33. Are you jealous ah?

This is the most peaceful sleep that Yu Xinqiao has had since he lost his memory.

The next morning, he woke up refreshed and went to the kitchen following the sound. He saw Xu Yanhuan frying eggs at the stove. With a crisp sound, Yu Xinqiao’s lips curved upwards.

During the meal, Xu Yanhuan turned and sneezed. Yu Xinqiao asked, “Are you catching a cold?”

Xu Yanhuan shook his head and replied, “Someone brought a dog to the law firm yesterday.”

Immediately, Yu Xinqiao put down his chopsticks and walked up to Xu Yanhuan, opening his collar. Sure enough, there was a rash on his neck.

He hurriedly fetched the medicine box and complained, “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”

Xu Yanhuan said, “I didn’t have time.”

“What could be more important than getting sick?”

“To make you happy.”

“… ” Yu Xinqiao muttered softly while applying the medicine, “Clearly, I was the one trying to make you happy.”

As he continued applying the medicine, Yu Xinqiao remembered the woolen gloves from the past.

“Since you’re allergic to cat and dog hair, is wool okay then?”

“I can’t touch wool either,” Xu Yanhuan said. “That day, when you wore gloves and held my hand, my hand itched all day.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Yu Xinqiao admitted his mistake first, then realized, “Wait a minute, what do you mean I held your hand? I just… let you feel the warmth of the woolen gloves.”

Xu Yanhuan chuckled.

To regain his ground, Yu Xinqiao brought up an old account, “You were the one being intentional, intentionally kissing me and saying it was free.”

“It was intentional,” Xu Yanhuan admitted generously.

“Then, why did you kiss me at that time?”

In Yu Xinqiao’s memory, this was already the third time he asked this question.

The first time, Xu Yanhuan pretended to lie and deceive him. The second time, Yu Xinqiao covered his mouth because he didn’t dare to hear the answer. But this time, there was no obstacle between them. Xu Yanhuan tilted his head and looked at Yu Xinqiao with a gentle smile in his eyes, saying, “What do you think?”

Yu Xinqiao refused to answer.

He felt that this person was both good and bad, full of tricks. First, he kissed him and refused to admit his feelings. Then, he lied to him and made them sleep together after marriage. Now, looking back, those marriage certificates and property deeds he found after losing his memory might have been deliberately placed there by Xu Yanhuan, waiting for him to discover.

In the rehearsal room, during the intermission, Yu Xinqiao sat on the sidelines, regretting, “He knows how to do things that make me soft-hearted, so it’s all a tactic, a tactic.” 

Liang Yi smirked while biting on a straw, “You seem to be enjoying those tactics as well. I think you’ve fallen into Xu Yanhuan’s hands for your whole life, falling and stumbling in a hundred and eight different ways.”

Even though Yu Xinqiao had long known that he was unreliable, being told this by Liang Yi still made him feel a bit embarrassed.

“It’s not just me falling, he has fallen too,” Yu Xinqiao tried to salvage his pride, “He bought the house under my name, I live in the master bedroom, and he cooks for me every day.”

Liang Yi snorted, “Indeed, he loves you a lot.”

Yu Xinqiao patted his head and said, “Why do I feel like you’re acting weird today.”

Liang Yi shook his head. “I just suddenly realized that people die naturally, either due to lack of money or due to love.”

Yu Xinqiao: ?

A strange scene unfolded when they finished work in the evening.

Shen Da also peeked his head out at the door, seeing Yu Xinqiao smiling and making a “Hi” gesture with his mouth. When he saw Liang Yi, he quickly withdrew as if he had seen a ghost. After a while, he showed two eyes again, observing where people were.

Yu Xinqiao turned to Liang Yi and asked, “Is the old man still staying at your place?”

Liang Yi looked alert and said, “He didn’t come, right? I’ll go first. If you run into him, say you haven’t seen me.”

Yu Xinqiao walked outside with a head full of question marks and bid farewell to the band members. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall figure walking towards him.

Shen Da was still the same, straightforward and gave off a sense of innocence contrasting with Xu Yanhuan. He asked, “Where’s Xiao Yi? Why didn’t he come out with you?”

Yu Xinqiao was not good at lying, and he couldn’t betray Liang Yi, so he asked, “What’s going on between you two, did you have a fight?”

Shen Da scratched his head and said, “It’s not really a fight. We drank too much yesterday, and one thing led to another…”

After figuring out what the ellipsis meant, Yu Xinqiao widened his eyes and said, “But you’re a straight guy, right?”

