Decayed Vulgarian chapter 36

Let’s Be Together

After riding the carousel, Huihui wanted to go on the roller coaster.

Visiting an amusement park often meant spending over half of the time waiting in line, but Meng Yuan Cen was always smiling, standing behind Huihui, his hands on her shoulders, patiently discussing topics that interested her.

The afternoon sun slanted down, casting its rays on Meng Yuan Cen’s hair, the edges of his glasses, and his features. Fleeting clouds passed before the sun, shifting the golden highlights that suddenly illuminated the depths of Shen Xun’s eyes.

Despite the childish conversation, he listened attentively, maintaining an attitude of genuine interest. Shen Xun’s right hand found its way into his coat pocket, repeating the same absentminded motion countless times, only to pull it out, clutching a handful of invisible air.

But not now; it wasn’t the right time.

Shen Xun counted heads and realized it was almost Meng Yuan Cen and Huihui’s turn. He had joined the queue merely to prevent them from getting separated. He had decided to exit the line when Meng Yuan Cen’s alertness beat him to it, gripping his arm firmly. “Aren’t you going on the roller coaster either?”

Shen Xun replied straightforwardly, “I just don’t find it interesting.”

Meng Yuan Cen repeated, “Not interesting?”

Shen Xun expanded, “Isn’t it just slowly ascending and then descending? I might be a little allergic to romantic things.”

Meng Yuan Cen chuckled, “You not playing anything at the amusement park makes me feel like I’m wasting your time.”

Shen Xun hurriedly denied, “It’s not a waste of my time. I’m willing to be with you.”

“Then join me for a ride on the roller coaster.”

Shen Xun hesitated for a moment, and his eyes met Meng Yuan Cen’s.

“Consider it exposure therapy?”

Their palms warmed as Meng Yuan Cen held Shen Xun’s hand with determination. Shen Xun could no longer resist; he was willingly becoming the slowly boiled frog.

The cabin began its ascent, the ground growing smaller below. Meng Yuan Cen held Huihui’s hand, sitting beside her.

Huihui’s excitement filled the cabin. She touched the transparent wall and looked downward, exclaiming, “We’re going up! It’s so magical! I want to take pictures!”

Meng Yuan Cen unlocked his phone and handed it to Huihui, saying, “Go ahead and take pictures.”

With the camera snapping away, he returned his gaze to Shen Xun, who was also looking at him, his features serene.

They locked eyes for a moment, and Shen Xun remained unfazed, even seeming a bit resentful. Meng Yuan Cen couldn’t help but laugh first. “I feel like I’m making something complicated when you clearly don’t want to ride the roller coaster.”

Shen Xun hastened to clarify, “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that I’m not that interested. After all, I’ve already passed the age for amusement park rides.”

Meng Yuan Cen commented, “So where would you like to go?”

Shen Xun thought for a moment and then replied, “For instance, places like museums, ancient towns, or the seaside and grasslands. The former is rich in historical atmosphere, while the latter is a work of nature’s craftsmanship. They are highly scenic and ideal for photography.”

Meng Yuan Cen recalled the numerous history books on Shen Xun’s bookshelf. “I’ll take you to these places in the future.”

Shen Xun quickly declined, “No need, please.”

The rejection was quite firm, which made Meng Yuan Cen furrow his brow. “Why?”

Shen Xun hastily explained, “It’s not that I don’t want to go with you, it’s just that my circumstances don’t allow it.”

He explained at length to convey his point, saying, “For example, during public holidays, in our line of work, it’s considered the highest level of duty. The police force is often fully staffed, and even if we plan a short vacation to a relatively remote location, I would still need to be on edge, fearing a call from my superiors. If I did receive such a call, I’d have to rush back, even if it’s from a faraway place. So, my colleagues and I often say that going out for leisure is not an enjoyment but more like ‘gambling,’ and it’s more like a hassle.”

Meng Yuan Cen sighed, “That sounds really tough.”

Shen Xun, however, maintained a nonchalant tone, “It’s just the way it is; it’s a responsibility.”

After coming down from the Ferris wheel, they went to enjoy some other activities with Huihui. As the day was turning into night, with the days being shorter during winter, the sky showed hints of dusk. In the distance, an old man was hawking cotton candy, calling out to attract customers.

Huihui’s eyes lit up when she saw this. “I want to have cotton candy!”

Meng Yuan Cen offered, “I’ll go buy it, and you both can wait here.”

