Chapter 2654: Southern City Tonight Has Rain 16

Autumn rain patters nonstop, showing no sign of stopping.

The damp cold air seeps into the house, also chilling into people's bones.

After finishing dinner outside and returning home, Xie Linzhou felt listless, as if the weather had drained his strength; he silently took off his coat, went straight to the sofa, found a comfortable position, and curled up in Jin Chen's arms.

Jin Chen let him be, lightly patting his back intermittently with his palm; the two sat quietly on the sofa for a while.

Outside the window, the muffled rain sound; their breaths intermingled.

Xie Linzhou closed his eyes, but his brow was furrowed, his mind unsettled.

Jin Chen lowered his head and touched his forehead, saying, "I'll go warm a cup of milk for you to soothe."

Those words sounded like coaxing a child.

But Xie Linzhou really did go for that.

When he was young, he and Xie Shao studied design under Xie Qidong's strict ruler; occasionally he did well, and Xie Qidong would give Xie Shao milk and rare praise, while what he received was often stricter scrutiny, or a denial of his unorthodox ideas.

He always felt envy, and alongside it came self-doubt, questioning whether those inspirations were truly worthless, undeserving of any tenderness.

Jin Chen quickly returned with a steaming cup of milk.

Xie Linzhou took it, cupping it in his hands, lowered his head and took a sip; he actually didn't want to drink much, just craving that warmth.

Besides Jin Chen, he would never again, nor had he ever received such unconditional love from anyone else.

Jin Chen put on a black vinyl record; the music slightly drowned out the indistinct rain outside the window.

Yet Xie Linzhou seemed innately sensitive to rain; whenever it rained, he felt everything damp—air, furniture, even his skin moistened, and his mood could be wrung out like water.

He buried himself in Jin Chen's embrace, his cheek pressed against the side of the neck, each breath filled with the scent he craved.

Jin Chen stroked his hair and asked softly, "Why are you so unhappy tonight, just because of the rain?"

No.

Xie Linzhou shook his head in his arms.

He fell silent for a few seconds, then slowly lifted his head to look at Jin Chen.

His eyes still held that affection, but beneath it lay an indescribable sorrow.

No matter the reason, he did not want Jin Chen to know about those unpleasant past events.

"I just received a message." His voice a bit lazy, he lit the phone screen and handed it to Jin Chen; the page stayed on the text from Song Qi.

He just looked at Jin Chen, his gaze clear yet as if veiled by thin mist.

Jin Chen slightly furrowed his brow, lowered his eyes and quickly scanned the text on the screen.

"That day at the restaurant, I felt his appearance was too coincidental." Jin Chen looked at him again, his thumb brushing Xie Linzhou's lip, "Later I had someone check—there were financial dealings between Song Qi and Xie Shao."

When his words ended, the living room fell into a brief silence, only the low music playing.

Jin Chen looked at Xie Linzhou's eyes and asked again, "Do you blame me for intervening?"

Only then did Xie Linzhou shake his head again, shedding the invisible burden as he nestled into his embrace, entrusting his whole weight to him, his cheek pressed firmly against the chest.

"I don't blame you," he said in a muffled voice, tinged with reliance, "It's my own oversight…… I should have investigated it clearly."

He is too prone to soften his heart over that past faint kindness, nearly repeating the same mistake.

Jin Chen soothingly stroked his back, yet his eyes deepened.

"Zhouzhou……"

"I'm a bit sleepy."

Xie Linzhou yawned, heavy with fatigue, just cutting off Jin Chen's unfinished words.

He raised his hand, rested it on Jin Chen's shoulder, then leaned in to kiss his cheek, eyes soft with pleading, "It's late; will you stay and sleep with me? I always sleep poorly on rainy nights."

Jin Chen looked at him; the words he had on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back, becoming a single simple word.

"……Okay."

Later that night, the rain intensified.

The pattering rain hammered against the windows, as if it would shatter the glass, while low thunder rumbled in the clouds.

In such weather, the low thunder could explode at any moment; one could only pray that the present calm would last a little longer.

Xie Linzhou was awakened again by the thunder; this rumble wasn't particularly loud, Jin Chen remained asleep, but Xie Linzhou had things on his mind, his sleep naturally light, and any slight noise could drag him from his restless slumber.

He lay in Jin Chen's warm embrace, quietly reaching out from under the blanket, his fingertips tinged with coolness tracing Jin Chen's brows and eyes, then slowly sliding down the bridge of the nose.

"And you, Jin Chen?"

Xie Linzhou silently asked in his heart.

"Why do you know Xie Shao, and how much of it is coincidence?"

But these words were like a stone bound with rope sinking into a lake, landing in Xie Linzhou's heart.

He dared not think deeper, fearing that the answer hauled up would be unbearably cold.

Another low thunder rolled across the horizon, as if it exploded right beside his ear.

Jin Chen stirred in his sleep, pulling Xie Linzhou tighter, rubbing and covering his exposed ear.

Xie Linzhou's eye sockets warmed; in the blink of an eye, his lashes gathered moisture.

He simply stopped thinking further, burying his face deep in Jin Chen's neck hollow, forcing his eyes shut, thinking of nothing.

"Just like this," he told himself.

The heavy rain poured down, all things immersed in deep sleep.

Go to sleep first; when you wake, the sky won't collapse.