CH 37

“May I ask, when was the photo taken?” Ou Shaowen’s cheeks reddened slightly, but his tone was as straightforward as ever.

Without waiting for the staff to answer, he immediately asked, “Have you taken any kissing photos?”

The smile on the staff member’s face was a little stiff, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he nodded again and again with extremely high frequency, “Yes! There are many, many kissing photos.” He emphasised, “Very many.”

Ou Shaowen turned his head and looked at Ou Renjin with burning eyes.

“Want it?” Ou Renjin raised his eyebrows at him with a smile, and then glanced at the staff, whose stiff smile was particularly interesting.

“Yes!”

“Then go and pick.”

Ou Shaowen happily gave him a bear hug, turned and followed the staff to the computer, leaned over and carefully selected more than twenty photos. Although in Ou Renjin’s opinion, they all contained almost the same posture and composition, and the light and shadow effects were not very satisfactory, but he was not prepared to demonstrate his taste and pickiness at this time. After all, Ou Shaowen, who was like a greedy hamster and wouldn’t give up any picture, was really silly and cute.

“I want to buy a wallet.” Although the photos were not given away for free, Ou Shaowen still felt very satisfied. He followed Ou Renjin without raising his head, holding the dozens of photos and flipping through them one by one.

“Specially to put photos?” Ou Renjin gave him a funny look.

“Why do you know again?” Ou Shaowen had already been surprised enough times. He sighed casually and then tugged at his arm with some excitement. “I watched a movie before. Every time the character missed his daughter, he flipped through his wallet to see their group photos. Every time this scene happened, I felt that the movie was particularly beautiful and touching.”

“Daughter?” Ou Renjin’s eyes were full of amusement that Ou Shaowen couldn’t properly understand.

“Yes.” He nodded.

Never mind, Ou Renjin wasn’t prepared to take such an easily taken advantage of him. ”Isn’t it enough to put one in the wallet? Why do you need so many?”

“I can also put them in books as bookmarks, or put them in a photo frame and place them at the head of the bed. They can be used in many, many places.”

Ou Renjin glanced at the photos with terrible tones and composition again, not quite daring to imagine a room full of these photos. However, after all, it was Ou Shaowen’s own room, and he could do whatever he wanted.

After they had lunch, they went to feed giraffes together and watch lions and tigers in the zoo. Before they finished their trip, their chance encounter photos were already flying everywhere on the Internet.

“Humble cp fans are going crazy online, I don’t care, I’m too high on this pair.”

“I swore I would never get high on Ou Renjin’s cp again in my life, and now – it is so fragrant.”

“Why does it feel like the whole world is meeting them by chance today?”

“Crap, the expression on President Ou’s face as he leads his little friend is too doting, is he settling down for real?”

“Me me me, I want to break the news online, the two of them took the cable car in the morning and kissed on it for a whole half an hour.”

“Ah ah ah, I captured that cable car kiss! I was far away when I saw a pair of young guys kissing. I was almost too excited to get hold of my phone, and when I got closer and found out it was the Double Ou couple, I was excited to the point of having a seizure and almost fell off the cable car. [exclusive close-up kissing photos.jpg]”

“Is Ou Renjin crazy? Although he has always been blatant, this is too blatant.”

“Is the prodigal son really coming home?”

“Hehe, a few months ago, when Ou Renjin hadn’t broken up with Qi Shuyang, you guys said the same thing.”

As they said, although Ou Renjin had always acted boldly, he had never been photographed kissing his ”Aunts”. The most intimate actions were just hugging their waists and kissing their cheeks. Therefore, when he made it clear that he would not allow fans to call Ou Shaowen “Aunt”, the speculation came up again. Was it true that this time he was going to settle down?

However, while the speculation and discussion between the two camps on the Internet was raging, neither of the two parties concerned came out to make any response. Ou Shaowen hadn’t posted on Weibo once in 800 years. Ou Renjin flipped through a lot of comments with relish, but he had his own evil delights and he especially didn’t like spoilers. It was really interesting to watch these netizens, who had nothing to do with his life, constantly analysing the people coming and going around him, trying to figure out who actually held the highest position in his heart from his expressions, his gestures, the number of times he mentioned them on Weibo and the quality of the resources he gave them.

