The Promise Sealed with Our Lips

He Nuo didn’t go to work. Yesterday night, his parents told him to apply for leave and stay at home. After his family went to school and work, only he and his fourth bro were left at home. Fourth bro dragged him away to ask him a lot of questions regarding Shi Yan. Actually, aside from knowing that Shi Yan’s father was an official, he didn’t really keep in mind which post his father was holding or how much authority he possessed. Because when they were together, He Nuo had never asked about these things.

His fourth bro saw that he couldn’t get any answers from He Nuo and started to worry about whether Shi Yan had the capability to help him transfer jobs. Since his doubts were left unanswered, fourth bro thought that he had been a bit too optimistic. He was overly excited yesterday night, but now that he had calmed down, this matter seemed a little suspicious no matter how he thought about it.

Shi Yan wanted to inform He Nuo’s family of the transfer, but he couldn’t contact them because they didn’t have a phone. Thus, he thought about asking for more details from his father during lunch first, such as which department fourth bro would go to; he only came to He Nuo’s house after he had finished his meal. He Nuo was eating lunch with his family. Fourth bro talked about his worries, and his parents also thought that entrusting such a matter to a child seemed quite unreliable. The twins just said what everyone was thinking about in an up front manner, “Yan Ge is only willing to help fourth bro because he wants He Nuo to resume classes ba; if fourth bro’s transfer fails, will He Nuo resume classes or not?”

No one answered that question, and He Nuo didn’t say what he wanted to either. If it were possible, he didn’t want Shi Yan to do anything, and if he could only help with one thing, he hoped that it would be with his fourth brother’s job. His fourth brother graduated from a regular college after all, he shouldn’t be doing the same kind of work that he was doing. It was because he had experienced it himself that he didn’t want his fourth bro to experience it as well. However, what could he say? These two matters were naturally tied together from the start.

Shi Yan came. He Nuo’s family put their bowls down and hurriedly went to greet him. The good news he delivered made his family burst with excitement — especially when they knew that fourth bro wouldn’t need to start at the grassroots level and could go straight to the subsidiary department of the main factory; this department serves as a bridge that connects the main factory and a lot of the subsidiary and branch factories at the grassroots level. Thus, not only would he have the opportunity to come into contact with the upper levels, but he would also be able to connect with the production departments of the branch factories because of his need to convey and distribute the tasks allocated to him by the main factory. This kind of post would grant unlimited prospects for his future, and it was a position that the He family had never dared to even dream of. Shi Yan told fourth bro that his father had already greeted his company’s head, and asked fourth bro to get his transfer order as soon as possible.

Fourth bro was ecstatic about being able to hold his head high in front of his manager. But he was afraid that an undue delay may bring trouble, so they needed to take advantage of the holidays before National Day to complete his transfer as Shi Yan would still be around. Thus, he immediately set out to go back to his factory to obtain his transfer order. After everyone had gone to work or school, Shi Yan and He Nuo finally had the time to sit down and talk. But rather than talk, they just faced each other silently. He Nuo only knew how to say ‘thank you’, but at this moment, even a thousand words would not be enough for them.

Shi Yan opened up the bag that he had brought over and took out a tube of snake oil cream. This cream was originally used for moisturising hands in the winter, but when he saw He Nuo’s pair of hands that were more chapped than chapped hands in winter and all the burn wounds on it, he slowly rubbed the cream on his hands, and carefully rubbed it into his wounds. When he rubbed it over a big cut, it hurt so badly that He Nuo retracted his arm, so Shi Yan immediately lightened his pressure. He Nuo was embarrassed, “I’m okay now, you don’t need to bother so much. It’ll recover by itself in a few days.”

“He Nuo, I like you.” Shi Yan couldn’t help but let these words escape his mouth.

“Un, I like you too.”

Shi Yan was surprised by He Nuo’s response. He Nuo saw his widened eyes and laughed, “If you don’t like me, then why would you be my friend? And if I don’t like you, I wouldn’t be your friend, right? Actually I didn’t really want to be friends with you, because I’m always causing you so much trouble. You’re too kind to me, I have nothing to give you in return, but I can’t bear to lose you.”

The innocent He Nuo had missed Shi Yan’s confession, and the Shi Yan who had never seriously thought about why he treated He Nuo differently from the rest had his nose led around by He Nuo.

“Sorry, He Nuo.”

He Nuo knew what this ‘sorry’ was for. When they met again, no one had raised any questions, and now they were finally facing their past. After that afternoon, the sense of inferiority that He Nuo had hidden for a long time in his heart was exposed. In the past, his emotions would have never been riled up by anyone’s accusations or unjust treatment. But Shi Yan was different. After Shi Yan violated his body, he realised that his physical body was alright, but the accusation that Shi Yan had tagged onto him was what really hurt him. He wasn’t the kind of shameless person who would repay other people’s kindness with ingratitude.

“Shi Yan, I’m not angry, and I don’t hate you anymore. But there’s really nothing between me and Yu Yao. You’re my best…and only friend, I won’t do anything to let you down, and I won’t let you down in the future either.”

Shi Yan couldn’t control himself from hugging him, “I understand. I know, I know it all.”

“Then if we were to have any misunderstandings in the future, is it okay if we talk it out properly? I don’t want to cut off all ties with you, it’ll make me really upset.”

“We won’t. It was all my fault, I’ll never wrong you again.”

He pushed him away, then He Nuo looked into his eyes, “Shi Yan, I’m not afraid of being wronged. Even if other people were to wrong me, it doesn’t matter, I don’t care about that at all. But if you ever get angry with me in the future, can you at least give me a chance to explain myself?”

Shi Yan forcefully nodded. The knot in their hearts had been untied. It felt so good after the overcast sky cleared up, for the both of them.

Fourth bro went to his company and successfully obtained his transfer order, and had even managed to show off a little in front of his manager. He finally saw this damn snobbish asshole’s fawning face as he tried to find out how he managed to transfer to his new company. One must know that it was not easy to enter Shi Yan’s father’s factory, let alone get into such a good department. It was easy to imagine that the leader had the intention to carefully assess him. Fourth bro casually handled his questions and listened to his disgusting laments, about how they really shouldn’t be letting such a talent go, or how he hadn’t even been put in an important position here yet, but for the sake of comrade Xiaohei’s future, he would still wish him a good transfer.

The company’s manager and his colleagues enthusiastically urged fourth bro to stay, and asked him to have dinner together with them so that they could see him off. But fourth bro resolutely rejected them. Right now, fourth bro didn’t even want to spare another look at his manager, and in the near future, he believed that they would have the opportunity to meet — when fourth bro comes down to check on them and examine their work; a lot of the business deals in this factory were sent over by Shi Yan’s father’s company.