HL 3

Xu Nanxiao thought he’d never see his brother’s professor again. Who knew their next encounter would come so soon?

He’d scraped together some spare cash and gone to his usual coffee shop to buy cake.

As he turned a corner, a couple suddenly burst out from his blind spot. The guy was walking too fast to stop, and he crashed hard into Xu Nanxiao—coffee splattering all over the blonde-haired man.

“Fuck!” the blonde yelled.

“Ah!” his girlfriend screamed too.

What the hell were these two—a blonde and a firecracker? Why were they so loud? Xu Nanxiao thought coldly. The girl got one slap in his mind, the guy got two.

He stepped aside, ready to walk past them, but the blonde grabbed his arm.

The blonde cursed at him, saying his shirt was a brand-new Burberry that Xu Nanxiao had just ruined, and he demanded compensation. His girlfriend chimed in: “You know how hard coffee stains are to get out? And it’s a white shirt—first time wearing it.”

Xu Nanxiao clicked his tongue.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kick this eyesore straight into next week, and said flatly: “You weren’t watching where you were going. Whose fault is that? Move.”

“The hell you say!” The blonde’s voice shot up even higher, drawing stares from nearby tables. He wouldn’t let it go, insisting Xu Nanxiao pay him fifteen thousand, or he wasn’t leaving.

Fifteen thousand? Xu Nanxiao nearly laughed in disbelief.

In his eyes, that shirt wasn’t worth much more than a dishrag—and this guy wanted fifteen thousand for it?

He’d barely scraped together this money to treat himself to something decent. No way was he paying up.

“You gonna pay or not?” The blonde started rolling up his sleeves.

Xu Nanxiao could see it now—this guy was all bluster, trying to act tough in front of his girlfriend.

Probably because Xu Nanxiao looked lean in clothes, the blonde got the mistaken impression he could take him. Xu Nanxiao thought: if this guy so much as lays a finger on me, I’ll have him on his knees calling me daddy.

Just then, a gentle male voice cut in from behind: “What’s going on here?”

Xu Nanxiao turned and saw a pair of curved, smiling eyes. To his surprise, he actually recognized the man—it was his brother’s professor, the one with the surname Ying.

“Professor Ying, what a coincidence.” Xu Nanxiao was annoyed at being caught in this mess by his brother’s teacher. “Nothing—just ran into an idiot.”

“What did you say—”

Ying Yusheng’s eyes swept between the three of them, quickly sizing up the situation. Without warning, he slipped an arm around Xu Nanxiao’s shoulder and pulled him closer.

Ying Yusheng leaned in, murmuring by his ear: “Don’t worry—let me talk to him.”

The warmth of the man’s breath echoed in his ear canal. Xu Nanxiao barely suppressed a full-body shudder. He held back, subtly shrugging off the hand on his shoulder, not holding out much hope: “Fine.”

Ying Yusheng pulled the young man aside. At first, the guy was still scowling, but after a moment, his eyes darted around and his expression shifted.

The blonde was silent for a long time, then looked at his girlfriend and suddenly walked over, pushing her toward the exit.

“Let’s go. We’re not lowering ourselves to these broke losers.”

“Why all of a sudden—”

Their voices faded as they walked away.

Xu Nanxiao was astonished. He strode over to Ying Yusheng in a few steps and asked: “What did you say to him?”

Ying Yusheng explained calmly with a faint smile: “I noticed the drape of the fabric seemed off, so I went over and glanced at the tag. The curve on the Burberry ‘u’ looked strange—probably a counterfeit. When I mentioned that to him, he immediately looked at his girlfriend, and I knew I was right. Kids his age care about face—he didn’t want his girlfriend finding out.”

“Though they’re a couple, there was distance in how they stood and their body language wasn’t relaxed—they’ve probably been together only a short while. I told him: impressions are especially important at this stage. If his girlfriend finds out he wears fakes, her opinion of him will drop significantly.”

Even though the professor had helped him out, Xu Nanxiao still frowned slightly. This Professor Ying read people too accurately—standing in front of him felt like being naked. It was unsettling.

Still, the man had helped him, and he was his brother’s teacher, so Xu Nanxiao said politely: “Thanks for today, Professor Ying. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

Unexpectedly, Ying Yusheng said: “Why not today?”

While Xu Nanxiao was still processing, Ying Yusheng glanced toward the counter and proposed cordially: “How about a cup of coffee with me?”

Xu Nanxiao bought two coffees and two desserts, sat by the window with a scowl, and shoveled whipped cream into his mouth. He hadn’t expected Ying Yusheng to take a polite gesture literally.

It was almost endearing.

“You like sweets?” Ying Yusheng asked with a smile.

“Life’s bitter enough. Need something sweet to take the edge off.” Xu Nanxiao admitted frankly, unashamed.

Suddenly aware that cream might be on the corner of his mouth, he wiped it with his thumb pad. Parting his lips slightly, he curled his tongue and sucked it in, letting it melt.

