WHV | Chapter 12

Shi Ciyan stared at him for a few seconds, as if he wanted to say something but held back.

“What are you doing standing here getting rained on? Come on,” Yu Wei said when he saw him hesitate, gripping Shi Ciyan’s wrist and dragging him firmly toward the door. Shi Ciyan’s clothes were soaked through, and even his hand felt wet and cold.

If he let the protagonist stand outside in the rain and pretended not to see it, then Shi Ciyan got sick because of him, wouldn’t he become the culprit?

So even though that thing had happened a month ago, even though Yu Wei didn’t want to be alone with him, he still couldn’t make himself leave him out in the rain.

Yu Wei was used to living alone, and he wasn’t used to being waited on. This villa usually only had him in it. Aside from Yu Mu coming to see him, he had never brought anyone home before. Yu Wei brought him inside and tore open a new pair of slippers.

“Sit in the living room for a bit first. I’ll get you a towel.”

Yu Wei went to the master bedroom bathroom to fetch a clean towel. By then Shi Ciyan had already changed into the slippers and was standing in the living room. He was drenched all over, a few strands of hair stuck to his forehead, and the rainwater dripping from his ends slid down the side of his face into his collar. He looked like a wet puppy, with a hint of awkwardness and unease in his eyes.

“Don’t be nervous, there’s no one else at home,” Yu Wei said as he walked over and handed him the towel. “Hurry and dry off, don’t catch a cold.”

Shi Ciyan thanked him and took the towel to wipe the water still dripping from his hair. “My clothes are wet. If I sit down, I’ll dirty the sofa.”

This villa’s decor was mostly beige. A month ago, when he had said he wanted to move out, Yu Mu and Yu Fu saw that his mood wasn’t good, so they let him come stay in this detached little villa, away from the noise. The environment was good, quiet, and better for clearing his head.

The villa had been decorated according to his tastes, with light colors as the main theme. The sofa and the fluffy carpet underfoot were both an off-white cream.

“It’s fine, come sit.”

Shi Ciyan lowered his head and glanced at the floor. Yu Wei followed his gaze and saw that the spot Shi Ciyan had been standing on had left a ring of water.

“Did you get a ride?”

Shi Ciyan shook his head. “No driver has accepted the order yet.”

The rain outside was getting heavier, and this place was far enough out that no one wanted to take his order.

“You probably won’t be able to leave for a while,” Yu Wei said after thinking it over. “Take your clothes off, go shower. I’ll dry them and send them over later.”

Seeing him stand there without reacting, Yu Wei urged him on. “Go on.”

The villa had plenty of rooms, and Yu Wei took him to the room on the left side of the master bedroom. He didn’t like having people around waiting on him, but the villa was too big to clean by himself, so he hired a cleaner to come once a week. Every room was kept so clean that even if no one lived in it for a long time, there wasn’t a speck of dust.

“Take your clothes off in the bathroom and hand them to me.”

After Shi Ciyan went in, Yu Wei waited by the door for two minutes before the bathroom door behind him finally opened, and a well-proportioned arm reached out from inside. Yu Wei turned back and froze when he saw the arm. A picture suddenly flashed through his mind of a pair of legs braced against that arm, lifted up onto his shoulders.

“Have you left?” Shi Ciyan still hadn’t gotten a response, so he peered out from the edge of the door, showing half his face and blinking innocently at the dazed Yu Wei.

Yu Wei snapped back to his senses, yanked the clothes out of his hand, and turned to stride away.

He stuffed the clothes into the dryer all at once and stared out the window in a daze. It had been a full month, but those unspeakable memories felt like they had happened yesterday, still unnervingly vivid. Clearly the marks on his body had long since vanished, but whenever he saw Shi Ciyan come close, Yu Wei’s body would inexplicably produce a strange sensation. He wanted to get closer, and smelling that fresh scent on him made him feel safe.

After about twenty minutes, Yu Wei took the dried clothes upstairs. The bathroom was still making a faint pattering sound of running water. Yu Wei knocked twice on the bathroom door. “The clothes are dry, I’ll leave them at the door…”

The sound of water abruptly stopped, and the next second the bathroom door opened. The moment it did, warm steam poured out, carrying a fresh green apple scent that drifted into his nose.

“Your clothes.” After Yu Wei handed them over and just as he was about to step away from the door, something suddenly crashed to the floor inside the bathroom. Yu Wei stopped, turned back, and knocked on the door. “What happened?”

There was a moment of silence inside.

