Chapter 3

Perhaps because he was also in a mess, Chi Cong didn’t play his role at all.

It wasn’t until the seventh day that Ji Heyi received his message, knowing that he could move out of the hotel and have his home. For such a long time, the two brothers had the same habit of banging the door on and off, he suspected that his own door had been worn out for a round.

He checked out of the hotel in the afternoon and returned home.

The house, which was missing an owner, had almost no change in its furnishings. Chi Yan didn’t even take away the few peacock fish he had raised in the living room aquarium for more than a year. Except for the master bedroom, which was not allowed to be touched by outsiders, the whole house had been cleaned by the cleaning service, and there was a smell of disinfectant in the living room.

Ji Heyi put down his luggage and opened the bedroom door.

A sudden smell of strawberry essence rushed from his nose to his forehead.

Ji Heyi was familiar with this smell. He adapted at the door for a while before suppressing his nausea and went into the room to open the window for ventilation.

Then he saw the source of the smell.

The trash can, which was covered with a garbage bag, was filled with a small half bucket of greasy liquid like a water bucket. Two or three empty bottles of strawberry-flavored lubricant were on the floor without caps. Condoms mixed with tissues were curled up into a pile, and what was more noticeable was that there were several balloons blown up and tied up scattered outside the trash can.

Ji Heyi looked at this uniquely unconventional condom for a moment, then noticed that the drawer of the bedside table was wide open, with only a pile of grape-flavored condoms left.

He stood still in place for a long time, then he walked over, pulled out the entire drawer, dumped everything inside into the trash can, and threw the mattress to the side. Facing the mess in the room and the unbearable smell, he didn’t know where to start cleaning for a moment, so he could only call the cleaning service, and by the way, reminded them to bring a few more bottles of disinfectant.

Then he ordered daily necessities online and replaced everything in the bedroom and the master bathroom.

In the evening, he used the guest room’s bathroom, he didn’t plan to open the master bathroom to discover what might be an even more unbearable mess.

But the wardrobe was still in the master bedroom. After taking a bath, he braved the smell and returned to the master bedroom to get his clothes. As a result, when he opened the wardrobe door, he found that most of his clothes had been taken away. He opened the drawer where his personal clothes were kept, and then slammed it shut again – new and old, an entire drawer, his exasperating ex had taken all his underwear, not even leaving a thread!

When he had no choice but to sit on the sofa wrapped in a towel, waiting for a pair of freshly washed underwear to dry, Ji Heyi propped up his head, holding the remote control and changing the TV channels one by one. There were several moments when he kicked the idea of “being friends after breaking up” into the trash can.

The next day, Chi Cong went to Ji family’s house for dinner as agreed. He saw Ji Heyi detour to the mall and brought back two bags of underwear, and even made a comment: “Hey, I’m also used to wearing this brand.”

Ji Heyi gave him a cold glance and didn’t speak, fearing that once he opened his mouth, the residual anger would transfer to Chi Cong’s face. Even though Chi Cong always had a bright and pleasing expression, he could always catch a hint of familiar evil and willfulness in those similar eyes.

Chi Cong didn’t care whether he responded or not. He sat in the passenger seat with his mind full of the upcoming dinner. He couldn’t relax at all, fiddling with the car’s toy and chattering: “Damn, why am I so nervous now, it really feels like I’m going to meet my in-laws. Mainly your mother – you know, Aunt He, Teacher He, Director He is really too scary, her stern face and glance can make the food in my stomach choke back into my throat, accompanied by my three years of high school nightmares.”

He was worried: “And I always feel that she already knows everything. You just told her that you have a stable partner, but you didn’t specify the gender or name. Do you know, last time she actually asked me when I would stop playing around and settle down to start a family, my God, I’m really afraid that her next sentence is that an actor is not worthy to be my Ji family’s daughter-in-law!”

Ji Heyi laughed: “It’s not that exaggerated. After all, you are a well-known excellent graduate of Haida Affiliated High School, and she supports every one of your movies. But on my side, openly and secretly, the closet door has been knocked on hundreds of times. Mr. Ji has accepted what he should accept, and Mrs. He knows what she should know. The frog in warm water is only missing the last——”

“Only missing the last step——” Chi Cong interrupted him, “Only missing the one you hide like an eyeball, the object of coming out of the closet, right! You are reluctant to let Chi Yan see your parents’ faces, and you use me, who has thick skin and thick blood, to throw stones to ask the way. You don’t even look at what kind of bloody road your parents are!” Chi Cong said and threw the toy in his hand, getting angry, “I owed you in my last life!”

So Ji Heyi handed over the larger golden retriever toy in front of him.

Chi Cong took it and squeezed it, then thought of the unkind thing his younger brother had done, sighed, and changed his words: “I owed Chi Yan in my previous life.”

In the end, he was still upset for his friend. Originally, he was walking on a broad road, but halfway through, someone led him to a bumpy and winding road. He worked hard to pave the way, but in the end, it was all in vain. “You too, you probably owed Chi Yan a lot in your previous life.” He glanced at Ji Heyi, “Like enslaving his blood brother or something, it’s retribution.”

“Deserved.” Ji Heyi responded.

The car had already driven into the garage, Chi Cong pressed his stomach, and he began to feel that it was difficult to swallow dinner: “After all that, isn’t the original plot of this dinner to formally meet the parents without saying it? I’m just a friend who supports the protagonist, right? Now the protagonist has run away – damn, my stomach is starting to hurt.”

“So the script has changed.” Ji Heyi parked the car and signaled Chi Cong to get off, “Just treat it as a normal dinner, and by the way, talk to the elders about your unknown ups and downs in love, to fill their imagination.”

