Sissy (Niang Niang Qiang) - Chap 35
Chapter 35
Shao Qun didn’t come home that night.
He was annoyed and was just driving around the city without knowing where to go. In the end, he went straight to the airport and bought a plane ticket to Shanghai.
After Xiao Sheng[7] received Shao Qun’s call in Shanghai, he personally went to the airport to pick him up. Then they went directly to the bar without eating anything first.
Xiao Sheng had booked a private lounge for himself early in the morning already, and when he opened the door, Shao Qun saw a row of colorful wines on the marble table.
Xiao Sheng smiled and invited him in: “Come, let’s celebrate your engagement!”
Shao Qun pouted and sat down on the sofa: “What’s there to celebrate?”
Xiao Sheng raised his eyebrows: “Then why are you here?”
“I can’t come visit you just like that? You’re not that far from Shenzhen[8] after all.”
Xiao Sheng also sat down on the sofa and winked at the waiter, who quickly opened a drink for them.
“So, how is it?”
Shao Qun tilted his body and half-squinted his eyes: “How is what?”
“Your bride-to-be.”
Shao Qun smiled sarcastically: “She’s ok. Bit pretentious.”
“Does she annoy you?”
“Nah, she’s pretty good at what she does.”
“Then…” Xiao Sheng pointed at Shao Qun’s gloomy face with his finger, “What does that mean?”
Shao Qun cursed: “Have you seen those fucking photos in the newspaper?”
Xiao Sheng laughed: “Yeah, it seems that Qi Ming feels good about herself, right? Despite being just a semi-popular starlet. You both look like a couple of fucking idiots wearing sunglasses at night. But I guess that woman really loves to show off?”
Shao Qun clicked his tongue: “Who asked you to say all of this bullshit? I’m talking about the photos and the fact that it was my sister who published them. What the hell is she doing? I promised her that I’d get married. And now she seems afraid that I would go back on my word. Everybody knows that I hate being pushed around like that. The more she does this kind of shit, the less I want to listen to her.”
“Your sister is very capable. She knows you very well. She is just afraid that you will regret it when you wake up one day, and go on to embarrass both families. You’ve done a lot of shit like this before, so be prepared.”
Shao Qun glared at him and opened his mouth to say something, yet he remained speechless for a while. After some time, he said unwillingly, “In any case, this makes me sick.”
“Tell it to your sister. But since you intend to get married anyway, it is what it is. What do you care about her ploys?”
Shao Qun raised his voice, “I don’t care about it at all. It’s just that Li Chengxiu saw the photos and started yapping at me as soon as I came home. Fucking annoying.”
“Ooooh.” Xiao Sheng said slowly, “So that’s the thing that’s bothering you so much that you decided to come to Shanghai in the middle of the night.”
Shao Qun shouted at him: “What’s the matter with you, you big girl? Can’t I come see you in the middle of the night?”
Xiao Sheng sneered, “So you were kicked out after making trouble?”
“Bullshit. I just don’t like watching him cry all the time, so I don’t feel like going back.”
Xiao Sheng blinked: “If he annoys you so much, just throw him out.”
Shao Qun didn’t answer that, took a sip of wine and said, “You know, this 30-year-old man is so fucked up. He doesn’t even have a decent place to live, and he only has like 10 000 RMB in his savings.”
“You’re the one who’s supporting him, and now you’ve let him get into your head and meddle into your private affairs. But instead of dealing with your mess, you decided to come here and drink with me. Shao Qun, just how lame are you?”
Xiao Sheng’s words seemed to hit Shao Qun’s sore spot. After two sips of wine, Shao Qun’s blood rushed to his head, and he angrily threw the glass he was holding: “Fuck, I just don’t like to bother with him. He’s such a sissy.”
“So you were forced out of your own house by a sissy…”
Shao Qun said angrily: “Fuck you, Ke Yisheng. If you say something like that again, I will leave.”
Xiao Sheng grinned and shrugged: “I won’t say anything, let’s just drink.” He picked up a can of beer and stuffed it into Shao Qun’s hand.
Shao Qun didn’t even look at it, as he poured it into his mouth.
“Hey, but real talk…” Xiao Sheng pushed Shao Qun, “Aren’t you tying the knot at the beginning of spring next year? What do you plan to do with Li Chengxiu?”
“Nothing. I’m not going to break up with him.”
“The girl is Qi Lao’s granddaughter. You really have to respect the Qi family and not do this kind of shit when you get married.”
“She’s open-minded. The other day she told me that after marriage we shouldn’t care about each other’s affairs.”
“Not bad, she’s quite sensible. But what about Li Chengxiu? After the wedding you have to go back to Beijing, right? Do you plan to bring him back with you?”
“Not sure about it yet. We’ll talk about it later.”
