In order to chase his wife, Shen Du would give up anything, even his face. Furthermore, the “en” from Nanqi was also like a piece of sweet candy gifting to him, which made him even more shameless as he smiled and said, “Are you here in my dream? I won’t sleep if you’re not here.”
Ye Nanqi: “…”
Shen Du said: “Or you can say it yourself that you will dream of me.”
Ye Nanqi: “…”
There was no response, and when Shen Du guessed that he might be embarrassed and was about to stop his teasing and coaxing him instead, he heard Ye Nanqi speak up.
Ye Nanqi’s voice was warm and gentle, even if he spoke coldly, it was always kind and pleasant to hear. Though his voice was a bit unclear at this time, every word that fell into Shen Du’s ears was as clear as a mirror.
“I can dream of you but you can’t dream of me.” Ye Nanqi paused, and added vigilantly, “Even if you dream of me, you can’t have a spring dream either.”
After talking, he hung up.
Shen Du was so excited by these words that his drunkenness was completely dissipated, and a secret joyous was wandering in his heart. He originally wasn’t very sleepy at first, and now was completely awake.
Sitting on the bedside, he excitedly made phone calls to harass Ye Nanqi over and over again, wanting to hear that sentence one more time.
This annoyed Ye Nanqi so much that he simply dragged him into the blacklist.
If there was no video call, a phone call could do. If a phone call couldn’t get through, there were still text messages―President Shen, who had a high level of mental awareness, immediately and flexibly changed his strategy and chose to send Ye Nanqi WeChat messages.
【Shen Delinquent Du: Wife, dragging a person into the blacklist without giving a prior notice is cold violence, and cold violence is also domestic violence.】
Ye Nanqi looked at this message and was silent: “…”
【Shen Delinquent Du: who originally said that he knew the legal studies, and also wanted to take me to view the legal system and institutions segment together?】
Ye Nanqi rubbed the corners of his forehead, but the corners of his lips couldn’t help curved up. He turned over and typed slowly.
A few seconds later, Shen Du received Ye Nanqi’s reply.
【Milk Cat Nan Xiaoqi: You want your WeChat to be blocked too? Sleep.】
Telling me to sleep, but once in a while you still come chatting with me, Shen Du was very satisfied. Seeing the time was already late, and remembering that Ye Nanqi still had to run around with the program crews later, he said good night.
Ye Nanqi put down his phone and thought that Shen Du was still a three years old child.
After putting down his phone, he peacefully fell into a Dreamland leaving Shen Du who couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning alone. After tossing and turning over and over again, he finally called Zhao Sheng, made him awake together with him in the middle of the night, and repeated Ye Nanqi’s words cockily, feeling that his revolution was about to succeed.
Zhao Sheng, who was still having a good night’s sleep, awoke and was fed dog food in the middle of the night and was extremely angry. He gritted his teeth for a while, and sneered, “You haven’t hit the home base yet, what are you showing off for? Come and bother me again after my sister-in-law becomes pregnant with your child.”
Shen Du was very inspired by this one sentence. Although he knew it was impossible, he still carefully checked how men became pregnant.
Probably it was Shen Du’s thoughts and strong obsessions that Ye Nanqi had a messy dream all night. For example, he dreamt of giving birth to Shen Du’s baby.
In the dream, since Foreign surrogacy technology was developed, many same-sex couples could have children of their own. Ye Nanqi woke up from the dream with a dark face recalling the content of his dreams, thinking that he might be allergic to going to bed with Shen Du now.
++++++
The next target location was near Y City, which was too far away to stay in this hotel anymore. After checking out of the current hotel, the program crews started getting on their journey.
With Shen Du’s instructions, the program crews first changed the location to another urban area of Y City. Although the location was far away from the other famous street food around there, it was convenient for Ye Nanqi to make a move.
When he arrived in Y City, Shen Du hadn’t finished his business yet, so Ye Nanqi had to go first, and Shen Du would follow later.
After shooting the morning show, Ye Nanqi fell ill and went to the hospital in the afternoon.
