“Hello?”
At this moment, Yan Xun’s eyes were blurred by soap suds, so he didn’t realize the incoming call was a video chat. After casually pressing ‘answer’, he fumbled to place his phone on the bathroom shelf, intending to rinse his eyes with water first.
The front-facing camera happened to be pointing at Yan Xun’s upper body from a low angle. The bottom of the frame unfortunately cut off right at the slightly bulging veins tracing the side of the young man’s lower abdomen.
President Chu cast a casual glance and noted that the hospital’s healthy diet and rehabilitation training were indeed highly effective.
Amidst the splashing sounds of water, Yan Xun, with his eyes closed, heard a familiar male voice—
“I’ve arrived at the airport. I’ll be home for dinner tonight.”
Chu Tingyun spoke this sentence much slower than usual.
The rising steam fogged up the phone’s front camera. Under the dim yellow bathroom lights, it looked as if a hazy, slightly erotic filter had been applied to the lens. Although his memories had regressed seven years, the person currently displayed on the screen was the twenty-five-year-old Yan Xun—a youthful, mature male body brimming with strength and hormones.
For a fleeting moment, Chu Tingyun even had the illusion that the splashing water droplets were about to break through the screen and land on his own face.
“Tonight?”
Yan Xun moved quickly. He turned off the water, wiped his face with a towel, and intended to focus on the call first. However, the moment he opened his eyes, his gaze collided with Chu Tingyun’s on the video.
“…”
Their eyes met, and the air seemed to freeze in that instant.
Chu Tingyun watched a water droplet fall from the young man’s slightly trembling eyelashes.
Beep—
Sure enough, the video call was hung up the very next second.
Fast hands, he thought.
Chu Tingyun wasn’t in a hurry. Five minutes later, he received a message from Yan Xun.
“…I didn’t notice you were making a video call.”
Snow Mountain: “Oh, really? I thought you did it on purpose.”
…
The chat interface went silent for a few minutes. Yan Xun directly skipped over this topic.
“What time will you be back tonight?”
Snow Mountain: “Around eight. I want to eat potato and beef brisket stew.”
This reply, full of everyday domestic warmth, made Yan Xun zone out for a second. It even significantly diluted the embarrassment of being seen naked in the shower just now. He subconsciously agreed:
“Alright, anything else?”
Snow Mountain replied quickly this time: “Steamed spare ribs with rice flour, and steamed sea bass.”
—All dishes that Yan Xun was very good at making.
Because of his family environment, Yan Xun had learned to cook at a very young age. While he couldn’t compare to a professional chef, his home-style cooking was excellent.
It was just that hearing these words come out of Chu Tingyun’s mouth made Yan Xun feel a bit of cognitive dissonance. But thinking about how they had been married for three years, this kind of conversation was actually quite normal.
Even… a little warm and cozy.
If he forgot about the impending divorce, this was exactly like the perfect, happy family Yan Xun had always imagined.
A certain corner of his heart seemed to soften. He replied to his marriage partner:
“Then I’ll have them ready and wait for you to come back.”
Chu Tingyun stared at this sentence for a few seconds, then replied: “Mhm~”
Ending the chat, Yan Xun locked his phone and placed it face down on the sink counter.
The mirror in front of him reflected the young man in the present moment. Water droplets fell from the tips of his soaked hair. The thin white T-shirt clung to his body, faintly outlining the firm contours of his chest and abs.
In truth, a month’s time was enough for him to get used to his current body. Compared to the past, there were indeed some subtle changes, all of which could essentially be described by the word “mature.”
Except for one thing.
He stared into the mirror for a moment, then lifted the hem of his shirt to touch the skin of his lower abdomen.
Before leaving the hospital this morning, Yan Xun had specifically sought out Nurse Zhao. After agonizing over it for a long time, he finally couldn’t hold back and asked the question that had been continuously bothering him—
[Excuse me, when treating car crash patients in emergency care, do you guys do a full-body… hair removal?]
Nurse Zhao answered this question very rigorously.
[Generally speaking, we only perform skin preparation (shaving) on the areas that require surgery.]
Yan Xun: “…”
He understood the nurse’s underlying implication, so in the end, Yan Xun could only assume that his future self had, for some unknown reason, picked up the habit of hair removal.
…Forget it. After all, this could be considered a good habit of cleanliness.
Yan Xun stopped overthinking it, simultaneously forcing himself to forget about the video call from just now.
Actually, it wasn’t a big deal. You can see yourself in the top right corner during a WeChat video call, so Yan Xun knew perfectly well that the camera had only captured his upper half. What’s more… he and Chu Tingyun were already married.
—They were already married.
Yan Xun convinced himself.
He dried his hair and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Suddenly remembering something, Yan Xun sent another message to Chu Tingyun.
“When are we bringing the kitten back?”
Previously, with one of them in the hospital and the other on a business trip, the kitten naturally had to be sent to a foster home. Now that Yan Xun had recovered, he was thinking of bringing the kitty back to raise it himself.
“Not for now.”
The other side replied quickly.
“?”
Yan Xun sent a question mark over.
Snow Mountain: “The seasons are changing recently, and my allergies are acting up. Let’s wait a few days.”
That was indeed an irrefutable reason.
At 6:00 PM, the plane Chu Tingyun was on landed at the Capital Airport.
At 7:50 PM, a black Maybach drove into an old suburban residential complex that completely clashed with its luxurious aesthetic.
At 8:00 PM on the dot, Chu Tingyun stood outside the door and texted Yan Xun—
“Open the door.”