Before leaving, Meng Yuan Cen turned to Shen Xun, as usual, asking, “You probably don’t want any, do you?”

“Correct,” Shen Xun responded without hesitation.

The two of them stood there for half a minute when, suddenly, a huge brown bear appeared in their line of sight. It was holding a megaphone and announcing a lottery event happening that day with the promise of rich prizes. Visitors rushed toward Shen Xun and Huihui upon hearing this, causing the crowd to become increasingly congested until it was impossible to move.

Shen Xun wanted to change his location while waiting for Meng Yuan Cen. He struggled to make his way through the crowd in one direction but discovered that his escape route was blocked. So, he held Huihui’s hand tightly.

“Could you loosen your grip a bit?” Huihui tilted her face upward and spoke softly, “It’s a bit… painful.”

Startled, Shen Xun relaxed his grip slightly. Just at that moment, he was unexpectedly pushed from behind with great force, as if it were done intentionally. He staggered forward several steps before regaining his balance, but he noticed his palm was empty.

“Excuse me, could you please make some room? Thank you…” He repeatedly said this while moving through the crowd with difficulty. After a considerable effort, he managed to return to his original position.

However, Huihui was nowhere to be seen.

Shen Xun’s heart was suddenly in his throat. He looked around in circles but couldn’t spot the little girl in the goose-yellow jacket. Considering the possibility that she had been separated in the crowd, he exerted tremendous effort to push his way out of the encircling crowd. Still, there was no sign of Huihui.

He thought thatHuihui had been right next to him just a moment ago and couldn’t have gone too far. He frantically asked around like a headless fly, trying hard to remain calm. But despite his best efforts, his anxiety was evident in his tone when speaking to anyone he encountered. Finally, when he asked an elderly lady sitting on a bench, he received a glimmer of hope.

“Is she a little girl with two twisted braids who appears to be around six or seven years old?” The elderly lady gestured with her hand to indicate the girl’s height.

“Yes, that’s her. Where is she?”

“I saw her a moment ago. A man took her away. He claimed to be her father. The little girl and her ‘dad’ were arguing the whole way, and she was crying.”

Shen Xun thanked her and immediately sprinted in the direction indicated by the elderly lady. He ran while scanning the surroundings, his heart racing.

Meng Yuan Cen clearly stated that Huihui’s parents were on a business trip this week. Furthermore, the amusement park tickets for today were sold out, so there was no reason for her dad to show up suddenly and take her away silently.

He ran tirelessly, his breath turning into panting, but he dared not slow down.

Suddenly, faint crying reached his ears, sounding like a girl sobbing and whimpering, “You’re not my dad; you’re a liar. Let me go—”

Shen Xun abruptly halted, attempting to discern the direction of the sound. In the front-right direction, a stranger, a man, was responding to the crying girl, “Huihui, can you really not accept me as your dad just because I won’t take you to the Ocean Park? Daddy will be really sad.”

The girl’s voice was hoarse as she retorted, “You’re not my dad; you’re not—”

The man said, “Come on, Huihui, please stop throwing a tantrum. If you keep doing this, daddy will get mad.”

He also called her Huihui, and Shen Xun kept this detail in mind.

A perennial evergreen bush obstructed Shen Xun’s line of sight, and the man and girl’s silhouettes were faintly visible through the gaps in the branches and leaves. Shen Xun moved silently, circling behind the man, and finally, he saw the little girl’s face—

It was Huihui!

The man held Huihui’s little hand tightly. It wasn’t so much holding as it was dragging her forward. Huihui remained rooted in place, refusing to move, and the man managed to pull her forward, causing her to stumble. She struggled to break free but couldn’t, crying her heart out.

“Don’t cry. How about I take you to the ocean park next week?”

“Let go of me, let go of me!”

The man was about 1.65 meters tall, slim, and had no knife or other sharp objects.

Shen Xun held his breath and slowly approached, closing the distance until he could reach out to the man’s knee and kicked it.

The man lost his balance, groaned, and fell to the ground.

Shen Xun pressed him down and punched his abdomen. He wanted to pin the man’s hands and wrestled with him, rolling on the concrete ground, raising a cloud of dust. Shen Xun’s phone in his pocket began to ring. He knew who it was but couldn’t free his hands to answer it.

Seizing the opportunity, the man took out a knife from his pocket and made a swift cut on Shen Xun’s palm.

