translator: Eve

After taking the last step, Xiao Yuanmu was even clingier to Song Xuanhe than ever before.

Not only was he clingy, he was also extremely corny. It was like he had finally put down the last of his concerns and taken down the last barrier. His eyes sparkled, glistening brighter than a desert’s night sky. There was no need to guess just how much he loved the person he was looking at.

Fortunately, Louis had only been forced to eat this dogfood for half a day. By noon the next day, Song Xuanhe and Xiao Yuanm uhad returned to their apartment downtown. They then blinded Xiao Huang and Yang Jie’s eyes.

Because Louis was allergic to animal fur, Yang Jie had been the one to take care of Xiao Huang. Although it was less than a week, Xiao Huang was extremely excited to be reunited with them. His tail wagged frantically as he jumped onto Song Xuanhe. He hugged Xiao Yuanmu’s thigh, whining, while occasionally turning to look at Song Xuanhe. He seemed wronged, like a child who was complaining to his parents after having been punished to stand at the kindergarten.

This made Yang Jie, who thought that he and Xiao Huang had been getting along well, really sad. What he didn’t expect was that he would receive even more upsetting news afterwards.

Yang Jie lived on the floor below. Although they lived very close and Yang Jie knew how good Xiao Yuanmu’s cooking was, Xiao Yuanmu had stopped cooking entirely after moving to Y City. That’s why the only times Yang Jie had eaten his home cooking had been in the Capital and when Xiao Yuanmu had invited him to eat what he had cooked for Song Xuanhe.

Today, Xiao Yuanmu unexpectedly invited him up to eat dinner. Yang Jie had been moved because he had thought that Xiao Yuanmu had wanted to thank him for taking car of Xiao Huang. He had just been about to decline when he saw Xiao Yuanmu smile at Song Xuanhe. In a voice softer than he had ever heard Xiao Yuanmu use, the other said, “He bao likes it when its lively during a meal.”

It wasn’t just Yang Jie who had cringed, Song Xuanhe had as well.

Song Xuanhe didn’t know what the heck had gotten into Xiao Yuanmu, but ever since this morning, he had suddenly started to call him ‘He bao’ like a sap. He had protested against this many times, expressing his dislike for the extraordinarily childish nickname. But even though Xiao Yuanmu would go ‘okay okay’ each time, the next time he used this nickname, he would look at him with his limpid, bright eyes. Paired with his long eyelashes, he looked both alluring and innocent.

It reminded Song Xuanhe of that night where he had ended up on the bottom during their tryst. The other had done him until he was so exhausted, he begged to be let go. At that time, Xiao Yuanmu had also used this pair of eyes that innately looked like they were filled with deep love, to gaze at him innocently. Meanwhile, his body was mercilessly acting like a beast.

Song xiao shaoye had been peeved. Xiao Yuanmu had then used an extremely sweet and soft voice that would astound even outsiders to coax him for a very long time. He had done everything Song Xuanhe had asked him. In the end, Song shaoye’s temper had left as quickly as it had come. Very quickly, he had become too lazy to bother with it. It was just that his ears had continued to stay flushed for a long time.

But what caught his attention this time wasn’t the nickname—Song Xuanhe wanted to know when he’d ever said he liked it when a meal was lively!

Song Xuanhe asked this after heading upstairs.

Xiao Yuanmu answered really quickly, as if he didn’t even need to think about it. “Last month, before your wounds healed, I cooked congee and brought it to the hospital. You said that eating with people occasionally would liven things up.”

Song Xuanhe recalled that he really did say something like that.

But the only reason he said that was to subtly tell Xiao Yuanmu to be less unsociable. He hoped that the other would get closer to Louis and Yang Jie. That way, he could be more at ease in the future.

After Xiao Yuanmu brought this up, Song Xuanhe suddenly realized that it was getting very close to the date of his departure.

When Xiao Yuanmu saw Song Xuanhe’s startled expression, he only thought that the other had forgotten about this matter. He didn’t think much of it. Xiao Yuanmu reached over to hug Song Xuanhe from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder. “If you like it when there’s a lot of people around, I can call Guan Zhi over next time. There’s also Zhou Nan and Yu Yan. If Xiao Shenglin’s in time, we can also invite him.”

Song Xuanhe choked up with emotion. “I thought you didn’t like to cook.”

“You like it when I cook,” Xiao Yuanmu answered without hesitation. There was the hint of a doting smile in his chilly voice. “If you like it, I’ll like it.”

Song Xuanhe’s eyelashes quivered. His eyes suddenly stung.

Xiao Yuanmu in the book was a treacherous, dictatorial person. In real life, Xiao Yuanmu was stubborn, proud and egotistic. And yet, he was currently saying such shy, soft words into his ears: If you like it, I’ll like it.

But how could he accept the other’s practically self-abased love with a clear conscience?

Xiao Yuanmu finally realized that something was wrong as Song Xuanhe continued to maintain his silence. He lifted his head, placing his hand over Song Xuanhe’s shoulder. He wanted to turn Song Xuanhe around to look at him, but the other unexpectedly beat him to it, turning around out of his own volition, blocking his lips.

