HCILH Ch. 56

Chapter 56: Couple’s Outfits

When Sui Houyu returned to the hotel room, he threw himself onto the bed and laid there without moving.

After a while, he started to feel stuffy and realized he had forgotten to turn on the air purifier and air conditioning when he entered the room. Since this hotel didn’t automate these things after inserting the key card, it was a bit troublesome.

Even though he knew it, he didn’t want to move—a rare moment for someone as active as him.

Hou Mo came back rather quickly and announced as soon as he walked in: “I ran into Su Anyi on the way back, so I just brought lunch with me.”

He looked around the room, then turned on the air purifier and air conditioning, mumbling as he did: “Why didn’t you turn on the air? This hotel is pretty stuffy.”

After setting down the lunch boxes on the table, Hou Mo glanced at Sui Houyu, who was still lying motionless on the bed.

He was sure Sui Houyu wasn’t asleep.

If Sui Houyu could sleep on his own, he wouldn’t always insist on squeezing into the same bed as him. Hou Mo walked over and said, “Eat.”

“No.” Sui Houyu’s muffled voice came from under the blanket.

“Why?”

“No appetite.”

Without a word, Hou Mo reached down, lifted Sui Houyu by the waist, and carried him like a big baby, placing him on the chair.

Then, Hou Mo sat beside him, opened the lunch boxes, and split the chopsticks, glancing inside: “The food’s pretty good today. I heard each meal costs about 80 yuan, so we better eat it. We’ve got three boxes for just the two of us.”

Sui Houyu pouted and ignored him.

Just then, Hou Mo’s phone chimed with a notification. He grabbed it and checked the message on the screensaver.

Since they often received notifications and had to set alarms during competitions, Hou Mo kept his phone’s notification sound on.

The moment Hou Mo picked up his phone, Sui Houyu’s eyes fixed on him, watching as Hou Mo smiled at the screen and quickly typed a reply. For some reason, Sui Houyu grew more annoyed.

It was a strange feeling.

It was like a lump in his throat—something he could swallow, but it left his mouth dry and parched. 

Even drinking water didn’t help, and he didn’t feel like speaking anymore.

He glared at Hou Mo for a while until Hou Mo showed him a photo. “Look at this picture! I tilted my head on purpose, and you looked down instead. Are we cursed by Tang Yao or something?”

It took Sui Houyu a moment to react—it was a photo the reporter had sent Hou Mo from earlier that morning.

He glanced at the phone. Sure enough, their positions were reversed, and the result looked pretty funny.

Hou Mo laughed for a long time, flapping around like a gleeful goose.

Still holding his phone, he looked at it for a while and said: “I’m posting this on my Moments.”

“Okay…” Sui Houyu mumbled.

After Hou Mo set his phone aside, Sui Houyu quickly picked up his own phone and opened Moments. Sure enough, he saw Hou Mo’s latest post.

Shameless Big Dog: “Introducing my doubles partner—Yu-ge. [Image]”

The photo was one of their professionally shot pictures. The composition was great, and the lighting gave it a nice atmosphere—it looked amazing.

Sui Houyu listened as Hou Mo’s phone chimed repeatedly with notifications. It seemed many people were commenting or messaging him.

He refreshed the feed and saw several likes and comments under the post, all of which were from their mutual friends.

Deng Yiheng: “No way! This is Senior Brother actually posted on Moments. This is his first post, isn’t it?”

Ran Shu: “Is that picture unedited? Brother Yu godly looks really saved you—otherwise, you’d get punched for posting this.”

Su Ayi: “The picture looks great.”

Shen Junjing: “Five minutes in, and I’ve already seen this photo in four group chats. The girls are going wild.”

Coach Wang: “Looking sharp.”

Reading through the comments finally lightened Sui Houyu’s mood. He picked up his chopsticks, broke them apart, and started eating.

The suffocating feeling in his throat gradually disappeared.

It wasn’t thirst after all—the discomfort wasn’t physical but was something else.

Quiet frustration had crept in and then quietly healed on its own.

Only he was aware of the entire process.

Hou Mo, sitting beside him, continued to comfort him: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Our next opponents aren’t too tough. If we face Jiang Wei and Lu Qinghui later, we’ll just give it our all. Also, I already cursed Tang Yao back, so you don’t have to stay mad.”

Sui Houyu took a bite of the rice and looked at Hou Mo in confusion, not understanding why he was suddenly bringing this up.

“I just don’t want you feeling down,” Hou Mo said while putting food on Sui Houyu’s plate.

“Oh.” Sui Houyu nodded and kept eating.

Hou Mo then pulled out a fan banner from his bag and handed it to Sui Houyu: “Here, hold this during the match—it’ll help me meet my KPI.”

“What KPI?” Sui Houyu frowned at the sight of the banner.

Realizing he hadn’t explained, Hou Mo quickly said: “We’re sponsored, right? Since I have more sponsors, I need to build some fan support. If I have personal fans at the match, my commercial value will go up. If I get popular enough, I might even land some ads. That’s the standard they’re measuring us by—why else would I start a fan group?”

“Oh… So that’s all it is?”

“What else did you think?”

“I thought you were looking for a…” Sui Houyu trailed off. Even if  Hou Mo wanted to find a girlfriend from his fan group, it was none of his business. Why was he so annoyed about it?

