Futile Devices Scans

Sitting in the opera house, Xue Bao Tian thought he would fall dead asleep, but he stayed awake the entire time.

Fuck, he somewhat regretted challenging Tong Yan yesterday. He had originally thought that someone like him, who placed love above all else, would either slap him across the face or write a three-thousand-word little essay to denounce him, yet unexpectedly, Tong Yan had only thrown back one word: Yes.

Xue Bao Tian was starving for both meat and vegetables. The fact that he did not force a transaction was already worthy of Amitabha’s blessing, and if someone came eagerly offering themselves up, he would have accepted it in the past.

But recently, he had tasted a little of love’s sweetness and eaten some of love’s bitterness too, and had developed neither too much nor too little expectation toward mutual affection and lasting devotion.

Once those below-the-waist matters ran into love, it was fucking equivalent to being put in shackles.

Xue Bao Tian wanted to back out. After the concert ended, he squatted in front of the hotel Tong Yan had booked and worried over it.

“I’m having a cigarette.” He pondered how to turn down the invitation without losing face. After thinking it over and over, he failed to find a proper excuse, but instead tasted a bit of sadness from his own life.

Act arrogant for three minutes, then admit defeat for three or four days. Who the fuck could stand that?

Tong Yan was quite patient, standing beside him and waiting. On an August summer night, the heat had yet to disperse, the air pressure was very low, and the heat made people restless and irritable.

By the end of one cigarette, even sucking hard could not draw out a spark. Xue Bao Tian had barely managed to think of an excuse and was just about to speak when Tong Yan, who had maintained a graceful standing posture the whole time, copied Xue Bao Tian and squatted down beside him.

“If you’re finding it difficult, I do have a suggestion.”

Xue Bao Tian’s eyes turned. “Say it.”

“Let’s kiss first. You can see how it feels.”

“Maybe not…”

“Try it. If you don’t dislike it and can accept it, then we’ll continue, all right?”

The two of them had already been sitting close together. In a moment of distraction, Tong Yan leaned in, his breath hot and burning against Xue Bao Tian’s cheek. Xue Bao Tian instinctively dodged backward, but Tong Yan hooked one finger into his shirt collar and dragged him back.

The light from the streetlamp was warm and soft, falling faintly across the two of them. Although they were in a bustling area, there was no one in this corner. It sat between the parking lots of the hotel and the restaurant next door, with a thick patch of tree shade for cover, making it rather suitable for a few tangled, unclear little movements.

Tong Yan slowly moved closer, carrying a gradual and indescribable ambiguity.

“Tong Yan.”

“Tong Yan!”

Two voices sounded at the same time. One belonged to Xue Bao Tian’s refusal, and the other was a low, urgent voice that sounded angry and familiar.

The two of them looked toward the sound. About seven or eight meters away, on the lane leading into the restaurant parking lot, a Mercedes G-Class was stopped there.

The parking lot had lighting, but it was not very sufficient. By coincidence, that vehicle had stopped beneath the only nearby light source, and the expression of the man in the driver’s seat could be clearly seen.

He held the steering wheel with one hand, and no one knew how much strength he was using. From his forearm to the back of his hand, the blue veins bulged fiercely, like ridges soaring into the clouds. Xue Bao Tian had only seen a similar situation once before, when this arm had forced Wei Hua down into the mud.

The man’s expression was no longer gentle. His features were deep, and the cold gleam bursting from his black eyes, along with the surging anger within them, made his handsomeness seem like a blade, stabbing straight into the eyes.

Yan Ye! Xue Bao Tian’s heart startled, and he instinctively pulled away from Tong Yan.

Tong Yan was a little nearsighted. He narrowed his eyes and confirmed it for a while before saying, “Is that Yan Ye?”

What answered him was the faint sound of tires pressing against the ground. Yan Ye drove the car over and stopped in front of the two of them.

The car window was lowered, his elbow resting on it, and Yan Ye’s eyes were filled with cold sharpness and an inscrutable scrutiny.

