Nanke Yifu Chapter 20

Yan Laixi (I)

Yan Laixi found a hotel to temporarily stay in, right in Chaozhi District. He didn’t want to go too far away right now.

He didn’t apply for a new apartment, not because he needed to wait a few days, not because of money, and not because of location—he simply didn’t want to. Yan Laixi had brought out the scarf Qiu Ye lent him, but he didn’t plan to return it immediately, just in case the other party noticed anything. He hadn’t told Qiu Ye about his sudden decision, nor did he intend to actually bother them.

On the first day of leaving, Yan Laixi had a good night’s sleep for the first time in a long time. It wasn’t exactly good, but it was enough for him to have a continuous Dream. After waking up, Yan Laixi let his mind go blank for a while, his eyes unfocused.

So Chi Fu wasn’t that important to you after all.

So as long as you can’t see him, you can deceive yourself and hide in the Dream without any burden.

Yan Laixi pulled the quilt over his head. All he wanted to do now was sleep. It would be best if he could sleep until he died.

Unfortunately, humans are not sloths, and the Duke of Zhou also needs some private time. Sleep isn’t something you can just get by lying in bed, but thoughts are something you can have as long as you’re awake.

So, on what he thought was the third or fourth day after moving out, Yan Laixi put on his jacket and left. The place he was staying was not far from home. Fearing he might run into Chi Fu, he avoided the nearby options and found a pharmacy in the opposite direction.

Although he had only recently learned what Qiu Ye’s Anomaly was, the two of them were quite familiar with each other’s habits. Yan Laixi, who once joked that he and Qiu Ye were like vampires of two different human bloodlines attracting each other, now felt that the joke was highly inaccurate. Vampires still go out at night. If he wasn’t with Chi Fu, regardless of whether it was day or night, with or without sunlight, he would avoid going out if possible.

The distance between his current location and home was such that while it was a bit tiring, he could still walk back. But for Yan Laixi, this distance was already on the very edge of “unfamiliar.”

His clearest memory of this road was from three years ago when he came to view the apartment… with Chi Fu.

Yan Laixi used his remaining impressions to compare with what he saw now, feeling that there was no difference from the first time he walked this road three years ago, except for the missing person beside him and the completely opposite direction he was walking.

Chi Fu and Yan Laixi had countless “confessions” where they voiced their love, but never one of the typical “confessions” that symbolize a desired turning point in a relationship. Just like the process of them getting along, and the process of them falling for each other, once Yan Laixi knew Chi Fu’s feelings, he stopped hiding them. Before they knew it, they had already kissed.

The idea of living together arose near Chi Fu’s graduation, and the decision to live together was also made near Chi Fu’s graduation. A notification popped up on Chi Fu’s phone, reminding him that the lease on his current apartment was expiring in a month and asking if he wanted to renew. Yan Laixi happened to be nearby.

Chi Fu had rented a commercial space in Chaozhi District, but it was closer to Chaoyi District, making it a bit far. He had already considered moving, but he was reluctant to leave his current location, which was so close to Yan Laixi’s home. Looking at Yan Laixi now, he realized that no matter how close they were, it couldn’t be closer than living under the same roof.

If Chi Fu moved directly into Yan Laixi’s place, all their belongings piled together would be a bit cramped. So, Chi Fu directly asked Yan Laixi if he wanted to move and find a new place to live together. Yan Laixi considered it for less than two seconds before nodding. Anyway, he didn’t need to commute daily, so the location didn’t matter much.

Chi Fu was very glad that he had planned to wait until the renovation was complete before taking Yan Laixi to his little shop, so he hadn’t told Yan Laixi that he had rented a space. Otherwise, the other party would definitely have accommodated him, thinking that the location didn’t matter to him. Even if it truly didn’t matter, Chi Fu didn’t want Yan Laixi’s judgment to be influenced by his own needs.

The two of them, like playing a game, each selected a few apartments, and then together they eliminated them one by one to decide on the final choice. With the information organized and laid out, Chi Fu felt even more that he had great foresight.

The farthest apartment Yan Laixi selected was within a five-kilometer radius centered around his current home, clearly indicating that if there were no other influencing factors, he didn’t want to go far.

However, he didn’t just follow Yan Laixi’s preferences and ignore his own. He didn’t immediately rule out the slightly farther ones but continued to look at other conditions.

Neither of them had requirements for lighting. Floors with elevators were fine; those without were not considered. The vicinity shouldn’t be too bustling, but Chi Fu wanted a place that had all the necessary amenities nearby, such as small food stalls, pharmacies, and general stores. The number of units per floor didn’t matter, but Yan Laixi wanted a place with good soundproofing.

After comprehensive consideration, three options remained, and they planned to visit them together one day. Since neither of them intended to go far, one of these places was in Chaoyuan District and two were in Chaozhi District. The farthest one was chosen by Chi Fu, as it was slightly closer to where he would be working in the future, and this was the first one they decided to see.

