T/N: I got a bad performance evaluation at work the other day, so I’ve been translating like a madwoman as a form of therapy. Expect frequent updates this week!

---

In a private room of a high-end restaurant in the southern part of the city, half a dozen people were seated at a round table.

He Chuzhou was sitting by the window. Among the group of people talking, he rarely spoke. Most of the time, he just sat in his chair and played with his phone, listening to their nonsense.

Compared to him, Wu Qing beside him seemed much busier.

He had to drink, to chip in, and also pick up food with chopsticks for the boy next to him.

He said that this boy was his new favorite, a film school student. He had a handsome appearance and a well-behaved attitude, which pleased him very much.

As for whether he was actually that good, He Chuzhou didn’t know. He only knew that he was indeed new.

After all, the person holding hands with Wu Qing for an intimate beachside photoshoot the previous week was a fairy-like man with long, flowing hair.

It was only that a great Buddha like him sitting here was really eye-catching, and even though he didn’t say a word, the topic still inevitably came back around to him.

“Right, speaking of the land by the river, did you finally get it, Lao He?”

He Chuzhou moved his lips: “No.”

“Why not? Was it stolen by Pei Group?”

He Chuzhou: “The ownership rights are still in the hands of Mr. Zhang. He has been out of the country recently, and any business negotiations will have to wait until he comes back.”

“So that’s what it is. I’m just saying, you’re so full of twists and turns when it comes to business. How could you not beat Pei Xi?”

“You can say that again. They say that if you know yourself and know your enemy, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Lao He, you have won so many battles. You probably found out all the details about that person early on.”

The corners of He Chuzhou’s mouth rose: “You flatter me, but I’m a businessman, not a spy.”

“Precisely. What does he know.”

Wu Qing had always enjoyed demolishing his good friends: “That person is unwilling to acknowledge him, and always keeps a distance of ten meters when they are in the same frame. With this sort of treatment, could he discover if there was a mole on his face or whether he has a cutesy nickname?”

Wu Qing didn’t speak after laughing at him, and adding insult to injury, he wanted to ask the involved party for verification. But he saw the involved party suddenly raise an eyebrow, his eyes full of consideration as he looked over.

Wu Qing: “What’s that look in your eyes?”

He Chuzhou: “Confusion.”

Wu Qing: “What are you so confused about?”

He Chuzhou: “Did you take a fortune-telling class behind my back in university?”

Wu Qing: “?”

Wu Qing: “What are you talking about??”

He Chuzhou’s words made his brain fog over, but he wasn’t offered an explanation.

Wu Qing wanted to probe further, but the little lover next to him was peevish and he didn’t have the free time to spare.

The drinking conversation topics came and went quickly, and after more than ten minutes, someone suggested that the night should continue.

He Chuzhou planned to retire early, but Wu Qing pulled him over and wouldn’t let him go.

Wu Qing’s other hand was still holding his little lover: “It’s so early, why are you in a hurry? He Xingxing is a big, mature dog. He can hold his bowels for an extra couple of minutes with no problem.”

That being said, He Chuzhou really had no interest in drinking and singing. On such a nice evening, he would rather go back and walk the dog, soak his feet, and watch a movie.

Just as he was about to come up with another reason to refuse, the phone in his pocket rang.

Waiting to the side, Wu Qing noticed his expression become strange when he answered the phone.

Like confusion, incomprehension, and helplessness.

“I understand. Stay where you are and don’t run around. I’ll be there right away.”

He Chuzhou hung up and nearly bumped into Wu Qing, who was craning his neck to see the phone.

“What are you doing?” He Chuzhou locked the phone.

“Seeing who you’re talking to, ah.” Wu Qing said: “What’s going on with you? Which family’s child are you coaxing so late at night?”

“He’s not a child.”

He Chuzhou now had a ready excuse: “I can’t go to the next place, someone is waiting for me. I’ll head out first.”

“Who? Who is it?” 

Wu Qing’s thirst for knowledge erupted: “Who is waiting so late at night for you, an old iron tree that doesn’t bloom?”

