For Each Other Chapter 4

As expected, Zack Reynolds didn't go out for two days. Not only did he not go out, he hardly slept at all.

The manuscript he received was urgent, and he was a man with high demands on himself. Anything he submitted had to pass his own test first, so he just kept working on it, until his eyes turned red and his eye circles became dark.

He smoked a lot when he was working on a manuscript, and he would stay in his study with his ashtray piled up like a small mountain.

In the end, he submitted the manuscript on time, and there was not a single packet of instant noodles or a single cigarette left in his house.

Zack Reynolds always knew what he was doing. He knew how long a job would take, how long he would have to stay in his place while painting, how many meals he would have to eat, how many cigarettes he would have to smoke, and how many naps he would have to take.

Everything went as planned, including falling ill the day after submitting the manuscript.

When I was young, I could stay up late and harm my body. But although I am not old now, the evil things I did back then have left me with bad health, and now they are starting to bite me back.

Zack Reynolds used to like to paint in the middle of the night. He said that he would only get inspiration when it was late at night and everyone was asleep. So during those years, he almost reversed his day and night schedule. Later, his body couldn't take it anymore, so he forced himself to change the habit.

The habits have been changed, but some bad habits have been acquired.

When the editor called to express his gratitude, Zack Reynolds had just finished taking his medicine and lay down. He drank some children's antipyretic granules, two packets each time he had a fever, and that worked faster than anything else.

"You're welcome," Zack Reynolds said, "but don't do this all the time in the future. I really can't stand it."

"Yes, yes, yes, you really saved my life this time. I will definitely come to thank you someday!"

Zack Reynolds said goodbye and told him not to come. He responded with a few words, hung up the phone and retreated back into the quilt.

He squinted his eyes and looked out the window, thinking that it was over, he would definitely wake me up when the daybreak came, but he was too tired to move a finger, let alone get up and close the curtains.

Thinking of this, he soon fell asleep.

It was already evening when Zack Reynolds opened his eyes. It was still light at around seven in the summer evening, and downstairs was as lively as an amusement park, with children shouting and dogs barking occasionally.

He turned over in bed and felt that his fever had subsided, but he still had a headache.

I reached for my phone, opened WeChat, and found that there were people talking in the group "Class 13, Fifth Middle School".

He has set the group to Do Not Disturb mode, so group message alerts will no longer sound. However, because there are people chatting non-stop every day, this group is always at the top and he can see it as soon as he opens WeChat.

Zack Reynolds clicked on it and flipped through it. Someone was discussing that everyone was going to go out and play together during the National Day holiday, without bringing their families.

It's only August, and these people have already started planning their National Day holiday. They're really taking a long-term view.

He was flipping through the chat history and saw a female classmate tagged Yao Zhan's name and asked him if he wanted to go. Someone in the class started to make a fuss, saying that the older single men and women in the class were going to form groups freely.

It was only at this moment that Zack Reynolds realized that Yao Zhan was also single.

He recalled the day they were in the hotel, Yao Zhan was quite aggressive and the stuff that came out was quite thick, but Zack Reynolds didn't think much about it at the time. Only now did he realize that it might be because they hadn't done it for too long.

After all this time, these old men in their thirties have not only been abandoned by the years, but also by their S3x lives.

Thinking of this, Zack Reynolds smiled.

He flipped through the pages again, but still didn't see Yao Zhan's reply.

In his memory, Yao Zhan was actually quite cool, just the kind of boy who was a bit ruffian, smoking and fighting when he was seventeen or eighteen years old. He looked like a bad boy but actually had amazing academic performance.

This kind of person is most envied by boys and most liked by girls.

I don't know if he is still that kind of person now. Zack Reynolds turned off his phone and buried himself back in the quilt.

He stayed in bed until dark, and lamented that he finally slept into American time.

After washing my face, I felt hungry, dizzy and didn’t want to go downstairs to eat.

He went to the balcony to get some fresh air, but when he touched the cigarette in his hand, he found that there was no cigarette.

I had no choice but to go downstairs, so I forced myself to go out.

This city is always hot and humid even on summer nights. You'll be sweating after taking a few steps. Zack Reynolds suddenly missed the city where he had lived since graduating from high school. He went there a few days ago and felt that the city that is hot during the day and cool at night is the real livable city.

He went to a convenience store and bought a bag of five instant noodles. After thinking for a while, he got himself two cartons of milk. Finally, he asked for two packs of cigarettes at the checkout counter and took out his mobile phone to pay.

After paying with WeChat, I inevitably saw the class group again and happened to catch Yao Zhan talking.

Yao Zhan said: Let’s talk about it when the time comes, I’m busy.

What kind of work do you do? You are so busy.

Zack Reynolds was walking back with the bag and met a chubby little Corgi on the road. The puppy followed him, so he simply squatted down and played with the dog for a while.

He was playing with the puppy when a girl ran over in a hurry, holding a dog leash in her hand. She was relieved to see the dog and cried as she spoke: "Oh my God! I was just about to tie the leash for you and you ran away. I was so scared!"

The girl quickly squatted down to tie the leash for the dog, and then thanked Zack Reynolds.

Zack Reynolds smiled without saying anything, then took his things and went home.

