DASFAM_105

When Shang Yanxiao returned to the villa, the interior was already filled to the brim with the aroma of food.

Bai Xu was sitting at the dining table, greeting him with a smile, "You're back? Come eat quickly, are you hungry?"

Shang Yanxiao looked at the four dishes and one soup laid out elegantly on the dining table, "You made this?"

Bai Xu was honest, "How could I? Aunt Zhuang made it. With my level of cooking, I was afraid you'd lose your appetite the moment you saw it."

As he said this, he swept his gaze over Shang Yanxiao twice.

Shang Yanxiao noticed his lover's sneaky little sidelong glances, but pretended not to see them. He smiled, and went around to the nearest washbasin to wash his hands.

Bai Xu listened to the sound of running water, a thought nagging at him:

How strange, what about the promised gift? How did he come back empty-handed?

Shang Yanxiao pulled out two sheets of tissue paper to dry his hands, then came back around to the dining table, "You went back to the hospital this afternoon to look for Shang Qishun?"

"……"

Bai Xu turned his chopsticks around, resigned, "Did Chen Yufei go and secretly report back to you again?"

Shang Yanxiao also picked up the soup ladle, "Lawyer Xiao told me first."

Bai Xu snorted, "How is it that everyone around me is your person?"

Shang Yanxiao handed him a freshly served bowl of soup, "They don't mean any harm, they're just afraid you'll get into danger again."

"I know."

Bai Xu didn't bother making a fuss over such a small matter, and took it upon himself to explain, "I just wanted to see what kind of state Shang Qishun had ended up in. But after seeing him, all I felt was that he got what he deserved."

Shang Qishun deserved every bit of the state he'd brought himself to.

Shang Yanxiao likewise despised him to the core, "I heard that after Shang Qishun woke up and discovered his legs were gone too, he had an emotional breakdown and caused a disturbance at the hospital, and in the end had to be forcibly sedated before he calmed down."

Bai Xu let out a scornful laugh, "Someone like him, when he goes mad, only dares to bring disaster upon others, and yet can't bring himself to just die."

"The more someone is like him, the more tenaciously they cling to their miserable existence." Shang Yanxiao analyzed, "You going to see him today, standing there perfectly fine, that was probably what really twisted the knife in his heart."

Hearing Shang Yanxiao voice a thought nearly identical to his own, Bai Xu smiled, "Mm, we thought the same thing."

A person who had already ruined their own prospects wasn't worth any more of their attention.

Shang Yanxiao put an end to the topic, "Alright, eat more."

Bai Xu gave a casual nod, then pressed the question with his eyes, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Shang Yanxiao saw his lover's barely-containable curiosity, and played dumb while knowing full well, "Was I?"

"Weren't you?"

Bai Xu bit the tip of his chopsticks, raising an eyebrow, "Then let's just say you weren't."

...

The two of them filled their stomachs, and Bai Xu insisted on opening a bottle of champagne.

Shang Yanxiao, finding it impossible to dissuade him, had no choice but to indulge him and drink through most of the bottle together.

Bai Xu drank to his heart's content, and only then had the idea of going upstairs to rest.

"Alright, let's go up."

Shang Yanxiao agreed, and took his hand leading him toward the master bedroom on the second floor. But just as the two had barely stepped into the room, Bai Xu, who had been obediently letting himself be led, suddenly changed his tune—

He grabbed Shang Yanxiao's arm and spun him around, then used all his strength to pin him against the door panel.

—Bang! Click!

The sound of the door closing and locking rang out by his ear, and before him was his lover's gaze, almost provocative.

Shang Yanxiao lowered his eyes and laughed softly, watching Bai Xu's current expression with great interest, "Young Master Bai, to what do I owe the honor?"

Ever since the two had confirmed their relationship, Bai Xu had rarely looked at him with that kind of gaze anymore, and suddenly switching back to this posture now inexplicably made Shang Yanxiao think of when the two of them had first gotten to know each other—

Back then, his 'feigned unconsciousness' had been discovered by Bai Xu, and in order to seize control of the conversation, the two of them had tumbled back and forth across the bed, each trying to overpower the other.

By the time it was all over, the other man had even pressed a sharp blade against his neck, thinking back on it now, that was quite wild indeed.

