Chapter 78: Marital Harmony
The darkest hour.
Never in his life had Huo Beixing hung his head this low.
And he had no way to argue.
Humiliation and competitiveness crashed through his chest.
At this moment, looking at An Yi’s flushed face, his smile trembling as he tried to hold it back—
Huo Beixing knew one thing for certain.
If he did not prove himself right now,
then he would spend the rest of his life living in the shadow of those ten seconds.
Looking at the An Yi who was trembling from holding back laughter, he said, “If you want to laugh, just laugh.”
An Yi said, “Better not.”
Huo Beixing was surprised.
For the sake of harmony between husband and husband, An Yi said, “I won’t laugh.”
Huo Beixing looked at the corners of his mouth, which were still lifting.
“…”
Soon enough, An Yi really could not hold it in anymore, but he still wanted to consider Huo Beixing’s feelings.
So the laugh that came out sounded like a beatbox.
That sort of behavior did hurt a man’s pride a little. Meeting Huo Beixing’s gaze, An Yi composed himself and said seriously, “When I laugh, it isn’t because I’m mocking you. It’s simply in accordance with reason.”
Huo Beixing raised a brow.
An Yi defended himself. “According to the law of conservation of energy, if Zhao Ningzhuo doesn’t laugh, then I’m the one who has to.”
Someone was always going to laugh at you.
Laughter doesn’t disappear—it just transfers.
Huo Beixing: …
He had no idea whether Huo Beixing could accept this whole conservation-of-energy theory, but he was ready to move on to the next step.
Little Frog rolled a little to the side and reached the edge of the bed, preparing to get up.
But Huo Beixing yanked him back at once.
“Where are you going?”
“To take a bath.”
“What for?”
“To sleep.”
An Yi said it as though it were only natural.
Wasn’t it obvious?
Huo Beixing could not possibly let him walk away and preserve this black mark in history. If An Yi really left now, then every time Huo Beixing lay on a bed in the future, he would probably get PTSD.
“It’s not over yet.”
A “?” slowly appeared over An Yi’s head. In the most innocent tone, he asked, “Wasn’t it over after ten seconds?”
“…”
Huo Beixing’s jaw tightened. “One more time.”
He could not allow those ten seconds to become the permanent impression left in An Yi’s mind. Otherwise he would never escape it for the rest of his life.
Because even he himself could not accept it.
He was about to reclaim his honor in one fell swoop.
The only question was how An Yi would react—whether he would still agree.
Huo Beixing felt a little uneasy. He had thought An Yi would refuse, or come up with some excuse to avoid the matter altogether. After all, just now An Yi had seemed so shy, barely daring to look at him.
But to his surprise, An Yi showed no resistance at all.
Instead, in a tone that was almost indulgent, he said, “Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you?”
Little Frog rolled himself right back over.
“Wife,” Huo Beixing said.
An Yi replied, “It’s fine. Ten seconds, after all. Just a small effort.”
“…”
Huo Beixing accepted that act of charity, swallowing the humiliation whole.
An Yi lay there in perfectly comfortable ease.
Sure enough, Heaven was fair. When it opened a window for you, it would surely kick your door shut.
He glanced at Huo Beixing.
What was the point of being so big? Useless if you’re useless.
Though the first time had felt stimulating and unsettling, making his scalp prickle and his brain go blank, once he thought about it, it had only lasted ten seconds. For the sake of husband-husband harmony, An Yi was willing to devote those ten seconds.
Man, take this pure love from Little Frog and cherish it!
Huo Beixing saw how relaxed and cheerful An Yi looked, so he raised a hand and rubbed his face.
After being rubbed like that, An Yi, embarrassed from being so close, forced himself to sound calm. “Go on then. Go on.”
He was still shy, but compared to before, his mindset was completely different now.
At first he had thought it was some sort of extreme sport and had been frightened out of his wits. Who would have thought it did not even compare to a child’s rocking horse?
Huo Beixing wrapped his hands around An Yi’s waist. “This time I’ll definitely satisfy you.”
An Yi nodded and patted him on the shoulder. “I believe in you.”
“Really?”
An Yi answered tactfully, “It’s just helping someone out.”
“…”
Some things are better not asked too clearly. It hurts the feelings.
Huo Beixing did not pursue it any further and instead prepared to prove himself with actions.
He guided An Yi to cling to his arm. “I won’t let you down.”
Little Frog: Please begin your performance.
At first, An Yi discovered there really was some improvement.
But later, little by little, he began to lose the ability to think, and then he realized that something was terribly wrong.
“No more, enough… Huo Beixing! Enough!”
He said enough several times in a row, yet Huo Beixing’s battle to redeem himself still did not end.
It went on in waves through the night, and by the time it was all finally over, it was already two or three in the morning.
An Yi lay there like a salted fish with all the moisture squeezed out of it. He had no strength left even to move.
Huo Beixing brushed a few damp strands of hair from his face.
“Satisfied?”
An Yi shrank back a little. He did not even have enough energy to speak, but he was afraid that if he did not leave a good review, Huo Beixing would never let it go, so he gave this experience five stars.
At the same time, he resolved never to become a repeat customer.
Satisfied with the praise, Huo Beixing got up to carry him off for a wash.
He was extremely pleased with the result. It was a recognition of his hard work. After all, his lower half was practically rubbed raw.
The next morning, An Yi slept until almost noon before waking up. After getting out of bed, he felt a wholly unprecedented unfamiliarity toward his own legs.
Were those really his legs????
Huo Beixing had just come out of the bathroom when he saw An Yi bracing himself against the wall, gazing out the window in bewilderment.
He walked over. “What’s wrong? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
An Yi shook his head. When he finally spoke, his voice was full of age and sorrow.
