Chapter 61
“How are you here?”
At the sight of the person on his bed, the exhaustion on Xia Fengsheng’s face gave way to a moment of blank shock.
After everything ugly that had been said yesterday, Xia Fengsheng had done what he’d done seven years ago—prepared himself never to see Shi Ye again for the rest of his life.
He had planned on never seeing him again, yet the very next day he was seeing him on the big bed in his bedroom.
Under the hazy glow of the night lamp, Xia Fengsheng’s expression was unreadable.
Hadn’t he said that if he ever came to see him again, he’d be a dog?
Shi Ye had clearly just woken up. Propping himself up with one strong arm, one long leg bent, he looked over with sleepy but sharply sculpted eyes.
When Shi Ye didn’t answer, Xia Fengsheng’s face turned cold and he pressed on. “How did you get in?”
His front door had an electronic password lock. No one but him knew the code.
Shi Ye yawned, his voice rough with sleep. “When I got here, the door was already open.”
He got out of bed. “The whole apartment building was scheduled for a power outage today. I was worried you hadn’t seen the notice and your night blindness would flare up when you came home tonight, so out of humanitarian concern I came to check on you.”
Xia Fengsheng frowned. “A power outage?”
Shi Ye lifted a brow. “You didn’t read the homeowners’ group chat? It said the power would be cut from twelve noon today, and the time for it to come back on was uncertain.”
Looking at the little night lamp glowing by the bed, it seemed the power had already come back while he was asleep.
Shi Ye bent toward him, posture loose and lazy, his tall nose almost brushing Xia Fengsheng’s pale bridge. His peach-blossom eyes narrowed with a half-smile. “I came because I was worried about you. Sleeping on your bed for a bit shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Xia Fengsheng’s nerves immediately sharpened. “How did you know about the outage in my building?”
“How else would I know?” Shi Ye straightened up. “Because I’m moving in here. I joined the residents’ group chat, so I saw it.”
Xia Fengsheng’s gaze darkened. Just as he was about to speak, Shi Ye cut him off first.
“You don’t actually think I still like you, do you?”
Anyone looking at Xia Fengsheng right then would have thought exactly that from the guarded look on his face.
But Shi Ye denied it flatly.
“I do have some pride, you know. You said all that awful stuff yesterday. How could I possibly still like you?” Shi Ye slapped a hand onto his shoulder. “I’m moving here purely because of work. My overseas collaborators’ studio in China isn’t far from here, so it’s more convenient for me to live nearby.”
“And me coming to check on you because of the outage is just because I’m a nice person. We knew each other once. If anyone had night blindness and their home lost power, I’d come take a look.”
Xia Fengsheng didn’t believe he could’ve sorted his thoughts out that neatly in a single day. “You’d better be.”
“I am.” There was none of the old warmth in Shi Ye’s handsome face now. His dark eyes were as cold as an ice pool. “Xia Fengsheng, I wasted too much time on you. I’m not staying here any longer.”
He brushed past Xia Fengsheng and left. Just as his left foot crossed the doorway, he turned back and added:
“Oh, and you’d better change that password lock. During a power outage, even if you shut it, it pops open by itself.”
Click.
The door locked behind him, leaving Xia Fengsheng alone in the huge apartment.
For Shi Ye to suddenly appear like that and leave just as abruptly left a knot of irritation in Xia Fengsheng’s chest.
At the foot of the bed, a plush arm was sticking out from under the blanket.
Xia Fengsheng’s whole mind jolted. He yanked the teddy bear out from the blankets at the foot of the bed, the one with the little peace talisman hanging around its neck.
His face turned ugly.
That morning, when he woke up, he’d been sitting at the end of the bed hugging the bear to wake himself up. Before he left, he had stuffed it back under the blanket at the foot of the bed.
Closing his eyes in vexation, Xia Fengsheng had no idea whether Shi Ye had noticed the bear while sleeping on his bed.
He forced his messy thoughts to settle. With Shi Ye’s personality, if he had seen the bear, he would definitely have said something. If he hadn’t said anything, then he probably hadn’t noticed. Besides, the bear hadn’t moved from where it was.
That line of thinking made Xia Fengsheng feel a little better.
On a busy workday afterward, he made time to have someone replace the apartment’s password lock.
Dressed in a tailored suit, Xia Fengsheng stood at his door watching the technician change the lock. Next door, the neighboring apartment stood wide open, moving-company workers carrying large items in and out.
The movers handled everything carefully, shuffling along in tiny steps.
“Watch it. This thing costs more than both our yearly salaries put together.”
“I know, I know. Just mind your footing.”
