Are You Addicted?

Bai Luo Yin merely snorted, "I"ve never eaten dumplings that delicious before."

Unperturbed at those words, Gu Hai"s abstruse eyes fixed closely at the side of this face. Those tough and robust lines that smoothed out and flowed along his face was strikingly similar to a painting, and the silhouette of these familiar features were drawn to invoke an even more mature and handsome appearance. The only thing that has not changed was that stubborn and unbending mouth of his. Just like eight years ago, the corners of his lips proudly curved upward. As time went on, the intense colours of youth has faded into a soft mature red with a layer of solemness and magnanimous smeared across his lips.  

An unraveling feeling gripped at Gu Hai"s chest, charming a thought to surface into his mind. He truly wanted to take a bite of those lips just to see what the sweet and mellow taste that sealed it from eight years ago has changed to.

The smoke perversely coiled out and mingled with Gu Hai"s breath, creating a thin layer that aimed to fill the room. Suddenly, as the atmosphere around them seemed to have been set ablaze, Bai Luo Yin subconsciously shifted his head to the side, causing Gu Hai to touch the empty s.p.a.ce between them instead.

"I"m leaving," said Bai Luo Yin as he stood up.

Gu Hai immediately took hold of his arm while a smile flowed to the corner of his lips, "Let me invite you to dinner today."

"There"s no need for that." Bai Luo Yin said, then calmly pushed away Gu Hai"s warm hand, "We are not doing business here, so it"s not necessary to settle anything."

"Don"t say it like that. Even brothers have to settle their debt with each other clearly. Besides, we aren"t even blood related."

Bai Luo Yin"s neck stiffened, "Today, I……"

"You don"t want to take a look at my place?" said Gu Hai, promptly interrupting Bai Luo Yin"s refusal.

Giving him a glance, Bai Luo Yin"s expressions changed several times, and then he jokingly yet somewhat seriously faced Gu Hai and asked, "Do you want me to see your place or your wedding house?"

"What"s the difference?" Gu Hai faintly replied with a distant look in his eyes.

Bai Luo Yin"s heart sank as those words pierced through his chest, "There"s no difference at all. Let"s go."

Gu Hai"s new place was in Xīchéng Qū,[1] located in central Beijing, and was a little over 100 square meters. Compared to his other place, it was considered to be relatively small but it was more than enough for one person to live in. There was only one bedroom and the largest s.p.a.ce was used as the gym. Gu Hai intentionally gave Bai Luo Yin a tour, as expected, everything was comparatively cleaner than his own room. Bai Luo Yin subconsciously glanced at the bed, noting that there were two sets of blankets and pillows.

"When are you getting married?" Bai Luo Yin asked.

Not hearing any response, Bai Luo Yin turned around only to see that Gu Hai was no longer behind him.

He walked over to his work station and looked around for a while before noticing that Gu Hai"s personal laptop was on. And, flashing brightly as the screensaver was a photo of two people at the beach. With just one glimpse, Bai Luo Yin froze in place, unable to tear his eyes away as some unknown force tightly gripped his heart, leaving behind feelings that he could not depict. He swayed the mouse left and right in an attempt to escape that photo but in the end, he merely discovered that the desktop background was the same photo.

Unable to shake this inexplicable feeling away, Bai Luo Yin absentmindedly sat down in front of the laptop, and without any reason at all, he replaced both the screensaver and desktop background with something else.

At the moment, Gu Hai was in the kitchen cooking.

Bai Luo Yin leaned against the kitchen doorway with a cigarette hanging all too loosely in his mouth and quietly watched as Gu Hai"s stern silhouette bustled about.

He still looks the same as before, with a solemn and cold exterior, yet gentle and diligent heart. Sometimes, he"s ferocious and pieced together with a touch of vulgarity and deceit, while other times, he straightforward, generous and open-minded. He can be cold, detached and merciless to those he hates, yet cherish and care for the person he loves with all his heart. This kind of man who has such an awe-inspiring presence, professionally successful, dotes and cherishes his lover……is the knight in shining armor that dwells in countless women"s dream.  

He also once……completely and…unconditionally belonged only to me.

As Gu Hai placed the food into the center of the frying pan, his skillful movements were accompanied by the crispy sound of cooking.

Out of nowhere, Bai Luo Yin threw out a sentence, "The finest Mr. Perfect. Tall, rich and handsome."

