Futile Devices Scans

Ren Yu’s fingers paused slightly as he flipped through the documents, and he lifted his eyes to look at Fu Chun Shen across from him. The man was still wearing that eternally unchanging cold face, only there were faint bluish-black shadows beneath his eyes. To complete this amount of work in such a short time, even with Fu Chun Shen’s working ability, he must have stayed up all night.

“No.” Ren Yu threw the document onto the desk. “Redo it.”

The rich aroma of coffee filled the air, but it could not cover the sharpness in those words. Unexpectedly, on Fu Chun Shen’s face, which seemed as though it had been programmed in advance, there actually appeared a faint smile. “All right. I’ll revise it now.”

Ren Yu stared at the nearly perfect proposal in his hand and narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what needs to be revised?”

“I don’t.” Fu Chun Shen said frankly, “But I know you’re pursuing me.”

Ren Yu froze, and last night’s conversation suddenly echoed by his ear: “You sent my proposal back seven times in one day and called that pursuing me? Fine, then tomorrow I’ll properly pursue you too.”

His knuckles unconsciously tightened, creasing the paper. “Fu Chun Shen, it is work time right now.” His tone carried warning. “Please recognize your own identity and maintain efficient work.”

Fu Chun Shen unhurriedly finished the last sip of coffee and picked up the file that had been returned three times. His mouth said “all right,” but his body remained completely motionless.

He suddenly lowered his voice. “What should I do if they bully me?”

After all, Ren Yu sat in the position of department leader. He rubbed his temples. “Who bullied you? How did they bully you?”

“I’m doing the work of three or four people by myself right now.” Fu Chun Shen’s voice suddenly carried a trace of sticky sweetness, like melted caramel. “Manager Ren, you have to help me get justice.”

That tone instantly made Ren Yu think of the gay novel he had once happened to flip through, where the cannon-fodder male supporting character always loved clinging to the male lead’s arm and acting spoiled. “Honey, help me deal with them.”

A shiver ran through Ren Yu’s whole body, and he looked Fu Chun Shen up and down as though he had been struck by lightning. Forcefully suppressing his discomfort, he perfunctorily said, “Finish your own work first, and return other people’s work to them.” As he spoke, he picked up his fountain pen and lowered his head over the documents. “If there’s nothing else, go out. Stop disturbing me.”

“Sorry, I’m just getting something.” Fu Chun Shen calmly rose, went around the broad desk, and walked to Ren Yu’s side.

Ren Yu lifted his head and looked up at him. “Getting something?”

“This used to be my office.” Fu Chun Shen bent down, his fingers resting on the drawer handle. “Something of mine was left here.”

The drawer was slowly pulled open. Only when it hit Ren Yu’s waist did his mind recover from its crash. He grabbed that hand. “This is my office now. There’s nothing of yours inside.”

“There is.”

Fu Chun Shen turned his hand over and held Ren Yu’s wrist, his thumb gently rubbing against the delicate skin. Only when that hand bounced away as though burned did he lift open the hidden compartment inside the drawer.

A photograph lay quietly in the interlayer.

It was Ren Yu’s side profile as he bent over his desk to work. Sunlight spilled through the blinds and fell over the desk, gentle and bright. Ren Yu sat in that light and shadow, his outline blurred, looking somewhat unreal.

“You secretly photographed me?”

“Mm.” Fu Chun Shen did not take it as shame. “You’re very photogenic.”

He gently stroked the photograph. “There are many people in the office, and cleaners come in and out, so I always hid the photo here.” His fingertip slid over the photo paper, passing over the hazy brows and eyes. “Whether I was happy or unhappy, I would look at it a few times.”

Fu Chun Shen gazed at the young man in the photo. “When I left the company, they didn’t give me time to pack up, so the photo was left here. Later, when I found out you had moved into this office…” He paused. “I was actually no longer in a hurry to retrieve it.”

Ren Yu grabbed the photo. “What did you do to my photo?”

Fu Chun Shen slowly lifted his eyes and met Ren Yu’s embarrassed and angry gaze. He considered it for a moment, then belatedly came to a sudden realization. “Can you do something else with a photo? How did I… not think of that?”

The number of times Ren Yu had cursed these past few days was comparable to a street hooligan. Just as he was about to curse, his lips were gently kissed by the man bending down. That person murmured softly, “You’re right by my side.”

The kiss separated at the slightest touch, and the warmth from his lips brushed past Ren Yu’s ear again.

“Much better to kiss than a photo.”

