2. It’s called huanhuan.

Later, Liang Yi returned to the hospital with a packed dinner for the two of them. 

Xu Yanhuan didn’t stay to eat, saying there was still work at the law firm and he needed to go back.

After he left, Liang Yi asked, “What were you two talking about just now? The atmosphere felt a bit strange.”

Yu Xinqiao didn’t have much of an appetite and played with the food in the takeout box with his chopsticks. “We didn’t talk about anything.”

“You could talk about something. After all, he is now your, uh…” Liang Yi couldn’t find the right term, so he skipped it. “Maybe he knows more about you than I do.”

When You Xinqiao learned that the two were now living together from Liang Yi, his mood became more complicated.

“Xiao Yi, do you remember when we were in high school…”

Liang Yi was startled. “I used to remember, but when you call me ‘Xiao Yi’, I forget everything.”

Yu Xinqiao smiled. “Then what should I call you now?”

“Lao Liang.”

TN: Lao – Old 

“Okay, Lao Liang, do you remember that he used to hate me in high school?”

“Of course, I remember, mainly because you were too clingy. You chased after him all day, and he would get annoyed.”

To others, the events from six years ago were unclear. However, for Yu Xinqiao, they were still vivid memories, as if they happened yesterday. After hearing Liang Yi’s description, Yu Xinqiao felt a bit embarrassed and said, “It’s not that bad. If you’re pursuing someone, you should be diligent.”

Liang Yi added, “And at that time, we all thought he was straight.”

At this, Yu Xinqiao’s expression changed slightly.

He remembered Xu Yanhuan’s attitude towards him since they met and the events that had happened last night, which were still fresh in his memory.

“Do you know how we got married?” Yu Xinqiao asked tentatively.

“I don’t know how you two get along in private, but…” Liang Yi hesitated before continuing, “The reason for your marriage must be you.”

Yu Xinqiao’s heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t do anything… shocking, did I?”

Seeing that he still had a clear understanding of himself and hadn’t forgotten his nature due to his memory loss, Liang Yi felt relieved.

“It’s nothing, really. It’s not as bad as what you did in high school,” Liang Yi said casually. “It’s just that when someone asked you about your spouse selection criteria, you looked at Xu Yanhuan and said, ‘At least he should be like Lawyer Xu.'”

…..

Yu Xinqiao fell into silence for the umpteenth time that day.

Then, he put down his chopsticks, lifted the quilt, and slowly covered his head, creating a shell of “Don’t mind me, I just want to be alone and quiet.”

The night passed in a daze, and the next morning, a nurse came to take his temperature. It was only then that Yu Xinqiao realized that yesterday, Xu Yanhuan had not been reaching out to touch him, but to check his temperature.

Yu Xinqiao let out a deep sigh.

What should he do? He still wanted to stay in his shell for a while longer.

Yu Xinqiao’s parents had already arrived. After hearing the diagnosis from the doctor, Yao Qiongying’s expression was ugly, and she even snorted as her gaze passed over Yu Xinqiao in the hospital bed.

Yu Hanzhang, on the other hand, was as kind as ever, pulling Yao Qiongying to sit down. “You clearly missed him so much, and it’s not easy to see him, why are you giving him the cold shoulder?”

Yao Qiongying still didn’t speak, so Yu Hanzhang expressed his concern on her behalf and asked if Yu Xinqiao was feeling uncomfortable anywhere.

Yu Xinqiao had been “exiled” since high school and had been away from his parents for so long. With such a big change happening now, he couldn’t help but miss the embrace of his parents.

As he spoke, he unconsciously sounded a bit coquettish, “I’m fine, nothing’s uncomfortable. I just don’t know if my playing level has declined. Liang Yi said I won the Xiaosai championship…”

“You deserve to decline,” at that moment, Yao Qiongying suddenly spoke, “We paved the way for you, but you refused to walk on it. You insisted on doing things you shouldn’t have done, and you’re getting what you deserve.”

That was a harsh thing to say, and Yu Hanzhang immediately went to pull his wife’s arm. “Xinqiao is sick, let’s not talk about this now.”

Yu Xinqiao didn’t argue.

From the information he had now, he could basically confirm that he had not only not turned his life around in the past six years but had continued to rebel until now.

His marriage to Xu Yanhuan may be the most outrageous of all.

While waiting for his discharge paperwork, Yu Xinqiao took out the phone Liang Yi brought him from the scene of the accident and pressed the power button, not very familiar with the process.

