Bai Sijun felt like a person lost in the desert who suddenly saw an oasis. He even felt happier seeing Mei Yuchen typing than passing his intermediate exam. Subconsciously, he wanted to knock on the door, but at the last moment before raising his hand, he stopped.
Interrupting a writer while they were working was the most taboo thing. Now that Mei Yuchen had finally started typing, Bai Sijun couldn’t disrupt his inspiration.
What would Mei Yuchen write?
The outline of his next book?
Or some fragmented inspirations?
The tapping sounds were almost uninterrupted; Mei Yuchen’s current state should be a surge of creativity.
Bai Sijun tried hard to resist the urge to inquire, returned to the living room on the first floor, paced around for a few rounds, and eventually took out his phone to request half a day off from the chief editor.
He didn’t know how long Mei Yuchen would write, but it couldn’t possibly last until the afternoon. Impatient to know what Mei Yuchen was writing, Bai Sijun was willing to sacrifice half a day’s pay.
Without the rush of going to work later, drowsiness hit him like an overwhelming tide. His brain commanded him to go back to sleep, but he was afraid of missing Mei Yuchen coming out of his room, so he forcibly dispelled the idea of going back to sleep.
Looking at the time, it was not even seven yet. Given Mei Yuchen’s enthusiasm for writing, he shouldn’t come out so soon. Bai Sijun knew that if he just sat in the living room, he might fall asleep in no time. Therefore, he decided to go out to clear his head.
Since he didn’t take Mei Yuchen’s clothes, there was no need to worry much.
Bai Sijun put on the black cashmere coat hanging on the rack, wrapped the scarf that had been snatched away, then picked up the keys from the shoe cabinet and went outside the villa.
The morning, washed by the heavy rain, was exceptionally fresh. The spring sunlight finally brought a hint of warmth to Bai Sijun.
Rarely did he leisurely enjoy the comfort and coziness of the morning. He thought that maybe, amidst work, he should pay more attention to life.
Taking a deep breath, a faint scent of lavender entered his nostrils, a strange but pleasant smell of laundry detergent.
He was momentarily stunned, quickly realizing that the scent came from the scarf. He brought the scarf to his nose and sniffed it gently. Mei Yuchen also had this scent on him—clean and refreshing.
Bai Sijun had worn this scarf throughout the winter, and it should have been a familiar scent to him. However, now it carried someone else’s fragrance.
Mei Yuchen mentioned he went to the convenience store for tissues. He must have casually wrapped this scarf around himself while going out and later found it warm, deciding not to return it.
I wonder if Mei Yuchen smelled his laundry detergent the first time he wrapped this scarf. Bai Sijun’s detergent was grapefruit-scented. Did Mei Yuchen find it pleasant?
Realizing he was thinking about strange things, Bai Sijun quickly pulled back his thoughts.
He went to a convenience store outside the community and bought breakfast for two, then strolled back to the villa. When he opened the villa gate, he caught a glimpse of the curtain on the second floor moving.
That position should be Mei Yuchen’s writing room. Bai Sijun was somewhat dazed, recalling that Mei Yuchen was also in this room the first time he visited. Did that mean Mei Yuchen had been writing all along back then?
An uncertain thought arose in his heart. Perhaps Mei Yuchen wasn’t as idle as his senior claimed, maybe he had been trying to write all along, just unable to produce something he was satisfied with.
When Bai Sijun took off his coat, Mei Yuchen happened to come down from the second floor. He went to the kitchen, poured two glasses of milk, and asked Bai Sijun, “Do you want it heated?”
“No, thank you.” Bai Sijun had a good sense of self-awareness. Even if he said “yes,” Mei Yuchen would let him do it himself. He didn’t want to be troublesome in someone else’s home.
“What did you buy?” Mei Yuchen asked while drinking milk.
“Breakfast.” Bai Sijun took out a sandwich from his pocket and handed it to Mei Yuchen.
Mei Yuchen took the sandwich, looked at it, then casually leaned against the dining table and started eating.
Bai Sijun picked up the cup and took a sip of milk, instantly feeling the icy chill.
Drinking iced milk in this weather was a bit forced, but Mei Yuchen acted like it was nothing.
Bai Sijun awkwardly took a bite of the sandwich and asked, “Did you finish writing?”
Mei Yuchen answered without much expression, “Yes.”
The unexpected response made Bai Sijun’s swallowing motion pause. He had to take another sip of the tooth-chilling iced milk and force the sandwich down.
“Aren’t you going to work?” Mei Yuchen asked.
“Took half a day off.” Bai Sijun replied.
“I see.” Mei Yuchen smiled, “So, are you planning to stay here until noon?”
Bai Sijun wasn’t sure if Mei Yuchen was chasing him away. If so, this person called him over late at night, had him stand at the door in the rain, ate the breakfast he bought without a simple thank you, and now wanted him to leave.
Taking a deep breath, Bai Sijun told himself that shameless people are invincible. He should learn from Mei Yuchen’s excellent quality. So, even if Mei Yuchen was driving him away, he would pretend not to notice.
“When did you wake up?” Bai Sijun changed the topic.
“I didn’t sleep.” Mei Yuchen replied succinctly.
