Chapter 57 – More Than Just Holding Hands

The misty night had silently passed. When Li Tang woke up and met Jiang Lou’s eyes, he silently averted his gaze.

Last night, when he got up to use the restroom, Jiang Lou also got up, circling around to the other side of the hospital bed. Li Tang said he was going to the washroom, so Jiang Lou helped him there.

“I can walk on my own,” Li Tang had said at the time.

Jiang Lou didn’t say anything, but the hand that supported Li Tang’s arm didn’t loosen its grip.

Fortunately, he only accompanied Li Tang to the door of the washroom.

When Li Tang went inside, he heard the person behind him say, “Call me if you need anything; I’ll be right outside.”

It made Li Tang’s cheeks inexplicably flush. He wondered what could possibly happen—would he need someone to hand him toilet paper?

Because of this little episode, Li Tang couldn’t look Jiang Lou in the eye after waking up in the morning. While they were brushing their teeth side by side, Li Tang kept his head down the entire time, avoiding the mirror.

Breakfast was steamed buns with cold tofu jelly and sweet bean curd. Jiang Lou had bought it from outside the hospital.

Actually, Li Tang had never really adapted to the spicy and heavy flavors of the dishes in Xucheng. He hadn’t touched much of the food at last night’s wedding banquet. But the steamed bun was an exception. The golden, crispy skin wrapped around beef, stuffed with sweet and slightly spicy cold tofu jelly—the tofu jelly was clearly specially seasoned, less spicy and more sweet, perfectly suited to Li Tang’s taste.

Combined with the sweet, soft tofu, Li Tang began to doubt his former self. Why had he stubbornly preferred bread and sandwiches? Weren’t warm, Chinese breakfasts more delicious?

Li Tang usually didn’t have a big appetite, so when Jiang Lou saw that he was eating well, he handed him his unopened steamed bun.

Li Tang declined, “I’m full.”

As he spoke, his shoulders shook slightly, and he let out a silent but visible burp.

Just as he was feeling embarrassed, Li Tang noticed Jiang Lou’s lips curling slightly, as if he was smiling.

This was the first time he had seen him smile since their reunion.

Li Tang couldn’t help but be stunned. In those few seconds of distraction, Jiang Lou leaned forward, raising his hand to wipe away the sesame seeds that had stuck to Li Tang’s lips.

Li Tang dodged out of instinct, lowering his gaze. He thought to himself how embarrassing it was. Did CEOs eat until food got on their faces? Now what should he do—should he wipe it off with his hand, or lick it back into his mouth?

Suddenly, he heard the person in front of him ask, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to avoid seeing me?”

Li Tang looked up in confusion, meeting Jiang Lou’s calm and deep gaze.

He was taken aback, “…Yeah.”

His previous avoidance wasn’t because he didn’t want to see him; he thought Jiang Lou still hated him and didn’t want to cause him distress. He was also afraid of hiding it.

Jiang Lou seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Looking at Li Tang, he said earnestly, “Then don’t avoid me anymore.”

When Li Zichu arrived, Li Tang was troubled by the static electricity that shocked him when he touched the doorknob. Then he saw Jiang Lou pull out a tube of hand cream from somewhere, gesturing for Li Tang to open his hand.

Then he unscrewed the cap and squeezed some onto Li Tang’s hand with natural ease.

The scene felt familiar to Li Zichu, reminding him of many years ago in winter. Jiang Lou would carry a tube of hand cream with him, not for himself, but for Li Tang, who would get static shocks from everything in the world.

Several times wanting to speak but holding back, Li Zichu finally interjected, “I asked the nurse earlier, and if there are no issues with the tests, we can be discharged.”

Li Tang acknowledged this, rubbing his hands together and turning to pick up his coat.

During the examination in the clinic, Pei Hao also came.

Seeing Li Zichu standing cautiously at the door looking inside, Pei Hao laughed, “Is there a flood or a monster in there?”

Li Zichu said, “Yes, the kind that eats people.”

Pei Hao immediately sobered up, “Manager Li, some things shouldn’t be said lightly.”