After the brand logo flashed by, he was prompted to enter the unlock password, but he entered several incorrect ones, resulting in the phone being locked.

The feeling of powerlessness of not understanding his six years older self resurfaced, and the eighteen-year-old Yu Xinqiao even wanted to grab the collar of the twenty-four-year-old Yu Xinqiao and shake him hard, asking him what he was thinking, whether his brain had gone haywire to do so many strange things and leave behind such a mess that was impossible to handle.

After waiting for a while and not seeing his parents return, Yu Xinqiao planned to go out and take a look.

As he reached the door, he suddenly heard his mother, Yao Qiongying, speaking outside in the hallway.

“I didn’t approve of it from the beginning. How can marriage be so hastily done, just because you said you wanted to get married? I knew you would run into trouble.”

Then came Xu Yanhuan’s voice: “I’m sorry, I didn’t take care of him properly.”

“We never expected you to take care of him, after all, your family situation is special and your father is…” Yao Qiongying didn’t finish her sentence and fell silent for a moment.

When Xu Yanhuan spoke again, his tone was a little lower: “I’ve thoroughly investigated the car accident this time. Please, believe me, it was indeed an accident.”

Perhaps believing Xu Yanhuan’s words, or realizing that she shouldn’t have said that earlier, Yao Qiongying’s tone eased up: “Never mind, no one wants this kind of thing to happen.”

The attitude of the elders can be seen from this conversation – they can understand and implicitly approve of the relationship between the two, but still cannot say even a word of expectation.

This trip back to China coincided with an industry summit, and as a company director, Yao Qiongying naturally had to attend. Meanwhile, university professor Yu Hanzhang was on vacation, so he accompanied her.

The couple escorted Yu Xinqiao to the parking lot.

By now, Yao Qiongying had calmed down. She raised her hand and touched the gauze on Yu Xinqiao’s forehead, feeling distressed: “If you can’t drive, hire a driver. You’re so grown up, and you still make your parents worry.”

Perhaps thinking of Yu Xinqiao’s amnesia, Yao Qiongying added, “Rest well when you get back. Don’t overuse your brain. Let nature take its course.”

Yu Xinqiao nodded in agreement.

Facing her obedient son, as a mother, Yao Qiongying couldn’t help but be stunned.

Brushing Yu Xinqiao’s soft hair, Yao Qiongying looked at him and said gently, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember…actually, it’s not bad like this.”

The rain had stopped, and they rode in silence.

When they arrived at their destination and got off, they took the elevator up together and stood in front of the entrance. Xu Yanhuan gestured for Yu Xinqiao to try opening the door.

Yu Xinqiao extended his right index finger and placed it on the fingerprint reader. “Beep!” The door opened.

This property was located on the top floor of a high-end residential complex in the east of the city. The developer had provided a standard luxury decoration, and the usable area was estimated to be one hundred and fifty square meters.

The two had more than enough space to live comfortably, but Yu Xinqiao was still somewhat surprised. At eighteen, Yu Xinqiao had grown up in a wealthy family and never had to compromise on his basic needs. Even when he was left behind in Xuncheng, he lived in the best villa district in the area.

One hundred and fifty square meters was only one-third of the villa he had lived in before.

As Yu Xinqiao wandered around, he wondered if he hadn’t bought this house himself?

If that was the case, then Xu Yanhuan must have bought it. But he had just finished his law degree and started working, where did he get so much money? This was the capital’s prime real estate, after all.

Lost in thought, Yu Xinqiao was startled by a sudden noise as he passed the bar connecting the living room and dining room.

Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a transparent box measuring one meter on each side in the centre of the bar. Inside was a nest that looked like a tent, with a soft cushion, a food bowl, a small litter box in the corner, and a black…hamster wheel next to it?

And the “owner” of this luxurious temperature-regulated box, the small animal that made the noise, was staring at the human outside through an acrylic wall with its glass bead-like eyes.

Xu Yanhuan boiled some water and came out of the kitchen, seeing Yu Xinqiao standing there stupidly, facing the hedgehog that was as big as his fist.

After a moment of confusion, Xu Yanhuan walked over and said, “It usually doesn’t come out so early… Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals.”

After staring at it for a while, Yu Xinqiao pointed to the hedgehog and asked, not entirely sure, “Am I raising it?”

Even though he had guessed that the hedgehog couldn’t possibly belong to Xu Yanhuan. Xu Yanhuan has always disliked small animals. Once, when Yu Xinqiao was waiting for him at the school gate and played with the cat kept by the security guard for a while, Xu Yanhuan kept his distance when he came out, didn’t even glance at it, and frowned disapprovingly when Yu Xinqiao put down the cat and caught up with him. “Stay away, you smell like a cat.”

