HCILH Ch. 63

Chapter 63: Drunk

Huo Mo hadn’t been back to this home in a long time. If the security guard at the gate didn’t recognize him, they probably wouldn’t have been able to enter. Standing at the door, he paused for a moment, trying to recall the door’s password.

As he pushed the door open, a musty scent greeted him—the kind that lingers when dust has settled and the air grows stale.

He first placed a suitcase inside the door, then carefully lifted the suitcase with Sui Houyu sitting on it, trying to carry it inside. He jolted a little as they crossed the threshold, causing Sui Houyu to wobble.

Sui Houyu, who had been dozing off in a daze, suddenly perked up. He looked around just as Huo Mo turned on the lights.

Sui Houyu glanced around and said, “I’ve been to your house before!”

“Yeah, you’ve come over quite a few times.”

“When you were ignoring me, I thought about coming to your house to find you, but I was afraid you’d think I was annoying.” Sui Houyu rested his face against the suitcase handle, sighing deeply as if weighed down by melancholy.

“When you wanted to find me, I might not have even been living here anymore.”

“True…”

“You sit here for a bit. I’ll clean up quickly.”

Huo Mo walked inside, opened the windows, and uncovered the furniture, tossing the dusty cloths into a pile.

He found the vacuum cleaner and started cleaning. The tables were covered in dust too, so he decided to vacuum them as well before wiping everything down thoroughly.

He only planned to clean the essential areas, leaving the kitchen and master bedroom untouched—he wouldn’t even bother opening those doors.

After being woken up by the noise, Sui Houyu stood up and excitedly approached Huo Mo: “I’ll help you clean!”

His excitement startled Huo Mo, who paused and stared at him in disbelief, sensing a bad omen.

Sure enough, Sui Houyu was grinning foolishly, an expression completely unlike his usual self.

Is he drunk?

Afraid that Sui Houyu might not hear him over the vacuum, Huo Mo turned it off and said, “The sofa used to have a cover, but I removed it. There’s no dust on it now, so just sit there for a while. I’ll be done soon.”

“I’ll help you!” Sui Houyu insisted with determination and actually started helping.

Sui Houyu had always been active; when he got bored at home, he would clean up. He wasn’t the type of young master who didn’t lift a finger around the house.

Huo Mo observed him for a moment. Seeing that he seemed fine, he didn’t stop him and resumed vacuuming.

Sui Houyu followed Huo Mo closely. After Huo Mo vacuumed the dust off the tables, Sui Houyu wiped them down.

With the two of them working together, the living room was tidied up in no time.

Huo Mo opened the door to his old bedroom. “Let’s sleep here tonight. This used to be my room.”

“Okay!” Sui Houyu readily agreed.

Huo Mo pulled off the covers draped over the furniture, and Sui Houyu quickly grabbed them. “I’ll take these out for you!”

Huo Mo handed over the covers and resumed vacuuming the bedroom. Suddenly, he heard the shattering sound of glass hitting the floor.

He turned off the vacuum immediately and rushed out of the room. There, he saw Sui Houyu crouching by the dining table, trying to pick up shards of broken glass.

After disposing of the covers, Sui Houyu had stumbled on his way back, nearly falling into the dining table.

A glass vase that had been sitting on the table toppled and shattered into pieces.

Huo Mo hurried over and helped Sui Houyu up, saying, “Don’t touch it! You’ll hurt yourself. I’ll clean it up—you go rest.”

With that, Huo Mo grabbed a broom and swept the glass shards into a dustpan.

Sui Houyu stood off to the side, with nothing to do. As he looked around, he noticed a small toy on the TV cabinet. He picked it up, inspected it, and saw that it had a wind-up mechanism.

He twisted the wind-up key repeatedly, then placed the toy on the floor to watch it move.

A toy that looked like a little lamb began to wobble and walk around the floor. Watching wasn’t enough for Sui Houyu—he knelt down and crawled along with the toy.

When Hou Mo turned around, he saw that Sui Houyu had bumped his head against the edge of a side cabinet while crawling.

“Ow…” Sui Houyu winced in pain, curling up and clutching his head.

Hou Mo immediately put down what he was holding and rushed over to him, rubbing his head gently: “Does it hurt? Are you okay?”

“It hurts…” Sui Houyu replied pitifully, then pointed at the cabinet. “Hit it!”

Hou Mo froze for a moment but complied, lightly slapping the cabinet twice. “I hit it.”

“It still hurts…” Sui Houyu mumbled as he burrowed into Hou Mo’s arms, forcing Hou Mo to raise his hands in surrender.

Hou Mo swallowed hard, the sound of his gulp echoing awkwardly in the quiet living room. He looked at the ceiling, then the dining table, doing everything he could to avoid looking at Sui Houyu.

But Sui Houyu kept snuggling into his arms, and Hou Mo dared not move.

