Chapter 12

“I really appreciate your help, but honestly, I could have carried everything back myself,” Bai Wei said awkwardly.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. How heavy are these things for you to carry alone? And these eggs can’t go under anything else, right? Don’t you think so, Wei Lian?”

“Yes, of course, Min Min is absolutely right,” the newspaper editor said, carrying a pile of things and nodding deferentially.

Teacher Qiao Min turned back to Bai Wei. Her expression was filled with admiration and excitement. “And Bai Wei—I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier! Bai Wei and Bai Wei are the same person! You’re the writer who won the Newcomer Award in your second year of college! You know, I was a volunteer at the award ceremony. Before I returned to my hometown, I never imagined that you would move to Snow Mountain Town…”

Bai Wei’s face was nearly frozen in a smile. He had deliberately parked their car farther away from the auto repair shop, hoping to give himself some time to think furiously within this limited distance.

How did things end up like this?

Going to the market was just a temporary excuse to create an alibi for himself. But he never expected that a local middle school teacher named Qiao Min, who was his fan, would recognize him in the crowd after they briefly met before.

Qiao Min exhibited the typical innocence and enthusiasm of small-town residents and fans. She enjoyed watching shows and reading books, not gossip, and had no knowledge of the scandal that had happened to Bai Wei months ago. Even if she had heard of it, her romantic personality would likely make her uninterested in such gossip, only caring that she knew Bai Wei. She brought her husband happily to visit Bai Wei’s auto repair shop, probably planning to have a cup of tea inside. In the past, this might have been a pleasant thing, but today, she had complicated matters in an instant.

Because this was a gas leak! A spark could easily trigger an explosion from a gas leak!

—-

On the way, Bai Wei was tense. He just wanted to get rid of Lu Sen but didn’t want to cause harm to the visitors, as that would create unnecessary trouble for him. As they approached the shop’s door, Bai Wei noticed the reporter Wei Lian’s expression had turned strange. Bai Wei was sure Wei Lian knew the rumors about him. After hearing his name, Wei Lian smiled on the surface, but his eyes showed some calculation.

But now, he looked even stranger. Wei Lian glanced at his overly excited wife, then at Bai Wei: “You… live here now?”

“This is my family’s repair shop,” Bai Wei replied.

The reporter’s expression became more subtle. He reached into his pocket as if to take something out to calm himself. Bai Wei became even more alert at his small action.

— It’s fine. The chances of an explosion are very small, Bai Wei told himself.

He had just inserted the key into the lock when, from the corner of his eye, he saw a small flame flare up behind him.

“Wait!” Bai Wei shouted.

The reporter was startled. But his cigarette was already lit. He seemed confused: “Wha-what’s wrong?”

Bai Wei didn’t want to seem overly suspicious, but he had no choice but to act. He cleared his throat and sternly looked at the reporter: “I have nasal inflammation, I don’t like the smell of smoke in the house.”

“Who would?” Qiao Min glared at her husband, clearly having disliked his smoking habit for a long time.

As Wei Lian quickly apologized and extinguished his cigarette, Bai Wei breathed a slight sigh of relief. But soon, his attention was drawn to something in Qiao Min’s hand.

“Why is your phone screen…?”

“Ding dong, ding dong.”

The sound of the phone connecting and disconnecting repeatedly was overwhelming.

“Ah! This power bank is so hot… it’s swollen!” Qiao Min screamed. “Wei Lian, why did you buy this XXX brand power bank? There was news about how XXX brand power banks are prone to sparks and explosions in the summer! Why did you buy it just because it was on sale?!”

“But it was on sale…” Wei Lian muttered.

Sparks, cigarettes—this couple had clearly come to bring disaster to the shop.

At that moment, Bai Wei felt an overwhelming sense of despair.

He took a deep breath and pushed open the shop door. The shop didn’t have windows, and the curtains were tightly drawn, casting the room in a gloomy, dark atmosphere. As he entered, he loudly announced over the couple’s arguing: “Hubby, I’m back! And I brought two guests!”

“H-hubby?”

The reporter stopped arguing with his wife, and instead, a voice full of confusion emerged from him. Bai Wei, however, continued walking into the room ahead of him: “Hubby? Are you home? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“It’s already so late and you’re still not up, the breakfast on the table isn’t touched…” he complained.

“Wait, wait a second.” Qiao Min, still outside, shouted, “Why does this room smell like rotten eggs?”

She pinched her nose, and the reporter quickly reacted: “Gas leak! Bai Wei, don’t go in!”

