Haixiu’s father’s crisis was much easier to solve than Feng Fei had imagined. The next day, he heard the news when he contacted Jiang Yuman again. Hai Haowei hadn’t stayed long, and already left yesterday, just like had he had the previous years. He also had once again neglected to leave any living fees for Haixiu (the money you have to pay to the other party for raising their child alone).Â
Before Feng Fei could console Jiang Yuman, she had already started to console Feng Fei instead, telling him to not bother about Hai Haowei, and just act like he didn’t exist. The words that Feng Fei had prepared to console Jiang Yuman were immediately rendered useless. Jiang Yuman was much more mentally resilient than he had originally thought.
Now, Jiang Yuman has a filial and obedient son and a job that she was both passionate about and also earned a lot of money. Her life was full of pleasure and smooth sailing, without any dissatisfaction. On the other hand, Hai Haowei, even after he had divorced Jiang Yuman for so many years, he was still an associate professor, his work was still the same as it had been when he started. His work stayed the same, but his martial status was up and down throughout the years, always re marrying then divorcing. His age was already past forty, and his only son wasn’t by his side, and didn’t want to be close to him. As long as you thought about it, it was clear to see how miserable he was.
Feng Fei thought about it, and realized that Jiang Yuman really had nothing to be depressed about. Compared to Hai Haowei, after she divorced, she went from a simple manager to a section head. She had a open path in front of her, and except for Haixiu’s illness, she really had nothing to worry about in her life. Now that he looked at it…
“It’s okay, I-I will ask the teacher for another paper for you.” There was a classmate who had lost the newly passed out paper, and had panicked, going over to the Haixiu who had been the one to distribute the homework. Haixiu busily answered him, going upstairs to ask the teacher for another copy. Now, Haixiu didn’t feel any pressure at all when communicating with his classmates and teachers. Feng Fei sat at his seat and watched Haixiu busily rushing about. This class, Haixiu also had to pass back the homework from yesterday, and seeing how busy he was, Feng Fei helped him out a bit. When Haixiu came back from the teacher’s office, he was holding a magazine in his hand.
Feng Fei raised his eyebrows in question, so Haixiu explained.
“The chinese language teacher gave it to me. She said that there was an article in here that was pretty good, and wanted me to look at how they wrote their thesis.” Feng Fei sighed.
“Look at how biased she is, usually when we look at magazines she’ll confiscate them, but for you, she’ll even recommend one”. Haixiu considerately offered,
“Do you want to look at it first?” Feng Fei shook his head.
“I don’t like this type of magazine”. Haixiu flipped it open, and read it with delight.
“I like it”. Feng Fei looked at Haixiu’s profile and wondered if he should show Haixiu his own magazines after returning home. It wasn’t like Haixiu was still a child, looking through it shouldn’t pose any problems… Feng Fei felt a little restless, while Haixiu excitedly pushed him.
“Look at this part…” Haixiu lowered his head and said shyly, “I saw an excerpt of this before, it’s said to be very accurate”. Feng Fei’s brows creased, and he leaned his head closer to look at what Haixiu was pointing out–
“Let the people you like also like your ten magical weapons: an article for boys”. (T/N idk what kind of chuuni reference this is) Haixiu pretended to be serious. “See, this article teaches lovers how to improve their relationship, and it’s way more professional than the one you told me about”. Feng Fei was at a loss.
“Ha?” Feng Fei suddenly thought about what had happened last night. Haixiu solemnly read aloud the article.
“Number one, when the other person says they are not angry, it means that they actually are angry, and you must coax them diligently”. Haixiu looked at Feng Fei, and thought that the article was pretty accurate.Â
“Ktfgf’r cb batfg kjs jybea la, P, P jw j wjif, rb bo mbegrf P tjnf ab ibbx ja jgalmifr obg ybsr”. Ljlzle kjr jogjlv Mfcu Mfl tjv ajxfc la qfgrbcjiis, jcv mibrfv atf wjujhlcf, mbjzlcu tlw. “P kbc’a ibbx ja la jcswbgf, bxjs?” Mfcu Mfl ofia tfiqifrr, jcv kjnfv tlr tjcv.
“You can look at it, it’s okay”. Haixiu really did want to continue looking at it, so he flipped it open, then confirmed it with him again.
“It’s really okay?” Feng Fei liked how attentive Haixiu was, and laughed, nodding his head.
“It’s really fine”. Haixiu lowered his head to look at the magazine, and continued to read.
