AAUMOBIP C23

Chapter 23

When Yun Jingqiu called in the evening, Liu He was already lying on the bed in the master bedroom of 1801.

After connecting to Yun Jingqiu’s video, Liu He saw Yun Jingqiu sitting on the sofa, with a little white ball of fluff lying on his shoulder. The fluffy head was pressed against Yun Jingqiu’s face, looking extremely cozy.

Seeing Cream being so intimate with Yun-ge, Liu He felt a little envious.

He hadn’t really had the chance to pet Cream yet.

When he first brought Cream home, Cream was still unfamiliar with the new environment, and he was afraid of startling it, so he hadn’t tried to pet it. Before Cream could even adapt, Yun-ge had taken it away to City A.

Cream was very close to Yun-ge.

“Cream, I’m Daddy.” Yun Jingqiu gently petted Cream’s ears, his tone warm and tender.

Cream’s two big black watery eyes looked toward the screen, still pressing its head close to Yun Jingqiu’s face.

“Did you smear its food on your face or something?” Liu He guessed.

Yun Jingqiu laughed smugly. “Cream comes close to me on its own, I’d never stoop to doing that.”

It really did look close.

Liu He, feeling a bit ignored by his own Cream, pinched his voice and called out softly: “Cream~ Cream~ It’s me~”

Hearing the sound he made himself, and seeing the smile tug at Yun Jingqiu’s lips, Liu He belatedly realized how shy he was being.

Now he understood why Song Zhiyuan often smiled so dotingly into his phone, making strange sounds.

Song Zhiyuan often watched videos of cats online, and since he raised a cat himself, he would talk to his pet through the home surveillance, using an even more sugary voice than Liu He’s just now.

Yun Jingqiu’s arm was out of the plaster cast now. Because it hadn’t seen sunlight for some time, it was paler than the rest of his skin, with a very clear line of contrast.

“Xiao He says he won’t wear my clothes, but here he is, wearing my clothes and sleeping in my bed.” Yun Jingqiu smiled.

Liu He shrank into the blanket, pulling it up to cover past his neck, hiding the pajamas he was wearing.

Yes, he was indeed in Yun Jingqiu’s pajamas.

“Xiao He, did you do anything more perverted?” Yun Jingqiu asked, grinning. “Like when I wasn’t home, did you sneakily put on something of mine for a little surprise?” He looked like he was guessing casually, but his eyes were sharp.

Liu He hurriedly denied: “No!”

“So that means yes.” Yun Jingqiu immediately saw through his lie. “What did you do?”

Liu He could never lie in front of Yun Jingqiu, and even if he tried, Yun Jingqiu could see through it instantly. He hesitated for a moment, couldn’t say it, and decided to give up: “I’m not telling you.”

It wasn’t anything that perverted, really. He had just picked up Yun-ge’s underwear and compared it against himself for size. He didn’t actually put it on, nor did he take it into the bathroom to do anything more inappropriate.

It was simply… checking Yun-ge’s underwear size. Nothing perverted about that.

Besides, he had folded the underwear neatly and put it back afterward!

Yun Jingqiu didn’t press him further. He pulled out a stem of hay to feed Cream, adjusting the phone stand to let Liu He see Cream eating more clearly.

This wasn’t a lovers’ video call anymore—it was turning into Cream’s live eating broadcast.

Liu He was utterly captivated by Cream’s cuteness, staring without blinking.

After a few stalks of hay, Yun Jingqiu lifted Cream down from his shoulder.

Cream still wanted to jump back up, but Yun Jingqiu had already stood up.

At that height, Cream couldn’t jump onto him.

“I prepared a luxury villa for Cream.”

In the living room stood a huge wooden house, several stories tall, filled with all kinds of toys.

Compared to the cage and the few small toys Liu He had prepared for Cream before, this was like paradise.

Yun Jingqiu had no intention of cage-raising it. Though he prepared a villa for Cream, the door was always left open, so it could freely come and go.

Cream hopped down from the sofa, following Yun Jingqiu into its villa to play.

After showing Liu He the rabbit villa, Yun Jingqiu moved into the gaming room with the phone: “Wanna play a game for a bit?”

His home had a spacious gaming room.

Liu He shook his head. “No, I want to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow.”

“Early for experiments?”

Liu He nodded.

Yun Jingqiu set the phone on a stand facing himself, turned on the computer. “Then I’ll play a bit by myself. Does Xiao He want to hear me sing or listen to me play?”

“Singing!” Liu He answered without hesitation.

Yun Jingqiu’s voice was beautiful. Before they were dating, Liu He’s most relaxed moments each day were when he was on the phone listening to Yun-ge’s voice. When Yun Jingqiu sang, his voice was especially soothing. More than once Liu He had drifted to sleep listening to his songs.

It wasn’t that Yun Jingqiu sang badly—on the contrary, he sang on pitch with a wonderful timbre, truly pleasant to hear. But after a long busy day, Liu He was often tense, and the moment his brain relaxed, he wanted sleep. Yun Jingqiu’s singing became the perfect lullaby.

With the gentle song floating softly, Liu He soon yawned, curling into the quilt even deeper.

The phone on the pillow was facing him.

Very soon, sleep claimed his body, and the phone slipped sideways against the pillow. He was almost asleep.

Once Yun Jingqiu publicly announced that he had returned to City A for his re-entry into the filming of Crossing the River, the reporters and paparazzi loitering around C University quickly dispersed.

Since the person they wanted wasn’t even in City C anymore—what were they supposed to stake out? Sure, the university had thousands of students, but unless I personally happened to be Yun Jingqiu’s partner, there was no point wasting time.

