Chapter 121 Extra Five
When I came out of the teaching and research office, it was almost dark. The warm orange light of the street lamps reflected the wetness of the stone brick road.
Only then did I realize that it had rained without me noticing.
When Ye Kai came out, he was accompanied by a Korean junior student from the same grade. The tutor was a well-known workaholic, known for his absolute strictness in the international student circle, but he could not help but have double standards when it came to his favorite students. For example, when they said goodbye, he was cold and serious to his junior student Li Zhaoxi, and even criticized the inaccuracy of the research model after he finished speaking, but he was very kind to Ye Kai.
Li Zhaoxi followed Ye Kai with a book in her arms, a little behind him. When they were far enough away, she whispered in English, "The boss is partial to you."
Ye Kai comforted her and told her that he was whipped a lot in the first few months after he arrived.
Li Zhaoxi said, "But Leslie, you are really amazing. I have a lot of questions to ask you. I wonder if you... have time to have dinner together? We can talk while we eat."
Ye Kai is not easy to make an appointment with, Li Zhaoxi said as his eyes fell on the ring finger of his left hand where there was a wedding ring.
Ye Kai looked at the time, it was still early.
The club bar is always full of energetic students, playing billiards, drinking, dating, and debating. Sometimes when the discussion gets heated, someone holding a bottle of wine might join in and make a few comments, even if every word makes sense. Under the not-so-bright lights, there is a wonderful ecological vitality.
It was the first time Li Zhaoxi met Ye Kai, and after drinking a little, he couldn't stop talking. When they came out, it was already past nine o'clock.
The snow on both sides of the road had melted halfway, and it was raining, so the road was dirty and slippery. Li Zhaoxi took two steps, and his foot slipped, and he grabbed Ye Kai's arm reflexively.
Ye Kai helped her up and lowered his eyes to see the sheepskin high-heeled boots on her feet.
"I just bought it and forgot to put the bottom on it..." Li Zhaoxi said pitifully.
"Call a taxi." Ye Kai smiled and withdrew his hand after making sure she was standing firmly.
Li Zhaoxi lifted her hair, lowered her head slightly and said, "Actually, I live in your neighborhood."
A fifteen-minute walk away.
Li Zhaoxi looked into his eyes and suggested: "Why not... just walk back?"
In the dark night and under the street lights, her eyes were very attractive, especially when she looked directly at someone. But before she finished speaking, she turned her eyes away, not only because she met a pair of more beautiful eyes, but also because of the sharp tolerance in those eyes. It seemed that she saw through everything, but didn't say anything. This kind of gentleman was despairing. When Li Zhaoxi turned his eyes away, he thought to himself, no wonder so many people failed.
Compared to the excitement in the bar, her spirits were obviously much lower.
The sound of soft leather heels hitting the ground dug into the silence.
"I used to fall down for no apparent reason when I was walking."
"Ah?" Li Zhaoxi half opened her mouth, looking incredulous, with surprise in her eyes, because Ye Kai actually took the initiative to talk to her. She looked at Ye Kai: "But I can't imagine how you would fall."
Ye Kai lowered his head and smiled: "Every time I was about to fall, I would be caught."
Li Zhaoxi said a little sourly: "The person you are talking about must be very familiar to you."
"My love."
The title of lover was solemn and dignified. Li Zhaoxi choked up and opened her mouth awkwardly, which was considered a smile. After a while, she whispered, "So you are really married."
"You thought it was fake?"
“We all thought it was fake.”
Ye Kai laughed: "Am I so boring?"
The journey of less than one kilometer was long enough for them to chat. Before Li Zhaoxi had time to ask more questions, a white luxury apartment building appeared in his sight.
"You live here, don't you?"
Ye Kai put his hands in his coat pockets and nodded.
"Actually, I often see you walking in front of me, but sometimes you'll pass me on your bike."
As he walked, his steps were steady and the nine o'clock morning light shone through the cream-white corner of the building, just covering him.
It's different when riding a bike. With a "swoosh" sound, the center of gravity is lowered to the inside, and the car turns at a very fast speed without even braking. The expressionless face is filled with an indifferent and irritated "shit".
Ye Kai laughed: "Excuse me."
At that time, the night before would probably be either in a meeting until midnight or chatting nonsense with Chen Youhan.
Li Zhaoxi took a subconscious look as she passed the apartment gate without stopping, because every day when she passed by, she would subconsciously take a look to see if Ye Kai would suddenly come out from there.
The revolving door of the luxury apartment never stops, and even the lights are as brilliant as a hotel lobby. On the tall marble pillars are elegantly carved "Since 1969", a detail that Li Zhaoxi noticed when he approached it on purpose once, but now there is a man in a black coat standing there, leaning slightly against the wall, holding a cigarette between his fingers.
Another five minutes' walk would lead to her residence. Although they were in the same neighborhood, her apartment was much more down-to-earth and more popular with students. The short tree-lined avenue was filled with couples who had just finished their dates.
Li Zhaoxi tightly grasped the spine of the English textbook in his arms and said casually, "Do you want to go upstairs and have a drink?"
