Ex-boyfriend

　He was striving for regular treatment[1].

　　So, it was a pity that Xu Yue was not ready to relent.

　　Chu Yi didn’t seem to care for the cold treatment. He started preparing half a month in advance and bought a bunch of various nutrition and health products. When Xu Yue was about to drive home during the Spring Festival holiday, he took shotgun seat[2] and refused to budge. Xu Yue’s hometown was in the suburbia, beyond the outskirts of the city. The drive would take more than an hour and if he did not leave immediately, he would not be home until dark. Ultimately, he was forced to take Chu Yi along.

　　Chu Yi was in an excellent mood along the way, humming songs and eating snacks, a bit like a kid who was finally taken along on a long-awaited outing.

　　Xu Yue, at times, envied[3] him a lot.

　　In Chu Yi’s view, he himself was the centre of the universe, and the rest of the world must revolve around him. Such a person, admittedly thick-skinned, would live jubilantly.

　　So much so that Xu Yue was attracted to him because of that (self-centredness).

　　Xu Yue asked as he drove, “If you don’t go home for the New Year celebration, won’t your dad nag?”

　　Chu Yi waved his hand and said nonchalantly, “He only cares about my precious elder brother. It would be weird if he cared.”

　　His couldn’t-carless-attitude made others care that much more about him.

Xu Yue was silent for a while and tacitly acquiesced to taking Chu Yi to his home.

　　An hour later, Xu Yue’s car stopped below a residential building. Xu Yue’s parents lived in an old-fashioned apartment without an elevator. The pile of health care products that Chu Yi had bought practically filled the trunk and had to be hauled up with much difficulty.

　　Xu’s parents knew of their son’s homecoming. They had cooked a table full of dishes (quiet) early and waited.

Chu Yi did not lack in discretion. As soon as he walked in, he saluted, “(Hello) uncle and aunt!” Then he introduced himself, “I’m A’Yue’s old classmate. My parents have flown abroad to spend the New Year with my brother. I was alone at home, so tagged along with A’Yue to mooch a meal[4]. You guys won’t mind, would you?”

　　He was very tactful, careful not to cause Xu Yue any kind of discomfort or awkwardness.

　　Xu Yue’s parents were very warm and hospitable. So of course, they welcomed him.

　　Chu Yi was handsome and silver-tongued. When he was keen on pleasing, he could make people feel like they were being bathed in spring breeze. After a meal, Xu Yue’s parents were charmed into utterly delighted guffaws, and all thoughts about their own son were thrown to the back of their minds. Chu Yi spoke very skilfully. When talking about the situation at his home, he deliberately created an image of rather pitiful Chu Chu[5].

　　Xu Yue’s mother felt distressed on his behalf when she heard about it. She insisted, “Since your family is abroad, why don’t you stay? Let’s celebrate the New Year together.”

　　“(Even after the festival,) feel free to come over whenever you like,” Xu Yue’s father added.

　　Chu Yi beamed and agreed.

　　Xu Yue glanced at him, then lowered his head and continued to eat.

　　After eating, Chu Yi watched TV and chatted with Xu Yue’s parents for a while. Then he followed Xu Yue into his room. Xu Yue’s house was not big. There were only two bedrooms and one living room in total. Naturally, Chu Yi had to squeezed into a room with him at night. Xu Yue’s room décor had not changed since his school days. There is no TV in the room but there was a large bookcase. The shelves of which were full of reference books for the college entrance examination, occasionally mixed with several martial arts novels and geography magazines.

　　Chu Yi scouted the room as if patrolling his own territory and only sat down by the bed when he was done. The bedsheets and quilt covers were all new. They were probably sun-dried just that afternoon and had lingering fragrance of sunshine.

　　Once he sat down, Chu Yi refused to get up.

　　Xu Yue had to repeatedly urge him to take a bath.

　　The bathroom in Xu Yue’s house was not big and he worried that Young Master Chu would not be used to it. hence, he didn’t expect Chu Yi to wash up smoothly.

　　He wore a set of Xu Yue’s old pajamas. The sleeves were slightly long on Chu Yi but once it was rolled up, it was just fine. He did not blow-dry his hair and walked out with it dripping wet.

　　Xu Yue found him a dry towel and said, “Dry your hair already!”

　　Chu Yi sat back on the bed and said, “Help me.”

　　Xu Yue glared at him.

　　Chu Yi remained unfazed, just tilted his head up and wholeheartedly waited for Xu Yue to wipe his hair, as though waiting for a kiss.

　　Xu Yue did not know whether to hoot or to be mad, but walked over in the end.

　　Soon enough Chu Yi took advantage of the situation, slumped back and fell onto Xu Yue’s chest. While luxuriating he asked, “We’ll sleep together, right?”

　“No,” Xu Yue lowered his head to wipe Chu Yi’s hair and said, “You’ll sleep on the floor. Alone.”

　“Alright! Doing it on the floor is sorta special.”

　　Xu Yue said solemnly, “My parents are next door.”

　　Chu Yi laughed and said, “Just kidding.”

　　Xu Yue rubbed his hair with a towel and chastised, “Don’t mess around.”

　　As he said that, the motion of his hands came to a pause.

　　Chu Yi asked, “What’s wrong?”

　　Xu Yue took a closer look and announced, “There is a white hair.”

　　Chu Yi let out a prolonged “Oh!” and said, “Its normal to have white hair at this age.”

　　Xu Yue reminded, “We are of the same age.”

　“Yeah! So A’Yue, you are not too young anymore. Stop hooking up with little gals[6]. Well, (just) hooking up with young lads is no good either.”

　“Do you think everyone is like you?”

　　Chu Yi laughed. He half leaned against Xu Yue’s arms and suddenly said, “A’Yue, I’m going to dye my hair. Mmm… how about dying it white?”

　“Are you crazy? Its New Year’s and you want to dye your hair white[7]?”

　“To live together until the hair turns white[8]!” Chu Yi closed his eyes lightly and whispered wistfully, “A’Yue, I want to grow old with you.”

[1] To be treated as boyfriend, rather than as friend with benefits. Kun Yi Wei Lou wrote ‘转正待遇’ ‘zhuǎn zhèng dài yù’ which means ‘treatment befitting someone who has full membership’. This refers to the define the relationship convo they had in Chapter 4 wherein Xu Yue said that their physical relationship is going to be a one-off.  Chu Yi replied that there are going to be many more such encounters and sooner or later Xu Yue would ‘subscribe for a lifetime’.

[2] front passenger seat

[3]羡慕 Xiànmù which can also mean ‘to admire; to begrudge’.

[4] Free-load

[5] Childishly cute way of repeating name to make it sound lovely. Actually, Kun Yi Wei Lou wrote ‘楚楚’ ‘chǔ chǔ’ which literally means ‘lovely; neat’.

[6] Kun Yi Wei Lou wrote ‘可别再惦记着勾搭小姑娘了。’ ‘kě bié zài diànjìzhe gōudā xiǎo gūniángle.’  which is literally ‘Don’t bother hooking up with little gals.’. Chu Yi is advising Xu Yue to settle down.

[7] White color is associated with death and mourning among other sad stuff. So, it is particularly inauspicious during the festive occasion of Chinese New Year.

[8] 白头偕老 bái tóu xié lǎo – to remain happily married to a ripe old age; until death do us part.