Chapter 9 - Ah! Science!

Chapter 9 - Ah! Science!

At this moment, Sun Zinan’s only thought was: where did this obedient child come from?

Director Sun was not an extremely rich man, but he was still a young entrepreneur. Asking for money or material objects, even if this request would invoke feelings in the future, was still far more valuable than a few ordinary meals. Did Tang Kai become an idiot from the barbecue smoke? How come he didn’t even understand something as simple as this?

Sun Zinan took a deep breath. “Are you serious? Don’t joke around, think about it some more.”

Tang Kai asked back, “Is this an unreasonable request?”

Sun Zinan was tongue-tied. Tang Kai continued, “Then why won’t you agree to it?”

Sun Zinan wasn’t sure whether to call him naive or stupid.

Everyone was watching the two of them. Xie Zhuo poked him from under the table to remind him to stop staring off into the distance. At the same time, he said out loud, “Why are you hesitating over such a small thing? Our Director Sun isn’t a sore loser! Isn’t it just a few meals? If he doesn’t agree, I’ll agree for him!”

The group roared in laughter.

Sun Zinan glanced at Tang Kai and found that he was still calmly looking back at him. His body language was full of a silent stubbornness. In order to end this scene, he could only promise, “Okay. As long as you don’t mind.”

Only then was Tang Kai satisfied.

A new game began after this, but neither of the two had any interest in playing anymore. Sun Zinan purposely lost the round. When he turned around, he found Tang Kai, who had lost much earlier, leisurely leaning against his chair and staring up at the heavenly river of stars spreading across the sky.

He felt like he should say something to him, but he didn’t know what to say. As he hesitated, Xie Zhuo quietly tapped him and murmured, “What happened between the two of you? Why does it feel kind of uncomfortable?”

Sun Zinan denied it. “Nothing happened.”

Xie Zhou questioned, “Then what were the two of you doing behind our backs this morning?”

Sun Zinan didn’t even lift his eyes. “As you saw, Fight the Landlord.”

Xie Zhuo uttered an unconvinced sound. “That’s not right. Auntie, what can’t you tell me?”

Sun Zinan waved him away. “When the adults are talking, the kids shouldn’t listen.”

Xie Zhuo, “Leave some face for yourself. Just because I called you aunt you think you’re now a senior?”

Sun Zinan couldn’t fool him and could only say, “I’ll chat with you on WeChat later tonight. Go play your card games.”

Xie Zhuo’s gossipy soul was satisfied and he departed triumphantly.

The courtyard was continuously full of laughter until the moon rose high up in the sky. In the deep of the night, Sun Zinan couldn’t bear the smell of smoke on him anymore and went back to his room. The gathering dispersed accordingly.

The walls between rooms were not very soundproof; when Tang Kai went upstairs, he could hear the faint sound of water through the walls as he stood in the corridor. Sun Zinan was probably still taking a shower. As he was about to unlock the door to his own room, the sound of water stopped. A moment later, a startled &#k2018;Fuck!’ sounded from the room next door.

Tang Kai’s hand trembled and he almost threw his key. He hurriedly knocked on Sun Zinan’s door. “Director Sun, it’s me, Tang Kai. What happened, do you need help?”

Sun Zinan opened the door in an uncharacteristic, rapid manner and rushed out to hide behind Tang Kai. He seemed like he was about to collapse. “This fucking hellhole! There’s a bug!”

Tang Kai could only see a white apparition whizzing in front of his eyes. He didn’t think Sun Zinan could be this agile. He wasn’t sure what kind of bug could possibly scare someone into this state, but unconsciously reached out anyways to protect him, saying, “It’s all right, don’t be scared. What did you see?”

Sun Zinan gritted his teeth to stop himself from running away. “There was a big black bug, could fly...it couldn’t have been a bat right?”

“Your room is so bright, it shouldn’t be a bat.” Tang Kai pulled Sun Zinan behind him. “I’ll go in and check.”

