“What on earth…” Xu Qichen sat down on the sofa, questioning Xia Zhixu in a low voice, “Couldn’t you have said something?”
Mrs. Xia came out of the kitchen with a plate of sliced oranges. “Have some fruit. Have you eaten breakfast? I can make some noodles.”
Xu Qichen was very uncomfortable. The moment Mrs. Xia approached, he instinctively stood up.
“Sit down ah,” Mrs. Xia smiled kindly and pushed him back onto the sofa.
Mr. Xia also came out of the bedroom, “Why don’t you give them wonton, don’t we have some fresh ones from yesterday?” As he spoke, he took a seat on another sofa. “The triple-filling wonton made by your auntie is very delicious. Eat more later.”
Xu Qichen nodded profusely, no less confused about the situation. He even felt rather apologetic in the face of Xia Zhixu’s parents’ friendliness.
Maybe they think their son has brought a friend home to play.
If they knew the truth, wouldn’t they be furious?
A bunch of bizarre scenes began to play in his mind, such as Xia Zhixu kneeling on the ground in tears, Mrs. Xia fainting on the ground, Mr. Xia shouting, “I’ll beat you to death, you pervert!” and so on, punching and kicking him…
“What are you thinking of?” Xia Zhixu bumped his arm against his. “Are you sleepy?”
Xu Qichen quickly shook his head wordlessly.
“Want some oranges?”
Xu Qichen shook his head.
“Some tea?”
Xu Qichen shook his head again.
Xia Zhixu was amused. He moved closer to whisper in his ear, “Little Xu, why are you so nervous?”
Xu Qichen glared at him and moved aside, avoiding suspicion. He glanced at Mr. Xia, who turned on the morning news on the television.
“Qichen ah,” Mr. Xu suddenly said.
Xu Qichen jumped in his seat like a student suddenly called to answer a question. He replied weakly, “Yes…”
Mr. Xia smiled and spoke kindly, “Don’t be afraid. I just wanted to ask, was your mentor in college Professor Wang Dunshan?”
Xu Qichen felt suspicious. How did he know that? He nodded, “En.”
“Oh, then it must be you,” he smiled. “Professor Wang is my old classmate, and we still keep in touch. A few years ago, he always mentioned his favorite student to me, also known as Xu Qichen. I thought the name was quite interesting, so I remembered it. I didn’t expect it to be you.”
Xu Qichen said humbly, “Professor Wang was very patient with me.”
Mr. Xia shook his head, “He said you’re very talented. Most children nowadays live in an environment where they have no worries about food and clothing, and they lack the compassion needed to create literature. Old Wang often said, ‘Xiao Xu is born with a sense of compassion, which is a rare quality for literary creators.’” He took a sip of water and said, “I’ve read what you wrote and it’s really good.”
Xia Zhixu, who was originally drinking water, choked and glanced at him. Xu Qichen touched his knee and whispered, “He’s talking about the books I wrote under my real name.”
“Oh, oh, I see.” Xia Zhixu grinned and put down the cup in his hands. “Go on, dad.”
“The magazine I have been subscribing to included an essay you wrote last month, which I found very interesting. Nowadays, most people tend to criticize reality with a sharp writing style, especially imitating Lu Xun’s style. However, the style of your article is very calm, contrasting cruelty at the core of its content. It brought to mind the feeling of surging undercurrent.”
Xia Zhixu laughed, “My dad is the only literary and artistic ‘youth’ in our family. He has always despised me and my brother; two engineering men with no appreciation for the literary arts. Now he has finally found a soulmate.”
Xu Qichen lowered his head and smiled, “Thank you, Uncle Xia. I didn’t expect that you’ve also read my essays.”
Mr. Xia wanted to carry on, but Mrs. Xia suddenly emerged from the kitchen, “Alright, no more talking, come eat some wontons. I’m sure the kids are hungry.”
Xia Zhixu pushed Xu Qichen towards the dining table. He sat next to him, while his father and mother sat opposite them.
“Eat more, make sure to have a good breakfast. You young people nowadays don’t like to have breakfast, but that’s not good for your health.” Mrs. Xia put the spoon into the bowl in front of Xu Qichen.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Xbbv?”
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She laughed, “No, no. I was just thinking that you’re very good-looking. Very clean, like a good child.”
Xu Qichen buried his head and felt very embarrassed. He didn’t know what to say, so he simply carried on eating. Occasionally, he would raise his head and look at the family of three, talking about the newlywed brother and sister-in-law. He felt very warm.
