Who did Mai Ding love most? Obviously, there could only be An Zi Yan.
Even though your temper is awful, your heart is awful, and you’re simply one enormous bastard.
But since my temper is wonderful, my heart is wonderful, and I’m an exceptionally good person…
I suppose I’ll reluctantly accept everything about you. Very reluctantly.
After fooling around for most of the previous night, both men were sleeping deeply. Mai Ding rolled over, draped one leg across An Zi Yan, and sleepily opened his eyes to find that handsome face beside him. The corner of his mouth immediately curved upward. Everything from the previous night remained vivid in his memory: An Zi Yan’s sweet words, the fireworks, the New Year’s bells. Thinking about it all, Mai Ding wrapped himself tightly around An Zi Yan again and went back to sleep.
Mai Ding’s mother had no idea An Zi Yan had spent the night in her house and simply opened Mai Ding’s bedroom door. “Ding Ding, come eat tangyuan! Hurry up. What kind of person sleeps late on the first morning of the New Year?”
Elio’s Notes: Tangyuan are round glutinous-rice dumplings commonly eaten during Chinese festivals. Their round shape symbolizes family unity and togetherness.
The instant Mai Ding heard his mother’s voice, he yanked the blanket over An Zi Yan’s head and pressed down hard. Unfortunately, his mother had already seen him. Sure, the family had accepted their relationship now, but this still looked terribly improper. After all, their household was one of educated intellectuals, and naturally they strongly opposed premarital behavior like this—or at least that was what Mai Ding imagined his mother must be thinking.
An Zi Yan shifted under the blanket. Mai Ding was pressing so hard he had nearly suffocated him. An Zi Yan kicked Mai Ding straight off the bed, sat up, and narrowed his still-sleepy eyes. Looking half-awake only made him more attractive, especially since he was not wearing a shirt. Mai Ding crawled up from the floor and was just preparing to explain when An Zi Yan noticed his mother and said with complete naturalness, “Mom, you’re up this early?”
Mai Ding nearly spat blood. His face reddened. “Who’s your mom? Why are you calling her that?” Even as he protested, he secretly watched his mother from the corner of his eye to see her reaction. Mai Ding’s mother had no time to pay attention to him. Her eyes were busy traveling up and down An Zi Yan. Looking like that, sounding like that, and then sweetly calling her “Mom” practically melted her heart. Apparently having a son who was pleasing to the eye really did put someone in a better mood.
“Mom, um… it isn’t what it looks like. Nothing happened between us.” The less visually appealing son finally spoke. The lie was so obviously false that both An Zi Yan and Mai Ding’s mother stared at him. Mai Ding’s mother gave him a contemptuous look. “Then what exactly have you two been doing after living together this long?” She was not an idiot either.
“We recite poetry, compose couplets, and discuss our studies together. You taught me to respect myself, and I’ve never forgotten it. Sometimes An Zi Yan loses control, sure, but I reject him every time. The most beautiful first time in a person’s life should be saved until after marriage.” Mai Ding delivered the speech without blushing, his expression utterly sincere—so sincere that he practically begged to be punched.
As usual, An Zi Yan had no appreciation whatsoever for Mai Ding’s painstaking efforts. Then again, Mai Ding had simply overthought the situation. His mother had already accepted the two of them and had essentially decided to throw caution to the wind. Besides, she had never been particularly conservative in the first place. An Zi Yan bent down, picked up a used condom from the floor, and asked, “Mom, where do I throw this?”
Mai Ding could only glare furiously. He wanted to say something, but no words came.
Mai Ding’s mother continued smiling pleasantly. “Just throw it in the trash. Why are you even using condoms? It’s not like he can get pregnant.”
The moment she said that, Mai Ding grabbed his hair and pulled at it wildly. “Why are you two talking about this?! Are you trying to make me die of embarrassment?”
Mai Ding’s mother gave An Zi Yan’s bare upper body one final reluctant look. “I’ll cook some more tangyuan. Hurry up and come downstairs.”
Mai Ding pushed his mother out of the room, then marched over to An Zi Yan with his eyes blazing. “AN ZI YAN! Watch the way you behave and talk! No matter what, they’re still our elders. What kind of behavior is this?”
Being nagged first thing in the morning on the first day of the year—apparently this year was not going to be easy either. An Zi Yan helplessly began getting dressed and threw Mai Ding’s clothes over his head. “Hurry up and get dressed.”
Seeing An Zi Yan nearly finished, Mai Ding hurriedly pulled his own clothes over his head. “Wait for me.” As he dressed, he asked, “Is it okay for you to spend New Year over here? Don’t you need to stay with your family?”
“Going there tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow already? Can’t you stay a few more days?”
Mai Ding’s mother called for them to come eat. An Zi Yan walked out, with Mai Ding following closely behind. When exactly had Mai Ding grown accustomed to following An Zi Yan everywhere? He liked the sense of security it gave him.
They sat around the table eating tangyuan. Because they were too hot, Mai Ding carefully blew on his bowl. Once they had cooled enough to eat, he exchanged his bowl with An Zi Yan’s. “Here, eat this one.” His eyes overflowed with love.
“Idiot.”
Mai Ding merely smiled and did not become angry. Whenever he said something sweet enough that An Zi Yan could not handle it, the bastard always called him an idiot or a moron. Mai Ding had already discovered that little secret.
With a tangyuan still in his mouth, Mai Ding glanced outside and saw that snow had begun falling. He excitedly pointed toward the window while trying to speak around the food. When An Zi Yan showed no reaction, Mai Ding struggled to swallow it. “An Zi Yan, it’s snowing!”
