HL 21

It had already been two months since he started living with Lu Yingjie, and to be honest, it wasn’t as comfortable as living at Ying Yusheng’s place.

But seeing the other person’s spirits gradually improve, Xu Nanxiao felt it was worth it.

Since the rent and living expenses all came out of Xu Nanxiao’s pocket, Lu Yingjie tried hard to demonstrate his other value. He took on all the household chores except cooking, cleaning the house until it was spotless every single day.

That day, he kept drifting back and forth in front of Xu Nanxiao, blocking his view of the movie. Xu Nanxiao was quite irritated, so he frowned and said, “Take a break, will you? It’s the weekend, what are you mopping the floor for again?”

Hearing this, Lu Yingjie immediately obediently moved aside.

Xu Nanxiao’s attention was entirely on the movie; he didn’t even glance at Lu Yingjie, just staring fixedly at the screen.

Lu Yingjie rested his chin on the mop handle, silently watching Xu Nanxiao for a while. He held back again and again, but in the end, he couldn’t help saying, “Ge, how about we play a game together?”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Tonight, after I finish watching this movie.”

Lu Yingjie’s round eyes dropped. He sulked silently for a while, feeling wronged, then muttered quietly, “Why did you suddenly become so fond of watching movies?”

Xu Nanxiao’s biggest hobby used to be playing games. When he wasn’t gaming, he’d be sprawled out on the sofa scrolling through short videos. But ever since the two of them started living together this time, watching movies had become his main way to pass the time.

Not only that, but many of Xu Nanxiao’s daily habits had changed as well.

For example, he no longer ate leftovers from the previous day; anything uneaten got thrown out. He kept two pairs of slippers—one for the shower and one for indoors—and no longer wore them interchangeably. His laundry detergent used to smell like mint, but now he exuded a faint tea fragrance from head to toe, the same scent as a certain someone. The air conditioning was no longer set freezing cold but consistently kept at 26 degrees, the same temperature that someone’s office maintained year-round…

Although they were all very minor details, they clearly bore the mark of someone. That person had quietly infiltrated every aspect of Xu Nanxiao’s life, reshaping him into a form more suited to themselves.

Xu Nanxiao didn’t catch the underlying implication in Lu Yingjie’s words and casually replied, “I watched quite a few with Ying Yusheng, and they turned out to be pretty good—a nice way to kill time.”

Hearing this, Lu Yingjie’s eyes flew wide open.

He clenched his jaw, the tendons in his cheeks twitching faintly. Then he reached his hand out toward Xu Nanxiao, but just before touching the pale, slender nape of his neck, it abruptly stopped in midair.

Lu Yingjie’s forearm muscles were taut with inner struggle as he stared at that stretch of neck. But in the end, he turned away in frustration and went to clean Xu Nanxiao’s room instead.

Xu Nanxiao had been watching his movie quite peacefully when suddenly there was a loud “BANG!” He jolted, turned his head, and saw that Lu Yingjie had slammed the door. He thought to himself, what’s he getting angry about all of a sudden? Isn’t it just because I complained about him blocking my view of the movie? No need to go that far.

But before long, an even louder noise came from Xu Nanxiao’s room. Something heavy crashed to the floor, and its contents spilled out with a clatter.

Hearing Lu Yingjie grunt in pain, Xu Nanxiao nervously tossed aside the remote and rushed into the room, though his words came out as a scolding: “What are you messing around with now?”

“I wanted to wipe the top of the wardrobe, but the box fell down.” Lu Yingjie was slumped on the floor, clutching his forehead.

However, when he opened his eyes and saw what had spilled on the ground, he suddenly yelped, covered his face, kicked at the floor, and scrambled backward as hard as he could.

“What are you yelling about? We’re both men, it’s not like you’ve never used one before.” Xu Nanxiao’s face flushed with embarrassment, but he tried to act casual as he picked up the various Fleshlights scattered on the floor and put them back in the box.

