Futile Devices Scans

Naturally, the wedding was completely nonexistent. Xia Liu Yi spent the entire month nearly clawing his own heart out from frustration. At the end of the month, on the next visitation day, He Chu San came again. This time he wore no gold-rimmed glasses. He was dressed in a casual shirt, his hair soft and fluffy, his fringe falling gently over his forehead. His warm, tranquil features looked just as they had in the old days—except that he kept his eyes lowered and refused to look at Xia Liu Yi.

Xia Liu Yi cautiously reached for his hand. He Chu San pulled it away.

“A’San, I’m sorry. I’ve made you suffer.”

He Chu San said coldly, “We agreed we’d stay together for the rest of our lives. Even if you’re in here, we’re still together. What right did you have to break up with me? What right did you have to refuse to see me? More than four years. One thousand four hundred and eighty-two days. You really had the heart to do that.”

“You shouldn’t wait for me. You…”

“Whether I wait for you is my business!” He Chu San abruptly looked up and cut him off. His sharp gaze pierced straight into Xia Liu Yi’s eyes. “What right do you have to decide for me? Do you think you’re so noble, Xia Liu Yi? Deciding how other people feel, imagining what happiness should look like for them—isn’t that exactly what you did to Azure Dragon back then?!”

Xia Liu Yi’s face instantly went white, and he froze. He Chu San realized immediately that he had gone too far and grabbed his hand instead. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said that. That… that was Azure Dragon’s own choice. You couldn’t force him. He was the one who chose to let go.”

“No. You’re right,” Xia Liu Yi said blankly. “I’m a bastard. I shouldn’t have treated you this way. I missed these four years. I failed you.”

He held He Chu San’s hand tightly between both of his own and pressed it against his trembling chest. Then he rose slightly and kissed He Chu San with a heart full of guilt and tenderness.

He Chu San kissed him back with nearly ten times the intensity. Their lips and tongues tangled with wet sounds. Gradually, Xia Liu Yi climbed onto his knees on the table and wrapped his arms around He Chu San, who had stood to embrace him.

A loud cough came from outside the door, warning them to restrain themselves a little. There were surveillance cameras, after all.

Xia Liu Yi reluctantly released He Chu San and sat back down. A fresh bite mark from He Chu San was already visible on his neck, blood slowly seeping from the wound. It would have been impossible to say He Chu San felt no resentment at all. He had bitten him as viciously as though he wanted to chew Xia Liu Yi’s flesh straight from his bones.

“Whether you wait for me is your freedom,” Xia Liu Yi said softly while looking into his eyes. “I’ll never say anything stupid about breaking up again. But if someday you don’t want to wait anymore, then…”

Faced with He Chu San’s razor-sharp stare, his lips twitched for a while. Suddenly his expression changed, and he snapped fiercely, “Freedom my ass! You little bastard! If you dare go live with someone else, I’ll skin you alive when I get out!”

He Chu San licked the trace of blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled. “Now that’s my Brother Liu Yi.” He took out the enormous glittering diamond ring and held out his hand toward Xia Liu Yi. “Put it on for me, my husband.”

…

A few days later, on July 1, Hong Kong returned to China. Xia Liu Yi and his fellow prisoners crowded around a small television in the exercise yard to watch the flag-raising ceremony. From then on, He Chu San came to visit him in prison every month. He also frequently wrote him letters so disgustingly sweet they made Xia Liu Yi’s skin tingle and his bones go soft. Reading them always left Xia Liu Yi burning with unsatisfied desire, forcing him to hide beneath his blanket at night and secretly take care of himself.

Sometimes Xin Xin came with her brother to visit Sister-in-law. In 1999, she married a foreigner and gave birth to a little blonde, blue-eyed girl. When the child had just turned one, her maternal uncle held her up to the newly installed glass partition in the visitation room so she could see her uncle-in-law for the first time. Delighted, the little girl squinted her eyes into crescents—and peed all over her uncle.

Elio’s Notes: Here 舅爹 is a playful, nonstandard extension used for the male spouse of the child’s maternal uncle, so FD renders it as ‘uncle-in-law.’ In ordinary regional usage, 舅爹 more commonly refers to a maternal uncle or, in some dialects, another older maternal relative.

