“Mm.” Lu Huaiqian nodded, his expression still unchanged, and looked at Shi Yi gently. “Go back to your room and sleep a bit more. I’ll come get you once dinner’s ready.”
Shi Yi didn’t want to deal with him, and kept walking forward with a hand on the wall.
Used to this by now, Lu Huaiqian didn’t try to stop him, and silently followed behind him.
In this suffocating household, it was mostly Lu Huaiqian who had a say, and Shi Yi rarely bothered to engage, but aside from having to see Lu Huaiqian every day, Shi Yi was otherwise free to do as he pleased.
He could do whatever he wanted.
Bringing bar escorts home was fine, locking Lu Huaiqian out of the house was fine, sleeping in separate rooms from Lu Huaiqian was fine, losing his temper whenever and wherever was fine, ignoring Lu Huaiqian was fine, cursing at Lu Huaiqian or slapping him was fine too.
As long as Shi Yi could still come back to this house, anything was fine.
Shi Yi’s head still ached, and his footing was unsteady, going down the stairs, he nearly tumbled several times.
Lu Huaiqian followed carefully behind him, reaching out anxiously each time he nearly fell, then withdrawing his hand once he managed to steady himself.
A staircase that could normally be crossed in one or two minutes took the two of them nearly five or six minutes to get down.
The living room had already been cleaned up.
Shi Yi stumbled forward and threw himself onto the sofa, letting out a long breath.
He’d slept for several hours, although his head still ached, he wasn’t going to fall back asleep any time soon, so he figured he might as well play a game to pass the time.
Shi Yi rubbed his forehead and reached for the phone on the coffee table, then suddenly caught sight of Lu Huaiqian standing at the kitchen island, washing cups.
Lu Huaiqian had already changed into pajamas, apparently confident that once he’d finished making dinner, he could go rest and sleep, so how could he possibly let Lu Huaiqian have his way?
“I don’t want matsutake noodles.”
Shi Yi’s voice wasn’t loud, but in the quiet room Lu Huaiqian still heard it clearly.
Lu Huaiqian stopped what he was doing and turned to ask him, “Then what do you want to eat? I’ll go make it.”
Shi Yi said, “I want the eel rice from Pan-Casa.”
Pan-Casa was about a forty-minute drive one way from the villa where they lived, an hour and a half round trip, if Lu Huaiqian wanted to go rest once he’d finished cooking, then he was determined not to let him rest.
“Okay, I’ll go buy it.”
Lu Huaiqian didn’t hesitate for a second, setting one of the washed glasses back on the rack.
He then poured a cup of milk he’d already warmed and set it on the coffee table in front of Shi Yi, saying gently, “Buying the eel rice will take some time, if you’re hungry, drink some milk first. It’s warm, don’t let it go cold before you drink it, okay? Drinking it cold will give you a stomachache.”
Shi Yi ignored him, not even sparing him a glance, continuing to stare at his phone screen and play his game.
Lu Huaiqian went upstairs, changed into casual clothes, and left.
During a break between his character dying miserably mid-game, Shi Yi drank the still-slightly-warm milk Lu Huaiqian had prepared for him.
Once a round of the game ended, Shi Yi felt the house was eerily quiet, so he reached over and turned on the TV.
By the time Shi Yi finished his third and fourth rounds of the game, the milk he’d drunk had already been mostly digested, and Lu Huaiqian still hadn’t come back.
Irritated, Shi Yi exited the game and checked the time, it was already 2:30.
It had been an astonishing two hours and twenty minutes since Lu Huaiqian left, even accounting for the time it took the restaurant to prepare the food, roughly two hours should have been more than enough.
What on earth was Lu Huaiqian doing?
Trying to starve him to death?
He impatiently dialed the number, and the call was picked up quickly on the other end.
Before Shi Yi could even speak, Lu Huaiqian hurried to say, “Hungry, aren’t you? I’ll be home in a moment, I’m right at the door now. The Pan-Casa on Bishui Lane was sold out, so I went to the one on Cedar Road, which is why it took a little…”
Longer.
The apology in Lu Huaiqian’s voice made Shi Yi feel irritated and sick. Before Lu Huaiqian could finish, he pressed the hang-up button.
A few minutes later, the front door’s keypad lock beeped, and Lu Huaiqian hurried in carrying two takeout bags, changing his shoes while talking to Shi Yi. “I also brought some miso soup and salted cucumbers, you can have them alongside, eel rice on its own is a bit dry.”
“It might be a little cold, though. Let me heat it up, just give me two more minutes, okay?”
Shi Yi had already started another round of the game, sprawled on the sofa controlling his character, and when Lu Huaiqian came back and spoke to him, he couldn’t even be bothered to lift his head.
Lu Huaiqian didn’t find anything wrong with that in the slightest. He put on his slippers, carried the takeout eel rice and soup into the kitchen, and put them into the microwave one by one.
He then went back to the living room to collect the empty cup Shi Yi had drunk his milk from, washed it at the island, and set it on the rack to dry.
At the same time, the microwave beeped to signal it was done, and Lu Huaiqian went back to the kitchen and carried the now-heated eel rice and soup over to the coffee table in front of Shi Yi, one by one.
He got out chopsticks and a spoon and set them down, then called Shi Yi to eat.
“There, it’s ready to eat.”
Shi Yi was right in the middle of a heated battle in his game and had no interest in eating. On top of that, having been made to wait so long, he’d already lost interest in the eel rice, and said coldly, “I don’t want it anymore. Go make me the matsutake noodles.”
“Okay.”
Lu Huaiqian, who had just sat down in a chair, stood right back up as if he had no temper at all, and went to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, the eel rice Shi Yi had specifically asked for, which Lu Huaiqian had spent over two hours buying, sat untouched on the coffee table, slowly cooling again in the air conditioning.
Half an hour later, Shi Yi’s game finally ended, and Lu Huaiqian brought over the matsutake noodles he’d made, divided into two small portions, and set them in front of him again.
Shi Yi said nothing, didn’t ask Lu Huaiqian if he wanted to eat together either, and simply sat up, picked up his chopsticks, and unhurriedly ate the noodles one mouthful at a time.
He knew both small portions were meant for him alone.
Lu Huaiqian had deliberately split one large bowl of noodles into two, just so they’d cool faster and he could eat more comfortably.
Just some petty little trick meant to make himself feel good about it. Did he really think tricks like that would move him?
All he felt was disgust.
A man falling in love with another man was a sickness.
Lu Huaiqian had no idea what Shi Yi was thinking. He sat down in the single-seat sofa beside Shi Yi, crossed his arms, and watched intently as Shi Yi ate.
He loved watching Shi Yi eat.
Shi Yi had been a wealthy young master since childhood, with excellent manners, even when hungry, he ate with great refinement, like a kitten drinking water, a sight that was truly pleasing to watch.
Lu Huaiqian watched Shi Yi finish one small bowl, then pull the other one over and keep eating.
Only once Shi Yi finished eating and set down his chopsticks did he stand up, pull a tissue from the table, and hand it to Shi Yi to wipe his mouth.
Having eaten his fill made him sleepy, and Shi Yi couldn’t help yawning. Without putting up any more resistance, he took the tissue, wiped himself clean, tossed the used tissue aside, and got straight up, taking his phone as he headed upstairs.
Lu Huaiqian carried the bowl Shi Yi had eaten from to the kitchen and washed it, put the eel rice he’d bought into the refrigerator, and once he’d tidied the table, went upstairs to his own room to rest.