Chapter 48: Biting Lips
Carrying the backpack, Huo Beixing had just taken a step forward when the suddenly opened door slammed into him hard. His forehead—and even his brain—buzzed with pain. He staggered backward, and then, with one foot slipping on the carpet beneath him, his whole body toppled straight backward.
The backpack in his hand flew up, and one of the decorations standing nearby was pulled down as the carpet warped beneath him. It crashed down with a loud bang, sounding almost like an earthquake. Startled, An Yi hurried out to check on him, and the whole scene instantly descended into chaos.
That impact had been solid.
Huo Beixing was used to taking blows in combat class. He normally didn’t care much about little aches and pains. Even when he got injured and bled while sparring in the ring at the boxing gym, he never made a sound. His HP bar was extremely thick, on par with the Wall-nut from Plants vs. Zombies.
But now, with both hands clutching his forehead, his sharp brows were knotted tightly together, his back teeth ground together, and his jawline pulled taut. It was obvious that this hit had hurt him so badly he had gone momentarily speechless, unable to force out a single word for quite a while.
All he felt was a loud ringing in his head, like strings being yanked viciously, screaming at the edges of his ears.
Seeing the scene before him, An Yi’s heart pounded wildly—from fright. He hurriedly crouched down to check on him, his tone filled with concern and guilt. “Huo Beixing, are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were standing outside when I opened the door.”
The man had been gone for so long that An Yi thought maybe he couldn’t find his backpack, so he went out to take a look. Who knew the moment he opened the door, he’d ram it right into him.
He wanted to see the injury on his forehead, but Huo Beixing was covering it, making it impossible to check. Still, judging from the sound of that impact just now, it definitely hadn’t been light.
Guilt kept surging up in An Yi’s heart. He got to his feet in a panic, not even having time to put on slippers, and ran barefoot to the fridge. He grabbed an ice pack from inside, then rushed to the bathroom for a towel, intending to help him ice the swelling.
He hurried back to Huo Beixing’s side and saw that the man seemed to have recovered slightly and no longer looked quite as pained. Taking his hand away from his forehead, An Yi found a swollen lump already forming there. Very carefully, he pressed the ice pack against it and asked worriedly, “Are you really alright?”
Huo Beixing had no idea why hitting his head would hurt so much. It felt as though several needles had stabbed into it at once. But seeing the look of worry on his wife’s face, he said, “Wife.”
An Yi: “Hm?”
He had assumed the other man was about to complain about dizziness or pain.
Instead, the next second he heard Huo Beixing say, “You’re really strong. I like you even more now.”
An Yi: ……
Kid, your tastes are a little special, huh.
The pained look on Huo Beixing’s face just moments ago was still vivid in his mind. Although after icing it for a little while, the man was already bouncing around again and saying it didn’t hurt anymore, An Yi still couldn’t rest easy, so he went and brought in a doctor to examine him.
After checking him over, the doctor said it was just a superficial injury and that cold compresses to reduce the swelling would be enough. Only then did An Yi finally relax.
While An Yi and the doctor were chatting nearby, Huo Beixing turned to look out at the sea through the floor-to-ceiling window. For some reason, he felt as though his head had become much lighter.
But clearly there was a bump on his forehead now.
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why.
A few days later, when Huo Xiao heard that Huo Beixing had gotten hurt, he specially came over to visit him. The main reason was that the college entrance exam was approaching, and after staying in his room reviewing every day, he was starting to feel suffocated. So he brought his study materials with him and came to hang out with An Yi and Huo Beixing.
An Yi was seated on the rocking chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, laptop in his arms, looking over the autumn concept proposal sheet the brand had sent to Pink Crystal Maiden Heart. When he saw Huo Xiao come in, he waved a hand as a greeting.
Knowing the other man was working, Huo Xiao didn’t disturb him. Instead, he sat down on the carpet with his study materials, while beside him, Huo Beixing was holding a pen and drawing stars on a sheet of white paper.