Calendar pages continued turning until they entered the twenty-first century. The prison built new cellblocks, replacing the old communal dormitories that had housed dozens of men. Xia Liu Yi was assigned a single cell, giving him a much more convenient place to take care of himself. Beneath his pillow were piles of letters and photographs from his husband. In 2002, Big Scarhead completed his sentence and was released, leaving Xia Liu Yi as the only Xiao Qi Hall member still imprisoned. But he still had his old companion Limping Sha. The two former underworld bosses argued every day—you show me your granddaughter, I’ll show you how much my husband loves me—and bickered their way through one year after another.

In 2006, the prison system introduced reforms and established new computer rooms and technical workshops. Prisoners could use their free time to learn practical skills and earn qualifications online, helping them adapt to society after release and make a legitimate living. Xia Liu Yi joined the excitement and signed up for an English course, carrying around a dictionary every day and stumbling laboriously through vocabulary. Limping Sha turned sixty that year, his hair already graying. He had no interest whatsoever in studying and spent his days smoking cigarettes and rasping little songs beside him, interfering with Brother Xia’s educational progress.

On June 1 that year, Xia Liu Yi received the usual hand-drawn birthday card with its cake. Holding it up to the glass, he spoke into the receiver. “Mister He, can you draw it gooder? Go find yourself an art teacher. It’s been all these years and you haven’t improved at all!”

“It’s ‘can you draw it better,’” He Chu San corrected. “I’m busy to death every day. I don’t have time to learn how to draw.”

“Then how do you have time to work out?” Xia Liu Yi asked, staring at the solid arms filling out He Chu San’s shirt.

“Of course I have to work out. By the time you get out, I’ll be forty-five. How am I supposed to manage if I don’t stay fit? You still owe me that ‘ekiben.’”

“By the time I get out, I’ll be forty-eight. Can you stop tormenting me?”

“Don’t worry. Gay men bloom at forty. Did you use the face masks I mailed you a while ago?”

“Way too gay! I threw them away!”

“You dare?! Dig them out and put one on!”

…

Xia Liu Yi emerged from the visitation room in a wonderful mood and headed back to the basketball court. The decades-old court had recently been renovated and covered in fresh paint. Under the blazing sun, it gave off a strong smell of heated paint. Limping Sha sat smoking in the shade, his wrinkled old face watching several newly arrived gangsters beat the hell out of each other in the middle of the yard.

Xia Liu Yi dropped down beside him, opened his dictionary, and muttered as he searched through the pages. “Be… better…”

“Look at them. They finish their work and still have enough energy left to fight,” Limping Sha said, watching the young men brawl beneath the scorching sun. “Just like us when we were young. What stamina!”

“There is no ‘us,’” Xia Liu Yi said. “I’m still young. Gay men bloom at forty, understand?”

“Sure, sure. Just wait until you get out and make your husband’s chrysanthemum bloom.”

Elio’s Notes: “Chrysanthemum” is Chinese sexual slang for the anus; Limping Sha is extending Xia Liu Yi’s joke about gay men “blooming” at forty.

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck off.”

As they cursed back and forth, the fighting youngsters chased one another straight toward them. Xia Liu Yi and Limping Sha could not be bothered moving and simply remained seated, lazily enjoying the show. One youngster accidentally tripped over Xia Liu Yi’s long legs. He got up cursing and tried to swing at Xia Liu Yi, only for several men from his hometown to grab him and drag him away before he could even throw the punch.

“Don’t mess with him! Don’t mess with him! He’s the famous ‘Twin Blade Blood Asura’ from the underworld more than ten years ago. They say he once killed more than twenty people by himself in a bathhouse…” Their warnings drifted faintly back on the wind.

Limping Sha blew out a mouthful of smoke and laughed. “Bullshit! The story gets more ridiculous every time they tell it! I remember Shrimp Skin chopping you until you were running for your damn life. If that kid who looked like Azure Dragon hadn’t been there, you would’ve been dead!”

“You were tied up naked off to the side back then. You’ve got the nerve to laugh at me?”

“Aiya, I’m old!” Limping Sha sighed as he pounded his aching knees. “Even my ass is sagging!”

Xia Liu Yi solemnly closed his dictionary and decided that tonight he would do another hundred squats—and smear some of that expensive facial mask onto his ass.

…

That night, Xia Liu Yi lay facedown on the little bed in his single cell with a photograph of his husband propped against his forehead, giving his still-shapely ass a massage on his husband’s behalf. Suddenly, the piercing blare of an alarm startled him. His solid glute muscles clenched so hard they trapped his finger. He writhed beneath the blanket, shaking his head and ass in a frantic struggle. Limping Sha shouted from the neighboring cell, “Xiao Liu! Xiao Liu! Get up!”

