TL: snaggletooth

Chu Yi only saw Qi Yiheng’s message half an hour later. At that time, he had just finished a brochure design and was packing it up to send to the client.

After the email was sent successfully, there was a ding-dong sound from the computer. Only then did Chu Yi realize that he had been looking at the simple “I arrived” for a long time.

It seemed that Qin Yiheng understood the meaning of reporting safety when going out?

Chu Yi didn’t quite get it, so he picked up his mobile phone and typed, “It’s nothing, I just wanted to confirm that you’re safe.”

He hesitated after he finished typing and these words stayed there unsent. Chu Yi’s thumb swayed for a long time before finally changing the button and deleted the message word by word, then replaced it with an “OK”.

He has another order under him. Seeing that Qin Yiheng didn’t reply after he waited for a minute, he placed the phone aside faced down. Chu Yi opened WeChat on his computer and clicked into his pins^[1]you can pin certain people’s chats to the top.

Although he uses the same WeChat account on both his computer and phone, due to his work habits and the occasional loss of information, he likes chatting with his friends on his phone while dealing with business-related purposes on the computer.

In his pins, there are 5 clients. Just now, he dealt with one of them with the brochure. After receiving the final payment, Chu Yi unpinned the client and continued his next job.

Yesterday, his marriage was as if he went someplace for a stimulating holiday, and then today, he returned to his original life.

If he doesn’t deliberately think of it, he would even forget that he is already married.

Of course, even if he didn’t remember, someone else helped him remember. At dinner time, Rongrong screamed right as he walked out of his office.

“Boss!” Rongrong already had her bag on, “What are we eating to celebrate you escaping the single life?”

Chu Yu laughed, “What do you guys want to eat?”

Rongrong, “Hot pot!”

Chu Yi, “Sure.”

Rongrong continued to ask, “Is your partner also coming?”

Chu Yi shook his head, “He’s on a business trip.”

Rongrong was disappointed, “Ah? Going on a business trip the day after you guys just got together?”

Chu Yi shook his head, “He’s busy, it’s normal, he’ll come back in a few days.”

Rongrong sighed, “Boss, you have such a good attitude, if it was my boyfriend that went on a business trip when we had just gotten together, I would’ve been mad for sure.”

Chu Yi laughed.

Forget being mad, the fact that he and Qin Yiheng can communicate normally was already pretty good. Next to Qin Yiheng, Chu Yi always felt weird whenever he said something.

After hot pot, Chu Yi let Xiao-Zhan and Rongrong get off work. He went back to the studio and changed a little detail of the current order on hand.

It was completely dark when he got off work, and street lights were lit everywhere in the city. Chu Yi rubbed the area between his eyebrows, then drove his car out.

His house isn’t far from the studio, and he never commutes to or from work during peak hours. Generally, it only takes ten minutes.

So ten minutes later, Chu Yi’s car was parked in the underground garage of his own residential area.

When he was about to get out of the car, his phone rang, it was a call that came from his mother.

Chu Yi’s initial thought was that it was about the younger guy from his latest blind date.

Wait no, the younger guy was from the last last blind date. The one who said he actually has a boyfriend, then thanked Chu Yi and ended it there.

Last weekend, he met a programmer of his age. After Chu Yi went back, they chatted a bit. The other kept flirting with him with corny pick-up lines and it made him very uncomfortable.

“Mom,” Chu Yi already got his excuses ready, picked up the phone, “What’s wrong?”

Mom asked, “Where did the household account book go?”

Chu Yi didn’t expect his mom to ask about this, wasn’t ready for it, and could only fumble, “This, I…”

His mom most likely did not hear him, she continued to ask over the phone, “Wasn’t it in the drawer under the TV cabinet in the room? How come I can’t find it? Help mom think, did mom use the household account book recently?”

Chu Yi scratched his head, asked, “What do you need the household account book for?”

His mom, “Aiya, there’s an event in the community and they need a photocopy of the household account book.”

Chu Yi licked his lips.

If he were to suddenly tell his mother that he married a man he’s not very familiar with, his mother might immediately kill her way over. It might be simpler if she can actually get to see Qin Yiheng, his mom would definitely want to see him.

However, Qin Yiheng is on a business trip.

He remembered what Rongrong said in the afternoon about going on a business trip the very next day after being together. It seemed that this wasn’t exactly a good thing. Therefore, regarding his marriage, it might be better to tell her slowly.

“I took it.” After Chu Yi did some thinking, he started making up, “The studio applied for a certificate that needed the household account book.”

His mom did not doubt him, “Oh, is it done?”

Chu Yi, “It’s done.”

His mom, “If you’re done with it, then find a time to bring it back, the material on mom’s side needs to be handed in on Friday.”

Chu Yi let out a breath of relief, “Okay.”

His mom sighed, “This child, you didn’t even say anything when you took the household account book.”

Chu Yi laughed, “Sorry.”

His mom asked again, “The one Aunt Lian introduced last week, are you still in contact with him?”

Chu Yi pinched the part between his eyebrows, what’s to come will still eventually come.

Chu Yi, “No contact.”

“You!” As expected, his mom started again, “You don’t like this, you don’t like that, that child told Aunt Lian that he thought you weren’t bad. How do you expect mom to respond to them like this? If you continue to be like this, others won’t set you up anymore…”

Chu Yi frowned obediently. He heard his mother take a breath for a break before continuing, he took the opportunity to interrupt, “Mom, I’m dating someone.”

The call fell in silence for 2 seconds.

