By the time the second winter and the second New Year came around, the two of them had been together for two years.
Yesterday was their two-year anniversary, and the next morning, Ti Xiao woke up complaining about back and waist aches.
“Can you learn to be a little more mature?” Ti Xiao grumbled, lying face down on the bed. “Did you just graduate from kindergarten or what?”
“I graduated over ten years ago, I think,” Xiao Yao smiled, lips pressed together, his hand resting lightly on Ti Xiao’s lower back, gently rubbing.
“Pfft,” Ti Xiao snorted, then whistled. “Little Brother, come here.”
After a series of adorably cute “woof woof” sounds, followed by the scratching of paws on the floor, a little Alaskan puppy—tongue out—trotted into the bedroom, its fluffy head bobbing along.
This pup was one of five born at Ti Jiji’s house from their big Alaskan Malamute. Ti Xiao didn’t care that the house already had two grown adults plus a cat and a mouse; he just picked one to take home.
The puppy was still small enough to fit in Xiao Yao’s palm, but once it grew bigger, the house probably wouldn’t be big enough for all the tearing and playing—truly becoming an Alaskan rips-it-up.
“Did you get a bath?” Ti Xiao shook his hand to tease the little guy standing in Xiao Yao’s palm.
The fluffy ball just stared blankly, tongue out, wiggling its head left and right.
Xiao Yao put the puppy down beside Ti Xiao. “Yeah, he did.”
The puppy ran over, followed immediately by Xiao Hulu, who nimbly jumped up onto the bed, hugged the puppy, and started licking its head.
Since the dog came to the house, Xiao Hulu had taken on the role of “Teacher Tony,” styling the puppy’s fur every day. In a few days, the puppy might even get licked bald.
The puppy struggled to escape Xiao Hulu’s magical paws and, coincidentally, jumped right onto Ti Xiao’s waist.
“Ow!” After last night’s rough play with Xiao Yao, Ti Xiao’s legs hadn’t closed properly. It wasn’t that painful, but he still howled out loud.
After the puppy jumped up, Xiao Hulu followed right behind, and Ti Xiao let out another howl.
Meanwhile, Xiao Huhu was in the other room, whining and yelling anxiously.
“Everybody get down!”
A few minutes later, those that needed to be caged were put in cages, and Xiao Yao went back to tending to Ti Xiao.
On the puppy’s first day at home, Ti Xiao lined up the three furry creatures and posted a photo on Weibo. Surprisingly, the post gained more followers than his usual car pics and comics.
He was quickly turning from an anime blogger into a cute pet blogger.
【Cat, dog, mouse, and boyfriend—jealousy makes me ugly】
【Other people’s lives, oh, jealousy is tearing me apart】
【Ah, little Alaskan is really cute quq. My dog grew up and turned into a bear too】
【I’m a new fan of the little brother!】
【100 years of solid support for Xiao Hulu!】
During his live streams, Ti Xiao would show fans how Teacher Fulu styled the puppy’s hair.
Xiao Yao sat nearby peeling oranges, occasionally jumping into the frame, and his voice could sometimes be heard.
“I’m telling you guys, it’s all just fleeting stuff,” Ti Xiao said, standing comfortably in his fortune, talking without back pain, eating the treats thrown his way, then glancing at Xiao Hulu and the puppy. He said softly, “It’s all just external things.”
【Where’s Xiao Huhu! We Huhu fans won’t accept this】
【Our Xiao Huhu deserves the center stage!】
After seeing the comments, Ti Xiao instructed Xiao Yao to put Xiao Huhu in a box and bring him over, to control the wild Xiao Huhu fanbase.
Once all three furballs appeared on camera, the fans from all sides started flooding the chat with “hehehe,” leaving Ti Xiao, who was live streaming, completely ignored. No one listened to what he said anymore.
Only Xiao Yao was still supporting, nodding along, pretending to understand.
Ti Xiao changed his live stream channel, jumping from drawing to cute pets, then finally to gaming.
This time, besides drawing, there was a mobile game promotion.
It was a popular 5v5 online battle game. Ti Xiao had just seen the promotion in his email and took a moment to react.
But hey, money doesn’t grow on trees. Ti Xiao often played this game with Ti Nan Yi and Xiao Yao anyway, so he took the promotion.
The screen’s lower-left corner showed the three furry troublemakers at home; the rest of the screen had switched to the game interface.
【Hey, I’m playing this game too. Let’s duo queue, Achoo!】
【Wake up, Achoo only duo queues with his Siamese cat】
According to the sponsor’s request, it started as a 1v1 solo. Ti Xiao and Xiao Yao both used accounts provided by the sponsor, with friend requests disabled.
When playing normally, Ti Xiao usually played AD carry in the bottom lane, with Xiao Yao as his support. Sometimes Xiao Yao’s damage output was even higher. This 1v1 solo was definitely a strong match.
“Use this one,” Ti Xiao picked a support character with somewhat weaker damage output for Xiao Yao, while he himself used his usual marksman. They faced off mid lane.
【Wow Achoo, you’re clearly bullying the Siamese cat!】
【No no no, I actually think the Siamese cat might win.】
【But that support role’s impact is kind of… emmmm.】
While the chat was still buzzing with opinions, Xiao Yao had already struck decisively, quickly scoring the first blood.
Ti Xiao pursed his lips, fully focused on laning against Xiao Yao.
One careless move, a bad step, and Ti Xiao lost his second kill.
