TL: Hua
Chapter 11: Confusion
“Alright, alright,” the driver said perfunctorily, “Yes, young master, we’ll be there right away.”
With that, he subtly glanced at the rearview mirror and then slowed down.
As an experienced driver who had worked for the Xie family for many years, the driver had figured out what was going on. Young Master Xie was groaning about being dizzy and having a headache, but he refused to buy medicine. He wasn’t really uncomfortable; he was just playing a little game with his new boyfriend. The two in the back were all touchy-feely, playing ambiguous games like “Let me lie on your lap,” and “Lie down if you want.” The driver didn’t even dare to look in the rearview mirror, just quietly pressed the brakes.
In the dead of night, Jiangcheng shed its daytime clamor and became completely quiet. The roads were deserted, with only a car every few kilometers. The driver leisurely cruised through the streets of Jiangcheng, creating an almost vacation-like atmosphere. After a good while, he finally stopped below the hotel.
A hotel staff member came to open the car door. Xie Yu got up from Shen Ci’s lap and tapped his system, “Is the intimacy mission complete? How much longer?”
System: “Twenty more minutes.”
Xie Yu clicked his tongue.
He had been clinging to him the whole way, and he couldn’t give up halfway. He’d have to continue clinging back at the hotel tonight.
Xie Yu looked inside the car. “Assistant Shen, let’s go.”
School was already closed by then. If Shen Ci went back, the dorm supervisor auntie would probably be furious. Besides, given Xie Yu’s persona, there was no way he’d let him go at this hour. So, Shen Ci naturally followed him upstairs.
It was late and quite cold outside. Xie Yu entered the room and then went into the bathroom to run a bath.
The hotel’s bathtub had a comfortable curve, and the water filled at a moderate speed. Leaning against the backrest, one could perfectly overlook the city skyline. With the neon lights illuminating the night, it was quite charming. Xie Yu had fallen in love with taking baths ever since he checked in.
Shen Ci heard the sound of running water and knew it was for the bathtub. He fidgeted with his fingertips, feeling a little nervous.
In truth, he had never expected to get away from Xie Yu unscathed.
Xie Yu had helped him secure the medical experimental qualification for his grandmother’s treatment. The drug was generally not tested domestically, and the quota was being scalped for exorbitant prices on the black market, making it incredibly expensive, far beyond what a poor student like him could afford. Based on the principle of equivalent exchange, Shen Ci was willing to pay the price.
However, Young Master Xie was incredibly precious and privileged. Shen Ci knew clearly that he had no capital to exchange with Xie Yu. His only reliance was his decent looks and good physique. As long as Xie Yu didn’t trample his dignity into the mud or engage in anything that would cause permanent damage, Shen Ci had no complaints.
Steam fogged up the bathroom walls, making the already frosted glass door even blurrier. Xie Yu’s tall figure was hazy in the mist. Shen Ci had unknowingly been watching for quite a while.
He closed his eyes slightly and thought, “If today, if today…”
If today, Xie Yu were to ask him to fulfill his obligation, he would cooperate.
Before he could dwell on it too much, three minutes later, Xie Yu pushed open the door.
He was fully dressed, shuffling in hotel slippers, clip-clopping from the bathroom to the wardrobe. Under Shen Ci’s gaze, he pulled out a bottle of essential oil and, still in his slippers, clip-clopped back.
Shen Ci was stunned, “You?”
Xie Yu stopped when he was called, turning back, “Hmm?”
Shen Ci felt embarrassed. He had inexplicably called the person, not knowing what to say. He asked dryly, “Are you going to shower first?”
“Ah, yes.” Xie Yu paused, “I’ve already run the water. I’ll shower first, and then I’ll run water for you later.”
With that, he padded back into the bathroom and clanged the door shut.
Shen Ci: “…”
He stared at the bathroom door, his ears completely burning.
Heaven knows, though the original owner might have been wild, that was the original owner. Xie Yu genuinely had no idea what top-tier rich kids liked to do, nor did he know that a hotel bathtub could actually fit two people. He had no such awareness. He had just drunk some alcohol, his shirt reeked of it, and he was dizzy, which was why he just wanted to soak in the bath and go to sleep quickly.
The sound of trickling water came from the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, Xie Yu finished his comfortable bath. He even thoughtfully drained the water and refilled the tub with fresh water for Shen Ci, then called him over to bathe.
Shen Ci couldn’t describe his feelings. He closed the bathroom door and stepped into the water.
The warm water enveloped his skin. When Shen Ci lived with his grandmother in their old home, their old house hadn’t had a water heater for a long time; they had to rely on a wood-burning stove. It was only after poverty alleviation efforts that he could shower regularly. This experience of being in hot water was new and very comfortable.
He dried himself, emerged from the tub, wrapped himself in a bathrobe, and gently pushed open the door.
