HCILH Ch. 18

Chapter 18: The Third Time

At nine o’clock on Saturday morning, Sui Houyu sat up in bed.

He was covered in sticky sweat, his pajamas clinging to his back, making him feel anxious. He got up to open the window.

In an instant, the noisy sound of cicadas and the clattering of chess pieces being played by the old men in the community flooded into the room, along with a wave of heat.

The situation did not improve.

He had been excited since last night until nearly six this morning, finally feeling a hint of sleepiness.

He had set the air conditioner on a timer before going to bed, and when he woke up, it had already turned off, leaving him to sweat profusely.

Once he cooled down enough, he took a change of clothes to the bathroom for a shower.

Recently, he had been training with the group of student athletes, and Coach Wang seemed to have spoken to Ouyang Ge, who didn’t restrict Sui Houyu’s participation.

After truly training with them, Sui Houyu felt exhausted.

He usually exercises a lot, but the formal training involved comprehensive stretching and more intense concentrated workouts, which led to muscle soreness.

While showering, he moved his ankle, feeling sharp pains in his calves.

Deng Yiheng had said that since it was tennis season, they wouldn’t train at high intensity, as it would be hard to recover. After the season ended, they would have a short break, then their training would ramp up to high intensity, which would be utterly grueling.

With just this level of training, Sui Houyu already felt fatigued. If it were high intensity… how would it feel?

As he pondered, he faintly heard some noise.

The sound of the showerhead masked his hearing, and as he reached out to turn off the water, someone opened the bathroom door and walked in.

Hou Mo paused when he saw Sui Houyu.

This bathroom didn’t have a separate shower stall, and Sui Houyu hadn’t pulled the shower curtain, leading to a “candid encounter” between them.

Sui Houyu froze as he looked at Hou Mo.

After a brief pause, Hou Mo extended the brand-new towel he was holding, his gaze sweeping from top to bottom, seemingly trying to reclaim the look Sui Houyu had caught earlier of his flaxen hair.

Then he chuckled and asked: “Is this when your hair is the straightest?”

With the water drenching his head, Sui Houyu’s hair clung to his scalp, naturally straight.

After hearing this, Sui Houyu rolled his eyes and lowered his voice to say: “Get lost.”

Obediently, Hou Mo turned to leave, but after thinking for a moment, he stopped at the door and looked back at Sui Houyu, reminding him: “Remember to set the do-not-disturb next time you shower, or we’ll just come in after ringing the bell. I’m fine, but I’m mainly worried you’ll scare my mom.”

“I get it; now get out!” Sui Houyu yelled in irritation.

After Hou Mo left, he didn’t plan to tidy up the bathroom; instead, he walked into the bedroom.

In the bedroom were Sui Houyu’s clothes from last night, carelessly tossed over the chair by the bed. Hou Mo picked them up and tidied up some trash.

As he turned around, he noticed a sweaty outline on the bed sheet, resembling a human form.

If he hadn’t known better, he might have thought Sui Houyu had wet the bed.

This kid runs quite hot.

He reached out to pull down the sheet but suddenly paused, recalling the scene he had just witnessed.

Looking back at the shape, he realized Sui Houyu was indeed very thin. 

Bony, with some stringy muscles—a peculiar combination.

Was this also caused by his mania?

When Sui Houyu stepped out, Hou Mo was tidying up the takeout containers from dinner last night that had yet to be cleaned.

He stood nearby, arms crossed, watching Hou Mo, who began to mutter, “I’ve changed the bed cover, but I didn’t bring a new one this time. I’ll deliver it after going upstairs to fetch it.”

“Oh.” Sui Houyu walked over and wiped the table with his finger.

Hou Mo noticed his action and asked: “Looking for trouble, huh?”

“Yeah.” To his surprise, Sui Houyu admitted it straightforwardly.

“What’s wrong with you? If you want to fight, just say so. Why do you have to look for trouble?”

“Because that way, it makes it seem like I have a reason every time I fight. I’m not unreasonable.”

“…” Hou Mo stared at Sui Houyu for a while before finally giving him a thumbs up. “I got it. I’ll finish cleaning up; otherwise, I’ll be too tired to continue.”

After saying that, Hou Mo resumed tidying up, finishing the dining area before turning to clean the bathroom.

Sui Houyu walked over to feed the cat and played with it for a while. Once Hou Mo was done, he came out to Sui Houyu and said, “I’ll go home to get the bed cover first, then I’ll come back, and we can fight.”

“Alright.” Sui Houyu was also quite easygoing.

Not long after, Hou Mo came back in with his mom.

Seeing Hou Mo carrying the bed cover, Hou’s mother worried that he wouldn’t change it neatly, making Sui Houyu uncomfortable while sleeping, so she came over to help.

Once Hou’s mother arrived, Hou Mo acted obediently like a quail, exchanging glances with Sui Houyu as if to signal him not to fight now.

Sui Houyu held the cat, watching the mother and son help him change the bedding in silence.

He could only temporarily suppress his anger.

While watching, he realized that Hou Mo’s fair skin probably came from his mother.

Hou’s mother was very fair, to the point of being slightly unreasonable, almost looking anemic. Her hair was also flaxen, with gem-like eyes that appeared gentle when she looked at people.