“I’m awake!” Xia Liu Yi answered miserably. His finger was still trapped. The field had gone too long without plowing and was parched as hell.

“Xiao Liu! What’s happening outside?!”

“How the hell would I know?!”

Thick smoke began rolling down the corridor. “Fire! Fire!” prisoners shouted from farther away.

Beeep—! Beeep—!! The fire alarm shrieked. The emergency system automatically unlocked the cells, and doors opened one after another. Prisoners cautiously poked their heads outside. A prison officer on duty shouted from the distance, “What are you doing?! Get back inside!”

“Fire! Run for your lives!!” someone screamed. The prisoners poured out in a swarm, knocking the officer flat as they rushed past him and broke through one security gate after another toward the exercise yard.

Limping Sha hopped over on his bad leg and slapped Xia Liu Yi’s door. “Hurry up!”

Xia Liu Yi finally managed to free the damned finger and was frantically stuffing He Chu San’s photographs and letters into his pillowcase. Limping Sha rushed in and dragged at him. “Your life matters more! Move!”

“Wait! My jade Buddha!” Xia Liu Yi started rummaging around the washbasin, then hurriedly slipped the jade Buddha he had taken off before bathing back around his neck.

“Aiya! You damn queer with a death wish!” Limping Sha cursed. Xia Liu Yi lunged over and shoved the pillowcase stuffed with letters into his arms. “Hold this!”

“What the hell am I supposed to—” Limping Sha had not finished speaking before Xia Liu Yi bent down and hoisted him straight up. He slung the thin, elderly man over his shoulder like a sack and sprinted outside.

“Slow down, slow down! I’m going to throw up…” Limping Sha wailed over his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare puke in my pillowcase!”

…

A short circuit in the prison’s high-voltage electrical system had started the fire, and the strong wind fed the flames. In no time, much of the complex was engulfed in a raging blaze. Prisoners and officers ran everywhere in utter chaos, and the exercise yard had become a scene of complete pandemonium. One group of inmates seized the opportunity to rush the main gate. Officers there shouted and fired warning shots, but before long they were knocked to the ground by the crowd. Officers on the walls wanted to open fire in support, but in the darkness they could not tell prisoners from their own people.

Panting heavily, Xia Liu Yi put Limping Sha down in the yard. The moment his feet touched the ground, Limping Sha started hopping toward the main gate. “They’re about to break through!” He had barely gone two steps when Xia Liu Yi yanked him back. Limping Sha shouted, “Are you stupid?! This is our chance to escape!”

“Are you stupid?! We’re going in to save people!” Xia Liu Yi roared.

Limping Sha froze. “Save people where?”

Xia Liu Yi pointed toward the guard-duty building, the first structure to catch fire and now the one burning most fiercely. Flames seemed to spread directly along the line of his finger.

“Are you insane?!”

“Hold onto my pillow!” Xia Liu Yi was already racing toward the inferno without even looking back.

“Are you insane?! Xia Liu Yi! Hey! HEY!!” Limping Sha hopped in place in frantic agitation. He turned toward the main gate. Dozens of prisoners had already broken through and fled. He still had seven or eight years left on his sentence. If he did not take this chance to escape, he might very well die of old age in prison. He hopped around in circles like an ant on a hot pan several times before finally letting out a long sigh and chasing after Xia Liu Yi.

Limping Sha reached the guard building out of breath. At the entrance, a soot-blackened prison officer lay coughing violently on the ground—the man Xia Liu Yi had just thrown out. Limping Sha hurriedly set Xia Liu Yi’s precious pillowcase down nearby and dragged the officer away from the smoke.

Once the officer was safely settled, Limping Sha turned back toward the pillowcase and went stupid with horror. The strong wind had scattered photographs and letters all over the ground. Before he could catch them, one after another was swept into the air. One photograph of Xia Liu Yi’s husband’s little abs drifted away like a fallen leaf…

“I’m dead, I’m dead! Xiao Liu is going to kill me!” Limping Sha wailed. “Forget it! I’ll pay you back with this old life of mine!” He began roaring to build up his courage and limped straight into the flames. “Xiao Liu! Where are you?! Big Brother Sha is coming to save you! AAAAAH—!!”

