A few days later, Captain Xue boarded a flight home with Young Master Liang.
Liang Youhui traveled light. There was almost nothing he could not bear to leave behind. He generously gave the few pieces of furniture, cookware, and household odds and ends from his rented place to his broke international-student roommates.
The one thing he was reluctant to part with was the red-painted jianbing cart. It obviously could not be loaded onto the plane and taken home, so he sold it to an American family who ran a small market business. Liang Youhui told Captain Xue, “That cart earned me a lot of spending money. It’s a shame to sell it off so cheaply to those damn Americans.”
Xue Qian said, “Those damn Americans probably won’t sell giant jianbing from it anyway. They’ll sell pizza.”
Liang Youhui considered this. “If I ever come back someday, I’ll do this business again.”
Xue Qian said, “…You still want to come back? What for?”
Liang Youhui leaned closer to Brother Xue, a trace of grievance caught in his lashes. “Brother, what am I supposed to do if you dump me one day? I need at least one skill I can fall back on.”
Xue Qian sneered. “Forget it. I’ll tie you to my belt and handcuff you there. Let’s see you try to run off then.”
Liang Youhui immediately looked satisfied. “That works for me!”
Xue Qian’s face remained hard, though his heart had softened long ago. He said meaningfully, “That skill of yours in bed is enough to fall back on. You’re exceptional at it. I really couldn’t bear to dump you…”
“Hahahaha…” Liang Youhui wrapped himself around Brother Xue’s neck affectionately. The two men were thoroughly compatible in private, and that easy physical intimacy had become another kind of glue holding them together.
Before they finally headed home, Xue Qian also visited the Liang family villa in Napa Valley.
As it turned out, Young Master Liang still had some family property tucked away. He had not fallen so far that he truly needed to hawk jianbing on the street to survive, but Captain Xue understood the state of mind Liang Youhui had been living in. Looking at the large villa nestled in a picturesque California valley, the long-neglected pool gone moldy and overgrown, more than a dozen empty rooms, and the weeds running wild across the slope behind the house, Xue could not help pulling Young Master Liang into his arms and rubbing him roughly in comfort.
Xue Qian paced around, taking in the villa’s setting and layout, then nodded. “You should keep at least one property. Everyone needs a fallback. Don’t sell this place. Keep it in case you ever come back.”
Liang Youhui immediately grew wary again. “Brother, you’re not actually planning to dump me, are you?”
Xue Qian frowned. “Why would I dump you?”
Liang Youhui said, “Wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be.”
Xue Qian pinched the soft hair behind Liang Youhui’s ear. “Your father left you this property. Take good care of it… Brother is thinking about your future.”
It was winter, the dormant season for California’s vineyards. The fields were lined with orderly rows of dry vines that would turn green and lively again in spring and summer, while a damp pale-purple haze lingered over the hills. They made an arrangement with the winery owner to come back in autumn when the grapes were ripe and make a barrel of wine with their own hands.
Xue Qian asked, “How do you make wine? Do you know?”
Liang Youhui said confidently, “I’ve seen it done. I know. I’ll teach you. Stomping grapes in a big wooden vat is really fun!”
Life with Young Master Liang genuinely brought something new every day, things Xue Qian had never experienced before. It made the first thirty years of his life seem pale and monotonous by comparison. Even he found himself looking forward to it. “All right. We’ll come back in autumn.”
Liang Youhui leaned toward Captain Xue’s ear and whispered a dirty joke. “Squeeze the juice out in the wooden vat, press out the water…”
Xue Qian narrowed his eyes with a glint of amusement and smiled. “Just wait until I squeeze the juice out of you and press the water out…”
Now it was not only Captain Xue secretly looking forward to autumn. Young Master Liang began counting the days in his head. When would autumn get here? When would the vineyard ripen? Hurry up already. He wanted to come back and get wild with Brother Xue.
……
After they returned home, the first major task was choosing a place and renting an apartment.
Among several well-located developments in Linwan’s New District, Liang Youhui chose a bright, sunny smaller apartment he liked. It was just right for the two of them, and most importantly, it was extremely close to the police station and convenient for commuting.
