Chapter 13
Vaguely, Qu Tongqiu felt as if he had gone back to the days of his newlywed life. His wife, older and more mature than him, would often take his face in her hands. He was still at an age where he felt shy. When their lips touched, that bashful yet blissful feeling—her pleasant scent making him feel like the luckiest man alive.
But he didn’t know when his wife had become so bold and strong, even slipping her hand into his clothes.
Held tightly and kissed passionately, his flat, male chest was rubbed and kneaded again and again. Qu Tongqiu responded instinctively, yet in his haze he couldn’t help feeling confused. Then even the insides of his thighs were touched. The hand roaming near his private parts threw him into panic. As he tried to draw his legs up, the smiling face of his wife suddenly turned into Ren Ningyuan’s.
The shock jolted him. His leg twitched, and he snapped his eyes open.
His heart was still pounding wildly. Focusing hard, he saw the man who had just parted from his lips, breathing lightly and looking down at him—it was Zhuang Wei.
Qu Tongqiu was startled again, almost confused between dream and reality, freezing stupidly for a few seconds. In that gap, Zhuang Wei leaned in and kissed him again.
Qu Tongqiu shrank back. He felt a tongue forcefully push in, prying open his teeth, wetly thrusting and stirring like some kind of assault. His back went numb instantly.
Fear surged, but when he struggled, he realized how weak his movements were.
“Mm… mm…”
His urgent refusal sounded like responsive moans to the other person. Zhuang Wei intensified the kiss, lips and tongue turning rough. Supporting his hips, he pressed close and rubbed against him.
Mixed into the panting by his ear were the other man’s pleased groans. The obscene sensation made Qu Tongqiu tremble. He could imagine what Zhuang Wei intended to do. But no matter how you looked at it, this was not the right object.
Their relationship was not close at all. Zhuang Wei didn’t appreciate him. He himself was straight, a middle-aged man with a child. If Zhuang Wei had even a little restraint, he shouldn’t be treating him as a post-drinking outlet for desire.
After kissing for a while, Zhuang Wei withdrew from his mouth, panting, and began undoing his shirt. The corners of his eyes were moist, his lips red, his face full of desire completely unlike his usual self. It made Qu Tongqiu afraid.
Pinned beneath Zhuang Wei, in the narrow space of the bathtub, there was nowhere to struggle. He had little strength left. Though he made some dull, minimal resistance, he could only watch helplessly as Zhuang Wei pulled down his trousers.
Panicking, Qu Tongqiu gasped and tried to speak, his tongue stiff, forcing the words out. “Th-this… how… did this… happen…”
Just as he realized in terror that he couldn’t even speak smoothly, Zhuang Wei bit down on his unresponsive tongue.
Qu Tongqiu was badly frightened by his strength, afraid he might be chewed up and swallowed whole, and for a moment he didn’t dare move again.
After their lips and tongues tangled for a while, just as Qu Tongqiu was gasping for air as if granted a pardon, he saw Zhuang Wei start taking off his own clothes, then turn on the hot water in the bathtub. The moment the water began to flow, Qu Tongqiu felt even more endangered. Panic rose in his chest. He tried to push with his feet, but they kept slipping, splashing helplessly in the water. After a few futile flails, he was still pressed down by Zhuang Wei.
The stammered refusals—“no,” “don’t”—were completely ignored, treated as nothing more than trivial flirtation during sex.
His mind was still relatively clear, but his body no longer obeyed him. Qu Tongqiu felt a terrifying sense of being hunted. Zhuang Wei had already seized him firmly, stripped him bare, and held him from behind, pressing him into his arms, striking a posture of consumption amid the sound of running water.
At this point, Qu Tongqiu could only lie there like a frog paralyzed by snake venom, unable to move, letting the man’s fingers roam over him at will. He had never been touched like this before—he had never touched anyone like this either. He couldn’t help trembling, his whole body drawn tight.
In his daze, the other man’s hand reached somewhere unspeakable, and then a finger pushed inside. The icy, slick sensation made him shudder. Startled, he shrank back, but in his panic another finger was stuffed in as well.
Qu Tongqiu was worked until he moaned and begged, dazed to the point he no longer knew how many fingers there were. The water had already risen past his lifted waist. Fear filled his chest as he kept pushing weakly at Zhuang Wei. This level of feeble resistance seemed instead to excite Zhuang Wei, who teased him with increasing urgency.
