Dai Yuan hung up so quickly, as if trying to regain face from being hung up on last time. Huo Youqing put down his phone, staring at the screen for a while. After a moment, he called his classmate again, but still got no answer.
He then called Dai Yixin, who answered immediately.
“Youyou,” Dai Yixin’s voice came through the line.
Huo Youqing asked directly, “Where are you right now?”
The address Dai Yixin gave surprised him. He hadn’t expected the other party to be at the hotel. “Wait for me there, I’m coming over.”
Shortly after Dai Yixin returned to the country, Huo Youqing had him switch hotels to one a bit further from the school. Qiu Wenfei’s words had unsettled him, even though he didn’t care much for others’ opinions, he still disliked being the topic of gossip.
When he arrived at Dai Yixin’s hotel, he immediately spotted Dai Yixin waiting outside. Dai Yixin always did this—whenever they were about to meet, he would show up early and wait for him outside.
The only exception was probably the first time Huo Youqing had taken him to the doctor. Back then, he had no memory of the nine years and was completely unfamiliar with Dai Yixin. He had waited for a long time at the hospital entrance, only for Dai Yixin to finally show up, soaking wet from the rain.
As Huo Youqing got out of the car, he didn’t immediately bring up the call from Dai Yuan. Instead, as they walked, he asked Dai Yixin, “The weather’s nice today, why didn’t you go for a walk?”
Dai Yixin’s voice was quiet, “You had something to do.”
As the elevator doors closed, faintly reflecting the two of them, Huo Youqing glanced at the reflection of Dai Yixin. “Even if I have something to do, you can still go out for a walk by yourself.”
The person he was watching lowered his head slightly and didn’t respond. Tilting his head, Huo Youqing noticed that Dai Yixin’s gaze was fixed on his hand.
“Ding”—
The elevator door opened.
Dai Yixin’s room was very clean. If it weren’t for a few personal items on the table, it would look as if no one lived there. Huo Youqing walked over to the table and noticed that Dai Yixin had been reading a foreign-language book, which he was halfway through. Underneath the book was a sheet of paper.
He glanced at Dai Yixin, who followed him, and noticed a flash of panic in his eyes. Without waiting for Dai Yixin to react, Huo Youqing quickly pulled the paper out.
When he saw what was on the paper, Huo Youqing’s fingers tensed slightly, and a faint blush quickly spread across his cheeks. He was about to tear the paper up, but then noticed that Dai Yixin wasn’t stopping him. Puzzled, he turned to look at him.
Dai Yixin’s gaze was fixed on him, but he showed no signs of wanting to stop him. Nor was he blushing, even though he’d been caught red-handed drawing nude sketches.
The sketch, however, wasn’t particularly realistic, especially regarding the wings. In the drawing, Huo Youqing had a pair of beautiful angel wings glowing with a halo. His phoenix eyes looked both cold and compassionate. From an artistic point of view, the drawing wasn’t erotic at all.
Huo Youqing glanced at the drawing again and decided not to tear it up just yet. Instead, he questioned Dai Yixin, “Why did you draw this?”
“Because I wanted to.”
That same answer again.
Huo Youqing frowned. “What gives you the right to draw it? Did I ever give you permission? Dai Yixin, do you realize that drawing someone nude without their consent is extremely offensive?”
He reprimanded the tall man in front of him, who lowered his head, but Huo Youqing knew he didn’t truly understand his mistake. The Dai family wasn’t going to change their controlling nature overnight—whether it was Dai Yixin, his father, or even his brother Dai Yuan, they all liked to control others, just like the phone call he had received earlier.
Even Dai Yuan, who was far across the ocean in M Country, was watching him. He didn’t believe for a second that Dai Yixin had pulled back his informants.
Huo Youqing paused for a moment and then motioned for Dai Yixin to come over. “Tear it up yourself.”
This command made Dai Yixin look up, his eyes filled with struggle. Huo Youqing, not an artist, could still tell that the sketch had taken a lot of effort. But he showed no mercy. “Tear it up.”
Dai Yixin furrowed his brows tightly. Clearly, he didn’t want to destroy his own work, and there was obvious reluctance in his eyes. But when Huo Youqing repeated himself for the third time, Dai Yixin finally reached for the sketch and began tearing it in half.
Halfway through, he hesitated, glancing at Huo Youqing with pleading eyes.
Huo Youqing remained silent and still.
Understanding the unspoken message, Dai Yixin lowered his gaze and finished ripping the sketch into tiny pieces. The fragments scattered across the table and the floor, and the pieces of the angel wings laid in his palm. As he stared blankly at the remains, he was suddenly pulled into an embrace. The only person who would hug him was Huo Youqing.
