When the two left Cheng Xiang’s home, it was with a slight sense of being driven out. Cheng Xiang’s mother, seeing her daughter’s words were truly inappropriate, coaxed and persuaded them out of the house.
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin did not forcefully stay. It was obvious that in her agitation, Cheng Xiang had said everything she had been bottling up inside. They had gained a lot tonight, so they didn’t fuss over the elderly woman’s minor actions.
They walked along the garden path of the residential complex. It was late winter and early spring, and the earth had not yet warmed up. The plants in the flowerbeds were still bare of flowers and leaves, leaving only naked branches. But the firefly lights placed in the flowerbeds were not extinguished. The small, yellow, ping-pong-ball-sized lights, attached to thin rods, swayed left and right in the flowerbeds, flickering on and off, giving off a leisurely and carefree vibe.
Ji Xun took out his phone and glanced at the time. “Ten o’clock at night. If we’re not rushing to question Qi Yuan, let’s find a hotel and rest first.”
Qi Yuan, who was about to go abroad, was also in the capital. Their trip to the capital was not only to chat with Cheng Xiang; Qi Yuan, as the younger brother of the other suicide victim, Qi Meng, and her only living family member, was also an important figure.
“It’s too late. Let’s go see him tomorrow,” Huo Ranyin said.
“To hear those three words from a workaholic’s mouth, it’s worth it,” Ji Xun remarked with emotion. “But am I using the app wrong? The nearby hotels all seem to be full… Hmm, there’s a love hotel that doesn’t seem to be full, if you don’t mind sleeping on a massage waterbed and showering in a bathroom with only transparent glass.”
Huo Ranyin minded very much.
If we really stay at that hotel, neither of us will be getting out of bed tomorrow, he thought silently, taking out his own phone and also checking for hotel availability.
Perhaps February 14th was indeed a day that boosted the economy. There weren’t many hotels nearby to begin with, and those few were mostly full. The closest decent hotel was a 45-minute drive away.
He decided to open WeChat, typed for a bit, then said to Ji Xun, “We’re not staying in a hotel. We’ll borrow a friend’s place for the night. It’s not far, about a 20-minute walk.”
“My friend = me?”
“It’s really a friend.”
Huo Ranyin replied. The two left Cheng Xiang’s residential complex. After a full day of transitioning from car to high-speed rail, neither wanted to take a taxi again, so they strolled slowly along the road. During their walk, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was tranquil and peaceful.
After about one walk’s worth of time, they arrived at the residential complex Huo Ranyin had mentioned.
This complex was no less impressive than Cheng Xiang’s. Just from the outside, one could tell it was a high-end property. The apartments inside were just smaller than Cheng Xiang’s, looking mostly like 90-square-meter units. Huo Ranyin’s friend’s apartment was also 90 square meters, on the 10th floor.
He opened the door with a code, and the lights inside turned on in response. The floor heating started automatically. Ji Xun looked around and whistled. “Same as Gao Shuang’s place, a full smart-home design?”
“Not sure, it’s my first time here too,” Huo Ranyin said as he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He added casually, “The owner said we can stay as we please. An auntie will come to clean tomorrow, so don’t worry.”
Just as the other’s reply reached Ji Xun’s ears, he spotted the owner’s watch display cabinet in a corner of the living room. It was a cylindrical column with spotlights installed inside. Famous watches were arranged in a staggered fashion, the diamonds and gems embedded in their bodies shining together. On the dials, mother-of-pearl and satin gleamed.
The value of this cabinet of watches was probably equivalent to the apartment itself.
If it were just that, Ji Xun would at most lament the superiority of the bourgeoisie, without feeling much jealousy. After all, the difference in class was too great; he was just an ordinary, common citizen.
Then, in this display cabinet, he saw a watch, a Patek Philippe Nautilus.
There were two such watches in the house: one on display in this cabinet, and one on Huo Ranyin’s wrist.
Ji Xun stared at this watch for a good while, suddenly remembering how he had once joked with Sisi about Huo Ranyin’s watch. He looked past the watch and, with a little effort, paid attention to the rest of the house. He found that the house was decorated in a Southeast Asian style, with colorful Nepalese thangkas on the walls, and the main color scheme was a fresh apple green.
Apple green.
Ji Xun again remembered the apple-green phone Huo Ranyin had given him.
At this moment, Huo Ranyin came out of the kitchen. Tired from the long day, he finished his water, casually splashed his face at the faucet, and let the water droplets drip down his chin. He ran his fingers through his hair, loosening the neatly styled strands.