Xia Fengsheng even saw someone bring out Bubai’s carrier from the elevator—the “airplane case” made for that spoiled oversized king of a cat. Inside, the pampered semi-truck of a cat was sleeping with its eyes contentedly half-closed.
Shi Ye, who had come upstairs with the moving crew, saw him and warmly waved. “Hi~”
His expression was relaxed and easy. Seeing Xia Fengsheng, he greeted him just like he would any familiar passerby. After that, Shi Ye went right back to dealing with his move and didn’t try to keep talking to him.
There was a lot to do that day.
Breaking up hadn’t made Shi Ye avoid him. Instead, he interacted with Xia Fengsheng the way one would with someone familiar but not especially close—casual, ordinary, neither intimate nor strained.
Just as he had said: he wasn’t going to linger around him anymore. Moving here was only for work.
Sometimes when Xia Fengsheng went to work, he would get into the elevator just as Shi Ye was coming back from his morning run.
One day, Shi Ye stood there with breakfast bags looped over his long fingers, head lowered to his phone. The elevator doors opened, and when he saw Xia Fengsheng outside, he smiled and greeted him.
“Morning.”
Then he stepped out.
That was all. A greeting when they met, no deliberate attempts to make conversation, no awkward pressure on either side.
Xia Fengsheng continued going to and from work as usual. He’d changed the password lock to one that no longer sprang open during outages. No one would suddenly appear in his home anymore.
At night, after work, he leaned against the headboard and read a book, with the little bear sitting beside him, the peace talisman still around its neck.
The bear had been changed into spring clothes—a tiny set of pajamas with pink flowers and green stems.
Xia Fengsheng had hunted it down online with great difficulty. It was a branded item and had cost a fair amount.
Back when he was poor, the bear had been poor with him. Now that he had money, the bear had money too.
After reading for all of five minutes, Xia Fengsheng decisively abandoned the book and picked up his phone. That was enough reading for today.
Equal opportunity and all that. It was now time to let his phone assist him in work for two hours, right up until he fell asleep.
Other than making money, Xia Fengsheng didn’t really have hobbies. When he played on his phone, he had no aim at all—one moment matching tiles, the next watching random videos.
Then he tapped open another media app and came across a livestream.
Nickname: S
Viewers: 500k+
Xia Fengsheng’s finger flicked, and he entered the stream.
Shi Ye had clearly only just started. The barrage was flooded with:
“Here!”
“Here!”
“I’m here!”
“Oi, I’m here!”
“Finally started streaming, I’ve been waiting forever.”
The screen was dim, aimed at a pitch-black gaming chair. Behind it was a deep black bed.
The room was bare. Aside from that bed, there was hardly any furniture at all. Clearly he had just moved in and hadn’t had time to add anything else.
“Meow~ meow!!”
An ethereal… no, rather passionate cat cry echoed through the room. Bubai the king jumped onto the desk and sniffed at the phone.
“Oi, is that S’s cat? First time seeing it.”
“Ninety-nine percent rare creature.”
“Human bows before His Meowjesty. Long live the cat king.”
“Kitty-chan, watashi…”
After five minutes of empty screen, Shi Ye finally entered the frame. One strong, well-defined hand lifted up the oversized cat. His low magnetic voice was gentle. “What are you doing, greeting everyone for me?”
The moment the man himself appeared, the barrage roared up like a turned-over tide.
“AHHHHHHHH, he’s here!”
“S, do you know how long I’ve waited for this day?”
“My god, you actually still remember you have a livestream account.”
“S, you know you look like a thirst-trap model, right?”
Shi Ye set Bubai outside the room, came back, and sat down in the gaming chair. His face hit the screen with full force.
“!!!! It’s my beloved short-haired dark-skin look!!”
“Wuwuwu, waited this long and it was worth it, he’s so handsome I’m drooling.”
“Host finally agreed to get some sun. Dark skin is insanely sexy and handsome.”
“S, open the door, it’s me, M!”
Shi Ye looked at the scrolling comments and greeted them. “Long time no see.”
“Long time no see!”
“It’s really been a long time—almost half a year!”
“The host finally remembered his password.”
Under the dim lighting, Shi Ye sat before the desk, his eyes sweeping lazily and condescendingly across the chat.
The light from the screen sharpened his features into harsh relief. His Adam’s apple stood out. His jawline was clean and sharp. Even his simple casual clothes only emphasized the body underneath. The force of the sexuality coming off him immediately called to mind that viral in-car thirst-trap photo of his.
“Has the host been busy with work lately?”
“What’s the host been up to recently?”
“Can you talk more? Your voice sounds so good.”
“Can the host call me ‘big sister’? You look way too much like a younger rough-and-tumble puppy.”
“I want to hear ‘big sister’ too.”
