He Chuzhou responded to all requests. Dinner was too plentiful for just the two of them, and included spicy broiled beef and sweet and sour fish.

So could this also be considered a tradition?

Pei Xi wasn’t clear on this issue, and He Chuzhou immediately threw him another one.

In the study after dinner, Pei Xi logged into his WeChat account on the computer and received a message. The content was two strings of numbers mixed with letters. The upper string was an email address, and the lower one looked like garbled characters.

Pei Xi: “ ? ”

He raised his head to look in confusion at the person sitting behind the computer across from him: “What is this?”

He Chuzhou: “My email account password.”

After speaking, he felt that his description wasn’t thorough enough and added another sentence: “My work email.”

Pei Xi was even more confused after hearing this: “What are you giving me this for?”

He Chuzhou beamed: “It’s an exchange. I’ll definitely need your email address to help you with your work later. Now you know mine too, so you won’t suffer a loss.”

A fair exchange of information did not result in losses.

But was suffering a loss or not the key point?

Pei Xi: “Haven’t I already moved in?”

Now that Plan B had been adopted, why should Plan A continue to be implemented?

He Chuzhou seemed to see through his thoughts, and said seriously: “Plans don’t necessarily have to be separate. They can occasionally be used to progressively increase implementation. For details, please refer to the pig-killing scam.”^[1]

Pei Xi: “……”

When He Chuzhou was done playing at being a scoundrel, he continued on to move his heart with emotion again: “Actually, I’m too idle and can’t find other legitimate things to do. I have to waste a lot of time doing university entrance exam problems that are long outdated for me.”

Pei Xi: “ ? ”

Pei Xi: “Why do you need to do actual university entrance exam questions? Do you want…..to take the adult entrance exam? Did your school overseas not issue you a diploma?”

He Chuzhou sent him a screenshot of his chat.

Pei Xi clicked on it. The ID above the chat box screenshot was He Chuzhou’s sister, and the content was a compressed file with five years’ worth of test questions.

He Chuzhou: “It’s not me taking the exam, but my sister. But their school focuses too hard on learning and assigns too much of a workload, so students’ free time is severely compressed.”

He Chuzhou: “Aiyue’s grades are average, and it’s normal for her not to finish her homework. And every time she finishes her homework, she scans it into an electronic file and throws it at me.”

The screenshot was taken live as He Aiyue was bombarding him with messages.

[Brother, Brother, help Qiuqiu!]

[I won’t make you do it for me this time, you won’t agree to it anyway. Just help me figure out which ones are more difficult and worth doing. Mark them for me and I’ll ask someone in the head office?]

[Mom found me a tutor again. I know you’re the one secretly stirring up trouble in the background.]

[But I’m past worrying about it, it doesn’t matter to me. You have to make up for it and help point out the key points.]

[Don’t tell me to ask my tutor. That teacher has a terrible accent.]

[123 is always pronounced as ya e san instead of yi er san. My Mandarin is almost going astray!]

[Reply, reply]

[Don’t hide silently behind the computer. I know you’re home.]

[If you don’t help me, I’ll tell Mom that you’ll never get married or have children in your life! It’s up to you, Boss He!]

He Chuzhou replied with a “scared to tears” emoticon. He manually deleted He Aiyue’s messages until only the first and last three sentences were left, then took another screenshot and forwarded it to Pei Xi.

“Look.” He spread his hands helplessly. “She threatened me.”

Pei Xi scanned the screenshot full of unreasonable bullying and was silent for a long while. He sent his work email and the password.

“Generally, what needs to be processed are some reports and plan revisions. You can take a look if you have time.”

The words of a scoundrel could not be believed.

He Chuzhou happily right-clicked to collect it, then replied to He Aiyue with the extremely ruthless sentence, “I don’t have time, go to your teacher.” He fiddled with the computer for a while and sent a pop-up request to the person opposite.

Pei Xi looked at the words ‘Apply for Online Connection’ and stared blankly: “What is this?”

