Part 2
These thoughts made Yu Xi unable to bear the thought of reminding him or pushing him away. He silently endured this nearly suffocating embrace.
However, if Yu Xi could see the man’s expression, he would surely be frightened into running away.
There wasn’t a single tear of the kind he imagined on the man’s face. In the deep crimson of his eyes, an entirely different emotion was churning.
An indecipherable, fear-inducing darkness was like a man-eating swamp; once you accidentally stepped in, there was no turning back.
It was the gaze of a predator or a demon.
Gloomy, sticky, obsessive, hungry… obsession and love-hatred transformed into countless threads, dragging the person down into the depths together.
“You’re back?”
Pei Lexin, who was waiting in the living room, stood up from the sofa when she heard the sound. Seeing Gu Chuanzhou still standing at the door behind Yu Xi, she nodded in acknowledgment.
Once they were inside, she asked, “What did you two chat about?”
“We just caught up for a bit.” Yu Xi broke into a shallow smile. “He said he plans to move back here and will come to see me often in the future.”
Pei Lexin laughed and pinched Yu Xi’s face. “I told you our Xiao Xi is charming. You certainly won’t lack friends. Look, you’ve only been back for a day and someone already came looking for you.”
At this moment, Pei Wang, who was huddled nearby playing games, let out a cold snort and went upstairs.
“Don’t mind him.” Pei Lexin patted the back of Yu Xi’s hand.
Yu Xi was still immersed in the joy of reuniting with Gu Chuanzhou, so he naturally didn’t take it to heart.
As the night deepened, it was soon nine o’clock.
After talking a lot with Pei Lexin, Yu Xi returned to his room, taking his change of clothes into the bedroom.
When he took off his clothes, he accidentally glanced in the mirror and found several red marks at asymmetrical positions on both sides of his waist.
Because his skin was so fair, they were very conspicuous.
Yu Xi twisted his flexible body to examine them for a while. He extended an index finger and gently pressed on a red mark, immediately letting out a small gasp.
It hurt a little.
He carefully used his own hand to measure against the red marks, concluding that Gu Chuanzhou’s hand size was much larger than his.
The other had used a lot of force back then and had held him for a long time.
His legs had grown sore from standing, and because his chest was being squeezed, his breathing was difficult. His small face had turned red from the exertion, and he had broken out in a sweat.
But he had remained obedient without making a sound until Gu Chuanzhou took the initiative to let him go.
Even now, a lingering illusion of being squeezed until he couldn’t move remained on his body.
Yu Xi was lost in thought. Looking at the T-shirt he had taken off, he didn’t know what he was thinking, but he picked it up and sniffed it gently.
A light scent of mint and wood.
He was completely permeated with Gu Chuanzhou’s scent.
…
The piece of clothing was soon washed clean by Yu Xi after his shower. Only the floral scent of the laundry detergent remained as he hung it up to dry.
As luck would have it, he ran into Auntie Wan when he went to the drying area.
Seeing the clothes in his basin, she suddenly realized and told him that he could leave his worn clothes in the laundry basket. She would take them away the next day to be washed, dried, ironed, and returned to the closets in each room.
Yu Xi felt too embarrassed and said, “No need. It’s just two pieces of clothing; I’ll just wash them myself.”
Auntie Wan had no choice but to teach him how to use the Pei family’s washing machine and dryer instead.
“Using the machine actually saves more water, and it doesn’t use much electricity. Just use it with peace of mind.”
“Mhm… thank you, Auntie Wan.”
The tips of Yu Xi’s ears were slightly red.
More than embarrassment, his heart was filled with gratitude for Auntie Wan being so considerate.
He was used to confiding these feelings to Yu Xiaohe after applying the hand cream Auntie Wan had given him during the day.
“Everyone is so good to me. I should repay them well, right? Xiaohe.”
He poked the stone lying in the iron box. Even though Yu Xiaohe couldn’t respond, he was still happy.
Before bed, he checked the messages on his phone.
In the short time it took to shower and wash clothes, many unread messages had accumulated, making the phone lag.
Yu Xi’s phone had never been this lively. He usually only contacted his mother until today, when Pei Wang took him to the club and he met many new people.
They had added him as a friend and were enthusiastically sending many messages.
Yu Xi was very busy. He first reported to his pinned mother as usual, telling her what he did today, and then replied to each person one by one.
As he was replying, he reached a certain person he had only just added.
The profile picture looked like it was taken by the owner—a tender yellow dried flower sealed in glass.
