Chapter 32 Part 1

For a period of time, He Lezhi had obsessively mulled over a question: what was the correct way for a gay person to interact with their friends.

Before his sexual orientation became clear, he could interact with his male friends naturally and intimately, with no need to avoid anything.

But what about after his orientation was clear? Could he still interact with his friends without boundaries?

Han Fangchi opened his eyes because of He Lezhi's two sentences and turned in his direction.

Han Fangchi asked, "Like Xiao Yao?"

"Maybe," He Lezhi smiled and added, "He doesn't get jealous anymore."

"Who cares about him," Han Fangchi said with a hint of disdain.

He Lezhi imagined that if Xiao Yao heard this, his ears would already be ringing with noise.

"It's fine if you get jealous, of course you can." Han Fangchi cleared his throat and said in a normal tone, "But don't have double standards."

He Lezhi: "Hm?"

"Whether you're gay or high-maintenance," Han Fangchi said, facing He Lezhi, "I don't care. I'd even sleep on your floor again right now. I never thought you were high-maintenance when we were kids."

Before He Lezhi could respond, Han Fangchi retorted, "You're not even willing to stay at my place now, so how would I dare to share a room with you?"

"I..." He Lezhi was left speechless by the question. After saying "I," he couldn't manage to say anything else.

"Even if you don't like it, just bear with it." Even without seeing it, one could imagine Han Fangchi's expression; it must have looked very cold. "Don't apply your double standards to me."

He Lezhi, on the receiving end of this outburst, could only say sullenly, "Got it..."

Han Fangchi turned over, his back to him.

He Lezhi turned over too, the backs of their heads facing each other.

He Lezhi thought, 'I don't remember you being this sharp-tongued when we were kids.'

Han Fangchi wasn't thinking about anything. With his eyes closed, he just felt that he was in a very good mood.

They both slept very soundly. Although they woke up twice during the night, they quickly fell back asleep. In the latter half of the night, the room got very hot when the heating came on, and the air conditioner was still blowing hot air. Han Fangchi kicked the blanket aside and woke up from the heat after tossing and turning. The moment he sat up, He Lezhi had already turned off the air conditioner and said softly, "Go back to sleep."

So Han Fangchi lay back down, and as soon as he closed his eyes, he slept straight through until dawn.

That morning, Han Fangchi woke up under He Lezhi's gaze.

He had slept until eight-thirty, completely unaware, without being disturbed by anything. When Han Fangchi opened his eyes, he saw He Lezhi sitting in the middle of the other bed's edge, his legs bent, with his feet resting on the edge of his own bed, holding a paper cup and drinking hot water. Seeing Han Fangchi was awake, He Lezhi raised his eyebrows and smiled at him.

A strong sense of peace and comfort washed over him, and Han Fangchi stared at him blankly.

He Lezhi thought he wasn't fully awake yet and kept his voice very low, "It's still early, you can sleep more."

The light in the room came from through the curtains—dim, hazy, with the color of a dream.

He Lezhi didn't want to disturb his sleep, so he didn't say anything else to him.

Han Fangchi closed his eyes again and lay there for a few minutes. For some reason, he thought of that tent from back then. He had been so hungry in the middle of the night that he couldn't fall back asleep for a long time. When he opened his eyes much later, he saw He Lezhi's unguarded face in the moonlight.

After returning from this trip, He Lezhi only had a few days of leisure before he started going on business trips. His busy period had arrived. He left with his suitcase, and was gone for over a week.

When he got busy, he was nowhere to be found. Xiao Yao came over twice, but he wasn't home.

One time, Xiao Yao had arranged to have dinner with someone nearby in the evening. Afterward, he stopped by Han Fangchi's place to hang out for a bit. After knocking for a long time, it was Zhou Muyao who opened the door.

Their eyes met, and both were a little confused.

"Xiao Hei? What are you doing here?"

"Yaoyao, what are you here for?"

Han Fangchi was in the study on the phone with a colleague. When he came out, he saw the two of them on the sofa, each holding a basin containing a quarter of a watermelon, eating it with spoons.

"You're here too?" Han Fangchi asked Xiao Yao.

"I was passing by, so I stopped in for a bit. What's wrong with that?" Xiao Yao had eaten salty Sichuan Cuisine earlier and was slurping up the watermelon.

"Where did the watermelon come from?" Han Fangchi said.

"I brought it," Zhou Muyao said.

They had both just been passing by and came up to sit for a while. One had eaten Sichuan Cuisine, the other Hunan Cuisine, and both had eaten something salty. After finishing the watermelon, Xiao Yao said, "Brother Chi, make us some tea."

Han Fangchi was busy constantly making calls and replying to messages, and had no time to deal with them.

"I'm busy," Han Fangchi said.

Zhou Muyao stood up, brought over the tea set, and said, "I'll do it."

"If it weren't for... I wouldn't even come to your place." Xiao Yao almost let slip, "If it weren't for Lezhi not being home."

Xiao Yao glanced at Zhou Muyao, who was boiling water and looking for tea leaves. He was quite tall, yet he was squatting by the coffee table, working hard without complaint, looking quite well-behaved.

Now that he wasn't acting like his life was over, Xiao Yao didn't pick fights with him anymore.

"You haven't been looking for me lately?" Xiao Yao asked.

Zhou Muyao looked up and said, "You always scold me."

"You deserve it," Xiao Yao said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not saying I don't," Zhou Muyao said. "So I just have to not provoke you, right?"

If he had kept looking for He Lezhi and continued that drama of acting like he couldn't live without him, Xiao Yao would have kept scolding him. But he had quieted down, and yet the vibrant spirit in his eyes hadn't returned, which made Xiao Yao feel a little soft-hearted.

"Have you been busy recently?" Xiao Yao asked.

"Just finished a busy period. It's been okay lately," Zhou Muyao said.

He was squatting with his legs tucked in, and when he got tired, he just sat down on the floor.

The two of them, one sitting on the floor and one on the sofa, drank tea face to face.

During a break from his calls, Han Fangchi came over, drank a cup, and sat down on the single sofa nearby.

Zhou Muyao asked, "Is Lezhi okay?"

Xiao Yao said, "If you don't mention him, I won't scold you."

Zhou Muyao said, "I wasn't asking you."

Han Fangchi said from the side, "He's fine."