To prevent other guests from panicking and quitting, the program team didn’t dare to use dreadful gastroenteritis and other symptoms to prevaricate again, and changed the name to one of the diseases that sounded very serious, and immediately invited another artist who had been prepared in advance for replacement to come over.
Ye Nanqi lay in the hospital ward while receiving condolences from a few teammates. After making sure that no one would come again, he changed into low-key clothes, put on a hat and mask, secretly left the hospital, and met with Zhang Ming.
Zhang Ming, “Now is the rainy season in the southern district and since it’s been raining heavily recently, it’s very difficult to walk in the mountains.”
Ye Nanqi looked at the sky, and then looked at the weather forecast, nodded and said, “We’ll get there as soon as possible.”
Zhang Ming specially changed off-road vehicle and drove to a county town around Y city according to the map. They arrived at an agreed place to up one of Chen Wen’s relatives from his hometown.
A young man in his twenties, with dark skin and ordinary face and his name was Zhang Ping.
Zhang Ming slowly scanned the person and after seeing that Zhang Ping was exactly the same as in the photo, he asked a few more questions according to the characteristics provided by Chen Wen and tested the man. After confirming that he was just an ordinary person, he asked him to sit down in the passenger seat.
Because Shen Du would go up the mountain later, Zhang Ming asked him to contact a person to bring Shen Du up.
Zhang Ping was someone who hadn’t much consideration, getting paid by doing various things, and talked a lot. There was a strong sense of a country boy when he asked Zhang Ming’s name. “Also surname Zhang ah, we’re from the same family.”
Zhang Ming could be very transparent when he was silent. Ye Nanqi turned his head and listened for a while, and after seeing that he didn’t need his help, he took off his mask and bowed his head to chat with Shen Du with boredom.
Zhang Ping looked back at Ye Nanqi, and paused for a long while before stuttering, “A good-looking brother, like a big star on TV.”
Ye Nanqi, who thought he was actually not as good-looking as he was on the screen, raised his head and smiled at him.
When he lowered his head again, he saw that Shen Du had sent a WeChat message.
【Three-year-old Shen Delinquent Du: Not allowed to smile at other man.】
【Milk Cat Nan Xiaoqi: …】
Ye Nanqi raised his head and glanced at Zhang Ming, who was calmly waiting for the red light. For the first time, he understood what it meant to be not judging a book by its cover.
After leaving the county town, the road was still far away. In his heart, Ye Nanqi felt complicated; he wasn’t sure if he was feeling anxious or excited when he thought of Xu Zhou who he was about to meet.
According to Chen Wen, the other person who was with Ye Mei at the beginning was not Fang Xingyuan. Presumably, it was Ye Mei’s lover.
Once he met Xu Zhou, he would understand a lot of things back then… knowing what Ye Mei was like in the last few months, who was that mysterious man, as well as a vital piece of evidence.
When Zhang Ping tried to say a few words with Ye Nanqi, Shen Du sent over again on WeChat, harshly telling Ye Nanqi to ignore him.
In fact, Ye Nanqi’s personality was not slick and sly when he was a child. On the contrary, he was very afraid of strangers, and he would stutter when telling lies. He also had an ill-fated relationship with Shen Du at the beginning. After the death of his father, he became more and more silent. It was not until later that he entered the entertainment circle that he forced himself to change to entertain others with a smile.
In the past, Shen Du said that he was hypocritical and that wasn’t false at all. He was indeed hypocritical with his smiles that were all fake.
Zhang Ping’s enthusiasm was high, and Ye Nanqi’s response was dull. It was unknown whether his nerves were too dense, or he didn’t really notice and continued to vigorously ask Ye Nanqi what he was called, how old he was, where he came from, and what his job was.
Seeing Ye Nanqi rubbing his forehead with a headache, Zhang Ming thoughtfully led the topic to himself while ignoring Zhang Ping’s many other words, and the atmosphere on the road was considered harmonious again.
As they slowly approached the mountain, the road became rugged and uneven. It seemed that he was sitting on a rollercoaster instead of riding a car. Thanks to the good performance of the off-road vehicle, the results of going ups and downs almost made Zhang Ping almost thrown up when they drove to the side of a road.
