TL: Hua
That night, Xia Shu’an and Shen Boyan were just chatting under the quilt. In fact, they didn’t even chat. It was too warm inside the quilt, and there was a significant difference between the air conditioning temperature in the room, which was slightly lowered for certain purposes.
Catalyzed by this temperature difference, Xia Shu’an quickly fell asleep.
The next day, when he woke up, there was no one around him.
He sat up and looked toward the interior of the room and noticed the man standing outside the balcony, clad only in a bathrobe provided free of charge by the hotel. He was making a call on his mobile phone.
Xia Shu’an took one look and then stopped looking. He stretched his waist while walking slowly to the bathroom. After washing his face, he heard someone ringing the doorbell outside. When he opened the door, a young man wearing hotel work clothes was revealed.
The man had a warm smile on his face and said loudly, “Greetings, esteemed guest, your breakfast.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Xia Shu’an stepped aside to let the man push the dining cart in, and then the latter thoughtfully began to serve the meal. Xia Shu’an was punctual for all three meals, and after a night of digestion, he did feel his stomach protesting. In addition, the weather was very good today. The morning light penetrated freely from the transparent glass window on one side. The sunshine and the smell of food made his good mood slowly rise at the beginning of the day.
The waiter didn’t leave immediately after finishing his task. He took out two sachets the size of a child’s palm from the second compartment of the dining cart. The sachets were made of cloth and had a very elegant and light color, which was very different from the facilities in the room.
Two sachets, one embroidered with “peace” and the other with “happiness.”
“As the New Year approaches, I wish our guests a prosperous new year, peace and joy, and all the best.”
Xia Shu’an’s face showed a bit of surprise. Perhaps because he didn’t often stay in hotels, this was the first time he encountered this kind of hotel service.
The sachet exuded a faint fragrance. Xia Shu’an took it, nodded, and said, “Thank you, and I wish your hotel a prosperous business.”
“It’s just that I didn’t have a chance to test it last night; otherwise, I would have known if this hotel business would prosper.”
Shen Boyan came back from the balcony after making a phone call. He opened the door just in time to see Xia Shu’an talking with a person wearing hotel work clothes. The slender and tall young man stood sideways, facing the balcony. His slightly longer black hair was tied up with a black hairband, revealing a small tuft on the top of his head.
The various color lights in the room were turned off, leaving only white ones. Under the faint golden halo of the morning light, the young man’s fair and gentle face seemed to be coated with a layer of gentle arc light.
He smiled at the waiter, his thick lashes fluttering gently in the halo of light, his expression shallow but vivid and alive.
Shen Boyan breathed a sigh of relief. Xia Shu’an was indeed too tired yesterday. He just got sick, so he wasn’t in good spirits.
“Xiao Shu—”
After hearing the voice, the young man turned his head, with a gentle smile in his eyes, and said sweetly and softly, “Finished your call? Just in time to have breakfast together.”
“…………”
Why did he change back again!
Shen Boyan wasn’t an idiot. After a little thought, he knew that this was Xia Shu’an’s protest against some of his actions in the past few days.
But hasn’t he already “made up for it”? Why is he still angry?
Shen Boyan was puzzled. He had been observing Xia Shu’an during breakfast. Although he speculated that the other party was still angry, the expressions on his brows and eyes were so calm, even warm and peaceful.
But to say that he wasn’t angry—
The man exhaled slowly and looked down at the breakfast on the table. The hotel breakfast is a combination of Chinese and Western styles, including bread, milk, steamed buns, and a small plate of fried rice and pickled cucumbers.
Shen Boyan glanced casually and prepared to use the innocent steamed bun as his prop: “This steamed bun is not as delicious as the ones steamed at home.” The man looked disgusted.
Xia Shu’an looked calm. “Yeah, right.”
“This fried rice is also greasy and hard.”
Xia Shu’an nodded in agreement. “Yes.”
“This pickled cucumber…”
Xia Shu’an learned to answer quickly: “is not crunchy at all.”
The beautiful young man slowly raised his head, with a hint of comfort in his expression. Even that hint of comfort seemed to have been carefully decorated, like the cracks on the vase painted by a painter: “Don’t be angry. When we get home, let Auntie prepare delicious food for you.”
“…”
After finishing the emotionless breakfast, Shen Boyan was helpless and furious in front of the bathroom mirror for a while, and then walked out again.
When he went out, Xia Shu’an was packing his things to leave the hotel. His side profile, facing Shen Boyan, wrote a silent resistance. At this moment, all his accumulated anger badly needed a release, so he grabbed Xia Shu’an and forced the other party to look at himself: “What are you angry about?”
Xia Shu’an, who was forcefully pulled into his arms, was startled for a moment and then said, “I’m not.”
“You’re not? Xia Shu’an—”
Shen Boyan pinched his chin with two fingers, his pupils flashing coldly. “Do you think you can really deceive me?”
Shen Boyan was born too tall, and Xia Shu’an was forced to straighten his waist and slightly tilt his upper body back. He tried his best to look up. The skin held by Shen Boyan’s fingers quickly turned red, as well as his eye sockets.
