But submission had a time limit. Just two seconds later, he resumed his assault, sounding fierce.
A while later, even without peeking, Li Ran knew the White Cat had yielded, squinting as she went off with Hei Ge.
Male homosexuality in the cat world…
Conversion Therapy Center.
Perhaps from being smothered in the bedding too long, Li Ran suddenly felt short of breath, his heart clenching tight.
He turned his face slightly, exposing his nose a bit, but the suffocating feeling didn’t improve much—it only grew worse.
Li Ran clearly remembered the explanations he’d searched on several browsers last night.
[What is a Conversion Therapy Center?]
[What happens to people inside?]
A Conversion Therapy Center was a “medical” institution for forcibly “treating” those attracted to the same sex.
Treatments included electric shocks to create physical pain and “correct” sexual orientation; injecting unknown drugs or forcing psychiatric meds, disrupting physiological functions; waterboarding, whipping, long-term isolation, and other physical torments; showing photos of same-sex lovers while threatening and abusing to instill psychological fear…
So many cruel things—things Li Ran had never even heard of. Just reading about them in text form had shocked him deeply, making him shiver all over whenever he thought back.
Chi Mo was one of those who had personally experienced it.
Last night’s down jacket had been taken off and hung on the coat rack behind the door by Chi Mo. Li Ran sat up heavily and pulled out the string of Bodhi Beads from the pocket. He’d looked up info on them too. Chi Mo always used them to bind his own flesh—a crude way to create pain through self-harm as a “correction” method.
Whenever he vented on his body, it was because he faced emotional pain too hard to vent or that he had to endure intensely. The physical pain from self-harm was more concrete and manageable, diverting abstract emotional suffering and temporarily suppressing or relieving the pressure.
An extremely unhealthy correction method.
He had to get his brother to change.
Li Ran clenched the Bodhi Beads tightly, his expression resolute as he secretly decided to hide them all away!
Though the ones Chi Mo wore now were resized ones he’d modified—not tight on the wrists anymore—this still wasn’t okay. Better to cut it off at the source completely.
The two irreverent elders at home went out to enjoy themselves for the afternoon. In the evening, they returned with a pile of “longevity-boosting” health supplements. Li Ran was dumbfounded. When he learned the few thousand yuan in their phones had been scammed down to nothing, he was left slack-jawed. “Huh? Grandpa, Grandma, you got scammed again? Who did it? We should call the police.”
The two elders had struggled their whole lives when they were young, and with a little help from their son, they managed to buy a house in the affluent district outright. Their combined pensions amounted to over ten thousand a month, so they lived carefree and happily. Seizing the chance to live a few more years, they traveled far and wide.
In the past, they got scammed every single trip, but Li Ran had never gone along, so he couldn’t experience it firsthand. It was the second day of the Lunar New Year, and not only did the scammers not take a holiday, but the victims eagerly fell for it.
Cheng Ai Mei said confidently, “Do I look like someone who would fall for a scam? Your grandma is so beautiful and clever, shrewd her whole life. I only scam others—no one scams me! Come take a look at what I bought; it’s all genuine good stuff…”
It was a big bag of bottles and jars, like calcium tablets—harmless if eaten, fine if not. Just ordinary health supplements.
A few dozen kuai… even a few hundred at most.
Li Ran was at a loss for words. His little uncle and older brother hadn’t returned yet, and he didn’t know what to say.
Then Cheng Ai Mei half-jokingly laughed, “That scammer was a young guy, skinny as a rail, like a popsicle in the cold wind. He had a real silver tongue. Not going home for the New Year but hustling for money—he must really need it. Old Ye and I still have some to spare…”
Li Ran thought he understood.
His grandparents always got scammed because they wanted to be.
But Chi Wei couldn’t comprehend the old couple’s kindness. When he returned and heard about it, he unleashed a sarcastic verbal barrage: “Always refusing my and A-Wan’s money, insisting you’re fine and we shouldn’t worry. With behavior like yours, you set a terrible example for the kids. How much money do you have to burn? When will you get scammed out of your underwear and finally learn? What kind of ‘peace of mind’ are we supposed to have?”
Cheng Ai Mei sighed, “Look at how you talk. Do you sound like a company CEO? So crude!”
Chi Wei: “Heh.”
Beside them, Ye Chengwan flipped through the supplements over and over before sighing too. He debated joining the “crusade” against his birth parents.
By the time Chi Mo finally returned, the living room battle had reached a fever pitch. Chi Wei and Cheng Ai Mei spat words like flying saliva, neither yielding an inch. Ye Chengwan and Ye Ze mediated from the sides, trying to smooth things over.
The Black Cat noticed the two-legged beasts arguing. He elegantly perched atop the cat tree, licking his paws while watching the drama with his “male wife.”
Li Ran huddled in a corner of the sofa, staying far away, silent, clutching a pillow tightly with a slightly panicked expression, wanting to flee. But Chinese people have a special fondness for family gossip scenes, and for a moment, he couldn’t bear to leave, sneaking peeks all the while.
This situation was truly rare. No matter the excitement before, Li Ran never crowded in—he had zero curiosity.
