The rain grew heavier. Streaks of water lashed against the glass, tracing meandering paths as they streamed downward.
From time to time, muffled rolls of thunder echoed across the horizon, drawing closer and closer.
Gazing at the dreamlike candlelit dinner before him, Xuan Congnan felt a fleeting sense of disorientation, as though he were still back in the days when he and Shen Qian were dating.
“He sold me out for a hundred thousand yuan, and you bought me for a hundred thousand yuan.” The candlelight flickered in the center of the dining table, making Xuan Congnan feel increasingly estranged from Shen Qian. “Is that what this is?”
“You’re always so reluctant to see me,” Shen Qian said. “I just wanted to.”
“I’ve told you more than once that my relationship with them isn’t good,” Xuan Congnan interrupted. “Now that you’ve given them money, have you figured out how to clean up the mess later? Were you planning to leave the fallout for me?”
He said calmly, “You’re using money to teach them to treat me like a cash cow.”
Shen Qian denied it. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Today Xuan Zhuoyao can go home with a hundred thousand yuan, and tomorrow Zhuoyajun will come asking you for two hundred thousand or five hundred thousand,” Xuan Congnan pointed out.
“If you’d just agreed to have a proper talk with me, things wouldn’t have come to this.” Shen Qian stood up, walked over to Xuan Congnan, squatted down before him, and took his hand. “Nannan, don’t always hide from me. Whatever it is, I’ll explain it clearly.”
Shen Qian had rented out the entire Western restaurant for the occasion. Outside poured a heavy downpour, while inside played soothing music, two contrasting extremes of clamor and calm.
Xuan Congnan lowered his gaze to look at him. “When we were together, the person you were looking at wasn’t me, but someone else. Do you admit that?”
Shen Qian closed his eyes. “I admit it.”
“Then what else is there to talk about?” Xuan Congnan said. “Shen Qian, I’m not cheap.”
He brushed away the hand on his wrist. “I don’t like people touching me. You always grab me so hard it hurts.”
Shen Qian squatted silently in place, his knuckles curling slightly. It took him a long while before he finally stood up and returned to his seat.
The table full of dishes looked almost fake, exquisite and appetizing, yet not a single person touched them.
When he first heard that Xuan Congnan wanted to break up, Shen Qian hadn’t panicked. He knew Nannan liked him and had never imagined he would truly leave and never return.
The person in his heart was too far away, and since that person already had someone they loved, Shen Qian didn’t want to break up with Xuan Congnan.
His eyes, looked so much like that person’s.
During this period, Shen Qian had repeatedly tried to contact Xuan Congnan, rehearsing several sets of explanations.
Yet Xuan Congnan had hidden from him, refusing to meet him altogether. He had even given up his rented apartment just to dodge him.
At his wit’s end and completely out of options, Shen Qian had only thought to have Xuan Zhuoyao bring him along when he happened to spot him.
Now, after more than a month apart, they were truly face-to-face again. Shen Qian looked greedily at Xuan Congnan, yet he could no longer find any trace of resemblance to that other person in those eyes.
All he saw was Xuan Congnan.
Even so, somewhere in his subconscious, Shen Qian still didn’t want to let go.
“Things could never work out between him and me. He likes women, and he’s had someone he loved for years, by now, they’re probably even talking about marriage,” Shen Qian confessed without hiding anything. “I like men. I did have an ulterior motive when I first got with you, but I never cheated, and I haven’t been in contact with him either.”
“That has nothing to do with me,” Xuan Congnan said coldly.
“Let’s start over,” Shen Qian urged.
“Impossible,” Xuan Congnan replied.
The music playing overhead in the restaurant shifted to a new tune. “You moved,” Shen Qian stated.
That was the fact Xuan Zhuoyao had blurted out at the school gates; Xuan Congnan remained silent.
Then he heard Shen Qian say, “I know where you’re living. But I’m still looking into who you’re living with.”
Xuan Congnan’s brow furrowed in deep disgust.
“Without my permission, what right do you have to pry into my privacy?” he demanded coldly.
Shen Qian let out a faint laugh, poured himself a glass of strong liquor, and said, “Actually, the only reason you’re so insistent on breaking up with me is because of that man living with you, isn’t it?”
“Only a useless man splashes dirt on others to cover himself,” Xuan Congnan replied quietly, firing back with a sneer. “Go ahead and splash it. I’ll sit right here and watch you do it.”
Shen Qian’s expression darkened. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t cohabit before marriage?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of flatmates?” Xuan Congnan countered. “Or is your mind only capable of thinking about things that filthy?”
Shen Qian pressed his lips together and fell silent.
“Didn’t you want a proper talk? We’re not done yet,” Xuan Congnan said. “Let me ask you: to find me, you definitely gave Xuan Zhuoyao a hundred thousand yuan. Do you admit to that?”
Outside the window, a flash of lightning split the sky, tearing the heavens apart for a fleeting second.
“Mm,” Shen Qian said. “I gave him one hundred thousand.”
“Shen Qian, you really, make me feel heartbroken,” Xuan Congnan said, shaking his head. “If there’s a next time, are you going to go find my uncle or aunt? They love money even more, are you going to give them a million to buy me?”
Seeing the look of disappointment in Xuan Congnan’s eyes, Shen Qian said, “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“That was the only meaning I saw from you,” Xuan Congnan replied.
He lowered his head to check his phone; the audio recording had been running for half an hour.
Buzz—
An incoming call abruptly popped up at the top of the screen.
He had muted his phone before starting the recording.
Gu Shi had sent several WeChat messages and placed multiple calls, as if something extremely urgent had happened.
Without waiting to read the messages first, Xuan Congnan answered, “Hello?”
