CH 17

The final exams are successfully over and the winter break has arrived with much anticipation from the students.

Ye Yao and Lu Xun had bought tickets to go home on the same day, and they went to the airport together. Ye Yao had an earlier boarding time and before leaving, Lu Xun gave him a tight hug.

“I’ll call you every day,” Lu Xun says, “and remember to think of me.”

“Then it’s better not to think about it, you play every day anyway.” Ye Yao replied.

“That’s bad, but it’s okay, I like it.” Lu Xun buried his head in Ye Yao and sucked on it, reluctantly releasing the man.

Ye Yao pulls his suitcase to the gate and before he boards the plane he looks back.

*

Ye Yao made it all the way home to a warm home-cooked meal made for him by his parents.

Instead of Lu Xun’s tireless efforts to serve him food, Ye Yao was greeted by his parents with concern.

The first day away from Lu Xun was slightly uncomfortable, but also a great relief.

Most relationships fade over time, so maybe he’ll be able to turn it back into a friendship in the month since he won’t see Lu Xun?

It’s quite perverted to think about kissing a man and wanting to have a deeper contact exchange, it would be nice to change back.

Ye Yao had a good plan in mind and, having eaten and drunk enough, he went back to the house to wash up and rest at the urging of his mother.

Pushing open the bedroom door, Ye Yao caught his breath at the sight of his neatly tidied bedroom – he had completely forgotten that it still contained various Lu Xun’s personal belongings.

When Lu Xun first came here for high school, he stayed with him during the week, and at weekends, he would go back to his house with him.

There was no spare guest room in his house, so Lu Xun came to his house and slept with him all the time, and various personal belongings belonging to Lu Xun filled the room more and more.

The robot model and books Lu Xun bought on the desk, the photo of the two of them on the bedside table that Lu Xun insisted on putting up, and the pillow on the bed that belongs to Lu Xun ……

If he remembered correctly, there were still Lu Xun’s towels in the bathroom with the bedroom, and various clothes in the wardrobe that Lu Xun had not taken.

On his first day away from Lu Xun, after just a few breaths of Lu Xun-free air, he was once again surrounded by things that belonged to Lu Xun.

Ye Yao closes the bedroom door with a headache and takes a deep breath.

*

Lu Xun also made it home, and as his parents are terrible cooks, they didn’t make any home-cooked meals, leaving it to the family chef to make some of Lu Xun’s favourite dishes.

Lu Xun’s father, wearing a pair of glasses and pretending to look at the work messages on his phone, clears his throat loudly when he sees his rebellious son enter.

“Long time no see.” Lu Xun greeted lazily, placing the item he was carrying on the table, “Here, the specialties I brought you guys over there.”

Lu Xun’s father grunted, the corners of his mouth curling as he stood up, checking the specialties his filial son had brought him, and finally sighed with a grimace, “What an ancestral tomb, you’ve learnt to be filial too.”

Lu Xun’s father, who always speaks in a strange way, was slapped by Lu Xun’s mother, who came down the stairs, and Lu Xun’s mother smiled happily: “Good, good.

“I learnt it from Ye Yao.” Lu Xun says.

“Ye Yao is such a sweet child.” Lu Xun’s mother sighed a little, “The old saying that the closer you are to the vermilion, the more you learn from Ye Yao is still very true.”

As the family sat down at the dinner table, Lu Xun threw out his decision to go to Ye Yao’s house on the second day of the Lunar New Year, to the scorn of Papa Lu.

“When you go over on the second day of the Lunar New Year, you think it’s a son-in-law going to his in-laws’ house?” Lu Xun’s father ate his own healthy, fat-reducing meal, “I’ve heard people gossip that many young people nowadays start dating after they go to university. You’re not going on a blind date with Ye Yao, so you’ll be annoying people.”

Lu Xun’s brow furrowed.

A blind date? Ye Yao is such a good-looking guy, why would she need a blind date?

What kind of person can I find on a blind date? Can I find someone who is rich, good looking and attentive to Ye Yao?

I can’t get a date, so dating is a bad decision.

When he goes over there, he’ll have to remind Ye Yao not to waste time on blind dates.

“Do you want to go on a blind date?” Papa Lu Xun asked again.

“No.” Lu Xun refused without a second’s hesitation, “I wouldn’t give his face even if you found a fairy, so don’t do something like that to bring revenge on your family.”

*

In the warm and tidy cottage, Ye Yao puts, one by one, the things that belong to Lu Xun into invisible cupboards.

The cool robots Lu Xun bought, the pens Lu Xun used and the exercise books he made are all put in the corner where Ye Yao won’t look.

Lu Xun’s clothes were mixed with Ye Yao’s, but now they have been picked out and folded neatly and put in a separate compartment at the top of the wardrobe, so that Ye Yao will not see Lu Xun’s clothes unless he steps on a chair to look at them.

The room gradually became less and less Lu Xun’s scent.

Ye Yao relaxes, goes to the bathroom, takes a shower, dries his hair and lies down in bed exhausted.

Turning his head, Ye Yao saw the picture frame on the bedside table and the picture in it.

That’s Lu Xun posing for a picture of him and Lu Xun together.

He and Lu Xun were high school students then, their faces much more youthful than they are now. They were wearing blue and white uniforms, and Lu Xun was behind him with his arm around his shoulders, his eyes on him, his thin lips tilted up in a smile.

Ye Yao picks up the frame and looks at Lu Xun in the picture and then at himself in the picture.

It was a beautiful time, and he never imagined in high school that he would have such unspoken thoughts about Lu Xun.