Yu Wei knocked twice more and raised his voice. “Shi Ciyan, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Shi Ciyan’s voice was flustered, and Yu Wei couldn’t help frowning. His hand tightened on the doorknob and he pushed it open on instinct. “Open the door, what happened…”

He gave it a light push, and the bedroom door swung open in front of him. The bathroom inside was filled with mist, and the apple scent lingering in the air made him feel unexpectedly comfortable. Shi Ciyan stood in the middle, with only a bath towel wrapped around his waist, and the water droplets he hadn’t yet dried were running down the grooves of his muscles.

Yu Wei followed those droplets with his eyes, sweeping over Shi Ciyan’s chest, then down to his solid abs. His mouth opened, but the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat.

Shi Ciyan had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his lean muscles just right, neither exaggerated nor carrying a trace of excess. If that thing hadn’t happened last month, Yu Wei would probably be able to appreciate his perfect physique without any distraction, then praise him sincerely.

But now Yu Wei’s face went blazing red. He quickly turned his head away and stammered, “Why did you close the door while getting dressed?”

Shi Ciyan seemed not to hear him and took two steps forward. “What?”

Yu Wei looked like he was facing a great enemy. “You, you don’t come over.”

Only then did he realize what he had just said, and his face burned so hot it felt like it was about to ignite. Just now, he had been trying to decide whether to ask why he hadn’t closed the door or why he wasn’t wearing clothes, and in his panic he had said the wrong thing.

“Why didn’t you close the door?”

Shi Ciyan looked innocent. “I didn’t think you’d barge in.”

Yu Wei turned and glared at him. Shi Ciyan had made such a huge racket in the bathroom, and when Yu Wei asked him what was wrong he wouldn’t answer, so how could he not worry? Besides, he hadn’t even meant to barge in. He had just turned the doorknob by habit, and the door had opened on its own. How was that his fault?

Yu Wei took a deep breath. “Then why aren’t you wearing clothes?”

Shi Ciyan pointed at the floor. Yu Wei looked over and saw that the bathroom floor was still wet from the shower, and the clothes he had dried earlier were lying quietly in the water.

“Just now the shelf fell over. I got startled, and the clothes I was holding slipped out of my hands. Two or three bottles broke. Sorry.”

For a moment, Yu Wei didn’t know what to say. “…Then your胆子 is too small. I’ll go find you another set of clothes.”

Yu Wei went back to his own bedroom and rummaged through all of his clothes, but couldn’t find anything suitable for Shi Ciyan. Not to mention that his own build wasn’t as solid as Shi Ciyan’s, his frame was much smaller, and his height was just hard to describe. Most of his clothes were suits, all custom-made, and Shi Ciyan couldn’t fit into any of them. The only thing that might work was his loose loungewear.

“Just make do with this one.”

Yu Wei waited in the living room for a while. After Shi Ciyan changed and came out, Yu Wei failed to hold it in at first sight and laughed out loud, the sound especially noticeable in the quiet living room.

On the second look, Yu Wei bit his lower lip and forced himself not to laugh.

“If you want to laugh, just laugh,” Shi Ciyan said awkwardly, tugging down the hem of his shirt. “It’s still a little small.”

Yu Wei couldn’t hold it back this time and collapsed onto the sofa, laughing while clutching his stomach for half an hour.

He had thought his clothes would be a little small on Shi Ciyan. He just hadn’t expected them to be this small. The loose black wide-leg pants had turned into cropped pants the moment Shi Ciyan put them on, and the shirt barely covered his navel, leaving half of his taut abdomen exposed.

After laughing enough, Yu Wei wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. “Pretty trendy.”

Shi Ciyan: “…”

“Where are your clothes? Give them to me, I’ll wash them for you.”

Shi Ciyan refused. “I can do it myself.”

Yu Wei didn’t press the issue. He pointed out where the washing machine was and curled up on the sofa while ordering a car for Shi Ciyan. Even with a price hike, no one accepted the ride. It was hard enough to get a car in this suburban area to begin with, let alone in the rain.

“Shi Ciyan, does your school check dorms at night?”

“No.”

Yu Wei was silent for two seconds. After Shi Ciyan finished washing and drying his clothes, it would still take at least an hour. It was already getting late, and the downpour outside showed no sign of letting up.

Even if he offered extra money, no one was willing to drive out to this suburb.

“Then stay here tonight and leave tomorrow morning after the rain stops.”

Shi Ciyan looked up, clearly surprised.

Yu Wei felt a little unnatural under his gaze. “You can’t get a car, are you going to run back? And in that outfit? I have plenty of rooms here, so stay with peace of mind.” After saying that, he paused, then asked, “Are you hungry?”

