yu Xin couldn’t hear a word. He could only see her lips moving.

“Xiao Yu-ge, can you walk me home?”

Normally, Yu Xin would’ve agreed without hesitation. But right now, more than anything, he needed to see Jiang Chong.

“I’ve got something to do. I’ll call a car for you—just text me when you get home.”

After sending Jiang Ran off, Yu Xin immediately pulled out his phone and dialed the number he knew by heart, one that had lived rent-free in his head for years.

He took a deep breath and rested a hand on the balcony railing. Every second felt like it stretched into eternity.

“sorry. The number you have dialed is not answering.”

Yu Xin glanced at the time, quickly changed clothes, grabbed his car keys, and dashed downstairs. He jumped into his secondhand Bora and merged into the traffic.

It was rush hour. The streets of the city felt like someone had pressed pause—everything was locked in a state of near standstill.

Stuck in the slow-moving traffic, Yu Xin had no choice but to grit his teeth and wait, inching his way toward the Kangzhou City Public Security Bureau.

Most of the offices inside were still lit. At the gate, he spotted Uncle Wei. Yu Xin had seen him before during previous visits to the bureau, but wasn’t sure if the man would still remember him.

Yu Xin poked his head into the gatehouse. “Uncle Wei, is Jiang Chong here?”

Uncle Wei was reading a newspaper. He looked up and saw a vaguely familiar face. “Hey! Xiao Yu? Long time no see!”

Yu Xin didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Uncle Wei, is Jiang Chong around?”

“He just left. No one’s working overtime today. Everyone already headed out.”

“Thanks, Uncle Wei!”

Yu Xin turned on his heel and rushed back to his car, heading straight for Jiang Chong’s place.

Yu Xin had driven to Jiang Chong’s place countless times before—but never with this kind of urgency. It felt like he was a boy in love for the first time.

“Phew!”

The traffic crawled along, and as the sky slowly dimmed, Yu Xin finally arrived at Jiang Chong’s apartment complex just as night fully fell.

“Hello, I’m here to visit Building 2, Unit 1, Floor 18.”

“Alright, I’ll contact the resident for you.”

Jiang Chong lived in a high-end community where visitors needed approval from residents. The security guard dialed the intercom number. After ten seconds or so, no one answered.

“Sir, the resident didn’t pick up. Maybe you can try contacting him yourself?”

Yu Xin nodded, a little dejected, and walked off to the side.

There was a time when this place had been his and Jiang Chong’s home. Back then, he came and went freely. Who would’ve thought that one day, he’d be treated like a guest?

Six years. Over two thousand days and nights. Far too long.

Courage only lasts for a moment. Yu Xin sat powerlessly under a streetlamp, letting out a deep sigh. In TV dramas, people always run into lost lovers at just the right moment. But real life? It’s not that merciful.

He picked up a dry twig and started scribbling randomly on the concrete, trying to suppress the sting in his eyes. His father’s death, the way Jiang Chong’s mother treated him—those things stood between them like insurmountable mountains.

Honestly, maybe this was for the best. Jiang Chong had a promising future, came from a good family—why drag him back into Yu Xin’s mess?

Yu Xin stood up, tossed the twig aside, dusted off his pants, and took a deep breath. He looked up at the streetlamp—its glare made his eyes sting even more.

“Yu Xin!”

Jiang Chong spotted the figure beneath the streetlight. The lighting made it hard to see clearly, but even from a distance, he recognized him instantly.

“It really is you?”

He jogged a few steps over, a bit breathless by the time he reached Yu Xin’s side.

“I was in the shower earlier and didn’t hear the phone. The security guard said someone came looking for me and described what you looked like—I figured it had to be you. What’s up?”

Jiang Chong’s hair was still damp, smelling faintly of body wash. He wore a plain white T-shirt and sweatpants, looking much more relaxed than in his usual work attire.

“I… I was just passing by, and… I wanted to say thanks. Thank you for the soup Jiang Ran brought me.”

Yu Xin looked a lot better than he had in the morning—less pale. Jiang Chong felt slightly reassured.

With his hands in his pockets, Jiang Chong hesitated for a moment before asking, “Your stomach… what happened?”

“I went to the U.S. The food there was awful, and I was always chasing stories. Ate whenever I could, skipped meals when I couldn’t. That’s how it happened.”

“I haven’t eaten yet. You still owe me a meal from last time. Want to make good on that today?”

Even after all these years, Jiang Chong’s way of making small talk was still just as awkward. Yu Xin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, let’s go. My treat.”

There was a shopping mall near Jiang Chong’s place. They walked there in about ten minutes and picked a restaurant to sit down in.

Jiang Chong handed the menu to Yu Xin, who passed it right back. “I’m treating you. You should order.”

Jiang Chong didn’t argue. He chose a few light dishes and added a warm glass of corn juice.

Yu Xin had already eaten at home with Jiang Ran, so he only picked at his food, mostly sipping on the corn juice.

During the meal, the two of them, without saying it out loud, avoided any talk of the past. They just chatted lightly about their lives now.

After dinner, it was already nine in the evening. A gentle breeze drifted by, and a few bright stars dotted the sky, shimmering in harmony with the distant twinkling lights.

An elderly person held a child’s hand, lovers leaned into each other, and the crisp laughter of children rang out. From afar came the lively beat of a square dance tune.

Yu Xin felt a long-lost sense of warmth and liveliness. No matter how messed up the world got, there were still people living happily in it.

“Yu Xin, why haven’t you asked me about the case?”

Yu Xin turned to look at Jiang Chong, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. “If I ask, will you really tell me? I’ve at least been a police officer’s family member before—you think I don’t know the boundaries?”

The moment he finished speaking, the smile on his face vanished. He immediately regretted it and wished he could slap himself—such a nice atmosphere, and he had to go and ruin it.

“Can I ask… why you sent me that message back then?”

Yu Xin lowered his head, hiding his face from Jiang Chong. All he could see was the prominent bone at the back of Yu Xin’s neck.

From the mall to Jiang Chong’s home was just over ten minutes, but Yu Xin said nothing the whole way. Jiang Chong didn’t press him either. The two of them simply walked side by side in silence—until suddenly, Yu Xin stopped, turned around to face him, and said, “I don’t like long-distance relationships.”

Jiang Chong couldn’t help but laugh. In the six years since they’d broken up, he had imagined countless reasons why Yu Xin left him—but this one? He really hadn’t seen it coming.

Of course, Jiang Chong knew Yu Xin wasn’t telling the truth. But he didn’t plan on exposing him. Now that Yu Xin was back, he had plenty of time to coax the truth out of this little fox.