Chapter Text
The new questline ended up being a stealth mission, much to the annoyance of everybody. It was the same maze as the one from the Forbidden Flower Pool dungeon however, perhaps due to the consciousness of the developers to not release a ghost storyline on the first day of the New Year of all days, this time the questline took place completely during the day in what was clearly a permanent replica of the Flower Pool Dungeon. According to in-game lore this was the garden’s original state, before the arrival of The Gardener, and thus there wasn’t a single ghost or creepy visual in sight. Instead, the entire place was luscious and vibrant if surprisingly abandoned. Or so they thought.
The real pit had been that the plants in that garden could f*cking see and move and thus if you were unlucky to select the wrong path, the whole party would have to restart. And considering this could be considered a semi-open-world Raid, the size of the party was the entire f*cking guild. Not only would everybody have to restart but an unlucky person would be picked out at random and be imprisoned in a thorn cage where every ten minutes they had a low percentage chance of getting essentially possessed by the flowers and trigger a random negative effect. Sometimes it was simple as just getting Poisoned for half a minute but it could get as nasty as dismantling your weapons or armour so that you had to spend gold and rare materials to repair it.
In the end, they barely managed to hobble their way over to the end of the maze to a giant thorny arch full of twisting branches, that stood tall and proud before a gigantic water mass whose name was even a secret showing up just as ???
As soon as ChunXiao interacted with the arch, the players who had been trapped in the thorn cages got released and reunited with the party.
Naturally, Jing Huan, whose luck stat in this game seemed to be in the negatives, had been one of the first people to get trapped in the cage and so the state of the little fox fairy model was indeed indescribably. She was covered in mud and branches and leaves from head to toe, hear armour, weapons and even some of her at-rest garments were dismantled by the vines, she was barely holding on due to poison (in fact if Jing Huan hadn’t constantly used his mana to replenish his health he would have perished long ago), and she even had moss and lichen covering his eyes and hands making it difficult to see. In short, it was really excruciatingly terrible.
Just then they all got the prompt to step through the arch and into the ??? water.
Then…they got pulled into a quiz.
…
What the f*ck was with this development?
To top it off…it was a quiz that kept asking about random food-related questions. Everything from random trivia about the origin of recipes to modern day substitutes or variations of them, all sorts of questions were asked and every person got asked different ones.
Gradually, as the questions became more and more difficult, more and more people started to drop out of the quiz and were forced to just sit there watching debuffs from the strange water just get stacked on top of them. Curious, Xiang Huaizhi hovered his cursor over the debuff icon and felt his eyes shooting up.
Well sure enough. NCH developers were the best at digging pits for everybody. As long as they were active participants in the quiz, they were immune to the debuff but as soon as they got a question a wrong, they started to stack up said Nurturing Waters debuff and if their body exceeded certain stacks, they would just directly be transformed into either a Happy Flower or a Sweet Dewdrop and explode in an AOE, stacking more stacks onto their teammates. Although there wasn’t an explanation on what either the Happy Flower or the Sweet Dewdrop was, they all knew it couldn’t be anything good, no matter how unthreatening the name may sound. To make the pit even deeper, the thorn cages debuff seemed to make it more and more likely for the Nurturing Waters debuff to directly trigger the transformation sequence and not give you a chance to escape.
Sure enough…soon people started to trigger the transformation, bathing the entirety of Xiang Huaizhi’s screen in water, pollen and red petals that truly made one to feel nauseous. The damage was not insignificant either.
It wasn’t long before the only people alive were Xiang Huaizhi, who had failed the weird food quiz a while ago, and Jing Huan who seemed to be taking this as seriously as one takes their gaokao.
Nobody dared to speak, lest they distract her and collectively team-wipe which would force them to do the whole process since the start of the maze all over again.
Then, the Nurturing Water debuff reached 14 stacks and Xiang Huaizhi’s entire screen exploded in water and red petals, dance enough to give the appearance of getting sprayed with blood but then the secret buff Peach BlossomUnder Naihe Bridge he had gotten a while ago got triggered, dispelling him of the death state, all the nurturing water stacks and triggering the weirdest in-game interaction/animation sequence he had seen in his life.
Sure enough The Gardener was still the Gardener and the form they took on was that of Xiang Huaizhi’s so called Peach Blossom Debt but, perhaps due to the living party being present in Xiao Tianjing, the animation stopped halfway and merged with Xiao Tianjing’s body model. For a few brief seconds her body received a red outline and then suddenly the ??? water parted into a descending staircase, the waves surging.
And sprawled all over her.
He could hear Jing Huan’s (through the voice changer) say something in Mongolian as he watched the Nurturing Waters debuff triggered and her entire model turned red.
Everybody sighed and ChunXiao got ready for the Retry? prompt to appear, only for nothing to show up.
“...” Xiang Huaizhi.
“...” Lu Hang.
“...” Love is For You To Eat
“...” The rest of the Guild.
“So…” Regardless of Lovesickness spoke into the microphone uncertainly. “Bug?”
Xiang Huaizhi frowned. “It shouldn’t be ba ?”
Lu Hang’s voice was also full of doubt as he spoke: “If it really is a Bug then isn’t that super unserious? They were drumming up such a fuss about this update, it must have been tested so many times?”
“Tested, my f*cking ass” Xiao Tianjing's cutesy girly voice exploded with dissatisfaction and Xiang Huaizhi had to bite his lip to not laugh as he imagined Jing Huan’s angry expression. “What part of this was f*cking tested, it's clearly not even considered digging a pit but directly using the shovel to smack and bury you.”
“You're alive?” ChunXiao’s voice was calm and steady. “Finish the Questline first and let's chat later.”
Just then the announcement prompt sounded,announcing the successful completion of the Questline and the permanent unlock of the new Raid boss for all of the server. They also got an achievement for first clear but there didn't seem to be any tangible rewards. They all felt speechless. Such a lengthy and annoying Questline to unlock this Raid boss and they got nothing in return? Isn't that a bit too poisonous?
The lot of them respawned and went back to the guildhall to discuss.
Regardless of Lovesickness: “We did all this and got no rewards? That's too unbelievable.”
“It’s not necessarily no reward but the reward is indeed a bit strange.” Jing Huan’s voice was much calmer now and more inline with Xiao Tianjing’s character settings. “I received a key and an item called Red String of Fate.”
He then sent the items info to the guild chat.
[
Key to Meng Po’s Pantry.
Soulbound. Team-restricted.
Meng Po has been dutifully preparing soup for many years and has started to feel it is too boring. You passed her cooking test and have been rewarded with the status of Assistant Cook and thus given the key to her food pantry.
You can use this key to directly and honestly unlock the entrance to the Wedding Feast Reunion Raid whenever you want for you and your selected team. Only one key can exist in a team and upon teaming up with another person who has the key, only one key will remain and the rest will be destroyed. Please select your Kitchen Maids carefully.
Note: Wedding Feast Reunion can be entered without the Key but all non-allied NPCs and bosses would be immediately hostile. Perhaps you may even encounter an overworked Meng Po :)
]
[
Yuelao’s Red Yarn
Soulbound
You have waited a lifetime for the scum man to finally repay his debt to you but even in death he is still unreliable. It's best to directly strangle him with the Red Yarn between you the next time you meet.
You and your past life’s spouse died for each other together. As long as you two are in the same party, anytime the Peach Blossom Debt of Past Life buff is triggered for one of you, it can then be triggered by the other person with the same effects.
Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Important things must be said 3 times. Remember to invite all the population of Heaven and Earth to the Wedding (Tip: just don't let Meng Po cook the feast.)
]
…
These two items were simply too magical.
“What is the Peach Blossom Debt of Past Life buff?” The sudden voice of his cousin, made Xiang Huaizhi nearly jump out of his seat. He had forgotten she was there…
He coughed uncomfortably. “It’s the buff I got as The Gardener’s Wedding dowry. In fact I should have mentioned it at the time but it took a while for me to notice and then it completely slipped my mind, I’m sorry.”
He then shared the buff description to the guild chat.
For a while nobody spoke.
“But,” Xiang Yu’s voice was full of doubt. “How come your buff and her item are tied together? You aren’t husband and wife? Unless you secretly got married??”
Xiang Huaizhi’s ears burned red and he hurried to explain. “In a manner of speaking, we could indeed be considered husband and wife, when I got abducted by The Gardner they took on Jing-...cough- Xiao Tianjing’s appearance and after the wedding wine was drunk, my character woke up with the new buff.”
“You married me???” Jing Huan’s voice sounded breathless and choked out with shock. “I… is that why you sent me that cosmetic item? But…how come you married me??”
So…how exactly was Xiang Huaizhi supposed to explain that the reason he married Xiao Tianjing was because she reminded him of Jing Huan when Jing Huan ended up being both these people in some divine reversal of fate?
His ears and even the back of his neck turned hot with embarrassment. “Cough, The Gardener put a lot of effort into the scenery, I wanted to see what would happen.”
“And you didn’t fight me when I stabbed you? Your attitude is quite liberal.”
“Wait wait wait, pause, ” Lu Hang’s voice sounded like he didn’t know what was up and down anymore. “What wedding wine? What marriage? What stabbing?”
Xiang Huaizhi was finally able to fully describe everything that had happened at the time and as a result nobody had anything to say for a while.
“That’s all” he couldn’t remember when was the last time he had talked to somebody for so long.
“So” Qiufeng’s voice dripped with confusion. “You…married Jingjing after all?”
The sentence shot him in the heart. Although the ‘jing’ in Xiao Tianjing was different from the one in Jing Huan’s name…the name Jingjing still caused sweetness to pool in Xiang Huaizhi’s belly and a smile to tug at his lips. The next sentence he spoke was full of affection that could not be hidden.
“It seems so… Although from a thematic standpoint I could be considered to have married The Gardner-”
Jing Huan erupted into peels of laughter before Xiang Huaizhi could even finish speaking. It seemed like Jing Huan’s microphone was on voice activation as the familiar (if a bit pitch-distorted) laughter entered in Xiang Huaizhi’s ears, turning them red. It wasn’t a particularly girly laugh, in fact it almost sounded like Jing Huan was laughing to the point of tears that occasionally caused him to choke or hiccup and the setting of Xiao Tianjing’s voice really couldn’t support it very well but thanks to Miss Voice Changer’s hard work at least it didn’t expose Jing Huan’s true identity.
In fact Jing Huan’s laughter was super infectious, especially since XIang Huaizhi could imagine the younger boy’s expression crystal clear in his mind. He remembered the many times he had seen Jing Huan’s toothy smile and his wide open mouth as he laughed, his elegant hand trembling slightly as Jing Huan did his best to cover his teeth with it but not really succeeding. The way his eyes curved like moon crescents and his cheeks became so taut from the effort to quell his laugh that the strain caused little duck feet lines to appear at the corners of his eyes.
Xiang Huaizhi felt like his heart was overbubbling with happiness and affection.
“Is it so amusing to be married to me?” He teased Jing Huan lightly.
A series of small bangs came through the microphone as if Jing Huan had slapped his desk and then his legs before he could barely wheeze out. “Gege I’m sorry it’s just- hahahahaahah”
He continued to laugh for a while, choked out wheezes occasionally coming through the microphone until Xiang Huaizhi had to remind him.
“Pay attention to breathing, don’t choke to death, I’m too young to be widowed.”
The laughter finally slowed down to occasional giggles and Jing Huan was finally able to respond normally. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
The younger boy exhaled softly before mumbling. “I’ll definitely get more eye wrinkles from this, I blame you.”
A pot dropped on him from the sky and he could only accept it. “En, I’ll bear responsibility.”
“... Cough cough”
At the sound of ChunXiao’s gentle cough, Xiang Huaizhi startled slightly. He had…really forgotten there were other people here okay!
The tips of his ears turned red and he coughed awkwardly a couple of times and pretended nothing had happened. “Were the questions in the quiz just now very hard?”
If he wasn’t embarrassed, nobody would be embarrassed and if they were somehow embarrassed, what did said embarrassment have to do with him?
“It stopped being a quiz at all and transitioned into a collection of weird cooking games, could you believe that? I would really like to know whose brain hole was big enough to decide that not only would there be a cooking gaokao for this quest but it would also have a theoretical and a ‘practical’ part!” Jing Huan huffed, clearly annoyed and Xiang Huaizhi got the distinct sense that he was pouting too.
Xiang Yu: “You had to cook?”
“Well it wasn’t real cooking but yes. It was honestly very strange, I know minigames have been part of NCH before but this felt very jarring, who knows what they were thinking while designing it.”
Vigorous Little Mosquito Repellent’s voice came clearly through the microphone with a teasing note. “Haha never before did I think we would all collectively rely on Xiao Tianjing’s cooking skills to lie down and win. What has the world come to~”
“He’s a great cook.”
“She’s a great cook.”
Qiufeng and him spoke at the same time, as if by reflex and immediately everybody went deathly quiet. His private messages exploded with notifications.
Kiss Kiss Fish Fish: [ ? ]
Long Road Ahead: [ ? ]
Qiufeng: [ ? ]
Love Is For You To Eat: [ ? ]
Staring at the influx of question marks and messages demanding to know the situation, Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help wincing and hurried to apologise to Jing Huan:
Yearning For: [(Whisper) I’m sorry. I spoke reflexively. ]
Yearning For: [(Whisper) Will this create difficulties for you? Or should I find a way to explain first? ]
Xiao Tianjing: [(Whisper) Haha it’s fine, I can deal with it ]
Xiao Tianjing: [(Whisper) After all these years if I wasn’t a talented actress, it would really be a waste of my younger self’s hard work UwU ]
Vigorous Little Mosquito Repellant spoke up again with the attitude of fishing in troubled waters. “What’s the situation? Jingjing, you aren’t stepping on two boats at the same time are you?”
“Forget stepping on two boats, I can’t even step on one aiya. Aren’t you thinking a bit too badly of me? Qiufeng and I have always been just friends and I’ve cooked for all my friends because it’s my hobby. It isn’t strange! As for Yearning For gege… well when I was chasing him before, I was able to send him some homemade snacks as a gift.”
“Moreover,” Qiufeng’s voice was cheerful but with a clear desire to settle the topic. “I have somebody else that I like and would appreciate it if there isn’t any misunderstanding if I decide to introduce them to everybody.”
Everybody got successfully distracted by the new topic and it wasn’t long before the gathering dispersed not long after.
Of course, things weren’t as simple as that for Xiang Huaizhi.
Salted YuYu: [ Gege what’s the situation ]
Salted YuYu: [ Xiao Tianjing sent you gifts? Snacks? When was this ?? How come you didn’t mention it??? ]
Salted YuYu: [ No, wait, is she actually going to become my sister-in-law? Do you like her???]
Xiang: [ Well… I like her ]
Xiang: [ As for the matter of becoming your sister-in-law… I hope to bring you good news soon :) ]
Salted YuYu: [ ???????¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ ]
He resolutely muted his cousin’s messages.
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ XiangXiang… you… when did you meet up with Xiao Tianjing? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Actually, how come she is lying about it too? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ There is no way you gave her your address for her to send snacks to ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ And if that had happened before, you would have told me about it ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ But why accept the snacks and the meeting now? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Didn’t you say you were gay and liked that neighbour of yours? ]
… Lu Hang sure was talkative…
Xiang Huaizhi had a sudden splitting headache. How come the one time he decided to share something with his friend, fate’s reversal came so quickly.
Xiang: [ I am gay and I do like my neighbour ]
Before he even finished typing up his follow up message, Lu Hang was already sending his.
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Don’t tell me you’re actually the one stepping on two boats! ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ If that’s the case, that’d be really rude and unfair, that girl has liked you for so long. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Moreover, wouldn’t that make you bisexual? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Since you are bisexual, shouldn’t you show a bit more responsibility for the plight of bisexuals who constantly get misunderstood as unscrupulous! ]
The headache was intensifying.
