Chapter 28

It was already past two in the morning when they lay down, but the next morning, neither of them lingered in bed. Liang Xiao said that his father usually started breakfast at eight-thirty, so they finished washing up by a quarter past eight and headed downstairs on time.

The shirt from last night was certainly unwearable, so Ye Ji’an changed into a thin sweater. Perhaps due to its elasticity, it fit him snugly. Liang Xiao, on the other hand, wore his comfortable pure cotton outfit, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he held Ye Ji’an’s wrist, striding down the stairs with enthusiasm.

Ye Ji’an tugged at his sleeve, “Do you think he’s already there?”

Liang Xiao thought for a moment. “I guess he’s already at the table,” he said, nudging Ye Ji’an’s fingers, “playing with a puzzle.”

Ye Ji’an couldn’t help but smile at Liang Xiao’s certainty, and his heartbeat steadied. He remembered placing the gift bag on the coffee table; could it be that his father-in-law saw it and opened it to play with? When they arrived at the dining room, he indeed saw a figure standing at the long table where they had dined the night before. The man was of medium height with graying short hair, dressed in a gray silk jacket and black trousers, leisurely standing with one hand behind his back, focused on something on the table.

“Good morning, Dad,” Liang Xiao called out, raising his voice.

“Oh, quite good,” the Chairman turned around at the sound, a faint smile on his face, holding a few small white pieces in his palm. “I was thinking you’d sleep in until ten like before.”

Liang Xiao shrugged and glanced at Ye Ji’an with a proud expression, as if to say, “See, I was right.” Ye Ji’an returned a look that said, “You’re amazing,” and greeted the Chairman, “Good morning.”

“Hey, Xiao Ye, come sit,” the Chairman shifted his body to make room on the sofa for the two of them, while he took a seat in a high-backed chair at the head of the table. “Today we’re having tomato and egg noodles, with cold dressed asparagus and sour plum juice,” he gathered the small white pieces closer to himself, “Spring is here, let’s keep it light.”

Ye Ji’an noticed the Chairman’s progress; the assembled frame already had a ring of small white pieces around it, indicating he had completed all four edges and sorted the remaining pieces. Ye Ji’an couldn’t help but admire the enthusiasm and professionalism of this hobbyist. Even at his age, after returning so late last night, he wondered what time he had gotten up.

But then Liang Xiao said, “I still want to drink Ovaltine.”

“Coming right up!” Hu-ma came over with two trays, her small steps quickening as she set a bowl of soup noodles in front of each of them. The broth was bright red, the noodles light and airy, and it smelled tangy and inviting. The other tray held drinks: two cups of sour plum soup chilled with ice, and a cup of light brown hot drink, which she handed to Liang Xiao. “I knew you’d want this!” Hu-ma teased with a smile.

“Thank you,” Liang Xiao said, his eyes curving as he held the cup to drink.

Hu-ma hummed a little tune as she left, and soon returned with a plate of thinly sliced asparagus, glistening like jade, topped with a small mound of minced garlic. After tasting it, Ye Ji’an realized it had been drizzled with hot oil, the kind flavored with Sichuan pepper, which explained why such a seemingly bland cold dish could make one’s mouth water. He felt he had learned something new.

“How was the team-building yesterday afternoon?” the Chairman asked.

“A bit boring,” Liang Xiao said, breaking a strand of noodles with his chopsticks. After swallowing, he continued, “But not too tiring; in the second half, Senior came back to walk with me.”

“Fortunately, there was no smog, and the wind wasn’t too strong,” Ye Ji’an added.

“Haha, your General Manager just loves these pointless activities,” the Chairman wiped the corner of his mouth and casually tossed a hot towel onto the table. “He says you young people lack team spirit and need to bond and sweat together from time to time.” He looked at the two young men. “Do you think it’s useful?”

Liang Xiao replied, “Not at all.”

Ye Ji’an, maintaining a serious and diligent work attitude, said, “Everyone wasn’t focused on walking because it wasn’t voluntary; they found it meaningless, so they were basically all absent-minded. I believe the primary source of belonging is a sense of achievement. When a group works together, and you put in effort, and the group actually accomplishes something, you will naturally feel that you belong here without needing anyone to remind you to chant slogans. Simply walking like this doesn’t really help cultivate team spirit.”

