“Let’s go upstairs. It’s too cold,” Xie Dongcheng spoke first.

Yu Zi lowered his eyelids, looking at his soaked clothes, “Let’s go.”

The two of them walked back in silence to where the two children had just been chasing and playing, who seemed to have been caught by their parents and sent back to sleep. The whole corridor returned to calm, and the atmosphere dissipated as if the impending event had been a mere illusion.

Once they were back home, Xie Dongcheng quickly went to freshen up, then lay down on the sofa, covering his face with a blanket.

Yu Zi couldn’t help but find it amusing and asked, “Are you preparing to rest?”

The person under the blanket hummed something indistinct, then there was no more movement.

Yu Zi took a hot shower, washing away the cold and fatigue of the night.

He lay on the familiar bed wearing Xie Dongcheng’s clothes. Closing his eyes, the scene from the corridor just now appeared in his mind, though not very clear, fragmented and blurry. In the last second before falling asleep, the image of those wet lips flashed before his eyes.

……

The effect of distributing promotional flyers by the property management was much better than they had expected.

Orders exploded within a few days, and the two of them had to divide the work. Yu Zi stationed himself in procurement, order processing, and accounting, while Xie Dongcheng specifically rode the scooter to deliver the goods door to door.

Despite this, they still worked late every day until eight or nine in the evening.

Every day when Yu Zi finished work, he lit up with satisfaction, thinking that any concerns about dignity were insignificant in the face of money.

That night, at half past eight, Yu Zi settled the last order and stood at the entrance of the parking lot, waiting for Xie Dongcheng to finish delivering the goods and pick him up.

After a while, the familiar scooter pulled up in front of him.

“How long have you been waiting?”

“Just came out,” Yu Zi rubbed his neck and got into the back seat.

It was a Friday, and even though it was almost nine o’clock, the roads were still jammed.

Xie Dongcheng took various shortcuts, finally managing to break free from the traffic and onto an empty side road.

“How much money did we make today?” Xie Dongcheng asked.

But there was no response for a while.

After a few seconds, the scooter stopped at a junction. Xie Dongcheng glanced back and saw Yu Zi with drooping eyelids, swaying his head as if he had fallen asleep.

Xie Dongcheng sighed and turned his head back. Soon, he felt a warmth on his back. Yu Zi leaned his head against his back, his cheek pressing tightly against his spine.

Xie Dongcheng’s abdomen tightened, and he dared not press the accelerator too hard.

Until the next intersection, he turned his head slightly to glance back. Yu Zi was sleeping soundly, his lips slightly dry but full.

Thud—Xie Dongcheng was startled by his own thoughts, his heartbeat suddenly quickened, and he didn’t even notice when the traffic light turned green. It wasn’t until the car behind him honked that he quickly accelerated and rode out.

Yu Zi woke up only after they reached home. They changed into dry clothes and sat down in front of the sofa to settle the accounts. Yu Zi took a pen and paper, calculating the revenue for this period.

Line by line on the white paper, after addition and subtraction, Yu Zi finally made a big stroke to get the total profit.

“We made over twenty thousand yuan?!” Xie Dongcheng looked incredulous.

Yu Zi tucked the pen behind his ear, then exported the list from his phone’s notes app and showed it to Xie Dongcheng. “Including these orders that haven’t been delivered yet, we should break thirty thousand this month.”

Xie Dongcheng couldn’t calm down for a long time. He had thought they would make quite a bit of money with how busy they had been this month, but he hadn’t expected to make so much all at once. There was a joy of being hit by a gold bar.

“Fifty-fifty split, I’ll transfer it to you at the end of the month.” Yu Zi divided the amount by two and glanced at Xie Dongcheng.

Xie Dongcheng scratched his head. “No need, no need, just keep it for now. We still need money to place orders every day.”

Of course, Yu Zi wasn’t after this bit of money. Even though Xie Dongcheng didn’t want the money right now, Yu Zi still found a notebook and recorded the monthly income and expenses, planning to settle it for him at a later time.

