Chapter 27
After checking in and boarding on time, the two of them spent an entire day flying through the sky. Xia Fengsheng kept staring out the window the whole time.
Outside were blue skies and white clouds, and every now and then he could even spot another passenger plane flying through the air.
Resting his chin on one hand, Xia Fengsheng thought:
No Shenzhou in sight. Boring.
He adjusted the seat into a reclining position, pulled on an eye mask, and prepared to sleep. It was better to adjust to the time difference now than later—once they landed, he wanted to be running on domestic time already.
Just as Xia Fengsheng closed his eyes and started trying to summon up some sleepiness, someone shook his shoulder.
He pulled up the eye mask and looked at the culprit. “What?”
Shi Ye held out his hand like a freeloader and said naturally, “I didn’t bring an eye mask. Give me yours.”
Because of the previous shopping frenzy, Xia Fengsheng was in a very good mood now that he had many more valuable things on him, so he acted especially magnanimous and pulled off the eye mask to toss it over.
A blanket worked just as well anyway. Eye mask or no eye mask made no difference.
Shi Ye put on the eye mask and instantly began living like an emperor.
In the seven years that had passed, everything about Xia Fengsheng had changed—except for the fact that whenever he was happy, he would let people do whatever they wanted.
Even without the eye mask, Xia Fengsheng’s sleep quality remained excellent. He had been born with a saintly constitution for sleeping.
Back when he had been studying for graduate school exams in that shabby rented room, the soundproofing had been so poor, but after a whole day of studying, Xia Fengsheng would still sleep like the dead, impossible to wake no matter how much noise there was.
Xia Fengsheng had not flown very many times. He liked looking at the scenery outside, so he had not pulled down the window shade before going to sleep.
Sunlight slanted across his face, and as the plane gradually moved forward, the area lit by the sun grew larger and larger, until more than half of him was being bathed in it.
It was already warm inside the plane. Seeing that, Shi Ye stretched out an arm and pulled the shade down.
In business class, Shi Ye sat on the outer side and Xia Fengsheng on the inner side. The business-class seats were also as wide as massage chairs, so the outer seat was somewhat farther from the shade.
Fortunately, Shi Ye was tall, with long arms and legs. Leaning forward just slightly, suspending his upper body above Xia Fengsheng, he could easily reach the shade.
His fingers exerted force and pulled it down.
Instinctively, he lowered his head to check whether the sunlight was still falling across Xia Fengsheng’s face—and met Xia Fengsheng’s quiet sleeping profile.
He was lying on his side facing Shi Ye, covered to the shoulders in a blanket, eyes closed naturally, lashes thick as raven feathers.
These past few days abroad, free from academic troubles, his thin cheeks had filled out slightly.
Very little flesh ever grew on Xia Fengsheng’s face. He had the standard snake-like face—cold, aloof, and sharp, all hallmarks of that sort of beauty.
From up close, you could even see the soft fuzz on his face. Because he was sleeping on his side, the flesh that had returned to his cheeks made them look slightly puffed out, like traces of baby fat not yet gone from a boy still underage.
At that moment the plane gave a slight jolt.
Shi Ye froze there, looking at that sleeping side profile, as if he were suddenly seeing the sixteen-year-old Xia Fengsheng again.
That gloomy, immature, lean boy in a school uniform.
Back then, Xia Fengsheng’s side profile had looked just the same as it did now.
From the front, his face looked very thin, but from the side you could still see some softness in his cheeks and jawline—the childishness of a boy his age not yet fully gone.
Hovering above him, Shi Ye stared blankly for a moment and forgot to move.
Xia Fengsheng slept beneath the blanket. The fuzzy nap from the blanket made his face itch a little, so, still with his eyes shut, he stretched one hand out from under the blanket to scratch his cheek.
His eyes stayed tightly closed. His pale fingers clawed clumsily at his cheek, and there was not the slightest sign of him waking up. He just wanted to scratch the itch quickly and go back to sleeping comfortably.
But sometimes, when your body itched, it behaved like it had a disease.
If your face itched, you scratched your back. If your neck itched, you scratched your leg. In short, scratching the part that actually felt itchy was somehow guaranteed not to help. And if scratching every possible place still did nothing, then biting it with your mouth would be inevitable.
Xia Fengsheng scratched twice, but the itch did not ease at all. Instead it only grew worse, making him frown in discomfort in his sleep.
