Seizing Dreams

Ch127.1 – Return to Beijing

An hour and a half later, Yu Hao returned to the county town and called Jin Weicheng outside the motorcycle rental car shop. Zhou Sheng’s handsome nose had turned red from being blown by the cold wind. He took his woolen cap off and put it on Yu Hao. Yu Hao told Jin Weicheng to regroup in the county town, and they should try their best to leave that day.

Jin Weicheng found a place to charge his phone. Yu Hao checked the train’s schedule; there were no more trains to Beijing, and they had to wait until 7 o’clock tomorrow for the next time. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Zhou Sheng took back the ID card he had left at the rental car shop and looked at Yu Hao in a daze. It has been 36 hours since he got on the plane, it was freezing cold, and Zhou Sheng hadn’t been getting much sleep for several days in a row, so his brain was like a mush of paste now. He rode a motorcycle and suffered the onslaught of the cold wind for nearly five hours as he drove around everywhere searching frantically, and he was a little delirious now. When he saw Yu Hao, the two of them looked at each other, yet they had nothing to say to each other for a moment.

“Are you hungry?” Yu Hao said, “Wait in Beijing ah, why did you come all the way here?”

Zhou Sheng shouted hysterically, “If I was fucking waiting for you in Beijing, would you have been able to go back?! Didn’t you see how dangerous it was just now?!”

When Zhou Sheng roared, the boss thought he was going to hit someone. Yu Hao quickly pulled him to the corner and said, “I was wrong, I was wrong……don’t shout at me! It wasn’t easy for me to get this interview!”

Zhou Sheng’s frozen hands covered Yu Hao’s face, and he tilted his head slightly to kiss him. Yu Hao couldn’t move at all and just hugged him. After Zhou Sheng finished kissing him, he forcefully embraced Yu Hao.

“Are you hungry?” Yu Hao said, “How long has it been since you ate? Eat something first, we’ll be heading to Beijing soon. It’s too unsafe here.”

Yu Hao took out some bread for Zhou Sheng to eat. He wanted to go to a shop to buy water, but Zhou Sheng yanked at him with an ashen face, “From now on, you cannot leave my sight.”

Yu Hao quickly said, “I’m just buying you a bottle of water.”

They were at the edge of the county. The car rental shop closed. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng stood somewhere without wind. Zhou Sheng drank mineral water, ate chocolate, then began to wolf down the meat floss bun. He felt slightly better and regained his strength.

“You even carry this around with you.”

“It’s to feed dogs with.” Yu Hao looked outside and thought that they had to hurry to the railway station. When he turned around, he saw that Zhou Sheng had stopped halfway through eating.

Zhou Sheng glared at him, his mouth stuffed with bread. He looked down at the meat floss bun, then looked at Yu Hao, his expression appearing very gloomy.

“Hahahahaha!!”

Yu Hao nodded. His fingers rubbed against Zhou Sheng’s cold, large hand, their fingers intertwined. He shifted close to his ear and whispered, “We’re going back now.”

Yu Hao was worried that there would be plain clothes outside the railway station too. After the plant received the news, they must have notified the county town. But unexpectedly, it snowed, and the outside of the station was deserted. Yu Hao said, “Let’s find a place to stay at first.”

Zhou Sheng finished the bread used to feed dogs in one bite and drank a mouthful of water. He finally managed to recover a little, “I’ll look at the schedule. Your Laoshi is such an asshole, he actually left you behind and ran off by himself?”

“I asked him to run away first.” Yu Hao said, “We discussed it before coming out. I’m a student, he’s a reporter; the degree of severity after getting caught is different ……stay at a bathhouse?”

Zhou Sheng said, “There’s a train to Hohhot at 9 o’clock, buy that one. Do as I say.”

Yu Hao thought he was right, if they could run then, they should just run and discuss things again after escaping. Zhou Sheng took Yu Hao’s phone and bought tickets for three people. When they entered the station, they saw Jin Weicheng sitting at the snack bar eating instant noodles.

“Hello Laoshi.” Zhou Sheng held Yu Hao’s hand and didn’t let go, shaking hands with Jin Weicheng, “Laoshi stop eating, let’s go!’ As he spoke, he grabbed Jin Weicheng’s instant noodles and threw it straight into a garbage bin, then turned around and took Yu Hao away.

Yu Hao, “……”

“Are there plain clothes?” Yu Hao asked in a soft voice after entering the station.

Zhou Sheng said, “Definitely. Don’t look around when we’re in the waiting area, don’t be nervous.”

Zhou Sheng’s gaze make a quick sweep. Yu Hao couldn’t tell. There weren’t many people in the waiting hall. Zhou Sheng pointed at one who had his back facing them, pointed at the toilet, then pointed at his watch.