“I just feel younger.”
As he said that, he flashed Huo Beixing a V-sign.
Huo Beixing asked, “Younger by two years?”
An Yi replied, “Back to two years old.”
Then, leaning on the wall, he demonstrated for Huo Beixing a perfectly shaky toddler walk.
“…”
The trials of that night were like a great act of time reversal, one that brought back the pleasures of early childhood.
At that moment An Yi silently swore to himself that he would never laugh at Huo Beixing in front of him again. He would only laugh in secret from now on.
Pinching An Yi’s cheek, Huo Beixing examined him carefully. An Yi looked to be in excellent condition, his fair skin flushed a healthy pink, with no sign of fever.
Before doing that sort of thing, Huo Beixing had looked up all the precautions.
If a partner had trouble adjusting, or was physically weak, there could be fever, stomachache, dizziness, or loss of appetite afterward.
Huo Beixing had been paying close attention to An Yi’s condition, only to discover that An Yi’s body was actually in excellent shape.
Once he was reassured, Huo Beixing’s gaze fell on An Yi’s slight little frame, and he remembered the helpless expression An Yi had worn the previous night.
Small and helpless, but could really take it.
“Are you hungry? I ordered food.”
Hearing that, An Yi withdrew his world-weary gaze from the window. “Come on then. I’m eating two bowls.”
Not a single bad reaction had shown up on An Yi at all.
Relieved, Huo Beixing also remembered that it was time for An Yi’s extra classes.
“Extra classes?”
Huo Beixing picked a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth. “You’ve got an exam in six months. The exam isn’t just about design. There’s theory and other subjects too. And it’ll be abroad, so you need to learn English as well. That way it’ll be easier to communicate.”
An Yi was stunned.
It gave him the feeling of having to sit the college entrance exam a second time.
Being with Huo Beixing had let him experience not only the staggering steps of a two-year-old toddler, but also the soul-crushing despair of being eighteen and studying again.
How thrilling.
As for these courses, Huo Beixing had specially signed him up.
Though “signed up” was putting it lightly—when he walked into the classroom, there was only him.
Five teachers.
Five-on-one tutoring.
Each of those five teachers had impressive qualifications and extensive teaching experience. In the field, they were all considered top-tier.
An Yi looked at the five teachers in front of him. Two of them were there specifically to teach him English.
One was a foreigner, there solely to help him practice spoken English.
Looking around the huge classroom and seeing himself as the only student, An Yi made a puzzled sound toward the five teachers.
“Teachers.”
The teachers replied in unison, “What is it?”
An Yi asked, “With only one student, don’t you feel like you’re losing out?”
“Of course not.”
The foreign teacher was very honest. He stepped up beside An Yi. “An Yi, you really don’t need to worry about that for us.”
An Yi: ?
“Your husband already thought of that for us.”
An Yi: …
How thoughtful.
And so An Yi began living the life of attending lessons in the mornings and going to the studio in the afternoons.
Of course, after the plagiarism incident was resolved, An Yi mostly kept in touch with Gu Lingling and the others by phone.
Coming to the studio now was the first time in quite a while.
That same morning, Lin Jiu had even sent him a message.
“Run for it!”
An Yi: ?
Lin Jiu: “If you come back, Gu Lingling will definitely torment you.”
An Yi replied, “She wouldn’t. We’ve been chatting, and she’s in quite a good mood.”
Lin Jiu sent back, “That’s all fake.”
How could that be?
An Yi did not believe him.
It was not until he walked into the studio and saw Lin Jiu serving tea and pouring water that he realized things were indeed very bad.
When Gu Lingling saw him, she smiled warmly. “You’re back.”
At once, An Yi stopped in his tracks, a chill creeping up his spine.
Turns out what Lin Jiu said was true.
An Yi quietly walked over to stand beside Lin Jiu, took the battered kettle from Lin Jiu’s hands, and tried to convince Gu Lingling to be lenient.
Confession earns leniency; resistance earns severity.
So he obediently told the whole truth about how the two men had deceived a beautiful woman, even ending with a bit of self-pity in an attempt to awaken the friendship in Gu Lingling’s heart.
Later he discovered that the friendship did exist, only deeply buried in Gu Lingling’s soul and not something that could be awakened at once.
That night, An Yi and Lin Jiu staggered out of the studio supporting one another, battered all over.
And they had learned a lesson.
Never lie to a woman.
After leaving the office, Huo Beixing drove downstairs to wait for An Yi to get off work.
An Yi came out looking utterly tragic.
When Huo Beixing went up to him, he asked, “What happened?”
An Yi shook his head. “Nothing, just tired from work.”
Slipping an arm around him, Huo Beixing asked, “Anything you want to eat? I’ll take you.”
An Yi thought of the Japanese food they had eaten together before. The last time Huo Beixing ordered some in, he had thought it tasted quite good.
“Let’s go eat Japanese food. That same place you ordered from last time.”
“Sure.” Huo Beixing reached up and carefully smoothed down the hair the wind had blown up on An Yi’s head. His movements looked casual, but they were very deliberate. Once he had it in place, he patted it twice.
The two of them went to a Japanese restaurant and took their seats.
The sashimi there was extremely fresh. An Yi was not normally used to eating raw food, but the flavor at this place truly was excellent.
An Yi thought of the five-on-one tutoring from that morning.
“Huo Beixing.”
Huo Beixing lifted his eyes, his voice soft. “What is it?”
“Um… thanks for finding teachers for me.”
A smile appeared in Huo Beixing’s peach-blossom eyes. “You really mean that?”
An Yi nodded.
“If you listen to me more in the bedroom, that’d be a more direct way to thank me.”
An Yi: …
I really think your brain has gone rotten with lust.