The Chairman nodded.

Liang Xiao added, “While walking, we were all talking about where to go for dinner that night. It was just a way to pass the time, and in the end, only the two of us didn’t go.”

“So you two walked together? Just say you had other matters?” the Chairman looked at Ye Ji’an.

“Yeah,” Ye Ji’an set down his chopsticks and sat up straight. “They went to Donglaishun for hot pot, and I called three designated drivers. The rest was left to Lao Chen from the Legal Department.”

The Chairman laughed, his eye wrinkles crinkling with affection, but suddenly a mysterious look crossed his face. “By the way, do people gossip about you two?”

Ye Ji’an was taken aback, suspecting that he had exhausted himself the day before to the point of hallucination, but he heard Liang Xiao sounding a bit anxious, “Dad!”

“I’m asking seriously. You two are quite close and haven’t made a point to hide it, right?” the Chairman continued to smile. “Let me clarify, I don’t oppose office romances. Our company doesn’t have those ridiculous rules. If two young people find each other appealing and start dating, that’s perfectly fine and should be supported. I just want to know, if this matter were to be known by your colleagues, what would you two do?”

“I—” Liang Xiao was interrupted.

“Let Xiao Ye speak first,” the Chairman continued to look at Ye Ji’an, his gaze bright and kind, yet somehow imposing.

Liang Xiao opened his mouth but ultimately remained silent, lowering his eyelashes and quietly watching Ye Ji’an’s hand resting beside him.

In fact, he wanted to hear too.

“I think the likelihood of this happening is quite high, that colleagues will realize our relationship,” Ye Ji’an said casually. “Actually, I want them to find out sooner rather than later because it’s quite awkward to bring it up myself. If I were to suddenly shout in the office during a meeting, announcing that Liang Xiao and I are a couple, it feels a bit self-centered. Everyone has their own business to attend to; would they really want to hear about my personal life? But if someone asks me, then it’s easy; I can just admit it, and the next day, everyone will naturally know.”

“It seems you’re not afraid of being talked about behind your back,” the Chairman tapped the table with his fingertip.

“Talking is fine, as long as they don’t scold me,” Ye Ji’an said, feeling a bit shy. “If they do, I can’t help but scold him back. It would be so awkward if we had to work together afterward.”

The Chairman laughed heartily and then looked at Liang Xiao, who was trying to maintain a serious expression. “Your turn now, make a statement.”

Liang Xiao spoke as if it were a matter of course: “Actually, I’ve wanted to borrow your building to display a line of text on the light effect screen, something like ‘Liang Xiao and Ye Ji’an, may we last forever.'”

The Chairman widened his eyes. “Not a chance!”

Liang Xiao asked, “How about renting it?”

The Chairman replied, “For the Citibank building on the Bund, I remember it costs eight hundred yuan per square meter for a day. My section is at least a thousand square meters, so that’s eighty thousand a day. I’ll give you a family discount, let’s say two hundred fifty thousand for three times the price. You can choose the content freely, guaranteed effect, but one thing: you can’t use my card.”

Faced with his father’s serious yet absurd negotiation, Liang Xiao propped up his chin. “Oh, then I’ll reserve it first.”

The Chairman took out a small leather notebook, writing down the details meticulously. “Alright, noted.”

Liang Xiao smiled. “Just wait and see.”

Ye Ji’an was stifling laughter to the point of pain in his throat.

For some reason, he had a premonition that one day, before work, while waiting at the crosswalk in front of the roundabout downstairs, he would witness some astonishing scene.