Shen Xun winced in pain, retracting his hand. When he looked up, the man had already fled.

He didn’t dare leave Huihui alone to chase after the man, so he turned back and saw Huihui still trembling, her face pale.

There was a deep gash in the palm of his right hand, blood oozing profusely and dripping to the ground. Fortunately, his left hand was not injured. Shen Xun walked over to Huihui and squatted down. He used his clean left hand to hold Huihui, gently touched her hair, and repeated softly, “Don’t be afraid. Everything is fine now. The police will catch the bad guy. Don’t be afraid.”

Huihui still had tears on her face. “But you’re hurt.”

Shen Xun replied, “I can call other police officers to catch the bad guy.”

Huihui shook her head. “I mean your wound is bleeding. You need to stop the bleeding quickly.”

Shen Xun said, “You’re right. You’re very smart.” He used his left hand to search his empty pockets. “Do you have a handkerchief or a piece of cloth?”

Huihui opened her little hand to reveal a blue ribbon. She had dismantled the large butterfly bow that Meng Yuan Cen had bought for her. “Can this be used?”

Shen Xun replied, “Yes, thank you.” He used the ribbon to wrap around his left hand, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. He winced but smiled, “I owe you two blue butterfly bows.”

Then Shen Xun held Huihui’s hand. “I might hold it a bit tight because I don’t want us to get lost again.”

Not far away, someone had called the police, and a crowd gathered.

Shen Xun was about to walk, and his phone rang again. He suddenly remembered something and took out his phone. There were multiple missed calls from Meng Yuan Cen. He pressed the answer button, and Meng Yuan Cen’s voice came through. “Where are you guys?”

Shen Xun’s heart tightened, and he quickly looked for nearby landmarks, trying to describe their location. “I’m next to the VR experience center, and there’s a big pink rabbit next to me.”

“I see you.”

The call ended as displayed on the screen.

Shen Xun looked up, and Meng Yuan Cen was running towards him.

Shen Xun managed to stop his steps, but the inertia made Meng Yuan Cen run a short distance ahead, almost colliding with Shen Xun’s nose. Meng Yuan Cen looked at Huihui beside him and then back to Shen Xun. His voice was shaking as he asked, “Why didn’t you wait for me in the same place? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

The cotton candy in his hand had been blown out of shape by the wind.

Shen Xun was momentarily speechless, not knowing where to start. He moved his lips a few times but before he could say anything, Meng Yuan Cen hugged him.

Meng Yuan Cen placed his chin on Shen Xun’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “…You’re not allowed to ignore my calls in the future.”

Before Shen Xun could fully process their hug, Meng Yuan Cen had already let go, handing the cotton candy to Huihui.

The little girl was anxious, though. “The police officer is injured! We need to go to the hospital quickly!”

Meng Yuan Cen looked down in shock and saw Shen Xun’s right hand behind his back, wrapped in a blood-soaked blue ribbon.

In the city hospital, the smell of disinfectant was pervasive.

“…So you just rushed in?” Meng Yuan Cen asked in a deep voice.

The smell fought its way into their nostrils and throat. Shen Xun felt inexplicably guilty. His voice grew smaller. “Before I rushed in, I observed that he didn’t have a knife. I felt like I could overpower him. I was worried that if I hesitated, Huihui might be in danger…”

Meng Yuan Cen glanced at Shen Xun when he heard this and remained silent.

They quietly queued again, but this time it was at the registration counter, and only the two of them were in line.

Huihui had already been taken back to the Meng family by Meng Yuan Cen. She had only played a few attractions today and was still not satisfied. When they left the amusement park, she was reluctant to leave but insisted that the police officer must go to the hospital right away.

Seeing that it was Meng Yuan Cen’s turn at the line, Shen Xun handed over his phone. “Take my phone to pay.”

Meng Yuan Cen received it. “I don’t know your password.”

Without hesitation, Shen Xun recited a series of numbers.

He inputted the numbers and unlocked the phone. A photo appeared on Shen Xun’s screen; it showed him sitting on a white carousel horse, with both the canopy and the base lit up in seven colors. The picture only captured him, centered in the frame.

Meng Yuan Cen’s fingers trembled, and he suddenly turned to look at Shen Xun. He gazed at him for a long while. But then, he heard the service staff at the window asking, “What department are you registering for?”

Meng Yuan Cen closed the photo album in silence and raised his head to answer, “Surgery.”

