TA •Chapter 35

"What do you want with me?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Um… do you like little animals?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"No." Cheng Ke answered without hesitation. "Why?"

"…Go take a shower first," Jiang Yuduo said. "We can talk after dinner."

"Fine. Sit in the lounge for a bit." Cheng Ke turned and took two steps, then stopped. Maybe he had gotten used to Jiang Yuduo being injured. Only now, since Jiang Yuduo had come in, did he suddenly notice the bandage wrapped around his right hand. "You hurt your hand?"

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo gave a brief reply.

"How did that happen?" he asked again.

"Isn't it normal for me to have injuries?" Jiang Yuduo walked toward the lounge area, smiling as he spoke. "It'd be weird if I went a few months without getting hurt."

Cheng Ke stared at him for a while. From the injury itself to Jiang Yuduo's attitude, everything felt strange, but he didn't ask any more questions. Jiang Yuduo clearly had no intention of telling him.

If it had been a street fight, Jiang Yuduo would have definitely said so. If his younger brother had been robbed and he had taken people out to look for them, he would have said that too, naturally and casually. But this attitude now probably had something to do with "them."

Now Jiang Yuduo completely avoided talking about "them."

Halfway through his shower in the bathroom, Cheng Ke reached for the shampoo. His fingers touched the bottle, but it tipped over and fell off the shelf. He reflexively caught it in one hand as it dropped.

Good thing he had used his right hand. It was more agile. In a public shower, if anything fell on the floor, he did not want to pick it up again.

As he squeezed shampoo onto his head, he suddenly paused.

Jiang Yuduo was left-handed. At least when he fought, he usually used his left hand. That gave him an advantage in attacks, too, because many people couldn't defend against a left-handed strike.

Even if he had used his right hand because his left was occupied, and even if he had gotten injured, that wouldn't have been strange… but Cheng Ke was very clear about Jiang Yuduo's fighting ability now. The number of people who could force him to use his right hand was really too small.

Even the knife was carried on his left side, and Jiang Yuduo had been injured on his right hand.

No matter how Cheng Ke thought about it, something felt off.

By the time he finished showering and came out with his things, he still hadn't figured it out. There was no reason that completely convinced him, neither for doubting it nor for believing it.

Jiang Yuduo was sitting by a table, holding a cup of fruit tea, his gaze a little unfocused. Xiao Yang was talking beside him.

Cheng Ke came out of the bathroom, crossed the hallway, passed two rows of treadmills, and then crossed the equipment area. Xiao Yang kept talking the whole time, while Jiang Yuduo just held his cup, looking spaced out.

"If Mr. Jiang is interested," Xiao Yang said when he saw Cheng Ke approaching and stood up, "you can come over with Cheng-ge another time. Working out together is more fun."

"He probably doesn't have time," Cheng Ke said for Jiang Yuduo. "He's pretty busy."

"That's exactly why he needs to exercise," Xiao Yang said with a smile. "Then I'll leave you two to it."

Only after hearing Cheng Ke's voice did Jiang Yuduo rise from the chair like someone waking up from a nap, then turned and walked toward the gym entrance.

"Thanks today," Cheng Ke said.

"Don't be so polite, Cheng-ge," Xiao Yang said. "I'll see you two out."

"No, no, no, no," Cheng Ke hurriedly stopped him. "Go do your own thing. No need to see us out."

"All right." Xiao Yang nodded. "See you the day after tomorrow, Cheng-ge."

When Cheng Ke walked out, he didn't see Jiang Yuduo. It wasn't until he had gone downstairs and reached the street that he spotted Jiang Yuduo standing by the roadside, a cigarette in his mouth, looking impatient.

"Did they make you sign up for a membership?" Cheng Ke had only taken a few steps before it felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice over his head, freezing him in place.

"Your hair's wet?" Jiang Yuduo reached out and raked a hand over his head, then shoved him into a nearby shop. "Are you insane? Doesn't the gym have a hair dryer?"

