Chapter 111 p1: Orange Candy
Mi Yang heard the voice, fumbled, and also looked up to kiss him back. He had just said “you” when Bai Luochuan lowered his head and held his lips, slowly deepening the kiss. They hadn’t seen each other for several days, and Bai Luochuan had missed him terribly. He held him in his arms and was reluctant to let go. After he finished kissing, his nose was still rubbing against the other’s, and he whispered, “Are you staying for a few days?”
He was already thinking about the future as soon as he arrived. Mi Yang smiled. “I’ll stay a few more days to be with you, okay?”
The young master Bai was very happy and asked him again, “Where’s my candy? Did you bring it?”
Mi Yang said, “I brought two pieces. It’s not good to eat too many.”
Bai Luochuan smiled. “Mm, you can keep the rest.”
Mi Yang put his hands in his thick bathrobe to warm them up. His cold fingers were immediately pressed against Bai Luochuan’s chest. He frowned. “Why are you so cold? Did you ride your bike here? You should have called me. I would have picked you up.”
Mi Yang smiled. “It’s very close, much closer than before. It only takes me five or six minutes to ride my bike. It takes longer to walk from the front courtyard to here. This place is also too big. I see there’s a guard post at the front, and there are also people on duty at night?”
Bai Luochuan took him back to the room and said as they walked, “No, they’ve set up a boiler room there. Grandpa’s place is too big, so we have to provide our own heating. We’ve found a few people to work in shifts during the day and at night. It’ll be fine when the weather gets warmer. The north is still too cold.”
The room was a suite. When you walked in, there was a small study and a living room, and then the bedroom. On one side of the bedroom was a walk-in closet and a bathroom. The style was quite simple. It had probably just been set up, and there were not many things. Most of them were what Bai Luochuan had brought this time. Mi Yang was not surprised to find two of his own clothes in the hanging clothes, and even a set of pajamas.
Bai Luochuan said proudly, “It’s the same as mine. Your name is even embroidered on the cuff here.”
The matter of embroidering names on clothes was a habit they had had since they were young. The two mothers of the Bai and Mi families were good friends, and their children were also about the same age. Whenever a mother went to buy small clothes, she couldn’t help but buy an identical set, dressing them up like twins. After a long time, let alone small clothes, even things like hats and small socks had accumulated a lot of the same. One time, the little young master Bai had even worn two left shoes home—their shoes were all the same, and the child didn’t feel that anything was wrong, which made everyone laugh.
If even shoes could be wrong, let alone other things.
Slowly, Cheng Qing had started to embroider their names on their collars and cuffs, and only then were they separated a little.
Mi Yang had just come in from outside and was still a little cold. He was afraid of catching a cold, so he went to take a hot shower. When he came out in new pajamas, he saw Bai Luochuan sitting on the bed, holding a small pillow. His backpack was on the side, already open. It was clear that the young master Bai had taken the “hostage” from it.
He saw Mi Yang come out and shook the small pillow in his hand. “It feels a little heavier than before. Did you change the pillow core?”
Mi Yang was afraid of the cold and went straight into the quilt, shrinking inside and squinting his eyes. “Mm, my third aunt saved me some of this year’s new sun-dried cotton. It’s very soft.” He said as he reached out to take it. Bai Luochuan squeezed it a couple of times and returned it to him, then also got on the bed and hugged him, whispering in his ear, “Is this stupid pillow that good? You slept very soundly when you were hugging me before. Let’s throw it away. You can just try hugging me.”
The cotton in the small pillow had been sun-dried and was new. It was warm to hold, and Mi Yang was reluctant to throw it away. He comforted him, “I’ll hug both. It’s better to sleep with both.”
Bai Luochuan held him for a while, then started to be dissatisfied again. “Little Good Boy, let’s do something that couples should do, shall we?”
Mi Yang said, “What?”
Bai Luochuan narrowed his eyes. “I’ve been looking up a lot of information online these past few days. Let me ask you a question first.”
