Qin Yuyang watched Su Ranqiu obediently make the phone call instead of confronting him. He only felt that this big boy had a good personality, and thankfully wasn't a pretentious and forceful person— the kind he hated the most.
So his heart warmed up and he said to the other party, "Since you don't need to work part-time anymore, you can sleep for a while."
"Yeah." Su Ranqiu nodded and leaned over with a bit of embarrassment.
In this kind of cold weather, sleeping next to a person, warm like a fireplace was really comfortable.
Especially when Qin Yuyang hugged him and occasionally touched the back of his head twice; that was much more exciting than a hundred words of love.
Su Ranqiu, who came from a broken family, had never been hugged by someone in such a warm embrace.
He suddenly felt a little distressed at the moment, as his nose became sore and his eyes burned. There was only one thought left in his mind— if it was allowed, he'd follow this man forever.
Su Ranqiu slept with this belief in his mind, and when he woke up again, it was already bright.
Looking at the phone he picked up, it was 10:30 am and the man who'd been beside him was nowhere to be seen.
"Qin Yuyang?" He quickly got up and ran to the kitchen to take a look.
"Huh?" Qin Yuyang, who was standing inside washing grapes, turned his head and was stunned. He scolded, "Su Ranqiu, is there something wrong with your head? Why aren't you wearing any clothes or slippers? Go back and put on your clothes and slippers."
Su Ranqiu turned around and left because he was cold.
"When did you get up?" He saw the breakfast on the table.
Disregarding his image, Qin Yuyang was a mess carrying the grapes and eating them while walking, but he still looked handsome. "Earlier than 9 am." He stole a glance at his little lover and said, "Why so much nonsense, quickly see if the breakfast is still hot or not, it's better to eat while it's hot."
"Oh." Su Ranqiu was very obedient as he sat down in his sweater and held the raw porridge that Qin Yuyang bought. "It's still very hot." In no time at all, he finished the full bowl of porridge with sweat forming on his forehead.
Qin Yuyang didn't speak, his attention was focused on the top of his cell phone screen.
"What are you looking at?" Su Ranqiu cautiously glanced over and found that the other party was looking at stocks.
Seeing that, he kept his mouth closed and quietly ate the rest of his breakfast, not wanting to disturb.
After eating, he silently cleaned up the table, moved his books over here, and started studying.
"Huh?" Qin Yuyang threw away the phone and smiled slightly. "Aren't you going to your small desk today?"
Like before, when he didn't want to be together with him
"Isn't it the same thing?" Su Ranqiu lowered his eyes and wrote, ignoring him.
After a moment of silence, a red agate-like grape1 was fed to his lips.
"Look at this, doesn't it seem a little familiar?" Qin Yuyang asked with a sarcastic smile.
"Familiar with your head." Su Ranqiu opened his mouth and ate. His face became hot and his heart became sweet.
"I bought these especially for you. You can eat two more." Qin Yuyang fed Su Ranqiu three grapes in succession, then stopped and fed the rest to his own mouth. "Okay, the rest is mine."
Su Ranqiu was shocked. "This is what you meant by 'eat two more'?" It really was only two more.
"Ah." Qin Yuyang explained, "What if you get a bad stomach ache? You can eat more grapes in a couple of days.
"Then don't say that you bought it especially for me," Su Ranqiu spoke in a sulky manner. His mind was full of flirting with his boyfriend so he was unmotivated to study.
"Studying so hard, what are your plans for the future?" Qin Yuyang suddenly became serious.
"I'm planning to take the post-graduate entrance examination." Su Ranqiu put aside his coquettish mood and seriously thought about it, saying, "If I have the opportunity in the future, I want to learn in the field of scientific research."
As he answered, he couldn't help but soften up. "Will you dislike me doing scientific research?"
Qin Yuyang felt so sweet that he swallowed his saliva before replying, "I like it, it's good to engage in scientific research. The environment is simple and it suits you."
"Well, that's good." Su Ranqiu lowered his eyes and continued to study.
"How many people are there in your family, are they all well?" Qin Yuyang asked again, ignorant that this question would step on thunder.
Su Ranqiu's pen was stuck on the book and his expression was a little evasive as he said, "My family consists of five people, all of them are fine."
There was his mother and uncle, plus two younger siblings, as well as his uncle's father, five people in total. Su Ranqiu didn't count himself.
Such a family wasn't his home at all. As for the details, he had no intention of telling Qin Yuyang.
Anyway, Qin Yuyang knew that he was from a small family, very poor and ordinary.
"Oh, how about we visit your house for the summer vacation?" Qin Yuyang counted the days. In three months, the university would have its summer break again.
"…Let's talk about it then, it's still too early." Su Ranqiu bit his lips and thought how it wasn't certain that three months later, Qin Yuyang would still be by his side.
"Well, don't be sad," Qin Yuyang said, twisting up the grapes and feeding him another one. "Give Gege a smile."
"Fuck you." As soon as the grape skin was bitten, the sweetness spilled into his mouth and Su Ranqiu smiled.
Qin Yuyang leaned over and propped one hand on the table while pinching Su Ranqiu's chin with the other, acting like a graceful thief picking red beans again.
"This table is small, otherwise I would've fucked you on it." He was still a thief with a mouth full of lewd words.
"…" Su Ranqiu had nothing to say, only violently beating him.
After two days of boredom, it was time for Monday's class.
Still leaving at the same time and waiting for the bus on the same road.
But sitting in the classroom, a lot of things had quietly changed.
Su Ranqiu filled the notebook with the three words 'Qin Yuyang' then turned over the page and started to write the name again.
