HL 55

Xu Nanxiao was making puppy food for Juanjuan when Ying Yusheng stood behind him, resting his chin on Xu Nanxiao’s shoulder, watching him work with focused attention.

Since last night, Ying Yusheng had been acting strange, following him everywhere without leaving his side.

Although this bespectacled bastard had always been annoying before, back then he’d mostly done it to provoke Xu Nanxiao and draw his attention back to himself. As for physical contact—there hadn’t been much of that.

Xu Nanxiao told him to get lost several times, but Ying Yusheng ignored him completely. Xu Nanxiao knew his skin was thicker than a city wall, so he didn’t have the energy to argue further and just let him be.

“Why are you tearing the beef brisket by hand?” Ying Yusheng asked.

“You won’t give me a knife, so what else am I supposed to do?”

For Xu Nanxiao’s safety, and for his own safety as well, Ying Yusheng didn’t allow any sharp objects on the second floor. Even the corners of the tables and furniture were padded with soft cushions.

Xu Nanxiao shot back coldly, “Then will you give me a knife?”

To his surprise, Ying Yusheng actually fell silent.

Soon after, his eyes curved into a smile as he joked, “If you say you like me, I’ll give you a knife.”

Xu Nanxiao nearly broke out in goosebumps all over. Even knowing it was just a joke, he felt like throwing up. Ying Yusheng knew exactly what Xu Nanxiao hated doing most, and yet he insisted on making him do it—he was a genius at disgusting him.

“Get lost.” Xu Nanxiao shoved him away hard, then picked up the dog food and walked toward Juanjuan.

Just then, the cook also came to deliver lunch for Xu Nanxiao and Ying Yusheng. He silently wheeled in the cart and placed the plates and dishes on the table one by one.

“Why can’t you say it?” Ying Yusheng followed him. “You said it last night—you said it many times.”

“Ying Yusheng, are you really asking for a beating?” Just mentioning it made Xu Nanxiao clench his jaw.

Today’s lunch was braised beef brisket with potatoes, stir-fried baby spinach, and crab roe tofu. Though the aroma was mouthwatering, Xu Nanxiao had no appetite at all.

As if sensing that his owner was unhappy, Juanjuan suddenly went wild, baring her teeth and barking as she charged at Ying Yusheng, then began savagely biting his slippers.

The dog was small, her teeth were small, and with the cotton slippers in the way, it really wasn’t much of a threat. But Xu Nanxiao was successfully amused and praised, “Nice job.”

With that, he carried the dog bowl to the dining table and scooped more than half of the beef brisket from Ying Yusheng’s plate into the bowl as an extra treat for Juanjuan.

Seeing the bowl piled high with beef brisket, Juanjuan couldn’t be bothered with Ying Yusheng anymore. Her little fat paws slipping on the floor, she trotted over and wolfed it down.

Xu Nanxiao didn’t even glance at Ying Yusheng. He sat down in his chair and started eating.

“…”

Ying Yusheng looked at the pair of them and gave a helpless smile.

In truth, when he and Juanjuan were alone, their relationship wasn’t nearly this hostile—she knew Ying Yusheng wouldn’t indulge her. But whenever Xu Nanxiao was around, the little dog treated Ying Yusheng like a mortal enemy, as if she wanted to tear him to pieces.

It turned out even little beasts knew how to borrow a tiger’s might.

After lunch, Xu Nanxiao did some push-ups to regain his physical fitness, while Ying Yusheng sat quietly by the windowsill reading.

Push-ups consumed a lot of energy, and Xu Nanxiao hadn’t slept well the night before, so he soon grew drowsy.

He took off his jacket and headed for the bedroom to take a nap. But the moment he moved, Ying Yusheng followed right behind him.

Xu Nanxiao had no idea what he was up to and stared at him warily. It wasn’t until Ying Yusheng slowly took off his glasses, folded them, and placed them on the nightstand that Xu Nanxiao finally panicked.

Ying Yusheng never went anywhere without his glasses. Once he took them off, it was always a signal for sex.

“We just did it last night—are you a male dog or something?” Xu Nanxiao cursed through gritted teeth.

Ying Yusheng paused for a moment, then smiled and explained, “I don’t want to have sex. I just want to take a nap with you.”

After a pause, he added meaningfully, “Of course, if you want to, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Bullshit.” Xu Nanxiao said warily. “You never used to take naps.”

“Then I’ll start forming the habit today.” With that, Ying Yusheng lay down on his own, then patted the pillow beside him, calling Xu Nanxiao over like a kitten. “Nanxiao, come here.”

Fine. A nap together was better than sex.

Xu Nanxiao wearily realized that this was exactly how his boundaries kept getting lowered.

So he pulled back the covers and lay down with his back to Ying Yusheng.

Between sleep and waking, Xu Nanxiao felt an itch at the nape of his neck—it seemed Ying Yusheng was playing with his hair. First gently rubbing the ends at his nape, then beginning to comb through it in a leisurely, intermittent way.

Xu Nanxiao was too tired to argue, his head aching from drowsiness. Before long, he’d fallen fast asleep.

He slept for a long time, and when he opened his eyes again, it was already evening.

Twilight streamed through the blinds, cutting warm golden diagonals across the sheets. Every corner of the room seemed to glow.

Xu Nanxiao first felt the weight—Ying Yusheng’s arm was wrapped around his waist, a heavy, encircling weight. One palm rested flat against his stomach, rising and falling gently with each breath. The other hand was completely relaxed, fingers curled unconsciously, loosely holding Xu Nanxiao’s index finger.

One hand like a man’s, one hand like a baby’s.

In the first moment upon waking, Xu Nanxiao’s memory hadn’t returned. He thought this was just another ordinary morning from the past.

