Chapter 37
Looking at the photo someone had posted in the comments—
Shi Ye: ……
Where the hell had she come from?!
When he was taking the pictures, he had clearly looked all around to make sure there was no one within a hundred meters before he started shooting Xia Fengsheng. So how had someone still managed to take a photo?!
The worst part was that it had been posted on Instagram.
He had embarrassed himself all the way overseas.
For a moment, Shi Ye honestly wanted to die.
He had only done that because he couldn’t get a good photo otherwise. Wasn’t the whole point of taking photos to do whatever it took to get the shot?
The comments kept refreshing:
“Hahahahahahaha, I’m not the kind of person who loses myself when I fall in love.”
“Can tell. The blogger had the determination to get the shot no matter what.”
“If the blogger is this handsome, does he still get scolded when the photos come out bad? [cat biting pillow and sobbing]”
“My god, S, is that really you?”
“Who trained you into this state?”
Sitting in the back seat of the car, Shi Ye shattered.
Because the road was slippery from the snow and they couldn’t make it up the mountain, and because this place was also far from the city, the two decided to make do for one night at a small inn at the foot of the mountain.
The inn itself wasn’t large, nor was it some top-tier luxury hotel. Most of the guests were between twenty and thirty, people who had come to see the scenic area and stayed the night there. A room cost around three to four hundred yuan.
If they stayed here, they could head up the mountain first thing in the morning. Going all the way back to the city tonight would mean another three hours on the road. Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye had caught a flight this morning, then spent the whole day traveling on land after landing. Now that they were already at the foot of the mountain, going back to the city would only be a hassle and a waste of time.
Better to just make do at the small inn.
By the time they arrived, the sky had already darkened.
They arranged with the driver to come pick them up the next morning at nine, then each slung on their own backpacks and went into the inn.
Their luggage had already arrived at the hot spring resort a day earlier. What they had in their backpacks now were only spare clothes and toiletries like toothbrushes and toothpaste.
They went up to the front desk to check in.
Shi Ye said to the clerk, “Hello, we’d like two king rooms.”
The clerk looked apologetic and replied politely, “Sorry, sir. We’re short on rooms right now. There aren’t two king rooms left.”
Shi Ye froze, then glanced at the red-lipped, pale-skinned Xia Fengsheng beside him. The wind and snow outside had mussed up his hair, making him look sharp and beautiful.
So… so were they going to have to sleep in one king room?
Xia Fengsheng stepped forward. “Two single rooms, thank you.”
Shi Ye came back to himself.
Right, there were single rooms too.
He was so used to staying in king rooms that he’d forgotten about singles.
They didn’t need to sleep in the same room.
The clerk apologized again. “Sorry, sir. We don’t have two single rooms left either.”
Beside her, Shi Ye spoke very softly. “Then one king room…”
The clerk smiled. “We don’t have that either.”
Shi Ye: ……
Were they really going to end up sleeping in the wilderness tonight?
Xia Fengsheng asked, “What rooms do you still have left?”
The clerk said, “The only room type left right now is a twin room, with two single beds inside.”
Xia Fengsheng said, “That works. One room.”
As he spoke, he pulled out his ID card.
Shi Ye handed his over too.
The clerk typed away at the computer to process their stay. “One of you needs to leave a phone number.”
Xia Fengsheng recited a mysterious string of digits.
Check-in complete.
Just as Xia Fengsheng reached for his phone to pay, he realized it was missing. He patted his pockets, then his pants.
At the side, Shi Ye asked, “What hurts?”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Seeing you gives me a headache.
“My phone’s gone,” Xia Fengsheng said.
He took off his backpack and dug through it.
Nothing.
Thinking back, the last time he remembered having his phone was in the car. “I think I left it in the car.”
Shi Ye went to look for his own phone, then started patting his pockets and pants too.
Xia Fengsheng asked, “You hurt too?”
Shi Ye stared blankly ahead. “…Mine’s gone too.”
He had clearly still had it when he was replying to comments in the car, so it must have been left there too.
