Futile Devices Scans

When Zhou Yi Ming came in pushing the door open with a yawn, Yan Ye’s hand visibly trembled, and the character beneath his pen was ruined.

“Practicing calligraphy again?” That man sauntered over. “Let me see if you’ve improved.”

“The office sent over some new tea. Want a cup?”

Fine, that meant he was not allowed to look. Zhou Yi Ming shrugged, sat down carelessly on the sofa, and stared longingly at the coffee machine in the corner. “General Manager Yan, brew me a cup of coffee to wake me up. That woman works the night scene, and I followed her until three in the morning yesterday. We even had a late-night snack together. As for that thing you wanted me to ask, she refused to say anything no matter what.”

Yan Ye sank his back into the chair and drew his brows in slightly. “You didn’t get anything?”

Zhou Yi Ming lifted his chin toward the coffee machine, the meaning self-evident.

Yan Ye dialed the internal line. “One cup of coffee, half sugar.”

The person on the sofa rolled his eyes. “I wonder who could ever get a cup of coffee personally brewed by you.”

He rubbed his temples, his voice somewhat tired. “That woman has been around the night scene and has seen her share of the world. She wasn’t easy to fool, and we can’t really do anything illegal. Fortunately, I did my homework beforehand and found out she has a gambling-addict younger brother who’s gotten himself into some trouble recently. I promised to keep her brother safe, and only then did that woman hesitate and start talking.”

After taking credit for himself, Zhou Yi Ming paused with technical precision before saying, “Guess what she said?”

The characters beneath Yan Ye’s pen grew uglier and uglier, and he dragged out another uneven horizontal stroke. He asked flatly, “What did she say?”

“Brother Xue… really does have a problem.”

The tip of the pen he had been gripping tightly seemed to loosen slightly, and a hidden glimmer appeared in Yan Ye’s eyes. “He’s never touched anyone?”

“He never touched her. As for other people, she couldn’t say for sure either, but as far as she knows, Brother Xue has rarely taken anyone out recently.”

The chair creaked, and Yan Ye stood up and walked toward the coffee machine. The bright sunlight outside shone into the man’s eyes, and his voice was gentle and light. “My skills aren’t that good. Can you make do?”

Zhou Yi Ming crossed one leg over the other and laughed. “Coffee brewed by the boss himself—even if it really tastes like cat shit, I’ll still close my eyes and praise it.”

He bit a cigarette between his lips and leaned loosely against the sofa, watching the surface of the water in the health pot gradually begin to roll. Suddenly, he said, “Yan Ye, what are you right now? My buddy? Or my boss?”

Yan Ye froze, turned to look at Zhou Yi Ming, thought for a moment, then slowly asked, “Is there a difference?”

“There is.” Zhou Yi Ming lit his cigarette. “If you’re the boss, then I’ve completed the task you gave me, and once I finish the coffee, I’ll leave right away.”

“What if I’m your buddy?”

“If you’re my buddy, then I want to say, Yan Ye, you went too far with Brother Xue.”

Yan Ye’s brows pressed downward, clearly somewhat surprised. “How so?”

Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Zhou Yi Ming scratched his hairline with his thumb. “I know about most of what happened between you two. Brother Xue is a straight man, right? Even though he slept with you, I could tell he was always pretty conflicted about it. Before, I thought maybe that was some bedroom play between the two of you, but looking at it now, Yan Ye, it seems like you’ve really ruined him.”

Yan Ye cut off the power to the boiling water. The bubbling water gradually calmed, like the light in his eyes turning dark.

“You dragged a straight man into bed. Who the fuck could take that? Brother Xue may have an unforgiving mouth, but he’s honestly not a bad person. If that had happened to me, I’d have found a way to kill you, openly or secretly.”

Zhou Yi Ming pointed toward Yan Ye’s desk. “During the months you were in detention, Brother Xue sat here every day to hold your position for you. What kind of people do we have in this company? A bunch of brutes not much better than street thugs. Brother Xue forcefully held them off for you and didn’t let them find an opening to topple you.”

“Yan Ye, when we do things, we have to have a conscience. You’ve already… played someone until he broke. What else are you trying to do now?”

Yan Ye pondered silently for a moment before denying it in a low voice. “When we were together, he was very normal.”