He had originally planned to go eat dinner after work before heading back, but after running into Shi Ciyan he had forgotten about eating and came straight home. At noon, he had felt a little off and hadn’t managed to eat anything, and now he had missed dinner too. His stomach had started protesting.

Shi Ciyan said, “I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

He had also had no class that afternoon, so he had come straight over to wait for Yu Wei and forgotten to eat.

“There’s instant noodles. What flavor do you want?” Yu Wei stood up and stretched. “There are all kinds.”

Shi Ciyan frowned slightly. “This is what you usually eat?”

“I can’t cook, so I can only eat instant noodles. Besides, delivery’s really hard to get here.” After graduating in his last life, he had gone straight into a private company. Overtime was the norm, and he solved most of his meals at the office, rarely going home to eat. Besides, he was too busy with work, and after getting off work he was exhausted, so there was no way he was going to cook. If he got hungry, he just made instant noodles.

“Eating too much instant noodles isn’t healthy.” Shi Ciyan followed him into the kitchen. The kitchen was clean enough to be spotless. “Do you have ingredients at home?”

“I do have ingredients. But can you cook?”

Every time Yu Mu came by, she brought a pile of things and filled the fridge to the brim before leaving.

Shi Ciyan didn’t say he could, and didn’t say he couldn’t. He said, “I can learn.”

Yu Wei: “…I asked whether you could, and you said you can learn. Are you here for an interview?”

Shi Ciyan searched the kitchen for a while. “There’s noodles. Let’s make something simple tonight, boil some noodles.”

Yu Wei waved his hand. “Do whatever you want, just don’t blow up my kitchen.”

Shi Ciyan laughed. “I won’t, just sit in the living room for a while.”

Yu Wei didn’t expect him to make anything at all. He occasionally looked toward the kitchen to make sure nothing was wrong, then settled back onto the sofa and watched TV with complete peace of mind.

He hadn’t expected that in just twenty minutes, Shi Ciyan would bring out two bowls of noodles. They looked pretty good, with two pieces of leafy greens, a fried egg, and some ham. For a “young master” who ate instant noodles every day, that was already quite generous.

“Hurry and try it, I followed a tutorial I found online to season it, so I don’t know if it tastes good.”

Yu Wei took a sip of the broth, and his eyes lit up. “This tastes pretty good.”

The noodles tasted good. If it had been before, he would have finished this small bowl in two bites. But his appetite had been off lately. No matter how hungry he was, the smell of food made him nauseous before he’d even taken a few bites, so Yu Wei didn’t even finish a third of the bowl before setting it down.

After Shi Ciyan finished eating, he insisted on washing the dishes, so Yu Wei let him and returned to his room to deal with work. Once he got into it, he stayed busy until ten-thirty.

He went out to arrange for Shi Ciyan to sleep in the guest room next door, then went back downstairs to pour himself a cup of hot water.

His insomnia had been severe lately, and he needed a melatonin pill every night to fall asleep. Today, Yu Wei stared at the melatonin sitting on the coffee table and hesitated.

With someone else in the house, he didn’t dare sleep too deeply. After struggling for a while, Yu Wei still didn’t take it, and instead drank a cup of hot milk to help himself sleep.

The guest room next door had already gone dark. Yu Wei figured Shi Ciyan was asleep, so he tiptoed back to his bedroom, climbed into bed, and lay there for a while, only to feel like something was missing.

The door.

Yu Wei stared at the bedroom door in the dark for a long time, feeling as if someone would push it open the next second.

He knew perfectly well he was scaring himself, but Yu Wei still got up and walked to the door in the dark, then clicked the lock shut. He had never had the habit of locking the door when he slept, but for some reason today, leaving it unlocked made him uneasy.

After locking the door and lying back down on the bed, the enclosed space gave Yu Wei enough of a sense of security. He closed his eyes with peace of mind and forced himself to sleep.

In the middle of the night, thunder and rain raged outside the window. One moment the sky was bright as day, the next a low rumble rolled in from far away. Shi Ciyan opened his eyes, came out of the guest room, and stood in the hallway, staring for a long time at the tightly shut bedroom door.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning split the night and lit up the entire hallway. Shi Ciyan reached out, grasped the doorknob, and gently pushed open the master bedroom, but the door did not budge at all. Shi Ciyan paused, then refused to believe it and used more force, but the door in front of him still didn’t move an inch.

It was locked from the inside?

Shi Ciyan: “…”

He was locking the door in his own house. Who was he guarding against?