Thanks to Shi Ye’s astonishing memory, he recited the driver’s number from memory and borrowed the front desk phone to call him, asking whether the two phones were still in the car.
On the other end, the driver said, “Let me check. Ah, yes! I see them. They’re both on the back seat.”
Then that settled it.
At least they hadn’t lost them.
Xia Fengsheng let out a breath of relief. Losing the phones wouldn’t just mean losing the devices themselves—adding back all the contacts would have been a real headache too.
The driver said, “I’ll bring them over right away.”
Xia Fengsheng shook his head.
Shi Ye understood what he meant. “No need. We’ll just use them tomorrow morning.”
The road outside was slippery, and it was fully dark now. It wasn’t safe to be driving around at night. Since the phones weren’t lost, they would get them back first thing in the morning. There was no need to make the driver come all the way back.
They were on vacation to relax.
Anything that needed handling could stand aside for now. There was no one they urgently needed to contact.
Luckily, both of them had cash on them, so they paid for the room with paper money and were spared from sleeping in the wilderness.
The room was on the second floor. When they twisted the doorknob open, they found a small but tidy space inside: two clean white single beds with a nightstand between them, two bottles of water on top, and a desk beneath the window with two chairs beside it.
Xia Fengsheng set his backpack on one of the chairs.
“You go shower first.”
He wanted to rest a bit before showering himself. Since they didn’t have their phones tonight to kill time with, he planned to bathe and go straight to sleep. If Shi Ye showered first, then he wouldn’t make noise later while Xia Fengsheng was trying to sleep.
Shi Ye moved quickly. After putting his things down, he took his change of clothes and went into the bathroom.
The bathroom door clicked locked.
From his backpack, Xia Fengsheng took out a red envelope.
A few days earlier, the first payment from Boss Zhao’s side had come through. It was a pretty large sum. Even split four ways among the studio members, it still came out to be a substantial amount.
It was the first time Xia Fengsheng had ever had this much money in hand. Qin Buming had told him that when you got the first payout from a job like this, it was best to put some money in a red envelope and give it to someone close to you—auspicious symbolism, meaning good fortune and wealth rolling in from now on.
He Qiang wasn’t around, and the members of the studio couldn’t really exchange red envelopes among themselves. Xia Fengsheng didn’t have anyone else to give one to.
So he’d prepared it for Shi Ye.
The amount inside wasn’t small.
A full 10,000 RMB.
That alone showed why they had worked like mad to make Miss Zhao break up.
That was finance for you. The money came in hard, but it came in big.
Big enough to make your mind go twisted.
One payment could keep you going for a long time.
Later, when he handed the red envelope to Shi Ye, he had already thought up the greasy line he was going to use.
He was determined to disgust Shi Ye thoroughly.
While Shi Ye was still in the shower, Xia Fengsheng rehearsed first:
“Love without material support is like a plate of loose sand. Here.”
Not greasy enough.
Again.
“Material support without love is like a plate of loose sa—”
Bang bang bang—
Suddenly, loud knocking exploded at the door.
Who would knock at a time like this? Hotel staff?
A voice from outside pierced straight through the door.
“Open up, police!”
Police?
Xia Fengsheng opened the door.
Two police officers came in and showed their badges. “Anti-pornography and vice sweep. Please cooperate actively.”
In the hallway outside, a whole row of people were squatting with their heads in their hands. Quite a few had been swept up. There were so many it looked like the police had busted an entire den.
Hearing the noise outside, Shi Ye shut off the shower and hurriedly threw on a bathrobe before coming out.
The police cast suspicious looks over the two of them.
“What’s the relationship between you two?”
Shi Ye stepped forward and stood in front of Xia Fengsheng. He had no idea why the police had come knocking so late at night. Drops of water still rolled from his neck into his chest, not yet wiped dry.
“We’re a couple.”
The officer looked stern. “And how can you prove that you’re in a romantic relationship?”
Shi Ye said, “We have photos.”
But just as he reached to look for them, he paused.
