Things were developing in a grotesque and uncontrollable direction.
Standing inside the police station face-to-face with several police officers, Xuan Congnan wore a face of utter detachment.
“Officers, I was just passing by after drinking a bit of alcohol, I really didn’t do anything. Besides, he’s a guy, not a woman how could I possibly harass him? I’m not some pervert who plays with men, no matter how good-looking he is or how much he looks like a girl!” The man who had been drunk downstairs in the residential complex blowing whistles at Xuan Congnan had flushed red cheeks. As he poured out his grievances to the police, his eyes completely lacked any lingering drunkenness. With a twisted expression, he clutched his chest, then suddenly reached out with a finger and accused, “Instead, he was the one who hit me first! He almost beat me to death. Officer Li, you guys have to lock him up and make him go to prison! He assaulted someone!”
Xuan Congnan stated, “Lying. He wasn’t the one who made the first move.”
Gu Shi stood beside Xuan Congnan and said, “There is surveillance footage.”
The drunk man choked, his eyes widening as he stammered, “The surveillance there… in the front… broke a few… a few days ago.”
Late at night, Officer Li held a large porcelain mug and took a sip of tea. “It got fixed yesterday.”
His gaze suddenly turned sharp as he nodded toward the drunk man and demanded, “Why did you stop talking? What did that phrase just now mean? Refusing to admit your guilt? And you were still saying that if he weren’t a guy but a girl, you’d be free to commit crimes, is that it?!”
The drunk man stammered, “N-No, not… absolutely not…”
Officer Li cast an earnest look at Xuan Congnan, finding him somewhat familiar, and then glared fiercely at the drunk man. “If I remember correctly, you were reflecting here for half a month just half a year ago for harassing this exact boy. So much time has passed and you still haven’t reformed your wicked ways?”
The drunk man muttered, “I d- didn’t recognize clearly that it was him, I was just drunk…”
“If it weren’t him, what would you have wanted to do anyway?” Officer Li said sternly, “Squat down! Hold your head!!”
Just moments ago by the flower bed, when Gu Shi told him, “Take me home with you,” Xuan Congnan had thought this person was genuinely sick in the head. Before he could react further, his arm was grabbed by a grey, filthy hand.
A stench of alcohol swept past on the wind, and he scrunched up his nose hard, nearly vomiting.
The drunk man’s lecherous laugh sounded behind him: “Heh heh, heh heh… Little Xuan, why are you all alone out here, I Ah—-!”
All words transformed into a painful shriek. Xuan Congnan raised his hand to shake him off, but the drunk man had already gone flying.
He turned around in astonishment to look.
The drunk man lay on the ground clutching his chest with both hands and howling, rolling back and forth twice on the spot. He vomited a lot of alcohol onto the ground, making it smell even worse.
He had actually been kicked so hard by Gu Shi that he retched.
Xuan Congnan stepped back two paces, unable to conceal his expression of disgust. Dozens of seconds later, the drunk man regained a bit of strength, spewed extremely filthy curses, scrambled back up, and shouted that he wanted revenge.
His schoolbag immediately flew through the air and smashed hard into the man’s face.
Xuan Congnan said, “Disgusting.”
Before the police arrived, Gu Shi calmly delivered a couple more kicks.
The drunk man was beaten to the point where he couldn’t move.
Xuan Congnan said, “You called the police yourself and yet you delivered supplementary strikes aren’t you afraid of being charged with intentional assault?”
Gu Shi replied, “Not afraid.”
Upon entering the police station, Gu Shi removed his mask as requested and gave his statement. Xuan Congnan watched him for a while, secretly startled that it truly was a perfectly modeled face; the top-tier configuration of his facial features and the three sections of his face made him exceptionally well-suited to serve as a facial model for painting.
During the statement recording, he noticed that all three police officers showed varying degrees of shock in their eyes upon seeing Gu Shi’s face, and then stared fixedly at him as if trying to confirm something.
Xuan Congnan figured it must simply be because this face was too stunningly peerless.
The police officers had seen grand scenes and remained unfazed. Though they kept looking at Gu Shi, they smoothly finished recording the statement without any unexpected incidents occurring along the way. They merely asked a few simple additional questions.
“Is it really Gu Shi?” “Mn.” “How did you… get involved in something like this?” “Accident.” “Came here for work?” “Mn.” “Didn’t bring your manager and assistant?” “I brought them.”
Everything was fully inquired after a good half-hour, and the matter was swiftly resolved. The drunk man remained detained at the police station while Xuan Congnan and Gu Shi were free to leave. As they departed, Officer Li considerately offered a parting remark: “Put your mask on properly, don’t cause a traffic jam.”
Xuan Congnan stepped out ahead, having no intention of bidding farewell to Gu Shi.
It was half past nine. With all this commotion, the hunger he had felt earlier in his stomach had completely vanished.
He was wondering whether he should still eat this dinner or not.
Using the street illumination, he opened his backpack to inspect the items inside. The bottom-left corner of his sketchpad had gotten creased from hitting someone, and Xuan Congnan stroked it with a pang of heartache, attempting to flatten it out.
“Why are you following me?” A few minutes later, he noticed a shadow tailing him at a moderate distance, keeping pace perfectly and matching his exact route.
