Antidote (Jie Yao) – Chapter 23

解药
(Antidote)

「Chapter 23」

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Translator: Tion
English Proofreader: Rae Lee

(NOTE: Please DO NOT re-distribute/re- translate without our permission. We may cease this project if found shared/re-translated online without permission)

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The BL donghua “Antidote” was adapted from this novel.

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Jiang Yuduo regretted asking those questions. He had never been exposed to these. Whenever he was with his group of brothers, all they talked about were girls, breasts, legs… It’s the first time he saw a homosexual….in person, which is young master Cheng Ke. He really didn’t control his mouth.

Although they did not continue this topic afterwards, they could feel that Cheng Ke was not in a good mood until the end of the meal.

He still smiled, talked the same, even his appetite was not affected, and he ate more than him.

But something that he was familiar with in his eyes was gone. Several times, Jiang Yuduo had the illusion that he and Cheng Ke just met yesterday.

After Cheng Ke settled the bill, he lit a cigarette and took out his cell phone: “Let me call a car, it’s windy now.”

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke replied.

“Want one?” Jiang Yuduo handed him the cigarette case.

“No,” Cheng Ke shook his head, “Too dull.”

Jiang Yuduo put away the cigarette case and stared at the phone silently. When the car was 50 meters away, he stood up: “Here, let’s go.”

Walking out of the hotel entrance, Cheng Ke took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

“The air inside isn’t so good, right?” Jiang Yuduo said, “This kind of store is just like that, they all smoke inside.”

“It’s okay,” Cheng Ke said. “I used to eat with my friends there, and whether if there’s girls or not, we would still smoke.”

The car that Jiang Yuduo rushed over beckoned, and the car stopped in front of them. Cheng Ke got into the back seat. He hesitated for a moment and took the seat of the co-driver.

He figured that Cheng Ke was upset, but he really didn’t have any tricks, let alone continue to apologize, so he decided to sit in the front and not annoy people.

Both of them didn’t speak along the way. Cheng Ke closed his eyes on the back seat with a drowsy expression. The car drove until Cheng Ke’s place and stopped. Jiang Yuduo called him twice and he didn’t respond.

“Hey!” Jiang Yuduo raised his hand and slapped his leg, “We’re here!”

Cheng Ke opened his eyes and looked out the window: “Here?”

“Yeah,” Jiang Yuduo looked at him, “Get out of the car.”

Cheng Ke opened the door and got out of the car. After taking a step, he turned around and knocked on the window of the passenger seat.

Jiang Yuduo pulled down the car window.

“Tomorrow I will go to your place to pay the rent,” Cheng Ke said, “I will buy clothes and go along the way.”

“Well, what time?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“In the afternoon, around three o’clock?” Cheng Ke said.

“Alright.” Jiang Yuduo nodded.

Cheng Ke turned and entered the corridor.

Jiang Yuduo watched him enter, then looked around, the driver asked, and he gave him his address.

When the car drove outside the community, he felt that there was someone, but he poked his head several times to look at the stairs to Cheng Ke’s house, but he didn’t see anything.

He frowned.

For a few moments, during the process when Cheng Ke suddenly became very cold, he wanted to stop taking care of Cheng Ke’s affairs several times. Is he being watched by someone? Is he in danger? He doesn’t want to care anymore.

After all, he couldn’t even handle his own troubles, bored when he opened his eyes, having nightmares when closing them.

Cheng Ke was a young master, and even if he was kicked out of the house, if he really wanted to run into something, he had nothing to worry about.

When he walked out of the art museum with Cheng Ke and Xu Ding today, watching people greet Cheng Ke one after another; it was the first time that he had such a slight sense of Cheng Ke’s past life, even if it was just the tip of the iceberg. It was also completely two different worlds.

He sighed.

When he got home, there was a car parked at the entrance of the corridor. As long as a high-end car was parked there, it must be Chen Qing’s car.

He went over and took a look. The car’s engine had been turned off and there was no one inside. He assumed that Chen Qing had entered the house. Chen Qing left the car here every time he entered the house so as not to accidentally injure someone when he entered the house.

Jiang Yuduo opened the door and entered the house. Chen Qing was making himself busy in the kitchen.