"I forgot," Cheng Ke said, so cold that even his scalp and eyelids felt numb. "That's what I said I forgot."

"Wait in here for a bit," Jiang Yuduo said, taking out his phone. "I'll call a car."

"I'll call," Cheng Ke said too, also pulling out his phone. "I think I still have some coupons I haven't used."

Jiang Yuduo said nothing and just looked at him.

"What?" Cheng Ke asked.

"You use coupons?" Jiang Yuduo said. "You actually know how to use them?"

"What nonsense is that," Cheng Ke said. "This thing keeps reminding me, 'You've been sent a coupon, your coupon hasn't been used yet, you still have this and that coupon.'"

"…How many is 'this and that'?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Don't know, don't remember," Cheng Ke opened the app, tapped a couple of times, then glanced at Jiang Yuduo. "Damn it."

Jiang Yuduo laughed against the shelf. "Expired, huh?"

"Yeah, probably," Cheng Ke frowned. "Anyway, they're gone."

Jiang Yuduo laughed for a while. "So are you calling the car or am I?"

"You call." Cheng Ke shoved his phone back into his pocket in a very bad mood. Coupons didn't feel all that special when you used them, it was only a few cents here and there, but after finally wanting to use one, to be precise, after using it like this on his phone for the first time, and then finding it gone, the feeling was infuriating, like being robbed of food when you were about to starve.

The shop was pretty warm. By the time the car arrived, Cheng Ke's hair was almost dry.

"Anything you want to eat?" Jiang Yuduo asked when they got in.

"What do you usually eat when you go out with friends?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Hotpot in weather like this," Jiang Yuduo said. "I'll take you to sour fish hotpot. Baird worked there before, and it's pretty authentic."

"Okay." Maybe because he had just worked out, the moment he heard sour fish hotpot, Cheng Ke felt like his saliva was about to drip out.

"Driver, please keep heading north," Jiang Yuduo gave the driver an address. "Just go in at the intersection by the parking lot."

When Cheng Ke heard that address, he suddenly jerked his head up.

Jiang Yuduo, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned his head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo didn't ask again. He listened to the crosstalk on the radio with the driver, laughing every now and then.

Cheng Ke kept staring at Jiang Yuduo's side profile. He didn't speak and didn't look anywhere else.

After getting out of the car, he stood by the roadside in a daze for a moment. He had lived here for more than twenty years, and he had never once walked down this street.

"Young master," Jiang Yuduo leaned close to his ear and asked softly, "we can change places if you want. Their other branch is just over at…"

"No need to change it," Cheng Ke said. "Let's go with this one. I'm hungry."

"These little shops in side streets and alleys," Jiang Yuduo said as he led him in from the intersection, "won't run into anyone you know."

Cheng Ke glanced at him. Jiang Yuduo really did not seem like the kind of person who was this meticulous and perceptive.

"Where do you live?" Jiang Yuduo asked with a smile.

"You guess." Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo turned around and walked backward slowly, pointing toward the entrance they had come from. "It can only be over there. The first batch of villas built around here were all detached, with front and back yards."

"Mm." Cheng Ke responded.

"Have you ever been here before?" Jiang Yuduo said. "Just these two streets have plenty of places that don't look like much but are especially good."

"No." Cheng Ke looked ahead. "I've only passed by the intersection a few times. Cars can't even drive in."

"The place right outside your own house," Jiang Yuduo said, "and I, an out-of-town guy, have to be the one introducing it to you."

"Where are you from… originally?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Don't remember." Jiang Yuduo said.

After they turned a corner, they saw the sour fish hotpot restaurant. Compared with the other shops, this one was quite large.

Cheng Ke looked at the big cotton tent set up temporarily at the entrance. "What's this?"

"Everyone waiting for a table is inside." Jiang Yuduo said. "Coming at this time is fine. We'll have a table in a little while."

"This kind of place still has to wait for a table?" Cheng Ke was a little surprised. "And everyone just squeezes into a tent like this?"