He scratched again in a good-tempered sort of way, found it useless, and then got annoyed at himself. Eyes still shut, he started scratching wildly across his face.
Red streaks appeared at once across his fair, delicate skin, a shocking sight.
Shi Ye quickly caught his hand. “Don’t. More gently.”
He would scratch himself raw.
Shi Ye gripped his wrist to stop him from scratching anymore, then began trying to figure out where the itch was and scratched it for him instead.
“Is this better?”
In his sleep, Xia Fengsheng shook off his hand and muttered one blurry word: “Back.”
Shi Ye did not waste a second. “Okay, okay.”
Back.
He immediately reached out and started scratching for him.
He did not dare use too much force, so he only used the pads of his fingers through the fabric of Xia Fengsheng’s clothes.
When it came to the sixteen-year-old Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye had no resistance at all. Whatever the other said went.
Mission accomplished, no matter what.
“How is it? Better now?” Shi Ye asked softly, afraid of waking him, his broad shoulders curled in close beside Xia Fengsheng. “Anywhere else itchy?”
Xia Fengsheng had sunk fully back into sleep and did not say another word. All he gave off was the sound of faint breathing.
So it was no longer itchy. Shi Ye let out a breath of relief, feeling a little heartache as he looked at the red scratches on Xia Fengsheng’s cheek.
Carefully, he hooked a finger under the hair by Xia Fengsheng’s cheek and tucked it behind his ear, afraid the hair would make him feel itchy again and prompt him to scratch his face more.
When he moved the second strand, Xia Fengsheng suddenly, cat-like, rubbed the tip of his nose against Shi Ye’s finger.
Shi Ye’s breathing caught. His arm accidentally pressed the call button.
A male flight attendant appeared instantly. “Sir, what do you need?”
Shi Ye snapped back to himself at once, his heart—which had just been stirred—immediately doused by a bucket of icy cold water and forced back into line.
That crafty Xia Fengsheng had actually been pretending to look like his sixteen-year-old self to bewitch him. Despicable.
Shi Ye shot him a cold look.
Good thing he had not fallen for it.
His revenge plan would proceed exactly as intended. He would not go soft.
Shi Ye cleared his throat. “Nothing. Pressed it by mistake.”
The flight attendant replied, “All right, sir. Call me anytime if you need anything.”
Then drifted away.
The moment they returned to Chinese territory, it was as if Xia Fengsheng’s bloodline awakened. Having slept the whole way, he was full of energy again, and once more placed the breakup mission back on his agenda.
It had been quite a while since he had gone wild for the sake of breaking up. During their time in Beautiful Country, he had not made too much trouble, mainly because he had been afraid Shi Ye would dump him abroad and leave him there as an undocumented black household.
Xia Fengsheng woke up with three hours left before landing.
Three hours was more than enough time to step onto the grand stage.
Shi Ye had just finished breakfast and was about to put on the eye mask and sleep.
At the side, Xia Fengsheng asked a question he already knew the answer to. “Are you going to sleep?”
He had just woken up, and his face was slightly puffy. But for someone whose face never had much flesh to begin with, that morning puffiness made him look softer and cuter than usual.
Shi Ye gave him a cold little “Mm.”
Inwardly, he reminded himself that although Xia Fengsheng looked like teenage Xia Fengsheng right now, once the swelling in his cheeks went down, he would not look like that anymore—so absolutely do not fall for it.
Shi Ye thought that after sleeping the whole way, Xia Fengsheng would now eat breakfast.
And in fact, Xia Fengsheng really did order one.
A male flight attendant appeared carrying the meal.
“Sir, your breakfast.”
Xia Fengsheng: “Thank you.”
Xia Fengsheng ate slowly and methodically. At that moment, Shi Ye was lying there reading a magazine to help himself fall asleep. The time difference had not fully reversed yet, and after not closing his eyes for nearly a full day, he really needed to sleep for a while.
Suddenly Xia Fengsheng drifted over and, for some reason, said, “Can’t fall asleep? I’ll lull you to sleep.”
His voice still carried that grainy texture of someone newly awake, and he still had a bread roll in his hand.
Shi Ye shifted farther away, expressionless. “No need.”
But Xia Fengsheng refused to give up. He was dead set on lulling him to sleep.
In the end Shi Ye had no choice but to agree, though he had no idea why Xia Fengsheng was so determined to put him to sleep.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Close your eyes.”
