HL 49

By the third week of being imprisoned by Ying Yusheng, Xu Nanxiao’s heart sank little by little.

He had been away from the club for so long—those brothers of his must have been frantic by now. Hadn’t they called the police? Or had the police simply not found him? He was missing, and Ying Yusheng was obviously the prime suspect—what the hell were those cops doing?

Though Xu Nanxiao kept reassuring himself that finding a person in a society governed by law should be easy, an inexplicable sense of foreboding still crept over him.

He touched the collar around his neck, and occasionally, for a fleeting moment, he felt as if he would never leave this room, as if he would be stuck here with Ying Yusheng for a lifetime.

And that unease ultimately transformed into fury, vented upon the one responsible.

“Hiss—”

Ying Yusheng winced in pain, his five fingers tightening abruptly as he gripped Xu Nanxiao’s cheekbones and slammed him into the mattress. His full body weight pressed down, yet Xu Nanxiao’s head still strained upward, his teeth sinking deep into Ying Yusheng’s tiger’s mouth.

Blood welled up quickly, soaking the skin of both of them—warm, sticky, carrying a heavy iron scent that spread through the air.

Xu Nanxiao’s almond-shaped eyes blazed with sharp fury, his pupils contracting to razor-thin points, all rationality burned away, as if he wanted to tear through his prey’s flesh.

“Nan Xiao, does it have to be this intense every time?” Ying Yusheng looked down at him with exasperation. “At this rate, you’re the one who ends up suffering in the end. You’d be better off behaving.”

Xu Nanxiao loathed that coaxing tone the most—as if his anger was nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum in Ying Yusheng’s eyes.

Xu Nanxiao let go and spat right in Ying Yusheng’s face, the saliva mixed with blood from Ying Yusheng’s tiger’s mouth.

“Whose fault is it?” he ground out.

A cold gleam flickered in Ying Yusheng’s eyes, but in the end, he simply took a tissue and silently wiped his face clean. After a moment’s thought, he said lightly: “Whose fault? Blame Lu Yingjie.”

The unexpected answer left Xu Nanxiao frozen in place.

“We were doing just fine before. He had to go and let you know all those things, and now we’ve ended up like this.”

“That’s because you’ve been lying to me the whole time!”

“Weren’t you happy every single day? Since you were in a beautiful dream, why did you have to wake up?”

Xu Nanxiao’s eyes widened; something seemed to tremble within them.

From this moment, he realized that he and Ying Yusheng could not communicate. And in this moment, Xu Nanxiao truly felt his heart grow cold.

So that was how Ying Yusheng defined that period of time.

A beautiful dream. Ha. A beautiful dream.

He remembered those “beautiful dreams.”

[Next time we get a chance, let’s watch a game together again, shall we?]

[As a friend, isn’t that what I should do? I couldn’t just let you burn up in bed, could I?]

[Nan Xiao, I just hope you won’t let other people’s words make you bully that helpless version of yourself from the past.]

[You weren’t wrong, Captain Meng. You were just very arrogant.]

[But I trust you won’t make me lose money.]

At least in those moments, Xu Nanxiao had believed they were real. In the midst of life’s relentless bombardment, Xu Nanxiao had closed himself off, and it was Ying Yusheng who, with a smile, pulled him back into a grand, splendid world.

Here, in the dead of night when anger and humiliation gnawed at him, he had chewed over those thin scraps of sweetness again and again, trying to convince himself that there was more between them than just betrayal and deception.

But now he understood—none of it had been real. It had been an algorithm. The hunter, having studied his specific prey thoroughly, had cast the most tempting bait.

Xu Nanxiao wasn’t even disgusted by Ying Yusheng’s twisting of truth and falsehood. He was disgusted with himself.

Disgusted that he had actually, within that false tenderness, briefly let down his guard. Disgusted that he had once felt a shameful flutter of attraction toward that calculated “thoughtfulness.” And even more disgustingly, the other now spoke of it with a nostalgic tone, as if that cherished time had merely been another step in his plan.

Ying Yusheng, how far are you going to toy with a person before you’re satisfied?!

The strength in Xu Nanxiao’s jaw unconsciously loosened.

He felt hollow. Completely hollow.

Ying Yusheng suddenly sensed the shift in his mood, staring at his profile and hesitantly calling out: “…Nan Xiao?”

Xu Nanxiao’s lips moved slightly, then pressed tightly together. He slowly lay down, turned his back, and fell into a long silence.

From that day on, Xu Nanxiao’s fury seemed to have been abruptly extinguished.

He became “obedient” in the way Ying Yusheng had hoped—eating when food was given, drinking when water was offered, no longer tearing at his collar, no longer cursing at the sight of Ying Yusheng. He spent his days sitting quietly on the bed, watching television.

Along with this came Xu Nanxiao’s complete and utter “ignoring” of Ying Yusheng.