Only Liu He knew the real danger of exposure.

No one else other than Jiang Yi knew Yun Jingqiu’s partner was him. And Jiang Yi would never blabber.

Well, technically, Jiang Yi was now under Xu Yi’s tight watch. He rarely had the chance to even go out alone anymore, so there was even less risk.

Every day Liu He would receive complaints from his good friend.

Jiang Yi cursed Xu Yi as inhuman, said he didn’t treat people like people.

Whenever he vented about his man, he always made sure Xu Yi wasn’t around. Otherwise, Xu Yi would punish him again that night.

To avoid Xu Yi’s inspection of his phone—and the discovery of chat logs complaining about him—Jiang Yi would always call Liu He for such rants.

Since Jiang Yi wasn’t committed to academia any longer, after grad school his plan was to start working instead. He didn’t put in as much effort as Liu He, so he always had a lot more spare time.

One time, with a Bluetooth earbud in, Liu He was listening to Jiang Yi’s rant while scrolling through references in the office.

“By the way,” Jiang Yi lowered his voice, being sneaky, “now that your guy’s left, you didn’t… do anything?” He didn’t name names.

The mouse in Liu He’s hand paused, then he continued scrolling. “What kind of thing?”

“How far have you guys gotten?”

“Holding hands yet?” Jiang Yi whispered. “But wait, you’ve already kissed, of course you’ve held hands too.”

His voice was so quiet that Liu He barely heard, so he adjusted the earbud. “I’ve got earphones in, speak louder. I can’t hear you.”

“I said,” Jiang Yi raised his voice, “how far are you guys now? If you’ve kissed and held hands—did you check the goods yet?”

Liu He: …

He instantly regretted telling him to speak up.

Check the goods? What the hell.

The scary part was—he understood what that meant.

Would that count as checking? They had helped each other out… didn’t that already count? At least by then, he already knew Yun-ge’s size and endurance—important data points.

After some thinking, Liu He stiffly said: “We’ve checked.”

“You’re on the bottom?”

Liu He: “I don’t know.”

They only helped each other, and without unexpected circumstances, he assumed he would be the bottom. The “unexpected circumstances” meant: if Yun-ge suddenly decided he wanted to bottom instead.

“Then how did you check the goods?” Jiang Yi was confused. “Was it him, or you?”

Before Liu He could answer, Jiang Yi muttered, “Forget it. I’ll just send you some educational resources, you check them yourself.”

With a straight face, Liu He hung up.

He soon received an email from Jiang Yi, but didn’t open it.

He and Yun-ge were still far from reaching that step.

He returned to reading his references.

Later, Jiang Yi messaged asking why he had hung up. But soon Xu Yi came looking for him, and Jiang Yi didn’t have time to bother Liu He anymore.

Peace held for a while. Liu He and Yun Jingqiu were still in a long-distance relationship.

Every day, they video chatted to see Cream, occasionally doing some slightly more intimate things.

But no matter how intimate through the screen, Liu He always felt it wasn’t the same. Something was missing.

There was no warmth of resting in Yun-ge’s arms, guided by his hand.

There weren’t those gentle words whispered in his ear when close to the edge of unconsciousness.

Liu He felt lonely.

He missed Yun-ge.

Even though they called and video chatted daily, sharing about their days, he still missed him.

When Yun Jingqiu returned to the Crossing the River crew, he treated everyone to a meal and milk tea, chatted scenes with the director, and ran lines with other actors.

He quickly readjusted to crew life. Only, without Liu He by his side, he often felt an emptiness in his chest.

By now, the movie was already halfway shot. During the month Yun Jingqiu was absent, two new actors had been hired to fill in for those two roles, reshooting their scenes.

They could have used face-replacement technology—in which case no reshoots were needed. But the director held fast to his principles and refused.

After rejoining the cast, Yun Jingqiu worked with the other two actors, achieving results even better than before.

He had to take back what he said to Liu He about “this being a terrible film.”

Without capital meddling, this movie might actually be pretty good.

“Yun-ge, today we’ve got steak, broccoli, eggs, and cherry tomatoes,” Song Zhiyuan reported as he brought Yun Jingqiu’s lunch. “Not too much sauce though—the heat from sauces is bad for you. You can’t have too much.”

“Right now it’s about keeping in shape. Anyway, you can’t just live on salad every day.”

Yun Jingqiu nodded, eating slowly.

With a bit of meat now, the meal was much better than before.

“There’s another matter,” Song Zhiyuan paused. “The cleaner before went on leave, so the agency is sending a new one. We’ll need you to issue a permit for residential access.”

Without thinking much, Yun Jingqiu operated his phone, created a visitor permit, and sent it to Song Zhiyuan.

“Since there’s no night shoot today, tonight we could have a slightly indulgent dinner,” Song Zhiyuan suddenly suggested.

Yun Jingqiu looked at him.

Grinning, Song Zhiyuan clarified: “Of course not too indulgent—just something tastier than leaves.”

Yun Jingqiu: “Alright.”

His diet had always been managed by Song Zhiyuan. Whatever Song provided, he ate. Over the years, there had never been a mistake.

“Touch up your makeup, then rest up a while. Get ready for the shoot.”

[Husband: Had steak for lunch today]

[Husband: But without much sauce—it was dry and tasteless]

[Husband: What about Xiao He? What did you have for lunch?]

While passing through airport security, Liu He saw Yun Jingqiu’s messages. He sent him a photo of the beef rice set he had outside: [Ate out today]