Chapter 84  : Thunderbolt, Lightning, Zhou Li (1)

It was a complete accident for Liu Yuan to adopt Lightning.

That day, because he had left some documents at home, he went back home to get them around lunchtime. Outside his apartment building, he saw a little girl next door, no more than ten years old, squatting there with a small transparent box in her arms, her eyes red.

When Liu Yuan walked over and also squatted down, the girl looked up and cried.

“Brother Liu Yuan, my grandmother told me to throw away my Little Bean.” She said.

Liu Yuan frowned and looked at the small white ball that had curled up among bits of wood in the corner of the box. He scratched his head, not knowing what to do.

He had a hamster as a pet in elementary school too.

It was gray, with silver pattern on the back, very cute and good looking. Little Liu Yuan named it Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt was a particularly friendly hamster who would jump into your palm as soon as you reached into the box. Liu Yuan’s favourite thing at the time was to get a little water on his fingers and stick it in the cage and wait for Thunderbolt to lick his fingertips.

It would make his heart go all warm and soft.

Thunderbolt lived for a year and a half under his meticulous care, which was considered longevity in the hamster world.

But for a child, it was hard to go through the first experience of life and death. Liu Yuan built a tomb for Thunderbolt and planted a tree on it.

Then he decided not to keep any pet again.

It would be so sad to watch them pass away.

But years later, Liu Yuan still decided to bring Little Bean home.

Then he changed its name to Lightning without the permission of the original owner.

Lightning was a hamster very different from Thunderbolt. It was pure milk tea coloured with no other colours in its fur at all, and it was incredibly timid.

It was not getting along with Liu Yuan.

Liu Yuan bought him luxury double-decker cages, teething toys, high-grade hamster grain, nutrient-rich dried larva and aromatic bathing sand.

Lightning loved all these, but just not Liu Yuan.

Every night when Liu Yuan lay in bed with the light turned off, he could hear it running happily on its wheel. But when he went to the cage in the morning, Lightning would immediately hide away.

It was hard to build a relationship without intimate contact.

Liu Yuan didn’t find it too bad. This little thing was too short-lived. When not much emotion was involved, it wouldn’t be too sad to separate.

Even though he tried to think in this way, he still kept trying to build up a good relationship with Lightning every day.

He put the sunflower seeds in his hand, held his palm open inside the cage without moving.

Lightning initially reacted violently, showing its teeth at him. After a few months, it finally got the courage to come up and sniff Liu Yuan’s fingers. After some more time, it would jump into Liu Yuan’s palm and pick up the seeds and leave.

It was not until a year later that he finally crouched in his palm for the first time, cracked open the shell and gently stuffed the seed into its mouth. Liu Yuan was so touched that he almost cried.

But by then Lightning was already a star of longevity in its hamster world again.

“It was getting older and older, it started to drop hair and eat less. And then there was a little pimple on its tummy. I took it to see a doctor, but the doctor said it was too old to be treated, might as well let it die.”

“Eh? “Zhou Li opened his eyes wide and looked at him in surprise.

Liu Yuan smiled: “I was hesitating at the time, too emotional to let it go after all. Actually, I was thinking of taking it to the hospital after work the other day.”

“...” Zhou Li looked down, pressed his lips together and stopped talking.

“Don’t worry, that pimple shouldn’t be poisonous.” Liu Yuan said.

“No,” Zhou Li shook his head. “I’m not worried about that.”

Liu Yuan looked over at him as they walked along.

Zhou Li’s eyes were lowered down, and from Liu’s point of view, he could see only his long, curly eyelashes. That, like his short, fluffy hair, gave people a very soft feeling.

“If you really feel sorry......” Liu Yuan licked his lips, “you could make it up to me in another way.”

Zhou Li looked up at him immediately.

“For example, give me a kiss?” Liu Yuan said.

Zhou Li immediately frowned.

“What nonsense,” he bowed his head again, “Even Lightning would be angry at hearing this.”

Liu Yuan shrugged.

As they talked, the two men had arrived at Rong Yi and Chen Keyao’s home.

When they were waiting for the elevator, Liu Yuan suddenly felt particularly nostalgic: “Do you remember where we first met?”

Zhou Li’s expression was subtle.

Liu Yuan smiled at him, and he immediately turned his head away.

Liu Yuan was here today because of the annual reunion of old classmates.

The four brothers in their dorm room maintained a good relationship up till this day, but they were all so busy with jobs that it was hard to make time to get together. To keep in touch, they would find a fixed time each year for a reunion meal.

In the past, they always booked restaurants for this, but this year Chen Keyao host this at his home, which would give more freedom and no limit of time.

From Liu Yuan’s knowledge about Chen Keyao, he was most likely just trying to use such a noble excuse to show off his lover’s great cooking.

