Chapter 49

Song Ruichi was quite something. Showing Xu Er the picture wasn't enough; he pinched the screen to zoom in, sliding the comment Xu Er had left right to the dead center of the display.

Xu Er: "......"

Such an intuitive, public execution.

Song Ruichi even asked, "Who is this?"

Xu Er laughed dryly twice: "No idea, don't know them."

Song Ruichi leaned closer to Xu Er: "Read it out."

Xu Er rolled the word around in his mouth for a moment, still finding it too difficult to utter. Slowly, he picked up the blanket and covered half his face: "Let's not."

Song Ruichi was not about to let Xu Er off that easily. He leaned in even closer, turned sideways, and cupped his hand beside his own ear.

It created an atmosphere of a secret whispered to him and him alone.

Xu Er lowered the blanket, and finally leaned toward Song Ruichi's ear, whispering softly, "Husband."

The moment he finished, he immediately sat back up properly, busying himself with his bangs as if nothing had happened at all.

Song Ruichi gave Xu Er plenty of space to recover. Instead of looking at him, he simply took hold of Xu Er's hand.

Starting out felt a bit awkward, but it didn't seem quite as difficult as he had imagined.

Xu Er sat straight and proper in his seat, and after a long while, a slow smile bloomed on his face.

Song Ruichi's fingers were already intertwined with his, and without realizing it, he was now idly pressing down on Xu Er's thumb.

Xu Er stole a sideways glance at Song Ruichi and saw that he was smiling.

Well then, Xu Er would smile too.

The plane was about to take off, and the surrounding cabin grew quiet.

Xu Er switched to airplane mode, plugged in his earphones to listen to music, and closed his eyes.

Yet he was only the tiniest bit sleepy; after keeping his eyes closed for a short while, he wasn't asleep at all and simply opened them again.

Song Ruichi had also put on his earphones and was currently watching a movie playing on the small screen embedded in the seat ahead.

"Is it good?" Xu Er leaned over to ask.

Song Ruichi took off one earphone and handed it over: "Not good."

Xu Er: "If it's not good, give the earphone to me."

One person claimed it wasn't good yet handed over the earphone; the other pretended to disdain it yet took the earphone and put it on anyway.

"What movie is this?" Xu Er asked again.

Song Ruichi didn't know the title either. He tapped the screen and read the movie's title aloud.

Clearly, he had just randomly picked a film to pass the time. So Xu Er leaned against Song Ruichi's shoulder and spent a few minutes passing the time right along with him.

The movie truly wasn't good. After yawning several times in a row, Xu Er handed the earphone back to Song Ruichi.

"What do you usually do on planes?" Xu Er asked Song Ruichi.

Song Ruichi gestured vaguely at the small screen: "As you can see."

Xu Er chuckled: "Then how do you get through it?"

Song Ruichi replied, "Occasionally I work on business trips, sometimes I sleep, and sometimes I put on a show of reading a book."

Xu Er burst out laughing: "Why aren't you putting on a show this time?"

Song Ruichi: "Afraid of being laughed at by you."

"I wouldn't," Xu Er shook his head. "I'd put on a show right along with you."

Chatting in this half-true, half-fictitious way with Song Ruichi was exceptionally interesting.

The two of them abandoned the movie altogether, suddenly remembering that they could look through each other's photo albums.

Since that was the case, let's begin.

First was Xu Er's album. Xu Er rarely took pictures of his daily life; the vast majority of his album was work-related, and the rare slices of personal life he did capture were taken specifically to post on his WeChat Moments.

Speaking of WeChat Moments, Xu Er seized the opportunity to tell Song Ruichi that on the very day Song Ruichi had been caught in the rain, Xu Er had been caught in it too.

"We both posted on WeChat Moments. Talk about a coincidence," Xu Er marveled.

Song Ruichi: "Why are you only telling me now?"

Xu Er: "We weren't close back then, how could I have the nerve to?"

Song Ruichi smiled: "You weren't me."

