HL 74

Xu Nanxiao pinched the bridge of his nose. “What proposal? What are you talking about?”

It was hard to believe that even as he asked this, Ying Yusheng’s damn thing was still inside his ass.

Ying Yusheng hung his head and replied in a low voice, “Miss Tian came to the garage to find you and returned your engagement ring.”

Hearing the words “engagement ring,” Xu Nanxiao instantly understood what had set Ying Yusheng off.

He let out a laugh of exasperation and asked through his simmering anger, “So you thought I proposed to Tian Qian?”

Ying Yusheng didn’t look up and didn’t speak.

“You really are a mad dog.”

Xu Nanxiao wanted to curse him out more, or take the chance to mock him mercilessly. But seeing Ying Yusheng in this state, all his words eventually dissolved into a sigh of irritation.

“Are you stupid? Didn’t I give this ring back to my mom? Whoever she gives it to has nothing to do with me. In the end, it’s just a piece of gold.”

“That’s your engagement ring.” Ying Yusheng repeated obsessively.

“Bullshit engagement ring!” Xu Nanxiao snapped, thinking to himself that he’d never realized Ying Yusheng could be this dense. “That size—can you even fit it on your finger?!”

This shout suddenly pierced through the shell around Ying Yusheng. His body stiffened, and he finally looked up, his eyes red-rimmed, staring fixedly at Xu Nanxiao.

“Besides, don’t I already have my own wedding ring?” Xu Nanxiao paused, his face flushing as he stubbornly jutted out his chin. “The one in the bedside drawer at home.”

Ying Yusheng froze completely.

He stayed in that position, not moving a muscle, his eyes still red, his lashes still glistening with dampness. He stared straight at Xu Nanxiao, as if confirming whether those words were real.

The next second, he finally understood. He let out a short, self-deprecating laugh, his shoulders drooping, and then laughed again.

Then he pulled Xu Nanxiao into his arms. Unlike before, he didn’t bury his face in Xu Nanxiao’s chest—instead, he pressed Xu Nanxiao’s head into the hollow of his own neck.

“Don’t look,” he said. “My face must look awful right now.”

Xu Nanxiao’s cheek was pressed against Ying Yusheng’s neck, and he snorted coldly. “You’re right about that.”

“Sorry. I thought you wanted to marry a woman.”

“…I don’t like her. Can’t you, a psychology professor, see that?”

Ying Yusheng said slowly, “I know. But I thought marriage didn’t necessarily require love. My parents were like that.”

Xu Nanxiao suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

“Sorry for misunderstanding you, and for being so rough with you. I might really be a little unstable.”

Not that I mind the roughness, though. Xu Nanxiao thought silently, his face red, but he’d die before saying it out loud.

“Thank you, Nanxiao.” Ying Yusheng suddenly spoke.

Xu Nanxiao snapped back to reality. “Hm?”

Ying Yusheng replied, his voice thick with emotion, “For choosing a madman.”

Xu Nanxiao hadn’t thought much of it before, but now that Ying Yusheng mentioned it, he realized the gravity of the situation. Damn, he’d dated so many women, and in the end, he’d chosen a madman—what great taste he had.

Was it too late to return him now?

Definitely too late. He’d be stuck with this madman for life.

So what could he do? Xu Nanxiao sighed. They’d just make do.

A few days later, Xu Nanxiao formally introduced Ying Yusheng to his mother. He also told her that the two of them would be returning to Beijing soon.

Ying Yusheng brought many gifts, kept a bright smile on his face the whole time, and chatted with Xu’s mother. A few well-chosen compliments had the old lady beaming and covering her mouth with laughter.

Xu Nanxiao bit into an apple and watched from the side, barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. The more he watched, the more he felt that Ying Yusheng’s tears that night were just an act of playing pitiful.

This damn scheming glasses-wearing bastard.

Later, he went to Ye Qiaozi to hand in his resignation. Although the trio knew Xu Nanxiao couldn’t stay here forever, they were all reluctant to see him go.

Xu Nanxiao said, “Why are you so sad? It’s not that far—I’ll be back. My mom’s here, so I’ll have to come visit her often.”

Ye Qiaozi nodded. “Just don’t forget about me, your mom.”

Xu Nanxiao: “???”

Returning to Beijing after so long, Xu Nanxiao didn’t feel out of place. The city had just gotten a bit taller and a bit denser—it was always pumping in new blood, and it always kept a place for those who’d left.

On the day Ying Yusheng went to the university to submit his application for reinstatement, it was snowing heavily. Huge goose-feather flakes, in clumps and clusters, spiraled lazily down.

Ying Yusheng walked out of the administrative building, looked up at the sky, and exhaled—a milky white mist instantly dissipating into the air.

He looked around and suddenly spotted Xu Nanxiao crouching by the flower bed, building a snowman.

It wasn’t big—only about twenty or thirty centimeters—but surprisingly, it was quite lifelike. Xu Nanxiao had drawn curved eyes and glasses on it, and used dead leaves as a coat. One look and you could tell who it was supposed to be.

Before Ying Yusheng could even curl his lips into a smile, Xu Nanxiao stood up, took two steps back, got a running start, and kicked the snowman’s head clean off.

