Chi Qing fell asleep after saying that.
Because he had been fully focused on falling asleep, he didn’t know that where he couldn’t see, the expression in Xie Lin’s eyes was different from usual. Those eyes, which were often full of laughter, lost that smile when it faded, and even the upward curve at the corners seemed to turn dangerous. If anyone had met such a pair of eyes at that moment, it would have been hard to find the usual frivolity in those brown pupils.
That was also the look that had made Chi Qing feel, the moment he stepped inside, that Xie Lin seemed a little strange tonight.
Xie Lin was facing the large floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the pitch-black night.
Only after hearing Chi Qing’s reply did that expression in his eyes move a little. He withdrew his gaze and looked fixedly at the person curled up asleep on the sofa.
The man wasn’t short. Because he was slim, he could curl up on the sofa fairly easily. His other hand was tucked beside his ear, his fingers bent inside the cuff of his sweater. Even asleep, he still tried to minimize contact with the things around him.
Half his face was covered by his hair, and the nearby warm-yellow living room lamp shone on him.
A little bit of warm light also stained Xie Lin’s eyes.
“Sleep,” Xie Lin said with a smile. The dangerous look from earlier vanished like an illusion. In a low voice he added, “Good night.”
Chi Qing had thought at most he would sleep at Xie Lin’s place for two or three hours.
When he was in an unfamiliar environment, especially in someone else’s home, it was hard for him to stay asleep for long. The previous few “treatments” had all been like that too — maybe not even two hours later, he would wake up.
But this time…
Chi Qing was woken by a large patch of sunlight pouring in from the window.
The apartment was high up and filled with sunlight, the balcony was spacious, and most importantly, the curtains had only been drawn halfway. As Chi Qing slept, a large white halo gradually appeared before his eyes, and then he felt himself being baked warm. Today was, once again, a bright, cloudless day he didn’t much like.
Chi Qing opened his eyes and took a moment to recover, puzzled by why he had slept until dawn in Xie Lin’s home, unable to find an answer himself.
He wanted to raise a hand and brush back the messy hair over his forehead, but found that his movement was restricted.
His hand was still in another person’s palm.
Only now did he realize that the positions of the two of them were completely different from when he had fallen asleep. The man’s hand had come across from behind him, wrapping horizontally around him. That was when he understood why it had felt hot — part of it was the sun being too strong, and the main reason was that someone was pressed against his side.
Even if this expensive leather sofa was wide, fitting two adult men onto it was still a highly challenging task.
…
Chi Qing didn’t know what had happened after he fell asleep.
Even if it was “treatment,” was there any need to be that close?
“I’ll give you three seconds,” Chi Qing closed his eyes, then slowly opened them and said the first sentence of the day, “Wake up, then get off the sofa. Otherwise I don’t mind sending you down.”
Xie Lin hadn’t slept well the night before, and the night before that he had stayed at headquarters and barely slept at all. He heard something beside his ear, but he really had no energy to deal with it. “Don’t make trouble.”
“…”
A few seconds later, Xie Lin was lying on the floor, rubbing his side as he finally woke up.
“…This early in the morning,” Xie Lin said helplessly, “your way of greeting people is pretty special.”
Chi Qing still felt bothered and awkward about waking up in someone else’s house.
“Why didn’t you wake me.”
Xie Lin said, “Because yesterday someone was holding my hand and refusing to let go, and even talked in their sleep saying they didn’t want to go back because their home was too noisy… I actually wanted to ask you, why would your home be noisy?”
He had indeed wanted to wake Chi Qing yesterday, but Chi Qing slept too deeply. After he called out once, he found the hand in his palm had only tightened, so he didn’t keep trying. Then in his sleep Chi Qing had muttered that he didn’t want to go back.
“Didn’t want to go back?” Xie Lin wasn’t sure if he had heard those exact words, so he bent down and asked closer.
Chi Qing buried his face against the edge of his sweater cuff.
“Why?” Xie Lin asked again.
Only after a long time did he hear two words, like words spoken in a dream: “Too noisy.”
“What?”
“My home is too noisy.”
At first Chi Qing thought Xie Lin was just making things up when he heard the first half of that, but after hearing the second half he had to admit that this really had been something he said.
Otherwise Xie Lin wouldn’t have known that his home was noisy.
…
Chi Qing lowered his eyes. He couldn’t exactly say that whenever he came into contact with alcohol, he lost control, and once he lost control he could hear many people’s voices. After a few seconds, he finally said, “Just sleep-talk.”
Xie Lin had already pushed himself up from the carpet. He neither said he believed it nor that he didn’t. “Is that so?”
Chi Qing said, “Only an idiot would choose to believe sleep-talking is true.”
Xie Lin said, “Depends on the situation. The psychology textbook I was reading yesterday mentioned this sort of thing. Psychology says that sometimes the things people say unconsciously are more convincing.”
“…”
You went to see a psychiatrist.
Not to study psychology.
Xie Lin’s difficulty to fool made Chi Qing regret coming over to knock on his door yesterday. He suddenly felt that being tormented to death by noise at home wasn’t such a big deal after all. “I don’t remember. Say whatever you want.”
Fortunately, just then a phone rang at the right time.