Xiang: [ Not bisexual ]
Xiang: [ You can understand it as such if it’s easier but it’s not the correct word for me ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Then what is? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Or are you one of those people that just uses gay for all sorts of other terms? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Actually, wait no, don’t distract laozi! ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ The point is, you can’t be as unscrupulous as putting a green hat on Jingjing, okay? Plus isn’t that super unfair to your neighbour as well?! ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Show some restraint ba, are you a pig! ]
So…how does he talk himself out of this situation now?
Wasn’t the only solution to just…ask Jing Huan for permission…
Xiang: [ Jing Huan ]
So…how does he word this???
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Gege? What’s the matter? ]
He started and stopped typing multiple times, trying to figure out the best way to ask this.
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ You are typing so earnestly… ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Is it serious? It’s not about those people teasing you again is it? ]
A pause.
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Or are you typing me a composition (o^▽^o) ]
He couldn’t help smiling, the knot in his heart unravelling.
Xiang: [ No composition this time. ]
Xiang: [ And no, even if they tease me, it doesn’t matter. People asking if I like you isn’t an inconvenience for me.
He was in the middle of typing a response when a message came through.
Xiao Jing ya~: [ Ah gege is making me blush (/▿＼ ) ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ What’s the matter then? ]
Xiang: [ What are your thought on Lu Hang? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Lu Hang? ]
Xiang: [ Sorry, Lu Hang is Long Road Ahead’s name. ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ What I think about Long Road Ahead? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ He’s nice I think. Polite but friendly and he’s always treated me very well even before we joined the guild.
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ So my impression could be considered to be quite good? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Why suddenly ask this? ]
Xiang: [ Would you mind if he knew? ]
Xiang: [ About you, I mean. ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Um…that…depends? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ What do you plan on telling him exactly ]
Xiang: [ Just that you are my neighbour ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Oh! ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ That’s fine then, yeah sure, no problem ]
Xiang: [ I ask because he knows my neighbour is male. So now he thinks you’re a guy. So if I tell him that you as Xiao Tianjing are my neighbour… ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Oh…]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Well I am a guy so. ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ If you think he is reliable then you can tell him. ]
Xiang: [ He is reliable when it counts ]
Xiang: [ And I’ve told him that I’m not straight so he isn’t a hom*ophobe ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Although not being a hom*ophobe is not the same as being accepting of finding out a girl you are close to has unexpected anatomical similarities, if you say he is reliable then I will believe you ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ But… Please just ask him to keep it a secret. I like having the opportunity to be a girl whenever I want just by jumping online into a game ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Although of course some people in the Guild know like Qiufeng (probably) and Chichi, most people really can’t look at a person beyond their appearance so I’d rather not have to…navigate that… ]
Xiang: [ You can always be whatever you want to me ]
His ears turned scarlet and even the top of his cheekbones started to feel a bit hot so he switched the topic while he could still type.
Xiang: [ But I don’t have to tell him anything, if you are uncomfortable ]
Xiang: [ It’s why I asked you about it ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ No no no no, he’s your friend it’s fine ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ You’ve vouched for him and I trust you ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ So you can tell him ]
Xiang Huaizhi breathed deeply, exhaling slowly a few times. His mood was really complicated at the moment. Jing Huan had said it was okay and Xiang Huaizhi genuinely believed that Lu Hang wouldn't be prejudiced or go around telling everyone but he still felt uncertain. He couldn't bear causing trouble for Jing Huan and if something went wrong he would really feel like his inverse dragon scale was touched. Jing Huan was a softness and tenderness he wanted to protect. Although of course the younger boy was definitely capable on his own, Xiang Huaizhi still felt the impulse and urge to cradle him in his arms and shield him from all the bitterness of this world.
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Why are you not saying anything? You can't have taken offence ba? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ In fact I just feel like it is a bit irresponsible ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Jingjing liked you so much back then and you were always super cold towards her, now that you suddenly like her it's to put a green hat on her while chasing your neighbour. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ It doesn't feel right. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ She is such a gentle and genuine girl, no matter what opinion you have had on her all these years, you can't be cruel enough to do this. ]
Xiang: [ I was just talking to her about it, not ignoring you. ]
Xiang: [ In fact actually…Xiao Tianjing is my neighbour. It's why I like them both. It's the same person. ]
Xiang: [ I found out earlier today and told him I recognised him and who I was ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ You… Are you serious??? (Shocked.jpg ) ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Is there such a coincidence??? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Wait you mean I was right that time? When I asked if you liked her and if she was your neighbour? Didn't you refute me very unilaterally back then??? ]
Thinking back on it…that really seemed to have happened. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Xiang: [ I didn't know back then. You can imagine my shock today when I saw him typing in the Guild chat right in front of me. ]
Xiang: [ You are taking it better than he did when I told him we were guildmates and I was Yearning For no less ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ I imagine it would be quite shocking for her…]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Wait wait wait wasn't your neighbour a guy? So Xiao Tianjing is a man?!?!?! ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ f*ck, a big man like him can pretend so well for so many years, it's so creepy ]
Xiang Huaizhi frowned, immediately displeased.
Xiang: [ He isn't creepy ]
His insides were burning with slow but powerful rage and the more he looked at these words the more he felt like he had swallowed bitter medicine. The effort it took to remain calm as he typed caused him to type even more slowly than before which allowed Lu Hang to send more messages while Xiang Huaizhi was still typing just one.
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Sorry, that was very rude just now. I was just shocked. I didn't mean to say that he was creepy. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ I am sure he is great since you like him so much and I meant what I said back then, I hope you can successfully chase him and have happy harmonious relations with him ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ It's just quite shocking to hear that a man can pretend to be a girl so convincingly and for so long. Doesn't that mean that next time I date somebody online, they may just lift up their skirt and turn out to be bigger than me?! ]
Although the point of the discussion had gone off track, Xiang Huaizhi’s mind suddenly burned with the image of Jing Huan lifting up a skirt to reveal a pretty dick standing upright between his long pretty legs. He felt like he had to sit down and breathe for just a moment, the fantasy causing his brain to feel hot and scrambled as if somebody had tried to turn it into a tornado omelette, and be unable to even register what his eyes were seeing. Jing Huan…probably owned a skirt or a dress right? Although of course not all girls owned or even wore such things, somebody as pretty as Jing Huan who not only enjoyed cute things (and being cute himself) but who was also trying to figure out his…’ gender expression ’ as the Internet had called it, surely would have at least tried on a skirt at some point. Xiang Huaizhi wouldn't ask him of course but the image was…doing quite a lot to him.
He pinched himself to calm down and forced himself to pay attention to the conversation with Lu Hang.
Xiang: [ I think you worry too much, no guy can ‘pretend’ to be a girl so well for such a long time. ]
Xiang: [ Even a movie emperor would not be able to keep it up after a while and would feel uncomfortable]
Xiang: [ As for whether your future girlfriend can turn out to be bigger than you, that is completely on you, I feel (doge head) ]
In any case, he really couldn't relate to such a concern. Although he didn't know how big Jing Huan’s dick was (or if he even had one to be completely honest since the information he read about it said that taking hormones or even undergoing surgery was possible nowadays), the size of it really didn't matter. Whether Jing Huan had a dick or a puss*, Xiang Huaizhi would find a way to pleasure him in as many ways as he could, and if Jing Huan was indeed willing to lie under him and be f*cked then whether his dick was big or small was not a concern for Xiang Huaizhi at all. Although it would be quite surprising if Jing Huan somehow managed to be bigger than him. After all…his own co*ck was not something many people in the world could relate to and it often caused him a lot of issues that didn't seem to have been encountered by Jing Huan. Moreover, that situation with the underwear earlier… Cough. The chances really weren't big.
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ What do you mean even a movie emperor would struggle? Is Xiao Tianjing better than a movie emperor? ]
Okay…question: how to explain to this person? Waiting online urgently for answers.
Xiang: [ …you…do you know what a ‘trans’ person is? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Trans? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Oh you mean like…an actual renyao? ]
Xiang: [ Don't use that word randomly. ]
Xiang: [ But yes, that is roughly what I mean ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Ah? Is it considered rude? Okay I won't use it ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ But what do you mean by asking me about it?]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Does Xiao Tianjing want to be a girl? ]
Although this wording was still quite inadequate, Xiang Huaizhi knew which battles to pick at which time.
Xiang: [ Sometimes. ]
Xiang: [ Don't treat her differently or tell other people. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Naturally I won't tell anybody, what kind of person do you think I am ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Xiangxiang you’re being so hurtful QAQ ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ But on a serious note, although it is indeed a bit strange… it's not that unusual. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Laozi has been alive for so many years, naturally I won't care about what my best friend’s girlfriend has between her legs. Especially if you, the affected party, don't care. ]
Xiang: [ Not my girlfriend yet ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Yes yes not your girlfriend yet ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ But soon ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ But what do you mean by sometimes? Can that also be a thing that can be switched at will? ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ I know those people take all sorts of hormones and undergo surgeries and whatnot and it's not easy to go through it all. Wavering about it is not simple. ]
Xiang: [ … ]
Xiang: [ You are quite well informed… ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Naturally, I am well informed! ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ Don't I have an aunt who works for the government? At one point she was responsible for the reviewing of those sorts of people's applications and supply ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ It was not a great job and her attitude wasn't the best when she got it but she saw all sorts of people there and even developed some empathy for their struggles ]
Xiang: [ … ]
He was pleasantly surprised by this and his mood and attitude became better too.
Xiang: [ Then I can only admire her. ]
Xiang: [ All Xiao Tianjing said was that sometimes she feel like a girl but not all the time. ]
Xiang: [ Things like surgeries or hormones or the like… I don’t know about it and I don’t mind either way. ]
Little Road Little Road Certainly Wouldn’t Get Lost: [ You actually really like her! ]
He couldn’t help smiling.
Xiang: [ Well… I like them a lot. ]
-
In the end, he ended up going to bed quite late and as a result woke up closer to noon than the morning for the first time in years.
As for his date with Jing Huan… Naturally he wouldn’t forget about it.
Compared to last time when the two of them had gone to the market together, today he put on a bit more effort into his clothes. Last time he hadn’t known he liked Jing Huan like that yet. But now that he knew, naturally he couldn’t just wear anything.
The problem was that he indeed had nothing all that nice to wear in his downtime. The best he could do was a pair of jeans, a white cotton shirt and a faux leather jacket.
The fact that he had to delete a bunch of baidu searches on how to dress was between him and his internet service provider. There was no other choice however as his personal style was in actuality quite boring. Unless he was going out with Jing Huan (which hadn’t happened much given how busy they both were) then he was either into his working clothes or leisurely sports wear and while the sportswear could indeed be worn outside, Xiang Huaizhi would feel quite bummy if he took out Jing Huan in nothing more than a tank top and some sweatpants, or (even worse) basketball shorts. So he had had to look up ideas and thus ended up with a bit of a ‘bad boy’ look that he honestly felt a bit unsuited for. It’s not that it clashed with his image necessarily, after all his face and temperament had often been described as cold, it’s just that as a thirty year old working man he really felt a bit out of place in such a look that would look more suited to a young idol. Nevertheless it didn’t look strange and, although Xiang Huaizhi was definitely starting to feel the age with the amount of back pain he had been getting recently, his face was thankfully still youthful and the cold sternness of his facial features meant that his face had remained largely unchanged from his 20s. Moreover even though his free time had drastically decreased since graduation, he still put a lot of effort into staying as active as possible and keeping in shape so he was able to preserve his muscles and their muscle lines, granting him a much more youthful appearance than what he would have once expected to look like at 30.
He even managed to find video tutorials on how to stealthily apply hair gel so that his hair remained voluminous while staying out of his eyes, which further contributed to the leisurely but put together appearance.
He had genuinely spent an embarrassingly long time practising how to do that hairstyle until he got the desired result.
Jing Huan was always incredibly beautiful and managed to look ethereal with what seemed like the barest effort and Xiang Huaizhi didn’t want to look out of place next to him. He thought he had done a good job this time but…
Seeing Jing Huan somehow always managed to be like seeing the sun for the first time and today was no different. Notably however, this was the first time he saw Jing Huan wearing colours other than some variation of red or pink without said clothes being just a neutral black or white colour on a piece of sportswear. Instead, Jing Huan looked like a personification of the sun. His trousers were a very pleasing cornflower blue and the bit below the knee was full of cheerful embroidery (or stamping ) of a stylised sun and a various flowers and flower petals, his shirt was a comfy and soft looking loose goose yellow shirt and on his head was a white bucket hat and even his earring was a beautiful and delicate blue earring in the shape of a flower hanging from a vine. It was so delicate and fragile looking, its petals almost translucent as if somebody found a piece of blue jade and shaved the thinnest layers of it, that it caused Xiang Huaizhi’s heart to jump in his throat. The most surprising thing about the outfit however, was Jing Huan’s shoes.
“Are those the Kobe Beijing Finals shoes?” he couldn’t help his eyebrows rising as he stared at the very familiar shoe in front of him.
In fact, Xiang Huaizhi like a lot of young men, had gone through a period of time where he was into collecting fancy limited edition sportswear but even then he had still had some moderation. He would only ever buy the shoes if he liked the way they looked and, in his opinion, Kobe shoes tended to be hit or miss with some of the designs. These particular ones however had been a style he really and moreover the game at the Beijing finals was legendary on top of taking place in Beijing, Xiang Huaizhi had practically had no choice but buy the shoes as soon as they released. He had never worn them, as he thought they didn’t really suit him that much, but he liked to know that he had them and would be able to put them on whenever the situation allowed. He never expected to accidentally end up having a ‘couple shoes’ pair with Xiao Tianjing and the irony of it all made him smile, provoking an answering smile from Jing Huan.
“Yeah! Pretty cool right!” Jing Huan pulled up the leg of his pants a bit and started to twist his body slightly to let Xiang Huaizhi have a better view of the shoes.
The shoes were extremely cool but Xiang Huaizhi was painfully familiar with them. What caught his attention a lot more was the pale almost translucent bit of skin pulling taut over the beautiful outline of Jing Huan’s fibular notch. He had seen Jing Huan’s bare legs before of course, in fact Xiao Tianjing had even sent him that unmentionable photo all those years ago, but it was the first time he had gotten such a good look at the younger boy’s bare ankles. It caused him to wonder what Jing Huan’s toes and bare soles looked like and he, who had never known himself to have a foot fetish in his life, found himself getting shamefully aroused by those images.
He swallowed thickly and willed himself to pry his gaze away from those pale thin ankles.
Somehow getting lost in Jing Huan’s beautiful smiling eyes was not helping him calm down. Go figure.
“Mn” he agreed after he trusted himself to speak. “Very cool.”
Jing Huan’s smile widened even more, his eyes creasing again in that familiar way that made Xiang Huaizhi’s breath stop, before he let his pants’ legs fall back down. “I’m actually a huge Kobe fan, when these shoes were released how could I not get them? Of course I was very young at the time and wore them out quite a bit throughout the years, not to mention that I had to sell a lot of things later to help with my living costs here but I was able to buy them anew recently and I’m really happy! I even tried to pick out my outfit around them today even if the resulting image might be a bit strange.”
“It’s not strange at all. You are very beautiful and they suit you well.”
A stray curl fell down to partially cover one of Jing Huan’s eyes as he was speaking and Xiang Huaizhi felt like his heart was suddenly seized by a ghost. Without even realising, he stepped forward and, submerged in the warm refreshing scent of what he recognised as Jing Huan’s Summer Day shower gel, he lifted his hand and tucked that stray curl behind Jing Huan’s rapidly reddening ear. His pinky accidentally bumped against the delicate flower earring and caused it to jingle lightly as Jing Huan’s eyelashes fluttered over his glazed over eyes. Jing Huan’s mouth opened ever so slightly, his pupils dilated unbearably so, and, just like that Xiang Huaizhi felt himself momentarily overtaken by a surge of impulsivity.