He had long been dissatisfied with Li Tang and his friends’ attitude toward Jiang Lou. Besides, there was no need to merge the capital. Repeated concessions had already pushed his temperamental and bad-tempered self to the brink of endurance.

But Li Zichu also had his own stance, “Ask your good friend what he’s done, and you’ll know if I’m speaking lightly.”

Pei Hao asked, after seeing off Li Tang and company.

He knew very little about Jiang Lou’s personal life, only believing what he saw—that Jiang Lou was deeply in love with Li Tang, while Li Tang was “ungrateful,” first abandoning Jiang Lou to go abroad, and now dangling him along without giving an answer. It was truly indescribable.

Jiang Lou didn’t hide anything, omitting the history between him and Li Tang, and only told Pei Hao about the incident with the radio broadcast.

Pei Hao didn’t react much, only calmly cursing after a moment of silence, “You’re really something else.”

In his view, no matter how deep the grudge, one shouldn’t destroy another person over such a thing.

Jiang Lou felt he was right, leaving his hearing aid in place as if waiting for more scolding.

“What’s the point of merging capital or arranging meetings?” Pei Hao continued, “I think you should burn yourself alive instead. Maybe it would help him vent his anger.”

Jiang Lou said, “He said he doesn’t hate me.”

Pei Hao was surprised, his mouth agape, “One day, I have to worship President Li. He’s practically a living god!”

On the other side, on the plane, Li Tang did the opposite, telling Li Zichu about the various past connections of the previous generation and the reason why Jiang Lou was retaliating against him.

After listening, Li Zichu remained surprisingly calm. Li Tang asked him why he wasn’t surprised. Li Zichu snorted, “The story is well-crafted, but unfortunately, I watched a TV series with a similar plot twenty years ago during prime time.”

Li Tang: “…I’m telling the truth.”

“Hmm, true, you’re really good at finding excuses for him.”

“…”

Actually, Li Zichu wasn’t completely disbelieving, but he just needed time to digest it.

Li Tang also needed time, to fill in the story from different perspectives, like pressing each broken puzzle piece back into place.

It was fortunate that work was busy at year-end. Besides needing to summarize all investment projects, analyze trends, and forecast next year, Li Tang also had to attend various banquets in his spare time, plunging headfirst into the world of fame and fortune.

By the time he could come up for air, the company’s general affairs department had already started preparing gifts for employees and even booked the venue for the annual party.

In his first year at the company, Li Tang placed great importance on his first annual party.

In addition to all employees, he personally drafted an invitation list, listing all important business partners.

ROJA was naturally included. The financial department’s reports showed that the ROJA project had surged ahead, and in less than two months of cooperation, several products had sold well, generating dividends exceeding fifty percent of the company’s total revenue.

It could be said that this year, the company could turn losses into profits and rise from the ashes, mostly thanks to ROJA’s performance.

Although such results could be attributed to the company’s sharp vision, accurately discovering a promising project and decisively investing in it, the reality was that Li Tang had heard from a colleague at a wine party that ROJA had already caught the attention of other investment companies. That company was larger than Li Tang’s, with substantial and stable funds, but ROJA rejected that company and instead turned to Li Tang’s company for funding.

That colleague laughed, “Later, I heard that you and the leader of ROJA were old classmates. Everyone was wondering, how good must your relationship be to reach this level?”

Furthermore, Li Tang later learned from Su Qinhan that Pei Hao was far from a carefree unemployed man or a “male escort” specifically for clients. His father was the chairman of a well-known pharmaceutical company in the country, and he was a rich second-generation heir, literally made of gold. In the early stages of ROJA, Pei Hao’s father looked down on his small-scale operations and didn’t allocate funds to him, so he sold his sports car and spent money to support ROJA’s research and development.

So ROJA didn’t lack money or investors.

A startup with a bright future that seemingly humbly sought funding was actually doing charity work.

Li Tang felt conflicted about this and consulted a close friend, “Then what’s the point of them going through all this trouble?”

Li Zichu gave him a sidelong glance, saying everything without words.

Su Qinhan tutted, “Seriously, Xiao Tang, how did I not realize you were so dense before?”

She opened her phone, found a folder named 2019, and pulled out a photo to show Li Tang.

