Regular past events, fond memories of Shi Yun

Shi Yun wasn’t sure, so he changed the subject and probed,

“Qiaoqiao, when the rain gets a little lighter, should gege take you home?

There’s candy, hot food, and a warm little bed at home. You can have whatever you want!”

Qiaoqiao stared at Shi Yun for a long time, hesitating whether or not to agree.

“Are… are ni a bad person?”

“I’m definitely not a bad person. I’m a teacher at the village kindergarten!

I can take you to the kindergarten to play with the other kids.”

He held out his little finger. “Let’s make a pinky promise!”

Qiaoqiao finally trusted Shi Yun.

He was obviously sleepy, and after finding warmth, he soon fell asleep in Shi Yun’s arms.

Shi Yun patted his shoulder, humming an unknown tune along with the sound of the rain.

Qiaoqiao drifted off into a deep sleep.

Shi Yun smoothed Qiaoqiao’s hair, feeling very sorry for him.

“He’s still so young. I really don’t know how he’s been living all this time.”

Looking at Qiaoqiao, An Huaixu once again thought of the question that had been bothering him—how did the lost Xiao Yu come here, and what did he experience to become Shi Yun?

Shi Yun got up from the entrance of the cave, carried Qiaoqiao inside, and wrapped him in the blanket.

He thought of Ani and the camera operator at the foot of the mountain, and worried,

“I wonder how Sister Ani and the others are doing.”

An Huaixu first felt the cold wind from outside blowing in, chilling him to the bone.

He didn’t know if it was the dampness or his inner turmoil, but his heart was pounding non-stop, and he couldn’t calm down.

He tsked, couldn’t help but take off his coat, wring it out, and draped it over his arm in a perfunctory manner.

“They’re not stupid.”

Shi Yun chuckled softly. “That’s true.”

He sat next to An Huaixu, and when he turned his head, he noticed the wounds on An Huaixu’s back that hadn’t completely healed.

“Is your injury alright?”

An Huaixu shook his head.

Shi Yun thought of the question he had left unanswered last time.

He felt that he had answered An Huaixu’s question, and An Huaixu should also answer his question.

So he said seriously, “You still haven’t told me what happened to the injuries on your back.”

An Huaixu didn’t meet his gaze.

He seemed to be in a bad mood, and his tone was a little heavier. “Don’t you know?”

Shi Yun pursed his lips, realizing that An Huaixu was reluctant to talk about it, so he didn’t continue to press him.

Instead, he pretended to change the subject lightly.

“This rain is so heavy. I wonder when it will stop.”

An Huaixu didn’t answer, and the atmosphere became quiet.

Shi Yun didn’t bother An Huaixu anymore.

He tightened the blanket around Qiaoqiao and stared blankly at the red string around his neck.

Was Qiaoqiao just accidentally lost?

Then he’d have to go to the police station tomorrow… 

Why does this red string feel so familiar?

Shi Yun glanced at An Huaixu’s wrist, where there was a similar red string.

He remembered that An Huaixu would rub it slightly when he was distracted, so it must be very important to him.

Just then, An Huaixu suddenly spoke.

“When I was little, a very good friend of mine came to find me, but I hid and didn’t see him.

He got lost on the way to play with someone else… I’ve always felt that it was my fault.

If I hadn’t hidden that day, he wouldn’t have…”

Although An Huaixu’s voice didn’t have much emotion, Shi Yun knew immediately that he was speaking from his heart.

He was stunned for a moment, and his first reaction was happiness, followed by sadness for him.

Shi Yun comforted him. “You can’t think like that.

He was your best friend, so he definitely wants you to be safe and happy, not to live in self-blame.”

An Huaixu pulled at the corners of his lips. “After I grew up, they said that he was dead, but I don’t believe it.

I want to see him alive, and I want to see his body dead. Even if I have to hold his ashes, I must bring him back.”

Shi Yun blinked in surprise.

He usually couldn’t tell anything, but when An Huaixu talked about this, he felt that he was actually very repressed and paranoid.

It seemed that his friend’s matter had really had a big impact on him.

An Huaixu took off the red string and played with it in his hand.

“Around that time, my dad sent me to a mental hospital, but I ran away.

My dad really couldn’t do anything, so he cut off my card, confiscated my phone, and sent me to an outdoor training camp as an instructor.

This injury was sustained at the training camp not long ago.”

Shi Yun asked in confusion, “Outdoor training camp?”

An Huaixu: “Yeah, taking kids out to train in the wilderness.”

Shi Yun understood.

He suddenly remembered An Huaixu’s show “Wilderness Survival” and said bluntly,

“Did you rely entirely on the skills you learned at the training camp to survive those three days and three nights lost in the wilderness?”

An Huaixu glanced at Shi Yun, really unable to understand why this guy’s focus was so strange.

But, this was Shi Yun.

He continued his own topic, saying meaningfully, “You and my friend are very similar.”

Shi Yun didn’t understand. “Similar? Then that’s quite a coincidence.”

An Huaixu took a deep breath. “You… do you remember anything?”

Moment.