“What? You’re dating?” His mom’s tone was both surprised and happy.

Chu Yi was under the typical case of not being allowed to date during school, yet urged to get married right after graduation. He is clearly only 26, but in his mom’s eyes, he is already a super old unmarried man. If he doesn’t get married any sooner, year after year, nobody would want him anymore.

He is from a single-family, and his relationship with his mom is quite good. He is well-behaved, will mention and share most things with his mother.

So his mom also knows the fact that he never dated before. Therefore, as a result of this move of his, his mom felt choked from shock.

“Who is it? How old is he? Where does he work? Where does he live? When did you guys meet? Have you already confirmed your relationship? How is he as a person? Is he good to you?” His mom asked all these questions in one go.

Chu Yi played with the car key in his hand and thought for a bit, he answered vaguely, “Mom, we’re dating by our own wills, I don’t want to reveal too much right now. In short, he is a very good person. When there is a suitable time, I will take him home.”

When his mom heard this, she became even happier. Since her son had already said so, she didn’t continue to interrogate, “Fine fine fine, then mom will wait for your good news.”

Chu Yi, “Mn. Don’t introduce any more people to me.”

His overjoyed mom, “Of course.”

After hanging up, Chu Yi let out a sigh of relief. He opened the door, got out of the car, walked to the elevator, and raised his head to look at the number on top.

He suddenly remembered Qin Yiheng.

Qin Yiheng…

Chu Yi froze for a bit.

Why did he come back? He was supposed to go to Qin Yiheng’s house.

But when the elevator arrived, he had thought it over. 

Qin Yiheng was still on a business trip, so he might as well sleep at home these days. Before leaving, Qin Yiheng told him to move his things over, he actually doesn’t have much to move, Qin Yiheng has everything at home, he just has to bring his clothes over.

After arriving at his floor, Chu Yi decided that he will move some things over later and bring back the bag from yesterday while he’s at it. Since there’s clothes in it that needs to be washed.

So that’s what he did.

Men don’t have many daily necessities. Chu Yi took a large suitcase, filled it full of clothes and some other things that he usually needed, then left his house.

He drove the car to Zhen Jing soon after. This time, the guard recognized him, he even nodded and smiled at him from afar before opening the gates.

Coming here at night again, Chu Yi still did not get to see the scenery here. He parked the car next to Qin Yiheng’s car with familiarity, then went through the iron gate and opened the door with the password.

He felt like a thief and the homeowner at the same time.

To sum up, he felt that it was very funny.

He carried the suitcase to the second floor and then into the bedroom. After opening the closet, Chu Yi was lost in thought.

How should he put his things?

Chu Yi rubbed his chin, took out his phone, hesitated for a few seconds, but still ended up giving Qin Yiheng a call.

The other side answered at the very last second of the ringtone, the quietness next to his ear immediately turned noisy.

Chu Yi was a little nervous, his heartbeat started to speed up.

“Chu Yi?”

Qin Yiheng’s voice came through the radio waves, which was very deep, knocking on Chu Yi’s heart.

Chu Yi, “Mn.”

In order to not disturb Qin Yiheng, Chu Yi spokefast, “It’s like this, I brought my clothes over, where should I put it?”

Qin Yiheng answered him, “In the closet.”

Qin Yiheng spoke with a normal tone, but Chu Yi seemed to have heard a feeling of helplessness from him that said you even have to ask this kind of thing?

But since he already asked, Chu Yi continued, “Put it together with yours?”

Qin Yiheng, “Mn, sort it and put them together.”

Chu Yi, “Okay.”

Qin Yiheng asked him, “Anything else? I’m a bit busy.”

Chu Yi quickly, “Nothing else, you can go work.”

Soon, the beep sounded. Chu Yi held the phone and stood still for a few seconds. Then finally leaned over and unzipped the suitcase.

There are many empty hangers on the bottom of Qin Yiheng’s closet, and his clothes have been pushed to the side, apparently making room for Chu Yi.

Chu Yi copied Qin Yiheng, he sorted and hanged the ones that needed to be hanged. The ones that didn’t need to be hanged, he sorted and folded them. Qin Yiheng’s clothes are all on the left side, and he put his all on the right.

After sorting out the clothes, he put what he uses frequently in the bathroom. Finally, he took a check around. After confirming there’s no problem, he took the empty suitcase back home.

In the next few days, Chu Yi lived in his own house, and thanks to phone calls from his mother everyday, he was reminded of Qin Yiheng’s existence from time to time. It also made him feel like he was really in a relationship.

To help remember the day that Qin Yiheng comes back, Chu Yi specially set up an alarm for Sunday. He didn’t know what time Qin Yiheng would be back on Monday, so he thought there should be no problem if go over one day earlier.

He didn’t expect that, even though Qin Yiheng said he’ll be back on Monday, he received a call from him on Saturday night.

At 11:30 in the evening, Chu Yi had almost fallen asleep because he had been rushing drafts for several days. When he saw Qin Yiheng on the screen of his phone, he fell in a daze for a while.

“Hello.” Chu Yi’s nasal sound was very heavy.

Qin Yiheng asked, “Where are you?”

Chu Yi, “At home.”

Qin Yiheng asked, “Which home?”

Chu Yi suddenly woke up, “I-, I’m at…”

He fumbled for a while, Qin Yiheng spoke again, “You haven’t been returning here to sleep for the past few days?”

Chu Yi grasped the quilt tightly, panicking in his heart.

Qin Yiheng, “Come back.”