Chapter 123: A Spring Dream

Most likely the man had just drunk orange soda. When the two were close together, Jin Yuan smelled a hint of sweet orange.

Without any precautions, he kissed his temporary neighbor, which was a bit too much.

He was originally a somewhat conservative person, and suddenly experiencing this left him a bit bewildered.

When the boat just docked, Jin Yuan even had difficulty maintaining surface politeness. He quickly got off the boat and seemed to be running away in a panic.

Zhou Muxian glanced at the transparent umbrella beside him that was neatly folded and still had a few raindrops on it. He reached out and took it.

He suddenly found Jin Yuan a bit cute.

He was not a child anymore, and seeing an adult man blushing and escaping after being kissed, was really an interesting thing.

Jin Yuan, in a hurry, didn’t even care about the direction he was running in. He ran into a small store before he felt somewhat at ease with the thing in his chest.

The store was lit with lightly scented aromatherapy candles. They had a light fruity smell, which smelled really good and reminded him of the taste of orange soda.

Pursing his lips, he forced himself to focus on the shelves in the store, and bought some small things. He still ended up getting a can of orange bottled drink.

As he settled the bill and pushed open the glass door, the thunderous sound of thunder rolled in, and it seemed like a heavy rain was about to pour down.

It was only then that Jin Yuan realized he had lost his umbrella, which was quite unfortunate.

He stood outside the small shop with a paper bag, and in the increasingly gloomy weather, a person in a cotton and linen shirt holding his umbrella walked up to him.

With his index finger hooked around the umbrella handle, Zhou Muxian stood in the corridor and said, “Your umbrella.”

Jin Yuan: “…Thank you, thank you.”

Zhou Muxian: “You’re welcome…”

The atmosphere was like the increasingly cold and dark sky. Jin Yuan rubbed his fingers against the umbrella handle and felt that standing here like this wasn’t a good idea. Raindrops had already begun to fall, and who knew how long it would last.

After hesitating for a moment, he invited the person standing next to him, “Would you like to go back to the hotel together?”

The person next to him looked at him and then said, “Sure.”

It was a single-person umbrella, and it was quite a hassle for two men to share it. Jin Yuan held the umbrella, and it was awkward to carry it and the other person, so he had to lean the umbrella towards Zhou Muxian.

As a big guy at home and acting like a big brother, when has Zhou Muxian ever received this kind of “favoritism”?

He had to lean closer to Jin Yuan while saying, “The umbrella is slanted.”

Jin Yuan suddenly realized and adjusted it slightly, but it soon tilted back towards Zhou Muxian’s direction.

After walking for three or four hundred meters, they looked around and felt that the surrounding buildings were becoming increasingly unfamiliar, as if something was amiss.

“Is this the way back?”

“Maybe we went the wrong way.”

“Oh… then we turn back?”

“Uh-huh…”

It’s unclear how these two could wander around so much. On the way back, they walked for half an hour.

When they arrived at the hotel entrance, Zhou Muxian was still dry, with only a few droplets on his arm, while Jin Yuan was already half-drenched from the rain. The light blue color of his jacket became especially vivid after being soaked.

Half deep blue and half light blue, it looked like a work of art.

Feeling a little apologetic, Zhou Muxian realized that the umbrella was the other person’s after all, and if it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have gotten wet like this.

They walked in silence until they reached the door of their room. Suddenly, Zhou Muxian called out to the person who was about to open the door, “Wait.”

Jin Yuan obediently stood at the door while Zhou Muxian quickly entered the compact room and brought out a box of ginger candy.

“This, brew it with hot water and drink it, it will warm you up and prevent colds.”

Jin Yuan took the box of palm-sized ginger candy and said, “Thank you, don’t forget to drink some too.”

Zhou Muxian replied, “Mm, good night.”

Jin Yuan replied, “Good night.”

After locking the door, Zhou Muxian couldn’t help but smile a little.

This could be considered a scene from “Dangerous Liaisons in Venice.”1

Taking a hot bath in the bathtub, pouring a cup of hot ginger tea, and sleeping well is simply the most comfortable thing.

Perhaps it was because he walked more than usual today and was tired, so he slept particularly well tonight.

Zhou Muxian felt like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep like this in a long time.

He soon entered a sweet dream.

People always dream, whether it’s a beautiful dream or a nightmare.

Zhang Jiajia once said: Illusion is good, dreaming is good, everything that is far from reality is good.2

But the problem is, if the object of the dream lives next door, and he wakes up to find that, then it’s not so good.

Zhou Muxian never thought of himself as a person who is easily swayed by appearances, but the pants he was washing felt like slaps on his face.

Even if he wakes up and forgets all the dreams from last night, it would be fine.

But he remembers it so clearly, how he pushed the person onto the bed.

In the mirror, the person’s face is slightly pink, and the strength of washing the clothes in the hands is a little bit stronger. He has almost finished washing them, but for some reason, he takes out the fabric from the water basin and throws it in the trash can.

It rained all night last night, and today is a sunny day.

In this beautiful weather of blue sky and clear water, Zhou Muxian just wants to hide in the room and not go out at all.

If he happens to meet someone again when he goes out, it would be terrible.

He nestles in the blanket, playing with his phone. He didn’t plan anything before coming, but now he casually looks up various tourist attractions in Venice. After browsing for a while, he sees the Bridge of Sighs, which symbolizes eternal love.

Despite finally getting a moment to catch his breath, his mood suddenly became even more chaotic. He sighed and his stomach growled, so he had to call the waiter to order food.

When the meal arrived, the waiter pushed the table to the door and left. The person sitting on the sofa in a daze walked over slowly, lifted the lid of the meal, and found a typical Italian-style breakfast. But what were the two pieces of old-fashioned egg yolk pastry lying beside the plate? Had he gone crazy and his eyes were playing tricks on him?

A small card lay obediently on the table, which he had thought was from yesterday. But as he picked it up to read it, he saw that it said: “Thank you for your ginger and sugar, and here are two small pastries as a token of appreciation.”

“Ahhh!” Zhou Muxian wailed, covered his face with the napkin, and murmured softly, “Why, why do I have to go through this when I don’t even leave my room?”