“What? Gas leak?” Bai Wei appeared briefly shocked, then immediately ran towards the back room, shouting, “Hubby! Hubby! Where are you? Are you awake? Hubby! Say something!”

“Put the power bank outside, Minmin, open that window, I’ll open this one!” the reporter decisively ordered.

Qiao Min immediately nodded, quickly taking Wei Lian’s lighter from his pocket and throwing it far away on the street. Her speed made it hard to not suspect she was taking personal revenge. Meanwhile, the reporter cautiously opened the windows, heart still racing. Between the smoking and the swollen power bank, if these two things hadn’t been discovered before entering, with the intense rotten egg smell in the room, it was likely they’d have been blown up as soon as they stepped inside…

But his keen reporter’s instincts made him feel something was off.

Wait, who was the first to notice these two things?

As his suspicion turned to one person, Bai Wei’s voice suddenly came from inside.

“H-hubby…”

Bai Wei sounded scared, almost choking up.

“Hubby! How are you still alive?”

Bai Wei was stunned.

“This is so great!”

He began sobbing.

Qiao Min looked towards the open inner door. In the shadows of the inner room stood a tall man. Bai Wei, who was usually tall, appeared delicate in the man’s arms, sobbing softly. The man, much taller, was gently patting his shoulder.

“Stop crying, stop crying… I was just sleeping. What happened? Why does this room smell so bad?”

“Ugh! Hubby, I thought you were dead!” Bai Wei cried out.

In this scene, witnessing the idol’s delicate wife and falling into extreme shock, Qiao Min became the most clear-headed person. She turned to her husband: “I think we should turn off the gas switch…”

Then she saw her husband also staring at the two of them, with a look of stunned disbelief.

—-

All the doors and windows were opened for ventilation. Bai Wei sobbed on the sofa, burying his face in his husband’s chest and the soft cushions.

“Honey, I woke up early this morning to make you a special breakfast. But I forgot to turn off the gas,” Bai Wei choked out, “Thank goodness you’re fine, otherwise, you almost died! If that happened, I would never forgive myself for the rest of my life.”

“It’s okay. It’s all because of this gas valve. It has to be manually turned on. So old-fashioned!” Lu Sen comforted him while scolding the gas valve, “This place is just too outdated, it’s not your fault, dear.”

Qiao Min took the opportunity to put the ingredients in the fridge and went to chat with Wei Lian. When she turned to look at him, she found Wei Lian was already standing by the fridge.

At that moment, she felt a sense of relief, thinking they were finally a couple with mutual understanding again.

“Wei Lian, don’t you think this is weird…” she whispered to him.

“Wait a moment, I’m thinking,” Wei Lian said.

“Thinking about what?”

Wei Lian looked heavily at a few bowls of unidentifiable food in the fridge, “I really want to know what these things are.”

“Hey! Do you still want the things in the fridge?” Qiao Min said to Bai Wei, who was crying on the sofa, and Lu Sen, who was comforting him.

“Oh, the things in the fridge are the food I made for A Wei last night. Could you please squeeze them together and place them in one layer?”

Qiao Min wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt Bai Wei’s crying paused for a moment before getting louder and more intense, almost with a menacing tone.

She took some time to identify one of the dishes as containing chives, another with lamb… all foods that were typically considered to have an invigorating effect. The quality of these dishes made her feel like she should be wearing gloves to handle them. Qiao Min placed the dishes in the top shelf and then whispered to Wei Lian, “Oh my God! How can Bai Wei’s husband be a man… I mean, how does Bai Wei even have a husband…”

“I actually find another thing strange…” Wei Lian lowered his voice and said, “Of course, I also think it’s strange that Lu Sen’s wife is a man…”

“Is that so strange?”

They looked up. They saw Lu Sen standing next to the fridge, looking down at them. His tall figure stood like a dark mountain, blocking all the light.

Like a shadow, casting over them.

Qiao Min unknowingly spoke her true thoughts, “Yeah… how could it be two men…”

The dark mountain looked at her, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, “That’s right. That week, you left Snow Mountain Town and went on a trip…”

A strange sea breeze scent enveloped the two of them. At that moment, Qiao Min seemed to hear the sound of waves in the distance. She felt dizzy, and Lu Sen’s whisper echoed in her ears.

“You don’t find this strange?”

“No… strange…”

She heard herself speaking with the sound of the waves.

Out of her blurred vision, she saw Bai Wei still maintaining his sorrowful posture on the sofa. But he had already lifted his eyes, coldly and vaguely looking at them.