This night, they slept soundly.
They were jolted back to consciousness by a rhythmic knocking at the living room door.
Ji Xun woke up first but didn’t open his eyes. Even so, he instinctively sensed Huo Ranyin moving in his arms, eyes opening, preparing to get up.
“Don’t,” he mumbled, refusing to let Huo Ranyin go. “Want a hug.”
“…”
After a silence of about a second or two, Huo Ranyin’s arm draped over his shoulder, giving him a brief embrace.
“Not enough, want a real hug.” Ji Xun was dissatisfied with such a fleeting touch. Though still groggy, he persisted with a spoiled insistence.
This time, the soft arms holding him turned to steel. Not only did he not get another hug, he was pushed away mercilessly.
“Time to get up, it’s already one o’clock.”
“…What time?”
“One in the afternoon,” Huo Ranyin stated clearly.
Ji Xun rubbed his face, fully awake now.
He glanced at Huo Ranyin, who was already sitting up in gray pajamas.
Last night, after Huo Ranyin had his first sleep, he’d woken up around five or six in the morning to bathe and change into pajamas. Ji Xun had woken up too, and finding nothing to do in bed, he had simply changed the sheets and thrown the dirty linens and their clothes into the washer-dryer.
Now, Huo Ranyin, himself, and the bedding were all fresh and crisp in the bright light.
The storm from the night before had long since passed. The sky had cleared, leaving behind a beautiful sunny day with countless rainbow-colored beams of light streaming across the foot of the bed. Just looking at them for a moment was enough to dispel any lingering annoyance at having overslept.
The knocking outside persisted. Ji Xun rolled out of bed, threw on a jacket, and rushed to open the door.
“Who is it?” Huo Ranyin’s voice followed from behind.
“Don’t know, probably the courier,” Ji Xun replied. “I bought quite a lot of things—”
Expecting to receive a package, he was instead met with a pop of colorful confetti, followed by a chorus of overlapping voices, as if they were a choir:
“Celebrating Teacher Ji’s safe return!”
Ji Xun was stunned.
He looked at Yuan Yue and Wen Yangyang standing at the door, then at the phone screen Wen Yangyang was thrusting toward him, where the rest of the team was packed together like elementary students, radiating an atmosphere of joyous celebration.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Celebrating that you didn’t lose an arm or a leg and made it back safely. But everyone else has to work, so they couldn’t all come. They just sent the two of us as representatives.” Yuan Yue, looking quite gratified, stuffed a thermos into Ji Xun’s uninjured arm. “Here, chicken soup. A three-year-old free-range hen. My mom picked it out and killed it specifically for you to build your strength back up.”
“Same here, same here,” Wen Yangyang nodded like a bobblehead beside him.
“Thank your mom for me, this really saves me in a pinch.” Ji Xun took the thermos without ceremony and looked at Wen Yangyang, only to be surprised: “Why are your dark circles so black? Did someone beat you up?”
Wen Yangyang’s eyes turned red, and she began to whine: “Are they that black?”
“Black enough that the title of ‘National Treasure’ might change hands,” Ji Xun said.
“Teacher Ji, your dark circles don’t look that dark anymore…” Reminded by Ji Xun, Wen Yangyang suddenly began scrutinizing his face.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good then.” Ji Xun was relieved.
“It is good.” Wen Yangyang looked at him pleadingly. “Do you have a secret recipe? I apply eye cream three times a day, morning, noon, and night, and it has absolutely no effect…”
“The secret recipe is,” Ji Xun mused, “eat well, drink well, have a good foundation, go to bed early and wake up early, and you’ll have great skin?”
“Waaaaah!” Wen Yangyang’s mental state crumbled.
“What exactly is wrong with her?” Not wanting to keep standing in the doorway chatting, Ji Xun made room for them to enter and asked Yuan Yue.
“New-job-stress-syndrome,” Yuan Yue summed up with three words. He didn’t move to enter, just saying, “I won’t come in. I’ll come find you later tonight. I still have to go pay a visit to Captain Huo… Captain Huo?”
The sudden high pitch of confusion was clearly not directed at him.
Ji Xun turned around steadily to see Huo Ranyin, dressed in pajamas, walking out of the bedroom.