"Come on," Jiang Yuduo said, grabbing his arm, lifting the cotton curtain, and tugging him into the tent. "Experience a different kind of life."

The tent was warm. Electricity had been run in from the shop, there was air conditioning, and several heaters of different sizes were turned on.

Jiang Yuduo went to get them a number. "About half an hour."

"Mm." Cheng Ke nodded.

The two of them found two chairs and sat down. Jiang Yuduo pointed outside. "If you get hungry, I'll buy you something to hold you over first."

"No need," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "I was mostly just a little hungry because I worked out for three hours this afternoon."

"With that chatterbox?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"Yeah," Cheng Ke nodded, then thought about it and smiled. "Did you get so annoyed by him that he almost convinced you to sign up?"

"I'm not you. If it had been that little girl at the front desk talking to me like that, I might've gotten a little muddled too," Jiang Yuduo frowned. The frown had barely loosened for a second before it tightened again. "Hey, young master, when you go to the gym… is it, uh…"

"No." Cheng Ke said.

"No what?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him.

"What are you trying to ask?" Cheng Ke clicked his tongue.

"Forget it," Jiang Yuduo held it in for a long time, then waved a hand with gritted teeth. "It's rude to keep asking about that, right."

"It's fine," Cheng Ke couldn't help laughing. "I don't mind. I'm just afraid that once you ask, you'll feel sick."

"No, I wasn't trying to disgust you, I also don't… I probably don't disgust other people either, I just feel a little awkward," Jiang Yuduo pulled his chair closer to Cheng Ke's and said softly, "Hey, when I went to the flower shop that day, that shop owner…"

"Mm?" Cheng Ke tilted his head toward him and also lowered his voice. "What about the owner?"

"The owner was," Jiang Yuduo cleared his throat and said quickly, "a pretty little cutie."

"…You done yet?" Cheng Ke choked a little and had no idea what to say. "If you don't bring me a pretty little cutie like that, are you going to count it as one of your unfinished wishes?"

"That's not what I meant, damn it!" Jiang Yuduo glared at him. "I mean, I thought that owner was a man, then I saw it was a woman, and later I realized he really was a man. His makeup was pretty good too, beautiful."

"And then?" Cheng Ke asked.

If it had been someone else, he wouldn't have had so much patience. But Jiang Yuduo was different. When Jiang Yuduo kept asking about these things, what he showed was not curiosity or contempt, only confusion and incomprehension.

Very cute.

Cute enough to let a lot of other problems be ignored.

For example, the abrupt avoidance of "them," his injury on his right hand, whether Jiang Yuduo actually had some mental issue, or whether being with him would be dangerous.

"And then what?" Jiang Yuduo dragged his chair even closer, until he was basically pressed right up against Cheng Ke. "I just thought, were you into that kind of person?"

"Did I say that?" Cheng Ke asked. "Pretty little cuties."

Jiang Yuduo stared at him, seeming to recall it at high speed.

Cheng Ke leaned back against the chair without making a sound, looking into his eyes.

Jiang Yuduo looked pretty fierce, and with that scar on his face, he looked even fiercer. He had the kind of expression that made it seem like he would reach out and slap you if you said one wrong word, but his eyes were completely different.

Especially at moments like this, they were very simple, so simple that you couldn't see anything in them at all.

And you also could not imagine that someone with eyes like that would have endured some childhood he could not bear to look back on.

"No, you didn't," Jiang Yuduo slapped his thigh. "Your fucking younger brother said it!"

"Ah." Cheng Ke rubbed his leg. "Then don't ask me next time. Ask Cheng Yi."

"But when I asked you, you nodded too…" Jiang Yuduo said.

"Is that the same thing as the pretty little cutie you were thinking of?" Cheng Ke was speechless.

"…I get it," Jiang Yuduo thought about it and suddenly understood. He pointed at Cheng Ke in realization. "You don't like that kind of pretty little cutie. You probably like the kind of cutie that Coach Yang is more like."