Chi Cong slammed the car door: “Shameless, it’s not you who loosened the soil for them!”

Ji Heyi also closed the car door, turned his head and smiled at Chi Cong’s gloomy face: “In the future when you see Teacher He, you can raise your head that has been lowered since high school. After all, these two years, she has let you receive several unjustified white eyes for no reason.”

Chi Cong immediately gave him a white eye that was not wronged at all.

The two of them have a friendship that dates back to junior high and high school. Chi Cong is quite familiar with Ji family’s house, even Mao Mao, the golden retriever that Ji family’s house raises, would bark a few more times when he sees him.

But the owner is not as hospitable as Mao Mao. Mrs. He is sitting on the sofa looking at the tablet, and she hummed in her nose to respond to their greetings. The dining room is already full of the aroma of food, and Ji Heyi’s father came down from upstairs unhurriedly: “Are you here? Wash your hands and eat.”

After eating half a bowl of rice indifferently, Mrs. He suddenly put down her chopsticks: “Have you had enough of dawdling?” She looked at Ji Heyi coldly, “You keep rushing to Chi family’s house to be someone’s son, we should be kept in the dark, right? What? Without waiting for my good face, do you still want to resist for ten years?”

Mr. Ji put a chicken wing into Mrs. He’s bowl and stroked her hand holding the chopsticks.

“What do you mean?” Ji Heyi swallowed a mouthful of rice and asked calmly, “Doesn’t Chi Cong also often come to our house? Are you comparing the number of times I go to his house with the number of times he comes to ours?”

He glanced at Chi Cong again, “He’s so scared by you that he doesn’t dare to pick up the food. Be nicer to him, Mrs. He – he just broke up, was dumped by a girlfriend who had been dating for several years, and has been in a daze for a week, and finally has a bit of appetite.”

The two elders were stunned.

Chi Cong, who caught Ji Heyi’s eye, sighed silently.

While complaining in his heart that life is full of drama, he calmly displayed his acting skills, and in a few words, he sold his misery to the elders who obviously hadn’t figured out the situation yet. He talked about his repeated failures in secret love, and in this way, he took off the hat of Ji family’s prospective daughter-in-law, and probably kicked Ji Heyi’s half-open closet door shut again.

The subsequent benefits are obvious. Every time he came to Ji family’s house, the feeling of having a thorn in his back finally disappeared. Mr. Ji gave him two plates of fruit, and Mrs. He also expressed some rigid concern for his work.

In the evening, he wouldn’t be scrutinized like a searchlight when he went to Ji Heyi’s room alone.

Chi Cong closed the door of the room and sighed: “It’s been a long time since I walked into your room so upright.”

“It’s hard.” After all, he was innocently given a face for more than two years, and even his life-like film career was almost moved by Ji’s father when the smoke was the thickest. Ji Heyi also felt sorry, he flipped through the fruit plate on the table, “I will cover the investment for your next movie.” He threw a full orange to him, “Take the deposit.”

Chi Cong took the orange and peeled the orange skin with emotion, “You are my real brother. That bastard who came from the same womb will only card our crew’s money! What counts as receiving some white eyes! Please let me help with such busy work a few more times.”

Speaking of movies, he thought of his recent plan and quickly returned the deposit in his hand: “Don’t make the next one! There is one now, the one I made five years ago, it finally passed the review. Art films are not easy to talk about, and the box office is also uncertain. Give me more screenings in the theaters under your company’s name.”

So Ji Heyi took the peeled orange from him, “Five years ago? Is that the one——” He thought for a moment but couldn’t remember the name, “The one with some homosexual themes?”

“Ah, you remember?”

“It’s hard not to leave a deep impression.” Ji Heyi bit a piece of orange, his eyebrows furrowed at the sourness, “A good skiing holiday, I dreamt of being dragged by you to recite those sour lines.”

But thinking of Chi Cong’s obsessed and dedicated look at that time, he agreed without hesitation.

He arranged Chi Cong’s movie matters. From the beginning of the year to now, Ji Heyi, who had been busy for nearly half a year, finally had some free time. The original plan was to go on vacation with Chi Yan after this period of work, but now the plan was ruined, so he gave his secretary a long vacation, and by the way, gave him the already booked flight tickets, hotel, and travel package.

The secretary happily accepted this gift, not forgetting to care about his boss: “Why did you suddenly change the plan, is it because Mr. Chi can’t get away?” He still hasn’t seen from his boss’s usual work status during this period that he has recovered his single status.

“I broke up with Chi Yan.” Ji Heyi glanced at the secretary who almost exclaimed “ah”, “There is no need to consider other things for future work arrangements.”

Gradually, some familiar people also began to know their situation.

One day, while Ji Heyi was picking decorations for the fish tank at home in the flower and bird market, he suddenly received a WeChat message from a friend:

[What’s going on? [Shocked.jpg].]

The other party sent a picture, although the figure is blurry and the light is dim, you can still see a boy sitting in the bar booth, leaning on Chi Yan’s arm. You can’t see the boy’s face, if not mistaken, it should be Nian Zhenyan.

Ji Heyi finished shopping, carrying a bag of exquisite aquarium stones home, and texted his friend the situation he wanted to know.

When the circle of friends passed on the news from one to ten and from ten to a hundred, those who should know knew, and those who should digest had digested, Ji Heyi received another message from a friend on the weekend: [It’s too shameful, Ji Heyi! You talk about love like marriage, and it’s okay that you’re talking about a man! It’s okay that you’re talking about a man, but you’re talking about Chi Yan! It’s okay that you’re talking about Chi Yan, but you were dumped by Chi Yan!]

After a series of mockeries.

[There must be a party to celebrate being single again, what are you staying at home for, come out and have fun!]