ehess: 020-03

 

020-03

“Then it’s settled, I’ll pick you up at your apartment tomorrow morning. I’ll hang up now.” Li Dong said, and then he hung up the phone neatly.

He found that the young man standing in front of him was wearing a funny expression, as if he was awfully pissed on.

“What’s wrong?” Li Dong raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you okay?"

"He is the type you prefer now..." Gu Xichen stared at Li Dong in disbelief. He thought it was ridiculous: "How could you like this kind of person? I thought only vulgar people would like this kind of person."

Li Dong raised his eyebrows. His eyes looked mischievous as he acquiesced: "Then just think of me as a vulgar person."

"You're not, so I don't understand why you are like this now?" When Xichen had only just left, Yu Bai was too young and inexperienced, and Xichen had no confidence in his feelings, so he chose not to touch him. But getting married was not a good alternative. Now, he is divorced. "Even if you don't like me and don't want to be with me, I don't approve of you being with such a person."

"Why are you so similar to my brother..." Li Dong frowned. Now that he mentioned it, indeed, in the original work, Gu Xichen's feelings for Han Yubai were the same as the feelings of an elder brother for his younger brother. Why come back to accept Han Yubai now? But it was a puzzle: "Forget it, if you want to interfere with what kind of partner I am looking for, then there is no need for us to talk anymore"

“Yu Bai.” Gu Xichen was very surprised.

“I’m incredibly tired. I’ll go to my room and go to bed now.” Li Dong pushed Xichen out of the way by his shoulder and passed him by.

Xichen looked at Li Dong’s back as he went into his room. He frowned, unable to believe it. How could this little brother of his, whom he had watched grow up, transform like this?

As he was returning to China, he never even considered for a second that Han Yubai would reject him.

Whether you want to be with Han Yubai or not depends on the situation. Truthfully, Xichen never really took it seriously. Xichen didn’t really have such strong feelings for Yubai, but he did think of Yubai as a follower of his, who would follow his every whim.

“Xichen,” Han Tianlin came up behind Xichen and put his hand on his shoulder. “Yubai told me that he-”

“Doesn’t like me anymore, right?” Gu Xichen said slightly.

Tianlin nodded. “Tell me honestly, do you truly like Yubai?”

“You know me—some things I won’t say easily unless I’m sure I’ll win.” He told Han Tianlin bluntly.

“Then I won’t interfere about this matter anymore.” Han Tianlin believed that Gu Xichen would not hurt Han Yubai, but he didn’t want to interfere anymore.

The next morning, at half past nine on Sunday:

Li Dong drove to the front of Xi Xingling’s apartment. He called Xi Xingling to let him know that he was here. “I’m downstairs.”

A harsh noise immediately came from the other end of the call, leaving Li Dong speechless.

He sighed and said: “You can take your time, no worries.”

“Woo… I haven’t chosen what clothes to wear…” Xi Xingling sobbed. He was now wearing a bathrobe and kneeling in front of his wardrobe in despair. “I feel as if my entire wardrobe has no good looking clothes, and there is not a single one that is presentable!”

“...” Oh my god.

“My hairstyle is so ugly, and I have acne on my face. I’m going to die!” Xingling complained wildly into the phone.

“Have you put on your shoes?”

“I haven’t even thought about the clothes I’ll wear yet. How can I be in a mood to think about shoes?” Xingling hugged his head and cried harder hearing Li Dong mention shoes. “I don’t think I have any presentable shoes either…”

“You are simply poisonous.” Li Dong facepalmed. “I’ll be up in a bit. Please open the door for me.”

“Okay, then come up quickly!” He immediately stopped crying as he heard this, as it was more important to see Li Dong in a good state.

Li Dong arrived at Xingling’s door, and when he looked up, he saw Xingling shivering at the door in his bathrobe. His eyes were watery from the cold, and he looked very pitiful.

Li Dong’s mouth twitched, and he walked over. “I’ll pick out an outfit for you. You just take care of getting dressed quickly.”

“You didn’t even kiss me hello…” Xi Xingling came over and hugged Li Dong. He hung on Li Dong’s arm and complained: "You called me last night and I couldn't sleep well the whole night."

I woke up this morning and saw that I had broken out. It was so sad.

"Are you worried?" Li Dong walked into Xi Xingling's bedroom. When he saw the clothes on the bed, he suddenly showed a fearful expression.

With so many clothes, Xingling still says that he has nothing good-looking to wear.

Li Dong bent over and picked a very sexy sweater with holes and threw it aside. Wearing something like this in cold weather made him want to freeze to death. With his absolutely masculine aesthetics, he picked out a decent set of clothes that suited his tastes and threw them to Xi Xingling. “This looks good, put it on quickly.”

“What’s so good about this?” Xi Xingling muttered. “This outfit is possibly the ugliest in my wardrobe.” Not even one of the ugliest.

“The color is nice and the style is nice. Just wear it.”

Xi Xingling shut up and just put on the clothes obediently in front of Li Dong. He then tidied up his hair, cleaned up his face, and put on some accessories. He never complained again.

“Take this backpack.” Li Dong said resolutely. It only took him five minutes to pick an outfit for Xingling to go out, including shoes, scarves, a lipstick color, and other small details.

“Does this really look good?” Xi Xingling questioned in a small voice. He stood in front of the mirror and turned around, worried that he would not make Li Dong look good when he walked out like this because he seemed too ordinary.

“Why wouldn’t you look good?” Li Dong glanced at him and said, “You’re not going out to a formal ball. Why do you need such fancy clothes?”

“I don’t want to embarrass you—he is the person you used to like after all…” XI Xingling muttered. There was only anxiety all over his face, no jealousy or sourness at all, and he was too scared to ask whether or not Li Dong still like that person.

“If you show up with such a long face, you’ve already embarrassed the both of us.” Li Dong said as he walked out of the bedroom and prepared to leave.

“Second Young Master, wait for me!” Xingling quickly and madly made some final adjustments, and then picked up his backpack and chased after Li Dong.

The clothes Li Dong chose for XI XIngling today were mainly to keep him warm. Of course, he didn’t seem as fashionable as usual, more like a brother from next door.

However, Xi XIngling had a tender face and fair skin, and he is also tall and thin. His youthful energy will completely overpower Gu Xichen, who is in his late twenties and is about to enter his thirties.

translator’s notes:

this novel translation is so slow-going, i'm so sorry to whoever is still reading this :(

 PREVIOUS   TOC   NEXT