Chapter 48

In the unlit foyer, Song Ruichi kissed Xu Er for a long, long time.

When the kiss finally ended, the warmth lingered on Xu Er's ears, slowly fading from his earlobes before Song Ruichi pulled him into a tight embrace.

All traces of chill had vanished from Xu Er’s body. He buried his face in Song Ruichi’s shoulder, pressing a small patch of his cheek against Song Ruichi’s neck. He could feel Song Ruichi’s hand resting firmly on his waist, and his chin lightly brushing against his hair.

As time slowly ticked by, Xu Er felt as though he were gradually drifting back from another world.

His sight returned: the clock on the wall was moving. His hearing returned: the sound of cars drifted in from outside the window. His sense of smell returned: the air felt a little chilly.

He couldn't help pressing his lips together, then lightly licking them of his own accord.

After being kissed, they felt just a little bit different.

Oh.

So moisturized.

Suddenly, a "meow" echoed from the living room.

Xu Er turned his head to look. Soso was crouching on the cat tree, its eyes glowing in the dark as it stared straight at them.

Xu Er looked up at Song Ruichi and smiled.

"Soso saw us," Xu Er said.

Song Ruichi replied, "What's he going to say about it?"

Xu Er answered, "He'll probably say meow meow meow."

It was already very late, and they had to wake up early the next morning, so they quickly set about finishing their tasks.

Packing luggage could be done extensively or sparsely. Pack too much, and the whole house wouldn't fit; pack too little, and all you needed was your ID card to walk out the door.

In the end, they decided on just a small suitcase. After all, they didn't own any cold-weather gear for the north anyway, so bringing just the bare essentials would do. Everything else could be bought once they arrived there, sparing them the trouble of lugging extra bags.

With the hotel booked at last, everything was completely sorted out.

Xu Er went off to take a shower with complete peace of mind.

Standing under the showerhead after stripping off his clothes, that surreal feeling washed over him once again.

Xu Er felt as though he were living in a dream—the hazy, muddled past week, followed by the hazy, muddled present week.

A shower was the best way to clear one's mind. Right now, his brain was like a giant screen, beginning to playback the entire evolution of his intimate relationship with Song Ruichi from nothing to everything.

Ultimately, the movie stopped on that kiss from tonight.

From that moment onward, until the very end of his shower, his mind was entirely filled with kisses.

The moment he turned off the water, Xu Er slowly closed his eyes and cursed softly under his breath.

Then he smiled, utterly speechless.

Song Ruichi was taking his shower in the outer bathroom this time. Because his hair was a bit longer, he always took longer than Xu Er.

Tonight was no exception. Xu Er had practically already fallen asleep by the time Song Ruichi finally walked in.

He wasn't entirely asleep; Xu Er kept a tiny fraction of his consciousness tethered to the earth. Opening and closing his eyes in intervals, he watched Song Ruichi approach, switch off the lights, and slip under the covers.

Then, he pulled him into an embrace.

The moment the scent of the shower gel washed over him, Xu Er’s eyes fluttered open again.

However, he was simply too exhausted, and his eyes quickly drifted shut once more.

"Are you holding me to sleep?"

Xu Er mumbled vaguely.

Song Ruichi asked, "Is that a request or a question?"

Xu Er slurred indistinctly, "I don't know."

Song Ruichi’s approach seemed to transmit a signal to his body: *He is back, you can safely fall asleep now.*

By then, Xu Er was too far gone to process any language at all, and he plunged completely into a deep sleep.

While the former was fast asleep, Song Ruichi was left wide awake without a shred of sleepiness.

Song Ruichi had never mentioned it, but Xu Er possessed an enviable superpower: falling asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow. Perhaps, for Xu Er, lying in bed for ten minutes without falling asleep constituted insomnia.

Xu Er’s hair was very soft. Having just blow-dried it moments ago, it lay in a fluffy, docile mop against his head, looking just as obedient as he did in waking life.