“Maybe don’t ask that—host has a romantic partner.”
“! He has a partner?!”
“AHHHHHHH, when did that happen? What did I miss while I was offline?”
“Someone actually got to eat S?!” pupil quake
The chat immediately filled with wailing and lamenting. Then, on the screen, Shi Ye laughed softly and said with easy calm:
“We broke up.”
The second the breakup news dropped, the chat, which had already resigned itself to having no chance, sprang back to life.
“Did you really break up?!”
“When did it happen?”
“That’s such a shame. The host’s ex was a really unique kind of handsome.”
“Why’d you break up?”
Shi Ye answered lightly: “If it’s not right, then you split up.”
Chat:
“S’s ex is also the kind of handsome that makes your legs go weak.”
“Who asked for the breakup?”
“Will you get back together?”
Shi Ye didn’t linger on the subject. One sentence dismissed it all. “We’re not getting back together.”
After that, he went back to answering questions from the chat on and off.
“Since you broke up, can I ask—what’s your ideal type?”
“Me too, I want to know!”
“Seriously, I’m so curious what kind of person S likes.”
“My ideal type?” Shi Ye caught the question and leaned back into the chair, looking like he was thinking about it. “An ideal type changes with time.”
Chat:
“So what kind of person do you like now?”
“Now?” Shi Ye curled a finger to his lips, the smile at the corners of his mouth faint but unmistakable. “Right now, I like the cute type.”
Affection rose in his peach-blossom eyes. “The kind who’s small enough that if you pull them into your arms, you can probably hold their whole body.”
He gestured in the air, showing a small height, and looked at the camera as he said:
“Isn’t something tiny just… really cute?”
“Great for cuddling when you sleep, too.”
“Everything about them is small, so it’s easy to wrap them up in your arms.”
Chat:
“S sounds so horny and pervy when he talks like this.”
“So S likes a size difference!”
“Size difference is seriously so cute!”
“With the host’s build, it’d be so easy for him to have that kind of size difference with someone.”
“Alright, starting tomorrow I’m becoming a cute soft girl.”
“Why do you like the cute type? I’m curious.”
Shi Ye looked at the comment and broke into a bright smile. “Why does liking someone need so many reasons? If they look cute and make your heart move, then you like them.”
His ideal type was completely opposite to Xia Fengsheng.
The word “cute” didn’t fit the cold, professional Mr. Xia that outsiders knew at all.
He was decisive, self-possessed, elegant in every gesture, and very conscious of etiquette. No one would ever imagine there might be anything cute at all hidden beneath that gloomy face.
The light of his phone reflected on Xia Fengsheng’s face.
It was eleven at night. Xia Fengsheng decided he was sleepy, tossed the phone aside, wrapped himself in the blanket, and flopped into the bed.
He still had work tomorrow. He should sleep early.
—
Zhan Shengyao: “Aaaaaah, I’m so tired!”
As Qin Buming walked past, he said, “After millions of years, humanity has once again heard the cry of a Tyrannosaurus.”
The next second, a lump had appeared on his head.
Zhan Shengyao stood up from her workstation and stretched, eyes lifeless, like all the essence had been sucked out of her.
Fatigue always came after overwork. Every day at work was equal parts pain and joy.
She pulled out her phone to take a breath of oxygen, and the second she saw the balance in her bank account—
Zhan Shengyao: revived!
At the moment, only three of them were in the studio. Xia Fengsheng had gone out to discuss a collaboration and hadn’t come back yet.
At noon, the overworked beasts of burden decided to graze a little. Zhan Shengyao scrolled through delivery apps, planning to order lunch soon. Not knowing whether Xia Fengsheng might suddenly return, she simply ordered enough for four.
The studio was a full five hundred square meters. Everyone had their own private lounge, plus one shared one that they generally used for eating together.
After lunch, they would all retreat to their individual lounges and enjoy their solitary midday rest.
Zheng Xing was turning the studio upside down, searching every corner, but he still couldn’t find the thin blanket he used every day for his nap.
Watching him pop up in one strange position after another all over the studio, Qin Buming asked, “What are you doing?”
“My blanket’s gone.”
“Didn’t you take it home to wash yesterday?”
Only then did Zheng Xing remember. He had washed it yesterday and left it drying on the balcony. He had even thought about bringing it with him this morning, but forgotten it the moment he left the house.
Since he hadn’t brought it, he planned to borrow someone else’s for the noon nap. After lunch, with Xia Fengsheng still not back, Zheng Xing got up and asked, “Does Shuiqi have a spare blanket? I forgot mine today, so I’ll borrow his for a nap.”
As he spoke, he pulled out his phone to message Xia Fengsheng.