The 90-square-meter apartment was only divided into two rooms, so the layout didn’t feel cramped. He went to check the bedrooms first. The master bedroom had a large bed and was connected to a walk-in closet and a master bathroom. As for the study, since there was no bed, Huo Ranyin glanced at it briefly and looked away.
He felt a bit of regret then.
If he had known there was only one bed in the house, he would have rather stayed in a hotel. But if it was just for one night, the sofa would do…
His gaze turned towards the living room, and he suddenly saw Ji Xun sitting on the sofa.
Ji Xun was sprawled on the sofa like a cat on the floor. The sofa’s back was low, his neck resting on the backrest, his spine loosely leaning against the cushion. From the waist down, he was completely off the sofa, his legs stretched out straight onto the carpet.
He maintained this awkward yet carefree posture, tossing his phone up and down.
The phone he had given Ji Xun.
“Don’t you find that awkward?” Huo Ranyin approached Ji Xun.
“It is a bit awkward, actually,” Ji Xun said. “Is this your good friend’s house?”
“Not that good, I guess,” Huo Ranyin said. “We’re not that close.”
“That’s not what it looks like, since you both bought the same watch. Did you go to the boutique to pick them out together?” Ji Xun said.
“What?” Huo Ranyin didn’t understand at first.
“The Nautilus,” Ji Xun pointed to Huo Ranyin’s wrist, then to the luxury watch display cabinet in the room.
Only then did Huo Ranyin follow Ji Xun’s finger and notice a watch of the same model as the one on his own wrist.
For a moment he thought it was a coincidence, and for another, he thought it was nothing.
“The Nautilus is a popular model. Yu Cisheng is clearly a watch collector, so it’s not surprising he bought this popular model,” Huo Ranyin explained.
So the owner’s name is Yu Cisheng, Ji Xun thought.
“This friend of yours, Yu Cisheng, seems to like green a lot, same as my preference. Or to put it another way,” Ji Xun said again, “my preference just happens to be the same as his, so you bought the right color for the phone. What a shame, I thought you knew I liked green and bought this phone for me for that reason.”
In fact, the pajamas Huo Ranyin had prepared for him at his home that day were also dark green.
Huo Ranyin retorted, “Couldn’t it be that I just bought it randomly?”
Ji Xun looked at the ceiling. They were under a green ceiling. Ji Xun’s thinking was clear, his logic rigorous:
“Most people would choose gold or silver; those two are popular, safe colors. Or they’d buy blue based on their own preference—which can be glimpsed from your watch and usual small accessories. But you chose the less common green, so it must have been a deliberate choice.”
“…” Huo Ranyin was speechless.
“So,” Ji Xun deduced, “is this your ex-boyfriend’s house?”
“Don’t mess around.”
“You brought your current fuck buddy to your ex-boyfriend’s house…” Ji Xun continued, but unfortunately, he couldn’t finish. The standing Huo Ranyin didn’t argue this time. He just leaned down and kissed him.
The man leaned down as swiftly as a wild beast, but when he was right in front, he suddenly slowed down, like a cool breeze, gently brushing against his face, settling into his embrace, entangling with him, tangling his breath, tangling his lips and tongue, wrapping around him as if in a deadly embrace, twisting with him, wanting to live and die with him.
By the time their lips finally parted, they had both slid onto the carpet. Ji Xun, who had been unprepared, let out a long breath, relieving the stimulation and dizziness from the sudden kiss.
Then he licked his lips and tasted a trace of blood.
His lip had been bitten just now. He tilted his head slightly and looked at Huo Ranyin. Huo Ranyin was still in his arms. The person who had just finished kissing had a trace of laziness, not immediately getting up from his embrace, still occupying his entire arms. He could feel the other’s breath, a bit rapid at first, as if gasping for the recently lost oxygen, then slowly calming down, long and gentle. It seemed if they were quiet for another moment, the other could fall asleep leaning against him.
“So eager to rush up,” Ji Xun chuckled. “Did I expose your thoughts?”
“It was to make you say less nonsense,” Huo Ranyin huffed under his breath. “Yu Cisheng is my neighbor, we’ve known each other since we were kids, that’s all.”
“Oh—” Ji Xun looked at Huo Ranyin for two seconds, then turned his gaze away with some regret. “The soap opera of a fuck buddy and an ex-boyfriend is a drama that can’t be finished in one night. I was just saying I could cooperate with your performance.”
He repeated the unfinished trash talk with a deeper meaning.
He waited for Huo Ranyin to repeat his previous action and kiss him again. He was already prepared, even closing his eyes and turning his face towards Huo Ranyin.