Xuan Congnan turned around, furrowed his brow, and said, “You helped me just now, thank you. But please stop following me now.”
Gu Shi lowered his gaze and said in a low voice, “Can’t I go home with you?”
Xuan Congnan: “I don’t know you.”
Gu Shi: “I am not a bad person.”
“I know.” Xuan Congnan simply repeated his point, “But I don’t know you.”
Gu Shi said, “I have no malicious intent.”
Pondering for a moment, he spoke the first long sentence since meeting Xuan Congnan: “If you are worried, you can take me to the police station to register my information. No matter what happens to you, I won’t be able to shirk responsibility.”
If they hadn’t just formed a united front together moments ago, Xuan Congnan would genuinely have wanted to attack him. Ten o’clock at night marked the beginning of the city’s revelry, and there were many pedestrians on the road. Previously, people had come and gone as mere passing strangers whom they didn’t need to mind. But at some unknown point, Xuan Congnan noticed a slight anomaly.
Several pairs of eyes were glancing over toward this direction.
Ever since he was young, Xuan Congnan had been subjected to the baptism of many people’s gazes, especially because of his natural air-dried long hair, whose uniqueness made him stand out. There were also people like Director Zhang whom Xuanye invited home, or the drunk man locked up in the police station—Xuan Congnan had seen plenty of ill intentions, but none of them matched the looks in these strangers’ eyes right now.
They were curious and confirming, devoid of any malice, much like the police officers back at the station.
Xuan Congnan said speechlessly, “Go back to your own home.”
Gu Shi remained silent, looking at him from a distance of one meter.
Xuan Congnan: “Do you not have a home?”
More and more eyes were looking over, and several people had already stopped in their tracks, even wanting to approach. Though they had no idea what was specifically happening, Xuan Congnan’s intuition told him that this place was no longer suitable for lingering.
If Gu Shi truly had no home…
A spark of compassion was always a troublesome thing. Xuan Congnan spoke swiftly: “Come with me.”
Had they not just walked out of the police station together, shared hardships, and had three police officers lay eyes on both of them, Xuan Congnan would never have brought a stranger back to his home.
Xuan Congnan’s home was very clean, dominated at first glance by expansive shades of blue, making it feel as though one were living beneath a post-rain azure sky this was Gu Shi’s first impression.
He didn’t make excessive observations. Upon entering, he obediently sat down on the peeling sofa, his gaze refusing to wander even an inch further.
Removing his mask, he faced Xuan Congnan with his detached yet flawless facial features, wishing to dispel any excessive wariness.
“You must have noticed just now, a lot of people were looking at you.” Xuan Congnan placed his backpack in the corner of the sofa, encroaching upon Gu Shi’s space so the area he could sit on became even smaller.
Dispensing with any hospitality like pouring water for Gu Shi, he stated, “I don’t know why they’re curious about you. Are you some kind of celebrity? But I don’t care. You can only stay here at my place until four o’clock tomorrow morning; by then, everyone will still be asleep and there won’t be any danger, and you can leave directly.”
Gu Shi said, “You don’t watch television.”
Caught off guard by the remark, Xuan Congnan frowned and said, “I don’t have time to watch TV or scroll on my phone.”
Hanging on the walls, which could generously be described as bare, were several oil paintings featuring melancholic blue tones. Gu Shi cast a quick glance at them and remarked, “Your time goes into painting.”
Rarity encountered someone who didn’t paint yet seemed to understand, Xuan Congnan softened his attitude slightly and said, “Yes.”
Confirming with a question, he asked, “Are you also an art student? Do you know how to draw?”
“No,” Gu Shi shook his head, “I don’t know how.”
Xuan Congnan: “Oh.”
There wasn’t much water left in the kettle, and it was lukewarm. Xuan Congnan poured a cup of water and pushed it toward Gu Shi, saying, “Four in the morning, leave my house.”
Gu Shi cradled the cup and said, “Can I live here?”
With hands and feet intact, that posture looked just like someone begging face-to-face. Xuan Congnan knit his brows, opening his mouth to utter a refusal.
Gu Shi opened his mouth again: “I’ll pay the rent—ten thousand a month. If it’s not enough, you can just add more.”
Xuan Congnan’s “no” instantly choked to a stop in his throat and stomach, and he looked at Gu Shi in astonishment.
“Can I stay for a month first?”
This residential complex was severely rundown so rundown that the monthly rent was only 450 yuan.
Scarcely any young women lived here because public security was lacking. There were plenty of gamblers and heavy drinkers hanging around downstairs, making it unsafe.
Had it not been cheap, Xuan Congnan wouldn’t have lived here either. Yet just to live in such a place, Gu Shi was offering to pay Xuan Congnan ten thousand.
Being this wealthy, not only did he want to live in a snail-shell-like apartment, but he also wanted to cohabit with him?
He must be pulling his leg.
Gu Shi pulled out his phone and said, “Transferring the money now.”
Xuan Congnan asked with slight shock, “…Huh?”
“The money I earn is entirely permissible within the bounds of the law, taxes are paid on time every year, it’s clean money.” Gu Shi opened WeChat’s scan feature and extended his hand toward Xuan Congnan, adding as if afraid he’d be rejected, “Let’s add WeChat, I’ll transfer it. The rent is twenty thousand a month.”