Xue Qian said, “It’s too far from Yandu. It’ll be inconvenient for your business. Why don’t we keep it the way it was? You stay over there during the week and come see me on weekends.”
Liang Youhui replied with great seriousness, “Are you kidding me? We only see each other once a week? Brother, are you trying to turn us into some modern Cowherd and Weaver Girl?”
Xue Qian stood beside the sunlit apartment window, opening it to air the room while he smoked. “We only used to meet on weekends anyway. I’m on duty and traveling for work all the time. I’m extremely busy.”
“Fuck, Brother, did you trick me?” Liang Youhui looked crushed and muttered, “You brought me all the way back from Southern California just so I can see you once a week?”
Captain Xue spun around, eyes sharp as a bird of prey. “What? Regretting it? Don’t want this anymore?”
Liang Youhui immediately wrapped his arms around his man from behind, putting on an exaggeratedly coy expression. “I want this too much. I want to see you every day.”
“Quit clinging…” Captain Xue truly had no defense against this lunatic and felt guilty besides. “I really am busy. Go live happily in Yandu. You have more friends there. I’ll come see you on weekends.”
Liang Youhui had finally hooked the man he liked and had no intention of letting go. His mind was made up. “No need. I’ll live right outside your workplace and wait for you… Don’t worry about my business. I know what I’m doing. Transportation is convenient. I can make the round trip every day without a problem!”
Xue Qian was also afraid that one day Young Master Liang would get too lonely, go unsatisfied for too long, and run off with someone else the way he had in the past.
Xue Qian said, “Sorry to make you suffer for me, Young Master?”
Liang Youhui smiled. “For you, it isn’t suffering.”
He said it was no hardship, but living that way was not easy. The two of them only managed to snatch a hurried night together every few days. Every time they slept together, it was like going to war. Young Master Liang could not wait. He would strip Brother Xue bare, shove him onto the bed, climb on top and ride him like a madman for a couple of rounds first, just to take the edge off. Only then would he slow down and unlock the other positions, making up for five nights in one evening, determined to wring Captain Xue dry before morning.
Liang Youhui usually drove or took the train between Yandu and Jinmen, and sometimes traveled south to meet clients. After returning home, he continued working in wine and luxury-goods import brokerage. He earned enough for a comfortable life, nothing like the former glory of the Liang empire, but more than enough to support his boyfriend, a criminal-investigation captain.
Not that Officer Xue needed supporting. He did not spend Liang’s money.
Most of the time, the two of them simply flirted through texts and video calls.
Liang Youhui: 【Good Brother, I’m in Shanghai. I’ll be back tomorrow.】
Xue Qian: 【Stay a few more days. No rush.】
Liang Youhui: 【You don’t miss me?】
Xue Qian: 【Missing you doesn’t help. I have several cases right now, meetings and interrogations. I can’t make time to see you.】
Liang Youhui: 【You’d rather see suspects than me. My treatment isn’t even as good as a suspect’s?】
Xue Qian: 【Your treatment is worse than a suspect’s? I’ve never slept with any suspect in the detention center!】
When they actually met, neither of them had this much nonsense to say. The moment they met, they went straight to bed and never wasted a good night. It was only when they could not see each other that the endless teasing began.
Liang Youhui sent a lewdly grinning emoji on WeChat. 【Brother, of all the suspects you’ve ever handled, am I the best-looking one? Is that why you took a liking to me? You might as well just sleep with me!】
Xue Qian was sitting in a small conference room during a case-analysis meeting. Officer Fang Yuhui was speaking intently at the front, drawing a relationship map on the whiteboard, while Xue secretly glanced at the phone in his hand. A laugh nearly escaped him, almost making him crack up in front of a room full of subordinate officers.
That perpetually single Fang shot Xue Qian a contemptuous glare. You’re fooling around even during a meeting? What’s wrong with you?
Xue Qian lifted his eyelids, met Fang Yuhui’s gaze, and shrugged, answering with his eyes. Quit glaring at me and go find yourself a partner. Once you have one, you’ll understand. It’s really damn nice.