“How good is it for you to order a takeaway?” He walked over and took a look.

“Tired of eating it,” Chen Qing turned around, “have you eaten yet?”

“I already ate, you can just get your own,” he said, “Go and park your car properly.”

“I’m marinating meat,” Chen Qing said, “the key’s on the table, you can do it for me.”

Jiang Yuduo didn’t make a sound, then turned to the table in the living room and took the car key and went out.

“Third Bro, have you taken the exam?” A tender voice rang from the side.

Jiang Yuduo turned his head and glanced at the three-and-a-half-year-old child next door. He was standing by the door with a chicken leg and gnawing.

“I took the exam when you were still in your dad’s stomach.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Why am I in my dad’s stomach,” the child laughed very loudly, “you are talking nonsense.”

“No nonsense.” Jiang Yuduo smiled.

“Third child!” The child’s grandmother ran out, dragged the child back into the house, and pointed at him, “You don’t have anything nice to say! Why are you saying such things to such a small child?!”

“…You actually understand?” Jiang Yuduo was a little surprised.

“Bah!” The old lady glared at him, “if I hear you telling him that next time, I’ll break your leg!”

He did not speak, smiled and got into the car.

The old lady closed the door begrudgingly.

Jiang Yuduo started the car and glanced at the parking spaces in front. They were all full. He glanced at the rearview mirror again to see if there was any space behind.

There was an empty parking space.

But he gripped the steering wheel without moving.

He was no longer surprised and scared with such a scene, and when he has not seen them near his home during this period of time, he will even feel a little anxious.

He was not afraid of danger, but he was afraid of not knowing where the danger was.

This was the real deal, there was no time, no place.

There was a person standing in that empty parking space, his hood pressed down to his eyes, his face was hidden in the shadows, and he couldn’t see clearly.

But Jiang Yuduo could feel his sight.

It was all too familiar.

For so many years, he had been unable to escape that sight.

It never left him alone.

There was not much harm and no serious consequences, but it was like a needle stuck on his flesh. The wound would never heal or die, the wound would become red, painful, and infected, but it would never be healed.

He looked down at his feet, pulled the steering wheel lock out of the seat, opened the door and got out of the car.

The person who has not moved raised his head slightly, as if looking behind him.

Jiang Yuduo’s heart sank.

His attention was on the person, his back was completely unguarded.

It was too late to look back, he ducked down directly, but still couldn’t escape.

Before he even had time to feel the pain, he was swallowed by the sudden darkness before him.

The last thing he remembered was his knees falling on the ground, and a vague “Cheng Ke” out of his mouth.

Cheng Ke opened the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of red wine from it.

This wine cabinet was bought before, and only a few bottles of wine were placed in there. He didn’t know why he wanted to buy a temperature controlled wine cabinet. He had no particular interest in red wine.

Probably because when the house was being renovated, there were a few hooks on the cabinets for hanging the wine. He looked at the rows of hooks that were not pleasing to the eye. The humidity and temperature of the cabinet could not even be controlled. Maybe he bought a wine cabinet just to show the hooks that they are completely meaningless.

He took the wine and sat on the sofa, froze for a while and got up and put the wine back.

He didn’t want to drink it at all, and he didn’t know why he took them out.

Boredom.

He went back to lie down on the sofa, closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

Today’s hot pot meal was still very refreshing, eating meat and drinking alcohol.

The only bad thing was that he didn’t talk much with Jiang Yuduo afterwards.

Jiang Yuduo’s nauseating words did affect his mood, but it was not worth the silence for half a meal. The main reason was that Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything afterwards, and he was not good at restoring the atmosphere in this situation.

If the other party was silent, he wouldn’t try to speak again.

He was too lazy to bother to find the rhythm, and he didn’t want to think about what to say next.

He likes to do whatever he wants, as long as he feels comfortable.

People who know him know about his habit of not putting in any effort in talking, and those who don’t know continue their effort to make a conversation. After all, he is the young master.

The phone rang and Xu Ding sent a message.

-Pay within this week, and confirm the account

-Confirmed. Can you not do this every time? I will tell you if I change my account

-Just in case, it doesn’t take much trouble anyway. Today, the third child got in the video. Do you want to cut a copy of payment for him?

