HCILH Ch. 109

Chapter 109: Date

After taking a shower, Hou Mo was carrying Sui Houyu out of the bathroom, and the reason for that…well let’s say that he was too lazy to explain.

Anyone who didn’t know would probably think Sui Houyu had been knocked out by the shower.

Hou Mo could only carry him to the sofa, wrapping a towel around his body and helping him dry off the droplets of water.

While he was busy, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a black figure. He turned his head and saw Da Ge standing on the armrest of the sofa in a squatting position, wide-eyed as he stared at Sui Houyu.

Hou Mo was startled when he saw his older brother in real life standing upright like a cat, and he froze in place.

After Da Ge snapped out of it, he suddenly pounced on Hou Mo, scratching him repeatedly, accompanied by an angry hiss.

“Da Ge, he’s just asleep! He’s not dead! Really, he’s not dead!” Hou Mo quickly explained, grabbing his brother’s paw and placing it near Sui Houyu’s nostrils. “Feel his breath.”

Instead of using his paw to check for breathing, Da Ge sniffed Sui Houyu’s body and nuzzled his head against him. Sui Houyu moved slightly.

Once he confirmed that his “litter box cleaner” was alive, he jumped to his usual cat tree.

Even though he left, he remained curled on the tree, constantly staring at Hou Mo as if monitoring him.

Hou Mo let out a sigh of relief, helped Sui Houyu sit up and dry his hair, then glanced at his own arm. Thankfully, he hadn’t been scratched open—just a few red marks.

His skin was delicate; even the slightest scratch would leave marks for a long time, and they would be especially noticeable.

He suddenly thought that if Da Ge got scared by Sui Houyu suddenly falling asleep, would he come to the rescue if they got too involved during their intimate moments?

At that point, he’d have to figure out a way to send Da Ge to his mother’s place or lock him out.

He grabbed the hair dryer and helped Sui Houyu dry his hair.

The sound of the dryer was so close that it made Sui Houyu frown slightly in his sleep, turning over. The towel covering him slipped off, and Hou Mo casually caught a glimpse of Sui Houyu’s long legs, and…

He felt a bit like a beast taking advantage of Sui Houyu while he was asleep, especially with his brother watching. So, he had no choice but to obediently dry Sui Houyu’s hair.

After finally drying it, Hou Mo’s arm was sore from holding up the dryer.

For the first time, he realized that drying hair was a physical task.

He carried Sui Houyu back to the bed and tucked him in.

After turning off the bedroom lights, he stepped out to tidy up the bathroom and also organize the room, sealing the leftover pine nuts in a jar.

Once he was done, he yawned and returned to the bed, lying down and holding Sui Houyu’s waist from behind to fall asleep.

*

The next day.

Sui Houyu slowly opened his eyes and rested for a moment. As he moved, his back brushed against the blanket, and he suddenly realized he was sleeping without clothes. He quickly checked to see if it hurt anywhere.

After confirming there was no discomfort, he relaxed.

He figured Hou Mo was probably all talk and no action.

During holidays, Hou Mo always slept in, and he was still asleep at that moment.

Sui Houyu turned to face Hou Mo and stared at him for a long while, then carefully moved closer.

When Hou Mo woke up, he looked down and saw a fluffy head moving in front of him. He recognized the curly hair belonged to his boyfriend and could only lie still and let him tease.

Sui Houyu stopped after a while and got up to walk toward the wardrobe.

Hou Mo, however, kept staring at him, his gaze never leaving.

Now, Hou Mo looked at him with confidence. After all, Sui Houyu knew how he felt. What’s the big deal about watching his boyfriend change clothes? After all, the person was his.

Sui Houyu didn’t mind, found his underwear, put it on, and then went to the bathroom to wash up.

Hou Mo also got up but then realized he was feeling sore from some swelling. “Hiss…” He winced and reached to tug at his clothes.

When Sui Houyu finished washing up and came out of the bathroom, Hou Mo suddenly pounced on him, pinning him down, and started biting his ear: “Those two little pink spots are swollen, and even your clothes are rubbing them. I found two band-aids and put them on.”

Sui Houyu burst out laughing. Just imagining it was funny enough, and his shoulders shook with laughter, unable to stop.

Thankfully, Hou Mo soon released Sui Houyu and went to the bathroom to wash up.

When he came back out and saw Sui Houyu wearing a blue and white striped shirt, his expression changed, and he quickly started smiling.

Oh, right, this was their first date.

It seemed like Sui Houyu took this date seriously, as the blue and white striped shirt made a comeback.

Hou Mo suddenly wondered if he should go upstairs to change clothes, at least dress up a bit.

