Chapter 61 – Gift

Before leaving work, Li Tang received his second bouquet of flowers today.

The Dianthus flowers, arranged in champagne and white, presented a fresh and warm style. His colleagues weren’t as excited as they were when they saw the red roses that morning, but they still teased him for quite some time, exclaiming how fortunate Li Tang was with women, and speculating that they would see the boss’s significant other at next month’s vacation team-building event.

Li Tang neither confirmed nor denied their guesses, letting them speculate as they wished.

When Yang Baichuan from the Research Department came to the General Manager’s Office to submit documents, Li Tang casually asked, “Where did you buy your bracelet?”

Yang Baichuan instinctively looked down at his wrist and replied, “I bought it online.”

“Can you get the right size buying online?”

“You can use a tape measure, or wrap a piece of paper around your wrist, mark where it overlaps, then unfold it and measure.”

“That’s a good idea,” Li Tang said, drawing a parallel. “You could also use this method to measure ring sizes.”

Yang Baichuan proactively took off the stacked beads on his wrist and handed them over. Li Tang held them in his hand, observing them, and laughed, saying, “These look better on young people like you.”

Yang Baichuan looked at Li Tang’s smiling eyes and said, “You…you’re very young too, Sir.”

“What?” Li Tang lifted his gaze, not hearing clearly.

Yang Baichuan averted his eyes after less than a second, “Nothing.”

While Li Tang was browsing through documents, Yang Baichuan glanced between the red roses and the Dianthus flowers,

Thinking he was in a hurry, Li Tang said, “We’ll finish half an hour early today.”

Yang Baichuan looked puzzled.

“Isn’t it Valentine’s Day today?” Li Tang said, “Go pick up your girlfriend earlier and take her out for dinner.”

Yang Baichuan seemed somewhat dejected, “…I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Li Tang remembered, “Oh right, you mentioned that on the plane last time…Let’s invite the company next door to our next meal, we can consider it a mixer.”

Yang Baichuan didn’t seem to be listening, taking back the documents and casting another glance at the red roses before leaving in a daze.

They finished work at five-thirty, and Li Tang and Li Zichu didn’t descend in the elevator until six-thirty, discussing the employees’ single status as they walked. Upon hearing that eighty percent of the company’s men and women were single, Li Tang exclaimed in surprise, “So many?”

“Yeah, young people these days are very clear-headed, making money is more important than dating.”

“Then why doesn’t anyone want to work overtime?”

“Because health comes before making money. If the basic salary is enough, who wants to work overtime? In the end, they tire themselves out, and the money they earn isn’t enough to cover medical expenses.”

“Makes sense.” Li Tang pondered, “So why do the two of us work overtime every day?”

Li Zichu rolled his eyes and said, “Because this is your company, and you need to set an example. And I’m your assistant, so I have to accompany you while setting an example.”

His tone suggested he was just short of writing the words ‘resentment’ and ‘grievance’ all over his face.

Li Tang laughed and said, “Actually, when I was in high school, I noticed you had a bit of an M tendency.”

He liked being class president, always taking responsibility onto himself—it was no wonder he was a masochist.

Li Zichu smiled insincerely, “If I have M tendencies, then you are M itself, entangled with someone who almost killed you, unable to cut ties. Most people couldn’t handle that.”

Li Tang dug a hole for himself and jumped straight in, quickly changing the subject, “Go home soon, don’t leave your partner alone on Valentine’s Day.”

Li Zichu had driven there, heading to the underground parking level. Li Tang got off the elevator at the first floor and went out the main entrance, where he saw Zhou Dongze standing there in a suit, looking at him and smiling.

All nearby restaurants were fully booked, and it took considerable effort to find a café with available seating.

As they sat down without ordering yet, Zhou Dongze said, “Sorry, I finished work late today and didn’t have time to reserve a table.”

“No problem,” Li Tang flipped through the menu, “I just finished work too.”

When asked if he received flowers, Li Tang said yes, and Zhou Dongze still apologized, “I didn’t expect flowers to be so popular. I called several flower shops at noon, and they were all sold out of roses, so I had to make a bouquet of Dianthus instead.”

Li Tang understood that the roses weren’t sold out, but rather, on Valentine’s Day, all florists only stocked red roses, leaving no choice for other colors.

“The Dianthus are beautiful too,” Li Tang said with a smile, “Thank you for helping me save face at the company.”

As coffee was served, they chatted about recent work.

Zhou Dongze said that law firms in the capital were much faster-paced than in Xucheng. In Xucheng, he handled no more than two cases simultaneously and often took long breaks, but now things weren’t as relaxed. Handling four or five cases at once was considered few, and he was on standby twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Today, he had arranged related affairs a week in advance to free up time.

“With such a busy schedule, you must barely have time to return to Xucheng?” Li Tang asked.

“Yes,” Zhou Dongze smiled helplessly, “I only stayed for two days during the Spring Festival, my mother was angry and told me not to come back if I was going to leave so soon.”

“Do you regret quitting your job and coming to the capital to struggle?”

