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Pei Xi’s eyes flickered slightly: “You rarely call me that.”

Apparently that wasn’t it. His entire being was screaming that it wasn’t right.

He Chuzhou continued to think. When Pei Xi called him ‘Chuzhou’ on the phone, he directly used his surname and first name, so the corresponding answer should be: “Xixi?”

Pei Xi was still in a low mood: “You’ve only called me that once.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

In the next few short seconds, countless addresses he had heard between couples flashed through He Chuzhou’s mind.

Honey, baby, cutie, beloved, stinky pig, dummy, darling……

Just as he was about to select a few reliable ones, his examiner caught him off guard by handing him the answer: “You don’t like to call me Xinxin^[1] anymore?”

He Chuzhou’s “Baby” dissipated in his mouth.

“Xinxin?” He asked with some puzzlement.

The slightly intimate word felt very strange in his mouth, and was also very contradictory to Pei Xi. 

Wasn’t this a bit excessive?

Pei Xi thought he was being called, and hummed softly.

He Chuzhou had missed twice in a row, and made up for himself: “I don’t dislike it, I just think that what you want is more important. It doesn’t matter to me. En…..it’s all up to you.”

“I like it when you call me Xinxin.”

Pei Xi’s voice was soft and low, his expression unclear when he lowered his eyes: “It’s a nickname that only my family knows. If you don’t call me that, nobody will call me that.”

A…..a nickname?

He Chuzhou was overwhelmingly flattered, and muttered to himself: “Should I actually know this? No, do I deserve to call him this?”

Pei Xi didn’t hear clearly, and raised his head: “What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

He Chuzhou smiled as if nothing had happened and went along with his words: “Xinxin is pretty good. I like it too. Then let’s just…..get out of the car and go inside now?”

Pei Xi finally nodded, only when he had just turned sideways and stepped out with one foot, he immediately retracted it.

He Chuzhou sucked in a breath: “What’s wrong now?”

He even subconsciously looked down at the ground. His feet weren’t burned, were they?

Pei Xi: “I’m so tired.”

He Chuzhou: “Tired?”

Pei Xi, weakly: “I feel like I don’t have the strength to walk anymore.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

Fine, fine.

You are an ancestor. If you don’t want to walk, then you don’t want to walk. It’s not a big problem.

He Chuzhou bent down and picked him up.

Pei Xi hugged his neck extremely cooperatively. Tilting his head, he rested it comfortably on his shoulder with a clear conscience.

Closing the car door with his elbow, He Chuzhou locked it and walked out of the garage. Very quickly, he noticed that something was wrong with the feel of the weight in his arms.

“Why are a grown man’s waist and legs so thin?”

He hefted him and said disapprovingly: “You’re so light, and boney to the touch. Don’t you eat at home?”

Pei Xi replied: “Don’t we eat every meal together?”

He Chuzhou: ……Okay, just pretend he didn’t say anything.

Once he entered the door and put the person down, he crouched and took out a pair of brand new slippers from the bottom of the shoe cabinet, placing them in front of Pei Xi: “Wear these.”

Pei Xi regarded them carefully for a moment and came to a conclusion: “Chuzhou, the size is too large. These should be your slippers, where are mine?”

Naturally, yours are in your shoe cabinet.

Of course, he could only think this. He Chuzhou randomly found an excuse to deceive him: “I washed them during the day and they’re not dry. Put mine on first.”

Fortunately, Pei Xi was not suspicious and bent down to put on the new slippers.

When he looked up again after changing them, He Chuzhou had vanished from the huge living room and there was only a black and white border collie sitting next to him, staring curiously.

Pei Xi frowned slightly, a hint of caution in his eyes: “Who are you?”

He Chuzhou grabbed a clean set of pajamas and came out of the room. Pei Xi was still standing there without moving a step, staring intently at He Xingxing.

What was he doing?

Pei Xi quickly noticed him and looked over: “Chuzhou, did you forget to close a window when you went out?”

He pointed at He Xingxing: “A puppy came to visit.”

