As his fingers unconsciously slid from the office chair, GuHai woke up from a nightmare with his heart racing wildly. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, yet he actually fell asleep in the office.
In his nightmare, GuHai dreamt that BaiLuoYin was getting eaten by a wolf. He kept chasing from behind and helplessly watched as the wolf tore off pieces of meat from BaiLuoYin's body. Every time that the wolf ate a piece, he would throw a piece of bone at GuHai. In the moment that he awakened, only BaiLuoYin's head remained in the wolf's mouth, then his eyes opened in that instant.
Slow to respond for more than ten minutes, GuHai was still unable shake off his unsettling feelings from this terrifying scene.
Why would I have this kind of dream? He thought as he rubbed his forehead.
BaiLuoYin is definitely fine.... I'm just worrying too much.... GuHai's mind is constantly trying to comfort himself. Once he had wondered around enough, he will return to me, he must know that I am waiting for him at home.
Ding dong ... the doorbell sounded.
GuHai's voice deeply sounded, "Come in."
TongZhe opened the door and saw that GuHai is leaning on the office chair, his complexion looking extremely haggard.
"The batch of lamps that you rushed to have produced yesterday had been completed. Do you need to produce anymore? Tell me at once so that I don't need to come in here to bother you all the time!"
Finally, GuHai nodded his head, "No more."
TongZhe let out a long sigh of relief. Then, he faintly smiled, "It really had not been easy. This had finally come to an end. So what now? What should we produce next? As long as it's something that we could use for your wedding, we should just produce it in the company. We have many competent people here. This can be a great opportunity for the girls to show off their talent."
"There's no hurry."
GuHai stood up from the chair and strolled over to the water dispenser to get himself a glass of water, calming down his mood.
"I personally planned an outdoor lighting exhibition. The specific location had been determined. Help me transport all the lights we've produced to this location. Start transporting it out tonight," GuHai rambled on....
TongZhe was completely baffled by GuHai's rambling scattered thoughts. Aren't these batches of lights supposed to be reserved for the wedding? Why is it being taken to an outdoor lighting exhibition at this time? With so many batches of high wattage lights, wouldn't it light up the entire capital city?
GuHai softly asked, "Is there a problem?"
Seeing GuHai's bearded haggard face, TongZhe really couldn't refuse him.
Leaving GuHai's office, TongZhe went to actively prepare for this task. Procuring numerous transporting vehicles, all these powerful headlights and dazzling lights were transported to the specified venue that GuHai had rented. Initially, TongZhe was worried that the venue might not be able to accommodate all these lights. But in the end, when he got there, he discovered that the venue is so vast that he couldn't even see the boundaries at a glance.
How much money was spent to rent this vast piece of land!
Just as he was thinking, next to him somebody else sighed, "How much money would be spent on the electricity!"
Turning his head around, YanYaJing was actually standing on his side. With her eyes lifeless and her expression slow and stiff, she was also shocked by GuHai's behavior.
"Why are you here?" TongZhe asked.
YanYaJing gave a long sigh, "Not just me, there are hundreds of people behind me. They have all been sent by GuHai to help with overlooking this venue. He said that for these few days, the company could not take on any other businesses and all commercial activities need to be temporarily halted. Everyone is to be concentrated on this exhibition. But, I really don't understand how such an exhibition could be beneficial to the company! Even though the lights that we produce have a good reputation, but this same quality of lights are also produced by other companies. For him to make this into such a big grand-scale publicity show, how much are we going to be able to sell in the end? I don't think that we could even recuperate the publicity costs."
"Sell?" TongZhe laughed. "Do you really think that he produced all these lights to sell?"
YanYaJing's eyes opened wider, "Not to sell? If we are not selling it, then why are we exhibiting it? Is he trying to burn money?"
"Didn't I already tell you that he's getting married? These lights are produced purposely to decorate the wedding venue," TongZhe said casually.
YanYaJing's expression turned pale, her lips trembled for a while. Once again she asked, ".... really?"
TongZhe flicked YanYaJing's forehead once, kindly comforting her, "Just give up!"
YanYaJing grabbed onto TongZhe cuffs, unwilling to give up, "Who is he getting married to? Don't tell me that he is marrying you. Even if you tell me that, I'm not going to believe it. He will not marry a man regardless of how crazy he might be, especially after making this so high profile."