Yan Laixi set the order. He said they should start with the closest one, as he definitely wouldn’t be willing to go to the farther ones.

At the last intersection, there was a small stall selling steamed pear cake. One of them hadn’t eaten breakfast, and the other hadn’t eaten lunch. Chi Fu asked Yan Laixi if he wanted to buy two servings to tide them over. Yan Laixi said one serving was enough; he didn’t eat many of the flavors, and sharing one or two pieces with him would suffice. If they were all the kind with fruit pulp jam, then he didn’t need any at all. Yan Laixi would not accept fruit appearing with anything other than yogurt, even if it was jam made from the fruit itself.

“Hello, I’d like one serving of steamed pear cake,” Chi Fu said, pulling out his phone to pay. He glanced at the price, which was cheaper than he expected, but he didn’t buy steamed pear cake often and wasn’t very familiar with the price, so he didn’t pay much attention.

Just before he paid, the vendor stopped him, pointing to the colorful jars on the counter. “My steamed pear cake uses powdered toppings, not jam. I noticed you didn’t seem to pay attention, so I thought I’d remind you.”

“Oh, okay.” Chi Fu held up his phone, paused for two seconds, then turned to Yan Laixi. “No jam. Do you want a serving?”

Sweet sauce or sweet powder was fine for Chi Fu, but for Yan Laixi, the difference was huge.

Yan Laixi was still a bit hesitant. He saw that one of the jars seemed to contain brown sugar, which he also didn’t eat, and he didn’t know if there were other flavors he disliked. Just under a second later, the vendor sister answered for him: “Just one serving for now. Try it, and if you like it, you can buy more. You two aren’t in a hurry, are you?”

“No, we’re not,” Chi Fu said. “Then just one serving for now.”

White rice flour was placed into a wooden steamer, leveled, a spoonful of sugar powder was sprinkled in the middle, stacked on top, and then the already steamed cake at the bottom was taken out. The cake was poked out and placed on a wafer sheet. After a simple cleaning, the small iron piece was put back into the wooden steamer, arranged, and the previous steps were repeated.

The steam went “buzz—buzz—,” growing louder and weaker with each movement of taking and placing. The small, steaming hot cake was handed over. Chi Fu held the bag in one hand, and with the other, he pulled out a section of Yan Laixi’s shirt sleeve from under his jacket to pad his palm. He pulled out the wafer sheet underneath and placed the steamed pear cake, separated by the bag and the sleeve, into Yan Laixi’s hand to warm it up. Although the person who refused to wear long johns was probably colder in the legs, the hand-warming effect wasn’t great, but it was something.

“Here you go,” Chi Fu said, opening the plastic bag. “Your exclusive gamble. Which one do you start with?”

The bag was opened and rolled up by Chi Fu. Yan Laixi didn’t want to pick it up again, and he couldn’t hold it with one hand, so he just lifted his chin to indicate, “Start with the one in your hand.”

The wafer sheet wasn’t particularly delicious, but it certainly couldn’t be bad. Yan Laixi was not very willing to try food with an uncertain taste. He hadn’t paid attention to the flavors in the bag, but he knew what the one Chi Fu took out was.

Chi Fu didn’t refuse him. He broke off a small piece and fed it to Yan Laixi, saying, “Alright, next one.”

Yan Laixi’s fingers were arching around under the bag, trying to pick one that looked the safest, but before he could decide, Chi Fu interrupted him.

The toothpick had been pushed to the bottom by Yan Laixi’s previous movements and was hard to grab. Chi Fu casually picked up a piece and held it to Yan Laixi’s mouth.

“Take a bite. If you don’t like it, give it to me.”

Yan Laixi tilted his head back slightly, staring at the piece of steamed pear cake by his mouth as if it were poison for a while, demonstrating what it meant to use his eyes as a ruler, and when he couldn’t see, his mouth could also be the ruler. Chi Fu even wondered if he had only eaten the rice cake.

The truth was, Yan Laixi not only ate the “filling” in the middle but also tasted the flavor: white sugar and sesame. It wasn’t bad, but he didn’t love it. After chewing a couple of times, he shook his head.

Chi Fu stuffed the remaining large half into his mouth, picked up the next piece, and put it to Yan Laixi’s mouth. This time, Yan Laixi not only tilted his head back but leaned his entire upper body away, dodging far back.

“Is that brown sugar?”

“Is it?” Chi Fu knew Yan Laixi didn’t like brown sugar, but he hadn’t looked when he picked it up. He took a bite himself, and it was indeed brown sugar flavor, so he ate the remaining half as well.

There were only four pieces left in the bag. Yan Laixi finally managed to free his hand and picked one himself.

The piece he chose had an off-white sugar crust on top, which looked the safest. Again, it was a small bite along the edge, but this time his reaction was completely different. Both of Yan Laixi’s eyes lit up, like a small animal that had suddenly discovered something new. He swallowed the bite in his mouth and took another one. This time his eyes were even brighter, and he looked like he was about to jump up. He held the remaining small half of the steamed pear cake to Chi Fu’s mouth, urging, “This one is delicious! Hurry and try it.”