Yao Zhan has been very busy recently, dealing with leaders at work and at home.

The day after meeting Shao Wei, their vice president "dropped by" to take a walk in the pediatric department and "dropped by" to ask Yao Zhan: "Is Xiao Yao over 30 this year? Are you still playing alone?"

Yao Zhan didn't expect that the old man would suddenly care about his personal problems, so he answered respectfully: "I just had my 33rd birthday, and I'm fine being alone."

This is what he said from the bottom of his heart. He hopes that the other party can feel his sincerity. After all, most people would start to say, "Hey, my relative's child is a good match for you. I'll introduce you to each other someday."

Yao Zhan is really afraid of this, especially, what if the person who said this is their vice president, what should he do?

Sometimes it really is that if God wants you to die, you have to die. The vice president seemed to be completely unable to hear how sincere Yao Zhan's words were just now. Instead, he said: "You young people are just trying to be strong. No matter how good one person is, can he be as good as two people?"

Yao Zhan thought it was over and was ready to find an excuse to get out of it, but before he could come up with an excuse, the vice president had already spoken: "My niece came back from abroad last week. I'll introduce her to you someday. She's of the same age and education level, how great."

The young doctor from a nearby department was extremely envious, but ever since the vice president said this, Yao Zhan's anger has never subsided and blisters appeared on his mouth.

If it was just the vice president putting pressure on him, he could have endured it, but his mother also called.

"When are you going to find me a girlfriend?" Yao Zhan's mother said, "I ran into Shao Wei's wife in the supermarket yesterday, and her child is already that big."

"Everyone has his own way of living," Yao Zhan said, "I am living a good life."

Many times, it’s useless to say that you are living a good life, because others have their own set of views.

"BullSh!t." Yao Zhan's mother was a very powerful woman. Since he was a child, Yao Zhan had never been afraid of anyone except his mother.

But sometimes, there are some things that no matter how scared you are, you really can't just give in.

Yao Zhan doesn't like women. He has no desire for women at all. When they get together, they are like good buddies, but they really can't fall in love.

He just likes men and can only K!ss and have S3x with men.

He hasn't told his mother about these things yet. He has been hiding them for thirty-three years. It's not because he is afraid of anything else, but because he is afraid that his mother will not be able to bear it and fall ill.

I didn’t confess my mistakes in my twenties when I was not afraid of anything. Now in my thirties, although there are more things I don’t care about, there are also more things I care about.

Just last time, his mother went to attend the funeral of her colleague, and when she came back she was so upset that she had to get an IV drip for half a month. If she knew what happened to him, who knows what would happen to her.

It used to be said that "There are three unfilial acts, and the worst is to have no descendants." Although this idea should have been banned long ago, the older generation still believes that men should be with women, and that men and women should have children when they are together.

This kind of thought has existed in their lives for a lifetime. How difficult would it be for them to suddenly erase it?

Yao Zhan couldn't say anything, so he decided to keep it a secret as long as possible.

He was on vacation that day, and went to Y alone to get some quiet time.

It was early evening, not yet completely dark, and there were few people in the bar. As soon as Yao Zhan entered, he saw Xiao Mo and Yang Kan flirting at the bar. When they saw him come in, they asked in unison, "Where's that handsome guy?"

Yao Zhan knocked on the table: "Wine."

Xiao Mo groaned and turned to make him a drink.

Yang Kan came up to him and asked, "What's wrong? Did someone dump you?"

"Who?" Yao Zhan asked knowingly.

"What's his name? His last name is quite unique."

"Zack Reynolds!" Xiao Mo came back with the wine and looked at Yao Zhan with a smile, "That guy is handsome, it's comfortable to look at him."

"Stop drooling," Yao Zhan took the wine and turned to walk towards the booth, "Don't worry about any of you."

He sat there alone, with his long legs draped over the sofa, drinking some wine and swiping the screen of his phone.

In the past, Yao Zhan was annoyed by those people who chattered all day long in WeChat groups. Many of them hadn’t been together for eight hundred years, and no one knew where they got so much to talk about.

But ever since the last incident with Blake Mitchell, he often checked group messages. He knew what he was looking for, but it was a pity that Zack Reynolds rarely showed up.

He remembered that they also sat in this position when they came last time. Zack Reynolds was a heavy drinker and made him drunk.

He thought of the other person's pierced ears, the other person's tattoos, and the other person's wet lips.

Yao Zhan's body reacted, but he ignored it.

He clicked on the group member list and searched for a long time before finally finding Zack Reynolds's name among dozens of people.

The man’s WeChat avatar was a blank drawing board with his name written in beautiful handwriting at the bottom right.

Yao Zhan was a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should add this friend.

"Fcuk, you're already in your thirties, is it manly to be so hesitant?"

Yao Zhan looked up and found that Yang Kan had come over at some point and was leaning on his sofa looking at his phone.

"Shut your mouth." Yao Zhan glared at him.

"You can tell me to shut up, but if you just add me as your friend, I'll shut up." Yang Kan drank and laughed at him, "You're such a coward."

When has anyone ever said that to Yao Zhan? He was so impulsive that he pressed "Add the other party to the address book" and threw his phone aside: "Ask Xiao Mo to make me another drink. If it's not good, I won't pay!"