Do you want me to go home?

As the year drew to a close, businesses across the board were scrambling to meet demand, and Hua Lin was no exception. Even Jinnan's "wait until after the New Year" strategy didn't work. After a week of overtime, he was finally freed from his corporate prison and settled into the small street stall Li Hongfang had rented for a drink. He'd barely finished his drink before falling asleep.

"Don't let me see the alcohol," Jinnan said. "I'm going to throw up from all the drinking parties and meetings all day long."

"Then you can drink the baby milkshake." Li Hongfang smiled at him, replaced the wine with a cappuccino.

Jinnan doesn't want to drink coffee either.

He was typing on his phone. On his day off, Xu Zhiyuan applied to go out. He spent half a day at his favorite teahouse to meet an old friend, and the other half a day buying books.

Jinnan wanted to go with him, but couldn't find a reason, so he had to come and drink with Li Hongfang.

I sent the typed message to Lu Yiqing, asking her to ask the administration to add some coffee beans when she goes to work the day after tomorrow, because the last time it was too sour and not tasty.

The young master felt a little guilty for disturbing others' peace on a weekend, and he also gave Miss Lu a red envelope of 100 yuan as "hardship fee", but Miss Lu did not accept it.

"Jinnan, are you living in the Manye property now?" Li Hongfang suddenly came up and asked.

"Hmm." Jin Nan didn't even raise his eyes, "What do you want?"

"I recently spotted a celebrity who wants to move. After much deliberation, I decided that place has the strictest security." Li Hongfang said generously, "If it's inconvenient for you, forget it."

Jin Nan didn't care. The property that Jin Licheng left him was enough for him to be a hermit crab for the rest of his life.

"Sure, you can ask someone to appraise it and sell it to you at the market price."

"Can't we rent it?" Li Hongfang had a headache.

The Manhe house was not more expensive than his Lucerne Bay house, but it was not a small sum either. It was enough to buy him several nice cars.

"I don't like collecting rent," Jinnan said. "I don't want a house that someone else has lived in."

"I know you like cleanliness." Li Hongfang smiled. "I'll find a way to pay for it. We'll talk about it after the New Year. So where are you planning to move to? If you ask me, it's a waste not to live in such a nice little house in Yunting."

Yunting... Yunting is of course good, but there is also Xu Zhiyuan living in Yunting. How could Jinnan dare to live under the same roof with him now?

"Let's take a look." Jinnan said.

Lu Yiqing replied: "Shall I change it for you, the same one as Mr. Xu's?"

Same as Xu Zhiyuan? Jinnan really didn’t know what kind of coffee Xu Zhiyuan drank today.

He asked for the details, a smile unconsciously forming on his lips. Li Hongfang sat beside him, his expression growing darker.

Who are you chatting with? You look so happy.

Li Hongfang: "Mr. Lin is going to go shopping tonight, I want to go check out the snow equipment."

Jin Nan didn't even look up: "Going to the Alps again?"

"You don't have a passport, so just go for a quick ski trip up north." Li Hongfang stared at him. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Why should I go?" Jinnan asked curiously.

"Be a mascot." said Li Hongfang.

Among them, Jinnan was a rare good boy. The second generation of wealthy families all had some kind of useless hobbies that burned money. Lin Jiaze loved racing cars, and Li Hongfang, besides his love of buying paint and drinking, also enjoyed extreme sports, making him a complete money-squandering machine.

Jinnan was different. He only drank alcohol outside, never actively drinking, and accepted whatever he was given to eat or play with. He even drove under the speed limit. He never floored the accelerator of his Lamborghini, which he used for daily commutes.

In the past, Jinnan would play everything in a sociable way, but recently things have become a little different.

Anyway, after returning from Xuanshan, Jinnan never got drunk again.

Li Hongfang loved to get him drunk, but he didn't have the chance since then, which made him feel upset.

Take him to a place isolated from the world and see how he changes. Li Hongfang thought so and did so, but he collapsed at the very beginning.

