Chapter 53 – Banquet

translator: xiin
editors: butter & XavierForest

Xie Sui finished laughing and asked, “How did you dream of me?”

Song Yu chuckled coldly.

‘Liking someone’ was a very sensitive topic. If Xie Sui didn’t want to talk about it, then he wasn’t going to pry.

It was just that he was especially angry about being tricked. He tilted his head, “I was kidding. I didn’t dream of you.”

Xie Sui tone was meaningful, “Oh.”

He didn’t ask any further, either. His gaze landed on the essay paper under Song Yu’s arm. He smiled, “Still can’t write anything?”

Song Yu was angry and ignored him.

Xie Sui said, “The first paragraph is written in the wrong format.”

Song Yu: “???” His attention was easily diverted when he focused on something. He moved his arm away, “How is it wrong? I copied it from online.”

Xie Sui really had a good way to deal with him. He took a pen out of the pen holder, smiling as he said, “Bring it over. I’ll change it for you.”

Only after Song Yu had obediently handed over his paper did he notice that something was wrong—dammit, shouldn’t he be ignoring this liar right now? Song Yu pressed his hand on the paper after realizing this and lifted his eyes to look at Xie Sui. He leaned over and asked in a low voice, “Do you really have someone you like?”

The two of them were very close, so close that his breath almost hit Xie Sui’s face. It was hot—

Xie Sui tilted his head and was met with Song Yu’s beautiful face. His light-colored pupils were clean and clear.

His line of sight shifted down a little.

The collar of his summer pajamas was slightly open, revealing the youth’s delicate collarbone and milky white skin.

After taking a bath, the scent of his shower gel was light and appealing.

Xie Sui’s lips curved slightly. This child was really…

Lovely.

He quietly leaned back and his casual air dispersed. His tone grew serious, “Yes.”

After pausing for a few seconds, Xie Sui smiled and continued explaining before Song Yu could get angry, “But she didn’t define the degree of ‘liking someone’ when she asked the question. Liking a person, liking a season, and liking a taste is all ‘liking’.”

Song Yu could understand that. Xie Sui had deliberately misinterpreted the words and dropped a big bomb on everyone in order to whet their appetites.

He knew it. Where could Xie Sui find the time to meet girls?

Song Yu moved his hand away from the paper, his expression disapproving, “You’re too evil. Forget it, you’d better help me change the format of my essay first.”

Xie Sui lifted his pen but continued the topic, “What about you? Do you really not like anyone?”

He remembered that during truth or dare, Song Yu had said that he didn’t have anyone he liked.

Song Yu briefly frowned, “If it’s according to your definition of ‘like’, then of course I do. I like too many things, and I like too many people—my father, my mother, my brother, my sister, my grandmother, my cousin, my uncle, my aunt, and you.”

And you.

Xie Sui didn’t look at him. He listened quietly, but the corners of his lips couldn’t help curving up in a smile, “Oh, what an honor.”

Song Yu: “Stop dawdling. It’s one thousand words.”

Xie Sui lightly said, “I don’t like that many people.”

Song Yu’s words, which had originally been rushing up his throat, were silently swallowed back down again.

It was because he’d suddenly remembered that this pitiful little Xie Sui in front of him only had Grandmother Chen in his family.

Xie Sui: “I like even fewer things. But after being influenced by you, I’ve now started to like mints, and I like summer.”

Song Yu laughed out loud. He praised, “Not bad, fellow brother. The things you like are all great.”

Xie Sui tilted his head to look at him. There was a trace of a smile in his dark eyes, “Yeah.”

The person I like is great, too.

A one thousand word essay was cobbled together from bits and pieces everywhere. It was one in the morning by the time Song Yu finished.

He drank a glass of milk to help him sleep after he went back, but his sleep wasn’t restful at all.

Just as Song Yu had expected back in the KTV room, he had a dream that night.

A messy dream.

It took place in a hospital ward.

The scent of disinfectant was very faint. The window was open, and there was a lawn outside where a group of children in hospital clothing were playing.

Sunlight streamed in and shone on skin, bright and warm.