Hou Mo waved dismissively. “Nah. With my family situation, I can’t even afford to date. At the very least, I need a steady income after graduation; otherwise, I’d just be a burden.”

“You don’t plan on dating?”

“Nope, not unless I want to drag someone else down.” After eating a few bites, Hou Mo asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t plan on dating either.”

“Why not? You should have no problem finding someone.”

Sui Houyu paused before saying: “It’s personal.”

“You’re good-looking, though.”

“I can’t control my temper. Being with me wouldn’t be safe for anyone. Plus, my manic disorder is hereditary.”

After listening, Hou Mo’s eating paused for a moment, and he seemed to feel a brief pang of discomfort.

It hurt a little.

The two of them quietly ate for a while before Hou Mo continued, “That’s good. Being single won’t affect training. The two of us single dogs can grind at doubles tennis for a while and improve faster than those ordinary folks burdened with seven emotions and six desires.”

“Mm,” Sui Houyu responded casually.

“No worries, I’ll stick with you. You’ll always have me.”

This time, Sui Houyu glanced at Hou Mo, his eyes curving slightly as if smiling.

His eyes were sparkling, as if it held a galaxy of stars.

*

In the afternoon, Sui Houyu and Hou Mo had a doubles match. Hou Mo thought the opponents would be easy to deal with, and Sui Houyu, who was like a newborn calf who wasn’t afraid of tigers, had no fear—after all, he didn’t know or care who they were.

At this time, their new uniforms had arrived, printed on-site with impressive speed. 

Su Anyi was efficient as ever. She had washed, dried, and ironed them before delivering them to their room. 

When Sui Houyu got the new sportswear, he went into the room to change.

He pulled off his shirt and tossed it on the bed. As he turned around,  he noticed Hou Mo watching him.

“What?” Sui Houyu asked, puzzled, as he grabbed the new sportswear and put it on.

“Just feel like… it’d be a real shame not to take a few more looks at this scene.”

“Heh.” Sui Houyu let out a cold chuckle, continuing to change clothes. Then he sat on the bed and stared at Hou Mo. “Your turn. I’m waiting.”

“Don’t…” Hou Mo, after sneaking a glance, was ready to grab his sportswear and head to the bathroom to change.

But Sui Houyu quickly stood up and blocked his way. Hou Mo tried going left, but Sui Houyu followed his movement. When Hou Mo pretended to retreat, Sui Houyu continued to close in.

Feeling helpless, Hou Mo gritted his teeth and finally gave in, changing right there in the room.

Hou Mo’s skin was truly pale—so pale it bordered on sickly, with veins on the inside of his arms more visible than usual.

Sui Houyu crossed his arms and watched Hou Mo’s snow-white abs and chest muscles, a smile creeping onto his face.

The normally shameless Hou Mo felt a little embarrassed under his gaze. He hurriedly pulled on his shirt like he’d been shocked, slipping it on in a jittery flurry. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, it’s just rare to see such a pale musclehead.”

“Tch—” Hou Mo could only suppress his frustration, awkwardly spinning in place. He weakly retorted, “You’re pretty pale too.”

“Not as pale as you.”

“…”

The two of them slipped on their sports jackets and headed to the court, warming up together.

When it was time for the match, they took off their jackets to reveal their new uniforms.

At first, the audience didn’t recognize the text on their shirts because the light blue color was subtle. But as the match went on, they finally saw what was printed.

On the back of Sui Houyu’s shirt: ← My partner’s an idiot.

On the back of Hou Mo’s shirt: → My partner’s super mean.

The arrows pointed in the direction of their typical positions in the game—Hou Mo on Sui Houyu’s left side.

Deng Yiheng, sitting courtside, watched for a moment and remarked to Su Anyi: “Their sponsor is really awesome, approving text like this.”

Su Anyi was also baffled: “The person I spoke to was a girl in her early twenties. She approved the design right away and even laughed for a good while.”

After observing a bit longer, Deng Yiheng sighed. “They made those uniforms look like couple outfits.”

Shen Junjing, resting his chin on his hand, added: “Only they can pull off a sportswear like this and still look cute. If Liu Mo wore it, it’d just make him look even darker.”

“Liu Mo, huh… he doesn’t need help looking dark. He looks dark in everything he wears..”

“True. Just like you—completely hopeless. Always quick to the tanness of the Tibetan Mastiff but blind to your own.”

“…” Deng Yiheng was left speechless.

A little later, Ran Shu and Sang Xian showed up with rackets in hand to watch the match.

Ran Shu sat down and asked, “So… how’s it going?”

Deng Yiheng glanced at them and asked, “You guys lost?”

“Yep!” Ran Shu replied cheerfully. “But we held on for two full sets before losing. That’s pretty solid, right?”

“If you guys didn’t last two sets, the other side wouldn’t have won,” Deng Yiheng said, amazed at Ran Shu’s optimism.

Meanwhile, Shen Junjing gave a summary of Sui Houyu and Hou Mo’s performance. “They’ve basically got this in the bag. Their coordination is getting better and better, and they’re playing really smoothly now.”

Ran Shu grinned. “So… does this mean Brother Yu can take the championship?”

At this point, the usually silent Sang Xian spoke up: “No chance.”

Ran Shu wasn’t having it. “What do you know about doubles?”

Coach Wang chimed in. “If their opponents are Jiang Wei and Lu Qinghui, they won’t be able to win with their current level.”

Ran Shu instantly fell silent.