He hadn’t experienced this most ordinary family atmosphere for a long time. Since going to college, he had only met his aunt during holidays. Besides, he had already grown up, and he didn’t want to impose on her any longer. After graduation, he moved out and lived alone for three years.
Now, suddenly being thrown into this kind of atmosphere, he felt like a rabbit frozen in the wilderness rescued suddenly, wrapped in a thick blanket, and placed by the fireplace.
After breakfast, Xu Qichen quickly picked up the bowls and chopsticks, “Let me help.”
Mrs. Xia, who was holding several bowls, smiled at him and said, “Okay, just help me put it in the kitchen.”
Xu Qichen put the plate into the sink, rolled up his sleeves, and turned on the faucet. Mrs. Xia walked in and said, “Oh, just put it down. You go watch TV with them.”
“I’ll be fast, just let me help,” Xu Qichen stubbornly insisted on washing the dishes. She gave up stopping him and instead stood and watched.
After washing two bowls and placing them on the counter, Mrs. Xia suddenly patted Xu Qichen’s head.
“Child, thank you for your hard work over these past years.”
Xu Qichen stopped washing dishes, his wet hands gripping a bowl. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes mixed with confusion and astonishment.
When Xia Zhixu brought him in, he only introduced his name to them and didn’t say anything else.
“I knew it was you the moment you came in,” Mrs. Xia said, smiling gently.
The sharp angles of Xia Zhixu’s face were exactly the same as his father’s, but his eyebrows and eyes were more like his mother’s, with beautiful smiling eyes. “Although he didn’t explicitly say it, I guessed it all at once. In all these years, Zhixu has never brought anyone back,” she said.
Xu Qichen’s heart thumped nervously. He lowered his head again to soak the bowl in the sink. “Auntie, we’re…”
“I know.” She wiped the dishes he had washed out with a clean kitchen cloth and said, “Our two sons are both stubborn. The big one, he’s all focused on a girl. After chasing her for so many years, they finally got together.”
She smiled and said, “As for this little one, I’ve been asking him since high school if there’s any girl he likes. I know many people like him and deliberately tease him, but he always says no. In his third year of high school, this child suddenly seemed like a different person, only studying hard every day without saying anything. In fact, we never placed any expectations on him. Any university is fine with us if only he could revert back to his outgoing personality like before.”
Mrs. Xia put the bowls into the cabinet and said, “But he didn’t say anything. He went to college and it was the normal time to start dating. Every time he came back for vacation, I would ask him if he had a girlfriend, and he would always smile and say no. I’m not trying to brag, but I think my son isn’t so bad that he should have so much difficulty finding a girlfriend, right?”
Xu Qichen simply smiled.
“Then after he graduated and came home and joined some IT company, he was always so tired. Whenever I talked about dating, he would say he had no time. Once he said he was going to a classmate gathering, but in the few days after he returned, everything was not quite right. I was very worried and wanted to take him to see a doctor. We were already on the way out, but he stood at the door and suddenly knelt in front of me.” Mrs. Xia seemed to be saying something particularly funny, laughing so hard that he couldn’t see her eyes. “At that time, I was so scared. I thought something was really wrong with my son!”
“Why did he…”
Mrs. Xia sighed, “He told me that he was gay. Don’t look at me now, like nothing is wrong. At that time, I was so shocked and couldn’t believe it. But he was so serious and kept apologising, and said he hoped we could forgive him. At first, his father was also very angry. We didn’t even know why we were angry, but none of us were speaking to each other, and we even sent him on some blind dates. It took us half a year to calm down and accept this truth.”
Xu Qichen’s mood was very complicated. He didn’t know what to say, and his fingers, soaked in the water, were becoming stiff and clumsy.
“But my silly son didn’t even want to tell me who the person he likes is.” Mrs. Xia made a mock angry expression. “I finally accepted that he likes guys, but he refused to bring his boyfriend home to show us. I asked him every day, but he just won’t say anything. Later, he told me that the person he likes can never like him.”
Mrs. Xia sighed, “See? How can my luck be so terrible that both of my sons are so silly?” As she spoke, she touched Xu Qichen’s back and said, “I didn’t have any hope at all. I didn’t expect him to bring you back today, but his father and I understood at a glance.”
“Chenchen, I can tell that you’re a good child, and I trust my son’s judgment. He has a bad temper and he’s very childish, and he has all sorts of problems. He acts like a child, but he really likes you, and he’s been thinking of you for many years. So I’m very happy today. Please don’t feel any pressure, we’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.”
