Li Mu naturally couldn’t let him help pay for the ticket. Instead, he asked him which flight he was booking, quickly reserved it, and then Zhuang Qin arranged a time with him—they would meet tomorrow morning at ten to pick him up.
Zhuang Qin seemed to be in an okay mood, so he casually mentioned, “That thing you gave me, I didn’t really get it.”
Li Mu was about to say it was simple when Zhuang Qin quickly typed and sent another message: “I’m a bit slow, I studied it for a long time and still didn’t get it, couldn’t find anything online either…”
Li Mu replied, “I’ll teach you.”
Li Mu added, “I didn’t know how at first either, it’s indeed a bit complex, it’s not that you’re dumb.”
Zhuang Qin sent him a photo of the glasses, “I’ve charged them already.”
“Found the switch.”
Zhuang Qin asked, “Where is the switch?”
“The switch is on…”
After a lot of back-and-forth texting, Li Mu suggested, “Turn on video, I’ll show you.”
“Okay, right away!” Zhuang Qin took the glasses downstairs, where it was brighter and tidier.
He set up a phone holder, propped up his phone, turned on the video, and switched to speaker mode.
Li Mu’s chin appeared on the phone screen—he probably seldom chatted via video, usually just video conferences, totally a straight guy’s angle.
Seeing Zhuang Qin sitting there surrounded by accessories, Li Mu realized his angle was unflattering and adjusted his phone so his face was fully visible, shifting slightly to the side so his nose appeared higher.
Li Mu fiddled with the angle minutely on his end, while Zhuang Qin’s video was a bit laggy and he didn’t notice, asking, “Should I put on this glove?”
“Yes, the glove needs to be connected to work…”
“What’s the glove for?” Zhuang Qin put on the glasses and turned on the switch, and a huge screen displaying a startup logo appeared before his eyes.
He was surprised; he knew about this projection technology, but he didn’t know the quality could be this good, so clear even in such a bright environment—it might compare to a movie theater in a completely dark setting.
“The glove is for touching the light screen,” Li Mu explained, “It’s simple to use, but hard to explain over a screen.”
Zhuang Qin, curious as a child, took off the glasses and put them back on several times. Li Mu said, “Only you can see the screen, others can’t.”
“What’s this called? Is it expensive…” Once the system booted, various apps appeared on the main page.
“Um… let’s call it a Portable Home AR Cinema for now,” Li Mu improvised a name, “It’s a concept device. I have a first-generation model here; yours is the second generation with an added intelligent voice module.”
“Concept device? Sounds high-end and expensive, no, I should return it to you tomorrow…” Even seven years later, Zhuang Qin had never used such a product; he had only played ordinary VR games.
“Why return it?” Li Mu, feeling he had found the best angle, looked at Zhuang Qin, whose attention was not on him. “Just try it out, and when it hits the market later, you can help me advertise it.”
“No problem… Did you invest in developing this concept device?”
“I participated in its development and invested some money too.”
“Alright, I’ll test it for you.” If it meant advertising for free, Zhuang Qin was willing to keep it for a trial, considering even a regular ad deal for him would be worth millions, and a sponsorship could cost tens of millions.
However, if he knew a bit about current projection technologies, he would realize that due to cost reasons, this concept device wouldn’t be mass-produced for several years; only lower-end products could be made in the meantime.
Li Mu was explaining how to connect headphones, speakers, play movies, plus there were 3D features, office script reading capabilities, and so on…
Zhuang Qin, sometimes not understanding, would carefully interrupt him, asking him to repeat, not quite getting it. Li Mu patiently explained again how to use it, where to press, speaking gently.
Just as the two were deeply engrossed in their conversation, a soft knock sounded from outside.
A very faint knock, barely audible if not paying attention.
After a few seconds, another two knocks, louder this time.
Zhuang Qin’s expression changed instantly.
Seeing him silent, Li Mu asked, “What’s wrong?”
Zhuang Qin reached out to hang up the video chat, gripping his phone and sitting still without going to the door.
