Living with Xie Chun wasn’t much different from when Xu Yanghe lived alone.
Xie Chun started working the second day after returning to Haicheng, spending almost the entire day out. Sometimes, when Xu Yanghe couldn’t fall asleep at 3:00 AM, he would hear the rustle of the door opening as Xie Chun slipped back into his room. Both were quiet people and kept to their own designated territories, avoiding mutual disturbance. Occasionally, during a deep clean, Xu Yanghe would need Xie Chun to lend a hand or move out of the way, and Xie Chun was always very obedient.
Xu Yanghe was also busy registering his company. He needed to use the company’s name and two million yuan as starting capital to increase leverage. Through stock market maneuvers, he intended to buy up scattered shares of the Sun family’s parent company. Xu Yanghe was a silent shareholder; the surface-level operations relied on Qin Zicheng, to whom Xu Yanghe paid as generous a salary as he could manage.
With Xie Chun in the house, the biggest change was the curly hair strewn across the bathroom floor.
Xie Chun’s hair was quite long—almost long enough to tie up—and featured distinct, large curls, making its presence on the floor very noticeable.
Every day, Xu Yanghe would use a tissue as a barrier to pick up the curls from the bathroom and toss them.
Gradually, he began to notice hair at the entrance, in the living room, and down the hallway… following the path of Xie Chun’s daily movements. He increased the frequency of his cleaning.
Yet, Xie Chun’s curls seemed infinite; no matter how much he cleaned, there were always more.
One morning, their washroom schedules collided.
Xu Yanghe finally had the chance to remind Xie Chun how much his hair scattered in the wind. He gathered a pile of fallen curls from the bathroom and asked Xie Chun, “Tell me, what is this?”
“Hair,” Xie Chun said. He then pinched a short, straight stubble from the sink and asked Xu Yanghe back, “What is this?”
Xu Yanghe realized his own hair was simply too short to seem like it was falling; in truth, everyone sheds, it’s just a difference between “a lot” and “even more.” He took Xie Chun to get a haircut that very day, though he didn’t make Xie Chun cut it as short as his own—he just had it styled more neatly.
The next day, Xu Yanghe was still in the bathroom picking up Xie Chun’s fallen curls.
…
A few days later, Xu Yanghe noticed a faint, strange smell lingering in the house.
It seemed like food, but it was too pungent and sharp.
He inspected every corner of the house, suspecting that food scraps had fallen into a cleaning blind spot and rotted.
On the first night of March, Xu Yanghe stayed up until 3:00 AM, sitting on the living room sofa with a small lamp on.
The sound of a key turning came from the door. He crossed his arms and looked over. “You’re back?”
Xie Chun took off his shoes, applied hand sanitizer, and said, “Yeah.”
He was carrying a takeout box.
As I thought, Xu Yanghe noted.
“What are you eating?” Xu Yanghe tilted his chin toward the box.
“Fried noodles.” Xie Chun placed the box on the coffee table in front of Xu Yanghe and sat directly on the floor with his legs crossed. Xu Yanghe mopped this floor every day; Xie Chun could have slept on it if he wanted. “Want half?”
Xu Yanghe said, “No.”
“Oh.” Xie Chun opened the foam box, and the space was immediately filled with the alluring, heavy scent of spices.
Every night he came back, he ate, put the box on the balcony, and threw it away when he left in the morning before Xu Yanghe woke up. No wonder Xu Yanghe couldn’t find any evidence.
“Eating such salty food… no wonder your hair falls out every day,” Xu Yanghe muttered under his breath.
“Hmm?” Xie Chun looked up, his pupils bright behind his glasses.
“Nothing.” Xu Yanghe sat and stared at Xie Chun for a while longer. “Do you come back at this time every day?”
Xie Chun said, “Not necessarily. Only for the late shift at Blue Sea.”
“Don’t eat this anymore. I can cook a midnight snack for you,” Xu Yanghe said.
Xie Chun: “Oh.”
Xu Yanghe found he was still unhappy. He added, “Can you stop working at Blue Sea?”
“No,” Xie Chun reacted strongly. “Even though I don’t have rent now, I still need to save for tuition and my monthly debts.” He suddenly sighed. “Before, I could only pay off a tiny bit of the principal. This month, I can finally pay back a bit more. I might actually finish paying it off in this lifetime.”
But that’s a scam… Xu Yanghe felt powerless.
Xu Yanghe began making midnight snacks for Xie Chun every day. He was a decent cook.
Pan-seared steak over rice with a homemade tomato meat sauce and blanched vegetables drizzled with sesame oil.
Shredded pork noodles, where the meat was seared in hot oil and fried yellow croaker created a milky white broth; the fresh hand-pulled noodles were bought from the beef noodle shop downstairs.
Or meat-stuffed buns too big for one bite, and stuffed mushrooms with shrimp paste full of umami…
Never the same thing twice.