He was also extremely afraid of getting caught in the crossfire, always believing that avoiding the fray kept him safe forever.
Unknowingly, he had changed a bit.
Chi Mo smiled faintly.
Until Cheng Ai Mei, losing ground and unable to outargue her turtle-grandson Chi Wei, suddenly turned to Li Ran: “Xiao Ran, you tell them—is Grandma wrong? Isn’t this Chi fellow going too far?”
Li Ran froze.
He had never intended to join in.
“I…”
Chi Wei slanted a glance at him and sneered, “You what? Think it over before you speak.”
“…”
Li Ran froze even harder.
“Bullying my kid while I’m away—you adults should be ashamed. Is he that easy to pick on?” Chi Mo spoke up.
“Bro! Bro, you’re back! Bro, save me—!” Overjoyed, Li Ran jumped up on the spot, rushed to his brother as his shield, grabbed his arm, ducked behind him, and didn’t show his face again.
The adults indeed felt embarrassed and finally called a truce, ceasing the quarrel.
At dinner, Chi Wei tossed Li Ran a red envelope with this year’s New Year’s money: “Chi Mo says you only like cash, total money-grubber. Didn’t have any yesterday; just exchanged it today.” Then he added bluntly, “Take it quick.”
Ye Chengwan smiled and handed one over too.
He said gently, like a warm breeze, “Xiao Mo said if the New Year’s red envelope is too big, you definitely won’t accept it, so your little uncle and I didn’t prepare much. Another year gone—Happy New Year. Xiao Mo has one too.”
These two were sneaky, giving cash envelopes without telling the elders. Cheng Ai Mei and Ye Ze were highly educated, keeping up with the times; they’d long accepted digital payments and hadn’t used cash in years, with none stocked at home. Now seeing their son and son-in-law give red envelopes to the youngest kid right in front of them, they felt embarrassed, like a fishbone in their throats.
Cheng Ai Mei: “Then I…”
“Heh,” Chi Wei laughed, gleefully rubbing it in, “No cash, and the money in your phones all scammed away—what’re you giving red envelopes with? Living to your age and not giving New Year’s money to the juniors—you must feel pretty awkward, huh? Tsk, aren’t you embarrassed?”
Cheng Ai Mei: “…”
Ye Ze: “…”
From the moment Chi Wei handed him the red envelope, Li Ran was flattered and nearly choked on his rice. Before he could refuse, Uncle Wan said his brother had one too. Probably because someone else was in the same boat, Li Ran didn’t feel as awkward.
When Chi Mo naturally collected two envelopes for him, Li Ran fully relaxed, even starting to feel a bit entitled.
In the end, he weakly defended himself: “I’m not… that much of a money-grubber.”
Then Chi Mo stuffed all the red envelopes into his pocket and patted it, letting him enjoy the spoils: “All yours.”
“Bro, you…” Li Ran’s soft words abruptly cut off, his gaze dropping to his pocket and freezing in place. Chi Mo’s left hand withdrew from Li Ran’s pocket, his sleeve sliding up to reveal a bruised and scraped wrist.
It hadn’t been there at noon when he left…
“What’s wrong? You’ve been sulking all through dinner—come tell me.” After the meal, everyone returned to their rooms. Chi Mo followed Li Ran to his place instead of his own, locked the door without a hint of awkwardness, pulled him to the bed’s edge, and asked.
Li Ran lowered his eyes, a low mood seemingly swirling above his head. Chi Mo hated seeing him like this and ruffled his hair vigorously, turning the already curly locks into a messy bird’s nest.
He wanted to crush all those bad emotions, to see Li Ran smile: “Talk.”
“Mm… I’m talking.” Li Ran still kept his eyes down, quietly lifting Chi Mo’s left hand and gently rolling up the sleeve. The bruise had turned a deep purple-black—must have been hit hard, with the blood congested and not dispersed.
He asked sadly, “Bro… did I make you uncomfortable?”
Chi Mo had become like this after leaving him and returning.
Without the Bodhi Beads, what method had he used for “correction”?
Why did he feel emotional pain?
Little did he know, Chi Mo was simply enduring fiercely—enduring not to scare Li Ran, not to ravish him. This question nearly drove him mad on the spot.
Chi Mo didn’t pull his sleeve down. He lowered his gaze to see the expression Li Ran wore while worrying over him, listened intently to the voice full of heartache. A voice in Chi Mo’s heart said: Li Ran, oh Li Ran, if you don’t rein in that look, you’ll be the one suffering later.
On the bed, you’ll beg for mercy in agony.
Once reason snapped, the devil emerged—but Chi Mo’s reason held, keeping the devil at bay. He thought at lightning speed about what to say now, only to hear Li Ran softly add: “Bro, don’t use the Bodhi Beads to flick your wrist anymore, and don’t do other things to hurt yourself… This kind of correction isn’t healthy. It hurts.”
He raised his eyes, pleading: “Try a different way.”
Chi Mo’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently.
He closed his eyes briefly, suppressing the surging lust, and rasped, “A different way?”
“Mm!” Li Ran nodded expectantly.
Chi Mo’s voice dropped low: “Then we’ll have to kiss every day.”