That cold gaze slowly slid over Tong Yan before landing on Xue Bao Tian.

“Master Xue, what a coincidence.” As though he had not spoken for a long time, Yan Ye’s voice was like an unsharpened blade—very blunt, yet also carrying hidden danger.

Tong Yan stood up and spoke first, looking at Yan Ye inside the car. “Didn’t General Manager Yan go on a business trip to Inner Mongolia with General Manager Lin? Why are you here?”

Only then did Yan Ye look at Tong Yan again, his gaze darkening. “Brother Tong pays close attention to my schedule?” He curled his lips, but there was no smile in it. “I did go on a business trip. I just came back today.”

The trees were dense and deeply shaded, and that distant glance just now had not been clear. Yan Ye looked at the two of them and asked tentatively, “Are you two here… waiting for a car? Do you need me to give you a ride?”

For a moment, both sides were silent. One perfectly ordinary question had become an unsolvable problem.

Tong Yan’s “General Manager Lin” made an inexplicable irritation rise in Xue Bao Tian’s heart. He stood up lazily, standing shoulder to shoulder with Tong Yan, and dragged out his words as he spoke.

“General Manager Yan’s time is precious, so we won’t trouble you.” He pointed at the nearby road sign and added, “This isn’t a parking space. Parking here is against the rules.”

It was a blatant dismissal. There was no expression on Yan Ye’s sharply defined face. He turned his head and said into the car, “You drive the car away. I still have something to do.”

Only then did Xue Bao Tian realize there was another person in the car: Zhou Yi Ming.

Zhou Yi Ming stuck his head out and greeted them awkwardly. Before his stiff smile had even faded, Yan Ye pushed open the door and got out.

He grabbed Yan Ye and begged in a low voice beside his ear, “I really didn’t know Brother Xue was bent. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have advised you to let go. When you fucking bury me later, bury me shallow and leave me a way out, all right?”

Clearly, he had also seen the scene just now.

Yan Ye’s expression grew even worse. Without even looking at him, he pushed that hand away and shut the car door.

His gaze shifted, automatically returning to Xue Bao Tian. Yan Ye asked, “Master Xue, did you receive my postcard?”

Xue Bao Tian watched the car gradually drive away and replied in an indifferent tone, “Received it. It took six or seven days to arrive by mail, and the writing was all damp and blurred beyond recognition. But the cleaning auntie didn’t mind. She mixed it in with waste books and old papers to sell. Every little bit counts.” Only then did he realize Yan Ye was already standing beside him. Drawing his brows together, he asked, “Something wrong?”

Very unexpectedly, Yan Ye took a cigarette case from his pocket, shook one out, and leaned in to hold the half-exposed cigarette between his lips. His movements when lighting the cigarette were also extremely practiced. He pressed down on the lighter, narrowing his eyes slightly. The blue flame briefly illuminated his indifferent expression, and when the flame went out, he removed the cigarette and lowered his head, slowly exhaling smoke.

“When did you learn to smoke?” Xue Bao Tian looked at the smoke slowly rising from Yan Ye’s hand, his expression somewhat stiff.

Yan Ye did not answer and only gave a low “Mm.” A dangerous dark light swept across the depths of his eyes as he looked at Tong Yan, his voice filled with pressure. “Did Sheng Yu send you to get close to Xue Bao Tian? What is he planning now?”

Tong Yan froze at those words, considered what Yan Ye had said, and grew angry as well. “I’m not so despicable as to be like Sheng Yu. I’ve already broken up with him!”

At first, he had still felt some shame over digging into an acquaintance’s corner, but now he had no psychological burden at all. He moved a little closer to Xue Bao Tian, and as though no one else were present, plucked a fallen leaf from the man’s shoulder. “I’m single. Baobao is single. I’m pursuing him. Does General Manager Yan have an objection?”

Baobao?! Xue Bao Tian cursed viciously, “Fuck,” then scolded Tong Yan, “If your teeth can’t keep the wind out, then don’t fucking talk.” Then he turned to look at Yan Ye and repeated, “He’s pursuing me. Does General Manager Yan have an objection?”