The photos were all on their phones.
And the phones had been left in the car.
The officer looked at him standing there motionless. “What’s wrong?”
Shi Ye said, “My phone’s in the car.”
The officer turned to Xia Fengsheng. “And yours?”
Xia Fengsheng: “…Same.”
The police: ……
At that moment, another officer found the red envelope stuffed with cash that Xia Fengsheng had left on the nightstand.
“Officer Li, look!”
Cash transaction!
The officer and Xia Fengsheng both widened their eyes at the same time.
Gritting through it, Xia Fengsheng said, “No, comrade, it’s not what you think.”
The officer stared at him wide-eyed. “Who would’ve thought that someone who looks so respectable on the surface is doing this sort of thing behind closed doors?”
Xia Fengsheng’s scalp prickled. “You misunderstood.”
The officer said, “Fine. You say you’re a couple, then tell me his phone number.”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Haha. Didn’t remember it at all.
The officer continued, “Then tell me his home address. Just one of them will do.”
Xia Fengsheng: …Also no idea.
Besides, he was supposed to be amnesiac right now. Even if he did know, he couldn’t say it in front of Shi Ye or the act would fall apart.
Shi Ye said, “I can say it.”
The officer replied, “No need for you. Even prostitutes remember their clients’ phone numbers.”
In an instant, he’d somehow been thrown into the sea.
Shi Ye said, “I’m not a rent boy. I’m not the same as those rent boys.”
The officer looked down at the cash inside the red envelope.
That was true.
An ordinary duck couldn’t charge that much.
This was a high-end duck.
The officer said, “Both of you, come with us.”
Shi Ye: Psyduck clasping his head in pain.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Love without money is like a plate of loose sand.
Love with money still gets you arrested.
Silver handcuffs were clasped onto Shi Ye’s wrists. He made one final struggle. “If what’s between us is a transaction, then why did we book a twin room instead of a king room? Wouldn’t a king room be more convenient?”
The officer gave him a look, then looked at the two single beds. “You know perfectly well why you booked a twin room.”
Shi Ye: ……
The two of them were mercilessly taken away.
Shi Ye sat in a row with a bunch of rent boys.
One duck looked at him and said, “The economy really is that bad now, huh? Even someone like you came out to sell?”
Shi Ye: ……
Psyduck clasped his head in pain again.
He wasn’t for sale!
The johns were shameless as ladybugs, and discipline in this area punished them too lightly. Some people had clearly just been arrested and still looked utterly relaxed, not a hint of tension on their faces.
One of the john-ducks took one look at Shi Ye and his eyes widened instantly. Broad shoulders, long legs, thick arms, and even in a bathrobe his waist looked strong as hell.
The man even whistled at Shi Ye while the officers weren’t paying attention.
The whistle had barely sounded when something slammed brutally into his back shoulder, sending him face-first into the corner of the wall.
Grinding his teeth, the man snapped, “You!”
He turned around and met the cold face of a male ghost looming over him.
“Don’t know how to walk?”
The man shrank his neck in at once and swallowed twice. “I do…”
Still, Shi Ye’s looks and build were simply too top-tier. Even after being intimidated, the man still didn’t put away his desire to flirt.
Once they got into the police car, the man deliberately sped up and took a seat close to Shi Ye.
Shi Ye sat there in silver handcuffs, with Xia Fengsheng beside him.
He had never committed a crime in his life. He had never expected that one day he’d end up entering a police station like this.
He was completely shattered.
Broken into pieces, Shi Ye rested his head on Xia Fengsheng’s shoulder and shut his eyes tightly, unwilling to face reality.
A huge useless thing, helpless and pitiful.
Xia Fengsheng said coldly, “Get up.”
Shi Ye: “No. I have no face left to show anyone.”
The man in the seat ahead kept turning around to look at Shi Ye. He had a round face and full beard, his eyes locked straight onto him.
“Ahem. That handsome gege.”
He deliberately made a little noise.
Almost everyone in the back row turned to look at him.