……

“Let’s have dinner later?” Song Yijiu cautiously glanced at Ou Shaowen, who was standing next to him waiting for someone to come and pick him up, and finally tentatively said these words.

Ou Shaowen looked over in surprise, as if he had never expected that he would receive such an invitation.

“You have helped me many times recently, and I want to express my gratitude.” Song Yijiu was already treating Ou Shaowen in a much more natural manner than before; after all, it was hard not to feel good about such a person once you got along with him.

He would always be understanding and tolerant; he wouldn’t blame you even if you made many mistakes. He didn’t say much, but when you spoke to him, he would listen carefully to every word you said. For Song Yijiu, who was introverted and slow, Ou Shaowen really was a person who was particularly comfortable to be around.

“Okay.” Ou Shaowen nodded and added, “Wait a moment.”

In front of Song Yijiu, he called Ou Renjin and said that he was going to have dinner in the evening with his teammate with whom they were practising together.

The moment the phone was dialled, Song Yijiu subconsciously held his breath, his body tensed up and he listened intently to the sounds on the other end of the line.

He first heard a chuckle, then a gentle, lazy male voice, “Okay, call Uncle Li when you go back, and he will pick you up.”

“No, I can go back by myself.” Ou Shaowen refused without hesitation. He was now so familiar with the route from the company to his home that he could easily go back.

“Good.” Ou Renjin didn’t mind his refusal at all, “Then pay attention to your safety and call me if you need something.” His tone was a little teasing, “I won’t rest until eleven o’clock, so don’t worry about waking me up, eh?”

“I know, I will be back soon, it will definitely be before you go to bed.”

Song Yijiu listened to their conversation from the side and breathed a sigh of relief. He was very satisfied that Ou Shaowen did not mention his name in front of President Ou. He always had an inexplicable awkwardness and worry. Obviously, he approached Ou Shaowen with a purpose in the first place, but he didn’t want anyone to know his bad intentions.

“Where are we going?” Ou Shaowen looked over curiously, waiting for his arrangement.

“Do you like spicy food? Shall we go for a hot pot?” Song Yijiu took Ou Shaowen in the direction where he had parked, “It’s okay, I have a car, and I can take you back after dinner later.”

Ou Shaowen and Ou Renjin had never eaten hot pot when they were together. All Ou Shaowen’s impressions of this kind of food came from various movies and TV works. At this time, he was quite curious and looking forward to it. “I don’t know if I like spicy food, but I think I can try it.”

“You haven’t eaten a hot pot?”

“No.”

Song Yijiu smiled, rarely revealing a trace of boyishness, “It’s not good to eat too much hot pot. But it’s okay once in a while, let’s eat it quietly, just don’t tell the teacher.”

Since they started training to prepare for the audition, the vocal teacher told them many times to protect their throats and eat less cold, spicy and irritating things.

“Okay, I won’t tell the teacher.”

When Ou Shaowen returned to the villa, he was as excited as a little lamb. He rushed to Ou Renjin, exuding a strong hot pot smell all over his body, “Didn’t you keep saying before that you wanted me to determine what my favourite food was? I now know what my favourite food is, I love hot pot, it’s super super delicious, better than steak, next time let’s go eat together, okay?”

Ou Renjin pressed the book in his hand against his forehead, “Go take a shower first.”

Ou Shaowen nodded, then suddenly turned back before leaving, hugged Ou Renjin, rubbed his cheek against his hair, and smiled softly as he was pushed back blankly, “Now you smell with it too.”

“Why are you so scheming now, do you want to take a mandarin duck bath (taking a bath together) with me?”

“Yes, I want to.”

Ou Renjin glanced at him lightly, “But I don’t want to.”

“It’s okay, then we’ll have it when you want it.” Ou Shaowen had already vaguely grasped the pattern of whether Ou Renjin would agree or not and didn’t feel the loss at all, running away happily.