Mi Yang said, “Go ahead.”
Bai Luochuan pondered for a moment, then asked him, “If one day, my little pillow and I both fell into the water, who would you save…”
Mi Yang couldn’t help but laugh as soon as he heard this and bumped his chin with his head. “I’m begging you, stop.”
Bai Luochuan also started to laugh. He had been looking up how couples get along for the past two days and had even thought of gifts for future anniversaries. He had also seen a lot of “killer questions” for couples and couldn’t help but pick one to ask Mi Yang. His Little Good Boy was indeed much more interesting than those people. But these were all things he had been thinking about by himself when he couldn’t see him. After he saw Mi Yang, the young master Bai didn’t want to ask those boring questions anymore. He used a little strength in his arm to turn the person over, his forehead against his, and his nose rubbing against his as he gave him a kiss. He felt that it wasn’t enough and leaned closer to kiss him again.
When his lips were pressed against the other’s, he felt that his heart was full.
The two of them lay there and talked for a while. Bai Luochuan hadn’t seen him for several days and wanted to tell him everything. He looked very cold and aloof outside, but in front of Mi Yang, it was a completely different story. His eyes were like flickering little flames, and he wished he could share every second they had been separated with Mi Yang. He was very clingy.
“Let’s go riding tomorrow, shall we? The horse riding instructor is coming over, and he’ll also change Wule’s horseshoes. It was supposed to be changed last month. It’s always so disobedient. It doesn’t hurt to change a new piece of iron. I don’t know what it’s making a fuss about.”
Mi Yang agreed and then smiled. “Like master.”
Bai Luochuan played with his hand and, hearing him, said, “Hmm?”
Mi Yang said, “You also didn’t like to wear shoes when you were a child. You even threw them at the train station once.”
Bai Luochuan: “…Did Grandpa tell you again? Why does he always bring this up!”
Mi Yang said, “No, I was there. I was watching when you threw them!”
Bai Luochuan scratched his palm and said lazily, “How old were you then? How could you remember?”
Mi Yang chuckled. “I remember. I remember everything about you.”
Bai Luochuan just thought he was saying nice things to make him happy. Although it sounded unreliable, the young master Bai still couldn’t help but be happy in his heart, as if he had drunk a bottle of orange soda. The little bubbles of joy kept rising, and the moment they burst, they made a pleasant sound and a sweet orange fragrance.
The two of them chatted for a while, then slowly fell asleep.
Bai Luochuan hadn’t slept so soundly in a long time. Perhaps his mind had been overly stimulated by romance lately, but those enchanting dreams he hadn’t been able to have finally returned to him that night.
The Little Good Boy in his dream was as sweet as the one he was holding, soft and pliable, and could be kneaded in any way.
Bai Luochuan’s Adam’s apple rolled a few times, and his fingers slowly lifted the T-shirt he was wearing.
The T-shirt was quite big and covered up to his thighs, but there was nothing else.
The most fatal thing was that this one and only piece of clothing was his.
The person was also his.
…
When Bai Luochuan woke up, he was lazy. The bed beside him was already empty. The small pillow was still neatly placed there, and its owner had already gone out.
He glanced at the small alarm clock by the bed. It was a little after 8:30, which was indeed the time Mi Yang usually got up.
He tidied himself up and then went downstairs.
Mi Yang was downstairs, watching TV with the old Mr. Bai. It was still the Athens Olympics from yesterday. This time, it had changed from the men’s table tennis match to the women’s team. The battle was fierce, and Old Bai was explaining to Mi Yang, “This Zhang Yining is very amazing. She won two gold medals. So proud!”
Mi Yang watched and asked, “Is that so? Did she make Ai Fukuhara cry again this time?”
Old Bai knew a lot about table tennis. Hearing this, he smiled and shook his head. “That porcelain doll? No way. She can only play against Australia and the United States. She only made it to the top 16 this time. What a pity.”
