By the time they returned from the farmhouse restaurant, night had already fallen completely. Nuomi had been cooped up at home all day and when his owner came back, he didn’t even spare him a glance.
Instead, he clung to Su Yi’an and dragged him to the park, insisting on playing frisbee for a full half hour. Only after he was thoroughly exhausted, tongue hanging out, did he finally agree to behave and go home.
After heading upstairs, Su Yi’an knocked on the door next door.
Bai Yunchi had already changed into comfortable home clothes. Standing in the entryway, he joked with a smile, “Looks like I’ll have to start paying you a salary in the future.”
Su Yi’an wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned. “Yeah. I’m not taking this job for anything under 50.”
“I’ll give you 66.”
Su Yi’an put on an exaggerated expression. “Really? Thank you, boss!”
Bai Yunchi was amused by him. After exchanging good nights, they each returned to their own homes.
Su Yi’an thought Bai Yunchi had just been joking but the moment he stepped through his door, a 66 yuan red packet popped up on his phone.
He didn’t hesitate and accepted it right away.
College students charged 50 just for home dog sitting and Nuomi was a large breed that required an extra thirty. Charging sixty six was already more than fair.
After taking the red packet, he sent over a sticker of a kitten bowing politely.
“Thank you, boss. Welcome again next time~”
The other side replied instantly: Okay.
It had all been said in jest anyway and Su Yi’an hadn’t truly intended to make money from it. He soon put the matter out of his mind, took a shower and went to bed.
When he woke up the next morning and saw another red packet from the same person, he froze for a moment.
“Teacher Bai, why did you send me another red packet?”
There was no reply. At that moment, the sound of Nuomi’s soft yipping came from outside the entryway.
“Nuomi?”
Thinking the little guy had escaped again, Su Yi’an opened the door, only to find Bai Yunchi standing outside. He stopped short, stunned.
“Taking jobs?” Bai Yunchi asked with a smile.
Nuomi was sitting obediently by his leg, head tilted as he beamed at Su Yi’an. His tail wagged so hard that even his rear end swayed left and right, adorable beyond words. It made Su Yi’an, a hopeless fluff lover, feel like his heart was being scratched by a cat’s paw.
He didn’t hesitate for even a second. A paid gig falling straight into his lap, where else could he find something this good?
“Then I’ll leave Nuomi in your care,” Bai Yunchi said. “Here’s the key to the apartment. The dog food and snacks are all on the rack, you’ll see them as soon as you come in.”
Su Yi’an didn’t take it. He glanced at the key, disbelief written all over his face. “You’re giving your key to a stranger, aren’t you worried?”
Bai Yunchi smiled. “How could you be a stranger? We’ve already shared a meal, haven’t we?”
Su Yi’an asked again, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll steal something?”
The man’s expression didn’t change at all, his face still wearing that gentle smile.
“No. If you see something you like, I’ll give it to you later.”
“Hmph.”
Seeing the two of them chatting away, Nuomi, who had been ignored for far too long, flattened his ears and let out an unhappy huff.
Su Yi’an’s attention was immediately stolen away by the little guy.
“Does Nuomi want to go play with big brother?”
That key phrase was enough. Nuomi wagged his tail so happily it was practically spinning.
Su Yi’an couldn’t help himself and bent down to ruffle the dog’s head.
“I’ll take you to the park to play a bit.”
He gently patted Nuomi’s fluffy head, then took the key and flashed Bai Yunchi a standard, eight teeth smile.
“Don’t worry, boss. I guarantee Nuomi will have the time of his life.”
“Good.” The smile in Bai Yunchi’s eyes deepened. “I’ll leave Nuomi to you.”
The man seemed very busy with work. He didn’t even return home, turning instead to enter the elevator.
Su Yi’an was still in his pajamas. He went back inside to change before taking Nuomi out.
The little guy had already lost all patience. The moment they stepped out of the elevator, he burst into excitement around the residential complex. Su Yi’an was practically dragged along. When they reached a quieter corner of the park and the leash was released, Nuomi was like a horse freed from its reins, sprinting back and forth along the stone paved path seven or eight times before finally slowing down.
“Woof~”
The little guy trotted back with a frisbee in his mouth, dropped his front paws to the ground, stuck his rear end up and invited him to play.
Su Yi’an played a few rounds with him before receiving a message from his friend.
Yang Jiayang: [Daddy’s bringing you some souvenirs. Wash up and prepare to receive me.]
Yang Jiayang: [hands on hips.jpg]
By the time the message came through, the person was already halfway there. After petting Nuomi for a bit, Su Yi’an sat on a bench not far from the complex.