“I would advise you to get rid of him now. Once you become a married man, even if you have a handle on him, you would still have to be on guard. You know, biting dogs don’t bark.”
“That’s why I didn’t fucking plan to let him know about this. If not for the stupid thing my sister did, I wouldn’t have to think about telling him.”
“If you tell him, what’s he gonna do? Turn against you?”
Shao Qun remembered Li Chengxiu’s red eyes and didn’t say anything.
He was really embarrassed to tell Xiao Sheng that he didn’t train his little lover well enough.
Xiao Sheng said in a slightly serious tone : “Shao Qun, if you’re really trapped by your own pet, I don’t even fucking know who you are anymore.”
“That’s total bullshit.” Shao Qun felt some panic in his heart. He remembered that a few years ago, a buddy in his circle was being led around by the nose by his mistress. He acted so stupid, that he really seemed to be kicked in the head by a donkey. He even wanted to get a divorce. Shao Qun couldn’t even remember how many times he laughed at him behind his back. There was nothing wrong for people like them to play around. As long as it was for fun, nobody cared. But if you took it too seriously, everyone would look at you like a fool.
This was the most despised thing to do.
“Then what’s the matter with you now? I’m advising you to break up with him. Why are you hesitating?”
Shao Qun rubbed his hair impatiently: “He… he behaves very well. He serves me every step of the way, and he is comfortable to be with. Anyway, I have to stay in Shenzhen for now. It’ll be a while until my return to Beijing.”
Xiaosheng glanced at him meaningfully: “Shao Qun, don’t blame me later for not reminding you. This matter is serious, you have to deal with it.”
Shao Qun’s face changed slightly: “You’re overthinking this. Who do you take me for?”
Xiao Sheng shrugged: “Just giving you a wake up call. Let’s not talk about this anymore. We haven’t seen each other for more than half a year. How about we drink?”
Shao Qun didn’t return for several days.
Although Li Chengxiu was used to him disappearing without a word once in a while and not answering his phone, he was still worried.
After all, Shao Qun left very angry that day.
Li Chengxiu was really tired of this. Shao Qun’s temper was out of control. If Li Chengxiu as much as disagreed with him, he would get angry. Li Chengxiu wanted to communicate with him, but first of all, he would start stuttering whenever he was nervous, and second of all, Shao Qun would never have the patience to hear him out. Maybe one day, without him even knowing, Shao Qun will just leave and never come back?
In such a panicked state, Li Chengxiu couldn’t sleep well at all, and often couldn’t close his eyes until dawn. Also the night before the exam, he didn’t have a good rest. The next day he was sleepy when he was taking the test.
As soon as the exam was over, Li Chengxiu immediately started looking for a job. He ran around applying to various hotels and restaurants.
Li Chengxiu felt that if he stayed idle, his situation would become more and more abnormal.
This entire time he had dedicated his whole mind only to Shao Qun. His main task every day was to pay attention to Shao Qun’s every move. He could spend hours obsessing about one frowning expression on Shao Qun’s face. He also cooked just for him. No wonder that Shao Qun couldn’t stand his meekness…How could things go on like this?
If he was busy, he wouldn’t have to think about Shao Qun all day long. Then Li Chengxiu could feel a bit better about himself.
After a whole day of running around, Li Chengxiu came home to take a bath. He was so tired that he crouched on the bed and couldn’t get up for a long time.
He flipped through his new mobile phone he had just learned to navigate, expecting missed calls or text messages from Shao Qun.
But to his disappointment, there was nothing.
He thought that maybe he had really misunderstood Shao Qun. So much so that Shao Qun didn’t even bother to explain anything anymore.
Li Chengxiu looked at the screen hesitantly and finally couldn’t help sending a text message.
“Shao Qun, shall we talk?”
After sending the message, he closed his eyes and held his phone tightly, expecting it to ring.
But it wasn’t the phone that rang, it was the doorbell. Frightened, Li Chengxiu opened his eyes.
He jumped up from the bed, when he remembered that Shao Qun didn’t take his keys when he left.
Li Chengxiu opened the door with anticipation, and it really was Shao Qun.
Li Chengxiu felt that his nose was a little sore.
If you leave somebody in the dark for a long time, the moment you turn on the lights, their eyes will hurt, but at the same time they will feel like they have been saved.
“You… you are back.”
Shao Qun’s heart moved, and he had the urge to hug Li Chengxiu fiercely.
He had never felt that it was so exciting to have someone say “You’re back” to him while looking at him with those bright eyes.
Shao Qun quietly shook the object in his hand behind his back, feeling that he wasn’t such a dumbass after all.
Li Chengxiu let him in: “Wh…where did you go? It’s been a few days…”
Shao Qun suddenly took his hand from behind his back and presented what he was hiding to Li Chengxiu, almost touching the tip of his nose. He then said a little uncomfortably: “It’s for you.”