"The company is busy, and Chinese New Year is coming soon." Jinnan asked, "Where are you spending the New Year? Are you going to California?"

The Li family's current business focus is overseas. Li Hongfang's parents live in California all year round, leaving this only child to have fun in China.

I heard that Li Hongfang himself didn't want to leave, for some unknown reason.

"Oh, it's Chinese New Year. I should stay in China." Li Hongfang seemed to have just realized, "Where are you spending it? You're the only one in Jin's family. Are you going back to Hangzhou with Xu?"

Jin Nan narrowed his eyes and said, "It's not impossible."

Jinnan's grandparents were gone, and he didn't even know who his maternal grandparents were, not even his mother. But Xu Zhiyuan was different. He still had his biological grandparents living in Hangzhou, and every Chinese New Year, Xu Zhiyuan would go home to visit them.

That was another world outside the Jin family, belonging to Xu Zhiyuan, one that neither Jin Licheng nor Jin Nan would ever ask about. This was the only day of the year Xu Zhiyuan would leave without even saying goodbye.

When I went back to my grandparents' home with Xu Zhiyuan, it was only after Li Hongfang reminded me that I thought of this possibility.

Li Hongfang continued to persuade him, "You'd be so bored at home all by yourself. Let's go before the New Year when there aren't many people around. We can stay in the northwest for a few days and then drive to find the snow-capped mountains."

Jin Nan, however, was already thinking about what gifts to buy for his grandparents. He stopped Li Hongfang from trying to persuade him and said, "Why do you look a bit like Lin Jiaze today?"

Li Hongfang: ...

This is the greatest insult to him.

*

Jinnan didn't agree to Li Hongfang's plan to wander around the northwest. After compensating him with a bottle of good wine, he began to plan to move.

I live in Manhe because it is located in the middle of the city. Whether I go to work or visit friends, it only takes about ten to twenty minutes to drive there. It is just the right distance.

If he were to move, Yunting would of course be the best choice. One of Jinnan’s other two apartments was too small, and the other was a duplex apartment he bought two years ago for novelty, with poor sound insulation.

Jin Licheng has many houses, but many of them are occupied by his lovers. Jin Nan doesn't care about this.

After much thought, Yunting is the most suitable.

Yunting is also the least suitable place, because Xu Zhiyuan is there. He can't let Xu Zhiyuan move out, right?

Jinnan was worried and pondering. The news of the house sale had reached him before him. Xu Zhiyuan had already sent a WeChat message: "Are you going to sell the Manhe Real Estate?"

The person typing on the other end of the line flashed for a long time before a few lines popped up: "The market is bad right now, and selling at a huge loss. If you need money urgently, I can give it to you. It's a loan, and I don't charge interest."

Jinnan was feeling annoyed, with a cigarette in his mouth, when he was amused by Xu Zhiyuan's sales talk that sounded like a small advertisement.

He replied: "I'm not short of money, it's my friend who wants a house."

The other party was silent for a moment, then continued typing: "Where are you moving to?"

Jin Nan didn't know why, but he felt a sense of satisfaction as if he had finally taken the initiative. He replied, "Are we not going to send cigarettes to each room this time?"

"I can't afford cigarettes." Xu Zhiyuan replied.

Jinnan looked at it and laughed.

He hesitated for a long time, so long that the phone in his hand seemed to be frozen. When he was also looking forward to it, he finally asked, "Do you want me to come home and stay?"

Xu Zhiyuan didn't reply this time.

Half an hour later, Xu Zhiyuan knocked on the door of Manya, led two bodyguards, and stood in front of Jinnan.

"Mr. Jin," the bodyguard said first. "Mr. Xu said he wanted to see you, so we didn't stop him."

Jinnan looked at him, his heart beating like thunder.

"What are you here for?" he asked knowingly.

"Help you move." Xu Zhiyuan said frankly.

It was still past eight o'clock in the evening. Xu Zhiyuan was not wearing thick clothes and it was obvious that he had left home and rushed all the way here.