As for the job, Xu Yanghe looked into it. Blue Sea hadn’t really dealt in actual sex work for several years. At most, it was drinking; the service managers kept a close eye to prevent employees from being harassed.
Xie Chun was an orphan, after all. There was nothing wrong with being obsessed with making money, as long as Xu Yanghe kept an eye on the “scam” aspect so Xie Chun didn’t get cheated again.
Xie Chun didn’t leave early and returned late every single day; on his days off, he stayed in his room to study.
Sometimes Xu Yanghe would call him out and hand him a trash bag. “Hold this.”
Then he would use cotton swabs to clean the baseboards.
Xie Chun followed him step by step. Every few paces, Xu Yanghe would toss a used swab into the bag.
Xie Chun: “…”
Xu Yanghe felt much more efficient than when he did the cleaning alone.
A week later, K University started its semester.
Zhou Lan had blacklisted Xu Yanghe for a long time. Busy with his company, he gave his account password to Xie Chun, asking him to help register for public courses.
Thinking back, Xie Chun used to do the registration for him anyway; now, they had just removed Zhou Lan as the middleman.
Since there were no classes in the first week, Xie Chun still worked the late shift at Blue Sea. It wasn’t convenient to return to the dorms, so he continued living at Xu Yanghe’s.
Xu Yanghe only went to school for one day to report in. As he left the office building, he saw Xie Chun’s class having a meeting on the first floor of the second teaching building.
Xu Yanghe wandered over. The meeting seemed to be ending; students were walking out in lazy groups.
Xu Yanghe stood by the door but didn’t see Xie Chun—he was likely at work.
He didn’t see Zhou Lan either.
When Mu Heng walked out, Xu Yanghe stopped him. “Where’s Zhou Lan?”
Mu Heng scratched his head, looking quite surprised. “You don’t know? Zhou Lan is going abroad.”
“What?” Xu Yanghe was baffled. He couldn’t see the connection between Zhou Lan and going abroad; Zhou Lan often looked down on international students like Yu Dashan.
Mu Heng explained.
K University had an exchange program with quotas every semester. Since the first semester, Zhou Lan’s sister had been trying to persuade him to go. Because the university actively promoted this program, Zhou Yi probably thought sending Zhou Lan abroad this way would reduce his resentment toward family control.
Zhou Lan had never agreed, only showing some flexibility last year, though nothing was finalized.
“I don’t know what happened after the New Year, but he suddenly agreed. He submitted his application documents over the last few days,” Mu Heng said.
Xu Yanghe was shaken.
Had the thing between him and Xie Chun hit Zhou Lan that hard?
He was called Zhou Lan, but he was still blacklisted.
Xu Yanghe left K University and headed straight for Zhou Lan’s house.
As dusk fell, Xu Yanghe pounded on Zhou Lan’s door.
“Zhou Lan, open up!”
He expected Zhou Lan to pretend he wasn’t home even if he was, and was prepared to be a public nuisance.
To his surprise, Zhou Lan answered quickly. He turned the handle and froze for a moment when he saw Xu Yanghe.
“What do you want?” Zhou Lan asked, perplexed. “Couldn’t you say it on the phone?”
“Aren’t you blacklisting me?” Xu Yanghe stepped into the house and saw luggage waiting to be packed all over the floor.
“Oh,” Zhou Lan calmly took Xu Yanghe off the blacklist. “I forgot.”
Xu Yanghe felt a mix of emotions. He started helping Zhou Lan pack in silence.
Lately, he was always helping people pack or unpack—one person moving in, another moving out. The constant change made him feel uneasy.
“When are you leaving?” Xu Yanghe asked.
“In the next day or two, I don’t know exactly,” Zhou Lan sighed. “I’m listening to my sister.”
That meant Zhou Yi was arranging everything; she might send him somewhere he couldn’t get out of for eight or ten years.
Xu Yanghe asked again, “Where are you going?”
Zhou Lan: “Don’t know. Listening to my sister.”
Xu Yanghe cursed several times.
Zhou Lan’s stubble had grown out, giving him a weary air. “It’s only been a couple of days. Don’t force me to curse at you.”
“No,” Xu Yanghe questioned, “You hated the idea of going abroad. You used to complain to me about how much you despised it and how annoying it was. Were you lying? If you had told me before graduation that you wanted to go, I definitely would have gone with you.”
Zhou Lan took a breath, looking like he wanted to say something but stopped.
A few knocks came at the door. “Delivery!”
Zhou Lan used the interruption to get the food.
The two sat on the sofa eating barbecue.
As Xu Yanghe ate, half of his anger dissipated.
“Yeah, I hated the idea before. That doesn’t stop me from changing my mind now. I’m willing,” Zhou Lan said, looking at a clean skewer in his hand, looking as if he wanted to use it as a weapon.
Xu Yanghe still hadn’t noticed. “Why? Who upset you?”