“Number two, when your lover says it’s fine, then it definitely isn’t fine!” Haixiu felt alarm bells ringing in his heart. He looked at Feng Fei, snapped the magazine shut quickly, and thoughtfully said. “I won’t look at it anymore, really”. Feng Fei closed his eyes, and had the heart to rip this magazine apart. Haixiu secretly rejoiced, thinking that he had seen past Feng Fei’s outer wall, and had directly seen his inner thoughts. Haixiu let out a sigh in his heart, and felt that he really did like Feng Fei a lot.Â
Feng Fei looked at Haixiu’s relaxed appearance, and subconsciously wanted to laugh. His little boyfriend was doing his best trying to be kind to him. Even if the methods were a bit clumsy, it was all the more cute.
The school’s heating still wasn’t totally fixed, so the evening self study was still suspended. The two of them went home early and ate dinner, then studied together. With no evening self study, and only a small amount of homework, Feng Fei was in a very good mood, and when Feng Fei got into a good mood, the thing he liked to do most was tease Haixiu.
When Haixiu did his homework, he also did his homework, but his feet under the table were stepping on Haixiu’s feet nonstop. When Haixiu drank half of the water in his cup, Feng Fei directly snatched the cup and drank the remaining cup. Feng Fei did all kinds of small things throughout the entire night. Before going to sleep, Feng Fei sat on the bed, spewing indecent things without pause. The more bashful Haixiu was, the worse Feng Fei got, all the way until Haixiu couldn’t stand it anymore, covering his ears and plunged his head into Feng Fei’s arms, quietly begging.
“If you keep talking… I won’t be able to sleep anymore”. Feng Fei laughed loudly, turned off the lights, and said with a smile,
“Alright alright, I won’t say anything more. Let’s sleep”. Feng Fei lifted the person up from his arms and let him put his head on his pillow. He touched Haixiu’s soft and fluffy hair, and said “You don’t need to always think about how to maintain a relationship. Between the two of us… it will all happen naturally, there’s no need to worry about it so much”. Haixiu’s inner worries were all made clear by Feng Fei, making his heart warm up. He nodded his head.
“En”. Feng Fei felt his heart thump, and continued to say, “Not to mention, we don’t need to hide any secrets between us. When the amount of secrets start piling up, it’s easy to cause a misunderstanding, and when there’s a misunderstanding there will be disagreements, and when there is a disagreement, there will be arguments”.
Haixiu blinked, and opened his mouth, but in the end he didn’t say anything. Feng Fei lowered his head, and used the light filtering in front the street lamps outside to look at Haixiu, asking him in a lowered voice, “Are you hiding something from me?”. Haixiu felt his heart beating and subconsciously lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Feng Fei. Feng Fei pressed on. “Hm? I’m asking you”. Haixiu took a deep breath and shook his head. Feng Fei smiled and gently rubbed Haixiu’s head and let him lie down.
Just as he closed his eyes, he heard Haixiu whisper.
“Feng Fei, I… I’m hiding something from you”. Feng Fei immediately opened his eyes, and his eyebrows twisted, and just as he was wondering if he should turn on the lights or not, Haixiu put his hand over his. Haixiu squeezed his hand, and whispered “Yesterday… the class monitor of the classroom next to ours met me, and wanted me to ask you if you had time this weekend to play together. I… I said that you were busy, and didn’t have the time”. Haixiu looked at Feng Fei with trepidation, while Feng Fei smiled, hiding how his heart fell. Haixiu embarrassedly admitted, “I was afraid Shao Yueying would also go, and I… sorry, I should have told you, I…”
Shao Yueying… Feng Fei didn’t know if he should laugh or cry, and told him,
“It’s alright”. In order to let Haixiu feel comfortable with letting out all the burdens in his heart in the future, and be able to tell him about his mental illness in the future, Feng Fei showed 120,000 percent tolerance. His voice held no anger at all, and his thoughtfulness made Haixiu feel guilty.
Haixiu sighed with relief, and dutifully said,Â
“I was always worried, because if that class monitor went to you to ask again, i’d be forced to reveal what I did…”. Feng Fei thought to himself, His expression however, was still gentle and mild.
“If you revealed it then you revealed it. Do you really think I would be able to get mad at you?” He added another bit. “No matter what happens, I will never be able to be angry at you”. Haixiu paused and tentatively asked,
“Really?”