Ou Renjin watched Ou Shaowen’s lively, energetic back disappearing in the bathroom. His thin lips pursed lightly, and he was strangely silent.

Look, before he always said something about only liking him in the whole world. Now, doesn’t he already have something else he likes?

Ou Shaowen liked hot pot, but Ou Renjin had never been able to eat spicy food, so it seemed that there was no way to accompany him to eat it.

This was very good. He would become more and more joyful, he would slowly have his own social circle, there would be more and more things he liked, and there would be more and more people he liked. In the end, Ou Renjin was also looking forward to what kind of person he would become.

While Ou Renjin was thinking this way, Ou Shaowen walked out, still moist, sat obediently beside Ou Renjin and began to tell him about what happened today. ”Do you know? The staff at the hot pot restaurant actually used roller skates to serve the dishes. They were super powerful. The aisles were so narrow and they just swished through, very handsome and cool. Song Yijiu said that he was very good at roller skating, so he would take me to play with him next time. By the way, do you know Song Yijiu? He said that the company arranged for him to participate in the competition with me.”

“I know him.”

“When we came out after dinner, we saw a lot of people skateboarding in the square, and there were people dancing together and selling glowing balloons. We also went to slide the slide for children, but we only slid twice and gave it to the kids, because they were all looking at us sternly, making Song Yijiu embarrassed.”

“Really?”

“He also said that his nickname was 019, because of his school name plus the homonym of his name (yi jiu – “one nine”), so people called him that. It is like my previous name…”

Ou Renjin’s hand flipping the pages of the book paused slightly as he frowned, “Your previous name?”

Ou Shaowen nodded, “But I prefer the name you gave me.”

Some strange speculations emerged in Ou Renjin’s mind. He put down the book in his hand and turned to look at the expression on Ou Shaowen’s face, “Didn’t you say you didn’t have a name?”

“I didn’t have a name like yours.” Ou Shaowen yawned, “Shall we go to bed?”

“What was your name before?”

“The previous name didn’t sound good, let’s not mention it, okay?” He didn’t like his boring and cold number. This was different from Song Yijiu’s nickname with a story and memories behind it. Its existence only proved the fact that thirty-five failed subjects had died before him. There was no beautiful imagery and no nostalgic memories.

“Go to bed if you’re sleepy, I’ll pack up and come right away.” Ou Renjin looked deeply into his eyes and didn’t ask more questions.

Ou Shaowen was a bit over excited today. He liked to be exposed to new things, to things he couldn’t touch in the lab. It would make him more deeply aware of the fact that he had left the lab. He also wanted to create as many good memories during this time as possible. When he returned to the lab, he would also tell everyone that his name would be “Ou Shaowen“ in the future and never “036” again.

“Okay.” He crawled into the bed, but once he lay down on the pillow, he wasn’t sleepy at all, so he looked at Ou Renjin silently in the bright white light, his eyes unblinking, as if he was staring at the kite that would fly away at any moment.

Ou Renjin met his gaze and quickly looked away. He stood up and turned off the light, and lay down next to him.

Ou Shaowen poked his hand out from under the quilt and took Ou Renjin’s hand in his, sighing contentedly.

When he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard Ou Renjin’s serene voice, “Tomorrow is March 7th.”

“Hmm?”

“I owed you six days in February, and I have made up for them so far.” He paused for a moment, “I will have someone come to move my things tomorrow. You don’t need to report to me if you plan to go out with someone.” 

Ou Shaowen lost his drowsiness almost instantly. He opened his eyes wide, looked at the pitch-black ceiling, and opened his mouth slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn’t say anything, and he didn’t even pretend to say “Okay”.

It was really strange. Obviously, he had lived like that for several months before. Obviously, he knew from the beginning that Ou Renjin only promised him one month. Obviously, he was preparing himself every day and calculating the date every day. Then how did it happen that he slowly forgot this agreement later and began to believe that Ou Renjin would stay here for a long, long time?

He was silent in the darkness for a long while, and finally answered “Yes” quietly, his voice so hoarse that it was difficult to hear.