On Lamma Island, halfway up a mountain in a quiet spot, stood a detached village house with a small courtyard full of flowers and birdsong in front and a large vegetable plot behind it.
Xia Liu Yi had retreated here with Xiao Ma to stay with Cui Dong Dong and Xiao Luo. They had already been living there for a week, and he had thoroughly carried out He Chu San’s instruction to “take good care of yourself,” turning himself into a hardworking, plain farmer. When the weather was bad, he stayed home to tend the garden and pick vegetables. When the weather was good, he went out to sea to fish. Their three meals a day were practically self-sufficient, and he personally cooked, washed clothes, and cleaned the house from front to back. There was no need to mention how many pots he ruined. Nor how many clothes he scrubbed to pieces. He had broken nearly a dozen brooms and mops. He had lovingly dug the vegetable patch behind the house until it looked as though dogs had chewed through it, forcing Xiao Ma and the bodyguards to sneak out at night, buy vegetables from the market, and stick them back into the soil to restore the original appearance. The house had two floors. Cui Dong Dong and Xiao Luo lived upstairs; Boss Xia, Xiao Ma, and several bodyguards stayed downstairs. Every day, everyone worked together to teach the Boss how to do chores while simultaneously stopping him from inventing new chores to do, keeping the entire household in uproar from morning until night.
One day, Cui Dong Dong finally could not stand it anymore and rolled up her sleeves to go fight the Boss. The Boss stood there with his hands in his trouser pockets, gazing mildly at her with the same spring-breeze smile Consultant He always wore, presenting an unmistakable attitude of: Hit me however you like. I won’t fight back. I have decided to become a kind, loving big brother who cares about his family. Cui Dong Dong shuddered, covered the goosebumps on her arms, and turned around to flee.
“Possessed! He’s possessed! Sammy Boy is some kind of demon at taming husbands. Terrifying!” Cui Dong Dong fled back to Xiao Luo, clutching her chest.
Xiao Luo lay on a reclining chair on the second-floor balcony, lazily knitting a small scarf while sunbathing. “Isn’t it good? I think A’San is teaching him, ‘You should still live properly even when I’m not here.’ He’s just learning it a little… crookedly.”
“Sammy Boy’s over there alone. Nothing’s going to happen to him, right?” Cui Dong Dong asked worriedly.
“He’ll be fine. His brain works. Besides, who told him to fall for that thing? He deserves it.” Xiao Luo never lifted her eyes from her knitting needles. “Drink that bowl of sweet soup for me.”
Cui Dong Dong turned her head. A bowl of dark brown chilled sweet soup sat on the small table beside the sofa. It looked as though it had been there for ages; nearly all the ice had melted. She happened to be hungry, so she picked it up and casually asked, “A’Nan bought it? Sesame paste?” Then she took a huge gulp.
“The Boss made it. Sweet almond soup.”
“Cough, cough, cough—! Did he put poison in this?! Is this fit for human consumption?!”
“You have to finish it. He made it first thing this morning to help me recover.”
“You might as well shoot me…”
…
That afternoon, around four or five, the sun slanted gently over the hillside. Boss Xia wore a straw hat, tank top, and oversized shorts, sticking his backside into the air as he concentrated on pulling radishes from the garden.
Cui Dong Dong had suffered from diarrhea for several days and looked utterly drained. She sprawled weakly in a hanging chair nearby, sipping hot lemon tea. Watching Xia Liu Yi enthusiastically pull one radish after another, she gave a lazy yawn and took out a cigarette pack.
She put a cigarette in her mouth, tilted her head to light it, then called, “Hey,” and tossed the pack and matches toward Xia Liu Yi. Without even lifting his head, Xia Liu Yi caught them with one hand and immediately tossed them back just as accurately.
“What?” Cui Dong Dong asked.
“Quit.”
“Sammy Boy isn’t even here. Who are you putting on an act for? A’Nan won’t tell on you, right, A’Nan?”
Squatting not far from Boss Xia with a basket, helping collect the radishes, A’Nan immediately shook his head like a rattle drum. “N-no, no, no.”
“I really quit.” Xia Liu Yi grunted as he yanked another tiny radish out. Seeing how small it was, he scraped at the dirt a few times and tried to stick it back in.
“Hey, don’t! I like the little ones. They’re tender!” Cui Dong Dong ordered.
Xia Liu Yi did not argue. He obediently pulled the little radish back out, patted off the soil, and put it into A’Nan’s basket.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Cui Dong Dong shook her head. “Look how much your personality has changed. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you’d gone vegetarian and become a Buddhist. We agreed, though—we are not eating noodles you cook tonight.”
“Tonight we’re having braised beef brisket with radish.”
“You’re making it?”
“Xiao Ma is.”
“Thank heavens.” Cui Dong Dong patted her chest in relief. “One more meal of your cooking and I’m going to die of poisoning.”
“…” Xia Liu Yi kept working without losing his temper. Cui Dong Dong was itching to tease him again when Xiao Ma came out of the house covering the mouthpiece of his brick phone. “Boss! Qiao the Second actually called! He wants you to have dinner with him tonight!”
Xia Liu Yi still did not look up. “Tell him to get lost.”
“I already did. Told him to get as far away as possible. He asked whether you’re interested in joining his boxing-arena business on a sixty-forty split. Not the Macau one—the one he’s running now.”
“Not interested. Get lost.”
Xiao Ma uncovered the phone. “Hello, Master Qiao. Our Boss says, ‘Not interested. Get lost.’”
The other end rustled with several more sentences.
“Boss, he’s offering three gambling dens in North Point.”
“Get lost.”
“…Boss, he’s asking what you want. Says name it. He also said the Shopkeeper already spoke to him. As long as you stop pursuing the He Chu San matter, he’ll compensate you as much as possible.”
