Futile Devices Scans

In a café where the music was soft and limp, Xue Bao Tian and Tong Yan sat in the most inconspicuous corner.

The few photos in Tong Yan’s phone were swiped back and forth by Xue Bao Tian, who then used two fingers to zoom in and look at them clearly.

“You took photos of this contract behind Sheng Yu’s back?” Xue Bao Tian asked.

Tong Yan nodded. This act was hardly gentlemanly, and he was not only guilty but also somewhat ashamed, so his words came out haltingly. “I once helped Sheng Yu deliver documents, so I knew the password to his safe. I just didn’t expect that he had never changed it.”

The coffee mixed with saccharin did not suit Xue Bao Tian’s taste. The leaf-shaped latte art on the cup he had pushed away had not even changed.

“From what I can see right now, this is only an ordinary contract for hiring security services. Do you really think there’s something wrong with it?”

Tong Yan was silent for a long while. Only after the bitter coffee was nearly empty did he say faintly, “I’m only guessing too. I’m telling you because I hope Yan Ye can be a little more alert.”

Xue Bao Tian had just taken out a cigarette when a staff member came over to stop him. Smiling, he called the person “baby” and said in a very improper tone, “This cigarette is like a woman. I’m only looking at it to satisfy my eyes.”

The person left with a red face, and he returned to his indifferent gaze, tapping the cigarette against the tabletop again and again. “I really didn’t know when your relationship with Yan Ye became this good. Are you trying to use Yan Ye to punish Sheng Yu?” His voice paused for a moment, then sharpened by three parts. “Or are you trying to use him to protect Sheng Yu?”

Tong Yan frowned slightly and looked away. “Sheng Yu and I already have nothing to do with each other. I just don’t want something to happen that can’t be cleaned up afterward.”

Xue Bao Tian bit the unlit cigarette into his mouth and asked with a playful grin, “Tong Yan, you keep saying you like me. What do you like about me?”

This time, Tong Yan did not hesitate. “You’re a good person. Everyone says I have poor judgment, that when I make friends, I can’t find anyone sincere, and when I date, the person I take a liking to just happens to be a top-grade scumbag. You also once said my eyes can’t distinguish right from wrong and might as well have grown there for nothing, so…”

“So you want to find a good person to prove you’re not fucking blind, is that it?”

Xue Bao Tian’s words were ugly, but unexpectedly, Tong Yan admitted it outright. “Yes.”

In order to prove that he liked Xue Bao Tian, he wanted to learn from Yan Ye and pick up Xue Bao Tian’s leftover coffee to drink. After struggling several times, he still really could not accept it and could only give up.

Xue Bao Tian’s brows were cold and his eyes smiling, his expression difficult to read. Lightly biting the cigarette butt, he used a spoon to stir the latte art on the coffee into a mess. “I once buried my family’s dog in someone else’s ancestral grave. I once played an indecent video of a competitor on the big screen in People’s Square. I once switched someone’s medical examination report and scared that old geezer who kept making trouble for me until he almost died. I also set up a trap to frame Yan Ye and nearly sent him to the police station.”

Xue Bao Tian took the cigarette from his mouth and lifted his eyelids. “Do you still think I’m a good person now? If you picked me, then you’d be missing another organ. Not only blind, but also fucking heartless and brainless.”

Tong Yan’s expression looked somewhat ugly, yet he remained stubborn. “You once schemed against Yan Ye, and now he still likes you and pursues you. That’s enough to prove that you’re good.”

Xue Bao Tian cursed, “Fuck,” and laughed. “On that man’s entire body, aside from one organ that works well, the rest are all fucking decorations.”

Tong Yan subconsciously blurted out, “Which organ works well?”

Xue Bao Tian choked. Biting the cigarette, his expression turned strange as he clicked his tongue. “Ask less.”

Tong Yan understood instantly. Remembering Sheng Yu’s mockery of him, he suddenly felt a little jealous. “Mine also… works well.” He lowered his eyes and looked at the little bit of coffee left. In a small voice, he said, “Long-lasting.”

Xue Bao Tian immediately perked up. Leaning forward over the table, he lowered his voice even more than Tong Yan. “Sheng Yu…” He paused to find the right wording. “He really acts as your wife?”

Tong Yan did not admit it, but he also did not deny it. Only the skin of his face reddened another degree.

“Awesome.” Xue Bao Tian grinned wickedly and egged him on. “If you can pin down that rotten thing, why the hell are you breaking up? If he doesn’t fucking listen, drag him to bed and teach him a lesson. Just thinking about it feels satisfying.”

No one knew what Tong Yan thought of, but his expression turned even grayer. He forwarded the secretly taken photos to Xue Bao Tian and once again emphasized, “If someone approaches Yan Ye to sign this contract, he must be careful. It would be best not to sign.”

Xue Bao Tian’s question hit the nail on the head. “You’re worried Sheng Yu will break the law, aren’t you? Afraid he’ll get caught in a lawsuit because of this?”

Tong Yan abruptly raised his head and quickly refuted, “No.”

The hand with which Xue Bao Tian held the cigarette waved lightly. “Tong Yan, who you like and who you hold in your heart have nothing to do with me. I’ll pass the contract photos to Yan Ye. No matter what your original intention was, I have to thank you.”