“Move over, let me take this,” Ti Xiao whispered to Xiao Yao—something the fans couldn’t hear.
But Xiao Yao acted like he didn’t hear a thing, striking fast and accurate. Soon the score was 7-0, Ti Xiao’s team’s tower pushed all the way to the high ground, a total blowout.
The chat exploded with laughter at Ti Xiao’s slippery, clumsy plays.
Besides the 1v1, the other challenge was a 5v5 match.
After getting defeated twice by players big and small, Xiao Yao headed to the kitchen to cut some fruit. Ti Xiao wasn’t taking Chen Duxiu along this time—he took his little backpack and queued up alone.
Their team composition was a mess—no tank, the mage looked clueless, the jungler went AFK after being criticized for stealing jungle monsters, and the real jungler threw even harsher insults, filling chat with censored curses.
Ti Xiao stuck with his support in the bottom lane and the enemy jungle, farming cautiously. But no matter what, one little backpack can’t take on five.
The support played well and followed Ti Xiao around, but said nothing—not a single word.
The stream had started late today. Before getting into the game, Ti Xiao gave the furballs some love, then had a 1v1 with Xiao Yao. Now the 5v5 had dragged on almost forty minutes.
【Bro, I can’t anymore, my mom’s calling me for dinner. Let’s surrender or I’ll go AFK.】 The last teammate still chatting was clearly at his wit’s end.
Having just lost the 1v1 to Xiao Yao, losing this match live on stream would be pretty embarrassing.
After Ti Xiao’s mage was one-shot by the enemy, he panicked and typed in his channel chat, 【Wait, don’t leave! Don’t leave! I’m calling my MVP!】
Then he unmuted and shouted, “Xiao Yao! Come help me!”
Xiao Yao wiped his hands, grabbed the phone, saw the little backpack bouncing on the screen, and since typing was inconvenient, he unmuted and took the last living teammates to teamfight the opponents.
As soon as Xiao Yao spoke, the chat went from laughing at Ti Xiao’s plays to screaming “AAAAAAHHHH!”
Ti Xiao glanced between the chat and his phone screen, sweating nervously.
The little backpack hero who’d been mediocre in Ti Xiao’s hands suddenly transformed in Xiao Yao’s. Calm and commanding, he led the few alive teammates and the AFK mage to slaughter the enemy team, then pushed for the crystal.
When the victory banner popped up on the screen, Xiao Yao casually said, “We won,” then handed the phone back to Ti Xiao and pinched his cheek.
The chat exploded with a flood of “666666” (internet slang for awesome). Even while gaming, Ti Xiao didn’t forget his sponsor duties—he took advantage of the momentum to promote the game, skins, and the new mode.
By the time the stream ended, it was late at night. Except for the nocturnal Xiao Hulu, the other two furballs were already asleep. Ti Xiao himself, a big furry ball, was coaxed by Xiao Yao to wash up and go to bed.
Ti Xiao kept thinking about how Xiao Yao had solo killed him multiple times earlier, feeling increasingly defiant. He tossed and turned under the covers, kicking off half the warmth.
“Don’t move.” Xiao Yao reached out and pulled him into his arms, holding him tight. “If you move, you’ll catch a cold.”
Actually, the floor heating was on, so catching a cold wasn’t really an issue.
Ti Xiao obediently curled into him, wrapping his arms around Xiao Yao’s waist, mumbling excuses, “This blanket is too short.”
Xiao Yao paused, then pulled the wriggling Ti Xiao out from under the covers, cupping his soft face, finding his lips, and kissed him.
Their lips met, tasting something subtly different this time. Ti Xiao relaxed into the kiss, humming softly, then instinctively parted his teeth to let their tongues entwine.
After a long, lingering kiss, Ti Xiao panted, “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
Xiao Yao pressed his forehead to Ti Xiao’s, speaking with warm tenderness, “Yeah, life is pretty short. But if I get to spend it with you, it won’t feel short at all.”
Ti Xiao was momentarily stunned. How did the mood suddenly get so sappy? He’d only been complaining that the blanket was too short and his feet kept kicking it off, but before he could finish, he’d been pulled in for a big kiss.
“I’m talking about this blanket,” Ti Xiao grabbed the blanket and fluffed it a few times over Xiao Yao’s face. “Our blanket’s kinda small, it doesn’t cover my feet. Let’s buy a bigger one tomorrow—my feet get cold.”
As he spoke, he rested his legs on Xiao Yao’s, rubbing his slightly chilly toes against his leg.
Xiao Yao: “…”
Suddenly, he felt like he shrank to four feet tall.
Ti Xiao saw Xiao Yao didn’t say anything, and looked innocently at him, twisting around under the blanket again.
“Forget it.” Xiao Yao sighed, pulled him back into his arms, and kissed him.
The winter night was quiet and peaceful. Outside, snowflakes fell softly. Ti Xiao curled up like a shrimp, wrapped in Xiao Yao’s embrace, staring out the window, wide awake.
Xiao Yao seemed awake too. Suddenly, he called out, “Xiao Xiao?”
“Hm? What is it?” Ti Xiao turned to face him.
Xiao Yao leaned forward a bit and gently kissed his forehead. “Nothing much. Our household registration’s at home. Let’s go get our marriage certificate tomorrow.”
Ti Xiao paused, then tightened his grip on their clasped hands. “Okay.”
Leave a Reply