He hoped it was just someone knocking on the wrong door.
A while later, more knocks, then the doorbell rang, a “ding-dong” sound making Zhuang Qin turn pale.
The house rented to him by the company was equipped with a video doorbell.
He stood up, moving very lightly, and switched on the video doorbell.
The monitor displayed a black-and-white image of someone, male or female unclear, face covered by a mask.
“Ding-dong.”
“Beep, beep, beep…” came the sound of a password being entered.
Zhuang Qin didn’t know if he had locked the door, but his instinctive move was to tremblingly reach for the deadbolt. He often changed his password, but wasn’t sure if anyone knew it.
Then, the smart lock announced that the password was incorrect.
He let out a breath, even afraid to turn off the lights, picked up his phone, forcing himself to calm down, and dialed 110. After a few seconds, he called the property management to ask them to send security to check things out.
“It might be… someone knocked on the wrong door, but he’s still outside, can you come and check?” He entered the bathroom, his voice very low, “Come quickly.”
The doorbell stopped.
Zhuang Qin didn’t look; the kitchen knife was right next to him.
In his previous life, he had often encountered such situations and moved away a few days later, leaving this place forever.
He sat silently, not sure whom to message; Xiao Lian was probably asleep. Seeing Li Mu’s missed calls and messages, he asked, “I heard someone knocking?”
“Who came?”
“What happened?”
Li Mu might have realized something was wrong: “I’ll call the police for you.”
“No need for the police,” Zhuang Qin replied, “Someone drunk knocked on my door, I thought it was someone else… so I hung up.”
“Did they leave?” Li Mu didn’t quite believe his words, feeling that something had happened, had already gotten up, changed clothes, and grabbed his car keys.
Zhuang Qin didn’t know if they had left, he couldn’t be sure.
“They left,” he replied, “It’s all good now.”
“Ding-dong!”
Outside, the piercing doorbell rang again.
Zhuang Qin shuddered, picking up the kitchen knife.
“We’re security.” The person outside spoke, “Mr. Zhuang, we received your call, are you safe now?”
Zhuang Qin looked at the video doorbell, indeed it was the night security he had seen before.
But Zhuang Qin still didn’t dare open the door.
He felt like a frightened bird, saying through the door, “I’m very safe at home, the person who knocked… did you see them?”
“We didn’t see anyone when we came up.”
“Could you check the surveillance to see how they got in?”
“Sure Mr. Zhuang, we’ll check later and notify you immediately. Are you alone at home?”
“No.” Zhuang Qin leaned against the wall, drained of strength, “I’m with a friend.”
Security said, “Please try to rest early, don’t worry, we’ll be patrolling this unit tonight.”
“Thank you so much…” The security’s words somewhat calmed Zhuang Qin, not so frightened anymore.
Actually, he thought, he could definitely protect himself alone, the other person was probably no match for him.
But he was still very afraid of these happenings.
Meanwhile, Li Mu left the hotel and headed to the parking lot, opening his car door.
“Really nothing wrong?” He drove, distractedly sending a voice message.
“It’s nothing.” His hands trembled as he typed.
Li Mu said, “Turn on the video, let me see.”
The kind of residential complex where Zhuang Qin lived had access control for both the entrance and the elevator— who would come knocking?
Unless they took the freight elevator up, but if it was a resident who knocked on the wrong door, how could they possibly take a freight elevator?
In the last scene of the video, Zhuang Qin was looking towards the door, suddenly went silent, his expression off, and he hung up the video, clearly not wanting any noise to alert whoever was outside.
Zhuang Qin went upstairs, locked the door and deadbolted it.
He put on headphones, placed the kitchen knife by the bed, thought about it, then put the knife in the drawer, unless a giant of nearly two meters attacked, he could probably handle any sasaeng fan with wrestling, but using a knife might land him in the news.
He sat restlessly, thinking about changing the password but feeling scared, eventually dug out a door blocker and placed it at the door before heading upstairs again.
