CH 74.2

Before they go to sleep that night, Qi Ya makes a call but is mostly talking about a bunch of disconnected stuff.

Bai Yao listens to his grumblings in full, and occasionally offers his advice, as they are both wont to from their days in university. Qi Ya has always been talkative, regardless of the topic’s importance. Bai Yao is willing to listen.

There is a sound at the door. Mu Mu’er pokes his head in from the door.

He’s just showered and has put on his pyjamas to come to sleep. He sees Bai Yao in a call right now, and so does not call his name out loud, but simply speaks with his lips, ‘Yaoyao.’

He’s looking at Bai Yao with sleepy, puppy dog eyes. Worried about disturbing Bai Yao, he merely stands hesitantly at the door, with one foot in the door and the other outside.

“I’m sleeping now. Talk to you tomorrow,” Bai Yao is about to move the phone away from his ears when Qi Ya yells out.

“Wait!”

Bai Yao assumes he has an actual urgent affair, but there is no follow-up for a while. He almost says ‘hello’ assuming the signal is bad when Qi Ya finally says, “just wait. There’s something.”

Qi Ya has always been the bold talker who says whatever is on his mind without thinking. It’s rare for Bai Yao to see him hesitant. How odd.

“Be quick. We’re all ready to sleep,” Bai Yao gestures his fingers towards Mu Mu’er to get him onto bed.

Mu Mu’er has built up this habit of jumping into bed and onto the blanket or quilt, regardless of whether Bai Yao just tidied it up.

He seems to love the feeling of sinking into a soft, cloud-like mattress.

Not today, though. He doesn’t want to disturb the phone call.

Of course, he still feels like it would be weird without his ‘pre-sleep ceremony,’ so he thinks for a while, and finally comes up with a better idea. Mu Mu’er, aftering a few spritely steps towards the bed, he makes a little hop and lets his upper body fall towards the bed. It’s like he’s a rolled up carpet falling gently onto the mattress.

Bai Yao couldn’t help but smile, and helps Mu Mu’er sit by his side, leaving only 20% of his attention or so devoted to Qi Ya on the phone.

He touches Mu Mu’er’s little chin with his other hand, then moves it up towards his ears and plays with the soft earlobe.

His hand becomes slightly wet as a result. Thus Bai Yao gives his head a feel; it’s still wet enough to drip.

The boy is going to bed again with his hair all wet. He really seems to dislike the hair dryer. Maybe it’s too noisy, or maybe the hot and dry wind is strange to him.

Without a towel about, Bai Yao uses a corner of his T-shirt to wipe Mu Mu’er’s head instead. The boy then leans into him, sticking his head under his hand; Bai Yao feels like he might start snoring any time soon.

“Have you checked Weibo recently?”

The inexplicable question is a great reminder that there is still someone on the phone. Bai Yao helps the boy pull up the blankets and has him lie down to sleep, then retracts his gaze.

His simple life means he doesn’t use his phone a lot, never mind checking Weibo regularly. He actually takes a few seconds recalling what that is before answering with a simple “no.”

“Oh.”

Qi Ya is clearly hesitant to speak. Bai Yao knows him well, so he must have a reason for being reluctant. Not that he knows him well enough to figure out his strange thought processes. Honestly, Bai Yao feels like his friend really does resemble his wild counterparts – completely mysterious.

“Go have a look at it. I mean it,” Qi Ya only says this after a while, “I can’t really say it. You need to look at it yourself.”

After that, he appears to just continue waiting on standby until Bai Yao would load up his Weibo.

Bai Yao does not buy it, and simply tells him, “got it. I’ll look first thing tomorrow morning. My boy wants to sleep. See ya.”

Qi Ya finds it hilarious, “your boy? Wow you guys are getting…”

Before the word ‘intimate’ comes out, though, Bai Yao has already cut him off.

Mu Mu’er sees that Bai Yao is finished, and immediately sticks to him like glue and looks up at him, asking, “sleep now?”