He Chuzhou disliked the smell of alcohol on his body. He leaned back to distance himself and began to spout nonsense: “Just…..a stray cat. It doesn’t have the ability to take care of itself, and is waiting for me to pick it up and take it home.”

*

*

The two people’s coordinates were not far apart. He Chuzhou didn’t drink, which saved time calling a driver, and he arrived at Pei Xi’s location in less than twenty minutes.

The streets at this point were unlike during the day, with parking spots everywhere.

He Chuzhou randomly picked a parking spot that suited his eyes and got out of the car. He turned into an alley, and had walked forward a short distance when he saw a person crouched under a street light not far away.

It was not a popular and bustling street. The night sky was empty, with only the autumn wind blowing from the street to the end of the alley at a temperature that was neither warm nor cool.

Pei Xi crouched there with the street light shining down on him, compressing his shadow until it was under his feet. His whole person looked like a small ball.

He really looked like a stray cat, alone and helpless.

He Chuzhou quickened his pace and walked over.

Pei Xi heard the footsteps and lifted his head from his arms. He watched as the person he had called imitated his example and crouched down in front of him. There was a small threshold between them, with him higher and He Chuzhou lower.

“What are you doing here?” He Chuzhou asked.

Pei Xi: “Waiting for you.”

As he got closer, He Chuzhou could smell the scent of alcohol on his body with a minty aroma mixed in: “Did you drink?”

Pei Xi tilted his face onto one arm and nodded his head.

Pei Xi, who was suffering from alcohol and amnesia, was stacked with double buffs and looked even more incredibly well-behaved at the moment.

He Chuzhou’s voice went softer again: “Is it just you?”

Pei Xi shook his head.

He Chuzhou: “Who else is there?”

Pei Xi didn’t answer, and only looked at the place he had just come out of.

He Chuzhou could see that he didn’t want to talk. Perhaps he was dizzy and uncomfortable after drinking.

“You, ah, I thought you were okay.”

He Chuzhou held his face with one hand and sighed: “That’s not good. What are you doing running around so early in the morning?”

Pei Xi was not on the same page as him.

“I’m okay,” he said. “There’s no fever anymore.”

He Chuzhou didn’t correct him, and went along with his words: “Really?”

Pei Xi lowered his head and motioned for him to touch it himself.

When He Chuzhou’s palm made contact, he took the opportunity to tilt his head and bury his face in He Chuzhou’s shoulder.

He Chuzhou’s outstretched hand paused in the air, and he looked sideways at the back of his dark head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: “You kid, are you still using this trick on me?”

Pei Xi’s voice was muffled: “Chuzhou, I’m so sleepy. I want to go home and sleep.”

Go home.

It was indeed time to go home.

He Chuzhou helped him stand up, and was thinking about which home to send him to when a man ran outside nearby. He slowed down when he saw him, looking stunned and confused.

Seeing the man’s eyes cycle between him and Pei Xi, He Chuzhou raised a reasonable question: “Are you a friend of Pei Xi?”

Xie Ling nodded mechanically and gave a dry hum of affirmation, unable to recover from the shock of the scene in front of him for a long moment.

What was this situation? 

Was the seawater flowing backward or was the sun rising in the west?

He was actually seeing Pei Xi lean on He Chuzhou.

Were these two people cuddling?!

He Chuzhou thought this would be rather easy, and gestured to the person in his arms: “You take him back. I—”

“I won’t go.”

Pei Xi raised his head with a frown and once again emphasized what he meant: “Chuzhou, I’m sleepy. I want to go home. I don’t want to go back and keep drinking.”

Xie Ling had come closer, and heard Pei Xi’s words clearly. His expression changed again and again, and could no longer be defined as pure shock.

It was like seeing a ghost in the daytime, or rather, when always walking at night, you would eventually see a ghost.

“You…..you…..”

He didn’t know if he had drank too much and wasn’t clear-headed, causing hallucinations: “What’s going on? You two have such a good relationship in private? Or am I dreaming?”

