KC | Chapter 61

Chapter 70 Love Does Not Reason

The bustling crowd of Yu City surged and flowed. Golden fallen leaves drifted to the car window, and inside the car the two of them separated the leaves and the noise, enjoying a brief silence.

The Cadillac drove into Fuhai Zhibang, the scenery along the way lush and green, fountain water dancing along with the music, the residential complex’s public facilities complete, like heaven and earth compared with the old, rundown little place Chen Xi lived in.

The air conditioning in the car was warm, Xiao Chen was hard, and Chen Xi had just been jolted into a reaction by that damned cola bottle, so right now he only wanted to fight for 300 rounds.

Lin Yiran rarely said a couple of proper sentences, but Chen Xi had gone abnormal instead.

As the saying went, “Those who stay near vermilion get stained red, those who stay near ink get stained black”, and those who stayed near gangsters became gangsters. The highest level of being a gangster was to assimilate the people around you, then act proper and refined yourself.

Xiao Chen was straight and upright, his little face flushed red. In order not to be discovered, Chen Xi kept his legs pressed together for the rest of the ride, not even daring to speak.

Lin Yiran parked the car, opened the door, and Chen Xi followed behind him awkwardly, carrying the bag.

The thousand-year-old demon had keen eyes and immediately saw what he was blocking.

Lin Yiran pressed his fingerprint lock to open the door, and Chen Xi wanted to follow him inside, only to be blocked by an arm stretched across the doorway. Lin Yiran took the bag from his hand and asked with a smile, “Do you want to register your fingerprint?”

He asked, “Do you want to register your fingerprint?” and not “Do you want to enter your fingerprint?” The two ways of asking were different. The first one assumed the other person would “register their fingerprint,” while the latter, asking whether he “wanted to,” gave the other person the right to choose. Lin Yiran thought using a few negotiation techniques to reach his goal was harmless. His goal was to “lure Chen Xi home,” not to “sleep with him and run.”

Chen Xi was stunned by Lin Yiran’s “cohabitation invitation,” and forgot to cover his lower body. Without the bag blocking it, Xiao Chen’s bulging outline was fully on display.

What had he just said? He wanted me to register my fingerprint? Wasn’t I the vanilla one, how did it become cohabitation?

Oh my god, Brother Lin was way too anxious.

I’d just gone from secret crush to open crush, and I still hadn’t prepared for cohabitation, but it would be bad to refuse. Wuwu, what should I do? How should I say it?

The schizophrenic patient thought left and right, his little face wrinkling into a knot.

Lin Yiran thought his little expression was pretty amusing, and deliberately teased him. “Ah, although it’s your first time coming to my place, you don’t need to be this solemn. This is, what, the whole crowd standing up to give you a salute?”

Chen Xi: Σ(⊙▽⊙”a？

“Or are you saying you want to use your dicks to register your ‘fingerprint’?”

–

Chen Xi: ……

“It’s not impossible either, it’s just a little troublesome. Every time before entering the door, you’d have to get it up. And when you register it, it has to look like this, and next time you’d also have to make it like this. If you so much as ‘cut corners’ and it’s not firm enough, you might not even get back home.” The old gangster spoke nonsense with a serious face.

“And also, the top can’t get any ‘water’ on it. This door lock is very sensitive, sometimes I get dirt on my hands and it can’t even recognize my fingerprint.” The little fool was teased into silence with one poke, and if you didn’t register your fingerprint, then I’d keep talking.

Chen Xi’s face turned so red it looked like it could drip blood. He hurriedly registered his fingerprint, not letting him say any more.

Lin Yiran went into the house and tossed him a pair of slippers. The slippers were a bit small, pink and white with a little rabbit head printed in the middle, oddly cute.

Although Chen Xi had been unwilling when he first registered his fingerprint, his mood had been good, because he felt Lin Yiran wanted to live with him, to live together. But now that he saw the cute little rabbit slippers, his good mood vanished in an instant, and huge frustration followed, even Xiao Chen wilted.

These cute slippers were obviously for a girl to wear!

Lin Yiran saw Chen Xi standing there awkwardly in the slippers and caught on. He took off the slippers on his own feet and gave them to him, explaining, “I saw these slippers at the supermarket at noon and thought they matched you, so I bought them. I forgot to check the size when I bought them, seems like I bought them too small.”

Lin Yiran rummaged through boxes and cabinets looking for other slippers. The shoes in the cabinet were placed all crooked and messy, and from the color and shape, many pairs that had been put together were not actually a matching pair.

“When I first moved in, I bought a few pairs of slippers. Over the years, no one ever came, so after leaving them there for too long I couldn’t find them anymore. I’m used to being rough with things, the stuff here is a little basic. See what else is missing, later we can go buy it together.” Lin Yiran cared about his image outside, but inside he was sloppy. He didn’t want Chen Xi to leave a bad impression, just like when meeting an important client, a lot of first impressions that went badly meant there wouldn’t be a next time. He hadn’t thought he would open the shoe cabinet, so he hadn’t cleaned it up, relying entirely on his silver tongue to try his best to cover for himself.