Shi Ye did too, because of the sound.
The slightly plump man looked at him shyly and said, “Gege, let’s hang out sometime. Do you like sweet girls?”
Shi Ye frowned instantly.
Sweet girl?
Had this guy’s brain been fucked stupid by buying sex?
He put his head right back on Xia Fengsheng’s shoulder.
He still knew perfectly well who counted as a sweet girl and who didn’t.
Even if the words didn’t naturally fit Xia Fengsheng, the eighteen-year-old Xia Fengsheng had once been sweet to the extreme.
That had been later on in their relationship.
Because after they’d been together for a long time, Xia Fengsheng had slowly developed a kind of dependence on him.
He would eat lunch with him every day.
He’d insist they take photos together.
He’d get angry if Shi Ye replied too slowly.
He would…
Smack—
Shi Ye took a solid hit to the side of the face.
Covering his cheek, he asked, “Why did you hit me?”
Xia Fengsheng looked straight ahead. “There was a mosquito.”
Shi Ye: “Oh.”
After settling back in again, Shi Ye: ?
What mosquito in winter? He just wanted to hit him!
The two of them were taken to the station. In the end, they could only clear things up after contacting the driver and having him bring over their phones.
The last time they’d met had been at the inn entrance.
Who would have thought the next time would be inside a police station?
The driver looked at the two of them in handcuffs and commented, “Very much living life.”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Shi Ye: ……
Since things had already reached this point, might as well take a commemorative photo first.
Once their innocence was proven, Shi Ye’s mindset became alarmingly good. He pulled out his phone and prepared to clock in for the memory.
Couldn’t come in vain.
“Look over here.”
He bumped Xia Fengsheng’s shoulder beside him.
Wearing the same silver bracelets, Xia Fengsheng looked toward the camera.
“Look a little pitiful.”
Xia Fengsheng asked, “How?”
Shi Ye coached him. “Just pout and look unhappy.”
Xia Fengsheng did as told.
That sort of expression almost never appeared on his face.
Usually, every time he showed up, he carried an elegant air—cool, noble, refined. Anyone who didn’t know him would probably take one look and think he was the sort of arrogant ghost who looked down on people with his chin raised.
Click.
The photo froze.
Shi Ye looked down at the photo and was stunned for a moment.
In the picture, Xia Fengsheng’s normally narrow eyes held a trace of grievance. His mouth was pouted, hiding the sharpness that usually sat at the corners. His expression looked helpless, like he was silently complaining to the camera.
Shi Ye glanced at Xia Fengsheng, who was over there talking to the police.
This was the real sweet girl.
After producing the evidence, Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye walked out of the police station clean and cleared.
Who else could live life this absurdly?
Even Xia Fengsheng laughed at himself.
Tom’s.
How exactly had I talked to you on January 1st?
The driver sent them back to the little inn. In Shi Ye’s hand was the red envelope the police had returned.
Looking at it, he asked, “Why did you put ten thousand yuan in a red envelope?”
Lying on the bed with his eyes closed, Xia Fengsheng replied, “It was for you.”
Shi Ye froze. “You really wanted to buy me?!”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Believe it or not, I’ll split your skull open.
Xia Fengsheng said, “The first big payment from work came in. Senior brother said it’s good to put some money in a red envelope and give it away.”
Shi Ye looked at the red envelope in his hand.
It was actually pretty commemorative.
He pulled out his phone and snapped two photos.
Inside, he felt delighted. So all those plans he’d been making really had been effective. The first red envelope from Xia Fengsheng’s first bucket of gold had gone to him.
Carefully putting it away, Shi Ye said, “Even though it’s not much, I’ll spend it well.”
“……” Xia Fengsheng said, “Go spend it on a spa.”
.
The next morning at nine, the two of them got up right on time and headed up the mountain to the hot spring resort.
Halfway up, traffic on the winding mountain road grew denser and denser, cars lining up one after another on their way up as well.
Shortly before lunch, they finally arrived.