He Chuzhou looked at Pei Xi, who was sullen with drooping eyelids, and then at Xie Ling, who was deep in self-doubt, and was silent for a moment: “You don’t know?”

Xie Ling was shocked: “I don’t know, ah!”

He Chuzhou: “……”

It seemed the other party really didn’t know that there was something wrong with Pei Xi’s head.

He wasn’t sure if Pei Xi wanted to keep it a secret, so He Chuzhou decided to err on the side of caution.

He simply said farewell to the man and took Pei Xi away under the other party’s confused eyes.

Pei Xi could handle the rest when he was better. He himself couldn’t manage too much.

Pei Xi truly was sleepy. Once he got in the car and fastened his seatbelt, he immediately leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.

Seeing that he looked uncomfortable with his head down, He Chuzhou leaned over and helped him lower the back of the chair. Then he pulled a chibi monster pillow from the back seat and turned it into a blanket to cover him.

He Aiyue had drawn it in a lottery before, but had left it in the car and forgot to take it away.

“You’re rather capable.”

He looked at this person sleeping peacefully and praised him with no lack of admiration: “You followed someone to drink, but nobody discovered that there is actually a missing string in your brain.”

The person with a missing string in his brain had already fallen asleep under the influence of alcohol, and was unable to acknowledge him.

“Next time, don’t wait under a streetlight. The weather might be bad, and flying insects could get all over you.”

Straightening up, he sat back in the driver’s seat and turned on the air, but didn’t rush to start the car. Instead, he took out his phone and found the number that Yun Ji had sent him before. After confirming that it was correct, he dialed it.

He called three or four times, but nobody answered.

“They must be asleep this late.”

He Chuzhou put down the phone. Between the options of going directly to the door and waking the family up in the middle of the night or taking Ancestor Pei back to spend the night together, he chose the latter.

There was no difference between giving him shelter for one night or two.

On the way back, he received a call from Wu Qing. The background on the other side was noisy, with somebody singing to the point of wailing and howling.

He Chuzhou glanced at Pei Xi, who was still sleeping soundly, and turned down the volume of the call: “Can you go to the restroom?”

Wu Qing: “Ah?”

Wu Qing: “Oh, it’s noisy, right? Give me a second.”

He seemed to have covered the receiver, and the noise soon faded away. When the environment of the call became quiet, He Chuzhou turned up the volume again.

He Chuzhou: “What’s wrong?”

Wu Qing: “Nothing’s wrong, I just thought I should check on you. Did you get your cat?”

He Chuzhou: “I got it. What’s up?”

Wu Qing: “What cat, ah? A big orange one? A cow-spotted one? A lion cat or a calico?”

“Calico.” He Chuzhou was perfunctory with him. “You’re having so much fun with yours, so why are you thinking so much about my cat?”

“Ai, it’s just curiosity.”

Wu Qing chuckled: “Big boss He drove a luxury car to pick someone up late at night. I also want to see which stray cat is so lucky. Is it well-behaved? Cute? Pretty?”

He Chuzhou: “Well-behaved, cute, and pretty. I’ll send a photo back and hang up.”

Wu Qing did not let him off easy: “But you already have a dog, why are you bringing it back to fight with He Xingxing? I heard that cats don’t even like dogs, and they beat them really hard.”

“You worry too much. They won’t fight—”

He Chuzhou halted his perfunctory words. Thinking of something, he couldn’t help but glance in the rearview mirror at Pei Xi.

It seemed that Pei Xi indeed did not like dogs.

But it shouldn’t be possible for him to beat a dog. At most, he would be disgusted at the shedding or something…..

“Don’t worry so much. I’m hanging up.”

They soon arrived at their destination, and the car was parked smoothly in the garage. He Chuzhou got out of the car and walked around to the passenger seat, planning to carry this person back directly.

The car door opened and he met a pair of eyes, cool, gentle, and bright.

He Chuzhou was surprised: “You’re awake? Just in time, we’re home. Come out.”

Pei Xi raised his head and said: “Chuzhou, you forgot to apologize to me.”

He Chuzhou: “……?”

History was repeating itself.

