Mr. Gu regularly reminded Gu Qingchi to take his medicine. Every night after dinner, Gu Qingchi and Mrs. Gu would take their medicine and watch some television before heading to bed.
Mrs. Gu would only let him go back to his room once he was sleepy. In the mornings, Gu Xie would check several times to see if he was awake. If he was, Gu Xie would pull him out of bed. If he didn’t have someone urging him, Gu Qingchi could lay in bed for an entire day, wasting away.
On such days, Gu Qingchi would be kept within his family’s line of sight. No one dared to let him stay alone.
Gu Qingchi felt better after taking this medicine, but that was only immediately after taking it. Once some time passed, he would feel unbelievably sleepy, fully capable of sleeping until noon. He’d taken his medicine a little bit later today. It was almost twelve o’clock. Gu Qingchi still didn’t have a hint of sleepiness in his face, so Mrs. Gu suggested they watch a movie.
AD
Mr. Gu opened up the home theater, and the family began discussing what movie they should watch.
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie were mainly the ones discussing. Mrs. Gu and Gu Qingchi didn’t care either way. Mrs. Gu preferred television dramas, so she didn’t have very many requirements when it came to movies. Gu Qingchi just didn’t care what they watched as long as it wasn’t a movie he acted in.
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie, two towering figures in the world of business, were now quarreling like children over what movie to watch. They presented several arguments to refute each other. They then proceeded to come up with new proposals.
The table was full of snacks, as well as a bucket of popcorn.
Gu Qingchi bit down on his straw, putting all of his energy on his milk tea. If he shook the cup around, he could even hear the ice cubes clinking against each other.
It was rare for Mrs. Gu to let Gu Qingchi drink his favorite iced milk tea.
He only had himself to blame for having a bad stomach. Mrs. Gu was always keeping an eye on him, and she wasn’t going to let him drink something so irritating for his stomach.
Mr. Gu was rebutting Gu Xie’s proposal.
“Each and every generation grows up with its own cultural background. Transformers were popular during your generation. That was not the case for me and your mother. Furthermore, this is just one in a series of movies. You want to watch the most recent one. Young people like you might find it easy to understand. However, if we watch the very latest installment right from the get go without any of the context, we probably won’t be able to understand.”
AD
Mrs. Gu wasn’t happy with that.
“I can understand it! I just don’t like it! How am I not young?”
Gu Qingchi looked back and forth between them. In the end, he handed the milk tea in his hands to Mrs. Gu.
Mrs. Gu immediately forgot about her anger. She hesitated for a bit, but, in the end, she decided to take a small sip since it was given to her by her good boy. She then took another sip.
Mrs. Gu hadn’t been a very big fan of milk tea. She’d tried it before and found it too rich, too sweet. She didn’t like it very much, so she never tried it again. Mr. Gu and Gu Xie were even less inclined to try it, so she didn’t have many opportunities to try it again.
Now, she was starting to think that maybe the milk tea she had previously was just bad.
“Oh, this one’s not bad. It’s just that it’s a bit cold. Good boy, don’t drink too much.”
Mrs. Gu gracefully wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and pointed at the screen, her nails elegantly painted.
“Quit arguing. Let’s just watch a comedy. Let’s go with that one. It’s even won an award.”
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie both stopped arguing and sat back. One put on the movie. One turned off the lights.
Gu Qingchi’s sense of humor just so happened to line up with the movie’s. He laughed out loud several times, and he nearly even choked on his milk tea.
Halfway into the movie, Gu Qingchi started to feel sleepy. He slumped against Mrs. Gu, nodding off.
“Good boy, go back to your room and sleep.”
Mrs. Gu quietly called Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi raised his head in a daze and was dragged back upstairs by Gu Xie. Once he was lying in bed, the night light in the corner of the room gradually started to dim. Only the sound of shallow breathing was left. Gu Xie lightened his footsteps and slowly backed out of the room.
Sometime later, Gu Qingchi suddenly woke up. He was very clear-headed, without a hint of sleepiness. He found himself a little confused about what time it was. He felt that it should be daytime by now, but there was no sunlight in the room and the night light was still on.