His thumb caressed Jing Huan’s unbearably soft cheek, the rest of his fingers still cupping that cute now aflame ear, before it caught onto Jing Huan’s pretty pink lower lip and pressed down on it ever so slightly. Oh …Jing Huan was wearing lip gloss.
His pulse beat in his ears like thunder but he was still able to hear Jing Huan’s stuttering breaths, was able to see every tremble of his dark eyelashes, was able to feel the sticky glossiness of his lips …
His the tip of his thumb tugged down Jing Huan’s lip and Jing Huan’s saliva fell on the flushed skin of his hand.
His vision turned red. He felt like a firework had gone off against his temple and caused his eyes to stop working.
He didn't even register his body moving forward to kiss Jing Huan until suddenly he could feel the younger boy's soft glossy lips against his own, Jing Huan's strawberry-scented breath in his mouth and the feeling of finally having those gentle curls pooling in his hand. It was meant to be a gentle kiss and perhaps it was unskilled because he had never kissed anybody in his thirty years of life before but then Jing Huan’s arms found his neck and the world began to spin.
Then Jing Huan whimpered quietly, his hips pressing against Xiang Huaizhi’s under the near death grip Xiang Huaizhi had on his waist and finally the reality of where they were came crashing down.
They were in public. In broad daylight.
The realisation hit him like cold water and he had to mentally beat himself into submission to disentangle Jing Huan from him. It felt like peeling off a layer of his own skin.
The younger boy’s eyes were dazed, covered with a thin layer of physiological tears and their corners so red, Xiang Huaizhi had to bite his own tongue, nearly cleaving it in two, to stop himself from trying to f*ck Jing Huan in the community car park over which towered dozens of windows and terraces belonging to all their neighbours.
Unsurprisingly, he was hard.
He took off his jacket and wrapped it around his waist and hoped he wouldn't have to wait long for his erection to decrease. He needed to not look at Jing Huan and not think about the temperature between the younger boy’s legs. Although he couldn’t tell whether Jing Huan had gotten an erection or not, in fact so far he hadn’t really been able to figure out whether Jing Huan had a dick at all, the amount of heat that had come from the front of his pants and pressed against Xiang Huaizhi’s twitching co*ck, was high enough for him to feel scorched even through the material of both their clothes. Jing Huan was aroused. It was evident in his dazed eyes, in the redness around his eyes and cheeks, in the way his wet sticky lips opened and panted for air, in the way he had whimpered as his hips stuttered against Xiang Huaizhi’s.
Xiang Huaizhi wanted to eat him alive.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this in public.” He could barely recognise his own voice with how husky it had become. “Sometimes I just get the urge to kiss you and I couldn’t restrain it in time.”
Jing Huan stared at him for a while without reacting before finally blinking slowly a couple of times, pupils still visibly dilated but the glassy look gradually disappearing from his eyes.
“No-” Jing Huan’s voice cracked midway and he had to take a deep breath and clear his throat a couple of times before resuming. “No need for sorry. I also forgot…”
He raised his long elegant hand to cover his eyes and Xiang Huaizhi noticed that his nails seemed to have a layer of clear nail polish with a couple of the nails even having small flowers painted on them. Almost all the flowers were slightly crooked or had slightly wonky lines, indicating that Jing Huan had probably done it himself. Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help his smile. Cute.
Some time passed before the two of them were able to calm down.
Xiang Huaizhi let out an audible sigh of relief when he felt his dick finally calm down. He was starting to feel a bit lightheaded from it all and now that his body had calmed down, his brain was finally able to reboot in peace again.
“Are you alright? I still owe you lunch and bubble tea after all”
Jing Huan took deep breaths and exhaled slowly several times before looking at him with a smile. “Yeah, let’s go! I know a place.”
They ended up taking the MTR line this time instead of a car. No matter how busy the lines might be, it would still be less busy than the roads. Not even being squished with Jing Huan against the wall, their backpacks between their feet, could change his mind. If he had to be stuck on the road while everybody was still in the rush of visiting their relatives he would have genuinely wanted to tear out his hair.
They ended up going to Victoria Park. The weather was nice enough for it and Jing Huan seemed to have a particular place he wanted to go to and Xiang Huaizhi didn’t mind either way. They didn’t talk about the kiss and even when the two of them were pressed together tightly enough for Xiang Huaizhi’s leg to get stuck between Jing Huan’s thighs, the two of them tacitly pretended to be completely unaffected by it. Given the amount of people in the train, that wasn’t hard at all. They were trapped there, their backpacks entangled on the ground in-between their equally entangled feet and people swarmed around them, causing Xiang Huaizhi and Jing Huan to be pressed up against the wall while submerged in all sorts of smells and scents. Although, fortunately, nobody was inconsiderate enough to not have taken a shower (it being the first couple of days of the New Year and all), that wasn’t to say that there weren’t other ordinarily pleasant smells that mixed together in unexpected ways - an overabundance of strong perfume here, the smell of festive food or particular ingredients there - and it was easy to understand why Xiang Huaizhi’s eyes started to swim with it all. It wasn’t…unpleasant per se but the different scents hung in the air that was stuffy due to the sheer amount of people crowding in the carriage, and it made him feel overwhelmed. He had always had a sensitive nose and was particularly sensitive to random people in his personal space and it made him feel like ants were crawling up and down his arm. There were so many different sounds and smells and people and they were all everywhere and it felt like he couldn’t escape it at all. He tried to breathe in slowly through his nose to unwind but the air was so stuffy, so heavy with the different smells that he couldn’t even focus on that one thing.
They should have taken the car and just been stuck in traffic for an hour.
A soothingly cold hand with elegant fingers touched his cheek tentatively and tilted his head downwards slightly until he met Jing Huan’s beautiful warm eyes looking at him worriedly.
“Gege,” Jing Huan leaned forward as he spoke, his voice calm and gentle, borderline whispering, “You can lean more on me if you feel unwell.”
The younger boy’s voice felt incredibly soothing - like medicinal ointment being spread on an injury - and this close, Xiang Huaizhi could count the specks of light in Jing Huan’s warm eyes. They were so beautiful - clear and bright with specks of gold when the light hit them right and it never failed to make Xiang Huaizhi think of the sky on a summer night, full of stars that filled one’s heart with hope and a calm sense of peace.
Xiang Huaizhi wrapped his free hand around Jing Huan’s waist and pulled him even closer, his thigh slotting more and more between Jing Huan’s, as he leaned forward very slightly until his nose was nearly touching Jing Huan’s hat. This close it was easy to focus on nothing except for Jing Huan. His vision was full of Jing Huan’s pretty eyes, the vague pink tint of his bashful face, the glossiness of his lips, the refreshing scent coming from his skin but most importantly… The heat he could feel from where his fingers were still steadying Jing Huan’s waist or where his thigh was spreading the younger boy’s legs… It was difficult to perceive anything else.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, finally feeling better and not like the entire world was assaulting his senses.
“I’m sorry.” He murmured apologetically, fingers gently tracing the divot of Jing Huan’s spine where his grip had been a bit too strong when he was agitated.
The way Jing Huan arched his back instinctively in response caused Xiang Huaizhi to become intimately aware of what exactly touching the swell of Jing Huan’s ass felt like even if there were layers of clothing separating them. It took all his self control to not move his hand lower or try to get Jing Huan to squirm against him some more. The area between Jing Huan’s thighs became even hotter, to the point Xiang Huaizhi briefly had the delusion of it burning through his trousers.
“No need to apologise.” Jing Huan’s voice was hoarse and slow. “The journey shouldn’t take that much longer. As long as you feel better.”
Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help but smile, his eyes still closed to block out the clutter of stimuli. “I meant, sorry for taking such liberties with your body.”
He raised the heel of his leg ever so slightly to pointedly and very briefly grind his leg where it was slotted between Jing Huan’s maddeningly warm thighs while simultaneously dragging his finger up three of Jing Huan’s vertebrae enjoying the way the younger boy’s breath hitched slightly.
He expected Jing Huan to get shy and embarrassed, pretend to not understand or perhaps even tell him that it wasn’t an issue. He didn’t expect to hear Jing Huan’s teasing whisper that was clearly accompanied by a smile:
“Gege shouldn’t tease me so much if he doesn’t plan to do something about it ya ~”
The ‘gege’ fell down against the shell of Xiang Huaizhi’s ear, causing goosebumps to erupt all over his body. Then, when Jing Huan started to pull back slightly and for a very brief moment - brief enough to make him feel like he had hallucinated it - something warm and wet darted out and licked the knot in Xiang Huaizhi’s throat.
It was like a flashbang exploded behind his eyelids.
He tried to persuade himself to calm down, to not get hard and more importantly to not f*ck Jing Huan right in that moment in that train with all these people around them.
The words repeated like a mantra in his head yet Jing Huan didn’t seem to get the memo at all as it wasn’t long before Jing Huan’s thighs squeezed around his leg, bringing it closer to the pulsing heat in-between, as if he was trying to identify a way he could grind down on it without people noticing.
His eyes flew open and his co*ck twitched with interest and alarms started blaring in his head loud enough to make it feel like the veins around his eyes were about to burst.
He wrapped a finger around one of Jing Huan’s stray curls towards the base of the younger boy’s nape and tugged. “Behave, baby.”
His voice was so hoarse, the words coming out as barely more than a growl due to how quietly he had to say them and the words barely passing through his heavily gritted teeth. He pretended to not see the way Jing Huan’s eyes rolled back into his skull, jaw and teeth clenching hard to choke out what would have clearly been a moan, because if Xiang Huaizhi had allowed himself to see it, to process, right there in that moment, the fact that Jing Huan seemed on the verge of coming just from having his pretty hair tugged and a petname, he would explode on the spot.
He hadn’t meant to call him ‘baobei’ really and certainly not with the borderline mocking undertones of ‘baby’ but in that split second where those words escaped him, he couldn’t think about anything except for how much of a brat Jing Huan was being and how much he wanted to re-educate him with his co*ck.
The two of them were thrumming with anticipation and self-imposed restriction and thus they both decided to give themselves room to calm down. It was the best they could do in that situation. No matter how much Jing Huan wanted to get f*cked and no matter how much Xiang Huaizhi wanted to f*ck him, this was netiehr the place nor time for it.
Thankfully the rest of the train ride was spent in a mutual begrudging truce. Despite the fact that they were still pressed together as ever, neither of them made any moves that could turn the situation more ambiguous than they were allowed to entertain in public. That was a small mercy.
When they finally disembarked at Victoria Park, they both had to pause to take a breath. They couldn’t discuss any of it, naturally, with the amount of people passing near them but this sort of thing couldn’t be avoided forever and moreover neither of them was in a hurry. As much as he wanted to get Jing Huan squirming and moaning underneath him, he also wanted to have Jing Huan in a more mundane and romantic context. He wanted to wake up next to Jing Huan and he wanted to be able to comfort him and kiss or lick the tears off his eyes and the smiles off his lips. Being able to enter and possess Jing Huan’s beautiful body was just a bonus.
The place Jing Huan claimed to know turned out to be a plain old cha chaan teng by the name of Fan Kee Restaurant. The name was unremarkable, the decor was unremarkable and even the location, with the exception of it being practically bang on inside Victoria Park, was unremarkable.
Inside there was a single waitress who looked as wound up and as surly as could be expected as somebody in her occupation. She and Jing Huan argued in Cantonese interspersed with English for a while about a table until finally an older relatively plump woman appeared. Both Jing Huan and the girl - Ma Shui? Maa Seoi? - seemed to know and referrer to her as Auntie Fan so Xiang Huaizhi concluded that she must have been the owner of the establishment.
Finally, the two of them were led through the backdoor to sit on a rickety wooden table and plastic chairs while Maa Seoi took their order.
Finally, she left, her numerous braids swinging and clanking behind her, and the two of them were left on their own.
“I’m sorry, I forgot to ask whether you are okay with cha chaan tengs.” Jing Huan’s words were accompanied by an apologetic smile as he put down the single sheet of laminated paper, that served as a menu, down.
Xiang Huaizhi had no opinion either way, food was food and any food that wasn’t made by Jing Huan resembled any other food not made by Jing Huan anyway.
“Yeah, it’s fine. Cha chaan teng places are fine. I always order the same thing.” He put down the menu as well after reassuring himself that they served the exact same things as everywhere else.
“Haha, me too.”
The two fell into a comfortable silence, John Huan’s fingers picking at the bits of wood that had remained unsmoothed on the table until Maa Seoi came back to take their order.
Xiang Huaizhi was well familiar with the routine: “Yuenyeung, less sugar, iced. Wonton noodles, double base.”
“Stocking milk tea, tea leave (茶走 - aka made with condensed milk), iced. Western toast (西多士). Thank you, Marsha. ”
Ma Seoi - Marsha - just threw Jing Huan a look, raising her eyebrows at Xiang Huaizhi before grinning widely and moving away without noting any of it down. Considering the place was empty and Jing Huan seemed to know the owner, Xiang Huaizhi wasn’t too concerned about their order getting forgotten but Marsha’s expression was so vivid that he couldn’t help but turn to Jing Huan with a confused look on his face. Foreigners always had distinct features and vivid expressions, and with her dark skin, double eyelids and striking coil-like curls interspersed with braids hair Marsha was clearly, at least partially, a foreigner, but her expression had seemed so pointed that Xiang Huaizhi still found himself feeling shocked.
“Ah, don’t worry about Marsha, she may look a bit intimidating but she’s actually really nice.”
It was clear that Jing Huan had a lot of affection for the girl and the two were likely friends even if Marsha’s style seemed to be a bit on the bold and stern side.
“You know her?”
“En, she’s been here for years, I used to work with her and I always found her a bit intimidating until one day we had some wanna-be local boss looking guy who tried to bully some highschool girl and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Marsha upended a whole bowl of piping hot tsaan dan gung (餐蛋麵) on his head so that he’d leave the poor girl alone.” Jing Huan grinned happily while shrugging. “Guy tried to kick up a fuss but she claimed it had been an accident due to how busy we were and Auntie Fan stuck up for her so the guy couldn’t do anything in the end. Later she and the girl ended up dating for a bit but I don’t know if they are still together. I didn’t work here that long.”
“Were you a waiter too?”
“Ah, no not exactly.” He scratched at his cheek awkwardly, seemingly wondering how to explain. Officially I was the ‘tech support’ for this place: I helped them design a takeaway system, digitise their income and receipts, keeping track of their stock etc etc but in actuality these were all things Aunti Fan manufactured as needs just to help me out. This was shortly after I quite my job at that company I told you about, you see, and I was desperately in need of a job in the tech field but I struggled to find an appropriate place. Autie Fan was actually a friend of my landlord at the time and she was kind enough to invent a job for me to do that would fit within the given ‘career constraints’ so that I wouldn't have to be deported or reduced to illicit activities to secure income. Naturally I couldn’t stay behind the desk all day though so I ended up helping out with the cooking quite a bit until I was able to secure another job.”
A knot formed in Xiang Huaizhi’s heart the way it always did when he was reminded of Jing Huan’s hardships.
“That is very nice of her. I’m glad she was there for you.”
“Thank you~” Jing Huan’s eyes were bright. “I really couldn’t have done it without her so I always try to eat here whenever I can. Especially since I think that’s kind of her thing, you know.”
“Helping people?”
“Not just helping people but…” Jing Huan paused a bit, eyes darting around a couple of times, before leaning forward and whispering. “I think she likes helping a lot of queer people in particular. Or at the very least, people whose parents don’t like them very much.”