He didn’t dare move!!!

The fact that he was still sitting there meant he respected himself as a brave man!

Was this a gift?

No. This was a trap.

If he handled this poorly, he’d be lying in that trap by morning, and once Sui Houyu sobered up, he’d bury him without hesitation—stomping the dirt down firmly for good measure.

With no way to escape, Hou Mo started mentally drafting his epitaph.

“I-I’ll… go throw away the broken glass. It’s dangerous if someone steps on it,” Hou Mo said nervously.

Sui Houyu pressed his hands down on Hou Mo’s legs, keeping him from standing: “My head still hurts!”

“I’ll rub it for you.” Hou Mo didn’t dare meet Sui Houyu’s eyes. He reached out and began massaging his head, almost touching the cut above Sui Houyu’s eyebrow, which made Sui Houyu frown in irritation.

Hou Mo had no choice but to sit down completely, continuing to rub his head as he looked at Sui Houyu.

Right now, Sui Houyu looked like a little beast that had lost its sharpness, pitifully propping himself up with his arms, his innocent eyes staring at Hou Mo.

Maybe this was how boys with Sui Houyu’s kind of appearance were supposed to act—sweet and soft.

Seeing this made Hou Mo’s heart itch.

“Feeling better?” Hou Mo asked after a while.

“Mm.”

“I’ll go throw out the glass. Stay here and don’t move.” Hou Mo stood up, propping himself up with one hand. He carefully cleaned up the broken glass and disposed of it far away to be safe.

When he returned, he saw that Sui Houyu was still sitting exactly where he had left him, obedient and unmoving, as if waiting for him.

Hou Mo pointed toward his room: “I’ve cleaned my room. Let’s go to bed now, okay?”

Sui Houyu shook his head and flatly refused: “No.”

“Why not?”

“Let’s play together!” Sui Houyu suddenly raised his arms excitedly.

This scene felt incredibly familiar to Hou Mo. When Sui Houyu was little, he would always say things like this with the same excited expression, bursting with energy, never sitting still for long.

In a daze, Hou Mo saw a glimpse of what Sui Houyu would have grown into if life had been normal.

A pang of sadness struck Hou Mo. He asked quietly: “Have you been pretending all this time? Is this the real you? Has it been exhausting to hold back?”

Sui Houyu tilted his head, looking puzzled, as if he didn’t understand.

Hou Mo sighed and took his hand, pulling him up. “It’s really late. Let’s call it a day and go to bed. Do you need to wash up? If you want to take a shower, you’ll have to wait a bit. My water heater is old and takes some time to heat the water.”

After all, this apartment was from over a decade ago, with old-fashioned appliances.

Hou Mo went to the bathroom and fiddled with the valves for a while until water began flowing into the heater. Then he turned on the power switch.

Sui Houyu remained stubborn, sitting on the sofa in the living room. “I’m not going to bed! I want a Cornetto!”

“A what?” Hou Mo was confused.

“Cornetto! I want to eat a Cornetto!” Sui Houyu repeated, his voice getting louder each time.

“What’s that?!” Hou Mo was baffled. As an athlete, he rarely ate snacks and didn’t even know what it was. He pulled out his phone to look it up.

After checking, he found out it was an ice cream brand. He shook his head firmly. “No, that’s bad for muscle development.”

Sui Houyu became anxious after hearing this and shouted at Hou Mo: “Can’t I eat anything after the competition?! I can’t have anything at all! What’s the point then?! I want to eat! I want to eat!”

Hou Mo patiently tried to reason with him: “Brother Yu, it’s really not good for you. Even after the season ends, you still need to avoid soda, fried foods, ice cream, and milk tea. I’ll cook you something nice tomorrow, okay? How about braised chicken? Do you have any other cravings?”

“I want to eat Cornetto!” Sui Houyu insisted stubbornly.

“No!” Hou Mo stood his ground.

Sui Houyu stared at him for a moment, blinking, his eyes suddenly welling up with tears. Then he burst into tears: “I want it…”

Hou Mo was stunned. He reached out to wipe his face, and—sure enough—he felt tears. In an instant, all his resolve crumbled: “Okay, okay! I’ll go buy it for you! I’ll get you one of every flavor!”

This was the ultimate weapon.

Hou Mo was willing to go through fire and water for Sui Houyu!

He stood up, ready to head downstairs to buy the ice cream. As he walked to the door, he wondered if any stores would still be open at this hour. It was almost 1 a.m.—would there be a 24-hour convenience store nearby?

Just as he opened the door, Sui Houyu suddenly ran over and tugged at his sleeve: “Where are you going?”

Hou Mo, startled, explained: “To get you ice cream.”

“And leave me alone here?”

Hou Mo patiently reassured him: “You stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“I don’t want to!”

“Then shall we go together?”

“It’s dark, I’m scared.”