As the two of them were talking, they saw Bai Luochuan walk over. Old Bai looked up at him. “You’re awake? There’s breakfast in the dining room. You can go and eat something. It’s still hot.”
Bai Luochuan stood behind the sofa and glanced at the TV. “Grandpa, have you eaten?”
The old Mr. Bai said, “I have.”
Bai Luochuan said “oh” but was still not willing to leave. He secretly stood there and used his finger to hook Mi Yang’s hair, and while no one was looking, he used the fine, soft strands of hair to poke Mi Yang’s earlobe. “Little Good Boy, have you eaten too?”
Mi Yang was tickled by him and shrunk his neck. He had to stand up. “I’ll go and eat a little more with you.”
The old Mr. Bai said, “I told you you ate too little just now. Go on, eat a little with Luochuan. If you want to eat something else, just tell the kitchen, and they’ll make it for you.”
Bai Luochuan agreed, “I know.”
Mi Yang went with him and sat down. The young master Bai had a big appetite and ate everything with relish. Mi Yang was already full, so he took an orange and slowly peeled it to eat, talking to him in a low voice, “Grandpa said not to change Wule’s shoes today. Let it play for a couple of days. Besides, we’re not taking it to a particularly hard place to run. The old one can still be used. I went to see it with Grandpa this morning. The old shoes are not too worn out.”
Bai Luochuan ate a soup dumpling and frowned. “It’s disobedient now because Grandpa spoiled it.”
Mi Yang was still thinking of the spirited look of the black horse he had seen in the morning, and his heart also started to be biased. “No, it’s not a big deal…”
Bai Luochuan narrowed his eyes and looked at him. “You’re also spoiling it.”
As the two of them were talking, they heard the door open, and then Bai Jingrong and Luo Jiangjing came in.
The couple had been sent to the small building next door by Old Bai yesterday. Today, they wanted to come over early to talk to the old man. As soon as they came in, they saw their son eating in the dining room, his hair a little messy, and it was clear that he had just woken up not long ago.
Bai Jingrong was used to paying attention to his appearance in the army and couldn’t help but frown when he saw him like this.
Luo Jiangjing, on the other hand, was used to seeing it and even walked over with a smile. “Little Good Boy is here too? You’ve just woken up, right? You didn’t go out for a walk in the morning?”
Mi Yang stood up and greeted her, “Good morning, Auntie Luo. I went to see Wule with Grandpa. It’s grown a little bigger than last year.”
Luo Jiangjing said, “Yes. The last time the old residence was moved, I specially found a special person to settle Wule. That person also said that ordinary little horses are fully grown at four or five, but there are also some that grow slower. Some breeds are only fully grown at six.” She said and then smiled again. “That person said that part of it is because of its bloodline, and it’s also related to its daily feeding. The old man takes good care of it. Wule is going to grow big!”
Mi Yang was also a little expectant. The little black horse’s muscles were already firm and beautiful. It would definitely be even more majestic when it was a little bigger.
Old Bai was sitting over there, also talking to his son. The old man didn’t like to talk about public affairs, so Bai Jingrong asked him about family matters. There were a lot of things in the old residence, but the old man’s favorites, besides his precious grandson, were the little black horse in the backyard. When he talked about it, he was also very proud. “You don’t know. It also has its own little temper. It was disobedient when we went out that day, so I scolded it a couple of times. When we came back, it was angry with me. Its butt was facing the stable door, and when I went over, it would run in circles to avoid me. It took me two days to coax it. The little thing is very cunning!”
Bai Jingrong said, “You should also be careful. You’re old. You shouldn’t ride a horse anymore. What if you fall…”
Old Bai pointed at the door. “If you say one more word, I’ll have you go out. Do you believe me?”
Bai Jingrong: “…”
If he remembered correctly, it was his father who had said yesterday that he was retired and old and didn’t want to talk about work, and that he wanted to enjoy his later years.