The pang in his heart felt like it pierced his entire being.
“She…she and her husband - Uncle Fan - were deeply in love you see, they bought this place together, but they never had children, even though both of them wanted them a lot. Some medical things, I’m not sure, I didn’t want to pry, but she has always liked hiring young people and being around them and mentoring them and teaching them. When she found out my mother had… essentially chased me out of the house for liking men and being feminine, she was so mad she started crying. I think she felt really bitter that people who had had children didn’t want them when she and Uncle Fan had bitterly struggled for so many years before he passed away. She was one of the first people I told about…myself. With time I think she started going out of her way to offer help for other people in my position or adults who wouldn’t get hired due to being ‘trans’ and other such things.”
Xiang Huaizhi’s hands balled up into a fist on his knees and he had to bite his tongue to not get more upset than he was.
“You’re making a compelling point for getting all my meals from here.”
It was the only thing he could say to break up the heavy atmosphere and remain respectful. Jing Huan always spoke about the past as something that shouldn’t be dwelled on, like water that had passed under countless bridges to become clear, but his words couldn’t hide the struggle he had experienced. To know that people like Auntie Fan or even Qiufeng and Lu Hang’s aunt existed out there and it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the bitterness people like Jing Huan faced just because they tried to live happily and authentically… it made Xiang Huaizhi feel like his heart had a snake wound tightly around it and submerged in water.
“Haha, then if you ever crave diner food, you know where to come.” Jing Huan laughed but his voice was clearly a bit too high to count as relaxed. He was clearly on edge, the topic clearly as bitter for him as it was for Xiang Huaizhi, if not even more so, as he tried to bring things back to a joky atmosphere. “The food is good too, you know.”
“Since you had a hand in it, I don’t doubt that.”
“Aiya, I only helped out a little bit by helping Auntie Fan pinpoint the exact ratios. They were still her recipes.”
Jing Huan leaned forward and put his hand in front of his mouth to whisper conspiratorially. “I remember quite a few of them from when I worked here so if you really like it and they aren’t open, I can cook them for you too.”
“Did she take on his surname?” Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help but wonder.
“Hm?”
“Auntie Fan. You said her husband’s name was also Fan and the diner is named Fan Kee restaurant. So did she take on his name?”
“Ah no no, her real surname is actually Li. But Uncle Fan bought the diner and it quickly became known as Uncle Fan’s canteen or just Fan’s Canteen for short and when he passed away he left it for her. Gradually she turned from Aunti Li the owner of Fan’s diner to the auntie of Fan’s diner to just Auntie Fan. I don’t think she minds though and she always seems happy when people call her that. If you called her Auntie Li she probably wouldn’t even respond immediately.”
“That’s…very cute actually.”
“Isn’t it?! I’ve always thought so.” Jing Huan’s eyes curved in the familiar happy crescent shape and Xiang Huaizhi’s heart immediately became so much lighter.
Soon after their food and drinks arrived with Marsha giving a big and lively slap to Jing Huan’s back before she moved away chewing gum. Although Jing Huan had winced a bit at the force with which he was propelled forward, his expression looked even happier than before so whatever non-verbal conversation had transpired between him Marsha, had clearly provoked a positive reaction in him.
For a while they just enjoyed their food in a comfortable silence. The broth of the wonton noodles was flavorful enough to not be bland but neutral enough to not be overpowering and the noodles were pleasantly soft and chewy in the exact way that Xiang Huaizhi liked them, and the yuenyeung was also perfectly according to his tastes. Some places tended to use too strong coffee or tea, or even just too much, but this one was the perfect blend of caffeine and flavour and he couldn’t be happier with his choice. Judging by the speed with which Jing Huan’s food and tea were disappearing, he agreed, but then again Jing Huan was also probably deeply familiar with all the recipes here.
It helped ground him somehow. Although Jing Huan’s life hadn’t been…great in all of its stages, Jing Huan’s existence was so prominent and striking that he somehow felt unreal sometimes. He was so beautiful and radiant - like an immortal fairy of the sun descending onto the mortal real to bless it with their beauty - that somehow the bad elements of Jing Huan’s life felt almost like a backstory somebody had made for a character. Xiang Huaizhi loved him for it, of course he did, it was impossible for him to not love this deity, but a lot of the time he felt quite disconnected from him.
It was moments like today when Jing Huan shared something as mundane as working in a cha chaan teng, when he reacted like a touch-starved person to Xiang Huaizhi’s touch, when he got smears of milk or peanut butter at the corner of his lips, that Xiang Huaizhi felt like Jing Huan was a real human being he could touch. Jing Huan was beautiful and radiant, but Jing Huan was also a person who craved and wanted and deserved to have nice things. Even if said nice things were just a sexually-charged kiss and delicious, if overly sweet, fried bread with peanut butter. Jing Huan felt so real in those moments and it made his reaction to Xiang Huaizhi’s touch so much more genuine too.
His heart ached to touch him again.
“So how did Long Road Ahead react?” Jing Huan’s sudden question startled him.
“Hm? How did he react about what?”
“Well…me”
“Oh…” He paused mid-chew. “He said that although it was surprising, it wasn’t that unusual and that his aunt had dealt with the hormonal applications of trans people for the government at one point. He said he won’t tell anybody though and seemed offended that I even asked him not to.”
“Then your friend is quite magical ah.”
The wistfulness in Jing Huan’s tone caused Xiang Huaizhi’s eyebrows to jump. “Are your friends not supportive?”
“They are… well most of them anyway. The ones that live here are very supportive about…” He waved his hand vaguely. “All of it really. But my friends back from the mainland they…well Qiufeng and Chichi only know that I like men and that my appearance is…quite different from what they thought initially. But my jie and my uni friends…they only know that I like men. In fact my uni friends haven’t actually seen what I look like at all for seven years. My jie has, naturally, and…well I think she has her suspicions but we haven’t officially…talked about it.”
“Did they react badly to the fact that you like men?”
“No, no, not at all, in fact one of them - Lu Wenhao, you should know him as Half-Life in NCH, ended up being bisexual and dating a guy he’s been a couple with for like six years now, it’s just that liking men is very different that…whatever I have going on. And I’ve known them for so long, I mean, one of them - Gao Zixiang, you should know him as Sheep Hair from the game - is practically a childhood friend, we’ve known each other for ages. It just feels difficult to discuss this with them especially since the last time they saw me I was… You know the whole…’refusing to wear sunscreen because it was too girly and gay’ sort of thing I mentioned.”
Jing Huan paused for a bit before eating another bite of his toast and humming pensively. “Mostly I just don’t know how to say it since I’ve changed so much. I don’t want them to be weird with me.”
“It’s human nature to change. If they end up weird about it then they weren’t very good friends in the first place.”
Jing Huan startled a bit before smiling happily around the last bite of his french toast. “What about your friends? Was it difficult coming out to them?”
Xiang Huaizhi had the decency to feel a bit embarrassed. “I haven't actually come out to many people. Just Lu Hang and a girl from work whom I befriended recently. Or…she befriended me rather. We both bonded over the disdain of people trying to pair us off together when neither of us wanted it.”
Jing Huan laughed and teased him a bit. “Yeah, straight people like to do that, especially if they don't know you don't like girls.”
“I like girls.”
One day he’d confess to Jing Huan and he wanted to make sure that Jimg Huan would feel comfortable being whatever he wanted to be.
Xiang Huaizhi paused for a bit after saying that before deciding to elaborate. “Or rather…. It's not that I like all sorts of people it's more that… I don't care if the person I like is a boy or a girl or anything like that. It's enough that I like them.”
Jing Huan stared at him wide eyed with face rapidly heating up more and more and his eyebrows scrunching a bit ever so slightly, eyes rolling upwards as if he couldn't bear to look at him and suddenly Xiang Huaizhi felt a bit hot. How come Jing Huan's embarrassed expression…seemed to resemble the way he had looked when they were getting ambiguous earlier.
He swallowed thickly and continued talking before he could get too distracted. “Cough, but it was actually a recent realisation so I haven't actually come out to anyone else except those two people. Sometimes I feel like my cousin might know since sometimes her questions are quite pointed. If she figured it out before me, it wouldn't be surprising.”
The redness on Jing Huan’s face finally decreased to soft pink. “Your cousin that is…Yuyu right? Kiss Kiss Fish Fish?”
“Mn. The one that used to call you sister-in-law.”
Jing Huan stared off into the distance like he was getting war flashbacks, his face turning redder and redder yet again before he took a deep breath and exhale slowly. “Yes well…cough, at least she doesn't call me that anymore. Otherwise it would be very embarrassing for you, now that we know each other in real life.”
“Hmm I think she should.
“She should what?”
Xiang Huaizhi looked at him pointedly with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Weren't you just feeling aggrieved that she didn't call you sister-in-law anymore?”
Jing Huan: ….
Jing Huan placed his hand over his eyes with a sigh. “You sure know how to talk…”
Just then Marsha appeared to chase them away.
“Okay wrap it up lovebirds, business is picking up and we’ll be needing the tables. Unless you are wanting to come back, Sunny.”
Her grin was wide and sharp and reminded Xiang Huaizhi of a shark but her eyes were smiling and full of amusem*nt and, with how distinct her facial features were, her expression seemed extra vivid. She wasn't being rude, in fact she was being a lot nicer than he would have expected from a waitress in a cha chaan teng when clients have lingered after their meal, but her entire demeanour said that she wasn't a pushover at all. In fact, he could visualise the scene of her dumping a hot plate of tsaan dan gung on that rude customer with crystal clarity. Even her Cantonese, although very well spoken, had a certain sharpness to it that gave people the impression that she was somebody who couldn't easily be pushed around and bullied.
Naturally, Xiang Huaizhi paid for the meal as he had promised and the two of them left soon after with Xiang Huaizhi pocketing a leaflet with the number and takeaway menu of the place.
To help the food go down, they decided to walk around the park for a bit, only stopping once to buy some sugar cane and imperatae drinks to chase away the yeet hay (上火 / 熱氣 ). As they walked around, they chatted about all sorts of random and mundane things most of which were to do with the guild or just NCH in general.
“Why did you laugh so much yesterday when you found out the Gardener had taken on your appearance for the wedding?”
It was a question that had confused him yesterday as well although there hadn't been a good opportunity to ask. Jing Huan’s walking slowed down a bit and he seemed to take a purposefully big mouthful of the juice box in his hand, cheeks hollowing around the straw as he sucked.
“Hm to be honest, I just felt it was really amusing. You spent so much time rejecting my- Xiao Tianjing’s advances yet in the end you ended up marrying me twice. I thought the universe had given you quite the face slap.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How come I don't remember the second wedding?”
There was a basketball game going on not that far away from them so they decided to watch for a little bit. The players seemed quite good.
“There was no second wedding, it's just that The Gardener can also be considered to be me in a sense.”
????
What???
The confusion must have shown on his face as in the next moment Jing Huan smiled embarrassedly. “The company I work for it's actually more of a…freelance agency? If you can call it that? Whenever a tech company needs more manpower or just different ideas to help out with a project they come to us and our skills get outsourced to help them out. Most of the time it's just simple QA testings or general User Interaction stuff but occasionally they let us have more creative freedom. A while ago some people came, all secretive and the like, and essentially did like a mini-hackathon/game jam sort of thing where they asked us to create a mini dungeon-storyline driven game with the promise that if it fits into their criteria and the ‘higher ups’ thought it a good idea for their brand, they’d purchase it off us and let us work on it's continuous upkeep and testing and the like.”
“They had you work for free with only the idea of a reward in the form of a Support job?”
“In a way I suppose yeah. They didn't tells us what it was for or who their company was at the time and we even had to sell NDAs for participating in this ‘event’ thing but they also signed a contract that essentially if they didn't choose our creation than we got to keep the creative rights to it so that if it ever got put into their products, we’d still be entitled to compensation. Overall the deal was not too terrible given the current tech climate so quite a few people signed up actually.”
Xiang Huaizhi frowned because he knew Jing Huan was right. Jobs in tech at the moment were quite horrible and often with zero security so all in all this offer really wasn't too terrible. It still was something Xiang Huaizhi would have felt bad to accept though.
“In fact I didn't have much hope for it but I was tired of having to do Sprint Reviews or HCI-calibration or fixing people’s f*cking branches,” the look on Jing Huan's face when he mentioned the last part was full of the same disgust that was on Xiang Huaizhi's face every time he had to face that particular task too. “So I actually ended up doing the Flower Pool Dungeon and the Gardener. Though obviously the storyline and graphics were quite different when I made it and it was full of all sorts of bugs and issues since it was all made in an energy-drink-coffee fueled delirium where I hadn't slept or eaten anything except pure caffeine for about 40 hours. ”
Xiang Huaizhi could honestly say he felt nothing but admiration at that moment. “You came up with all of that and made it in only 40 hours?”
“You look so impressed but you really shouldn't be ai . The whole thing was super janky and quite ugly since I could only use free-use assets because I'm not an artist at all. The gardener was like 4 pyramids in a cone-shaped collision box and the vines were actually just lines I did in Blender in about three minutes. It was like an assault to the eyes and realistically the only thing it had going for it was the story and the scene progression. In fact even the concept I was lucky enough to come up with since at the time I was reading an Unlimited Flow novel that had an instance with a similar aesthetic vibe and narrative themes that had ended up sticking out to me so I subconsciously also wanted to create something in that world. Although as I said, the end product ended up…significantly different. And as for the Gardener…well, naturally, a lot of them was inspired by me haha.”
“It was a very well designed dungeon and The Gardener was quite compelling. Did you come up with the rewards as well?”
Jing Huan nodded enthusiastically. “Mn. In a way yeah. I didn't have them originally, in fact in the initial concept the only reward you got for marrying the gardener was that you could start the game in a New Game+ mode where you’d get a Movement Speed buff and a one time use item called Rose Cutters that let you pass through a wall in the maze. Naturally it was quite lame. When I found out the people who organised this thing were making an NCH dungeon I actually blacked out briefly and almost fainted. We ended up having a long chat together about whether I was a player, what I got out of the game blah blah blah all those fun things. In the end they were willing to stay true to my initial concept and we worked together to come up with rewards that would be satisfactory but not too OP.”
“Did you work on the new storyline from yesterday as well?”
“Only partially. They liked my work on the Flower Pool Dungeon a lot and let me work with one of their Dungeon Design teams on the new storyline but the inner workings of NCH design are quite complicated actually, I definitely had way less input and way less control over it, which was to be expected. But it's why I was so surprised by that quiz and how our NCH session ended yesterday. I knew for a fact it hadn't been tested, or at least not as much as it should, because we were all discussing the MoSCoW priority list and the bits we were missing from it literally the night before the holidays. I was so mad yesterday, I actually got a headache. So this will be fun to deal with, the day after tomorrow.”
Xiang Huaizhi couldn't help wincing when he heard about the lack of testing. Naturally different products or even areas of software development required different time-effort distributions but the nature of his own work meant that anything that hadn't undergone hundreds of rounds of rigorous testing was just a lawsuit waiting to happen. Luckily games didn't have that problem so Jing Huan or the team he was part of should indeed be fine but his instinctive reaction was still to have his blood pressure jump up high enough for him to hear the blood pumping against his vestibule and cochlea.
He tried his best to make his thoughts move away from the situation before he started hyperventilating. “It sounds like they could be preparing to offer you a more permanent position. If they are testing your ability to work with their teams.”
“I hope so but I’m trying not to think too hard about it. Don't want to put a lot of anticipation into something only to end up disappointed. Them offering me a job is something that would also require a lot of careful thinking.”
“Worried about working on NCH?”