The stars he drew looked as though someone had beaten them up—crooked and twisted, painful to behold.
Huo Xiao looked at them and shook his head. But with Huo Beixing’s current nine-year-old mentality, being able to draw them like this was already pretty decent.
He then placed his study materials on the coffee table, pulled out last year’s college entrance examination math paper, and began working through it.
Even while on vacation, he still had to live the desperate grind of a high school student.
Fortunately, all three of them were engrossed in their own tasks, and the atmosphere was very quiet. No one disturbed anyone else. The only sounds were the occasional rustle of paper stirred by the sea breeze blowing in from outside.
When Huo Xiao reached the second long-form problem on the math paper, his pen gradually stopped moving. He stared at the problem statement with a complicated expression, his brain every bit as tangled as the question itself.
He had absolutely no idea how to begin.
Sure enough, no one in this world truly wanted to understand mathematics.
Because mathematics didn’t deserve it.
Huo Xiao tapped the exam paper with his fingers absentmindedly. Seeing this, Huo Beixing turned his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Huo Xiao sighed. “I don’t really have any idea how to approach this problem.”
The moment he said it, he felt like telling Huo Beixing was pointless anyway. After all, the man wouldn’t know how either. It would only make his own lack of ability stand out more clearly.
So Huo Xiao immediately began making excuses for himself. “But it’s not that I can’t do it. It’s just that the problem statement is kind of tricky. I need to sort through it carefully first.”
Huo Xiao kept explaining diligently, but Huo Beixing only cast a glance at it and said, “One half.”
Huo Xiao froze. “What?”
With one long finger, Huo Beixing tapped the question. “The answer to this problem is one half.”
Huo Xiao thought he must be joking. Never mind that the man only had the mentality of a nine-year-old—even a normal person would still need to work through the steps before arriving at the answer.
Suspicious, Huo Xiao flipped open the answer key and looked down, only to see one beautiful number written there:
1/2
Huo Xiao: ……
!!!!
It really was one half!!!
How did he know that the answer was one half? Had he seen the answer key?!
But the answer sheet had been pinned under his exam paper the whole time. There was no way Huo Beixing could have seen it.
Huo Xiao’s eyes widened. Turning toward Huo Beixing, his normally cold face looked ready to have its jaw fall off in sheer disbelief. “Brother Beixing, how did you know that?!”
Huo Beixing didn’t understand why he was asking such a thing. “I’m not a three-year-old child. Of course I know.”
Huo Xiao: ……
At that moment, he felt thoroughly humiliated.
A three-year-old child wouldn’t know, but a seventeen-year-old child like him also didn’t know.
Then Huo Beixing countered, “You don’t know how to do it?”
Huo Xiao pressed his lips together and said nothing. How was he supposed to answer that? Among all the younger generation in the Huo family, he was considered the most outstanding. Yet now he couldn’t even solve a single problem. Seeing this, Huo Beixing’s expression became more and more complicated, his whole face clearly saying:
Why can’t you do a problem this easy? Are you an idiot or something?
Huo Xiao: ……
This sort of “looking at a fool” gaze was something Huo Xiao had never expected to see in the eyes of stupid Huo Beixing.
It really felt like a thief crying thief.
Very thrilling indeed 🙂
Still, Huo Xiao remained extremely surprised. Huo Beixing currently couldn’t even draw a proper star, so how could he possibly do this kind of difficult math problem? No matter how much he thought about it, it made no sense. So he turned to observe him more closely, only then realizing that Huo Beixing was drawing the stars with his left hand.
Huo Beixing wasn’t left-handed. He didn’t even know which hand to hold the pen with now, yet he had still solved the math problem. That dealt Huo Xiao an even greater blow.
Could it be that Brother Beixing had been some sort of child prodigy at age eight, the kind who could already take the college entrance exam directly?