After thinking about it for a while, he gave up. His wardrobe mostly consisted of sportswear, and he had almost no other clothes. It was time to buy some new clothes, or else he wouldn’t be able to match with Sui Houyu.

Once both of them were ready, they specially took Da Ge to Mother Hou’s place.

Hou Mo’s mom quietly asked him: “Is your pocket money enough?”

“It’s enough!” Hou Mo had his own stash of pocket money, which he kept just in case.

“Don’t be too stingy while you’re out having fun.”

“Ai, I know.” “Make sure to treat for the meal.”

Hou Mo realized that the impression of him being stingy was so ingrained in people’s minds that even his mom thought he was cheap.

He wasn’t cheap; he was just thrifty.

They didn’t understand!!

He could only keep assuring her that he would take the initiative, and then he and Sui Houyu left together.

There were no other plans for the day. After arriving at the mall, they had a meal and then went to see a movie.

Sui Houyu stood at the popcorn stand for a long time, eyeing it eagerly with a longing look.

Hou Mo couldn’t help but feel helpless. He quietly reminded: “Brother Yu… I bought some mineral water. If it’s really necessary, I’ll give you a straw. We really can’t eat the popcorn…”

Sui Houyu looked miserable, following Hou Mo out and sitting in the waiting area, sighing.

Hou Mo could only try to comfort him as best as he could: “I’ll make you a hamburger when we get home.”

“We can eat hamburgers?”

Hou Mo nodded. “Get some whole wheat bread, cut it, put in some vegetables, fry a piece of beef, and spread a layer of my special sauce…”

“Meat buns?”

“No, it’s a hamburger.”

Sui Houyu could only hold his face, staring at the rolling movie entrance notifications, looking a bit dejected.

Hou Mo reached out, tapping his fingertip against Sui Houyu’s fingers: “Brother Yu, Brother Yu.”

“What?”

“I can’t hold hands, but I want to touch your hand.”

In this kind of environment, a touch like this would put Sui Houyu to sleep in about five minutes. Hou Mo could only poke him like this, or else they wouldn’t be able to watch the movie.

Sui Houyu finally smiled, leaned over, and whispered, “Why didn’t you dress me yesterday?”

“Why should we wear clothes, just the two of us?”

“We can’t go back to the Stone Age!”

“Next time, I’ll put on your underwear.”

“What about clothes?”

“I don’t wear any either.”

Sui Houyu’s eyes flickered, and he suddenly thought that it might be nice to see Hou Mo’s, so he nodded in agreement, “Fine.”

After a moment, Sui Houyu asked him again: “Does the little pink hurt still?”

“It doesn’t hurt if I don’t touch it, but since its birth, it’s rarely faced a big challenge. It needs some time to adapt.”

“If you made two little pinks, it means it’s destined to face this tribulation.”

“But how did you suck out a heart shape on your collarbone? It looks like a sissy tattoo.”

“Don’t like it?” Sui Houyu’s eyes glinted with a warning.

“I like i.,” Hou Mo immediately gave in.

They chose a 3D movie, mostly featuring battle scenes with passionate fighting, where justice never comes too late.

The plot was very cliché, but the audience really loved it, never tiring of it.

Sui Houyu held a bottle of water with a straw in one hand, his other hand resting on the armrest.

Almost every ten minutes, Hou Mo would stretch his hand to touch his hand: either hooking a pinky, tapping fingertips, or directly covering his hand, intertwining their fingers. After a moment, he’d remove his hand.

The timing was so precise that Sui Houyu suspected that Hou Mo had a stopwatch in his head and wasn’t watching the movie seriously.

However, dating someone who couldn’t hold hands must have been tough for Hou Mo too.

He screwed the cap back onto the water bottle and placed it in the round groove on the armrest. Then he turned around, grabbed Hou Mo’s collar, and pulled him closer. He quickly pecked him on the lips, then released him and continued watching the movie.

In the row behind them were two young girls. One of them exclaimed, “Holy crap,” then quickly shut up, pretending nothing had happened.

The other immediately grabbed her hand: “Stop acting like you’ve never seen anything before.”

“A bit handsome…”

“Yeah…”

And then they both giggled like aunts.

The two people in the front row immediately became quiet, not daring to make a sound for the rest of the movie.

Indeed, during the honeymoon phase, they had forgotten to restrain themselves.

After leaving the cinema and returning the 3D glasses, they ran into the two girls again. After a quick glance, the girls hurriedly ran off, clearly excited.

Sui Houyu blushed deeply.

Hou Mo comforted him: “They should be blessing us.”

“Next time, I’ll be more restrained when we’re out.”

“Okay, I’ll pay attention.” Even though it was Sui Houyu who initiated the kiss, Hou Mo ended up apologizing, “Next time I won’t tempt you.”