Ying Yusheng’s presence, his care, his voice, even his attempts to provoke Xu Nanxiao—deliberately mentioning Lu Yingjie, or his frenzied advances in bed—all fell like stones into a deep well, without the slightest echo.

Xu Nanxiao had erected an invisible barrier, shutting Ying Yusheng out completely.

And the only comfort in those hopeless days was that Xu Nanxiao finally had someone willing to talk to him.

Earlier, when Xu Nanxiao had refused to eat, Ying Yusheng had dismissed the original cook and hired one who cooked better. Xu Nanxiao almost laughed—Ying Yusheng knew perfectly well that the problem wasn’t the cook, yet he still deceived himself.

The new cook was a young girl who had just graduated from university. Unlike those taciturn wooden types, the very first time she brought his meal, she shyly greeted Xu Nanxiao:

“Brother Xu, hello. Just call me Xiao Jia. Today’s lunch is braised radish with pork, stir-fried yellow beef, and dry-fried green beans.”

Xu Nanxiao sat with a grim face, saying nothing.

She scratched her nose awkwardly and was about to leave with her cart when she heard Xu Nanxiao mutter behind her: “Radish again.”

So Xiao Jia immediately said, “You don’t like radish? Should I swap it for potatoes next time?”

Xu Nanxiao was stunned.

From then on, every time Xiao Jia came to deliver meals, they would exchange a few words. The conversations weren’t substantial—mostly just amusing things that had happened around her, what Xu Nanxiao wanted to eat next time, how the latest movie they’d watched was.

The chats were brief; if she hadn’t come out after ten minutes, someone would knock to remind her.

Xu Nanxiao asked Xiao Jia, “Didn’t Ying Yusheng tell you not to talk to me?”

“The auntie mentioned it a few times,” Xiao Jia said, scratching her head a little sheepishly. “But I figured a few words here and there wouldn’t hurt.”

The truth was, she just couldn’t contain her curiosity. She was dying to know—what was the relationship between Ying Yusheng and Xu Nanxiao? Why was Xu Nanxiao locked up here? And if he was locked up, weren’t his family worried?

After knowing each other for a few weeks, Xiao Jia finally couldn’t hold back and asked: “Brother Xu, why won’t Mr. Ying let you leave?”

Xu Nanxiao said coldly, “I owe him money, so I’m locked up here.”

“Huh? That can’t be? If you owed money, why would you eat so well, play games, and do whatever you want?”

Xu Nanxiao let out a bitter, angry laugh.

He was starting to think Xiao Jia had been sent by Ying Yusheng to persuade him, so he snapped: “Then how about we switch? You get locked up here, and I’ll be the cook?”

Xiao Jia shook her head like a rattle-drum.

Xu Nanxiao was fed up and ignored Xiao Jia for three days.

But on the fourth day, he forgave her anyway. What else could he do? Who else did he have to talk to?

“I’m sorry, Brother Xu—I said the wrong thing that day,” Xiao Jia apologized.

Xu Nanxiao wasn’t buying it. “If you really want to apologize, then help me call the police.”

Xiao Jia looked troubled. “I, I can’t…”

Xu Nanxiao knew it was hopeless and didn’t want to bring it up again. He sighed impatiently and said instead, “I want pork ribs tomorrow.”

“Okay!” she nodded eagerly.

But just as their relationship was growing closer, one day, it wasn’t Xiao Jia who delivered his meal—it was a plump man in his forties.

Xu Nanxiao frowned, slowly sat up from the bed, and asked the fat man, “Where’s the girl who used to cook?”

The fat man said nothing. He set down the meal and left the room without looking back.

That evening, when Ying Yusheng came home, he visited Xu Nanxiao in his room.

“The jasmine in the pot was wilting a bit, so I bought you a new one. You said you wanted to keep flowers before, but your enthusiasm fizzled out after three minutes. Now the responsibility of taking care of them has fallen on me.” Ying Yusheng teased with a smile as he placed the jasmine bouquet into a vase to revive it, trimming its branches with scissors. The petals were vibrant, exuding a subtle, lingering fragrance.

Xu Nanxiao said nothing.

“I bought your favorite cake, but it’s a bit late now. Do you want it now or tomorrow?”

Xu Nanxiao still said nothing.

Ying Yusheng let out a helpless sigh, turned to him, and asked: “How was your day? Anything happy happen?”

Xu Nanxiao’s body trembled slightly.

Ying Yusheng waited beside him, and sure enough, Xu Nanxiao spoke: “Where’s the cook from before?”

“Nan Xiao,” Ying Yusheng said slowly with a smile, “you finally talked to me?”

“I’m asking you—where’s the cook from before?”

“Xiao Jia?” Ying Yusheng said lightly. “Who knows.”

