He Xingzhou’s eyebrows instantly furrowed.
“We’ve said we want to spend our lives together, so it should be for several decades at least,” Xiao Can said, “A one-year probation period is too short.”
He Xingzhou looked conflicted.
Xiao Can deliberately frowned, “Unless you’re lying about wanting to grow old with me.”
“Of course I’m sincere,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can hugged his arm and leaned on him, “I was really touched when I heard you say that.”
As he spoke, he surreptitiously observed He Xingzhou’s expression. Seeing a slight relaxation, he immediately added, “You can’t even endure for a year, are you not confident in our relationship?”
He Xingzhou struggled to answer for a while, and finally reluctantly said, “Whatever you want.”
The crisis was temporarily averted, and Xiao Can breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that dealing with He Xingzhou seemed quite easy for him.
Back when He Xingzhou forwarded videos attacking him, he never imagined that this acknowledged eccentric Alpha would be so obedient and cooperative in front of him.
Seeing that He Xingzhou’s expression was still not very good, he tilted his head and kissed him on the cheek.
As he expected, He Xingzhou couldn’t hold back and smiled.
Such direct positive feedback gave Xiao Can great encouragement.
He leaned his head on He Xingzhou’s shoulder, his tone soft as he asked, “What time do you plan to take me back tonight?”
He Xingzhou didn’t mind him hanging on anymore, struggling to continue his work with half of his body stiffly held up. “What time do you want to go back?”
“I don’t want to go back,” Xiao Can said.
He Xingzhou glanced at him, his tone full of amusement. “Then just stay.”
“Stay where?” Xiao Can asked. “Do you have a guest room?”
“Yes, but the bed in my bedroom is the most comfortable,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can looked up, and He Xingzhou kissed him on the lips, asking, “Is it a deal, you won’t really go back?”
“I’ll see if your cooking is any good,” Xiao Can said.
“If it’s not good, it’s because someone is hanging on me and affecting my performance,” He Xingzhou said.
“… “
“Move a little, please,” He Xingzhou said. “It’s okay now, but if I make a big move later, it’s easy to accidentally elbow you in the face.”
Xiao Can pushed him away and moved.
“You like me so much, it must have been tough not seeing me during filming,” He Xingzhou chuckled as he cut vegetables. “I wonder why you didn’t give me a call.”
“I wasn’t thinking about you,” Xiao Can said. “I was so busy, I even forgot you.”
He Xingzhou laughed. “I don’t believe you. I bet you even think about me when you’re waiting in the living room.”
Xiao Can wanted to deny it, but it seemed like he had just said it himself a moment ago, and he felt embarrassed.
He could only retaliate from a different angle. “You could also have contacted me proactively. Didn’t you miss me?”
“I did, but since I always have to be the one to find you, I thought you might find me annoying if I contacted you too often,” He Xingzhou replied nonchalantly. “It’s boring when I can’t talk to you all day. Everything I do feels dull.”
“… “
“Every time I want to talk to you, I have to consider whether you’ll scold me if I call,” He Xingzhou continued. “But then I think, it’s not bad to hear you scold me a little, so I call anyway.”
Xiao Can leaned in again. “… How come I didn’t realize you had such rich inner thoughts before?”
“That means you didn’t try to understand me,” He Xingzhou said. “I’ve always been very sensitive and delicate.”
Xiao Can thought to himself, at least one of us has a misunderstanding of “sensitive” and “delicate,” and it’s not me.
“Oh, then I’ll get to know you better in the future,” he said, giving He Xingzhou some leeway. “No rush, right?”
“Move over a bit,” He Xingzhou lifted his arm. “Don’t lean on me.”
Xiao Can was startled to realize that he had unconsciously leaned on him again, feeling a bit embarrassed, he stepped back a few paces away from him.
Sensing nothing from Xiao Can’s demeanor, He Xingzhou continued, “Take your time getting to know me. After all, I’ll be a man hidden from the light for a year.”
“You’ve already told Teacher Xia and them,” Xiao Can reminded him. “Do I look like I care?”
“I didn’t say I was dissatisfied,” He Xingzhou muttered. “But what if someone asks if I’m single in the future?”
“Just tell them it’s none of their business,” Xiao Can said. Seeing He Xingzhou’s skeptical look, he shrugged, “It’s in line with your usual style, isn’t it?”
He Xingzhou remained noncommittal.
“And besides, nobody would usually ask you that kind of question,” Xiao Can added.
“It’ll probably come up soon,” He Xingzhou said. “Starting next month on the 8th, probably.”
“What?” Xiao Can was full of question marks. “Why? And why such a precise date?”
“I was inspired these past two months when I missed you, so I wrote some songs,” He Xingzhou said. “I’ll release one on the 8th next month.”
Xiao Can blinked. “Is it the song Charlie sang just now? But didn’t it even have a title?”
“It’s not that one,” He Xingzhou said. “That one hasn’t been written yet.”
“Are there others?” Xiao Can blinked. “Who’s singing?”