Ye Kai shook his head. Although he was smiling, he felt more distant: "No."
"Leslie," Li Zhaoxi called him again when he turned to leave, "But I haven't figured out the problem today. Maybe... do you have time in the next few days?"
Ye Kai raised his phone: "It's okay, I check my emails every day."
He said it in a subtle way, leaving no room for embarrassment. Li Zhaoxi was stunned, and forced a smile at the corner of his lips: "Okay, I'll sort out the problems when I get back."
Just a few minutes into the return journey, it started raining again.
The fine raindrops hit his face diagonally, and it was as cold as needles. The most difficult winter when he first came here was the winter. It was like seeing a ghost. How could it be so cold? It was completely different from the cold in the snow-capped mountains and ski resorts. In comparison, Ning City, a city without winter, was like heaven.
Now, I have learned to enjoy the bone-chilling coldness of rain, ice and snow.
Even without an umbrella, Ye Kai walked calmly and took out a cigarette box from his pocket. There was only one cigarette left. He lit it skillfully, crumpled the soft-shell cigarette box into a ball and threw it into the trash can. He had just finished smoking when he reached the door of the apartment. He held the short butt of the cigarette, took the last puff, was startled, and suddenly laughed.
Through the pale smoke in the night, he saw Chen Youhan leaning against the wall.
He was wearing a three-piece suit so neatly that if you didn't know him, you would think he was here for a meeting.
They quickly ran over the distance of a few steps, Ye Kai hugged him with one hand, and put out the cigarette in the ashtray with his left hand, and laughed softly in Chen Youhan's ear.
"Why are you here at this time?"
He and Chen Youhan met about once every two or three weeks. If they were busy, they might not see each other for a month. But he had just been here last week, so he shouldn't have been in the United States at this time.
"Meeting?" Ye Kai guessed. Without waiting for Chen Youhan to answer, he asked again, "How long have you been waiting? Why didn't you send me a message?"
Chen Youhan didn't say anything, but just kept looking at him with her eyes downcast, taking in the lonely night and the bright afterglow coming through the revolving door.
He had been waiting here for nearly two hours, but he wasn't going to say anything.
Ye Kai guessed that it was unlikely that he would arrive within these few minutes by chance, so he deliberately asked jokingly: "You saw me walking by but didn't call me."
Chen Youhan slowly took off his sheepskin gloves.
Winter in Boston can freeze people to death. His hot palm pressed against Ye Kai's cold jaw, and he said lazily, "I want to see if you will go home after sending your female classmates."
The tip of her finger pressed against his lower lip.
Ye Kai lowered his eyes, and the mist from his breath dissipated slowly as he spoke. "Maybe."
Chen Youhan chuckled, and finally hugged him in his arms, resting his chin on his neck.
"Just missed you."
·
The elevator went up to the ninth floor, and the door opened with a ding. The shiny carved mirror wall reflected two men kissing each other. The travel bag was thrown at his feet, and one of his hands tightly wrapped around his neck was bare, and he was eagerly taking off the glove on the other hand.
The moment the gloves were taken off, they fell to the ground as if they could not be held. Ye Kai stroked the back of Chen Youhan's head with a pair of warm and slender hands, with his five fingers deeply inserted into his hair.
The elevator door waited for five seconds before slowly closing and sinking again.
The corridor on the ninth floor was still empty.
Chen Youhan kissed him while taking off his coat, and Ye Kai raised his arm to cooperate. The cashmere coat was tailored to fit him, and a schoolbag with a computer hung on his shoulders. The shoulder strap got stuck in the middle, and after a while, Chen Youhan took a step back, laughed with a disordered breath, and cursed "Fuck."
Ye Kai also smiled and looked at him, panting. Chen Youhan's figure bathed in warm light was reflected in his dark pupils.
Chen Youhan hugged him again, much more gently this time. She kissed the corner of his lips lightly and used one hand to tidy up his hair.
"It's gone down again." Ye Kai looked at the numbers on the display screen that kept decreasing.
Chen Youhan gentlemanly took the blame: "Blame me."
This time, they went down to the underground parking lot. An owner came in and saw the two of them standing facing the elevator door, looking very serious.
Aunt Wang, who Qu Jia arranged, would come to the house to cook and do the housework at a fixed time every day, and would never disturb him at other times. Ye Kai took off his coat and threw it on the sofa while asking, "Are you hungry? There are midnight snacks in the refrigerator."
Chen Youhan looked at him, smiling but not saying anything.
Ye Kai held on for two seconds, then rushed over and stopped pretending: "I want to eat seafood noodles!"
Chen Youhan laughed out loud, rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the refrigerator, asking, "If it's really that bad, why don't you ask Qu Jia to change it for you, or I can hire another chef for you."
Ye Kai hugged him from behind, looked at the ingredients in the refrigerator with him, and said, "How can that be? Aunt Wang's cooking skills are not very good, but she is still very serious about her work..." Moreover, she is very nervous about her work, like defending her territory, and will never allow others to get involved. If Ye Kai asked someone else to cook, this 60-year-old aunt might be so sad that she would cry.