When he was packing up, he deliberately omitted this photo, Ye Yao knew he was still a bit sad about it.

Ye Yao sighs and puts the picture frame back in place.

After a few more days of posing, he locked the group photo away in a cupboard with it.

*

New Year’s Eve arrived to the sound of firecrackers and Ye Yao was not surprised to receive a video call from Lu Xun.

Ye Yao, who was watching the Spring Festival dinner with his parents while eating hot pot, spoke to his family before returning to his room to take the video call.

When Lu Xun had called him in the past few days, he had declined video with excuses such as being in the shower and simply voicing. It was a bit uncomfortable to see Lu Xun’s face all of a sudden now.

The camera tends to make people ugly, but Lu Xun is already handsome, so even if he is ugly, he is still a handsome man. The handsome man is lying on his back in a video with Ye Yao, looking downcast.

“What’s wrong, not feeling well?” Ye Yao said worriedly.

Lu Xun’s voice was dull: “Well, it’s hard.”

Ye Yao couldn’t help but be more worried: “What’s wrong, do your parents know?”

“You have no sensitivity at all, what else could it be, it’s in your heart!” Lu Xun gestured with his thumb and forefinger apart, “I haven’t seen you for so many days, a day without seeing you is like three years without seeing you, so we haven’t seen each other for decades!”

Ye Yao : “……”

He was silly, Lu Xun had a family doctor at home and he shouldn’t have bothered to take Lu Xun’s word for it.

The sound of fireworks exploding could be seen from Lu Xun’s bedroom window, and he got out of bed with his mobile phone and went to the window to watch the show with Ye Yao.

Ye Yao was thousands of miles away, admiring the beauty of the fireworks through the screen. The villa is a quiet place, and the faint sound of fireworks exploding is transmitted to Ye Yao through his mobile phone, giving his a sense of being in a different world.

Lu Xun’s voice rang out softly, “I want to spend New Year’s Eve with you every year.”

The sound of fireworks exploding one after another, gradually overlapping with the sound of heartbeats.

Ye Yao didn’t make a sound, as if he was watching the fireworks intently.

Lu Xun wouldn’t let up: “Did you hear that?”

“Probably heard someone talking nonsense.” Ye Yao replied.

Lu Xun frowned and turned the camera from the fireworks outside the window back to his face, “What do you mean by nonsense-”

“Well, it’s been a long chat, go spend some time with the family. I’m hanging up now, bye.” Ye Yao had no intention of having a long conversation with Lu Xun, so he pressed the hang up button to end the call.

Ye Yao sits on the bed for a while.

Fireworks are forbidden here, so there will be no sound of fireworks. All that can be heard in the room is the sound of the TV outside wishing everyone a happy family at the Spring Festival.

Ye Yao got up from the bed, walked over to the bedside table and picked up the frame, locking it, along with the photograph, into the cabinet containing Lu Xun’s personal effects.

Having done so, Ye Yao takes one look at the room that no longer smells of Lu Xun and returns to the happy family meal.

*

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Ye Yao helped his mother make dumplings stuffed with pork and corn.

As southerners, their family does not have the habit of eating dumplings on New Year’s Day, and they always eat chicken and fish with white rice. However, Ye Yao was not surprised when his mother suggested making dumplings.

After all, with the internet being so advanced these days, it’s not strange to be influenced by the online atmosphere and want to try eating dumplings for once in the Chinese New Year like the northerners do.

Ye Yao likes to do this kind of handicraft work. When he is making dumplings, he feels at peace with himself and doesn’t think about all the messy things he has to do or Lu Xun.

Lu Xun loves dumplings, especially those stuffed with pork and corn.

This thought enters Ye Yao’s mind in the middle of his wandering mind, and the movements of Ye Yao’s hands pause for a moment before resuming.

He couldn’t continue to think about Lu Xun. He had already decided to leave, and if he continued to think about it, he would get deeper and deeper into it.

Now that there is no external interference, it is a good time for him to pull out his feet of clay.

Ye Yao’s mother’s mobile phone, which she had forgotten in the kitchen, rang. she went into the kitchen to answer the phone and when she came out, she smiled and said to Ye Yao, “Go to the kiosk downstairs and buy a bottle of vinegar for your mother, we are out of vinegar at home and the dumplings don’t taste good without it.”

Ye Yao responded, put on his jacket and grabbed his phone, and took the lift downstairs.

It was cold and there was no one hanging around in the neighbourhood at this time of day. Ye Yao went out of the building and walked towards the kiosk with his head down, not paying attention to his surroundings. Then he heard the sound of footsteps, and suddenly a man came out from behind, who moved very quickly, blindfolded him with one hand and wrapped his waist with the other.

“Robbery, hand over whatever you have on you that is most valuable!” The thug’s voice was so low that the original timbre could not be heard.

Ye Yao said calmly, “The phone is in your pocket.”

When this thug reaches for his phone, there will be only one hand to restrain him, and then don’t blame him for being rude.

Ye Yao had a good idea, but he never imagined that the assailant hadn’t even bothered with his phone.

“How can the most valuable thing be a mobile phone?” The thug was aggressive.

Ye Yao was puzzled and was about to say that the most valuable item a modern person carries around is indeed a mobile phone, when the thug behind him pressed up very uncomfortably close and took him into his entire arms.

The thug’s no longer suppressed, laughing voice rang out, “The most valuable one is of course you, my dear Ye Yao.”

Ye Yao stiffened and his eyes widened as he slowly turned back to see the face he most wanted to see, and at the same time least wanted to see.

Lu Xun embraced him behind him and winked at him, “Did you miss me?”