Chapter 59

Xu Yang had intended to find his work files, but unexpectedly opened a video that had been “stored” in the closed folder for many years. Although it was his own body, the images were so unspeakably gruesome that Xu Yang turned red with embarrassment and immediately closed the video. Little did he know that this single video would bring back memories of his past.

The computer screen froze on the closed folder interface, and for a moment, Xu Yang felt a bit dazed. These events had happened seven or eight years ago, but now, when he thought back on them, they still felt like yesterday, and even his feelings at the time were crystal clear.

Actually, when he recalled that year when the closed folder suddenly confessed in the small square of the park, if he had listened carefully, Xu Yang hadn’t heard clearly. At the time, there were many people coming and going around them, everyone talking at once, creating a rather noisy environment. When Bi Yuan first called out to him, he only heard Bi Yuan calling him “Yang Yang,” so he turned around to look at him. When Bi Yuan called out again, he seemed to hear something like “together,” so he assumed Bi Yuan was asking him to go home together.

After nodding to Bi Yuan and saying “Okay,” he bid farewell to the violin student and returned to Bi Yuan’s side, intending to go home together. But unexpectedly, Bi Yuan suddenly became very affectionate, immediately hugging him tightly and even cupping his face to kiss his lips. At that moment, Xu Yang was not only flustered but also puzzled—what was Mr. Bi doing? Why was he suddenly so excited?

He asked in confusion, “Is my harmonica playing that good?” Bi Yuan said it was good and wanted to hear more, to keep listening forever. Such a childish answer made Xu Yang laugh out loud and say: “If I keep playing the harmonica, my mouth will swell up.” But Xu Yang didn’t mind. In fact, if he didn’t receive a dozen or so WeChat messages from Bi Yuan in a day, he would worry that something had happened to him.

If there was one thing that truly made Xu Yang realize something, it might be thanks to a remark made by Li Mu. At that point, nearly two months had passed since Bi Yuan confessed his feelings to Xu Yang at the small square in the park.

During those two months, Bi Yuan was in high spirits, putting more effort into his work, and even beginning to expand the studio’s business. That morning, Xu Yang was called to Li Mu’s office, where several people were already seated. Li Mu introduced them as investors who had previously contacted Bi Yuan, bringing a story with them, wanting to adapt a modern espionage-themed online novel into a TV series.

“As you may have heard from Mr. Bi, our studio has recently begun working on adapting some popular IP novels into TV series. Our company has the capability to handle both the production of the TV series and the post-production and promotional work. This is the person in charge of the post-production music composition.” Li Mu introduced Xu Yang to the investors’ representatives. He then told Xu Yang that the discussions on the plot had been smooth so far, but there were still issues to be resolved regarding post-production. The investors hoped to infuse the series with more romantic elements through the background music during post-production.

“Romantic atmosphere?” Xu Yang was a bit confused. In modern espionage-themed films, using theme music to convey a romantic atmosphere seemed a bit challenging. “Generally, in modern espionage-themed TV shows, the music is either forceful to enhance the plot or emotionally charged to evoke feelings. A romantic atmosphere…”

Seeing Xu Yang seemed a bit perplexed, the investor representative hurriedly explained, “It’s like this: on the surface, we want to position this film as a story of brotherly love, but in the novel, their relationship is more than just brotherly love.” He then gave a knowing look.

Xu Yang was still confused, but he didn’t dare ask any more questions on the spot, fearing that his lack of professionalism might affect Li Mu’s contract with the investor. He could only nod in agreement and discuss it privately with Li Mu later.

“Mr. Li, I don’t quite understand what they said earlier. Why does a brotherly bond need to be portrayed with a romantic vibe?”

“Because in the novel, the two main characters are in a romantic relationship.” Seeing Xu Yang’s confused expression, Li Mu chuckled: “This novel is about the emotional entanglement between two assassins. Before they became assassins and went their separate ways, they were lovers, eating together, walking in the park, watching movies, and dating. So it’s a ‘brotherly bond’ with a romantic vibe.”

After saying that, he casually tossed a web novel brought by the investors to Xu Yang, telling him that reading the story would make it clear. He also said, “This novel is quite popular now, so it’s no surprise it’s being adapted into a TV series or movie. Many popular novels are doing this nowadays—they have a large fan base and generate good buzz.”

Li Mu glanced at his watch; it was almost time to leave work. Seeing Xu Yang standing at the door of the sound editing department holding the novel, he asked, “Do you want me to give you a ride home?”

Xu Yang shook his head and replied blankly, “Mr. Bi said there’s steamed sea bass for dinner tonight, so I’m going over to eat. Plus, there’s a new movie out recently, and we’ve already made plans to watch it together…”

Before he could finish, Xu Yang stopped mid-sentence. He stared at Li Mu with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open as if he wanted to say something, but Li Mu waited a moment and heard nothing more. Just as he was wondering what was going on, Xu Yang quickly stuffed the novel back into Li Mu’s arms, hurried into the workroom, grabbed his phone and wallet, and blurted out, “Mr. Li, I… I’ll go first!” ” and hurriedly left.

This left Li Mu feeling utterly bewildered.

After leaving the studio, Xu Yang hurried toward the bus stop, his mind replaying what Li Mu had just said: Before they became assassins and went their separate ways, they had been lovers, eating together, strolling in the park, watching movies, and dating.