The expression on Tong Yan’s face slowly changed into loneliness. “This matter has nothing to do with you anyway. There’s no need for you to thank me.”

“Then why didn’t you go directly to Yan Ye and lay everything out? Why did you insist on taking this detour through me? Could it be that as long as you don’t contact Yan Ye directly, your actions don’t count as a complete betrayal of Sheng Yu?” Xue Bao Tian put away the expression of looking at an idiot. “Since you came to me, I can say thank you to you on Yan Ye’s behalf.”

Tong Yan raised his head and slowly met Xue Bao Tian’s gaze. “Are you and Yan Ye already together?”

Xue Bao Tian’s words were delayed for a moment. He drank half a cup of the unpleasant coffee messily, wiped the wetness from the corner of his lips with his thumb, and replied, “No matter what relationship Yan Ye and I have right now, don’t waste your time on me anymore. You won’t be able to stand my personality or my temper. Be good and stop forcing yourself.”

Standing up, Xue Bao Tian strode toward the outside of the café. When he passed Tong Yan, he patted him on the shoulder, bent down, and said, “If your eyes aren’t good, then close them. If you’re missing a brain, then just pretend we never grew that thing. Sometimes, you have to learn to accept your imperfect self. Rather than pinning your hopes on someone else, it’s better to rely on yourself. Put in a little more effort in bed, and won’t Sheng Yu listen to everything you say?”

As his words slowly fell, leisurely footsteps sounded. The door with bells hanging on it was pushed open, and after a clear, ethereal ring, the door panel bounced back again.

Tong Yan propped both elbows on the table, rubbed his face, and muttered in a low voice, “How could it be that easy…”

The little picture-book turned another page, and Xue Bao Tian shrank farther into the shadow by the wall. In the chipped enamel cup belonging to the bookstall owner was the five yuan he had just thrown in, enough to read ten little picture-books or comic strips.

Xue Bao Tian had come out on a date. This was also his and Yan Ye’s first proper, serious date. Yan Ye was mature beyond his years and handled matters as steadily as an old tortoise, yet when it came to how to date, he repeatedly ran into difficulty.

An hour ago, Xue Bao Tian came downstairs from the apartment building and saw Yan Ye straddling a twenty-eight-inch bicycle, one foot propped on the ground as he stood among a crowd of luxury cars.

Xue Bao Tian walked over, flicked the bell on the bicycle, and amid the clear ringing sound, dragged out his tone with a smile. “General Manager Yan, what play are you performing now?”

Yan Ye pulled Xue Bao Tian close and, while no one was there, pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. “Those dating routines online all looked unreliable to me, and I didn’t like them either, so I came according to my own feelings. I’m taking you out on a date.”

“Your feelings?”

“Back when I was filming Republican-era dramas on set, the male lead rode a bicycle and took the person he liked out on a date. At that time, I had little experience and thought that was very romantic.”

Xue Bao Tian tossed a cigarette into his mouth, lowered his eyes, and asked with a smile, “How old were you then?”

“Probably sixteen or seventeen.”

Sixteen or seventeen, the first stirrings of love, the first and most beautiful throbbing of a young man’s heart.

Xue Bao Tian’s hand paused as he lit the cigarette. An unfamiliar emotion he had never felt before wound tightly around his heart.

He had always felt that a rotten person like him was not worthy of good words like “first,” “most beautiful,” and “most heart-stirring,” words that made one’s heart and liver tremble just hearing them. Yet now someone had brought the most moving feelings of his youth before him, making him feel as though he were stepping on cotton, his bones soft and his tendons numb.

The cigarette caught fire, and smoke was slowly exhaled. Xue Bao Tian patted the bicycle’s handlebar, his heroic spirit reaching the clouds. “Get off. Brother will ride and take you.”

Yan Ye smiled and pinched the back of Xue Bao Tian’s neck, then dropped a gentle kiss onto his eyelashes, coaxing him in a low voice. “Don’t make trouble, Two Hundred. Be good.”

Between his teeth, Xue Bao Tian crushed out a “Fuck.” He sat astride the back seat and thought, damn it, he would never fall for Yan Ye’s tricks again.

Yan Ye must have done his homework beforehand. After turning away from the noisy street district and winding through two or three alleys, they entered a secluded place.

There were few cars on the road, and riding a bicycle was even more unique. Sunlight shimmered over the road, and tall, dense locust trees laid down long, heavy shadows along the way. Yan Ye’s white shirt billowed with the wind, occasionally brushing against Xue Bao Tian’s cheek. The pleasant scent of soap came rushing toward him with the summer breeze, making Xue Bao Tian inexplicably think of a lyric.

You wore a white shirt and came to me through wind and dust, more tender than all distant tenderness.

Fuck, so fucking sentimental.

The tree shadows were mottled, and sunlight passed through the gaps between leaves, forming beams of dreamlike light. It was amid such beams of light that Yan Ye turned his head. He said, “Xue Bao Tian, thank you for fulfilling my sixteen-year-old dream.”

The smile by the man’s lips was almost melted by the light. The breeze stirred his drifting hair, and the white shirt kissed Xue Bao Tian’s soft lips. Time seemed to be stretched long, and the tree shadows beside them retreated bit by bit as if in slow motion…

In this damned romance, Xue Bao Tian faced those eyes that were tender as water and shouted loudly, “Grandson, brake! We’re fucking going to crash!”

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