With just one glance, Li Tang recognized it. It was after the end of the second semester of high school, when he was lucky enough to participate in a winter camp organized by the school due to his special contributions.

Over those three days and two nights, many things happened. He and Jiang Lou rode the bus together, ate the milk candy Jiang Lou bought for him, scraped his leg while hiking, broke up and reconciled with Jiang Lou, confessed for the first time in front of Jiang Lou, admitting, “I like you”…

Now recalling it, every event had something to do with Jiang Lou.

And the photo Su Qinhan showed him was taken on the second day after they arrived at Baise Mountain, visiting the strange rock formations. When Li Tang was prodded by Su Qinhan to hug a rock named White Dragon Horse, the photo was taken. In the photo, Li Tang looked listless, not only because of the lingering illness from his fever but also because of the heartbreak caused by the “breakup.”

But Su Qinhan wasn’t showing him himself. She zoomed in on the photo, focusing on a person in the corner.

The person was looking in Li Tang’s direction, expression indifferent, but his gaze didn’t seem to have casually glanced over. Instead, it appeared as if he had been watching this way all along.

Dressed in black clothes and pants, it was Jiang Lou.

Li Tang pursed his lips, concealing the fluctuation of his emotions with silence.

But Su Qinhan wasn’t going to let him off the hook, “I discovered it later when sorting through the photos… No wonder I felt something was off with you two back then. It turns out you were secretly in love, harboring illicit feelings early on.”

Li Tang was struck by the words “illicit feelings” and thought about it, saying, “It’s just a photo taken by chance. It doesn’t prove anything.”

They were also long past the age where they could judge the depth of their feelings by their gazes.

Su Qinhan shrugged, “If you don’t believe it, you can ask him personally.”

Li Tang was about to say there was no need, but Su Qinhan added, “But he’s a liar who deceives in love. You won’t necessarily get the truth even if you ask him.”

Li Tang: “…”

Su Qinhan was still in the capital for work. Because of the busy schedule at year-end, she politely declined Li Tang’s invitation to the company’s annual party.

Before sending her off, Li Tang hesitated and finally confessed something, “Do you remember when you sent me your first WeChat message, asking if I knew Jiang Lou’s address?”

Su Qinhan remembered something like that and asked jokingly, “So, are you upset that I didn’t ask for your home address first?”

Li Tang shook his head, “At the time, I replied to you, ‘How could I know’…”

Su Qinhan’s eyes flickered, understanding, “So you knew his address all along and deliberately didn’t tell me!”

Li Tang nodded guiltily.

“So you’ve been into him for so long…” Su Qinhan pretended to faint, “I can’t take it anymore. Even though getting his address wouldn’t have helped back then, thinking about it from the perspective of seventeen-year-old me, I’m still so angry!”

To compensate for the “emotional damage,” Li Tang ordered hundreds of sets of cosmetics from Su Qinhan to give as party favors to every female guest at the annual party.

This year’s Spring Festival fell in February on the Gregorian calendar, and the annual party was held on a certain evening at the end of January.

As the host, Li Tang stood at the entrance of the venue early to welcome guests.

Qi Sixian from the marketing department thought his suit was too plain, so she prepared an extremely flashy sash for him, along with flowers pinned to his chest, trying her best to dress him up for the company’s image. But Li Tang felt it was too much like a groom’s attire and was embarrassed to wear it.

Fortunately, a suit and tie, although simple, were decent. Li Tang shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with guests at the door. When it was Zhou Dongze’s turn, he pretended to be a business partner, approaching Li Tang with a smile and whispering in his ear in a voice audible only to the two of them, “You look great today.”

Li Tang smiled helplessly, thinking he didn’t know if he looked good or not, but he was certainly close to freezing to death.

Several people from ROJA followed. Pei Hao clasped his hands together and bowed to Li Tang like he was praying.

Just as Li Tang was about to ask what President Pei’s move meant, Jiang Lou shoved Pei Hao into the venue entrance and extended his other hand forward.

While shaking hands with him, Li Tang examined his attire for the day—a crisp black overcoat, which wasn’t formal enough but complemented him well.

