Xin Hexue suddenly opened his eyes, and what met his eyes was a hazy, dusky darkness.
He turned over, the spring bed beneath him emitting a faint, subtle creak. He pushed Zhou Liao, waking up the deeply asleep man. “Did you hear a baby crying?”
In the dim environment, Zhou Liao’s dark silhouette shook his head. His throat was incapable of speaking to answer Xin Hexue’s question, nor could he offer words of comfort to his lover. Therefore, he could only lean forward and kiss the corner of Xin Hexue’s lips.
It was like a puppy’s dark, wet nose nudging forward.
Zhou Liao seemed to want to initiate a deep kiss, but before he could, his clumsy movement first bumped against Xin Hexue’s teeth.
“…Hiss.”
Xin Hexue frowned and pushed away Zhou Liao, who was anxiously moving closer to inspect.
Zhou Liao frantically gestured;
—Let me see, is it bleeding?
In the dimly lit room where only the faint blue light from the curtains provided illumination, Zhou Liao looked like a black human-shaped shadow swinging its upper limbs.
Distracted by his antics, Xin Hexue also lost the inclination to investigate whether the crying just now was from a baby upstairs or downstairs, or if it was caused by a nightmare before he fully woke up.
“Light.” A long leg stretched out from under the plain cotton quilt and kicked Zhou Liao. “Go turn it on.”
Zhou Liao obediently left the bed and fumbled for the switch nearby. The fluorescent light high on the wall flickered twice before stabilizing.
The wattage of this bulb wasn’t high, and the screw base and surface were covered with a layer of cobwebs and black spots left by the remains of flying insects. The climate here was warm, moist, and humid, making insects very common.
They had missed cleaning the ceiling during yesterday’s tidying up, and it was too late to work on it afterwards.
Xin Hexue looked up and noticed a large area in the center of the ceiling where the white coating had peeled off, revealing the rough, dark red brickwork and traces of reinforcement bars beneath. A few damaged cracks ran across it, and a short section of messy electrical wires were hanging down.
Zhou Liao suddenly drew back the curtains.
The thunder, wind, and rain outside had all stopped. Outside the window was a misty blue sky, tinged with the faint grey tones of early morning.
Dawn had arrived.
Xin Hexue threw off the quilt and his skin was bathed in the morning air. It was now covered with uneven red marks, especially around his waist, hips, and chest, all traces of kneading and rubbing.
His gaze swept over his chest and a vein twitched at Xin Hexue’s temple. Did Zhou Liao secretly nibble on him again last night after washing up, while he was asleep?
As he thought this, Zhou Liao had already spontaneously brought two sets of clothing to the bedside for him. One set was a white shirt and trousers, the other was… a cheongsam.
**Oops, okay, seems Xin Hexue has been wearing cheongsam s all along to disguise himself as a woman. I had put it as “changshan” in the previous chapter because that’s the male version of the cheongsam and I thought the author had made a mistake.
Xin Hexue pulled over the undergarments, paused for a moment, then picked up the standing-collar, diagonal-buttoned cheongsam beside them.
To him, clothing was merely for covering and adorning the body. Strictly speaking, the style and type weren’t that important. After all, according to the traditional loincloth form of ancient Egypt from the previous world, the men there all wore “short skirts”.
Xin Hexue held the same attitude towards the cheongsam.
His snow-white arms slipped through the sleeves, and the pulled-down skirt hem fell from his waist all the way to his ankles.
He lifted his chin slightly, adjusting the diagonal buttons while facing the person in the mirror. The height of the standing collar was just right to conceal his Adam’s apple. Xin Hexue met Zhou Liao’s gaze through the mirror. “Today, when you go out, hire a worker to come and repair the ceiling.”
[Finally released from the little black room.]
[Mimi mi, mimi mi, a night apart, I missed you so much]
[That stinky man made our Xue Mimi’s waist go soft! This waistline, let me touch it, let me touch it.]
