CH 3

PUBLISHED ON 2 April 2022

Zhou MuHui was caught unprepared by his direct hit, Xi Yi was too blunt, he wore his bright heart on his sleeve, he cannot hide his likes and loves. 

Zhou MuHui often thought that it wasn’t good that he was being too obedient, but each time that side of him made him soft-hearted and surrendered.

The little kid then fell asleep like this, Zhou MuHui looked at his face and was distracted, only moved after a while, and pulled down the quilt that tightly covered his face, and switched off the lights.

The next day, Xin Yi woke up early, the sky wasn’t even bright yet when he crawled up, he leaned on the side of the bed to look at Zhou MuHui, he carefully raised his finger, hooked it onto the collar of his clothes, sneakily sniffed at the fresh smell on his body. 

At this moment, one place on the side of the bed was sunken, as if there was something heavy that suddenly jumped on, Xin Yi shook, he quickly retreated his hand, turned his head, and shouted in fear, “Mao Mao…”

“Miao—-”

The orange cat that was lying on top of the bed replied with a sound, lifted his head stretching towards his palm and randomly rubbing against it, forcibly occupying him as a matter of course, affectionately meowed at him.

“Don’t call out, don’t call out.”

Xin Yi panicked, hissed at him in a hurry, afraid that he would wake up Zhou MuHui. 

The cat was enveloped in Xin Yi’s arms, stop making sounds in a blink of an eye, its body was soft, he imitated Xin Yi’s position and laid on his stomach next to Zhou MuHui’s neck, one human, one cat, foolishly looking at the other party.

“Thank you…Mao Mao.”

Xin Yi inclined his head to look at him, using his tone to earnestly express his thanks.

The cat shook his head, his tail wrapped around his arm, just like when he was little when he relied on rubbing him, as if saying it didn’t matter. 

Xin Yi let out a relieved sigh, sticking closer to his Mao Mao and Zhou MuHui, so the two humans and one cat were closely forming a tight circle, one hand hooked on each, then fell asleep again in this position.

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His cat is called Mao Mao*, he is a playmate that Xin Yi picked up near his house when he was a kid, he was already seventeen years old this year, it is a thoroughly old cat, that’s why Xin Yi was very worried about its health, afraid that someday it would really leave him. 

* litt. ‘cat cat/kitty kitty’

When Zhou MuHui woke up, Xin Yi already slept for a good while, his position was widely different, he hugged the cat while leaning on Zhou MuHui’s neck, Zhou MuHui looked at him for half a day, then couldn’t help but rubbed his messy hair, letting out a sigh.

The cat on one side wasn’t asleep, looked at Zhou MuHui with its round eyes, swaying back and forth with its soft tail, then stepped on Xin Yi’s back, letting out a meow.

Zhou MuHui knew that it was reminding himself, he caressed the cat’s chin, then carefully carried Xin Yi who curled him into a ball and put him on the bed, only walking out after that. 

Xin Yi finally woke up an hour later, Zhou MuHui pushed the door and saw him sitting on the bed, motionlessly hugging the cat in a daze. 

Zhou MuHui did not bat an eyelid, walked up to him and carried down the cat who was pressing down on him, and lifted the quilt.

“…How come you haven’t left yet?”

Xin Yi was stunned, and asked him in a daze.

He knew Zhou MuHui was very busy, since he joined the showbusiness industry a few years ago, then became Qi Fang’s manager, he rarely had any idle time. Usually, when Xin Yi wakes up, he basically has already left home. 

Zhou Mu Hui bent his head, dressed him, paused after hearing what he said, said, “Waiting for you.”

Indeed, he was waiting for him, Xin Yi’s phone was forgotten at school, and had no way of leaving by himself.

“Oh…”

Xin Yi nodded, obediently lifted his arms so Zhou MuHui could put the clothes on him, after it was done, he slowly got out of the bed, scuffed towards the bathroom in his slippers, his pace getting faster and faster. 

“I will be done in a moment!”

He seemed to have finally returned to his senses, and felt some urgency, then pulled open the frosted glass door that he had just closed, poked out and said in a small voice, “Wait for me.”

Zhou MuHui replied with a hum, “Go.”

The cat that had been left on the bed was meowing, Zhou MuHui turned around, also carried it off the bed. 

Their house’s cat is old, wasn’t as agile as before when walking, and also developed a heap of ailments, Zhou MuHui looked at him slowly opened the door of the bathroom, laying by Xin Yi’s feet, and couldn’t help but wrinkle his brows.

Humans go through birth, aging, illness, and death, cats are the same, Zhou MuHui looked at the one human and one cat snuggled together, and was only hoping that day would come slower. 

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Xin Yi showered in a tearing hurry, even the meal was shoved down in a hurry, he only reacted after the car had driven halfway, Zhou MuHui wanted to send him to school. 

He gripped the seat belt and pursed his lips uneasily, sneaked a glance at Zhou MuHui every now and then, only opening his mouth after a long while like a quail, asking him, “You don’t work?”

Zhou MuHui already thought about his line a long time ago, “Not in the morning.”

Xin Yi let out an oh, lowered his head smiling like a fool.

His happiness always seemed to be that simple, Zhou MuHui looked at him, during the interval of the red light, suddenly used his hand to pinch the back of his neck.

Xin Yi was dumbfounded, turned his head to look at him, “what’s wrong?”

Zhou MuHui retracted his hand as if nothing happened, the residual breath on his fingertips was pressed against the steering wheel by him, his sight looking at the front, said, “nothing.”

