Good Night, Liang Xiao

Ye Ji’an was not dazed this time. Almost sprinting, he retreated back into the room, only to hear the door close with a loud bang.

It was as if he was a rebellious teenager from a TV drama avoiding his parents’ nagging during a meal or a thief who’d stupidly trespassed into a haunted mansion and ended up being chased by a female ghost. The door was slammed so hard that the key left in the keyhole shook.

A few unhappy mumbles sounded from outside before silence settled once again. Ye Ji’an hurriedly put on a pair of grey sweatpants, then a pair of socks, before buttoning up the two buttons on his shirt that he’d previously left unbuttoned. Only then did he finally go back to the door.

The windows were wide open and the north wind was blowing in. The sky outside was a beautiful azure. The air in the bedroom was so fresh that it could sober one up in an instant.

Ye Ji’an placed a hand on the doorknob and was right about to step out when he suddenly hesitated a little. This stemmed from a small amount of reluctance and a heap of awkwardness—he seemed to have overreacted earlier. His actions were rather impolite as well.

Now that he thought about it, the visitor had referred to Liang Xiao as “Young Master”. She was probably a nanny who frequently helped Liang Xiao with household tasks.

Though she had come to do her job, she was nevertheless still a guest and an elder to boot… but he’d locked her out without a single word just like that.

But what could he even say to ease the atmosphere after heading out?

In any case, Ye Ji’an could not continue hiding. Marx was peacefully staying outside; he couldn’t let himself be inferior to a lizard. Hence, Ye Ji’an opened the door and headed to the living room—only to see that the sweeping robot had already started. The nanny had also started wiping the coffee table as if nothing had happened earlier.

“Hello,” Ye Ji’an greeted, clearing his throat. “May I know how to refer to you?”

The nanny laughed while looking at him with a pair of astute eyes.

“You’ve given me quite the scare! My surname is Hu, you can call me Hu Ma. I’m the old nanny of Xiaoxiao’s family. I’ve been working for them for more than two decades!”

“Aye.” Despite his agreement, Ye Ji’an could not bring himself to use that form of address.1 “I’ll get you a cup of water. We’ve got Tieguanyin, Dahongpao, Pu’er, lattes and black sesame paste. Oh, and grapefruit juice as well, the kind mixed with hot water.”

“Just plain water will do!” Hu Ma was even more carefree with her laughter this time. She briskly wiped the coffee table clean before walking off to deal with the heating pipe.

Hu Ma watched as Ye Ji’an slid his way past the sweeping robot moving erratically around and placed the glass on the coffee table.

“Xiaoxiao likes drinking that type of juice the most.”

In his heart, Ye Ji’an replied I know. Would you like me to make you another cup?

However, these words weren’t spoken in the end. Instead, Ye Ji’an replied, “He went downstairs to buy breakfast.”

“He’s running such an errand? It’s been tough for him,” Hu Ma contentedly drank half a cup of warm water and peered at Ye Ji’an from the corner of her eyes.

“Why are you standing there in a daze? Wash your face and brush your teeth.”

Ye Ji’an entered the bathroom obediently.

By the time he’d freshened up and opened the door once more, Ye Ji’an could already hear a small commotion in the living room. Liang Xiao had returned.

“I’ve told you already, there’s really no need for all this.”

This was Liang Xiao’s voice.

“Oh, dear. But Young Master, you should take a good look at what you’ve bought. Do you have any idea what kind of oil the dough sticks were fried in? And we can’t even tell what kind of meat was used in these steamed buns. And your porridge—just one look at its consistency already tells me that it wasn’t made with good rice.”

Hu Ma’s voice was filled with exasperation.

“Looks like I really do need to prepare some convenient foods that you can eat after heating them up. My goodness, it’s the New Year’s period, I can’t leave you in such a tragic state.”

“Senior cooks and I wash the dishes. It’s not tragic at all.”

“How’s his cooking?”

“Amazing. He’s as good as a real chef.”

“Then… are you sure you’re able to wash dishes? You’re too lazy and you’re so busy at work. I can’t help but worry all day.”

“I’ve learnt.”

“Ah, what a miracle, I have to tell the Old Master,” Hu Ma sighed. “I noticed that your house is well-stocked with tea and beverages. There are vegetables and fruits in the fridge too. Were these all prepared by Director Ye?”

“Yes, Senior brought them over from his home.”

“Not only is he competent at work, but he is also quite good at taking care of people. Is that right?”

“He’s great. If you want to praise him, you should tell him straight instead of discussing him with me behind his back.”

“Hasn’t he gone to wash up! Young people like you two always get up too late,” Hu Ma retorted. She then lowered her voice.

“I think he looks more spirited than he does in the photo. He doesn’t look thirty-five.”

Ye Ji’an coincidentally had great hearing and he heard the words loud and clear. He thought to himself: They’re holding my commendation ceremony outside. I really shouldn’t be eavesdropping in the corner. 

Ye Ji’an walked through the corridor and came to the living room, only to see the breakfast that Hu Ma had criticized laid out on the coffee table. Liang Xiao was already sitting on the sofa.

