Meeting
“Mr. Liu! Darling, Mr. Liu!”
He was calling me. My surname was Liu, Liu Tianqi, a very ordinary name, and I was just an employee at an ordinary company.
He was my boyfriend, not a male friend. His name was He Xin, and the He family controlled the lifeblood of M City.
Yes, he called me Mr. Liu. How did we meet?
Probably on a rainy day.
The overcast sky drifted with fine threads of rain. Even though the white walls and black tiles had long since been demolished and replaced by high-rise buildings, the rain still carried the flavor of the south, soft and endless, gentle and damp.
I held a gray umbrella and walked through the rain in leather shoes. It was not that I could not afford a car. After working these past few years, I could still manage the price of one, but my company was not far away, and I did not go out much anyway, so there was no real need.
Fog had begun to rise around me, and the air I breathed in was damp. If a northerner came here, they would definitely not be used to it.
When I reached the entrance to my neighborhood, there was a person sitting by the flowerbed. They had no umbrella, and their clothes were soaked through. The rain was not heavy, but it was so dense.
The flowerbed had shrubs and a pomegranate tree. Every year, when the pomegranates ripened, the children in the neighborhood would pick them and use the leftover seeds to play games. As for what kind of games, I had no idea.
I stood blankly at the entrance for a moment and ignored that person, walking straight toward my building.
Very soon, footsteps sounded behind me, stepping through puddles with sharp splashes. It was a man, and he walked heavily.
Rainy weather always makes the sky dark. The corridor I normally used was now dark beyond reason, and the lights came on as I entered. Looking at my own short shadow, I started climbing the stairs. When I bought the place, I had gone cheap and picked a lower floor, only to find out that the sixth floor did not get an elevator installed. Every day, I had to drag my tired body up to the fifth floor.
The footsteps behind me did not stop. I did not turn around either. He was probably a resident of this building as well.
There were two households on the fifth floor. The other was a family of five, grandfather, grandmother, children, father, and mother. Every day at five in the afternoon, the father would bang on the door from outside on the dot, making a racket, and then the mother’s booming voice would ring out from inside, saying she was coming, she was coming. Maybe the father was just a scatterbrain who always lost his keys. By now it was already six, so there was no need to worry about that annoying noise. The other household was naturally mine.
I fished out a ring of keys from my bag. They clinked softly together, and I found the front door key in the hallway light. The footsteps behind me stopped. He should have just reached the floor. At least, not long ago those footsteps had still been following me.
After opening the door, I reached out and switched on the light at the entrance, took off my muddy leather shoes, stuffed them into a plastic bag, and placed them on the shoe cabinet.
I went in barefoot. It was already autumn, and the floor was cold. I shivered, quickly took a pair of slippers from the cabinet and put them on. Just as I turned to close the door, a black shape covered me.
The half-dry suit on him was soaked through again, and human body heat reached my shoulder first, warm and comforting.
Wasn’t this the brave soul who had been sitting at the entrance getting rained on? To be honest, as an ordinary citizen, I really did not want to invite trouble to my own doorstep. Especially when it was a man with an air that was clearly out of the ordinary. Getting involved with him would be too awful.
But a young man with normal values and decent character could not possibly leave someone unconscious outside the door. Maybe I was just too soft-hearted.
I gently lowered him to the floor, secretly thankful that I had made the floor tiles back then. If it had been wooden flooring, my heart would have broken. I also took off his shoes and put them into the plastic bag. The leather looked genuine at a glance, a branded item.
Sigh, since I had already taken them off, I could not exactly throw him back out again. I dragged him inside, and with a bang, the darkness outside was shut away. I went through the house turning on every light I could. I always did that anyway. Trying to do things while staring into the dark was creepy. It was not that I was timid, but it was hard to get anything done in the dark.
After turning on the lights, I hoisted the man up and carried him toward the bathroom. I really had to thank my parents for giving me such good strength, otherwise I would have had to drag him around the house. Thinking about that scene was actually kind of funny.
The bathroom’s warm yellow light spilled over him, softening the muscles that had been strained by a day’s work. I settled him onto the toilet with the lid down, finally arranging him into a proper seated position. I turned on the tap for hot water, then took off the overly formal suit I was wearing and threw it into the washing machine.
I also helped take off his shirt, not caring whether it was a prestigious brand or not, crumpling it up and tossing it in too. What did brand names matter? It still had to be worn, still had to get dirty, still had to be washed. Cheap stuff did not hurt as much. Worried he might be cold, I grabbed the big towel hanging nearby and draped it over him.
What surprised me was that this man had been asleep the entire time, not even his eyelids had moved. It was really damn amazing.
After that came my own time. I found an autumn sleeping outfit, dried myself off, and put it on, soothing away the restless goosebumps on my skin.
I quickly made myself a dose of Banlangen. Weather like this was the easiest time to catch a cold. My body was not that fragile, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The medicine tasted horrible. For years, I had always thought the words sweet with a slight bitterness written on the packet were a lie. Clearly it was bitter with a slight sweetness.
I rinsed the bowl with water, set it aside, and started preparing dinner. Life as a bachelor without a woman was just this miserable. I opened the fridge. Mm, tomato and egg stir-fry, a heavenly delicacy. Then I would make some green pepper shredded pork too! Without meat, it would really be too unfair to me, after all the hard money I had earned all day.