Cheng Ke smiled.

-Fine by me

Jiang Yuduo didn’t necessarily want to see how he looked when he watched the performance seriously with his mouth open, but Cheng Ke wanted to see what he looked like in the lens.

Thinking of Jiang Yuduo, Cheng Ke thought of Cheng Yi.

Although Cheng Yi would talk to Jiang Yuduo, he wasn’t too surprised. Cheng Yi’s personality had been like this since he was a child. Even if the other party admitted defeat, he would not stop as long as he did not feel that he had reached the last step.

But he was still depressed that Cheng Yi would choose such a topic to chat with Jiang Yuduo.

Probably he hadn’t actually gone through the trash can, and it was not over in Cheng Yi’s view.

But Jiang Yuduo’s reaction… it was quite interesting to look at, excluding the word ”disgusting”, and he just wanted to laugh when he thought of it.

If Cheng Yi knew his reaction, he would be a little disappointed.

Cheng Ke smiled.

There was nothing to do after eating and drinking, so the most pleasant thing to do was to sleep.

Sleeping on the sofa was also very nice .

In the middle of his nap, Cheng Ke woke up several times. The first time was around five o’clock, his stomach told him that he hadn’t digested what he ate at noon, and the second time was more than ten o’clock in the evening. It didn’t make much sense to wake up sooner or later., so he continued to sleep. The third time was when someone was quarreling downstairs in the middle of the night. The two men quarreled fiercely, and he slumped from the sofa to the bed.

When he woke up, it was already noon, to be precise, lunch time had already passed.

He got off the bed and felt that his mental appearance was not good, and he was wrinkled like the clothes he had.

Only after taking a shower did he wake up a little bit.

Mainly because of being woken up once at night… Cheng Ke paused.

Then he walked to the window in two quick steps and pushed the window open.

He felt that he had overreacted, but the injuries on Jiang Yuduo’s body and his words during this period of time still made him more or less sensitive in doubt.

Downstairs was still a patch of gray, the snow and the fallen leaves that had been integrated with the ground were as lonely as usual.

He stared at the ground downstairs and took a closer look. He didn’t see any traces of fighting. He breathed a sigh of relief and mourned his inexplicable silence for three seconds.

But when he went out to buy clothes in the mall, he looked downstairs again.

There was no blood, and the security guard downstairs was calm.

……Crazy.

Cheng Ke took a taxi to the mall, because the distance was so close, he got to the place before he was too stable.

Buying clothes went by very quickly as well. He didn’t look at the brand, and didn’t think about the quality. He just took it if it looked pleasing to his eye. He also wore more than 100 cotton clothes and felt that it was quite comfortable.

Today, he just wanted to find something with the same style of Jiang Yuduo’s down jacket. It was comfortable, warm and looked pretty.

However, he didn’t find the menswear after looking around three times. In the end, he could only take two pieces and paid for them.

It was almost three o’clock when he walked out of the mall. It was very close to Jiang Yuduo’s home, and it was just the right time to stop by.

He regretted walking with bags halfway. No matter how much he stepped, the bags would hit his legs back and forth, and he was annoyed.

In a rage, he took the clothes out of the bag and tucked them under his arm, throwing the bags away.

He felt like a fool when he walked to the door of Jiang Yuduo’s house with four clothes in between his arm.

“Jiang Yuduo!” he shouted as he passed by the window.

“Yeah?” someone inside responded, but the voice was not Jiang Yuduo’s.

The curtain was opened, and Chen Qing’s face appeared in the window: “Cheng?”

“He’s not there?” Cheng Ke asked.

“Yes, but…” Chen Qing looked at the clothes in his hand, “Did someone rob you?”

“Well,” Cheng Ke walked into the corridor, “They robbed the bag and left the clothes.”

Chen Qing came over and opened the door for him, with a look of surprise: “Why don’t you tell me if you were robbed? People would dare not touch you if you say Third Bro’s name! Are you stupid?!”

Cheng Ke looked at him, and the Chief Guardian was probably already excited after only hearing the word grabbing. He sighed, “No, I’m not afraid of losing a little money. I still have a lot.”