He had not removed his down jacket yet and a closed-off expression hung on his face. Upon seeing Ye Ji’an, he stood up immediately and even smiled.

“I’ll leave you guys to chat.” Hu Ma turned away and started wiping the gecko box on the display shelf. “Don’t mind me.”

Ye Ji’an pushed Liang Xiao back down and took a seat beside him. He whispered, “What’s the stuffing in the Xiao Long Bao?”

“Carrot and pork.” Liang Xiao seemed a little unhappy at the mention of the steamed buns. “Senior, don’t eat it, it’s not clean.”

“My Young Master got up early to buy it for me. Naturally, I have to eat it,” Ye Ji’an said and picked up the plastic bag. Untying it, he brought one bun to his mouth.

“There’s always a long queue at the stall downstairs. You must’ve waited for quite a while, right?”

Liang Xiao still had a dark expression on his face. “I went down at half-past nine.”

“There’s always a long queue because they taste great. I’ve been craving this for so long; the buns are never ready when I head out.”

Ye Ji’an brought the bun he’d just taken a bite out of to Liang Xiao’s lips. “Try it?”

Liang Xiao’s eyes were glued straight to his face, he opened his mouth to hold it, and bit his finger as he swallowed.

“Is it dirty?” Ye Ji’an smiled and wiped at the soup on his lower lip.

Liang Xiao finally smiled. “Nope.”

The two happily ate breakfast. Although they were disdained by Mother Hu, the fried dough sticks were still crispy, the eight-treasure porridge was still warm, and the several cold side dishes still had their own unique flavours.

Liang Xiao waited until Hu Ma entered the other rooms to clean before asking, “Does your head hurt?”

“Just a little,” Ye Ji’an put down the porridge bowl and leaned back on the sofa cushion. “The day after tomorrow is the Lunar New Year’s Eve. I have no intention of going anywhere today.”

“I’m not going anywhere either.” Liang Xiao followed him in relaxing on the sofa. It was bright and early in the morning and the sun’s warmth on their stomachs felt rather comfortable.

“How did you feel last night?”

Ye Ji’an leaned on him. The surface of Liang Xiao’s down jacket was already warm from the sun and his face sunk into the puffy fabric.

“Give me some time to find the right words….Oh, yes. It was unforgettable.”

Laughter burst out from Liang Xiao. “Aren’t you exaggerating a little too much?”

“When are we going to try something a little more intense? You seem to have a hard time enduring it.” Ye Ji’an gently scratched the smooth fabric of the down jacket with the tips of his fingernails.

“It’s rare for us to get a vacation and free time.”

Against Ye Ji’an’s expectations, Liang Xiao turned his face away and refused to look at him upon hearing these words. “There’s no need to rush this.”

Ye Ji’an dragged out his words. “Ohhh—so it’s Professor Liang-kovsky’s theory of taking things slow.”

Liang Xiao turned back to face him and suddenly wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. “Senior accepted it too quickly. It feels like a dream to me.”

Ye Ji’an thought to himself: Aren’t attraction and love mysterious and impulsive things? Besides, I’m not a particularly shy person. You only need to touch and kiss me to get me hard; why wouldn’t I let you go all the way? I’ve done a lot of homework already, okay?

The more he thought about it, the more Ye Ji’an felt inexplicably angry. He rapped at Liang Xiao’s forehead and glared at him. “You’re wide awake now.”

Liang Xiao’s ears had actually turned red—though he did not try to hide them the way he used to. Pressing the tip of his nose against Ye Ji’an’s, Liang Xiao blinked and said, “We’ll have to get some items. Condoms, lubricants and all that. Senior, do you want to accompany in buying those?”

“…Sure, I have to buy some New Year’s goods as well. We’re not part of the Fifth Ring areas2, so we can grab some firecrackers too.”

Finally, it was Ye Ji’an’s turn to get embarrassed. After some thought, he added, “But you probably have to return home on New Year’s Eve and the day of the New Year to spend some time with your father, right?”

“My family doesn’t have the habit of celebrating the Lunar New Year,” Liang Xiao said naturally. “We don’t celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Day either. It’s alright for me to not return for most of the festivals. The only exception is the Qingming Festival, where we’ll pray to our ancestors.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to do a quick visit? Isn’t your family staying locally?”

“My dad has gone on vacation. There’s no one at home.”

Liang Xiao removed his down jacket, gathered Ye Ji’an back into his arms, and stroked his temples.

“How about you, senior? I remember you mentioning a younger brother in addition to your parents.”

Ye Ji’an smiled. “I haven’t gone home for more than ten years. I didn’t visit when my brother got married. When he celebrated his kid’s full month, he didn’t even bother extending an invitation.”

Liang Xiao seemed a little surprised, but he simply nodded and didn’t ask any further questions.

Ye Ji’an added, “I call them and send them some money yearly. They don’t expect much more from me anyway.”

Liang Xiao frowned slightly and was just about to speak when Hu Ma walked out of the bedroom, sweating profusely.