In Yu Zi’s mind, Xie Dongcheng was a good business partner. Although he sometimes reacted a bit slowly, he was very efficient in execution, hitting the mark every time, even more so than many subordinates he had hired at high salaries before.

The scab on the bridge of Xie Dongcheng’s nose was finally about to fall off, but there was still a light brown scar that hadn’t completely disappeared, like a deliberately drawn tattoo.

Yu Zi took out the white ointment he bought at the pharmacy not long ago and carefully applied it to Xie Dongcheng’s nose with a cotton swab.

Every time he applied medicine to Xie Dongcheng’s nose, Xie Dongcheng would tightly close his eyes.

“Why are you nervous?” Yu Zi asked.

“Am I?” His voice trembled slightly with tension.

Yu Zi smiled and didn’t press him further.

The next evening, Yu Zi settled the orders at the cash register. The cashier handed him a receipt. “It’s the end of the month, so this part of the points doesn’t need to be cleared.”

“Can I exchange it for cash?” Yu Zi asked casually.

“No, this is our monthly promotion, it can only be exchanged for goods.”

Yu Zi looked at the numbers on the receipt and then walked back to the shelves. He picked up two bottles of red wine and two pieces of premium steak.

These days, they had been busy running around, and they hadn’t had a decent meal together.

Finally earning some money, it was time to celebrate.

When Xie Dongcheng came to pick him up, he saw him holding two large boxes and was a bit puzzled. “Are there more goods to be delivered?”

“No. I bought these,” Yu Zi explained, “It’s redeemed with points, and I didn’t spend any money.”

Back home, Yu Zi went straight to the kitchen, rummaged around, and then turned to ask Xie Dongcheng, “Do you have a frying pan at home?”

Xie Dongcheng thought for a moment, then opened the cabinet next to the range hood. “Yes, but it hasn’t been used in a long time.”

Yu Zi took a look at the pan. Besides being dusty, it was quite good. It was even a cast iron pan.

Originally, there was a chef in the suburban villa who specialized in cooking for Yu Zi, and he was extremely particular about cookware. Yu Zi had seen it a few times and knew a thing or two about it.

After Xie Dongcheng cleaned the pan, he handed it to him.

“You go and open the wine,” Yu Zi didn’t turn around, instructing him.

Xie Dongcheng nodded and returned to the living room, picking up the bottle of wine and taking a glance at it. There was a small price tag on it.

“What? This costs over a thousand yuan per bottle?!”

Yu Zi, hearing his surprise, leaned out to take a look outside. “You’ll know once you taste it.”

The beautiful beef in the cast iron skillet underwent the Maillard reaction, forming a perfect brown crust.

Yu Zi couldn’t help but marvel at himself, feeling like a natural chef.

But the next moment, as he hesitated with the spatula in hand, blood from the beef dripped into the oil, causing it to splatter.

“Xie Dongcheng!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Help me flip it over.”

Seeing the oil splattering from the beef, Xie Dongcheng quickly grabbed Yu Zi’s hand and flipped it over with the spatula.

“Thank goodness,” he said, only then realizing their hands were still intertwined. He quickly let go.

“I’ll go out first,” he cleared his throat.

Half an hour later, Yu Zi and Xie Dongcheng sat on the floor again, with the pendant lamp casting a circle of light overhead.

On the coffee table were two glasses of wine and two beautiful steaks. Xie Dongcheng didn’t have any tall glasses at home, so he used two transparent glass cups. There were no knives and forks either, so when Yu Zi took the steaks out of the skillet, he directly cut them into small pieces and served them with two pairs of chopsticks.

“It’s a pity we don’t have candles,” Yu Zi said softly.

“What do we need candles for?”

Yu Zi glanced at him. “Forget it, you don’t need candles.”

