IMGH Chapter 34

Having Once Met You, That Was Enough

Night had fallen by the time Jiang Yi finally stirred, his body aching as though it had come apart at the seams. He dragged himself up from the sofa with considerable effort. When he raised his head, he found a certain ghost staring at him, eyes carrying a trace of unmistakable concern.

Jiang Yi rubbed his eyes, momentarily dazed. Was he seeing things? Qiu Rui was actually worried about him. The corners of his mouth curved into a wide smile, and the discomfort in his body dissolved at once.

“Rui’er, are you concerned about me?”

Qiu Rui snapped his gaze away, letting out a cold scoff. “How boring.”

Though his tone remained as icy as ever, the suspicious flush creeping up the tips of his ears sent Jiang Yi’s heart into a pleasant spiral.

Fully revived, Jiang Yi felt a surge of energy. His body was still tired, yet Qiu Rui’s look of concern had him buzzing with a kind of electric excitement, as though he’d been given a shot of adrenaline.

So he hadn’t been imagining things after all — Qiu Rui perhaps held at least a tiny bit of fondness for him.

Even if it was just a sliver, so small it was nearly imperceptible, it was more than enough to send Jiang Yi into a quiet elation.

He pressed down the joy swelling in his chest and glanced outside at the darkening sky, only then realizing how long he had slept. Thinking that Qiu Rui hadn’t yet eaten dinner, Jiang Yi immediately said, “Rui’er, you must be hungry! I’ll go make dinner right now!”

Before Qiu Rui could even respond, he was already dashing into the kitchen.

At the dinner table, Jiang Yi kept piling food onto Qiu Rui’s plate with eager devotion. The attentiveness was almost too much to bear. Qiu Rui frowned, watching the busy man. “Jiang Yi, I can’t eat this much!”

“Eat more. You barely eat anything as it is.” Jiang Yi gazed at Qiu Rui’s flawless face, pale as fine porcelain, and found himself growing more and more enchanted until, quite forgetting himself, the words tumbled out. “Rui’er would feel much nicer to hold with a bit more weight on him. If you get any thinner, I’ll genuinely worry.”

That single sentence was enough to make Qiu Rui’s expression darken. “Jiang Yi, I’d appreciate it if you stopped making these kinds of tasteless jokes.”

Jiang Yi scratched his head, looking a little aggrieved as he muttered in his defense, “Rui’er, I meant every word. I wasn’t joking.”

“Jiang Yi, we’ve only known each other for a few days, and you’re already telling me you like me.” Qiu Rui’s fine features turned instantly cold. “Don’t you think you treat love far too carelessly?”

The feelings Jiang Yi had for him were something he simply could not accept. Setting aside the fact that Jiang Yi was a man — even if he were a woman, Qiu Rui, who had never once longed for love, would not have been moved.

Qiu Rui steeled himself and decided to make things clear once and for all. His voice was composed and resolute. “Jiang Yi, I will never like you.”

“Is it because I’m a man?”

“No. Love has nothing to do with gender.”

Qiu Rui’s tone carried a finality that left no room for negotiation. Jiang Yi refused to give up, his voice growing urgent. “Then why? I’ll admit I’m not worthy of you in any regard, but my feelings for you are genuine.”

“Jiang Yi, do you still not understand? I. Do. Not. Like. You.”

Jiang Yi had just begun to believe that Qiu Rui held even a small measure of feeling for him — but the moment that cold, utterly warmthless rejection fell from Qiu Rui’s lips, the fragile little hope that had only just taken root vanished in an instant, like a shooting star extinguished before it could reach the ground.

Jiang Yi laughed at himself. So he had been indulging in wishful thinking all along.

The bright clarity that usually lived in his eyes went dim, and his face, always so full of spirited energy, was now etched with pain. The sight of him standing there, hollow and lost, made something tighten in Qiu Rui’s chest — a dull, suffocating ache.

Qiu Rui drew a labored breath and looked away, not daring to meet Jiang Yi’s eyes again. A faint guilt stirred at the bottom of his heart — but it was quickly replaced by resolve. Qiu Rui bit down and forced himself not to pay Jiang Yi any mind.

After a long while, Jiang Yi finally came back to himself. He set down his chopsticks slowly and fixed his gaze on the deep black of Qiu Rui’s eyes, his expression earnest and unwavering. “Qiu Rui, do you believe in love at first sight?” He didn’t wait for a response. “I do. From the moment you lifted your head and I saw your face, my heart was no longer my own.”

The heartfelt words threw Qiu Rui into a quiet panic. He forced himself to ignore the man, lowering his gaze and offering no reply.

A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over Jiang Yi. Illness had a way of stripping a person bare, exposing the tenderness beneath. After seeing Han Yuancheng earlier, he had felt even more acutely just how vast the distance between himself and Qiu Rui truly was. And now, met with Qiu Rui’s cold rejection, it was as though his heart had been split open — a raw, throbbing pain. Weakness crept through him from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, and for the first time in his life, he felt a profound sense of inadequacy and helplessness.

For the first time, he found himself questioning whether loving someone so wholeheartedly, with such stubborn persistence, was wrong.

Qiu Rui’s face — cold as a sheet of ice — reflected in Jiang Yi’s eyes, and that coldness seeped through skin and bone, scattering all his resolve. Jiang Yi curved his lips in a weary, self-mocking smile. “Having an old man confess to you so bluntly — you must find it revolting.”

“But there’s really nothing to be done. This heart just won’t listen to reason.”

“If I’ve caused you any trouble, then I truly am sorry.” A quiet desolation flickered through his eyes. “Just bear with it a little longer. Once the formation is undone, we will likely never cross paths again in this lifetime.”

“For me, at least… at least when I look back on this someday, I’ll know that I once met you.” He paused. “That’s enough.”

When he finished speaking, Jiang Yi rose from his seat, pulled out his notebook, and began to write. Qiu Rui stared at the man’s profile in silence, and a feeling unlike any he had known before stirred slowly within him — a quiet, inexplicable unease.