When they got home, Ren Yi was suddenly wide awake, full of energy. Unable to suppress his excitement, he said, “You go take a shower first. I’ll make instant noodles for you.”
“Okay.” Gong Yingxian took off his suit and tie and hung them on the coat rack with practiced familiarity.
Ren Yi glanced at him secretly from behind and smiled to himself. He liked this kind of scene, as though the two of them were already living together. “If the bathroom’s cold, turn on the bathroom heater.”
Ren Yi went into the kitchen, took out several packs of instant noodles, and prepared some eggs and sausages. He put the water on to boil. After thinking about it, he opened the refrigerator and rummaged around for quite a while before finding a bag of frozen three-delicacies dumplings. After all, eating nothing but instant noodles did seem a little shabby. He imagined the picky look on “Miss Gong’s” face and couldn’t help laughing.
The instant noodles finished cooking first. Ren Yi took out two bowls and divided the noodles between them, then placed the poached eggs he had cooked separately in another pot—white and tender—on top of the noodles. He sliced the sausages into ovals and arranged them one by one around the eggs, doing his best to make the two bowls of noodles look a little more presentable.
Gong Yingxian came out after his shower. He looked fresh and clean, his skin so fair it seemed to glow. His freshly dried hair lay softly against the sides of his face, making him look a few years younger than usual, almost like a college student. Even the somewhat thick autumn pajamas couldn’t conceal his excellent broad-shouldered, long-legged physique.
Ren Yi stood not far away, looking at him, his heart pounding.
Gong Yingxian glanced at the noodles on the table. “You even plated them? You’re making progress.”
“I did my best. If you want something fast, this is all I could come up with.” Ren Yi smiled. “Eat. Get full and have a good sleep.”
Gong Yingxian sat down, picked up a few strands of noodles with his chopsticks, blew on them, and said softly, “Hot.”
“Eat slowly. They’ll cool down in a bit.” Ren Yi took a bite of noodles. “Mm. Instant noodles are kind of strange. If you don’t eat them for a while, you actually start craving them.”
“Is that so?” Gong Yingxian was skeptical.
“You’re different.” Ren Yi added, “You’re always different from everyone else.”
Gong Yingxian propped his cheek up with one hand and stared at Ren Yi. “Are you complimenting me?”
Ren Yi paused, then smiled. “Yes.”
“…You’re different from everyone else too.” After saying that, Gong Yingxian lowered his head again and continued blowing on his noodles.
Ren Yi’s heart felt sweet.
Suddenly, Gong Yingxian said, “Is there anything else in your kitchen?”
Ren Yi was startled. He jumped to his feet and ran toward the kitchen. He had forgotten that he still had dumplings cooking in the pot. His attention had been entirely focused on Gong Yingxian, and he hadn’t even heard the loud sound of the pot boiling over.
Dumpling soup had already splattered all over the stovetop. He hurriedly turned off the heat and looked down.
It was a disaster. An entire pot of dumplings looked as though they had been tortured, their bodies torn apart.
Gong Yingxian had come over at some point. “What did you cook?”
“…Dough-skin meatball soup.”
Gong Yingxian leaned over for a look. “Aren’t these dumplings?”
“You can recognize dumplings?” Ren Yi said awkwardly.
Gong Yingxian looked down at him. “I’m currently restraining myself from making fun of you. Don’t provoke me.”
Ren Yi cleared his throat. “Look at them. Where do they even look like dumplings? This is meatball soup.”
“Whatever.” Gong Yingxian returned to the dining table.
Ren Yi served himself a bowl and carried it over.
Gong Yingxian looked at him in disbelief. “You’re still going to eat that?”
“You can’t waste food.” Ren Yi took a big bite. “Mm, it’s good. There are shrimp in it.”
Gong Yingxian snorted and shook his head, and finally took his first bite of instant noodles.
Ren Yi asked expectantly, “How is it?”
“About what I expected. A strong taste of artificial flavoring, but… it’s okay.”
Ren Yi smiled. He knew Gong Yingxian wasn’t good at expressing himself, and since he had always had good food and everything else growing up, “it’s okay” was already quite a good evaluation from him. Watching Gong Yingxian eat the instant noodles he had cooked, one bite after another, also gave Ren Yi an even bigger appetite.
Gong Yingxian glanced at Ren Yi’s bowl several times. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Give me some of your dough-skin meatball soup.”
Ren Yi froze and asked in surprise, “Really?”
Gong Yingxian said irritably, “Stop talking nonsense.”
Ren Yi immediately went to the kitchen and served Gong Yingxian a small bowl, watching him while suppressing his laughter.
“I’m doing this so we don’t waste food,” Gong Yingxian explained. “You really should apologize to that pot of stuff.”
“I’m sorry,” Ren Yi said obediently.
Gong Yingxian was amused into laughter by him.
Ren Yi smiled as he watched Gong Yingxian cautiously take a bite, thinking that perhaps Gong Yingxian really was a gentle person. It was just that he had used coldness and aloofness to arm himself.