When the mother and son were almost done cleaning, the cat jumped out of Sui Houyu’s arms and walked over to rub against Hou’s mother’s hand as if greeting her.

It was clear that Hou’s mother treated the cat well while Sui Houyu was at school, or the cat wouldn’t be so close to her.

Hou’s mother gently said, “Mo Mo, look how cute this cat is.”

Hou Mo didn’t want to look at the cat and shook his head repeatedly: “No way, I’m scared just looking at it.”

“You’re just like your father.” Hou’s mother said, reaching out to pet the cat’s head.

Hou Mo swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then mumbled: “Oh…”

His voice trembled slightly.

Sui Houyu leaned against the wall and asked: “Where can I buy a racket around here?”

Recently, he had been using the team’s rackets for the tennis club, but they didn’t feel very comfortable.

Unlike Hou Mo and the others, who all had their own special rackets that looked good in quality.

Hou Mo’s response was particularly cheeky: “Even if you change your racket, you still can’t beat me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he was pushed by his mother. She answered for him: “I’ll have Mo Mo take you to buy one this afternoon; he’s knowledgeable in this area and can help you pick one out.”

Sui Houyu smiled and replied: “Okay.”

He was still quite polite to Hou’s mother.

*

After cleaning up the other two homestays, Hou Mo returned to find Sui Houyu. This time, he didn’t even enter the door, directly telling Sui Houyu: “Let’s go.”

Once downstairs, Sui Houyu watched Hou Mo open a bicycle and couldn’t help but ask: “Are we riding a bike?”

“Yeah, this is the only transportation at my home,” Hou Mo replied, extending his hand to introduce it to him, “My mom only rides it when she goes to reconcile accounts at work. It’s 70% new, particularly stable. It has an open-top and full visibility, high-end and stylish, and it’s a bit of a cute thing too.”

Sui Houyu looked at the sky-blue female bicycle and fell silent for a long time.

He also rode bikes but only mountain bikes for off-roading. He had never ridden a bicycle like this.

After a moment of thought, he asked, “Then what do you ride?”

Hou Mo was caught off guard, not understanding the premise of his question. After a moment, he realized and answered: “I pedal; you sit behind. But you have to wait while I adjust the bike seat.”

Hou Mo had long legs, making it awkward to ride this type of bike; he always had to adjust the seat first.

Sui Houyu was puzzled and asked, “Can’t we just change to another bike?”

“Then I’d have to go trade with Deng Yiheng for his bike, but Deng Yiheng’s bike is a racing bike. However, they occasionally need it to deliver takeout, so we can only leave this one for them. On Deng Yiheng’s bike, you can only sit on the crossbar.”

“What about taking a taxi?”

“Have you seen those handicapped cars? The two of us would have to hunch over and squeeze in. It’s not worth it compared to riding a bike.”

Sui Houyu took a deep breath and reluctantly compromised.

After Hou Mo adjusted the seat, he sat on the bike and waved at him. Sui Houyu had no choice but to sit on the back seat of the bicycle, albeit unwillingly.

Hou Mo enthusiastically directed: “You can put your feet here, see? Right here.”

As he spoke, he tapped his heel a couple of times.

“Let’s hurry up!” Sui Houyu replied irritably.

Hou Mo rode his bicycle, taking Sui Houyu to a nearby mall, and along the way, he asked: “What kind do you want to buy?”

“Just looking.”

“If you’re just messing around, you don’t need to buy something really nice; a transitional one for beginners will do.”

“I’m not a beginner.”

“Right, you’re more of an amateur player.”

“……”

Sui Houyu has always been a man of few words.

Or rather, he didn’t speak much around people he wasn’t familiar with, and Hou Mo had gotten used to it.

However, Hou Mo suddenly sensed something was off. Sui Houyu was silently leaning against his back, his body swaying slightly, the warmth of his body transmitting through their clothes.

He quickly stopped the bike, planted his feet on the ground, and reached back to support Sui Houyu’s body, turning his head to see that Sui Houyu had actually fallen asleep against him.

“No way, big guy, how sleep-deprived are you that you can sleep in this situation? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?” Hou Mo was truly startled by Sui Houyu. Even if there were only a few cars on Xiangjia Alley, they shouldn’t be so careless.

If he hadn’t had this experience before, he wouldn’t have realized Sui Houyu was asleep; he might have thought this guy was just trying to take advantage of him.

Before long, Sui Houyu was jolted awake by Hou Mo.

He opened his eyes and looked around, somewhat disoriented, and after a moment of hesitation, finally focused on Hou Mo.

Hou Mo was also looking at him, a teasing smile on his face: “You really are something else; you can sleep even in this situation.”

“I… fell asleep?” he asked in surprise.

“What else? Did I drug you?”

In a comfortable, quiet environment lying in bed, Sui Houyu found it hard to fall asleep.

But now… he had actually fallen asleep on the uncomfortable back seat of a bicycle?

He widened his eyes in shock, staring at Hou Mo, and suddenly felt a moment of confusion, vaguely recalling something yet unsure.

For a brief moment, he surprisingly felt that Hou Mo gave him a familiar and dependent feeling.

It was very strange.

Was this the third time?

With Hou Mo beside him, he had inexplicably fallen asleep.

It wasn’t a coincidence.

What exactly was going on?