With one arm resting on the car window, Xue Bao Tian sat inside and sized up Zhang Chi, who was standing by the roadside.
He pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head. “What are you holding?”
Zhang Chi hoisted the woven sack higher onto his shoulder. “Luggage.”
“You quit the construction site?”
“I said my grandpa was sick and took an extended leave.”
“Fuck, are you cursing me?”
Zhang Chi smiled warmly. “Those coworkers we drank with last time asked me to send you their regards.”
Xue Bao Tian lowered his head, and the sunglasses perched on his hair slid down to the bridge of his nose. He got out, opened the trunk, rummaged around, and found several bottles of liquor.
He whistled toward the security guard at the construction-site entrance and crooked a finger. When the man came over, Xue Bao Tian stuffed the bottles into his arms. “Help me give these to…”
Meeting Xue Bao Tian’s gaze, Zhang Chi supplied, “Old Xu.”
“Right. Give these to Old Xu and the others.” Xue Bao Tian stuffed his cigarettes into the guard’s pocket too. “Keep those for yourself. Thanks, man.”
Once the guard happily walked off carrying the liquor, Xue Bao Tian went over to Zhang Chi and casually patted his cheek. “From now on, you’re my dog. Call me Master Xue and let me hear it.”
Zhang Chi let him pat him and answered helplessly, “Master Xue, we live in a modern society. You could at least give me a little dignity.”
Xue Bao Tian smiled, took half a step backward, then abruptly let the smile vanish as he rolled his eyes. “I’ve been giving you way too much fucking dignity!”
He kicked hard. Zhang Chi took the kick on his leg with a muffled grunt and staggered backward a couple of steps, looking unusually disheveled.
Having vented some anger, Xue Bao Tian opened the car door and looked coldly at him. “If you’re going to follow me, then fucking listen. You call me what I tell you to call me, when I tell you. Bite whoever you want, but if you bite your master again, I’ll kill you. Get in.”
“Hey.” Xue Bao Tian pulled on his seat belt and looked disgustedly at the sack. “Throw that thing away. You think you can put any filthy piece of junk in my car?”
Zhang Chi shifted the woven sack on his shoulder and negotiated softly. “Can’t throw it away. I’ll need it again later.”
“Master Xue isn’t going to shortchange you. Hurry up and toss it, then get in.”
Zhang Chi walked around the car, opened the rear door, and under Xue Bao Tian’s furious stare, carefully placed the woven sack inside before taking the passenger seat.
He explained good-naturedly, “I’ve used it a long time. Got attached to it. I can’t bear to throw it away.”
Starting the car, Xue Bao Tian sneered. “Could your feelings be as scarce as your money? You really were born to stay poor your whole life.”
They drove into the busiest part of downtown, where the sports car finally stopped outside an upscale shopping mall.
“What are we doing here?” Under the mall’s glaring white lights, Zhang Chi glanced around and quietly noted where the emergency exits were.
“Getting you some clothes.” Xue Bao Tian glanced at Zhang Chi’s dark-brown jacket. “Nobody wants to walk around all day with a pile of shit beside them.”
Before they even reached the store, a sales associate came hurrying over from a distance. “Mr. Xue, welcome back. What are you looking for today?”
Xue Bao Tian lazily glanced at the man beside him. “Pick out two outfits for him.” He looked Zhang Chi’s build over and added, “Dark colors. Low-key. Something cool.”
The sales associate readily agreed and led Zhang Chi away to try things on. Zhang Chi took off his jacket and handed it to Xue Bao Tian. “Hold this for me. Don’t throw it away. I can still wear it later.”
Xue Bao Tian looked disgusted but accepted it anyway, immediately tossing it onto a sofa in the waiting area. “You’re not worth wasting Master Xue’s time on. Hurry up and change.”
A truffle-chocolate wrapper was unfolded, folded again, then eventually turned into a crude little paper airplane. With a flick of his fingers, Xue Bao Tian sent it gliding briefly through the air before it descended in an arc and landed on the marble floor.
A polished leather shoe stepped down beside the little plane. The breeze from the movement flipped it onto its back, exposing its belly pitifully.
Xue Bao Tian’s gaze moved from the paper plane to the shoe, then slowly upward until it met Zhang Chi’s eyes.
Zhang Chi was wearing a black suit with a simple white shirt. No tie. Two buttons stood open beneath his throat, revealing the sharp line of his Adam’s apple.
The suit fit him perfectly, making his already tall frame look even straighter. Combined with his deep-set features and calm gaze, it somehow gave him an effortless air of elegance and composure.