The username was a simple boat emoji (🚢).
Yu Xi hadn’t had time to add a nickname, but he wouldn’t mistake it.
It was Gu Chuanzhou, whom he had only left a few hours ago.
Gu Chuanzhou had only sent two characters: [Xixi.]
Strangely, Yu Xi’s mind automatically replayed the sound of the other’s voice when he called him that.
When he heard it, his heart felt joyous. This name instantly closed the distance between them, as if nothing had changed over the years and they were still friends.
Yu Xi: [I’m here.]
Gu Chuanzhou replied almost instantly: [If Xixi is free tomorrow, can I come to the Pei house to find you?]
Yu Xi immediately replied that he was free and anytime was fine.
Thus, they made an appointment to meet tomorrow and said goodnight to each other.
With this expectation for tomorrow, when Yu Xi closed his eyes and entered dreamland, a sweet smile remained on his lips.
Perhaps because he was so happy, his mind was full of thoughts about Gu Chuanzhou before sleep, and he had a dream that night.
In the dream, he returned to twelve years ago, during the winter vacation he spent here.
It was a day when the snow was falling heavily.
The sky was misty, and the snow fell onto little Yu Xi, slipping into the collar of his jacket, which wasn’t zipped up properly.
But Yu Xi was only focused on protecting the thing he was holding in his arms. He jogged away from the Pei house, passed over a pebble road, and arrived in front of another large house.
Familiar with the way, he circled to the back of the house and squeezed through the railings of the backyard.
The gap in the railings could barely allow a six-year-old child through, but today he was dressed thickly. The fluffy down jacket made him look like a piece of fermented, puffed-up bread. He almost got stuck in the middle, and after struggling for a long time to get free, the entire “bread” was much flatter.
Then, walking on tiptoes, he reached a certain large window and knocked a few times with his little hand, which was red from the cold.
Knock, knock, knock.
Soon, the curtains behind the window were pulled back, revealing a spacious study inside and a boy several years older than him.
As soon as the window was pushed open, Yu Xi couldn’t wait to call out in a milky voice, “Brother Chuanzhou!”
“Shh.” Gu Chuanzhou gestured for him to be quiet, his brows knitting slightly. “Didn’t I tell you not to come? It’s so cold and snowing.”
“But… but, I wanted to share something good with Brother.” Yu Xi pursed his lips, his already baby-fat face puffing out even more. He took out the thing he was holding in his arms. “Brother, look!”
It was a roasted sweet potato.
It was a bit flattened. Under the broken skin was a sweet, red, and soft core.
It was still steaming; clearly, Yu Xi had rushed over to bring it to him not long after getting it.
“This is very delicious, Brother.”
Yu Xi tried his best to stretch his arms, bringing the sweet potato in front of Gu Chuanzhou.
Gu Chuanzhou reached out, but he didn’t take the sweet potato. Instead, he gathered Yu Xi’s frozen hands into his palms.
“Brother?” Yu Xi tilted his head. “Does Brother not like roasted sweet potatoes?”
“I don’t.”
Gu Chuanzhou said, and then added before Yu Xi could feel sad, “But I like the ones Xixi gives me.”
Yu Xi laughed. “Brother, you talk so strangely. How can you say you don’t like it and then say you do?”
A bit of a smile also flickered on Gu Chuanzhou’s face. “It means Brother will like anything Xixi gives me.”
“I knew it.” Yu Xi hopped a couple of times happily. “Then from now on when I come to find you, you aren’t allowed to chase me away.”
Gu Chuanzhou held his hands and pressed his face against them, helping him dispel the cold faster. “Then will Xixi always stay with Brother?”
Yu Xi nodded, but then said dejectedly, “But I have to go to school, Brother. Once I’m in school, I won’t be here anymore.”
“It’s alright. No matter how long it takes, I will wait for you here.”
“As long as Xixi remembers to come back and find me.”
In Gu Chuanzhou’s eyes was something little Yu Xi couldn’t understand at that age.
But he agreed to Gu Chuanzhou’s words without hesitation.
He had not forgotten his promise with Gu Chuanzhou.
He also remembered that the snow that day was very heavy, but Gu Chuanzhou’s hands holding his were very, very warm.
It was just that the grown-up version of him wasn’t as courageous as when he was little—able to sneak past all the adults in the heavy snow and squeeze through the railings to see him.
Fortunately, this time, Gu Chuanzhou had taken the initiative to come.
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