When the wriggling fingers were suddenly withdrawn, Qu Tongqiu was instantly enveloped by the same fear as when alcohol swabs are wiped on the skin before an injection. Sure enough, only a few seconds later, he felt a foreign object trying to force its way in. Qu Tongqiu wanted to scream, but his throat could only produce faint sounds. Trembling, he was penetrated little by little.
When he finally couldn’t help crying out incoherently, feeling he was about to break, the pressure inside at last stopped increasing. Zhuang Wei tightened his grip around his waist, took a breath, bit down on his neck, and then began to thrust.
His chest was fondled and kneaded. The internal rhythm was too terrifying. His body burned with the impacts. Qu Tongqiu felt the entire world fall into chaos. Clutching the edge of the bathtub in panic, he pleaded, “Zhuang Wei, Zhuang—”
Zhuang Wei’s heavy breathing made his ears itch. “What?”
“D-don’t do this…”
But the other man showed no sign of stopping, as if completely absorbed, repeatedly thrusting hard inside him. Qu Tongqiu kept begging, stammering, his voice broken and scattered, yet his legs were still forced apart and he was relentlessly driven into.
After moving fiercely for a while, perhaps finding him too noisy, Zhuang Wei shoved his fingers into Qu Tongqiu’s mouth, playing with his tongue. Qu Tongqiu could no longer make a sound. The weakness of being unable to close his mouth made him feel completely drained in an instant.
Only after Zhuang Wei finally withdrew did he seem to help clean him, rubbing his already limp lower body in the water and wiping him down. Having been tormented so thoroughly, Qu Tongqiu felt dizzy and muddled, able only to let himself be handled. He hadn’t rested long before he was seized again in panic, pressed face to face against the bathtub, and entered forcefully once more.
With his legs propped on the edge of the tub, even with his back supported, his waist felt as if it were about to snap. Enduring Zhuang Wei’s somewhat rough thrusts, Qu Tongqiu whimpered softly, not daring to open his eyes to look at Zhuang Wei’s face.
No matter what, he could not imagine this as a partner in lovemaking—being pinned down by someone he had known for many years and treated like an inflatable doll.
Amid splashing water and frictional impacts, his lower abdomen gradually heated up. The front was covered and rubbed by Zhuang Wei’s hand, and the long-unfelt physical pleasure was undeniably real.
But all the while, he continued to struggle weakly beneath Zhuang Wei. He had encountered something like this before, but he remembered nothing of that process. To be assaulted by a man while fully conscious—by someone he knew—was unbearably cruel.
No matter how thin their relationship, no matter how easy he was to bully, for the sake of old classmates’ ties, Zhuang Wei should not have acted so recklessly toward him.
Even with his mind already muddled, he still felt a deep ache in his chest.
When he woke up, he realized that darkness still filled his vision. After a while, Qu Tongqiu understood that he was curled up inside the bedcovers.
His head was covered, but he could hear movement outside. Zhuang Wei was already up. Qu Tongqiu vaguely heard the soft sounds of him moving around the bedroom.
“You awake?”
“…”
“You okay? Can you get up? What do you want for breakfast?”
The casual tone carried not the slightest hint of apology.
He really was a nobody. To people like them, whatever they did to him was no big deal—no need to fear responsibility or retaliation. But as a man who had been sexually assaulted by another man, at the very least he deserved an explanation, or at least a single “sorry.”
There was a soft sound above his head as Zhuang Wei lifted the blanket.
“What’s wrong?”
Qu Tongqiu trembled for a moment, then said hoarsely, “How could you do this to me?”
Zhuang Wei seemed surprised by his reaction, froze briefly, then frowned. “What? Last night? Don’t tell me now that you didn’t want it last night.”
Qu Tongqiu hurriedly opened his eyes, the corners red, stammering. “H-how could I want it?”
Zhuang Wei’s expression turned ugly. After a moment, he lifted his chin and looked down at him even more condescendingly. “Oh? You didn’t want it? Then what were you here for?
If you didn’t mean that, why would I bring you home?”
“I—I—how could I possibly…”
Zhuang Wei snorted. “You dare say you weren’t hinting at me?”
Qu Tongqiu was so anxious his lips trembled, his tongue growing even clumsier. “You… I…”
“If you hadn’t seduced me, why would I make a move on you?”
“I…”
“We’re all adults. Dating and ending up in bed—what’s there to make such a fuss about? At your age, you can’t not understand.”