“I am worried that if I end up somehow working for the company, I’ll be asked to leave Hong Kong or have to adhere to a stricter dress code than I do now. My current job is really good actually, they let me work from home whenever I want unless there is some super big meeting and most of the time they let me look however I want as long as it's not too flashy or we aren't having a meeting with some of our more…conservatively inclined clients. Wearing a suit or ‘boy’ clothes I can do no problem especially since nobody is insane enough to check if our undergarment fit in with company regulations, and I can always change my earring to be more in line with what ‘cool young guys’ wear but I don't want to have to cut my hair. In fact I wish it was longer than it is right now but unfortunately it’s not possible.”
Xiang Huaizhi frowned. “You aren’t allowed to have it longer?”
Jing Huan just laughed. “Haha no, no, it just doesn’t grow that much longer than this. Cause if it grows past my shoulders than it starts to get too heavy so not only does it not look great on me but also it starts to thin out. Honestly it’d probably be healthier to go back to more boyish cuts but now that I’m allowed to take as long as I long in the bathroom or not subjected to academic restrictions, I quite like having it be a bit longer. The curls feel really nice when they bounce against my skin sometimes.”
He was suddenly hit with the visual of those exact curls bouncing against his own skin while he f*cked into Jing Huan. He had to shake his head like a rattle drum to chase the image away.
“It suits you. They give you even more liveliness that you already have and it makes people happy to look at you.”
“Hmm, people?” Jing Huan’s smile and eyes were teasing and it caused Xiang Huaizhi’s heart to warm up.
“Me. It makes me happy to look at you.”
“Oh~ Then I hope there are ways in which I can make you feel even happier~”
Xiang Huaizhi raised an eyebrow at Jing Huan’s teasing expression and smiled slightly, neither of them saying anything for a while trying to pry words out of each other while simultaneously not caving in.
Finally Jing Huan bit his lower lip, smiled at Xiang Huaizhi and looked away with bright eyes.
“So now that I’ve told you about my work, what do you do?”
The abrupt change in topic caused Xiang Huaizhi’s thoughts to stutter slightly before he regained his sense of self.
“I’m a medical engineer. We mainly deal with developing and supplying medical-grade robots and smart prosthetics to distribute to clinics and other medical practices.”
The basketball game they were watching was finally getting into its tensest moment yet Jing Huan’s whole body swivelled to face Xiang Huaizhi as the younger boy looked at him with shock and admiration.
“You’re a doctor?!”
He shook his head and turned to face Jing Huan as well. “I have some minimal medical training but I don’t dare to claim to be a doctor. We just develop surgical robots or responsive prosthetics, in fact my job is way closer to the uncles that troubleshoot electric sockets than it is to a doctor. We work closely with medical specialists and other researchers but that is only to make sure that everything is working as intended and safe to proceed with testing. Moreover I deal with the lower-level stuff like circuitry responses, or just general hardware-coding interactions. Some months I see more Assembly Language or even flat out Binary and Hexadecimal than any language used by humans to communicate with each other.”
Jing Huan was still looking at him with stars in his eyes as if Xiang Huaizhi had hung the moon for him and Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help but feel a bit shy suddenly, his ears heating up. He decided to break down the pedestal a bit with a joke:
“In fact one time we had such a big commission with a lot of funding on the line, none of us had any time to leave work and we barely found the time to eat or have water in order to not die, we sure as hell didn’t have the time to talk to each other about anything unrelated at all. Finally about a month later, it was finally all sorted out and I got a call from my parents who had gotten worried since they hadn’t heard from me for a long time and Xiang Yu had told them that I hadn’t even been online. I couldn’t even communicate with them because I was so tired and had forgotten how to speak Chinese.”
Jing Huan snorted so hard he made himself sneeze and Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help smiling.
“Did you respond to your parents in Morse Code or something?” his eyes were sparkling with mirth.
“You are joking but I actually genuinely did. It was just a vaguely sequential series of grunts intersped with some linguistic monstrosity of combined English medical terms. To be honest I don’t have any memory of that event because I’m pretty sure I just collapsed on one of the sofas in the company’s lobby, completely blacked out. Couldn’t even make it to the MTR station, much less my home. Fell asleep mid-conversation and didn’t wake up for over 24 hours straight. If I hadn’t had my namecard on me and my lab coat, I’m pretty sure the girl working the front desk would have called the police. Not that my colleagues were much better mind you, one of them had managed to fall asleep half hunched over some big potted plant HR keeps to ‘help oxygenate the air so that we don’t suffocate’ or something. The plant didn’t make it, unfortunately.”
“So what I’m hearing is that if you ever disappear for a month I probably shouldn’t call the police until I check whether you are working on a big job first.”
“Exactly. Although these situations are extremely rare. Even if overtime is an issue a lot, the worst it has ever been is still under 24 hours. That situation was an extreme outlier and shouldn't really be counted.”
“Still, your work must help a lot of people. No matter how much you try to downplay it or how much you think it doesn’t count as ‘being a doctor’ your efforts have led to the improvement in the lives of many different people. You should take pride in it. I could never deal with the anxiety or perseverance a career like that demanded.”
Xiang Huaizhi hummed noncommittally. “The worst part is probably how difficult it is to not get desensitised sometimes.Sometimes you need to actively remind yourself what it means in the grander scheme of things since it’s so easy to just treat it as a job and get frustrated at regular things like overtime or the sometimes wonky hours. It’s easy to forget that your actions can sometimes directly impact the quality of life for a lot of people. But of course it’s easy to do the exact opposite and feel guilty about taking time for yourself or your important people. I have multiple colleagues who are either divorced or have just been single for decades.”
He thought for a bit and smiled. “I suppose I’m also one of them.”
The amusem*nt on Jing Huan’s face morphed into disbelief and scepticism. “You have never dated before?”
“Have not. When I was younger I thought too badly of people and many people tried to cheat me out of money or other favours for as long as I can remember. Even before the whole Yearning For thing happened with my account, I had had a good ‘friend’ scam me out of a lot of money by causing issues within the guild and running. It’s why I never really joined another guild until you started getting bullied. So for a while I just didn’t want to be close to anybody, neither physically nor emotionally, and then I got this job and not only did my feelings not change for the longest time but I also wouldn’t have had much opportunity. It’s only recently that…well…my attitude has become better and I’m willing to figure out how to make it work. But it’s still a lot to demand out of another person.”
He was speaking in a general and non-pointed manner deliberately but he was paying close attention to Jing Huan’s face the entire time.
Jing Huan licked his lips and leaned forward, eyes pinned to Xiang Huaizhi’s. “Sounds like you just need to date the right person. Any ideas?”
Xiang Huaizhi smiled and took a step so that their noses were just a short distance from touching as he squinted at Jing Huan, eyes shining with happiness and the intent to tease.
“I think…” he slowly and deliberately dragged his tongue along his bottom lip, watching Jing Huan’s eyes follow it subconsciously with the look of a person dying of thirst. “I think I have somebody in mind.”
Jing Huan hadn’t blinked the entire time, his breath starting to stutter more and more until he blinked slowly before looking up through his eyelashes.
“And do you think…this person also has you in mind?”
“Hmm,” he pretended to think about it while watching Jing Huan’s throat bob. “I don’t know. Do you?”
The atmosphere hung heavily in the air for a few seconds until it was interrupted by the sudden eruption of excited screams and yells all around them as one of the basketball players had seemingly scored an impossible shot.
They were reminded very abruptly where they were and conscientiously turned around to get back to watching the game.
“For the record…I have never been with anybody either. Emotionally nor…physically. Sexuality denial into homelessness and constant visa worries do not an enticing prospect make, especially since most people prefer me to be a certain way or another. So I just preferred to stay single and not get entangled in messy situations. After all,” Jing Huan side eyed him teasingly, “I am perfectly capable of making myself happy well enough on my own.”
As if worried Xiang Huaizhi wouldn’t understand, he waved his fingers lightly and Xiang Huaizhi’s brain exploded, barely able to hear Jing Huan’s next words.
“But I’d also be willing to give it a try if the right person appeared.”
They exchanged another heated look before smiling and turning back to the game, the topic tentatively settled for the moment.
The players were actually quite talented, especially for what looked to be a random put-together game with just the locals and (by the looks of it) a couple of foreigners (likely exchange students), and the game was actually in a very tense situation after some beautifully thrown tosses. It honestly had better playing that several NBA matches Xiang Huaizhi had seen. It was genuinely very exciting to watch and he could see Jing Huans enthusiasm growing more and more in the way he bounced on his feet up and down, seemingly without even realising.
“Kinda makes me miss playing.” The younger boy’s voice was full of wistfulness.
“Did you play a lot? You said you liked it in uni, that it made you feel happy.”
“It did, yes. Not professionally obviously, but being able to play even a leisurely game of basketball really helped me destress from my coursework.”
“We should play together at some point. Even if it’s one on one. I played quite a bit too and I even occasionally play a bit now when my coworkers remember that physical activity is good for health. ”
“That sounds great honestly.” Jing Huan smiled at him. “Although I haven’t played against anybody in such a long time so I might be a bit rusty.”
They watched the game for a while and eventually it started to wind down. At one point, one of the guys - a lanky but surprisingly short dude (compared to the other players at least) with dark skin and impressively long arms - put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. The match came to a slow, before it stopped completely as the dude who had whistled exchanged greetings with the other people before leaving with one of the girls in the crowd who he had seemingly come with. Soon after one the remaining guys - an incredibly tall person with the common short-cut haircut for national athletes - started doing complicated handshakes with everybody around before wiping the sweat off his face with the edge of his sports jersey top and leaving as well.
The other players started leaving soon after that, leaving only a handful of people staying around to dribble the ball, talking quietly amongst themselves.
“Ah ah, that was so cool! You wouldn’t think that that whistling guy would be such a good player but he could actually jump so high for so long! It’s really impressive.”
Jing Huan’s voice was filled with excitement and he jumped up, imitating the throw the guy had done, and sending his shirt flying up to reveal the smooth yet incredibly taut expanse of his stomach. The shirt he was wearing seemed to actually be a longer crop top, it seemed, as once his trousers’ waistline rode low, as a result of the jump, Xiang Huaizhi was hit with the full visual of Jing Huan’s pretty waist. The way the younger boy’s hip co*cked slightly to the side caused the tip of his ilium bones to become more defined and Xiang Huaizhi felt the nearly uncontrollable urge to bite him.
“Bro you wanna play a few rounds with us?”
The two of them turned around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice speaking English and saw the remaining guys who had been dribbling the ball still until now had stopped and were all looking at the two of them.
Xiang Huaizhi exchanged a look of doubt with Jing Huan, both of them wondering whether the words were meant for them. They clearly were. Everybody else from the crowd had dispersed once the game finished and most of the players had started leaving.
He turned to smile at Jing Huan. “Want to play a bit now?”
“Ah…” Jing Huan’s face was a bit sheepish. “Isn’t that…not very good? I mean we are on a-”
He stopped speaking mid sentence not daring to finish the words and Xiang Huaizhi’s smile widened.
“Mn, we are and we talked about playing basketball together some other time. Since the opportunity is here, why not enjoy it?”
Jing Huan thought about it for a bit before nodding his head. “Mn, well, why not. It’d be nice to play with you.”
Xiang Huaizhi turned to the group of guys who were watching them with various expressions of confusion. “Sure, mind if we are on the same team?”
One of the guys - the one sporting a bleached hair and several ear piercings - frowned a bit and turned to the rest of the group speaking in local Cantonese. “He’s asking if the two of them can play on the same team.”
“The earring person also plays?” Another guy spoke doubtfully, his expression becoming even more severe due to the thin slit in his raised eyebrow.
The entire time they spoke to each other they spoke in Hong Kong Cantonese seemingly taking the two of them for tourists and not bothering to discuss them particularly quietly. They weren’t loud by any means but there also wasn’t deliberate obfuscation of their voices.
The words the eyebrow-slit guy spoke were hear clearly by Jing Huan and, for the first time, Xiang Huaizhi saw the younger boy’s face morph into a kind of smile he had never seen before. Most of Jing Huan’s smiles were sunny and full of liveliness, the kind that helped brighten your day and pick up your mood. Occasionally, when he was distressed or upset, his smile would be more morose with an air of ‘it really can’t be helped’ and occasionally they were even flirty and teasing. But it always projected a calm and gentle demeanour that gave off a certain feeling of softness that both aroused Xiang Huaizhi’s protective instincts while also provoking the desire to bully him to tears. Particularly in bed.
Now, Jing Huan’s expression was downright feral and projecting such a strong feeling of oppression, it was like he had become a whole different person.
“I play.”
Jing Huan’s voice when speaking Cantonese, unlike when he spoke Mandarin or the Dongbei dialect, had a similar sound and quality to it as when he spoke Mongolian; although the pronunciation was still understandable quite a few of the sounds sounded particularly strong or breathy and although Xiang Huaizhi would never describe anything about Jing Huan as sharp or ‘edgy’, the air around his whole persona always shifted to something pointed and severe whenever he spoke Cantonese or especially Mongolian. If Jing Huan’s ‘vibe’ would ordinarily be described as sunny and warm and full of light and life, then right now the only way to describe it would be as fresh snow carried by mountain winds. There was a sense of distance and coldness with the only warmth to be obtained in the few fleeting moments in which the sunlight shone down on the fleeting snowflakes briefly causing them to resemble stardust. It was…an unfamiliar feeling but one that complimented the rest of Jing Huan’s person so well that Xiang Huaizhi’s heart started to beat like a drum in his chest.
For a while nobody spoke.
Some part of Xiang Huaizhi’s brain registered the uncomfortable and sheepish expressions on the faces of the guys but he couldn’t focus on them. Jing Huan was really too dazzling for his own and he couldn’t shift his gaze away for even a second.
“Ah, great, cool, yeah, you can play on the same team then. The rest of us will just split off randomly.” Bleached Hair was the first to recover from the embarrassment just now and, with the attitude of pretending like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and headed off to play rock-paper-scissors with the rest of the group to split the teams.
Jing Huan’s borderline combative stance seemed to mellow out slightly as he huffed out a breath.
Immediately after, Xiang Huaizhi’s heart nearly stopped when Jing Huan took off his crop top in one swift motion before balling it up. Fortunately, if a bit confusingly, he wasn’t completely naked underneath it but instead wearing a skin-tight, if a bit bulky, black tank-top-looking thing that stopped right where his lower ribs were. He didn’t have too much time to dwell on that, however, as in the next second Jing Huan took off a yellow hair tie with a giant white plastic flower on it to tie his hair back in a ponytail before taking off his earring, wrapping it multiple times in the balled-up shirt before putting the whole bundle in his backpack, along with the hat, and turning to Xiang Huaizhi.
“Ge, if you want you can give me your phone to sit with mine. These pants have pockets with zippers.” Jing Huan smiled at him and did a sequence of strange slapping-like motions over where his trousers’ pockets were.
Xiang Huaizhi simply handed him his phone, thankfully his Mainland number had been left back in his apartment, and the fobs for his doors and crammed the jacket he had been wearing into his own backpack. Although playing with jeans on wouldn’t be particularly comfortable, he definitely couldn’t just take them off to play in his underwear like a lunatic. At least he didn’t have to worry about his phone and keys going flying when he was running or them getting stolen out of his bag when he wasn’t looking. Not that there were many people walking around right now but he’d feel a lot better if he knew they were safe, which they would be in Jing Huan’s zipped up pockets.
-
So…Jing Huan was definitely lying through his teeth when he had said that he was rusty.
Initially they had all just done some simple dribbling and hoop-shooting, playing somewhat half heartedly but the game heated up quickly quickly involving into a tooth-and-nail fight. The group of guys were clearly all active athletes from some local team, likely for some university, and although Xiang Huaizhi and Jing Huan were very much not part of any basketball teams, they were no slouches either.