[Xin Hexue, many people take your clothes off, but are there any who wash your clothes for you? Many inquire after your well-being, but are there any who truly offer help in times of need? Many pursue you, but are there any willing to genuinely be good to you and take care of you? Many boast usually, but are there any who help you when you’re in difficulty? So, feel it with your heart, what kind of person is truly worthy of contentment and cherishment? Anyway, I’m not that kind of person, I just want to take your clothes off ]
[Don’t take them off, if you take them off the live stream will go black again. ]
Xin Hexue leaned back against the washstand and hooked his finger at Zhou Liao, “Come here.”
When the man walked over obediently and dutifully, he used his finger to point at his own abdomen mysteriously.
Zhou Liao was bewildered, but still bent down and lowered his head accordingly.
Xin Hexue asked quietly, “Hear it?”
Zhou Liao straightened up. Not knowing what he had thought of, his face took on a look of facing a formidable enemy. He was so nervous his hands started sweating. He rubbed his palms together and gestured:
—We have a baby? You asked me this morning if I heard a baby crying.
‘So, my wife waking up this morning was hinting to me all along?’
Thinking this, Zhou Liao suddenly wanted to travel back to last night, pull himself away from where he was pressing against Xin Hexue, and give himself a beating. He was pushing deep inside last night, could it be bad for the baby? Should they go to the hospital to see?
After finishing his sign language, Zhou Liao quickly grabbed Xin Hexue’s hand, trying to convey his anxiety to his wife through his sincere expression.
Xin Hexue was momentarily speechless. He rubbed his temple. “Are you really this stupid, or are you pretending?”
He sincerely suggested to the man, “You should go to the hospital yourself and get your brain checked.”
Zhou Liao was puzzled.
—Then what’s wrong with you? Is your stomach uncomfortable?
Xin Hexue stated his original meaning coldly: “I’m hungry. Hurry up and go make me breakfast.”
Zhou Liao had bought meat and vegetables when he brought back the packed wontons yesterday evening and placed them in the refrigerator.
He took out the ingredients he needed. There was no kitchen inside the room, there was only one large public kitchen at the other end of the corridor on this floor. As he walked out, he kept looking back at Xin Hexue every few steps.
It wasn’t until Zhou Liao closed the door behind him that Xin Hexue sat down on the rattan chair, sighed, and simply wondered aloud to himself, “Even if he never went to school, he should have common sense, right?”
How could a man get pregnant?
He didn’t even have a uterus.
Xin Hexue propped his head up with his hand. When he lifted his gaze midway, it froze for a moment. He pushed himself up from the rattan chair arms, and walked to the window. The old, light blue checked curtains were already tied up with cords, pulled open and gathered on both sides. Through the glass window, the view outside showed the misty sky where water vapor had turned into clouds after the heavy rain ended.
He slipped his fingertip into the gap between the window and the wall. The steel window frame felt cold, and the gap was just wide enough to fit two fingers.
Did he not close the window properly last night?
Xin Hexue wiped the wet puddle of water on the windowsill.
Zhou Liao had work that required him to go out, and the workplace was outside the Walled City. He probably found some undercover job as a taxi driver or hotel cleaner in some corner of the city again.
Xin Hexue didn’t ask much. Besides meals and sex, they actually had very little other communication. He also didn’t care about Zhou Liao’s real identity.
Sometimes, Xin Hexue really couldn’t stand the fact that the man was illiterate and wanted to teach him to recognize more characters, but after thinking about it, he felt it was unnecessary. After all, no matter how realistic the built scene here was, it was just a game world.
Breakfast was spring vegetable and lean meat noodles. Zhou Liao originally wanted to make congee, but there wasn’t enough time.
He was dressed very formally and neatly today, wearing a suit. Just looking at his appearance, he was a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man, nothing like an illiterate person, and he might even lead others to mistake him for an office clerk at some company.
Zhou Liao told Xin Hexue that he had a job interview today.
Xin Hexue stood at the room doorway that was aligned with the corridor, and tied a tie for him. He neatly arranged Zhou Liao’s collar and responded absentmindedly, “Hm.”