"Ranqiu, what did you do over the weekend?" Xi Zhikai came to him and sat down with a bun in his mouth. He said in a low voice, "You didn't do your part-time job for two days, you must've lost hundreds of yuan. I feel bad for you."
Could it be he was sick, is that it?
That's not right either. Looking at this boy's ruddy face, the bruises on his cheeks are healed and he doesn't look like a sick person at all.
"Isn't it time to prepare for the post-graduate entrance exams? That's why I didn't go to work." Su Ranqiu glanced at the teacher on the podium and said in a low voice, "I'm just going to concentrate on studying from now on."
And also watch Qin Yuyang closely.
Xi Zhikai almost dropped the bun on the ground. "Did I hear wrong? You aren't going to do part-time anymore?" He knew that Su Ranqiu had a heavy burden. "If you don't have a job, where will you get the money for tuition and living expenses?"
Even if the rent for that small, broken house wasn't expensive, it still had to be paid.
"There's always a way." Su Ranqiu answered vaguely, not wanting to reveal that he had a boyfriend.
"What can be done?" Xi Zhikai thought to himself. It couldn't be the mother who was responsible for his birth and upbringing, could it? If she wanted to raise and support Su Ranqiu, she should've done that from the start.
"The teacher is looking at us, let's take the class seriously," Su Ranqiu remarked, but secretly bowed his head towards the drawer to send a message to Qin Yuyang.
[Are you up yet?]
[You, what?]
[Gege]
[When you return tonight, I'll treat you as a man.]
[Hahaha]
The friend beside him poked his arm and asked, "Ranqiu, let me copy your notes."
"Sure." Su Ranqiu didn't look up and directly reached out and pushed the notebook on the desk over to his friend.
"Thanks." Xi Zhikai flipped open the notes and was stunned. "Qin Yuyang?"
The three words that made his soul tremble entered Su Ranqiu's ears. He immediately raised his head and pretended to calmly explain, "This is my pseudonym, does it sound good?"
Xi Zhikai picked the paper up and looked at it carefully. Nodding he replied, "Not only does it sound good, but your signature's also very nice." But how to put it, he touched his chin and criticized, "The stroke isn't rigid enough, a bit lingering. Not at all worthy of the name's masculinity."
"…" Su Ranqiu lowered his head, he was red all the from his earlobes to his ankles.
[Gege, take a photo of your signature for me to see, okay?]
Qin Yuyang was dragging things on the notebook when he received a text message from his little lover. He muttered something about the silly request, but still signed one.
After Su Ranqiu received it, he immediately sent it to his friend. "Is this stroke strong enough?"
Xi Zhikai glanced casually and suddenly wanted to kneel. "Whoever wrote this character, I'm guessing he must be a straight man of steel." Just reading the words, there was a gust of air rushing over his face. It made people's chrysanthemums tighten.
My boyfriend. Su Ranqiu silently said to himself.
Although he was indeed very strong like steel, he was far from being a straight man.
Bang bang
The sound of someone tapping the iron door from outside came into the room.
Qin Yuyang raised his thick eyebrows and glanced at his phone, but quickly he dispelled his suspicion that it was Su Ranqiu because he had the key.
So he stood up and opened the wooden door with doubts.
He saw a man dressed in a black suit, with an aura of grandeur standing outside the iron gate. He appeared quite intimidating.
Qin Yuyang blurted out, "Qin Yushun?"
What is this king of hell doing here? Did he spawn or something?
"Did you think I wouldn't find you?" The surprised look on his bastard younger brother pleased Qin Yushun. "Open the door."
Qin Yuyang wittily opened the door after measuring a little. "Come in, it's very narrow here, I don't know if you're used to it."
"Then I won't enter, you come back with me now," Qin Yushun ordered directly.
Sure enough, he was an overbearing president, Qin Yuyang tiredly thought.
"I'll return and see if I can accept it, but I won't be living there permanently." He stated, "I'm a free man. You won't restrict my personal freedom, right?"
The other party looked at him and stopped talking. Sharp eyes moved from his face to the small room.
"He's not here, he went to school." Qin Yuyang blocked the view of Su Ranqiu's private domain with his body.
"Follow me back." Qin Yushun loosened the tie around his neck and said to his younger brother," As for what kind of person you're around, after obtaining the consent of our parents, no one will interfere with you."
The two tall men stared at each other for a moment before the younger brother bowed his head first. "Okay."
Qin Yuyang took out his cell phone and notified Su Ranqiu with a message.
[Xiao-Qiu, I'm going home for some time. I'll let you know when I'll be back. It shouldn't be long.]
Su Ranqiu received this text message after school at noon and immediately stopped in a corridor full of people, seemingly very abrupt.
"Ranqiu, why aren't you leaving?" The person who was laughing just now suddenly stopped, so Xi Zhikai took a closer look to see what had made him sad.
"Nothing, I just received a message," Su Ranqiu said with pursed lips. He sat down in the dining hall and mustered up the courage to send a text message to ask.
[Did something happen?]
[It's okay, my brother found me and wants me to go home and have a look.]
Qin Yuyang sat in his cheap brother's luxury car. Glancing at the time, he felt that texting was too tedious, so he directly dialed the phone number. "Xiao-Qiu?"
"Speak." Su Ranqiu ran to a place where no one was there, feeling a little dizzy from the sun.
"I'm just going home for a while." Qin Yuyang was silent for a moment and exhorted, "Don't think too much. If I can't return at night, you should go to bed first."
Qin Yuyang could feel Su Ranqiu smiling over the phone. "I'm not a kid." Then he said, "Okay, I see. You go home and communicate well with your parents, don't be impulsive, don't show your stinky temper, and admit mistakes if you made one…"
He was afraid that Qin Yuyang would offend his parents.
As for his own affairs, he had no idea and dared not think about them.