His wrist was immediately grabbed by Zhan Shengyao. “You want to use Sheng’er’s comfort blanket?!”
A question mark practically popped onto Zheng Xing’s face.
What thing? What blanket?
The moment Qin Buming heard Zheng Xing say he wanted to borrow Xia Fengsheng’s blanket, he showed the exact same shocked expression as Zhan Shengyao.
Xia Fengsheng was their good friend, and Qin Buming and Zhan Shengyao were both emotionally perceptive people. After spending enough time with him, they naturally came to understand him.
As a friend, if you openly asked him for help, Xia Fengsheng would give it without holding back. In everyday matters, he might act cool and detached, but he would still give clear advice and emotional support. He didn’t hold grudges over conflict, and when it came to spending money, he was generous.
But when it came to certain personal things, Xia Fengsheng had an extremely strong sense of possession. It didn’t always show on his face, but his actions made it obvious.
There were things he had marked off as private territory, and Qin Buming and Zhan Shengyao both knew better than to touch them casually.
For example, the succulent he checked every day, watered on time, terrified of letting it die. Or the cute squishy toy hidden in his desk drawer, which he assumed nobody knew about.
He minded those things a lot. His personal belongings were not for other people to touch—least of all the comfort blanket he used every day for his nap.
Only Zheng Xing, that straight-line IT guy, was dense enough not to notice.
If it had been an overcoat, Xia Fengsheng might well have lent it. The comfort blanket? Absolutely not.
Qin Buming told him, “I have a spare. Use mine.”
But Zheng Xing, being a single-minded man to the bitter end, refused. “No thanks. Yours doesn’t smell as good as Shuiqi’s. Shuiqi’s blanket smells nice.”
Xia Fengsheng’s things all carried traces of his perfume.
Seeing that the straight man was hopelessly impervious, Qin Buming’s eye twitched, and he immediately gave him a head-thumping smack.
“Your ass smells nice. Sheng’er’s blanket is personal. What makes you think you can just borrow it?”
“I’ve got one in my room. Come get it.”
Zheng Xing clutched his head, turning into Tom Cat meme mode. Put that way, he did realize he had crossed a line a bit.
Even close friends couldn’t use closeness as an excuse to ignore the other person’s feelings and trample all over boundaries.
—
That night, Xia Fengsheng left a dinner with collaborators after the sky above the city had already gone dark.
He let out a breath.
“Mr. Xia.” The driver came over to usher him to the car.
The collaborators had arranged for a car to take him home.
In the dim interior of the car, Xia Fengsheng deliberately kept his phone screen lit to ease the black haze drifting across his vision.
His long, well-defined fingers loosened the tie at his neck. Leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed to rest, he let the shifting lights outside leap over the lonely, damply beautiful lines of his face.
With his eyes shut and his face expressionless, he looked like an oil painting by some master artist.
His throat was dry and sore. He had drunk a little at the dinner and was thirsty now.
Xia Fengsheng opened his eyes and said hoarsely, “Please stop up ahead.”
The driver pulled over by the roadside, and Xia Fengsheng stepped out, long legs carrying him toward a convenience store for water.
After paying, he stood at the entrance twisting off the cap. As he raised the bottle to drink, his eyes caught sight of Shi Ye coming out of the bar across the street.
Shi Ye’s hair had grown out again and had been carefully styled before coming out. Dressed as fashionably as always, he drew glances from passersby even before they had a chance to really look at his face—just his figure alone made him a focal point.
He was with a friend, someone Xia Fengsheng didn’t know and had never seen before.
Shi Ye seemed to be laughing about something with that friend.
Then a noise sounded from behind them. Shi Ye and his friend turned their heads at the same time.
The next second, a chestnut-haired boy came running out of the bar.
The boy was small and compact, only reaching Shi Ye’s shoulder—about one meter seventy-five. He had a slight frame and fair skin, wearing a simple white T-shirt, light blue knee-length denim shorts, and a pair of tan Martin boots. His whole look was bright and lively.
His eyes were big, moist like a little deer’s, and his face was red as he gathered his courage and ran out to speak to Shi Ye.
He looked nervous. His fingers were trembling slightly.
Because of the height difference, he even rose onto his toes and raised his voice, afraid Shi Ye wouldn’t hear him clearly.
Behind him, his friends were silently cheering him on.
The boy stared into Shi Ye’s eyes, turning tomato-red, his words coming out in shy, stammering fragments.
He had come out to ask for his contact information.
Standing across the street, Xia Fengsheng watched.
The boy who had chased him out fit Shi Ye’s description of the “cute type” perfectly.
He saw Shi Ye lower his head and listen seriously to whatever the boy was saying. Then Shi Ye took out his phone and scanned the boy’s.