Xiang Huaizhi paid attention to staying active and healthy, taking the time every day to exercise as much as he could. He had a six pack and well defined arm and leg muscles and they weren’t the cosmetic ones that simply looked good either. It was the kind of muscles that appeared as a result of consistent hard work and being health-conscious. Even with the jeans restricting his movement, and his shoes not being great, he was still able to run fast and jump high and, even if the guys were tired after the previous game that had been a lot more intense, they seemed to regain motivation and enthusiasm with each passing second.
Jing Huan had probably been the most surprising one however and Xiang Huaizhi could pinpoint the exact second the others had started to take him seriously. Contrary to his initially soft and elegant appearance, he played basketball with righteous fervour and there were quite a few instances where Xiang Huaizhi had seen him having to actively restrain himself lest he barrel through the person in front of him like a battering ram. Despite Jing Huan’s body being quite smaller than Xiang Huaizhi’s and his muscles - less immediately obvious, the muscles were still there. They were taut and tight, clearly more suited for flexibility and overall agility, and his movements and playstyle utilised the litheness of his body, to dart around people with great manoeuvrability. Xiang Huaizhi felt slight regret at the fact that he was unable to spare more time and attention to just watching him move .
Eventually, they ended up calling it a draw and simply ending the game. It had gotten dark and the temperature had taken a significant dip so continuing would simply be asking for trouble with how sweaty they all were. Moreover, they had stopped keeping track of the score long ago.
Sweat dripped down the ends of his hair into his eyes and he could only feel thankful that his shirt was pure cotton and thus incredibly breathable. He grimaced at the sensation of sweat dripping down his spine.
Looking at Jing Huan’s equally tired but incredibly happy expression was so worth it.
At the moment, the younger boy was taking out a packet of wet wipes from his backpack and using them to wipe down the sweat on his body. He happily offered the packet to Xiang Huaizhi who took them without even thinking about it, grateful for the opportunity to feel refreshed. The wet wipes had a very light scent of coconut and the feeling on his skin was incredibly soothing, he felt immensely pleased by the fact that Jing Huan had had the foresight to bring some with him just in case.
Jing Huan removed the straps of his tank top and put on his yellow shirt from before, pulling it down and shimming out of the tank top simultaneously before stuffing the sweaty tank top into the backpack with a swift motion. Xiang Huaizhi saw him starting to fiddle with his earring, struggling to put it back in his ear.
After watching him struggle for a while, he couldn’t help but let out a low laugh. “Come, I’ll help you with it.”
“Thank you, gege~”
Was it weird to find somebody’s ears adorable?
He was in the middle of threading the earring into the earlobe hole when Bleached Hair - Andy, Xiang Huaizhi remembered his name was - came over.
“You guys played really well! Either of you played professionally before or?”
He spoke Cantonese but with a lot of English loan words that made Xiang Huaizhi wonder whether he was a foreigner or at least from a mixed-ethnicity family. Although he really didn’t look like one, sometimes genetics were really weird.
To be honest, Xiang Huaizhi hadn’t had a good first impression of any of these guys but he admired their willingness to backtrack once they realised their assumptions about Jing Huan had been wrong. Moreover, they really didn’t seem to be bad natured at all and were all quite young - probably all in their early 20s. Xiang Huaizhi himself wasn’t that great of a person at that age.
Hands still full of Jing Huan’s rapidly curling hair and mind still preoccupied with the earring, Xiang Huaizhi decided to acknowledge Andy’s good will and respond to the question. “I haven’t, I just used to play a lot of basketball at uni.”
“I haven’t either. Closest I got to it was participating in some of H university’s basketball competitions when they needed the people.”
Xiang Huaizhi looked down at Jing Huan with surprise which prompted the latter to lean his head back to shoot a toothy grin at Xiang Huaizhi.
“Oh you’re an alumni! Sick bro!” Andy’s face brightened with excitement before he froze briefly and resumed uncertainly, awkwardly scratching his neck. “Um I mean- homie? Sis? Pal? Sorry I, uh, have never met a…’ pronoun person’ before.”
Jing Huan shook with laughter, curls falling from Xiang Huaizhi’s hands like water, tickling him slightly. “Bro is fine, dude. I’m not picky.”
“Yeah? Cool cool, yeah, great. Hey how about we all add each other on WhatsApp or Discord or something and we can play basketball again next time. Uh, we probably also have some people here who have WeChat.” He turned his head to yell. “Yo, Toni! You got WeChat right?”
Toni - the guy with the eyebrow slit from earlier - just raised his hand in an OK gesture.
“Aight, sweet, yeah we got WeChat too!”
Although Xiang Huaizhi wasn’t sure how possible this arrangement was timewise for either him or Jing Huan, he didn’t want to refuse their good will, especially since they were clearly doing it as a way of an apology for the situation earlier. Young people responded better to encouragement anyway.
The lot of them chatted for a while more, adding each other on WhatsApp and promising to let each other know if another game was on the cards again until the alarm on Jing Huan’s phone started ringing.
“Motherf*cking, sorry, I actually need to go. ”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just promised I’d call my jie today and set up an alarm as a reminder.”
It was only then that XIang Huaizhi remembered what day it was. And that he hadn’t video called his parents either.
He cursed under his breath. “ Sorry, but I also need to leave. ”
He quickly checked that he and Jing Huan had everything while Jing Huan exchanged goodbyes with the group on behalf of both of them, before the two of them bolted to the MTR station. Luckily they didn’t have to wait long for a train.
There were a lot less people this late so the two didn’t have to press tightly against each other anymore which was a bit of a pity but it also meant that Xiang Huaizhi could inhale and exhale peacefully and breathe in only the scent of Jing Huan’s warm skin and the faint scent of the coconut-scented wipes. Jing Huan’s hair had long become frazzled and mostly escaped its small ponytail but his neck was still quite exposed save for a single sweat-slicked curl against Jing Huan’s nape that kept attracting his eyes. He genuinely felt like an animal with how much he wanted to sink his teeth in that bit of skin.
The temperature had gotten lower and looking at the thin material of Jing Huan’s crop top, he couldn’t help but feel cold on his behalf.
He took off his jacket and handed it to Jing Huan. “Here, your shirt is too thin.”
Jing Huan’s eyes curved as he smiled. “Thank you, ah, gege.”
“Did you not bring a jacket because you were wearing a tank top under your shirt?”
“Ah…em…no. I just don’t own a jacket that goes with the outfit. The tank top is just something I wear sometimes. Nothing to do with the weather.”
At Xiang Huaizhi’s look of confusion, Jing Huan explained a bit more. “Actually it’s just out of sense for self-preservation. I don’t dare to take off my shirt if I’m wearing nothing underneath, especially if I’m dressed in a more girly way. One time I had gone out to enjoy the beach for a bit when the weather was hot and took of my shirt at one point because I was too sweaty and feeling kind of gross except I looked a bit too girly I guess because I got stopped by some off-duty cop who tried to cause a massive issue. Made it out like I was sexually harassing people by showing off my ‘tit*’ to them and how I was a pervert and all these fun things. He was yelling so much, some colleague of his came over to see what was happening and so I had to go into a full explanation about whether those were my real breasts and whether I was a guy and if I was a guy why was I being ‘weird’ and ‘sexually aggressive’ by ‘dressing up’ as a girl and ‘flashing my tit*’ and all those fun things, I mean it was ridiculous really. In the end the female cop - the on-duty one - I think just got fed up with it all and just wrote me up some fine and told me to put on a shirt and stay out of trouble. The whole thing was actually super embarrassing.”
“That’s so disgusting.”
It was. He felt angry just hearing it. Jing Huan didn’t even have ‘tit*’ okay? Granted Xiang Huaizhi had only ever seen glimpses of his chest but absolutely nothing that could be mistaken for ‘girl breasts’. Moreover, what the f*ck did it mean to call him a pervert for not being a ‘girl’ and reprimanding him for something only a ‘girl’ could get reprimanded for???
Jing Huan rubbed his own arm uncomfortably and put on the jacket clearly unwilling to continue the topic if the speed with which he switched it was any indication.
“Plus having something right against my skin feels more comfortable. My body is quite sensitive sometimes and having a loose shirt rub against it is not necessarily comfortable all the time.”
Xiang Huaizhi calmed down and decided to put the unpleasant story out of his mind for now. He smiled gently at Jing Huan. “Couldn’t you just wear some non-loose clothing.”
“Hmm, I could but gege aren’t you just looking for an excuse to look at my body, ya ~?”
Jing Huan’s smile widened, eyes squinting teasingly as he stuck out his tongue at him.
Xiang Huaizhi arched an eyebrow in faux-nonchalance. “Oh? I still need an excuse?”
“Aiya, gege~ I’m too shy when you say things like this ying ying ying~ ”
The way Jing Huan’s body twisted as his hands balled up as he made exaggerated crying motions in front of his eyes would have been believable if the smile on his face hadn’t gotten even more radiant. This was perhaps the most coquettish Jing Huan had acted in front of his face since their initial meetings in the game and it caused the entirety of Xiang Huaizhi’s back to go numb. His vision tightened, ears ringing loudly and he had to ball up his hands into fists and dig them into his own skin hard in order to keep his cool and retain some sense of propriety. Jing Huan’s eyes flicked down to Xiang Huaizhi’s hands, both of which were conveniently placed on his upper thighs, before flicking them back up, grin widening enough to reveal neat rows of teeth. It was deliberate and predatory and he was making it explicitly clear that he knew and it was all on purpose . He was trying to tease Xiang Huaizhi to death. In fact, it almost seemed like he was borderline daring Xiang Huaizhi to f*ck him into submission.
Mind swirling at a speed high enough to make him feel dizzy, Xiang Huaizhi closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the train wall to cool down. He could not and would not get hard on a train. In a fit of desperation, he ended up thinking about their company’s GitLab structure and all the stale, yet for some reason f*cking unarchived, branches that caused his blood pressure to skyrocket everytime he saw them. Mercifully, Jing Huan didn’t tease him anymore and the two of them stood together in companionable silence.
-
Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time to say goodbye to each other as Jing Huan had to hurry off to call his cousin although the younger boy did end up kissing his chin chastely before darting in with a hurried “Gege, bye bye ” in the way Xiao Tianjing also often did.
Xiang Huaizhi ended up going home in a daze and nearly face planted the wall. He really…didn’t have the energy to call his parents but he couldn’t just leave them hanging when he had said he'd call them at some point during the New Year break. Might as well have it be now.
He took a quick shower - a hot one, for once, that helped him relax - and changed into a comfy pair of sweatpants and a black tank top. He really needed to get some more exciting clothes, his entire wardrobe was just different shades of white, black and grey and it was a massive pain to find anything if he wanted something specific.
The call with his parents was fun but painfully exhausting. They loved him, he knew, but he really wished they would get off his case about the whole marriage and children thing. In a lapse of judgement he ended up telling them that he had his eye on somebody and was chasing them which prompted them to barrel him with questions all of which he refused to answer, citing the fact that it was still too early and uncertain. Naturally…they concluded that he was lying about liking somebody in order to get them off his back.
Naturally, that wasn’t the case. It’s just that he and Jing Huan were being ambiguous with each other at best and he didn’t want to be the kind of person that would see an egg and ask for a chicken (见卵求鸡). It was better to take things at the pace with which they occurred and not try to rush things hard-headedly. Moreover, if he and Jing Huan decided to really be together then it was best to also have a discussion on whether Jing Huan wanted to be presented as his girlfriend or boyfriend or simply, and eventually, his spouse. Naturally, he would be willing to marry Jing Huan when the time was right and Jing Huan shared his opinions. As for kids… well his parents would just have to be patient and potentially maybe even suck it up that they weren’t getting any. The matter of kids really could not be decided lightly.
By the time the conversation finished it was after midnight and Xiang Huaizhi was positively exhausted from it all. He hoped Jing Huan’s conversation with his jie was going much more smoothly.
It was too late to have a proper dinner and he intended to go to bed early so he just took out some of the chrysanthemum greens from the tupperwares of New Years leftovers and made himself a simple chrysanthemum salad and reduced the number of chilis he’d put in normally. If he had been able to make this earlier he’d have definitely used a lot more garlic and chilies and even oil but he really didn’t want to risk waking up in the middle of the night with stomach pain. Even if his stomach wasn’t as bad as Jing Huan’s seemed to be, now that he was in his 30s it was very easy to accidentally end up not being sensible because you were too used to what your body could handle in your early 20s. Frying up the chrysanthemums in peanut oil with the bare minimum amount of chilis, garlic and ginger did not take long at all and pouring in sauce of chinkiang vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and sesame oil, took even less. Since he hadn’t used that many ingredients, it really took no time at all. In fact the whole process of all the stirring and tossing and light frying had taken less than ten minutes. He ended up quickly boiling a pair of eggs as a way to dilute the acidity even more, making sure to put them in water first to make sure they were still good. He couldn’t remember the last time he went shopping for food.
It wasn’t the tastiest of meals but it felt good to eat, healthy, and honestly, there were worse things to feel when eating. He wondered how Jing Huan liked his eggs. Given the younger boy’s tastes and personality Jing Huan was probably more of a soft-boiled egg type of person and generally somebody who appreciated a runny yolk. Unless of course, he didn’t like regular eggs at all and would only eat them in the form of jianbing or western toast or various cakes. Given how big his sweet tooth was as well as his propensity for softer textures of food, that was also a distinct possibility.
Once he had finished eating he did the washing up because he genuinely didn’t know what to do with himself. It was rare for him to have so much free time for himself that he didn’t have to spend on chores or self care while simultaneously not being able to spend it with Jing Huan. It was strange to realise but spending time with Jing Huan had become such a natural and big part of his life that he genuinely couldn’t remember what he used to do before. Playing NCH, he supposed, but even finishing his dailies didn’t take him that much time and he didn’t want to start grinding for equipment.
He ended up just lying down in bed on top of his duvet and started to mess around on his phone. Mindlessly, he found himself opening a web novel site and scrolling through the home page showcasing the most popular novels in different genres. Reading webnovels had never really been his thing, normally if he read something recreationally it was some sort of a scientific news article or gaming journalism. On occasion he even reread some of the classics they had studied at school. Although having to cover that material for the gaokao had been stressful as all hell, there were quite a few things he had ended up enjoying. His favourite was still probably Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢) and he had ended up enjoying it so much that, perhaps a bit inadvisably, he had gone off to buy every single one of its sequels he could find. He even distinctly remembered tracking down the DVD of Wang Fulin’s TV series adaptation and chain watching it whenever he could. It had surprised him how much he had liked it, given how unenthusiastic he had been initially. In fact his impression of it had been quite poor, dismissing it easily as yellow literature full of passionate characters and debauched situations but when he read it fully for the first time, he found himself feeling engrossed in how vividly it had described several aspects of traditional arts and customs. Certain things like its showcasing of painting or music were a bit lost on him, although he appreciated them fine enough, but the way it had described traditional chinese medicine and tied to multiple philosophies and even folklore customs had been fascinating. It had ultimately been what helped him settle on studying Medical Engineering as his university degree.
But his love of certain classics had never made the jump into webnovels. Still, Jing Huan’s words from earlier were still crystal clear in his mind and the Forbidden Flower Pool had impressed him so much as a setting that he found himself wondering whether his dismissal of webnovels hadn’t been a bit hasty in much the same way he had initially dismissed Dream of the Red Chamber. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to check.
Xiang: [ Can you tell me the name of that novel you mentioned earlier? ]
Jing Huan’s reply was surprisingly quick.
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ ? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ I mentioned a novel? ]
Xiang: [ The Forbidden Flower Pool one ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Oh!. Sure ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Xiao Jing ya ~ sent a link ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Arc 3 ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ It’s danmei tho. Idk if gege reads such things. ]
Xiang: [ I really don’t ]
Xiang: [ This would be my first time ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ (*/▽＼*) ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ (//ω//) ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Then rest assured, for giving me your first time, this lord will treat you well~ ]
Xiang Huaizhi burst out laughing.