Chen Xi obediently changed into the little rabbit slippers, carrying Lin Yiran’s slippers back to him, and said with a smile, “Brother Lin, my feet are small, these fit me just right. Don’t look anymore, later we can tidy up the shoe cabinet together.” So no one had ever come here, I was the first one.

“Why wait till later? You’re free anyway right now, so just clean it up.” Lin Yiran’s eyes held a smile, his tone casual.

Chen Xi: ……I really shouldn’t have opened my mouth to take on the job.

Lin Yiran rummaged around again and found a remote control, peeled off the plastic outer shell, and pointed to the leather sofa in the living room. “Sit and watch some TV for a while, I’ll call you when the food’s ready.” Let you rest for a bit first, tonight you’ll have plenty to suffer.

With the previous lesson in mind, Chen Xi didn’t stand on ceremony this time and just flopped onto the sofa. Lin Yiran took ingredients out of the fridge and hummed a little tune as he walked into the kitchen.

The tune he hummed was “Good Days.”

“Hahaha! So tacky, so addictive!”

–

Chen Xi’s rental place didn’t have a TV. Usually when he got home he either scrolled short videos or played games, and without realizing it, he’d formed a habit. After a tiring day he finally relaxed now, and Chen Xi sank into the sofa, scrolling through short videos.

The open-plan living room in the large flat was 7 meters wide, natural light spilling all over the room. A 65-inch TV hung on the wall, and the screen was covered with dust so thick it didn’t reflect any light.

Chen Xi walked up to the TV and touched the screen, coming away with a full hand of dust. He opened the back cover of the remote, and as expected, there were no batteries inside.

The TV’s practical value was obviously not as high as its decorative value. He bought it and didn’t watch it, did he buy it just to fill the wall?

Even though the decoration in this place was pretty good, how did you live here in a way that was even rougher than mine?

When you liked someone, you would want to know more about them. Chen Xi was full of curiosity about Lin Yiran and couldn’t help peeking into his home.

Looking around, only the dining table had no dust, probably because Lin Yiran knew he would come today and had wiped it in advance. Looking again at the table legs, they were covered in dust, a typical case of face-saving work.

The off-white tiles and light gray baseboards complemented each other, and the simple spatial layout revealed the craftsmanship of the renovation materials. It looked like Brother Lin had spent a lot on the renovation.

He had spent heavily on the renovation but didn’t tidy up properly. Fortunately, there were few things here. If there were a few more odds and ends, the place would be dirty enough to be no different from a doghouse.

Resting was boring too, so he might as well help him tidy up the shoe cabinet.

Chen Xi got his face covered in dust while cleaning the shoe cabinet. He went into the bathroom to wash his face and couldn’t find a towel.

Oh, the towel was just used by me.

But shouldn’t normal people use two towels alternately? Why did Brother Lin only have one?

A bath towel was lying crookedly on the toilet, and Chen Xi used it to wipe his face, nearly wiping off a layer of skin.

The overly dehydrated bath towel was so hard it could be used as a stick, clearly something that had been washed often and used many times.

Why couldn’t he buy two of these frequently used personal items?

No TV, no eating at the dining table, not even complete basic daily necessities. What did Brother Lin usually do at home?

Compared with here, the Cadillac looked more like his home.

The steaming dishes were served, the two of them took their seats. Two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, four dishes and one soup. Lin Yiran was afraid Chen Xi wouldn’t be used to his taste, so he added a little more oil and salt. Chen Xi took a bite of the scallion-braised ribs and praised, “Brother Lin, your cooking is pretty good, just like a chef!”

Lin Yiran took a bite of the stir-fried cabbage, and the taste was all right, just that he hadn’t cooked for too long and hadn’t controlled the heat well, so it wasn’t crispy anymore.

“It’s just home-style cooking, I didn’t study to be a chef and make fancy stuff.” Lin Yiran gave Chen Xi a shrimp, “I originally wanted to make oil-braised shrimp, but the ribs were occupying the pot, so I changed it to boiled shrimp.”

“Hahaha! With an induction cooker, just throw some water in and boil it, right? I can make this dish, just do it casually and that’s enough.” Chen Xi bit off the shrimp head, wanting to eat more elegantly, but peeling shrimp with his mouth gave him no leverage.

Lin Yiran tossed him another shrimp and said with a smile, “Why be reserved, just do it with your hands. While you’re at it, peel one for me too.”

Chen Xi: ……If you want to eat it, why don’t you peel it yourself.

Lin Yiran guessed what he was going to ask and teased him, “I’m cooking for you, what’s wrong with you peeling shrimp for me? You still have to wash the dishes later!”

