The dinner didn't end until nearly eleven o'clock. As expected, Song Yifei was stumbling drunk, swaying unsteadily even with Li Yang’s support.
He glanced at the people around him and bellowed, "Where’s Su Jingming? Is he wasted too?!"
Wen Yan emerged, supporting Su Jingming, who was already unconscious to the world. Wen Yan turned to Li Yang and said, "Are you taking him back? Looking at him, he’s probably going to be a handful for a while."
Li Yang, still relatively sober, nodded.
Ren Wei was crouched by the roadside, hiccuping incessantly. "Next time... *hic*... next time, let’s not... drink so much."
Wen Yan watched as the others got into their cars. Su Jingming leaned against him, his eyes vacant as he stared into the dark night ahead.
Wen Yan half-carried him into the car. Su Jingming’s head drooped, his ears and cheeks flushed a faint pink. A subtle scent of alcohol began to permeate the car's interior.
"You actually look quite well-behaved like this."
Subconsciously, Wen Yan reached out to stroke his hair. Su Jingming frowned slightly, mumbling something under his breath.
It wasn't until Wen Yan leaned in to fasten his seatbelt that he heard Su Jingming’s rhythmic muttering: "No one is allowed to touch Tiga’s head recklessly."
"Right, no reckless touching," Wen Yan said, yet he still gave Su Jingming’s head a few firm ruffles before starting the engine.
To accommodate the drunken Su Jingming, Wen Yan drove very slowly. He cracked the window slightly, allowing the night breeze to gradually dissipate the smell of alcohol inside the car.
Su Jingming’s head hung low as he suddenly let out a loud hiccup.
Wen Yan observed his expression out of the corner of his eye. "Do you feel sick?"
During dinner, Su Jingming had been pressured into drinking quite a bit by Song Yifei and Li Yang. Wen Yan hadn't been able to stop them, so he had simply let Su Jingming indulge.
"No... not sick." He hadn't touched alcohol in five years. "I just want to throw up."
Wen Yan: "..."
Wen Yan pulled the car over to the curb and produced a plastic bag from somewhere. He guided Su Jingming to the base of a tree and held the bag out for him.
Su Jingming frowned. The moment the wind hit his face, he forced the urge to vomit back down.
"..." Su Jingming remained crouched on the spot in silence. "I want to... transform."
Deep in his bones, he was still that same *chuunibyou* youth. The sense of justice engraved upon his soul would never be late.
Before Wen Yan could react, Su Jingming bolted upright. The movement was so sudden that he had to clap a hand over his mouth. Once the strange sensation in his chest subsided, he swayed on his feet and pointed toward the darkness ahead. "Look... world peace."
Wen Yan hadn't expected his "middle schooler syndrome" to have worsened with age. He reached out to grab him. "Be careful!"
Su Jingming didn't listen. With a clumsy sway, he unerringly dodged Wen Yan’s hand.
He took a step back. "What do you think you're doing? I am the incarnation of justice!"
Wen Yan: "..."
"You ignorant humans." Su Jingming brushed the short hair off his forehead, revealing eyes that shone exceptionally bright in the night. "Do you have any idea who is protecting your world peace? How dare you try to plot against me?"
"No, I’m not."
"Yes, you are!"
Wen Yan suddenly realized that one should never try to reason with a drunkard. He stepped forward and grabbed Su Jingming’s wrist. Before he could speak, Su Jingming looked up at him, his voice softening. "Little Monster, have you come to take me home?"
In June of that year, Su Jingming had called him that as well.
Memories buried deep in his heart were peeled back layer by layer. Wen Yan pressed his lips together. "I promised you I would come to take you home."
It took Wen Yan nearly two hours to get Su Jingming settled in bed. Before leaving the room, Wen Yan cast a lingering, worried look at the person on the bed, but his gaze was suddenly drawn to the nightstand.
The two Ultraman Tiga figures—one large, one small—were well-protected, looking almost exactly as they had five years ago. It wasn't hard to imagine how carefully their owner had cherished them all these years.
If Su Jingming hadn't gotten drunk, Wen Yan might have thought he would never see that *chuunibyou* boy again for the rest of his life.
Wen Yan retreated to the study. By the time he finished organizing the remaining case files, dawn had already broken. Hearing a significant commotion from the bedroom, he lazily looked up toward the door.
A second later, Su Jingming appeared before Wen Yan with a head of messy, bird-nest hair.
"Did I... do anything yesterday?" Su Jingming swallowed hard.
"Yes," Wen Yan said. "You said you wanted to protect world peace. Though you were much better than before—you didn't try to take off your clothes to transform."
"!!!"
Su Jingming still hadn't processed the events of the previous night even after he had finished washing up and preparing breakfast for Wen Yan.
*Am I still such a moron?*
*That shouldn't be right. I'm twenty-three. How can I still be this delusional?*
Su Jingming cast a rare, skeptical glance at Wen Yan, who was currently eating.
Sensing his gaze, Wen Yan slowly sipped his hot milk. "I never lie."
Su Jingming: "..." *If I didn't know you so well, I might have actually believed that. A lawyer's mouth is a lying devil.*
Wen Yan had stayed up all night, so he went to catch up on sleep after breakfast. Su Jingming took the opportunity to go to a nearby supermarket for groceries.
He mostly bought things Wen Yan liked to eat, while also restocking the milk and drinks at home.