Maybe it was a cloudy day. He rolled over and got out of bed. He reached for his cell phone, which was sitting on his bedside table and checked the time — 1:57 AM. He’d only slept for about half an hour.
Gu Qingchi laid back and closed his eyes.
He didn’t like to go to sleep when he was little. Mrs. Gu would always cajole him by saying that, if he just closed his eyes for ten minutes, they could stop sleeping. Often, he’d close his eyes and end up falling asleep without even knowing it.
He told himself he just needed to keep his eyes shut for ten minutes. He got up again after a while and turned on his phone — 2:24 AM.
There were still four more hours until dawn.
He sat there, and, suddenly, tears began to roll.
He’d gotten the milk tea that he’d been craving tonight. He and his family watched a movie and chatted with each other. He’d really been happy.
Nevertheless, he still felt like couldn’t breathe. His mouth was dry. His chest felt tight. He felt that living was utter torment and time was a virtual prison.
Uncontrollable tears rolled down his face with seemingly no end in sight. He pressed his palms against his eyes, but the tears continued to stream from underneath his palms. Ultimately, the tears ended up hanging onto his chin.
He didn’t want to make any noise. Gu Xie was just next door. He bit down on his wrist, and so his suppressed sobs had no choice but to escape from between his fingers.
Once he’d come back to his senses, there were long scratch marks on his arms and bite marks on his wrist. His teeth were blunt, so the bite marks didn’t bleed too much. However, that wasn’t to say that they weren’t bleeding at all.
Gu Qingchi immediately stopped biting. He fumbled for the first aid kit from under the bed. He then opened it up on the carpet and began to treat his wound.
His tears still wouldn’t stop. He moved to get antiseptic, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. His hands were a little shaky from all the crying he’d done just now. He frantically thought to himself, “It’ll be okay. Small wounds like this should be fine by tomorrow. No one will notice.”
Gu Qingchi was afraid of pain. Granted, he wasn’t in any actual pain right now. However, he didn’t want to see Xie Luyu crying like that again. It was both laughable and pitiable.
Once he dropped the small bottle containing iodine-soaked cotton balls on the carpet for the third time, Gu Qingchi finally cried out. It was a low, throaty sound.
He’d originally been kneeling on the ground. Now, however, he straightened up his upper body and reached for his cell phone on the bed. He laid there, his torso resting on the edge of the bed, and dialed for Xie Luyu.
Xie Luyu picked up very quickly.
“I just can’t fall asleep … I can’t sleep … ”
Gu Qingchi instantly fell apart. He bawled. It was heartbreaking to listen to and heartrending to watch.
He cried out, almost painfully. His breath hitched, gasping as he sobbed. He tried to speak, but the only thing he seemed to be able to say was that he couldn’t sleep, as if his inability to fall asleep was the end of the world.
“Don’t panic. Breathe. I’ll lead you. Deep breaths. One. Two. Three. One more time … ”
Once he’d calmed down, Xie Luyu continued.
“If you can’t sleep, we can talk. I like talking with you. It’s comfortable.”
Xie Luyu spoke casually with Gu Qingchi. It was all very natural. He simply said whatever came to mind, his voice carrying a bit of a Beijingese. He would even slip a few of his complaints in from time to time, making the conversation a little more interesting.
“I was filming this one movie, and we actually ended up staying in the mountains. I stayed at this one villager’s place, and, let me tell you, the rent there was super cheap. One whole month of rent there was the same price as a single night at a hotel … ”
“It’s like the entire crew was in closed-door isolation or something. There was virtually nothing in the area around us. The only thing nearby was this small restaurant. They didn’t make anything other than soy sauce noodles. They were cheap too, five yuan per bowl. I ate soy sauce noodles there for an entire month.
It was winter at the time. The weather was stupid cold. The down jackets weren’t of any use at all. I found that the film crew’s military coats were warmer than the down jackets, so I wore the military coats every single day. The proprietress of the restaurant gave me some snacks every now and then, so I figured she was a fan of mine or something. The amount of snacks she gave me was seriously too much. I didn’t want to take them without doing anything in return, so I was going to sign an autograph for her. However, I soon found out that she thought I was there to look for a job … “
Mr. Gu regularly reminded Gu Qingchi to take his medicine. Every night after dinner, Gu Qingchi and Mrs. Gu would take their medicine and watch some television before heading to bed.
