After Failing to Reverse the Plot, I Made My Escape - Chapter 9

“So everyone will know that the lover of Yu Fuqiu is Chang Tingzhi.”

“Tingzhi,” Yu Fuqiu whispered.

He carefully took down the small slip of paper with his name written on it. He held it in his palm and looked at it over and over, bitter tears threatening to burst from his eyes once more. Yu Fuqiu fought desperately to hold them back. He tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from falling.

He could not cry. If he cried, the tears would blur the paper and the ink would bleed. He could no longer pull on Chang Tingzhi’s hand to act spoiled and ask him to write his name again.

He looked at the ceiling. It was custom-made, covered in tiny, fragmented points of light. In the deep of night, they emitted a soft glow that filled the room with beauty. They had decided to install this ceiling because of a soft afternoon in early spring, when the sunlight filtered through mottled curtains and cast warm spots of light across the bedroom’s soft carpet.

Next to their double bed stood a small crib. Their child, a little one who had only recently been born, lay sleeping inside. He was so small, wrapped in a soft, pale yellow swaddle with only a red, wrinkled face showing. He looked like a quiet little animal.

Yu Fuqiu leaned against the headboard, his fair face nestled in a large white and gray scarf that cast a soft glow over his features. He was pale, still carrying the exhaustion of childbirth, and his eyes, which were usually full of starlight, were now so tender they seemed ready to overflow.

Chang Tingzhi sat in a chair by the bed. He was not wearing his usual stiff suit but a simple set of loungewear. The coldness of his face vanished the moment he looked at the child, replaced by deep affection.

“What is this? Is the great CEO actually free to stay at home today?” Yu Fuqiu laughed softly and poked Chang Tingzhi’s cheek. Chang Tingzhi, who had been pretending to look stern, immediately puffed out his cheeks.

Yu Fuqiu found it amusing and poked his puffed-out cheek again. “Are you angry? Little squirrel Chang.”

“…”

Chang Tingzhi turned Yu Fuqiu’s palm over and rested his cheek against it. He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time. The air grew quiet. Just as Yu Fuqiu was about to make another joke, he felt a warm liquid on his palm.

He froze, then hurriedly wiped the corners of Chang Tingzhi’s eyes. “What is wrong, Tingzhi? Why are you crying?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Does something hurt?”

“Let me see. I will blow on it for you, okay?”

Yu Fuqiu was incoherent with worry.

Chang Tingzhi slowly raised his head. His deep eyes were red and filled with tears. His usual sharp, intimidating gaze was replaced by a thick layer of guilt and heartache. Tears slid silently down his nose and dripped onto their joined hands. They were so hot they felt as if they would burn Yu Fuqiu’s skin.

“No, no, it is not that, Qiuqiu.” Chang Tingzhi’s voice was incredibly raspy and thick with emotion. He gripped Yu Fuqiu’s hand tightly and pressed it against his chest. Yu Fuqiu could feel the strong, powerful heartbeat beneath his hand.

“It is my fault.” He sniffed, but he could not stop his tears. They flowed even faster, as if he needed to let everything out. “It is all my fault.”

“I am the one who got you pregnant. We could have had other choices. You should not have had to suffer like this. I am the one at fault, Qiuqiu.”

“Do you know how agonizing it was for me to stand outside that operating room?” Chang Tingzhi’s hands trembled. This man, who stood nearly two meters tall, was shivering like a child.

“The doctor told me the baby was in the wrong position and that there was a placenta accreta. When he said a C-section was necessary, I was so scared. I was truly terrified of losing you.”

“It hurts so much here. I never imagined it could be this painful.”

“I thought that if you were gone, I would jump from the building immediately to be with you.”

“The Chang family, the company, the stocks… none of those are as important as you.” He looked up, his eyes entirely focused on Yu Fuqiu. “I worked so hard to make money just so you could have a better life. So I could be worthy of you. So everyone would know that the lover of Yu Fuqiu is Chang Tingzhi.”

He sobbed, nearly unable to continue, and could only repeat, “I am sorry I made you suffer. I am sorry. It is all my fault.”

All of this silent vulnerability stemmed from his guilt. He thought of the difficulty of the pregnancy, the ten months of hardship, and the intense pain of labor, especially the moment the doctor handed him the critical condition notice and told him to sign it.

Chang Tingzhi felt as if his world had collapsed. Yu Fuqiu was his life and his reason for living. If he lost Yu Fuqiu, what point would there be to exist in this world? It was all his fault; if not for his desire, Yu Fuqiu would never have endured such an ordeal.