The next morning, Ren Yi got up even earlier than he usually did at the station and prepared a lavish breakfast. While he was busy in the kitchen, he put on his earphones and called his father. Based on his experience, his father was almost always quite lucid first thing in the morning.
“Why are you calling so early? Are you heading out for morning drills?” Ren Xiangrong was drinking porridge.
“Yeah. Dad, there are two things I want to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
“One thing I mentioned to you briefly last time. Auntie Wang and her whole family are going back to their hometown. I’m looking for a new housekeeper for you, so you can prepare yourself mentally. You’ll have to change housekeepers after the New Year.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not a child.” Ren Xiangrong paused, and his voice dropped a few degrees. “I just don’t know whether the new housekeeper will be able to adjust.” He knew very well that the problem with all the housekeepers he had gone through in the past had actually been himself.
“That’s not something you need to worry about. Just eat well and sleep well.”
Ren Xiangrong sighed softly.
“There’s one more thing.” Ren Yi said, “Dad, how much do you still remember about what happened in the past?”
“What are you referring to?”
Ren Yi hesitated. “Baosheng Chemical Plant and the fire at the Gong family’s house.”
Ren Xiangrong asked in confusion, “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
“We recently discovered a website. It’s hidden and very difficult to find. There are a lot of crimes on it that are difficult to regulate. Websites like this are collectively known as the dark web. This particular website has brought together arson fetishists and arsonists from all over the world.”
“There’s actually a website like that?!” Ren Xiangrong was both shocked and angry.
“Yes. We discovered that several of the cases that happened recently have more or less been connected to this website. The latest investigation has even implicated those two cases from back then.”
“But that’s a police matter.”
“I’ve been assisting the police recently, haven’t I?” Ren Yi said. “Dad, the doctor said that one characteristic of your condition is that you often forget things that happened recently, but sometimes you can remember things from a long time ago. Can you help me think about it? Try to remember things like the records from back then. It’s very important.”
“No problem. I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll send some electronic documents to your phone. Have Auntie Wang print them out for you to look at. I’ll go home in the next couple of days, and we can have a good talk. There’s a reason I’m paying particular attention to this case. I’ll explain it to you.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up, music came through his earphones. Ren Yi hummed along as he happily fried eggs.
Once breakfast was ready, Gong Yingxian had also gotten up. Perhaps because he had eaten before going to bed the previous night, his eyes were a little puffy, with a faint layer of redness around them. Combined with his still-unstyled hair, his whole person gave off a lazy air that was unbearably sexy.
Sometimes Ren Yi found it difficult to control his fantasies about Gong Yingxian. All he could do was try his best to control his gaze and expression. He lowered his head in an attempt to hide it and arranged the bowls and chopsticks. “Come eat. Look, this is my real level. Forget about that meatball soup from last night.”
Gong Yingxian teased him. “That’s not what you said last night.”
Ren Yi shot him a look. “New day, new me.”
“Strictly speaking, it’s still the same day.”
“God, you’re annoying. Next time, you do it.”
“Sure,” Gong Yingxian said casually.
Ren Yi stared at him. “I meant cook.”
“I know.”
“You can cook?”
Gong Yingxian shrugged. “Like you said, if I follow a recipe, how badly could it turn out?”
Ren Yi laughed. “Okay, then I’ll wait for you to cook for me.”
After breakfast, Gong Yingxian drove Ren Yi back to the station and then returned to the branch bureau. The two of them agreed to keep communicating about the progress of the case. After all, they both had a feeling that the case had reached a critical point.
There wasn’t much going on at the station all morning. They played a game of basketball and had a video call with Gao Ge. Before long, it was time for lunch.
Before eating, Ren Yi received a WeChat message from Gong Yingxian saying that their meeting had approved it and they had decided to agree to Zhou Chuan’s terms.
Ren Yi replied: That bastard got off cheap.
Although Zhou Chuan’s injuries were enough for him to be discharged from the hospital, burn injuries required long-term treatment and care. He knew that if he went into detention, it would practically cost him half his life. How could the sanitation and medical conditions in a detention center compare with a top-tier Grade III hospital?
“He’s currently providing information related to Chen Pei and Sachiel.”
“That’s great.” Ren Yi replied, Keep it up, Lao Gong! He even added a cheeky sticker.
After sending it, Ren Yi stared at the screen, watching as Gong Yingxian was typing, then stopped. A moment later, it showed that he was typing again, only to stop once more. Then it showed typing for the third time.
Ren Yi’s heart was in his throat. Finally, three short words came through:
Talk later.
Ren Yi felt a little disappointed. He laughed self-deprecatingly.
Every time, he only dared to take this tiny bit of advantage with his words—testing the waters cautiously while pretending to be casual, sometimes secretly delighted and sometimes disappointed, with both sourness and sweetness mixed together.
So this was what unrequited love felt like.