In the surgical department, after the doctor examined the wound, they said it needed stitches.

After the wound was cleaned and stitched up, Shen Xun watched in silence as the needle and thread carefully passed through his flesh.

The next step was applying medication and bandaging. Shen Xun turned to Meng Yuan Cen and said casually, “The doctor is skilled; the stitches are much neater than mine.”

Meng Yuan Cen looked at Shen Xun silently without reacting.

Shen Xun shifted his gaze away and fell silent as well.

With the prescription in hand, Meng Yuan Cen went alone to the pharmacy on the first floor.

Shen Xun was left alone in the department, sitting on a blue plastic chair. He wanted to pass the time by playing with his phone but realized he didn’t have it. It dawned on him that he had handed it over to Meng Yuan Cen to make a payment.

He let his gaze fall on his right pocket and remembered something. He somewhat laboriously took out a crumpled black box from his right pocket. The long, black box had been deformed due to the scuffle. Shen Xun opened it and found that the pen inside was undamaged. He put the box in his left pocket and lowered his eyes, deep in thought.

Meng Yuan Cen returned promptly, carrying a plastic bag full of medicine. He glanced over Shen Xun, knocked on the door, and walked into the department. He had an extended conversation with the doctor and then said to Shen Xun, “Change the dressing every two days, don’t let the wound get wet, keep it dry and clean. Don’t make any large movements with your right hand to avoid reopening the wound. Try not to eat spicy and irritating foods. If you experience any signs of inflammation or infection, make sure to come back to the hospital for a follow-up. The stitches can be removed in about two weeks.”

Shen Xun knew most of these instructions from his forensic training, but he still listened attentively. He looked up and said, “Thank you.”

Then he remembered something and said, “My phone.”

“It’s with me.” Meng Yuan Cen directly put the phone in Shen Xun’s coat pocket and adjusted the collar, fastening the top button. He held Shen Xun’s left hand. “I’ll take you home now.”

“Hold on,” Shen Xun sat still in his seat and moistened his lips unconsciously, probably because they were dry. He did this several times. “Let’s wait a bit longer.”

Meng Yuan Cen quickly asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Shen Xun shook his head and said, “No… there’s something I want to give you.”

Meng Yuan Cen asked, “What is it?”

Shen Xun took out a crumpled black box and said, “It got squashed during the scuffle, but don’t be put off by it.”

Meng Yuan Cen received it and asked, “What is this?”

“It’s an apology gift,” Shen Xun said softly. “I stood you up once before, didn’t I? I felt that verbal apologies lacked sincerity, so I wanted to give you a gift.”

“Thank you,” Meng Yuan Cen accepted it and put it in his pocket. “What would you like for dinner? Is there something specific you’d like to eat? I can buy it for you.”

Shen Xun’s gaze shifted to the pocket and then down to the tip of his shoe. He responded, changing the subject, “…Why don’t you open it? Aren’t you curious about what the gift is?”

Meng Yuan Cen explained, “I’m just not used to opening presents in front of the gift-giver.”

Shen Xun’s gaze returned, stopping at the shoes’ tip. He looked down and said, “It’s okay. Open it and take a look.”

Meng Yuan Cen took the gift box again and held it in his palm. The box’s corners were already distorted. After removing the lid, he saw a note first, silently reading the message written on it. Then he looked down and asked, “Did you write this?”

Shen Xun replied, “Yes. My handwriting is ugly, and this is about the best I can do. Please bear with it.”

“It’s not ugly; it’s quite beautiful.”

“You’re just flattering me. I don’t believe you.”

Meng Yuan Cen crumpled the note and held it in his palm. Underneath was a solid black pen. He let his fingertips touch the gold-embossed English words on the cap, and he read them aloud in a low voice, “Mright?”

Shen Xun nodded. “Yes.”

Meng Yuan Cen fell silent for a while before speaking again. “Why did you choose this brand?”

Shen Xun thought for a moment and replied, “Maybe because the brand concept says they hope everyone can find the pen that suits them best. It sounds romantic, doesn’t it?”

Meng Yuan Cen inquired, “Aren’t you allergic to romance?”

Shen Xun said, “I just got over it, after you dragged me onto the Ferris wheel.”

Meng Yuan Cen lowered the pen back into the box and used a bit of force to push it into the groove. It made a crisp “click” sound and echoed in the spacious lobby.

Then he raised his head and said, “Shen Xun, let’s be together.”