Before long, he saw Yang Jiayang, cap on, sunglasses on, one hand in his pocket and the other pulling a suitcase, strutting into the neighborhood with an air of absolute confidence, only to be stopped at the gate by Uncle Chen.
“So flashy,” Su Yi’an muttered with a quiet laugh, then raised his hand to wave.
“Jiayang!”
“Uncle, I’m not here to sell anything. My friend really lives here. Hey, my friend’s calling me, see, the one walking the dog is my friend.”
Yang Jiayang took off his sunglasses and waved vigorously in his direction.
When Su Yi’an walked over, he said to Uncle Chen, “Uncle Chen, he’s my friend. He’s not some strange person.”
“Oh, it’s Xiao Su. Your friend’s dressed so suspiciously in broad daylight, I thought he was some kind of punk.”
Su Yi’an smiled politely. “Then we’ll head in.”
“Go on, go on.”
After they turned around, Yang Jiayang put his sunglasses back on and planted one hand on his hip. “What do you mean ‘punk’? This is fashion, okay?”
Su Yi’an sized up his friend from head to toe, his gaze lingering a little longer on the beach shirt emblazoned with a golden dragon across the chest.
He shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
Yang Jiayang snorted, tugging at his shirt with a raised brow. “This shirt is super popular overseas. Foreigners are lining up to buy it.”
“Back home, only street punks dress like that.”
Just as Yang Jiayang was about to retort, two sunglasses wearing punks walked straight toward them. They were very taken with the golden dragon shirt and were discussing going to the mall to get one themselves.
“Bro, you’ve got taste!”
They even praised Yang Jiayang’s sense of style before leaving.
Su Yi’an bit his lip, shaking with suppressed laughter. Nuomi tilted his head, looking at him in confusion.
Yang Jiayang shot him a glare. “If you want to laugh, just laugh. Holding it in isn’t comfortable, is it?”
Su Yi’an burst out laughing. “It’s uncomfortable.”
Furious, Yang Jiayang ripped off the shirt, scrunched it up and stuffed it into his pocket.
Nuomi panted with his tongue out, letting out soft huffs. Yang Jiayang lowered his head and asked, “So this is the dog your Teacher Bai keeps?”
“Yeah.” Su Yi’an ruffled the dog’s head, lips curling into a smile. “Cute, right?”
“He is pretty cute.” Yang Jiayang bent down to ruffle him too but Nuomi gave him no face at all, turning his head away without hesitation.
“Aren’t Samoyeds supposed to be smiling angels, the best tempered dogs ever? Why won’t it let me pet it no matter what I do?”
Su Yi’an joked, “Maybe it just doesn’t like flashy punks.”
Yang Jiayang: “……”
While they were joking around, the elevator reached the fifteenth floor. Su Yi’an didn’t go back to his own place. Instead, he went next door to Bai Yunchi’s apartment to top up Nuomi’s water and food.
“You’ve already got his keys. You two are moving pretty fast, huh.” Yang Jiayang leaned against the doorframe, shooting his friend an ambiguous look across the entryway.
While changing his shoes, Su Yi’an said, “Teacher Bai just asked me to take care of Nuomi. I’m even getting paid for it.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course. He gave me a hundred.”
Yang Jiayang gave a thumbs up. “That’s generous.”
As he spoke, he craned his neck to look around the living room. “This furniture doesn’t look cheap at all. Hey, I’ve seen that figurine by the shelf before, online it goes for ten to twenty thousand!”
Su Yi’an was shocked. “Ten to twenty thousand?”
“Yeah. My boyfriend wanted to buy it a while ago but I stopped him.” Yang Jiayang hooked an arm around his shoulder and clicked his tongue. “An’an, your neighbor is seriously loaded. Just one random decoration in his place costs several thousand.”
Su Yi’an knew Bai Yunchi had money but he hadn’t realized he was this wealthy, so wealthy that any random ornament in his house was that expensive.
He glanced at the key in his hand and suddenly felt it burn.
If he lost it, selling himself wouldn’t even cover the compensation.
After carefully putting the key away, they returned next door. Yang Jiayang dragged over his suitcase and eagerly showed off the souvenirs he had brought back.
There were things to eat, things to play with, clothes to wear, accessories to put on. The most outrageous part was that he had even brought back several lifelike adult toys in European and American sizes. The exaggerated dimensions left Su Yi’an staring, dumbfounded.
Yang Jiayang teased him. “Scared? Didn’t you say you like anything over twenty centimeters?”
Su Yi’an shook his head frantically. “I don’t like that anymore.”
Hearing this, Yang Jiayang laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. After laughing enough, he gestured to the length of the toy and said, “We don’t even have anything this long in our shop yet. Do you think we should put one like this up for sale? But this size is way too big, probably not many people could handle it.”