Bai Xu noticed the hint of a smirk on Shang Yanxiao's face, and yanked hard on his tie, "Still laughing?"

The pressure of the tie against his neck was just right, giving him a slight sense of breathlessness from being restrained, yet not enough to truly cut off his breathing.

Shang Yanxiao leaned in close, his breath tangling with Bai Xu's, "Out of nowhere, murdering your own husband?"

"You…"

Bai Xu couldn't hold back and kissed him, pulling away after just a taste, then bit down hard on Shang Yanxiao's lip, "If I were really going to make a move, could Third Young Master have lasted until now?"

The faint scent of alcohol drifted between them, pain and desire rising together.

Shang Yanxiao instantly hooked his arm around Bai Xu's waist, reversing their positions and the upper hand, and cupped his lover's jaw, the pads of his fingers grazing almost imperceptibly over his Adam's apple.

"If it really came to a fight, I'm not necessarily the one who'd end up at a disadvantage."

"……"

Bai Xu's Adam's apple bobbed with a sensitive roll, his breathing suddenly disordered, "Shang Yanxiao, do you remember what you said to me this afternoon? Where's the gift?"

Shang Yanxiao had known all along that this had been weighing on his heart, and couldn't help nuzzling the tip of his lover's nose, "Who was it that originally said I was begging to give a gift?"

Bai Xu still had hold of Shang Yanxiao's tie without letting go, and let out a hum.

"There is something to give you, but it doesn't quite count as a special gift, and might even be a little on the common side." Shang Yanxiao stopped keeping his lover in suspense any further, and instead guided him, "The thing is right on me, how about troubling Young Master Bai to search for it?"

Bai Xu let go of the tie, first feeling around in Shang Yanxiao's outer pocket and coming up empty, then reached his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket.

Sure enough, his fingertips made contact with a hard little box. He quickly took it out to look, it was a square black velvet jewelry case.

"……"

Bai Xu froze, and yet somehow didn't quite dare to open it.

Shang Yanxiao, seeing no reaction from him, "What's wrong? Don't you want to open it and take a look?"

Bai Xu's frozen thoughts were tugged loose in an indescribable way; he couldn't quite tell whether what he was feeling was anticipation or nervousness.

He unconsciously pressed his lips together, and with a held breath, opened the sealed box. Unexpectedly, lying inside the velvet case was a delicately crafted gold lock pendant.

Bai Xu's fingertips gripping the case tightened slightly, "Yanxiao, this is…"

"After you woke up in the hospital, I had Xie Qi specially seek out an old master craftsman to make it. It was made using those little gold beans you'd given me that I'd saved up over time, though it took far more man-hours than I'd imagined."

From the initial hand-drawn design sketches, to crafting the filigree patterns on the small lock, it took over a month.

This little gold lock was a one-of-a-kind existence in this world.

Bai Xu truly hadn't expected to receive such a gift, and was surprised, "You, how did you ever think to give me this?"

"Ever since you confided in me about your identity in that other world, I guessed that you, like me, probably had your material needs easily satisfied from childhood through adulthood."

"It's common for lovers to give each other things, but I've always had a hard time in this regard, not knowing what would be appropriate to give you."

"It wasn't until the moment you had your accident and then woke up again that this idea suddenly flashed through my mind."

"……"

"A' Xu?"

"Mm?"

"When you gave me those little gold beans back then, you said one gold bean represented one favor." Shang Yanxiao confirmed with him once more, "As long as I produce a gold bean in the future, you would willingly repay me one favor in return, is that right?"

Bai Xu seemed to have understood something, his eyes moved with emotion, "Mm."

"All the gold beans you gave me have been melted down into this one small gold lock, and returned back into your hands. I now want to use all the accumulated 'favors' to exchange for one sentence from you—"

Whether it was common or special, at this moment, was no longer what mattered most.

"I want to lock you in this world, lock you by my side, are you willing to accept?"

Shang Yanxiao offered it with all his sincerity, it was a request, a prayer, and also a true heart and promise he was actively holding out.

The word 'lock' was not a binding constraint, but rather his wish to walk hand in hand with Bai Xu for the rest of their lives.