The old anti-theft door really didn’t look very clean, and President Chu, being a mild germaphobe, didn’t want to touch it.
Click—
The person inside quickly opened the door.
The stairwell was very dark, making the light spilling from the apartment seem exceptionally warm—and by extension, the person opening the door seemed very warm, too.
Yan Xun smiled at him: “You’re back?”
“…”
Chu Tingyun paused slightly. His gaze lingered on the young man’s face for several seconds before he gave a soft hum of acknowledgment.
“Mn.”
Then, he entered, changed his shoes, and disinfected his hands.
Yan Xun had cooked everything Chu Tingyun said he wanted to eat. They were laid out piping hot on the table, emitting an enticing aroma.
The man took a bottle of red wine out of the fridge, decanted it, and poured two glasses. Yan Xun didn’t recognize the brand of the wine, but he figured it must be the very good, very expensive kind.
Just like countless ordinary, happy families, they sat down to eat together, looking cozy and perfect.
Until Yan Xun casually spoke up:
“I originally thought that when you said ‘coming home,’ you didn’t mean here.”
Because this wasn’t their shared marital property. It was a place Yan Xun had rented and moved into after resigning from his job two months ago.
If they were already discussing divorce back then, Chu Tingyun wouldn’t come here to stay. And if they were reconciling, then they should be moving back to the large house in the city center.
Previously, Yan Xun had only planned to come check out the rental place, and then ask Chu Tingyun where he lived. But when the other man said he was coming back, he had already implicitly assumed Yan Xun was at this rented apartment.
Chu Tingyun’s eyes darkened slightly. He set down his chopsticks and took a sip of red wine.
“I video called you. The background is very easy to recognize.”
Then, he smiled at Yan Xun. “Since you are here, I just came straight over.”
Without giving the young man any more time to react, Chu Tingyun changed the subject.
“Are you free on the 10th?”
“The 10th… the day after tomorrow?”
Yan Xun had quit his job, so naturally, he wasn’t busy with anything.
“Yes, what’s up?”
Chu Tingyun placed a piece of fish into Yan Xun’s bowl, his tone unhurried.
“We are going to attend a wedding.”
“A wedding?”
This topic jumped quite far. Yan Xun subconsciously used his chopsticks to pick the bones out of the fish and asked, “Whose wedding?”
Chu Tingyun smiled at him. “You’ll know when you get there. It might be a big surprise.”
This meant he wasn’t planning to tell him again.
Yan Xun thought about it, then asked, “Then how is our relationship with the couple? How much should we prepare for the wedding gift money?”
“You don’t need to worry about the gift money.”
Chu Tingyun looked at him and said,
“We are considered relatives on the bride’s side. However, you have a pretty good relationship with her. If it isn’t too much trouble, you can prepare an extra gift.”
Considered relatives on the bride’s side?
Yan Xun figured the bride must be Chu Tingyun’s relative. As for having a good relationship, maybe they just got along well?
“Alright.” Yan Xun agreed.
He actually didn’t care much about the wedding Chu Tingyun was talking about; in comparison, Yan Xun cared much more about matters between himself and the other man.
“…Chu Tingyun.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you hiding something from me?”
This question came completely out of left field, but Chu Tingyun didn’t seem surprised.
“Like what, for example?”
Yan Xun looked into his eyes. “From the first time we met, you have constantly been avoiding the topic of our past. Why?”
“Hmm…”
Chu Tingyun put down his chopsticks and tilted his head to look at him.
“You want to know?”
“Yes.”
Yan Xun had actually wanted to ask this question for a long time, but back then he was in the hospital, and Chu Tingyun was far away on a business trip in City A. This kind of thing was better asked in person.
Hearing this, the man smiled and pushed his own wine glass toward Yan Xun.
“Finish this, and I’ll tell you.”
“…”
Yan Xun frowned. He actually wasn’t very good at drinking.
Back in junior high, Zhou Ze had stolen two bottles of good liquor from his dad and egged Yan Xun on to drink together. As a result, Yan Xun passed out after barely two glasses, scaring his good bro half to death. Later on, Yan Xun realized he probably just had fewer alcohol-dehydrogenase enzymes in his body.
But this was only half a glass of red wine, which wasn’t considered a lot.
So, Yan Xun silently took it and downed it in one gulp.
However, the very next second, Chu Tingyun suddenly stood up and pinched Yan Xun’s jaw.
“Mmph…”
The red wine bottle was jammed into his mouth, and the crimson liquid was poured straight in.
Caught completely off guard, Yan Xun was forced to swallow several mouthfuls. The overflowing wine slid past his Adam’s apple, soaking a large patch of the fabric around his collarbone.
But his reflexes were fast. He backhanded Chu Tingyun, gripping him tightly by the wrist bone.
Crash—
President Chu’s glasses and the wine bottle both smashed onto the floor. The latter shattered into pieces, spilling crimson wine everywhere.
In just two short seconds, the tables were completely turned.
Yan Xun locked the man down tight, pressing him directly against the nearby dining sideboard. Anger and alcohol made his voice sound a bit husky.
“Chu Tingyun, what are you doing?”
“Helping you.”
Chu Tingyun showed absolutely none of the embarrassment of being physically pinned down. Instead, he laughed.
“Did you remember anything, Yan Xun?”
“Wh—”
Without any warning whatsoever, Chu Tingyun kissed him squarely on the lips.
“The first time you kissed me, this is exactly how it was.”
