Xie Ji walked over and sat down next to Lu Xunji tool. "Fortunately."
"Hmm?" Lu Xunji leaned back quietly, his voice very soft.
Xie Ji knelt down. "Luckily I brought you out, luckily you didn't die, luckily your leg can be healed, otherwise I would have felt guilty to death, Lu Xunji."
Lu Xunji extended his palm towards him, Xie Ji hesitated for a moment before placing his own hand on top of it.
"What's wrong?"
"It's not 'fortunately,' nor is it thanks to me; it's because my little darling did a fantastic job," Lu Xunji said. "You saved me, thank you, my little darling."
Xie Ji felt a lump in her throat; the grievances she had been holding in for days inexplicably burst forth in front of Lu Xunji.
"Of course, I'm amazing." Xie Ji sniffed and said, "I carried you all that way, such a long way. With this kind of perseverance, I'll succeed at anything in the future."
Lu Xunji chuckled softly, "Mm."
Once Xie Ji started talking, he couldn't stop. His bandaged feet hurt when he put them on the ground, so he simply squeezed onto Lu Xunji's hospital bed and sat next to him.
"Damn, let me tell you, I ran incredibly fast that night. Even Tarzan of the Apes couldn't catch me, you believe me? I even lost a shoe, and the pain was so intense I wanted to cry out to the heavens, but who am I? Damn, I'm a real man, I held it in!"
Xie Ji recounted his experiences after their separation to Lu Xunji with great enthusiasm, gesturing rapidly in front of his body as if he were forming hand seals.
"Then, as I was running, I saw a big hole next to me. On a whim, I ran inside without even thinking about what might be inside! Luckily, the owner of the hole wasn't home. I think it was probably a wolf or a tiger or something. Anyway, there was their poop at the entrance, and it stank so badly! The worst part was that I wasn't wearing shoes!"
Xie Ji sighed again.
"I'm a man who's stepped in tiger poop barefoot too."
Lu Xunji leaned against the side, listening quietly, occasionally responding softly. When Xie Ji paused to speak, he would thoughtfully pick up a water glass from the side and hand it to him, asking encouragingly, "And then?"
Xie Ji then recounted his experience in a flamboyant and exaggerated manner.
"Holy crap, you know what? Seriously, when I was carrying you out, I really felt like I was walking the road to the underworld. I couldn't remember anything at all. All I could think about was pulling me back, not falling down, because if I fell, we'd both be finished." Xie Ji took a sip of water and continued, "You're really heavy."
Lu Xunji lowered his eyes and made a cruel joke, "That's fortunate indeed."
Xie Ji hummed in agreement. "Fortunately what?"
"If you had taken off my pants, you would have found that at that point, there wasn't much tissue left below my calves," Lu Xunji said. "That helped you lose at least five pounds."
Xie Ji stared at him, speechless for a moment.
Lu Xunji smiled slightly, "Just kidding, it's not that serious."
"You did this on purpose," Xie Ji snorted. "You knew it would hurt me to do this."
Lu Xunji leaned closer. "Hmm? Can you do it?"
"I definitely will," Xie Ji said resolutely. "That must have hurt so much, and you did it to save me, Lu Xunji. Please don't do this again, okay? We can figure out a solution together, but you can't do this again..."
Xie Ji couldn't describe it, so Lu Xunji bent down and kissed his tear-stained eyelashes.
"Mmm." Xie Ji tilted her head back, her slender white fingers gripping the blanket, holding her breath.
Lu Xunji, slender fingers gently stroked his neck as he whispered, "Do you know what I was thinking during that time I was stuck in the swamp?"
Xie Ji opened his eyes, sniffled, and asked in a tearful voice, "You're not thinking, 'That idiot Xie Ji must have run away with me,' are you?"
Lu Xunji glanced at him, then gently pressed his forehead against Xie Ji's. "I was thinking, if I could die like this, it would be quite nice."
Xie Ji a chill run down his spine and instinctively reached out to grasp Lu Xunji's hand.
"I should have died like this, sinking into the chaotic, filthy mud. It wouldn't have mattered much," Lu Xunji said softly. "I don't regret it. At least you can live. You have a lot of love, and you have the ability to love. You are full of light and won't sink with a monster like me. No one in this world will be sad for me if I'm gone. If you feel even a little sadness for me, I will be very happy."
"Why... why would you think that?" Xie Ji was even more upset. Holding Lu Xunji's hand, he didn't know what to say, and could only say, "Don't think like that, Lu Xunji."
"Well, but before I passed out, I remembered you telling me that if I died, you would die with me." Lu Xunji said, "Suddenly, I didn't want to die anymore. I don't know if you were lying to me, but at that moment, I was willing to believe you. Xie Ji, you were the first person who was willing to get close to me, and the first person who cared about my life. You are very important to me."
Xie Ji thought for a while, then suddenly blushed, and after a long pause, he stammered, " Lu Xunji."
Lu Xunji looked at him gently. "Hmm?"
"Does this count as a confession?" Xie Ji quickly finished speaking, then added, "If not, then I guess I'm overthinking it. You know we straight guys are easy to flirt with. Of course, I don't mean to say I'm serious. I was just asking casually. If you don't mean it that way, then I guess I misunderstood. Anyway, we're all good buddies, so a little misunderstanding is normal. I was just asking casually and didn't really care."
Lu Xunji thought for a moment and said, "I guess so. Maybe we can give it a try."
Xie Ji asked warily, "Test what?"
"Let's have a relationship." Lu Xunji looked at him. "You normal people all start by dating before you go to bed, right?"
Xie Ji was angry. "So after all that, you still want to sleep with me?!"
"Yes, I've thought about it." Lu Xunji looked at him frankly. "Can't I think about it?"
"It's not that I can't think about it... but it's not that I can even think about it either." Xie Ji stammered, "Anyway, anyway, this is just wrong! People always proceed step by step, first confessing, then dating, then holding hands, then kissing, and only then... that!"
Lu Xunji thought for a moment, then asked curiously, "So, I've said it many times, I can give you time."
"But you can't say it now!" Xie Ji said, "That would make you seem like a frivolous person!"
Lu Xunji said calmly, "Is wanting to sleep with you frivolous? I'm just being sincere with you."
Looking at Lu Xunji's expression, Xie Ji asked with a hint of unease, "Is there a mirror in the ward?"
Lu Xunji asked, "No, what's wrong?"
"You really should take a good look in the mirror," Xie Ji said. "Your expression right now looks like you're saying, 'It's your great fortune that I'm willing to sleep with you; the line of men waiting for me to fuck them stretches all the way to France.'"
Lu Xunji: "..."
Lu Xunji seemed to be thinking, "Isn't that right?"
Xie Ji: "."
Damn, I hate pretentious people the most.
Xie Ji: "I'll have to decline."
Lu Xunji was silent for a moment, then cupped Xie Ji's face and said earnestly, "I'm not very good at it, Xie Ji, can you teach me?"