He turned his head back to explain to Yuan Yue and Wen Yangyang… but there was no need to explain. Huo Ranyin walked up behind him, dressed casually, and said nonchalantly: “The rent was too expensive, so I moved in with Ji Xun.”
“If you can’t find a suitable place for the time being, I can keep an eye out for you,” Yuan Yue offered.
“Housing in Ning City is indeed expensive.” Wen Yangyang nodded, sympathizing. “I share a two-bedroom apartment with a friend. Total is 3,000 yuan, so 1,500 each. Plus utilities and whatnot, the monthly burden is not low at all… How much is yours, Captain Huo?”
“8,000,” Huo Ranyin said.
“…How much?”
“8,000.”
The four eyes at the door stared straight at Huo Ranyin.
Wen Yangyang suddenly raised her hand, audaciously pointing her index finger at Huo Ranyin.
She trembled.
And trembled again.
Ji Xun guessed that if she had a shred of rationality left, the word “spendthrift” would have been trembling off her lips…
After a long while, the words finally burst from her throat through gritted teeth:
“Good move!”
After saying that, a boundless energy seemed to erupt from Wen Yangyang’s petite frame. She began actively and aggressively advising Huo Ranyin on when to move.
Huo Ranyin’s plan had been to wait until he and Ji Xun had finished their medicine and could handle physical labor before moving.
But Wen Yangyang calculated shrewdly: “It’s already the end of March. If you wait until you’re better, it’ll be April, and you’ll have to pay another month’s rent! 8,000 yuan—that’s practically 10,000 when you round it up! 10,000 yuan could buy a new computer plus a new phone; you could almost buy 0.8 square meters of a house!”
Yuan Yue didn’t approve either: “There’s no need. Why save money just to throw it away on a house you don’t even stay in?”
“True! Captain always works overtime and rarely sleeps at home anyway!” Once Yuan Yue pointed that out, Wen Yangyang felt like she couldn’t breathe. “Your hard-earned monthly salary is all being smashed into something meaningless!”
Finally, she made the decision:
“Move. You must move. Today. Right now. Don’t drag it out for a single second!”
…
By the time Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin snapped out of it, the four of them were already at Huo Ranyin’s place.
Two injured people couldn’t exactly do the heavy lifting, so they were busy packing Huo Ranyin’s clothes and odds and ends, sealing them into cardboard boxes, waiting for Tan Mingjiu to arrive with the truck he’d called to move everything in one go.
As long as there wasn’t large furniture to move, moving wasn’t actually that hard. Especially for a man like Huo Ranyin, who hadn’t even fully unpacked his luggage; all that needed organizing were clothes, wine, and a few books.
The packing took about an hour.
When it came time to move everything downstairs, Tan Mingjiu appeared right on cue like a ghost, helped Yuan Yue move everything down like a ghost, helped Yuan Yue move everything into Ji Xun’s place like a ghost, and finally, took Wen Yangyang and disappeared like a ghost…
Ji Xun: “…”
Huo Ranyin: “…”
Huo Ranyin frowned slightly: “Tan Mingjiu seems off. He didn’t say a single word from start to finish.”
When a chatterbox suddenly turns mute, anyone would find it strange.
Yuan Yue looked troubled.
Ji Xun pulled out his phone and scrolled through his social media feed: “He probably took a hit to his wallet and doesn’t want to talk—Tan Mingjiu’s feed has been flooded with games lately. He blew ten ‘648s’ (large micro-transactions) and didn’t get the card he wanted. I’d be autistic too.”
Yuan Yue quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
“You guys rest first. I’ll come back tonight.”
After saying that, he left.
This was the second time Yuan Yue had said he was coming back tonight. Ji Xun figured Yuan Yue must have something on his mind, so he nodded casually, signaling that he would listen to his rambling later.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. The two of them shared the chicken soup Yuan Yue brought, had a late lunch, and then, on their rare day off, unpacked boxes, tidied up, and organized cabinets… By the time the place finally looked like a home, the sky outside was dotted with twinkling stars.
Ji Xun sprawled on the sofa, with Huo Ranyin sitting next to him.
They had completely claimed the yellow-leather sofa, one on each side.
Huo Ranyin got up and brought over two wine glasses, making up for the red wine they hadn’t had the chance to drink last night.