The big light was off, and a mound of blankets rose on the bed—Xie Yu was asleep.
Shen Ci’s expression was strange, unsure whether to be relieved or something else. He sat on the edge of the bed. A meter away, Xie Yu lay on his side, his face hidden in thick shadows. His brow arched like a moon, and his nose bridge was handsome and straight. In sleep, he was calm and peaceful, completely unlike the rumors.
Xie Yu only felt someone sitting on the edge of the bed, motionless. He patted the space beside him with his eyes closed, “What are you looking at? Come up.”
Shen Ci paused, then flipped onto the bed.
He lay stiffly on the edge of the bed; a slight turn would send him tumbling off. Yet, Xie Yu, like a young master, patted the space beside him, “Why are you sleeping so far away? Come here.”
There were still twenty minutes of physical contact left.
Shen Ci moved slightly, drawing a little closer.
Xie Yu pulled him over with his arm.
He just held him, doing nothing else. His chin rested on Shen Ci’s shoulder, but his hands were properly draped by his sides. Like a large cat, he found a comfortable spot and then stopped moving.
He was so close that his breath sprayed on the back of Shen Ci’s ear, warm and a little ticklish. Shen Ci’s relaxed body tensed up again, and he shifted uncomfortably.
Xie Yu was too sleepy to open his eyes. “Don’t move, just let me hold you for twenty minutes.”
Only twenty minutes left.
He maintained that position and fell directly asleep.
—
The next morning, while Xie Yu was getting ready, Shen Ci had already returned to school.
It was Xie Yu’s driver who had dropped him off. He first returned to his dorm to change into clean clothes and grab his work ID before heading to the lab.
Standing in front of the lab door, Shen Ci checked his watch. It was just past 7:30. Li Yang hadn’t arrived yet, but Han Yunyun was already there. She clearly wasn’t working; she was sitting at her desk, looking at something that made her beam and shake with laughter, occasionally thumping the table.
Han Yunyun was completely engrossed, not even noticing Shen Ci enter. When Shen Ci walked past her, she jumped, first reaching to press the power button, but fumbling with it. Then she clumsily stood up, using her body to block the screen. In her rush, she knocked over the nearby milk tea.
Shen Ci knew Han Yunyun liked to read strange things and had no intention of prying into her privacy. He helped steady the overturned milk tea, pulled out two tissues, and was about to tell her to be careful when his gaze inadvertently swept across the screen and suddenly froze.
Han Yunyun was reading a novel, and not a proper one. Shen Ci immediately saw a familiar term: safe word.
He lowered his gaze.
Han Yunyun turned around guiltily, shielding the screen even more, and awkwardly laughed at Shen Ci, “Senior, Senior Shen, hahaha, you’re here so early today.”
Shen Ci hummed, lowered his eyes, and wiped the table. He swept all the spilled milk tea into the trash can, then sat down at his workstation.
Han Yunyun quickly sat down, tabbed out of the novel, and opened her work page, but couldn’t focus on a single word. She kept stealing glances at her senior’s expression from the corner of her eye.
Shen Ci was working diligently when he noticed her furtive behavior, glancing at him over a dozen times in a few minutes. Suddenly, he asked, “What does ‘safe word’ mean?”
Han Yunyun: “!!!”
She nearly jumped out of her seat, staring at her senior’s profile with uncertainty. Seeing him quietly typing on the computer, his exposed profile calm and indifferent, as if asking casually without knowing the specific meaning, she gave an awkward laugh and made something up, “Uh, how do I explain it? It’s just, it’s a little game between couples, you can think of it as, um, a nickname with special meaning…”
As Han Yunyun spoke, she grew more and more self-conscious, her voice getting softer and softer. She almost buried her head in her chest, and thus didn’t notice her seemingly unyielding senior suddenly stop typing, his jade-like fingertips resting on the keyboard, unmoving for a long time.
A moment later, Shen Ci continued writing his report. His expression was as indifferent as usual, and his typing rhythm hadn’t changed. He just asked, “What kind of special meaning?”
Han Yunyun: “…”
She eyed Shen Ci suspiciously, seeing that his expression was normal, as if he were just making idle conversation, she relaxed slightly and continued to make things up: “Um, it’s like a term of endearment between couples, it might have a special meaning… For example, in the book I’m reading, the safe word is ‘coffee,’ meaning one partner is a barista and their personality is like coffee—bitter yet fragrant. Um, when the other partner hears this word, they can’t help but feel tender affection, something like that.”
Shen Ci seemed somewhat interested: “Can any word be a safe word?”
Han Yunyun: “I guess so, as long as both parties agree on a word with a special meaning, it can be a safe word.”
Shen Ci glanced at Han Yunyun’s desk and casually asked, “What about milk tea? What could that mean?”
Han Yunyun, closing her eyes, bluffed: “Uh, maybe one person is sweet and soft, very cute?”
