One-way Passage

The instant Lin Shuqiu heard what Xia Wennan said, he nervously grabbed Xia Wennan’s arm.
“You brought an egg?”

Xia Wennan shrugged his hand off.
“Nope.” His tone was brimming with regret.

Lin Shuqiu patted his chest.
“I thought that you were really going to egg him… You scared me there.”

Xia Wennan laughed at his words.
“What are you so scared of? I’m the one doing the egging, not you.
I’ll just run away afterwards and you can act like you don’t know me.”

“That won’t do,” Lin Shuqiu said, wavering.
“It makes no sense for me to leave you behind.”

Xia Wennan was promptly moved.
He lifted a hand and clapped Lin Shuqiu’s shoulder.
“You’re such a good bro!”

The concert was over two hours long.
Li Xin sang and danced, and halfway through, he also invited fans onto the stage for an interaction segment.
Despite his mediocre vocals, with the energetic atmosphere in the venue, it was an overall electrifying show.

Lin Shuqiu, who sat next to Xia Wennan, had been overcome with grief right from the start, but as the minutes flew by, he still couldn’t help but wave his lightstick around.
“I guess this is my official goodbye to Xinxin,” he said.

Xia Wennan glanced at him.
“If you say so.”

When the concert was coming to a close, Lu Wenxing, who sat in the row in front of them, got up and left.

Xia Wennan watched him walk away, and for a split second, he genuinely regretted not bringing a raw egg with him, but after some reconsideration, he could always just make things difficult for the guy.
Thus, he elbowed Lin Shuqiu and said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to get Li Xin’s autograph.”

“Ah?” Lin Shuqiu turned to look at him.
“I don’t need it anymore.”

But Xia Wennan had already hauled him to his feet.
“C’mon, it’s a great opportunity.
You might as well get something out of this.”

Xia Wennan brought Lin Shuqiu backstage and happened to bump into Li Xin’s agent near the entrance.
This agent had been present when Li Xin shot the product advertisement, so he recognised Xia Wennan and directly took them inside.

At this time, Li Xin was still on stage for a final encore.
The agent asked them to wait in the lounge for a while and told them that he’d arranged for Li Xin to meet them when he returns.

The lounge was relatively small, and only Xia Wennan and Lin Shuqiu were inside.
After Lin Shuqiu entered the room, he became a little nervous.
Unable to sit still on the sofa, he stood up and walked around the room.
After a while, he said to Xia Wennan, “I’m going to go to the toilet.”

Xia Wennan, who had been sitting down for the entire duration of the concert, also stood upon hearing Lin Shuqiu’s words, saying, “Let’s go together.”

The corridor was presently deserted as the staff were all gathered upstairs.
Standing there, they could hear Li Xin’s voice on stage, as well as the tsunami-like cheers of his fans who were all shouting for him to stay.

Xia Wennan and Lin Shuqiu followed the signs on the walls and eventually located the toilets.
The two stood at the doorway, exchanged a glance, and simultaneously chose the relatively closer male alpha toilet.

Lin Shuqiu pushed open the door.
Xia Wennan stepped in first, only to see a man standing at a urinal.

The man wore a cap.
His side profile was turned to them, and though the man was aware of people entering, he made no move to check who they were.

Xia Wennan, however, stopped in his tracks—because he wasn’t the least bit psychologically prepared to run into Lu Wenxing in the toilet.

Behind Xia Wennan, Lin Shuqiu asked, rather unwittingly, “Why’d you stop?”

It was then that Lu Wenxing turned his head and glanced at them.

Lin Shuqiu, who had also spotted Lu Wenxing by then, visibly tensed up, reaching out to seize Xia Wennan’s sleeve.

After Lu Wenxing relieved himself, he pulled up his zipper and turned towards the washbasin.

Fortunately, the urinals are partitioned off, Xia Wennan thought, or else he would probably have had an eyeful of something he shouldn’t be seeing. Help… the last thing he wanted to see was Ming Luchuan’s dad peeing!

The both of them at this time couldn’t just continue to stand in place; Lin Shuqiu had originally come to look in the mirror anyway, so he walked up to the washbasin and took a deep breath as he looked at himself in the mirror.
However, he couldn’t stop his line of sight from straying to Lu Wenxing, who was right next to him.