“No, in Xucheng, I’d bump into acquaintances everywhere, it was hard to enter a state of striving for a career.”

An East Asian malady deeply ingrained in their genes—restlessness, the need to hustle, always finding something to do, seeking challenges to overcome, to feel the value of life.

Li Tang felt this deeply, “Competing against each other, in the end, we only make things difficult for ourselves.”

Zhou Dongze laughed, “But besides that, coming to the capital has another benefit.”

“What is it?”

“I’m closer to you.”

Li Tang took a sip of coffee and put down the cup.

He knew what was coming and was prepared mentally.

Zhou Dongze asked in a casual tone, “So much time has passed, how have you considered it?”

In truth, Li Tang was grateful towards Zhou Dongze.

Even when he realized Zhou Dongze was keeping secrets from him, deliberately avoiding talking about events that occurred after he left Xucheng, he attributed it to human nature. After all, who would speak on behalf of a “rival” to lower their own chances of winning?

Moreover, Li Tang didn’t believe he was worth the jealousy and scheming.

He knew he was a very ordinary person, not particularly smart, average abilities, no ambition, and an introverted personality verging on cowardice. The only thing he could boast about was his unwavering heart when it came to loving someone.

However, he only had one heart.

He was also somewhat calculative, hoping for balance between giving and receiving. Since he gave his whole heart, he inevitably expected the other party to reciprocate with equally intense affection.

Perhaps this was a form of rebellion or defiance. It appeared indifferent and uncompetitive, but in reality, it sought perfection. If graded, love, this intangible thing, was either zero or perfect in his eyes.

He wouldn’t settle for anything in between, preferring to discard it.

He wanted unconditional favoritism, understanding without words, not the optimal choice after weighing pros and cons, or the calculated conclusion of “suitability.”

Like flowers, as long as it wasn’t the fiery, intense red rose, even if it was the slightly less vibrant Freud, or the beautiful and charming Dianthus, it couldn’t move him.

Firm in this belief, he had the confidence to refuse.

“Sorry,” Li Tang said, “I think we’re better suited to be friends.”

Zhou Dongze didn’t seem too surprised by his answer. He faced the window and asked in a soft voice, “Is it because of him?”

After their reunion, when he saw Jiang Lou downstairs at the hotel, Zhou Dongze had a faint premonition, even though Li Tang rushed away and didn’t look back even once after getting in the car.

But despite having anticipated this, facing such an “unfair” defeat, he couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful, especially when Li Tang answered his question with silence instead of denial.

Zhou Dongze said earnestly, “In the legal system, as long as laws are violated, regardless of extenuating circumstances, even if the victim shows forgiveness, the criminal act remains established.”

Li Tang said, “I know.”

How could he not know how foolish and lowly others thought he was? If the broadcasting incident hadn’t been suppressed by various parties, its severity alone would have been enough to make the headlines of social news. And as the victim of the incident, he actually stood up seven years later, when everyone still remembered it, announcing: Not only do I not hate the perpetrator, and not hold the perpetrator responsible, but I still love him as I did before.

Li Tang closed his eyes for a moment.

But who could truly understand the “extenuating circumstances”? Even he could only piece together the general trajectory from other people’s accounts. In the absence of knowing the full picture, who had the right to judge his “easy forgiveness”?

“You were right back then, he has always been a vengeful person,” Li Tang sighed, “He hates someone, and he seeks revenge, even if that person is himself.”

“I guess the legal system has never seen a situation where the perpetrator and the victim are the same person, so what he did can’t be summarized or defined by just a law code or a few paragraphs of text.”

This statement undoubtedly showed his position, firm and unshakable.

Zhou Dongze picked up the coffee that had cooled slightly and drank it all in one go.

When he put down the empty cup, Zhou Dongze had already adjusted, although his smile was somewhat bitter, “Friends are fine too, friendship is actually a relatively stable type of relationship.”

Li Tang let out a breath, “…Thank you.”

Zhou Dongze asked, “You’re not going to say next, ‘You’re a great person’?”

Seven years ago, when Li Tang rejected him, those were the exact words he used. Perhaps he should have known back then that he couldn’t give Li Tang the kind of love he wanted.

Li Tang laughed, “You really are a great person, you’ll find someone better.”

Zhou Dongze said, “Actually, I also lied to you about one thing.”

“What?”

Zhou Dongze shook his head with a smile.

There was no need to say it anymore.

Because he knew he wouldn’t, wouldn’t find someone better than Li Tang.

He was initially attracted to Li Tang’s appearance, later moved by his shy and bashful expression, the joy shining in his eyes, and the stubborn loyalty that could be described as frightening.

And all of these were given to a man named Jiang Lou.

So even though he had actually been thinking of Li Tang all these years, and both of his lovers had a shadow of Li Tang, wanting to be with Li Tang wasn’t because memories were stirred, nor was it because both of them happened to be in the single phase.

But he was just a bystander, in this story, his name was never included from beginning to end.

After parting ways with Zhou Dongze at the coffee shop door, Li Tang didn’t want to go home, so he entered a bookstore next door.

