CH 45.1

Older Brother Left Mu'er

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

Mu Mu’er finally starts listening to the conversation when the passion fruit juice is almost gone.

He cannot follow the conversation at its speed. He tilts his head at both Bai Yao and Qi Ya dizzily, before he loses interest entirely and begins blanking out.

Mu Mu’er has always been quiet, and also likes his environments quiet. Qi Ya is loud, almost shaking the air simply by talking. Mu Mu’er can feel the buzzing in his head, and he subconsciously begins to shrink himself, rolling into a poor little quail with his hair all exuding an aura of lull.

Bai Yao notices his situation immediately, and raises his chin at Qi Ya, shutting him down for a moment.

“Speak softly,” Bai Yao explains, “he doesn’t like noisy environments.”

“Sure,” Qi Ya furrows his brows a little looking at Bai Yao’s hand on Mu Mu’er’s back, but decides not to say anything.

There is definitely something off with their relationship.

More specifically, there is something off about this clean, pretty little sea otter; something off about the way Bai Yao treats him, but he can’t put it into words.

Bai Yao doesn’t notice his odd gaze, as he’s busy caressing Mu Mu’er on the back, reassured he’s alright.

Qi Ya did bring lots of fruit and snacks over for someone hoping to mooch off Bai Yao’s meals. The two big bags by the chair are filled with goodies, all stuff Qi Ya knows Bai Yao would never buy himself.

When he was waiting at the door earlier, he ate some of the xiancao soft candy within, and the opened pack is still in his pocket. The scent is in the air.

Mu Mu’er, with his animalistically enhanced nose, quickly fixes his gaze on Qi Ya’s pocket.

Both of them can hear a gulp.

Qi Ya sees that Mu Mu’er appears to be looking at his chest. He also looks, confused.

So he asks Bai Yao quietly, “something wrong with me?”

Bai Yao watches and gets it immediately, telling Qi Ya, “he wants your soft candy.”

“?”

“He wants to eat them.”

The little quail immediately loosens hearing it, watching to see if Qi Ya is going to feed him expectantly. Qi Ya goes ‘oh,’ and takes out the open pack and hands it over.

Mu Mu’er’s eyes brighten, but he doesn’t immediately begin eating. He turns to look at Bai Yao with widened eyes.

Bai Yao pats him on the back, “it’s fine. It’s for you; eat.”

Qi Ya “???”

Did he even have the choice not to proffer the candy just now?

Mu Mu’er first offers a polite ‘thank you,’ before taking a piece of candy out the bag and eat.

He isn’t one to chew on candy, so he takes a long time to eat a piece. A while later, he’s only finished three.

Bai Yao continues chatting with Qi Ya while looking over Mu Mu’er to ensure he doesn’t accidentally choke himself. Though he starts to notice the boy looking a little bit deep in thought soon enough.

Bai Yao has lived long enough with Mu Mu’er to tell the little sea otter’s every little thought. Especially when it’s as familiar as this one.

He asks Mu Mu’er gently, “Mu’er, you hungry?”

Mu Mu’er nods slowly and obediently, showing a little dimple.

Bai Yao smiles, “what do you want to eat?”

Mu Mu’er turns less talkative in the presence of strangers, and he thinks a little first, then tugs Bai Yao’s clothes, as if trying to draw more courage, before saying, “… crêpe.”

Bai Yao taught him to say ‘crêpe‘ after Mu Mu’er asked him what the ‘slices’ were called. Bai Yao thought ‘slices’ was quite the interesting name.

Bai Yao takes Mu Mu’er’s hand and stands up, telling Qi Ya, “I’m going to go cook something for him first.”

An astonished Qi Ya with his jaw on the floor finally reacts by the time the two have gone to the kitchen, and says, “I’m also feeling hungry…”

Bai Yao doesn’t hear, of course, and the words fade into the void.

In the kitchen, Bai Yao is whisking his eggs and adding flour by the counter. Mu Mu’er sticks close to him, and occasionally looks out the kitchen door with slight fright and hesitation.

“Mu’er, you don’t have to worry. He’s Yaoyao’s friend, and he is not a bad person,” Bai Yao repeatedly reassures Mu Mu’er until he relaxes a little.

The boy is a little shy, but he warms up well to acquaintances. Like him, like auntie Zhang. They can talk quite a lot after having come to know each other.

All three of them haven’t eaten breakfast, so Bai Yao makes extra ingredients for 10 crêpes total in three dishes. He puts one in front of Qi Ya, “make do with this first. I’ll cook us a feast for lunch.”

Qi Ya immediately grabs a fork and begins gorging.

“Ni-i-i-ice,” he says, putting an entire crêpe into his maw, and begins praising with unintelligible sounds, “gosh, this is what you make do with? Can I have whatever you make when you sleepwalk?”

“Or maybe you’d choke to death first, talking so much while eating.”

Bai Yao is talking with Qi Ya, but is still keeping a close eye on Mu Mu’er, dividing his attention in half.

Soon, he notices Mu Mu’er isn’t quite enjoying his plate of crêpe as he thought he would be. He takes quite tiny bites, slower than when he eats normally, with disappointment in his eyes.

Bai Yao thus asks, “Mu’er, do you want chocolate on top?”

Mu Mu’er smiles in response, happy that Bai Yao understands him, and nods.

Bai Yao is going to go make it for him but Mu Mu’er stands up before he does, and declares, “Mu’er will go by himself!”

“Good boy,” Bai Yao says with a smile.

Qi Ya, opposite them, watching their conversation, almost drops his eyes on the floor. He tries to recall the last time he heard Bai Yao address someone so softly and affectionately, and concludes, he never did.

It’s like seeing pigs fly. This is something that borders on inexistence in this meagre mortal realm.

In fact, he thinks he hasn’t ever seen Bai Yao smile like so either. Qi Ya never thought Bai Yao would be quite so manly and handsome when smiling – a sort of attractive, eye-catching perfection of an appearance.

Bai Yao’s gentle tone still carries his characteristically magnetic and titillating timbre. The two words are exceedingly seductive spoken by such a grown voice.

If it weren’t for the fact they were both tops, Qi Ya will want to try it on with him for sure.