Xiang: [ Did I miss the red lanterns and green wine in your room last night? ] (灯红酒绿 lit. lantern red wine green = debauchery)
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Чукча не читатель, чукча - писатель ]
Xiang: [ ? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ (sticking out tongue) I also have some idiom skills ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ But to answer gege’s question: no, you did not miss them. This concubine has no husband to light her lanterns aiya ] (reference to Raise the Red Lantern (大紅燈籠高高掛) novella/movie )
Xiang: [ You think too lowly of yourself, your husband would clearly have a wife and no concubines ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ But wouldn’t that mean my husband wouldn’t be very renowned ba ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Although… ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ It is indeed best if husband takes no concubines ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ What would husband think about having only me as a wife? ]
Xiang: [ I think your husband wants only you as a wife ]
Xiang: [ In the modern era, it’s best to not engage in feudalistic customs. ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Some people consider marriage merely a feudalistic custom. ]
Xiang: [ I don’t. ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ (♡˙︶˙♡) ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ I don’t either ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Before, I used to think that I never wanted to get married and take a wife ]
Xiang: [ And now? ]
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Now I want to be the wife ( ◡‿◡ *) ]
Xiang Huaizhi’s ears burned hot but he still carefully and slowly typed out his message.
Xiang: [ I think you’d be a wonderful wife. ]
He watched his message get marked as seen and stared nervously but Jing Huan didn’t send anything for a while. He wondered if he had perhaps overstepped or if Jing Huan was just shy. Although Jing Huan had no qualms about acting coquettishly towards him and even tease him a bit, he also had the tendency to get quite shy. He hoped it was just embarrassment that had stopped Jing Huan from responding but he still couldn’t be sure.
Xiao Jing ya ~: [ Xiao Jing ya~ sent a voice message ]
He nearly dropped his phone on his face in his scramble to press Play. For a while no sound could be heard prompting him to manually increase the volume of his phone.
Then he head a very quiet and breathy whine:
“Gegeeeeee, you-” The sentence remained incomplete as it trailed off into another whine.
Oh.
Jing Huan was…
Immediately Xiang Huaizhi’s whole body heated up as he felt the familiar arousal wash over him as his blood swiftly descended downwards. He suddenly felt hot and light-headed, Jing Huan’s voice looping on repeat in his head, that whine …
Mind completely blacked out, without a single good coherent thought passing through his head, his hand called Jing Huan in less than a second. He didn’t have time to even realise what the f*ck he was doing before Jing Huan picked up, stuttered breaths barely coming through the phone as they just struggled to breathe, his co*ck becoming harder and harder with each passing second.
“Jing Huan, you-” he didn’t even know what he was saying and couldn’t even recognise his own voice from how husky it had gotten.
He felt like his throat was full of hot gravel and no matter how much he swallowed, all it did was just to inflame his body even more, fingers digging into a bit of the wooden frame of the bed as he felt it chip under his grip.
“Gege,” Jing Huan’s words were aborted and it sounded as if he could barely breathe. “Gege, if you speak like that to me…” He seemed unable to continue and his voice became muffled as if he had moved away or hid his head in something.
Then Xiang Huaizhi heard what sounded like a barely audible muffle moan and he felt his vision turn red, his eyelids going taut with tension.
This little darling, aren’t you just begging to be f*cked.
With barely clung onto forbearance, he dug his fingers in the bed frame even more, hunching over and barely had enough presence of mind to growl out something barely coherent. “You’ll what, baobei.”
The moan this time was definitely much more audible as it seemed to be punched out of Jing Huan’s lungs as if by surprise and Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t bear it anymore, and let his hand move downwards to palm at his co*ck that was desperately straining against his sweatpants.
“Gege, gege” Jing Huan’s voice was nearly gone with how much it had climbed in pitch. He had to take several deep breaths to calm down enough to resume speaking, voice barely above a whisper. “Gege you’ve made me blush so much, I’m more pink than my pyjamas.”
It was like a bomb exploded in Xiang Huaizhi’s head at the image and he couldn’t even feel his mouth or tongue as they spoke. “Show me?”
“A-ah, okay, ah”
He heard some more cursing on Jing Huan’s side and what sounded like a duvet being moved and not long after Xiang Huaizhi had received another message.
It was an image of Jing Huan’s legs in the exact same pose as that one leg pic Xiao Tianjing had sent so many years ago. In the photo, Jing Huan’s long beautiful legs had their toes curling into the white bedsheets, and were completely bare save for a familiar mole high up on his thigh. The same thighs that were clad in soft frilly shorts in candy pink that somehow paled in comparison to the colour of flush that covered nearly the entirety of Jing Huan’s visible skin. The pink flush over his ordinarily pale legs were like as if somebody had smeared strawberry icing over a creamy cake and even his knees had turned red, like sweet ripe fruit, highlighting the dips and undulations of where his femur bone, tibia and patella connected with each other.
Xiang Huaizhi cursed loudly, uncaring if it came through the phone and finally gave up. His hand, which had strictly remained on the outside of his sweatpants the entire time, finally went underneath his waistband and came into contact with his bare skin. It startled him, how hot it felt, his co*ck literally jumping in his hand twitching and leaking over his fingers like it had not been touched before and only a very small lingering part of his brain had enough presence of mind to register that Jing Huan was still on the phone with him, was probably able to hear the sounds .
Jing Huan’s breathy whines came straight into his ear. “Ah, ge, gege, I want-”
The last bit of it trailed into a moan and soon the room was full with the wet sounds coming from both of them.
“What do you want?”
He didn’t even care how his voice sounded anymore with how much his teeth and gums itched to sink into Jing Huan’s biteable skin.
He didn’t get a response.
What he got instead was Jing Huan’s choked out moans, the whining from the back of his throat and fast wet sounds of movement as Jing Huan’s voice continued to climb in pitch and volume until the younger boy had to bite down on something to muffle it.
Finally, he mumbled something which Xiang Huaizhi had to tense his entire body to hear. “I want to see..”
Jing Huan’s voice sounded so shy and embarrassed and even his voice had trailed off not finishing the sentence but it wasn’t difficult to figure out what he was asking. Xiang Huaizhi’s ears were ringing with anticipation, the adrenaline causing his entire body to shake, feet digging into the bedsheets and he had to turn his head sideways to bite into a pillow. It tore immediately under the strength with which his jaw was clenching.
His hand was trembling so much he had to remove his other hand from his co*ck in order to stabilise it long enough to hold the phone in place long enough to take something that wasn’t a blurry mess. It took him several tries until he managed to get a somewhat clear picture.
His co*ck was tenting the dark sweatpants, clearly showing out it’s exact shape and full size and the wet spot that had formed at the tip from the amount of precum it had produced, and his tank top had ridden high enough to show off the lower half of his six pack abs, the tenseness of his abdominal muscles as wells as the pronounced V shape of his Adonis belt. He hit send before his rationale could kick in and knew the exact moment in which Jing Huan had opened it.
The punched out noise that came from Jing Huan nearly pushed him to the brink of insanity and if that hadn’t then the subsequent cursing and increased wet movement sounds would have. There was so much shuffling noise, Jing Huan moving skittishly and seemingly trying to claw at his entire bed. He could hear his nails scratching at the bed sheets and headboard and the image of it had Xiang Huaizhi’s blood surging like magma about to erupt from a volcano. He turned around, furiously f*cking his fist as if it was Jing Huan whom he was pile driving into the bed and he didn’t know what Jing Huan was doing exactly but the obscene sounds like flowing water interspersed with countless moans and whines and cries , were painting a picture vivid enough for Xiang Huaizhi to keen and growl like an animal begging to be allowed meat.
Soon, the noises coming from Jing Huan changed, become erratic and irregular, more akin to crying and sobbing and hiccups and it had Xiang Huaizhi’s stomach and balls tightening with the realisation that Jing Huan was f*cking so close to cumming and f*ck did that make him incensed enough to nearly tear down the wall separating them with his bare hands.
“Baobei, you sound so good.” His hand sped up as he said this and he could tell Jing Huan’s did the same judging by the wretched whine that came as a response. “So pretty, you make me want to hnng ”
He couldn’t finish the sentence, his co*ck rapidly increasing in sensitivity as he started to be able to nearly taste the incoming org*smwith the tip of his tongue. But he didn’t seem to need to. The whining and crying, the scratching, the slick sound of wetness, of frantic movement kept mounting higher and higher until finally an almost inhuman choked out sound - somewhere between an exhale and a sob - came from Jing Huan, the phone slipping off the bed with a slight thud and it became so much for XIang Huaizhi that he finally couldn’t bear it anymore. The force with which he came made him nearly bite his tongue clean in half, hands digging into the bed, splintering the frame until bits of wood dug into his skin, and toes curling into the sheets hard enough he heard their bones make a popping sound at the suddenness and strain. He couldn’t even see, vision having gone completely black and even his hearing was as if he was submerged into water. When he regained a sense of self he couldn’t help but scrunch his nose in disgust. His entire hand was covered in cum, as were his sweatpants, underwear and even the bedsheets which were, in turn, covered in tears, wood splinters and the weird fluff inside his pillow from where he had bitten it open. Miraculously, at least his phone was fine, probably due to having fallen on the ground at some point throughout the whole thing.
He picked it up and for a while neither him nor Jing Huan said anything, unable to do so as they struggled to catch their breath. He could feel the atmosphere start to become slightly awkward as neither of them knew what to even say but he really didn’t want Jing Huan to feel embarrassed or ashamed.
“Be sure to drink more water today and tomorrow.” Xiang Huaizhi’s voice was so rough it made his face turn red with embarrassment.
Jing Huan laughed lightly, voice cracking horribly mid-way, causing him to nearly choke and start coughing for a while. “Are you telling me to drink more warm water?”
If his throat didn’t feel like he had been ingesting flaming swords, XIang Huaizhi would have probably laughed at this ‘straight man’ joke but he had to settle for a smile. “I’m worried you’ll get shy if I give you actual advice.”
“Too late for that, gege. I’m already shy so it’s better to just get it over with.”
“In that case… make sure to take a nice long shower, change into clean clothes and if possible, sleep on a clean bed. Try to eat more beetroot or almonds and walnuts. Might want to try pomegranates too. Cold milk should also be good since you don’t have an intolerance and you don’t seem to dislike the flavour..”
“Oh, I’ve noted it down and will pay attention.”
“Also…” he paused for a bit, unsure whether he should continue speaking.
“Also?”
“...” Whatever, it was for Jing Huan’s health anyway. “Well, make sure to pee imminently. It helps your health after…”
He trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence. Although he and Jing Huan could be considered to have sort of slept together, in a manner of speaking, the whole thing had been very spontaneous and technically nothing too outrageous had been said or seen and it wouldn't be difficult to pretend this hadn’t happened if Jing Huan preferred to ignore it. He had never had any sort of sexual arrangement or encounter with anyone, and if Xiang Yu had had it then she certainly wouldn’t have told him about it, so he was unsure what the etiquette was in such a situation.
“...”
Jing Huan didn’t say anything for a while before whispering embarrassedly. “I should…go now then I guess? To do that. Um-”
He could feel Jing Huan’s mind drifting as he went off to mumble something incomprehensible and Xiang Huaizhi’s heart felt a pang of adoration.
“Mn, pay attention to safety…baobei.” The last word came out of him in a rush, too embarrassed to say it initially but… he decided to say it anyway. Xiao Tianjing had asked him all those many years ago and he had never said it to her. He had said it to Jing Huan multiple times today, subconsciously, but those had been sexually charged moments where the words had just tumbled out of his mouth. Although he did mean them, and it was very embarrassing to say, he didn’t want Jing Huan to misunderstand his intentions as purely sexual. No matter how shy he felt right now, he still wanted to clarify that Jing Huan was the treasure in his heart.
Judging by the silence and the tone of the quiet “En” from Jing Huan, the meaning had come across accurately.
“Then, gege, goodnight~”
“Mn, goodnight.”
Now…he needed to figure out what to do about the mess that was the room.
-
He had been asleep (on clean sheets! And the undestroyed pillow, thank you!) for only about 2 hours when his phone started ringing like crazy. Before bed, he always disabled all app notifications so that only calls to the actual phone number cold come through but even then he put in on silent in case he got spam calls, which why it surprised him that somebody was calling him persistently enough to make his entire bedside table rattle from the phone vibration.
Irritated with sleep deprivation, and for having his beautiful dreams of Jing Huan sitting on his face interrupted, he grabbed the phone with more force than necessary and aggressively pressed the screen to pick up the call.
The person immediately hung up.
Properly irritated now, he nearly launched himself into a sitting position and opened his bloodshot eyes to check who the f*ck had dared call him at this time of the night and hang up as soon as the call was picked up.
Seeing Xiang Yu’s number made him frown. He tried to call her back but she hung up immediately.
Irritated beyond belief now, he checked the WeChat on his other phone and found a bunch of messages from her.
Salted YuYu: [ So uh ]
Salted YuYu: [ There’s been a change of plans ]
Salted YuYu: [ I need help (sob) (sob) (sob) T ^ T ]
Salted YuYu: [ Ge ]
Salted YuYu: [ Gege ]
Salted YuYu: [ Xiang Huaizhi ]
Salted YuYu: [ Yearning For ]
Salted YuYu: [ Ge im serious, I really need help ]
Salted YuYu: [ f*ck, are you ignoring me or are you asleep ]
Salted YuYu: [ I really need help please]
Salted YuYu: [ Help help help help help help help help
Salted YuYu: [ Help ]
The messages continued for a long time and it made his hair stand on end.
Xiang: [ Xiang Yu what the f*ck, are you okay? ]
Xiang: [ Pick up your phone ]
Salted YuYu: [ Ge, you finally responded o(TヘTo) ]
Salted YuYu: [ Can you come pick me up? ]
…
What. The f*ck.
Xiang: [ What do you mean pick you up? Pick you up from where? ]
Salted YuYu: [ Salted YuYu sent a photo ]
He quinted against the brightness of the screen and felt himself waking up in a second. Was that the f*cking-
Salted YuYu: [ I’m at the airport. ]
…
Was there a legal way for him to suddenly stop having a cousin?
-
Xiang Huaizhi parked at the Car Park in a foul mood. Naturally, he wouldn’t leave his cousin stranded, she was a young woman after all, not particularly tall and not particularly athletic so he’d be a monster to just leave her at the airport. Especially since sometimes she could be quite ditzy, not to mention her sense of direction was atrocious, the one time she managed to get lost at Xiaoguan Market (盛福小关市场) having become an over-repeated anecdote at family gatherings. So Xiang Huaizhi really couldn’t leave her try to find her way around in a new and unfamiliar place. That didn’t mean he wasn’t super pissed about it however.
He tried to calm down as he entered the actual airport, lest he scare the passengers, or worse - security, with his face darker than the bottom of a pot. He managed to relax enough to bring it to a neutral mask of indifference but his lips remained pursed as if he had eaten bitter gourds until his tongue went numb.
He found Xiang Yu quickly enough. She was leaning on the wall in the most awkward position possible where one of her legs half raised and resting on her knee, as if she was a stork, while one of her hands - the one holding her phone - was stretched upwards and bent at the elbow in the most uncomfortable looking angle imaginable. Not to mention the phone’s power cable that managed to wind down, tangle around her legs and plug into the power bank resting precariously on what could best be described as a jenga tower of psychology books, a fashion magazine and, for some reason, a Finding Nemo colouring book, partially coloured, and procured from who knows where. He pinched the bridge of his nose. She looked like an insane person and he could see all the passengers giving her a wide berth when passing around her and even the security uncles and aunts had started to eye her suspiciously at regular intervals.