After holding him for a while, Song Ruichi buried his face into the crook of Xu Er’s shoulder. Like a cat sniffing catnip, he drew energy from Xu Er’s body.

He stayed buried there, cutting off the air supply, with only Xu Er in his world.

He didn't raise his head until he could no longer hold his breath.

Then, a slow smile spread across his face.

That still wasn't enough. He reached out, took Xu Er’s hand, and cradled it in his palm.

First, he played with Xu Er’s fingers, then pressed a kiss to the back of his hand.

After that, he buried his face back into the crook of Xu Er’s shoulder.

A new round of suffocation began, except this time, Xu Er stirred.

Seeming deeply annoyed, he let out a sound of disgust from deep within his nose and shoved Song Ruichi’s head away.

Xu Er even frowned.

Song Ruichi stared at Xu Er’s head and gently pressed a finger to the space between his brows. Only then did Xu Er smooth out his frown.

Little Pig Xu.

Stopping his teasing, Song Ruichi simply held him gently.

He pulled out his phone and, as if venting, dropped a dozen red packets in a row into the group chat.

The rest of the night owls in the chat immediately popped up.

Shi Ziyi: "???"

Shi Ziyi: "What does this mean, what does this mean?"

Ying Jing: "Is this a 'we're finally dating' red packet?"

Song Ruichi: "You could put it that way."

Shi Ziyi: "Look at how excited our Song is."

Little Xia: "Nice, nice! Congratulations, congratulations on finally winning over Xu Er."

Song Ruichi: "Thank you all."

Shi Ziyi: "Ayo, why are you suddenly being so polite? We didn't even do anything."

Song Ruichi: "That's exactly what I'm thanking you for—not doing anything."

Shi Ziyi: "..."

Shi Ziyi: "I haven't even finished my polite boilerplate yet!"

Shi Ziyi: "Fine, fine, fine."

Ying Jing: "Well, we really do have to thank Shi Ziyi for doing nothing."

Ying Jing: "Old Shi, with your kind of track record, you should stop bragging about your matchmaking skills."

Ying Jing: "If you had actually tried to help, Song might still be running in circles around Xu Er right now."

Shi Ziyi: "Shut your mouth."

Ying Jing: "So, how is it? Isn't our Song super happy?"

Song Ruichi: "Of course."

Shi Ziyi: "Needless to say."

Shi Ziyi: "Right now he's probably secretly laughing his head off at home."

Shi Ziyi: "Speaking of which, where is Xu Er? It's the dead of night, and you're here chatting with us? Huh?"

Song Ruichi: "He's asleep."

Shi Ziyi: "Ok got it."

Ying Jing: "Ok got it."

Little Xia: "Ok got it."

Chen Yu: "Ok got it."

The atmosphere in the group chat suddenly turned somewhat indescribable.

Everyone seemed to want to say something, but no one wanted to start.

Finally, Ying Jing changed the subject: "Will our dear Song still be at our beck and call from now on?"

Song Ruichi: "Nope."

Ying Jing: "I am crying so loudly right now."

Song Ruichi added: "My baby is my universe."

Shi Ziyi: "Damn, Song Ruichi, you're so cheesy now."

Song Ruichi: "Yeah, you'll get used to it."

After exchanging a few more meaningless banters in the chat, Song Ruichi logged out.

Yet a moment later, he tapped back in, scrolling up to that earlier, indescribable part of the conversation.

Alright...

Time for bed.

Just as Song Ruichi drifted off to sleep, Xu Er had already been wandering through his dreams for a while.

Because he had gone to sleep so late, Xu Er plunged straight down into the dreamworld almost vertically. Though it wasn't any profound dream—shifting randomly from one thing to another—everything in it was happy, making for a thoroughly pleasant sleep.

The next morning, Xu Er found himself unusually hard to wake.

An alarm set for a little past six rang for a long time, waking only Song Ruichi.