“When Zhixu told me that one of his friends had a car accident, I was very sorry to hear about it. At that time, I remembered your name. The fate between you may really be predetermined by heaven.” She grabbed Xu Qichen’s hand, wiped it like a real mother, and then hugged him, gently patting his back, “Starting from today, I have a third son. I may not be good at anything else, but at least in raising a son, I have a lot of experience.”
At this moment, the soreness in his chest finally surged out, and his nose tingled. He bent over and buried his head in Mrs. Xia’s neck. After a long silence, he chokingly said, “Thank you.”
She stroked the back of his neck, “We’re a family now, don’t thank me.”
“Mom, Dad said he couldn’t find his…” Xia Zhixu suddenly walked to the kitchen door and was dumbfounded upon seeing the two people inside.
Seeing this, Mrs. Xia patted Xu Qichen’s back and said calmly, “What’s missing this time? Why does he put his things all over the place? Chenchen ah, go with Zhixu and take a rest in his room. If you’re tired you should sleep.”
With his back to Xia Zhixu, Xu Qichen nodded.
Seeing his mother walking into the living room, Xia Zhixu entered the kitchen and leaned over to Xu Qichen, hugging his waist. “What did she say to you? Why are you crying?”
Xu Qichen turned away, “I’m not.”
Xia Zhixu touched his face and kissed his eyes. “Okay, you’re not crying, there’s just so much water in your eyes that it’s overflowing.”
Xu Qichen glared at him plaintively, then rested his head on his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell them beforehand?”
“She told you that?” Xia Zhixu sighed, “As expected of my mom.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Xu Qichen rubbed against his shoulder and said with a slightly nasal voice.
Xia Zhixu couldn’t bear his disguised coquettishness, so he had to honestly explain, “It was so many years ago, so I thought I should let go. But that time I saw you at the gathering, I felt so uncomfortable, my internal organs were twisted and painful.”
“At that time, I thought I probably wouldn’t fall in love with anyone else in my life. My mom was quite worried about my feelings. After I went back, I thought about it for a long time and didn’t want to waste everyone’s time and energy, so I decided to come out so they wouldn’t rush me to find a partner.”
His palm gently touched the back of Xu Qichen’s head and said, “Actually, I still held on to the hope. If one day, I mean, what if one day, I could be with you? I thought, if you also like me, I would take you straight to meet them. You wouldn’t have to make any preparations or feel burdened, because I already came out to them years ago. Wouldn’t that be great?”
What a fool. Xu Qichen hugged Xia Zhixu’s back, while his nose began to sting again.
Xia Zhixu hugged him, satisfied. “Luckily, I’m a person who likes to dream.”
His light laughter sounded so nice.
A person who dared not dream was dragged into a virtual dream by someone who lived by dreams.
And that dream turned into reality.
Xia Zhixu was afraid that he would be tired, so he led him into his room. Unlike what Xu Qichen had imagined, Xia Zhixu’s room was quite large, but it was packed full, with a cabinet full of robot models and trophies. The single bed didn’t look big, but the deep blue sheets felt quite soft.
Xu Qichen walked to the bedside and saw a photo on it. In it were two little boys who looked like they were in elementary school. “Is this you and your brother?”
“En.” Xia Zhixu sat down beside him. “We took this at the beach after my brother graduated from elementary school.”
Xu Qichen stared at Xiao Zhixu in the photo, who was wearing a small straw hat and smiling foolishly with his head tilted back. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl, “You two look quite similar, but your brother doesn’t have tiger teeth.”
“I’m the only one with the tiger teeth. In junior high, I thought they were weird and wanted to extract them. My mom took me to the dental clinic, and as soon as I saw those tools, I got scared and ran away. My mom chased me across half the street.”
Xu Qichen put the photo down. He laughed, “I’ve heard this one before.”
Xia Zhixu was suspicious, “How?”
“Xia Xiqing told me. In highschool, he told me many stories about your childhood.”
Xia Zhixu deliberately put on an unhappy expression and stretched his words, “Is that so?”
Xu Qichen stood up and turned to the desk, “Yes, I envied him so much at that time that he could grow up with you.”
Upon hearing these words, Xia Zhixu’s heart beat wildly. He never expected Xu Qichen to think like this. He walked behind him, wrapped his arms around his waist, and placed his chin on his shoulder. “So you like me that much.”
Xu Qichen remained silent. He saw two celestial body models on Xia Zhixu’s desk and found them very novel. He reached out and poked them, “You’re also interested in astronomy?”
“My brother gave that to me. At the time…” He started but stopped himself. When Xu Qichen turned to look at him, he smiled, “Nothing.”