Li Chengxiu was stunned for a moment, before he realized that he was looking at a big bouquet of flowers.
It wasn’t simply a large bouquet of flowers.This construction was shaped like a peony, with layers of flowers on top of each other. Every other layer was filled with bright red roses. One of the layers was hiding a fluffy brown teddy. What surprised Li Chengxiu the most was that in the center of the bouquet, there was a small flannel box with a golden ribbon which contained a chocolate-colored palm-sized puppy who was blinking at him with his black bean-like eyes.
From his color and appearance, the puppy looked exactly the same as the teddy bear. If one didn’t look too closely, it could be mistaken for a slightly bigger toy.
Li Chengxiu was originally very upset and barely hanging on, but even he couldn’t help laughing at this silly little toy-like thing.
Seeing him smile, Shao Qun unconsciously relaxed his expression: “Take it out.”
Li Chengxiu bit his lip, carefully untied the ribbon and held the puppy in his palm.
“Why…is it so small?”
Shao Qun put down the flowers and said with a smile, “It’s a teacup poodle. This species is so small that even when it grows up, it won’t be bigger than my hand.”
This kind of cute little thing was really hard not to like. Li Chengxiu held it fondly close to his chest, for fear of accidentally hurting it.
Shao Qun took advantage of the situation and hugged Li Chengxiu’s waist from behind, rubbing his forehead against his neck: “I’m afraid you’re bored sitting at home alone. It can accompany you.”
The two of them had a disagreement just a few days ago, and now they were so close again all of a sudden. Li Chengxiu really couldn’t adapt to this so quickly, so he only nodded stiffly, “Thank you, thank you.”
Shao Qun greedily absorbed the warm and the refreshing smell of Li Chengxiu’s skin, feeling that the brashness of the past few days was slowly dissipating.
He couldn’t help but think that it was nice to be home.
Li Chengxiu didn’t dare to speak when he saw that Shao Qun had no plans to mention the day of the argument again.
It was okay to let this matter go. Shao Qun was back, and everything could be the same as before, right? Li Chengxiu desperately wished for it. He wanted nothing to change, and even if he had doubts in his heart, he didn’t want to say anything to keep the current peace and harmony.
The two of them sat on the sofa and teased the puppy together.
“What’s its name?” Li Chengxiu said to himself, touching the puppy’s furry belly.
Shao Qun thought for a while: “Let’s call it Teacup[9].”
“Ah?” Li Chengxiu said with a smile, “It’s so ugly.”
“Haven’t you heard that it’s easier to raise someone with an ugly name[10]?”
Li Chengxiu laughed and repeated the name twice: “Teacup, Teacup.”
Shao Qun looked at Li Chengxiu, as he lowered his head, revealing his white neck with a tinge of pink. Because of the smiling expression, his jaw line was very vivid and beautiful. For some reason, Shao Qun was reminded of a pretentious but exquisite poetry line:
“The most gentle one bowed his head,
Like a water lotus flower that is too shy to overcome the cool breeze”[11]
Shao Qun took Teacup in his hands, put it on the coffee table and turned to stare at Li Chengxiu: “Don’t just focus on the dog. I haven’t seen you in a few days. Why don’t you look at me?”
Li Chengxiu blushed slightly: “What are you looking at?”
“Did you miss me?” Shao Qun slowly pulled him closer and whispered into his ear seductively.
Li Chengxiu nodded shyly.
“I missed you too.” Shao Qun kissed his cheek gently.
Li Chengxiu continued to nod.
“You seem to have lost weight.”
Li Chengxiu touched his face subconsciously: “I don’t…think so.”
Shao Qun licked his lips: “Well, I have to check then.” He then put his cold hand into Li Chengxiu’s shirt.
Li Chengxiu shrank away: “Cold…”
Shao Qun slowly undressed him: “Be good, and it will be hot in a while.”
After a short separation, the two of them reunited like newlyweds, tossing and turning from dawn till dusk.
Afterwards, Li Chengxiu dragged his sore waist to arrange a temporary living space for the little Teacup. He then fed him and watched it soundly fall asleep. As he did that, he felt that his heart softened.
Before going to bed, Shao Qun was in a good mood, and Li Chengxiu took the opportunity to tell him that he was looking for a job again. He didn’t mention moving out for the time being.
When Shao Qun heard that he was going to work at a restaurant again, he furrowed his brow. But since the two of them were so good right now, he really didn’t have the strength to get angry anymore, so he just calmly said, “I see.”
Li Chengxiu asked cautiously, “Are you okay with that?”
Shao Qun looked at his cautious appearance and felt uncomfortable to say that he wasn’t: “Well, if you really can’t be idle at home, then you can go out to work if you want.”
Li Chengxiu’s heart finally calmed down: “That’s great. Shao Qun, thank you.”