Xin Yi blinked, for the rest of the trip he kept stealing glances at Zhou MuHui, when the car was about to come to a stop, he really couldn’t resist anymore, he pounced and kissed him. 

“… me too, also nothing’s wrong with me1.”

Zhou MuHui’s eyes carried some astonishment, but it looked like he was embarrassed, his fingers inadvertently caught the other party’s clothes’ hem, curled up and rubbing it. 

“…don’t do that next time.” 

The man was startled, but he still taught him, “It’s dangerous when driving.”

Xin Yi isn’t little, but Zhou MuHui always felt like he was a little kid that hasn’t grown up, chirping and revolving around him every day, even when he bumped himself he wouldn’t cry out of pain, only rubbing on his wounds and smiling foolishly. 

It was also the same when he asked for love, he didn’t care about anything else, he would throw his heart to Zhou MuHui, forcing Zhou MuHui’s eyes to stop over and be different from his usual self. 

“… en!”

Xin Yi stammeringly nodded, and hurriedly let go of Zhou MuHui’s clothes, his pair of hands resting on his knees, sat obediently.

He also knew he was in the wrong after giving that kiss, but at that moment, he also didn’t know what happened, it was just like he was captivated, he was looking at Zhou MuHui and just wanted to move closer to him.  

There are a lot of traffic lights near the school, at the next intersection, Zhou MuHui paused, out of the corner of his eyes he could see that Xin Yi kept his head lowered. On the slightly exposed profile of the young man, the smooth and round cheek was bulged up, Zhou MuHui frowned, quite hesitantly retracting his sight. 

Is it because he wasn’t happy?

The man’s hands that were gripping the steering wheel stiffened, he thought in his heart, was it because the tone he used was a bit too serious and a bit too rigid, and it made the little kid unhappy that he didn’t speak on the rest of the way.

When Xin Yi was about to get off the car, Zhou MuHui called him, Xin Yi confusedly turned around, climbed over the co-pilot, asked in a whisper, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou MuHui looked at his confused face, a strange taste of sourness surged up in his heart, he lowered his voice and said, “Nothing.”

But in the next second, he pressed down the back of his neck, their lips met, and he kissed him. 

Xin Yi was muddled head for the whole while, till the man retreated from his mouth, he then abruptly pulled back, knelt on the seat, and looked at Zhou MuHui with his eyes wide open. 

“(compared) with yours, which one is better?”

Zhou MuHui asked him.

Xin Yi’s ears tips turned red, he looked serious, yet also looked like the usual Zhou MuHui who would ask him questions, stammered and said, “this, this one…”

Zhou MuHui made a sound in acquiescence and said, “Understood.” 

This time, even Xin Yi’s face turned red, not sure what mean the understood he was referring to, and what he wanted to do. 

“Do you want me to accompany you?”

The car was parked in front of the school’s entrance, Zhou MuHui tilted his head to look at his family’s little friend who was still embarrassed.

“No need no need.”

Xin Yi promptly shook his head in refusal, gripped his backpack, and moved back, “I am going by my own.”

And didn’t even react to the fact that Zhou MuHui wanted to accompany him inside unlike usual.

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Zhou MuHui watched him walk to the entrance and only then, did he retract his sight, he sat there unmoving, raised his hand after a while, and touched his own lips that were still warm and wet, lowered his head, and smiled. 

Xin Yi dizzily walked towards the teaching buildings, then only got the notice that there was no need to come to class today, the person that had come was his friend, put an arm around his shoulders and handed him his phone.

“You left too quickly yesterday and did not even take your phone, I guessed that you would also come today, so I brought it.”

Xin Yi smiled in embarrassment, he was too muddled head yesterday, so he has forgotten everything.”

He thanked the other party, but the other party waved his hand, and moved closer to him harboring bad intentions.

“Xin Yi! Why are your lips so red?”

He gave him a surreptitious wink, Xin Yi whole body was about to burn up, he thought about that wet and warm kiss back then, pushed the other party in a flustered manner, and stammeringly said, “got, got bitten by an insect.”

“Oh—— that insect sure was powerful.”

“… Fang YiHe!”

Xin Yi was bashful after being told off by him, and shouted at him in false bravado.

Fang YiHe was his best friend, at this time, couldn’t resist and pinched his face. 

“And you think you’re in the right, you’re secretly in a relationship and haven’t even told me!”

Xin Yi’s character is gentle, and also younger than him, Fang YiHe usually treated him like a kid, now, seeing that he is in a relationship, he felt both happy and grieved. 

It was like, he raised with difficulty a pig, and his memory was still stopped at the moment when this pig was still little, but as a result, it actually ventured to someone else’s yard and dug someone else’s cabbage.2

“……”

Xin Yi felt sorry, but he also didn’t dare to talk about it.

Zhou MuHui’s identity was peculiar, and it happens that Fang YiHe was someone who knew a bit about his matters, if Xin Yi really talked about him, Fang YiHe surely would be the first one to know who Zhou MuHui was. 

“Alright, alright, let’s not talk about it.”

Fang YiHe glared at him, “A son who has married is like water that has been spilled3, be good to the young girl ok.”

Xin Yi hurriedly nodded, then reacted in the next second.

“It’s not a youn-…….”

“Didn’t I say it already, there is no class today, you can also hurry to leave!”

He left just as fast as he came, didn’t wait for Xin Yi’s words, he hastily waved his hand at him, “I am going back to play games, bye-bye!”

He left too quickly, leaving a Xin Yi looking at him at a loss, after a while, Xin Yi blinked, 

disheartened.

“It’s not a young girl…”

He said in a muffle.

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