Contractual Marriage: We’re Meant to Be Together

141. I Regretted It

 

Translator: Florea

 

Wei Qing was in panic. He rubbed the back of Yan Chuyang’s head anxiously. Lowering his voice, he asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was worried that you would feel uncomfortable with the liquor.”

“Didn’t you want to kick me out?” Yan Chuyang interrupted him angrily. Looking up, he frowned, tears pouring down his cheeks. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. Then he stared at Wei Qing with a sobbing voice, “Didn’t you find me annoying? Didn’t you feel tired? Why do you care about me? Just let me drink to death!”

Wei Qing felt a great weight of sorrow inside him, “Yan Chuyang!”

“Keep yelling!” Yan Chuyang gritted his teeth and shouted in a hoarse voice, “I’m such a loser anyway! No one would really care about me. Not even my mom, my dad. All of you want to abandon me! Just yell at me!”

Wei Qing was stunned. He wiped the boy’s eyes with his rough thumbs and whispered, “What the heck is wrong? How come you feel like a loser?”

Dropping his eyes, Yan Chuyang sighed and said calmly, “I was out. I was the fourth in the competition and I can’t go on to the final.”

Wei Qing’s eyes gleamed. After a moment of silence, he asked, “So you know the result?”

“Um,” Closing his eyes, Yan Chuyang answered disappointedly, “I just received the express mail.”

“You’ll be fine.” Taking Yan Chuyang in his arms, Wei Qing kissed him on his ear. “It’s just a contest. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does…” Lying on Wei Qing’s shoulder, Yan Chuyang said weakly, “I’m doomed to be unable to do anything well. My mom abandoned me just because I lost the junior class cartoon drawing competition when I was young. And when I grew up, I lost the school sketch competition. I couldn’t even afford to take my grandmother to her hometown before she was hospitalized. I had decided to fight to death for the final so that I could make money for you. But I still lost it, Wei Qing.”

Yan Chuyang paused and said in a hoarse voice, “Have you already known that I will never achieve anything, so you want to kick me out early?”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Wei Qing looked terrible. Cupping Yan Chuyang’s face, he whispered, “Who’s gonna kick you out? You’re so good and cute. And I can’t wait to love you. How could I kick you out? The words last night burst out from my anger. They don’t count.”

“You don’t have to comfort me,” Yan Chuyang squinted at Wei Qing through lidded eyes, “I know I’m just a babe in arms.”

“Yan Chuyang!”

“Wei Qing…” The boy murmured in a hoarse voice, his bright eyes filled with tears.

“I don’t know what to do, do you know? I was very confident in this competition. I’ve worked so hard, and I think I can definitely win, but I didn’t make it. I… I’m a complete loser!”

“No,” Wei Qing hugged him tightly and sadly. “You’re great, you’re excellent, it’s just…those judges didn’t have sharp eyes for your drawing! There’s nothing wrong with you!”

“Not true at all,” Yan Chuyang shook his head and said with a hoarse voice, “I’m just a clown who didn’t have the smarts and was blindly confident. I always thought that I could get the bonus and make money to support your life, but I was wrong. I couldn’t make it. I just can’t afford to support myself!”

“You can,” Wei Qing lowered his head and rubbed against the boy’s nose. “All you need to do is take your time and wait for the right moment. You’re still young and you just don’t have the chance to earn money. Wait until you graduate.”

“Forget it,” Yan Chuyang wiped the tears off his face and said calmly, “I’d better not stay by your side. I want to move out and cool off.”

Wei Qing frowned, “We’re married. I’m your husband now. No matter what happens, we should take on our roles. What is it that you move out?”

“No.” Yan Chuyang shook his head and said serenely, “You are not my husband. People like me is unworthy of the honour to have such an excellent husband.”

“What are you saying?” Looking at the boy, who had a studied calm face, Wei Qing took him in his arms sadly, “How can you think like that? You are handsome, good and cute, how can you say that you’re not worthy of me?”

“Brrr,” Yan Chuyang sneered, “So what if I’m good-looking? I’m not a woman. Pretty face cannot feed me. If it can, why would I accomplish nothing?”

Wei Qing was so shocked by what Yan Chuyang said. “Pretty face can feed you?”

Oh no. Why did they start to talk about something like this? That was dangerous.

“Of course, pretty face cannot feed you,” Wei Qing nudged the conversation towards the right topic, “You have to rely on your smarts. You are talented and knowledgeable. Being pretty cannot help you pay the bill. Only girls hope to charm their way through life. You will treat that bad idea with the contempt it deserves, won’t you?”

Yan Chuyang was stunned. He said blankly while blinking. “Why will I disdain the idea? If my face can feed me, I would love to try it.”

“Yan Chuyang!”

Yan Chuyang”Wei Qing,” sighing disappointedly and burying his face on Wei Qing’s shoulder, Yan Chuyang said softly,”I regret it.”

Wei Qing was brought up short by Yan Chuyang’s words, “What?”

Yan Chuyang took a deep breath and said in a faint voice,

“When I was in my eleventh grade, I worked part-time as a waiter in a bar. The owner was a fat woman. One night after work, she was drunk and I sent her home. When I helped her to her bed, she kept hold of my hand to stop me from leaving. She asked me if I wanted money or not. She said that her husband wasn’t home. And if I chose to stay at her house, she could give me 100,000 yuan each month.”

Wei Qing bit his lip, “And then?”

“Then I refused her. I said, ‘Sorry. I have someone I like.’ And that woman just said ‘You’ll regret it, hotness.”

Finishing his words, Yan Chuyang sighed heavily, half crying. He said hoarsely, “And sure enough I regretted it. Why should I refuse her? If I lived at her house then, she would give me 100,000 yuan a month. Then I will have so much money that I can be a rich person to support you.”

“You idiot!” Lowering his head, Wei Qing kissed Yan Chuyang on his lips. “You are priceless, much more precious than 100,000 yuan! That woman was so ridiculous. She was just acting like a rich woman with this little money! What was wrong with her?”