Chapter 43

Qi Yang led Mu Yicong to the bedroom on the second floor where he stayed, telling Mu Yicong to grab his clothes while he himself pulled a small first-aid kit out of his suitcase.

It was a family habit—Qi Xing had little common sense about daily life and a very weak perception of pain. All sharp objects in the house had to be locked away. Even so, she always ended up with various small bumps and scratches.

So whenever they traveled far, Qi Yang would bring the first-aid kit, stocked with band-aids, alcohol, iodine, and similar small items.

But he never expected the first person to use it would be Mu Yicong.

Seeing Mu Yicong take off his shirt, revealing the water stains and faint red marks on his back, Qi Yang frowned again. He told Mu Yicong not to put his clothes back on yet, turned around, and went back downstairs to grab an ice pack from the fridge.

Zou Meizhu was mopping the floor downstairs. She anxiously chased after Qi Yang, asking, “Did it blister?”

When Qi Yang answered “No,” she sighed in relief and grumbled while poking Qi Xing on the head.

Early spring clothes were indeed thick enough. When Qi Yang pushed the door open and came back in, Mu Yicong had already wiped off the water marks, and the red marks showed no sign of deepening.

Qi Yang went into the room’s bathroom, wrapped the ice pack in a towel, and pressed it against Mu Yicong’s back.

Mu Yicong’s back was well-formed. When the ice pack pressed down, it revealed firm muscle contours that rose and fell subtly with each breath.

Qi Yang glanced at his spread shoulder blades, then lifted his eyelids to peek at Mu Yicong’s profile.

“For me?” Mu Yicong’s focus wasn’t on his own back at all. He tossed the perfume box he’d found in Qi Yang’s suitcase and turned his head to ask.

The unopened perfume box had been stuffed into Qi Yang’s suitcase as well, but he’d completely forgotten about it until now.

Too close. Mu Yicong’s turn of the head pulled out the long lines of his shoulders and neck. Qi Yang caught the faint scent of his perfume again.

This time it was mixed with a hint of the seaweed and egg drop soup.

“Yeah.” He lowered his eyelids again, avoiding Mu Yicong’s gaze. Seeing that the back in front of him really hadn’t blistered, he let go and told Mu Yicong to hold the ice pack himself.

Mu Yicong didn’t take the ice pack. Instead, he put the perfume back and grabbed Qi Yang’s arm.

“Why did you give it to me?” He stared at Qi Yang and asked.

“What else would it be?” Qi Yang pulled his arm free. “Thanks for sending my mom and Qi Xing stuff. That must have cost a lot.”

“The perfume you picked wasn’t cheap either,” Mu Yicong said.

Qi Yang didn’t mention the chocolate Mu Yicong had given him. He was a little embarrassed.

He was still thinking about how to respond if Mu Yicong continued to say something, but after the thanks were spoken, Mu Yicong didn’t say anything more.

Back at the wardrobe, Mu Yicong used the discarded shirt to wipe his back, then casually grabbed one of Qi Yang’s shirts.

Their body types were similar, about the same height. But Qi Yang’s style was more casual, while Mu Yicong, with his clotheshorse build, fit into it perfectly.

Qi Yang had originally planned to go straight downstairs. When he saw that Mu Yicong wasn’t saying anything else, he stayed in the room.

“Not going to check on your sister?” After changing, Mu Yicong turned around and saw Qi Yang still there, so he asked.

“Qi Xing,” Qi Yang said, thinking back to the scene just now, feeling uneasy. “It’s her condition. Sorry.”

Good thing the clothes were thick.

Good thing the soup didn’t splash onto Mu Yicong’s exposed skin.

Good thing… Qi Xing was fine.

Qi Yang’s lingering fear rose slowly along with his exhaustion after all the bustle.

“That’s how she is. Can’t take your eyes off her for a second, or something might happen. She needs constant watching.” Qi Yang sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his face. “Like an idiot.”