“Why are you here anyway?” Chen Qing asked.

“Paying rent, I told Jiang Yuduo yesterday.” Cheng Ke stood in the living room and looked at it. Jiang Yuduo was not seen, and there was no one in the bedroom.

“Oh,” Chen Qing turned his head and shouted at the bathroom, “Brother, Cheng Ke came to pay -“

The bathroom door opened, Jiang Yuduo wrinkled his eyebrows and walked out: “Stop shouting!”

Chen Qing shut up and sat on the sofa with his mobile phone and played.

Jiang Yuduo looked at the pile of clothes he was holding, reached out and picked up the tag and looked at it: “Just bought it?”

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke nodded.

“Was there nothing to put them into?” Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

“I threw the bags away.” Cheng Ke put the clothes on the sofa, took them up again after putting them down, and put them down again after making sure that the position was not where the cat had peed.

“…Very individualistic.” Jiang Yuduo took out the receipt from the drawer and lowered his head to write.

When Cheng Ke looked at Jiang Yuduo, he felt that his complexion was very bad, not the kind of bad complexion after insomnia, but very pale, as if he was sick.

But Chen Qing was sitting next to him, and he couldn’t ask more questions.

Jiang Yuduo lowered his head, writing very slowly, stroke by stroke, and stopped after writing two strokes.

Cheng Ke looked at it for a while and still couldn’t hold it back. He approached and asked softly, “Are you sick?”

“He got dizzy yesterday afternoon, and just now in the morning.” Chen Qing said next to him.

“Oh.” Cheng Ke didn’t know what to say, and sat down in the chair and waited.

“There’s even a huge bump on his head.” Chen Qing sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Cheng Ke was stunned.

Jiang Yuduo stopped the pen and looked up at Chen Qing, who lowered his head and continued to play with his phone.

The receipt was finally written, Cheng Ke took it and put it in his pocket, took out his wallet, and gave the cash he had just taken to Jiang Yuduo.

“Your coat,” Cheng Ke picked up Jiang Yuduo’s down jacket, “Will I have to wash it before returning it to you?”

“No need,” Jiang Yuduo said, “I wash these clothes only in spring.”

“All right,” Cheng Ke didn’t insist, and asked again after thinking about it, “Where did you buy these clothes? I didn’t find this brand after looking around for a long time today.”

“…Wholesale market.” Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

“Oh,” Cheng Ke looked at the clothes again, “it’s good.”

“If you want to buy it, I can take you there.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“This is only four hundred,” Chen Qing’s cell phone rang, and he said as he took out his phone, “do you want it too?”

Before Cheng Ke could answer, he said “Hi” on the phone, and then frowned.

“Who’s that.” Jiang Yuduo looked at her.

“Who’s there?” Chen Qing asked, “Well, are there only four people? Alright..”

“Who?” Jiang Yuduo asked again.

“The Ba Pi people are with Sister Qian,” Chen Qing stood up, holding her mobile phone and dialing the number, “I will take a few people to have a look. If Ba Pi is also there, it will be troublesome.”

“What’s the use of you going?” Jiang Yuduo took the down jacket from Cheng Ke and put it on. “When did Ba Pi fear you?”

“No one’s fucking afraid of me,” Chen Qing said, “what should I do then, let you go there like this?”

Jiang Yuduo went into the bathroom and washed his face. When he came out, there were droplets of water on his face: “Call Da Bin to go directly.”

Chen Qing looked at him without speaking.

Cheng Ke was still sitting on the chair, looking at Jiang Yuduo.

Probably at this moment, he suddenly and clearly realized how different Jiang Yuduo was in the world that was completely different from his.

With just a short time to wash his face, the somewhat exhausted state of Jiang Yuduo’s still pale face had disappeared, and he had returned to his usual arrogance with a trace of fierceness.

“You…” Jiang Yuduo turned to look at him, “Go back.”

“Yeah.” Cheng Ke stood up, picked up a new coat and put it on.

Jiang Yuduo took an ecobag from the cabinet, rolled up his other three pieces of clothing, and stuffed them into the bag.