“You always say that when you’re hiding something.” Xu Qichen turned around and pinched his cheeks, “Tell me.”
Xia Zhixu shook his head.
Xu Qichen’s curiosity was piqued, and he even resorted to coquettishness. “Tell me ah,” He pouted, and his amber pupils looked into Xia Zhixu’s eyes.
Xia Zhixu sighed as if surrendering. He pulled all the curtains shut, making the whole room suddenly dark.
“What are you doing?” Xu Qichen was confused. After experiencing too much in the virtual world, he couldn’t help but think crookedly. Xia Zhixu didn’t speak either. Holding his hand, he walked to the bed, then deliberately pushed him onto it with a smile on his face.
Xu Qichen suddenly felt a little nervous. Xia Zhixu bent down and pressed himself against him. The distance was suddenly shortened, and the tip of their noses were almost touching each other. Xu Qichen nervously closed his eyes, only to hear a beep.
Like the sound of some electronic device being activated.
He opened his eyes and looked over Xia Zhixu’s shoulders towards the ceiling.
The originally ordinary and dark ceiling had transformed into a vast universe, where the rose-colored nebula slowly floated, emitting a mysterious light.
Xu Qichen was a bit stunned as the person on his body flipped over and lay beside him.
“Is it a projection?”
“Yes, I made it myself.” Xia Zhixu held a small remote control in his hand and pressed it a few times. The nebula gradually enlarged and seemed to come closer in view, spreading and then spreading until two glowing planets finally appear
“You can think of them as the two planets on my table,” Xia Zhixu gazed at the universe on the ceiling, “The day you left, I chased behind the bus for a long time, even though you couldn’t see me. I came home wet. On that day, my parents went out to party with friends, and there was only my brother at home. He came home for Mid-Autumn Festival and when he saw my appearance, he immediately knew what to do. Maybe he’s been there.” Xia Zhixu smiled despite the topic.
Xu Qichen turned to look at him.
“I was very upset, and he asked me what was wrong. It took me a long time to answer.” The starlight cast on Xia Zhixu’s face, flashing with a strange light. “I told him that I fell in love with someone who only wanted to be friends. But now, it seems like I can’t even be his friend.”
Even though he was smiling, Xu Qichen’s heart ached.
“My brother took me to his room and showed me two planets. He told me that there is an interesting definition in astronomy called the Roche limit. Planets and satellites will constantly approach under the influence of gravity, but there is a safe shortest distance between them, which is the Roche limit.”
“Safe distance?”
Xia Zhixu nodded, and the two planets on the ceiling slowly approached each other, everything seemed peaceful and soothing.
“Once the Roche limit is defied, the powerful tidal force will tear the satellite apart.”
At that moment, the beautiful planet suddenly shattered into pieces, like exploding fireworks, leaving only the lonely spinning planet in sight.
“Then my brother said to me, ‘You may have exceeded Roche’s limit.’ I asked him, ‘What should I do?’ He coldly told me at the time, ‘If you think of getting closer, you need to be prepared to be disintegrated.’” Xia Zhixu smiled and said, “I was so sad at that time, I felt like he wasn’t even trying to help me.”
Xu Qichen asked softly, “What next?”
Xia Zhixu looked at the ceiling and said, “Look.”
Following his words, Xu Qichen’s gaze returned to the small universe. The shattered and collapsed planet turned into a vast expanse of brilliant stardust. It gradually gathered around the lonely planet, evolving into a dazzling and beautiful ring, embracing it in its arms.
“The ending isn’t that bad either.” Xia Zhixu held Xu Qichen’s hand and threaded their fingers together. “Breaking the body once, in exchange for the eternal embrace.”
Xu Qichen stared blankly at the planet wrapped in halos on the ceiling, and an indescribable emotion surged in his chest, like the nebula just now, constantly spreading in his chest.
Xia Zhixu turned over and placed the hand he was holding on the side of his face, interlocking his fingers. His handsome and childish face blocked most of the starlight, making him very close.
Xu Qichen’s light-colored pupils were slightly dilated, and filled with a vast galaxy of stars.
Xia Zhixu lowered his head slightly and affectionately rubbed the tip of Xu Qichen’s nose, his voice deep.
The quiet and lonely universe suddenly sent a deep and peaceful signal.
“My asteroid has been orbiting you for so long, isn’t it time for my reward?”
Omg, new update hehe thank you so much 💕💕💕💕💕
Thank you for the update. These silly, romantic men.
💖💖💖💖
aaaaah i’m so happy for them 🥺💘