Strawberry Pop Pop Pop chapter 95

Han Yongnian died on a rainy night. He leaned on a cane, dragging his steps, and knocked out the person who was supposed to be looking after him with a single strike of his cane. He had gone through a rough journey, traversing mountains and hills, hoping to leave the rural area using his crippled legs.

His intentions were no secret to anyone.

He knew he didn’t have much time left, and he wanted to get revenge on Han Yang. He wanted to take Han Yang with him in death.

However, on his way down the slope, he tumbled directly, hitting his head on a rock and ending his life. Ironically, the path where he met his fate was the same road where he had raped Li Li in the past.

It was also in the middle of the night, and there was no one around.

As Village Chief Li recounted all this to Han Yang, his voice was hoarse, clearly indicating that he had spent the whole night dealing with Han Yongnian’s affairs.

He advised, “Kid, he’s gone now. It doesn’t matter whether he was good or bad; he’s gone to the afterlife.”

Although he didn’t suffer as others did, do not prevent others from doing good.

But Village Chief Li held conservative beliefs typical of a mountain village. “I won’t say forgive him, but, kid, consider it an act of accumulating virtue for yourself. Light a joss stick, kowtow a few times, and put an end to this lifetime of father-son relationship, and send him on his way.”

Han Yang had no emotional attachment to Han Yongnian. If there was any, it was fear and hatred.

Han Yang remained silent, and after a while, he replied, “I’m busy with work, and I don’t have time to come back. I’ll transfer all the funeral expenses for Han Yongnian to your account.”

“Kid…”

Han Yang hung up the phone.

Gu Nuan couldn’t help but step forward and grab Han Yang’s hand, visibly anxious. Han Yang immediately snapped back and instinctively held Gu Nuan’s hand, exerting a slight pressure, his palm feeling cold.

Han Yang said, “I’m fine.”

He immediately informed Ji Mu and Gu Yuanchen about this incident.

Ji Mu knew that Han Yang didn’t want to go back, but he also understood that not returning was not a suitable choice in many matters.

He thought for a moment and said, “I’ll take a few people with me and deal with this matter. Although that place is backward and disconnected from the world, and not many people may know you’ve become a star, what about the future?”

“Uncle Ji, I’m not afraid of all that.”

“I know you’re not afraid,” Ji Mu patted Han Yang’s shoulder and contemplated for a moment before continuing, “Han Yang, even if we have evidence of what he did to you, it’s always better to be prepared. Who knows how the media might portray you in the future? How they might spread rumors about you? Or how they might trigger your old memories that should have been left behind?”

Once things start to spread, there’s bound to be some harm involved. Not just the harm from public opinion or the harm of online hate speech, but the harm to Han Yang’s own psychological well-being.

Ji Mu didn’t want a scenario where the media would endlessly exploit Han Yang’s childhood trauma. He wanted Han Yongnian’s death to be a turning point, a way to permanently bury the past.

“Leave this matter to me and your Uncle Gu, we’ll handle it properly, and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“But, Uncle Ji…”

Ji Mu interrupted him and sincerely said, “Han Yang, I really hope you can try to rely on us just this once.”

This one sentence carried more weight than many others.

Therefore, Han Yang hesitated for a moment, swallowing the words that were choking him.

He remained silent for a long time, and eventually asked, “How do you plan to handle it?”

“You don’t need to ask, and you don’t need to be concerned anymore,” Ji Mu replied. “Han Yongnian is already gone, and from now on, your nightmare is over.”

Han Yang was taken aback by the realization that Ji Mu had known many things all these years.

In the following weeks, Han Yang received one last call from Village Chief Li.

On the other end of the phone, Village Chief Li sighed, “Kid, you’ve found yourself a good family, and you’re fortunate. They are willing to spend a lot of money on you and take care of you. In the future, you shouldn’t have any more contact with us. We’ll forget you existed. Consider yourself someone who never came from our place! Your father’s ashes, they took them away, I don’t know where. Just live your life well…”

With that, Village Chief Li silently hung up the phone.

Han Yang was unable to react for a moment. He couldn’t help but ask Ji Mu. Ji Mu, while explaining some of it, kept the rest hidden. He casually said, “I paid a small fee to keep it quiet and arranged some jobs for them. Everyone is honest and has been helping you these past few years. I won’t mistreat them.”

Ji Mu smiled, “Don’t worry.”

As Ji Mu had said, Han Yongnian’s passing was like the end of a nightmare for Han Yang.

He woke up in the middle of the night, but this time, it wasn’t from a nightmare.

He naturally opened his eyes, his inner world calm as a pond but also concealing a turbulent undercurrent of emotions, suppressed beneath a mask of silence, growing stronger over time.

Suddenly, he dreamed—

He dreamed of when he was three years old, tied up in the yard by Han Yongnian for a whole day and night because of his anger. He dreamed of when he was four years old, Han Yongnian kicking him into a pile of hard firewood. He dreamed of when he was five, Han Yongnian roughly dunking his head into a water barrel. He dreamed of when he was six, Han Yongnian holding a broken bottle and stabbing it at his throat, saying, “Hide your pheromones, you disgusting thing, you’re as disgusting as your mother, that whore!”

But at that time, he didn’t know what his mother was like; he only knew that the people Han Yongnian despised should be bad to some extent.

Perhaps, she was just as pitiable as he was.

When he was seven, Han Yang finally met Li Li.

Li Li looked at him expressionlessly, devoid of any emotion in her eyes. If there was any emotion, it was a deep sense of detachment and inexplicable disgust. She said, “Everyone says you’re my responsibility, but why should you be my responsibility? They pressured me to have you back then, and now no one wants you.”