“Brother Lin, you didn’t bring this up in advance either.”

“Am I not bringing it up now? If you don’t peel shrimp and don’t wash dishes, then don’t eat.” Lin Yiran scooped a bowl of vegetable soup and drank it slowly.

The ribs instantly didn’t seem as fragrant anymore. Chen Xi wore a bitter face and peeled shrimp, peeling his own and then Lin Yiran’s, and both were snatched away by him.

“You’re right, this dish doesn’t have much difficulty. Just throw it in water and boil it. The highest-quality ingredients often need the simplest cooking method, just do it casually and that’s enough.” Lin Yiran deliberately smacked his lips after finishing, “Tsk tsk, really fragrant, really fresh. Hey, don’t just sit there, peel a few more.”

Chen Xi: ……

“Brother Lin, these ribs smell really good, have a few more pieces.” Chen Xi didn’t want to peel shrimp, so he picked a big rib and tried to put it into Lin Yiran’s bowl, only for his chopsticks to be stopped in midair.

“Old people can’t get used to hard-to-digest things, I’ve got a bit of osteoporosis recently, need to supplement protein.” Lin Yiran’s mouth ran wild with nonsense, “These ribs were specially made for you, eat more. Eat your fill so you can get to work.”

The leader was eloquent, and even if he couldn’t win an argument, he couldn’t argue too hard either. The humble Xiao Chen obediently peeled shrimp.

This time Chen Xi became smart. After peeling one, he ate one, not giving Lin Yiran any chance to snatch them, his mouth full of shrimp meat as he ate with great satisfaction.

Seeing him eating so energetically, Lin Yiran’s lips curved up slightly.

Chen Xi was too thin. Lin Yiran wanted him to eat more, but he also worried he would feel embarrassed on his first visit. He had heard that “food someone fights you for tastes best,” so with no choice he could only use this underhanded trick.

The two of them exchanged words back and forth, and the large flat that had been empty for a year finally had some human warmth.

–

The dining table was by the floor-to-ceiling window. The sunset dyed the sky purple-red, but Chen Xi felt that color was pink.

The layered pink bubbles from a crush turning real piled up one after another, making everything beautiful.

The high-floor view was broad, allowing him to see the nearby community greenery and, farther away, the bridge hanging over the river.

At 18:00, the lights on the bridge came on, like a colorful dragon floating in the distance.

Chen Xi thought of the rental place’s window that was less than half a meter wide, which could only see the noisy buildings and the people coming and going on the road. The place he lived in could not see the distance.

It seemed the view from standing at the top of KA really was different from his own.

Lin Yiran opened the floor-to-ceiling window, and a trace of cool air seeped into the room.

Looking at the person standing beside him, Chen Xi could not hide his joy.

But he had barely even chased him, and Lin Yiran was already in his hands. Happiness came too suddenly, too easily.

Chen Xi had been through a hard life for too long, and this huge happiness had made him dizzy. He did not want to think about the logic in feelings, and subjectively believed, Lin Yiran liked him.

But Lin Yiran had never said to him, like.

Everything Lin Yiran said and expressed was, vanilla.

If Chen Xi could be a little more rational, he would realize that the probability of making a straight man who had roamed the romantic scene for many years fall in love with a one-night-stand partner within just two months after having sex with someone of the same sex was as absurdly low as winning the lottery.

He even didn’t know about the little tricks Lin Yiran had been playing behind his back, or the harm he had once caused him. Happily, he believed Lin Yiran had already peeled off his skin and was completely open to him.

Chen Xi said, “Brother Lin, I feel like I’m really lucky.”

Lin Yiran was skilled at covering filth with a smile, covering those past events.

The original intention behind responding to Chen Xi on that moonlit night was to keep the person by his side. Chen Xi was his subordinate with a special identity, and they saw each other all day long. Lin Yiran felt that if they didn’t work together, it would all fizzle out. But he had never thought that the one who also wouldn’t let Chen Xi leave was himself, and the contradictory underlying logic simply didn’t make sense.

Chen Xi was too beautiful for him, and while he longed for it, he also wanted to destroy it fiercely.

The dark and twisted man wanted to take this beauty for himself, didn’t want others to covet it, and subjectively believed, he just wanted Chen Xi’s body.

Lin Yiran wrapped his arms around Chen Xi from behind together with the chair and said with a smile, “You can still get even luckier.”

Cupid’s arrow had pierced the left and right atria separately. The artery in the left atrium was beating wildly, blood surged through the heart and transported to every limb and bone, dopamine resonated with the cranial cavity, and Chen Xi was thrilled beyond measure; the venous blood in the right atrium flowed steadily, returning oxygen to the left heart through the lungs, and Lin Yiran believed he could still keep control, calm and unruffled.

Whether it was restlessness or indifference, at the moment the arrow pierced the heart, no one could walk away completely unharmed.

Love was far more overbearing than the client, and it did not reason at all.