It was their last night staying at Grandpa An’s house. The night was completely quiet, with nothing but the ticking of the clock audible in the room. Mai Ding opened his eyes and gently nudged An Zi Yan. “An Zi Yan?”
There was no response.
Mai Ding waved his hand several times in front of An Zi Yan’s face. Once he was certain An Zi Yan was asleep, he quietly climbed out of bed and carefully opened the wardrobe. Inside was a small drawer. Mai Ding took the key Grandpa An had given him from his bag and unlocked it. There was a photo album inside, and although it was old, it had been kept in remarkably good condition.
Mai Ding hugged the album against his chest and tiptoed into the neighboring room. The moment he switched on the light, he eagerly opened it. Every page contained photographs of An Zi Yan as a child. So that bastard had actually been unbelievably cute when he was little—cute enough that Mai Ding nearly got a nosebleed looking at him. He wanted every single photograph, and at this rate he was going to steal half the album. Still, he had not forgotten the real purpose of this mission. He found the final page, where another photograph was hidden beneath the second picture. Mai Ding pulled it free, took one look, and laughed so hard he pounded the floor while clutching his aching stomach. In the photograph, An Zi Yan was around five or six years old, completely naked, hugging a cloth doll while crying his eyes out. According to Grandpa An, An Zi Yan had almost never cried as a child. An Su had become curious about what he looked like crying, so she stripped off his clothes, forced a cloth doll into his arms, and kept pinching him until he finally burst into tears. What a vicious family. Although An Zi Yan had clearly been the victim, his loving boyfriend Mai Ding found the picture far more hilarious than pitiful.
An Zi Yan, now that I have this photograph, I’m going to make you understand who the true king is! It’s finally my turn to rule the world!
The following day, the two said goodbye to Grandpa An and prepared to go home. Just before leaving, Mai Ding and Grandpa exchanged an extremely suspicious glance. The moment they returned home, Mai Ding cleared his throat twice and said solemnly, “An Zi Yan, from this day forward, this household has three rules. I expect you to obey them.”
An Zi Yan turned around. “Mai Ding, do you still think you’re living in a fairy tale?” They had only just returned home, yet Mai Ding was already speaking with such arrogance. Apparently those few days under Grandpa’s protection really had encouraged some unhealthy tendencies.
Mai Ding pulled the photograph from his bag and placed it in front of An Zi Yan. “Hey, pretty boy, ever heard the saying that the tables always turn?”
The instant An Zi Yan saw the photograph, his expression became terrible. He snatched it away and tore it to pieces, destroying one of the greatest humiliations of his life. Mai Ding, however, was completely unconcerned. He had prepared thoroughly. “Doesn’t matter. I made copies ages ago. One photograph may fall, but thousands upon thousands more will rise in its place.”
“You’re threatening me?”
Perhaps An Zi Yan should reflect on himself too. Spend enough time around good people and you learn good habits; spend enough time around bad people and you learn bad ones.
“Don’t make it sound so ugly. I’m not threatening you. I’m going to torment you to death. Ohohoho!”
“You really think I’ll listen?”
“If you don’t, you’d better think very carefully. I’ll send that photograph to every single person you know. Bai Xiao Si hasn’t seen it yet, has she? Imagine what she’ll do when she sees it. Do you really think you can spend the rest of your life being laughed at by everyone?”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oho, pretty boy. After being with you this long, I stopped caring whether I lived or died ages ago. Keeping company with you is like keeping company with a tiger. What could I possibly still be afraid of?”
At this point, An Zi Yan could do nothing but grind his teeth. When had Mai Ding become this terrible? Apparently, nobody could remain pure forever; at best, they could only pretend to be. An Zi Yan weighed his options. Allowing anyone else to see that photograph was absolutely impossible. A real man knew when to bend, so for now he would simply humor this idiot.
Mai Ding held up three fingers in front of him. “Well? Are you agreeing?”
“Talk.”
“First, love me. Second, love me. Third, still love me.”
“Where am I supposed to find that much love?”
“If you don’t have enough, make more.”
“Pretentious.”
“I’m only changing the way we interact. For once, we’re going to interact in a way I like and behave like a normal couple.”
The thought of living such a rigid, conventional life from now on made An Zi Yan uncomfortable all over, but he endured it. Enjoy yourself while you can. It doesn’t matter if I can’t find every copy right now. I’ll eventually make you hand over every single one and destroy them yourself.
