Orange Storm chapter 85

I’m gay

“I—”

Fang Xing subconsciously spoke, but as soon as he uttered a word, he immediately stopped.

At this moment, Zhou Ling finally noticed that his mood was off. After looking at him for a while, the smile slowly faded from her face, and she furrowed her brows slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s too sudden.” Fang Xing fell silent for a few seconds and continued, “I’ve been doing well at Jiang Zhijin’s place. You suddenly saying that you want me to come back, I… I’m not ready.”

Fang Xing continued, “When I was sent to Jiang Zhijin’s place with just a notice at first, and now suddenly you want me to come back from there, it’s not fair to Jiang Zhijin.”

“What kind of logic is that?” Zhou Ling was puzzled.

“I know Xiao Zhijin has helped us a lot, which is why I said I don’t know how to thank him and have always treated him like a younger brother. But things have now been resolved, I want you to come back quickly and not disturb him anymore, okay?”

Yes, if Fang Xing and Jiang Zhijin were still in the relationship they had when he first arrived in Shaojiang last September, that would make sense.

But now, they weren’t just a temporary guardian and a neighborly older sister’s son; they were boyfriends.

Fang Xing sighed, feeling a bit annoyed. With patience, he said, “Does Jiang Zhijin know about your plans? At least you should tell him.”

“Of course, I’ll tell him when the time comes.”

Zhou Ling was genuinely surprised this time, scrutinizing Fang Xing’s expression.

“Are you that reluctant to leave Xiao Zhijin?”

Fang Xing pursed his lips but didn’t say anything.

Zhou Ling didn’t expect Fang Xing’s reaction to be so significant. She was filled with doubts and a vague sense of unease, but she didn’t know where it came from. She could only console herself that it was normal for two boys who had been living together for so long to feel attached.

“Alright, it’s still early before the college entrance exam results come out. We’ll talk about it later.”

She paused for a moment, jokingly saying, “Xiao Zhijin is so grown-up now, but he still doesn’t have a partner. He has to take care of you, a half-grown-up kid. Don’t hold him back.”

Until Zhou Ling had already started talking about something else, Fang Xing didn’t say anything more. He felt a bit dazed.

He had thought that when he went to college, there might be a period of time when he couldn’t see Jiang Zhijin, but there would still be holidays, like May Day or National Day, so it wouldn’t matter much.

But he hadn’t expected Zhou Ling to suddenly ask him to come back.

Fang Xing lay on the bed, sighing and covering his face with his hands.

Honestly, from a rational perspective, Zhou Ling wasn’t wrong. The family matters were already resolved, and he had finished the college entrance exams. Originally, he was just staying temporarily, so it was only right for him to come home now.

But now that he was in a relationship with Jiang Zhijin, he didn’t want to and probably couldn’t separate from him.

Coming out seemed to be the only solution, but his mother had just divorced, and there was no way he could talk about Jiang Zhijin now.

It was too difficult.

In Fang Xing’s eighteen years of life, he had faced countless exams, but none had been as disheartening as now—It was like having a test paper filled with answers, yet not knowing if they were right or wrong, and not knowing what would happen when the test paper was handed in.

He wasn’t worried about himself, but he was very worried about Jiang Zhijin.

Although he was the one who had pursued Jiang Zhijin, when the time came, no one would probably care who initiated it first, and Jiang Zhijin would bear more pressure and face more criticism than him.

Being in a relationship with a younger guy who was a temporary resident in his house, just these few words were enough to make people look at Jiang Zhijin with colored glasses.

Fang Xing remembered when Jiang Zhijin had just discovered that he liked him. Jiang Zhijin had avoided him for several days and hadn’t even made eye contact. Later, when they talked, there were arguments, and Jiang Zhijin had even threatened to hit him…

Fang Xing smiled wryly and felt a little uncomfortable.

At that time, Jiang Zhijin must have been under a lot of pressure.

But in the end, he had agreed.

Fang Xing glanced at the time. It was after ten in the evening, and Jiang Zhijin probably hadn’t slept yet. He picked up his phone and glanced at WeChat, seeing their last conversation from when he last went home.

He decided to call Jiang Zhijin.

Jiang Zhijin hadn’t gone to Cloud Seven tonight. Yesterday, the temperature in Shaojiang had hit a new high, and Jiang Zhijin had left the air conditioning on all night and forgot to turn it off. As a result, when he woke up the next day, he, who couldn’t bear the heat, surprisingly had a slight cold and a sore throat.

When Fang Xing’s call came in, Jiang Zhijin hesitated for a moment. He opened the bottle of mineral water he had just bought and took a few sips before answering the phone.

As soon as the call connected, Fang Xing called out to Jiang Zhijin, “Have you eaten?”

“It’s already so late; people have finished eating supper.” Jiang Zhijin said.

