Chapter 44
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As summer approached, Xie Min left his job at Wanzhuang Real Estate.
Despite his father’s strong opposition, Xie Min managed to fulfill his wish and took Chi Yuan with him to embark on his first business venture at the age of twenty-nine.
The company rented a new office building near the airport, not far from the house Xie Min and Sui Yang had recently bought. The workload wasn’t much different from before, but now Xie Min didn’t have to deal with his father’s pressure-filled phone calls. This relieved him a lot. After three months of adjustment, the company started to run smoothly when the temperature began to drop.
Xie Min’s health was still not great. Intense exercise caused some chest rib pain, and he became more prone to colds and fatigue than before. His body had a few light scars, but he didn’t really mind.
He felt that life had become much more stable. He admitted that he was easily satisfied and easily comforted. All he wanted was the opportunity to see Sui Yang in person and be able to contact and hear Sui Yang’s voice whenever he needed. The grievances and dissatisfaction he once had quickly became unimportant.
Xie Min suspected that, besides turning into a little bunny, his brain had some mysterious wormhole ability. That’s why his nineteenth and twenty-ninth years seamlessly connected, making him feel like he was living an ideal life without any worries.
One day in November, Xie Min received an unexpected phone call from Xie Cheng.
At that time, he was in Yuanguang, climbing the mountain with Sui Yang in the evening and reaching the lookout point.
Xie Cheng would only call him about once a year. Leaning against Sui Yang, Xie Min answered the call and heard Xie Cheng saying on the other end, “I saw the Yuhai Honorary Citizen award ceremony my girlfriend sent me this afternoon. You looked like a fool standing on that stage.”
“And wearing a white suit, pretending to be a prince?” he sarcastically taunted.
Xie Min simply said, “Get lost.”
Sui Yang turned his head to look at him, his hair swaying in the night breeze. Xie Min thought Sui Yang looked really handsome and couldn’t resist leaning closer, pressing his face against Sui Yang’s shoulder. Sui Yang paused slightly and lightly embraced his waist.
“You rarely come to Yuanguang, don’t you?” Xie Cheng, unusually, didn’t start an argument with him. “I’m getting engaged to my girlfriend next week. Can you come?”
“Really?” Xie Min was somewhat surprised.
“Why would I lie to you?” Xie Cheng’s tone became serious when he mentioned his girlfriend. “I’ve made some money from the clothing business recently, and we’re planning to get engaged. We didn’t invite many people, mostly her friends. I didn’t even tell Dad.”
Xie Min hesitated. Xie Cheng shamelessly requested, “I don’t know many people in Yuanguang, and her friends don’t really think highly of me. Dress up a bit and come to support me.”
“Xie Cheng, do you think you have anything worthy of respect?” Xie Min asked directly.
“Can you come or not?” Xie Cheng disregarded his question. “I’ll send you the time and location.”
Xie Min initially wanted to decline but, feeling Sui Yang’s warmth, a sudden thought crossed his mind. Half of it was to frighten Xie Cheng, and half was genuine. He asked Xie Cheng, “Can I bring my boyfriend?”
In the next moment, Xie Cheng fell into silence.
After thirty seconds, Xie Cheng asked with a fearful tone, “How did you turn into a gay?”
“Stop talking nonsense. Yes or no?” Xie Min said impatiently.
“Who is it? Do I know him?” Xie Cheng hesitated, speaking slowly. Then, with a sudden pause, he said in a frightened manner, “It’s not Jiang Ci, is it?”
“Get lost,” Xie Min cursed at him.
“…I haven’t asked my girlfriend yet,” Xie Cheng said hesitantly.
“So powerless?” Xie Min provoked him.
“What do you mean by powerless? It’s called respect,” Xie Cheng, touched at the core, made a bold decision. “Alright, if you want to bring him, bring him. I’ll reserve a spot for you. I have influence at home. I’ll send you the address and time later.”
After ending the call, Xie Min asked Sui Yang if he was willing to come along. Sui Yang agreed and, as if joking, brought up to Xie Min, “When you used your father’s money to pay off my debt, I found out from him.”