“I—I’m not gay…”
“You climaxed last night, didn’t you?”
Qu Tongqiu was left speechless, his chest so tight it felt like it was about to split open. He didn’t know how to argue with him. His temples throbbed, his face flushed and burning, his eyes sore. He could only gulp in air.
Zhuang Wei grew impatient as well. “Alright, enough of this. Let’s be direct. Turning around and denying it now—are you saying I forced you?”
“…”
“Then what do you want me to compensate you with?”
“…”
Qu Tongqiu opened his mouth, but could only pant, unable to make a sound.
“Go back and think it over if you haven’t figured it out. If you’ve got something to say, say it clearly sooner rather than later. Don’t use the same tricks you use on Ren Ningyuan on me.”
Leaving Zhuang Wei’s apartment, Qu Tongqiu walked a distance to take the subway. His whole body ached as if it were falling apart, and his lower body was even worse.
He swayed all the way, gripping the handrail. His chest was stuffed with too many things, the corners of his eyes sour and swollen, yet nothing would come out.
He was no longer at an age where he could say whatever came to mind.
After finally making it home, when the apartment building came into view, he let out a breath of relief and hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He was no stranger to hardship, but this kind of experience was truly unfamiliar. The pain when he moved was impossible to describe—only that it was ten times worse than having blisters rubbed onto his feet.
Opening the door and stepping inside, he saw Qu Ke sprawled on the sofa talking on the phone, probably chatting with friends. Mixed in were words he didn’t understand, bursts of clear laughter, and random punches at the throw pillows. She looked very happy.
Seeing his daughter like this gave his bleak mood a bit of comfort, though it was mixed with a sense of exhaustion from forcing himself to hold on.
What happened last night could not be thought about again. No father should be entangled in such absurd matters.
There were still many things he needed to worry about. For a man who carried the household, what mattered was the family’s livelihood now and in the future—the plans and efforts he had to make in order to keep living with his daughter.
Qu Tongqiu endured the pain and sat down on the sofa. After finishing her phone call, Qu Ke turned to him.
“Dad, you’re back already? You were out pretty late last night, huh? Was it fun?”
“Mm…”
“Dad, have you eaten breakfast? I bought some douhua—want some?”
Seeing the white, wobbly bowl pushed in front of him, a wave of nausea surged up. He barely managed to suppress the sour liquid rising in his throat and forced himself to say, “Dad already ate.”
“Oh right,” Qu Ke put down the cup, suddenly animated. “We’ve got a gathering this weekend. Everyone’s meeting up in M City—it’s not far at all. Can I go? Can I stay over at a friend’s place?”
Qu Tongqiu straightened up. “What kind of gathering?”
“A forum meetup. Everyone’s really interesting.”
“Meeting online friends? No. There are so many scammers online. Girls get tricked so easily. They even ran programs about it on TV before. Didn’t you watch those too?”
“That was six or seven years ago, wasn’t it? Things are totally different now. I’m not that stupid. And besides, we’re all girls—what’s there to trick?”
“Sigh, it’s all through the internet. You don’t even know whether they’re male or female…”
“It’s a different era now. The internet is very real already. Dad, don’t be so old-fashioned.”
“No matter how real it seems, you still haven’t met them. How can you trust that? Otherwise, leave me their phone numbers. As long as I can contact them, I’ll feel better.”
“Dad! Who does that?” Qu Ke grew annoyed, puffing out her cheeks. “There are bad people online, sure, but aren’t there bad people in real life too? If you’re that worried, you might as well never let me leave the house for the rest of my life.”
Once his daughter got angry, the father inevitably lost ground. “Then at least let me have a few phone numbers, okay? Let me talk to their parents or something. There has to be some kind of safeguard…”
“That would make you look like a weirdo! You’re impossible to talk to.”
Seeing his daughter sulking, Qu Tongqiu sighed and rubbed his temples. “Alright, go ahead.”
Father and daughter had their arguments from time to time. None of them were serious, and they usually made up quickly. Their relationship was good, but little by little he could feel that he truly couldn’t keep up with her generation anymore.
Even if he tried hard to tolerate their way of thinking and accept their slang, they were still gradually becoming people from two different worlds. One day, the old father who couldn’t keep up would be left behind.
“Dad, are you feeling unwell? If you’re sick, I won’t go.”
“I’m fine. Just caught a bit of a chill. Dad’s the least of your worries. I’m only worried about you.”