Feng Fei asked back,
“Have I ever lied to you?” Haixiu took a deep breath and sat up. Feng Fei had a feeling in his heart, and quickly followed him in sitting up after him. Haixiu gathered his courage and spoke.
“There is still one more thing… do you still remember? The past few days after you got back, the homework that I organized for you…” Feng Fei didn’t quite understand, but still went along.
“Mhm?”
“At that time, I told you that all those papers were homework from the past few days of class, and that you had to do it, but in fact, in fact…” Haixiu swallowed nervously. “In fact, half of the exercises in there weren’t what the teacher left you, it was what I found on my own on topics that I noticed you lacked understanding of. I gave you it before, but you said you didn’t have the time for it, so I took advantage of that time where you weren’t really paying attention, and mixed it into there…” Feng Fei thought back to the pain of homework he’d had to endure the past few days, and smiled with gritted teeth.
“Oh… I was wondering why the teacher would leave me homework that was about the things I’m bad at. Baby, you’re so amazing, if you didn’t say, I probably would’ve never known…”
“There’s still more”. Haixiu obviously didn’t think about his illness at all. The more he spoke the more lively he became, and his eyes shined brighter and brighter. “That day in composition class, when the teacher wasn’t there and you wanted to play on your phone, I told you that the essay was due at the end of class, but actually… actually I was tricking you. That essay, the teacher hasn’t collected that essay even now, your notebook has been with me this entire time. Oh, and then there was also the other day…”
“……” Feng Fei closed his eyes and rubbed his eyebrows, feeling that his blood pressure was a little high.
“You…” Haixiu looked at Feng Fei’s complexion uneasily, and didn’t dare say anymore. He shrank back a bit, and reminded him in a whisper. “You… You said you wouldn’t get mad at me…”
“Of course”. Feng Fei grit his teeth, and managed to squeeze out a stiff smile. “Do I look angry at you? Come back over here a bit”. Haixiu instinctively felt a bit of danger, shaking his head and refusing to go any closer. Feng Fei laughed and waved his hand. “Come over here, what are you afraid of? Come to your brother”.
Haixiu scooted forwards a bit, but before waiting for Haixiu to explain himself, Feng Fei had already pressed Haixiu onto the bed with one fell swoop. He grasped Haixiu’s wrists in his hands. Haixiu tried to move, but Feng Fei stopped him with little effort. Haixiu rushed to apologize.
“Sorry sorry sorry, ah…” Feng Fei was so angry his teeth itched, so he lowered his head onto Haixiu’s neck and bit him fiercely. Haixiu’s brows scrunched up from the pain, while Feng Fei complained.
“Just how much did I owe you in my past life to let you play me like this?!” Haixiu’s face turned red, and he turned his head away, trying to hide his joy.
“So it turns out… that we knew each other in our past lives too”. Feng Fei paused, all his momentum from before lost. He turned his head to look at the red bite mark left by him on Haixiu’s neck. The moment he lowered his head again, Haixiu was so scared he instantly shrank his neck and started to plead. “It hurts…” Feng Fei laughed lightly.
“Don’t move, otherwise it’ll hurt even more”. Haixiu regretted what he did. Feng Fei clearly said that he wasn’t going to get angry! He said he wasn’t angry, but in reality he was very angry. The magazine really was accurate after all!
He didn’t dare move, and waited for Feng Fei to bite him in trepidation. Feng Fei lowered his head, and gently kissed the part that he had just bitten. Haixiu’s body, which was originally stretched taut, suddenly relaxed. “Just now I didn’t pay attention to how hard I bit, and accidentally hurt you”. Feng Fei apologized, and began to coax him. “It was my fault, I will remember next time. Does it still hurt?”
“No-Not anymore…” Haixiu touched his neck. “It didn’t hurt that much anyways”.
Feng Fei kissed the spot again, and offered,
“How about you also bite me once, and then come back”. Haixiu shook his head.
“I couldn’t bear to”. When Feng Fei heard this, he had the indescribable urge to bite him again, but he suppressed the urge. He turned around and kissed Haixiu’s lips heavily, saying
“Let’s go to sleep”. Haixiu obediently closed his eyes. Feng Fei looked at him, and the knot in his heart unconsciously loosened. Don’t press too much. As Haixiu got better and better, his illness would one day be resolved. By that point, whether he told Feng Fei or not didn’t matter anymore. Feng Fei was very willing to hide this secret for Haixiu.