Just then,

“Boom—”

The thunder, along with the sound of footsteps and the childish panting from who knows where, awakened the fear deep in his heart.
He felt a current suddenly run through his head, and pain spread everywhere!

He groaned, supporting his forehead, and fragments of memories flashed before his eyes.

“Our Xiao… is the cutest!”

A woman bent down and affectionately pinched his cheek.

“…gege, a symbol of friendship, forever!”

A small chubby hand held a red string and handed it to the boy who was half a head taller than him.

“Xiao… gege isn’t home.”

“Alright, then I’ll go find… to play!”

Then, an explosion and screams came rushing towards him.

He felt a dense pain on his back. He was barefoot, standing in the mud.

He knew he couldn’t stop. He could only go forward, forward, and forward!

Shi Yun painfully covered his head.

Why did he have to go forward? What happened then?

He blinked and found that everything in front of him was scarlet.

He tremblingly raised his hand.

What was wrong? Was he injured?

Who was talking? Who was gege? Why did he have to run forward…

Why.

Why couldn’t he remember anything?

Shi Yun suddenly felt an overwhelming sadness in his heart.

When he realized it, he was already in tears.

An Huaixu crouched in front of him, clutching his hand, looking anxious.

“What’s wrong?”

Shi Yun heard his voice and immediately pulled himself out of the nightmare and back to reality.

He stared unblinkingly at An Huaixu, as if that was the only way he could calm himself down.

“I…”

He wanted to say it, but he didn’t know how. He forced himself to smile and patted his head.

“I don’t know why, but I always get a headache when it rains. I guess my old problem just flared up.”

He looked down and realized that he had pinched An Huaixu’s hand red.

He released it apologetically. “I’m sorry. I sometimes…”

An Huaixu leaned down and hugged him.

He buried his face in Shi Yun’s neck and shoulder, silent.

Shi Yun thought—this was the second time he had hugged him today.

Unlike the first time, this time An Huaixu was even more frightened, and even trembling.

“You…”

An Huaixu’s voice was muffled. “Do you know how worried I was about you?”

Shi Yun was stunned.

An Huaixu: “Just now, and now too.”

Just now?

Shi Yun thought for a few seconds and remembered.

However, it was rare for An Huaixu to say a few words of concern, so he happily forgot his troubles in an instant and joked,

“Why are you worried about me? I’ve walked this road not eight hundred times, but at least five hundred times.

I can even close my eyes and know where to step!”

He was quite proud. “I thought the road wasn’t easy to walk, so I wanted you to wait for me down below for a while, and I’d go up to explore, but I didn’t expect it to start raining so quickly.”

He patted An Huaixu’s shoulder. “Relax. I’m not that easy to kill. On the contrary, you standing on the edge of the cliff really scared me!”

In Shi Yun’s rambling voice, An Huaixu clearly realized that half-grown Xiao Yu was the one he needed to protect, but Shi Yun wasn’t.

He took a deep breath, felt the violent beating of his heart, and closed his eyes in resignation.

No matter what, he could no longer deceive himself.

His feelings for Shi Yun were no longer pure brotherly affection.

When did they start to change? 

An Huaixu recalled.

Perhaps it was before he even knew that Shi Yun was Xiao Yu, when he saw Shi Yun out of touch with the internet, confused but trying to learn, that he had unknowingly planted a seedling.

Later, with his gentleness, patience, and a series of interesting displays, the seedling grew vigorously, until today, it named him with emotion.

He wasn’t a good person, and he didn’t care about the status between them.

Shi Yun was Shi Yun, and he was him.

He liked Shi Yun.

The moment that thought appeared, he released Shi Yun as if he had been electrocuted.

He sat unnaturally on the side of the stone wall, tilted his head, coughed, and pretended to be normal. “Then… then next time, can you tell me?”

Shi Yun hadn’t really considered that and promised, “Definitely!”

The two said a few words without any particular topic, and the rain gradually stopped outside.

An Huaixu took Qiaoqiao from Shi Yun’s arms and walked out of the stone cave first.

Outside, the dark clouds had dispersed, and the flowers and trees were dotted with crystals.

For the first time after the rain, Shi Yun didn’t have a headache, and he felt refreshed.

He caught a glimpse of something and happily patted An Huaixu. “Look!”

An Huaixu followed his finger and saw a rainbow that had arched from the horizon and disappeared into the unseen end.

Shi Yun: “So beautiful!”

An Huaixu hummed in agreement.

Qiaoqiao woke up slowly and was startled when he opened his eyes and saw An Huaixu.

But he didn’t cry or make a fuss. He just huddled there obediently, out of fear.

Shi Yun walked down the mountain with An Huaixu, teasing the child with a smile.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Ani and the camera operator had already returned, as expected.

There wasn’t anything else to do in the afternoon, so the three of them weren’t in a hurry and slowly walked towards the kindergarten.

“Qiaoqiao, how about gege take you back to the kindergarten first? That way, you’ll know if what gege is saying is true, right?”

Qiaoqiao nodded. “Okay.”

The three of them returned to the kindergarten.

Shi Yun told An Huaixu to wait outside while he rushed into the lounge. “Director Lin, I picked up a child!”

Little did he know, his words were captured by the live broadcast.