Still, one of Xu Er’s feet had already stepped out of the dreamworld, leaving his body feeling light and floaty.

He heard a familiar voice drifting from afar.

"Time to wake up, baby."

Xu Er snapped his eyes wide open.

And instantly remembered today's itinerary.

As if reading his mind, Song Ruichi stroked his head soothingly. "We have plenty of time. It's six-seventeen right now."

Xu Er quickly did the math; there was indeed enough time.

"Did you turn off my alarm?" Xu Er asked.

Song Ruichi hummed an affirmative.

Xu Er closed his eyes for a second. "I heard it, but I couldn't wake up."

Song Ruichi propped himself up. "Let's go wash up. If you're still sleepy, you can sleep on the plane."

Xu Er murmured softly, "Okay."

After washing his face, Xu Er snapped completely awake. He double-checked both of their bags and then headed into the kitchen.

Song Ruichi was cooking noodles. In high spirits, Xu Er stood behind him, humming a tune like a little bird, alternately peeking around the left side of Song Ruichi to look into the pot, and then popping out from the right side.

He couldn't stop thinking about the way Song Ruichi had woken him up that morning.

Song Ruichi had called him baby.

How did Song Ruichi manage to say it so smoothly?

The word "baby" had just slipped out so naturally.

The rhythm of the tune in Xu Er’s mouth grew even lighter and more cheerful, humming softly away.

"So happy?"

Song Ruichi suddenly turned his head.

Xu Er froze instantly.

He was hit by the awkward embarrassment of being caught in the act of secret wild joy.

"Haha," Xu Er immediately stood at attention. "Are the noodles ready?"

Song Ruichi answered, "Ready."

Xu Er dashed over at lightning speed to carry out the two bowls of noodles.

They set off that morning exactly according to the schedule Xu Er had planned—the kind of unhurried pace where even a traffic jam wouldn't phase them.

Arriving at the airport made things even smoother. Their small suitcases didn't even need to be checked in, and they still had forty minutes left by the time they reached the boarding gate.

"Do you think we got here too early?" Xu Er asked Song Ruichi as they sat in the waiting area.

Song Ruichi shook his head. "No."

Xu Er asked, "Have you ever arrived this early before?"

Song Ruichi answered, "Never."

Xu Er let out an "ah." "Aren't you going to complain a little?"

"Complain about what?"

"About getting here way too early, or stuff like that," Xu Er said, old memories bubbling up. "Once, when I was catching a flight, I dragged a friend to leave early. We got there way ahead of time, and he complained that we were too early, that we could have come later, and blamed me for rushing him blindly."

Song Ruichi frowned slightly. "What a trash friend."

Xu Er chuckled at Song Ruichi's curse.

Since the topic was already brought up...

"We really don't keep in touch anymore," Xu Er recalled more details. "He was from a neighboring dorm in college. At the time, an indie singer I really liked was holding a concert, and it turned out he liked them too, so we went together and planned to hang out in that city for a couple of days."

Without elaborating, Xu Er simply summarized: "Traveling really tests a friendship."

Song Ruichi asked, "What did he do?"

Xu Er shook his head. "He didn't do anything special, we just realized our personalities clashed completely." He laughed as he spoke, poking Song Ruichi's shoulder. "You're so much better. We're such a great match, and traveling with you is so comfortable."

Song Ruichi stared into Xu Er’s eyes for a few seconds. "Little Xu Er, I'm your boyfriend now."

Xu Er smiled. "I know, what about it?"

Song Ruichi sighed helplessly. "Why are your eyes looking at me so innocently?"

"Huh?" Xu Er laughed, lifting his chin. "How am I supposed to look?"

Switching expressions, Xu Er narrowed his eyes. "Does this count as not innocent?"

Switching again, Xu Er twisted his mouth sideways. "Like this?"

Switching one last time, Xu Er lowered his head and gazed up from beneath his lashes. "How about this?"

Before Xu Er could continue his performance, Song Ruichi leaned over and kissed him.