Cheng Ke looked at him for a good ten seconds before he drew out a sigh. "Get lost."

"I was right, wasn't I?" Jiang Yuduo said. "When you pick a personal trainer, you should pick the type you like. If I were going to the gym, I'd find a sexy female trainer with a hot body. Working out would be much more pleasant, right? Lu Xi used to go to the gym, and because there wasn't a trainer there with the look she liked, she changed gyms three times."

As Cheng Ke listened to this whole analysis, he suddenly felt like reaching out and pinching Jiang Yuduo's face.

To keep himself from acting on that insane impulse, Cheng Ke stuffed his hand into his pocket.

"But that Yang guy," Jiang Yuduo sighed. "He's fine if he doesn't talk, but the moment he opens his mouth he can drive someone crazy, blah blah blah… I was only giving you face, otherwise I would've shut him up long ago."

"Stop worrying for me," Cheng Ke also sighed. "I just found a random personal trainer. It just so happened that he knew me before. How are you able to think of all this?"

"So what kind do you actually like?" Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. "I've asked you so many times. What's so hard about saying something like that?"

"Then what kind of girl do you like?" Cheng Ke asked with a smile.

That question made Jiang Yuduo freeze. He thought for a long time before saying, "Pretty ones, the kind with big boobs and a thin waist."

"Kid." Cheng Ke said with a smile.

An answer that only cared about figure and face basically made it obvious that Jiang Yuduo had never dated anyone.

It was kind of amazing. A big-name boss, twenty-one years old, and he had never been in a relationship.

"You're not a kid," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at him. "Then for someone like you, a thirty-six-month-old middle-aged man, what kind do you like?"

Cheng Ke looked at him without speaking.

Jiang Yuduo didn't speak either, just stared back and waited for his answer.

After they glared at each other for a while, Jiang Yuduo suddenly sat up straight. "What the fuck?"

The moment Jiang Yuduo let out that exclamation, Cheng Ke regretted it. He hadn't intended to give any hint now, and he hadn't even thought he needed to give one.

Jiang Yuduo was as straight as a iron pole yam[[1]], and even if he wasn't the full-on homophobic type, he was the kind who got startled by everything all day long. If he really gave any hint, their already awkward friendship probably wouldn't continue.

But Cheng Ke had no way to back out now. He could only hope that the "what the fuck" would be followed by Jiang Yuduo's wild guessing.

"You couldn't be…" Jiang Yuduo hesitated, then pointed at himself. "Into someone like me, could you?"

When Cheng Ke saw him pointing at himself, his heart tightened, but when he heard that Jiang Yuduo said "someone like me" instead of "me," he suddenly let out a breath of relief.

"Someone like you?" he asked.

"Just…" Jiang Yuduo was thrown by the question, looked down at himself, and thought about it for a while. "Just me… this kind of…"

Cheng Ke smiled.

"Fuck you," Jiang Yuduo said, probably feeling embarrassed that he couldn't categorize himself properly, and clicked his tongue impatiently. "Just say whether it is or not."

"Pretty much." Cheng Ke nodded with a smile.

Jiang Yuduo looked at him for a while, then sighed. "Then your taste isn't that great."

"How is my taste not great?" Cheng Ke asked.

"At least you're a young master," Jiang Yuduo said. "And you like my type. Think about it, Ba Zhe, Chen Qing, Baird, Da Bin… just thinking about it makes me wonder if you've suffered some kind of emotional damage."

…

Cheng Ke felt like this conversation could not continue. Once Jiang Yuduo's thoughts went off track, they ran even harder than Chen Qing's stubbornness.

"What exactly did you want to see me about today?" Cheng Ke could only change the subject.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Jiang Yuduo said, looking a little embarrassed. "I just… wanted to ask if I could leave my cat at your place…"

"What?" Cheng Ke froze.