“Got it.”
Watching Qu Ke happily pack her things, Qu Tongqiu shifted his posture so his waist wouldn’t ache so badly.
He had to be extremely careful to hide it. Kids at this age were especially sensitive and rebellious. If something like what happened last night were discovered, it wouldn’t earn him sympathy or care—only completely shatter a father’s dignity and authority.
After seeing Qu Ke off, repeatedly reminding her to call and report she was safe, Qu Tongqiu went back and took a shower for himself. He constantly felt a foreign sensation in the places that had been violated, but no matter how painfully he scrubbed, he couldn’t wash away that discomfort.
At first it was just pain. Gradually, the painful area spread—perhaps the wound was infected. Feeling unwell and worrying about his daughter, he lost his appetite. He swallowed some anti-inflammatory pills at random and went to bed to rest.
He drifted in and out of sleep, feeling miserable all over, tossing and turning until the blanket was twisted into a mess. He hadn’t eaten anything, his stomach growling, yet he had no energy to get up and make food. His mouth was dry, craving water. He called out “Little Ke” twice, but no one answered. Only then did he remember his daughter was out. He lay back down alone.
For some reason, he really wanted to talk to Ren Ningyuan. But the distance was too far. He didn’t even know what he would say if the call actually went through.
He had no idea how long he had been sleeping on his stomach when the doorbell startled him awake. Crawling up, he saw it was already dark outside and fumbled to open the door. The room was dim, but the motion-sensor light at the doorway had turned on. The moment he saw the man standing outside, Qu Tongqiu was shocked fully awake. He immediately tried to close the door, but the other man stuck out his foot to block it.
“You don’t have to react like that,” the man said with a frown, forcefully pushing the door open and stepping inside without ceremony.
“What are you here for?”
“I’m here to make things clear,” Zhuang Wei said, looking down at him from above. “What do you think I’m planning to do? Don’t overthink it.”
Qu Tongqiu’s heart, which had been pounding in fear, finally calmed down. Thinking it over, he realized he really had been overly sensitive. After all, this was two sober men. He wasn’t the kind of person who would be subjected to sexual violence at any moment. There was no need to be afraid.
Still, he didn’t want to sit down and talk with this man. Zhuang Wei’s arrogance and contempt were like knives—sharp and merciless, slicing others’ self-respect to shreds.
What’s more, he couldn’t argue with him at all. Right now he only felt dizzy and weak, wanting to go back to bed. He could only say vaguely, “I don’t need you to compensate me, and I won’t tell anyone.
Let’s just pretend nothing happened and leave it at that.”
He didn’t expect justice—just not to suffer any more losses would be enough.
But Zhuang Wei had no intention of leaving it alone. Instead, he frowned. “You say leave it at that, and it’s at that?”
“…”
“Sex is a matter between two people. You think you can just decide on your own to pretend nothing happened, and that’s fine?”
Under the suddenly increasing pressure, Qu Tongqiu again felt a sense of danger. He hurriedly said, “I don’t want to talk today… let’s talk another time… I’m not feeling well…”
Zhuang Wei reached out and snapped on the main light switch. The room was instantly flooded with bright light. Unable to adjust right away, Qu Tongqiu almost couldn’t open his eyes, seized by a feeling of nowhere to run.
“You’re sick?”
“…”
“Why does your face look so bad? You get sick after just that much? You’re really too delicate.”
Forced back step by step, Qu Tongqiu retreated to the bed. Zhuang Wei turned off the bedroom light, ordered him to sleep, then began searching him for keys. Qu Tongqiu broke out in a cold sweat.
Though he absolutely didn’t want to hand his keys to this man, when Zhuang Wei’s hand brushed his thigh, he couldn’t help struggling and shouting, “The keys are in the bedside drawer!”
Zhuang Wei took the keys and went out. Hearing the door close, Qu Tongqiu felt even less safe. He lay there uneasily, wrapping the blanket tightly around himself. Cold sweat poured out, and he gradually grew dizzy.
It felt like a long nightmare. When he woke up and saw the glow-in-the-dark clock on the wall, he realized not much time had passed. Then came the soft sound of the door opening—Zhuang Wei was back.
Qu Tongqiu tensed, hearing light footsteps and the rustle of plastic bags. He didn’t know what Zhuang Wei had brought, but soon the smell of food reached him, and the light came on as well.
“Your stomach’s completely flat. Eat something.”