Xie Lin reached for the phone vibrating on the coffee table. “Hello?”
Chi Qing didn’t know who was on the other end. He only saw Xie Lin glance at him, then say, “Oh, he’s here with me.”
The person on the other end fell silent.
Chi Qing guessed who it was. “Ji Mingrui?”
“Mm,” Xie Lin said. “But his signal doesn’t seem very good.”
On the other end of the line, Ji Mingrui: “…”
It wasn’t that his signal was bad. He was just too shocked to know what to say.
Ji Mingrui had called Chi Qing all morning without getting through, so he called Xie Lin instead.
His brain had frozen for a long time before he finally managed to explain why he was calling. “Since you’re both there…” He still couldn’t help interrupting himself to ask, “No, why are the two of you together at this hour?”
Xie Lin said casually, “He slept over at my place last night.”
“He…” Why did he sleep over at your place?
Ji Mingrui was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle the answer. “Forget it. Then please tell him later that Jiang Yu’s birthday is tomorrow…”
This time Ji Mingrui still couldn’t finish, because he heard a very familiar voice say coolly, “Jiang Yu? Your colleague?”
“What does his birthday have to do with me.”
Another voice, full of laughter, came close enough to explain from beside him: “I’ve got it on speaker. Just say it directly.”
“…His birthday has nothing to do with you, but he wants to invite the two of you out for a meal,” Ji Mingrui felt very tired from making this call. “It’s also to celebrate the successful closing of the tenant case.”
There were too many people outside.
Restaurants, malls, pedestrian streets — in a loss-of-control state, all of those were high-risk places for Chi Qing.
Eating out was impossible, unless that “human soundproofing device” went too.
Chi Qing weighed the choice between “there are a lot of people outside, but if Xie Lin is there it’ll still be quiet” and “at home I won’t bump into people, but I’ll be driven crazy by the people in the building,” and found that he leaned more toward the first option.
So instead of immediately answering Ji Mingrui’s invitation, he looked at Xie Lin. “Are you going?”
The call was on speakerphone. Xie Lin got up to fetch a bottle of mineral water from the kitchen. After twisting open the cap, he leaned against the kitchen doorway and looked back at Chi Qing. “Yeah. It’s his birthday, and I happen to have nothing going on that day.”
On the other end, Ji Mingrui repeated, “Are you going or not, seriously?”
Chi Qing: “I’m going.”
Ji Mingrui had no confidence in this at all and didn’t think for a second that this “I’m going” was Chi Qing answering him. He only assumed Chi Qing was passing on Xie Lin’s answer. “Ah, I heard the consultant say he’s going. I’m asking you.”
Chi Qing: “I’m the one saying it.”
“…?”
“No, shouldn’t you be cursing at me right now?” Ji Mingrui said, feeling oddly uncomfortable that he hadn’t gotten the refusal he expected. “Like, ‘His birthday has nothing to do with me,’ or ‘There are too many people, I’m not going,’ or ‘I’m not used to sharing the same private room air with other people.’”
Chi Qing frowned. “Are you sick?”
…
But that’s exactly how you usually are when you’re ‘sick.’ Why the double standard now?
Ji Mingrui dared to be angry but not to speak.
In any case, the birthday gathering was decided. The time was set for the day after tomorrow, which was also one of the rare days off for the new team.
After hanging up, Chi Qing was ready to leave. As work time approached, everyone in the building got up to go to work, and the voices in his ear gradually increased too.
Someone was lethargically complaining: [I don’t want to work…]
[Why do people have to work? I don’t want to see that supervisor’s insufferably sarcastic face.]
Someone else was dreaming big: [When will I get rich? Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket on the way to work. Maybe my fate will change dramatically in the next second! Get up!]
But what he heard most clearly was still Xie Lin’s voice. When Xie Lin escorted him to the door, he said, “If I didn’t misunderstand just now, when you asked me whether I was going, did you mean that if I went, then you would go? The way you are, I’d think…” Xie Lin always managed to put his probing questions in a teasing, ambiguous tone. “…I’d think you might be interested in me.”
“…”
As Xie Lin was speaking, Chi Qing had already unlocked the door. Before going in, he threw back one last line: “You’re probably not fully awake. You should go back to sleep instead of standing here saying things like this.”
What Xie Lin hadn’t said just then was — he had found a pattern in Chi Qing’s interest in him: it only appeared under one condition. After drinking alcohol.
After drinking, this cleanliness-obsessed Mr. Chi would cling to him, take the initiative to hold his hand, come knocking in the middle of the night because he couldn’t sleep… For Chi Qing, drinking “alcohol” seemed to be about more than simply having an allergy. His reaction didn’t resemble other people’s either. Most patients with alcohol allergies would develop redness, swelling, or itching after drinking — alcohol intolerance reactions.
And both times after he drank, he mentioned the word “noisy.”
Noisy.
Xie Lin’s intuition told him this was a very important word.
The last time could still be explained by the faint sound of renovation work in the building, but this time there was clearly no explanation to be found.
Why was his home noisy?
Xie Lin stood at the doorway, thoughtfully staring for a long time at the door opposite him, which had slammed shut mercilessly with a bang.