“You upset me!” Zhou Lan put down the skewer.
Xu Yanghe’s mind went blank for a moment.
Zhou Lan rolled his shoulders. “I was going to look for you, but I didn’t expect you to find me first. Today, let me hit you once.”
Xu Yanghe: “Why?”
“For that birthday!” Zhou Lan raised his fist and landed a heavy blow right on Xu Yanghe’s face.
A sharp, dull pain surged through Xu Yanghe’s face. Half of it felt scorched as he fell backward. Zhou Lan lunged, wanting to hit him again. Xu Yanghe blocked with one hand and caught Zhou Lan’s fist with the other. “You…”
Xu Yanghe had taken the hit; his teeth had cut his lip, and he tasted blood as his eye began to swell.
But after a few deep breaths, Zhou Lan was the first to start sobbing. “When… When did you set your sights on Xie Chun?”
Xu Yanghe looked at him in disbelief, suddenly pushing him aside and shouting, “You did all this just for that?”
Zhou Lan leaned against the sofa and cried.
It seemed more sincere than any of his previous breakups.
Zhou Lan was a crier; Xu Yanghe was used to it.
He sat on the side, eating Zhou Lan’s delivery while waiting for him to finish crying.
Ten minutes later, Zhou Lan finally calmed down. His first words were: “Are you serious about Xie Chun?”
“Yeah,” Xu Yanghe said immediately.
Zhou Lan was silent for a while. “Then I’ll forget about it.”
Xu Yanghe turned his head away.
…
It was late at night when he left Zhou Lan’s. Walking home, Xu Yanghe received a notification for his course registration this semester.
PE, English, Current Affairs and Policy, a few electives, and Advanced Mathematics (II).
He had failed it last year. He had forgotten to tell Xie Chun that he hadn’t planned to retake it this semester.
Now, he was registered.
Xu Yanghe was exhausted when he got home.
Xie Chun was sitting in the living room. He turned when he heard the noise and said first, “I’m hungry.”
He saw the swollen half of Xu Yanghe’s face, paused for a moment, and then said stiffly, “What happened to your face?”
Xu Yanghe walked past him with light steps.
Xie Chun followed. “Do you need medicine?”
“No,” Xu Yanghe entered the bedroom and shut the door. “I’m very tired.”
Outside the door, Xie Chun said slowly, “Oh.”
This was a minor thing; Xu Yanghe would be over it after a night’s sleep.
The next day, he saw Zhou Lan off at the airport, feeling refreshed.
…
Classes had officially started for a week, and Xie Chun was spending every day reading Xu Yanghe’s moods.
Xie Chun couldn’t tell exactly when it started, but Xu Yanghe was acting strange.
They weren’t in the same major, but Xie Chun had registered for all of Xu Yanghe’s public courses. Since Zhou Lan was abroad, the two inevitably had to do things together occasionally.
Xu Yanghe hadn’t smiled for days. He looked sad and didn’t speak to Xie Chun unless absolutely necessary.
Xie Chun didn’t understand what had happened.
He was still living at Xu Yanghe’s because of the heavy workload at the start of the semester, his part-time job, and a few competitions he needed to prepare for.
There was no reason for him to move his things out.
Xu Yanghe had been completely ignoring him lately; he didn’t understand Xu Yanghe’s attitude.
There were no opportunities for private conversation, and naturally, the midnight snacks when he came home from the late shift had stopped.
Xie Chun went back to eating fried noodles and fried rice.
But based on Xu Yanghe’s previous attitude toward such food, Xie Chun instinctively felt he shouldn’t be found out. Moreover, seeing Xu Yanghe lately made him sad too, so Xie Chun began actively avoiding the possibility of running into him.
For many days now, Xie Chun had been more cautious after the late shift, carrying his noodles and slipping into the guest bedroom. He didn’t turn on the light, using his phone’s flashlight to finish eating, and leaving before Xu Yanghe woke up the next morning.
Xie Chun was under a lot of pressure.
In the master bedroom, Xu Yanghe heard Xie Chun’s rustling every night but didn’t move.
Today, Xu Yanghe felt the house needed cleaning again.
Especially the guest bedroom—because of the awkwardness with Xie Chun, the bedding in that room hadn’t been changed for a week, the floor hadn’t been mopped, and Xie Chun didn’t like closing the window, so the balcony must be very dirty.
Xu Yanghe checked the time—11:00 PM. There was still time before Xie Chun finished his late shift.
He wanted to finish before Xie Chun returned.
Standing before the guest bedroom door, Xu Yanghe checked again—no light was coming through the gap.
He turned the handle.
The room wasn’t completely dark. On Xie Chun’s phone screen, a video was playing; the subject was a blonde, blue-eyed, well-built man. His headphones were leaking sound.
On the bed, Xie Chun suddenly looked up. His movements were a blur in the shadows.
Xu Yanghe’s eyes met his.
At this moment, the tension reached its peak.