Even as Liang Youhui was about to board his flight, he kept squeezing in more messages. 【Brother, conserve your energy. Wait till I come charging back.】
Xue Qian had just stepped out of the case-analysis meeting when he fired back a quick reply:
【Saved up for half a month. I’ll fuck you a thousand times. You just wait.】
Liang Youhui: 【Oof, so itchy.】
Xue Qian: 【Where’s it itchy? Still not fed enough?】
Liang Youhui: 【Too much water. Can’t get full.】
Young Master Liang’s “water” was practically spilling out of the phone screen. Xue Qian was so wound up by this little shit he wanted to fuck the display itself.
A few days later, Liang Youhui returned from his business trip to Shanghai and immediately told his man to come home for a date. Captain Xue, however, was still working overtime at the bureau and would not be home until very late.
Bored out of his mind, Liang Youhui drank coffee and wandered through a mall near the Linwan New District CBD, aimlessly killing the lonely hours while waiting for his husband.
He missed his man, so he started thinking about spending a little money and buying Captain Xue something. Dating a boyfriend like Captain Xue was absurdly economical: he did not care about food or clothes, had almost no hobbies, had a dry and boring personality, and his schedule was nothing but duty, duty, duty. A classic big-dick-top workaholic, he went around with a permanent “I’m the hottest, most badass guy around” attitude, barely acknowledging Young Master Liang’s very obvious existence.
Liang Youhui browsed the menswear department, mentally dressing Brother Xue in the season’s new spring clothes. Suddenly the rigid plastic mannequins seemed utterly unappealing, and even the male models in the wall advertisements were not worth looking at. None of them could match one finger of Officer Xue for masculine good looks.
He casually patted the chest of a plastic mannequin. “Pecs are too small.”
He sent an ingratiating WeChat message. 【I’m at the shops in the CBD. Let me buy you a few pieces from the new spring collection.】
Xue Qian replied almost immediately. 【Don’t. I’d never have a chance to wear them.】
Liang Youhui: 【You work in plainclothes all the time. You could wear them.】
Xue Qian: 【You expect me to wear the clothes you buy on a plainclothes job? Half of me would be hanging out. You trying to send me to work as a host?】
Liang Youhui: 【Brother, if you worked as a host at Yurun Paradise, people would fight over you.】
Xue Qian: 【Get lost. Don’t buy them.】
Liang Youhui: 【You’d be the number-one star, Brother. Plenty of people love exactly your type.】
Xue Qian: 【You need a good fucking, don’t you?】
Liang Youhui: 【Haven’t been fucked in half a month. I’m dying for it!】
Captain Xue did not reply for a long while. Apparently that lunatic’s syrupy flirting had finally left him speechless.
Liang Youhui wandered along the second-floor menswear department. When he happened to glance up through the atrium, he caught sight of another very familiar man striding briskly along the third floor. Their eyes met across the open space between the floors. Well, look at that.
The man upstairs smiled and waved to Liang Youhui, then came down the moving escalator several steps at a time with effortless swagger.
“Youhui!” The acquaintance he had run into by chance was none other than Yan Xiaodao.
Liang Youhui was delighted. “Buddy, you’re actually as idle as I am? You go shopping too?”
Yan Xiaodao looked relaxed. “I just had lunch with a client at the restaurant upstairs. I saw him off and figured I’d walk around to digest the meal.”
Liang Youhui stepped back to inspect Yan Xiaodao, then leaned closer and sniffed the cologne on him. “Just walking around? You’re here to buy something too, aren’t you? Something for your sweetheart?”
Yan Xiaodao kept both hands in his coat pockets, looking solemn and perfectly respectable. “What would I need to buy? People buy things for me.”
Liang Youhui scoffed. “You’re seriously pretending with me?”
Young Master Liang had judged him perfectly. Mr. Yan, who exactly are you fooling?
Mr. Ling almost never went shopping, a fact that astonished plenty of people. Ling He had even less interest in malls than his own mother-in-law, to the point that Yan Xiaodao himself often became exasperated enough to want to replace the contents of Ling He’s wardrobe.
