Chapter 4

The fist was powerful and merciless, the protruding knuckles hitting the center axis of his nose, but of course, it avoided the eyeballs and other vital parts.

Xiang Mingqi took a step back to the wall, his footing unsteady, and he squatted down with a wail, clutching his wound. His shoulders trembled convulsively, but he was actually peeking over from the slits of his eyes.

Seeing Pei Huai turn around and leave resolutely, he hurriedly raised his head from between his knees, the decibel level was terrifyingly high.

"It hurts, brother!"

No one paid any attention to him. The footsteps continued without a pause, and as the door was about to close—

At this critical moment, Xiang Mingqi stood up and rushed over, intending to grab the door handle: "I just got here today. I don't know anyone and I don't have anywhere to go. I just want to get along well with you. Woohoo, do you really hate me that much?"

"Yes." Pei Huai slammed the door without saying a word.

"Wow, you're so evil, so heartless, and so cruel!" Even the thickest door couldn't block out his loud cries. "Forget it, I'm leaving. I'll just be sleeping on the streets, covering myself with cardboard every day, and fighting with stray dogs for bones. Maybe one rainy day, you'll remember me, the poor person who once lingered in front of your door..."

"—So, after hearing such a tragic story, your heart still wasn't moved at all?"

...Who cares about you.

Pei Huai put on his earplugs, bent his knees and lay back on the sofa, closing his eyes and resting in the most comfortable posture.

Sleepiness is a condition that chooses its timing very well. It may only take a short time for it to appear and turn into light sleep.

This time, the dream was unusual. For the first time, Pei Huai felt very close to something—so close that his breathing tightened.

The drops on the oilcloth felt like raindrops hitting my arms, and the sky was gray and the rain was relentless. The cold muddy water reached my ankles, soaking my shoes until they were soft.

Even my toes could feel the squeezing of the mud. My body would occasionally sink, and occasionally I could hear thunder not far away. Every thunderclap was echoed by a desperate cry in my ears.

It was a thin child whose face was unclear. His only cotton coat was soaking wet, and his cheeks and eye area were covered in mud and lumps. His slender arms tightly embraced him, and he kept pressing against his chest.

"Brother, don't go. Please don't go." The boy burst into tears. "No one wants me. No one cares whether I live or die. No, I don't want you to go..."

Then.

—Light. A ray of light suddenly pierced the slit of my eyes.

Pei Huai frowned uncomfortably, took a deep breath, opened his sleepy eyes, and looked out the window following the light source.

The lights in the office building across the street had already come on; it was 8 p.m., the perfect time for late-night office hours. He sat up, pressed his hand against his tired eyes, and massaged his orbital bones. He took a few deep breaths until he felt like throwing on a sweatshirt and planning to grab dinner at the convenience store downstairs.

But the door had just opened a few centimeters when it seemed to hit something and immediately bounced back into the entrance.

He grasped the door frame and leaned over to look, and saw Xiang Mingqi curled up with his face buried in his knees, squatting pitifully in the corner - he was lucky, maybe he was asleep.

Pei Huai calmly withdrew his gaze, closed the door, and went downstairs. He hadn't climbed a few steps when a flurry of hurried footsteps followed him.

"That's too much! I'm already so pitiful, and yet you still ignore me."

Didn't look back.

"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have asked you to take me in right away. I was wrong, so please don't abandon me..."

Still didn't look back.

Of course, his nagging and thick-skinnedness did work. Due to his senior status and the unbearable punch, Pei Huai knew he couldn't refuse. With permission, Xiang Mingqi clung to him like a koala, nagging him all the way to the convenience store.

In front of the food shelf, Pei Huai threw two bags of noodles and a bag of pickled cabbage into the cart, looked up and asked him.

"What to eat?"

"I want ice cream, French fries, shrimp chips, pizza, corn salad, and Coke. Oh, and it would be nice if I could have some donuts too."

The questioner walked past him pushing a cart.

"Wow, wait a minute, I was just kidding. I'll eat whatever's delicious today. I'm not picky." Xiang Mingqi hurriedly caught up with him, a smile on his face, "Brother, you're such a nice person. I didn't expect you to be so easy to get along with."

Pei Huai felt his solar plexus twitch. He pushed the cart past the snack aisle and came to the cashier amid the requests of his juniors.

"I'll pay the bill." Xiang Mingqi held down his hand reaching for his wallet, shook his index finger casually and confidently, took out his phone, held it under the barcode scanner, closed his eyes and raised his eyebrows in a self-proclaimed deep expression, "There's no such thing as splitting the bill with me, so feel free to exploit me."

“…Why do you use that word?”

"What other word should we use for our relationship? Slavery?"

Pei Huai stopped talking.

As the salesperson's jaw dropped, the two of them walked out of the convenience store. Pei Huai thought for a moment and asked him, "Don't you have anywhere to go?"

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

"Then why pay the bill?"

"Just because I have nowhere to go doesn't mean I have no money." He clutched the plastic bag and unconsciously quickened his pace. "I have plenty of money in my WeChat. You don't have to worry about me."