Shi Ye obeyed and closed them. After all, if you were sleeping, closing your eyes was necessary anyway.
He wanted to see exactly what trick Xia Fengsheng was planning.
But after waiting and waiting, no move came.
Shi Ye: ?
Why was nothing happening?
Wasn’t he supposed to be lulling him to sleep? Where was the bedtime story? If not that, at least a few soothing pats?
Just as Shi Ye was about to lose patience and open his eyes, a burst of chewing sounds came from beside his ear.
Xia Fengsheng: chew chew chew chew chew chew chew…
Shi Ye frowned and opened his eyes. “What are you doing?”
There he was—holding a bread roll, chewing right beside his ear, and at the same time answering him in a breathy whisper:
“ASMR.”
Shi Ye: ……
That urge to beat Xia Fengsheng to death had returned.
He had been pretty normal abroad, but the moment he came back to China, the disease flared up again.
After being forced to listen to ASMR for a while, Shi Ye sank triumphantly into sleep.
Once the plane landed, because of travel exhaustion, Shi Ye had someone come pick them up. The driver helped with the luggage, and the two of them got into the car.
It was a four-seater Rolls-Royce from Shi Ye’s garage. Sitting in the car, Xia Fengsheng silently estimated how much this vehicle must have cost once it was on the road.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Lin Xingcan received a call from the studio. He pulled out his phone from his pocket.
At that moment, Lin Xingcan was sitting on a shared bicycle by the roadside waiting at a red light. The instant he saw it was a work call, the curve of his mouth vanished.
Why did they keep contacting him every single day for every little thing? Did they not realize today was the weekend? The weekend! Understand?!
The call connected. Fortunately, it was not about work.
To be honest, work had actually been going fairly smoothly for Lin Xingcan lately. Since he had not been running into Xia Fengsheng on work matters, he had been opening orders and taking projects with green lights all the way.
The colleague on the phone asked, “Say, where has that Xia Fengsheng gone lately?”
Although Xia Fengsheng had always been suppressed by his advisor above him—no dividends, no share in the partnership—his ability was beyond question. He was famous in the industry. Anyone who saw him could call him by name.
Xia Fengsheng was not just some straw bag who only knew how to dance girl-group choreography.
What every industry needed most was fresh blood.
And what every industry feared most was also fresh blood.
For example: Xia Fengsheng.
If his ability had not always been suppressed, he would have gone much, much farther than this.
Just like Lin Xingcan himself now.
The main reason Lin Xingcan had climbed so slowly was because of suppression by the old guard.
They would not hand over power, would not hand over resources. Even though they were doing a terrible job themselves, they still refused to let a capable newcomer like Lin Xingcan step in.
Xia Fengsheng?
It really had been quite a while since he had heard that name.
Lin Xingcan clicked his tongue.
“Who knows. After losing his memory, maybe he forgot everything and just went off to hide somewhere.”
Maybe hiding away was for the best.
Who would want their mortal rival appearing in the field of competition? Without Xia Fengsheng around, Lin Xingcan was much more relaxed.
But then again, strangely enough, not seeing Xia Fengsheng these days really did feel unfamiliar. He even missed him a little.
The person on the other end joked, “You don’t think he suddenly got rich and quit, do you?”
Lin Xingcan burst into earth-shaking laughter. “Hahahahahahahahahahaha, how is that possible!”
“If he got rich, I’d stand on my head and eat shit, okay?!”
Beep beep—
A Rolls-Royce suddenly pulled up beside him. Twisting around to look, Lin Xingcan’s eyes met Xia Fengsheng’s through the car window.
Lin Xingcan: ……
Fuck. He really did get rich.
Xia Fengsheng looked at him quietly. The two stared at each other without saying a word. Then Xia Fengsheng lifted one finger, signaling Lin Xingcan to look upward.
Lin Xingcan followed the gesture and looked.
At the starry ceiling inside the car.
As if Xia Fengsheng were afraid he might miss it.
Lin Xingcan: ……
His eyes widened in disbelief. Since when had Xia Fengsheng started riding in cars this extravagant? He was just about to say something—
when Xia Fengsheng spoke first: “Driver, roll up the window quickly. I’m starting to smell poverty.”
Lin Xingcan: ……
Xia Fengsheng was radiating don’t disturb me from head to toe.