As Fu Chun Shen’s body heat brushed past him, the tip of Ren Yu’s heart trembled violently, and his fingers unconsciously tugged at the hem of his suit jacket again.

……

Ren Yu had been dreaming a lot these past few days.

In the dreams, all sorts of absurd, bizarre, and fantastical things would ultimately turn into the warmth landing on his lips. Ren Yu still felt it was not enough. In the dream, he seemed to have put on that suit again, and the self who was tightly gripping the hem of his clothes slowly reached a hand inside.

“Help me.” He said to the person kissing him.

But that person often stayed silent, refusing everything except lightly biting the tip of his tongue. Ren Yu grew somewhat anxious and somewhat unreasonable as he pushed that person down. The tall and strong man was easily restrained by him. Ren Yu brushed up a lock of his hair and finally saw that person’s face clearly.

It was Fu Chun Shen.

Ren Yu abruptly opened his eyes from the deep dream. His heavy breathing had not yet calmed, and his body temperature was still unbearably hot. Beneath the blanket was a secret he found difficult to speak of…

Deep night seemed capable of infinitely magnifying suppressed anger and loss until they swelled into enormous things impossible to ignore.

Ren Yu cursed under his breath, grabbed his phone, and dialed without even thinking.

The ringing sounded twice before the call was answered. Fu Chun Shen’s voice still seemed trapped in deep sleep, hoarse and lazy as it came through the receiver, lightly vibrating the night.

“Ren Yu? What’s wrong?” he asked.

Only when he heard Fu Chun Shen’s voice did Ren Yu finally completely break free from that lush and tangled dream. He was tongue-tied, not knowing how to justify this late-night call.

The person opposite him gave him the answer instead. “You haven’t slept yet. Are you waiting for me to submit the report?”

Ren Yu cleared his throat in a low voice. “Yes.”

“I was afraid it would affect your sleep, so I had planned to give it to you tomorrow.” Fu Chun Shen seemed not to have switched into work mode yet either. His voice was still drawn out, and if one listened closely, a hint of gentleness could be discerned. “Do you need it? Now?”

Ren Yu, wrapped in the blanket, felt his entire body go numb, and the unspeakable shame ached faintly.

“Mm? Do you want it?” the other person asked again.

The dream seemed to continue. The tall man held Ren Yu’s face, deeply chewing at the softness inside his mouth. Then, the burning breath brushed to his ear and asked, “Ren Yu, do you want it?”

“Yes!”

Ren Yu placed the phone by his ear. He said, “Yes.”

“Should I send it to you, or…”

“Read it to me.”

The conversation paused for one second, then Fu Chun Shen said, “All right. I’ll read you the revised parts.”

The hand holding the phone tightened more and more, and the force with which it pressed against his ear grew heavier and heavier. Ren Yu half leaned against the headboard, one knee bent, doing everything he could to suppress the sound of his own breathing.

Fu Chun Shen’s voice was somewhat nasal at this moment, and the ends of his words were a little drawn out. Even though he was reading stiff, rigid text, to Ren Yu’s ears, it only made the itch in his heart worsen.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?” the person on the phone asked.

“No.” At the critical moment, Ren Yu gritted his teeth and urged, “Read faster.”

Only when he could no longer suppress his heavy breathing did the phone slip from his fingers. An anxious question came through the receiver, but Ren Yu closed his eyes while panting.

Stretching out a finger, he hung up the call.

……

Dusk gathered on all sides, and even the evening breeze had been steamed stagnant by the summer heat. Fu Chun Shen stood downstairs from Ren Yu’s home, wearing an undershirt beneath his dress shirt and another vest over the undershirt. It was very hot.

He loosened one button beneath his throat and raised his wrist to glance at his watch. There was still half an hour before midnight.

After waiting another fifteen minutes, car lights finally cut through the darkness. A car slowly drove into the residential compound and stopped in Ren Yu’s parking space.

The engine shut off, the lights went out, and the designated driver pushed open the car door. A slender hand reached out from the passenger seat and lightly tapped a few times on the phone, seeming to pay the fee.

“Drunk?” Fu Chun Shen caught Ren Yu as he staggered out of the car.

His wandering gaze looked at Fu Chun Shen for quite a while before Ren Yu said, “No.” He pushed the man. “I can walk by myself.”

But he was held even tighter. Fu Chun Shen pressed against his burning ear and whispered, “I’m very hot. Don’t make trouble.”

The warm breath brushed past the side of his neck, and Ren Yu suddenly thought of those absurd dreams he had been having lately.

The scent of alcohol mingled with the summer heat, wound around the burning breath by his ear, and simmered Ren Yu into restlessness. Thread by thread, it tangled through his body, gradually setting the plains ablaze.