Anyway, it definitely wouldn’t be an interview for an office clerk job.
If he actually passed, he would feel sorry for that company.
He dusted off the shoulders of Zhou Liao’s suit. “Come back early. Remember my square fish tank, and the bedroom ceiling.”
The door of the neighboring house creaked open. Xin Hexue raised a very faint smile and added the form of address: “…husband.”
He Qinghong’s gaze swept over the married couple, gave a slight nod when their eyes met, and then left.
……
Until evening, Zhou Liao had not returned yet, so He Qinghong neighbor’s room did not produce any sounds on schedule.
He Qinghong sat in the corner deep inside his room, with only a desk lamp turned on. Using the light source, he lowered his head and wiped his “friend.” He skillfully disassembled the slide, barrel, recoil spring, and magazine. The cleaning cloth was dipped in an appropriate amount of firearm cleaner to wipe the inner wall of the barrel, and then he applied firearm-specific lubricant to the recoil spring.
There was no ammunition loaded in the magazine.
He Qinghong looked towards a box of ammunition nearby.
In fact, if Zhou Liao had returned today, the bullets here should have been loaded.
But unfortunately, it seemed the people outside had already dealt with Zhou Liao.
Probably poured concrete to seal him in a wall or tied him to a huge rock and sank him in the sea, right? The organization’s methods for dealing with traitors didn’t extend beyond those few types.
Falling in love with the target designated by the organization, and repeatedly killing other colleagues who came for the target for the other person’s sake.
Really foolish.
He Qinghong and Zhou Liao were adopted and trained by the organization’s leader around the same period, so they were somewhat familiar with each other. In his impression, Zhou Liao indeed wasn’t a smart person, but He Qinghong hadn’t expected anyone could be this stupid.
The leader died and fell from power, and the second-in-command took control. To be honest, the others, including the second-in-command, also had many reservations about this Walled City and never dared to set foot on this land, perhaps because this was the leader’s initial place of rise.
Since Zhou Liao had the luck to bring someone back to the Walled City, going out again was a completely unwise choice.
Had Zhou Liao completely lost his mind?
For a… man?
For the square fish tank that this young man wanted?
The landline phone rang.
He Qinghong frowned and looked at the clock on the wall. Tonight’s call was fifteen minutes late.
He picked it up. The person on the other end of the line said, “Number Nine. New target, right inside the Walled City where you live. Go to the clinic tomorrow, find the Western doctor Gu Mifeng. He will give you the information. Do not miss.”
Most of the time, the ones relaying orders to Number Nine were old-timers within the organization. This voice was unfamiliar; from the way they spoke, it also seemed like a newcomer.
After all, those with some seniority within the organization understood that Number Nine had never missed.
A knocking sound came from outside. He Qinghong swiftly reassembled the firearm and placed it inside a hidden compartment in the drawer.
The night wind outside was quite strong. He Qinghong asked, “…… Is something the matter?”
The young man stood before him, his black hair damp and dripping, his figure solitary and alone. The white peonies embroidered on the plain crepe satin cheongsam he wore were set against a base of somber black branches and leaves.
It perfectly matched the feeling this person gave off.
The mist formed by the rain and steam seemed to have condensed on this person’s eyelashes, lending his skin a dewy, pearl-like quality.
“Mister He.”
“In my house…”
“There seem to have been strange sounds all along.”
As if the night wind was urgent, it made one want to pull their shawl tighter.
Xin Hexue’s lips trembled slightly as he slowly uttered the words: “Could I trouble you to come and take a look?”
He Qinghong stepped out of his doorway, not because he was enthusiastic about helping others, but because he suddenly remembered that a few days before, Zhou Liao had found him, saying he wanted to “wash his hands in a golden basin” and leave the organization, and asked to borrow a sum of money to start a new life.
**”Wash hands in a golden basin” is an idiom for “quiting”.
Zhou Liao was already dead. So who was going to repay him that money?