Though Huo Youqing wasn’t as tall as Dai Yixin, the latter always cooperated with him, sometimes overly so. Huo Youqing reached out and gently ruffled Dai Yixin’s hair. “You didn’t get my permission for that sketch, so it had to be torn up. I’ve told you many times—anything involving me needs to be discussed with me first, right? So, do you want to confess something?”
He slightly loosened his hold on Dai Yixin. “If you confess now, I might still forgive you.”
Under his gaze, Dai Yixin slowly admitted everything he had done to Gong Lang and Qiu Wenfei. In truth, Dai Yixin hadn’t done much; he had simply taken advantage of a situation and allowed Gong Lang and Qiu Wenfei’s actions to be exposed.
Huo Youqing finally understood why Gong Lang’s grandfather had been so furious. The elderly man had discovered a large collection of gay videos on his grandson’s computer. Under questioning, Gong Lang had proudly come out, confessing that he liked men. The shock sent his grandfather straight to the hospital, and the first thing he did after waking up was send his grandson to get “treatment.”
Although Gong Lang’s grandfather no longer held power, his authority within the family remained absolute. His word was law. Even though Gong Lang’s parents loved him dearly, they still had him sent to the hospital.
Huo Youqing wasn’t familiar with this area, so when Dai Yuan had mentioned it on the phone, he’d been curious about how exactly one “treated” homosexuality.
When Huo Youqing posed the question to Dai Yixin, the latter paused before replying quietly, “It’s probably similar to treating other mental illnesses.”
Huo Youqing narrowed his eyes at the answer and pushed Dai Yixin further away. “Are you hiding something from me again?”
“No, I don’t want to hide anything.” Dai Yixin stuttered, which was rare for him. “It’s just… just…”
“Just what?” Huo Youqing pressed.
Dai Yixin’s amber eyes showed a mix of emotions. “I don’t know if the treatment methods are the same at every hospital, but they’re probably similar. They might use visual stimuli, followed by inducing pain, and over time, the patient is conditioned to associate the sight of the same sex’s body with pain, causing them to reject it.”
Though Dai Yixin’s explanation wasn’t very detailed, the implications left Huo Youqing stunned. He then realized another question: “How do you know all this?”
Dai Yixin, now more forthcoming, answered, “I researched it.”
“You were considering treatment?”
“No, I just…” Dai Yixin paused again before continuing, “I just wanted to know if I could survive it.”
His last sentence was spoken so softly.
Before Huo Youqing could ask what he meant, his phone rang. It was his uncle. Seeing who was calling, he motioned for Dai Yixin to step away and went out onto the balcony to take the call.
His uncle and aunt had returned to the country ahead of schedule and had decided to surprise him. They had just landed and, since it was the weekend, invited him home for dinner.
Because of this call, Huo Youqing didn’t continue questioning Dai Yixin and left in a hurry.
That night, he slept at his uncle’s house. The next morning, he woke up to find that the timeline had shifted again, back to the 27-year-old timeline. But he was still thinking about what 18-year-old Dai Yixin had said.
What did he mean by “wanting to know if he could survive it”?
Oddly enough, the usual frequency of time shifts had slowed down. He’d already been stuck in the 27-year-old timeline for over a month without returning to the past.
During the past month, Dai Yixin had sent numerous invitations, all of which he declined. For now, he didn’t want to face the 27-year-old Dai Yixin. There were reasons related to the musical he was working on, and he also had his own plans—he wanted to keep Dai Yixin at a distance.
On this particular day, he went to a café to work on a manuscript, though he had switched to a new one. This café wasn’t as close to his home as the previous one, but it was quieter with fewer customers. He had worked there for over a week without any incidents, but unexpectedly, he ran into Gong Lang.
The moment their eyes met, he felt something was off with Gong Lang. Gong Lang walked straight toward him, as if he had known he’d be there.
“You…” Gong Lang started to speak but abruptly stopped. His voice was hoarse, not the kind of roughness that comes from smoking, but rather like someone who had been crying. He looked disheveled, as if he’d rushed out of the house—his shirt was wrinkled, and the second button was missing.
This had never happened to Gong Lang before. Over the many years they had known each other, just as Gong Lang knew him well, he also understood Gong Lang. He knew his old friend paid great attention to his image in public, which explained why he had been so furious when he got coffee spilled on him last time. But today, Gong Lang’s behavior was completely out of character.
It almost seemed like Gong Lang was about to cry in front of him, right there in the café.
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