“I wrote it myself, so of course, I’ll sing it,” He Xingzhou said. “I just finished recording it a few days ago.”
Oh my god, He Xingzhou is actually releasing a new song! Xiao Can was shocked, then quickly realized that he seemed to be the biggest contributor to it, feeling excited and joyful.
“I want to hear it,” he urged. “Sing it for me now!”
He Xingzhou opened his mouth, then quickly closed it, chuckling after a moment. “… It’s too cheesy, sorry.”
The more he said that, the more interested Xiao Can became. “Hurry up, or I’ll bite you!”
He Xingzhou was trapped by Xiao Can from behind, and soon begged for mercy. “Okay, okay, just let go first.”
Xiao Can obediently let go and then hugged his waist. “Alright, start!”
He Xingzhou cleared his throat. “This song is called ‘Don’t Kill Me.'”
“Huh?” Xiao Can was stunned.
He Xingzhou hummed a few bars of the melody before starting to sing.
As he had said, the lyrics were indeed quite cheesy, full of straightforward confessions that would make the listener blush, but the beautiful melody saved the song’s atmosphere.
The climax was particularly earthy.
“I warn you not to come over, or I’ll give you my heart~”
“Try burying it in the soil, and see if flowers will grow~ Try burying it in your heart, and see if flowers will grow~”
“Please, accept it, just consider it giving me a way out, okay~”
After the song ended, the kitchen fell into silence.
Charlie silently hopped off Xiao Can’s shoulder and left the kitchen without looking back.
“Can you say something?” He Xingzhou asked.
“Has anyone ever told you that, uh… the lyrics you write are quite… quite something,” Xiao Can said.
“Yes,” He Xingzhou said, “but the emotion is sincere.”
He had eagerly written some lyrics for his own songs in his early years, but none of those became widely known.
The general public’s evaluation was that they were top-notch compositions with excellent singing, but the lyrics were subpar.
However, it was quite obvious that this didn’t dent his confidence.
“Is it not good?” he asked Xiao Can.
Xiao Can’s face was burning, “It’s good.”
This wasn’t just flattering him. To sing such cheesy lyrics so beautifully and touchingly was indeed an extraordinary talent.
“It’s just… the song title is very odd,” he asked, “Can it be changed?”
“It’s not odd, it’s very fitting,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can naturally knew what he was referring to.
“But it might make people think of my emojis, you’ve even posted about it on Weibo, someone is bound to notice you’re hinting at it,” Xiao Can said, “It’s not very good.”
He Xingzhou fell silent for a moment, “…Do we have to avoid suspicion like this?”
“I really don’t want people gossiping about me,” Xiao Can said, “Can’t we change it a bit? After all, that line isn’t in your lyrics.”
“I don’t want to change it,” He Xingzhou said.
He looked resolute, and Xiao Can started to get a little anxious, “Do you want me to get bullied?”
“No, then let’s not release it,” He Xingzhou said.
“…”
This was too extreme.
“I genuinely like you and haven’t done anything shameful. If someone doesn’t like it or sticks their nose in, it’s their problem,” He Xingzhou said, “Before people who like to meddle in other people’s business open their mouths, they should take a good look in the mirror.”
Xiao Can felt irritated and helpless, frowning at him.
“I’m not complaining,” He Xingzhou said, “Originally, it didn’t have to be released. If you don’t like it, just pretend you never heard it. If you like it, I’ll send it to you later. You can listen to it privately or share it however you like. It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell others what it’s called. But it will keep this name, it won’t change.”
So stubborn.
Was this a characteristic unique to artists? Although this title lacked any artistic vibe whatsoever.
Xiao Can decided to coax him, “But it’s really good, it touched me deeply.”
“Then I’ll send it to you,” He Xingzhou said, “Consider it a limited edition for you.”
“But I think it deserves to be heard by more people,” Xiao Can said, “Otherwise, it would be a shame.”
“That will affect you,” He Xingzhou said, “Think carefully, if you see someone criticizing you, I wouldn’t be happy either.”
“Don’t your fans look forward to your new songs? Don’t you want to make them happy?” Xiao Can said.
“It’s not a big deal,” He Xingzhou said, “I still have seven songs in my hard drive. I’ll release them slowly.”
Xiao Can was shocked, “You wrote so many?!”
“Inspiration struck,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can thought, am I not He Xingzhou’s source of inspiration, his new muse?
“Oh, but probably not all of them can be used,” He Xingzhou thought for a moment, “More or less, they all mention you.”
“Are they all love songs?” Xiao Can asked.
“Yeah.”
How is this any different from waving a big flag and announcing to the world, “I, He Xingzhou, am in a relationship!”
Two little figures popped into Xiao Can’s head.
□
One was shouting with their head in their hands, “Enough already,” while the other, covering their face, exclaimed, “So happy!”
The two figures looked at each other, took a step forward, and embraced each other.
“So… let’s forget about the fans for now,” Xiao Can buried his face in He Xingzhou’s back, “I want to listen to them, send them all to me.”