The face he liked was right in front of him, close enough to possess. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved.
But considering Ji Xun’s usual style, Huo Ranyin highly suspected that this game, once started, would never end. He wavered for a moment, then hardened his heart, coolly pushing away the face that had leaned in, and sneered, “What, you were just mocking Wei Jun for being stuck in the past, and now you’re getting hung up on ex-boyfriends?”
“What’s there to care about the body?” Ji Xun blinked. “But for someone like you, who has such a harsh definition of love, I’m still somewhat curious about what kind of person could walk into your heart and make you lose your head. I’d really like to meet such an extraordinary person.”
“…” Huo Ranyin was silent for a moment, unsure of the exact flavor of the feeling in his heart. He then saw Ji Xun pat his clothes, stand up, and offer Huo Ranyin a hand, indicating for him to get up too.
“You believe me just like that?” Huo Ranyin was surprised.
“What else?” Ji Xun countered. “Is there any need for you to lie to me? In that case, you really do know I like green. You’ve done your homework.”
“…” Huo Ranyin shut his mouth again.
Like before, Ji Xun walked around the master bedroom and the study and discovered the same problem. “There’s only one bed in the house?”
“You sleep in the master bedroom, I’ll sleep on the sofa,” Huo Ranyin said.
“Huh.” Ji Xun didn’t respond to that, but instead voiced another question. “Did you buy these books?”
At this point, Ji Xun had already entered the study that Huo Ranyin hadn’t gone into earlier. Huo Ranyin glanced inside and saw Ji Xun holding a copy of “The Masked Cat” in his hand.
The Poisonous Fruit Series II – The Masked Cat.
Huo Ranyin pretended to be indifferent. “I told you, I don’t read your novels.”
“Which means, your friend bought all of these?” Ji Xun was puzzled. “Am I really that popular? And to be sandwiched between Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen, it’s quite embarrassing. I feel like I’m dragging down the average level of the three of us…”
Only then did Huo Ranyin realize the problem.
He took two steps forward, came to the bookshelf, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ji Xun, looking at the complete set of Ji Xun’s novels on the shelf, a total of six books—Ji Xun had only been writing novels for three years, so of course, he couldn’t have produced so many works. In these three years, Ji Xun had written a total of 6 books. “The Poisonous Fruit” was up to its third installment, and the other three, like “The Immortal Crane,” were stand-alone books.
Ji Xun casually pulled out a book, opened it, and it was even a signed edition.
He pulled out another one, opened it, and it was another signed edition.
He could only remark, “Are my signed editions that easy to buy? How come I remember not signing that many back then?”
Huo Ranyin was equally surprised. The cabinet mostly contained long novels, with few magazines. He randomly picked up a magazine and found Ji Xun’s name on it too.
“There are your short stories too.”
“Amazing, I’ve forgotten about these short stories myself,” Ji Xun leaned over to look.
With that, the distance between the two became a bit close.
The ends of Ji Xun’s hair almost brushed against Huo Ranyin’s lips.
The place that had just been used instantly went numb and hot from the stimulation. Huo Ranyin discreetly moved away and didn’t want to talk about the owner of this room with Ji Xun. He glossed over it, “I don’t know much about him. Right now, he should be doing some charity and venture capital work. This little hobby of reading, I haven’t discussed it with him, but liking mystery and liking your books isn’t a very strange or niche hobby.”
Ji Xun could also see that the owner was involved in charity.
Along the small corridor from the living room into the room, both walls were hung with donation certificates from charity events and many thank-you letters from sponsored individuals. The trophies on the bookshelf were also related to charitable acts.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Ji Xun raised an eyebrow.
“It’s getting late, let’s sleep,” Huo Ranyin suggested again. “You sleep on the bed in the master bedroom…”
Before he could finish, Ji Xun raised his hand and pressed a switch on the wall with the character for “bed” on it.
This switch was near the bookshelf. Ji Xun had noticed it just now while looking at the bookshelf. Now, with a press, a crack appeared on one of the study’s walls, and then a bed stored within the wall slowly slid down and lay flat on the floor.
“Looks like we don’t have to consider who sleeps on the sofa and who sleeps on the bed. Two beds. I’ll be in the study, you’ll be in the master bedroom… Actually, I was thinking of you quite a bit tonight, but it’s really embarrassing in someone else’s house, so I could only go to the bathroom—and that difficulty is a bit too high. Let’s just wait until we get back,” he said with no small amount of regret.
Huo Ranyin didn’t want to say anything at all.
He slammed the door shut for Ji Xun.