“Dinner’s ready.” Mai Ding carried all the dishes to the table. An Zi Yan came over and was about to sit when Mai Ding stopped him. “Go get the bowls.”
An Zi Yan said nothing. He turned around, fetched the bowls, and returned. Once the two were seated at the table, Mai Ding held his chopsticks without moving, stared at the plain rice in his bowl, then at the dishes, and kept sending An Zi Yan meaningful looks. By the time Mai Ding’s eyes were practically aching from all the signaling, An Zi Yan finally picked up some food with his chopsticks and placed it in Mai Ding’s bowl. Mai Ding instantly broke into a huge smile. “Thank you! So? Does the food taste good?”
“It’s good.”
“If it tastes good, why is there no expression at all on your face?”
“I got Botox.”
“Pretty boy, cooperate a little. Think about what would happen if Zhou Ge and the others saw that photograph. You’d never be able to hold your head up again, and you certainly wouldn’t be able to keep pretending to be cool. How about we go for a walk later? I heard they built a new park nearby.”
“Fine.”
At this point, rather than looking like a considerate husband, An Zi Yan looked more like a walking corpse. The two slowly walked through the park, chatting about ordinary household matters: the weather, interesting little things happening around them, birds, flowers, whatever came to mind. Afterward, they went to the supermarket to buy groceries, and Mai Ding began discussing vegetable prices, meat prices, which products had expired, and which foods contained trans fats. These were conversations that normally would never have appeared between the two of them, yet today they were discussing all of it. This was exactly what Mai Ding wanted: a normal, ordinary life. Perhaps Mai Ding had never considered that if everything remained ordinary forever, not only love but life itself would eventually lose a great deal of its fun.
The next morning, Mai Ding woke after a wonderful night’s sleep. A brand-new day had arrived, and everything was still under his control. An Zi Yan had gone to sleep fairly late the night before after spending a long time alone at the computer, though Mai Ding had no idea what he had been doing. Mai Ding nudged him. “Get up. Let’s go jogging.”
“Jog my ass.”
“Hey, pretty boy, what kind of attitude is that?”
“This is my attitude.”
“Did you forget about the photograph?” Mai Ding kindly reminded him. An Zi Yan remained completely unmoved. Instead, he reached beneath his pillow, took out his phone, and tossed it in front of Mai Ding. “Look for yourself.”
Mai Ding picked up the phone in confusion and opened the photo album. His face instantly went pale. The photograph showed “Mai Ding” wearing a bra and a thong, both a blazing red, down on all fours with his backside raised, one finger in his mouth and a radiant smile on his face. Mai Ding nearly vomited. “That’s not me!” For someone as conservative as Mai Ding, there was absolutely no possibility—none whatsoever—that he would ever pose for a photograph like this.
“I know it isn’t you.”
“Then…” Mai Ding suddenly understood why An Zi Yan had stayed at the computer so late the previous night. He had been making this fake photograph. It was unbelievably filthy and shameless.
“If you don’t hand over every copy of my photograph, I’ll send this one to your parents.”
“You’re threatening me?”
“How is that a threat? I’m simply going to destroy you before you destroy me.”
An Zi Yan rested his finger over the send button. Mai Ding bitterly regretted ever giving An Zi Yan his parents’ phone numbers, which had now become leverage in enemy hands. But this was not the time for regrets. If his parents saw a photograph like this, Mai Ding would be in catastrophic trouble. He had no choice but to obediently hand over every copy hidden in the house, on his phone, and on his computer.
An Zi Yan picked up the printed photographs and tore them into pieces. “You sure that’s all of them?”
“Absolutely.”
“Swear.”
“If I kept even one, may my dick shrivel into a tiny needle.”
An Zi Yan nodded in satisfaction. Mai Ding held out his hand. “Now you can give me the phone so I can delete mine, right?”
An Zi Yan smiled and lightly pressed the screen. The photograph was sent. Mai Ding nearly coughed up blood from rage. He grabbed An Zi Yan and shook him violently. “AN ZI YAN! You tricked me again! You rotten bastard! I’m going to crush you! I’m going to crush you to death!” With that, he threw himself on top of An Zi Yan and began attacking him in despair.
“Pretty boy, didn’t you say you already stopped caring whether you lived or died?”
“Why are you so evil?!”
“Why are you so stupid?”
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