NANSO Chapter 25.1

TL: Hua

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The next three days passed peacefully.

Xie Yu settled into Xingfu Community. Shen Ci and Xie Yuanhai seemed to have forgotten about him; no one disturbed him, and his life was calm. However, Xie Yu knew that during this plot arc, the two corporations had already clashed several times.

Xie Yuanshan’s sudden death left questions about the company’s equity ownership, putting Xie Yuanhai in a difficult position. Shen Ci, meanwhile, leveraged Luo Shao’s influence to subtly win over many of Xie Group’s old clients.

Jiangcheng, though appearing stagnant on the surface, was actually turbulent and unpredictable. Xie Yu guessed that Shen Ci hadn’t come to trouble him because he was tied up with Xie Yuanhai and couldn’t spare the time.

He enjoyed the leisure, treating it like a vacation: buying groceries every morning, strolling through the park, watching elderly men and women play cards and fish, napping at noon, and playing games or watching TV in the afternoon. His routine was more regular than that of an elderly person.

He was completely unaware that a new guest had moved into the long-vacant house next door.

Xingfu Community was a public housing project from the last century, with narrow building spacing and poor sound insulation. From the neighboring balcony, it was easy to notice activity from his side.

In those three days, Shen Ci saw a completely different Xie Yu.

Although he had spent over six months with Xie Yu day in and day out, at that time, Xie Yu was the pampered young master of the Xie family. He stayed in hotels, drove luxury cars, wore expensive watches, and had his own chauffeur and doctor. He was the center of attention and didn’t need to worry about anything. While Shen Ci could glimpse a gentle undertone to his personality, it was like looking at flowers through a fog, not clearly visible.

Shen Ci never knew then that Xie Yu could be like this.

Every day at 11:00 AM sharp, the kitchen next door would start cooking. Xie Yu, wearing a little bear apron, would wield a spatula at the stove.

When Shen Ci first saw this, he was very worried that young master Xie, who had never lifted a finger, wouldn’t be able to light the stove or heat the pot and might burn himself. However, Xie Yu’s movements were effortless and graceful. He handled the pan and oil in one smooth motion, even chopping meat with a relaxed ease, clearly a master of his craft.

Shen Ci also used to cook often when he was little, using the traditional rural stove. Back then, he wasn’t tall enough for the stove and had to stand on tiptoes to add firewood and tend the fire, so he was quite skilled himself.

But after a moment of silent comparison, he felt that he couldn’t cook as well as Xie Yu.

Xie Yu seemed to treat cooking as an art. He hummed songs, and the dishes never repeated over three days. Every meal included elaborate dishes like steamed fish and roasted duck, showing no signs of perfunctory effort.

Whenever it was mealtime, the aroma of the food would waft through the windows—a mix of green onions, ginger, garlic, and the sweet fragrance of roasted meat—filling the entire building with a homely atmosphere.

Sometimes, if he bought too much meat and couldn’t finish it alone, Xie Yu would go downstairs to feed the cats. When the evening sun wasn’t so harsh, he would chop up a mixture of red and white meat and offal, put it in small dishes, place them by the bench downstairs, and then take a nap on the bench.

Xingfu Community was an old, resettled neighborhood with over a dozen or twenty stray cats. Whenever it was feeding time, they would rush over. At first, they were wary of Xie Yu, but after two days of being fed, they were full and content and began to sleep leaning against Xie Yu’s trousers.

The cats in the community weren’t purebred; they were all local cats, mostly large orange ones, fluffy and plump. They would lie contentedly nearby, slowly licking their fur, while Xie Yu sprawled lazily on the bench as if boneless, absentmindedly stroking the cats. Shen Ci couldn’t resist, secretly opening his window and taking a picture.

In the photo, the setting sun dyed everything in sight with warm hues: the cats, the bench, even the dilapidated walls of the old community. Everything was gentle and warm, like the soft belly of an orange cat. The young man on the bench was so lazy and at ease that it even made one feel that if they hugged him and took a deep breath, they could inhale the scent of sunshine.

Shen Ci had just finished his day’s work when Xie Yu was feeding the cats. Xie Yu would relax on the bench for half an hour, and Shen Ci would hide by the window and watch for half an hour. His chest was overflowing with a certain emotion, and his mind felt peaceful and tranquil.