Zhou Yi Ming cut him off cleanly. “When he wasn’t with you before, that was what you call normal.”

Somehow, a can of coffee beans was squeezed off the edge of the table. After wobbling a few times, it suddenly tipped over, brushed past Yan Ye’s arm, and fell to the floor.

The plastic container shattered into pieces, and the brown beans burst out with a crash, like someone trapped in despair whose heartstrings had suddenly snapped.

Zhou Yi Ming was not heavily addicted to smoking, so he stubbed out the cigarette halfway through. He kicked away the coffee beans that had rolled to his feet, stood up, and walked outside, putting on that playful grin again. “Boss, I’m just saying whatever. You can just listen however you like and treat it all as a joke. I’m off. Going back to catch up on sleep. There’s still a job tonight.”

When he closed the door, Yan Ye was still looking at the coffee beans scattered all over the floor, without saying a single word.

Xue Bao Tian formally took office, sitting in the top seat of Ruixiang Pharmaceuticals before he had even turned thirty. Everyone assumed that with his personality, he would inevitably make a high-profile show of it and celebrate lavishly, but unexpectedly, aside from an official document announcing the matter, there was no other movement.

There was another matter that people found rather unexpected as well. After taking office, Xue Bao Tian did not make drastic changes to personnel appointments. Regardless of what their previous stance had been, and regardless of whether they had belonged to his side or the enemy’s, he retained them all. Aside from rectifying discipline and conduct, he issued no other major orders. The anxious and unsettled Ruixiang finally stabilized.

After a long, exhausting day, Xue Bao Tian moved his stiff neck inside the apartment elevator.

It was already May, and all things were lush and green. He wore a pale silver suit, like one of the rare cold firs by the roadside, so tall and elegant that people could not help wanting to look twice.

The elevator stop indicator flashed a few times. Xue Bao Tian stepped out of the elevator, turned left, and there was his apartment.

The corridor was not long; he reached it in just a few steps. A shadow stretched across the milky-white marble floor veined with crossing stone patterns. Xue Bao Tian followed the shadow with his eyes and saw Yan Ye standing beside the door to his apartment.

This was the third time he had appeared as a friend.

Two months ago, also in front of this very door, this man had kissed him half to death, the kisses traveling all the way from the corner of his lips to his ear, and in the end, panting heavily, he had murmured, “I’ll listen to Master Xue. Between the two of us, we’re even.”

At that time, the weather had not yet warmed. After Yan Ye left, Xue Bao Tian wrapped his coat tightly around himself and leaned in the corner of the corridor to smoke.

Damn it, he cursed. “Who the fuck wrote my fate? It’s really fucking ridiculous.”

After more than a month without seeing him, Yan Ye’s skin had darkened slightly, making him look even healthier and more handsome. Xue Bao Tian looked at him for a while before curling his lips. “You’re back?”

The man standing in front of the door gave a soft mm. “My flight landed last night.”

Xue Bao Tian unlocked the door with his fingerprint. “Why didn’t you rest properly?”

“I brought you some local specialties from the Philippines. Nothing special, but it was my first time there, so I found them interesting and brought some back.”

“How thoughtful.” Xue Bao Tian pushed the door open and entered, his smiling mouth still as wicked as ever. “I now feel the gratification of watching my grandson grow up into an adult.”

As always, Yan Ye let him mess around and followed him through the door, placing the specialties in the entryway.

This apartment was newly purchased by Xue Bao Tian, right upstairs from his original apartment. The layout and overall interior design were no different from the former one. When Yan Ye walked into this new home, it was as though one step had taken him back into the period when he had lived together with Xue Bao Tian. The past and the present could not be distinguished, could not be separated, leaving one dazed.

A clingy meow pulled Yan Ye back to reality. A ball of fur wrapped itself around his feet. The once skinny, shriveled kitten was now solidly plump, rubbing back and forth against his trouser legs.

Xue Bao Tian had taken off his suit jacket and wore only a shirt. Seeing the kitten clinging to Yan Ye, he raised an eyebrow and smiled. “At least it still remembers you.”

Yan Ye glanced at the shirt that fit closely along Xue Bao Tian’s waistline, then quickly looked away, following the topic. “I saved it. Naturally, it wouldn’t forget.”

