CH 40.1

Almost instantly, Shi Yunnan’s heart was clenched by this complete darkness.

He took out his mobile phone in a panic, turned on the mobile phone light, and walked out quickly, but what he didn’t expect was that the door of the outermost warehouse had been closed.

“Is anyone there?”

Shi Yunnan shouted loudly, with an uncontrollable trembling in his voice.

It’s a pity that the inside and outside were empty, and no one responded.

A beep popped up on the phone, and the screen displayed a warning of ‘less than 5% battery‘.

Shi Yunnan’s pupils trembled slightly, reluctantly forcing himself to calm down in such an environment. Even so, he was still reluctant to turn off the phone lights to save power.

As he adjusted his increasingly tight breathing, he followed his instinct to call for help.

—Beep.

The call was quickly connected after only one click.

“Hey, are you done with work?”

The moment Luo Lingsheng’s deep voice entered his ears, Shi Yunnan uncontrollably choked up.

“Luo Lingsheng, I’m trapped in the Yuan Jade factory.” He drew a light breath, “…it’s very dark.”

Luo Lingsheng on the other end of the phone reacted instantly, “That Yuan Jade Factory behind Linglong Market?”

He sent Qin Jian to investigate, and Yuan’s newly registered design company was on the edge of Linglong Market.

“……Yes.“

Shi Yunnan feebly leaned against the wall. He knew that using this remaining battery to find Lu Zhao’an might be a better solution to the problem, but he subconsciously chose Luo Lingsheng.

Shi Yunnan couldn’t hang up the call at this moment, even if he knew what kind of psychological oppression he would soon suffer in a completely closed dark environment once his mobile phone was out of power.

He didn’t want Luo Lingsheng’s voice to leave his world, not even for one moment.

“I know you’re afraid of the dark…” Luo Lingsheng’s calm tone contained indescribable tenderness, “Listen, I’m on my way to find you, and I’ll be there in ten minutes at most.“

“…..” Shi Yunnan was startled, obviously not expecting Luo Lingsheng to notice his weakness.

As ridiculous as it may sound, he does suffer from severe and uncontrollable claustrophobia.

When he first went abroad at eight, because a group of foreign students damaged his violin, Shi Yunnan had a fist-fight with them.

There was no doubt that Shi Yunnan was badly beaten up.

After the dormitory management teacher found out about it, he reported the situation. As a result, that group of foreign students was severely punished.

But this wasn’t the end—

A fat senior student who held grudges in his heart paid other students to bind Shi Yunnan’s hands and feet, duct tape his mouth, and throw him into an abandoned material room of the teaching building.

It was a completely dark environment where no light could penetrate. No matter how Shi Yunnan called for help, he could only emit broken whimpers.

If it were not for the good hearing of an old teacher on patrol, Shi Yunnan was afraid that he would have to stay there for the whole night.

Later, the school expelled that fat student who led the chaos, but the young Shi Yunnan’s psychological condition was already affected.

Shi Yunnan heard that the school had informed the Shi family of his condition, but the response from the family was: “It’s just a conflict between children. Don’t take it too seriously. He will be fine after resting for a few days.“

They took it very lightly.

After this incident, Shi Yunnan couldn’t handle a completely dark environment. He had to leave the light on when he went to bed.

Just like on that drunken night a while ago, even if he was unconscious, he instinctively stopped Luo Lingsheng from turning off the lights.

Shi Yunnan hated whining and liked to package himself as a carefree person, so even the closest Wen Yibei didn’t know about his situation.

But he did not expect that Luo Lingsheng would notice and make a correct guess.

“Yunnan?”

Shi Yunnan broke free from the brief trance and saw that the phone had only 3% of the battery left, “The phone is about to run out of power, Luo Lingsheng, I…”

“Do you have the coat you brought with you before going out?”

“Yes.”

“Touch your right pocket.“

Shi Yunnan froze for half a second and followed Luo Lingsheng’s instruction to reach for his coat pocket.

Then he found a piece of candy in the pocket of his coat, which he had never noticed.

He looked down at it. It was the same fruit candy he had given to Luo Lingsheng.

“Did you find it? You said you like this flavor of fruit candy.” Luo Lingsheng’s speech speeded up a lot, but he still maintained enough patience and gentleness.

This is what he secretly put into the other party’s pocket this morning. It was a kind of silent concession. He didn’t expect it to be used at such a time.

“Yuan Meng is already driving at full speed, and Qin Jian is also contacting the management on the market side.“

“If the phone automatically shuts down later, you can stay where you are and close your eyes with this candy. Before this candy melts, I will get to you. Believe me.“

The sense of security in this promise was too ample. Even the darkness that Shi Yunnan was forced to spend time in had a set deadline.

Shi Yunnan’s eyes became moist, and he unconsciously clenched the hard candy, “Luo Lingsheng.”

“I’m here.” Luo Lingsheng replied immediately.

He then instructed, in a warm voice, “Squat down against the wall or sit down, hug yourself tight, don’t be afraid…“

In the next second, the light on the mobile phone suddenly went out, and the warning on the phone was cut off mercilessly.

The fear of a completely dark environment came over Shi Yunnan, who was never afraid of anything. But there was no way for him to calm down and think in this situation.

Shi Yunnan’s breathing became erratic. The phone fell off his hand and hit the ground with a loud sound.

Shi Yunnan stiffly fell to the ground. Perhaps he was clenching the hard candy too tight, so he felt a trace of pain in his palm.