As he looked over the solution steps in the answer key, Huo Xiao said, “Brother Beixing, you seem to have gotten smarter.”
When he heard that, Huo Beixing turned to him and beamed. “Right? I think so too.”
There wasn’t even the slightest trace of humility on his face.
For some reason, Huo Beixing had genuinely felt lately that he was becoming very clever. He could even fold quilts along the diagonal now.
Although that wasn’t actually useful for anything, Huo Beixing had still been smug about it for ages. He felt that his brain was now especially well-developed.
After another two happy months of playing on South Island, on April 1st—April Fool’s Day—An Yi and Huo Beixing packed up their luggage and started their journey back home.
The moment Uncle Zhong got word that the two of them were coming back, he took the household staff and thoroughly cleaned the house inside and out three days in advance.
When An Yi and Huo Beixing got out of the car, the first thing they saw was the little old man’s benevolent smile.
Princess Lili and Summer Sweetheart were wildly wagging their tails at his side.
An Yi said, “Uncle Zhong, long time no see. I brought you a local specialty.”
As he spoke, he handed over a box of pastries. He had also bought small souvenirs for the rest of the household staff.
Uncle Zhong accepted it. “How thoughtful of Young Master An Yi to remember this old man.”
An Yi shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
After An Yi went upstairs, Huo Beixing immediately crept over in a mysterious way, lowering his voice like some thief passing on a secret.
“Uncle Zhong.”
One would’ve thought they were about to exchange vital state intelligence.
Uncle Zhong looked up at him. “What is it, Young Master Beixing?”
In a whisper by his ear, Huo Beixing said, “I have something to tell you.”
Uncle Zhong asked, “What is it?”
Huo Beixing said, “I’ve gotten smarter.”
Looking at the utterly foolish look on Huo Beixing’s face, Uncle Zhong: ……
Really?
Doesn’t really look like it.
This old man here has read books, you know.
Even so, Uncle Zhong still smiled kindly and said, “Really? Young Master has truly gotten smarter?”
Huo Beixing nodded firmly. “Really! I can even do Huo Xiao’s math problems.”
Uncle Zhong: !
Now that truly was no small matter!
Huo Beixing continued, “If you don’t believe me, test me with a math question.”
Without thinking, Uncle Zhong asked, “Three times ni—”
Huo Beixing answered instantly, “Forty-eight!”
Uncle Zhong: ……
Just pretend I didn’t ask.
Feeling extremely pleased with himself, Huo Beixing looked at Uncle Zhong expectantly. “Well? Haven’t I gotten smarter?”
Uncle Zhong: ……
Normally, he would never deceive Huo Beixing.
But today was April Fool’s Day.
“Of course, Young Master. You really have gotten smarter.”
After one trip away, he’d improved quite a lot. He could even brainwash himself now.
Delighted, Huo Beixing went upstairs. The next day, he resumed his former routine, changed into sportswear, slung his large sports bag over his shoulder, and headed off to the boxing gym.
It had been quite a while since he last got in the ring, and Huo Beixing felt pent-up because of it. Of all the classes he took, his favorites were swimming and fighting. As long as it was some sort of intense, physically exhausting sport, Huo Beixing loved it and always felt refreshed after class.
This time, after returning, he fought until he was fully satisfied before coming down. He undid the bandages wrapped around his hands and headed toward the shower room.
By the time he came out and entered the changing area, he saw a man and woman inside kissing.
The moment the woman looked up and spotted Huo Beixing coming in, she jumped and hurriedly shoved her boyfriend away from her, blushing as she smacked his arm in embarrassed annoyance. “Didn’t you say nobody would come in?!”
The man winced from the hit and clearly hadn’t expected anyone either. “Wasn’t paying attention, okay? My fault, my fault.”
The man was an assistant coach at the boxing gym and knew Huo Beixing personally. Since he knew about Huo Beixing’s current mental state, he immediately put some distance between himself and his girlfriend. He couldn’t let the man see anything too inappropriate for children. If he learned something bad from it, wouldn’t the Huo family chop them all into pieces?