Since their separation five years ago, Shen Ci often had a recurring illusion when tossing and turning at night: the illusion that Xie Yu would still reach out an arm and pull him into his embrace, his body heat radiating through the thin fabric, scorching hot.

Shen Ci had always slept alone, but for six months, Xie Yu had forced him to get used to sleeping together. As a result, even after they separated, he tried his best to control his mind, but his body still remembered. Whenever he woke up from a dream in the middle of the night, his body still longed for that embrace. Later, as time went by, this feeling faded.

Now, that feeling had returned. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed together, wanting to hug the entire person and inhale the scent of sunshine.

But at the same time, he was a little confused.

Was Xie Yu like this all along?

There were so many rumors about the eldest young master of the Xie family in Jiangcheng, saying he was crude, violent, and had an uncontrollable temper that would flare up easily. But no rumor had ever mentioned that Xie Yu was an excellent cook and liked to go downstairs to feed cats.

How could there be such a person in this world? The closer he got, the more he liked him.

Outsiders’ evaluations could be fabricated, but how one behaved when alone couldn’t be faked. The so-called rumors of Young Master Xie being irritable, gloomy, crazy, and perverted were false; his true nature was gentle, fond of smiling, and good-tempered. And if Xie Yu truly exhibited violent behavior, it could only be because…

He was sick. He had bipolar disorder.

Shen Ci recalled that lengthy thesis, his palms unconsciously clenching tightly:

“Bipolar disorder has complex causes and diverse manifestations. When an episode occurs, the patient is completely different from usual. There are few treatment options, and it is difficult to cure it. It can only be alleviated.”

—

Xie Yu was completely unaware of the intricate thoughts swirling in his next-door neighbor’s mind, and even less so that he had been diagnosed with late-stage mental illness. He had spent three healthy and happy days until the marked date on the calendar arrived.

That day, he woke up early and changed into a pure black suit.

The original owner’s dressing style was flamboyant, favoring elaborate patterns and brightly colored haute couture; Xie Yu, on the other hand, preferred casual wear, like jackets and sweatpants. This suit was something he’d rummaged through his belongings to find, a forgotten item at the bottom of his trunk.

The system was scratching its metaphorical head, having no idea what kind of trick its host was up to. It watched as Xie Yu opened his backpack and placed three bottles of liquor inside, its mind full of questions: “What exactly are you trying to do? Are you going to make homemade explosives?”

Xie Yu replied concisely, “To drink.”

These three bottles of liquor were bought by Xie Yu a couple of days ago. He picked the most expensive ones on the supermarket shelf without checking the price or alcohol content, paid, and left.

System: “…Xie Yu, I warn you, you won’t be able to get on the subway with these.”

Xie Yu: “We’ll take a taxi.”

With that, he actually pulled out his phone and performed a series of actions. The system flew over to take a look and was stunned: “Qiong…Qiongshan Cemetery?”

—Other male leads frequent high-end tea houses, luxurious hotels, and top-tier clubs, while his male lead frequents mental hospitals, resettlement housing, and distant suburban cemeteries.

System: “…?”

Xie Yu grabbed his bag and headed out, casually saying, “Do you remember there was a scene before where the original owner got drunk alone and called Shen Ci to the hospital at the last minute, causing a lot of torture?”

“I think so?”

“I was wondering why the original owner was drinking alone. He loved to be in a lively atmosphere. He would always invite friends to every party and never act alone. Moreover, given his status, he would never lack company.” Xie Yu sighed slightly, “I guess it was because that was his mother’s death anniversary.”

The system was an electronic life form, and Xie Yu was its first host. It couldn’t grasp complex human emotions. After a slight pause, it asked, confused, “Are you going to sweep a grave?”

Xie Yu said, “I’ve received her kindness, I’m living in her house, and she greatly resembles my mother. For both sentimental and logical reasons, I should go.”

Qiongshan Cemetery was in the distant suburbs of Jiangcheng, about a 40-minute drive from here, and not far from Xu Qingshan’s mental hospital; they were on opposite sides of a mountain.

Although mental hospitals are usually built in remote suburbs, Xu Qingshan chose this location back then with the intention of looking after his sister.

It drizzled that day, and the air was cool. Xie Yu, in his suit, didn’t feel cold at all.

Today wasn’t a customary ancestral worship holiday, so there were only a few visitors at the graves. Xie Yu bought a bouquet of pure white daisies at the cemetery entrance and found the original owner’s mother’s grave under a pine tree on the back mountain.