Yu Hao looked at the time, there was still 20 minutes. The three of them entered the toilet. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao hid in one cubicle, while Jin Weicheng hid in another. This was the stopover from Lanzhou to Hohhot, they’d get on after the train arrived at the station. Yu Hao breathed a sigh of relief for now and leaned on Zhou Sheng. The two of them didn’t dare talk.

Fortunately, the toilet was cleaned pretty well.

Zhou Sheng frowned deeply. He pulled Yu Hao’s hand and looked at his fingers. After winter arrived, Yu Hao lacked vitamins, and many hangnails had splintered off of his nails. Zhou Sheng’s gaze looked reproachful. As Zhou Sheng stared and stared, he leaned down to kiss Yu Hao again. Yu Hao ran his fingers through Zhou Sheng’s hair, which had grown out quite a bit.

“Cold?” Yu Hao saw that Zhou Sheng was only wearing one shirt with a suit over it. Suits and suit pants, and the pair of AJ shoes he wore was dirty with mud all over it.

Zhou Sheng shook his head, opened up his jacket and let Yu Hao hug his waist. The two of them hugged each other tightly. Yu Hao could feel that they were both hard, but at this moment he had no other emotions and only one thought in his mind: this is really great.

With three minutes left, Zhou Sheng pulled the door of the toilet cubicle open and knocked on Jin Weicheng’s cubicle. The three of them walked out quickly, but slowed down when they reached the waiting hall. Zhou Sheng said, “Laoshi, please walk through that side, I’ll go draw their attention.”

Jin Weicheng uttered an “un” before walking in another direction. Zhou Sheng slung Yu Hao’s bag over his shoulder and had one arm around Yu Hao’s waist. Yu Hao turned his down jacket inside out, revealing the brightly coloured side and wore a woolen cap, looking just like a girl.

They walked straight past the plain clothes. Zhou Sheng showed his tickets, held Yu Hao’s hand, and passed through.

The plain clothes was a little doubtful. His gaze followed Zhou Sheng, looked down to compare with the photos, but he didn’t look like the target.

By taking advantage of those few seconds, Jin Weicheng passed the ticket gate as well. The train stopped. They got on the train separately, the bell rang, and the door closed. Yu Hao almost collapsed. Zhou Sheng stood at the door of the carriage and looked out through the glass. He saw that plain clothes had followed them onto the platform, but it was too cold so he went back again.

The conductor closed the door, unlocked the bathroom, and left.

Zhou Sheng said, “The one they’re focused on must be the one at 7am tomorrow morning, the train going back to Beijing. Right now, only one person was assigned to take turns being on duty at the waiting area.”

Yu Hao tugged on Zhou Sheng’s fingers. Zhou Sheng raised an eyebrow to mean that he should just say what he wanted to, but Yu Hao smiled.

“Lil’ Director Zhou’s always this amazing.” Yu Hao said with a smile.

“Lil’ Director Zhou almost suffered a stroke after getting angered by you!” Zhou Sheng said coldly.

Jin Weicheng said, “You guys chat, I’ll go to the dining carriage.”

“Don’t go.” Zhou Sheng looked at his watch, then compared with his phone and checked the schedule, “Wait here.”

Yu Hao took out his camera and wanted to try uploading the photos. Jin Weicheng lit a cigarette and called Lin Ze at the junction of the carriage. Zhou Sheng said to Yu Hao, “Use my hotspot, mine’s unlimited.”

Yu Hao thought that Zhou Sheng was practically his life’s hack. It would be so great if they could be together every day.

Yu Hao looked down as he transferred the photos, while Zhou Sheng also looked down at the camera seriously and said, “They’re really well taken.”

Yu Hao answered, “How could it be bad with a 110,000 camera?”

Zhou Sheng laughed. The two of them looked at each other, then Yu Hao continued transferring photos. Zhou Sheng no longer looked at his watch. After three stops and two hours later, Yu Hao had transferred most of his photos, and they arrived at Taiyuan. Zhou Sheng said to Jin Weicheng, “Get off and transfer.” As he spoke, he carried a bag and got off with Yu Hao.

After arriving at Taiyuan, Zhou Sheng bought another ticket for three people. They had to wait until 2am to transfer to the Xining Express that would head to Beijing. Yu Hao said, “I want to eat, I’m so hungry that I can’t move anymore.”

Zhou Sheng, “Let’s go eat dumplings?”

Yu Hao saw a 24-hour KFC and said, “I want to eat KFC.”

“Eat less fried food.” Zhou Sheng said, “There are hangnails growing on your hands, you’re not allowed to eat that!”

“NO!” Yu Hao was both sleepy and hungry, and almost exploded, “I’ve been eating Shaxian Snacks for two weeks! I want to eat meat!”

Zhou Sheng stopped talking. Yu Hao said, “I must eat fried chicken!”

Zhou Sheng said in disbelief, “Didn’t I transfer money to you? Why did you eat Shaxian for two consecutive weeks?!”