Since the age of seventeen, Li Tang had never seen anyone more suited to wearing black than Jiang Lou. The restrained brilliance of his youth and the calm stability of his current demeanor.

Jiang Lou didn’t say anything, entering the venue after shaking hands.

Li Tang stood outside for a few more minutes, waiting until he confirmed that all the guests had arrived before turning to enter.

The moment he stepped inside, the warm air revived him, but Li Tang suddenly went “blind.”

It was from moving from a cold space to a warm place, causing his glasses to fog up.

His position was still in the corridor leading to the banquet hall. Li Tang had to stop and reach out to steady himself against the wall, planning to wipe his glasses first.

He didn’t find the wall but touched a hand.

A familiar sensation, a hand he had held countless times before.

He had also been warmed countless times by this hand, like now, enveloped in the broad palm, so intimate that he could feel the heartbeat of the hand’s owner.

Until enough warmth was transmitted, warming every inch of his skin, joints, and limbs, the hand slowly withdrew and naturally removed his glasses from his nose.

Li Tang was nearsighted, but not severely, so he could see the person in front of him using a soft cloth to carefully clean his glasses.

Actually, Jiang Lou had arrived long ago, staying at the end of the guest line to watch for a while longer.

But he hadn’t expected to see an acquaintance, an acquaintance who was close to Li Tang, with the two of them standing very close together.

Jiang Lou lowered his eyes, wiping the lenses, seemingly focused, but in his heart, he wondered, what had he heard to elicit that smile?

The real “mistaken” target before might have been Zhou Dongze?

Li Tang was also thinking, why was he here, was he waiting for me?

After their reunion, the intentional or unintentional contacts and meticulous care, were they not just for compensation?

After cleaning the glasses, while handing them back, Jiang Lou asked, “Been very busy lately?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Tang took the glasses and put them back on, “Yeah, it’s the end of the year. It’s probably busy on your side too, right?”

Jiang Lou hummed in agreement, “The R&D department has a project wrapping up, so they’ve been working overtime the whole month.”

“It seems you’re ready to distribute year-end bonuses to the employees.”

“That’s Pei Hao’s job. I don’t meddle in those matters.”

“President Pei is also in charge of the finances at your company?”

“Except for R&D, everything else falls under his purview.”

…

After all, they were in a public setting. They chatted about work for a while, both keeping their distance, neither throwing out inappropriate topics.

Moreover, Jiang Lou knew it wasn’t the right time yet.

Having just uncovered the sealed memories, there should be some room for a buffer.

Being able to face each other calmly and chat leisurely was already something Li Tang hadn’t dared to dream of for the past seven years.

Talking about New Year’s plans, Li Tang said, “Aside from visiting relatives and friends, I’ve been arranged to attend several social gatherings this year, but it’s just playing cards and drinking, not mentally taxing.”

The company had a vacation team-building activity planned after the New Year, and Li Tang was considering whether to participate.

Jiang Lou’s focus was on the word “drink.” His brows furrowed slightly, “Health comes first. Drink less alcohol.”

Li Tang said, “My health is pretty good. I’m not that weak.”

Only then did he realize he lacked confidence. If he wasn’t that weak, why did he cry and faint in the hospital last time?

Noticing Li Tang’s awkward expression, Jiang Lou couldn’t help but be startled. Details that had been commonplace when they interacted in the past would now always evoke different emotions when he witnessed them again firsthand.

At this moment, the emcee’s sweet voice echoed in the venue, welcoming everyone to the annual party.

Li Tang snapped out of his reverie and immediately said, “Let’s go inside.”

Just as he turned, he was called back by Jiang Lou.

“After the New Year, do you have time to come to our company?”

Li Tang paused and turned around, “…What for?”

“I want you to see the robot from before.”

Li Tang knew it was the robot named MARIPOSA ROJA.

Jiang Lou said, “It can sing and dance now.”

More than just holding hands.

Li Tang hadn’t expected him to take his random command to heart and actually write new programs. He was momentarily at a loss.

But he still agreed.

“Sure.” Li Tang said, “Once I’m done with this busy period, I’ll come and see it.”