He Chuzhou was leisurely and carefree: “With the configuration of new computers, you can apply online connections to up to ten computers and share content to improve work efficiency.”

Pei Xi didn’t understand at all, but nodded in agreement.

A small new window instantly appeared on the screen, also looking like a computer desktop.

An unfinished transaction contract was displayed on it. It wasn’t locked, which meant that he could zoom in or out and make comments.

He understood that his current screen could be shared with He Chuzhou in the same way.

Pei Xi’s assistant, Dong Han, had a girlfriend. He had been together with her since high school, and they had a deep relationship, but it still couldn’t be avoided that she asked to exchange phones and check each other’s social media accounts now and then. 

Don Han was loyal to his girlfriend, but this unreservedly frank approach still made him feel uncomfortable, so he couldn’t help complaining in front of Pei Xi.

He didn’t understand, and couldn’t offer him any comfort. He just felt that since Dong Han felt bad about it, it should be a bad thing.

But now, his perception had changed.

The distance between cold electronic machines could also create a sense of closeness and change a person’s mood.

He couldn’t specifically describe how he felt, but he was sure that there was no sense of rejection. This feeling of sharing was more like a silent, comforting companionship that he had never felt before.

Especially when he saw the words “Look to the right” typed at the bottom of a file that was set aside. A secret method of communication between them was silently born at this moment.

It was a very fresh and novel feeling, as if a small flower could bloom in the gap of the keyboard.

Pursing his lips, Pei Xi looked to the right.

In just the blink of an eye, his wallpaper was changed from the default to a group of stick figure ducks walking around a pool.

Right away, one of the ducks spotted him in front of the computer and turned around to walk over, wagging its tail. It took out its wings, pulled a bouquet of roses out of nowhere, and handed it to him.

He Chuzhou: “It’s so cute. You can drag this one with the mouse and place it wherever you want.”

Pei Xi: “…..”

He Chuzhou lamented: “You can click out of it if you don’t like it.”

Pei Xi: “He Chuzhou, you’re so childish.”

He said this with an expressionless face as he dragged the little duck with a bouquet to the most conspicuous place above the window, letting it twist about and take out limitless flowers.

They didn’t stay in the study for very long. Pei Xi’s physical strength and energy had not yet recovered. He needed to avoid overexertion and get adequate rest.

Pei Xi left the study first. He went straight to the master bedroom, opened the closet, and took out a set of large pajamas that didn’t fit his body shape, then put them on.

When he turned around, he looked directly into a pair of eyes.

He Chuzhou stood at the door, not coming in. He seemed stunned. His expression was one of shock, but also contained a secret surge of pleasant surprise and amazement.

“You want to sleep with me?” He asked with raised lips.

Pei Xi: “…..”

He’d forgotten again that he wasn’t brain-addled.

“No.”

The hands hanging by his side clenched helplessly, but his expression didn’t change: “I forgot my pajamas, so I’m borrowing yours.”

Having said this, he didn’t stay any longer, quickly bypassing He Chuzhou to return to the guest room.

It turned out he was just borrowing clothes, ah.

He Chuzhou shrugged, somewhat disappointed. It was fine.

But when he looked back, he saw that the closet door was still open. Thinking of the just-woken-up Pei Xi standing there and changing his clothes with his long legs and slender waist stretched out, he felt happy again.

Pei Xi had no muscles, but could he have muscle memory?

It was possible. He liked this kind of muscle memory, and it would be okay if it happened again.

Pei Xi returned to his room. As soon as the door closed, he couldn’t help but cover his face with his hands, filled with annoyance.

Was it so difficult to distinguish? Why was he always forgetting nowadays?

Rubbing his temples in vexation, he walked to the closet to change his pajamas again.

But when the clothes were in his hands, he paused again and lowered his head to look at the pajamas he was wearing.

The garments with a low collar and long sleeves hung loosely on him.

The dark fabric was soft, carrying the scent of sunshine and laundry detergent. The fragrance wasn’t strong, but fresh and clean. Very comfortable-smelling.