The two of them walked out together, and in the souvenir section, they ran into some familiar faces.
Ran Shu was holding a bucket of popcorn, buying movie merchandise. He didn’t pick anything, usually just buying one of everything, while Sang Xian was responsible for paying.

When the two couples met, Ran Shu was surprised: “Weren’t you guys at the movie yesterday?”

Sui Houyu answered helplessly, “I fell asleep yesterday.”

Ran Shu squinted at them, then whispered: “Be more restrained, young ones!”

Hou Mo wasn’t happy, “How dare you remind others? Look at that idiot’s neck. It looks like a spotted dog’s. Better avoid the neck, there’s the carotid artery there. Avoid this area, below that you can go wild, and the clothes can still cover it.”

Ran Shu snorted, then asked, “S-Since we’ve met, why don’t we hang out together? Where should we go?”

Sui Houyu pointed downstairs: “There’s a basketball court on the fifth floor.”

“P-Play basketball with you guys? You’ll cover me with your hats, how can I play?!” Ran Shu immediately refused.

Sui Houyu nodded: “Right, you’re not even walking well.”

Ran Shu: “…”

The four of them discussed for a while but couldn’t decide where to go, so in the end, they went to play basketball.

Hou Mo and Sang Xian played one-on-one, two “puppy dogs” in the honeymoon phase, not letting each other win, right in front of their “partners.”

Ran Shu and Sui Houyu watched from outside the iron fence.

Ran Shu noticed that Sui Houyu was eyeing the popcorn in his hand. He secretly fed Sui Houyu one, but Sui Houyu didn’t eat it, so he threw the popcorn away.

“You and Hou Mo getting along okay?” Ran Shu asked with a bit of sourness.

Knowing that Hou Mo and Sui Houyu were dating, Ran Shu was the most sour about it. Now that he had reluctantly accepted the fact that his buddy had been “snatched away,” he really understood how Sui Houyu must have felt when he found out about his love life.

“He’s always good to me, but we do have a bit of a problem.” Sui Houyu sighed, leaning on the railing.

Ran Shu leaned on the railing and asked: “What’s the problem?”

“It seems like both of us are tops.”

Ran Shu laughed immediately.

Sui Houyu was serious, and seeing Ran Shu laugh, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows: “Do I not look like a top?”

“I-I’m just enjoying your misfortune,” Ran Shu waved his hand and thought for a moment, then began analyzing the situation, “I-In my mind, you’re the top! You’re out there conquering the world! But let me break this down for you from a few points.”

“Mm.” Sui Houyu nodded.

He could only ask Ran Shu about these things, as Ran Shu was the one who understood his perspective best.

“First, if you’re the top you’ll have to give up the habit of beating up Hou Mo every day. In a sense, you’re beating up your wife.” Ran Shu leaned closer and whispered, “Can you stop yourself from doing him, or can you stop yourself from doing him?”

After hearing this, Sui Houyu suddenly realized how profound the Chinese language is—two instances of the word can actually carry different meanings.

He thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth.

How could he resist when Hou Mo was so deserving of a beating?

But… he also wanted to… just thinking about Hou Mo possibly being… crying, made him very excited.

Ran Shu was counting on his fingers in front of him: “Second, h-how close do you need to be to Hou Mo before you can fall asleep?”

“Normally, five minutes.”

“So, if y-you two do that, Hou Mo will need to wind you up every five minutes, or else you won’t move.”

“Sh*t… I can’t control myself either. I don’t know if it’ll be better later.”

“But, if y-you’re the bottom, he can still continue…”

As Sui Houyu was fuming and couldn’t find the words, Ran Shu continued: “Third, t-this point is very important. You know your own situation—if you get interested, you won’t be able to stop. Hou Mo might end up exhausted.”

When Sui Houyu heard this, he truly wavered, and his expression relaxed a little.

In the midst of his emotional turmoil, he might actually lose control. If things go too far, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to handle it.

This was also why he had always avoided getting into a relationship.

Ran Shu continued: “Fourth, a-actually, if you try it, once you get used to the size difference, it feels quite comfortable…”

Sui Houyu suddenly shot him a look.

Ran Shu coughed lightly and turned his attention back to the two guys playing basketball. He quickly glanced at Sui Houyu, who was still observing him, before saying: “It’s only human nature! When you’re in a relationship… is it possible to not do anything?”

“Are you just looking for fun and thrills, wanting to try things out, or do you really like him?” Sui Houyu asked, wanting to confirm again.

“I like him. R-Really like him. Do you think I would let someone touch me if I didn’t like them?”

By now, Sui Houyu still found Ran Shu and Sang Xian’s relationship to have come out of nowhere, with no buildup. His best friend had been swept up by a bear.