Seeing the water droplets flickering in his pupils, Shen Boyan froze slightly and subconsciously withdrew the force from his hands.
Xia Shu’an looked at him with bright eyes.
“I didn’t think about anything, let alone deceive you. I just want to be with you.”
He whispered softly, “Can I?”
Before his brain could react, Shen Boyan’s mouth had already answered, “Yes.”
……
A few minutes later, the two people, hand in hand, got into the car to go home.
Shen Boyan’s face was ashen. He looked at the flawless face of the young man in the mirror and felt like the innocent teenager who had been heartbroken by a lover luring butterflies outside and wanted to leave him in anger, only to be deceived into getting into the car.
And this cold lover changed his flowery face and resumed his cold and unfeeling nature after deceiving him.
Shen Boyan was in a trance, and his brain stopped functioning in the car that was driving smoothly.
“Why are your hands so cold?” Xia Shu’an held his hand and said worriedly, “You haven’t touched the cold water either.”
Shen Boyan moved his lips a few times and said, “I don’t want to go back.”
“Huh?”
The man straightened his sitting posture and said seriously, “Aunt Qiao just called and asked us to buy groceries on the way.”
Xia Shu’an looked confused. Why didn’t he receive the call?
Forget it; it’s not important.
He turned to Shen Boyan, smiled, and said softly, “Okay.”
“…”
…….
…….
There was once a survey conducted by a boring social networking site about the ten most common places to spot couples, with the top three being: restaurants, movie theaters, and supermarkets.
As the survey results show, today is the weekend when there is a lot of foot traffic in the supermarket. Looking around, the people flowing into the shelves and aisles are either families or pairs of couples. Occasionally, there are children who look like students passing by, with 30–50% companionship and a pure and carefree face.
A bunch of young lovers passed by Shen Boyan, and he heard them saying, “What do you want to eat tonight?”
“Carrot pork ribs soup.”
“Then you have to cut carrots…”
Their conversation constituted an invisible thread, one end of which implicated the words floating in the air and the other implicated Shen Boyan’s heart. Those words, as light as mosquitoes and flies, pulled his heart from time to time, making him feel a subtle itch.
He raised his head. Two steps away, Xia Shu’an was standing in front of a shelf. He was holding the handle of the supermarket shopping cart in one hand and the packaged food taken from the shelf in the other. He lowered his head to look at the logo behind the packaging.
Looking at his focused appearance, a warm current surged down his veins into his chest. Shen Boyan took a step forward, took the shopping cart in Xia Shu’an’s hand, and came up to say, “What are you looking at?”
“Read the ingredient list and nutrition label.”
“Nutritional cereals—are they for mom and dad?”
“Yes.” Xia Shu’an didn’t care about his address and put the things in his hands into the shopping cart: “I’ll just get this one.”
The two of them started shopping slowly. Shen Boyan had not been to the supermarket for a long time, and he felt a little interested in looking at the wine in front of the wine cabinet.
Xia Shu’an stood not too far away and compared the fruit wine on the shelf.
“Hello.” A girl suddenly approached and said with a red face, “Can I add you on WeChat?”
Shen Boyan, who was separated by a shelf, heard these words. He had a slightly cold look on his face and was about to walk over when he suddenly remembered Xia Shu’an’s angry roar from the previous two days, and he stopped abruptly.
Xia Shu’an was surprised at first, then quickly shook his head: “I’m sorry, I’m already… already in a relationship with someone.”
“That’s fine.” The girl left disappointed.
Xia Shu’an watched her go away, then remembered that Shen Boyan was also here. He turned around suddenly and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw no one.
Fortunately, Shen Boyan didn’t see the scene just now. Otherwise, if he poked any of his nerves again, who knows what would happen? He turned back with relief.
Shen Boyan hid behind the shelf and forced himself not to look. After a while, he saw that the girl had left and then slowly came out again.
Xia Shu’an was still choosing fruit wine. Shen Boyan could see that he was in a good mood and didn’t want to spoil it.
Shen Boyan cleared his throat and was about to speak when suddenly a familiar voice came from the opposite side. The voice was extremely familiar, as if he heard it every day, but the tone was completely different from before.
“This white wine is delicious; my colleague highly recommends it!”
“Buy, buy them all.”
“Hmph, of course, how can you not let me buy it?” The girl said it in a coquettish tone, looking pampered and arrogant.
At the other end of the liquor shelf, a man and woman walked slowly together, pushing a shopping cart.
“Assistant Qi!”
Qi Sicheng raised his head and unexpectedly saw two familiar figures in front of him. His girlfriend next to him also looked over curiously, but her reaction was much simpler. After seeing the faces of the two people standing side by side, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she quickly turned on the radar mode, scanning back and forth quickly.
The doting smile on Qi Sicheng’s face faded, and his tone returned to the calm tone Shen Boyan was used to hearing: “President Shen, Mr. Xia.”
After hearing her boyfriend address them, the girl quickly restrained her eyes.
