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Chapter 3: Let"s Live Together (III)
"It must be because your technique"s too good," said Xia Zhi over dinner. He wasn"t in the mood to cook, and Ye Qia ate whatever was given, so they were having a large bag of sweet potatoes for dinner.
Ye Qia"s slender fingers, which had sent him to seventh heaven the night before, were now peeling the skin off the microwaved potatoes. At hearing this, he glanced over at the scowling Xia Zhi. "Of course it"s good! It"s how I make a living."
The technique from… making a living.
Xia Zhi kept feeling the delusion that he had hired someone like a "personal trainer" or "ma.s.seuse" the night before. He felt very downcast, but he knew this was not Ye Qia"s fault. Ye Qia had stated it from the start, and he had already accepted it. And besides, he also wasn"t some idealist. He"s raised his fists on a whim and made huge fusses over the most trivial matters, and yet Ye Qia never dwelled on it.
Shouldn’t spending their days living together be like this, tolerating each other?
In any case, it had felt very good, and it was only with fingers. If it"s the entire package, won"t it be so good that it"ll shake the heavens?
On the third day, Xia Zhi became convinced of this idea. He asked Ye Qia in a roundabout fashion whether he could do him again, and better yet, with the complete and genuine package.
"Didn"t you say you didn"t have very strong needs in this department?" said Ye Qia evenly.
"I did say that." Xia Zhi licked his lips and became determined. "Isn"t the reason I"m like this because it was too good that day?"
"You"re blaming me?"
"Well, not exactly…"
In the end, his b.a.l.l.s shriveled under Ye Qia"s cool expression and this matter disappeared without a trace. Besides, they still haven"t lived together for very long. Xia Zhi believed that, as long as they didn"t break up, there would be a day when he experiences the complete package.
Ye Qia was a top who was st.u.r.dy, young, experienced, and quite the looker, even if he had some minor flaws. If he wanted to break up, there were countless people who would immediately line up with their money in hand to take Xia Zhi"s spot.Ever since getting together, Xia Zhi didn"t dare bring Ye Qia to meet his circle of gay friends. He was afraid that Ye Qia would be s.n.a.t.c.hed away. The more they got along, the more Xia Zhi felt that he had lucked out in actually managing to randomly land such a top cla.s.s specimen.
Xia Zhi didn"t feel like he had the capacity to take the upper hand in their relationship, so he decided to lie low a bit, just like cooking a frog in tepid water. Who knows, maybe it"ll cook up some feelings?
With this in mind, Xia Zhi became more resolved. He also no longer spent the entire day checking out Ye Qia"s lower half. Ye Qia never evaded, and instead it was Xia Zhi who felt a bit guilty. "Have you noticed something recently?" he politely asked.
"Are you talking about the days when you spent the entire day eyeraping me?"
Dude, if you"ve sensed something then speak up! What were you doing keeping silent!
There were several days afterwards when Xia Zhi didn"t even dare to look in Ye Qia"s direction. Strangely, the person who had been eyeraped didn"t say anything, as if nothing had even happened.
Afterwards, Xia Zhi once again thought it through by himself. Ye Qia was used to seeing sensitive matters, like the guy with the heavenly maiden scattering blossoms of hemorrhoids. How often would the average person come across that? And also that naked fatso who was nearly three hundred pounds. Ye Qia had seen that without even batting an eyelid. How does this insignificant thing compare to those?
"What"s the most memorable thing you"ve ever witnessed till now in your line of work?"
Xia Zhi had recklessly asked such a question on a certain monotonous night. With his naivety, he believed it would be urine or scat at the most. Unexpectedly, Ye Qia sunk into thought for a moment, and then gave him a totally unthinkable answer.
"I had a longstanding client who suddenly stopped coming. A month later, that person came back with his new dom. The client was half dead, and the moment the dom saw me he fell to his knees." Ye Qia spoke up to that point, paused, and then continued, "I won"t describe to you the circ.u.mstances at the time, but after arriving at the hospital, the doctor said that the client"s front and back were both finished. His r.e.c.t.u.m was removed, and they patched up an ECF[1]. He can probably still live out the rest of his life, but if he wants to have kids it will only be possible through artificial insemination. It will depend on luck as well."