Hearing this declaration that sounded like a marriage proposal, Bai Xu's chest trembled. He swallowed back the inexplicable pang of bittersweet feeling welling up, and clutched the small gold lock from the case tightly in his hand.

"Haven't I already said so long ago?" He hooked his arm around Shang Yanxiao's, drawing the two of them together until they were inseparable, "Wherever you are, I'll be there."

No matter how many times Shang Yanxiao asked, Bai Xu's answer would always be yes.

"Thank you."

Shang Yanxiao lowered his head, exchanging kisses with him, tender and unhurried.

Bai Xu made no move to pull away, only in the gap between breaths, "…The cast has already been removed, you can be a little more reckless with me now."

Shang Yanxiao held him close against his chest, "Mm? How does Young Master Bai want me to be reckless?"

The sudden loss of footing made Bai Xu have no choice but to tighten his arms, letting his full weight fall onto his lover.

Shang Yanxiao's lips pressed close against his Adam's apple, his very breath sounding like temptation, "Why aren't you saying anything? Have you thought of an answer?"

Bai Xu refused to be outdone, and deliberately let his body slide downward a little.

"……"

Shang Yanxiao's breath suddenly caught, his entire body tensing along with it.

Like a leopard coiled and ready to spring, liable to tear into and swallow whole the prey in his arms at any moment.

Bai Xu felt his barely-contained impulse, and tilted his head to kiss his earlobe, "Go to the bathroom to bathe first. Tonight, whatever you want to do, I'll let you have your way."

The last half of the sentence carried a little enticing hook within it. At this point, whoever held the upper hand no longer mattered.

Shang Yanxiao led him in quick strides toward the bathroom, attempting to answer with action.

"Don't regret it."

"I won't."

…

Buzz buzz buzz.

Shang Yanxiao was jolted awake by a vibrating incoming call.

He fumbled around on the nightstand for his phone, and only after getting hold of it realized it wasn't his own phone ringing at all.

Bai Xu, deep in sleep, seemed to have heard the bothersome noise as well, and out of habit burrowed a little deeper into the covers.

Shang Yanxiao pulled him closer and held him more snugly, letting the incoming call on his lover's phone time out and disconnect on its own.

The master bedroom was in complete disarray. The dark grey bedsheets and duvet cover were marked with no small number of traces, as if even the air still held lingering traces of an unspoken intimacy.

"……"

Shang Yanxiao, now considerably more clear-headed after waking, savored the memory of the night before and the early hours of morning, then looked at Bai Xu dead asleep curled up in the covers, and unconsciously let out a small laugh.

Last night might have been a little too wild?

Bai Xu, buried in the blankets, let out a couple of muffled murmurs, very indistinct.

Shang Yanxiao hadn't caught it clearly, and scooped him up a little, leaning in close, "What are you saying?"

Bai Xu was still whimpering in his sleep, but for once wasn't putting on a tough front, "…Can't, not again."

Shang Yanxiao couldn't hold back a laugh, and took the opportunity to kiss the disheveled hair of the person in his arms, "Our Young Master Bai has had a hard time of it."

Buzz buzz buzz.

The phone started vibrating again, but this time it was his own phone.

Shang Yanxiao picked up without a second thought, "Hello."

"It's me."

Zhang Changxu's voice came through, "What are you and Bai Xu up to? I've called you both so many times and neither of you picked up?"

Shang Yanxiao only then caught on, "Oh, sleeping."

"Still sleeping at three in the afternoon?"

Zhang Changxu casually asked, but very quickly understood something from his friend's languid, satisfied tone of voice.

Shang Yanxiao attempted to clear his throat, "What is it?"

Zhang Changxu kept it brief, "Are you free tonight? My family would like to treat you and Bai Xu to a meal."

"……"

Shang Yanxiao looked at his lover in his arms, showing not the slightest sign of waking, and tried to shift the timing, "Would tomorrow night work? Tonight might… be hard to make it, he's still asleep, and even after he wakes up he probably won't have the energy to go."

Zhang Changxu understood, and fell silent.

After a long moment, he finally found his voice and spoke, "A friendly reminder from your doctor, too much of certain things isn't good."

Shang Yanxiao let out an inexplicably smug laugh, and spoke like a prophet, "Dr. Zhang, you'd better remember those words for your future self. Hanging up."

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