Although he had already moistened his throat in advance, as soon as he spoke, Fang Xing could tell that something was wrong. Fang Xing frowned and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

“The air conditioning.” Jiang Zhijin sighed inwardly, “I caught a cold.”

“…You’re quite something.” Shaojiang’s temperature was probably averaging 35°C now, and Jiang Zhijin managed to catch a cold from leaving the air conditioning on. Fang Xing felt a bit helpless. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No need, I’ll just buy some medicine and take it myself.”

Fang Xing guessed right away, “You’re too lazy to go, aren’t you?”

“Feeling like you can’t reach me now that we’re apart, huh, Fang Xing?”

If it were any other time, Fang Xing should have laughed, but today’s conversation with Zhou Ling made it hard for him to find it amusing.

Indeed, they were too far apart.

Because of this, he didn’t say anything for a while. Jiang Zhijin waited for a few seconds before his smile faltered slightly. “What’s wrong, miss me?”

“A bit.” Fang Xing finished speaking, then suddenly asked, “Were you quite troubled when I confessed to you?”

“You bet I was.” Jiang Zhijin said, “At that time, I really wanted to smack you.”

Fang Xing asked with a smile, “Then why did you agree in the end?”

“Because I was afraid of hurting the innocent high schooler’s first love at eighteen.”

“…”

Jiang Zhijin laughed and entered the community. His throat still hurt a bit. He cleared it lightly a couple of times before slowly saying, “And also because I liked you. Alright?”

Fang Xing didn’t say anything, raising his arm to cover his eyes, stifling a smile before speaking, “I think I’ll be staying at home for a bit longer this time.”

“Just finished the college entrance exams, my mom just got divorced. If I’m at home, at least I can help my mom.”

He temporarily didn’t mention his conversation with Zhou Ling and the matter of returning to Chaocheng.

It wouldn’t help, and it might even cause trouble for Jiang Zhijin. Jiang Zhijin would probably have to find a solution to the problem before him, putting him in a dilemma.

In these past few days, Fang Xing had made time to go out and see Qi Xiang, and they had dinner together.

Qi Xiang seemed to have done well on his exams and was planning to go on a trip before the results came out to celebrate being free from suffering. He asked Fang Xingif he wanted to come along.

“I’ll wait until after I submit my college application.” Fang Xing said.

Qi Xiang saw through him instantly. “With your boyfriend, huh?”

“Yeah.”

He really wanted to go on a trip with Jiang Zhijin, so he would ask Jiang Zhijin where he wanted to go when the time came.

“Does your mom know about your situation yet?”

Fang Xing shook his head. “I want to tell her, but I haven’t found the right opportunity.”

Qi Xiang patted him with a complicated expression but didn’t say anything.

On the way back after dinner, it was still early, and it happened to be rush hour. Fang Xing hailed a cab, but the traffic was horrendous, barely moving.

Ahead was a long line of cars, and the driver honked the horn, complaining endlessly, “Every time after work, this road outside the hospital gets jammed up. They’ve been talking about widening and diverting traffic on the radio for over a year, but nothing’s happened…”

Fang Xing subconsciously turned his head to look and saw the nearest high-rise building on the roadside, with a huge red cross hanging above it, appearing particularly conspicuous in the twilight.

Chaocheng Hospital.

Suddenly, he remembered that Fang Chenglin’s son was in this hospital.

Zhou Ling had said that Fang Chenglin had suddenly agreed to the divorce because the child in the hospital wasn’t doing well. When Fang Chenglin hurriedly came back to sign the divorce agreement last time, he smelled strongly of disinfectant…

Fang Xing hadn’t said anything for a long time.

It wasn’t until the driver had moved two meters after ten minutes and was cursing that Fang Xing suddenly spoke up.

“Please find a place to park up ahead.” Fang Xing said. “I have something to do.”

After getting out of the car, he stood in place and stared at the towering hospital building for a long time without moving.

He didn’t understand why he had gotten out of the car just now. He also couldn’t go see the child now. Apart from anything else, if he ran into Zhai Wan, who was emotionally unstable, she might think he was there to provoke her or harm her son.

But at this moment, he also clearly realized that there was a seven or eight-year-old child in that building, Fang Chenglin’s son, suffering from leukemia, waiting for a bone marrow transplant.

There were many lit rooms in the building opposite, one after another, and the people inside couldn’t be seen. In the small garden in front of the building, there were quite a few people in hospital gowns taking a walk. Some were being assisted, while others were walking around the flower bed slowly by themselves.

Fang Xing stood there for a while, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and turned around to leave.

Since he had taken a taxi just now and it was slower than walking, he decided to cross the street and take a bus.

He had just taken a few steps towards the intersection when he unexpectedly ran into Fang Chenglin.

Fang Chenglin was holding half a watermelon in his left hand and holding his phone up with his right hand, making a call. He took a few steps forward, then looked up and saw Fang Xing.