“Really, really haven’t used one,” Lu Yingjie stammered, still covering his face, the flush spreading all the way to the tips of his ears.

He stared at the toys in Xu Nanxiao’s arms through the gaps between his fingers. Some of them were worn and tattered from being used with too much force. Just imagining how much desire Xu Nanxiao had poured into them, and what expression he would have on his face each night while using them, made Lu Yingjie inexplicably dry-mouthed.

Xu Nanxiao let out a light laugh and scoffed, “Little virgin.”

Realizing he had overreacted, Lu Yingjie felt humiliated. He propped himself up and stood, mumbling, “I didn’t expect you to buy things like that.”

“What? You think there’s something wrong with my body?”

“No, no, it’s because you used to have women help you with that before…”

Xu Nanxiao froze.

When had he started taking care of things himself? It seemed to be after Ying Yusheng had laid down the rules for him.

He had been forced to keep himself chaste, purely to meet Ying Yusheng’s rigid demands. But now, he no longer lived in Ying Yusheng’s house, and Ying Yusheng couldn’t control him anymore. So why hadn’t he thought about finding a woman?

“Hello, welcome!”

As he walked into the bakery, Xu Nanxiao was still mulling over this matter.

“Ge Xu, here for bread again? Don’t always make do with bread—you need to eat proper meals.” The female shop owner smiled sweetly, packing his order as she tried to persuade him.

Xu Nanxiao looked at her for a moment, then asked, “No more tiramisu?”

“All gone, but it’s quick to make. If you want some, I can whip it up fresh—five minutes, tops.”

“Yeah, go ahead and make it.”

“Alright!”

This bakery was located on the main route Xu Nanxiao took to work. Though the shop wasn’t big, the craftsmanship was excellent. So he visited frequently and often chatted with the female shop owner.

She had a sweet appearance, wore glasses, and seemed to have an endless supply of energy every day, like a little sun. Xu Nanxiao liked that type; he’d had some interest in her from the first time he saw her. But since she clearly seemed like a good girl, and he didn’t want to take responsibility, he never made a move.

Today, however, out of a one-sided sulk with Ying Yusheng, and to prove he hadn’t been tamed by him, he took the initiative to strike up a conversation with the shop owner.

“Xiao Tao, that phone wallpaper is really cute.”

“Hehe, yeah, it’s from Studio Ghibli. I really love Miyazaki’s movies.”

“I like Miyazaki too.”

“Really?! Ge Xu, you’re surprisingly adorable with that反差萌 (gap moe)!”

“For real. His recent re-release of Howl’s Moving Castle—have you seen it?”

The shop owner shyly touched her head. “I was planning to, but I’ve been too busy lately and haven’t had the chance.”

“I see… How about we go see it together this weekend?” Xu Nanxiao knew he had a good-looking smile, so he made full use of his appearance advantage. “My treat? I can’t find anyone to watch it with me.”

To his surprise, the shop owner stared at him in shock.

Her lips parted and closed again. After hemming and hawing for a long time, she finally said in a small voice, “That wouldn’t be appropriate, Ge Xu. Wouldn’t you rather ask your boyfriend to watch it with you?”

Xu Nanxiao’s smile froze instantly on his face.

He slowly straightened up, furrowing his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I—I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just that if we go to the movies together, your boyfriend might get jealous…”

Xu Nanxiao let out a scoff of disbelief. “What boyfriend?”

The shop owner’s eyes widened. “But you clearly came here with your boyfriend to buy bread before.”

That day, the shop owner had been tidying up the merchandise as usual when she heard a “ding-dong”—a customer had arrived.

“Welco…me.” It was Xu Nanxiao, her regular customer.

But this time, Xu Nanxiao wasn’t alone; there was a strange man beside him. The man was very tall, half a head taller than Xu Nanxiao.

From the moment they walked in, his hand had been wrapped around Xu Nanxiao’s waist, pulling him into his embrace.