Pei Xi’s expression was very calm, but he was a little childish when he spoke of the puppy. The combination of the two created an inexplicable cuteness.

The “visiting” He Xingxing couldn’t really understand, but it didn’t matter. He just wagged his tail when faced with the guest brought back by his father.

He Chuzhou looked at He Xingxing, whose tail was wagging wildly, and then at Pei Xi, who seemed to be facing a formidable enemy, and suddenly wanted to laugh.

It was unclear who the visitor was. And the guilty one blamed the other party preemtively, bullying a puppy that couldn’t speak.

“My great-uncle’s family moved.”

He walked over while bullshiting: “They can’t keep a dog at the new house, so they sent him here.”

Pei Xi took the pajamas from him and asked: “So we have to keep it until death by old age?”

He Chuzhou withdrew his hand and said: “Whose death from old age?”

Pei Xi pointed at He Xingxing again.

He Chuzhou: “……”

He Chuzhou: “If nothing unexpected happens, then this is the case.”

Pei Xi: “Can’t you send it back to your great-uncle?”

“I can’t.”

He Chuzhou noticed that his furrowed brow had not relaxed, and asked casually: “What, you don’t like dogs?”

Pei Xi shook his head: “That’s not it.”

He Chuzhou: “Then why do you want to send him away?”

“Because I don’t like raising dogs.”

Pei Xi said: “Dogs need to go out every day. I heard that dog owners have to get up early to walk them during the coldest part of winter.”

He raised his head and shifted his gaze from He Xingxing to He Chuzhou’s face, looking unhappy: “I don’t want to get up early.”

For a moment, He Chuzhou thought there might be something wrong with his ears.

Had he actually heard Pei Xi say that he didn’t want to get up early?

A person who valued work more than anything else and wished he could devote all of his energy to his career, a model worker who was as involved in life as a robot, said he didn’t want to get up early?

This made He Chuzhou a little more interested: “So why did you get up early before?”

Pei Xi was puzzled: “Before? But I haven’t gotten up early in a long time.”

He Chuzhou choked, and could only change the question: “I mean, how did you get up earlier when you were in school?”

Pei Xi considered for a moment: “I set a lot of alarm clocks and set them far away from the bed.”

He Chuzhou: “Why did you set them far away from the bed?”

Pei Xi didn’t hide anything: “Because if they were too close, I might turn them off and fall asleep.”

Unexpectedly, President Pei, who was serious and meticulous in front of others, engaged in a battle of wits and valor while lying in bed.

He Chuzhou imagined this scene in his mind. The corners of his mouth rose and he was about to say something, when he heard Pei Xi say: “But no matter how many alarm clocks there are, they aren’t as useful as you.”

He Chuzhou: “?”

He Chuzhou: “What does this have to do with me?”

Pei Xi: “You call me sometimes. No matter how early it is, as long as I hear your voice, I won’t feel sleepy.”

He Chuzhou was speechless.

He hadn’t expected that the timeline of Pei Xi’s memory would be so long. It should be known that they didn’t even know each other existed before university.

Seeing that he hadn’t responded, Pei Xi wrinkled his nose inconspicuously and said in a disappointed voice: “You don’t remember?”

Damned if I can remember.

“You stayed in the hospital all night. You must not be feeling well.”

He Chuzhou coughed and avoided the topic: “Go shower first. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the dog and won’t make you get up early.”

Fortunately, Pei Xi did not dwell overly much on this issue since he had received a satisfactory answer, and obediently walked to the bathroom with the pajamas and slippers in his arms.

He Chuzhou breathed a sigh of relief. Pressing his temples, he glanced to the side at He Xingxing and gave him an extra treat. Pei Xi, who had already reached the bathroom door, turned around: “Chuzhou?”

“En?” He Chuzhou subconsciously raised his head.

“Remember to write a letter of guarantee.”

Holding his pajamas, Pei Xi stood at the door and said word by word: “The word count doesn’t need to be too high, just around 500. You can read it to me when I come out of the shower.”

