If his heavily casted leg had not been propped across the reclined front passenger seat, Yan Su Ang’s entrance would have been extremely handsome.
A luxury car, a handsome man, a gentle breeze, and a startled beauty.
“Xiao Bai.” The corner of Yan Su Ang’s mouth lifted into the flawless smile most often seen on screen. Then he extended a hand toward him in invitation.
Xiao Bai had already recovered from his surprise. He turned his head away and pretended to look toward the parking garage. “Zhi Qing drove here.”
Under this kind of moonlight, in this kind of atmosphere, hearing the person you liked casually say another man’s name was really quite unpleasant.
But no matter how unhappy Yan Su Ang was, one look at Xiao Bai’s expression forced him to swallow it. He said aggrievedly, “Can we talk properly?”
Xiao Bai suddenly took out his phone. “Send me a text.”
“A text?” Yan Su Ang stared blankly at him.
They were standing close enough to see each other’s eyelashes clearly. Was there really any need to deploy advanced technology like cell phones just to communicate at this distance? If the point was to support China Mobile, wouldn’t it be easier just to donate money directly?
Elio’s Notes: “Mobile” (移动) is also used as shorthand for China Mobile, one of China’s major telecommunications companies. Yan Su Ang jokingly thinks that using their phones while standing face-to-face amounts to unnecessarily “supporting China Mobile.”
Despite thinking this, Yan Su Ang obediently took out his phone. “What do you want me to send?”
“An invitation.”
“……”
Yan Su Ang immediately understood what Xiao Bai was doing. He sighed helplessly. “Is this really necessary?” Talk about getting even over the tiniest grievance. Sigh. How can my Xiao Bai be this adorable?
Xiao Bai simply stared at him without moving, his expression solemn and serious.
Yan Su Ang had no choice but to obediently send the message.
Xiao Bai looked down at the text. The screen was filled with apologies, plus an adorable smiling face—O(∩_∩)O~.
The corner of his mouth twitched. Then he dismissed the message and turned toward the parking garage.
Yan Su Ang thumped the seat cushion in frustration, stuck his head out, and shouted, “Aren’t you being a little too childish?” At least give me an encouraging or approving look!
Xiao Bai’s figure had already disappeared around the corner.
The driver glanced into the rearview mirror and quietly reminded him, “There’s a car coming.”
Yan Su Ang rubbed his face and shut the door. “Drive.”
“Back to the neighboring city?”
“No. Follow them.”
There were many different kinds of silence.
There was the silence of mutual understanding, where two people could communicate perfectly without saying a word.
There was the silence of two people each lost in their own thoughts and leaving the other alone.
And there was the silence of two people locked in confrontation, sparks flying even though neither made a sound.
……
Jia Zhi Qing, however, felt that the silence currently filling their car belonged to a fourth category.
The kind where he desperately wanted to talk and communicate, but it felt as though an invisible Band-Aid had been slapped over his mouth, leaving him unable to get a single word out.
They reached an intersection.
The light turned red.
Looking at the thousands of household lights glittering ahead like stars, Jia Zhi Qing decided to find an opening and break the silence. “It’s been ages since I came out for a drive and looked at the night scenery. I never realized the sky was still this dark.”
“……”
A topic that inspired absolutely no desire to respond.
Jia Zhi Qing licked his lips and tried again. “How’s work been lately?”
“Fine.”
“……”
A short-answer question that inspired absolutely no desire to expand on the topic.
Jia Zhi Qing became depressed. He silently resolved that this time he absolutely had to find a hot topic they could actually discuss. “Don’t you think Brother Ya Lun has been acting a little strange?”
Xiao Bai finally raised his head.
Jia Zhi Qing’s eyebrows shot up. Got him! He really was thinking about Brother Ya Lun just now.
Xiao Bai pointed ahead. “The light’s green.”
“……”
By the time they were almost home, Jia Zhi Qing had decided that perhaps silence was not so bad after all. At least it had kept him completely focused on driving the whole way. Very safe.
Just as he had that thought, a black sedan rapidly overtook them from the left, swerved in front of their car, and slammed on the brakes!
The two red taillights glowed like danger signals. Every pore on Jia Zhi Qing’s body seemed to snap open at once. The trauma of his two previous accidents made him hit the brakes immediately.
Fortunately, he had not been driving very fast. Although he braked hard, the car quickly came under control.
Once they stopped, Jia Zhi Qing realized that his hands had gone weak around the steering wheel. Cold sweat rapidly slid down his forehead, leaving his face icy. He turned toward Xiao Bai and found him staring blankly out the window before frowning. “We’re not home yet. Did we run out of gas? Should we push the car?”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing unfastened his seat belt, threw open the door, and stormed toward the black sedan now parked at the roadside. He pounded hard on the window.
The window lowered, revealing Yan Su Ang’s profile.
“Great God?!”
Yan Su Ang turned his head and smiled faintly. “You need to drive carefully. What you just did was very dangerous.”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing turned away and quickly wiped a hand over his face. Then he turned back and humbly accepted the criticism. “Yes, yes, absolutely. From now on, I’ll drive safely, keep my ears open in every direction and my eyes on all four sides, and make absolutely sure I never drive in Great God’s path and obstruct your progress.”
Yan Su Ang smiled in satisfaction, then abruptly changed the subject. “Does your current apartment feel cramped?”
Jia Zhi Qing froze. “A little.”
“Then… would you like somewhere more spacious?”
Jia Zhi Qing instantly snapped out of his daze and thought excitedly, Could Great God be so impressed by how sincerely I admitted my mistake that he’s going to give me a house?