Xue Bao Tian knew Zhang Chi had a good body—the sort that annoyed people when he was naked—but he had not expected the bastard to be just as irritating fully dressed. Barely in his early twenties, yet somehow he wore a suit with the steady presence of a mature man.
“Does it look good?” Zhang Chi picked up the paper airplane and walked over unhurriedly. “I checked the tag. It’s expensive.”
Xue Bao Tian looked away. “Price isn’t the problem. The problem is you look fucking awful in it.” He instructed the stunned sales associate, “Find him something even more low-key. The lower-profile the better. Ideally something that makes him disappear in a crowd.”
Zhang Chi tried several more outfits, but Xue Bao Tian disliked every single one, and eventually they had no choice but to give up.
On the way out, Xue Bao Tian pretended to tie his shoelace and quietly beckoned the sales associate closer. “Those outfits he tried just now—send them to my apartment in my size.”
“Your size, Mr. Xue?” Afraid she had misheard, the sales associate confirmed it again.
“Obviously. You think he can pull off that kind of presence?”
At a cheap roadside clothing shop.
“Turn around. Let me see.” Xue Bao Tian sat on a small stool and helped himself to a handful of the shop owner’s popcorn.
The dark striped suit was mediocre in quality and not particularly well tailored, yet Zhang Chi’s broad shoulders and long legs still somehow made it look stylish.
Crunching on popcorn, Xue Bao Tian thought for a while before asking the shop owner, “Is there anywhere around here that sells even cheaper clothes? Do they sell suits at the night market?”
Zhang Chi smiled as he walked over and ruffled the back of Xue Bao Tian’s head. “Master Xue, I’m your man now. If I dress too badly, won’t that embarrass you too?”
He bent slightly until they were eye to eye and coaxed him gently. “Two hundred yuan for a whole outfit isn’t expensive. Let’s just take this one. I don’t want to try anything else.”
“Two hundred yuan?” The more Xue Bao Tian heard it, the more unpleasant it sounded. He dusted himself off and stood lazily. “You’re right, that isn’t expensive. Let’s add a little more—two hundred fifty. Suits you.”
Elio’s Notes: In Chinese slang, 二百五—literally “two hundred fifty”—means an idiot or fool. Xue Bao Tian deliberately raises the price to 250 yuan as another insult.
Zhang Chi carried the plastic bag of clothes and followed Xue Bao Tian back into the car. After shutting the door, he asked, “What are we doing next?”
Xue Bao Tian paused with his hand on the ignition. Lately he had been busy writing his proposal and had not caused any trouble, which suddenly made Zhang Chi seem rather useless.
“Tonight I’ll put together a gathering. You’re coming with me.”
Zhang Chi agreed. He looked at Xue Bao Tian’s profile, hesitated several times, then finally asked in a low voice, “Last time… did you get a fever?”
Xue Bao Tian glanced at the rearview mirror and pressed the accelerator, instinctively answering, “Yeah.” Then he realized something was wrong. “How do you know I had a fever?”
The tips of Zhang Chi’s ears reddened. “Sorry. I didn’t know that not using protection could…”
Xue Bao Tian slammed on the brakes. The tires shrieked sharply against the pavement. After steadying himself, he turned toward Zhang Chi. “My fever had something to do with you?”
“I looked it up afterward. Apparently not using protection can cause a fever. I didn’t think you’d actually… And afterward I cleaned you up…”
The rage igniting in Xue Bao Tian’s eyes made Zhang Chi prudently swallow the rest. He watched Xue Bao Tian shift gears and stop the car, then suddenly lean halfway across the cabin and pin him down.
“Zhang Chi, you’ve fucking managed to avoid every basic quality a human being should possess! Going to bed without protection—do you know how huge a taboo that is? I’m killing you today!”
Xue Bao Tian grabbed him by the collar and shook him back and forth, landing several hits in the process. Zhang Chi barely resisted, allowing him to vent inside the cramped car until he noticed the faint sweat breaking out across Xue Bao Tian’s forehead. Only then did he pull the man firmly against his chest.
“Two Hundred,” Zhang Chi murmured gently, “I really didn’t mean to. I’d never stayed in an expensive hotel before. The condoms weren’t in the cabinet beside the bed, so I couldn’t find them… and I was in a hurry…”
“Your mother must’ve raised the placenta instead of the baby. You’re complete fucking garbage!”
Zhang Chi smiled helplessly. “Getting you sick was my fault. Isn’t that why I’m here to compensate you?”
Xue Bao Tian glared at him. “Do you even know how you’re supposed to compensate me?”
“Two Hundred.” Zhang Chi leaned forward and kissed away the bit of popcorn stuck at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll protect you well.”