WHF Ch 80 – Bite Back 

Sometimes Yu Tianbai really felt like he was raising a damn dog.

When he was a child, there used to be a Pekingese in his courtyard, owned by an old man next door.

A Pekingese was a Pekingese. It didn’t have the liveliness of today’s poodles, nor was it as friendly to people as a Golden Retriever. It wouldn’t run away even without a leash, and everyone in the courtyard knew it. It had a name, but Yu Tianbai had forgotten it. Maybe Nao Nao, or maybe Tao Tao. In any case, the people in the courtyard watched it grow up and grow old, and it, in turn, watched the younger generation of the courtyard grow from birth to maturity—Yu Tianbai was one of them. He loved playing with the dog the most when he was a child.

Yu Tianbai believed he hadn’t provoked it in any way—no chasing, no kicking, no hitting. Sometimes when the dog was scolded by its owner, he would even go over and stroke its head a few times. The dog would occasionally wag its tail, but only occasionally. Yu Tianbai believed the dog didn’t quite understand the word “intimacy.”

Until one day, the Pekingese encountered a Schnauzer brought by a new family that had moved into the compound.

The adults weren’t around that day. The two dogs saw each other, and their eyes turned red with hostility. While their owners were in their respective front yards tidying up quilts, war broke out.

Nine-year-old Yu Tianbai was the first to rush forward and intervene, and also the first to be bitten. He believed he was on the Pekingese’s side, but he was bitten by both dogs. By the time the two dog owners came running at the sound, it wasn’t dog fur floating in the spring courtyard, but the cotton stuffing from nine-year-old Yu Tianbai’s winter jacket.

Fortunately, he was wearing thick winter clothes. He was taken to the hospital to have the wound cleaned and get a shot. When he returned home with teary eyes, amidst the heated debate between the parents, the Pekingese actually started wagging its tail at Yu Tianbai again.

The moment it wagged its tail, nine-year-old Yu Tianbai cried his heart out.

Now, twenty-nine-year-old Yu Tianbai was lying on his back on the floor. The person in his arms had finally gone still, obediently resting on his chest, letting out an occasional sob.

Each of his sobs reminded Yu Tianbai of that tail-wagging dog. Yu Tianbai now felt like crying his heart out just like he did at nine, but someone else needed comforting more than he did.

“Are you hungry?” Yu Tianbai’s hand smoothed over the back of Xiu Ma’s head. His index finger twirled a lock of hair, his thumb rubbing it.

The person on his chest shook his head.

Yu Tianbai didn’t even look down; he knew purely by feel that Xiu Ma was shaking his head.

In truth, maintaining this position was not easy at all. A person who was 185 cm tall and muscular couldn’t be light. So Yu Tianbai felt that each of his breaths was like his last, on the verge of suffocation.

The bite Xiu Ma gave him had happened an hour ago.

The bite was fast, precise, and fierce, sinking straight into the flesh. It wasn’t a light bite either. Just as Yu Tianbai felt his arm was about to be bitten through, the person suddenly released his jaw.

After the bite, both of them froze. The next second, Yu Tianbai made a decisive move and grabbed Xiu Ma’s hair, forcing him to look at him.

Yu Tianbai hadn’t gotten physical with a lover in many years. In his early twenties, he was the type to raise his arm during an argument, but he had grown up—except for this time.

Grabbing the hair was an instinctive reaction. He had no intention of hitting him, but apparently Xiu Ma thought he did. After staring at each other for three or four seconds, the Young Master did something Yu Tianbai couldn’t comprehend at all.

The Young Master cried.

And then they had their first fight in the three days they had been together.

The Young Master struck first, saying something along the lines of “Are you just locking me up at home to force me to be like this?” Yu Tianbai followed closely, saying something like “But I sent you so many messages and didn’t see you reply.” Until Xiu Ma let out a sob, and the argument came to an abrupt halt.

The fight started inexplicably, and it ended inexplicably. By the time he came to his senses, Yu Tianbai was lying on the floor holding Xiu Ma. Thank goodness for the carpet.

All in all, it was a bloody incident sparked by touching his hair.

Thinking of this, Yu Tianbai switched from stroking Xiu Ma’s hair with his thumb to using his whole palm. With his palm on his head, he asked him:

“Not angry anymore?”

The head under his palm neither shook from side to side nor nodded up and down. Yu Tianbai let out a quiet sigh of relief and patted it a few more times, really feeling like he was patting the Pekingese at nine.