Mu Yicong looked at him for a moment, then walked over to stand in front of Qi Yang.

“Tired?” he suddenly asked.

Qi Yang looked up.

“All these years.” Mu Yicong brushed his fingers through Qi Yang’s hair. “You’ve worked hard.”

Qi Yang hadn’t frozen when Mu Yicong was splashed with hot soup while protecting Qi Xing. He hadn’t frozen just now when Mu Yicong grabbed his arm and pulled him close. But at this moment, looking at the man standing in front of him with the light behind him, hearing those two questions spoken in such a calm tone, Qi Yang suddenly felt as if that half bowl of soup had been poured into his chest. For an instant, it was so wet, hot, and heavy that he couldn’t speak.

Adults always express themselves implicitly. It was like a silent understanding, especially when it came to Qi Yang’s family situation. All the concern was always subtle and restrained.

Zou Meizhu’s expression only came during outbursts after being pushed to the edge by Qi Xing. She’d cry and say, “Son, I feel for you,” but then go right back to her usual behavior.

Liu Dameng’s care for Qi Yang showed in his habit of bringing things for Qi Xing like he was stocking up, worrying about Qi Yang’s single status like an old granny, always thinking that if Qi Yang had someone else to manage the household, his brother could have an easier time.

In all these long ten years of Qi Yang’s life, after he had grown accustomed to this lifestyle, for the first time, someone so bluntly asked him if he was tired and told him he’d worked hard.

No advice. No attempt to stand in Qi Yang’s shoes and offer solutions. No questioning how he planned to spend the rest of his life guarding Qi Xing like this.

It was as if he knew Qi Yang had no way out, that there would never be an easier choice in this lifetime.

So he didn’t comfort or say much. He just helped find a hospital for Qi Xing, lent them a house, gave him chocolate, and after getting burned, said to Qi Yang, “You’ve worked hard.”

What was this guy even thinking?

Qi Yang couldn’t help but wonder.

That subtle crush from the student days ten years ago, back when their minds and bodies might not have fully developed—was that vague, hazy feeling really enough to sustain itself until now? Enough to make him still hold fondness and liking for him to this day?

“What exactly do you even like about me?” Thinking this, Qi Yang asked again.

But this time, his voice was a little hoarse.

“Can’t put it into words.” Mu Yicong curled the corner of his mouth.

Since that day when Qi Yang treated him to sushi, he no longer beat around the bush on this kind of question. He answered honestly.

“Because I’m handsome?” Qi Yang asked.

“Your thick skin hasn’t changed, that’s for sure,” Mu Yicong said.

“Then what else?” Qi Yang was especially in the mood to talk now, and he decided to get to the bottom of it. “What else could you possibly see in me? You used to like me, now you want to sleep with me. Wasn’t that what you said yourself?”

Whether it was because of the backlight overhead or Qi Yang’s blunt question, Mu Yicong’s naturally dark eyes grew even deeper, so deep that Qi Yang could sense a hint of aggression.

Mu Yicong leaned down slightly, grabbing Qi Yang by the chin to look him in the eye. Qi Yang twisted his neck to shake it off but didn’t succeed.

“Now I do,” he told Qi Yang. “Just now when you were standing behind me putting ice on my back, when I slipped on the shirt you’d worn, even your tone and your eyes right now as you’re questioning me—all of it makes me want to sleep with you.”

“But what I like about you, I really can’t say.”

“Maybe it’s just that layer of liking from ten years ago, after I saw you again, it kept fermenting.”

Qi Yang had never been good at writing compositions. He couldn’t come up with that many flowery words. In all the exams he’d taken from childhood to adulthood, he’d never managed to write more than four hundred characters for the essay.

So when Mu Yicong’s words reached his ears, they boiled down to one very straightforward meaning.

—The meat you haven’t eaten yet is the tastiest.

Maybe the crush from high school was pure. In the ten years of blank space, it had long been forgotten. Then at the class reunion, they met again, and he got interested again.

Humans are really interesting creatures.