They’d have sex the night before, then wake up nestled together the next day. Xu Nanxiao would usually laze in bed while Ying Yusheng went to the kitchen to make breakfast for both of them. When he brought it up, he’d even push his luck and ask for a good-morning kiss.

The next second, Xu Nanxiao snapped fully awake.

He realized that this was no longer that river-view penthouse, and Ying Yusheng was no longer the Ying Yusheng in his memory. All that remained was an endless sense of absurdity and desolation.

Sensing the movement, Ying Yusheng woke up too.

Though his sleep had always been light, since coming to this villa, it had only gotten worse.

In his own words, Xu Nanxiao might strangle him in his sleep at any moment, so for the sake of his own safety, he couldn’t sleep too deeply.

“What time is it?” Ying Yusheng rubbed his brow and slowly sat up.

He put on his glasses and looked at Xu Nanxiao, then suddenly widened his eyes slightly, freezing completely.

He leaned in, studying Xu Nanxiao’s expression, and asked tentatively, “What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.” Xu Nanxiao choked out, turning his head away stiffly.

Gradually, Xu Nanxiao realized with alarm that he seemed to have grown accustomed to this isolated life.

When he’d been found guilty and expelled from the International Boxing Federation, he’d gone through a four- or five-month stretch of unemployment. Back then, he’d stayed home all day, mindlessly playing games and sleeping with women—it didn’t seem all that different from now.

No, there was a difference—at least the women he slept with had turned into a man.

Ying Yusheng no longer forbade the housekeeper from talking to him, and he didn’t have to be handcuffed to Ying Yusheng when they went out anymore. Still, Ying Yusheng’s people would follow at a distance, thinking they were hiding well, but Xu Nanxiao knew they were there.

Ying Yusheng often took him on picnics near the villa, spreading a blue plaid linen cloth and laying out all kinds of sandwiches and pastries. He’d teach Xu Nanxiao to identify different varieties of flowers and feed the wild swans and ducks.

What Xu Nanxiao hadn’t expected was that Ying Yusheng had become quite skilled at skipping stones, and most of the time, he could even beat Xu Nanxiao’s record.

Ying Yusheng also said he’d learned a lot of photography techniques from his colleagues and bought the latest Fuji camera, wanting to take more photos. But Xu Nanxiao said he hated having his picture taken—he always had. Ying Yusheng didn’t reply, but after that, Xu Nanxiao rarely saw him pick up the camera again.

The only consolation was that Ying Yusheng still had to work and couldn’t cling to him every moment. As a key figure in his research project, he often traveled for academic conferences.

Whenever Ying Yusheng had to leave for a few days, he’d blink slowly and say to Xu Nanxiao with a smile, “I’ve got good news for you—I won’t be home for the next few days.”

No matter how genuine Ying Yusheng’s smile looked, Xu Nanxiao knew he wanted to hear him argue back.

But Xu Nanxiao refused. He insisted on acting thrilled, and in the end, Ying Yusheng would find all kinds of excuses to pin him down on the bed and fuck him.

Even though this rebellious behavior made Xu Nanxiao feel like an immature high schooler, he still found a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of being alive in these acts of retaliation.

On the days Ying Yusheng was away, Xu Nanxiao could enjoy an entire double bed to himself.

In the early hours of the morning, while he was half-asleep, he suddenly felt someone come in. Remembering that Ying Yusheng was still in Hangzhou, his eyes flew open, and he saw that it was the housekeeper, holding Juanjuan in her arms.

“What are you doing?” Xu Nanxiao snapped in annoyance, then snatched the little dog from the “dog thief’s” arms.

The housekeeper fidgeted, rubbing her hands against her pant seams, and defended herself: “I’m sorry, Xiao Xu, I woke you up. I was just taking Juanjuan for a walk.”

“What walk at this hour?”

“A small dog needs two walks a day, otherwise they have too much energy and wreck the house.”

“I used to take her out just once a day. She’s small—once is enough. And she’s well-behaved; she doesn’t chew things up.”

“No, she gets two walks every day.” But the housekeeper suddenly said calmly. “Every day before you wake up, Xiao Ying gets up early to take her for a walk.”

Xu Nanxiao froze.

Seeing that Xu Nanxiao wouldn’t let go of Juanjuan, the housekeeper had no choice but to attend to other chores. She began watering the camellias and adding acid to the soil, then changed the water for the ranchu goldfish in the tank, washed the filter cotton, and scrubbed the glass…

“Why are you doing all this?” Xu Nanxiao asked with a frown.

“Xiao Ying isn’t home these days, and he left it all to me before he left.”

Because no one else was allowed to enter the second floor where Xu Nanxiao stayed without permission, Ying Yusheng had always taken care of these things himself.

Xu Nanxiao seemed to recall hearing that camellias and ranchu were difficult to keep, but since he couldn’t access the internet, he didn’t know the specifics. He’d simply assumed he had a natural green thumb—water the flowers every now and then, feed the fish, and they’d survive just fine.

Ying Yusheng had lied to him again.

That evening, Ying Yusheng returned to the villa and found that the fish tank and flowers had all been moved to the first floor.

“What happened? Why did you move them down?” he asked, taking off his coat.

“Xiao Xu said he didn’t like them anymore—they were an eyesore—and told us to move them down.” The housekeeper said nervously. “It’s my fault. That day I woke him up, and he found out you were the one taking care of them.”

“He sleeps deeply. It’s surprising that he woke up.” Ying Yusheng said, sounding surprised, but didn’t scold her. He asked instead, “And the dog?”

“Xiao Xu is in the room playing with her.”

“Not bad.” Ying Yusheng smiled, his eyelids half-drooping. “At least he didn’t throw out the dog too.”