The woman shot her boyfriend a glare, blushing as she walked out of the changing area.
Seeing his girlfriend leave, the man strode over in one big step and asked, “Beixing, you didn’t see anything, right?”
Huo Beixing shook his head. “No.”
The man sighed in relief. “Good, good.”
Then Huo Beixing added, “I just saw you two biting each other’s mouths.”
The man: !!!
Wasn’t that the same as seeing everything?!
Blushing, the man coughed awkwardly and tried to explain, but then he looked up and saw Huo Beixing staring at him in genuine confusion. “Why were you biting each other’s mouths? Doesn’t that hurt?”
The man looked at his baffled expression and explained, “That’s not biting. That’s kissing.”
Huo Beixing asked, “What’s the difference?”
The man: ……
Actually, there doesn’t seem to be much difference.
Afraid that seeing it might lead Huo Beixing astray, the man said, “Mutually eating each other’s mouths is something you can only do with the person you like. Not with just anyone. Got it?”
Even though kissing in the changing room was admittedly a bit wild, he was still a pure-love warrior at heart.
Possessed by the spirit of ten thousand whys, Huo Beixing asked, “Why does liking someone mean you have to bite their mouth?”
“Kid, I said it’s kissing!” the man said. “This is a way of showing intimacy. It means… it means…”
“What does it mean?”
The man answered, “It means that you and this person are the closest in the whole world.”
Huo Beixing: !
Wasn’t that exactly him and his wife?!
Seeing the look of realization on Huo Beixing’s face, the man’s heart thudded uneasily. Whatever else Second Young Master Huo might’ve been outside, Huo Beixing was still a good child.
“Don’t just go trying it randomly, alright? It’s only with the person you like. Otherwise it’s not loving yourself, it’s sexual harassment! People will throw rotten eggs at you.”
He looked as though rotten eggs had once been thrown at him personally.
Huo Beixing understood.
He was not some rotten cabbage with no self-respect.
Once he got home, his entire mind was filled with how to become “closest in the whole world” with his wife.
He turned on the television, only to find that today’s Runaway Bride, Where Are You Escaping To had already finished airing. Bored, he scrolled through the movie listings, looking for something to pass the time.
Very quickly, his gaze landed on an animated film at the bottom.
Sleeping Beauty
The next morning, when An Yi woke up, it was already nine o’clock. He checked the time in surprise. Usually, Huo Beixing would’ve carried him downstairs for breakfast at seven.
But now Huo Beixing lay beside him with his eyes closed, both hands neatly folded over his chest.
An Yi: ?
Did he always sleep in this pose?
Sitting up on the bed, An Yi stretched lazily, then reached out a finger and poked him. “Huo Beixing, get up. It’s time for breakfast.”
Yet Huo Beixing lay there utterly motionless, waiting for An Yi to bite his mouth.
He was ready.
Before this, he had already maintained that pose for a full three hours. It was just that his wife slept late and refused to wake up. He didn’t dare move rashly either, afraid that if he moved, An Yi might wake up at exactly the wrong moment and the whole plan would fall apart.
Seeing no reaction from the man lying beside him, An Yi poked him again. “Huo Beixing, get up and eat.”
Still, the other man gave no response.
After pausing for a few seconds, An Yi worriedly asked, “Are you sick?”
With his eyes still closed, Huo Beixing suddenly said, “No.”
The abrupt reply startled Little Frog. He patted his small chest. “So you’re awake. Then why aren’t you getting up?”
Huo Beixing said, “I’m Sleeping Beauty right now.”
An Yi: ?
What new act are you putting on now?
At the end of the story of Sleeping Beauty, the prince kissed the princess, and they lived happily ever after.
An Yi lowered his head and looked at Huo Beixing.
Huo Beixing: O3O
