After saying that, the employer noticed that Huo Youqing didn’t respond and seemed to still be in a daze, not fully awake. He stared at Huo Youqing’s face for a moment, then said, “How did your eyes get like that just from sleeping? And your face is red.”
Those two short sentences completely hit Huo Youqing’s sore spot.
Mentioning his eyes reminded him of the disgusting dream earlier, and mentioning his face made him remember he was still a pitiful patient.
The soul of an 18-year-old in the body of a 27-year-old had never suffered this kind of “wage-slave” misery before.
Huo Youqing shot up, “I’m resigning.”
Even though he had taken medicine to reduce his fever, his throat was still hoarse, and his voice came out low, almost sounding like he was whining.
This was a habit of Huo Youqing’s. Ever since he was young, he hated going to the doctor or taking medicine. His grandma, uncle, and aunt would coax him, as would his cousin. Even later, when he met Gong Lang, who was only a few months older, Gong would treat him like a spoiled child, coaxing him in the same way.
Huo Youqing knew these people treated him well, but he genuinely didn’t like going to the doctor, which is why he would throw tantrums, albeit slightly restrained ones. This often resulted in him coming across as though he were whining when he was sick, although he was rarely aware of it.
The employer had been leaning against the door, watching the scene with some amusement. Finding it curious, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “Are you upset?”
Huo Youqing ignored the question and asked, “Did someone come in earlier?”
“No one but me,” the employer replied as he approached the sofa. “You were sleeping so soundly here, and since the client brought their own translator, I didn’t wake you.”
He looked down at Huo Youqing, who was sitting on the sofa, and repeated his earlier question, adding, “Are you angry? Throwing a tantrum about quitting? Huo Youqing, are you still a child?”
He used awkward Chinese when saying Huo Youqing’s name.
At 18, are you still a child?
Probably not.
At 27, definitely not.
Huo Youqing turned his head, setting aside the blanket that had somehow ended up covering him. “I’ll draft my resignation letter as soon as possible. Please approve it.”
When he stood up, his head was still a little dizzy, but it was bearable.
Initially, Huo Youqing hadn’t planned to resign so quickly, considering this was his first job. However, today’s events had soured his mood to the extreme. Whether it was encountering Qiu Wenfei at the hospital while sick, his exploitative employer, or that strange dream, everything had pushed him to the edge.
Unconsciously, he raised his hand to touch his eyelid.
As he did, his gaze landed on the employer’s face.
The employer couldn’t help but laugh at Huo Youqing’s childlike gesture, his chest rumbling with amusement. “I didn’t realize you were feeling that ill. How about I treat you to dinner to make up for it? Come on.”
Just as Huo Youqing was about to refuse, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
It was a message from his cousin.
His cousin had to work late and asked if Huo Youqing could handle dinner on his own.
If his cousin wasn’t home, that meant he’d likely be eating takeout, and 27-year-old Huo didn’t have anyone to cook for him anymore.
Huo Youqing frowned and glanced at the employer, who was still smiling. After being treated like a slave for so long, squeezing a meal out of his boss before quitting didn’t seem too bad.
However, Huo Youqing didn’t expect that his employer would take him to a private kitchen. The setting was nice, but they served him congee.
The employer immediately noticed the change in Huo Youqing’s expression. Resting his chin on his hand, he poured himself some wine and said, “People here usually have congee when they’re sick, right? I hope I didn’t get that wrong.”
Huo Youqing quietly picked up his spoon. Fortunately, the congee tasted good.
“You look… very different from your photo.”
Huo Youqing should have sensed something unusual, but he was sick and feeling miserable. He was slow to process what the employer had said, and by the time he did, the employer was already signaling for more wine.
Huo Youqing asked, “What photo?”
The employer’s eyes flicked back to Huo Youqing, and he gave a faint, ambiguous smile. “The one on your résumé.”
However, as he spoke, an image flashed in his mind—a photo stored in his camera. In it, the young man was tied to a chair, his long bangs casting shadows over his sharp, phoenix-shaped eyes, which cut like a blade, but a blade dripping with allure.