After breakfast, the Chairman didn’t ask the two to join him in assembling the puzzle. As he put it, it was too fun for him to want others to interfere with his thoughts. So Liang Xiao didn’t insist; he was already tired of such things and took Ye Ji’an to wander around the house. The past works were well displayed; Liang Xiao had indeed spent time piecing together many world-famous masterpieces with his father, and there was a dedicated room and a corridor for exhibition. Seeing them, he couldn’t recall his exact age at the time, but he occasionally remembered a scene, was it in a small courtyard in Beijing or a living room in New York? One picture after another gradually became complete, from fragments to wholeness, sunlight falling on the lawn or carpet, his father occasionally glancing at him, teaching him the principle of sorting pieces, and talking to him about many things.

“My dad liked to talk about life while we were piecing puzzles. Whether I was playing games or studying for finals, he would call me to do puzzles, and I would go. I don’t know why,” Liang Xiao said, gazing at a self-portrait by Picasso, warmth gathering in his eyes. “Maybe I felt we had talked enough, so I didn’t need to anymore.”

“Yeah, the key might be the conversation,” Ye Ji’an said thoughtfully, leaning against his shoulder. “Puzzles take time, allowing you to stay beside him a little longer and listen to the wisdom of the elderly.”

Their tour ended with the sound of little footsteps. Xiao Guo came running up energetically, wanting them to play Ludo with her, still remembering what happened the night before. However, when the two agreed and took her hand to walk to the living room on the first floor, she suddenly changed her mind.

“I want to eat candied hawthorn!” she shouted, tugging at Liang Xiao’s wrist, and Ye Ji’an was temporarily freed.

“Ask Hu-ma to buy it for you,” Liang Xiao said, not wanting to be pulled along.

“No! Hu-ma thinks I’m annoying,” Xiao Guo pouted, tears welling in her eyes. “Liang Xiao-ge, go with me! You haven’t been back for a long time, and I have a secret to tell you.”

Liang Xiao felt that he was a hundred times more annoyed than Hu-ma, but he couldn’t bear to see the child cry. It seemed she wanted him to accompany her to buy it alone. He remembered that there was a place just around the corner, so it wasn’t a big deal.

He looked at Ye Ji’an.

Ye Ji’an smiled, “Go quickly and come back soon.” It was a whisper.

So Liang Xiao steeled himself and set off, holding the little girl’s sleeve as they hurried out of the courtyard.

Ye Ji’an felt a bit bored for a moment, draping his coat over himself and standing in the yard to bask in the sun. Behind him, the door creaked open, and the Chairman emerged wrapped in a blanket.

“I’ve done one-fifth,” he said. “Where did the person go?”

“Accompanying Xiao Guo to buy candied hawthorn,” Ye Ji’an let the sunlight filtering through a tree branch fall on him.

The Chairman sighed. “That child is a bit spoiled. I could hear her shouting from inside just now.” After a pause, he asked, “Liang Xiao doesn’t have that problem anymore, does he?”

“You don’t need to treat him like a child,” Ye Ji’an laughed. “In many matters, he has a better grasp than I do.”

“I see you spoil him too, with those strange little habits and a young master’s temper. Have you ever felt that way?” the Chairman said, then called out a few times, and several plump shadows sprang out from the bushes in the yard, along with a few cats jumping down from the wall, all with thick fur and stout bodies.

Ye Ji’an felt a sudden tension in his scalp. These cats were clearly friendly, meowing as they gathered around them, affectionately rubbing against their calves and ankles.

He lowered his eyes, staring blankly at these animals he lacked experience with. “I don’t feel that way,” he said. “I just find it very comfortable to be around them.”

“That’s good.”

“Do you lack confidence in him?” Ye Ji’an was tangled up by a cat’s tail, surprised that he didn’t instinctively flee as the cat pressed its paws on his slippers. “Your son is far more capable than many people.”

“Maybe,” the Chairman looked up at the sky.

Ye Ji’an watched as the cat yawned, revealing a small tongue and sharp teeth, leaving him momentarily speechless.

“I’m always a bit worried about him. I just don’t want him to make serious mistakes and get hurt again,” the Chairman said. “Liang Xiao is the kind of child who needs a lot of love. Although he may not realize it himself, he is sensitive, a bit of a perfectionist, and very particular about certain things. Not everyone in this world can understand him, or rather, very few can. To me, he’s still just a child,” he said, crossing his arms and looking far away at the magpie nest atop the persimmon tree. “So now, I might be saying a bit too much to you. How should I put it? From childhood to now, we’ve wanted to give him a lot of love, but the result is that we haven’t done well, and because of our own issues, we’ve given him more neglect and harm, which is something his peers don’t have to work hard to accept. It’s quite unfair to him.”

