Qin Sui-xi gave him a strange look, and after a moment of silence, said, “This is my mother’s shop; I don’t need to pay.”
…
“Oh,” Ning Qi-an said, pretending nothing had happened. “Let’s eat at a different place next time; I’ll treat you.”
Qin Sui-xi: “Is the food not to your taste?” He thought he might need to have the chef go for some further training.
“No,” Ning Qi-an said, not being very good at lying, “It’s very much to my taste. It’s just that you’ve been doing everything for me, and I want to repay you.”
He hadn’t expected this answer. Qin Sui-xi suddenly understood the feeling of gratification his mother felt the first time he ever gave her flowers. He smiled now, too. Even though he had been practicing a “cool, CEO-style” expression for several months, and the upward curve of his lips was subtle, it was genuine joy.
“Having the heart to do so is enough.”
But fearing the fox might feel burdened, Qin Sui-xi thought for a moment and said, “Aren’t you going to take me to see the world of the spirits? That will be more than enough.”
Finally, there was something he could contribute. Having been taken care of by Qin Sui-xi for the past half-month, even with his thick skin, Ning Qi-an felt embarrassed. He promised with gusto, “Leave it to me! I’ll definitely make it worth your while.”
The two set a time. Qin Sui-xi’s grandfather’s 60th birthday was approaching; once they finished celebrating that, it would be time for the year-end holidays, and he would have free time then.
Since the fox had become a human, he certainly couldn’t sleep in a dog kennel anymore. If he had really just been a regular fox, it would be fine, but knowing that the other was essentially the same as a human, Qin Sui-xi really couldn’t get past that mental hurdle and lie next to Ning Qi-an without any reservations. Because of his sexual orientation, recalling the days of sharing a bed made him feel like he had been “taking advantage” of Ning Qi-an.
Ning Qi-an, unaware of these complicated thoughts, curled up inside the dog kennel and said, “I’ll just keep sleeping here.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared, and in his place was a red-brown fox.
“No,” Qin Sui-xi frowned. “You’ll catch a cold.”
Ning Qi-an spun around once to show off his thick fur; the meaning behind the action was obvious. He had even slept on a balcony before; what was there to fear about a cold?
Qin Sui-xi still disapproved. He started to bend down to pick up the fox, but stopped halfway. He straightened back up and said, “Go to the guest room; it has heating.”
Ning Qi-an didn’t insist on the kennel this time and said, “Okay, okay!”
His answer reached Qin Sui-xi’s ears simply as a fox’s bark. It seemed this ability to understand animal language was hit-or-miss.
Qin Sui-xi was a half-demon. After a day, he had come to terms with this fact. So what if I’m human? Or a spirit? Or a half-demon? Don’t we all have to live?
Watching Ning Qi-an turn back into a human, Qin Sui-xi asked a question that had been on his mind all day: “Can… can I turn into an animal, too?” He paused between every few words, as if each one was difficult to utter.
Ning Qi-an pondered for a moment, then said hesitantly, “I suppose… you can? Why don’t you give it a try?”
Qin Sui-xi: “How do I try?”
Ning Qi-an pushed him onto the balcony: “Soak up the moonlight—oh, and the sunlight, too.”
Qin Sui-xi looked at Ning Qi-an with a complicated expression as the latter quickly closed the balcony’s glass door and locked it.
A cold wind whistled past, biting and stinging against his face, making him instantly alert. He looked at the half-moon in the sky, pale and white, while the light from the living room cast a dark shadow beside his feet.
Several minutes passed, and Qin Sui-xi still felt nothing. Is the moonlight not evenly distributed?
So, he spread his arms and turned around. Mhm, let’s get the back, too.
Then he met the gaze of Ning Qi-an, who was pressed against the door, grinning deviously.
Qin Sui-xi: …?
Qin Sui-xi began to doubt the authenticity of the whole thing. He knocked on the glass door and said, “Are you lying to me?”
His question became muffled through the glass. A slight vibration hit the tip of his nose as Ning Qi-an pulled his head back, then leaned in again, raising his voice: “It’s only been a few minutes! You need to do it for longer for it to work!”
The hot breath from his speech sprayed onto the glass, instantly shrouding Qin Sui-xi’s face in a veil of mist, revealing only his eyes. They were deep, pitch-black, and calm, staring at him unblinkingly.
Ning Qi-an pouted and smiled, revealing a sharp canine tooth.
Qin Sui-xi looked away, his expression blank. He faced the waning moon, continuing to embrace the untouchable moonlight.
Hehe, finally got to let Qin Sui-xi experience the suffering I felt at the beginning!
Ning Qi-an rubbed his hands, his face full of animation. He wasn’t really going to leave Qin Sui-xi outside all night; after ten minutes at most, he would open the door. Ten minutes was the minimum standard for soaking up moonlight.
While there was still time, Ning Qi-an found the guest room Qin Sui-xi had mentioned and turned on the heat.
Because it was a guest room, it wasn’t as large as the master bedroom. The room was decorated simply and elegantly. It seemed no one had stayed there yet, and it felt cold and lonely. However, since Aunt Liu cleaned it every day, it was very tidy. It was about the same as his room in the Fuxing Apartment complex, all in a uniform beige color scheme.
But there was one more problem.
He pulled open the wardrobe; it was completely empty. If I take a shower tonight, what will I wear?
They had gone out earlier, but neither of them had thought to buy clothes.
He put that thought aside for the moment. The time was almost up, so Ning Qi-an let Qin Sui-xi in.
“How is it? Do you feel your body getting hot?” Ning Qi-an asked impatiently as soon as he came in.
Qin Sui-xi exhaled a puff of hot air and said, “My body feels cold.”
“That’s not right,” Ning Qi-an said, stroking his chin in thought. “Could it be the difference between a pure-bred spirit and a half-breed?”
After ten minutes of enduring a baffling cold wind, Qin Sui-xi no longer cared if he could turn into a black swan. He closed the door firmly, intending to take a hot shower to warm up his frozen limbs.
“Hey, wait, don’t leave!”
Before he could figure out the reason, Ning Qi-an couldn’t just let him go so easily. He reached out and grabbed the hem of Qin Sui-xi’s coat, wanting to study him some more.
In the next second, a pair of black wings suddenly unfolded, slapping him twice across the face—once on the left, once on the right.
“Qin Sui-xi!” Ning Qi-an covered his face and cried out.
Qin Sui-xi, not realizing he had grown a new organ, turned around. The wings, over a meter long, swept across the table like a typhoon, knocking over two glass cups. There was a crisp shattering sound as glass fragments littered the floor.
Only then did Qin Sui-xi discover the things sprouting from his back. He turned his head to grab the left wing, his hands gently stroking the feathers covering it.
The pitch-black feathers shimmered with an iridescent, “colorful” black under the light, visibly rich and glossy. He didn’t know which spot he had touched, but the wings, which had been half-folded, suddenly snapped open, scaring Ning Qi-an into taking a few steps back until his whole body was pressed against the glass door.
“Qin Sui-xi!” In the chaos, Ning Qi-an shouted, “Don’t move! I beg you, don’t move!”
Qin Sui-xi immediately stood perfectly still.