Mrs. Gu would only let him go back to his room once he was sleepy. In the mornings, Gu Xie would check several times to see if he was awake. If he was, Gu Xie would pull him out of bed. If he didn’t have someone urging him, Gu Qingchi could lay in bed for an entire day, wasting away.
On such days, Gu Qingchi would be kept within his family’s line of sight. No one dared to let him stay alone.
Gu Qingchi felt better after taking this medicine, but that was only immediately after taking it. Once some time passed, he would feel unbelievably sleepy, fully capable of sleeping until noon. He’d taken his medicine a little bit later today. It was almost twelve o’clock. Gu Qingchi still didn’t have a hint of sleepiness in his face, so Mrs. Gu suggested they watch a movie.
AD
Mr. Gu opened up the home theater, and the family began discussing what movie they should watch.
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie were mainly the ones discussing. Mrs. Gu and Gu Qingchi didn’t care either way. Mrs. Gu preferred television dramas, so she didn’t have very many requirements when it came to movies. Gu Qingchi just didn’t care what they watched as long as it wasn’t a movie he acted in.
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie, two towering figures in the world of business, were now quarreling like children over what movie to watch. They presented several arguments to refute each other. They then proceeded to come up with new proposals.
The table was full of snacks, as well as a bucket of popcorn.
Gu Qingchi bit down on his straw, putting all of his energy on his milk tea. If he shook the cup around, he could even hear the ice cubes clinking against each other.
It was rare for Mrs. Gu to let Gu Qingchi drink his favorite iced milk tea.
He only had himself to blame for having a bad stomach. Mrs. Gu was always keeping an eye on him, and she wasn’t going to let him drink something so irritating for his stomach.
Mr. Gu was rebutting Gu Xie’s proposal.
“Each and every generation grows up with its own cultural background. Transformers were popular during your generation. That was not the case for me and your mother. Furthermore, this is just one in a series of movies. You want to watch the most recent one. Young people like you might find it easy to understand. However, if we watch the very latest installment right from the get go without any of the context, we probably won’t be able to understand.”
AD
Mrs. Gu wasn’t happy with that.
“I can understand it! I just don’t like it! How am I not young?”
Gu Qingchi looked back and forth between them. In the end, he handed the milk tea in his hands to Mrs. Gu.
Mrs. Gu immediately forgot about her anger. She hesitated for a bit, but, in the end, she decided to take a small sip since it was given to her by her good boy. She then took another sip.
Mrs. Gu hadn’t been a very big fan of milk tea. She’d tried it before and found it too rich, too sweet. She didn’t like it very much, so she never tried it again. Mr. Gu and Gu Xie were even less inclined to try it, so she didn’t have many opportunities to try it again.
Now, she was starting to think that maybe the milk tea she had previously was just bad.
“Oh, this one’s not bad. It’s just that it’s a bit cold. Good boy, don’t drink too much.”
Mrs. Gu gracefully wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and pointed at the screen, her nails elegantly painted.
“Quit arguing. Let’s just watch a comedy. Let’s go with that one. It’s even won an award.”
Mr. Gu and Gu Xie both stopped arguing and sat back. One put on the movie. One turned off the lights.
Gu Qingchi’s sense of humor just so happened to line up with the movie’s. He laughed out loud several times, and he nearly even choked on his milk tea.
Halfway into the movie, Gu Qingchi started to feel sleepy. He slumped against Mrs. Gu, nodding off.
“Good boy, go back to your room and sleep.”
Mrs. Gu quietly called Gu Qingchi. Gu Qingchi raised his head in a daze and was dragged back upstairs by Gu Xie. Once he was lying in bed, the night light in the corner of the room gradually started to dim. Only the sound of shallow breathing was left. Gu Xie lightened his footsteps and slowly backed out of the room.
Sometime later, Gu Qingchi suddenly woke up. He was very clear-headed, without a hint of sleepiness. He found himself a little confused about what time it was. He felt that it should be daytime by now, but there was no sunlight in the room and the night light was still on.