The attitude was poor, but it was still a rare gesture of kindness. Putting on airs wasn’t his habit, and Qu Tongqiu was truly starving. Without needing a second prompt, he obediently climbed up and wolfed down a bowl of perch congee, along with some pickled cucumbers.
“Alright, don’t eat too much all at once.”
Zhuang Wei then forced him to drink some juice, and afterward handed him half a bowl of plain warm water.
Qu Tongqiu was puzzled. As usual, he took a sip. Just as he made the swallowing motion, Zhuang Wei cursed angrily, “Idiot! Who told you to swallow it? I told you to rinse your mouth!”
Startled, Qu Tongqiu let the water spill back into the bowl. After being glared at twice by Zhuang Wei, he wiped his mouth and hurriedly lay back under the covers, uneasily pulling the blanket tighter around himself.
“Don’t sleep. You haven’t put on medicine yet.”
“…What?”
“It’s definitely torn down there. I’ll clean it and apply some medicine.”
A chill ran down Qu Tongqiu’s spine. He immediately clamped his legs together and protested desperately, “No need, I already took care of it myself.”
“Don’t be so ungrateful.”
Zhuang Wei lifted the blanket from below, covering Qu Tongqiu’s head and exposing his lower body. Ignoring his struggle, he stripped off his pants.
Qu Tongqiu gasped sharply in fear. “Zhuang Wei, you—don’t…”
“Don’t overthink it. I’m not interested in you. Stop moving, don’t make it look like I’m trying to do something to you.”
After that was said, Qu Tongqiu felt as if he had lost even the standing to resist. Though deeply humiliated, he could only lie there motionless, take a breath, close his eyes, and grit his teeth.
When he felt something being inserted into that place, he still couldn’t help trembling, instinctively clenching tight.
“Hey, relax. It’s just a cotton swab. How am I supposed to disinfect it if you’re like this?”
First it was the swab, then he wasn’t sure what followed—something going in and out, stirring around inside him. No matter how slender it was, the foreign sensation was intense. Feeling miserable, Qu Tongqiu let out low whimpers, sweat pouring down his face.
He lay there for a while. The blanket was stuffy, his body burning hot, breathing with difficulty. He could feel large beads of sweat forming nonstop from every pore. He also heard Zhuang Wei scold him, “Why are you sweating like a horse? You’re soaked!”
Embarrassed, Qu Tongqiu shifted slightly and heard Zhuang Wei say, “Alright. Honestly.” Then came the sound of him standing up and walking away.
Thinking the medicine was finally applied, Qu Tongqiu, already suffocating under the blanket, hurriedly lifted it and gulped down fresh air, fumbling to pull up his waistband.
“What are you doing now! Lie still. Don’t move.”
Zhuang Wei returned to the bed with a wrung-out warm towel, pressed him back down, rolled up his shirt with one hand, and wiped him down with the other.
After being rubbed up and down a few times, Qu Tongqiu felt the places being wiped were all wrong. Fear welled up inside him. He struggled desperately to crawl forward, but Zhuang Wei pinned him down from behind with his elbow.
“What are you afraid of? I’m not so desperate that I’d force myself on you.”
“… ”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“But… last night…”
Zhuang Wei coughed. “I’ve thought about last night. There was probably a misunderstanding between us. How about this—I’ll believe you weren’t setting a trap for me, and you should believe I’m not a rapist.”
Qu Tongqiu felt it wasn’t entirely convincing, but not entirely unreasonable either. After holding it in for a while, he didn’t say anything more. Still, being completely naked and wiped down left him uneasy. He curled up, drawing in his arms to block the hand moving over his body.
“Don’t wipe there… it’s not good…”
“What’s not good about it? Honestly, whether you’re really stupid or pretending, it’s impossible that you don’t like being touched by a man.”
Qu Tongqiu’s scalp went numb. “What?”
Zhuang Wei slipped his hand between his legs. “See? You’re reacting, aren’t you?”
Qu Tongqiu recoiled sharply and struggled. “Hey—don’t… don’t… I really don’t like it…”
Zhuang Wei cursed, “I’m just letting you know how it is! I’m not taking advantage of you! Do you think you’re some precious flower?”
After all that commotion, both of them were panting when they finally stopped. The room fell quiet, and then footsteps approached.
Both of them turned their heads. A man stood at the bedroom doorway, looking somewhat surprised. One cufflink was half undone, his fingers paused mid-motion as he looked at them on the bed. He nodded slightly. “You have company?”