He let out a sigh, too tired and exasperated to even feel angry anymore.
“Xiang Yu.”
Her head immediately swivelled around causing the phone to fall out of her hand, smack her nose on the way down and stop a mere couple of millimetres above the floor, where it would have undoubtedly shattered to pieces had it not been for the charging cord actings as bungee rope in the last moment.
“Ge, you startled me, ah!” She patted her chest in fright before smiling at him while diligently fishing up her phone by pulling at the charging cord as if she were drawing water from a well.
With a sigh of resignation, he collected the book-jenga tower and as many of the suitcases he could take (his hands were big enough and all the suitcases had wheels so he was able to take most of them without an issue) and waited for her to disentangle herself from the phone wires and take the last suitcase before moving on. She looked so silly with her wide brimmed sun hat and star-shaped blue-lense sunglasses in the middle of the night. She even had sandals on her feet and was wearing nothing but a white frilly shirt with the thinnest cardigan to shield her from the cold. No wonder everybody was looking at them strangely. With his nice long coat and fancy shoes he probably f*cking looked like a boss flying in a barely-out-of-school girl cross-country.
The thought was so disgusting, he felt himself becoming nauseous and hurried the f*ck away pretending to not here some of the words being exchanged. It wasn’t her fault, he knew, but this had happened so often and it was so f*cking uncomfortable every time it did. They were close in age and they were very close but that was his cousin and he had held her when she was a baby, f*ck he had nearly dropped her when she was a baby, and he really didn’t want to even think about people associating them together in such a way. Yet it always f*cking happened because people were weird and couldn’t look at a guy and a girl eating at a random street food stand together and not assume they were dating.
He felt himself erupting into cold goosebumps and tried to not dwell on the topic anymore.
The entire way to the car she rambled about something nonsensical, talking about this person and that person on her flight and only once they went back to the car, her luggage all packed up, did she suddenly become quiet and fall silent.
He shut the boot and turned towards her in expectation.
“Okay so before you get mad, I promise it wasn’t my fault this time okay! I also found out last minute, okay, this can’t be blamed on me at all!” She spoke a mile a minute and it really exacerbated his headache so much he deeply regretted leaving his house without water or at least some fruit.
He must have winced in pain or something because in the next moment she the palm of her hand with her fist and exclaimed “Oh!” before starting to rifle through her backpack for something.
“I figured you’d be angry so I ended up bringing you some of the leftover food auntie had prepared for New Year. I also bought you a bottle of water that I haven’t opened because I know how you get with all that sharing stuff.”
So she did have some conscience after all.
The leftovers turned to be a makeshift rice ball full of…something. At his unimpressed look, she hurried to clarify.
“Look this was all very last minute, I just got auntie’s five spice pork and tried to wrap it up in some of the leftover rice. Um I didn’t have any scallions however so I just added some cucumbers…”
…
Well at least it would be edible.
In fact his mother’s five-spice pork was something he regularly got a craving for but could never accurately recreate. It was originally a recipe passed down the family for generations and it was a modified version of fenzheng rou (粉蒸肉) that, in Xiang Huaizhi’s humble opinion ended up resembling ohyang-jangyuk (오향장육) a bit too much, even if he would never say that out loud unless he wanted to get his ass beaten. It was really delicious however and since it was a ‘highly guarded family secret’ and he had never been particularly talented in the kitchen, not only did he have absolutely no way of looking up the recipe but he was also never given it. His mother, who was otherwise also not a great cook except when it came to this one dish and a handful of pickling techniques for vegetables, had let him help her on a handful of occasions and every encounter had resulted in him getting chased out of the kitchen with the threat of getting hit with the rolling pin. The only time the recipe was brought up around him was on rare occasions when Zhu Heqiong had had a few glasses of celebration wine or won a particularly difficult mahjong game and was in a good mood. But even then the only thing said about it was that one day when he brought home a wife, the family secret would be handed over to her as a way to acknowledge her and make her feel at home. Xiang Huaizhi had always scoffed whenever she said that but now that he had spent months sweetly eating Jing Huan’s cooking for nearly every one of his meals, he couldn’t help but be filled with pink bubbles at the thought.
Although the topic of being gay had never come up in their family, his parents didn’t seem to be close-minded people and he hoped they would accept Jing Huan and be willing to acknowledge them with something like their family’s secret five-spice pork recipe. Especially since Jing Huan was so good, he would definitely do it utmost justice.
Not to mention…he really hoped he’d be able to give Jing Huan a proper family and a proper sense of belonging. Even if the younger boy didn’t seem that upset nowadays about his relationships, or lack thereof, with his family, it was clearly still incredibly painful for him to not have a single relative to rely on except his cousin who lived far away, and by the sounds of it was an incredibly busy working-woman. It was evident in the way Jing Huan’s throat closed up mid-sentence whenever he realised he was about to say something in relation to his family and it tore Xiang Huaizhi’s heart in half every time the spark in Jing Huan’s eyes disappeared as a result.
“Is it not good?”
Xiang Yu’s voice made him nearly leap out of his skin. “What?”
“The food? Is it not good? I did my best to wrap it up but um I passed through security and check in so quickly and we had heavy turbulence on the plane a few times and then the bag fell on my head so maybe it got squished a bit despite the tupperware.”
He realised he had stopped eating at the thought of Jing Huan’s family situation. He picked up the pace, doing his best to enjoy the taste and not get irritated by the way the rice part of the ‘riceball’ was constantly crumbling down his fingers. At least it fell into the box and not on the ground so it could be salvaged.
“It’s good, thank you for bringing me some.”
He ate more than half of it in a hurry - the lack of dinner and all the stress and tension from today making him hungrier than he had been in a while - and saved the other half for Jing Huan, ignoring Xiang Yu’s weirded out expression as he closed the lid.
The water however he chugged in one go.
“Let’s go.”
Her offering having been successfully accepted, Xiang Yu felt more comfortable talking and finally explained why exactly she was showing up in Hong Kong over 24 hours before she had been initially set to arrive.
“I can’t believe nobody actually decided it would be a good idea to tell me that I had to be here on the 10th when in actuality I had to actually be here by the 8th to deal with introductory stuff. It’s already the 8th today, why did I find out today that I had to be here by today . My accommodation contract, that they arranged for me mind you, only starts on Wednesday, okay, so where am I supposed to live until then? Do they want me to go to a hotel??? I can’t believe they would actually pit me like this, this is so unacceptable, okay!!!!”
She slapped the seat a couple of times and Xiang Huaizhi just grunted to express his agreement.
“It’s lucky enough that I ended up inadvertently messaging Miss Leung out of the blue and she corrected me. I could have died of mortification when she told me I had ‘misunderstood’ the date. I didn’t ‘misunderstand’ anything okay, I clearly wasn’t told! Ugh, I’m so mad! I was in such a rush, I don’t know which bit of my luggage is in which suitcase or even if I have all I need, I had under an hour to pack everything. Under! An! Hour! Not to mention I look like an absolutely insane person because I realised I had packed all of my clothes already and hadn’t left anything to take, I had to dig up some relics from when I was a teenager, I don’t even fit in those clothes anymore, I was didn’t even dare sneeze on the plane for fear my stomach and tit* would just go popping out of my clothes.”
“I didn’t need that image in my head, thanks.”
“Oh don’t be a baby, you’ve literally seen me naked.”
“That’s when you had literally just been born!”
“Oh so you’ve seen me naked and covered in blood, thank you for offering to buy me pads next time I need them.”
He sighed in exasperation but didn’t respond otherwise, just continued to let her rant. It really was incredibly outrageous and he couldn’t even imagine how stressful it would have been for her to have barely any time to pack and have to travel in a hurry. He was just glad he had been able to hear his phone or she would have been stuck at the airport for multiple hours.
By the time they entered through the door, Xiang Huaizhi was so exhausted he nearly face planted into the wall.
“ Wao what happened here?”
It was only now that he remembered a large chunk of his apartment was covered in pillow fluff and he could only feel grateful that he had taken the time to clear up everything and let the air circulate before he had gone to sleep. Otherwise, this scene would be even more magical than it was.
“Pillowcase tore from too much washing and I accidentally tore the pillow when I tried to catch it mid-fall.”
Okay it wasn’t his finest lie but he was tired and so was Xiang Yu so he could be forgiven for coming up with something so stupid and she could be forgiven for not scrutinising it. They sat together on the couch and he brought out some of the leftovers he had from New Years and some bottles of beer. Was it healthy? No. But he was beyond the point of caring and so was Xiang Yu it seemed if the speed with which she started wolfing down the cold food and straight up chugging the beer was any indication. They ate in silence for a while and Xiang Huaizhi tried very hard to not feel on edge by the sudden quiet.
Xiang Yu didn’t like to talk when eating and preferred to be peaceful without being bothered. She didn't even turn the TV on and even eating around people she wasn’t close to was a struggle. Xiang Huaizhi remembered all the times her parents had yelled at her or even grounded her for not eating at large gatherings where the whole family ate together and chatted about things. In the, she ended up forcing herself to eat and developed an eating disorder and even bulimia which had taken a lot of time and efforts to treat. Everybody laid off it since then and she was allowed to eat in her own time and under her own conditions but it still affected her greatly. Although Xiang Yu had never said anything about it, he strongly suspected that it was the reason she had gotten into studying psychology in the first place. Although she was a person who liked to receive help when it came to smaller things, she had always only ever really sought help from him or his parents, and only then were her own parents considered as confidants.
Once they had finished eating, they put on some mindless cross talk on the TV.
“The bedsheets are fresh so you can sleep on them by the way.”
“You’re letting me stay here for the night?”
He tried to not get offended by the shock in her voice.
“Otherwise? You want me to send you off to look for a hotel this late?”
“Ge, you’re the best!” She launched forward to hug him and released him promptly before he had time to push her away.
“Remember that next time you get mad at me for no reason.”
“When have I ever got mad at you!”
He just looked at her with a raise eyebrow.
She scoffed, clearly unimpressed. “By the way, where did all this food come from? You’re a kitchen disaster and it doesn’t look like takeaway. A neighbour take pity on you or something?”
“Well, it is from my neighbour.”
“No way ba ! Seriously? A girl?”
…
He gave her a look instead of answering and she just exhaled. “Fine, keep your secrets. Remember to thank them and don’t be rude.”
“When am I rude???”
It was her turn to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “You want a list?”
They chatter for a while more, the TV playing quietly in the background and, probably due to sheer exhaustion, ended up falling asleep on the couch.
-
When he woke up in the morning he had the nastiest crick in his shoulders from having slept in the most uncomfortable position on earth. Xiang Yu had at least managed to make a cushion and clothing pile to sleep on. Xiang Huaizhi had straight up slept with his head at an almost 90 degree angle and neck hanging in the air without any support. He really, did not need this.
He wobbled awkwardly into the bathroom, carrying a pile of clothes to change into since his only other room was currently occupied, and spent almost a full half hour just blasting the stiff bit of his neck and shoulder with the hottest water the heating could manage and rubbing it and doing shoulder stretches. He had given up on the heating and electricity bill at this point.
Only once his shoulder started to let up a bit did he proceed with his shoulder as normal and did his best to relax and forget about the annoyance of having to share a flat with his cousin or not being able to spend much time (if any) with Jing Huan or even just…the interruption to his routine in general. Maybe he should get one of those fancy shampoos and bodywashes Jing Huan had in his flat. Not the sweet ones but perhaps the ones that smelled of aloe vera or eucalyptus or something like that. That would be quite nice, wouldn’t it?
He heard Xiang Yu’s voice talking in honestly atrocious, borderline unintelligible, Cantonese with somebody at the door, trying not to wince at her accent. It’s not that her voice was unpleasant or her skills were that bad, it’s just that it was very clear she had learnt Cantonese in a hurry, presumably just a few months (if that) before coming here. She was clearly good enough if she had passed whatever tests her future employers had presented her with but this…there was no mistaking her for a native speaker, let’s just say that. Not that Xiang Huaizhi could talk. It had taken him a full year before he dared to open his mouth to speak Cantonese to anybody to the point where most people thought he had been mute.
“Oh you speak Mandarin, thank heavens!”
He could practically hear her weeping from joy as she launched into a fast conversation with whoever the other person was but the conversation didn’t last that long after that as he heard her say goodbye.
Less than a second later he heard her shout. “Thank you for the food!”
…
… …
!!!!!!!!!
His heart leaping in his chest, he didn’t bother to even turn off the shower or remove the shampoo and soap bubbles off his hair and body, only having the sens of mind to hurriedly grab a towel to haphazardly wrap around his lower body before jumping out of the bathroom at record speed, startling (and drenching) his mei in the process, to grap Jing Huan’s hand right as he was going away from the door.
Xiang Yu and Jing Huan looked at him with eyes nearly falling out of their heads, staring at him like he was insane, while Xiang Huaizhi’s hand tightened around the towel that was just about hanging onto his waist.
He should say something, this was weird. He was getting water all over the tiles and the doormat and even Jing Huan’s shoes. Jing Huan was standing in a puddle.
Jing Huan’s face had turned bright red as his eyes romed all over Xiang Huaizhi’s wet soapy naked body before mustering all the will of heaven and earth to unblinkingly pin themselves to Xiang Huaizhi’s eyes.
He should really say something.
“My tangmei arrived way earlier than she was supposed to and I only found out a couple of hours ago. She doesn’t have anywhere to live for the next few days so I brought her here. I didn’t have the time to tell you, I’m sorry.”
Jing Huan just stared at him dazedly for a while, face becoming redder and redder and he really didn’t seem to be breathing.
“O-oh” he finally said after a while, Xiang Huaizhi’s words gradually registering into his head. “Tangmei. Yuyu. That tangmei. Your tangmei Yuyu yes. That is her. She is your tangmei and she is Yuyu.”
Jing Huan’s head that turned slowly and stiffly, like a robot whose joints hadn’t been oiled in a long time and spoke to Xiang Yu in the same stiff voice he had spoken to Xiang Huaizhi just now. “You are his tangmei. Hello cousin. I mean, hello Yuyu. I mean hello, Xiang Huaizhi’s cousin. Not my cousin.”
“Yes... I am his cousin Xiang Yu.”
“Oh, Xiang Yu.”
Xiang Yu: “...”
Xiang Huaizhi: “...”
As if feeling his behaviour had been too abnormal, Jing Huan closed his eyes and took a deep breath several times, fingers gripping Xiang Huaizhi’s (naked, still wet and covered in soap suds) forearm for dear life.
After a while his hands relaxed and he turned fully to Xiang Yu and smiled at her. “Hi, Xiang Yu, it is nice to meet you.”
Xiang Yu: “... Well, you too.”
“I will go now, and leave you two to talk in peace. Hope you enjoy the food.” He gave one last smile to them both, waved to Xiang Huaizhi and left, letting the doors fall shut behind him.
Xiang Huaizhi exhaled with relief, heart beating a mile per minute. He was just glad he had realised in time Xiang Yu had been talking to Jing Huan or else it would be really bad if Jing Huan had misunderstood her as somebody whom Xiang Huaizhi had brought home to spend the night right after he and Jing Huan had had a mutual masturbation session over the phone.
“Ge…”
“Not now.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I am genuinely begging you, not now.”
“Okay…”
They stood in silence for a while, not saying anything.
“Ge.”
“Xiang Yu, I said not now.”
“I know it’s just that…you’re dripping water and soap all over the floor. And you’re not wearing any clothes and that towel is barely staying where it should and I’d rather you didn’t lose it in my presence.”
“...”
He went back to finish his shoulder and wished he could just never leave it.
Question: was it possible for him to drown himself in the shower and come back as a ghost to cohabitate happily with Jing Huan without anything else interfering. Waiting urgently online for answers.