“I’m asking you—where’s the cook from before?! Are you deaf?!” Xu Nanxiao grabbed Ying Yusheng by the collar and slammed him against the wall, roaring.

He didn’t understand why, every time he exchanged a few words with Ying Yusheng now, he became so enraged, every nerve in his brain screaming.

“You haven’t spoken to me in over ten days, Nan Xiao. And the first thing you say is still about someone else.” Ying Yusheng gazed at him sorrowfully. “Don’t be so tense. I just fired her, that’s all. Do you really think I’m some kind of madman? That I’d do something to her just because she said a few extra words to you?”

Hearing that Xiao Jia was fine, Xu Nanxiao’s expression relaxed a little.

“Just because she said a few words to me, you fired her? You are a madman.”

Ying Yusheng said calmly, “When I hired her, she agreed to keep her mouth shut. People who don’t honor their contracts can’t survive in society—that’s her first lesson outside of school.”

“Bring her back.” Xu Nanxiao shoved Ying Yusheng’s collar away forcefully.

Ying Yusheng paused at that.

“If she doesn’t cook, I won’t eat.”

The truth was, Xu Nanxiao and Xiao Jia weren’t that close. But he deeply resented Ying Yusheng’s arbitrary severing of his social connections, as if he were some mindless little cat or dog that belonged to him.

Ying Yusheng always said that everything Xu Nanxiao thought was written all over his face. That dog-bastard-bespectacled man might not be so easy to read, but after countless quarrels and confrontations, Xu Nanxiao had gradually learned what words could easily provoke him.

Sure enough, the smile at the corners of Ying Yusheng’s mouth stiffened.

He stared at Xu Nanxiao with cold, sinister eyes and let out a few dry laughs. “What do you mean, Nan Xiao? I didn’t expect you to like her that much.”

Xu Nanxiao didn’t answer.

“What do you like about her? Her cooking? Her youth? Or is it just because she’s a woman?” Ying Yusheng’s voice was soft and gentle, but his words grew more and more absurd.

“Yeah,” Xu Nanxiao laughed along, nodding in agreement. “I like women. You’ve always known that.”

Ying Yusheng felt an unprecedented restlessness.

Why couldn’t Xu Nanxiao’s spine ever be broken? Why, no matter what was done to him, how he was punished, did he act like he had no brain, never learning to behave, never saying the things Ying Yusheng wanted to hear?

Before, Xu Nanxiao had also bared his claws, but back then Ying Yusheng was confident of victory, certain that Xu Nanxiao would eventually become inseparable from him. So harmless provocations were just part of the fun.

But now, he had no confidence.

Precisely because he understood people’s hearts too well, he knew that Xu Nanxiao now felt only hatred, disgust, and anger toward him—no lingering affection, no saying one thing while meaning another.

So he couldn’t even deceive himself.

“Nan Xiao, you like her, but unfortunately she doesn’t care much about you. Do you know what she said when she was let go?”

“She cried and begged me not to fire her. She said she wasn’t close to you, that she’d cook properly from now on, and wouldn’t say another word to you. She also knew she’d never find another job with such high pay—she had a mortgage to pay.”

How strange. Ying Yusheng knew perfectly well that this wasn’t the time to escalate the conflict, knew what he should say to soothe the other—so why did these ill-timed words still pour out?

“You always overestimate your own importance. Those fair-weather friends, your club colleagues, Xiao Jia… haven’t you learned your lesson yet?”

“Though you hate me, hit me, ignore me… deep down, you know that the only one who truly cares about you is me.” Ying Yusheng blinked slowly, his voice as soft as a sigh, yet as heavy as shackles. “Besides me, who else would care about a shallow, violent, selfish, promiscuous murderer? Don’t you agree?”

“…”

Faced with this barrage of belittlement and devaluation, Xu Nanxiao showed no anger—he simply stared at him expressionlessly.

After a long moment, Xu Nanxiao let out a soft laugh.

He said, “So what? At least I have fun chatting with a pretty girl. As for being with you—I was never happy. Not even once.”

The world suddenly fell silent.

The faint, subtle fragrance of fresh jasmine blossoms curled through the suffocating stillness.

Author’s note:

119: Hello everyone! Today is International Hate-Couple Day. There’s a little hate-couple ahead—let’s go interview them!

119: Hi there, please use one sentence to attack each other’s weakest point.

Ying Yusheng (smiling): Besides me, who else would care about a shallow, violent, selfish, promiscuous murderer? Right, Nan Xiao?

Xu Nanxiao: As for being with you—I was never happy. Not even once.

Ying Yusheng: …

Ying Yusheng: Hehe, look at you—still sulking ^_^

Ying Yusheng: Nan Xiao, you’re joking, right?

Ying Yusheng: Xu Nanxiao, come back—say you’re joking!

119: An incident has occurred on set—broadcast suspended. Thank you all for watching!