Huo Ranyin had packed all his wine from his old place. He chose a whisky, and though it’s unclear how he mixed it, the golden liquid held glittering silver specks like stardust in the Ganges, as if the stars from the sky had been poured into their glasses.
They clinked glasses and took a sip.
A hot, spicy sensation traveled from the tip of their tongues to their throats, turning into a ball of fire that settled in their stomachs, burning there, carrying with it a sense of excitement that was hard to describe.
From today on, they were officially living together.
In one room, there were now two people’s things—distinct, yet not distinct.
Slowly, they would blend together—you in me, me in you.
Later on, their personalities, their habits, would be like a palette of paints merged by water; neither could be completely stripped from the other’s life…
A knock suddenly rang out at the door.
Ji Xun, who had been staring silently and drinking with Huo Ranyin as if communicating through eyes alone, was startled.
“Should be Yuan Yue.”
He got up and opened the door. It was indeed Yuan Yue.
“Need your help with something.” Yuan Yue was straightforward, then greeted Huo Ranyin: “Captain Huo, good evening.”
“Captain Yuan, good evening,” Huo Ranyin acknowledged with a nod. Yuan Yue had come twice in one day, which was a bit much. He originally didn’t want to move, but after a moment, he felt this was his home, and he should show some spirit of ownership and assert his territory. He raised his glass: “Would Captain Yuan like a drink?”
“Thanks, no,” Yuan Yue politely declined, pulling Ji Xun directly into the kitchen and placing the bag he was carrying on the counter. “Come help me brainstorm.”
“Brainstorm what?”
“Cooking.”
“?”
“Cooking.” Yuan Yue looked Ji Xun in the eye, solemnly.
“I’m afraid of knives,” Ji Xun said, equally solemnly.
“No knives needed for this,” Yuan Yue said quickly, immediately opening the bag and taking out its contents.
They were all transparent Lock & Lock containers, and inside them were washed and cut vegetables and meat.
Ji Xun was a bit confused: “These…”
Yuan Yue unfolded a piece of paper—the cooking steps.
Simple, tidy, each dish broken down into three to five steps.
The weirdest part was that Yuan Yue had even weighed out the seasonings into little packets for each dish.
After laying these things out before Ji Xun, Yuan Yue looked at him with great hope: “Try it. Can you make the dish by following these steps?”
“I believe,” Ji Xun said after a moment of silence, “that as long as you aren’t mentally challenged, anyone could.”
He didn’t really want to try.
But Yuan Yue insisted.
Ji Xun had no choice but to look for an apron. But he couldn’t find one, and the hook for the apron was empty.
“Huh, where’s that pink piglet apron?”
Huo Ranyin, drinking outside, paused.
“In the trash can,” Yuan Yue said.
“Who threw it away?” Ji Xun asked.
Huo Ranyin’s heart slowly crept upward.
“Must have been the housekeeper,” Ji Xun said. “Look, the apron you bought was so ugly even the housekeeper couldn’t stand it.”
“I didn’t buy it, it was a gift,” Yuan Yue corrected.
Huo Ranyin’s heart slowly dropped back down.
“At least the trash bag was clean, I can fish it out and use it,” Ji Xun said.
“I’ll go downstairs and buy a new one,” Yuan Yue offered, feeling guilty.
Huo Ranyin’s heart rose again.
“No,” Ji Xun refused flatly. “I don’t need your apron.”
Huo Ranyin’s heart dropped back down again.
It felt like riding a rollercoaster.
Tsk.
“Fast-cooking” really lived up to its name.
Ten minutes later, three small stir-fry dishes were done. Ji Xun set the two vegetable and one meat dish on the table. Under Yuan Yue’s nervous and anxious gaze, he called Huo Ranyin over, shared a pair of chopsticks, and they each had a taste.
“Not bad,” Ji Xun said.
“Tastes good,” Huo Ranyin agreed.
Yuan Yue let out a long breath, his whole body relaxing.
Then Ji Xun set down his chopsticks: “Now you can tell me what you’re really up to. You’re not planning on quitting the police force to open a fast-food joint, are you?”
“Actually, you might not believe me, but I…” Yuan Yue swallowed, his voice actually trembling. He licked his lips and blinked; Ji Xun noticed his lips were cracked and peeling, and his eyes were bloodshot and dry. “But I found out… I actually have a child…”
Both of them: “…”
Oh. That’s all?