Fang Chenglin was visibly stunned for a moment, hastily said a few words into the phone on the other end, then hung up and walked quickly toward Fang Xing.

“Xiao Xing, what are you doing here?”

Fang Chenglin glanced in the direction of the hospital and couldn’t help saying, “Are you here to—”

“Qi Xiang asked me out for dinner.” Fang Xing interrupted him. “He’s right over there, we just finished eating.”

“Oh, uh…” Fang Chenglin smiled awkwardly, pointing to the watermelon in his hand. “I came out to buy some fruit. Your brother… An’an said he wanted watermelon…”

Fang Chenglin cautiously observed Fang Xing’s expression and slowly said, “Do you want to go in and see him? Zhai Wan isn’t here today. There’s only one child in the ward, and there aren’t usually many people to talk to him. If you go…”

Sometimes Fang Xing felt that Fang Chenglin was really something.

He could talk about everything as if it were a matter of course, including asking his own son if he wanted to go see his illegitimate son. It was as if if you didn’t agree with him, it was your fault, and you missed an opportunity to develop brotherly feelings. If it were a bit more serious, it might affect world peace…

“Why are you doing this?” Fang Xing asked.

Fang Chenglin’s words stopped halfway, and he looked at Fang Xing, his face seeming a bit sad, but he still spoke, “I was wrong to say that. I shouldn’t have brought this up.”

“It’s just that his condition has been deteriorating lately. In a while, I might take him abroad for treatment, and by then…”

By then, it’s probably too late to even think about seeing him, that’s what Fang Chenglin meant.

Fang Xing was on the verge of laughing out of anger, but because of Fang Chenglin’s previous sentence, he ultimately held back from exploding and just nodded, asking, “Abroad? Is Zhai Wan going too?”

“She’s going, yes. We’ve… gotten married.”

They got divorced two weeks ago, and now Fang Chenglin and Zhai Wan are already married.

Quite fast.

Fang Xing just uttered an “oh,” unsurprised. If the timing were right, he would’ve wanted to say “congratulations” to these two.

After all, they had been hiding for so many years.

On the other end, Fang Chenglin was still reflecting, “I know marrying so quickly is unfair to you and your mom, but Zhai Wan’s emotions have become very unstable, and An’an’s situation really can’t be delayed any longer…”

Fang Chenglin fell silent for a moment, then continued with some difficulty, “If there’s no suitable bone marrow match available, considering all options, it seems that using umbilical cord blood has a higher success rate.”

Umbilical cord blood.

Fang Xing suddenly looked up, staring fixedly at Fang Chenglin.

Two lunatics, madmen.

Initially, he found it absurd and ridiculous, but then his anger ignited in an instant, rushing to his head.

“You’re insane!”

“What can I do? I’ve been asking around every day, at various hospitals, inside and outside the province, even abroad. There hasn’t been a single suitable match.”

Fang Chenglin looked at Fang Xing. He wasn’t yet fifty, but almost half of his hair had turned white, making him look desolate and aged.

“I’ve considered every possible method. This is the last glimmer of hope. Can I just ignore him and let him die? Xiao Xing, what would you do if you were in my shoes?”

“The cause of all this is your affair resulting in a son. Have you ever thought about what he would suffer by coming into this world?”

Fang Xing didn’t care whether they were in public or not, staring at Fang Chenglin intensely. “Now that you realize your mistake, you want to use another life to make up for it? Are you and Zhai Wan even human?”

Fang Chenglin’s emotions gradually became stirred up too. “Yes, I had an affair. I know I’m not a good father. I’ve let everyone down. But it’s come to this point, I can’t just leave a seven or eight-year-old child to die in the hospital. If you become a father in the future and have children, then you’ll understand how I feel.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t have an affair and end up with an illegitimate child like you.” Fang Xing sneered, “I won’t be as irresponsible as you.”

“Am I not being responsible now? I’m taking responsibility for his life!”

“If you were taking responsibility for his life, you wouldn’t have brought him into this world in the first place!”

There were already passersby glancing over, and Fang Chenglin’s chest was heaving violently. He looked at Fang Xing for a long time without saying a word. After a while, the excitement in his eyes was replaced by anguish, and his voice lowered.

“Xiao Xing, you’re still too young, you don’t understand. When you get married and have children in the future—”

“I’m not getting married.” Fang Xing cut him off. “I’m gay.”

Fang Chenglin was momentarily stunned, looking up at Fang Xing. “What?”

Fang Xing, burning with anger, looked at Fang Chenglin and suddenly laughed, repeating each word deliberately.

“I’m gay. I’m homosexual. Do you understand?”

“So I won’t get married, won’t cheat in marriage, won’t have illegitimate children outside, nor will I let my biological son donate bone marrow one moment and then use umbilical cord blood for another child—there’s no need for you to make those assumptions and expect me to empathize with you, it’s meaningless, and quite disgusting.”