Yan Ye’s handsome face was cold as frost, and a gradually swelling anger surged in the depths of his black eyes.

“Pursuing?” He pointed at the place where the two of them had been squatting. “Like just now?”

Xue Bao Tian had not originally wanted to fall out with Yan Ye over something as insignificant as feelings. Even if a deal failed, goodwill should remain; aside from falling in love with someone else, Yan Ye had not wronged him in the slightest.

But today, the cigarette in his hand and the unfamiliar scent of perfume on him somehow stirred an inexplicable anger in Xue Bao Tian’s heart. He gave a cold laugh. “General Manager Yan and General Manager Lin’s relationship naturally came together when the time was right, so of course you wouldn’t know how pursuit works.”

Then he confirmed it. “Yes, what happened just now is pursuit.”

Yan Ye’s figure was tall and straight, a cigarette held between his long fingers, the ember at the tip flickering bright and dim. He leaned down slightly, his deep eyes fixed tightly on Xue Bao Tian as he slowly furrowed his brows. “Xue Bao Tian, can pursuit involve kissing?”

Now that he was closer, the scent on Yan Ye’s body was even richer. The faint breeze brushed past the hem of his clothes and strands of his hair, tugging wisps of that quiet fragrance toward Xue Bao Tian.

Xue Bao Tian curled his lips, meeting Yan Ye’s gaze openly and recklessly. “Before just now, we were still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage. You know, that kind of stage where you slowly get to know each other and carefully cherish each other.”

Before his words had even faded, he suddenly tossed his cigarette case to Tong Yan and sent him a look so ambiguous it practically drew threads. Tong Yan held the cigarette case and pondered for a moment before pulling out a cigarette and placing it in Xue Bao Tian’s mouth, then flicked the lighter twice and lit it for him.

“Good boy.” Xue Bao Tian held the cigarette between his lips, draped an arm over Tong Yan’s shoulder, and smiled at Yan Ye. “But just now, our relationship took a step forward.”

Yan Ye’s dangerous gaze landed on Xue Bao Tian, as though it meant to burn him. “Which step?”

Xue Bao Tian withdrew his mischievous expression. His gaze tangled with Yan Ye’s, and all the grievance and unwillingness, resentment and disappointment that had been suppressed in his heart threw aside reason and an adult’s self-control, erupting completely in this instant.

He hooked an arm around Tong Yan and swiftly leaned in to kiss him on the lips.

“This kind of relationship. Lovers.”

In the next instant, sharp pain burst across both his cheeks, and his back was slammed hard against the tree trunk behind him. Yan Ye surged over him like he had gone mad, his forehead pressed against Xue Bao Tian’s as he spoke coldly, his tone bloodthirsty. “Master Xue, I didn’t hear that clearly. Say it again. What relationship are you two?”

If he had seen Yan Ye like this under normal circumstances, Xue Bao Tian would have backed down long ago, but at this moment, he only gave a soft laugh and repeated, “Lovers. Partners. Boyfriends.”

Tong Yan added coldly from the side, “A pair of lovebirds, entwined branches, names carved on the Stone of Three Lives.”

Xue Bao Tian shoved Yan Ye away with force, rubbed his own cheeks, and said with a smile that was not quite a smile, “Didn’t you say you’d call someone sister-in-law?”

He lifted his chin. “Go on, call him. A male sister-in-law is still a sister-in-law. Hurry up and say it. Don’t fucking dawdle. The room we booked is going to go overtime soon.”

Yan Ye turned his head and looked at the hotel opposite them, a terrifying layer of frost covering his shadowed face.

After standing there in silence for a long while, he bent down and picked up the cigarette he had just thrown to the ground, put it back between his lips, and only after taking two or three drags did he lift his cold, warmthless eyes.

“I’ll owe it for now and make it up later. Don’t let me delay Master Xue’s fun.”

He stepped aside, clearing the path, and finally said, “Xue Bao Tian, let everything start over.”

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