Both froze. Qu Tongqiu was badly startled. He immediately scrambled up, grabbed his pants, and stumbled out of bed, legs shaking as he hurriedly pulled them on. “You—you’re back?”
“Mm.”
“I thought you were in the U.S. right now…”
Ren Ningyuan smiled faintly. “I went to S City first, stayed a day. Something came up, so I came back.”
Seeing Qu Tongqiu still fumbling with his buttons, face flushed and sweaty, Ren Ningyuan turned to Zhuang Wei and asked, “What are you doing?”
Before Zhuang Wei could answer, Qu Tongqiu rushed to explain, “He was helping me wipe down.”
“That’s right, just wiping him down,” Zhuang Wei curled his lip. “I’ll be taking my leave.”
After taking a few steps, he turned back with a smile. “Oh, right—this is yours.” He pulled the keys from his pocket and placed them on the table.
After Zhuang Wei left, Ren Ningyuan looked around the room and smiled. “You’re quite open-minded. You forgot he likes men and stripped naked like that—weren’t you afraid something might happen?”
He paused, looking at the flustered man in front of him. “Or did something already happen?”
Suddenly, Qu Tongqiu felt his throat tighten into a knot, leaving him unable to speak. Being violated by a man—only a single day had passed. He still hadn’t digested it. Whenever it was brought up, the shock made his head buzz with pain.
Ren Ningyuan’s smile faded. “I didn’t allow you to do this kind of thing in my house.”
Seeing him no longer smiling, Qu Tongqiu felt a chill spread through his body. “No, no, we didn’t do anything here…”
“Is that so? You didn’t dirty my bed?”
“No, really no. We were over here. Nothing happened. Look, it’s all clean…”
He hurried to pull at the bedsheets to prove it. Ren Ningyuan glanced casually and smiled. “As long as it’s not dirty.”
Ren Ningyuan sat. Qu Tongqiu stood there, not daring to move, like a soldier facing his superior, waiting for him to speak again.
“You really surprise me. Two days ago you still looked like a father. Now you’ve gone this far with Zhuang Wei. Have you started liking men?”
“No, no, I don’t like men…”
Ren Ningyuan smiled again. “That’s true. You don’t have to like it to do it. As long as it feels good, that’s enough. That’s just how you are. I took it too seriously.”
Qu Tongqiu didn’t quite understand the implication in his words, but he knew he had displeased him. Panic rising, he said, “It’s not like that, and it didn’t feel good either…”
“That’s enough. You don’t need to tell me even that,” Ren Ningyuan waved him off, then smiled. “You know, I really can’t get used to living with someone else after all. Keys aren’t something you can just give out.”
“… ”
“You have two days. Pack up and move out.”
Qu Tongqiu’s head felt dull all at once, but he still answered in time.
He couldn’t understand it. Just a moment ago, Ren Ningyuan had been gently saying they were friends, smiling and letting him attend to him. At long last, things had finally grown close and harmonious.
And then suddenly, he was kicked straight out the door.
Ren Ningyuan said two days, but Qu Tongqiu knew he didn’t want to see him. Sitting there with that detached expression, he hurriedly packed everything overnight.
The luggage was cumbersome and heavy—much more than when he had first come. Qu Tongqiu worked alone, packing, tying things up, dragging them downstairs to hail a taxi, planning to move in two trips.
His body hurt and burned, but none of it compared to the panic in his chest. He didn’t even feel sick anymore—only anxious.
On the second trip, the keys were already on the table. Qu Tongqiu dragged his things to the door, reluctant to leave yet not daring to stay. He turned back to look at Ren Ningyuan and, after a long pause, carefully said, “Ren Ningyuan, then I’ll be going.”
Ren Ningyuan remained polite, even smiled. “Take care. I won’t see you off.”
By the time he returned to the company dorm, it was already late at night. Once he finally relaxed, exhaustion hit him all at once. He wiped the bed, laid out the bedding, and once he lay down, he couldn’t move anymore.
The room still smelled of dust. His body hurt too much to sleep. He seriously thought over the past two days—what he had done, what he had encountered—and felt a trace of grievance.
Lying there, looking at the moon outside, it was clearly the same moon, yet it felt completely different from the one he had seen at Ren Ningyuan’s place. After staring out the window for a while, Qu Tongqiu pulled the blanket over his head.