The road was so narrow that the car couldn’t get through, and the surrounding trees and grass were all the same at first glance.
Sure enough, as Chen Wen said, if no one was leading the way, he couldn’t find it on his own. No wonder Xu Zhou could hide in this place.
Leaving the off-road vehicle at the intersection, Zhang Ping led the two forward.
The sun was slanting west. Ye Nanqi took out his mobile phone and glanced at it. The signal was intermittent and he couldn’t connect to the Internet.
Looking back again, the road where he came from was blocked by various things. If it wasn’t for the still visible footprints, he wouldn’t know which way he came from.
After many trafficking incidents were exposed, rumors said that no one would be able to get out after entering the mountain. Ye Nanqi was skeptical before, but now he was completely convinced.
After walking for a long time, the phone finally got a little stable signal. Shen Du had sent a few messages to tell Ye Nanqi that he was coming during this time.
He should be able to join them by tonight.
Knowing that Shen Du was coming, Ye Nanqi was quite determined, but still followed Zhang Ping in a daze for an unknown period of time. When the sky was getting dark, he finally saw the shadow of a village in the mountain.
The houses in the small mountain village were small in number. They could see smoke from kitchen chimneys rising in spirals, and the surroundings were quiet. Zhang Ping took Ye Nanqi to the house where Xu Zhou lived, but didn’t see anyone inside.
They questioned an uncle next door, only to find that he had left with the villagers to chop wood in the mountain.
“It may take awhile for him to come back.”
While Zhang Ping wiping his sweat, he noticed Ye Nanqi’s face was as white as jade in the twilight, and the hand that was raised inadvertently was slender and white, so beautiful it seemed to shine. He felt embarrassed and shrank his dark hands behind his back. “Would you like to come to my house for dinner first? You should be hungry after walking for so long.”
Ye Nanqi declined with a smile. “Thank you. My stomach is not good and Zhang Ming brought food suitable for my stomach. We’ll eat that.”
Zhang Ming was carrying a big mountaineering bag with food, a few pieces of clothes, and some trivial items. After walking for so long, he didn’t blush or out of breath and was the one who had it easier among the three.
There was no fault for this reason. Zhang Ping lingered for a while, and only left when he heard the family members calling him to go back to eat from a distance.
Zhang Ming took out the bread, canned fruit and water to Ye Nanqi, saying, “Young Master Shen may not arrive until midnight.”
Although the mountain road was rugged and uneven, there didn’t seem to be particularly dangerous places along the way. Ye Nanqi nodded, taking advantage of the phone receiving a little signal, he sent him a sentence of paying attention to safety, then took a few bites of the bread that wasn’t to his taste.
Originally he was a little nervous thinking that he would be able to meet Xu Zhou when he came over, but without knowing what had gotten into him, he was relieved when he saw no one home.
It was cold in the mountains at night, and Zhang Ming handed Ye Nanqi a thick coat and explained, “Young Master Shen asked me to prepare it.”
Ye Nanqi put on the coat, only to realize that it was Shen Du’s.
This thoughtfulness over minor matters…
He quietly muttered to himself. Later, after noticing that the wind was getting stronger and stronger, he suddenly felt a little uneasy.
The sky changed color while dark clouds drifted over making Ye Nanqi shudder in the cold. “It seems like it’s going to rain.”
As soon as the words fell, many large beads of raindrops fell down.
The two hurried into the house to hide from the rain, and Ye Nanqi was a little nervous, saying, “It shouldn’t be a rainstorm, right?”
According to the time Shen Du had told them, he should be climbing the mountain at this moment. If this became a rainstorm while the sky was getting dark again, the road might be a bit dangerous.
Ye Nanqi became more and more anxious and cursed a few words in his heart when he remembered the weather forecast announced that it would rain only a few days later.
Zhang Mo patted him on his shoulder to calm him down. “It shouldn’t. You have to trust the Weather Bureau. Maybe it’s just a posture to bluff people. Just wait and…”
He hadn’t finished his words yet and a sudden shock of thunder blasted from the horizon.
The two looked at each other.
After waiting for a while, someone came and knocked on the door. Zhang Ping came with two quilts in his hand, wrapped in a large plastic bag, and handed it to Zhang Ming when he entered the house.