“……”

The hand He Chuzhou was about to pet the dog with froze mid-air, neither moving nor retracting.

He Xingxing waited a long moment with the food in his mouth and couldn’t wait for this person touch his head. He had no choice but to swallow this treat, then took the initiative to jump high and nuzzle him.

It couldn’t be helped. His father was the only one who would spoil him.

*

*

Yun Ji: [The address of Pei Xi’s parents’ house?]

Yun Ji: [You want it now?]

Yun Ji: [To do what? Propose marriage?]

He Chuzhou: [Are you sick?]

He Chuzhou: [Don’t worry about it, just give it to me]

Yun Ji: [No, I don’t have it, ah. How would I know where his parents live?]

He Chuzhou: [What about their contact info?]

Yun Ji: [Not that either, ah. Do you think I’m some bigshot? But I do have his assistant’s info. Do you want it?]

He Chuzhou: [His assistant is still lying in the hospital. How could I contact him?]

He Chuzhou: [See if you can find someone who knows his parents’ contact info and address]

Yun Ji: [It’s possible, but it will take some time. It probably won’t happen for a while]

He Chuzhou: [Is 10 minutes enough?]

Yun Ji: [ ? ]

He Chuzhou: [I’ll give you 5 more minutes at the most]

Yun Ji: [Are you listening to what you’re saying?]

Yun Ji: [Cousin, I’m just your assistant, not your cow or horse, or your wishing well]

Yun Ji: [Why are you in such a hurry?]

It was difficult for He Chuzhou to explain.

He couldn’t just say that if he didn’t send this person away, he would have to write a 500-word letter of guarantee. He hadn’t written that sort of thing since he graduated from junior high school.

He Chuzhou: [There is a project to discuss]

Yun Ji: [Wow! How big is the project that it requires you to go in person?]

Yun Ji: [Besides, Old Mr. Pei has long stopped working on these things. If you have a project, it’s useless to go to him. You need to go to Pei Xi]

Yun Ji: [But Pei Xi also might not respond to you]

He Chuzhou: [Just do it]

Yun Ji: [You’re too much]

Yun Ji: [Just do it. Fine, fine, I’ll go and ask for you. Just wait]

Yun Ji: [By the way, remember to calculate overtime pay for me]

Yun Ji moved very quickly, at least faster than what he had said.

It took less than 10 minutes for the contact information to be sent over. It came with an address, down to the house number.

He Chuzhou: [ ? ]

He Chuzhou: [Didn’t you say it would take a while?]

Yun Ji: [ I suddenly remembered that I played ball with a distant cousin of Pei Xi. I just scrolled around and found that the WeChat account was still there]

He Chuzhou: [Excellent. Thanks]

He tossed a big red envelope to Yun Ji. Scrolling up to the contact information, he clicked on the phone and was about to make a call when there was the sound of a door opening and footsteps behind him. Pei Xi had come out after showering.

He Chuzhou was 188cm tall. Pei Xi was half a head shorter than him, and his body was more than a little smaller. The pajamas he wore were baggy, the collar was loose, and the fabric on the shoulders fell down his arms.

The cuffs covered the backs of his hands and the trouser legs covered his feet. That pale, clean body was wrapped in soft fabric as if he had stolen an adult’s clothes.

The redness of his skin caused by the heat had not faded, and there seemed to be a layer of moisture in his eyes, inexplicably reminding He Chuzou of when he had first gotten He Xingxing.

Weak and small, with pure, limpid eyes. Looking at He Chuzhou with trust and dependence, and so well-behaved that it made a person want to get their hands on him and pet him.

Except there was no tail to wag.

When he saw Pei Xi like this, He Chuzhou’s fingertips froze less than a centimeter away from the dial key and couldn’t continue.

And Pei Xi, completely unaware that he might be sent away soon, looked at him in confusion: “Chuzhou, what are you doing standing on the balcony?”

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[1] Xinxin (心心) is a cutesy name that approximately mean’s “my heart.” ⮐

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Chapter 5 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 7