Hou Mo was so shocked that he stuttered: “Scared… of the dark?”

“Yeah!”

“Well… what do we do? I’ll run there and come back quickly; I can run really fast.”

“No way! You’re going to leave me behind? Just abandon me?”

That question melted Hou Mo’s heart. He quickly closed the door and said: “I won’t abandon you; I can’t leave you behind.”

“Okay!” Sui Houyu was comforted.

Hou Mo looked at him helplessly and explained: “If I go, you won’t get to eat ice cream either. What should we do? We need to think of a solution.”

“Then I won’t eat it.” Sui Houyu said, still a bit disappointed.

“Just to be clear! It’s not that I won’t buy it for you; you’re the one saying you won’t eat it.”

“Yeah.” Sui Houyu nodded.

He walked back into the room, sat on the sofa, and said to Hou Mo: “I want to watch TV.”

Hou Mo connected the TV and said: “We haven’t paid for cable, so there aren’t many channels.”

“I can connect my phone; I have a membership.” He said it quite arrogantly.

Fortunately, the TV in Hou Mo’s house had been upgraded, so it could connect to other devices, and they could watch online TV.

After adjusting for a while, Sui Houyu started playing a Korean drama.

Taking the opportunity, Hou Mo went to tidy up other rooms. After a while, he sat beside Sui Houyu and watched with him. He noticed Sui Houyu was quite engrossed, his brows furrowed, as if he was about to cry along with the plot at any moment.

Watching the TV, Hou Mo couldn’t help but mumble: “Isn’t that girl just asking for trouble? When the car comes, she just stands there? It’s useless just staring at it. The guy, who’s so far away, can run over to save her; if she were just a bit smarter, she could have run away. That guy looks quite clever; why would he like someone so silly? It’s too fake.”

Sui Houyu turned his head and  shot Hou Mo a glare.

Hou Mo immediately fell silent.

In the drama, the male lead predictably got hit by the car and was taken to the hospital.

The female lead cried outside the emergency room, regretting her actions, completely falling into a state of hysteria.

Hou Mo genuinely didn’t understand and remarked again: “Only regretting after getting hit? Why didn’t she do something earlier? Can’t she tell whether that person likes her or not? Does it take getting hit to realize he really likes you? Are you stupid?”

Sui Houyu unhappily slapped Hou Mo’s thigh.

Turning his head, Hou Mo saw Sui Houyu was actually crying.

He realized that in this situation, he should leave, just watching from a distance while Sui Houyu didn’t cause trouble.

Once Sui Houyu sobered up and found out that he had seen him crying over a Korean drama, he would definitely pick a fight with him. This time, Sui Houyu wouldn’t let him off easily without a few days of punishment.

He quietly stood up, hoping to slip away while Sui Houyu was distracted.

But he noticed that Sui Houyu had been holding onto the hem of his shirt the entire time.

So he sat back down.

In the end, if the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die. \

Today, Hou Mo had put his dog life in Sui Houyu’s hands; he would die a heroic death when Sui Houyu sobered up!

Living this life, Hou Mo had no regrets; he just feared that if he became a ghost, he would become a virgin ghost, causing trouble for his mom.

Yawning from tiredness, Hou Mo glanced at the time; it was already 2 AM.

He could only look at Sui Houyu and ask, “Brother Yu, shall we sleep?”

“No!” Sui Houyu was still full of energy.

He thought that what had happened tonight was enough to kill him, and he wasn’t afraid of dying again. So, he picked up the remote, turned off the TV, stood up, and quickly hoisted Sui Houyu onto his shoulder, carrying him toward his room.

“Be good, let’s sleep!” As Hou Mo carried Sui Houyu to the door, Sui Houyu clung to the doorframe, refusing to go inside.

Sui Houyu struggled hard: “I want to finish that episode!”

“I’ll watch it with you tomorrow! Now it’s time to sleep!”

“I don’t want to!”

“You think I won’t be able to handle you?” Saying this, Hou Mo raised his hand and tickled Sui Houyu under his arms. Sui Houyu felt ticklish and loosened his grip, allowing Hou Mo to carry him inside and put him on the bed.

Sui Houyu still tried to get up, but Hou Mo wouldn’t let him, pouncing on him to keep him down.

Sui Houyu struggled, trying hard to reach outside.

Hou Mo relentlessly wrapped himself around Sui Houyu like an octopus, refusing to let go, while continuing to coax, “Brother Yu, come on, good brother, let’s sleep. I’ll help you fall asleep.”

Sui Houyu struggled desperately.

Hou Mo held on tighter, not letting go.

Until Sui Houyu gradually calmed down, leaning against Hou Mo’s chest and slowly falling asleep.

Hou Mo let out a sigh of relief, gently patting Sui Houyu’s back to soothe him, and fell asleep himself.

This day had truly been exhausting.