He turned his head and looked at Fu Chun Shen’s sharp jawline, saying in a drifting, unsteady voice, “I’m also… hot.”

“Go back and shower.” Fu Chun Shen mussed Ren Yu’s sweat-damp hair at his temple. “It will cool you down.”

Ren Yu rented a place in the old city district. The location was convenient and good, but there was no elevator.

After getting drunk, his steps were unsteady, and Ren Yu’s whole body hung off Fu Chun Shen. In the dim stairwell, the sound of footsteps echoed between the walls.

“You’ve been avoiding me lately?” Fu Chun Shen suddenly asked.

The body heat coming through the shirt was startlingly hot. Ren Yu stared at the distinct-knuckled hand on his shoulder. “Yes. Avoiding you.”

“Why?” The hand around his shoulder suddenly tightened. “We’re lovers.”

The embrace that kept narrowing pressed down on Ren Yu’s breathing in his chest. His breath was somewhat hurried, carrying a faint scent of alcohol. “Lovers?” He laughed softly. “Fu Chun Shen, you’re almost thirty. Do you know what lovers are supposed to do?”

Fu Chun Shen lowered his eyes and silently waited for the answer.

Ten years of entanglement, the tug-of-war from boyhood to youth, the subtle stirrings in his heart, the desire he could not control, the dreams he did not want to touch, together with Ren Yu’s body that had not once been released in twenty-seven years, all erupted with a crash in this dim stairwell, beneath the surging drunkenness.

The door lock on the fourth floor turned with a click, and Ren Yu suddenly bit Fu Chun Shen’s lips. “Hug, kiss…” His fingers clenched the front of the man’s shirt. “And go to bed.”

He pulled the man through the door with astonishing force.

Just as he was about to drag him into the entryway, Fu Chun Shen abruptly braced himself against the doorframe and forcibly stopped his steps.

He took a deep breath, a faint embarrassed look appearing on his face. “Ren Yu…” The man even seemed to blush. “It should be gradual.”

Ren Yu frowned. “How gradual?”

“A healthy emotional relationship means first understanding each other for one or two years, then holding hands and kissing, then after confirming the relationship one or two years later, after another one or two years, only then…”

“Did you fucking transmigrate here from the Qing dynasty? No wonder that aside from kissing me, you’ve never even touched my waist.” Using the courage from the alcohol, Ren Yu tugged at him. “Don’t you want to call me husband? I’m giving you the chance today.”

“No.” Fu Chun Shen would rather die than comply. He forcefully broke free from Ren Yu’s hand, turned, and walked down the stairs. “I’ll leave first. Take a good shower and sleep. I’ll come pick you up for work tomorrow morning.”

But at the turn of the stairs, he heard Ren Yu’s scoff from above. “Secretary Fu, are you incapable?”

His footsteps abruptly paused, and Fu Chun Shen lifted his eyes. “What did you say?”

“In high school, you endured and held back. In university, you controlled my life through my friends. After we started working, you still had to lock me by your side. Fu Chun Shen, you’ve been entangled with me for so many years, yet you’ve never thought about going to bed with me. If that isn’t being incapable, then what is it?”

Ren Yu turned and walked into the apartment. Through the gradually closing crack of the door, his voice came out. “Don’t waste my time anymore. I’m vulgar. I can’t be lovers with a Qing dynasty man like you whose mind and body have both withered.”

The light on the floor gradually narrowed. Just as the door was about to close, a hand suddenly slipped through the gap. Fu Chun Shen abruptly pushed the door open and said quite politely, “It can also be brought forward in moderation.”

He bent down, lifted the man over his shoulder, and shut the door behind him. “Actually, some emotional relationships can also be unhealthy.”

……

In the bedroom, the door was lightly closed, and bursts of low voices came through.

“Fu Chun Shen, get down… aren’t you the shou?”

“I’m not thin. Touch me. I’m very strong.”

“Fu Chun Shen! This isn’t what I imagined. I don’t want it anymore!”

“Ren Yu, you were the one who dragged me in here. Our emotional relationship is already unhealthy. If you keep making trouble, it can become even more unhealthy. Lie properly.”

Tree shadows swayed, and the night hung low. On the messy bed, their figures overlapped, and Fu Chun Shen slowly tightened his arms, gathering the person in his embrace closer. “Ren Yu, it has been ten years. You’re finally willing to draw in the net.”

Ren Yu looked toward the corner of the room and let out a soft sigh. “…”

Previous

Main

Next