Hearing the faint noise behind him, Gu Hai twisted his head toward Bai Luo Yin, and as he continued to cook, he asked, "What did you say?"

Bai Luo Yin slowly blew out a mouthful of smoke and forced a smile as he looked straight at Gu Hai, "The beautiful employee that you sent to negotiate last time talked up a storm and incessantly praised you in front of me, saying that "our president is a charming romantic, whose elegant, easy-going, talented, good-looking, honest towards others, wholeheartedly devoted to only one person, and has a strong sense of responsibility……and he knows how to earn a fortune as well as do housework." So, I should definitely consider collaborating."

Picking up his eyes, Gu Hai deliberately asked, "Then, are you tempted?"

Without answering, Bai Luo Yin simply turned around and walked away.

Several small dishes were placed on the table, along with two plates of dumplings that Gu Hai had made with his own hands.

When Bai Luo Yin looked at the table full of food, an indescribable feeling of sorrow sprang in his heart. And, just as he was about to express his feelings, he heard Gu Hai —who was obediently sitting across from him— say, "Take this meal as my pity towards you, Mr. Bachelor!"

The joy that filled Bai Luo Yin"s hot-blooded heart was swiftly diluted by those words. Looking at those piping hot dumplings, he could no longer help but to pick up a piece. At first, he thought that it was the zucchini and egg filled dumpling, but after he promptly bit into it, he discovered that it was the fennel and pork filled one instead. With just one taste, Bai Luo Yin"s heart was overtaken with disappointment even though he did not reveal it. He simply chewed and chewed, then forcefully swallowed.

Watching him, Gu Hai picked up a dumpling from another plate and gave it to Bai Luo Yin. Bai Luo Yin casually bit it open without much expectation but the moment the soft pastry split opened, it was unexpectedly filled with zucchini and egg. A slight hint of happiness appeared in his eyes as he impatiently took another nip. There was a light sweet scent permeating from the dumpling, and the inside was also filled with shrimp and an ample savory[2] hint of broth that tickled all his five basic tastes. It has been eight years since he had eaten a dumpling with this filling.

After he finished eating that piece, Bai Luo Yin wanted to grab another one but just as his chopsticks reached toward that plate, it suddenly paused in midair.

How am I supposed to pick now?!

It is unlikely that I"ll lose face even if I pick the fennel filled one but I just don"t like to eat it! I love to eat the zucchini and egg filled ones but I can"t pick it! If I do, I"d definitely be exposed!!

f.u.c.k! You had to use this meal as a scheme to trap me!

In the end, Bai Luo Yin came up with a solution. Since he has to eat the zucchini and eggs filled ones by all means, and cannot avoid the fennel ones, he will pair the two together. As a result, he grabbed one of each filling from the left and right plates. In this way, neither plate was neglected.

Let"s see what you have to say now!

In truth, before Bai Luo Yin had even eaten both of the dumplings, Gu Hai had already seen through all of his thoughts and actions. The only thing was he chose not to reveal it. As he watched Bai Luo Yin wolf the food in front of him down, without saying even one word to him, he did not feel pleased at all. Instead, only a touch of sorrow beckoned instead. When he saw Bai Luo Yin stiffly stuffing the dumpling he does not like into his mouth, he felt especially upset. He should have not made those dumplings to mess with Bai Luo Yin, since he knew without a doubt which filling he loved most.

Just as Bai Luo Yin was about to grab another fennel filled dumpling, the plate had suddenly disappeared.

"That"s enough. There"s no need to pretend anymore. I know that you"re a f.u.c.king lonely person who doesn"t have anyone to care for you!"

Gu Hai has already placed the plate of fennel filled dumplings in front of himself, and then one by one he ate them until it was all gone in just a short moment.

This seemingly simple meal was eaten with much heartache filled emotions and sorrow. It was to the point that although Bai Luo Yin nearly ate all the food presented to him on the table, he however could not remember what he had eaten. All he remembered was that those food were exceptionally delicious, just like how it was in the past.

After they were done, Gu Hai went to wash the dishes while Bai Luo Yin sat in the living room waiting for him. By the time Gu Hai was completely done tidying up everything, he walked over only to see that Bai Luo Yin was leaning into the sofa sound asleep.  

