Early in the morning, Xia Zhixu called the moving company. Xu Qichen’s daily necessities were not too many, mainly books, so moving was not a hassle.
“By the way, didn’t you say yesterday that there was a problem with your computer?” Xia Zhixu helped Xu Qichen put his notebook in his bag and carried it on his shoulder. “I’ll take a look at it for you when we get back.”
Xu Qichen nodded happily and said, “Just, don’t lose my manuscript.”
Xia Zhixu looked at him helplessly. “I’m a professional.”
The people from the moving company helped them move their belongings to the door of their new home before leaving. Xia Zhixu picked up a box of books and said to Xu Qichen, “Open the door.”
Xu Qichen stared at the number lock. “What’s the password?”
Xia Zhixu sighed helplessly, remembering how he had said he wasn’t drunk. “I told you last time. It’s your birthday ah, little ancestor.”
Xu Qichen frowned in confusion and tried the password. It indeed worked. “When did you say that?”
Xia Zhixu struggled to move the box inside and said, “The day I lost my virginity because you got drunk.”
“Shut up!”
“You lose all memories of it and even tell me to shut up. How cruel!”
The most troublesome part was not moving, but the organising work after moving. Xia Zhixu didn’t want Xu Qichen to do physical work, so he asked him to sit on the ground and sort out the books while he moved them to the study and placed them on the shelf. All the going back and forth was quite tiring.
“Are you tired? Sit here, I’ll massage your arms.” Xu Qichen sat cross-legged on the sofa and patted the small piece of floor that had been cleared in front of him.
Xia Zhixu wasn’t actually feeling very tired, but as soon as he saw Xu Qichen like this, he couldn’t help but want to sell pity. So he sighed and knelt on the carpet. “It’s so tiring,” he complained, falling into Xu Qichen’s arms, with the back of his head pressed against his collarbone.
“So let me massage your arm for you.” Xu Qichen picked up one of Xia Zhixu’s arms and helped him pinch his muscles, asking, “Don’t you need to work?” After asking, he suddenly remembered what his mother had said before. Xia Zhixu had started his own business. “Oh, I forgot, you’re the boss.”
“I gave my employees a few days off,” Xia Zhixu said, his eyes looking at him and his head tilted towards Xu Qichen’s right arm.
“On what basis?”
Xia Zhixu laughed, “The boss is no longer single.”
Xu Qichen also laughed along and said, “How could there be such a lazy boss like you?”
“It’s all your fault. I wish I could stay at home and not go anywhere every day now.” Xia Zhixu held Xu Qichen’s hand, rubbed his palm, and sighed, “I understand the emotions of those emperors in ancient times, wanting to skip morning court.”
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.
“Gbc’a ulnf wf atja cbcrfcrf, sbe’gf pera yflcu ijhs.”
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We Hlmtfc rjk tlw ajxf atf abooff jcv jrrewfv la kjr obg tlw, yea Wlj Itlze qea la lc tlr bkc wbeat.
He pushed Xia Zhixu’s head lightly, “I want one too.”
Xia Zhixu leaned back, looking at him upside down. With the toffee in his mouth, his words came out muffled, “You want to eat too?”
Xu Qichen nodded.
“I have another. Kiss me, then I’ll give it to you.”
Xu Qichen thought for a moment, lowered his head, and pressed his lips against Xia Zhixu’s, lightly kissing him. However, Xia Zhixu’s movements were very fast, using the kiss to push the candy into Xu Qichen’s mouth with the tip of his tongue, and even giving him a particularly loud kiss.
“Wu…” Xu Qichen frowned at him. “Why are you like this…”
“I lied, that’s the only one I have.” Xia Zhixu looked back into his eyes, “If you don’t want it, give it back.”
Xu Qichen pushed the toffee to the side, hoarding it like a squirrel.
Xia Zhixu let out a few more sighs and pretended to be very tired, lying on Xu Qichen’s lap. “I’ll take a short break and tidy up the rest later.”
With the taste of toffee slowly melting in his mouth, releasing a hint of chocolate aroma, Xu Qichen’s mood also improved. He gently touched Xia Zhixu’s ear. “My aunt and Teacher Zhang are getting married soon.”
Xia Zhixu was surprised, “Really?”
“En, I got a text today. They’re getting the certificate in a couple of days.”
“What about the wedding?”
Xu Qichen thought for a moment and said, “It will probably be soon. My aunt has an active personality, so she shouldn’t procrastinate for too long.” His fingers slowly slid from Xia Zhixu’s earlobe along the jawline to his chin, and the newly grown stubble rubbed against his palm.
“You can accompany me to the wedding then,” Xu Qichen suddenly said.
The meaning of this sentence is not much different from ‘come meet my family’. Xia Zhixu also understood Xu Qichen’s meaning. On the one hand, he felt very happy, but on the other hand, he was a bit worried. After all, it was his aunt’s big day, and he didn’t want to ruin that joy for his own reasons.