“Did he talk to you about it?” Xie Min asked him.
In reality, Xie Min didn’t really like it when Sui Yang talked about the past because it was very clear that it didn’t make Sui Yang happy at all. He was only tormenting himself.
“He told his classmates that you were punished to kneel at home, and I happened to overhear,” Sui Yang said.
“But things turned out fine afterwards, didn’t they, President Sui?” Xie Min racked his brain, trying to steer the conversation towards a lighter topic. He leaned in and said to Sui Yang, “There’s no need to dwell on unhappy things. I’ve long forgotten about it. And it doesn’t hurt at all.”
Sui Yang looked at Xie Min. After a while, Xie Min felt that Sui Yang wasn’t as melancholic anymore. Sui Yang suddenly said he looked like a little bunny.
A week later, Xie Min specially flew from Yuhai to Yuanguang to attend Xie Cheng’s engagement ceremony. Sui Yang was held up by work and said he would arrive later.
Xie Cheng had reserved a whole Western restaurant, beautifully decorated with fresh white roses everywhere. The number of attendees was indeed small, about twenty or thirty people, most of whom Xie Min found familiar, probably well-known figures in the entertainment industry.
Xie Cheng still dressed inappropriately, standing next to his girlfriend, wearing a smile that appeared foolish to Xie Min.
His girlfriend, Yan Shuangwen, looked even more exquisite and beautiful in person than on television. It was the first time Xie Min had met her, and she politely greeted him with grace and gentleness. It made Xie Min once again wonder what kind of spell Xie Cheng had cast on her for her to be interested in this useless brother.
Before Sui Yang arrived, the girl next to Xie Min struck up a conversation with him and mentioned that Xie Cheng had shown her an interview video of him at the elderly care project site.
Xie Min dreaded when people brought up this matter, but he couldn’t ignore it. So, he reluctantly had to brace himself and explain the situation to the girl.
After just a few words, the people around noticed and surrounded Xie Min, bombarding him with questions. It was only then that Xie Min realized that Xie Cheng was probably showing off in front of Yan Shuangwen’s friends, telling everyone about Xie Min being honorary citizen and sharing his videos everywhere.
Xie Min was infuriated by Xie Cheng, his face turning red. Finally, Sui Yang appeared at the entrance.
Sui Yang was probably a well-known figure in Yuanguang, as many people recognized him and greeted him. They informed him, “Mr. Xie has been telling us about his case-solving experience.”
Xie Min felt extremely embarrassed and just wanted to grab Xie Cheng, who was busy discussing the engagement ceremony at the side of the stage, and give him a good beating.
Sui Yang didn’t make any effort to help him and instead took pleasure in adding fuel to the fire, knowingly asking provocative questions. It continued until someone suddenly asked Sui Yang about his relationship with the couple.
Xie Min blinked slightly, coincidentally, Xie Cheng and Yan Shuangwen finally finished their conversation and walked over.
“Shuangwen,” the person didn’t immediately get a response from Sui Yang, so he turned to Yan Shuangwen and joked, “I never expected you to know President Sui.”
“President Sui is my younger brother’s boyfriend,” Xie Cheng explained with some seriousness.
Xie Cheng’s way of speaking didn’t seem awkward at all. It was as if stating that Xie Min was his younger brother was a completely natural thing, and that it was normal for his brother to have a boyfriend. He hoped that all the guests present would accept him, just like they accepted Xie Min and Yan Shuangwen, and embrace Xie Min and Sui Yang with equality.
Xie Min looked at Xie Cheng, who was awkwardly trying to be a different kind of good person than before, making an effort to find common topics with Yan Shuangwen’s friends. He realized that this older brother, whom he had despised so much since childhood, wasn’t actually as terrible as he thought.
In these moments of growth, both of them had only experienced an incomplete family upbringing and pressure from their father. However, Xie Cheng was able to find Yan Shuangwen, and Xie Min had found Sui Yang. The outcome of things wouldn’t always be so disastrous. Xie Min was touched and thought that if he were to get engaged, he could also invite Xie Cheng to attend.