“Come in and sit. I looked over the first-quarter financial report you sent last time. There are a few areas that need your special attention.”

“But…” Xue Bao Tian leaned against the wall and added, “General Manager Yan, what ordinary friend looks down the other person’s collar every time they meet?”

Yan Ye had shame, but not much. He admitted it openly and said with a smile, “I’m used to it. I can’t change it right away.”

Xue Bao Tian fastened one more button below his throat and asked coldly, “What do you want to drink?”

“Beer.”

Opening the refrigerator, Xue Bao Tian took out two cans of beer and tossed one to Yan Ye.

“Did things go smoothly this time?”

“It was all right.” Yan Ye opened his own beer, handed it to Xue Bao Tian, then exchanged it for his. “Although there were some anti-Chinese forces making trouble, Huaye’s project still landed smoothly.”

Xue Bao Tian placed the beer in his hand on the nearby table and did not drink it.

He asked, “Lin Zhi Yi came back too?”

Yan Ye lowered his head and drank, his voice landing very softly. “We came back on the same flight.”

Xue Bao Tian hooked the cigarette case on the table over, flicked one out from the bottom of the case, leaned forward, and lightly bit the cigarette end. His eyes as he looked at Yan Ye were pitch-black, flashing with the light of gossip. “Are you two together?”

His finger circled the mouth of the can. Yan Ye replied calmly, without the slightest ripple, “Still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage.”

“Fuck.” Xue Bao Tian took the cigarette from his mouth and laughed as he cursed. “With me, you couldn’t wait even a moment before dragging me into bed. With the person you like, you hold him in your palm and slowly get to know him, carefully cherish him. Yan-dog, this difference of yours isn’t small at all.”

A gentle softness appeared on Yan Ye’s handsome, rugged face. “Master Xue, I already apologized. If you still feel unhappy about it, bring out all those tricks from last time and curse me out again.”

Xue Bao Tian looked at the sunset outside the window and shook his head. “Once I’ve cursed, it’s over. Cursing again would be boring.”

Yan Ye took a business card from his pocket and handed it to Xue Bao Tian. Rarely, his words were somewhat hesitant. “This doctor is very well-known. If you need it, you can go see him.”

Xue Bao Tian glanced at it faintly, his eyes cooling as he scoffed. “I’m not fucking pursuing the matter of you privately investigating my personal affairs, and yet you’re throwing yourself right into the line of fire?”

There was not the slightest guilt or embarrassment of being exposed in Yan Ye’s smile. He even looked somewhat open and aboveboard. “You knew I looked for that woman? Sorry. I was impulsive at the time.”

“You’re still fucking unreliable now. Put the card away.”

“Has it improved?” Yan Ye asked sincerely.

Xue Bao Tian looked at him for a long while before looking away. “It’s all right. Better than before.” The cigarette end rolled once between his teeth. “Once Brother finds you a sister-in-law in the future, you’ll be able to kowtow a few extra times during New Year and holidays and get more lucky money.”

Gray-white smoke slowly rose beside his lips, veiling his already indifferent gaze in hazy layers.

“Brother.”

Yan Ye’s voice had always been deep and resonant. This one “Brother” curled and turned in a hundred ways, making one’s heart tighten.

“Brother, in the future, you… should have a proper relationship. Find a good girl.”

Xue Bao Tian lifted his eyelids. “If I find one, will you call her Sister-in-law?”

“…” That low, hoarse voice was like gravel grinding across the heart. “If you like, I can.”

The sunset slanted in through the corridor window, and a handful of afterglow fell into Xue Bao Tian’s eyes. With his elbow propped on the back of the sofa, he lowered his eyes and exhaled a long stream of smoke, then smiled mockingly. “You’ve been hard the whole time while talking to your sister-in-law’s husband. Do you think she’d have an opinion?”

Only then did Yan Ye show a bit of proper, genuine embarrassment. He moved away the arm he had been using to hide himself, lowered his eyes to look at his trousers, and smiled bitterly. “There’s nothing I can do. Whenever I see you, it’s very hard to control.” He reached out and touched Xue Bao Tian’s fluffy hair. “In the future… I’ll try to come see you less, so I can withdraw from… my addiction to you.”

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