Su Yi’an nodded.
This thing was at least 23 or 24 centimeters. That went beyond being exceptionally endowed and straight into perverted territory.
That massive object lay there on the floor, impossible to ignore. Neither of them could bear to look at it any longer, so they stuffed it into a bag, sealed the box and shoved it under the coffee table.
“This outfit looks great on you. An’an, hurry up and change into it so I can see.” Yang Jiayang fished out a pink shirt and handed it to him. “There are matching shorts and pants too. Let me find them.”
With his small face and long legs, Su Yi’an looked like the very embodiment of a pure, handsome college guy once he changed into the outfit, so good looking it was unreal.
Yang Jiayang practically drooled. “So handsome! Too bad the roles clash. Otherwise, I’d really want to sleep with you.”
Su Yi’an glanced at him. “Don’t you know there’s a saying called ‘for love, you can be the one’? Guess you don’t love me enough.”
Yang Jiayang shot back, “Who says that? My love for you is as clear as the sun and moon!” He winked flirtatiously. “It’s all the same ‘day’ anyway, just make do, okay? Mwah~”
The dirty joke came out of nowhere. Su Yi’an rubbed his ear, trying to scrub the filth out of it.
Yang Jiayang had brought back quite a lot of stuff. After unpacking the larger items, the two of them sat cross legged on the carpet and started opening the smaller ones.
Su Yi’an was in the middle of unwrapping something when the person beside him nudged his arm.
“Hey, when you went to that farmhouse with Teacher Bai yesterday, didn’t anything interesting happen?”
Su Yi’an shot back, “What kind of interesting thing?”
“Don’t play dumb. He gave you the keys, took you all the way out to eat, just the two of you, an isolated man and another isolated man. Don’t tell me nothing happened?” Yang Jiayang held up both thumbs and rubbed the pads together suggestively.
Su Yi’an looked helpless. “No. There’s no way for us. Teacher Bai looks like a straight guy at first glance. Besides, he’s ten years older than me. In front of him, I’m basically just a kid.”
“What’s ten years anyway? There are people with a twenty year gap, you know. As long as both sides like each other, forget ten or twenty, if it were thirty years, I’d still be happy.”
“Fifty years old… that’s a bit too old, isn’t it?” Su Yi’an hesitated as he spoke.
Would he even still be capable of a sex life?
They had grown up together and Yang Jiayang knew him like the back of his hand. Just from Su Yi’an’s expression, he could tell exactly what he was thinking.
His gaze flicked toward his friend’s legs and he broke into a mischievous grin.
“Ever heard the phrase ‘old but vigorous’? Some men forget fifty, even at sixty, they’re better in that department than most young guys. Add in all that experience and I guarantee they’ll leave you wanting more. So? Interested in trying?”
“No.” Su Yi’an rejected it instantly.
Men nowadays start going bald at forty. At fifty, would they even still be bearable to look at? He wouldn’t be able to bring himself to do it.
Teacher Bai had quite a lot of hair, though. He probably wouldn’t go bald, right?
Su Yi’an suddenly thought of Bai Yunchi, who lived next door.
Teacher Bai wasn’t just handsome, he had a great build too and he clearly worked out regularly. A man like that, even at fifty, would definitely still be a handsome uncle.
“An’an, An’an?” Yang Jiayang waved a hand in front of his face. When he finally snapped back to attention, Yang Jiayang asked, “What are you thinking about? I called you so many times and you didn’t respond.”
“Nothing.” Su Yi’an tugged at the ear of the plush toy in his arms and said, “What were you saying just now?”
“I’m hungry. Let’s order some takeout. I’m craving crayfish.”
“Okay.”
Su Yi’an picked up his phone, a strange thought crossing his mind: how was he so certain that Teacher Bai wouldn’t go bald? And even if he really did go bald, he’d probably still be handsome anyway.
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
(¬‿¬ ) the Ko-fi button is looking at you
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · New neighborsChapter 2 · Let’s just wash it.Chapter 3 · Pretty little girlChapter 4 · It’s impossible for us.Chapter 5 · Not as handsome as Teacher BaiChapter 6 · Happy cooperationChapter 7 · Making breakfastChapter 8 · LostChapter 9 · He’s hopelessly in love.Chapter 10 · Three CloudChapter 11 · Am I Old?Chapter 12 · Victory celebration banquetChapter 13 · Power outrageChapter 14 · Online dating meetupChapter 15 · Am I really that bad?Chapter 16 · Boyfriend?Chapter 17 · ConcertChapter 18 · Use Privileges.Chapter 19 · A night AloneChapter 20 · Do You Like me?Chapter 21 · The End