Now that the floodgates were open, Yu Tianbai felt like talking more. He moved his neck, trying to get more comfortable, then opened his mouth and said slowly:

“You have to know, that’s just how I am. I hate working, so when I work, I feel like dying. It’s better if someone is watching over me. If it’s just me, all I can think about is dying, I don’t notice anything else.”

The person on his chest had, at some point, slipped down to his stomach. Xiu Ma was slowly moving towards the floor, but his face was still pressed tightly against Yu Tianbai, his arms wrapped around him as if afraid of falling.

Seeing that the Young Master had no intention of speaking, Yu Tianbai continued:

“But that’s how relationships are. Misunderstandings, resolving them, then more misunderstandings. I can give in to you, but if you’re feeling something, you just have to tell me. How can we solve it if you don’t say anything?”

The sky had completely darkened. The TV screen was paused on the game’s menu, casting a fire-like glow in the room that was neither bright nor completely dark, just enough to illuminate the back of the sofa and outline their two figures.

“But I know being sick is really uncomfortable,” Yu Tianbai moved his hand to a new spot, this time on the back of the Young Master’s neck. 

“It makes you feel the most wronged.”

The Young Master didn’t react, but his whole body moved, climbing up a little, like a monkey climbing a banana tree. Then he rested his leg on Yu Tianbai’s knee, completely using him as a bolster pillow.

Silence filled the dimly lit room.

Then Xiu Ma finally lifted his head.

Wow, stunning. Even after lazing around all day and then fighting for an hour, our Young Master is as beautiful as ever. His face was even glowing after crying. Anyone who saw him would think he couldn’t possibly be in the wrong.

Yu Tianbai often felt like dying, but today that feeling was particularly strong. He simply pushed Xiu Ma’s face away, pressing him down to lie back on him. Yu Tianbai couldn’t be bothered to look at anyone right now.

“Don’t look at me,” he said. 

“If you have something to say, say it lying down.”

Unexpectedly, Xiu Ma actually laughed. His nose was pressed against Yu Tianbai’s shoulder, and he chuckled. Then he buried his face in the fabric of Yu Tianbai’s shirt and gave his face a good wipe.

“Did you know?” His face muffled by the clothes, Xiu Ma’s voice was particularly low. 

“When you get angry, you have a Beijing accent.”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Yu Tianbai snorted with a laugh, inadvertently letting out another Beijing dialect phrase. 

“I’m from Beijing, born and raised.”

“Mmm—but it’s not so obvious usually.”

After saying this, the Young Master paused. Just by feel, Yu Tianbai knew he was carefully wiping his eyes with his undershirt.

After wiping, Xiu Ma said, “You’re really scary when you’re angry.”

Yu Tianbai knew this himself. He sometimes hated his own domineering demeanor. So he bravely admitted his mistake:

“Yeah, I was wrong.”

This apology might have made the Young Master feel wronged again. Yu Tianbai could feel him shrinking away. So, as the older one, Yu Tianbai continued to try and make amends:

“You don’t have a Northeastern accent when you argue.”

The head on his stomach nodded, then answered him, “I’ve never been good at speaking it since I was little.”

At this point, the Young Master’s head suddenly perked up. He said, “But sometimes you have a Northeastern accent.”

Yu Tianbai also lifted his head immediately, questioning, “I do not?”

“You do,” the right to be calm was now handed over to the Young Master. He smiled placidly. 

“You have one right now.”

It felt like being told “you have garlic breath” right when you’re about to win an argument.

Yu Tianbai shut his mouth. The Young Master finally climbed off him. The TV screen flickered behind him, leaving a fuzzy halo of light around his head.

After a few childish exchanges, the atmosphere between them had improved slightly. Now, even without bickering, just looking at each other wasn’t awkward anymore. Although it was too dark, and Xiu Ma couldn’t see his eyes clearly.

So Yu Tianbai looked down, from his chin to his shoulder, and then down to his chest.

The weather hadn’t warmed up yet, but Xiu Ma was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt. The blanket had been flung somewhere. His arms seemed out of place in the cold air of early spring, but they were very eye-catching.

In Yu Tianbai’s line of sight, he switched from a kneeling to a sitting position, his legs crossed in front of him. Shorts, no socks. He really wasn’t afraid of the cold.

He knew Yu Tianbai was looking at all his exposed parts, so he asked Yu Tianbai:

“Do you want to bite back? For that bite just now.”