A black figure covered in sparks burst out of the inferno and slammed straight into him, knocking him flat. “MY ASS!!” Limping Sha screamed as he rolled across the ground.

The figure staggered several steps backward before regaining his balance and shaking off the burning blanket wrapped around his body. Limping Sha squinted through the smoke. It was Xia Liu Yi, his face completely blackened with soot.

Xia Liu Yi gasped heavily and lowered the man he had been carrying on his back to the ground. The unconscious man’s head lolled sideways, allowing Limping Sha to see his face clearly—it was the prison superintendent who had been on duty that night.

…

In April 2007, because of Xia Liu Yi’s outstanding conduct during the prison fire the previous year, along with his years of positive rehabilitation, his sentence was reduced by three years. He was granted parole and released in May. Limping Sha benefited from having helped rescue people as well and received a two-year sentence reduction. Because of his good behavior, advanced age, and poor health, he was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence outside prison.

Hong Kong in May was warm beneath the brilliant early-summer sun, and the sea breeze was gentle. Forty-two-year-old Xia Liu Yi strode through the prison gates with a new English dictionary held in his arms, looking carefree and unrestrained.

He Chu San waited alone outside the prison, dressed in an elegant, perfectly fitted white suit. He had arrived in a Lamborghini and stood leaning beside it with both hands in his pockets. The sea breeze stirred his soft fringe, and his gentle, handsome face looked just as it had in years past. Smiling, he watched Xia Liu Yi walk toward him, then very gentlemanly opened the car door for him.

Xia Liu Yi was not especially impressed. He frowned as he got into the car. “Where’s Xiao Ma? Where’s Dong Dong? Those two bastards ditched me so they could go eat, drink, and have fun?”

“They’re waiting for us by the sea,” He Chu San said. He lifted a bouquet of vivid red roses from the back seat and shoved them into Xia Liu Yi’s arms.

“What are they doing by the sea?”

He Chu San leaned over and kissed him. “Preparing our wedding.”

Xia Liu Yi grabbed him before he could return to the driver’s seat and kissed him ravenously. The two shamelessly started fooling around in the front seats of the car. He Chu San’s suit jacket was soon yanked off, while Xia Liu Yi’s T-shirt was pushed halfway up, exposing his taut, trembling abdomen. The little peaks of his chest had been pinched until they stood stiffly upright. At that moment, an abrupt musical ringtone sounded.

“What’s that?” Xia Liu Yi asked breathlessly, his eyes hazy with lust.

“My phone.”

“Mm… don’t answer…”

“It’s Dad.”

Xia Liu Yi sat upright with a miserable expression and obediently waited for He Chu San to answer. He Chu San pressed the button, and Father He’s vigorous roar came blasting from the phone. “Why haven’t you two lousy brats arrived yet?! Is Xia Liu Yi in heat again?! Tell him to put his pants back on and get over here!”

“…” Xia Liu Yi silently helped Father He’s son pull up his zipper.

“All right, all right. We’re coming right now,” He Chu San coaxed into the phone. After hanging up, he bit Xia Liu Yi’s bright-red cheek. “We’ll walk the red carpet first. I’ll eat you tonight. Tonight I want the ‘ekiben.’”

“Why are you still obsessed with that?!”

“Not just that. I’ve developed plenty of new positions over the years. Once the wedding’s over, we can take our time trying them together.”

“…”

The car drove along the winding mountain road. Outside the windows, the vegetation was lush and green, while in the distance the blue sea met the blue sky in a single line. Xia Liu Yi reached over and caught He Chu San’s ringed left hand. Their fingers intertwined and clasped tightly together.

From that day onward, they would never part again.

…

Sammy’s Children’s Day — End.

…

If there were a continuation:

“Who did you develop all those new positions with over the years?”

“Ahem… I had a life-size silicone doll of you custom-made.”

“What? What kind of doll? A stuffed doll?”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“Why are you smiling so lewdly… What did you do to it…”

“Hahahahaha!”

Elio’s Notes: If you loved this story, please leave a review about the novel itself in Novel Updates here. For comments about our translation, feel free to leave comments or send us a message directly. If you wish to check the raw for this story, you may find the link in the main page.

This isn’t over yet. We still have several extra chapters. On top of these, if you’re interested, you can also check She Xie Dian Dian‘s other story we’ve translated called Ants’ Cry.