Chapter 14
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Xie Min couldn’t concentrate throughout the day.
Although Sui Yang calmly accepted Master Yi’s words without commenting, Xie Min started feeling more and more awkward.
If he wanted to escape the physical pain, he could have immersed himself in Jiang Ci’s collection of teddy bears or visited the homes of his secretary and assistant. But he didn’t do any of that. He traveled a long distance and ended up at Yuanguang, staying by Sui Yang’s side.
He didn’t know what Sui Yang was thinking, but Xie Min himself felt very dissatisfied with his own subconscious and willpower.
Sui Yang remained busy as usual. Xie Min lost interest in watching movies and variety shows. Instead, he crouched at Sui Yang’s desk, observing him coming and going, trying hard but unable to figure out the reason.
It was almost seven o’clock when Sui Yang finally finished work and hurried back to the office, saying he wanted to take Xie Min somewhere.
Yuanguang was also getting dark, and the sky outside the windows turned deep blue. There was no sunset, but it wasn’t raining either.
“Where are we going?” Xie Min raised his rabbit head.
Sui Yang was very, very tall, and his shadow covered the little bunny. He slightly leaned forward like a villain in a cartoon, gently pinched Xie Min’s back, as if he was holding a live bunny, and said softly, “Guess.”
He spoke much more gently than a villain, as if he was going to take Xie Min to a magical place.
“What’s the point of guessing? It definitely isn’t a good place.” Xie Min didn’t fall for it. After all, they had known each other for some time, and Xie Min had some understanding of Sui Yang’s character. Sui Yang didn’t directly say where they were going, leaving Xie Min to guess, obviously afraid of being scolded if he revealed it.
Sui Yang smiled, neither admitted nor refuted, and put Xie Min in his pocket.
Xie Min was in a helpless position, extremely weak, with no ability to resist.
He stayed in Sui Yang’s pocket for half an hour, hearing Sui Yang get out of the car and arrive at a slightly noisy place. Then they probably took an elevator, and finally, Xie Min heard the sounds of many noisy children around him, setting off alarm bells in his mind.
Sui Yang took a few more steps, took Xie Min out, and when Xie Min saw the surroundings, he felt like he was having a nightmare. Sui Yang had brought Xie Min to a multi-purpose shopping mall on the fourth floor, currently in the toy city where children’s favorite items were sold. With a seemingly normal and handsome face, Sui Yang whispered in a demonic tone, “Let’s get a little house for Xiao Tu.”
The toy city was filled with people. Xie Min couldn’t speak and silently let Sui Yang drag him to the pretend-play area to choose a house.
In the pretend-play area, there were small toy houses lined up against one wall. Sui Yang looked around and selected an exquisite double-story house in blue and white.
The original owner of the house was a silent little lamb wearing an apron, sitting on the sofa on the ground floor. Sui Yang took the little lamb away and put Xie Min in its place, behaving like a very impolite and domineering parent.
Sui Yang lowered his head and said softly, “Nod if you like it. We can choose again if you don’t.”
Xie Min was extremely speechless. He just wanted to leave this place that didn’t belong to him as quickly as possible. Even if it was a pink princess house, he would agree. He was about to nod when suddenly everything started spinning.
A strong force attached to Xie Min, instantly pulling him into a pitch-black narrow passage, pushing him forward rapidly. Then, suddenly, everything became bright, and he found himself being pushed into a soft container.
At first, he felt a sense of relief, but after a few seconds, intense pain spread throughout his body. The pain was so severe that it numbed his brain, forcing his eyes open uncontrollably.
White ceiling, slightly rough bedsheet, sky-blue walls, a caregiver sitting across, idle and looking at her phone, a monitor on the right, and his left hand, visibly swollen from the pain, with a hanging IV bag by the bed. All these reminded Xie Min: he had returned to his own body.
He felt dizzy and oxygen-deprived, his vision darkening. The chest pain was excruciating. He opened his mouth wide to gasp for air. He felt like his ribs must have been broken, and taking a deep breath made his chest ache as if it was being torn in half. The monitor suddenly lit up red, and the alarm sound pounded on his eardrums like a wall.