Xu Qichen seemed to see Xia Zhixu’s thoughts and hence said, “Don’t worry, I told my aunt a long time ago that I liked a boy.”
Xia Zhixu felt incredulous. Xu Qichen continued, “Since that time, my aunt and I have talked about it many times. She doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with homosexuality. She just hopes that I can be honest with her, after all, she is my only relative. So I admitted it, but for the sake of my studies, she still insisted on transferring me and quietly finishing my senior year.”
After speaking, Xu Qichen smiled, somewhat self-deprecatingly, “Actually, I came out earlier than you, but it was forced.”
Although these words were spoken plainly and indifferently, Xia Zhixu knew better than anyone that Xu Qichen did not have it easy at that time. He touched Xu Qichen’s head and didn’t say any more comforting words, just smiled and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s go to Aunt’s wedding together.”
“En.” Xu Qichen nodded happily, and then his expression changed again. “Ai, I have to resume updates today.”
Xu Qichen has never visited furniture and department stores before. When he was alone, he felt that such activities were meaningless. The house was just a shelter from the wind and rain for him, with no emotional impact, just like an empty glass jar.
However, being with Xia Zhixu changed the meaning of the house.
It became a jar filled with colourful candies.
It became home.
“This cabinet is nice. Do you prefer the black or the white one?”
“This rack also looks good, it can be used to store reference books.”
“This pillow is so soft ah.”
Xia Zhixu watched as Xu Qichen wandered around, exuding a contagiously joyful desire to shop.
Xu Qichen stood by the bed, holding two pillows. “Which one do you think is better? This is better for the spine, but this one seems to be softer…”
Xia Zhixu took his hand out of his pocket and pressed on the two pillows separately. “I think both are fine. You can buy whichever you like.”
Xu Qichen couldn’t decide which one to choose. He threw one of the pillows on the bed with some distress and complained to Xia Zhixu, “You’re really perfunctory. You don’t have any constructive suggestions to give. You only say things like ‘buy whatever you like’ or ‘buy the one you like’. Isn’t there anything you really like and want to keep at home in the house where we live together?”
After saying these words, Xu Qichen himself was startled. He didn’t know why he suddenly couldn’t hold back his anger. He looked around at the people pushing carts, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“That’s not it,” Xia Zhixu began to explain seriously.
What do you mean that’s not it… Xu Qichen was not satisfied despite knowing that there was more to come.
“Aside from you, I don’t have any preferences.” Xia Zhixu said quietly but sincerely.
Although it was just a light and ethereal sentence, without any other facial expressions to assist, Xu Qichen felt that his breathing experienced a momentary pause.
His heart also began to panic, like a deer lost in the forest, rushing forward blindly, and knocking into trees.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Zhixu noticed that Xu Qichen was holding a pillow and not speaking, and thought he was still angry.
Xu Qichen shook his head and said, “It’s nothing. I just suddenly realised something.”
Xia Zhixu sat down on a nearby bed. “What is it?”
“I used to see you as the prototype of the protagonist in a novel, and many characters had some of your characteristics. Later, I was deceived into the system tasks and fell in love with the protagonists. In fact, I was quite conflicted because I didn’t know whether I liked that character or whether I liked you; who was the prototype of the character.”
Xu Qichen lowered his head and smiled, continuing, “This is strange but even when I describe them and I pour in my emotions that are meant for you, I have never fallen in love with any of them. I thought it was because of the creator’s unique perspective. But today, I suddenly realized that the root cause is not whether I am the creator or not.”
Xia Zhixu looked up at him. “Then what is it?”
Hugging the pillow tightly, Xu Qichen tilted his head towards him and said, “It’s you. Although I have poured a lot of emotions into creating your shadow, words are both powerful and small. For myself, my words are barren. No matter how much I describe and embellish them, I cannot write even one-tenth of your true charm into them.”
His words were sincere and touching.
Xia Zhixu looked up at him dumbfounded, then lowered his head and smiled, patted the bed, and said, “This bed is quite soft. You should try sitting here.”
Xu Qichen obediently sat next to Xia Zhixu, who grabbed his shoulder and heard him sigh, “I’m a bit uncomfortable now.”
Xu Qichen was a bit anxious and said, “Why so suddenly? Is it the smoke addiction?”
“I think so.”
As he spoke, Xia Zhixu leaned in his ear and whispered.
“I really want to kiss you right now.”
His voice was low, without any vocal cords vibrating, while the warm airflow brought ambiguous words to his ears.
“And hug you.”
“I want to get rid of every piece of clothing on you and do something that may make you cry.”
Speaking of which, Xia Zhixu chuckled lightly and patted the soft display item they were sitting on.
“Anyway, we’re already on a bed.”