“I came shopping with my girlfriend.”
Then he remembered that Assistant Qi also had a girlfriend.
“Yes.”
The two of them had a professional relationship in the company and had no personal ties, so there’s no topic that can be used for small talk. On the contrary, it was Xia Shu’an who recalled that the Assistant Qi in his memory seemed to be married, and he even brought his wife to attend the annual meeting one year. He lowered his head to look at their hands and saw the ring on the hands they were holding.
Noticing his gaze, the girl raised her hand with a smile: “We are engaged and will get married this spring festival.”
“Ah, congratulations.”
Xia Shu’an genuinely meant it. In his previous life, Assistant Qi had taken good care of him.
“Thank you!”
Listening to the blessing from the person beside him, Shen Boyan suddenly felt a great responsibility on his shoulders. He puffed up his chest, looked at Assistant Qi, and said, “I’ll give you a big red envelope at the end of the year.”
“Then let me thank President Shen in advance on behalf of Ah Cheng!”
The girl is outgoing and graceful, which complements the taciturn Qi Sicheng very well. Xia Shu’an saw that she kept looking at him secretly, so he smiled kindly at her. The girl was startled, blushed, and said quickly, “Ah, Mr. Xia, your phone charm is so beautiful.”
“Is this it?” Because the sachet was small and cute, Xia Shu’an hung it on his mobile phone.
He showed her the sachet and said, “This was given to me by someone else.”
“There are words on it, so cute!”
“Ah Cheng, these sachets are so cute. Let’s buy two of them and take them to the temple to pray for blessings.”
“OK.”
Girls are the type that Shen Boyan would find noisy when he meets them at work, but they seem to be particularly lovable in life. Not to mention Qi Sicheng; even Xia Shu’an looks at her very patiently, seeming to be attracted by the sweetness between the two.
“President Shen, Mr. Xia, We’ll go first.”
“Ok.”
The two people gradually moved away, and words such as “tonight” and “hate, don’t lie to me” could still be heard.
Shen Boyan looked at Xia Shu’an’s side profile; his heart moved slightly, and he reached out to hold his fingers.
“They are very sweet.”
“Yes.”
Shen Boyan’s heart moved again, and he said, “We are also very sweet.”
The young man slowly looked back, gazing sweetly and tenderly at the man in front of him. “Yes.”
Shen Boyan: “…”
Not sweet at all ! ! !
…….
Shen Boyan couldn’t express his inner feelings. After seeing Qi Sicheng’s true sweetness, Xia Shu’an’s hypocritical “gentleness” and “obedience” made him even more uncomfortable. He originally wanted to live in a two-person world with Xia Shu’an, but in the end, he couldn’t eat anything and felt like a fish bone was stuck in his throat.
He couldn’t cheer up on the way back. When he got home, Aunt Qiao came up to him and said, “Oh, I’m really sorry to trouble the two sirs to help me buy groceries.”
“It’s nothing, just buying groceries.”
Aunt Qiao took the groceries from them and said, “By the way, Mr. Xia, I’ve already changed the water for your flowers.”
“Thanks.”
“Water? Change water for what?” Shen Boyan asked keenly.
Aunt Qiao explained casually: “The water is used for hydroponic flowers. Mr. Xia picked the flowers yesterday and put them at home to grow. They are beautiful.”
Shen Boyan frowned. “Why didn’t I know about this?”
Xia Shu’an smiled and said, “You are too busy. There is no need to report such a small matter to you.”
His expression is impeccable, and it even makes people feel that this is not a complaint but a gentle and sensible lover’s consideration for his significant other. There is nothing to criticize.
Under Xia Shu’an’s calm gaze, the heat wave that had just surged into Shen Boyan’s chest calmed down instantly.
“I’m going to see the flowers.” He said that and went upstairs.
For about ten hours from last night until now, Xia Shu’an has never mentioned that bouquet of flowers. More precisely, throughout the entire evening and morning, except for those words that were forced to agree with Shen Boyan, Xia Shu’an never said a word related to himself.
It was as if he had excluded Shen Boyan from his life.
Reluctance and loss drowned out Shen Boyan like the midnight tide. Shen Boyan took a breath, turned around, and slammed his fist against the wall. “What on earth is he angry about!”
Aunt Qiao was startled and looked at him sideways: I think Mr. Xia is quite good. Did you make him angry again?
Now Xia Shu’an is like a mindless vase, and every minute and second with him is torture. Shen Boyan didn’t want to see Xia Shu’an again, so he went directly into the study to deal with his own affairs.
He vaguely heard voices outside: “Mr. Xia, Mr. Xia, don’t move, I’ll move-”
“No need; I can do it. I’m at least a young man in my twenties ……”
What? What move?
Shen Boyan rushed out of the room with one swift step and quickly stepped forward to pick up the wooden table that the two of them were holding in their hands.
He turned to Xia Shu’an and shouted angrily, “Your body is so weak. If you get injured accidentally, you will make everyone worry about you!”
“Don’t do it again!”
Xia Shu’an: “…”