"It's really hard for you to learn it by yourself." Chen Youhan took out the ingredients from the refrigerator one by one.
The seafood was bought and processed on the same day. The black tiger shrimps were tender and firm, the white clams and mussels were served in soup, and the green and red peppers were cut into thin strips. Ye Kai followed closely beside them and said aggrievedly, "I tried three times and set off the fire alarm three times. Please forgive me."
When he was studying in China, he ate takeout and took the subway, and lived a casual and relaxed life. When he arrived in the United States, he immediately returned to the original prototype of a noble young master. At first, he booked a suite in a five-star hotel for a long time. After living there for a month, he was finally driven to collapse by the food that changed every day but always had the hotel taste. Although Aunt Wang still has room for improvement, she is at least willing to make progress. Her eyes with reading glasses often carefully observe every micro-expression of this young master chewing and swallowing from behind, in order to figure out what he really likes despite being too polite.
"I wrote more than a dozen recipes for Aunt Wang last time, why didn't she learn them?"
"After learning, she is not willing to be outdone and thinks your skills need to be improved, so you must be innovative every time."
Chen Youhan almost cut her finger with laughter and ordered him, "Stand still." Then he said, "No wonder you don't welcome me very much every time."
"No way." Ye Kai whispered with his face against his back, "It's obviously because you make me sick every time I come..."
Chen Youhan arrived the day after Aunt Wang took over as housekeeper. She left a clean and tidy house, and when she left, she looked at this stranger with a stern look. After noticing that they wore the same ring, she was ready to accept this "VP". However, the next day, she was completely disappointed when she saw the messy bedroom and the washing machine that was inexplicably moved.
The old lady's face turned red as she made the bed.
She had the room card, and when she went to the door on the third day, she heard noises she shouldn't have heard. The tightly closed bedroom door was banged against, making noises of varying severity.
From then on, she calculated the days when Chen Youhan came to visit even more strictly than she had counted her periods when she was young.
"You blame me for staying in bed?" Chen Youhan exposed him.
Ye Kai was choked and said angrily: "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be unable to get up."
Of the countless mornings Li Zhaoxi saw with "shit" written all over his face, half were probably caused by him.
Chen Youhan had a slight impression of this.
Or rather impressive.
That time he was in Boston for business negotiations, which was unexpected, but it didn't stop him from having sex at the hotel where he was staying. The next day, Ye Kai had to give a presentation to his mentor, and he kept saying "Shit, it's half past ten!" while jumping off the bed and looking for clothes all over the room.
Chen Youhan was sitting on the bed with his upper body naked, holding his forehead with his hands while laughing, and Ye Kai threw a pillow at him.
"What are you laughing at!" Ye Kai also laughed, and cursed as he laughed: "Get lost!"
Chen Youhan raised his hands, suppressed his laughter and surrendered: "I admit my mistake."
I lifted the quilt and got out of bed, helping him pick up things here and there.
The printed handouts were scattered all over the floor because we kissed each other yesterday when we entered the room without having time to put our things down.
The coat was in the hallway, the suit was in the living room, the vest was half hanging on the back of the chair, the shirt was crumpled at the end of the bed, and the pants were missing, and finally found to have run behind the curtains.
Still need a tie.
He was so angry that he turned the hotel suite upside down and found it under the sofa. Ye Kai was holding the tie that was tied into a knot and collapsed: "Chen Youhan!"
He was deprived of oxygen last night and had no idea what he had grabbed to tie his eyes.
…This bastard who is worse than an animal has no right to be called “Brother Youhan”!
Chen Youhan coughed in an attempt to cover up his mistake, and coaxed him repeatedly, "Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry - calm down - I have it, I'll find it for you right now, okay? Damn it - be gentle!"
Finally, he randomly found one that was not too outrageous and tied it up. Ye Kai hurriedly rolled up the documents, picked up his computer, picked up his schoolbag and ran out, while running he hooked his heel with his hand.
With a bang, the bedroom door slammed loudly.
Two seconds later, he opened the door like a gust of wind and ran back.
Chen Youhan thought he had forgotten something, but Ye Kai just ran into his arms and kissed him hard—
"Good morning kiss!" He left a message and ran away.
"It's almost eleven o'clock." Chen Youhan said slowly.
Ye Kai's voice quickly dissipated from the living room to the entrance hall, "Brunch kiss!"
·
As the thick soup in the pot boiled, Chen Youhan came back to his senses from his memories. He hated winter more than Ye Kai, but for some reason, he always came to see him more often in winter.
The seafood noodles come out of the pot, and the steaming hot air carries a rich and fresh aroma.
The two sat opposite each other at the dining table, and Ye Kai raised his eyes and glanced out the window.
The dark and colorful night sky was tinted with a warm yellow by the light coming through the windows. In this warm yellow, heavy snow fell like goose feathers.
"Brother Youhan, it's snowing."
The author has something to say:
When he was sleeping soundly at night, Ye Kai seemed to feel someone stroking his jaw, and then gently kissed his lips.
He was embraced in a warm embrace, snow was falling outside the window, and in his dream he thought that the winter in Boston was not that cold.
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