Because everyone would bring their other half to the event, Liu Yuan asked Zhou Li whether he was free to go with him. He didn’t expect anything, but Zhou Li said yes.

Liu Yuan felt he was probably just benefiting from association with Rong Yi.

He actually felt a little envious sometimes as well.

Although his reason told him that Rong Yi was an Omega, visually it looked like his partner was stuck together with another Alpha, and it felt strange but it would be inappropriate to say anything.

It was just like in the old days he also envied Chen Keyao.

This Alpha, who was interested in Alphas, often unconsciously attracted other sexes like butterflies to flowers. Although Chen Keyao himself had been troubled by this, Liu Yuan felt jealous like a sour lemon every day.

At times like this, he would always comfort himself by thinking, at least in terms of real emotional experience, he was much richer than Chen Keyao.

Liu Yuan had started dating since he was still in an elementary school.

It was a little girl with long ponytails and big eyes. There was a particularly naughty little boy in the class who also liked her and pulled her ponytails and grabbed her milk away.

And Liu Yuan gave her his milk every day, so he won her heart.

Unfortunately, the girl was transferred near graduation, so his first love died because of the distance. It was said that she had turned into an Alpha later, and even rekindled the relationship with that naughty boy who later transformed into an Omega. Liu Yuan felt very complicated about this.

He was in love again in middle school. It was a male Omega who was one year older.

The boy was particularly beautiful, and Liu Yuan fell in love with him at first sight, ignoring the fact that he had not even been divided into a sex category yet at the time and chased after him hard. And then they were together.

Liu Yuan found out that he was secretly in love with a senior in high school.

Liu Yuan said to him that he wouldn’t mind it as long as he could come back to him.

Unfortunately, the boy told him: I’m sorry; I really like him; Let’s break up.

He was in love in high school too. It was the Omega girl sitting next to him. The two of them couldn’t tell who liked whom first, but they got together naturally. This time, it lasted a very long time, and the relationship was stable.

Until the two got into different universities, Liu Yuan said to her confidently: Let’s get married in four years.

Later, he found out that the girl had dropped out of university.

The reason for the suspension was miscarriage.

He finally found out that she was suspended because she hadn’t asked him to write English homework for her for a long time.

By then they hadn’t seen each other for six months.

The old classmate who told Liu Yuan about the truth also told him that the Alpha, who had caused her miscarriage, was a complete scum.

Liu Yuan went all the way back and told her: I know you were hurt, but I’m happy to get through this together with you.

The girl was so touched that she couldn’t stop crying. Two months later, Liu Yuan found that the girl still hadn’t broken off completely with the scum.

She cried at Liu Yuan again, saying: I don’t know what to do and I just can’t let him go.

It wasn’t until the first half of his third year that Liu Yuan finally got over this breakup and fell in love with a fairy-like junior girl.

The young girl was really beautiful, with numerous suitors.

But Liu Yuan stood out.

Unfortunately, it only lasted half a year. When the young girl suggested to break up, she said, ‘I think you’re fine, but we don’t have a common language. I don’t feel a passion when together with you.’

Liu Yuan didn’t really understand. He would go to the cafeteria in the winter before dawn to buy her breakfast and deliver it to her dorm room. He’d skip his own classes to go to the library in order to grab a seat for her. Because of a joke she made, he’d climb over the dormitory wall in the middle of the night to buy her and her roommates a midnight snack. He’d get up early every morning to do the compulsory morning running exercise on the playground for her as well. At the end of the term, he’d even wrote papers for her.

But she didn’t think he was interesting enough.

After they broke up, the girl had a new partner, and from time to time she’d come to him to complain.

She said to him: you’re such a nice person. Can we be good friends forever?

Liu Yuan didn’t know how to respond.

And then an Omega told him, “Your problem is that you are too nice.”

Those people go out with you because you’re so nice, but because you’re so nice they don’t cherish you.

The Omega also said: I wanted to be in love when I first saw you two together. Because I’m hoping to be cherished by someone like this, but I’m not expecting you to be that person.

Liu Yuan later got together with this Omega but broke up again after graduation.

Because the Omega’s family wanted Liu Yuan’s family to buy an apartment for the marriage, but Liu Yuan couldn’t afford it then.

They broke up peacefully. The Omega told him in the end, “Please remember, no matter how much you like someone, you still have to leave yourself some space.”

Liu Yuan found that very hard.

He now liked Zhou Li. He was just very happy whenever he saw him, wanting to be nice to him, letting him do whatever he liked and doting on him with no reservations.

Zhou Li didn’t seem to like him that much. He was a little sad about it, but he was not discouraged. At least, Zhou Li promised to try to be with him, which in itself was worth cheering about.

Zhou Li, who seemed rather smart at other times, was surprisingly clumsy when it came to relationships. Liu Yuan didn’t mind at all. He found that very cute.