Pei Huai stared at him, his tightly pursed lips twitching in displeasure. Before going upstairs, he gave one last reminder: "You have money, you can find a place to live."

"But I don't want you to worry." He said this seriously. "I know it's a real mess here. The news is full of robberies, murders, and shootings. If I suddenly disappeared, you would be very worried about me."

"I won't worry about you."

"You're so cold!"

I don't want to pay any attention to him.

——But unfortunately, no matter what Pei Huai's idea was, after coordinating with the company department over the phone, they only hoped that he would treat the younger generation well, and in this regard, he would receive some financial subsidies.

Of course, Zhu Zhiyang was helpless and even added fuel to the fire by coming up with a plan of "Why don't we live together and let him sleep at your house?" He hung up the phone without waiting for Pei Huai to finish listening.

After two bowls of pickled cabbage and egg noodles came out of the pot, Pei Huai squeezed a little sesame oil, cut the green onions, and chose two wide-mouthed bowls with striped patterns. He decided to draw a clear line between them at the table.

"Brother, your house is so clean. You cook like this—" He scooped a spoonful of egg drop soup, his thumb raised high. "The bookcase is so tidy. Is it arranged alphabetically? Also, there is no hair on the carpet, which is such a difficult place to clean." Xiang Mingqi sat down cross-legged, hugging his knees and swaying back and forth. "But where should I sleep tonight?"

"kitchen."

"Hey, why?" He seemed to have suffered a great blow.

"I don't like sharing a room with other people."

"But sleeping over there is too weird." Xiang Mingqi didn't dare to act rashly and could only mutter quietly, "There's a bed and a sofa here. Why did you send me to the kitchen?"

"so?"

"Uh uh, you're being mean to me again, can we watch TV tonight?"

"Please go straight to bed."

"Oh, okay... wait, after dinner, it seems like it's not even eight o'clock yet. Don't you want to chat with me and show some interest in my college life?"

"I don't want to see you."

"Wow, that's too direct." Xiang Mingqi bit off the noodles in annoyance, his mouth full of grease. "Fortunately, I'm the one being criticized. I would have turned a deaf ear to your scolding." Before he could finish, Pei Huai got up and went into the bathroom, refusing to communicate with him.

He came out an hour later, wiping his half-dried hair with a towel. He stood on the absorbent mat in front of the door to change into slippers. He was about to wipe the water marks on the side of his neck when he said, "Good night."

Following the sound, he saw Xiang Mingqi in the middle of the kitchen, having found an old quilt he had scavenged from somewhere and spread out on the floor. He clutched the quilt tightly with both hands, covering his neck, and blinked at him furiously.

Pei Huai didn't want to pay attention to him and turned away.

A coquettish voice came from behind.

"Please turn off the light for me, thank you, brother. You are the best. Mua!"

“…Do your own thing.”

"Oh, you're so bad."

Turn off the lights, close the door, and draw the curtains. Pei Huai put down his water cup and swallowed the pill. He hadn't wanted to do this. Sharing a room with someone else and taking sleeping pills made him feel uneasy. But tomorrow was his brother's funeral, and he didn't want to end these past events in such a bad mood. Under the covers, between the pillows, sleepiness once again crept into his eyes. The constant work was weighing him down, and once his eyelids closed, they stuck together, making it impossible to open them again.

An hour. Maybe an hour and a half.

The glass sliding door of the kitchen slowly opened, and Xiang Mingqi walked barefoot through the living room to the bed. He held his breath, opened the bedside table drawer, and bent down to examine the outermost tablet.

One, two, three, four... the number is right. Satisfied with the answer, he approached the edge of the bed, leaned over, and with his hooked hands, pulled Pei Huai's ankles apart, his eyes greedily licking the open waist/hips.

The calf line appeared before his eyes, and when he grabbed it, his heart began to beat wildly again - he couldn't imagine the consequences of the person waking up, it might very well cost him his life.

When the muscles are not tense, the hands still feel well-trained and have the power to strangle an adult at any time.

From the ankles, calves, to the knees, the curves are as sharp as a python.

"Brother, you really hate me bothering you. Didn't you go too far today? After all, if it weren't for this..." He smiled and carefully lifted his thigh, lifting it from his knees to his shoulders. He then arched his back and bit the innermost flesh.

He pulled his hands on her knees, spreading her thighs further apart. He pressed forward to Mingqi's body, kissing his abdomen, which rose and fell with his breathing.

Kiss, one kiss after another that leaves no trace.

He took hold of the corner of her pajamas, moistened it with his saliva, and with his right arm, he pulled her upper body over. Their waists and hips pressed together, allowing Xiang Mingqi to bend down easily and bite open the top button.

The tongue carefully licked the navel, leaving a very light tooth mark on the senior's side. Only then did he exhale with a dazed look in his eyes, as if he was satisfied with this.

As he unbuttoned his shirt one by one and kissed the exposed chest, he took a last look at Pei Huai, whose breathing was slightly disordered, and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"You will definitely forget me again."