Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu
Edited by: Amelea, FistFullOfDollars and Juurensha
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Fu Liqun, "Let's hire a housekeeper to come clean up the house every week, one hundred yuan......"
"What housekeeper?" Yu Hao said, "I'll do it!"
"Could you sit down?" Zhou Sheng said, "Stop running around, I feel tired just looking at you. You're that excited?"
A checkered table cloth was spread out in the dining room; the fridge was empty except for a carton of beer that Fu Liqun had bought and a few bottles of Coke. Yu Hao went to move the pots, bowls, ladles, and basins, and his mood soared in an instant, second only to the day Zhou Sheng confessed to him.
Zhou Sheng said, "I wanted to buy this house at first, but Gege told me not to."
"It's lucky he did so." Yu Hao felt a slight trepidation, "You're crazy!"
Zhou Sheng said, "Property prices in Ying City will certainly rise. Although this place is built above the town, a subway will be constructed below soon, so it's a good place. We won't need to worry about not being able to rent it out or sell it in the future. We can buy it and live in it for two to three years, then by the time we sell it, its price could have increased by 20 percent."
Yu Hao suddenly thought that what he said was true. His vision couldn't be compared to Zhou Sheng's at all sometimes.
Fu Liqun said, "It's safe to have money on hand ma, it's not like you lack that bit."
Zhou Sheng, "Are you a husky?! Yu Hao! Come over here and sit down! Stop pulling out the drawers everywhere!"
Zhou Sheng grinned as he looked at Yu Hao. Yu Hao knew that even though Zhou Sheng didn't say it, he must be really happy too. He went over to sit down with them by the stove and continued looking around. Fu Liqun looked listless; his HP never stops dropping when he was with them.
"Where's sis-in-law?" Zhou Sheng asked.
"She'll come over this weekend." When Fu Liqun saw Cen Shan's reply, he felt a bit better. "Let's cook together then."
The doorbell rang, their takeout was here. Yu Hao was immersed in great joy and hugged the takeout guy, shouting, "Hello! Thank you!"
Takeout guy, "???"
Zhou Sheng, "......"
"Why don't we ask Yangming bro to live here too?" After dinner, Zhou Sheng said with much satisfaction, "I see the both of you like him quite a lot ma, Gege why don't you make do for a little?"
"No!" Fu Liqun immediately blew up. Evidently, he had discussed this issue with Zhou Sheng before.
Yu Hao said, "Don't talk about it anymore, I was wrong!"
"Just let me be the bad guy, since everyone's so kind." Zhou Sheng bit a cigarette and picked up the garbage, then went downstairs to throw it away before coming back up in large strides. "Go take a bath, it's winter, time to hibernate!"
Yu Hao felt like his life seemed to have entered a new phase again: from moving to Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun's dormitory, to confirming his relationship with Zhou Sheng, and now finally to moving into their new house. Although it was a rented place, it still made him feel more and more like he had a home.
They didn't need to worry about the outside world anymore. Once they closed the door and stayed in their room at night, they could do whatever they wanted. Zhou Sheng came out after taking a bath, wiped off the water on his body, then casually laid down on the bed. Then he pulled Yu Hao into his embrace to intimately rub against him; they could now kiss and make love without restraint.
On this large bed, after they finished, they could snuggle in each other's arms comfortably and sleep like this all night. Not a sound could be heard in the mountains at night. The warmth of each other's bodies made it such that the winter night this year wasn't as cold as it should be. When the light of the morning sun streamed in, Yu Hao woke up and saw Zhou Sheng holding him in his arms, staring at him seriously.
Yu Hao found it really difficult to get up in their rented place. It wasn't like in the dormitory, where after their entanglement at night, he would feel like his body was falling apart after he woke up in the morning. Especially when they were hugging under the same blanket, they would feel like doing something else in the morning.
"What period today?" Yu Hao groaned.
"Third or fourth." Zhou Sheng kissed Yu Hao, "Still wanna do it?"
Yu Hao said, "Let me rest for a bit......we've been overdoing it recently."
"Okay." Zhou Sheng smiled, "I'll take a bath and go for a run."
Zhou Sheng whistled as he went to take a bath. Yu Hao sat down like a child. When Zhou Sheng came out, he glanced at him and rummaged through T-shirts while saying to himself, "How does it feel to rent a place outside?"
Yu Hao answered, "The happiness feels a little unreal." As he spoke, he looked up at him.
Zhou Sheng smiled again. He sat down to put on his socks and said, "This isn't considered a real home yet, let's buy one after graduation ba. If Gege didn't object yesterday, I would have really wanted to buy this place."
Yu Hao said, "As long as we're together, it'll be home."
Zhou Sheng put on his shoes, then walked over to kiss Yu Hao.
"That's what I said." Zhou Sheng answered, "But I still want you to live a carefree life without worries......I'm leaving." Then he closed the door and went to college.
Yu Hao sat in a daze and actually didn't know what to say for a moment.
Fu Liqun walked out groggily and saw Yu Hao eating fried youtiao and drinking soy milk as he studied in the dining room. He was texting Zhou Sheng on WeChat, and their conversation was filled with lovey dovey emoticons. Fu Liqun uttered an "ah——" like a zombie.
"It's really cold at night when you sleep alone."
"Sis-in-law will be here in a few days, hold on for awhile longer ba. Breakfast?"
Fu Liqun looked at Yu Hao's book. "No morning classes?"
"Starting from today on," Yu Hao said earnestly, "I must study hard!'
Fu Liqun, "......"
Yu Hao felt like his relationship with Zhou Sheng had transitioned to a new stage after they rented a place outside. If he had to describe the previous stage as the 'honeymoon phase', then they were now in the 'newlyweds phase'. And this time, Yu Hao wasn't very insistent on renting a place as he thought that living in the dormitory was fine too.