His heart, shocked and jittery, hadn’t calmed down yet. Zhuang Qin opened his phone, saw several messages from Li Mu, and listened to them one by one.
“Where’s your assistant?”
“Isn’t he with you?”
“I’m on the way.”
“Wait for me a bit.”
Li Mu’s voice was steady, coming through the headphones, inexplicably bringing a sense of security.
“No need, thank you, but really, nothing happened.”
His fingers trembled slightly, he sent a cat emoticon.
On the nighttime highway, traffic was light. Li Mu pressed the accelerator, sending a voice message, “I’m almost there.”
Zhuang Qin’s community’s parking required an access card, or to hand over an ID card, or to contact the owner, the gatekeeper would ask the owner if this car was coming to visit relatives.
The first time he came, the driver handed over his ID card to the gatekeeper and then entered.
Zhuang Qin’s hand rested on the touchscreen keyboard, covered by the blanket, feeling a bit teary, it was unbelievable that Li Mu, not a relative nor a close friend, just an ordinary friend, would actually come over in the middle of the night.
Considering his impression of him from his previous life, Zhuang Qin knew that if he called Xiao Lian now, Xiao Lian would come over immediately, probably with Sister Wen, and the company’s bodyguards.
But Li Mu was none of the above.
“When you come in, have the gatekeeper contact me, then send me a message upstairs, and I’ll open the door for you.” Zhuang Qin thought, he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
Li Mu comes… can’t let him run for nothing, to come and go.
Zhuang Qin went downstairs, took some drinks and snacks from the fridge, looked towards the door, then at his phone.
Li Mu was sending him messages almost every few minutes: “Still there?”
“Mhm.”
Li Mu: “Wait a few more minutes for me, just around the corner.”
“Thank you… it’s so late, you specially came over, but really, there’s nothing.”
Li Mu: “Aren’t you not able to play with the gloves? I’ll teach you myself.”
Zhuang Qin glanced at the time, it was already midnight.
Sigh.
He sighed, his temples throbbing, feeling an unstoppable gratitude.
Recalling the past two months of filming, the interactions had been quite pleasant, maybe Li Mu really considered him a friend.
Li Mu arrived, reported his room number at the door, the gatekeeper contacted Zhuang Qin, asked a few questions, Zhuang Qin said it was a friend, his license plate number was automatically recorded, then he was let through.
Li Mu didn’t have an access card and couldn’t go upstairs.
He guessed Zhuang Qin probably didn’t dare to go out, so he found the freight elevator.
Just as he entered, he saw a middle-aged man dressed as a security guard, head leaning against the smooth elevator wall, apparently dozing off.
Li Mu entered, and the man woke up, adjusting his hat very alertly, eyeing this tall man, “Which floor do you live on?”
“I’m going to the seventeenth floor, to see a friend.”
“The seventeenth floor?” The security became even more alert, even reaching for his walkie-talkie.
Li Mu: “My friend just called me, he encountered a pervert.”
Security still couldn’t let his guard down, even though the other looked handsome and noble, unlikely to be a criminal, but whether he was a pervert was still uncertain.
He unhooked his walkie-talkie: “Freight elevator, freight elevator, wait for me on the seventeenth floor.”
Zhuang Qin was sending messages to Li Mu when he heard a security guard outside shouting, “Mr. Zhuang, did you call a friend over?”
He looked at the video doorbell, Li Mu was outside.
Zhuang Qin opened the door, seeing him, felt much more settled.
He pulled Li Mu inside: “Yes, it’s my friend.”
Security immediately apologized to Li Mu: “We’ve increased the guards in this building, searching for suspicious persons…”
Li Mu nodded: “It’s fine.”
Zhuang Qin said, “Thank you for patrolling tonight.”
Security: “It’s nothing, protecting the residents’ safety is our duty.” Though Zhuang Qin was just a tenant, he was a celebrity, and the property was still bought by someone else’s company, nobody wanted a real incident to occur.
Security continued: “We can’t check the surveillance tonight, we’ll check tomorrow, and I’ll notify you as soon as we have news.”