Ying Yusheng watched him silently, his gaze like a little brush sweeping over Xu Nanxiao’s body, back and forth. It made Xu Nanxiao so uncomfortable that he couldn’t help looking up, frowning: “What?”

“Nothing.” Ying Yusheng smiled, but it was a beat too slow, creeping onto his face bit by bit—strangely unnerving.

He was just remembering how obedient you looked back then.

Different. Definitely different.

The hypnotized Xu Nanxiao had been very compliant, but he wasn’t him—more like a thoughtless blow-up doll.

The real Xu Nanxiao was a leopard: lazy and dozing, not quick to attack. But once provoked, one swipe of his claws could crack open a skull.

“By the way, I’ve wanted to ask since our first meeting—you have such a great physique. Do you play any sports?”

Xu Nanxiao answered with some hesitation: “I do boxing now and then.”

“Really? That’s impressive. I actually work out regularly too.”

“I can tell.”

“Could I squeeze your arm for comparison?”

For a boxing coach, that was a perfectly ordinary request. “Sure, but I’m in a lightweight class—my muscles aren’t that big.”

Ying Yusheng grasped Xu Nanxiao’s warm, springy arm beneath his T-shirt. His fingertips met a faint resilient resistance, which he deliberately massaged away with his palm.

How interesting, he thought.

Under hypnosis, those arms only ever hung limply around his neck. He never knew the lines could be so beautiful when awake.

It turned out there were still so many things about Xu Nanxiao he didn’t know.

It wasn’t until Xu Nanxiao started showing impatience that Ying Yusheng withdrew his hand without a trace. After that, the two made small talk about Lu Yingjie—nothing of consequence.

Xu Nanxiao noticed that this Professor Ying was a strange one. No matter how he steered the conversation toward Lu Yingjie, it always circled back to himself.

Luckily, the cake was soon finished, and the coffee was nearly gone. Xu Nanxiao figured it was about time to make his exit.

“Professor Ying, thanks for today. I had a good time eating with you.” Afraid the man would take him seriously again, Xu Nanxiao didn’t say “next time.” Instead, he said, “I’ve got some things to do, so I’ll head off now.”

Ying Yusheng’s eyelids drooped slightly, his slender fingers stirring the spoon in his coffee. “I had a good time today too.”

“Ha, because the cake was good?”

“No. I don’t often get to chat with people my age. My colleagues are all much older than me—no common ground.” He looked up, staring straight into the depths of Xu Nanxiao’s eyes, and said with meaning: “I hope we get to meet again.”

Xu Nanxiao was taken aback.

Then he scoffed inwardly, thinking:

Phony.

That evening, Lu Yingjie came over to Xu Nanxiao’s place for dinner. Xu Nanxiao thought it over and decided there was no need to mention running into the professor.

Lu Yingjie pulled up a chair to the small folding table, eyes locked on the pot in Xu Nanxiao’s hands. “Yes! Ge, I’ve been craving this chicken all week.”

“What are you craving?” Xu Nanxiao laughed, setting the pot on the table. “It’s not like my cooking’s that great.”

His cooking was average—maybe decent for a single guy, but nothing to brag about.

“You don’t get it. I grew up eating this—your food tastes like home.”

“Get out of here.”

Whenever Lu Yingjie said stuff like that, Xu Nanxiao would call him “mushy” or “gross.” But he said it with a smile, never truly angry.

The two brothers chatted as they ate.

“Got yourself a girlfriend in college yet?”

“This again.” Lu Yingjie’s face immediately fell. He prodded at his rice with chopsticks. “Who has the time?”

“Studying early or late doesn’t make a difference. You can’t be 23 and still haven’t been with a woman.”

That was a crude thing to say. Lu Yingjie lifted his eyelids and stared at him intently: “So what if I haven’t?”

Xu Nanxiao always thought Lu Yingjie was like a deer—a wild one. His eyes could be pitiful and doe-like one moment, then like a stag scraping its hooves against the ground, ready to charge the next.

Xu Nanxiao held a cigarette between his fingers, smirking faintly: “After you try it, you won’t say that.”

“But the one I want to try is—” Lu Yingjie started, then stopped. He frowned, staring at Xu Nanxiao for a long moment, then let out a cold laugh and buried his face in his rice. “Looks like you had your fun again last night.”

“What kind of crap is that?” Xu Nanxiao was displeased. “I spent all yesterday shopping for your groceries and prepping your food. You think you’d be eating this today without that?”

“Right, right. Shopping for groceries and prepping food, all while getting your fix. Didn’t Sister Qingying dump you? So you’re back to sleeping around again?”

Xu Nanxiao hated that sarcastic tone. He knew his goody-two-shoes brother looked down on his views about sex. But he was the older brother—disapprove all you want, just shut up and take it.

“What’s your problem? You asking for a beating or what?”

Maybe because Xu Nanxiao was playing dumb so convincingly, Lu Yingjie gave him a suspicious look and pointed at his own neck: “Someone left a mark right there.”