Xu Er: "Would you have said something?"

Song Ruichi: "What a wasted opportunity."

Xu Er processed this for a moment and let out an "oh." "Actually, if you had mentioned it back then, I probably would have just been happy about the coincidence and nothing more."

Song Ruichi: "That's enough, Mr. Xu. You don't need to explain it in such detail; it makes me look rather foolish."

Mr. Xu laughed: "Not foolish at all, not foolish at all. My husband is the smartest person in the world."

It had slipped out almost reflexively, though it wasn't said entirely naturally.

"Ah, let's see what the next photo is!" Xu Er quickly covered his tracks.

Song Ruichi smiled slightly, pulled Xu Er into an embrace, and pinched his cheek.

The next photo was the picture of the rainbow Xu Er had taken back then.

Another topic ready to be explored.

"Your background photo on WeChat Moments was a rainbow too, right?" Xu Er asked Song Ruichi. "I was actually quite happy about it, thinking, 'Look at that, our background photos are both rainbows.' But why did you change it later?"

Song Ruichi said, "I changed it because I was mad."

Xu Er was puzzled: "Huh? What were you mad about?"

Song Ruichi: "I thought you would understand the meaning behind that background."

Xu Er understood instantly this time. He first let out a laugh, then said, "I'm sorry."

Song Ruichi made a sound from the back of his throat: "Hmph."

Xu Er muttered quietly, "You really know how to hold a grudge."

Xu Er's cheek was pinched once more.

Song Ruichi: "Shouldn't I have been mad?"

"You should have!" Xu Er put on a face as if he were the angry one. "Being mad is too mild, you should have come over and beaten me to death!"

Song Ruichi was amused by Xu Er's antics: "How could I bear to, darling?"

Xu Er turned his head to look at Song Ruichi.

Very well, the sarcasm was flowing.

"However, your WeChat bio didn't change," Xu Er said. "'Nothing much, just Xu' (*)."

Song Ruichi: "That's always been my bio."

Xu Er: "Oh I know, I wasn't saying anything."

Song Ruichi: "When I found out your name was Xu Er, I thought it was destiny."

Xu Er sensed there was a hidden meaning behind Song Ruichi's words: "And yet?"

Song Ruichi: "And yet it was just destiny playing tricks on me."

Xu Er let out an exaggerated "oh": "What tricks, absolutely none."

"When I first saw your 'Nothing much, just Xu,'" Xu Er reminisced, "in my heart I was like, *whoa*."

Xu Er added, "Actually, thinking about it now, it feels even more like destiny, doesn't it, doesn't it?"

Song Ruichi let out a calm, drawn-out syllable: "It does."

At that moment, Song Ruichi exuded the profound air of someone who had been through a great deal and was now standing at the finish line, looking back at the past.

Xu Er chuckled softly and leaned in close to Song Ruichi: "They say that if you can calmly talk about the awkward things of the past, it means you've already let them go."

Xu Er intended to convey that, really, Song Ruichi, this whole thing was no big deal.

But upon hearing this, Song Ruichi tilted his head and asked, "Then have you let it go?"

Xu Er was puzzled: "Let what go?"

Song Ruichi: "Feigning drunkenness to kiss me."

The playful, teasing expression on Xu Er's face vanished in an instant, and his face flushed a bright red.

"Haha," Xu Er forced out a couple of dry laughs.

As soon as he finished laughing, he suddenly turned indignant and pinched Song Ruichi's arm: "You're awful. Why did you lie to me?"

Song Ruichi chuckled helplessly: "Do you know that whenever you have something on your mind, you look extremely nervous?"

Xu Er froze: "Huh? Really?"

Song Ruichi: "When you told me you wanted to drink, I could hear the abacus in your brain clicking away furiously."

Xu Er slowly pressed his lips together: "Re—really...?"

"And those few days you were acting so different toward me," Song Ruichi grasped both of Xu Er's hands in a soothing gesture. "I wanted to find out what on earth you were up to."