“You wrote all night?” Bai Sijun was somewhat surprised.
“Yes.” Mei Yuchen replied with just a sound, then seemed to think of something and suddenly chuckled.
Bai Sijun couldn’t see any signs of fatigue from his face. Instead, he discerned a faint excitement. Hesitatingly, he asked, “What genre did you write?”
He didn’t expect Mei Yuchen to answer, but unexpectedly, Mei Yuchen directly replied, “Fantasy.”
Bai Sijun widened his eyes, and disbelief was written all over his face. He struggled for half a month, and now Mei Yuchen finally wanted to talk about the new book with him?
It seemed he had finally broken through this boss’s defenses!
Mei Yuchen glanced at him, then suddenly put down the half-eaten sandwich, leaning forward.
Bai Sijun, still immersed in surprise, stared blankly as Mei Yuchen’s face grew larger and larger…
The next moment, Mei Yuchen raised his right hand and used his thumb to wipe the corner of Bai Sijun’s mouth.
“Got some sauce on there,” Mei Yuchen said.
“Tha…” Bai Sijun’s words didn’t finish because he saw Mei Yuchen sticking out his tongue to lick off the salad dressing from his thumb.
Mei Yuchen had a very handsome face, with a pair of phoenix eyes that were mostly half-open, giving him a somewhat decadent beauty. Although his action of licking the salad dressing seemed casual, Bai Sijun subconsciously thought of certain scenes from Mei Yuchen’s writing, feeling that the swirling tip of his tongue carried a hint of sensuality.
Bai Sijun swallowed hard, forcing himself to look away and asked, “What specific fantasy are you writing about?”
Mei Yuchen asked, “Do you want to see?”
Bai Sijun was once again shocked. Mei Yuchen was actually offering to show him an unfinished work?
After breaking through this boss’s defenses, was he losing too much blood too quickly? Bai Sijun pinched his thigh under the table, making sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Afraid that Mei Yuchen was teasing him, he cautiously asked, “Can I really see it?”
Mei Yuchen smirked, “Wait here.”
After saying that, he went back upstairs, and after a while, he came down holding a laptop. When he returned to the dining room, Bai Sijun had already tidied up the wrapping paper and milk on the table, sitting there waiting.
“Take a look for yourself,” Mei Yuchen placed the laptop in front of Bai Sijun.
“Okay, thank you.” Bai Sijun took a deep breath and then focused his gaze on the laptop screen. Until this moment, he still couldn’t believe things were progressing so smoothly.
The screen was on, and the page was open in Word. Bai Sijun glanced at the lower left corner, nearly ten thousand words. He asked, “Did you write all of this in one night?”
“Yeah,” Mei Yuchen responded. Then, he lazily pulled out the chair next to Bai Sijun, sat down, and propped his chin on his hand, urging him, “Hurry up and read.”
For some reason, Bai Sijun suddenly felt like what was in front of him was specifically written by Mei Yuchen for him.
It must be an illusion.
Without much time to think, he started reading the content.
Right from the beginning, there were explicit erotic descriptions. Mei Yuchen had similar scenes in his other books, and after being influenced by Junichiro Watanabe’s “cultivation,” Bai Sijun read it without changing his expression. The only strange thing was that Mei Yuchen’s descriptions were usually more subtle, but the words in front of him were too explicit, almost entirely pixelated.
By the third paragraph, Bai Sijun felt something was off.
He discreetly glanced at Mei Yuchen beside him, who happened to be observing his reaction. The two locked eyes.
Bai Sijun felt a bit embarrassed. He cleared his throat, frowned slightly, and asked, “Is this… between two men?”
“Mhmm.” Mei Yuchen smirked.
“This… probably can’t be published.”
“Who said it’s for publication?” Mei Yuchen asked with a playful smile.
Bai Sijun was puzzled, “Then, what’s it for?”
“Just expressing some feelings.” Mei Yuchen lightly opened his lips and said casually.
Bai Sijun suddenly realized something. He quickly returned to the beginning of the article, where a man was taking a shower…
Next, this man taking a shower was being pressed down by another man, entwined and tossed around…
Bai Sijun’s face immediately turned red and then pale, and Mei Yuchen, who was next to him, saw his reaction and burst into laughter, as if he had successfully played a prank.
So, this wasn’t a new book at all. It was just a yellow short story Mei Yuchen casually wrote last night after glancing at his back as he was showering.
The first thing Bai Sijun thought was that Mei Yuchen truly deserved the award as a suspense writer; his imagination was terrifyingly rich.
Then he thought of the words he had said to Mei Yuchen. Writers turn their thoughts into words, while criminals turn their thoughts into actions.
In other words, if Mei Yuchen were a criminal, had he already pinned himself down just like in the novel?
Wait a minute, he seemed to have overlooked the most important point.
Bai Sijun looked at the detailed descriptions again, then hesitated before asking, “Do you… like men?”
Mei Yuchen did not deny it; he simply asked nonchalantly, “Is that so wrong?”
His phoenix eyes still remained half-open, seemingly indifferent to the fact that he was telling someone about this.
Bai Sijun took a while to recover from the shock before awkwardly saying, “No…”
Mei Yuchen chuckled lightly and then asked, “So, do you still want to be my editor?”