"Brother." Jin Nan suddenly called out, "You haven't answered my question yet."

Jinnan never calls him brother, he doesn't regard Xu Zhiyuan as his brother. Which younger brother would want to sleep with his brother?

But he wanted to call it that now, he wanted to mislead, he wanted Xu Zhiyuan to be unpredictable. Only in this way could he hide in the dark and seize the initiative.

Jinnan always felt that if he revealed his feelings, he would lose. He would no longer have the freedom to control everything about Xu Zhiyuan as he did now, and he would become a poor guy who had to live by courtship.

He doesn't want it.

"Do you want me to come home and stay?"

Jinnan was certain that Xu Zhiyuan would submit to him.

Xu Zhiyuan looked directly into his eyes, only seeing himself in them. He knew he was right. Coming here today, he would see a different Jinnan.

That was Jin Nan, whom he hadn't seen for a long time and who was not well behaved at all.

He seemed to be back to the age of fifteen, back to the time when the gap between them was huge. This time, Jin Nan smiled and told Xu Zhiyuan that he was no longer passive.

If you want him, Xu Zhiyuan must bow his head and show his true colors first.

It's that simple.

Xu Zhiyuan nodded without hesitation: "I do."

Jin Nan attacked him the next second, grabbed his collar, and locked the two bodyguards outside. The room was silent, and the only sound was the sound of the fish in the tank that Jin Nan kept in the entrance.

Xu Zhiyuan lowered his head slightly, his dark lips were so close to him that Jinnan was distracted.

"elder brother."

"Um."

"Xu Zhiyuan."

"I am here."

Jinnan stared at him closely: "You answer whatever I call you?"

"Um."

Jinnan took a deep breath and released his strength.

"Help me move."

Jinnan's room in Yunting had remained clean and tidy for eight years, with a fresh scent of soap. Today, it was the only unobstructed, surveillance-free haven in the entire Jin family compound.

Xu Zhiyuan simply helped Jinnan pack his carry-on luggage, and someone would come to collect the rest the next day, so Jinnan didn't have to worry about it.

Back home, lying on the big bed, Jin Nan sighed in comfort. Even though he didn't recognize the bed, he liked it here better.

During the three months and twenty-one days since he left home, only Xu Zhiyuan often came here.

Now, Xu Zhiyuan was squatting at the end of the bed unpacking his luggage. He knew better than Jinnan what should go where. He quickly packed up and stood up. The listening device in his pocket was still flashing red.

Jinnan stretched out his hand to him, Xu Zhiyuan walked over and gently took it.

"Do you want to get up?" Xu Zhiyuan asked.

Jinnan shook his head, his ears burning for some unknown reason. Under the dim light, Xu Zhiyuan's already deep features became even clearer. He stared at Jinnan quietly, his dark eyes as still as a pool of water.

Jinnan waved at him, and Xu Zhiyuan lowered his head. Jinnan's slender fingertips rested on his earlobe, gently stroking and tracing it.

He was not like the decisive and ruthless ruler outside. In Jinnan's hands, he kept his head down and remained silent, like a giant dog in a muzzle.

The relationship between them was clearly so weak that it was unpredictable. They had no blood relationship, could not get married, and were not on the same household registration book. As long as Xu Zhiyuan left home, Jin Nanlian did not even have the right to report him missing.

Although they were not related, Jin Nan now wished that Xu Zhiyuan was his real brother. At least no matter what happened, they could still eat New Year's Eve dinner at the same table.

But he also felt that Xu Zhiyuan was very close, so close that he could reach out and touch him, so close that if he took the initiative to give him a kiss, Xu Zhiyuan would surrender to him.

It was obvious that he was the one who liked her first, but Xu Zhiyuan behaved more like a lover than he did.

Jinnan's competitive spirit emerged, but when he looked into Xu Zhiyuan's eyes, it was crushed by his calmness.

"Xu Zhiyuan, can I go home with you for the New Year? Back to Hangzhou Province, back to your home."

Xu Zhiyuan's breathing stopped.

"good."