He pushed the door open and entered the room, only to see shadows shifting around the ceiling lamp. There were two large moths vigorously beating their wings. Wild bugs in the mountains were quite big—with two of them, the visual impact was rather startling.

Tang Kai looked about him and understood what had happened when he saw the window wide open in the wind. He turned off the lights and walked out to hand his room key to an unmoving Sun Zinan still standing in the corridor. “Go to my room first and dry your hair before you catch a cold.”

As he spoke, he gently pushed at his back. “Go, there aren’t any bugs there.”

Sun Zinan had seen the two moths immediately after coming out of the bathroom. He had been so scared he had thrown his towel away; thankfully he had already put on a bathrobe or else he would have ran completely naked into the deep night. As he took Tang Kai’s key, the wits that had bolted off slowly came back. He felt both a lingering fear and a creeping, regretful shame.

The window in Tang Kai’s room was closed, and it felt a little stuffy. Sun Zinan had been afraid of bugs since he was a child. He had been fine before he saw the moths, but now that he knew bugs existed in this place, he couldn’t sit still. Every one of his nerves was tense to the point of reaching the ceiling. He felt as if every crack in the walls and floor hid countless enemies.

After a while, Tang Kai came back from the room next door and witnessed Sun Zinan standing blankly by the bed, too frightened to sit down. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you still scared? I already checked, there aren’t any bugs.”

Sun Zinan asked, “How is my room?”

Tang Kai, “You didn’t close your window earlier. When you turned on the light the bugs saw and flew in. I turned the lights off, so they should have flown away.”

The moment Sun Zinan thought of the fact that bugs had been in his room before, he could feel goosebumps rising. He sighed and said, “Never mind, I’ll ask Xie Zhuo if there are any other empty rooms.”

“It’s too late, don’t bother.” Tang Kai blocked his path. “Go get your luggage and come to this room. I’ll switch with you.”

No matter how much Sun Zinan hated bugs, he didn’t want to be a burden to others. He was about to say, ‘How could I?” but Tang Kai had already held him down by the shoulder with some force, as if he had predicted his objection. “I’m not afraid of bugs.”

After saying that, he walked over to the black bag on his chair and took out a 60 ml transparent plastic spray bottle. He passed it to Sun Zinan. “If you’re still worried, spray the bed and floor with this. You can also use it as a disinfectant or hand sanitizer.”

Sun Zinan held the bottle to the light to scan its contents. “What’s this?”

“PHMG, polyhexamethylene guanidine.” Tang Kai wore his backpack and walked out the door. “It’s a disinfectant and germ-killer. Non-toxic and tasteless, use as much as you want.”

Ah! Science!

At this moment Sun Zinan felt like he could forgive the entire world—Tang Kai was the lamp lighting up his darkest nights. Forget about having him cook for a week. If Tang Kai wanted him to cook for him every day for the rest of his life, Sun Zinan wouldn’t refuse!

People were most likely to be moved during their most vulnerable times, and Sun Zinan could not ignore common etiquette. Undoubtedly, his affections sprouted from a bottle of polyhexamethylene guanidine.

Tang Kai wasn’t even aware of the wondrous effects of the disinfectant, but he had already made the Director Sun next door sing an entire love aria within his heart. He drove away the other flies in the room, shut the window, then turned the light on again. He then saw Sun Zinan’s scattered personal belongings.

He swept Sun Zinan’s things to one side, then opened his bag to take out a change of clothes. He undressed and went to the only half-closed bathroom door.

The steam from the previous shower covered the entire bathroom in a muffled warmth. There was a faint hint of the fragrance of wood, adding a subtle ambiguity. Tang Kai softly breathed out, waiting for his heartbeat to calm down. He reached out and turned the shower on.

Hot water flowed out, drenching his black hair. Within the cascading curtain of water, the young man’s fine figure was exposed. His muscles were full and lithe, his skin firm and white. He looked like a beautiful marble sculpture.