Qi Yang raised his arm and slapped away the hand Mu Yicong had clamped on his chin.

If Mu Yicong had really come out with some earth-shattering, tear-jerking sentiment, given the huge gap in their circumstances, Qi Yang wouldn’t have been able to accept it.

It had nothing to do with gender. Male or female, whoever it was, he couldn’t bear the responsibility of ruining someone’s life.

It didn’t even need to be that far. Just the various kinds of help Mu Yicong had already provided was more than Qi Yang felt he deserved. He didn’t know how to handle it.

A person who’d prepared to be alone until death feared nothing except being unable to bear the weight of others’ affection.

But since Mu Yicong was just reminiscing about that undeveloped, abruptly cut-off first love seed from ten years ago, Qi Yang actually felt relieved.

“Then let’s give it a trial run,” he said to Mu Yicong.

The gaze Mu Yicong had fixed on Qi Yang’s face paused briefly.

“What?” He straightened up and asked.

“The day we ate the pig trotter rice, didn’t you say I should try with you?” Qi Yang’s face showed no concern. “Let’s try it.”

His attitude was too flippant. That face of defiant pride was the provocation Mu Yicong was used to.

“What do you understand ‘trying’ to mean?” he asked Qi Yang in a hoarse voice.

“I can’t accept sex,” Qi Yang said, putting aside his mental block and actually thinking it over. “Do you know how to date?”

Mu Yicong laughed.

“Dating is a lot more than just sex,” he told Qi Yang. “Are you sure you can accept everything except sex?”

“That’s why I said try,” Qi Yang said, leaning back on both arms and tilting his neck to stare back. “Let’s see how far you can get me to accept things.”

The master bedroom was still the same spacious master bedroom. The two people, one standing and one sitting, were still the same two people.

But something in the gaze they exchanged had silently changed.

Like that sunny, restless afternoon ten years ago.

Even their positions were so similar—Qi Yang sat there with his usual nonchalance, Mu Yicong stood in front of him, staring him down.

The difference was that ten years ago, Qi Yang had stared back at Mu Yicong and stepped his foot into the slippers Mu Yicong had just taken off. But now, Mu Yicong was wearing Qi Yang’s clothes.

A sudden knock broke the stagnant air in the room. Zou Meizhu, unsure if Mu Yicong had finished changing, called through the door, “Yangyang, how’s your friend? If it’s bad, let’s go to the hospital?”

“It’s fine, Mom.” Qi Yang turned his head to answer. He pushed Mu Yicong away and stood up. “Let’s go eat.”

“Oh, okay.” Zou Meizhu felt relieved. “The food’s gotten a little cold. I’ll reheat it.”

After taking two steps toward the door, Qi Yang had just grabbed the door handle when Mu Yicong pulled him back from behind.

Still by the arm, but the force was completely different from before.

Qi Yang was spun around without any warning. Before he could react, Mu Yicong shoved him directly against the door.

“You’re a stubborn mule, Qi Yang.”

Mu Yicong leaned in at a very close distance, almost pressing his nose against Qi Yang’s, and spoke in a low voice.

“Who are you calling a mule?” Qi Yang instinctively lowered his voice too, raising his arm to push him away, but Mu Yicong pressed it down again.

“Pat him and he won’t go; beat him and he won’t be happy.” Mu Yicong’s breath brushed across Qi Yang’s face. His long eyelashes veiled the storm in his eyes. “Never understand when someone’s talking sense.”

They were roughly the same build and height. Qi Yang couldn’t figure out why he felt this oppressive weight bearing down on him from Mu Yicong, or what caused his heart to suddenly race like this.

“Speak plainly,” he said, covering his awkwardness with impatience.

“I warned you. Dating is a lot more than just sex.” Mu Yicong leaned close to his temple, and his lips brushed against Qi Yang’s ear as he spoke, almost touching it.

The next second, Qi Yang was kissed.

This time, there was no biting. It was a real kiss.