There was no opening scene and no reason for it, but he knew that the current atmosphere was very awkward.

After finishing a brief conversation in English with the nurse, a tall and elegant man in a black western suit looked at him carelessly.

His line of sight was cold, chilly all the way down to the bones.

The young man on the hospital bed stiffened. He put a hand on his forehead and was too embarrassed to look at him.

The nurse left, leaving only the two of them in the ward.

“You’re awake?” The man pulled a chair over and sat down. His movements were graceful, his temperament noble and cool.

“Tell me about what happened yesterday.”

The young man retracted the hand rubbing his forehead, “About this, I can explain. I really wasn’t deliberately trying to make trouble.”

“If it wasn’t deliberate, then it’s deliberately throwing yourself into my arms.” He raised his eyebrows, and the mockery in his tone wasn’t hidden at all, “Has the Song Family fallen to this point?”

The young man: “……”

The young man: “I’m sorry. Someone made trouble for me. I can’t touch alcohol. Thank you for sending me to the hospital, you’re really a good person.”

The man looked down at his watch and indifferently said, “Your big brother should be coming over soon.”

The young man: “?!” His eyes grew wide, and his tone held a bit of anxiousness and pleading, “I can compensate you for your loss. Can you not call my brother?”

“No need.”

He stood up.

“You can’t afford it.”

It seemed that he didn’t want to spend any more time here. The man’s long legs moved and he strode towards the door.

Just thinking about having to face his big brother, his mother, his sister, and his father made the youth feel suffocated. He clutched at his hair and anxiously cried out, “Wait a minute, you really don’t need to call my big brother over. What are you calling him for? Isn’t that just cutting short our time to reminisce over old times?”

He was ready to risk anything, which made the following words easier to say. He forced himself to laugh, “Young Master Xie, don’t be in such a hurry. Sit down and have a good chat with me. We met when we were five years old, do you remember?”

The air seemed to fall quiet for a second.

The man’s footsteps paused. He turned around and smiled superficially, “Five years old?”

The youth tried to smile, “Yes, five years old. You followed behind me, calling big brother. Do you have any impression of it?”

Young Master Xie’s lips curved briefly, but his cold and clear eyes didn’t hold any emotion, “In addition to the problems with your body, is there also a problem with your brain?”

The young man took a deep breath. If it wasn’t because he was asking for help, he would’ve already jumped out of the bed to fight with him. Even so, he tried to continue the conversation enthusiastically.

“We met when we were little. Don’t ask my big brother to come, and I’ll go over old memories with you. You were really cute as a child.” Like hell.

Young Master Xie’s dark eyes lowered, and he looked at him deeply. He drawled, “Are you that afraid of seeing Song Xu?”

The young man stilled for a moment, the light of hope bursting out in his pale pupils.

“Yes, yes, yes. I had a fight with him and my father last week, and it would be embarrassing to meet again now. Now that I’ve shared this with you, can you—”

Young Master Xie: “Help you call President Song? It’s no bother.”

The young man: “……”

F*ck, he was going to die of anger.

The memory shattered.

After that came a conversation between him and his big brother.

They quarreled. Likely because they’d run out of breath, there was a pause in their fight.

His big brother asked, “You ran into Xie Sui?”

“Yes.”

His big brother was silent for a moment, “That man is very dangerous. Try not to associate with him.”

“I didn’t find him dangerous, but he is really mean, just like when he was a child.”

Song Xu: “??? Tell me what you guys talked about.”

The young man listlessly explained the whole story.

After Song Xu heard everything, he frowned and thought for a long time before belatedly opening his mouth, “He even sent you to the hospital. It seems that he was in a good mood that day. Or perhaps he actually remembers what happened when he was a child. It’s not like him to talk to you about those things.”

“Ah?”

Song Xu soon collected his thoughts and said, “No matter what, stay away from him in the future.”

“That’s not a problem. In any case, he should be returning home¹returning home – going back to their home country soon. I won’t see him again in this lifetime.”

The hospital ward, the warm sun, and the young man with the casual smile.

The dream was like a water curtain.

A feeling that could be regret and nostalgia seemed to spread.