Tang Kai closed his eyes, tilting his head back to let the water stream down and wash his entire body. His mind, on the other hand, took this brief time alone to think over the various events of the day. This trip had definitely been worth it. After leaving his familiar surroundings and experiencing numerous unforeseen incidents, he had finally lifted up a corner of that mask and saw a bit of the truth behind the other man’s frivolousness.

Sun Zinan’s previous image of a well-dressed pale silhouette had turned much more prolific—whether it was his surprising cooking skills or his beautiful figure despite his couch potato ways, Tang Kai felt like Sun Zinan’s occasional meanness, constant soft-heartedness, and even his (very) little flaw of being afraid of bugs were all very interesting and cute.

Most importantly, Tang Kai finally realized that although Sun Zinan had claimed himself as a realistic person, he never intended to make others act just as realistic.

Sun Zinan rarely spoke his mind. The genuine feelings that floated on top of the sea were so pitiful in number that one had to dive deeply before touching the vastness of a heart nobody knew.

Tang Kai had gone home after their conversation had gone awry that day. After he had calmed down, he thought it over again and realized Sun Zinan had truly just been trying to show him his cards. It hadn’t been a warning.

He almost had the words ‘this person is a black hole’ written on his forehead.

Tang Kai felt like he had misunderstood him, so he had asked Sun Zinan to his face earlier that morning.

Sun Zinan’s first reaction had been to conceal his expression, only smiling as he stared back at him. “Professor Tang, do I look like a charitable person to you?”

Tang Kai had responded, “If you had really wanted to trick me into marriage for an inheritance, then you wouldn’t have told me about it. You definitely knew I wouldn’t accept it, yet you still told me. That means from the start you didn’t even consider going on that path. This was actually a very simple logical problem, but I misunderstood.”

Sun Zinan had been so stunned by this analysis that he didn’t know how to answer. He was stuck for a long time before finally saying, “Ahem...it’s fine. It’s not a test. If you get it wrong I’m not going to deduct any points.”

But Tang Kai still had said earnestly, “I was wrong, my apologies.”

“...” Sun Zinan had never met such a motivated and responsible ‘good student’ before and he was at a loss for words. After a moment he continued, “Then I...forgive you?”

Tang Kai had nodded.

The two of them had silently stood there. Tang Kai had seemed to have finally made a decision, and said with a determination akin to resolutely blowing up a fort, “I’m willing to try.”

Sun Zinan, “Try what?”

Tang Kai, “Try to cultivate feelings with you and maybe take a step forward with our friendship.”

Sun Zinan: “...Do you want to think about it some more?”

“Think about it, Professor Tang, if you accept this, then won’t I achieve my original goal? I’ve tricked you into marrying me, I’ve given you a sense of security, and I’ve shown you my affection. I’ve killed three birds with one stone. Isn’t that how it works? This is also a logical problem, please think it over carefully.”

Tang Kai, “...”

He could tell that all of Sun Zinan’s efforts had been put into teasing him. What was so cute about this pig trotter!

Xie Zhuo had been wondering all day how Tang Kai lost over a million Huanle Dou in just one morning. This was the reason.

It was already midnight by the time he finished showering. Someone abruptly knocked on his door. After he covered himself with a towel, Tang Kai opened the door and discovered Sun Zinan standing there. “What happened?”

Sun Zinan had recovered from his shock and reverted back to his customary manner. His hair had just been dried and hung gently over his brows. This erased any hints of aggression from his face, blurring his age even further. The body wrapped in the bathrobe was thin and tall. His waist was slim and his legs long—he looked in every way like a charming young man.

He handed the spray bottle over. “Nothing happened. I thought you might need to use this too. Thank you.”

Tang Kai, “You’re welcome.”

His fingertips merely touched the palm of his hand for half a second, but it suddenly felt as if he had been electrocuted.

The air was still for a moment.

Tang Kai asked, “Your clothes, still in your bag...?”

“Hand me the bag,” Sun Zinan replied. “I don’t need my clothes.”

Tang Kai silently turned back, gathered the things, and put them into his hands.

Sun Zinan, “I’ll stop bothering you. Good night.”

“En, good night.”