Eating, walking in the park, watching movies. He had done all these things with Bi Yuan, and not only that, Bi Yuan would sometimes hold his hand, kiss him, and even… even do those things with him! If eating, walking in the park, and watching movies could be defined as dating, then how should he define his relationship with Bi Yuan?

He needed an answer.

He walked faster and faster, until he couldn’t help but run. And that was the first time Xu Yang felt that choosing the bus as his mode of transportation was a very unwise habit. He couldn’t jump off the bus and hail a taxi to rush away.

After getting off the bus, Xu Yang ran quickly toward the residential area. Bi Yuan’s house was located halfway up the hill in the residential area, and there was still a considerable distance from the entrance of the residential area. But Xu Yang didn’t care that he was wearing leather shoes; he started running as soon as he left the bus stop. He wished he could grow wings and fly directly to Bi Yuan’s house.

Panting all the way up the hill from the bottom, perhaps because he was running so hard that his brain was almost oxygen-deprived, he was able to think clearly about some things.

That evening in the small park, Bi Yuan had excitedly shouted something at him, but he hadn’t heard it clearly. Now, with his brain oxygen-deprived, those events played back in slow motion in his mind.

Mr. Bi called out to him, and then what? He said something, and that day he thought it was “let’s go home together.” But why would going home together make Mr. Bi so happy that he hugged him tightly, refusing to let go even as passersby gave them strange looks? No, no, something must be wrong, Xu Yang thought as he ran along. But that wasn’t the most important thing. There was something even more important he wanted to clarify with Mr. Bi! Even if Mr. Bi laughed at him for being a fool, he had to ask!

While rummaging through his wallet for Mr. Bi’s house key card, Xu Yang was so nervous and excited that his hands were shaking. Finally, the door beeped open, and Xu Yang rushed inside, forgetting all about manners and restraint. As he burst through the door, he saw Mr. Bi helping Aunt Lin carry dinner from the kitchen, setting the table, and waiting for Xu Yang to eat.

“Mr. Bi…” Xu Yang leaned on his knees, panting heavily, and called out to Bi Yuan. But after one word, he couldn’t speak anymore, his heart pounding wildly, seeming to beat faster and faster.

“Why did you run so hard? Did you take the bus back?” Seeing Xu Yang half-kneeling at the door, Bi Yuan wiped his hands on his apron and hurried over to Xu Yang, helping him walk back and forth in the spacious living room to try to ease his condition.

Xu Yang gripped Bi Yuan’s arm tightly, forcing him to stop helping him walk. His chest was still rising and falling heavily, and he was panting heavily, but his eyes never left Bi Yuan’s face. His serious expression left Bi Yuan feeling a bit at a loss.

“Bi Yuan!” After catching his breath for a while, Xu Yang finally managed to speak clearly and shouted Bi Yuan’s name. This made Bi Yuan chuckle a bit, wondering what this man wanted to say to him. Since arriving home, he had been panting nonstop, and now that he had finally calmed down a bit, he started shouting his name again. It seemed that this was also the first time Xu Yang had called him by his full name. Previously, he had always referred to him as “Mr. Bi.”

“Yangyang…” Bi Yuan tried to speak, but was interrupted. “Bi Yuan, I have something to ask you!” Xu Yang was still panting, his heart racing. He couldn’t tell if it was from running too hard or from the excitement of the answer he wanted to know finally coming to light. Xu Yang’s heart was pounding like a drum.

They—he and Bi Yuan—ate together, walked in the park together, went to the movies together, and even did things that ordinary work colleagues or friends wouldn’t do—they kissed, held hands, touched each other’s bodies, stimulated each other’s sensitive areas, and brought each other pleasure…

Though their relationship initially began with money and physical desire, his lack of resistance and Bi Yuan’s lack of boredom seemed to be quietly changing something. No ordinary friend would want to kiss the other’s lips to comfort them after hearing about their lonely past; no work colleague would blush and feel dry-mouthed after accidentally seeing the other’s bare upper body.

Why, after all this time, did he feel no resistance to Bi Yuan’s caresses and intrusions on his body? Is it simply because the wall once exchanged thirty thousand yuan with him? If not, then why?

The answer seems to be emerging.

“Wall, I… we…” The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them. For a moment, Xu Yang stammered like someone with a speech impediment, unable to form a complete sentence.

“Are you out of breath from running too fast? Auntie! Bring a glass of water!” Seeing that Xu Yang was still panting heavily and couldn’t form a complete sentence, Bi Yuan kindly asked the aunt to prepare some hot water.

“Oh my!” Auntie, holding the warm water, had just walked into the living room when she heard Xu Yang’s confession-like words to Bi Yuan. She pretended to be embarrassed, covering her ear with one hand, and ran away with a smile. Xu Yang, blushing with embarrassment, and Bi Yuan, who seemed calm, were left staring at each other in the living room.

As the aunt ran upstairs, Bi Yuan’s lips curled into a smile. His eyes fixed on Xu Yang’s flushed face and evasive gaze. Before Xu Yang could speak again, Bi Yuan wrapped his arms around his waist, leaned down, and pressed his lips against Xu Yang’s slightly parted mouth, still panting. He sucked on his lips and mumbled, “You idiot.”