Xiao Yuanmu was taken aback for a moment before a smile flickered through his eyes. He closed his eyes and returned the kiss.

They were both young, vigorous men who had just gotten a taste of sweetness. Even an accidental touch was enough to stoke the fire inside them. A few minutes later, they were panting, the reaction in their bodies evident.

Xiao Yuanmu was the first to come back to himself. He pushed Song Xuanhe a bit away, rubbing the other’s lips. His voice was very hoarse. “We can’t. Yang Jie’s going to….”

Song Xuanhe cut him off with his lips. The reason why Xiao Yuanmu was able to snap out of it was because of his worry regarding Song Xuanhe’s body. He was concerned that it would be bad for the other’s body if they were to do it again after just doing it last night. Even though the fire inside him was re-lit, he forced himself to extinguish it. He kissed Song Xuanhe until his eyes turned glassy and then gently pushed him away.

He was about to speak when he heard the grating sound of a chair scraping across the floor. Both of them snapped out of their passionate haze and turned to look in the direction of the sound.

——Yang Jie was currently kneeling, hands over Xiao Huang’s eyes. The chubby dog didn’t like this at all. In his struggle, he had bumped into the chair, causing it to move.

Yang Jie looked even more embarrassed than they did. He averted his gaze, ears flushed, while trying to explain things in feigned calmness. “Xiao Huang is still young. It’s not appropriate for him to see you….”

Xiao Huang turned his head and ran over to Song Xuanhe and Xiao Yuanmu after he broke free during Yang Jie’s lapse in attention. He bumped his nose and rubbed his body against their legs. He also barked in the direction of the cupboard that held his dogfood and snacks. He then laid down and showed his body. It was obvious what he wanted.

Unfortunately, his cute act was met with defeat. For the first time, his owners ignored his tummy. One of his owners seemed to ‘eat’ his other owner’s lips and then mumbled something he didn’t understand into the other owner’s ears.

”It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but we did it twice last night. You almost got hurt. It would be better if you rested for the next two days.”

Xiao Yuanmu persevered in explaining himself. He then waited for Song Xuanhe to agree.

In contrast to his expectations, Song Xuanhe’s expression darkened and he grit his teeth. “Shut up!”

Song Xuanhe then went to their room upstairs, not looking back. Xiao Huang tottered after them. The sound of a door closing followed some time after. Meanwhile, the kitchen and living room was filled with silence.

Xiao Yuanmu was quiet because he had seen Song Xuanhe’s flushed ears. Yang Jie was quiet because he felt embarrassed from seeing the couple’s intimacy.

After putting the chair Xiao Huang had knocked into back in place, Yang Jie stood in place, waiting for Xiao Yuanmu to break the silence. But Xiao Yuanmu only stood there with a smile on his face, seemingly lost-in-thought. He clearly had no intentions of saying anything. Therefore, Yang Jie decided to break the silence himself.

He thought about it for a while before deciding on an opening remark that wasn’t too abrupt but also wasn’t related to the awkward incident just now. “Xiao ge, what are we eating for dinner?”

Xiao Yuanmu snapped out of his thoughts. “Xuanhe likes spare ribs with garlic, lemon chicken and Longjing prawns. We bought these on the way back. I’ll make a few more dishes in a bit…. What do you like to eat? He seems to really like to eat my seafood pasta lately. Are you okay with that?”

Yang Jie: ….

Yang Jie opened his mouth but nothing came out. A few seconds later, he forced out: “I’m allergic to seafood.”

He knew that Xiao Yuanmu had a really good memory. Although he had only mentioned it off-handedly one time, Xiao Yuanmu had always remembered to avoid seafood when he invited him to eat. Unexpectedly, he actually forgot this time.

Yang Jie saw Xiao Yuanmu nod. “Ah, I forgot.”

Yang Jie sucked in a deep breath. He tried to come up with an excuse for the Xiao ge he respected and looked up to. This must be the phenomenon in which one’s IQ tends to lower when in love! It’s definitely not because Xiao ge doesn’t care about him!

“I want to eat…” Yang Jie thought about it, “dumplings. I haven’t had that for a long time.”

Xiao Yuanmu nodded. “I’ll make some.”

Yang Jie smiled. See! Xiao ge cared about him!

However, his happiness only lasted until it was time to eat.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to eat sea urchin and white cabbage dumplings? The blue plate has dumplings with white cabbage filling and the white plate has sea urchin.”

Song Xuanhe nodded. He ate the two dumplings Xiao Yuanmu had put in his bowl.

“It’s really good.”

After getting a satisfactory response, Xiao Yuanmu turned to look at Yang Jie. “You can’t eat seafood so have the ones on the white plate.”

Yang Jie forced himself to smile.

It’s fine…at least Xiao ge remembered his seafood allergy this time. That was enough….

Eve: I always get emotional when SXH gets emotional over something soft SYM does or when he has a realization. And then….RIP Yang Jie….LOL XYM is actually a fool in love, sorry.

xiin: i want to stab SXH every time he thinks about how he’s leaving >:|