“It will rain heavily later.” He said, “Mr. Xu and the other people may not be able to come back tonight. This is my third uncle’s house. You can sleep here for one night.”
Ye Nanqi and Zhang Ming looked at each other and asked, “Is it dangerous if the rain becomes heavy?”
“It’s dangerous to go up and down the mountain, in case there is a landslide…” Zhang Ping shuddered, “Even bones are hard to find.”
After Zhang Ping left, Ye Nanqi’s mood became even more unsettling. His worries about Shen Du’s safety far exceeded the loss of not seeing Xu Zhou.
The place was so dilapidated that even electric lights weren’t in use. There were only oil lamps and candles in the house. Zhang Ming lit a candle and continued to comfort him. “There shouldn’t be any problems. Young Master Shen might have turned back when he found that the weather had changed…”
But he himself didn’t even believe what he was saying.
Ye Nanqi’s face turned pale. He wanted to go to find Shen Du right now, but Zhang Ming stopped him each time he did. Zhang Ming frowned tightly, hesitating whether to follow close to Ye Nanqi or to go out to find the man himself.
Ye Nanqi was so anxious that he could only refresh his phone over and over again. When there finally came a little signal, he didn’t see anything yet, and the signal bar became a cross again.
He could only hold back his anxiety, and after waiting a while, he heard the rain crackling on the roof.
Immediately afterwards, Ye Nanqi heard a crushing sound that seemed to be something collapsing at some point, wrapped in the sound of rain, muffled and not very clear.
But it was enough to make Ye Nanqi, who was tense in his mind, crumble.
He stood up abruptly and ran out. The heavy raindrops smashed on his head and face, and instantly his whole body was soaked.
Finding Zhang Ping’s house, Ye Nanqi’s hands were shaking when he knocked on the door. “Just…what was the sound just now?”
“There should be a landslide ba.” Zhang Ping looked at where the voice came from, “It seems to happen on the way we came. Looks like we have to take other roads when going down the mountain…”
Ye Nanqi’s head buzzed.
It was unknown if it was a coincidence or the Will of Heaven, but the phone suddenly received two signal bars with the message flowing in.
Fifteen minutes ago, Shen Du said that he was almost there.
Zhang Ming, who followed him from behind, thought for a moment, and said in a deep voice, “You wait here, I’ll go find Young Master Shen.”
Ye Nanqi turned stiffly, saying with a hoarse voice, “I’ll go too.”
Zhang Ming frowned and said, “I can guarantee my safety, but you…”
He couldn’t continue. Both of them were soaking wet, and even though the surrounding light was very weak, with his good eyesight, he could still see Ye Nanqi’s eyes were full of tears.
Ye Nanqi’s voice was a little trembling, but his tone was firm as he repeated, “I’ll go too.”
After a moment of silence, Zhang Ming said, “But in case something happens to you…”
Ye Nanqi shook his head, even though fear overwhelmed every inch of his nerves, he couldn’t imagine how he would survive if something happened to Shen Du.
It was because of him that Shen Du came here and he hadn’t even told Shen Du what was hidden in his heart yet. If Shen Du…
For someone who had seen light shining in the darkness, if he lost that light now, he would plunge into an endless abyss in all his remaining times.
It wasn’t long ago that he decided to not be hard on himself again, would cherish the moment he was with Shen Du, and try living the days when he would be accompanied by someone in the future.
He would never forget Shen Du’s scent either.
It was very dangerous to find someone in the current situation, but if he didn’t follow a long, even if he got his revenge later, not only would he not be peaceful again in his life, he would only suffer more pain.
Zhang Ming looked at him for a long time and sighed, “Fine, but you have to follow me closely.”
Zhang Ping was baffled by the conversation between the two of them. After summing-up that he understood. “Your companion has gone up the mountain?”
Ye Nanqi nodded silently.
Seeing that the light in his eyes seemed to have disappeared, Zhang Ping thought back and forth and gritted his teeth, “You guys add some more money, and I’ll take you there. Going around the mountain can be confusing and you guys should have forgotten the way you came by now.”