The last thing Xie Min saw was the caregiver jumping up, rushing over, and holding down the call button beside his bed with a terrified face.
Then the scene disappeared, and Xie Min felt weightless.
The pain also vanished as if it had never existed.
In the darkness, warm water flooded over the top of Xie Min’s head, gently caressing his skin, absorbing the pain and all other bodily sensations. Xie Min felt like a baby, being soothed and pacified, becoming calm as a result.
When he woke up again, it was pitch black all around. It felt like something heavy was pressing down on him, but it didn’t hurt.
Xie Min instinctively raised his hand to push, but his hand was too short to reach the heavy object pressing on him. He kicked his feet, but they sank softly, like onto a bedsheet.
Xie Min realized that he had returned to the LEGO toy rabbit, and the heavy object was Sui Yang’s hand.
“Sui Yang,” Xie Min said softly.
The weight loosened and moved away from him. After a few seconds, the bedside lamp turned on.
Warm-colored light illuminated a small area of Sui Yang’s bedroom. Sui Yang, wearing pajamas, looked down at Xie Min expressionlessly, without saying a word.
“Sui Yang,” Xie Min called him again, informing him, “I think I just returned to my own body.”
Sui Yang still didn’t speak. Xie Min suspected he was half-asleep, so he raised his forelimb and waved at him. “Can you hear me talking?”
“Hmm,” Sui Yang replied.
Sui Yang’s expression remained calm. Xie Min couldn’t tell his mood. After thinking for a moment, he asked Sui Yang, “Did I stop speaking since leaving the toy city? It hasn’t been a long time, right?”
“Not long,” Sui Yang checked the time and said, “A few hours.”
“What time is it now?”
“It’s 3:20.”
“Is it already that late?” Xie Min was taken aback. According to his own sense of time, at most only half an hour had passed.
Seeing Sui Yang silently staring at him without any intention of turning off the light, Xie Min asked, “So, did you end up buying the little house?”
“No, I didn’t,” Sui Yang said.
“Alright,” Xie Min felt something was off with Sui Yang, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Changing the subject, he continued, “After I returned, my whole body was in excruciating pain. As soon as I opened my eyes, the monitor started alarming, and then I came back again…” Remembering the scene of the caregiver rushing over, he suddenly had a suspicion, “I’m not dead, am I?”
“No,” Sui Yang said, “I called Assistant Chi. He said you woke up and then lost consciousness again for a short period of time. There was a brief episode of rapid heartbeat, but your vital signs stabilized quickly.”
Xie Min didn’t expect that Sui Yang would actually call Chi Yuan. “Oh, I see.”
“I guess it must have been quite scary when I stopped speaking suddenly,” Xie Min asked, “But you weren’t scared, were you?”
Sui Yang looked at Xie Min for a few seconds and replied, “Not scared.”
Their conversation seemed normal, but somehow, Xie Min felt that Sui Yang was acting strangely.
He wanted to get closer to Sui Yang and hopped forward. However, the bed was too soft for him to stand steadily, and his forelimbs were too short to maintain balance. As a LEGO bunny, Xie Min believed he had made enough effort and managed to firmly crawl onto the back of Sui Yang’s hand.
Finally, Sui Yang smiled a little and moved his hand, placing Xie Min flat on his hand, but still remained silent.
Xie Min looked up and saw Sui Yang staring at him. “Don’t move around,” Sui Yang said to him, “Go to sleep.”
He turned off the light again, enveloping the surroundings in darkness. Xie Min lay down, unable to fall asleep, and couldn’t resist chatting with Sui Yang. “The Master didn’t say that I would keep changing like this.”
Sui Yang made a “Hmm” sound, and Xie Min sighed.
He realized that even he found his situation troublesome. Sometimes living here, sometimes living there. It must be quite horrifying for a normal person like Sui Yang.
“Sui Yang,” Xie Min called out to Sui Yang in the darkness. “I was thinking, maybe you could still buy me a little house and place me in your unused room. You don’t have to take care of me. Just let me stay there. Besides, I shouldn’t be far from returning to my own body completely.” He pondered on the suggestion. “What do you think?”