A few days ago, Liang Yi told him that Shen Da stayed here to treat his emotional wounds from a breakup with his girlfriend.

“I used to be, but that changed last night,” Shen Da said.

Yu Xinqiao processed this for a moment and said, “What about Xiao Yi? What did he say?”

Shen Daye looked dejected and said, “He said it was an accident. Straight guys don’t just turn gay easily.”

Yu Xinqiao nodded, “Exactly, we gay people are naturally attracted to men.”

“But Xu Ge used to be straight too,” Shen Daye began to make references, “and now he willingly turned for you, didn’t he?”

“That’s just speculation, he never admitted it,” the memory of Xu Yanhuan’s reaction when they were in the same bed made Yu Xinqiao’s ears heat up.

Shen Daye noticed it too.

“Why is your face turning red, are you getting a fever?” Innocently, Shen Daye quickly added, “It’s getting colder at night, you should go home soon.”

Before parting ways, he didn’t forget to express his gratitude, “You gave both of us the same crystal pendant back then, maybe it was a sign.”

Shen Daye waved goodbye to Yu Xinqiao’s back and said, “Once we’re together, we’ll definitely hold a big feast to thank you, the matchmaker!”

Yu Xinqiao didn’t expect that his own love life was still uncertain, but he ended up playing the role of a matchmaker for others.

Today, Xu Yanhuan finished work early, and they had the dumplings they brought back from Bai Wei as dinner. After finishing, Yu Xinqiao drank water and passed by the kitchen, where he saw Xu Yanhuan washing dishes. A part of his forearm was revealed under the rolled-up sleeve, and the veins under the skin appeared bluish.

It reminded Yu Xinqiao of the blue moonlight that he failed to give away in the past.

Perhaps because Shen Daye mentioned crystals, Yu Xinqiao spent half the night reminiscing about the rough stone he had painstakingly sought out. Blue moonstone was already rare, and it was even more uncommon to find one with excellent quality. Having played with stones for over ten years, Yu Xinqiao had only come across one like that.

In order to showcase the most beautiful reflective light, Yu Xinqiao hardly used any machines and spent countless days and nights personally polishing it. The finished product was undoubtedly stunning, a small gem that seemed to gather the essence of heaven and earth, resembling blue aurora from a certain angle.

Unfortunately, it fell to the ground and got covered in dust. It might have already merged with the earth, its beauty unseen by anyone.

Yu Xinqiao let out a long sigh.

After taking a shower and entering the room, Yu Xinqiao didn’t look at the sheet music. Instead, he held his phone and caught a glimpse of Xu Yanhuan walking over, making a light “hum” sound from his nose.

Not knowing what had upset Yu Xinqiao, Xu Yanhuan covered his wet head with the towel he brought and knelt on the bed, helping him dry his hair.

Yu Xinqiao never liked blowing or drying his hair, so he dodged left and right. Inadvertently, he bumped into Xu Yanhuan’s chest.

This scene easily brought back memories of their first encounter. Yu Xinqiao slowly moved away, rubbing his head a few times, and thought to himself that he had indeed grown up, even tougher than before.

Staring directly at his chest, Yu Xinqiao thought Xu Yanhuan might have thought he hit his head and damaged his memory. Xu Yanhuan held his shoulders and tentatively asked, “Have you regained your memory?”

“…,” Yu Xinqiao was speechless. “I wish I did. Should I bump into you a few more times?”

Later, when asked why he seemed to not want to regain his memory, Xu Yanhuan said, “Initially, I hoped you would recover as soon as possible, but then I thought it would be better this way. It gives me a chance to make it up to you.”

This answer was beyond Yu Xinqiao’s expectations. He used to think that Xu Yanhuan had done something wrong and was afraid of being found out, always suspicious and assuming the worst.

It made Yu Xinqiao feel embarrassed. “Was I not good to you before I lost my memory?”

After all, even he himself had doubted it. Yu Xinqiao, a twenty-four-year-old, marrying Xu Yanhuan might have been for revenge. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have proposed so hastily at the dumpling shop, taken over the master bedroom, and made Xu Yanhuan cook for him.

Xu Yanhuan was a modern-day Cinderella without a doubt.

But Xu Yanhuan neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he looked at Yu Xinqiao and said seriously, “Then be nicer to me in the future.”

The words “in the future” spoken by Xu Yanhuan were quite perplexing.

It seemed as though they could forget about the past and seize the present.

Yu Xinqiao realized that he had climbed to a new level of incompetence because he couldn’t help but ask, “How should I be nicer to you?”