The hot spring resort was astonishingly large, occupying nearly half the mountain. The view was wide open, and the scenery looked like a painting.
Their suite was done in a more Japanese style. The bed area had been converted into tatami, and when it was time to sleep, staff would come in and lay out the bedding for them in advance.
Outside the room, there was an open-air hot spring pool on the balcony they could soak in, but if they really wanted to enjoy the pleasure of natural hot springs, they’d still need to go down to the bath area and book a private pool.
Their luggage had already been delivered to the room.
After dropping their backpacks, Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye were about to head out and have a look around.
They wanted to see whether, besides the hot springs, the resort had any other special attractions.
The two took the elevator down to the lobby. They had barely walked a few steps out of the elevator when someone called from behind them.
“Xia Fengsheng?”
It was a mature male voice, slightly low but pleasant, with very clear, standard enunciation.
Hearing his name, Xia Fengsheng instinctively turned around.
His eyes met those of a suited man in glasses.
Seeing him clearly, Jing Changyu’s face lit with surprise and delight. He walked quickly over to Xia Fengsheng. “It really is Xia Fengsheng, right? Do you still remember me? I’m Jing Changyu. We were in the same class in high school. I was the class monitor.”
Xia Fengsheng recognized him almost instantly.
Seven years hadn’t changed Jing Changyu much.
At the same moment, Shi Ye’s face darkened too.
If there were two people Shi Ye had hated most in high school, Jing Changyu was one of them.
Ever since Xia Fengsheng had forced Shi Ye into being together, the two of them always ate lunch together every day.
One day, when he found out Shi Ye wasn’t going to that newly opened shop for lunch, Ding Qizhen asked, “You’re eating with Xia Fengsheng again today?”
Shi Ye said, “What can I do? He likes me too much. He’ll use any means possible to be with me and force love on me. Eating together is the most normal thing in the world.”
Although Shi Ye didn’t actually want to be with Xia Fengsheng—the gay guy who’d forced him into a relationship—if he refused, Xia Fengsheng would expose Ding Qizhen’s cheating, and then Ding Qizhen would get sent abroad, which was even more serious than Shi Ye having to date Xia Fengsheng.
So there was no choice.
Shi Ye could only eat with him.
But then one day, Xia Fengsheng suddenly said, “Not eating together today.”
Why not?
Shi Ye wanted to blurt it out, but the words reached his lips and then stayed there.
Fine. If they weren’t eating together, then they weren’t eating together. He’d never been doing it willingly in the first place. If anything, it meant a rare free lunch hour for him.
And yet, once he was suddenly eating by himself, Shi Ye found himself strangely unaccustomed to it.
On the way back to the teaching building, he saw Xia Fengsheng at the basketball court, watching people play.
Why was he there if he wasn’t eating?
It turned out there was a private class-vs-class basketball game at lunch that day.
Xia Fengsheng had skipped lunch with Shi Ye just to watch the game.
Shi Ye walked over to stand beside him.
He realized Xia Fengsheng kept staring at one specific person on the court—Jing Changyu.
“Who are you looking at?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “Our class monitor.”
“You like him?” Shi Ye asked sourly.
Xia Fengsheng thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
In class, he didn’t talk much to people. He was always the last to hear about group events, but every single time, the class monitor would remember to tell him.
At that, Shi Ye’s face fell.
If he liked him, then why had he forced himself on Shi Ye in the first place?
Apparently, compared to the class monitor, Xia Fengsheng still liked him more.
Otherwise, why wasn’t Xia Fengsheng dating the class monitor instead?
So Shi Ye deliberately said in a sour, jealous voice, “Then why don’t you find some dirt on him and force him to be with you?”
Like how you found dirt on me helping Ding Qizhen cheat and then used it to threaten me into dating you.
When Xia Fengsheng stayed silent for a long time, the corners of Shi Ye’s mouth slowly lifted.
So he did like him more.
Then, in the next second—
still looking at Jing Changyu, Xia Fengsheng said:
“He has no weaknesses.”