On the evening of Valentine’s Day, even the bookstore was packed with couples. Li Tang managed to find a secluded corner, barely sitting down to read when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw a text message from an unregistered number in Xucheng, with four simple and straightforward words: Have you eaten?

There was no question mark at the end, as if the sender knew he hadn’t.

Li Tang pondered for a moment before replying: Yes.

The other side sent a series of dots, Li Tang pursed his lips and smiled, putting the phone back in his pocket.

Less than five minutes later, another new text message arrived. The person on the other end seemed to have given up struggling, the words conveying a helpless resignation: Turn left out of here, the third shop has seats.

Li Tang asked: How do you know?

Predictably, the other side didn’t answer.

Turning a few more pages, Li Tang closed the book in his hands and went straight to the checkout counter to pay.

After going out, he turned left, walking against the crowd, stopping in front of the third shop.

Without going inside, he clicked on the number that had sent the text message and dialed.

Then he opened his eyes wide, observing the passersby.

But his ears caught the sound first.

Joyful music, an outdated cell phone system ringtone, also the special ringtone Jiang Lou set for him seven years ago when he complained about Jiang Lou not answering his calls.

Following the faint melody, Li Tang turned around and saw the man towering above the crowd, dressed in excessively understated black clothes.

He didn’t do anything, just holding his phone, standing in the bustling crowd, meeting Li Tang’s gaze, allowing the ringing phone to reveal his location.

Watching Li Tang approach step by step, Jiang Lou thought the first sentence he would hear would certainly be—Why are you here?

But unexpectedly, Li Tang didn’t follow the usual path. Instead, he stepped forward, reaching out with both hands, one into each of Jiang Lou’s coat pockets.

“It’s February, how can it still be so cold?” Li Tang said.

Jiang Lou froze, both because of the prediction error and because of the first time since their reunion that Li Tang had taken the initiative to close the distance.

And Li Tang rested his head on Jiang Lou’s shoulder, not thinking about whether the impromptu excuse was justified, but rather recalling what Zhou Dongze had told him before they parted.

Recently, Chen Zhengyang contacted Zhou Dongze, saying he was prosecuted for theft and asking Zhou Dongze if he could help him avoid punishment, he didn’t want to go to jail.

According to Zhou Dongze’s description, the evidence in the case was currently solid. Besides theft, there was also intentional assault, and with multiple charges combined, he would likely be sentenced to at least ten to eight years. Li Tang wasn’t curious about how many years Chen Zhengyang would be sentenced to, after all, one made their own path, and back in high school, this person had done all sorts of despicable deeds. His current outcome could only be described as getting what he deserved.

However, Zhou Dongze learned another fact from Chen Zhengyang—the recording device from back then had long been reclaimed by Jiang Lou, and the audio file Wang Yan copied onto her computer had been deleted. It was Chen Zhengyang who found an encrypted file on the broadcasting room’s computer before this, out of curiosity, copied it and took it away, asking professionals to crack it, and then played it in the broadcasting room on his own initiative.

Chen Zhengyang was baffled, “Back then, I could escape unscathed from such a serious incident, but now, for just stealing something and hitting someone, I’m going to be sentenced to prison?”

So he knew it was serious, Li Tang thought.

So, Jiang Lou had already regretted it, long before the mutual destruction, choosing to retract.

Even if the world was terrible, Jiang Lou still wanted to live on with Li Tang.

So, if there hadn’t been the accident later, if there hadn’t been someone with ulterior motives meddling, what would they be like now?

His fingers touched a hard object, Li Tang clenched his fist and grabbed it, pulling it out of Jiang Lou’s pocket.

Shaped like a pen, the black lacquered recording device was the Valentine’s Day gift he gave Jiang Lou eight years ago…no, seven years ago.

At that time, Jiang Lou promised to properly preserve it and use it well. Originally, it was a medicine for missing times, taken out and repeatedly simmered on sleepless nights and in the mornings after waking up without him.

Holding the recording device, Li Tang lowered his head again, pressing his forehead against Jiang Lou’s shoulder, not wanting him to see the dampness at the corners of his eyes.

At this moment, Jiang Lou didn’t know that Li Tang had found another puzzle piece, and the complete picture was about to be restored. He only lowered his eyes to look at Li Tang’s soft hair and the snow-white nape of his neck.

Last year, they couldn’t be together when it snowed, how unfortunate.

The two stood on the road, supporting each other, until Jiang Lou raised his arm, about to give up, when Li Tang suddenly spoke, “Right.”

He whispered, “Right pocket…gift.”

Jiang Lou’s hand changed direction, reaching into Li Tang’s coat pocket.

Li Tang was dressed casually today, so his pockets were very large, big enough to hold a book.

Pulling out the hardcover book, Jiang Lou was still somewhat bewildered.

The book wasn’t thick, with a vivid oil painting as the cover. At the top was a blue sky, with distant majestic mountains embracing fertile farmland, and above that was a vast expanse of clouds like glowing clouds.

The title was printed in the center—A Cloud A Day

It was a book titled A Cloud A Day.

Also a Valentine’s Day gift seven years overdue.