DABGBTF 17

“Last time?”

Lu Lu opened his phone’s memo app. Xie Zheng glanced over and saw that it was lines and lines of numbers, mixed together, making it impossible to know exactly which number represented what meaning.

“Last time was four and a half months ago.” Lu Lu accurately pointed to a date within that pile of numbers. “It’s usually once every half a year. It shouldn’t be that fast… right?”

“Hard to say.” Xie Zheng grabbed his collar and smelled again. The pomelo smell was very strong, carrying a somewhat sharp feeling. “It’s different from the usual smell, prepare your suppressants.”

Lu Lu gave an “mm,” and smiled. “If it’s really the susceptible period, I can take a leave of absence again.”

“Are your susceptible period symptoms very severe?”

“Not really.” Lu Lu held back a smile. “Just want to be lazy. Anyway, it’s a legitimate reason to ask for leave, so the teachers won’t say anything either.”

The corners of Xie Zheng’s mouth twitched. “Bad boy.”

“Could it be that you, Uncle Xie, didn’t ask for leave when you were in school?”

“Didn’t ask.” The smile at the corners of Xie Zheng’s mouth grew wider. “I just directly skipped class.”

This was the very first time Lu Lu heard Xie Zheng talk about his previous matters at school.

In a flash, Lu Lu thought of the dean’s head-aching gaze, thought of the best record for the 1000-meter run, and also thought of the flamboyant “Xie” character carved into his desk by someone.

What exactly was Xie Zheng like in the past? He still wanted to continue listening, pursuing the question. “And then? Didn’t the teachers say anything?”

“Normal teachers didn’t care about me.” Xie Zheng crossed his legs. “But later, there was a homeroom teacher who always loved to find me to talk to, urging me to study well. Very annoying.”

“And then?”

“And then? Being annoyed into studying for a few days, going to college, starting a business, and keeping a little lover.”

Lu Lu was momentarily stunned, unable to resist curving his eyes in a smile.

Lao Tian in the front seat silently raised the partition board.

Xie Zheng reached out and knocked on the partition. “Lao Tian, getting shy?”

The car slammed the brakes abruptly, then returned to a smooth ride.

Xie Zheng burst into a very joyous, loud laugh.

Lu Lu was still dwelling on the recent topic, still wanting to ask more, but instead, he saw Xie Zheng covering his mouth and letting out a yawn.

“Sleepy?”

Xie Zheng nodded. 

He socialized with people last night and slept very late, had several meetings in a row this morning, and reading documents made his eyes hurt.

Now that he finally had some free time, Xie Zheng’s waist slumped down, and he lay directly on Lu Lu’s legs.

Lu Lu used his hand as a comb to help comb Xie Zheng’s hair a bit.

Xie Zheng tilted his head and saw the print on Lu Lu’s T-shirt, feeling it was a bit familiar. “Did I buy this for you?”

“Yes.”

Xie Zheng kissed Lu Lu’s lower abdomen, feeling very satisfied. “Not bad.”

Huailiu wasn’t considered far from Linyuan, and Lao Tian drove fast, approaching the destination after only an hour and a half.

Without needing Lu Lu to call him, Xie Zheng got up on his own. “Hungry.”

“Perfect timing,” Lu Lu took out his phone to show Xie Zheng a picture. “My grandma said the food is already done.”

Xie Zheng looked at that photo. Right in the middle of the slightly blurry picture was a round table filled with food on top, home-style but abundant, and a vase of flowers was placed in the middle—it could be seen that this was a grand welcome.

Actually, Xie Zheng didn’t have the intention of going to Lu Lu’s house as a guest. 

He stays in a hotel, Lu Lu goes home, and they come out to stroll around together during the day—this was originally the most perfect arrangement.

However, Xie Zheng was merely negligent for just a moment and Lu Lu had already fully notified them about Xie Zheng coming over as a guest. Now, the elderly lady who thought Xie Zheng was a teacher from the school, was very enthusiastic about Xie Zheng’s arrival. She made a table of good food and even specially went to buy a pack of beer.