Xu Er: "Then what did giving me a beverage mean? Was there something wrong with me wanting to drink?"

Song Ruichi smiled: "I know what you look like after you've been drinking." Song Ruichi shook his head. "You wouldn't have kissed me on your own initiative."

Xu Er was stunned: "Then the first two times were—?"

Understanding dawned on Song Ruichi: "You watched that video?"

"I did," Xu Er said, deeply puzzled. "Doesn't it just show me kissing you?"

Song Ruichi: "I let you kiss me."

Xu Er slowly knitted his brows, a gradual sense of bewilderment washing over him: "Huh?"

As it happened, the very same video was right there in Song Ruichi's photo album. That was when Xu Er remembered that the version Song Ruichi had sent him back then was muted.

The one on the phone right now had sound.

The familiar scene played out once more: on the screen, Xu Er fiddled with something for a moment before clambering into Song Ruichi's lap.

Everything up to this point was the same, except this time, after Xu Er lifted his head to meet Song Ruichi's gaze, Song Ruichi spoke.

He asked, "What are you looking at?"

Xu Er said, "You have a mole hidden right here."

Song Ruichi: "Want to kiss it?"

Xu Er mumbled in a soft voice: "I can kiss it."

Song Ruichi: "Give me a kiss."

And so Xu Er kissed him.

His understanding of the situation completely shifted.

Xu Er sat in a daze for a moment, calmed himself down, and finally burst out laughing: "So that's how it was."

No wonder he had suddenly decided to kiss the man's chin out of nowhere.

No wonder Song Ruichi had turned off the sound.

"The second time," Xu Er asked Song Ruichi, "you let me kiss you too?"

Song Ruichi nodded: "I didn't expect that the only thing you'd remember later was that you kissed me."

Xu Er: "......"

This...

Song Ruichi put his phone away and said, "You were very well-behaved and obedient after drinking. As soon as you finished doing what you wanted to do, you went straight to sleep."

Xu Er narrowed his eyes and pointed at Song Ruichi: "You're so bad."

Song Ruichi caught Xu Er's hand: "Saying I'm bad? Who's the bad one here?"

Xu Er stuck to his guns: "You're bad."

No wonder Song Ruichi hadn't allowed him to drink alcohol.

Xu Er twisted his mouth into a half-smile: "No, you're the bad one. You just watched me put on that whole act."

Song Ruichi smiled: "Should I have exposed you on the spot?"

Xu Er imagined the scenario and shook his head: "I would have jumped out the window of your apartment."

Song Ruichi: "It's just a pity you got away."

Xu Er: "What would you have done?"

Song Ruichi: "Kissed you to death."

Xu Er pressed his lips together, smiling.

These scattered pieces of conversation acted like missing puzzle pieces, providing countless supplements to the story of Xu Er and Song Ruichi.

Xu Er felt a sudden sense of sudden enlightenment—a feeling of *so that's how it was*—along with the lingering sensation of destiny weaving its circles around them.

Misplaced intentions, timely misunderstandings, and hidden affections.

It was magical, and utterly endearing.

They continued browsing through Xu Er's photo album.

Xu Er's next photo was work, the one after that was also work, and the next one—

"Hiss."

Xu Er let out a soft gasp.

It was a picture he had saved from Song Ruichi's Weibo account at some unknown point in time.

"Some people," Song Ruichi naturally saw it too, "looking at me like this behind my back?"

Xu Er laughed sheepishly and quickly swiped past it.

Yet he never expected that the next photo would still be of Song Ruichi.

Haha.

Xu Er simply exited back to the main album page, only to discover that the next dozen or so photos were all of Song Ruichi.

He remembered now: there had indeed been one night when he saved a whole bunch of them in a row, but he hadn't realized there were quite this many.

At that moment, Song Ruichi stopped speaking, but Xu Er could vividly feel his inner world, and he could even mentally reconstruct the exact tone of voice Song Ruichi was using right now.