*

He’d already had strange dreams like this countless times.

Song Yu was completely certain that as long as Xie Sui was in his dream, it wouldn’t be a good thing.

He had a splitting headache when he got up on Saturday morning. It took him a long time to get over it. He got out of bed, had breakfast, and then saw that there was a missed call on his cell phone.

It was from Meng Guang.

Song Yu called him back as he drank his milk.

The phone was soon picked up.

“Hey cousin, what’s up?”

Meng Guang said, “Yuyu, when are you coming home?”

Song Yu: “Probably in the afternoon.”

Meng Guang: “Coming back in the afternoon is fine. There’s a banquet here at the Fuguang Hotel²Fuguang Hotel – Fuguang means ‘Floating Light’ tonight for someone who’s coming over from A City’s Qin Family. You probably know him. When the time comes, you can head over with me.”

Song Yu was surprised for a moment, “Qin Family? Who is it?”

“The Qin Family’s Fourth Young Master. He’s one year older than you—Qin Mo.”

Song Yu: “……”

He finished the milk in one go, then set his cup down with a heavy thump.

Song Yu replied, “Okay.”

His tone was cold and filled with murderous intent.

Meng Guang: “???”

Meng Guang: “What’s the matter? Do the two of you have history?”

Song Yu smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “No, I’m very happy about meeting a new little friend.”

Hearing the words ‘Qin Mo’ and recalling what he’d done in <Gentle Control> made Song Yu so angry that his liver hurt.

However, there was some confusion in his eyes as he held up his cell phone.

Shouldn’t Gong #1 be making his appearance next semester?

Why had he come to Jing City at this time?

In the original novel, Gong #1 was romantic and casual with love. He was a playboy prince with no taboos and would go to any length to pursue his favored prey. He’d pretended to be gentle and considerate in the early stages, and then, after obtaining Xie Sui’s trust, he became bored and tired of him and pushed him into a deeper darkness.

When Song Yu had first started reading the novel, he hadn’t known what the ‘sadistic love’ tag meant. He’d just felt that this person was someone whose actions were always belated and untimely.

Didn’t he come from a good family? Was helping Xie Sui have a stable environment so difficult?

He’d been very confused as a reader, but he’d also understood that their relationship likely hadn’t been good enough to reach that point. After all, helping others was a personal choice, and there was no stipulation that someone had to help others as long as they had the ability to do so.

Then the plot began to unfold, showing his fierce and cruel side.

Qin Mo allowed the people at school to ridicule and insult Xie Sui in all sorts of ways and would only stretch out a hand to give him a little gentleness when he was at his most desperate.

A few words of comfort and companionship that didn’t matter.

For Xie Sui, it was like the light of his life, lighting up his lonely, barren nights.

Qin Mo broke through Xie Sui’s cold shell, but he was limited to the position of a friend. His attempts to win Xie Sui’s feelings failed, so his mood grew worse and worse.

He would deliberately bring him to high-end places and set things up so that he would make a fool of himself, then use words to deliberately trample on his dignity.

However, at the time, Xie Sui had already regarded him as a very important person in his life. Many times, he would even start to reflect on whether or not he’d done something wrong.

Confused and frightened, he’d seized a glimmer of light in the dark, cold world. He didn’t dare to let go.

However, the cold and stubborn youth hadn’t known that what he’d grasped wasn’t light, but a tentacle from the abyss.

Senior Three was the time when everything had collapsed.

He thought of that blood-stained shirt and the youth who’d supported himself against a pillar and retched in the dark, rainy night.

Song Yu sighed, his mood bitter.

… From a pitiful youth to the dangerous person he’d later become.

What had his little childhood friend gone through?

—

Butter’s Thoughts:
A sudden attack from the dark! The word tentacle was used! Don’t the authors know that this word holds too many meanings now hahaha

XavierForest’s Thoughts:
The trash bag has rolled in.

xiin: SY, your ‘little childhood friend’ thinks of you as a child…

• 1
  returning home – going back to their home country
• 2
  Fuguang Hotel – Fuguang means ‘Floating Light’