Xie Dongcheng took the first sip of wine and began to understand why it was so expensive. The taste was different from any he had tried before, smooth and mellow, with a lingering sweetness.

“It’s nice to have money,” he chuckled, feeling sentimental.

“It’s not that big a deal, the days with money are still ahead.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Xie Dongcheng nodded repeatedly.

Yu Zi looked at his face and couldn’t help but smile.

Not long after, Yu Zi had drunk half a glass, his cheeks slightly flushed. He leaned on his chin, looking across the coffee table at Xie Dongcheng’s face.

Despite the scar on his nose and the crew cut, which made him look somewhat fierce, for some reason, under the soft pendant lamp, he appeared somewhat cute.

Yu Zi took another sip of wine, his gaze fixed on the person opposite him, scanning his features.

“Xie Dongcheng,” he called his name, “What type of person do you like?”

Xie Dongcheng was stunned. He hadn’t expected Yu Zi to ask that.

“What… like?”

“What type of person do you like?” Yu Zi deliberately didn’t specify whether it was a man or a woman.

He hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“Attractive?” Yu Zi continued to inquire, “Sexy?”

Upon hearing the word ‘sexy,’ Xie Dongcheng’s cheeks immediately turned red, visibly blushing.

Yu Zi’s face leaned in closer, looking into his eyes firmly. “It seems you like sexy.”

The mischievous look, like a fox, returned, just like when they first met under the street lamp.

“No, I didn’t say…” Xie Dongcheng tried to explain, but he couldn’t find the right words.

Yu Zi burst into laughter. In his slightly tipsy state, his expression was particularly vivid, with a hint of red around his eyebrows and eyes.

Xie Dongcheng was a little bewildered, his head buzzing. He couldn’t seem to think of any words, with that word Yu Zi had just said replaying in his mind.

Sexy.

Xie Dongcheng got up to wash his face in the bathroom. When he came back, Yu Zi’s glass of wine in front of him was empty again.

He had drunk almost half a bottle of wine by himself.

Yu Zi’s eyes were a bit unfocused, as if he was about to fall into a deep sleep.

“Do you want to take a bath?” Xie Dongcheng asked him.

Yu Zi nodded slowly, but in the next moment, he closed his eyes directly. He drifted into sleep, his breathing slightly warm but steady.

Xie Dongcheng sighed and bent down to lift him up from the floor. Yu Zi, not sleeping soundly, felt the movement and instinctively reached out to hug the person in front of him.

Xie Dongcheng looked down and saw his beautiful face, now looking cute and gentle, with slightly flushed cheeks, perfectly nestled against his chest.

Sexy.

For some reason, that word suddenly appeared in his mind again.

Xie Dongcheng quickly shook his head. It must be because he had drunk too much wine, he was starting to have strange thoughts.

He laid Yu Zi back on the bed in the bedroom, gently covering him with the blanket, then escaped from the room as if fleeing, closing the door behind him.

And Yu Zi didn’t sleep well that night either. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol, his dreams became bizarre and surreal.

He first ran in darkness, then suddenly encountered a beautiful black horse. The horse led him through the woods. Yu Zi ran until he was out of breath in his dream. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, he was suddenly thrown onto a soft bed.

The sheets were white, the fabric as silky as satin, just like his favorite kind.

Then, he felt a tingling sensation on his back. A tall figure loomed over him from behind, and then that person’s hand covered his back, a rough touch. He felt a fire burning in his abdomen.

The figure in the dream groped and rubbed against him, followed by forceful thrusts. Ambiguous moans surrounded him.

In his dream, Yu Zi was almost breathless, like a fish stranded ashore due to lack of oxygen.

In the illusion, he felt himself dominated by desire, entangled with the man. But he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly no matter what.

Until the last moment before he opened his eyes, a faint light appeared in the dream.

He saw the fleeting face of the person in his dream.

The other details were somewhat blurry. Only one thing was particularly clear.

There was a shallow brown scar on the person’s nose.