When Lu Huaiqian got home, Shi Yi was slumped on the sofa watching a movie.
Hearing the noise, Shi Yi didn’t even blink, and kept staring blankly at the TV screen.
The meal Lu Huaiqian had left on the coffee table before he left was still sitting there untouched, completely cold by now.
“Why didn’t you eat?”
Lu Huaiqian saw the cold food, walked over, crouched down beside Shi Yi, and coaxed him gently, “Didn’t you feel like this? I brought you crawfish and milk tea, why don’t you get up and eat a little? Otherwise you’ll be hungry in the middle of the night.”
Hearing this, Shi Yi’s eyelids twitched. He crossed his arms, glanced up at him sideways, and said, “What, don’t want the trouble of getting up to make it for me tonight?”
“No, why would I not want to make it for you?” Lu Huaiqian held back the urge to stroke Shi Yi’s soft hair and said with a smile, “I’m just worried that if you eat late at night often and then go straight to sleep, it’s bad for your stomach. Your stomach’s already not great, and doing this a lot will make it worse.”
“Get up and eat the crawfish, and I’ll make you a bowl of noodles to go with it, all right? I bought it from that restaurant you like best.”
Shi Yi wasn’t moved. He glanced up sideways again and asked, “Did you eat?”
Lu Huaiqian said, “I did.”
Shi Yi went on, “Are you full?”
Lu Huaiqian answered, “I’m full.”
“Fine, so now you want me to eat?” Shi Yi sat up from the sofa and looked down at Lu Huaiqian from above.
Lu Huaiqian nodded, gave a soft “Mm,” and said, “Is that all right?”
“Sure.” Shi Yi lifted his chin slightly and pointed at the food on the table that he hadn’t eaten. “I don’t feel like eating alone. If you finish that with me, I’ll eat.”
“Okay, I’ll eat with you.” Lu Huaiqian didn’t hesitate and nodded right away in agreement. “Then go sit at the dining table first and wait for me a moment, I’ll go heat up the food.”
Shi Yi said, “Don’t heat it.”
Lu Huaiqian paused for a moment, but still chose to agree.
He smiled at Shi Yi, said “Okay” again, got up and carried Shi Yi’s unfinished food to the dining table, opened the crawfish box, and started eating with Shi Yi while peeling the shrimp for him.
The crawfish on the plate went down by half, and the leftover food in front of Lu Huaiqian went down by half too.
This posture of giving whatever was asked, as if he could do anything for him, it disgusted him to look at.
“Crack!”
The rare harmonious atmosphere was broken by the sound of chopsticks slamming down.
“Stop eating!” Shi Yi glared coldly at Lu Huaiqian across from him. “What are you putting on this devotion act for? I tell you to eat and you eat? Then if I told you to go die, would you go?”
Lu Huaiqian’s gentle expression froze on his face, then returned to normal in an instant. “Why are you suddenly unhappy again? Are you full? Or does this not suit your taste? Do you want noodles? I’ll go make them for you.”
“Don’t disgust me here.” Shi Yi’s eyes held undisguised revulsion. “I asked you, if I told you to go die, would you? Answer me, would you or not!”
The air fell silent again.
Lu Huaiqian lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment, then looked up again and said earnestly, looking at Shi Yi, “Shi Yi, I can’t go. If I died, my parents and Yunyi would be heartbroken, and also, I wouldn’t feel at ease about you either.”
“Heh.” Shi Yi curled his lip in contempt. “Not at ease about me? Not at ease about what? Don’t you think I’d be better off without you?”
Such fake, hypocritical nonsense!
What he hated most in this life were people who put on an act.
“Stop eating, both of us. Looking at you turns my stomach.”
The chair was shoved back hard, making a sharp scraping sound, then landing on the floor with a thud. Shi Yi walked away from the table without looking back.
Just looking at him one more second was disgusting enough.
Watching that figure disappear around the corner, Lu Huaiqian was silent for a few seconds, reined in the emotion in his eyes, silently pulled off his oil-stained gloves, got up, and set the chair back upright.
He put Shi Yi’s unfinished crawfish away in the fridge, cleaned up the leftovers and the table, then went upstairs to the bedroom.
An ordinary argument and scolding didn’t change the relationship between the two of them, or the state of things.
Because even if Shi Yi cursed him a thousand times, ten thousand times, said every ugly thing there was to say, Lu Huaiqian would still come crawling back like a dog.
That was what Shi Yi found utterly pointless.
Extremely irritating.
Lu Huaiqian’s face was thicker than a city wall [1]Lu Huaiqian’s face was thicker than a city wall (lian pi bi cheng qiang hai hou, 臉皮比城牆還厚) Idiom, utterly shameless, impossible to embarrass jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3276585_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3276585_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
He was the thickest-skinned, most detestable person Shi Yi had ever seen.
Still, luckily there was the big surprise he’d been preparing lately, with something to look forward to, the days weren’t so boring after all.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the day of their third wedding anniversary, Shi Yi sent Lu Huaiqian, who wanted to stay home with him, off to the company, then slept at home until the afternoon before getting up to call the people setting up the venue.
He didn’t need to bother with the decorations, and he didn’t need to bother with the candlelit dinner either, there were professionals handling all of it.
All he needed to do was call Chen Shi again when Lu Huaiqian was about to get off work, and have Chen Shi come over and get ready.
At half past four in the afternoon, Shi Yi, rarely taking the initiative, sent Lu Huaiqian a message asking when he’d get off work.
Lu Huaiqian replied very quickly.
Lu Huaiqian basically always replied to his messages instantly, Shi Yi never had to wait on purpose.
Lu Huaiqian said he’d get off work right on time at six in the evening, and also asked if there was anything Shi Yi wanted him to bring home.
Shi Yi glanced at the message, didn’t reply, and switched straight back to his contacts, dialing Chen Shi’s number.
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