Xie Zheng laughed. “Thank your grandma for me.”

After getting off the highway, Huailiu’s roads became narrower and narrower. Lao Tian strenuously turned the car through one small road after another, finally arriving at the destination.

Actually, Lu Lu’s home was a bit better than Xie Zheng thought—at least it was an old-style residential community. Although the exterior was a bit worn-out, the environment was decent enough. Elderly people taking a stroll could also be seen on the road.

Quite a few of these strolling people recognized Lu Lu, greeting Lu Lu from afar with “Xiao Lu is back” one after another. Some people even stuffed small snacks into Lu Lu’s hands.

Walking a bit further forward, Lu Lu suddenly raised his voice and waved forward. “Grandma!”

Xie Zheng followed Lu Lu’s gaze and looked over. He saw a silver-haired elderly person in front of a convenience store; the elderly person wore glasses and had a very elegant and gentle temperament.

Hearing the voice, she immediately walked in Lu Lu’s direction. After briefly speaking a sentence with Lu Lu, she reached out her hand towards Xie Zheng from afar. “Teacher Xie, thank you for looking after Lu Lu normally.”

Xie Zheng, in his entire life, hadn’t been called ‘Teacher’ many times.

The fine hairs all over his body were almost standing on end. He endured the awkwardness. “Hello.” 

He then gave Lao Tian a wink.

Lao Tian hurriedly stepped forward, displaying the big and small bags of things in his hands for the other party to see. “Hello, venerable elder. We will be bothering you a lot these two days.”

Leaving the pleasantries for Lao Tian to say, Xie Zheng leisurely looked around, and the memories regarding Huailiu slowly revived bit by bit in the slightly unfamiliar air.

He remembered eating barbecue by the beach until he was fully satisfied. That boss saw them eating happily and even gave them a lot of extra for free, and finally, when paying the bill, even rounded off the fraction.

Probably because the place was small, Xie Zheng found that the pace of life for the people in Huailiu was very slow, all possessing a leisurely feeling of being aloof from the world.

No wonder Lu Lu’s personality was foolishly silly.

The four people ate dinner together. Lu Lu’s grandmother’s cooking skills were very good, which actually surprised Xie Zheng a little.

The elderly lady was very proud. “That’s because you haven’t tasted my old companion’s cooking skills—his cooking was so delicious. My son learned from him for a few years and previously opened a barbecue shop by the beach, even now there are people who still constantly think about it.”

Xie Zheng raised his eyebrows. He asked, “Is it not open now?”

“My son and daughter-in-law had a bad fate, they left early.” The elderly lady’s eyes dimmed for a moment. “Lu Lu’s fate is also not good, he…”

“Grandma—” Lu Lu dragged out his voice. “Where is my fate not good?”

The elderly lady said, “You are just too sensible.”

Lu Lu picked up a piece of fried fish for each of the other three people at the table. “Eat, eat.”

After eating, Lu Lu accompanied the elderly lady outside to throw away the trash, leaving Xie Zheng and Lao Tian staying in the house.

Xie Zheng with both hands in his pockets stood in front of the floor-length mirror.

Many photos were pasted on that mirror, looking like they had been there for years. The top one was a photo of Lu Lu when he was little, looking as if he had just been born not long ago, wrapped in swaddling clothes, his eyes very big.

The adjacent photo was of a young man and woman. Xie Zheng looked at that woman wearing a collar and froze. “What the f*ck…”

Coincidentally, this woman was surprisingly the one from his high school days, the high school homeroom teacher who always loved to seek him out to talk.

She only taught for one semester. Where she went afterwards—Xie Zheng also didn’t know. Unexpectedly, she was actually Lu Lu’s mother.

The world is really fucking small.

Lao Tian leaned close to Xie Zheng’s side, and asked Xie Zheng, “Xie-ge, what’s the arrangement for tonight?”

Lu Lu’s grandmother very insistently asked the two to stay overnight.

Staying overnight is fine, but the place isn’t big enough—the sofa can sleep one, Lu Lu’s room can sleep one.