An Zi Yan glanced outside. “So?”
“Don’t you think snow is romantic?”
“No.”
“In tons of foreign movies, you see couples holding cups of steaming coffee while snowflakes settle on their clothes. Then they smile warmly at each other and talk. Don’t you think that’s romantic?”
“No.”
“Do you have absolutely no appreciation for atmosphere? Snow doesn’t mean anything to you?”
“It means the moment you go outside, you’ll freeze like an idiot.”
Mai Ding pouted and stopped talking to him. Instead, after every tangyuan he ate, he lifted his head and gave An Zi Yan an enormous eye roll, his entire face radiating dissatisfaction. Last night An Zi Yan had been perfectly capable of saying all those beautiful romantic things; now he had completely changed personalities and refused to acknowledge any of it. Definitely a case of multiple personalities. While Mai Ding was busy complaining inside his head, his mother walked past carrying her own bowl. “Ding Ding, go buy groceries later.” Before Mai Ding could object, she disappeared into the living room, where she sat beside his father eating tangyuan and watching television.
“Fine! It’s New Year and everybody wants to bully me. Fine, come on! Someday you’re all going to make me die from anger, and then you’ll cry when it’s too late!”
An Zi Yan picked up an enormous tangyuan and stuffed it into Mai Ding’s mouth. “Why do you talk so much?”
Breakfast took ages to finish. Mai Ding bundled himself completely in a hat, scarf, and gloves. Standing by the door, he tugged on An Zi Yan. “Come on. Come with me. Consider it my New Year’s gift.”
“You’ve already asked for too many New Year’s gifts.”
“Then come grocery shopping with me, and in return I’ll accompany you somewhere too. Fair trade, right?”
An Zi Yan considered it, then nodded. “Deal.”
Mai Ding secretly laughed to himself. Idiot. He normally followed An Zi Yan wherever he went anyway, so that half of the deal was completely meaningless. The fool actually thought he was getting something out of this. Mai Ding was bizarrely proud of his own clinginess.
After telling Mai Ding’s parents they were leaving, the two went outside. The snow was not especially heavy. Mai Ding opened his palm, caught a few flakes, and watched them melt. When An Zi Yan walked ahead, Mai Ding hurried after him, trotted to his side, and pulled the glove off his left hand with his teeth.
“What are you doing?”
Mai Ding slipped his bare left hand into An Zi Yan’s warm palm. “If I’m wearing gloves, I can’t feel your warmth.”
“You only know how to say stupid things.” An Zi Yan tightened his fingers around Mai Ding’s hand.
The white mist from Mai Ding’s breath vanished almost instantly. His nose had turned red from the cold. Their interlocked hands remained warm. Mai Ding hunched his shoulders and tucked his neck down against the chill. “I’ll tell you a joke. You’ll definitely laugh.”
An Zi Yan said nothing, which Mai Ding decided counted as permission. Mai Ding proceeded to tell every joke he personally found hilarious, yet An Zi Yan did not even lift an eyebrow. Mai Ding jumped in front of him and stared up at him. “You aren’t laughing.”
“It isn’t funny. Why would I laugh? I’m not insane.”
“But you hardly ever smile normally either.”
“There’s rarely anything worth smiling about.”
Mai Ding rose onto his toes, cupped An Zi Yan’s face in both hands, and tried pushing the corners of his mouth upward. “Let me tell you a secret. You look incredibly handsome when you smile. The first time I saw you smile, I knew I was finished. I knew I’d fallen straight into your hands.”
An Zi Yan knocked Mai Ding’s hands away, then pressed down on his hat until it slipped over Mai Ding’s eyes. Unable to stop himself, the corner of An Zi Yan’s mouth curved upward. Blinded by his hat, Mai Ding pointed accusingly at him. “You’re smiling, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Liar. I know you’re smiling.”
“Mm?”
“Because every time you smile, my heart starts beating really fast.”
“Then do you know what I’m doing now?”
“You’re about to kiss me.” A deep kiss in the middle of this romantic snowfall. Instead, An Zi Yan slipped his freezing hand straight down the warm collar around Mai Ding’s neck. Mai Ding shuddered violently and yelped, jerking his hat back up. “AN ZI YAN! You’re messing with me again!”
At dinner that evening, while the family was talking about the weather and what they planned to do in the new year, An Zi Yan suddenly said, “Mom, Mai Ding is coming home with me tomorrow. You don’t have any objections, do you?”
“Go ahead. It’s about time you visited his family anyway,” Mai Ding’s mother agreed readily.
Mai Ding shot to his feet, stiffly raced back to his room, and emerged moments later with a small bundle slung over his back. “Mom, Dad, I’m going to spend some time deep in the mountains. Don’t look for me for a while. Goodbye.” With that, he resolutely headed for the door.
An Zi Yan called coldly from behind him, “Get your ass back here and sit down.”
“I’m not going.”
“Don’t forget the deal we made today.”
At that reminder, Mai Ding finally remembered and immediately exploded. “You only went grocery shopping with me once, and now you expect me to go to that demon den you call home? I got completely ripped off!”
“You don’t get a choice.”
Mai Ding was unwilling a thousand times over—ten thousand times over. Who was An Zi Yan? A demon. And now Mai Ding was expected to walk willingly into the demon’s lair. Grandpa was fine; he treated Mai Ding very well. But then there was that wicked sister, that terrifying yaksha who had always disliked him, and the yaksha’s husband. Just thinking about them made Mai Ding’s head hurt, his heart ache, and his kidneys feel weak!
He only had one flesh-and-blood body. How was that supposed to be enough to feed four demons?!
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