Maybe it was a cloudy day. He rolled over and got out of bed. He reached for his cell phone, which was sitting on his bedside table and checked the time — 1:57 AM. He’d only slept for about half an hour.
Gu Qingchi laid back and closed his eyes.
He didn’t like to go to sleep when he was little. Mrs. Gu would always cajole him by saying that, if he just closed his eyes for ten minutes, they could stop sleeping. Often, he’d close his eyes and end up falling asleep without even knowing it.
He told himself he just needed to keep his eyes shut for ten minutes. He got up again after a while and turned on his phone — 2:24 AM.
There were still four more hours until dawn.
He sat there, and, suddenly, tears began to roll.
He’d gotten the milk tea that he’d been craving tonight. He and his family watched a movie and chatted with each other. He’d really been happy.
Nevertheless, he still felt like couldn’t breathe. His mouth was dry. His chest felt tight. He felt that living was utter torment and time was a virtual prison.
Uncontrollable tears rolled down his face with seemingly no end in sight. He pressed his palms against his eyes, but the tears continued to stream from underneath his palms. Ultimately, the tears ended up hanging onto his chin.
He didn’t want to make any noise. Gu Xie was just next door. He bit down on his wrist, and so his suppressed sobs had no choice but to escape from between his fingers.
Once he’d come back to his senses, there were long scratch marks on his arms and bite marks on his wrist. His teeth were blunt, so the bite marks didn’t bleed too much. However, that wasn’t to say that they weren’t bleeding at all.
Gu Qingchi immediately stopped biting. He fumbled for the first aid kit from under the bed. He then opened it up on the carpet and began to treat his wound.
His tears still wouldn’t stop. He moved to get antiseptic, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. His hands were a little shaky from all the crying he’d done just now. He frantically thought to himself, “It’ll be okay. Small wounds like this should be fine by tomorrow. No one will notice.”
Gu Qingchi was afraid of pain. Granted, he wasn’t in any actual pain right now. However, he didn’t want to see Xie Luyu crying like that again. It was both laughable and pitiable.
Once he dropped the small bottle containing iodine-soaked cotton balls on the carpet for the third time, Gu Qingchi finally cried out. It was a low, throaty sound.
He’d originally been kneeling on the ground. Now, however, he straightened up his upper body and reached for his cell phone on the bed. He laid there, his torso resting on the edge of the bed, and dialed for Xie Luyu.
Xie Luyu picked up very quickly.
“I just can’t fall asleep … I can’t sleep … ”
Gu Qingchi instantly fell apart. He bawled. It was heartbreaking to listen to and heartrending to watch.
He cried out, almost painfully. His breath hitched, gasping as he sobbed. He tried to speak, but the only thing he seemed to be able to say was that he couldn’t sleep, as if his inability to fall asleep was the end of the world.
“Don’t panic. Breathe. I’ll lead you. Deep breaths. One. Two. Three. One more time … ”
Once he’d calmed down, Xie Luyu continued.
“If you can’t sleep, we can talk. I like talking with you. It’s comfortable.”
Xie Luyu spoke casually with Gu Qingchi. It was all very natural. He simply said whatever came to mind, his voice carrying a bit of a Beijingese. He would even slip a few of his complaints in from time to time, making the conversation a little more interesting.
“I was filming this one movie, and we actually ended up staying in the mountains. I stayed at this one villager’s place, and, let me tell you, the rent there was super cheap. One whole month of rent there was the same price as a single night at a hotel … ”
“It’s like the entire crew was in closed-door isolation or something. There was virtually nothing in the area around us. The only thing nearby was this small restaurant. They didn’t make anything other than soy sauce noodles. They were cheap too, five yuan per bowl. I ate soy sauce noodles there for an entire month.
It was winter at the time. The weather was stupid cold. The down jackets weren’t of any use at all. I found that the film crew’s military coats were warmer than the down jackets, so I wore the military coats every single day. The proprietress of the restaurant gave me some snacks every now and then, so I figured she was a fan of mine or something. The amount of snacks she gave me was seriously too much. I didn’t want to take them without doing anything in return, so I was going to sign an autograph for her. However, I soon found out that she thought I was there to look for a job … “