Lao Tian: “I looked at the kid’s bed—a 1.2-meter single bed. Two grown men squeezing together will definitely be uncomfortable. How about you sleep on the sofa, Xie-ge?”

Xie Zheng: “…”

“Was your f*cking brain thrown into outer space as trash? I beg you, can you use your head a bit?” Xie Zheng looked at Lao Tian chillingly. “I sleep on the sofa, then let my brother and my little lover sleep in the same bed?? Laozi don’t have that kind of fetish!”

Lao Tian also realized something was wrong: “Then… then Xie-ge, you sleep on the bed. I’ll make a bed on the floor and will let the kid go sleep on the sofa.”

“…And then make his grandma think we’re abusing her precious big grandson?”

Xie Zheng raised his leg and kicked Lao Tian’s ass. “You f*cking shut up for laozi, what kind of rotten ideas are you coming up with.”

Lao Tian rubbed the back of his head and chuckled foolishly, which made Xie Zheng fly into a rage.

In the end, Xie Zheng still chose the most traditional allocation plan: he and Lu Lu would sleep in the bedroom, and Lao Tian would make do on the sofa for a night.

Lu Lu’s bedroom was very clean, with a faint pomelo smell. The small cabinet in the corner was piled full of drawing paper, and a few small sculptures were placed on the desk.

The elderly lady was sleeping right next door. Even if Xie Zheng’s desire was strong, it wilted. It was just sleeping for tonight.

He turned his back to Lu Lu, resting his head on his arm, feeling the young man’s body warmly pressing against him.

In the middle of the night, Lu Lu’s phone rang once. After a while, Xie Zheng heard Lu Lu’s soft voice. “Uncle Xie, I received the transfer.”

Xie Zheng let out a “mm.”

Today happened to be the day to “pay wages” to Lu Lu. Xie Zheng had instructed his assistant in advance to transfer an extra ten thousand to Lu Lu compared to what was originally agreed upon.

Lu Lu asked, “Why did you give so much?”

Xie Zheng turned around. He raised his hand, pinched Lu Lu’s chin and shook it a couple of times, smirking. “Because Uncle loves Xiao Lu the most.”

Lu Lu pursed his lips in the dark.

He propped his body up, suddenly leaning close to Xie Zheng to kiss him. It was a very meticulous kiss, until saliva dripped down the corner of Xie Zheng’s mouth.

Xie Zheng felt this kiss was different from usual, as if it carried emotion. However, what exactly that emotion was, Xie Zheng also couldn’t explain.

He forcefully pushed Lu Lu away and pulled a few tissues to wipe his mouth. “What kind of crazy fit are you having?”

“Are we not doing it tonight?” Lu Lu asked, “I just feel like I can’t take the money for free.”

“…” Xie Zheng laughed in spite of himself. “You f*cking have quite the professional ethics.”

Lu Lu leaned in again to kiss Xie Zheng, and Xie Zheng, smelling the unusual pomelo scent on Lu Lu’s body, gradually began to feel it too. He reached out and flicked Lu Lu’s forehead a few times, tearing open the collar of his pajamas. “…Make it quick.”

Lao Tian and Lu Lu’s grandmother were right outside, so neither of them dared to make a sound. The silent friction conversely made Xie Zheng even more excited. He pulled Lu Lu’s hair, bit his shoulder hard, holding back fragmented sounds, his whole body trembling.

“Ah…” Xie Zheng finally couldn’t hold back from making a sound. He knew what Lu Lu loved to hear, hoarsely saying, “Good Xiao Lu, Uncle loves you so much…”

The words were only halfway spoken when Lu Lu suddenly reached out his hand and covered Xie Zheng’s mouth.

Uncle likes you so much, Uncle loves you the most.

Sweet lovers’ prattle, but actually didn’t have any extra emotion.

When listening to it, he was actually quite happy, as if someone was setting off fireworks in his mind. However, what welled up in his heart after the happiness was a massive emptiness. It would be better if Xie Zheng didn’t say it, having said it, he just kept wanting to hear it, thinking it still wasn’t enough, and always couldn’t help but take it as the truth.