The moment he got money, he forgot his roots first, huh.
The car exhaust trailed away down the endless road.
“What?” the colleague on the phone had not caught what Lin Xingcan said just now. “Xingcan, what did you say you’d do if Xia Fengsheng got rich?”
Lin Xingcan hung up with a smack.
What else could he do?
He had just been talking.
Who knew Xia Fengsheng would really get rich?!
Looking down at the shared bicycle beneath him, Lin Xingcan screamed soundlessly at the heavens:
“Heaven is unjust!!!!”
*
Inside the car.
Without looking up from his phone, Shi Ye said to him, “You’ll stay at my place and rest today. Go back to school tomorrow.”
Xia Fengsheng truly did not have the strength to return to school, so he quite naturally agreed to stay. Besides, Shi Ye’s bed was definitely more comfortable than the one in the school dorm.
But the route the car was taking was not in the direction of Shi Ye’s house.
Xia Fengsheng became alert. “Where are we going?”
Shi Ye looked at the messages on his phone. “First, to pick up the cat.”
The cat?
Did Shi Ye keep a cat?
Twenty minutes later, the two arrived at a pet shop, which also offered boarding services.
A cat-and-dog kindergarten.
Whenever Shi Ye had to go out of town or abroad before, he would board Bubai here. The service was good, and staff played with the cat every day and took care of its emotions.
If the cat showed any physical discomfort, they noticed it immediately. Very good place.
Bubai had always boarded here, so every time it came there was no great stress response. It quickly blended into the boarding family.
Ever since childhood, Xia Fengsheng had never had much luck with animals. Other than Old Yellow Dog, the dog he had once raised himself, every other cat or dog would either run or hide the moment it saw him.
So he was not especially warm toward furry animals either.
At a glance, Shi Ye clearly came here often. The moment he walked into the shop, people greeted him warmly.
Xia Fengsheng even heard a few staff members whisper excitedly, “The trendy handsome guy is here! Thank god I’m on shift today hahahahahaha.”
Sure enough, someone who looked like Shi Ye would be popular anywhere he went.
“Hey, there’s another handsome guy next to him,” one clerk nudged a coworker.
The coworker sneaked a glance, then pressed her lips together. “Damn, that one’s handsome too. He looks so good—such a strong vibe.”
Shi Ye went to the front desk and reported the pet’s name.
The clerk led the two of them to the cat boarding area.
Cats that were not afraid of strangers would be allowed to play together, with the owner’s prior consent to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Clearly, Shi Ye’s cat belonged to that category.
When they reached the cat play area, there were only four or five cats inside that huge play zone. Every one of them was fat, obviously spoiled by their owners.
Shi Ye very quickly picked up a semi-trailer.
Xia Fengsheng was unimpressed and was just about to tell Shi Ye to stop playing with the semi-trailer and first find the cat they had come to collect.
And then the next second—
Shi Ye: “Bubai, have you been doing well lately?”
Xia Fengsheng: ????
He licked his slightly dry lips. “Where’s your cat?”
This semi-trailer????
Shi Ye held up the semi-trailer. “This is the cat.”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Exactly where was the small in small cat? Did he even understand what small cat meant?
Xia Fengsheng looked at Bubai, all-black from head to toe. The man was big, and the cat he raised was also big.
Still, for some reason, the cat in front of him gave him an unprecedented sense of familiarity.
Bubai was entirely black, with gemstone-green eyes, and one ear lacking its pointed tip.
One ear lacking a pointed tip…
That made him remember a little ungrateful white-eyed wolf of a kitten he had fed back in high school.
Every time he went to feed it, the kitten would meow at him. The moment it was fed, it would immediately run far away and hide from him, becoming ungrateful as soon as its stomach was full.
Later, for some reason, it disappeared.
If it were still alive now, it would be nine years old.
Shi Ye held Bubai and felt its weight in his arms, then seemed to realize the cat had gotten lighter.
Heartache overflowed into his eyes.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Why would anyone feel heartache over a semi-trailer?
Shi Ye turned around holding Bubai. The instant the cat saw Xia Fengsheng, it let out a meow.
No idea what it was saying, but it sounded filthy.
Bubai: “Meow!”
Xia Fengsheng: These days even semi-trailers can talk.
Seeing Bubai meow at Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye smiled faintly and said, “Hasn’t changed at all.”