It was milk powder flavored. Chi Fu had no other comment besides that. It was originally a small cake meant to be eaten in one bite, but eaten in three bites, it truly was just a taste for him. However, Yan Laixi seemed to really like it.

“Wait for me,” Chi Fu said, returning to the stall. He said something to the vendor, and soon returned with another bag of steamed pear cake.

He took the half-eaten serving from Yan Laixi’s hand and handed over the newly bought one. Yan Laixi opened the bag and looked inside: six steamed pear cakes, all with the off-white center.

With this “dream cake,” Yan Laixi absolutely refused to try the remaining three flavors. It was cold outside, so the two didn’t linger, eating as they walked toward the apartment. By the time they reached the place, all that was left was a trash bag.

After viewing the apartment and confirming the surrounding environment, Yan Laixi suddenly asked Chi Fu, “What do you think of this place?”

“It’s very good,” Chi Fu said. In fact, for him, this was the best choice among the three locations.

“Then let’s take this one?” Yan Laixi said. “I don’t want to go see the other two. I also think this place is great, and if I want to eat that steamed pear cake from earlier, I can just go downstairs and walk a few steps to buy it.”

When Chi Fu heard the first half of the sentence, he thought Yan Laixi was lazy, tired, or cold, and didn’t want to continue looking. He was even thinking of going to see the others alone and then telling him about them, but he didn’t expect the decision to be solely because of a steamed pear cake.

“You like it that much?”

“Mhm.” Yan Laixi nodded. “Anyway, we already picked out what needed to be picked out. Any of these three apartments would have been fine. This one was lucky, got a head start, and unexpectedly gained a bonus point, so we’ll take this one.”

Neither Chi Fu, nor the steamed pear cake, nor even Yan Laixi himself, had likely imagined before this day that the location of their new home would be decided by a roadside snack.

With graduation approaching and the shop renovation, Chi Fu was quite busy. Yan Laixi handled most of the moving preparations. Yan Laixi purchased the supplies, and Yan Laixi organized the stacks of boxes piled in the room. Chi Fu’s role in the entire “moving” process was limited to the “carrying” part.

On the day they officially moved into their new home, Chi Fu clung to Yan Laixi like a koala, showering him with compliments. Once the person was softened by sweet words, Chi Fu pulled him to the desk and began to voice his outrageous request.

A stack of books was slammed down in front of him. Yan Laixi’s mouth twitched, trying his best to only twitch his mouth and not Chi Fu. He asked, “You’re asking someone who just finished moving to do overtime as the first thing in their new home?”

“How can this be considered overtime?” Chi Fu shoved a pen into Yan Laixi’s hand, coaxing him. “You can write a sentence in each book that you want to say to me but are usually too embarrassed to say. This is part of our fun.”

Yan Laixi quickly realized what was happening and pointed at the increasingly tall stack of books, asking, “So you mean I have to write a different sentence in every single one of these, and I have to come up with the content myself?”

“What? You’re going to write different sentences in every book? Little Book, I love you!” Chi Fu feigned surprise, quickly kissed Yan Laixi on the cheek, and then swiftly ran off. “I’m going to cook!”

Jokes aside, a couple in the throes of passion is never short of sweet talk. But writing it is one thing; reading it is another.

After repeatedly using excuses like “I’ll let you read them when I’m done,” “Let’s eat first,” and “Help me with something first,” Yan Laixi finally couldn’t put it off anymore.

Avoidance may be shameful, but it really works.

He found a random excuse, saying he needed to go out for a bit, and told Chi Fu to read them himself. What was the difference between letting him read those mushy words in front of him and making him run naked?

His lips parted slightly, watching the white mist emerge from his mouth, particularly visible under the warm glow of the streetlights. He walked along, playing like a child, and by the time he came back to his senses, he was on a small, unfamiliar path. Embarrassingly, Yan Laixi was lost near his own home.

Fortunately, although his departure was practically a hasty escape, he hadn’t forgotten to take his phone.

The sky was full of stars, but he had to look up to see them. The moonlight was faint, obscured by artificial light, just like his affection—omnipresent, yet not easily noticed. Fortunately, someone was willing to look up and turn off the lights at all times.

Yan Laixi opened the navigation app and followed the directions, starting his journey home.

What he feared most happened. As soon as his gaze lifted from the navigation screen, an overly familiar figure entered his sight.

Yan Laixi lowered his head, pulled his collar up to cover his face as much as possible, turned around, and quickly walked along the wall toward the nearest intersection.

It wasn’t right outside his apartment building. He had his back to Chi Fu. He hadn’t been seen face-to-face. Chi Fu shouldn’t be the type of person who randomly strikes up conversations with strangers on the street.

So why did he chase after him again, even grabbing his hand?