The air was thick with a sharp, pungent sting that made tears stream down Ti Xiao’s face as he coughed and stumbled out of the kitchen, looking utterly miserable.
“Cough, cough, cough… why is this so spicy? I clearly picked green peppers…” His eyes were red from the smoke or tears—he wasn’t quite sure.
After bragging about making dinner for Xiao Yao, Ti Xiao had spent most of the day in the kitchen, but hadn’t really managed anything impressive.
He’d planned to make “Tiger Skin Peppers,” but ended up wasting one green pepper after another. The meat filling got burnt, and he nearly stomped on his own hand by accident.
Xiao Yao wasn’t doing much better—he’s also sensitive to spicy food, with his eyes red from the smoke, and even little Xiao Lu coughed a few times.
Suddenly, Xiao Yao regretted handing over the kitchen to Ti Xiao.
It was truly an assault on the eyes—and nose.
“I—I only bought them because the label said green peppers,” Ti Xiao whimpered, crying like a wilting plumeria flower, utterly defeated. “This was a total mistake. It’s way too spicy… where are the green peppers I asked for?”
“Come here.” Without a word, Xiao Yao took off the apron from Ti Xiao and shut the kitchen door behind him, leading him over to the sink. “Let’s wash your face.”
“My meal’s not done yet!” Ti Xiao protested pitifully. “I bought all these just for you—look, I got a bunch of scallions, and they were heavy to carry.”
Xiao Yao wiped Ti Xiao’s face gently with a damp towel, not wanting to ruin the moment by pointing out those were actually garlic shoots. “Sit still. I’ll clean up the mess and cook you some scallion stir-fry.”
Ti Xiao wanted to protest but blushed when he heard “clean up the mess.” Yeah, he’d really made a disaster of the kitchen—luckily it didn’t blow up.
Xiao Yao went back into the kitchen and started coughing from the lingering smoke. Then he looked at the chaotic mess and chuckled quietly. For Ti Xiao to make such a mess, he really had some skills of his own.
“Don’t laugh!” Ti Xiao’s voice came from the living room, flustered.
The kitchen filled with the sounds of the exhaust fan whirring and pots and pans clinking.
Ti Xiao rubbed his eyes and looked toward the closed kitchen door, remembering his earlier conversation with Xiao Zhou that afternoon. He sighed quietly—the truth was, he’d wanted Xiao Yao to tell him about this…
There were reasons why the relationship between Xiao Yao and his father Xiao Zhou was so strained.
Ten years ago, on a day just like today with soft spring rain falling, Xiao Yao’s mother was on her way to the Calligraphy and Painting Institute in the suburbs of Xuancheng City when she was involved in a car accident. She died alongside a taxi driver who had been driving fatigued. Xiao Yao always believed his father Xiao Zhou had rushed to work and didn’t see her off properly.
After the accident, Xiao Zhou didn’t rush to the hospital, and remarried two years after his wife’s death.
Ti Xiao clenched his folded hands tighter. What puzzled him was that Xiao Yao seemed to treat Xiao Yu’s biological mother fairly well, which was strange given how cold he was toward Xiao Zhou. One would think he’d be equally harsh.
The sound of knives clashing on the cutting board interrupted his thoughts. Ti Xiao had originally wanted to cook to give Xiao Yao a break, to distract him a bit.
On a day like this, emotions would naturally be heavy—even if no one showed it on the surface.
Ti Xiao sighed again, thinking about asking Xiao Yao what had really happened. Easy to say, but hard to do.
It was already difficult enough to be sad on the anniversary of a loved one’s passing; asking about the past felt like reopening wounds. He believed Xiao Zhou felt the same way when talking about it.
Though Xiao Yao said he would tell Ti Xiao someday, when the moment came, he just couldn’t bring himself to. Forcing those dark feelings onto Ti Xiao was something he just couldn’t do.
With these thoughts swirling, the day was almost over.
“How’s your hand?” Before bed, Xiao Yao pulled Ti Xiao’s hand over and carefully examined the scratch from Xiao Lu earlier.
“Don’t worry, Xiao Lu’s been vaccinated.” Ti Xiao tried to pull his hand back but was held firmly.
Xiao Yao looked at the back of his hand, then slowly leaned down and kissed it, gently licking the skin with his tongue.
“Whoa, Xiao Yao, are you a dog?” Ti Xiao giggled, ticklish from the light lick.
“Well…” Xiao Yao looked up. “Aren’t you always saying I’m a loyal dog? I thought you liked that.”
A few days ago, Ti Xiao had shared a Weibo post from another author on the same platform—a loyal dog top x queen bottom type of story. He and the author were friends, so Ti Xiao helped promote it, earning two bags of cat food for Xiao Lu.
“You should stop looking at my Weibo,” Ti Xiao said. “I’m going to block you.”
“No way.” Xiao Yao said, pinning him down and sliding his hand under Ti Xiao’s shirt impatiently, tickling him.
“Aaah, that’s so ticklish!” Ti Xiao kicked and squirmed. “Xiao Yao, if you keep tickling me, I’m going to get mad! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, stop it!”
They wrestled for a while, both flushed and messy-haired. Ti Xiao was thoroughly teased, every sensitive spot found—especially the spot behind his waist that made his whole body shiver whenever touched.