Zhuang Qin glanced at Li Mu, agreed.
He had just been telling Li Mu there was nothing wrong, now security mentioned checking the surveillance.
After security left, Li Mu still stood by the door, carefully examining and touching the corners outside the door under the light.
Zhuang Qin often watched movies and understood at a glance: “Are you looking for… something like a surveillance camera?”
“Hmm.” Li Mu touched for a while, found nothing, and came in: “You mentioned moving earlier, move as soon as you get back to the country, you can’t stay here anymore.”
“I’m still looking at suitable houses.” He didn’t have much money on him, Imperial City housing prices were astonishing, even he was a celebrity, it wasn’t possible to earn enough to buy a house in a year.
Zhuang Qin took out the slippers he had worn before: “If you don’t mind, stay here tonight, there’s a guest room, I’ll change the bedding for you.”
Li Mu paused for a moment, then agreed.
“Can you still sleep tonight?” Li Mu went upstairs with him.
Zhuang Qin knew he couldn’t hide it anymore: “It’s not that exaggerated, when I’m tired, I’ll fall asleep.” He turned back and smiled, “Thank you for coming over to accompany me tonight.”
Li Mu looked at his face, clearly shocked, yet still forcing a smile.
“It’s okay.” He said, but couldn’t explain why he did it.
“Anyway, thank you.” Zhuang Qin took out new bedding from the closet: “I’ll find you a set of clothes I haven’t worn as pajamas…”
He searched for a while, finding loose shorts and a T-shirt: “It might be a bit small on you.”
Li Mu took them, helping him carry the bedding downstairs, the two began changing the guest room’s bedding, Zhuang Qin worried about his cleanliness: “I’ll vacuum and use the mite remover to clean the bed.”
“It’s too late, no need to fuss.”
“Are you hungry, do you want to eat some supper…?”
Ten minutes later, the two sat together on the couch in the living room, Li Mu began to hand-hold teach how to use this concept pair of glasses: “You can only touch with the gloves, I can’t see your screen now, can’t share, lift your hand.”
Li Mu raised Zhuang Qin’s hand: “See the cursor? This is the mouse.”
Through the glasses, Zhuang Qin could still see the furniture at home, see Li Mu, see his own hand.
He could also see himself controlling the cursor on the light screen with his hand.
“It’s amazing.” He said, “Is technology really this advanced now?”
Being unfamiliar with the field, he wasn’t very clear, only felt that Li Mu’s gift was truly extraordinary.
Li Mu: “So this is just a concept device, it will be mass-produced later.”
Zhuang Qin searched for a movie, the effect was outstanding, Li Mu turned off the lights, in the dark, the light screen’s effect was even more dazzling, only lacking a high wall like in a cinema.
He then thought, actually, this device had a wide range of applications, outside, wearing the glasses and light-blocking lenses, no one would even know he was actually watching a movie.
The two studied together for a while, Zhuang Qin clearly relaxed a lot, melting into the sofa, Li Mu’s company at this time had a very reassuring effect.
Li Mu sat very close to him, could smell his scent, but what was the use of this, he realized the drawback of the glasses.
They couldn’t share, which meant, kids go watch movies alone, he had nothing to watch.
“What movie are you watching?” Li Mu somewhat regretted giving this, but seeing he liked it, he could only endure: “Is it good?”
“I turned it off, I opened a game.”
“Is it fun?”
“Fun, do you want to play?” Zhuang Qin took off the glasses, realizing these glasses were actually only suitable for playing alone.
Li Mu shook his head: “You play some more.”
“I’m not playing anymore.”
“Tired?”
“No.” He turned off the glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, checking the time, worried about Li Mu’s lack of sleep, “It’s already one-thirty, actually, we should rest.”
The incident just now hadn’t completely settled for him, but he was already very exhausted, yet his spirit was still tense, his temples throbbing intermittently.
Li Mu observed and thought back to browsing the internet today, seeing the news about his birthday party getting a lot of attention, Li Mu didn’t understand what trending or not trending was, he only noticed the internet had a very nasty side, some netizens maliciously attacking celebrities without restraint.