The high-resolution photo captured every detail.
His flushed cheeks, framed by wet eyelashes glistening with sweat or tears, made one want to ruin him even more.
To make him even more wretched, until that sharp blade turned into a pool of water.
“You mentioned Dai Yuan before.” Huo Youqing’s sudden comment interrupted the employer’s thoughts.
The employer leisurely poured himself another glass of wine, his expression one of feigned confusion. “Who’s Dai Yuan?”
Crafty fox.
Huo Youqing pressed his lips together.
***
The congee made Huo Youqing sweat a bit, and the fever had gone down, but he still felt weak. When the employer dropped him off at the entrance of his apartment complex, Huo Youqing immediately spotted his cousin waiting there.
His cousin recognized the car and greeted the employer in English before opening the door and helping Huo Youqing out.
The moment Huo Youqing’s feet touched the ground, his cousin instantly realized he was sick.
Without hesitation, he turned around and offered his back to Huo Youqing, preparing to carry him. Having been taken care of for so long, Huo Youqing instinctively climbed onto his cousin’s back, forgetting that he was now in the body of a 27-year-old.
The employer watched this scene in silence.
He observed intently as Huo Youqing clung to his cousin’s neck like a child, even rubbing his cheek against his cousin’s back.
Neither brother acknowledged the employer. The cousin ignored him deliberately, while Huo Youqing simply forgot he was there. Resting his face against his cousin’s back, Huo Youqing slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next day, as soon as Huo Youqing woke up, he received a message from his employer.
The other party gave him two days off to rest and recover.
Huo Youqing sent in his resignation letter.
His cousin took time off to stay home and take care of him. By the afternoon, Huo Youqing, feeling a lot better and restless, pulled his cousin outside.
“Let’s go watch a musical. I saw the tickets on the table,” Huo Youqing said, causing his cousin to hesitate.
After a pause, he asked, “Were you planning to go with someone else? If so, I’ll…”
“No,” his cousin quickly interrupted, waving his hand. “These tickets were a gift. You haven’t enjoyed musicals for the past few years, so I wasn’t sure if I should take you. I was worried you’d get bored.”
Huo Youqing, who had always loved musicals, didn’t understand, “Bored?”
“A few years ago, when we went to see a musical, you didn’t watch for long before saying you felt stuffy and needed to leave.”
Huo Youqing knew that many things must have happened to him over the past nine years, but today, he didn’t want to think about any of it. He didn’t care who Dai Yuan was or anything else. He just wanted to relax.
“I won’t feel bored this time,” he reassured his cousin.
His cousin still looked concerned, but he couldn’t refuse Huo Youqing.
At the musical theater, once they found their seats, Huo Youqing took a closer look at the ticket. The show was an old one, True Love Never Dies, which he had seen once before. However, that didn’t stop him from wanting to watch it again.
Although he was focused on the show, he couldn’t help but notice his cousin occasionally glancing at him.
After catching his cousin’s gaze several times, Huo Youqing leaned over and asked, “Why do you keep looking at me?”
His cousin mumbled, “I’m not. I just… I need to use the restroom.”
And he was gone for a long time.
Huo Youqing waited for a while, but when his cousin didn’t return, he lost interest in the musical and got up to look for him. At twenty-seven, he and his cousin were basically inseparable.
The theater was large, with restrooms at both ends. Huo Youqing chose the path to the left and kept walking. The huge crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling gleamed brightly, and at the end of the hallway, bathed in shadows, stood a person.
Huo Youqing should’ve walked straight past without a glance, but his peripheral vision caught sight of the tattoo on the person’s pale neck—”You.”
The character for “You” looked very similar to how Huo Youqing used to sign his name.
As a child, he often wrote “You” in a way that resembled the character for “Gu,” causing people to mistakenly call him “Huo Guqing.” Hating the mispronunciation, he developed the habit of extending the stroke on the character’s left side, making it more distinctive.
His steps slowed, and he glanced over.