Sui Yang fell silent for a moment. Xie Min thought Sui Yang would be moved by his thoughtfulness, but what Sui Yang said was, “No.”
Sui Yang reached out and covered the little bunny’s body, pressing firmly, rejecting Xie Min. “I won’t buy it for you.”
Sui Yang’s voice was very low, even making Xie Min feel his weakness.
“I’m going to sleep,” he said. “Goodnight.”
Xie Min took about half an hour to fall asleep. During this time, he felt that Sui Yang was wide awake and wanted to speak to him several times but hesitated and gave up.
The next morning, Xie Min wasn’t disturbed and woke up naturally.
The curtains were slightly open, and the sunlight poured in, making the room bright. On the vast bed that seemed to stretch endlessly, there was only Xie Min, a small rabbit toy. Xie Min guessed that Sui Yang had probably gone to work, so he moved his body and slid down from the edge of the bed, intending to go to the window to bask in the sun.
As he hopped a few times on the floor, the bedroom door suddenly swung open, and Sui Yang walked in, picking up Xie Min from the ground.
Sui Yang was wearing a white shirt without a tie and asked Xie Min, “How did you fall down again?”
“I deliberately came down,” Xie Min explained, “I planned to take a sunbath. Why are you still indoors? What time is it?”
“Just past eleven,” Sui Yang said, “There’s nothing important today, so I’m working in the study.”
He looked at Xie Min, his expression still calm, but he gently tugged at Xie Min’s forelimb, making Xie Min wave his short paw like a little lucky cat.
“What’s the matter?” Xie Min felt that Sui Yang’s mood wasn’t quite normal. His words became fewer, and he had a somewhat forced serious demeanor.
“Nothing,” Sui Yang smiled at him very subtly and said, “I’m checking if your joints are loose.”
Xie Min immediately extended his paw and playfully swatted at him for demonstration. “My joints are very strong.”
“Yes, indeed,” Sui Yang seemed to genuinely laugh this time. “They are very strong.”
Xie Min sensed his insincerity but generously chose not to dwell on it.
Sui Yang mentioned that the sunlight in his study was good and took Xie Min there. However, as soon as they entered the room, they heard his phone vibrating.
He walked over to grab the phone, and Xie Min caught a glimpse of the flashing name on the screen. The caller was “Zhuo Ping.”
Sui Yang never tried to hide phone calls from Xie Min before, but this time, he glanced at his phone and placed Xie Min on the desk, stating that he needed to take the call. He walked out of the study and closed the door, as if he didn’t want Xie Min to overhear their conversation.
Xie Min was left alone, squatting on Sui Yang’s desk, feeling slightly annoyed. He thought about crossing the desk and looking at the globe. While attempting to do so, he accidentally stepped on the keyboard, and his paw got stuck between the gaps of the F and G keys, rendering him immobile.
Sui Yang quickly returned and discovered Xie Min pretending to be motionless. He playfully twisted him a few times and rescued him. “Thank you, Secretary Xie, for typing for me. How did you know I wanted to type five hundred Gs?”
Xie Min felt embarrassed and extended his paw to push him, making a concerted effort to remain silent and act as if nothing had happened.
“Xie Min,” Sui Yang suddenly said to him again, “I have something to do tonight and need to go out.”
Xie Min hesitated and realized that Sui Yang might be implying that he wouldn’t be taking him along. He responded with a simple “Hmm.” Sui Yang then used his fingertip to gently stroke Xie Min’s rabbit face.
The frequency at which Sui Yang touched the little bunny made Xie Min certain that the paint on the LEGO bunny’s body would eventually wear off. As Sui Yang continued to stroke, he used his hand to enclose Xie Min completely.
From between Sui Yang’s fingers, Xie Min caught a glimpse of his chin and Adam’s apple, and he could hear his breath.
“Xie Min,” Sui Yang calmly called his name, seeming to have something to say, but he remained silent.
Xie Min’s heart was thrown into disarray by Sui Yang’s actions, and he couldn’t control the chaos inside him.
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