Without turning around, Xia Liu Yi pulled another radish and rubbed the dirt between his fingertips. “I want his shopfront on Lockhart Road.”
Xiao Ma relayed the message exactly. After a moment he said, “He says okay. He’s still asking whether you’ll eat with him tonight.”
“No. Get lost.”
Xiao Ma finally finished dealing with Master Qiao and hung up. Grinning, he crouched beside the Boss and eagerly helped pluck off radish leaves. “Qiao is behaving like an old dog now, hahaha! I wonder what kind of magic He—Mr. He worked on him to make him willing to hand over even that precious shopfront.”
Xia Liu Yi calmly pulled another radish. “A’San is doing deals worth tens of millions for him.”
“What?! Really?!”
“Fake.”
“Huh?!”
“The work is real. The deals are fake.”
“Huh?”
Xiao Ma was completely lost and could only admire his sister-in-law from the bottom of his heart. He obediently lowered his head and continued pulling radishes beside the Boss. “Boss, you went to see Mr. He before, right? Is… is his injury all right?”
Xia Liu Yi smeared a handful of mud across Xiao Ma’s face. “Idiot. He said he owes you an apology. He’ll apologize to you in person after some time.”
“What?! I’m the one who owes him an apology! I-I…” Xiao Ma panicked. “In person? He’ll be able to come out soon?”
“If Qiao the Second is already making this call, it probably won’t be much longer.”
As if on cue, Xiao Ma’s phone rang again. He fumbled to answer and made several surprised noises before hanging up. “Boss! Kevin says Mr. He transferred hospitals. We can go see him now!”
…
He Chu San had coaxed Master Qiao into transferring him to a luxurious sanatorium in the wealthy Mid-Levels district, telling him that not only were the medical and rehabilitation facilities excellent, but the surroundings were elegant and everyone coming and going was rich, so a country bumpkin from the Walled City like Xia Liu Yi would never find the place. In reality, the sanatorium belonged to a cousin of Boss Xia’s private doctor. That very night, Boss Xia obtained a caregiver’s badge, disguised himself as a high-end rehabilitation attendant, put on a mask, and effortlessly slipped into the sea-view recovery suite for a secret meeting with his man.
When he opened the door, his man was eating under Kevin’s attentive care. A napkin was tucked into the front of his clothes, his right hand held a spoon, and he was quietly waiting while Kevin served him a bowl of chicken soup. The instant Xia Liu Yi entered and saw this warm, harmonious scene, that familiar itch rose in his heart again.
Kevin greeted him respectfully. “Mr. Xia.”
He Chu San looked up and saw him. His calm face immediately blossomed into a smile. As though this were the most ordinary day in the world, he said, “You’re here. Have you eaten?”
Xia Liu Yi could not help smiling too. He nodded and walked forward, instinctively wanting to hug him but afraid of interrupting his meal. He Chu San was the one who reached out first, and only then did Xia Liu Yi quickly take his hand, sit down beside the bed, and naturally take both the spoon and soup bowl from Kevin. “Thanks. I’ll do it.”
Seeing Mr. Xia personally ladle the soup and begin feeding it to He Chu San himself, Kevin tactfully stepped away and prepared to close the door behind him. But the instant he pulled it open, he discovered someone else skulking outside, shrinking against the wall beneath the suspicious stares of several bodyguards. “Brother Xiao Ma?”
Xiao Ma gave him an awkward nod and slipped into the room like a mouse. He too was dressed as a caregiver and carried two enormous bags stuffed with fruit and nutritional supplements. Before he had even reached the bed, he nervously called, “Uh… Mr. He, are you all right?”
He Chu San was in the middle of drinking soup and sprayed it all over Xia Liu Yi’s face.
“…” Xia Liu Yi.
He Chu San coughed while frantically wiping Xia Liu Yi’s face. “Cough… Brother Xiao Ma, don’t be so formal. Just call me A’San…”
“…” Xiao Ma, who had never once called him A’San before and had always addressed him as “Hey! Kid!”
Full of guilt, Xiao Ma bowed and scraped before the Boss’s wife and poured out enough apologies to cover the past three years. He Chu San felt guilty too. After all, he had exploited Xiao Ma’s loyalty and desperation to put on his performance. The two of them spent ages going back and forth with, “No, no, I’m the one who owes you an apology.” The Boss went into the bathroom to wash his face, then stood beside them holding the bowl and spoon, waiting to personally feed his wife. Finally losing patience, he frowned and gave a very loud “Ahem!”
Xiao Ma shuddered and hurriedly wrapped things up. “Then, He—A’San, rest properly! With the Boss here with you, you’ll definitely recover soon! I’ll come visit again another day!”
He hurried a few steps toward the door, then apparently thought of something and doubled back. Leaning beside Xia Liu Yi’s ear, he whispered, “Boss, show some restraint. His wound isn’t healed yet. Don’t be like the last time you were hospitalized and rush to do ‘that’ with him.”
What the hell do you mean, do ‘that’ with him?! Boss Xia’s eyes flared. Xiao Ma covered his head and fled, vanishing in a flash.
He Chu San had heard every word and clutched his wound while trying not to laugh. Xia Liu Yi glared after Xiao Ma, then turned back, saw He Chu San smiling, and could not help giving an embarrassed smile himself. “Don’t listen to his nonsense. Eat.”
He Chu San smiled sweetly at him. “I don’t want dinner. I want to eat you.”
Xia Liu Yi put down the bowl and spoon, shifted closer, cupped his face, and planted a loud kiss on his forehead. “All right. Once your wound heals, you can eat me however you like. Be good. Eat your dinner first.”