Once they reached the deal, the three of them rushed out to the mountain with each holding a flashlight. The rainstorm was falling relentlessly, and the sound of rustling raindrops completely covered the sound of their footsteps.
Zhang Ming regretted that he had agreed to Ye Nanqi on the impulse, and worried that his physical strength couldn’t keep up. After finding out that he hadn’t fallen behind after ten minutes of walking, Zhang Ming finally heaved a sigh of relief.
Because the range of electric energy irradiated by the hand was limited, the three of them searched blindly down the mountain while calling Shen Du’s name.
Darkness in the night, heavy rains in the forest with ghostly shadows. Ye Nanqi had never encountered this kind of environment before, and his heart sank to the bottom while his mind couldn’t help wandering around.
Would Shen Du be afraid? This person was most afraid of ghosts and the darkness. Why did he still go up the mountain when it was dark?
What should he do if something happened to him? How could he explain to Father Shen and Mother Shen?
The rain was so cold that his whole body shivered. Ye Nanqi wrapped himself in Shen Du’s coat tightly, as if it was to give him some comfort and eliminated all his fear. When he got down the mountain, he took a photo from a distance, and found that more than half of the land collapsed there. He could tell by a glance that the impact of the landslide was too big and that the scene was too much different from the time when he came earlier today.
Zhang Ping comforted, “It’s okay. It’s one of our villages who leads the way and he knows that he can’t walk around in a rainstorm. Maybe he’s hiding somewhere right now.”
Ye Nanqi’s head was a little dizzy, he couldn’t hear anything he said, and continued to shout Shen Du’s name loudly.
“It’s not easy to find someone if we’re here together…” Zhang Ping frowned, “Would you like to look separately?”
Ye Nanqi immediately nodded, and Zhang Ping came with him.
Zhang Ming was born as a special soldier, and his ability to know roads and survival in the wild was more than two times stronger than that of the two. He had withstood the experience of rainforest, desert and snow mountains. Following the habit, he took the compass from his pocket and handed it to Ye Nanqi. Taking advantage of Zhang Ping wasn’t paying attention, he stuffed a dagger in his hand before going to search on the other side.
Being alone with Ye Nanqi, Zhang Ping was quite nervous as he tried to find something to say. “Who is the person who went up the mountain?”
While whipping the raindrops off his face, and with a hoarse voice, Ye Nanqi faintly told him, “My husband.”
Zhang Ping dared not to speak anymore.
Ye Nanqi almost became desperate as time passed by.
He was so soaked from the rain that his head became dizzy while his mind repeatedly reflected Shen Du’s images, his voice when he laughed, and the warm embrace when he was holding him.
He squeezed the ring on his chest with a trembling hand, and bowed his head to kiss it.
The experience from childhood to adulthood made him never believe in ghosts and th, but this time, he was helplessly begging God to protect Shen Du.
Shen Du…
Ye Nanqi thought. I can’t live if something happens to you.
When his mind was in chaos, a shout came in front of him. Ye Nanqi was taken aback, and after recovering his slow reaction, he realized that someone was calling him.
After using the flashlight to illuminate the person, Ye Nanqi saw Shen Du who was drenched in rain in the same appearance as him.
For a moment, Ye Nanqi’s brain was blank, his tears burst out even before he could feel the surprise and his body reacted faster than his brain. Shen Du walked two steps forward, but before he could run over to hug his baby, Ye Nanqi had rushed to him first.
Shen Du asked in a low voice, “Nan Nan, why are you here…”
Ye Nanqi burst into tears. He threw himself into his arms, hugged him tightly with his head buried on the side of his neck, and his breathing was slightly trembling.
Fresh and warm; a completed Shen Du.
Shen Du, who was hugged tightly by him, was stunned for a while, and even forgot to hug him back. Ye Nanqi hugged him so tightly that he was a little bit in pain.
An embrace that was full of desperation and rejoice.
Like embracing the last ray of light and redemption in this life.
Author has something to say：
╭(╯^╰)╮not allowed to laugh. I’m sad writing this.
[T/N: Author liked to use similar names I almost got confused.]
Drifting Wanderer 
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