If one didn’t look at Lu Wenxing’s face and merely took in his figure from the back, one would find little difference between him and a young man in his twenties.
His handsome face also showed no signs of ageing, and he appeared as if he had yet to turn forty.

As Xia Wennan ambled towards a urinal, his attention never left Lu Wenxing, who had washed and dried his hands and was about to head out.
When Xia Wennan saw that he was almost at the door, he couldn’t help calling out, “Lu Wenxing!”

Lin Shuqiu was so frightened that he held his breath; he didn’t dare turn around and only stared at them through the bathroom mirror, wide-eyed.

Lu Wenxing froze where he stood; he turned to face Xia Wennan, expression mild.
“Hello?”

Up till now, Xia Wennan never exactly knew why he wanted to seek Lu Wenxing out, but in truth, he subconsciously understood—he felt distressed for Ming Luchuan.

When Xia Wennan was in his first year of university, he attended a psychology lecture on personality development, in which it was said that the establishment of intimacy with one’s caregivers during infancy had a significant impact on a person’s sense of security as they later grew older.

Ming Luchuan was someone who was completely insecure when it came to love; he saw no worth in investing in one-sided feelings.
To people, he blew hot and cold, and in relationships, he would immediately withdraw at the first and smallest sign that he’d get hurt.

Some people found him weird.
His little brother said he had a bad temper.
But after Xia Wennan heard Ming Luchuan talk about his childhood, he gradually came to realise that Ming Luchuan’s character flaws were the result of not receiving Ming Qin’s love and care at an early age.

But in those days, Ming Qin might have not been able to shower Ming Luchuan with affection since he too was leading a difficult life, spurred on by Lu Wenxing’s abandonment.

Sure, the internet did not exist in the year Ming Luchuan was born, but down the line, gossip ran amok in the media, and Ming Qin had also become a public figure.
There was no way Lu Wenxing didn’t know, but had he tried to compensate for anything in so many years? Under these circumstances, didn’t Lu Wenxing continue to sleep around and lead a carefree life?

Right then, Xia Wennan cast a glance at Lin Shuqiu, who met Xia Wennan’s gaze through the mirror and threw his all into mouthing at Xia Wennan to let it go.

Yet Xia Wennan was hellbent on meddling.
He sternly said, “Is it appropriate to sleep around when you already have a family?”

When Lu Wenxing heard what Xia Wennan said, he seemed completely unsurprised.
On the contrary, he approached Xia Wennan with an unfazed demeanour and held out a hand.
“Hello, I think we’ve met.”

Xia Wennan didn’t shake his hand, only saying, “That’s not necessary.”

“What is your relationship with Ming Luchuan?” Lu Wenxing asked, smiling faintly as he calmly retracted his hand.

Xia Wennan tried to keep his cool, saying, “You know Ming Luchuan.”

“Of course I know him,” said Lu Wenxing.
“I saw the two of you together that night.”

“I’m his lawful spouse.”

This time, Lu Wenxing was rather surprised.
“Oh? Aren’t you a beta?”

“Something wrong with that?”

“No, I just didn’t expect it,” said Lu Wenxing.

“It’s not that you didn’t expect it, you never cared at all, do you?”

Lu Wenxing fell silent for a moment, after which he exhaled a soft laugh.
“Why would I care about his affairs?”

Xia Wennan wanted to say: “You seriously have the nerve to say that? Is your skin genuinely that thick?”

But in the end, right as he opened his mouth, he heard Lu Wenxing say, “You may have misunderstood.”

Xia Wennan stared at him.

“I know that there are plenty of rumours concerning my and Ming Luchuan’s relationship on the internet, but he’s not my son.
I’ve never had a son.”

Xia Wennan was taken aback.
He said, “Can you really say those words in good conscience?” He didn’t believe Lu Wenxing—he remembered that Ming Luchuan himself had admitted to the affair between Lu Wenxing and Ming Qin.

Yet Lu Wenxing went on, “I can.
I’ve never even been in a relationship with Ming Qin, how could I have a child.”

Xia Wennan’s thoughts descended into chaos.
“There are pictures of you and Ming Qin on the internet even now.”

Lu Wenxing lowered his gaze; like this, his resemblance with Ming Luchuan was uncanny.
“I don’t know what Ming Qin has been telling you all,” he began, “but the person in those paparazzi shots is not him.”