The two of them watched the two guys on the basketball court, who were showing off fancy moves that even made other players clap.

Sui Houyu watched for a while and muttered: “They’re so bad. Not even as good as me.”

“Yeah, I-I also think they’re not as good as you.” Ran Shu agreed.

Meanwhile, the two guys, seriously battling it out on the court, had no idea their flashy moves were making no impact.

*

After the basketball game, it was evening, and the four of them decided to go out for a meal together.

As Hou Mo put on his jacket, he turned to the other three and asked: “What do you want to eat? Today, it’s my treat.”

The three of them looked at Hou Mo simultaneously, exchanging glances before half-heartedly saying: “Alright, we’ll see.”

Eventually, they walked around the mall’s food court and ended up in a noodle shop.

After sitting down, they grabbed the menu and each ordered a bowl of fried sauce noodles.

Hou Mo looked at the menu and asked: “Should we order something else?”

Sui Houyu took the menu, studied it seriously, and said: “Add a serving of stir-fried potato shreds.”

He then handed the menu back.

Hou Mo stared at them in silence for a while, wondering if he should go all out since it was his first time treating.

Hou Mo could only say: “I have a budget of two thousand today!”

Ran Shu pulled out a pair of disposable chopsticks and said: “The food during the New Year was too greasy. I really just want something light.”

When Sui Houyu heard Ran Shu speak without stuttering, he knew Ran Shu was lying.

But, this time, Sui Houyu nodded along anyway.

While waiting for the food, a girl came over and asked Hou Mo for his WeChat ID.

Hou Mo looked up in surprise and replied: “Sorry, I have a partner.”

“Oh… it’s fine, I’m just asking for a friend.”

“I see.” Hou Mo replied, suddenly becoming interested. “A table of handsome guys, but you only asked me for my ID. Is it because I’m the most handsome?”

This question was so provocative that the other three rolled their eyes.

“You’re the most straight-laced one…” the girl whispered.

“Haha, got it, sorry, he’s my boyfriend.” Hou Mo pointed at Sui Houyu.

The girl glanced at Sui Houyu, not very surprised, and instead said: “I knew it! It’s two couples! I guessed right!”

With that, she ran off.

The girl and her friend weren’t dining in the restaurant but had seen them through the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows while passing by and came in to ask for their WeChat IDs.

After meeting up with her friend, the girl chatted for a moment and looked back at the four of them before leaving.

Hou Mo watched them leave and then said to the others: “Did you see? They all think I’m the most straight guy.”

Ran Shu sneered: “Probably because of your clothes. With your budget, you should buy two outfits. Your sportswear looks like it’s welded to your body. I’ve never seen you wear any other style.”

Hou Mo didn’t refute: “I also think so. I have no other clothes to wear when I go on a date.”

He raised an eyebrow at Ran Shu.

Ran Shu, seeing the blue and white striped shirt Sui Houyu was wearing under his coat, gripped his chopsticks tightly and exchanged a look with Hou Mo.

Sang Xian suddenly noticed that Ran Shu kept glaring at Hou Mo, which made him feel uncomfortable. So, he raised his hand and covered Ran Shu’s eyes.

Ran Shu froze for a moment and then grinned after regaining his senses.

*

On the evening of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Xiangyu suddenly received a call from the teacher at the training school. She was a bit surprised and answered the phone: “Hello, teacher.”

“Hi, Little Yu’s mom, I’m calling to let you know that Little Yu has been coming to class recently. Teacher Du went home for the New Year and temporarily opened five classes. Xiao Yu signed up for all of them and just finished the second class today.”

Since Sui Houyu left home, Yang Xiangyu hadn’t heard from him.

During this time, she had asked about Sui Houyu’s attendance at the training school and found out that he hadn’t attended for half a year, which made her feel quite upset.

The teachers at the training school were aware of Sui Houyu’s family situation and assumed that he was staying with his father. His mother didn’t know the details and didn’t ask much.

Yang Xiangyu had a very good attitude toward the teachers and replied with a smile: “Oh, thank you, teacher. What other classes has he attended?”

“He only signed up for the art class. After the class, he goes to the dance studio with his friend. The dance teacher is on break recently, so he practices on his own.”

“Did he go with Ran Shu?”

“Not Ran Shu. It’s a boy whose face looks unfamiliar, quite handsome, with light brown dyed hair.”

When Yang Xiangyu heard “dyed hair,” she couldn’t help but frown.

If this was one of Sui Houyu’s friends, he was probably just a high school student. High school students dyeing their hair would leave a very poor impression on Yang Xiangyu.

After thinking for a moment, she asked: “Teacher, when is his next class?”

“One class tomorrow morning, and one class in the afternoon.”

“Could you please send me the schedule?”

“Sure.”