Xia Fengsheng frowned. What had not changed at all? He had no idea what Shi Ye meant.
“You don’t remember it?” Shi Ye’s eyes darkened. Facing him, he said, “This was a cat the two of us raised together before. You fed it in high school.”
Xia Fengsheng’s pupils shrank.
So it really was that cat.
He had not expected Shi Ye to be the one who took it away. Back then, when the kitten disappeared, Xia Fengsheng had not really cared.
It was just a stray cat, and a kitten whose fur had only just finished growing in.
Back then, once it disappeared, it disappeared. Xia Fengsheng had merely gone coldly to the street corner where he used to feed it, looked at the empty spot where there was no kitten anymore, and felt nothing.
There were too many things in this world struggling just to stay alive.
He was one of them.
He had not been sad.
The kitten’s disappearance had been weightless to him. He went on living his ordinary life just the same.
Even at the youngest and most innocent age for feeling emotions, Xia Fengsheng had stirred not at all.
And now, seeing the cat again,
he could no longer even remember what it had looked like at the start.
Because he had not cared. It had only been a cat. The only thing that shocked him now was that it was still alive, and living quite well.
Shi Ye placed Bubai into the carrier.
The carrier was custom-made.
The largest standard pet carriers on the market could fit fat cats.
But Bubai was different.
Bubai was a super-fat cat.
A normal-sized carrier could not hold it, so it had a custom one, something that looked more like a small suitcase when carried by hand.
On the way back to the car, the two passed by a convenience store.
Xia Fengsheng had not eaten domestic snacks in a while and wanted to go in and buy some.
Not knowing whether pets were allowed inside, Shi Ye stayed on the street with Bubai while Xia Fengsheng went in.
“Meow!” A loud cry came from inside the carrier.
As if saying that Xia Fengsheng had left.
Shi Ye raised the carrier a little higher so he could meet the gemstone-green eyes inside. “Do you still remember him?”
“Meow! Meow!” Bubai bawled at the top of its lungs, calling several times in a row. “Meow meow meow!!!”
It sounded like it was talking bad about Xia Fengsheng.
Quite human of it, really—at least it knew that badmouthing someone should be done behind their back.
Shi Ye had no idea what it was saying, so he casually fed it a freeze-dried treat the pet shop had given him earlier.
Ding-ling—
The sound of a bicycle bell.
A young man rode up, stopped a few meters away from Shi Ye, then very precisely parked his bicycle directly on the tactile paving for the blind.
Shi Ye reminded him, “That’s not a parking spot.”
The young man turned around and pointed at himself, as if asking: me?
“What business is it of yours where I park?” Being called out made the young man lose face, and he snapped back irritably, “Mind your own business.”
He tried to leave, but Shi Ye shifted to block his way. “Move it.”
The young man exploded, shame rising in him at having his wrongdoing exposed. “Who the hell are you? I can park my bike wherever I want. Is it any of your business?”
“The road is for everyone. I’m parking it here, so what? If a blind person is blind, is that because of me?”
There really were people in this world with skin thicker than city walls.
Shi Ye’s expression turned cold.
Ding-dong—
Welcome again next time.
The automatic sensor doors of the convenience store slid open. Someone came walking out from inside, accompanied by a rhythmic tap-tap-tap.
Xia Fengsheng was holding a long stick he had no idea where he found, and had yesterday’s luxury sunglasses on his face.
As he walked forward, he tapped the stick against the ground, tap tap tap.
Shi Ye: ?
Both Shi Ye and the young man found their gazes drawn toward him.
Xia Fengsheng walked cautiously. In the acting department, his skills were very solid.
Tap-tap-tap—
Before long he reached the tactile paving and came close to the two of them.
Since the bicycle was blocking the tactile paving and obstructing the path, Xia Fengsheng’s stick naturally struck the bicycle.
“Oh!” he gasped.
As if he had never expected there to be some obstacle on tactile paving and had been startled by it.
He threw down the stick and reached out with both hands to grope at it, his face full of worry and alarm, with no idea what exactly was in front of him or whether it might hurt him.
Then Xia Fengsheng, startled and frightened, stumbled back a few steps and—a spinning kick!
Crack!!!!!!!!
The bicycle that had been standing on the tactile paving instantly split, the seat separating from the frame and the whole thing wrecked at the roadside.
The young man’s eyes widened.
His bicy—cle!!!!!!!!!!!