Sometimes Yan Xiaodao could no longer stand Ling He’s monotonous, colorless wardrobe, and he could tolerate his mother’s stuck-in-the-eighties auntie taste even less. So he had no choice but to step in personally and buy Ling He clothes and accessories for work or important occasions. Loving someone made you want to dress them up and fuss over them. That thoroughly ordinary, slightly ridiculous caretaker mentality was ultimately no different from Young Master Liang’s mood right now.
Liang Youhui affectionately hooked an arm around Yan Xiaodao. “Come on, help me think. What should I buy Brother Xue?”
Yan Xiaodao said, “You’re buying it for him. Why are you asking me?”
Liang Youhui looked Yan Xiaodao up and down and said seriously, “Your build is about the same as his. Try some clothes on for me.”
Yan Xiaodao refused immediately. “Bullshit. I’m not trying anything on for you. Bring the actual man here and make him try it… And quit hanging all over me. If your man sees it, he’ll misunderstand.”
“That would be perfect.” Liang Youhui performed the role of an abandoned husband to perfection. “If he misunderstands, maybe he’ll finally come back and arrest me. Otherwise he never comes home.”
Yan Xiaodao reacted as though someone had set his fur on fire and yanked his arm out of Young Master Liang’s grasp. “Stay away from me.”
Liang Youhui joked with him all the way along, incapable of behaving seriously. Yan Xiaodao deliberately flashed the ring fingers of both hands and gave him a meaningful look. “I’m taken. Keep your hands to yourself.”
The sight of Yan Xiaodao’s two commitment rings, one on each hand, nearly blinded Liang Youhui and left him sour inside. He and Officer Xue had not been together nearly as long. Thinking about something like that already made him feel as though he might be too eager, too quick to push. Who knew what Officer Xue actually thought or how he imagined the word future?
Liang Youhui said sourly, “Tch, who wears two engagement rings… Why don’t the two of you just wear ten? One on every finger! Stick a few more all over your bodies, even put one on that thing, cover yourselves completely! Hmph…”
Yan Xiaodao burst into hearty laughter, his happiness spiraling upward and echoing through the mall’s atrium.
The two continued on together, browsing one designer menswear shop after another, mentally estimating the dimensions of the people waiting in their beds at home as they picked through the rows of clothes.
Liang Youhui glanced at several shirts and trousers Yan Xiaodao had chosen for Mr. Ling. “Isn’t that too conservative? Is this what you two normally wear?”
Yan Xiaodao said, “For work or going out. What else are we supposed to wear?”
Liang Youhui said, “The collar is buttoned up that high. Your man’s skin must be priceless.”
Yan Xiaodao said, “No one is as shameless as you.”
Liang Youhui lingered for a long time inside a men’s underwear boutique, then crooked a finger mysteriously at Yan Xiaodao. “Hey, what if I buy this?”
Yan Xiaodao glanced at the pair of underwear Young Master Liang had picked out and fought hard to keep his expression from collapsing. “Hmph, nice one. You won’t even need to pull your bird out to piss, it’s all holes… Who actually wears pants like this?”
“Tch, you don’t understand. This is called erotic fun…” Liang Youhui whispered conspiratorially with Yan Xiaodao, practically trying to exchange secret techniques for seducing their men.
“Don’t disgust me.” Yan Xiaodao frowned in annoyance, though his thoughts were not entirely unmoved. He did not think Ling He would enjoy playing that way. Ling He was straightforward and did not care who took which role or what position they used, and the two of them were very loving in bed. But Yan instinctively felt that certain props with an overly sexual or coercive edge would be something Ling He could not accept. So Yan would not use them and would never force Ling He.
Liang Youhui carried a huge shopping bag and cleaned out the brand underwear store like he was raiding a house. The place even stocked oversized massage wands, scented essential-oil bullet vibrators, nipple clamps, and other toys, more than enough to satisfy Young Master Liang’s naturally kinky tastes.
Yan Xiaodao suddenly laughed. “I feel sorry for your Captain Xue. Keeping up with someone like you year after year must be exhausting.”
Liang Youhui scoffed. “You underestimate my man. He likes me exactly this way!”