Sniffing carefully, there was also a faint smell around the hedgehog’s nest.

Sure enough, Xu Yanhuan responded with an “En.”

Yu Xinqiao asked, “So how do I take care of it normally? Do I need to change its mat every day?”

Xu Yanhuan took out a pair of white gloves from the storage compartment under the bar counter and said, “Put this on before playing with it.”

“Will it hurt my hands?”

“En.”

“Does it have a name?”

Xu Yanhuan did not answer this question. Yu Xinqiao guessed that he probably didn’t know, after all, it wasn’t his.

So he didn’t continue to ask. Yu Xinqiao put on the gloves, opened the side door of the temperature-regulated box, and carefully reached in.

As expected of his hedgehog, it was unexpectedly obedient. With a gentle squeeze, the round and chubby little fellow stayed obediently in his palm, with its four legs facing up, revealing its pink belly. From another angle, it continued to stare at him with big eyes.

Although 18-year-old Yu Xinqiao didn’t know why Xu Yanhuan hated small animals, he knew very well the reason why he liked small animals.

Every time he was with non-speaking animals, it was as if he had erected a barrier that isolated him from the outside world, and time seemed to disappear within that barrier.

It was more like the animals accompanied him, accompanying him through periods of self-doubt and confusion about the future.

When he came to his senses, it seemed that time had not slipped away, but kindly paused for him, allowing him to hide all the bitterness and sorrow in the invisible crevices of time.

But he had grown up, and the crevices could no longer hold any dust. He could no longer escape.

He didn’t know how long it had been until the hedgehog jumped out of Yu Xinqiao’s palm and crawled into its little tent. Yu Xinqiao breathed a sigh of relief and asked the person next to him, “Can I ask you a few questions?”

Xu Yanhuan said, “Ask.”

“Where did we meet again?”

“At the law firm.”

“…Is it possible that I came to trouble you?”

“You didn’t know I worked there.”

“Then how did we get married?”

The originally smooth response was interrupted by the first glitch.

After a while, Xu Yanhuan replied, “You proposed to me.”

Yu Xinqiao expected this, but it was far from enough to understand their current relationship, so he asked three more questions in a row, “You agreed just like that when I proposed? Did you do it willingly? I didn’t force you with some tricks, right?”

…

The second glitch lasted even longer, and there was no sign of recovery for a long time.

But Xu Yanhuan was always cold and reticent. If it weren’t for his outstanding appearance, he would definitely have been the student with the lowest presence in the class back then.

But for Yu Xinqiao, who had lost his memory, this “back then” was just yesterday.

Yu Xinqiao didn’t ask any further.

He intuitively added food and water for the hedgehog, cleaned up the basin, and then bent down to look at the hedgehog hiding in its nest. He asked in a low voice, “What’s your name?”

The hedgehog couldn’t speak human language, so it couldn’t answer.

Yu Xinqiao yawned and stood up straight. Suddenly, he heard a human voice.

It was Xu Yanhuan, who had already returned to the living room, speaking. It happened to be when Yu Xinqiao was yawning, so he didn’t hear clearly.

Yu Xinqiao turned his head in confusion, and his mouth hadn’t closed yet when he said, “Huh?”

Xu Yanhuan repeated, “*Huánhuan.”

TN: Written in pinyin in the raws

Yu Xinqiao was stunned.

He couldn’t determine which “huán” it was from the pronunciation alone, but his unreasonable intuition told him that it was “*huán” from Xu Yanhuan’s name.

TN: This character “洹” is the ML’s. There are like 4 other characters with the same pinyin but different appearances and meanings. Eg: 涣 (huàn) means to melt while ML’s ”洹” means “a river flowing into a vast and open sea”  

Because in his memory, Xu Yanhuan, besides being cold and reticent, was also a bully who relied on his looks. Therefore, he had a bad temper and extremely poor patience, and he would never repeat a name two or even more times just because someone didn’t hear it clearly.

“It’s called Huanhuan.” As if afraid that Yu Xinqiao wouldn’t believe him, Xu Yanhuan looked into his eyes the entire time, “You named it.”

——————–

Author’s Note:

I heard that you rely on your looks and have a bad temper?

Huanhuan: Don’t believe rumors and don’t spread rumors. (Cold face)

The next chapter will delve into a past event.
TN:Cute tiny animals? Sign me the f*ck up!