With her hands on her hips, she hollered, “Xiaoxiao, Director Ye, come over, come over, I brought lots of goodies. I’ll teach you how to prepare these!”

Liang Xiao and Ye Ji’an got up and went over humbly.

“When the Old Master comes back from… What was it? Yes, Hawaii… I’ve got to tell him all about this.”

Seeing Ye Ji’an listen with an attentive ear and even have some bare-bones research on how Jinhua ham should be cooked, Mother Hu was overjoyed.

“His precious son finally has someone he likes!”

Liang Xiao placed a hand over his eyes. “Please don’t tell him nonsense, I’ll let him know myself when the time is right.”

Mother Hu tapped the floor with the ham. “You think he doesn’t know anything?”

Liang Xiao loudly corrected, “Introducing Ye Ji’an to him is completely different from him gathering information on his own!”

Ye Ji’an had been suppressing his laughter so much that the corners of his mouth had already gone numb.

Hu Ma didn’t leave until late in the afternoon that day. Before she left, she even prepared a hearty dinner for them—even the millet porridge had been stewed with chopped sea cucumber.

Ye Ji’an finally experienced the indolent luxury of a capitalist life. In the span of a day, their windows had become bright and clean and they had eaten and drunk their fill. Even Marx’s nest, where a sun lamp had been installed, received some maintenance.

The only thing they had to do was to wash the dishes after dinner. Ye Ji’an competed against Liang Xiao who could wash the dishes faster and deliberately slowed down a little. Liang Xiao, on the other hand, was not pleased with this and bumped his shoulder in a warning to take the competition seriously.

They didn’t toss about much that night. The bedroom was dark and they were playing a movie. Liang Xiao was leaning against the soft headrest while Ye Ji’an leaned against him.

When the hero and heroine kissed on-screen, they would kiss off-screen. However, the latter half of the movie was more action-packed and Liang Xiao fell asleep after only a while. He didn’t seem to need the lights turned on all the way. Half a tablet of sleeping drugs lay on the bedside table untouched.

Ye Ji’an turned off the TV and wrote down this milestone in his planner.

The words “good sleep” were placed right below the previous night’s entry of “our first time”.

Soon, Ye Ji’an followed Liang Xiao into slumber.

Who would set an alarm on a holiday when they had nothing to do? This was a question that had no definitive answer. At the very least, two office workers who worried daily about sudden death due to a lack of sleep would not.

The next day, Ye Ji’an woke up to the ringing of his mobile phone. Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Filip Pagowski’s red heart on Liang Xiao’s T-shirt. The owner of it was still asleep.

Carefully restraining his strength, Ye Ji’an lifted the arms encircling him and tapped at his phone to check.

The number was not one he wanted to see, but it was also one that he could not easily hang up on. Left without a choice, Ye Ji’an got up from the bed and headed to the balcony to answer.

The call ended after a little more than five minutes. When he hung up, the time was still not quite nine in the morning. Ye Ji’an was only wearing a tank top and shorts and shivered from the cold.

Ye Ji’an was about to go back to bed. Turning around, he realized that Liang Xiao was already up. Dressed in a short-sleeved top and pants just like Ye Ji’an, he was standing beside a small banana tree and watching him quietly.

“Come back to sleep with me.” Ye Ji’an placed his phone on the windowsill, seemingly not planning to bring it with him.

“Let’s head out later in the afternoon to buy some stuff.”

“Was that a work-related matter?” Liang Xiao asked, grabbing his wrist and leading him back to their warm bedroom.

“No, it was from an orphanage on the Xishan side. Very close by.” Ye Ji settled down and added, “I’ll donate to several orphanages all over the country before New Year’s every year. Children deserve to eat some good food and play with some new toys during such a festive season. Perhaps it’s because this orphanage knows I live in the same city; they’ll invite me yearly to participate in some of their activities and play with the children. Stuff like making dumplings together and whatnot.”

Liang Xiao sat beside him on the edge of the bed. “Senior rejected it?”

“Yeah, the little money I donated doesn’t amount to much. It’s not like I want to adopt a kid, so it’ll be really embarrassing if I went.”

Ye Ji’an smiled, his downcast gaze fixed on his knees. “Besides, I don’t know how to interact with them either. The kids are probably even more reluctant to play with me. I’m probably just a strange, tired and uninteresting uncle to them.”

“So Senior doesn’t want to go.”

“That’s not it,” Ye Ji’an blurted out before closing his mouth again. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m just a little… scared? I don’t know.”

“Then I’ll accompany Senior there.”

“Huh?”

“Senior is not a strange, tired and boring uncle. I’m sure the children would love you,” Liang Xiao rubbed Ye Ji’an’s shoulder with a smile on his face. “I haven’t made dumplings before. I want you to teach me how to make them too.”

1

胡妈/Hu Ma sounds like 虎妈 (tiger mom, a term used to refer to strict Asian moms)

2

Cities in China may be separated into smaller areas. Some of these areas may ban the setting off of firecrackers