Ye Ji’an’s attention had shifted from the cat. Although Hu-ma had come to feed them, the number of cats around them was increasing, but he didn’t have time to be afraid; he just nodded and listened earnestly.

“When he was young, during the time when his mother and brother had just passed away, I realized I wasn’t being a good father, so I put my work aside and spent two years with him. During his rebellious phase, he often wouldn’t talk to me, but when we argued, he was particularly fierce. I remember one time he yelled at me, saying it was all because of us that he had such a strange personality. It infuriated me; I felt I had done my best and fulfilled my obligations to him, and that he was just overthinking things every day,” the Chairman fell silent for a long moment. “But later, he came to apologize to me. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, when he was the most concerned about his pride, he got into a fight and had a cast on his leg but didn’t shed a tear. When he said sorry, he cried. I suddenly felt he was right; shortly after he was born, his mother took his brother abroad, and I had been busy with work. When he grew a bit older, I hurried to send him away, and then not long after, he encountered that kind of incident—opening the door to find his mother dead on the sofa, in a state that was unrecognizable. No matter how you look at it, that’s something you can never forget. They say it’s never too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost, but that’s really just self-comfort.”

“Indeed,” Ye Ji’an took a deep breath. “He still has trouble sleeping because of that incident.”

“And now?”

“Now he’s fine.”

“Thank you, really, Xiao Ye,” the Chairman said slowly. “I never expected he would meet someone like you, and then you just appeared out of nowhere, listening to this old man talk about so many family matters, haha.”

“This shouldn’t be thanked to me; it’s Liang Xiao who has grown up and then I happened to find him,” a cat scratched at Ye Ji’an’s shoe, but he continued to look at it. “We have a kind of common language. I had a rough childhood too, and later I desperately wanted to escape, and I succeeded, feeling like I had taken root far away, yet I still thought about dying every day. But now I don’t think about it; I rarely recall the pain of my childhood; it’s all quite vague.”

“I believe that pain isn’t meant to be remembered because only you suffer from it. It should be kicked away; you want to kick it far, or someone makes you want to kick it far, and then you succeed, no longer fearing it, that’s what truly makes you an adult,” Ye Ji’an turned his face, suddenly realizing that it was the first time he looked at his boss so calmly, without any tension or caution. “Liang Xiao is already there, so I say he’s amazing.”

Liang Xiao bought three candied hawthorns: one strawberry for Xiao Guo, and two glutinous rice ones for Ye Ji’an and himself. He didn’t buy a fourth because his father had diabetes.

As he entered the courtyard, he saw a surprising sight: Ye Ji’an was squatting by the grass, gently petting a cat.

He remembered clearly that Ye Ji’an had said he was afraid of cats, especially the calico one his brother kept. Seeing similar colors would make him uncomfortable, and he would break out in a cold sweat. He kept his distance from the few stray cats in the neighborhood.

But at this moment, a plump tabby cat was purring under Ye Ji’an’s hand.

Ye Ji’an looked up, and through the courtyard’s flowering trees, he saw Liang Xiao, still smiling at him.

“Senior?” Liang Xiao handed Xiao Guo to the apologetic housekeeper and squatted down beside Ye Ji’an, holding up the two glutinous rice hawthorns.

“I suddenly found that cats are quite well-behaved, their fur is so soft, but they’re too dirty and keep rubbing against my pants,” Ye Ji’an licked a piece of the sugary coating from the tip of the bamboo skewer. This was originally excess syrup that couldn’t wrap around the nuts, just flatly solidified, wrapped in grayish glutinous rice paper. Almost every candied hawthorn had it, but now it stood out under the sunlight, shining with a golden glow.

“Hold on to them for me for a bit; I’ll wash my hands,” Ye Ji’an said.