Xu Yanhuan had endured a lot of hardship in the past, although it wasn’t caused by Yu Xinqiao. But he hoped that Xu Yanhuan wouldn’t have to suffer so much in the future, at least being able to laugh happily at home.

Xu Yanhuan’s eyebrows lifted as if the question struck a chord with him.

He picked up Yu Xinqiao’s phone from the bedside and handed it over, saying, “Have you clarified things with that person surnamed Xie?”

Yu Xinqiao: “…I really dug a pit for myself.”

Under Xu Yanhuan’s watchful gaze, Yu Xinqiao opened WeChat and entered the chat with Xie Ming’an. The last conversation was from this morning when Xie Ming’an sent a picture of a beautifully arranged breakfast, and Yu Xinqiao replied with an expression of “it’s making me drool.”

Feeling the intense pressure from above, Yu Xinqiao lowered his head and explained in a soft voice, “I just randomly used an emoji… Your cooking looks much more delicious than his.”

The tension in the atmosphere momentarily eased, and Yu Xinqiao breathed a sigh of relief.

But he got stuck at composing the message again. While typing, he muttered, “Hello, Xie classmate, actually, the person I introduced to you at the hotel last time, Lawyer Xu, is not only my friend but also my… my…”

He couldn’t make up his mind and looked up at Xu Yanhuan, asking, “Who are you to me?”

Xu Yanhuan responded with adaptability, “What do you think?”

Yu Xinqiao discussed it with him, “Give me a hint, how many characters?”

Xu Yanhuan pursed his lips, “Two characters.”

Married partner was four characters, no, that’s not it. Partner was two characters, but it was too broad and serious, not right.

*”已婚对象” (yǐ hūn duì xiàng) translates – “spouse” or “married partner”

“伴侣” (bàn lǚ) –  “partner” or “companion”

Yu Xinqiao felt inexplicably like a student doing homework under the supervision of a teacher, carefully considering every stroke.

“Um… Classmate?”

*”同学” (tóng xué) –  “classmate”

“…?”

“Then, roommate?”

*”舍友” (shě yǒu) – “roommate”

“…?”

“You’re older than me, so, big brother?”

*”大哥” (dà gē) – “big brother”

“…”

As Xu Yanhuan’s expression gradually turned sour, Yu Xinqiao had a sudden realization and tapped his forehead, saying, “I got it, we need to be more intimate, darling!”

“…,” Xu Yanhuan’s slightly furrowed brows relaxed a bit. He thought to himself that it’s better than being called “big brother.”

Yu Xinqiao, being sensitive to Xu Yanhuan’s mood, quickly picked up his phone and said, “Still mine, darling.”

*baobei – darling

Later that night, as they settled down to sleep, Yu Xinqiao slowly realized something and turned to face Xu Yanhuan, saying, “Are you jealous ah?”

Recalling the strong animosity towards Xie Ming’an that day, wasn’t it a sign of jealousy?

Xu Yanhuan didn’t respond, but instead tucked Yu Xinqiao in and said, “Go to sleep.”

Yu Xinqiao persisted, “You’re definitely jealous, right? But aren’t you pursuing me? The order seems off, don’t be jealous without reason.”

In the darkness, Xu Yanhuan chuckled, whether amused or irritated by him, it was hard to tell. Getting married first and then pursuing someone, he didn’t find anything wrong with that.

While Yu Xinqiao was still tangled up in whether he should pursue or not, he saw Xu Yanhuan sit up, reach out his long arm, pick up his own phone, unlock it, and long-press to turn it off before tossing it onto the nearby carpet.

A loud “thud” startled Yu Xinqiao, “Don’t break the phone!”

Xu Yanhuan replied, “It’s good if it breaks.”

No one could disturb them anymore.

It was not until Xu Yanhuan rolled over, propping his arms on both sides and pressing down on Yu Xinqiao from above that he realized the danger. Stuttering, he asked, “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Pursuing you,” Xu Yanhuan said.

Yu Xinqiao mumbled, “Who pursues someone while lying on the bed…”

Xu Yanhuan laughed again and then asked, “I’ll give you another chance, what should you call me?”

Yu Xinqiao tilted his head, “Precious, darling?”

Unable to resist, Xu Yanhuan started to accept this nickname. “Can darling pursue you now?”

Looking into Xu Yanhuan’s deep, ocean-like eyes, Yu Xinqiao swallowed nervously, thinking it was too unfair. Who calls themselves darling and makes it impossible to refuse?

Nodding almost involuntarily.

And so, Xu Yanhuan received the green light, lowered his head, and kissed the treasure he had finally grasped in the palm of his hand.