…Damn, what? He was being hugged by the villain?
No, was this really a hug? Both arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. You Chumu definitely wanted to strangle him, maybe even cut him in half at the waist.
Thanks a lot.
You Chumu looked thin, but he felt surprisingly solid when touched.
…How strange. His teenage cousin would never hug him like this, but You Chumu was like a kid who knew nothing about the world at all, hiding nothing and expressing everything as directly as possible.
“Let go of me,” Xu Chi said.
“…Brother smells nice,” You Chumu’s voice came from over his shoulder.
“…It smells the same as your clothes,” Xu Chi replied.
“No, Brother smells better,” You Chumu said.
“…Alright.” Xu Chi gave a perfunctory answer.
You Chumu let go and casually kicked the person lying carelessly on the floor beside them.
The kick drew a pained groan, followed by violent coughing. He woke up again, and the moment he realized what had happened, he propped himself up and backed away:
“Cough, damn it, lunatic, let me go. No, fuck, you guys are badass, let me go. I fucking won’t mess with you again.”
Xu Chi pulled away the hand You Chumu was still holding at his waist, walked over to the tattooed-armed man, and crouched down.
He looked at him quietly, saying nothing, yet carrying a kind of force, as if enormous explosive power were hidden in that stillness:
“What’s your name?” Xu Chi asked.
In the original host’s memories inherited by Xu Chi, he only knew this man was a neighbor who lived upstairs, but he didn’t know his name.
The tattooed-armed man had a fierce look. At this point, even his nose was red as he said warily:
“Zhou Ye.”
Xu Chi nodded, took out his phone, and said, “Add me on Twitter. I need to tell you something.”
Zhou Ye froze, then laughed mockingly. “Add Twitter? Us? Ha.”
Before the laugh had even finished, he saw the person standing behind Xu Chi and immediately swallowed it back, pulling out his phone from his back pocket, scanning the code, and adding him.
“What do you need Twitter for? You were just about to kill me.” His voice had gone much quieter.
Xu Chi sent a note, glanced at his Moments, then put his phone away and pointed at the person behind him. “You saw it too. The one at my place is pretty fierce. But he was just joking with you. See? You’re fine now, aren’t you?”
Zhou Ye nearly exploded. “Fine? I’m fine?”
He almost jumped up to point at Xu Chi’s nose and curse him out, but when he saw the person standing very intimately behind Xu Chi, he crouched back down. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Xu Chi smiled at him, reached out, and patted his shoulder. “Not only are you fine now, you’ll be fine in the future too. Including your flowers. I can help you find out who killed them.”
Zhou Ye stared. “My flowers? You didn’t kill them?”
Xu Chi raised an eyebrow. “Why would I bother killing your flowers? I don’t remember ever having a grudge against them.”
Zhou Ye said, “I fucking saw you climbing outside last time. My flowers were being well cared for on the balcony. I was away for just one night, and when I came back they had been trampled to pieces. If it wasn’t you, who else would be out climbing around at night? You’re not just some mad… handsome guy…”
“…”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Xu Chi stood up. “Come inside first. It’s not good to keep standing in the stairwell; you’ll block other people.”
Zhou Ye was still half-sprawled on the floor. Xu Chi and You Chumu were both standing there, looking like two devils ready to bare their fangs and pounce on him to tear him apart at any moment, which made him tremble all over.
“I want to go back.” He forced his voice not to shake and kept inching backward at a snail’s pace, trying to get upstairs.
“What’s the rush? I scared you just now, so let me treat you to a meal as an apology.”
Zhou Ye said, “…No need. I forgive you.”
Xu Chi was amused. “You really think this is an apology?”
The next second, his gaze went cold. “Are you coming in by yourself, or should I help you in?”
“…”
Zhou Ye said, “I’ll come in by myself.”
Five minutes later, Zhou Ye was sitting at the dining table. Xu Chi was cooking in the kitchen, and You Chumu was lying beside the table, staring at Zhou Ye.
Cold sweat dripped from Zhou Ye one drop at a time. He didn’t dare say a word.
Although both men who had grabbed him were terrifying, compared with You Chumu, Xu Chi was much better. He was now desperately hoping Xu Chi would finish cooking and come out quickly.
“Um, there’s no need to make it too good. Anything simple is fine.” So he squeezed out this sentence, all while watching You Chumu’s complexion.
Xu Chi heard him from the kitchen and was amused again.
He thought this tattooed-armed muscle guy was really interesting.
You Chumu heard Xu Chi’s laugh and got unhappy. He looked at Zhou Ye. “Why do you always make Brother laugh?”
Brother doesn’t even laugh in front of me, You Chumu thought unhappily. He got so unhappy that his fingers started digging at the tabletop.
“…” Zhou Ye couldn’t answer You Chumu. He didn’t even know what that question meant.
Make who laugh? Make Xu Chi laugh? Why would he try to make Xu Chi laugh? He wasn’t trying to make Xu Chi laugh. Why did Xu Chi laugh? What had he said that was funny?
But… this Xu Chi felt different from the Xu Chi he had met before…
They weren’t familiar with each other, but since they lived upstairs and downstairs, they occasionally ran into each other. Before, whenever he met Xu Chi, the impression Xu Chi gave him was always that Xu Chi was a very gloomy, dull, rigid person…
But today’s Xu Chi was strangely frightening… completely different from the impression he had before.
Thinking of the Xu Chi he had once seen through the window in the middle of the night, climbing the building under the moonlight, he broke out in a cold sweat again… definitely not a normal person.
He really regretted why he had come upstairs today to provoke Xu Chi.
When You Chumu saw that Zhou Ye had lowered his head and wasn’t answering, he got unhappy and was just about to make a move when Xu Chi came out carrying two bowls.
It was noodles. You Chumu immediately got up to help carry one of the bowls out.
Each bowl had a fried egg, except that the bowl in front of You Chumu had two fried eggs and a large chicken drumstick.
“The chicken drumstick and eggs are leftovers from lunch. The fridge is empty, so don’t mind it. I’ll treat you to something good next time.”
You Chumu looked at the bowl in front of him, then at the one placed in front of Zhou Ye, and said to Xu Chi:
“Brother, that bowl was used by you. He can’t use it.”
Xu Chi said, “I washed it.”
You Chumu said, “Even if you washed it, he can’t use it.”
Xu Chi said, “…The three bowls are the same. How do you remember which one I used?”
You Chumu said, “I remember. I remember everything Brother has used.”
Xu Chi said, “…I’ve lived here for so long, and I’ve used every bowl in the house.”
You Chumu said, “Then he can’t use any of them.”
Xu Chi said, “If he can’t use them, can you use them?”
You Chumu said, “I can use them. I’m Brother’s.” He even looked a little shy.
Xu Chi: “…” He had just said it casually, but You Chumu had actually remembered it.
Zhou Ye silently raised his hand. “How about I go upstairs and get a bowl?”
Xu Chi and You Chumu both looked over at the same time…
Zhou Ye: “I won’t eat…”