“Congnan.” Through the phone speaker, Xuan Congnan heard a crack of thunder, loud and startling.
For a second, Xuan Congnan couldn’t be sure if he had misheard the tremor in Gu Shi’s voice.
He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Are you still busy?” Gu Shi’s voice was genuinely trembling as he asked softly, “Why aren’t you home yet when it’s so late?”
“I have some personal matters to take care of,” Xuan Congnan said. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Are you done yet?” Gu Shi paused for a moment, seeming hesitant to speak. “It’s raining, and there’s thunder.”
“Are you afraid of thunder?” Xuan Congnan asked.
“Mm,” Gu Shi replied.
He let out a low call: “Congnan.”
Xuan Congnan had already stood up from his seat, speaking with a serious tone, “Go ahead.”
“I’m scared of the heavy rain, scared of the thunder. The rain is really heavy,” Gu Shi said. “Can you come back and keep me company?”
“Nannan!” Seeing Xuan Congnan put away his phone, sling his bag over his shoulder, and prepare to leave, Shen Qian’s expression turned utterly unsightly. “What kind of man is scared of thunder? He must be,”
“Everyone has things they’re afraid of. Can’t a man be afraid of thunder?” Xuan Congnan said with some irritation. “We’re not done talking yet, but you don’t need to rush today. Tomorrow noon, I’ll see you at the police station.”
Shen Qian didn’t catch the implication of Xuan Congnan’s words right away, and by the time he snapped back to his senses, he was the only one left in the restaurant.
Xuan Congnan hailed a cab home.
A black Cayenne was parked inconspicuously by the rain-slicked roadside amid flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder. The man in the driver’s seat watched Xuan Congnan walk out of the restaurant and quickly board a vehicle to pick him up, his grip on the steering wheel slowly relaxing. Then, the Cayenne smoothly followed behind.
When he went out a little past nine, Gu Shi hadn’t known where Xuan Congnan had gone. It was unlikely that Zhuoyajun and her crowd were the ones keeping him tied up and preventing him from returning.
When he spotted two figures reflected in the second-floor window of the restaurant across the street, Gu Shi’s suspicions were confirmed.
A candlelit dinner, a romantic atmosphere, Shen Qian walking up to squat in front of Xuan Congnan and holding his hand…
Gu Shi had made several calls in succession, none of which were answered.
“Gu Shi.” Xuan Congnan shook the dripping umbrella by the doorway, stood it up behind the door, and walked into the living room in his damp-soled shoes. “Gu Shi?”
The living room lights were blazing bright, but there was no one there.
Xuan Congnan knocked on the door of Gu Shi’s bedroom, but no one answered. Aside from the heavy rain and rumbling thunder outside, the apartment was completely silent, as if empty.
“Gu Shi, are you in there?” Xuan Congnan frowned, standing outside the bedroom door to ask, “May I come in?”
Click—
Just as Xuan Congnan made up his mind and reached out to push the door open, he heard movement from the living room, turned around immediately, and hurried to the entryway.
“Why are you soaked like this?!” he exclaimed in surprise, rushing to the bathroom to grab a dry towel for Gu Shi.
Gu Shi was completely drenched, water dripping from him in streams just like the rain outside. Droplets rolled off the brim of his cap onto the floor, while the water on his face trickled along his facial contours straight into his face mask.
“Thank you.” With slightly trembling hands, he removed his cap and mask, took the towel handed to him by Xuan Congnan, and murmured, “I didn’t bring an umbrella.”
It was summer, so even with the rain, the temperature wasn’t cold. Yet Gu Shi was shivering violently, his face deathly pale.
Xuan Congnan snatched the towel back and pulled Gu Shi into the living room, dragging a solid wood chair over from the dining table. “Sit down. I don’t want to hold my arms up high just to dry your hair.”
Gu Shi sat down, placing his hands neatly on his knees, his fingers occasionally plucking at the fabric of his trousers where they clung to his skin.
“Didn’t you tell me to come back? Why weren’t you home?” Xuan Congnan asked.
“The rain and thunder… were too loud,” Gu Shi said. “I was outside when I called you.”
Draping the towel completely over Gu Shi’s head, knowing you couldn’t rub hair dry but had to press it to absorb the moisture, Xuan Congnan pressed his lips together. “You didn’t go out looking for me, did you?”
“Mm,” Gu Shi acknowledged.
“You’re scared of being at home, but you’re not scared of going out?” Xuan Congnan explained, “My phone was on silent, I didn’t hear it.”
Gu Shi let out a soft “mm” and said, “There was no one at home. That was scarier.”
“Sorry. I had some business to deal with temporarily, so I came back late,” Xuan Congnan said.
Gu Shi slowly shook his head. “It’s me who caused you trouble.”
“You didn’t,” Xuan Congnan said.
Boom!
A startling crash of thunder cracked overhead. Gu Shi’s body instantly stiffened before giving a violent shudder. Xuan Congnan’s hand immediately reached out to pat and squeeze his shoulder, and a hand instantly reached out as if seeking solace, gripping him tightly.
Gu Shi wrapped his palm completely around Xuan Congnan’s hand, leaving not a single gap.
So cold, was Xuan Congnan’s first thought. He didn’t move.
His initial action had been instinctive. Gu Shi raised his head, rain-dampened strands of hair falling across his forehead to partially veil his brows. Xuan Congnan lowered his gaze to meet his eyes, once again lamenting inwardly that this truly was a modeled face tailor-made for an actor.
Even better suited to be his human model for portraiture.
Gu Shi asked in a low voice, “Can I hold on for a moment?”
Xuan Congnan looked away.
At that moment, another muffled roll of thunder sounded from the horizon, and he said, “Yeah.”