Gu Hai quietly walked over to Bai Luo Yin and stood beside him. Just as his eyes hung low to carefully look at him, an illusion suddenly emerged from the depths of his mind. He felt that they were still in their home from eight years ago and each was still the same person from then. These strange outfits that they wore now were nothing more than decorations they needed for their characters in a play. They were merely role-playing like in the old days.

They have always been together.

Normally, Bai Luo Yin is always on guard when he is sleeping in his own dorm, yet now that he was here, he doesn"t know whether it was because the room was extremely warm or was it something else, but he slept very soundly. Even when someone touched his body, he was not aware of it at all.

Gu Hai crouched down, and lightly tugged Bai Luo Yin"s hand.

From memory, it was no longer the same distinctive joints that he felt before. This fair and relaxed hand now had calluses on every finger and two fingernails had grown in a distorted position as if it has sustained some sort of injury. Gu Hai does not know at all that this scar was the remnant of when Bai Luo Yin pried at the steel plate all those year ago.

Naturally, compared to the wounds on Gu Hai"s forehead and back, these could be seen as highly insignificant.

Even so, it still easily triggered some kind of emotion from Gu Hai.

Suddenly, the cell phone rang with an alarmingly loud noise, willfully arousing Bai Luo Yin from his deep sleep.

Bai Luo Yin opened his eyes only to see that Gu Hai"s face was extremely close to his. His gaze froze for a moment before he quickly shifted away from Gu Hai"s face and sat up to pick up the call.

"Got it, I"ll be there immediately."

Gu Hai stood a short distance away and watched Bai Luo Yin rushed, "Is there an urgent mission?"

As Bai Luo Yin changed into his shoes, he hastily replied, "Yes. There"s a slightly small matter."

While speaking, he had already finished tidying his shoes and quickly dashed out the door, without even enough time to say goodbye. The entire process was done in an extremely agile manner, and in less than thirty seconds of everything, Bai Luo Yin"s silhouette disappeared into the night.

Gu Hai clearly recalled that in the past whenever he tried to wake Bai Luo Yin up, from when he opened his eyes to when he actually sat up, he would waste ten minutes at the very least. But now from when he fell asleep to being fully awake, it took a mere ten seconds. What kind of training methods could completely change someone"s living habit like this?

And, who in these eight years in their utmost effort retaliate against him on my behalf?

By the time Bai Luo Yin hastily arrived at the military hospital, Liu Chong was already temporarily out of danger.

"What happened?" Bai Luo Yin asked.

The teammate that trained together with Liu Chong said with swollen red eyes, "When we were training this afternoon, something strange happened to his airplane so he had no choice but to jump out with his parachute. But since the elevation was not high enough, he fell halfway down a pile of rocks at the side of the mountain. Luckily, the local villagers quickly discovered him and promptly reported it to the police, otherwise, he would have been dead by now."

A grave expression befell Bai Luo Yin"s complexion, "Then, what is his condition now?"

"He sustained multiple fractures on his body along with a broken jaw. Fortunately, his brain did not suffer any damage. But there"s an excessive loss of blood, leaving his body weak. He"s still unconscious right now. Major, do you want to go in and take a look?"

Looking at him, Bai Luo Yin faintly replied, "There"s no need to. I"ll come back to see him when he"s a bit better."

With that said, Bai Luo Yin turned around and left the sick ward with a heavy heart. He has never told anyone before but now he was extremely fearful of blood. Let alone going into a sick ward to visit a patient, just standing in the hallway seeing the emergency light flashed on and off would immediately cause him to break out in cold sweat without any reason at all.

Translator"s Note:

[1] Xīchéng Qū - "West City District": Xicheng is subdivided into 15 subdistricts of the city proper of Beijing. The former Xuanwu District was merged into Xicheng on July 2010. The Xidan commercial district, Beijing Financial Street (Jinrongjie), Beihai Park, Jingshan Park, Shichahai and Zhongnanhai are within its jurisdiction. The popular Houhai bar area is also in Xicheng Precinct. Before the communist takeover, most royalties and aristocrats resided in the precinct. The oldest Catholic church in Beijing, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is located in Xicheng.

[2] Umami – or savory taste, is one of the five basic tastes (together with sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness). It has been described as brothy or meaty. People taste umami through taste receptors specific to glutamate. Glutamate is widely present in savory foods, such as meat broths and fermented products, and commonly added to some foods in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Since umami has its own receptors rather than arising out of a combination of the traditionally recognized taste receptors, scientists now consider umami to be a distinct taste.