What Are Your Tastes? chapter 18

 Can I Adopt It?

Except for being surprised by Ning Ruowei’s prophecy about sharing a room with Zhou Yanchuan, Lu Yunchu didn’t feel unhappy about it.

Sharing a room wasn’t the same as sharing a bed; compared to the brief stays in multi-person dormitories during college, this was nothing at all. Of course, the main reason was that his relationship with Zhou Yanchuan had improved to the point where calling them ordinary friends wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Zhou Yanchuan was even less particular; in order to treat his mother’s illness, he sold the house in his hometown years ago and stayed in hotels when he returned to the county, sometimes this one, sometimes even worse conditions. He was used to hardship and could eat and sleep well anywhere, never picky.

The standard room had two beds, one against the wall. Zhou Yanchuan saw some mottled stains on the wall and took the initiative to choose that bed, leaving the side next to the window for Lu Yunchu.

The hotel was close to the road, and the room was on a low floor, but there was hardly any noise in the county after nightfall, only occasionally hearing some accented conversations.

Zhou Yanchuan had been driving for several hours during the day and lay down early, unknowingly falling asleep. After a while, he woke up and glanced at his phone next to the pillow and found it was still before ten o’clock. The person on the adjacent bed was wrapped in a quilt and tossing restlessly, as if turning over.

“Lu…” Zhou Yanchuan hesitated for a moment, trying to call him, “Lu Yunchu?”

“Hmm?” The person immediately pulled down the blanket, “Did I disturb you?”

“No, I woke up myself,” Zhou Yanchuan had slept for more than an hour and couldn’t fall asleep again for a while, “You’re not asleep yet?”

“No.” It was still early, and the conditions here were relatively average. There was a faint musty smell in the air, and Lu Yunchu couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning.

“Can’t sleep?”

“It’s okay, it’s a bit early.”

Only half of the curtains were drawn, and there were no brilliant lights in the county. The night was as deep as the sea, without even moonlight, so Lu Yunchu left the bathroom light on just now.

Zhou Yanchuan turned over and faced the young man in the same room. There was only a bedside table between them.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, “About today at school.”

Lu Yunchu stopped tossing and lay quietly, “Hmm.”

“You did well.”

Lu Yunchu was a bit surprised, “But I thought you weren’t interested?”

“That’s an objective assessment,” Zhou Yanchuan smiled, “Not from my perspective.”

“Zhou Yanchuan,” Lu Yunchu no longer called him “Mr. Zhou,” he called him naturally, “Do you really not like studying?”

“I don’t.”

“Never liked it?”

“Yeah,” Zhou Yanchuan seemed to remember something, chuckling softly, “I did a lot of naughty things when I was a kid, enough to annoy my teachers.”

“Like what?”

“Like… drawing ghost faces on the blackboard before class, hiding the chalk eraser, and putting a dead cicada in the chalk box, which scared our class teacher.”

Lu Yunchu burst out laughing, “And then?”

“Standing punishment, several times standing all day.” Zhou Yanchuan spoke of the past without any remorse, with a hint of pride.

“How did you think of helping to build a school then?” Lu Yunchu became more interested, “There are many types of charity.”

“Didn’t I say before, not liking to read and helping others read have nothing to do with each other,” Zhou Yanchuan exhaled leisurely, “Reading is still important, important for most people.”

“Not important to you?”

“Not that important,” he said complacently, “But not everyone has my luck.”

“You think you’re lucky?”

“Not just luck, but also ability, mental agility, the ability to seize opportunities… these aren’t things you can learn from books.”

Lu Yunchu laughed immediately, “You’re quite narcissistic.”

“Aren’t you?” Zhou Yanchuan shrugged, “I think you’re more so.”

“Who says that?”

“Isn’t it true? How many people are as arrogant as you in front of clients? It’s just that I have a good temper,” he rested his head on his half-bent arm, “Hey, do you think I’m kind of rustic?”

Lu Yunchu had never expected to discuss such matters frankly with Zhou Yanchuan, especially in the late night when they were alone together. He didn’t feel awkward because there was no complaint or sarcasm in Zhou’s tone, making him willing to respond honestly.

“If I said yes, would you be angry?”

“Go ahead, it’s not like I don’t have strengths greater than yours,” Zhou Yanchuan chuckled, “You still have to do things according to my requests. Are you angry?”

“‘Why would I be angry?’ Liu Yunchu met his gaze in the dim light, “I got over it.”

Such a conversation was a new experience for both of them.

“‘Do you want to sleep now?’ Zhou Yanchuan asked.

“Not really,” although he felt a bit sleepy, it wasn’t enough to make him obediently go to sleep, “I miss Sabrina.”

“You miss Sabrina?”

“Don’t you?” Despite his previous concern.

“I do,” but Zhou Yanchuan thought Lu Yunchu would think of his “girlfriend” first, and Sabrina was also in the girl’s house, “Lu Yunchu, can I discuss something with you?”

“What is it?”

“If we can’t find Sabrina’s owner… can I adopt it?” Zhou Yanchuan had been considering this for many days. He also knew that raising a pet might not be easier than raising a child. He had no experience in this area and didn’t know if he could do it well, although he liked it at first sight, he hadn’t said he wanted to adopt it, “If you’re tired of raising it, take it back to my place when you return.”

“Do you really plan to adopt it?”

“Yeah, this way you can come to my place if you want to see it, or we can walk the dog together when we have time,” Zhou Yanchuan shared his various ideas, “See, you don’t have to spend money or effort, and you can see Sabrina anytime. Isn’t that great?”

Lu Yunchu didn’t respond immediately. He asked nervously, “Can I?”

“Okay,” Lu Yunchu felt a heavy stone fall in his heart. If he had to find someone other than the original owner to adopt Sabrina, he selfishly hoped it would be Zhou Yanchuan. He had been waiting for him to propose it himself, “After I go back, I’ll hand Sabrina over to you.”

“Thank you.” Zhou Yanchuan became more excited and chattered about his future plans, “I was thinking, I’ll give Sabrina the balcony in the master bedroom, buy a dog house, and buy more toys…”

“Yeah.” Lu Yunchu responded lightly, yawning twice in a row, seeming unable to resist sleepiness.

He heard Zhou Yanchuan ask if he was asleep in a daze, but he couldn’t speak clearly due to his fuzzy consciousness.

Midnight.

As Lu Yunchu slept, he didn’t know how all the covers were gone, feeling empty on his body and bed; he slept in a short-sleeved T-shirt and thin pajamas. It was a little cold without covering anything, but his brain couldn’t wake up and he was too lazy to pick up the blanket.

The night chill caused him to curl up continuously, lightly scraping against the bed surface. This situation didn’t last long, as the soft cover, pushed back by someone, returned to envelop him—it was the blanket he had momentarily kicked away.

The warmth wrapped around him, Lu Yunchu firmly grasped the regained blanket corner, no longer feeling cold.