Shen Ci looked at the desktop: “Pothos?”
Han Yunyun: “Full of life, lush green, just looking at it makes one feel relaxed, I guess.”
Shen Ci looked out the window: “Fir tree?”
Han Yunyun was getting more and more comfortable. She thought her senior was just trying to chat instead of working, and she spoke with growing confidence: “Tall and upright, fearless of wind and rain, enduring and silent yet reliable, I suppose.”
Shen Ci paused slightly.
His gaze fell on the decorative porcelain vase on Han Yunyun’s desk corner.
Two words lingered on his tongue, gentle and lingering, like a lover’s whisper. Shen Ci’s eyes were steadily fixed on the computer screen, his expression calm and focused, yet his index finger unconsciously twitched the mouse, and when his lips parted, they even trembled slightly.
“…Porcelain?”
Han Yunyun didn’t notice anything amiss. She was fully in her stride, discussing with an academic and rigorous attitude: “I think it means something cherished, precious, but also very fragile, needing careful protection.”
She finished, then waited for her senior to ask more questions, but no one spoke. When she looked up, Shen Ci was staring at the computer screen, his ink-black eyes downcast, deep in thought.
The computer screen was stuck on the thesis title page, the bolded font dull and uninteresting, but his senior seemed to be mesmerized by that line of text, not moving the mouse at all.
Han Yunyun cautiously asked, “Senior Shen? Are you spacing out?”
“No…” Shen Ci composed himself and smiled, “I’m conceptualizing my thesis.”
Every term on the screen was incredibly familiar, yet they didn’t register in his mind. His thoughts felt tangled, a chaotic mess.
A glass of water sat on the table. Shen Ci stared at his reflection in the water, repeatedly chewing on those few words, then unnaturally curled his lips into a self-mocking smile.
He silently watched his reflection in the water, thinking: Is such a bland, uninteresting person, so internally depleted that two drinks could land him in the hospital, truly worthy of Young Master Xie’s careful protection?
The young man in the water was pale and slender. His face was indeed good-looking, but merely that. Shen Ci could pick out many flaws in himself. His eyes often showed weariness, not vibrant enough, as if his body had been hollowed out by years of poverty. Coupled with his faded, worn clothes and lack of grooming, if Xie Yu were to choose based on appearance, he could find dozens, even hundreds, who were more glamorous.
Leaving those aside, Shen Ci knew how he had grown up haphazardly, completely different from the privileged young master Xie Yu. While Xie Yu was surrounded by new clothes every year, hundreds of them, Shen Ci was washing clothes in the river in the dead of winter, his knuckles chapped with chilblains. While Xie Yu was picky about truffles and caviar, Shen Ci was calculating how many bowls of noodles he could eat with the thirty yuan on his campus card… To a naive young master like Xie Yu, he was just a pretty toy. But, cherished? Precious?
Who would cherish a doll easily obtained? Who would consider a plaything, whose childhood food expenses hadn’t even amounted to one of the young master’s meals, precious?
Fragile? Needing protection?
Shen Ci just found it laughable.
From the moment he signed the contract with Xie Yu, Shen Ci knew what the young master wanted to play at. It was nothing more than encountering too many soft boys and then picking a stubborn one to torment, occasionally switching things up.
But…
But Xie Yu hadn’t touched a single one of his fingers yet.
Although he considered himself a plaything, Xie Yu’s treatment of him was certainly not like that of a plaything.
When He Zhiyuan held a party, Shen Ci said he wouldn’t go, and he didn’t. This had clearly made Young Master Xie lose face, but he didn’t say a word. At the dinner on the cruise ship, Shen Ci said the safe word midway, and Xie Yu immediately took him away without asking any questions. Even all the small details these past few days, whether it was the towel handed to him in the car after the rain, or the milk that night…
Shen Ci was momentarily dazed. Little by little, incident by incident, Xie Yu’s treatment of him had never involved humiliation or degradation, at most just innocuous teasing.
But compared to that million-dollar quota, what did this teasing even amount to?
Young Master Xie had a notorious reputation, having tormented countless people, and was known for his violent temper. They had even signed such a contract, every word reeking of insult. When Xie Yu had him pressured to go for a medical check-up, he had made it clear that he just needed someone to abuse to vent his anger. But…
But why hadn’t he laid a hand on him since then?
Shen Ci couldn’t understand.
Just then, the main door beeped, and Li Yang entered from outside, carrying breakfast and greeting them one by one: “Senior Shen, Junior Han.”
Shen Ci collected his thoughts and nodded slightly.
Li Yang handed Han Yunyun her breakfast and gave Shen Ci a notice from the Student Affairs Department: “Perfect, Senior, there’s a volunteer event this afternoon, don’t forget.”
Shen Ci focused his mind and nodded, “Okay.”
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Hmm, a volunteer event?