TongZhe pinched YanYaJing chin and smiled charmingly at her, "You'll know when the time comes."
———–
When BaiLuoYin arrived in front of the Jokhang Temple at dawn, there were already many pilgrims there, some even came last night. With their faces facing the Jokhang Temple wall, they started to chant and bow. It is unknown how many pilgrims have bowed down to the stone ground in front of this temple, but it has become glossy and bright, glowing under the rays of the morning sun.
"I should also pray too."
"These people are here to pray for their afterlife, what are you praying for?"
"I don't need an afterlife; I only wish to be with you in this lifetime."
"I represent Buddha to help your soul find peace!"
"Hahahahaha"
The scene of them visiting this place from all those years ago conjured up in his mind. Back then, when they were watching these worshippers bowed their heads, it was like watching a lively entertainment show. At the time, it was inconceivable to them as to why these people would believe in such irreverent things. They've always felt that this is pure ignorance. Only empty people will come to this place to find psychological sustenance.
But today, BaiLuoYin became one of them.
I don't need an afterlife; I only wish to be with you in this lifetime.
A steady stream of pilgrims came from all directions. BaiLuoYin became a part of this group, continually getting up, raising his hands and bowing.... Along the way.... he didn't know how many times his head had bowed to the ground. He didn't know how many times he had repeated his prayer, again and again, until the road in front of him had become blurry, leaving only the long shadow of Buddha.
—————
The lighting exhibition officially started as night fell. Even until two o'clock at night, when no one else had entered the venue, the lights still shone brightly.
"Can't we turn off some of the lights?" asked YanYaJing.
Without hesitation, GuHai responded, "Continue to leave it lighted."
YanYaJing almost blurted out, "That'll be millions of yuan in electricity costs ......"
GuHai remained aloof.
At this moment, YanYaJing suddenly became depressed. Is it possible that these lights are really not for sale, but for what TongZhe had said, to be used for that purpose?
But if it was to be used for that purpose, then why is it being lighted now?
Just as she was thinking, GuHai suddenly walked to a lamp and angrily shouted, "Who put this here?!"
With this loud roar, everyone around them was momentarily petrified.
TongZhe hastily rushed over, "What's the problem?"
GuHai says furiously, "Shouldn't there be an aviation light in this spot? Who put this spotlight here!?"
The manager responsible for the venue layout came out and carefully explained. "There was a problem with the aviation light so it was taken out and temporarily replaced with a different kind of light because I couldn't find a spare in any of the transporting vehicles."
"Did I say that you could change it to a different light!?" GuHai roared once again. "Go back to the warehouse and bring me a new light immediately!"
The administrator hesitated to go. On the side, a department manager added, "President Gu, it's already this late, since nobody is looking right now, can we not go back to get it? It's such a hassle."
"I said go, so go. Have it changed out within twenty minutes!" With GuHai's authoritative command, no one dared to disobey.
Although the area is lighted bright as day, the surrounding atmosphere is dark and depressing.
After a long period of silence, TongZhe opened his mouth to ask, "Are you trying to light up the way home for him?"
Besides this reason, TongZhe couldn't think of any other purpose for these lights. From the blueprints that he could decipher, these lights are not placed in any definite shape or pattern. It's only bright when lighted up. There is no artistry in the layout. So of course, TongZhe would make the assumption that the reason GuHai forced the administrator to change out the lamp is because of the difference in brightness between the two lights. Maybe in GuHai's heart, with a dim light, BaiLuoYin will miss out on the brilliance here.
Even so, TongZhe still have to remind him, "Doing all this, isn't this too wasteful? What if he doesn't come back till many days later or if he came back during the day? Then tens and millions of yuan will be wasted to light up this place."
Even if you want him to feel touched, there should be a limit!
But in GuHai's heart, there is no limit to loving BaiLuoYin.
Nine years ago, he could do any ridiculously absurd things for BaiLuoYin. Nine years later, he still could.
"These electricity charges would not be taken from the company's account, it is all from my own personal pocket. Continue to keep this place lit, even if he came back ten days later; keep it lit for ten days!"
"Then ... when he returns, what are we going to do with all these lights?" TongZhe asked.
GuHai's sharp eyes converged slightly, "If I could wait here until he returns, then donate all these lights, don't keep any of it."
Although TongZhe did not advocate this kind behavior in the sacrifice for love, but seeing GuHai's actions, he really sincerely admired him in his heart.