"Just for two days." Jiang Yuduo quickly held up two fingers. "Lu Xi's mom is going back to the old house to live, and I have to stay somewhere else for two days. There's nowhere to put the cat."

"The old house?" Cheng Ke took another moment to react. "The place you live in now is Lu Xi's house?"

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded. "Surprised?"

"I always thought it was yours." Cheng Ke said.

"Do you have no concept of money at all?" Jiang Yuduo asked. "Let alone me, with how you are now, could you even afford that house? An old apartment in this area, first floor, with a little yard in the back."

"The down payment is about doable," Cheng Ke thought about it and said.

Jiang Yuduo looked at him for a while, then leaned back in his chair. "I can't afford it. I'm just getting by like this. None of these people can afford it either."

"That's not what I meant, whether I could afford it or not." Cheng Ke suddenly felt a little sour. "I just never thought about that question."

"You just assume everyone can afford it." Jiang Yuduo curled the corner of his mouth.

"Habitual thinking," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "I rent a place now too."

The two of them fell silent for a while before Jiang Yuduo remembered the main point again. "So, is it okay?"

"If I remember correctly," Cheng Ke took out his phone and found a photo of the contract in his album, "without Party A's permission, Party B shall not keep any animals in the house in any form…"

"You even took a picture of the contract, what, so you can recite it whenever you have nothing to do?" Jiang Yuduo reached out to block the screen. "Party A now gives permission."

"I've never raised a cat. I don't even know what to do." Cheng Ke said.

"I'll tell you, it's really easy. Just give it some food. It will use the toilet on its own," Jiang Yuduo said. "I'll bring all of its stuff over to you, the bed, the litter box, the cat food, everything."

Cheng Ke looked at him and realized that when Jiang Yuduo said these words, he had already taken on a slight pleading tone. It sounded inexplicably pitiful, and somehow made one a little heartbroken. The cat's arrangements seemed to be very important to him.

"Why put it at my place?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Chen Qing's place can't take it, and I don't trust anyone else," Jiang Yuduo said. "I'm also afraid they'll lose the cat."

"What if I…" Cheng Ke had never raised a cat, so he really did not know if he could keep an eye on it. If he lost the cat, and Jiang Yuduo was this tense, he was even afraid Jiang Yuduo might come at him with a knife and split him open.

"You won't," Jiang Yuduo said with a smile. "Even though you don't know how to do anything, if you agree to this, you won't mess it up."

Cheng Ke looked at him. "You're that sure?"

"My intuition is pretty accurate." Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke really wanted to say that your intuition actually wasn't that accurate.

"Will you do it?" Jiang Yuduo asked again.

"Then where are you staying these two days?" Cheng Ke asked.

"A hotel," Jiang Yuduo said. "Where I sleep doesn't matter. The main thing is hotels don't allow cats, and it's easy for them to run off."

When Jiang Yuduo said that, he didn't seem to have any emotion. He said it very normally, very naturally, but Cheng Ke didn't know if he had suddenly become sensitive just now or if it was something else. He just felt a bitter ache in his heart, and for no reason kept thinking about that ten-year-old kid who slept by the bridge back then…

"How about…" Cheng Ke said with some difficulty, "these two days you just stay at my place."

"Huh?" Jiang Yuduo stared at him, stunned.

"You won't need to stay at a hotel then," Cheng Ke felt awkward under his gaze. Especially after Jiang Yuduo had said "someone like me," this reaction made him extremely embarrassed. He added, "It's only two days anyway. Sleeping on the sofa or on the floor is fine. It's still more comfortable than a hotel, right?"

Sleeping on the sofa or floor was more comfortable than a hotel?

Not necessarily.

Right now, Cheng Ke especially wanted to grab a chair and smash it over Jiang Yuduo's head, to knock this part out of his memory.

"I… should still stay at a hotel." Jiang Yuduo said.

Go to hell.

Right then, Cheng Ke especially wanted to grab a chair and smash it over his own head too. There was no need for him to ask that extra sentence, like an idiot.