Xu Nanxiao picked out some bread and brought it to the counter to pay. The shop owner couldn’t resist glancing up at the two of them and noticed that Xu Nanxiao seemed off—his eyes were vacant, as if his soul had drifted away.

“Ge Xu,” she asked curiously, “are you okay?”

Xu Nanxiao didn’t answer, just shook his head. Suddenly, he stiffened, his face instantly turning red, his expression contorting. He lowered his head, gripping the strange man’s sleeve tightly, slightly hunching over, unable to stop shallow, ragged breaths from escaping his lips.

What’s wrong? Is he sick?

The shop owner grew very concerned.

In the end, the strange man took the bag from the shop owner’s hand and led Xu Nanxiao away, his arm still around him.

No sooner had they left than the shop owner realized she had forgotten to put one loaf of bread in the bag.

Strange—she was sure she had packed it all.

With a yelp, she grabbed the already-paid-for bread and chased after them.

Fortunately, they hadn’t gone far. The shop owner saw them turn into a small alley. She called out Xu Nanxiao’s name as she ran after them, but what she saw left her utterly shocked—

The man was pressing Xu Nanxiao against the wall, kissing him!

The kiss was so intense that even from that distance, the shop owner could hear the wet, smacking sounds. Xu Nanxiao was clearly being kissed weak in the knees, his whole body sinking downward, but the man held him up with his knee between Xu Nanxiao’s legs. Not only that, he deliberately rubbed against him slowly, triggering wave after wave of tremors in Xu Nanxiao.

She never would have dreamed that a tough, handsome guy like Xu Nanxiao could wear an expression so close to seductive allure.

As if she had stumbled upon some earth-shattering secret, the shop owner fled in terror, forgetting to return the bread.

“That’s what happened.” The shop owner said apologetically. “But the next time you came, I snuck that bread back into your bag.”

After saying that, she looked up and quietly studied Xu Nanxiao’s expression, only to find that he was even more stunned than she was.

Xu Nanxiao looked like a patient who had just received terrible news—his whole body frozen in place, his Adam’s apple trembling violently in the shadow cast by his jaw.

That lunatic!

That bastard absolutely did it on purpose!!!

The next second, Xu Nanxiao suddenly grabbed the shop owner’s shoulders and shouted, “What did he look like?!?!”

He could have easily hidden away like a rat in a sewer, but instead, he had the audacity to bring him openly into the shop. They were both men—who didn’t understand that little scheme? It was nothing but a way to stake a claim.

How many times had the hooded man manipulated him without his knowledge? How many people around him had witnessed him being intimate with the hooded man? How far into his life was he going to infiltrate before he was satisfied?!

The shop owner had never seen Xu Nanxiao so hysterical before—she was terrified, her eyes instantly reddening. “I’m sorry…”

Xu Nanxiao had no choice but to force down his anger and soften his voice, though the end of it still trembled: “Xiao Tao, what did that man look like?”

“I didn’t dare look too closely, and he was wearing a hood and a mask, so his face was covered. He was pretty, pretty tall, had a good figure, and seemed young.” The shop owner said haltingly. “And, he must have been pretty wealthy.”

“Wealthy?”

Because the shop owner had kept her head bashfully lowered while checking out, the thing she saw most clearly was the man’s shoes—

Red-and-white LV Nike AF1s.

These shoes had been hugely popular for a long time, with an official retail price of 26,000 yuan, and on the secondary market, they were resold for anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan.

“But they might not have been real,” the shop owner added.

For a moment, the only sound in the bakery was the hum of the air conditioner. The cold air hit his knees, seeped into his bones, climbed upward, and finally seized his heart—squeezing it until it felt like a lifeless object, no longer beating.

They were real. Xu Nanxiao knew that all too well.

Because that very pair of shoes was sitting in the shoe cabinet at Xu Nanxiao’s home.

They were…

The birthday gift Lu Yingjie’s mother had given him when he turned twenty-two.