The dishes were on the table very quickly. Thinking the bath water should be about ready, I ran to the bathroom, stripped the man naked, and lowered him into the water. The water was a little hot, but since he was unconscious, he would not feel anything anyway. This kid had pretty good muscles, probably built up at some gym. Balanced, not exaggerated. Mm, that thing of his was pretty big, but well! Mine was bigger, so that was that.
I did not bother with the thing in the water anymore. I was so hungry I was practically about to have a stomach attack. I took the leftover cold rice from yesterday, stir-fried it in oil with an egg and a bit of salt, and out came a fragrant plate of egg fried rice. With the tomato and eggs and the green pepper shredded pork, I wolfed down a huge bowl and ended up burping from being so full.
I wrapped the leftovers in cling film and put them in the fridge. After washing the bowls, okay, time to shower. Seeing that guy in the bathtub gave me a headache. If I had not come in earlier, he probably would have drowned.
I fished him out from under the water. His long hair was slightly curled, really quite long. Saying long hair was not entirely right, though. Anyway, it was much longer than my buzz cut. As a science student, I could probably only measure it in numbers. Oh, what I really wanted to say was that his hair was wet. I’m like that. I lose the point very easily, and sometimes even forget what I was about to say the second before.
I found him a set of pajamas from the closet, put them on him, and threw him onto the bed. I did not have many friends normally, so the guest room had been filled with junk. The master bedroom had a double bed that I had specifically bought, so sleeping there with two grown men was still fine.
After tucking him in, I rushed to the bathroom. If I was not quick, the water would get cold. I did not mind it, though. It would be such a waste to let all that water go, and water was not free. The temperature was just right now, soaking into my sore muscles and making me let out a comfortable sigh. It felt too damn good. No wonder rich people liked taking baths. I had the energy, but not the time, to do that kind of thing. By the time I finished all this, it was already past eight. I had to work at seven tomorrow. Office workers could not indulge in the pain of life. Wait, tomorrow, tomorrow was the weekend! That counted as a little surprise after a busy week.
After soaking for about fifteen minutes, I reluctantly climbed out of the tub. My butt was already telling me it did not want to stay in there any longer.
I ran to the bed. That guy’s sleeping posture was exactly the same as before, not moving at all. I sank into the soft bed, restrained the urge to roll around, and switched off the lights. The quilt was warm, and the night chill could not get through it at all. My body after the bath was warm too.
Good night, Liu Tianqi.
I really hoped that in the future, there would be someone beside my pillow saying those words in my ear. Thinking that, I lost consciousness.
The morning sunlight shone through the curtains into the room, casting a beam of light across the quilt. The dust drifting through the air was clearly visible in the light.
I opened my eyes and struggled to get up, completely forgetting that there was another man beside me. I lifted the quilt and pulled open the curtains. Yesterday’s clouds had already been shattered by the sun and scattered without a trace. The sky now could be called clear as a bell.
There came a soft “mm” from the bed, and only then did I remember the trouble I had accidentally taken in yesterday.
“Hello.” Such a stiff greeting. I really did not know what else to say.
“Who are you?” He seemed to have woken fully. The confused look on his face was covered over by a cold, hard expression.
Tch, I had saved a wolf with no gratitude.
“My name is Liu Tianqi, a regular company employee.” No matter what, I still introduced myself properly.
“… Thank you.” He probably did not often say thanks. His tone was a little stiff.
“It’s nothing. I washed your clothes, and there’s a set of my clothes on the bedside table. Wear those for now.” I did not exactly give him a warm welcome anyway, so I left it at that and went to make breakfast.
Just as I put the rice into the rice cooker, he walked over and asked a little awkwardly, “Do you have a toothbrush?”
“The first drawer on the right side of the sink.”
“Thank you.” After the first time, it was easier the second. This time he thanked me quite readily.
I did not say anything. He should have thanked me anyway, and I was not being polite about it either.
Thinking the bathroom was still being used, I went back to my room and changed clothes. Just as I took off my shirt, the person in the bathroom came out. It was a little awkward, but we were both men, so there was nothing much to it. You could even say I had seen all of him yesterday, so what was there to be awkward about? Would you feel awkward looking at a body with no reaction? I did not use the wrong measure word, because what I really wanted to say was a corpse.
After changing into a hoodie and casual pants, I went to check whether the porridge was done. I also took the pickled mustard greens I had bought at the supermarket two days ago, stir-fried them, adjusted the seasoning, and scooped them into a bowl. Then I poured some vinegar into the bowl, added some sugar, and tossed in the peanuts I had prepared. That finished the side dish for breakfast.
The white, glutinous porridge steamed hot. As long as you cooked enough of it, you could control the amount of water well and get the rice cooker to make exactly the porridge you wanted.
The sour and spicy long beans, salty and fragrant, teased the taste buds. One mouthful of plain porridge, one chopstickful of beans, and soon half a bowl of porridge was gone. The peanuts soaked in vinegar and sugar, and the vinegar brought out most of the appetite. The sweetness drove away the excess sourness.
I could not help but scoop myself another bowl. The man across from me was probably not used to a Chinese breakfast, moving rather slowly.
I could not help sneering to myself. The happiness of ordinary people like me was something they could never understand.
The man ate some sour beans, drank a few gulps of porridge, and still had not adjusted to such sour food. As for the peanuts, he ate them with obvious enjoyment, and before long they were gone.
A breakfast meal ended in complete quiet.