Cheng Ke took the bag and walked out of the corridor behind Jiang Yuduo and Chen Qing.

After walking a few steps towards the intersection, Jiang Yuduo stopped: “We’re going over there.”

“Well, you…” He felt that he needed to say something at this time.

Don’t go.

Be careful.

Call the police.

Neither sentence seemed appropriate, nor did any of them seem meaningful.

He was suddenly a little frustrated, and depressed to the extreme.

The feelings he felt for Jiang Yuduo couldn’t go back as far back to when he first met, so he couldn’t really treat Jiang Yuduo as a stranger who lives a completely different life than him.

There was something in Jiang Yuduo, which was different from Chen Qing, his brothers, and the street gangsters who laughed and kicked over the trash can.

What it was, he didn’t know.

But this kind of thing would make him intensely uneasy, when Jiang Yuduo was about to “solve” the trouble.

“Third bro!” someone on the other side suddenly shouted loudly with a joking tone.

Jiang Yuduo turned his head.

The three people on the opposite street walked slowly to directly face them. This street was very narrow, almost making them standing facing each other. The smug smile on their face can be seen clearly.

“Fuck, why is he here?” Chen Qing cursed.

Cheng Ke reacted right away. The person in the middle who was wearing a tight-fitting sports suit just to stretch out his muscle like a stupid man was Ba Pi.

Jiang Yuduo and Chen Qing obviously didn’t expect him to show up here, and the people who they called for as backup went directly to Sister Qian’s place.

Not bad.

They were quite skilled in trickery.

“Cheng Ke, go back,” Jiang Yuduo quickly took out the key from his pocket and stuffed it into his hand. “Immediately.”

Cheng Ke took the key, but did not move.

Logically, he should leave immediately and go back to Jiang Yuduo’s house, or find another way. This is not his business, nor was it something he should mix in.

According to Cheng Yi’s words, too low-level.

But he did not want to leave.

Chen Qing didn’t have much fighting capacity, so he didn’t have to try. Just by looking at his figure, he knew that he wouldn’t put up too much of a fight. If he left, Jiang Yuduo would be the only one left.

The three people on the opposite side looked like they just escaped from prison a few seconds ago, and Jiang Yuduo was not an opponent to them.

“That handsome guy,” Ba Zai raised his chin and motioned towards Cheng Ke, “Is that the one who beat up my newly-acquired younger brother that day?”

“It’s him.” The man on his right stared at Cheng Ke’s face, “We can just hit two birds with one stone.”

“Fuck.” Chen Qing gritted his teeth and whispered, “Fuck this, let’s go, what should I do, third bro?”

“What are you afraid of, haven’t you ever been hit by anyone?” Jiang Yuduo said.

“All right,” Chen Qing shook his head, his neck creaked, “I’m not scared at all.”

“When I count to three,” Jiang Yuduo looked at Cheng Ke, “just run.”

Cheng Ke looked at him.

“Then call the police.” Jiang Yuduo said.

“What?” Chen Qing turned his head to look at him abruptly, “Fuck me, why should we call the police? Do you still want to live?”

Cheng Ke was also stunned. Jiang Yuduo asked him to run and he could understand, but he was very surprised when he asked him to call the police. The meaning of Chen Qing’s words is also very clear. In this case, if you call the police, Jiang Yuduo’s status of this “third brother” would probably be overwhelming for them.

Although he didn’t think it would be any different.

The people on the other side are walking towards them, and on this street, you will be facing close to each other within ten steps.

“One, two, three.” Jiang Yuduo stretched out his hand and pushed abruptly against his shoulder, then turned and rushed out to the few people.

“Shit!” Chen Qing shouted, and rushed towards him.

In Cheng Ke’s mind, there were more than two hundred TV shows with the dialogue: “Let’s go!” “I’m not going!” “You have to go! Leave me alone!” “No, I can’t go!”

The ending of this kind of scene was that both are usually damned to die.

He turned and ran back.

After running for a dozen steps, he took out his phone, and then looked back.

Ba Pi slammed Jiang Yuduo’s elbow behind him, and Chen Qing had fallen aside, struggling to stand.

“Fuck.” Cheng Ke stopped abruptly.