Xia Zhi was stunned at this, and secretly felt a flash of pain to his b.u.t.thole. Although Ye Qia didn"t go into the details, Xia Zhi didn"t feel upset at all. Just thinking about the client made his hair stand on end. When he thought about how Ye Qia had to deal with these sorts of things for his job, he couldn"t help developing enormous amounts of respect for his roommate"s mental fort.i.tude.
Ye Qia sipped his tea before suddenly saying, "That was probably the most memorable, and then there"s also…"
Xia Zhi didn"t even listen and made a decisive escape, excusing himself to use the toilet. He never expected that some time later, he would actually have the opportunity to meet the person who had hemorrhoids blooming all over his a.s.s.
When he saw that person in the alleyway, Xia Zhi had secretly sighed. There are people in this world favored by G.o.d, Buddha, Bohhisattva, and all kinds of deities. His skin wasn"t just white, but was also abnormally smooth and delicate, and gave off a faintly translucent radiance like the so-called "white jade". The man had a prominent nose and a pair of deep-set, large, almond shaped eyes, yet they weren"t too exaggerated, but those eyes looked like they were capable of sucking someone in. He also had rosy red lips, with the edges slightly upturned even when he didn"t smile, all of which made people feel as if they want to get closer to him. With a face like that, along with a beautiful and slender figure, an ideal inverted triangle upper body, and two thin legs as straight as chopsticks, it made guys like Xia Zhi who had stocky legs unable to avert their eyes.
When this person came to ask for directions, Xia Zhi silently celebrated for a while. He then courteously gave directions, and thoroughly instructed the other man on how to get there.
Regretfully, or perhaps fortunately, this person seemed to have no sense of directions, and had a confused face even after Xia Zhi had spoken for half a day. The person then directly showed the SMS from his phone, but when Xia Zhi saw it, the smile on his face froze.
The address in the SMS was his current home address.
Xia Zhi carefully looked at the man"s beautiful face, and after ascertaining that he absolutely didn"t recognize this person, he understood. There was an eighty per cent probability that this guy was one of Ye Qia"s clients.
Back when they were moving houses, Xia Zhi had wanted to move over to Ye Qia"s because the house Ye Qia rented was very close to his workplace. However,this suggestion was rejected by Ye Qia.
"Clients will come looking for me at home. It"s better to keep the way things are at my place. I"ll go over to yours during weekends and holidays, and if I"m free, I"ll go there at night."
This time it was Xia Zhi who firmly rejected.
"I"m not a mistress, how is it living together if you"re like this?"
"Then what do you propose?"
"You move in with me."
"You wouldn"t mind my clients coming to the door?"
"Not at all!"
Xia Zhi accepted it in the heat of the moment. In the end, Ye Qia rejected the proposal after a single glance at his rental home.
"Too small."
Finally, after reaching an agreement, they both ended their leases and rented a large home anew. The location was close to Xia Zhi"s company, so he had to pay two-thirds of the rent. This was his first encounter with Ye Qia"s shrewdness and bargaining prowess. At the time, Xia Zhi hadn"t even realized he was being taken advantage of. He could only attribute it to Ye Qia"s skills in negotiation. He always managed to have other people fall unknowingly into his plots.
As he a.s.sessed the handsome lad in front of him, Xia Zhi hesitated on whether to welcome him into his home or point him off in the opposite direction. No matter how it was put, this lad was simply terribly handsome, a rare and superior specimen. He was also eye candy and seemed to be well-mannered. While Xia Zhi was distracted, the lad didn"t show a thread of impatience.
In that moment, Xia Zhi felt troubled by a problem. Ye Qia had warned him that if a client came to the door, he must pretend to be a slave. Ye Qia didn"t require him to do anything too over the top, but he still had to put on an act.
"If I suddenly have a boyfriend, my value will fall." Ye Qia had said this in a matter of fact manner, "It"s either l rent another place, or you comply with this condition."
Xia Zhi struggled to accept the idea. Ye Qia had said before that he would try to finish his work during the day and come back home at night. After living together, he did do just that, but Xia Zhi still didn"t like knowing that Ye Qia had another place outside. He had agreed to the request to "pretend to be a slave" at the time, but when actually faced with with the situation, he suddenly found it very difficult to accept.
Right when he was battling with the conflicting feelings in his head, a deep voice cut off his hesitation. "Mister Li?"
Footnotes:
[1]
ECF (enterocutaneous fistula): "an abnormal communication between the small or large bowel and the skin that allows the contents of the stomach or intestines to leak through an opening in the skin." -Wikipedia
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