Yu Fuqiu watched him cry like a child who had done something wrong. Hearing the incoherent self-blame and apologies, the softest corner of his heart was struck. He nestled into Chang Tingzhi’s embrace, pressing his ear against his chest, then slowly looked up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“Everything was voluntary, Tingzhi.”

“I wanted to give you a child. I wanted to have a bond of love between us.”

If the original plot really starts, Yu Fuqiu thought, at least there will be a child to take my place and stay by your side.

Suddenly, the little one woke up. He turned his head and opened his dark, round eyes, which were not yet fully focused, and looked curiously at his father and mother pressed together. Perhaps because they ignored him for too long, the child let out a deafening cry.

“Oh,” Yu Fuqiu said, blushing as he tried to pull away. “The baby is awake.”

“I know.” Chang Tingzhi’s eyes shone with a smile. He leaned down and licked the corner of Yu Fuqiu’s mouth, taking away the moisture there.

“This little guy is so restless.” Chang Tingzhi watched his wife lean over the crib and poke the child’s cheek. Yu Fuqiu’s long hair fell forward, hiding his profile, but it could not hide the fluttering of his beautiful eyes as he looked at the baby.

“Chun Chun, be good for your mother. Do not always be so noisy, do you hear me?”

No matter how Yu Fuqiu tried to soothe him, the little one would not stop. His cries grew louder and louder. Chang Tingzhi turned on the starry sky lights on the ceiling. The soft points of light flowed across the ceiling and caught the baby’s attention. The beautiful light looked like flowing water rotating across the sky.

The baby waved two small, fair fists and made vague sounds. His small fingers grasped at the air, seemingly trying to catch the phantom stars.

“You are afraid of the dark, so I had the workers install the ceiling lights during the renovation. If I am not at home, you can turn them on so you will not be afraid.”

He leaned over and pressed a solemn, tender kiss on that smooth, pale cheek.

The memories receded like a tide. Yu Fuqiu instinctively tried to nestle into the embrace of the person beside him, but he touched only cold air. The starry sky light above was still rotating slowly, but this time, he was the only one watching.

Yu Fuqiu suddenly began to pull out tissues frantically, rubbing his eyes until the skin was raw. The pain brought him back to his senses and pulled him out of the whirlpool of memories. He slowly calmed down. He looked at the crystal ball hanging in his palm.

During those ten years when he was raising Chang Tingzhi, there came a day when Chang Tingzhi began to pull small crystal balls out of his pocket on random days. He would say with a smile, “Qiuqiu, look. I made a ‘Qiuqiu’ for you. If I am not here, it will stay by your side and watch over you in my place.”

Yu Fuqiu remembered the first time he received a crystal ball; it was during Chang Tingzhi’s second year of junior high. He remembered it very clearly.

The pain in his heart was so heavy it made it hard to breathe, but he still slowly closed his hand over the small crystal ball. He held it against his chest, feeling its heavy weight.

“Hm?”

Yu Fuqiu opened the small package. Inside was a letter, but it was only a thin layer. When his hand touched it, he felt a protruding object.

“A key?”

In his hand sat an old key that seemed to carry the scent of dust and earth. A piece of paper drifted out of the envelope. It was in Chang Tingzhi’s handwriting.

“Baby, go to this place first. There is a surprise! There is a time limit, so go quickly. By the time you see this, I should be on my way back. I have the Black Forest cake you love. Wait for me.”

At the bottom, there was a drawing of a stick figure rushing along with a caption: “The Little Chang Tingzhi is rushing back!”

Yu Fuqiu held the key and the note, sitting on the bed for a long time in silence. The fragmented starlight fell on him. His long hair fell forward, hiding his reddened eyes. His long, curled eyelashes trembled slightly, casting a heartbreaking shadow.

After a long while, he carefully picked up the note. He pressed the paper to his lips and left a soft kiss on Chang Tingzhi’s name.

“Okay, I will wait for you to come back,” he said softly.

He folded the note as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. He tucked it safely under his pillow and patted it twice. He looked at himself in the mirror, his body covered in marks, and suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

This was not his Chang Tingzhi. This was just an occupant using Chang Tingzhi’s body.

Yu Fuqiu washed himself several times, not stopping until blood appeared from the scrubbing. He wrapped himself up again, covering the marks. Before leaving, he remembered something and picked up a scarf to hide the bite marks on his neck.

“Tingzhi does not like this. I have to cover them. I cannot let Tingzhi see. He would be unhappy,” Yu Fuqiu said.

He stumbled out the door, gripping the old key and the crystal ball tightly in his hand.