He glanced a bit, found out he was mocked for singing an English song, because previously on a show, his English pronunciation was laughed at for a long time, this time he dared to sing an English song, even off-key.
But most of those mocking him couldn’t tell, actually Zhuang Qin’s singing pronunciation was very standard, nothing wrong.
Li Mu felt uncomfortable in the afternoon, so he managed to do some public relations, blocked a few accounts.
He thought, Zhuang Qin facing such criticism every day, must be under a lot of pressure.
But what he showed, were all the sunny sides, only when alone did he appear dazed, looking lonely.
A feeling called “heartache” spread, Li Mu’s tone became much gentler, his voice very low: “I’m not very tired yet, if you want to sleep, just leave the lights on, I’ll be downstairs.”
“Doing what downstairs?”
“Watching a movie, not sleeping, keeping watch for you.”
“Then I’ll join you.” Zhuang Qin felt his gentleness, truly feeling from the heart that Li Mu was a very good, very serious, trustworthy friend.
He turned on the TV: “What do you want to watch?”
The room was very dark, the breath of his words felt spraying on the face, Li Mu drank some water: “Something you haven’t seen.”
“I’ve seen most of them.”
“Then recommend one.”
Zhuang Qin selected and selected, finally clicked on an animated film.
The TV screen displayed the classic opening animation of Disney, Zhuang Qin sat cross-legged, holding a cushion, tore open a bag of chips, placing it on his legs and sharing with Li Mu.
Li Mu’s attention wasn’t on the film at all, using the darkness as a cover to look at him, Zhuang Qin leaned his head against the huge sofa cushion, appearing to watch seriously, the faint light from the TV screen casting a halo around his face, his dense eyelashes casting a curved shadow around his eyes, his dark eyes reflected even brighter in the dim light.
Kunqu opera actors actually speak with their eyes, his eyes could convey very deep and special emotions, Li Mu felt this most deeply when acting opposite him, even though in the play, he played someone with severe nearsightedness, but many times, the emotions inside, Li Mu could feel, whether deep or shallow.
The movie played on, Zhuang Qin fell asleep, Li Mu soon noticed.
He turned the TV volume to the lowest, carefully stood up.
The way he leaned against the pillow, his head tilted, was just like the day of the blizzard, a strange child dozing off in the hotel bar by the red-hot fireplace.
Li Mu stood beside him, for a moment, bent down and picked him up.
Zhuang Qin had recently lost weight, his weight had decreased somewhat, Li Mu’s arms wrapped around his knees and back, could clearly feel the weight of the bones.
Zhuang Qin was asleep, his eyebrows still not relaxed, but didn’t reject the rose scent from Li Mu’s own wardrobe, his head turned to rest on his broad shoulder, his breath hitting Li Mu’s neck.
Li Mu’s Adam’s apple itched, restraining himself as he carried him upstairs, his movements very light as he placed him on the bed.
The noise slightly woke Zhuang Qin, a half-asleep, half-awake state, and deep-rooted fear, made him murmur unclearly, Li Mu bowed his head, carefully listening to what he said.
“Don’t go…”
Li Mu heard clearly.
“I won’t leave.” He sat by the bed, his head lowered very close as he watched Zhuang Qin, unable to resist stroking his brow, “Don’t worry, I’m with you.”
His hand rested on his face, and couldn’t move away, the more Li Mu looked at him, the more he felt the difference, his fingers followed his nose to the tip, seeming to tickle him, Zhuang Qin turned over, his head also turned away, the back of his head facing him.
Li Mu’s fingers stopped in midair, he couldn’t help but laugh, a warmth in his heart.
That voice so soft it was almost inaudible: “You heartless kid, just now you asked me not to leave, now you turn your back to me, don’t you like me?”
In his sleep, Zhuang Qin found it annoying, with a nasal sound he made a shooing noise: “Mmm…”
Author’s note:
Li Mu: You admitted it.