There was already a bouquet of daisies at the grave and traces of burnt paper, suggesting that Xu Qingshan had already paid his respects.

Xie Yu swept the dust from the grave. It was a small, single grave. Xie Yuanshan and his wife had a mediocre relationship during their lives, even having many disagreements, so they weren’t buried together.

The tombstone had a photo and name of the owner. The original owner’s mother was named Xu Qingping. In the black and white photo, her face was gentle, and she was smiling quietly. With one look, Xie Yu took a deep breath.

He extended a finger, hovering it over the photo, a bitter, somewhat hoarse smile on his face.

So similar.

Despite being two completely different worlds, they shared so many similarities.

Xie Yu swept away the dust and sat down. He pulled a bottle of wine from his bag, poured half of it onto the earth in front of the grave, recited a few common blessings for offerings, and then leaned against the pine tree, drinking by himself.

System: “…Are you really drinking?”

All three bottles were strong liquor.

Xie Yu: “I won’t be able to come many more times.”

The gently smiling lady in the photo would never know that the child she cherished was gone, replaced by an otherworldly traveler with a system, nor would she know that the plot was about to end, and even this otherworldly traveler wouldn’t be staying much longer.

By then, there would be no one named Xie Yu in the world, and besides Xu Qingshan, no one would come to this grave to offer white flowers.

Xie Yu wiped away the water stains from the photo, gazing fixedly at the gentle, beautiful face, and smiled bitterly, “If she knew what the original owner did, she would surely be very sad.”

A gentle mother, whose child took such a wrong path, ending up infamous and tragic, and without a penny to his name.

System: “Host…”

When one has something on their mind, drinking is often unrestrained. The system watched him drink glass after glass but didn’t dare to advise him. By the time the rain had almost soaked his clothes and hair, Xie Yu staggered and leaned on the pine tree to stand up, preparing to pack his bag and leave, already about eighty percent drunk.

The system’s heart pounded: “How are we going to get back… watch out for the steps!”

The cemetery was in a remote area, and taxis were impossible to hail. The nearest bus stop was seven or eight kilometers away. In Xie Yu’s current state, he’d probably collapse halfway.

Xie Yu: “I’ll walk to the mental hospital and stay there for a night.”

Anyway, according to the plot, he was supposed to stay there for a night.

The system connected to the navigation and displayed the route on the screen: “Okay, we are three kilometers from Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital, estimated walking time 46 minutes. I have planned the route for you… Host! Watch out for the steps!”

The cemetery was built on a mountain, all steps.

Xie Yu steadied himself by the roadside railing and rubbed his forehead, clearly having a headache. He was indeed drunk.

The liquor tasted light going down but had a long-lasting kick. He hadn’t noticed it while sitting, but now that he was standing, everything was spinning, and he couldn’t tell directions.

Actually, Xie Yu had overestimated his alcohol tolerance. Five years ago, this amount of alcohol wouldn’t have been an issue. But during his five years abroad, Xie Yu rarely attended parties; if he did, it was usually at home, cooking a couple of dishes for friends and drinking two beers to cut the richness. He hadn’t had hard liquor in a long time.

The system’s electronic heart was in its throat. Every time Xie Yu descended a step, it jolted. Fortunately, although Xie Yu was swaying like a drunken cat, his balance was still quite good, and he always managed to steady himself and hold on at the last moment.

After finally reaching the cemetery gate, the system was on the verge of a heart attack. It trembled as it suggested, “Host, you really shouldn’t walk anymore. Let me call Xu Qingshan to pick you up. I’ll call him. I…”

Mid-sentence, it abruptly stopped. The system’s non-existent pupils contracted, and its electronic heart began to tremble violently.

At the cemetery gate, there was a person.

More accurately, a young man holding an umbrella.

The cemetery was desolate after the rain, but a Bentley with dual headlights was parked under the archway. A person stood in front of the car, wearing a pure black long trench coat and a turtleneck sweater. He had clearly been standing there for a long time, the edges of his trench coat damp with water. At this moment, he was holding an umbrella, looking over from a distance.

The system’s non-existent cerebral cortex was about to explode.

“Ho-ho-host, Shen-Shen-Shen Ci, it’s Shen Ci! Why is he here?!”