One night had passed, and He Chuzhou was standing outside the passenger door again, once again wondering where he had gone wrong with this person.

“I was late to pick you up?”

“I didn’t call you for a day?”

“I chose a bad tie color today?”

He was confused, and still couldn’t figure it out: “Instructor, can you give me a hint?”

Pei Xi clutched the plushie blanket: “When I called you just now, I looked for your number for a long time and found it on the blacklist.”

He Chuzhou was even more mystified: “Why did you block me?”

Pei Xi: “Yes, ah, why did I block you?”

He Chuzhou: “So—”

Pei Xi: “You must have done something wrong and made me angry.”

He Chuzhou: “……?”

He Chuzhou: “? ? ?”

He Chuzhou was truly wronged: “So I can also be convicted like this. Fine, then tell me what I did wrong?”

Pei Xi frowned and fell into thought. After a moment, he shook his head: “I can’t remember.”

He Chuzhou spread his hands.

Pei Xi: “But don’t delay your apology to me.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

Pei Xi pulled back the blanket and reached out to him with familiar and natural movements. 

He Chuzhou worked hard and bent down to pick this person up, feeling that an injustice had been done to him.

Pei Xi hugged his neck and leaned against him sleepily: “Chuzhou, don’t feel wronged. I wouldn’t have blocked you for no reason. You must have made a mistake.”

He Chuzhou closed the car door with his elbow, wanting to laugh when he heard this.

You blocked me for no reason, charged me with a crime you can’t say, inexplicably told me to apologize, and finally told me not to feel wronged.

But what could be done?

How could it be possible to make things clear to a person who was missing a string?

“Understood. I don’t feel wronged, not at all.”

He locked the garage and walked inside with Pei Xi in his arms: “It was my fault. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you get angry and block me. I won’t do it again in the future, all right?”

Pei Xi was satisfied, and also apologized softly for his mistake: “I was wrong too. I probably didn’t give you a chance to explain, and blocked you in anger. I won’t do it again.”

The two people went back and forth, apologizing for something that might not even exist. This time, He Chuzhou really did laugh.

Why was the brain-addled Pei Xi so interesting?

“Is that true, ah?”

He asked Pei Xi: “You won’t block me in the future?”

He feared that the first thing he would do when he returned to his senses was give him a one-stop trip to the blacklist.

“It’s true, I absolutely won’t.” Pei Xi raised his face with an earnest expression: “I can also write a letter of guarantee.”

He Chuzhou took it all as a joke, and didn’t take it to heart.

When they got in the house, He Chuzhou helped Pei Xi take out his slippers. He himself was not in a hurry to change his shoes, because he would be going out to greet the stars soon.

Pei Xi changed his footwear but did not go in. He just stood with his back against the low cabinet, watching quietly as He Chuzhou crouched to change the water and feed He Xingxing.

He Chuzhou raised his head to look at him: “What’s wrong?”

Pei Xi said: “I heard it.”

He Chuzhou was unclear: “Heard what?”

Pei Xi also crouched down, bringing the perspectives of the two people to the same level. “In the car, I heard you say you want to get a cat.”

He Chuzhou realized he had heard the erratic conversation he’d had with Wu Qing in the car.

“So?”

He Chuzhou put down the food bucket and responded to him patiently: “Do you want to raise one too? Or do you not like them?”

Pei Xi didn’t answer, but said: “I heard you say it’s a calico, and that it’s very cute and well-behaved and you want to take it home to raise it.”

He Chuzhou couldn’t grasp his meaning. His fingertips tapped on his knees a few times, and he was about to speak, when both of his wrists were suddenly held.

Pei Xi took his hand and pressed it against his cheek, opening his eyes slightly in the warm yellow light of the entranceway. The pitch-black drunken pupils reflected the other person’s appearance: “Which is cuter, that cat or me?”

The cool, delicate touch against his palm stunned He Chuzhou for a moment.

His fingertips accidentally touched the other’s earlobe, and for a second, a tiny electric current seemed to take the opportunity to penetrate into those fingertips, making his entire palm feel numb.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 8 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 10