——–
BaiLuoYin's helicopter encountered a little trouble midway, so he was forced to land. Just when he was finished repairing, a thick haze of fog enveloped the entire area so his helicopter was unable to take off. All in all, he was delayed for a day. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day before the fog gradually dispersed. BaiLuoYin got back on the helicopter and headed the direction toward home.
When BaiLuoYin arrived in Beijing, it was already after ten o'clock at night. This is the fourth day of HaiYin Technology Company's outdoor lighting exhibition. For three consecutive nights, the venue was lighted through the night.
BaiLuoYin's helicopter was trying to locate a landing place. Sailing in the night sky, he could only depend on the airport indicator lights to help him in identifying directions. Especially flying at such low altitudes, he also had to pay more attention to the roof of the aviation obstruction lights to avoid collision with high buildings.
As his helicopter was circling in the night sky, he suddenly spotted an area that was quite bright. While other places are lighted like little dots, this entire area was a lighted field. The closer the helicopter got to the ground, the brightness of the area became even more prominently dazzling.
BaiLuoYin could not help but to fly over to the brightly lighted field. As the helicopter start to decelerate, all kinds of lights began to appear at different layers with its colors becoming more and more clear. On the outside layer, he could see millions of flashing lights. It was bright to the point of almost blinding to his eyes. And then in the next layer is a variety of intelligent lights which flashed based on the settings in the system. The innermost layer is the aviation lights, which is the brightest of them all. These are the lights that BaiLuoYin first spotted in the helicopter.
BaiLuoYin's helicopter hovered over the curtain of lights. It was such a large lighted field. For the people that are on the ground, it looked completely disorganized. They could only see the tip of the iceberg. But for BaiLuoYin who is above in the sky, it was completely different, he could clearly see the transformations in the patterns.
Hearing the roar of the helicopter coming from the night sky, GuHai could finally put the remote that he had been holding for three consecutive nights to use.
BaiLuoYin was just about to start the helicopter's monitoring equipment to take some pictures, when suddenly, countless strong intensive light shone through the helicopter's window. His eyes looked down and his hand that was holding the joystick froze.
The innermost layer of lights were suddenly transformed into its strongest and brightest capacity and began to flash at high frequencies, a total of 134 lights encapsulating eight huge characters.
"Bai-Luo-Yin, le-t's get mar-ried1!"
1Note: the actual 8 Chinese characters are 白洛因，我們結婚吧
BaiLuoYin was stunned. He could not even think. He didn't even know how he landed the helicopter. He just remembered that the moment the helicopter landed, his heart that has been drifting the past few days harshly returned back to his body.
The cockpit door opened. It took a while for his eyes to adapt to all the dazzling lights. Then, in his line of sight, he spotted a man standing there. BaiLuoYin took big steps toward him.
With less than two meters distance between the two, GuHai suddenly took a big step forward and grabbed onto BaiLuoYin's collar, severely punching him in the face.
"Where the fuck did you go these past few days?"
BaiLuoYin's lips moved but he did not say anything.
In the end, the person who did the hitting was the first one to cry. He fiercely grabbed BaiLuoYin into his embrace, his big hands tightly held onto BaiLuoYin back, chokingly says, "I've almost worried half my life away, next time you leave without saying anything, I'm going to fuck you to death!!"
The drop of tear that was swelling around the rim of BaiLuoYin eyes took a long time before it finally rolled down.
GuHai calmly collected his emotions and pushed BaiLuoYin out of his arms to ask him, "Did you see the big characters that were flashing earlier?"
BaiLuoYin made a 'hmmmm' sound.
"Then what is your answer?" GuHai asked nervously.
BaiLuoYin stayed silent for a long while before he finally responded with, "I can't give birth to your child and you also can't give birth to my child."
GuHai stretched out his two hands, firmly holding BaiLuoYin's cheeks and word by word stressed, "You are my child. In this life, loving you and you alone is enough."
BaiLuoYin was startled, unable to speak.
GuHai put BaiLuoYin's scarred deformed fingers in his mouth and lightly nibbled them. "Didn't you say that your life was saved by me, so you are my child? My life was also saved by you, so I am also your child."
After BaiLuoYin heard this sentence, he could no longer conceal his emotions and severely bit down on GuHai's neck, crying.
End of the Chapter