Embarrassed, Ti Xiao straddled him and bit and nibbled lightly, while Xiao Yao let him play.
They were still fooling around when Ti Xiao suddenly froze, blushing hard. He quickly flipped off and dove under the covers, wrapping himself up tightly.
Half warning, half reminder, he said, “March 21, okay?”
Xiao Yao caught his breath and nodded.
The room fell silent. As bedtime neared, Ti Xiao took a deep breath and said, “Xiao Yao.”
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Yao was already lying down, forcing his way through the barrier of blankets and squeezing himself in.
“I thought about it, and I’m not going to ask you,” Ti Xiao said seriously, wrapping his arms around Xiao Yao’s neck. “I won’t ask you to relive that pain again. I won’t ask, and I don’t want you to tell me on your own either.”
When Xiao Zhou told him the truth that afternoon, Ti Xiao had already felt terrible inside.
“But I want you to promise me—if anything happens in the future, you have to tell me right away,” Ti Xiao said carefully, looking straight into Xiao Yao’s eyes.
Xiao Yao’s double eyelids were wide, his eyes sharply defined and bright. Although his face was a bit chubby now—he’d gotten some weight since they started dating—his little expressions were vivid when he spoke.
Full of love and sincerity.
“Okay?” Ti Xiao, seeing no answer, gathered courage and asked again.
Xiao Yao smiled and kissed his forehead. “Okay. I’ll definitely tell you.”
“From now on, this life, whatever you say goes.”
With that sincere vow, a storm of kisses rained down—just when the dying flame was about to go out, it flared up again, wild and fierce.
“I want to celebrate March 21 early…” Xiao Yao whispered near his ear, blowing warm breath.
“…In your dreams!”
A few days later, the Wen family twins were set to go abroad again, and Xiao Yao took Ti Xiao out on a date.
Surprisingly, Ti Xiao got along well with Ba Zhongying—they actually found some common ground. Ti Xiao didn’t find Ying annoying like Xiao Yao and the others did.
“Ying, wish I’d met you sooner. If Xiao Yao ever bullies you, just call me and I’ll fly back from the East Coast to beat him up,” Wen Yan said sincerely before parting, feeling they’d become close too late.
Li Yi had also returned to his own city for work—not far, just next to Xuancheng, about an hour’s drive away. “When you have time, get Xiao Yao to bring you over,” he said.
In mid-March, Ti Xiao received good news from editor Guapi.
Editor Guapi: The publisher finally gave in. We don’t have to cut the story, but some explicit scenes need to be deleted, you know what I mean.
Some restricted content wasn’t suitable for publishing—just like when they published Little Wolfdog. Even so, Ti Xiao was thrilled and immediately told Xiao Yao.
“My comic’s first volume is getting published!” Ti Xiao said happily during dinner. “I’m so excited.”
Xiao Yao silently pulled Little Wolfdog off the bookshelf. He still remembered clearly how thrilled he’d been when he first learned his neighbor was the author.
Overall, that book was the start of their connection.
“Chen Duxiu, sit down.” Ti Xiao was full of playful teasing, slapping Xiao Yao’s hand just as he was about to open the first page. “Didn’t you promise not to read my comics?”
Xiao Yao: “When did I say that?”
Ti Xiao thought about it—he hadn’t actually said that before.
He immediately put on a tough act, somehow confident, and snapped, “Just now.”
During their last livestream, a fan asked for some ‘dog food’ (couple fluff), wanting Xiao Yao to join Ti Xiao on stream—even if it was just chatting.
Since the fans wanted it, Ti Xiao was happy to indulge—though only he was excited about it; Xiao Yao hadn’t agreed yet. Ti Xiao was a drawing streamer—what would Xiao Yao livestream? Teaching English?
“No way.” Xiao Yao understood Ti Xiao’s idea and flat-out refused, smiling to tease him.
Of course, after being stern, he had to beg forgiveness quietly soon after. Eventually, they negotiated moving the March 21 celebration up to March 20, finally getting Xiao Yao to relent.
But thinking about it… March 20 was only about a week away…
Because his comic was about to be published again, Ti Xiao’s fanbase grew quite a bit. More people tuned into his livestream than before, and the chat was flooding so fast it was almost impossible to see the screen clearly.
[Uh… maybe don’t show your face on camera?]
[I keep hearing Achi is really handsome—how handsome can he be, though?]
[Raising both hands and feet to support!]
“No way,” Ti Xiao said proudly with a hum. “You can hear his voice instead.”
The fans were easy to please. Hearing the voice was good enough, so they heard faint, whisper-like voices from the other side.
“What… did I just say?”
“Say whatever you want. Tell them ‘Good evening,’ or ‘Hi, everyone.’ Otherwise, I’ll have them tell you what to say.”
Ti Xiao had done this before, and it always ended up a bit outrageous. Xiao Yao usually looked serious, and though he was smooth with sweet talk, this kind of thing…
Hehe, his smile gradually turned a little mischievous.jpg
Xiao Yao saw the corner of Ti Xiao’s mouth twitching and smiled quietly, “Give me the mic.”
The fans on the other end held their breath, then heard someone clear their throat and say, “My favorite is my little Jiujiu.”