His eyes are always sparkly, like the fabric of the milky way has been transposed within. The boy always seems really excited just before going to sleep, and Bai Yao only realised after a while, that it’s because he is looking forward to holding hands with him without having to let go.

Bai Yao caresses his hair with a smile, “yes. Go lie down now.”

It’s been millenia since Bai Yao last logged onto Weibo, and it takes him a while of fiddling to find where it is. He clicks on the icon, leaning on his pillow.

The advertisement shown on start-up is a men’s deodorant for some luxury brand. Each of the three models photographed is holding a bottle in front of a bright blue background.

The centremost model is the shortest of the trio. He’s a clean, innocent-looking rabbit, save for his foxy eyes that adds an allure of mystique to him.

Wen Yue.

The deodorant is part of the brand’s summer lineup. It’s also in a brilliant blue bottle, and the aura suits Wen Yue quite well, enhancing the sense of classiness.

Bai Yao dismissively snorts. Qi Ya must have been bonked in the head to assume he’s this weak. No. It’s been over two years ago. Leave the person out of his mind and he’ll forget about him soon enough.

He does not even take the time to skip the advert; he’s going to close his phone and go to sleep.

The three-second advertisement ends before he does so, though, and enters the main page. Bai Yao only follows Wen Yue on his Weibo, so he sees the latest post from him with several photographs at the very top.

The background in the photographs are strangely familiar to him. He zooms in to look, only to see they’re the beaches in Qiaohai. Not far from his restaurant.

Wen Yue has his arm on someone else’s shoulders, with a brilliant smile.

The photograph has a simple caption, ‘Records.’

In fact, Bai Yao realises that this must be what he saw during the stroll on the beach that day. That wasn’t a small film production crew, but a crew shooting the advertisement. Qi Ya must have told him to look at Weibo in case they might run into one another.

It’s… he really didn’t have to.

“Yaoyao, what are you looking?”

A little head barges in, bringing with it the fragrance of citrus lemon. Bai Yao snaps back to reality.

Mu Mu’er is wearing pyjamas with a pattern of yellow ducklings. The ducks themselves were sewn with materials fuzzy to the touch. They’re quite cute.

So when Mu Mu’er leans over, a few of the ducklings are brushing across Bai Yao’s arm. It’s soft and slightly itchy as well.

Mu Mu’er has not used Weibo, and the interface merely confuses him. He loses interest soon enough, but not before giving it a complimentary ‘wow’ in recognition of the fact that Bai Yao is watching it, so it must be good to him, the same way the Moon Rabbit is a good game to him.

Bai Yao almost finds himself breaking down in laughter from how seriously unserious the ‘wow’ was.

He pokes Mu Mu’er on the forehead, “I thought I was telling you to sleep, and not look at phones, little sleepyhead.”

Of course, it’s only just past bedtime for Mu Mu’er, so he isn’t too sleepy yet. He lies back down next to Bai Yao, and extends his arm out by habit for him to grab. This is how they usually interact now. Mu Mu’er gets his hand held by Bai Yao before lights out, and the two go to sleep from there.

This time, though, Mu Mu’er does not find a hand coming to hold him. He opens his eyes to look again, only to spot the phone still on. Bai Yao is too preoccupied to notice his hand.

He looks up. Bai Yao is knitting his brows. He doesn’t look like he’s going to sleep any time soon. So Mu Mu’er immediately loses his sleepiness, hoping to play some more before sleeping.

“Mu’er wants to play with the Moon Rabbit,” Mu Mu’er pleads quietly.

His phone is left charging outside in the living room, so he starts sneaking his hand over towards Bai Yao, wishing to take it for him to play games.

“Mu’er cannot, if you don’t want to become a bald sea otter in the future,” Bai Yao’s hands deftly avoids the prying hands of the boy, before shutting down the screen and leaving it on the bedside cabinet. He brushes his hand past Mu Mu’er’s nose, “you won’t have any fur anymore.”

Bai Yao chuckles and turns off the light, leaving Mu Mu’er’s last expression as that of immense shock.