By the time he finished browsing, two hours had passed. When Wen Yan woke up and saw that Su Jingming wasn't back yet, he called him. Hearing that Su Jingming was waiting in line to check out, Wen Yan chuckled softly over the phone. "Don't you think you're acting quite like a virtuous wife and mother?"
Su Jingming’s grip on the shopping cart tightened slightly. "It's not too late for me to return the goods."
"Wait for me."
Su Jingming exited the supermarket carrying several large bags just as Wen Yan arrived. Wen Yan naturally took the bags from his hands. "You bought this much?"
"I suddenly want to learn how to cook." This wasn't a new thought for Su Jingming, especially after being kept at home and "raised" by Wen Yan for the past month.
A person should always have a few more skills.
"Cooking, huh..." Wen Yan paused. "I can teach you. If I start a class, will you sign up?"
"Does it cost money?" Su Jingming said. "I don't have much in savings right now. With your net worth, I'm afraid I can't afford the tuition."
Wen Yan raised an eyebrow. "True." Then, he leaned in and whispered quickly into Su Jingming’s ear, "Then you'll just have to pay with your body."
Su Jingming shot him a glare, and the two walked toward home. Pedestrians continued to pass them by, everyone seemingly in a hurry.
Su Jingming had never imagined there would come a day when he and Wen Yan would live together like this.
Nor had he imagined that the scenes that once appeared only in his dreams would come true one by one.
After being back in Liang City for over a month, Su Jingming began to work on his own career.
When Wen Yan learned that Su Jingming didn't plan to work at a hospital but instead wanted to open his own psychological counseling studio, he wasn't surprised.
He only asked one thing: "Do you have enough funding?"
Su Jingming knew this man would support him unconditionally. He smirked. "Of course."
After all, he hadn't just been a mindless student over the past few years.
Su Jingming’s counseling studio was online; he didn't plan to have a physical location. In this age of advanced technology, problems that could be solved via phone or computer also solved the anxiety many young people felt about the embarrassment of visiting a psychiatric department in person.
Unless there was a specific need for a face-to-face meeting, Su Jingming would only then arrange to meet a patient in person.
At first, there wasn't a single patient. Su Jingming reached out to a senior from a different major in university to help him with operations, and the studio gradually began to pick up.
It went from being ignored to having a constant stream of inquiries.
Su Jingming spent at least an hour with each patient, working nearly excessive hours every day. When Wen Yan came home from work and saw Su Jingming sitting at the computer with a furrowed brow, instinctively rubbing his aching neck and shoulders, he couldn't take it anymore.
That night, Wen Yan had an "in-depth discussion" with Su Jingming regarding this issue.
"One hour per patient. There are twenty-four hours in a day. Subtracting eight hours for sleep, plus time for eating and using the bathroom—are you planning to dedicate every remaining second to society?" Wen Yan was stern, his voice full of dissatisfaction.
With reddened eyes, Su Jingming reached out to push Wen Yan back. "...Isn't this just because I'm starting out?"
"Yes, you're starting out, but if you ruin your health, what happens later?"
Su Jingming truly hadn't considered that. He wanted to earn a lot of money so he could share the burden of their life together with Wen Yan.
Before Su Jingming could figure out how to communicate this to him, Wen Yan made an executive decision: "Switch to an appointment system. Four patients a day. Two in the morning, two in the afternoon."
Su Jingming’s eyes widened. "That won't work!"
Wen Yan paused, then said flatly, "Then I’ll just have to resign and see if it’s too late for me to take an elective in psychology."
Naturally, Su Jingming wouldn't allow Wen Yan to do something so ridiculous. The very next day, he switched the studio to an appointment-only system.
With a lot of free time cleared up, Lawyer Wen was happy. He no longer had to see his boyfriend rubbing his neck and shoulders at the computer when he got home. His heart was at ease, and there was even a spring in his step.
On this day, Su Jingming postponed his afternoon online appointments to meet a special patient offline.
Su Jingming dressed specifically to look more mature and set off for the meeting point with his briefcase.
As usual, he arrived early. While waiting for the patient, Su Jingming opened his laptop and sent a WeChat message to Wen Yan.
*Salted Egg: I might be back a bit late today.*
*Monster: How late is 'a bit'?*
*Salted Egg: There's a local patient who wants to talk about their condition in person. Conservative estimate is at least two hours.*
*Monster: Then I'll come pick you up later. Send me your location.*
Su Jingming thought about it; two hours from now would be right around the time Wen Yan finished work. He sent the location and looked up to see a very familiar figure pushing open the door of the teahouse. The wind chime above the door let out a soft tinkle.
The man spotted Su Jingming and walked over with a complex expression.
Su Jingming instinctively stood up, pressing his lips together. "Uncle Wen."
When Wen Yan’s father heard Su Jingming call him that, he remained silent for a few seconds before finally nodding. "Sit."
Ever since Su Jingming had reunited with Wen Yan, he had wondered what it would be like to face Wen Yan’s parents again.
But he never imagined that Wen Yan’s father would be the one to ask for a meeting in this manner.
It felt as if he had been transported back several years; the scenes of that day replayed before his eyes.
Ultimately, it was Wen Yan’s father who spoke first. The white hair at his temples was a testament to the passing years. He spoke slowly. "Dr. Su, I cannot accept that my son is gay. Tell me... is there any cure for this 'illness' of mine?"
***