“Heh heh. Great God, you really shouldn’t go to all that expense. It doesn’t have to be a villa or anything. Two or three hundred square meters would be perfectly fine. And it doesn’t have to be by the sea either, as long as about seventy-five percent of the grounds are landscaped.”
“Why don’t you let Xiao Bai move in with me?”
“Heh heh. Sure—” Jia Zhi Qing’s eyes suddenly bulged. “Huh? Y-you-you… what did you just say?”
“I said, why don’t you let Xiao Bai move in with me?” Yan Su Ang smiled with exceptional friendliness.
Jia Zhi Qing licked his lips, pointed at his own nose, and stammered, “Then what about me?”
“Once Xiao Bai moves out, his room will be empty. Won’t that make your place more spacious?”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing’s expression immediately became solemn. “Whether I have enough room isn’t important. What matters most is that Great God has plenty of space. Xiao Bai takes up a lot of room, and he’s a restless sleeper, so it would be better not to let him torment you.”
Yan Su Ang’s smile slowly darkened. “How do you know Xiao Bai is a restless sleeper?”
“Uh…”
Jia Zhi Qing would bet that if he dared say, Because I’ve slept with him before, then Great God’s casted leg would immediately become the model for both of Jia Zhi Qing’s legs.
So he said with great righteousness, “Because… Xiao Bai told me.”
“Why would he tell you that he sleeps badly?” Yan Su Ang clearly had no intention of letting him escape.
Jia Zhi Qing’s eyes darted around wildly as he stammered, “R-right. Why would he tell me something like that? Completely inexplicable.”
“Zhi Qing.”
Xiao Bai stuck his head out of the car window and looked at him in confusion.
Jia Zhi Qing reacted as though he had found a life-saving rope. Smiling ingratiatingly, he said, “Great God, look, Xiao Bai is calling me. So, uh… why don’t you allow me the honor of respectfully watching you depart?”
Yan Su Ang gave him a meaningful look and slowly said, “Jia Zhi Qing.”
“Present!” Jia Zhi Qing’s entire body snapped rigidly upright.
“I like Xiao Bai.”
Jia Zhi Qing looked as though he had swallowed half a kilogram of rocks. For a long time, he could not say a word. “……”
“This is my declaration.”
Jia Zhi Qing smacked his lips. “But… I’m not the Party organization.”
“……”
Yan Su Ang adjusted his position. “I just wanted you to know.”
Elio’s Notes: Jia Zhi Qing turns Yan Su Ang’s solemn “declaration” into a joke about the formal declarations or statements traditionally made to a Communist Party organization (党组织). His point is essentially: “Why are you making an official declaration to me?”
As the car window slowly began rising, Jia Zhi Qing suddenly asked, “But does he like you?”
The window stopped.
Most of Yan Su Ang’s face was hidden behind the reflection in the glass. Only his eyes were visible, dark beneath his bangs.
Jia Zhi Qing lowered his head and looked sideways at the wheel. “I think when it comes to liking someone, it’s better if the feeling is mutual.”
The night wind was sharp.
It swept over his skin in cool waves.
Yet Jia Zhi Qing was breaking out in goosebumps.
Silence had always been more frightening than a threat.
“You’re right.” When Yan Su Ang finally spoke, it was with an answer Jia Zhi Qing could not make sense of. “Thanks for reminding me.”
The window closed completely.
The wheels slowly began to turn.
Jia Zhi Qing stared after Great God’s departing car for a long time, unable to figure out exactly what profound wisdom he had supposedly uttered.
When he returned to his own car, Xiao Bai was resting his chin on one hand and staring blankly ahead at the place where Great God’s sedan had disappeared.
Jia Zhi Qing felt he should explain what had happened. Of course, his state of mind was entirely different from that of a husband returning home after cheating. If he and Xiao Bai really had that sort of relationship, then what Jia Zhi Qing had just done would have been closer to pimping out his own wife.
“Uh, Xiao Bai.”
Xiao Bai answered quietly.
“That was Great God just now.”
Xiao Bai still did not move. “I know.”
“You knew?” Jia Zhi Qing felt completely confused. “Then why didn’t you get out and say hello?” He immediately became disappointed at Xiao Bai’s lack of initiative. “Haven’t I told you? Great God is exactly the kind of powerful person you need to stay close to. It’s easier to enjoy the shade when you have a big tree behind you. No matter how you look at it, Yan Su Ang is more reliable than that poison-tongued Gao Qin.”
“But I think I offended him earlier.”
“Of course you offended him by not getting out of the car.” Jia Zhi Qing shook his head and sighed. “It’s fine. Next time you see him, just explain that you didn’t know it was his car.”
“No. When I said earlier, I meant earlier at the hotel entrance.”
“The hotel entrance?” Jia Zhi Qing sighed weakly. “Why do you two always start sneaking around behind my back whenever I’m not there? Sigh. If only I were a reporter. This is all piping-hot, first-hand material. What happened outside the hotel?”
“I told him to send me a text.”
“……While you were standing face-to-face?”
“Mm.”
Jia Zhi Qing spoke with difficulty. “Can I call that… flirting?”
Xiao Bai glared at him.
“Uh. Go on.”
“And then I dismissed it right in front of him and walked away.”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing rolled his eyes. “Isn’t that the kind of thing elementary-school kids do when they’re fighting?”
“Was I too childish?”
Jia Zhi Qing said irritably, “Does that really require a question mark? An exclamation point would do just fine!”
Xiao Bai hugged his knees. “I’m a little afraid to see him now.”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing softened his voice. “Xiao Bai.”
“Mm?”
“Next time you want to hug your knees, could you take your shoes off first?”
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