“…”

Sensing someone watching him, Xu Nanxiao turned around and found Ying Yusheng standing behind him, having finished his business, covering his neck with a helpless look.

“Why are you covering your neck?” Xu Nanxiao raised an eyebrow.

“Suddenly felt a little pain in my neck.”

“Serves you right. Who told you not to wear a scarf? You caught a chill.”

With that, Xu Nanxiao grabbed the blue scarf nearby and wrapped it around Ying Yusheng’s neck in a few swift motions. This blue scarf had been bought together with Xu Nanxiao’s red one—they matched.

Ying Yusheng, who’d just felt a chill run down his spine from having his head kicked off, now watched Xu Nanxiao focus intently on tying his scarf, looking at the little cowlick on top of his head and his serious expression. He suddenly felt as if he’d downed a big gulp of warm water—his heart beat a little faster. Ever since the day he first met Xu Nanxiao, that rhythm had never slowed down.

“What did the school say about your job?” Xu Nanxiao asked.

“They said I could start next week or next month. I said next month, since I need to deal with the renovations this month.”

“Your boss is pretty accommodating.”

“Yeah. Where are we heading next?”

Xu Nanxiao thought for a moment and said, “It’s a bit cold. I want some oden.”

So they went to a 7-Eleven and bought two full boxes of oden, eating from them as they walked toward home.

Xu Nanxiao took a bite of the radish. It had been stewed so thoroughly that it split in half with a light pinch of his chopsticks, the broth fully absorbed. The bite was soft, sweet, and the mild soy sauce and kombu flavors of the oden broth came through together. He chewed a couple of times, hissing from the heat but unwilling to spit it out, and mumbled with puffed cheeks, “I love their radish the most.”

Then he went for the braised egg. The outer ring of the yolk was a light brown; when he bit into it, it wasn’t dry—juicy and moist.

Xu Nanxiao said, “Give me one of your sausages.”

Ying Yusheng pushed his box over, and Xu Nanxiao speared one with his chopsticks and bit half of it off in one go. The casing was crisp, making a little pop when it broke, and the meat inside was sweet—the Taiwanese sausage type.

He also picked a piece of fish tofu from his own box and put it in Ying Yusheng’s.

They went back and forth like that, each taking bites from the other’s box until most of it was gone. Ying Yusheng hadn’t eaten much of this kind of food before, but after Xu Nanxiao introduced him to it a few times, he’d come to enjoy it quite a bit.

When they drank the last sip of broth, the savory flavor slid down their throats, and they both let out a satisfied sigh. It might sound a little cheesy, but that feeling was unbearably blissful.

Ying Yusheng helped Xu Nanxiao throw away the paper boxes and casually asked, “What about you? What are you planning to do next?”

“I still want to open my own club. I’ve got experience from before.” Xu Nanxiao looked ahead at the road.

“Do you need me to…”

“Don’t you dare.” Xu Nanxiao’s mood immediately soured. “I’m telling you, stay out of it this time. If I find out you’ve meddled, you’re done for.”

Ying Yusheng smiled helplessly and finally nodded.

After finishing the warm oden, Xu Nanxiao felt cold again after just a few steps. He pulled his scarf higher, burying the lower half of his face in it, and yawned like a big cat. Sensing Ying Yusheng’s burning gaze, he looked up. “What?”

“I want to kiss you.” Ying Yusheng said bluntly. “With you like this, only your eyes and nose showing, I can’t reach.”

Xu Nanxiao was dumbfounded for a few seconds, then his face flushed as he cursed, “Get lost! Who wants to kiss you on the street!”

“Not allowed?” Ying Yusheng leaned in with a smile, flashing the ring on his ring finger. “Aren’t we married? Legally, spouses can kiss, right?”

What do you mean allowed or not—did Ying Yusheng have any shame? Two female students not far away had already noticed something off and started staring at them.

“What legality? Two men—what law in which country allows that?”

“The Xu Nanxiao Law.” Ying Yusheng said pitifully.

Xu Nanxiao immediately burst out laughing, and the little bit of anger dissipated. He didn’t argue back, nor did he let Ying Yusheng kiss him. He just raised an eyebrow and said with a mischievous, vivid smile, “Depends on how you behave from now on.”

When they got home, Xu Nanxiao was still preoccupied with thoughts of opening his own club.

Suddenly, he heard a loud clatter behind him.

Turning around, he saw that Ying Yusheng had walked in from the freezing outdoors into the heated interior, and his glasses had fogged up completely. Unable to see, he’d tripped hard.

“Hahahaha, look at you now.” Xu Nanxiao laughed heartily, not holding back his mockery at all.

Ying Yusheng’s face grew warm from Xu Nanxiao’s laughter.

He grumbled inwardly about people like Xu Nanxiao who didn’t wear glasses—they could never understand the struggles of the four-eyed. He sighed and was about to take off his glasses when he felt someone come up and remove them for him.

His nearsightedness wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t see anything, but through the blurry vision, Ying Yusheng couldn’t make out Xu Nanxiao’s face.

So he had no idea what expression Xu Nanxiao was wearing as he leaned in…

And pressed his warm lips against his.