However, Zhou Sheng's persistence in renting a place made him feel like Zhou Sheng had always been trying very hard to live with and spend the rest of his life with him.
Strangely enough, after they moved to their new place, Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng immediately stopped fighting. They went to classes and ate together as usual, and after they got home, they would cuddle and read together, or Zhou Sheng would watch shows and play games while Yu Hao did his homework and consulted Zhou Sheng if he encountered a problem he didn't know how to solve.
It was as if after his desire was satisfied, Zhou Sheng's restlessness disappeared without a trace. Now, what Zhou Sheng did the most everyday was to tease Yu Hao with an indomitable spirit — asking for kisses, wanting to be lovey-dovey, and at the start he even wanted to do it once after they got home at noon, and couldn't help but want to do it once in the morning, and once more at night. Yu Hao really couldn't take it and set some ground rules — they could only do it once per day, not any more.
Fu Liqun would try to invite Li Yangming as often as he could when he was in college, and Zhou Sheng's attitude towards him took a turn for the better. After all, after he was living a life where he could do as he pleased, his temper improved instantly.
Yu Hao often felt like this guy's temper development was like this: before they got together, Zhou Sheng was extremely impetuous —— after they got together, he was sweet for awhile —— then he began getting impetuous again because of suppressing his desires —— and now, he has finally become a friendly and upright young man.
On this day, Yu Hao was in Chen Yekai's class when a soft discussion suddenly erupted during the lesson, the hum of everyone's chatter a persistent noise. Chen Yekai stopped his lecture and frowned, then the classroom fell silent again.
Chen Yekai allowed you to nap, revise, play on your phone, or do anything else in his class, as long as you could answer his questions. However, he definitely wouldn't allow you to disrupt his classes and affect those who want to listen to his lecture. Yu Hao was doing really well in this class and aside from the need to take a nap occasionally, he would listen attentively to the lecture most of the time. Today's small-scale disturbance started up among his classmates all at the same time, which made him feel like it was very strange.
Did something happen in college? Yu Hao looked at his class' group chat: no messages, it was extremely quiet.
Zhou Sheng, who was sweating all over, crouched down, and walked in through the back door to sit down beside Yu Hao.
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng scrolled through his phone for Yu Hao to see.
Yu Hao, "!!!"
The report was out! Many officials in Ying City had been sacked for corruption, one after another! Internet media and local news portals had all instantly exploded. Yu Hao immediately took his phone out and opened up his public WeChat number, then saw the anti-corruption report that Xiao Yujun had uploaded at the last minute.
Yu Hao couldn't recognize the names that had been an extralegal system within the CCP for detaining and interrogating cadres who fell from grace-ed. After class, everyone in the canteen was discussing this issue. Yu Hao said, "So many were pulled out?"
"Seven in total." Zhou Sheng answered, "I've heard about all of them before, investigation hasn't stopped."
Yu Hao has never heard about them, but Huang Baiguang wasn't included, so it should be okay. Zhou Sheng said, "Wanna give that kid a call to congratulate him?"
Yu Hao pondered over it for a moment before calling Ou Qihang outside the canteen.
The other end picked up. Zhou Sheng put on one side of the earphones and said, "Congratulations, even we hadn't expected this outcome."
"Thank you." Ou Qihang laughed and answered, "Without you guys, this outcome wouldn't have been possible."
Yu Hao said, "It really wasn't easy, Qihang."
"Un." Ou Qihang responded.
Yu Hao's mood fluctuated for awhile — he had a lot of things he wanted to say, but he didn't know where to start.
After a moment of silence, Ou Qihang said, "I just finished class, going to the canteen now."
"Study hard." Yu Hao answered, "There shouldn't be any other problem ba?"
Ou Qihang said, "After obtaining Junjun Jie's forgiveness, they'll probably sentence me to a probation. Is Chen Laoshi's hand better?"
Yu Hao laughed, "If you're worried about him why don't you give him a call yourself?"
Ou Qihang said, "I did, he didn't pick up. Ting Ge helped me ask him, he said that it was a trivial matter......" Just as he was talking, Chen Yekai came over and saw that Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng were on the phone, so he pointed at the canteen to ask if they wanted to eat lunch together. Zhou Sheng handed him one side of the earphones. Chen Yekai accepted it with a face full of doubt.
"......he asked me to study hard." Ou Qihang said, "I even dreamed of him last night."
"Stop." Yu Hao saw that Zhou Sheng was up to mischief again and immediately intercepted Ou Qihang, lest he says something embarrassing. "His hand has already recovered completely, there's no problem at all."
Chen Yekai smiled and returned the earphone to Zhou Sheng, looking a little helpless.
Zhou Sheng thought about it for a bit and suddenly asked, "There shouldn't be anymore zombies in your dream ba?"
"I don't know." Ou Qihang said, "Maybe? I haven't dreamt of the apocalypse in a long time."
Zhou Sheng said, "Use your imagination. What would you summon to resolve that dream of yours? Didn't your dad leave you anything you could use to overcome adversity?"
Yu Hao was stunned, while Zhou Sheng quietly and patiently waited for Ou Qihang's reply.
"There should be?" Ou Qihang was a little surprised and asked, "Why did you ask that?"
"Okay." Zhou Sheng answered, "Prepare that, then sleep a little earlier tonight."
Ou Qihang immediately said, "Wait! Zhou Sheng!"
Zhou Sheng casually hung up the phone and smiled at Yu Hao. Yu Hao was shocked.
"You want to help that kid?" Chen Yekai heard the conversation. Zhou Sheng uttered an "un" and answered, "Since he already knows anyway."