After the engagement dinner ended, Xie Cheng had too much to drink and lay on the stage, singing off-key love songs with a microphone in his hand.
Xie Min couldn’t bear to listen anymore and pulled Sui Yang out of the Western restaurant, stepping into the night of Yuanguang.
From the first time Xie Min reunited with Sui Yang inside the little bunny’s body until now, which had been just over half a year, Xie Min quickly became familiar with Yuanguang. He stayed in Sui Yang’s pocket, passed through the rabbit jumpsuit tailored by Sui Yang, and transformed back into himself. He climbed the mountains that Sui Yang liked to climb a few times and possessed the fingerprints of Sui Yang’s home.
Upon returning to Sui Yang’s home, Sui Yang needed to attend to some official business in his study.
Xie Min followed along and lay on the sofa in the study, lost in thought.
He had also taken a few sips of alcohol and felt slightly dizzy. He watched as Sui Yang finished a phone call with his subordinate, walked over to a cabinet, opened a safe, and mentioned wanting to look at an old contract.
“Elementray school student,” Sui Yang called him, “come here and learn how to open the safe at home.”
Xie Min lazily sat up and walked over to take a look. Sui Yang explained how to open his safe, shared the password with Xie Min, but Xie Min didn’t remember it. He yawned and playfully clung to Sui Yang’s back like a koala, jokingly assuring Sui Yang that he remembered it.
Sui Yang’s backup contract safe was quite large, with documents neatly organized into different sections. Xie Min initially glanced at them casually but suddenly noticed a stack of papers labeled as Sui Yang’s will.
“President Sui,” Xie Min stood upright and retrieved the document from Sui Yang’s hand. “Why would someone so young like you have something like this?”
Sui Yang attempted to take the document back from Xie Min, but Xie Min turned around and refused to give it to him.
“There’s nothing interesting to see.” Sui Yang pressed Xie Min’s shoulder, but he didn’t snatch it away. His tone remained calm, as if he simply didn’t want Xie Min to see it.
Xie Min glanced at him and asked, “Can I look at it?”
Sui Yang hesitated before saying, “You can,” but immediately added, “But there really isn’t anything worth seeing.”
Xie Min flipped through the pages. The will was drafted three years ago when a serious plane crash occurred in a neighboring country. Many young people around Xie Min suddenly decided to make their wills.
Xie Min had no specific desires or wishes. He felt light-hearted and had even mocked friends who were unnecessarily worried. However, unexpectedly, Sui Yang turned out to be one of those overly concerned individuals.
“I nearly took that flight,” Sui Yang explained to him. “I was going for a business meeting. After I came back, I made a will, but there wasn’t any other reason for it.”
While Sui Yang was speaking, Xie Min happened to turn to the beneficiary page and saw his own name written below Sui Yang’s mother’s name.
The document contained his ID number, home address, and even contact details like his phone number.
Xie Min glanced up at Sui Yang, then lowered his head to casually read through the clauses and examine the distribution of assets. He considered which items Sui Yang intended to leave for him, then muttered softly to Sui Yang, “Idiot.”
That evening, Xie Min accompanied Sui Yang on the soft carpet in the study, engaging in an activity that Sui Yang greatly enjoyed.
The carpet was plush, made of the same wool as the one in the living room. The soft wool grazed against Xie Min’s skin. In his blurred state of mind, various memories of moments he had shared with Sui Yang flashed through his thoughts.
Everything was perfect.
The world and life both had their own differences, and every minute was accompanied by many unfortunate events. Love that had experienced interruptions couldn’t even be considered incomplete. Trying again was not a source of embarrassment.
Sui Yang’s actions were not gentle, but his kisses were tender, and his caresses sometimes revealed a touch of hesitation.
With closed eyes, Xie Min tightly embraced Sui Yang, thinking in his heart that he was willing to be Sui Yang’s courage, Sui Yang’s only one, Sui Yang’s beloved.
–The End–
[A/N] Wishing Baby Rabbit and Sui Yang everlasting happiness and for everyone to always be joyful!
If you enjoy this novel, support the Translator ginevre on her ko-fi account :))
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