She said, “You’re not my child, I have no child.”

It wasn’t her choice; everyone had forced her back then. Forced her to submit, forced her to accept. In the end, she finally mustered the courage to run away, and she ran far away.

But blood ties were strange; fleeing the mountains in the first two years, she would still dream of Han Yang as a baby, crying with a pitiful face in the cradle, just like her, with no place to belong.

She showed open disgust for Han Yang on the surface and exchanged harsh words with him. But late at night, she would sit by the window, crying quietly. Sometimes, she even thought about jumping off and ending this absurd life.

Nobody had it easy.

Countless times, Han Yang had seen this side of Li Li in the late hours of the night.

Nobody wanted to live, yet nobody could die.

Suddenly, tonight, a pair of hands embraced Han Yang from behind, offering warmth like the gentle breeze of spring.

Struggling to wake up from the nightmare once again, Han Yang found that the one embracing him was a half-awake Gu Nuan.

Gu Nuan had his cheek against Han Yang’s back and gave it a little nudge, saying, “Brother, do you have something on your mind?”

It was a warm night in June, not too hot.

The window in the master bedroom was half-open, and the cool breeze swept across Han Yang’s brooding yet handsome face, also waking up a yawning Gu Nuan.

“Brother, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Seeing this, Gu Nuan reached out and hugged Han Yang’s neck, kissing the corner of his lips. “Lying will turn you into a puppy.” The faint scent of strawberries surrounded Han Yang, instantly easing the tension he felt. This was Gu Nuan’s calming pheromones.

Han Yang couldn’t believe that the once physically incapable Gu Nuan had now learned to release comforting pheromones.

He remained silent, and Gu Nuan said, “I only realized yesterday that I actually have calming pheromones. Brother, does my calming pheromones smell nice? From now on, if you’re feeling down or have something on your mind, just tell me, and I’ll be there for you.”

 Gu Nuan said earnestly, “I’m your partner now, and we’ll spend our lives together. So, don’t lie to me. Lately, you’ve been waking up at night a lot, have you been having nightmares?”

Han Yang didn’t move. He silently got closer to Gu Nuan, and after a while, he replied, avoiding Gu Nuan’s question, “your calming pheromones smell really nice.”

Gu Nuan didn’t rush him. He leaned against the headboard of the bed, allowing Han Yang to find a comfortable position in his embrace. In the past, it was always Han Yang who held him, but today, it was Gu Nuan holding Han Yang.

A rare scene indeed.

Gu Nuan gently stroked Han Yang’s head, his voice tender, “Go to sleep early. I’ll be here with you all night.” At this moment, Gu Nuan seemed to be the one taking care of his big brother, Han Yang.

Han Yang slightly moved his lips.

Gu Nuan bent down and kissed his lips.

Han Yang’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he turned to bury his head in Gu Nuan’s embrace, in a vulnerable posture he had never shown before, greedily sniffing the strawberry pheromones on Gu Nuan’s body, seeking the comfort he longed for.

Gu Nuan indulged his request.

This state continued for half an hour, until Han Yang finally regained some composure. He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse, “I… have been dreaming of my childhood lately. I dream of Han Yongnian, I dream of Li Li.”

It had been three months since Han Yongnian’s passing, and this was the first time Han Yang mentioned Han Yongnian’s name after his death.

“I dreamt that he held my head underwater in the winter, and it was so cold, I couldn’t breathe. I also dreamt of him beating me, even after all these years, I can still easily recall the pain, it was enough to tear a person apart. I don’t know how I survived… I don’t know…”

Did he survive through his own resilience or his grandmother’s determination to survive?

Gu Nuan listened, and he couldn’t help but hold Han Yang tighter, gently patting his back. He noticed that Han Yang had become thinner. “Brother, don’t be afraid, it’s all in the past.”

Han Yang nodded, and he calmly recounted his past, as if he was willing to share the depths of his inner self with Gu Nuan. “Li Li, she hates me, but it seems like she doesn’t hate me that much. She’s probably hating herself… hating herself for compromising on everything and giving birth to me.”

In the midst of endless suffering, mother and son had wandered in hell together.

That’s why Li Li would sit by the window late at night, looking at the empty moon, and several times, she contemplated throwing herself into the abyss. At least that way, she wouldn’t have to be lost anymore.

“…Han Yongnian is dead, and yet I don’t even feel relief.”

“Brother.”

“I clearly hated him so much, but when I learned of his death, all I could think about was…”

—All I could think about was that no one would hurt me anymore.

At this moment, Han Yang’s eyes, like dead ashes, finally had a glimmer of humanity. In Gu Nuan’s comforting embrace, Han Yang’s body trembled slightly. “No one will hurt me anymore… he’s finally dead, finally dead.”

And finally, Han Yang cried like a child, his voice hoarse, suppressed, until he sobbed openly.

“He’s finally dead…” he repeated, burying his head in Gu Nuan’s embrace. He lightly touched the mark on Gu Nuan’s nape, shedding tears, “And no one will ever be able to hurt you again.”

Three months late, the shackles in Han Yang’s heart finally fell away.

Gu Nuan nodded and kissed away his tears, “Winter is over. Brother, I’m here now, and I won’t let anyone bully you in the future. I promise, I guarantee it.” He was really making a promise and vowing, wiping away his own tears, then kissing Han Yang sincerely. “I’m here.”

The spring of a heart began with a breeze, melting the icy cold and bringing forth the first tender sprout. This spring could survive even if it had already come late.

Finally, they survived.