When he regained consciousness, he opened the candy wrapper and placed it in his mouth, as if he had found some sort of life-saving straw—

For a moment, the tip of the tongue was filled with a familiar sweetness, which suppressed the fear that the environment had brought him.

Shi Yunnan held the candy at the bottom of his tongue, closed his eyes and tried to ignore the surrounding environment. Very quickly, memories of the past came flooding back like a huge wave.

His hands and feet were tied, and he was thrown in a dark room where he could not see his fingers. When he inhaled, all he smelt was dust.

Time passed minute by minute.

He whimpered a plea for help that no one could hear, and all he could recall in his mind was his mother’s appearance.

In the whole world, no one knew his situation except for those bad students. It seemed that he would be trapped in such a small place forever until his death.

…

An unknown amount of time later, a familiar ‘click‘ sound suddenly came from the surroundings, and the lights above turned on in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, the door of the warehouse was opened from the outside, and there was a slight movement in front of him.

“…“

Shi Yunnan immediately opened his eyes and saw Luo Lingsheng appear in front of him.

The candy had melted.

The person was also here.

Luo Lingsheng looked at the pale Shi Yunnan, completely ignoring the pain of suddenly rushing out of the wheelchair. He reached out to pat the side of the other party’s neck soothingly, and slowly asked, “It’s alright.”

Shi Yunnan didn’t shed a single tear but immediately hugged the person in front of him with uncontrollable emotion, “…Luo Lingsheng.”

“I’m here. Don’t be afraid. It’s alright.”

Qin Jian and Yuan Meng, who were standing outside, looked at each other, and unanimously closed the warehouse door, leaving space for the two of them.

The smell on the tip of his nose wasn’t the disgusting, dusty smell of that year, but a faint smell that belonged to Luo Lingsheng, like a mixture of sage and sea salt, which was light but lasting and reassuring.

Shi Yunnan stayed in Luo Lingsheng’s arms for a few minutes, trying his best to break free and suppress the indescribable sense of fear.

It wasn’t until he thought he could control his expression that he gently withdrew from the other party’s embrace, “Luo Lingsheng, I’m fine.”

This statement was hard to believe.

“…..”

Luo Lingsheng silently stared at Shi Yunnan’s bloodless lips. Seeing through the toughness and indifference he (SYN) had always pretended to be, the bottled-up emotions that he (LLS) had been holding back in the past few days suddenly burst out at this moment.

“Shi Yunnan.“

He called out, tenderly clasped the back of the other party’s neck, and pinned him down without hesitation.

The slightly cool lips pressed together. The scorching heat instantly rose up and diffused all over the body.

“…..”

Shi Yunnan widened his eyes slightly, but at the moment Luo Lingsheng explored his lips and teeth, he gave up resistance and closed his eyes to receive it.

Forget it, he couldn’t deceive himself any longer.

Sensing Shi Yunnan’s relenting attitude, Luo Lingsheng deepened the kiss forcefully and intrusively, without showing any of his past calmness.

Shi Yunnan clasped Luo Lingsheng’s arms with both hands, fearlessly sending himself into the other party’s embrace.

It was unknown who lost control first. The temperature between the lips and teeth was astonishingly hot. Their breath was sticky and blended together with a hint of sweetness that permeated back and forth.

The occasional whimper added an ambiguous accelerant, as if it could inflame the surrounding air.

After an unknown amount of time, Luo Lingsheng finally stopped.

Shi Yunnan gasped in a daze. The fear that was still tormenting him had long been replaced by the throbbing of this deep kiss, and even a blush appeared on his pale face.

His ears were tinged with lovely red.

He tentatively said what was in his heart, “Luo Lingsheng, I like you. Do you want to give it a try and go out with me?”

“What do you mean by giving it a try? It’s too casual.“

Luo Lingsheng wiped the watery corner of his lips with his fingertips and made a serious statement, “Let’s be together, okay? I like you too, more than you can imagine.“

Even liking wasn’t enough to express his feelings over the years.

Luo Lingsheng didn’t dare say too much, so as not to frighten and pressurize Shi Yunnan. After all, the other party had been trying hard to hide from him these last two days.

However, had it not been for this unexpected situation, there was no telling when they would be able to talk face-to-face.

“…“

“So, are you chasing me?” Shi Yunnan tried to press down on the corner of his lips, but it still rose up. “Or am I chasing you?”

“Count it as me chasing you.”

Luo Lingsheng felt relieved when he saw that Shi Yunnan’s complexion was gradually recovering, “Qin Jian should have made an appointment with a doctor. I’ll take you for a check-up first. We can talk when we get home.“

“Okay.”

Shi Yunnan responded, and only then was he in the mood to check on Luo Lingsheng’s current situation—

The wheelchair was thrown not far away, and the man’s knees were knocked on the ground. At this moment, he had been relying on the strength of his upper body to support himself.

The moment Luo Lingsheng entered the door, he rushed in front of him completely out of pure instinct. He couldn’t care less about his inconvenient legs and didn’t estimate the possible harm caused by his knees hitting the ground.

Shi Yunnan, who finally came back to his senses, was startled, “Your legs…”

“It’s fine.”

Luo Lingsheng took the initiative to put his hand on him and said, “Give me a hand and help me up.”

He no longer drove people away but took the initiative to ask for help.

Shi Yunnan looked at the other party’s completely different attitude from that day, and his eyes lit up slightly, “Okay, I’ll help you.”