Yan Xiaodao said, “You two really are made for each other.”
Liang Youhui said, “Of course. Perfect fit, perfect positions!”
Yan Xiaodao: “…”
Even the normally uninhibited Mr. Yan was reaching his limit. At that moment his collapsing patience was probably identical to Captain Xue’s.
Liang Youhui spotted another piece of “finery” and excitedly dragged his friend over. “This one. This is perfect for my man.”
Fuck… Yan Xiaodao turned around and wanted to leave.
What Liang Youhui had his eye on was a handcrafted genuine-cowhide domination-style uniform, the kind made for a big-dick top like Captain Xue to wear in the bedroom. Thick, rough leather straps crossing a man’s chest, the proud masculine part between the legs cupped in a leather pouch, plenty of flavor, pure stimulation.
Young Master Liang’s face practically trembled with anticipation as he told the clerk to wrap up the leather outfit.
Yan Xiaodao noticed a display case nearby containing men’s underwear with a subtler erotic edge. He could not resist secretly taking a photo with his phone. His finger twitched, and on impulse he sent it.
He felt a little nervous after sending it. Ling He would not get angry, would he?
Ling He was not that petty. Yan knew him.
A reply arrived quickly. Ling He wrote: 【If you bought it, put it on yourself. I’ll indulge your tastes tonight.】
Yan Xiaodao snorted at the screen. Still stubborn. He tested Ling He’s boundary again. 【You wear it. I want it.】
It was a pair of black sheer underwear, deliberately provocative and finely made, with delicate openwork mesh and lace. The front and back had special designs at the key areas, plus detachable garters and matching men’s thigh-high stockings…
Ling He’s long legs… Yan Xiaodao’s mind wandered freely. Images steamed out through every sense until he couldn’t stop the fantasies. The mental pictures alone made him hard; he quickly held his breath and reined himself in.
Ling He seemed to be in a good mood too. He teased him: 【Mom just made a pot of deer-antler tonic chicken soup. I’ve already had three big bowls. I’m waiting for you. Mr. Yan, dare to come home and walk into the trap tonight?】
Yan Xiaodao looked at the text and couldn’t help laughing. Facing Mr. Ling, who had just downed three big bowls of deer-antler tonic and was clearly ready to work off the energy on him, he felt a real twinge of nerves, yet also a quiet anticipation. Who knew how many rounds tonight would bring. They were an old married couple by now; behind closed doors anything they did felt intimate and right. He thoroughly enjoyed the way Ling He lay on top of him breathing hard, completely obsessed with his body…
Yan Xiaodao immediately signaled to the clerk. Wrap it up. He was buying it.
He walked out of the boutique carrying an exquisitely wrapped sky-blue gift box, while Young Master Liang pestered him relentlessly. “What style did you buy? Let me see. Don’t be so stingy…”
“None of your business. Don’t look.” Yan Xiaodao wore an expression of inviolable righteousness. Bedroom matters were not for outsiders.
Both of them strode out of the mall in long steps, moods almost identical, desperate to get home and present their treasures, desperate to see the person they liked. Yan Xiaodao was already picturing the day Ling He might be willing to put on those black stockings and try some new position he’d never done before, just to give him an eyeful. Young Master Liang was picturing his man strapped into that cowhide discipline uniform, leather whip in hand, thoroughly spanking his ass and finally curing the extreme itch and hunger of the past half month…
Yan Xiaodao and Young Master Liang parted ways at the mall entrance and drove home separately to attend to their respective lovers.
Winter gave way to spring. The last fading patches of white snow along the roadside could no longer conceal the warmth in people’s hearts. The loneliness and uncertainty of the past had already receded like old shadows into the depths of distant alleys. What waited for each of them now, after the ice and cold rain had melted away, was a quiet and peaceful life.
【End of the Web Extras】
Elio’s Notes: BA may be complete, but we’re not quite leaving this universe yet. We’ll be working on the connected side story Drunken Fist (《醉拳》), and later the sequel Sleeping with the Enemy (《与敌同眠》). So if you enjoyed this cast and world, keep an eye out for those titles. 😂