This outfit was not unfamiliar to him. He had worn it many times already and was already very familiar with the length of the cuffs and trouser legs. He even knew how many times the fabric had to be folded when rolling it up to fit him.

And every time he put it on, he slept well.

The closet door closed again, and Pei Xi turned off the lights before lying down in bed. The pajamas that fit him had been left intact and put neatly back in their place.

*

*

He Chuzhou answered the phone before going to bed, rejecting Wu Qing’s request to have a small party at his house that weekend.

Wu Qing: “The hell? Your feelings have faded after not seeing each other for a few days, right? Didn’t you used to agree right away?”

He Chuzhou: “It was fine for an empty-nester to join in the fun occasionally back then. That’s not possible now. Your brother isn’t living alone anymore.”

The pornographic waste in Wu Qing’s head was selectively ineffective when it came to the innocent old boy He Chuzhou: “What not living alone? Can you say you don’t live alone just because you got a cat? You have no shame.”

He Chuzhou: “En, I don’t. My cat is afraid of other animals, so don’t come over. Shoo.”

Wu Qing simply refused to face reality and still wanted to wear him down.

He Chuzhou didn’t give him a chance. He hung up the phone, wrapped up in the quilt, and rolled over to the space where Pei Xi often slept. He buried his face in the pillow and took a deep breath, feeling sleepy and refreshed.

The exhaustion caused by lack of sleep the previous night arrived at his door today.

Before falling into dreamland, he was still thinking about changing the color of the white curtains in the guest room.

The curtains in Pei Xinxin’s room were blue, so he would just change these to blue. People slept better in a familiar environment and were less likely to feel homesick.

His sleep was heavy and deep, and his dreams were profound. So much so that when he was awoken in the morning by someone who crawled into his bed and pinched his nose, he thought his respiratory tract had been blocked by a jellyfish while exploring the deep sea.

When he dizzily opened his eyes, Pei Xi was lying next to him, bored and playing with the stray hair across his forehead. Seeing that he was awake, he pinched He Chuzhou’s face in displeasure: “Why did you drive me away to sleep in the guest room?”

“When did I drive you away?”

He Chuzhou wore a look of confusion. When he came to his senses, he grabbed the other’s hand helplessly: “I didn’t drive you away. It was you yourself who said you had a cold and were afraid of passing it to me, so you went to sleep in the guest room. I couldn’t hold you back.”

Oh. So that was it.

Very reasonable. Pei Xi accepted this explanation, but then he had another problem: “Why did I bring my toothbrush and bath towel over?”

He Chuzhou was very drowsy. He took this person into his arms and rubbed him gently, then buried his head and slowly thought up an excuse: “Since we haven’t been apart in a long time, you were afraid that I would miss you and be too sad after seeing your things, so you moved them all away.”

Pei Xi obediently let himself be held. He wondered: “Not sleeping together for just one night would make you miss me and be sad?”

He Chuzhou: “Ah, those of us who are deeply romantic are like this.”

Pei Xi thought he was talking nonsense.

At least, that last sentence was nonsense.

Compared to this, he was more willing to believe that it was his own deep concern that caused the situation.

Thus, the person who had just halfway warmed up He Chuzhou ran away again.

Uncomprehending, he cracked open his eyes and sat up in bed, watching Pei Xi run in and out as he moved everything back into the master bedroom. Then he returned to the bed and threw himself onto He Chuzhou, arching into his arms.

“I’m all better now, you don’t have to act out deep romantic scenes.”

Pei Xi yawned and pressed his forehead against He Chuzhou’s neck: “I’m sleepy. Let’s sleep a little longer.”

“But not too long. Remember to wake me up when you get back from dreamland.”

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[1] The “pig-killing scam” is a kind of fraud where the fraudster creates a virtual image on social media to gain the victim’s (pig’s) trust and establish a romantic relationship with them before defrauding them of property. ⮐

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Chapter 31 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 33